Letters from the Other Side

4.1.1 Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach English - Part 1

My Thailand newsletters 2006 – 2008

The First Thailand trip (26 years old)

1.1 Yvette's first newsletter

15 September 2006

Hi everyone!

Well, what can I say. I'm here, with lots of effort, but I'm here.

By this time, you have probably already heard what happened to me. It's like a story out of a movie. The truth is stranger than fiction. The night before my flight a neighbour got shot in our block of flats.

I couldn't sleep that night I was so terrified. It's the first time in my life that I soaked the sheets with anxious sweat. Mom came in and cried at one stage which made me feel worse. Naturally I shouted at her to go cry somewhere else which made me feel like an even bigger asshole. After that we heard the shots. The musician who got shot was a drug addict. His mom ran down the corridor and screamed for help. The two young guys who lived next door went to help her. But it was too late, her son died minutes later. We found out he was possibly involved with the mafia or something like that. The old lady had left the back door slightly open for the dog and that's how the criminals got in.

That was bad enough already. But when we arrived at the airport the next morning we found out the flight had been delayed. Every couple of hours we had to rapport at the counter only to hear the flight had been delayed another couple of hours. We arrived at 11 a. m and the plane finally left at 8 pm that night. Every time we thought it was now time for me to leave, mom and I would start crying all over again. This probably happened three or four times. I was literally cried up by the time I landed in Thailand. On Wednesday and again on Thursday, both my flights were delayed with about 12 hours each. It was a very exhausting experience. Like my travel agent said later; "it's probably the worst thing that could have happened".

The silver lining to this dark cloud of delay was that on the flight I made lots of new friends. It was also Jodene's first traveling experience and the poor girl's wallet, money and ID was stolen, and her baggage got lost. So I counted my blessings!

We made friends with Rajan, an Indian man from Pietermaritzburg and he helped Jodene and I, like a true gentleman. If it wasn't for him I don't know what I would have done. He even lent us his international phonecard so we could phone our families when we landed at Doha airport.

When I was a child my mother raised me on movies like "Not without my daughter" and horror stories of western women who disappeared in the Middle East never to be seen or heard from again. This was the last place I ever wanted to have a stop-over, let alone stay for a day. But it seems my loving, heavenly Father had other plans. Facing my fears and overcoming childhood nightmares made me realize that the good Lord was always with me no matter where in the world I found myself. Nothing is bigger than my God.

Doha. It's a strange place, that. The men stare you out of your boots. The women wear, I think it's called a "burqa" or "hijab", those black head coverings with only the slits for the eyes. The men were very rude to us but luckily they listened to Rajan. Naturally the metal detector went off when I stepped through. The guards got even more stony-faced. I took my Caterpillar shoes off and I felt like a heroine when I walked through that metal detector and it didn't make a beep the second time. I flashed a triumphant smile at the guards. I had slayed the metal dragon. I learned my lesson though; never ever wear Caterpillars on an international flight through the Middle East again. It's nerve wracking.