Jeremy has launched
ngable
AFM requested that he fly out of the St. Louis airport rather than
Chicago since tickets would cost about $500 more out of Chicago. So on
Sunday, he and I drove to St. Louis, visited with his sister Jenny and
her husband for awhile (they live in St. Louis), stayed overnight and
enjoyed a few hours at the St. Louis zoo on Monday before going to the
airport. He flew out of there at about 5:50 p.m. to San Francisco,
then on to Taipei, Taiwan, then to Manila, Philappines where he would
meet up with the project leaders and continue on to the island of
Palawan, across the island, and then up the mountain to the project.
Jeremy had a chance to jot us a couple of notes along the way, so here
is what he said.
-----------------------
Hi! I just arrived at the airport in Taipie, Taiwan. I'm waiting here
at the
gate right now. Boarding begins in one hour. It's currently 6:18 am,
Wednesday morning here right now. I think it's 4:18 pm Tuesday your
time.
Just letting you know that I made it safely. I also met a realy cool
friend on
the plane here (14 hour flight from San Fancisco!) I'm on someone
else's
laptop, so I gotta go!
Love,
Jeremy
ngable
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Well, I arrived safe and sound in Manilla! It's CRAZY here! The
streets are 2 lanes wide with 3-4 lanes of trafic. There's abotu 1
person's body width between vihicles (one person turned sideways), and
people just walk calmly between the rushing trafic. People drive full
speed except when they're stopping, and if the vehicle in front stops
suddenly, the driver just swerves either into the left lane to go
around, or onto the right shoulder. Motorcycles drive right through
between the lanes of trafic. I'm a rich person over here, and I'm
still in the city. There's so much sin in this city it's a drain on me
just being here. Three times I've had some guy come up to me offering
to sell me "beautiful" women, and once I had a prostitue almost throw
herself at me. And that's after being in the city for only a few
hours! I'm getting good at watching the world around me through my
peripheral vision. I've spotted a number of people at various times
following me. When I do, I turn to the side so they'll be obviously in
my line of site, and they quickly wander away in a very convincingly
casual way.
On the 14 hour flight between San Francisco and Taipei, Taiwan, I made
a very interresting friend. A 15 yr-old girl from Vietnam who was
invited to play at Carnegie Hall, and has spent the last 6 months since
then touring the States. We talked about music a bit, and I mentioned
that I play harmonica, and that I even had it with me. She asked me to
play some, so I did. Then she picked some C-songs from her head and
told me the notes, while I played. She taught me 3 new songs in about
3 hours on the plane. I also bought a new $200 guitar for like $36
bucks. I have more to say, but it's time for me to go (I'm at an
internet cafe)
Love,
Jeremy