Whoa. So its been a full 4 weeks of being away from home. It doesn't feel that long. I kinda feel like I'm on an extended vacation. Minus the 2 weeks of grueling training in the hot sun. That hot sun would have been amazing to lay out by a pool or the ocean however....setting up frames and taking them down over and over and over on a black top- not so much.
The flight to California was a pretty long one. Stayed up all night and left Aunt Beckys at 3 in the morning to catch my plane at 6. Man I love to fly. After going to Charlotte airport so many times and sitting at the overlook watching planes take off to far away destinations and come in from who knows where, it was finally MY turn to take off to new adventures. And sadly no one to watch because the over look doesnt open till 10. Doesnt matter, I still got to take off. Oh and God totally blessed me with a free $300 voucher for another flight because I took a later flight (they were overbooked). So free flight home! But anyways..I got a window seat on both of my flights. Even though my eyes fought to close, they were glued to the world outside the window. Taking off, watching the world below disappear as we slice into the clouds and then white silence. Its the only way I know to describe it. Surrounded by clouds and the brightness of the sun..its almost like the outskirts of heaven. And ever so often you can see patches of the earth below- the houses made of ticky-tack and fields of green.
I remember coming upon LAX, there was desert. Miles and miles of desert. I even think I may have seen the Grand Canyon from the air at one point. And then there was city. And city never stopped. We landed at LAX and so it began. I was picked up and was ridiculously excited to be in California. I half expected to see a celebrity somewhere because in my mind, they were always coming and going from LAX to various places around the world. And there would be paparazzi flashing cameras and it would be crazy..but no. No celebrity. Actually no celebrity sightings THE WHOLE time I was in the LA area. Suck. Not that I care much about their lives or anything, but its like..when you go to Buffalo, NY, you go and see Niagara Falls. When you go to LA, you see celebrities. Fail LA. Major fail on that part.
California is nice. Im a huge fan of palm trees and beaches. It was somewhat of a culture shock to leave LAX and the LA area and drive from city to city to city for miles and never see woods/ forests/ a group of trees or fields. It was all city- no towns. And smog. Lots of smog. At first, I looked over towards the mtns and was like...Aww fog over the mtns. Kinda reminds me of home. My co-workers then said- "No, no, no. Thats not fog. Thats smog." Gross. But the city feel grew on me. After a few days I was ok with it.
The first night there was only 6 of us in the condo because a few of us arrived early. I'm glad I got to come a day early because as soon as we got to the condo, I crashed. I had figured it out that I had been awake for nearly 38 hours. I only slept for about 2 hours before our small group went out to grab something to eat. Me and 2 of the girls ate outside at this Oriental Tea Ren place. I got a drink with aloe vera chunks in it, and it was actually very good. Yay for being healthy! Then we met up with the guys at Applebees and the sleep depravity was getting to me. I told everyone in a British accent that "I'm from British" and apparently I don't do mad libs correctly. I still have yet to live either down. My applebees kids menu mad libs thing is posted on the condos refrigerator and people still remind me of "I'm from British." At least I haven't lost my ability to make people laugh.
On Sunday, the rest of the crew arrived and the guys stayed in the condo while the girls moved to the Latin American Bible Institute (LABI). Training began and the next day. We had breakfast every morning at 6:30, started training at 7 and went till 8:30 most nights with about an hour lunch and dinner break. Sometimes and hour and a half. It was rough, and a LOT of hard work, but it was fun too. I got lucky and got sent to the office a couple times too. Those were the best days of training. I wish that we would have had more time to spend with the guys. They had to leave shortly after the day was over because of curfews and such, plus we were too tired to really do anything. The girls got together sometimes and watched the Little Mermaid, or had random snack parties in the middle of the day...or just hung out in one of the dorm rooms and did what girls do best- talk. I miss those days. Friendships were built in such a short time and then we are sent all over the country and may never see those people again. Harsh reality. But I do talk to them regularly.
We had weekends off so we went and explored what LA had to offer. Went to Hollywood. Its not as glitzy and glamorous as I thought it was going to be. It was grungy and almost ghettoish in some parts. The Hollywood walk of fame was pretty cool. Didn't see a celebrity-that was disappointing. We did see the LA Film school, a couple Scientology "churches" and a testing center, Capitol Records, Amoeba Record Store, Madame Tousands (I really wanted to go in there, but we just drove by), the Kodak and Chinese Theaters. In front of the Chinese Theatre there was a lot of impersonators- Batman, Spiderman, Woody, Michael Jackson, Optimus Prime, among a slew of others. We were just driving by, but later I learned if you took a picture of them and didn't pay, they would get really mad at you. Honestly, its one of those experiences I feel like that once you've done it, you've done it. Been there done that. I would like to go back to Madame Tousands Wax Museum and go to a movie premiere at the Chinese Theater. The VMAs were held at the Kodak Theatre and I could have went...and by going I mean standing outside cause there would be NO WAY that I could get in the awards show...but my tour was changed. Things happen. Oh well.
We also drove through Beverly Hills. Didn't see any really huge mansions or anything, but did see a lot of really expensive cars. Lamborginis, Ferraris, and a bunch that I don't even know what they are, but I did know that they cost a lot. That led us to Santa Monica, where we went out on THE Pier. It was dark by the time we got there, but we spent maybe 15 minutes there. I even got to walk out on the beach- which is all I really wanted to do since I got to Cali. I went to church at Oasis church and me and a small group went back to the Pier and stayed longer and took a lot of pics. It was another one of those things where once you've done it, that's all you really want to do.
We said goodbye the next week to our first team to leave out- the married couple. Stacie and Garrett left for the East Coast as Team 1. Saturday a few more teams left for tour and our group of 25 dwindled down pretty fast. The remaining girls moved into the condo and the guys stayed at one of the local tech's parent's house. Imagine putting 11 girls into a 2 bedroom condo with 2 bathrooms. CRAZINESS!! More people left as the days went on. Me, Rachel (my partner) and Danny were the 3 people that were going to remain on the local tour. We spent our days in the office making buttons and packages to be sent to schools, making phone calls, making DVDS, etc until our boss Andrew got a phone call on Tuesday that changed everything. A facebook update changed the game plan. Garrett and Stacie were pregnant and she was dealing with a kidney infection/stones so they would be leaving tour permanently. Me and Rachel were going to be transferred to the Northeast tour first thing Wednesday morning. Goodbye California.
No comments:
Post a Comment