The plane and arrival in West Africa

June 16/17
The visit to Africa began in style with an upgrade to first class. The plane was full, I was at the back and as an amazing blessing, a man wanted to sit by his little daughter and wife (and dog) and asked me to switch. I said I would and asked what seat I was going to. Currently, I was sitting in 40E, one of the middle seats of a 4 seat row. He told me 3E. I headed out to go sit and only then realized it was in the first class. Champagne, warm towels and most importantly a seat that LAYED down completely. It was the best 13 hours ever. I watched HBO, Showtime and talked with an amazing man from Harvard (originally Liberia). You will read that post soon enough. Landing in Liberia was an experience The runway had old, long deserted planes rusting in the grasses and blown out buildings along the way. The actual airport was one building. We got off the plane to a walk down staircase that someone pushed the the plane. Then, we were ushered directly into customs by an armed guard. Armed guards were everywhere actually. After waiting in line to talk to a customs agent that asked the normal questions, "How long will you be here? What is the purpose of your trip? Why is your picture a yellow haired lady and now I am a red head?) Okay, that last question wasnt standard, but hilarious in that I thought I was a blonde still! The baggage claim was a mini snake of barely moving sidewalk rubber and allowed about 10 bags to circle in and out.All the bags were completely worse for wear and many were outright opened and had been seriously searched. Still, there were prolly 300 people on the plane and only a room the size of my living room. Each person had 2 bags free (and many, especially returning Liberians) had at least 5. Piles and piles of brightly colored bags the size of a football field would go around once or maybe twice and then be taken off by a guard and deposited on the side area and new bags would get put on. The funny thing was that a) most of the people were still in customs trying to get to baggage claim, and b) the circle was so small that all the bags ended up on the side. The colors of the outfits, the head wear, the people were so interesting to watch! I wanted to ask each one of them what they were doing there and how long they were staying. Okay, I wanted to ask the white people. Everyone else seemed pretty clear about why. Of course, due to me getting off first, I got mine and headed to customs once again wherein I stood there with my bags and they searched each one thoroughly before waving me through. The drivers Kathy had arranged to meet us where there and we all (JooYoung, myself, Kathy, Kristy and Martha) headed out. The others will be arriving on Sunday. My excitement was palpable! Even though it was reminiscent of my previous experience, it was different, it was communal, it was God sent.