Do you have a harmonica in there?

July 24-25

DO YOU HAVE A HARMONICA IN THERE?

We were so proud of ourselves this morning for being packed, cleaned up and ready to go when our shuttle service came at 3am.  We were prouder still for arriving at the Redmond airport an hour and 20 minutes before our flight - a first for us (last time we missed our flight).  Being the first ones in the checkin line made us prouder yet.  Turns out it was so lucky that we had all that time because Rosemary’s last name on her ticket was Bajorek and her last name on her passport is Waugh.  So it took the better part of that hour or so for the representative to get it worked out.  Because of that delay, we were going through security as they were boarding our plane, so were feeling a bit stressed.  The x-ray technician scanned our carry-on several times and then said he needed to examine the contents.  He did so, rescanned and, looking rather perplexed with his coworker, asked if we happened to have a harmonica in the bag.  Well, of course we did as part of the toy collection.  He asked where it was, got it out and, sensing my confusion, explained that it looked like a gun magazine.  Oh!  I never would have thought of that in a million years, but seeing it laying there in the plastic bin, I saw the reason for their concern.  He scanned it once again and we were clear…just in time to catch our first leg to San Francisco.

Now we’re over halfway through our longest let to Tokyo and things are going splendidly well (I hope I don’t jinx myself!).  Rosemary was awake most of our layover in SF and then played a good bit for the first part of this leg, then we all slept for a good bit.  Now she’s playing with her new toys and has eaten some of the new snacks we got for her.  The third movie is playing, of which I’ve watched none.  Rosemary is quite the star on the plane, and anywhere we go honestly.  Everyone wants to say hi and smile at her.  One of the flight attendants became very fond of her, and he brought her all kinds of things, like toiletries, yogurt and fruit.  

We have 3 hours in Tokyo and are very out of it and exhausted.  We found a play room, where Rosemary crawled around with some other kids and played with the toys.  All of the Asian kids took their shoes off and left them by the mat of the play area.  We are so impressed with the professionalism and friendliness of the airport staff who have helped us change our seats and figure out how to print something.  While waiting for our flight to board, we just watched the staff literally run around to get things ready.  They began the boarding process at exactly the time they said they would and were so friendly.  They asked if we were taking the carseat on with us, and consequently had to check it to make sure it was okay.  Then we had our own personal escort to assist us with it, which meant we cut in front of folks in the long line.  

The ride was uneventful, other than some hilarious interactions with the flight attendants.  We felt as if we were in first class with the service and ample leg room.  Shortly after announcing the meal options (fish and rice or tofu and rice), a flight attendant came around dispersing wet napkins.  Michael thought she asked what he would like to eat and he simply said, “Vegetables.”  She was very confused by this, and being in our sleep-deprived state made things even funnier.  Eventually the misunderstanding was cleared up when another attendant talked with him.  The food was quite tasty and shortly after, the attendant came around with little bottles of wine.  We checked to see if it was free (it was!) and got one each.  Free wine on a flight?!  Living like royalty.  She then came around every 15 minutes it seemed offering a different beverage: green tea?, brown tea?, coffee?.  To top all of this amazing treatment off, another attendant came and offered a choice of three souvenir items for Rosemary.  I chose the postcards, which have Japanese writing on them.

Rosemary was beyond exhausted on this part of our journey, as were we.  I was dozing before takeoff and felt like my eyes were burning.  Rosemary couldn’t seem to fall asleep on her own, and screamed when we put her in the carseat which was in the seat between us.  So I stuck her on the boob where she happily passed out and proceeded to sweat profusely.  Anytime she awoke, she sat up, rubbed her eyes sleepily and cried.  I just switched feeding sides and she was out again.

Once we landed, we got our luggage without trouble and went through Customs with a breeze and got our Philippines stamp on our passports.  The principal of the middle school was picking us up and we found him right away.  Once outside a Brent van picked us up, the driver loading our luggage on.  Then we were whisked away through the Manila nightlife traffic - bright lights, numerous cars with horns honking, repetitive billboards, shacks to the right and huge malls to the left.  There was only a slight traffic jam and we were in our new community of Brentville in no time.  On the way, we were given our house keys as well as keys to our car and envelopes containing $20,000 in Philippine pesos (roughly equivalent to $450US).  Pretty crazy to arrive in this country and already have a life set up…

Our hang out time in our new home was brief since we were delirious and exhausted. We took a quick tour, rinsed off with cold water and crawled into bed (which was thankfully made).  Slumber came quick and deep.