First Glimpse

I wake up at 5:45 and get myself ready for the final day of my travel! The van picks me up at the hotel at 6:35 and drives me to the airport. My flight isn't until 10:10 so I have to wait 30 minutes until I can even check in. After that I start walking around and realize this airport is bigger than I had expected and has more places to shop than any outlet I've ever been to. They have tons of vendors selling perfume, cologne, cosmetics, electronics..literally anything and everything you could even think of. So after three hours of walking around in the airport I head down to my gate to get ready to board. There are about 30 of us on this flight and we have to ride a bus to our plane, which can seat probably 200-250 people. No clue why they would put such a small group of us onto such a large plane but oh well i had plenty of room so i wasn't complaining. Scratch that, I was complaining! The entire plane smelled like cat pee! Literally exactly like that. It was so foul I can't even desribe it..ew.
4 hours later I arrive in Port Moresby. This is my first real taste of  being an outsider and it was pretty overwhelming. I had to exchange my money and get my visa as soon as we landed and I could barely understand what anyone was saying to me because their english wasn't the greatest and they had a really thick accent. So the lady told me how much I had to pay them for my visa and I just held my money out to her and said take what you need. Don't worry mom and dad she didn't rip me off! So the airport is honestly the dumpiest place i've ever been in..until about two hours later I should say. So anyway I go get my bags check and make a pit stop to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. There are two little girls in there probably about 7 and 9 and they are staring at me with curious smiles on their faces and are whispering and giggling to other. I expected to have attention from people here because I'm white but I've never been the minority before and it's something you have to experience to understand. I then have to go outside to walk into another part of the building to get to where the departures are. There are tons and tons of people outside just sitting on the ground, I assume waiting for people who are coming in from flights. I then go through like 5 security checks before I get to a large open room with a bunch of sweaty people sitting in the midst of millions of flys. I suddenly realize I left my dress I need to change into, in one of my carry ons that I had to check at security! So now I am in panic mode and thats all I can think about..my current outfit(tight sweatpants and a tshirt) isn't acceptable here. Two long hours later I board my plane and we take off to Goroka. The view from the plane is amazing. There really isn't much sign of civilization which is what made it so beautiful.
FINALLY! 2 and a half days of traveling and I am finally here!! The plane lands and I head towards the building that is supposed to be an airport? I see a large fence in the middle of the building with a ton of people waiting outside of and easily spot Bill since he is the only pale face in the crowd. We wait outside in front a small shelf which seperates us from the plane, as they load our luggage and bring it over to us. They then start throwing everyones bags onto the shelf and we all cram together to get our things and get out of there. Bill helps me with my luggage and we load up into his van and take off. Some of the road to their home is paved but most of it is all dirt. There are hundreds of locals just walking in the middle of the street and sitting along side the roads, all waving to us with big smiles. I'm beginning to learn Bill is a very popular person in this area. An older woman and young girl around 8 or 9 years old waves us down and Bill stops and tells them to get in so he can drive them home. This is the first time i hear Pidgin being spoken. English has just become the official language of PNG but very few know it. The younger generations are more fluent with it but most people only know minimal words so communicating with them is impossible without help from Bill or Lori. We drop them off and continue down the road a little and reach the bible college. Bill and Lori live inside the gates of the bible college right by the girls dormitory. The men of the college are out playing rugby and some young boys are playing soccer. Bill points out one of his younger adopted sons Amo who runs towards the house to meet us. Amo is 7, almost 8 years old, Aaron is 3 and is also adopted. In the house I also meet Isaac, who is just over a year old and such a happy baby and Gracie who is a month old and was born prematurely. Isaac's parents are not together and do not want the responsibility so they gave him to Bill and Lori to take care of until he can be adopted. Gracie's mother is not in the condition to take care of her right now so she is staying with them until she gets healthier. It is very common for people to leave their children to starve to death because that is easier than taking care of them. Their son Amo was to left them in a plastic bag on their porch after two months or being given nothing to eat but cantaloupe every night so he would sleep. Similiar things happened with Isaac also.
It's time for dinner and this is what I have been dreading the entire time. It turns out on the menu for dinner tonight is pineapple, popcorn, and cinnamon rolls...my thought is yeah mom what happened to losing weight while I'm here! But I'm not very hungry so I just stick with fruit and coffee. I force myself to stay up until 9 and then fall asleep to the sound of the pouring rain through my open window.