------------------UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE------------------ (Sex Trade Documentary)

8/23/09 (Sun) Yeah, I was able to get a hold of someone who could burn a DVD for me! So late last night the DVD was burned! Now I can give it to Zaya when she takes us to the airport! Whoopie it's compete! I leave today, it’s crazy to think that I’m leaving today (Sun) and after 26 ½ hours I will be in Portland and it will still be Sunday! Crazy. I think I’m going to sleep for like 2 straight days, that is if Kevin will let me. ;) He might be so excited to see me that he just wants to spend time with me. :) That’s nice too, but I wont be much company until I get my rest. Mom’s wedding is in a week and then I start school. My husband is amazing, he already bought my books for class, has been paying my bills, cleaning the house…I’m excited to see what the house looks like and of course most importantly to be in his arms!

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I am now in the Taipei airport and I think that we board in about an hour. I only have about 20 more hours until I’m home. ;) Pray that I sleep, but still will be able to sleep when I get home. Pray that my jet lag isn’t too bad, that I sleep well when back in Oregon and get re-accustomed to the time. Pray for safety and good health. Thank you to all of you that have followed my blog and prayed for me while I have been on my trip. Thanks for supporting me in all the different ways, including funding so that I could make the trip in the first place. It has been an amazing adventure of excitement and sorrow, clarity and confusion, hope and despair, it has been an incredible experience and I will forever be changed. I can grasp even more fully what I have been learning this last year and I believe I am more equipped to fight against sex trafficking. Thank you again to all of you that helped in my growth.

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I guess there was a Swine Flu outbreak in Phnom Penh. Some missionaries had it and didn’t know it and brought it into the Hope School where someone we know was going. A hold bunch of kids got sick and everyone was quarantined at the Phnom Hospital. How crazy and a bit scary. Thank God we didn’t get it and neither did the girl that attends the school.

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Wow that sure took awhile. When arriving at the LA airport I had to go stand in line to go to customs so that someone could stamp my form, then I waited and waited and waited for my bags, I started to get a little worried. I stood in another line so that someone could take my stamped form. I walked down a long hall until I was able to drop off my checked bag again. Then I had to exit the international building and walk all the way down the sidewalk until I got to the United area of the domestic building. It was WAY further then on my way to Cambodia. If I knew it was going to take that long I actually would have taken the shuttle. I stood in the wrong United Air line for awhile and then after getting in the correct line I was given a piece of paper basically and told to wait at the gate until they called my name to get my seat #. That concerned me a bit but I just went on to security. When at security they decided to check my entire bag because of the external hard drive I had in it. He started by asking if I spoke English, I wasn't even in an international line or anything, I thought that was interesting. Somehow it was a problem and I should have taken it out along with my laptop, all though it was fine in all the airports to Cambodia and all the airports back, but whatever. I finally got to by gate and walked across the walkway to customer service to make sure I had a seat and they just printed me off a real boarding pass. That made me feel a bit better.

Between the fact that I was starving and I have been up for far too long my tummy has been bugging me. It is 8am in Cambodia (my body’s time) and I have been awake since 9am yesterday and I wont get to bed until probably 1pm Cambodia time! My whole body aches I am so tired. On the 12 hour plane ride I fell in and out of sleep for only 2 hours! Oh my goodness I am tired. Good thing I only have 3 more hours and I will be in Portland, probably about 4-5hrs and I will be able to be in my own bed! :) I’m so excited to finally sleep. I kept telling myself the entire time I was gone that I would sleep when I was home.

There were these two guys that I set next to on the plane that were pretty awesome. One of them use to edit film and he gave me some resources for getting funding for my documentary! God pretty much rocks my face off. The poor guy to my left puked (sp?) everywhere when we landed, good thing he didn’t eat anything or it would have been really nasty. I felt like I might throw up, but I did not (that had nothing to do with him throwing up). If it wasn't for them I don't know if I could have got my bag off the dealybober, it was freaking heavy and akwardly placed between other bags.

I don’t think that I’ll have a problem falling asleep on this plane ride, I’m struggling to keep my eyes open as it is. I sure hope that sleeping on this plane wont interfere with my sleep when I get home tonight.
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I was in and out of sleep for most of the plane ride to PDX, as was the young woman sleeping next to me. For the last part of the ride we spoke and I found out that she is from China and has never been to America before. She is here to teach Chinese at Western for a year. I thought that was pretty cool and she spoke AMAZING English. She actually kind of sounded British not Asian when she spoke. She was excited for my documentary and wanted to see it when it came out.