Journals--Day 1 Boys

We have to leave Butterworth dorm by 1:45am and we just have to sleep for a few hours. We are very tired and we have to suffer to keep awake for awhile because we have to put our luggage in the small ASD bus. Then we can sleep whenever we want to.

That night before we left from Butterworth dorm, I really have little trouble to sleep because the room is very hot! Anne Nutt suggests for me to open the window so the cool air will come in. It really worked and I just slept for about 1 ½ hours. When Barbara French woke me up and I just act that where I am then change clothing for trip to Washington State. I didn’t feel really tired that time and just kept awake to Newark Airport in New Jersey.

We get off our luggage and brought them to check-in and there is one problem for me because my shorts are too big and I forgot to bring my own belt! I just tried to keep my shorts up and stay on my waist but it can’t. I had to suffer to hold my shorts and I was just a little embarrassed about that. After that check-in, we went to the metal detector so it keeps us to be safe. Then we had to wait for our flight on 7 a.m. and finally, we go into the airplane but the captain told us to wait for 25 minutes and the problems continue! We stayed on the airplane for about 3 and ½ hours and we were still excited to go to Washington State!

Finally, we left off and we observed often during our flight because we were curious to see the plains and the Rocky Mountains. It was very cool to see the mountains and I can’t imagine that people who had to walk across the mountains! We were just on the airplane for six hours and we slept some of these hours.

Then we were very excited to arrive to Washington state and we landed! I still struggled to keep my short and finally, Jon gave me his belt and I felt much better! Then we have to wait for the van to drive to Washington School for the Deaf. We noticed that Washington is more clean than our state, Connecticut, and have different climates, more trees than our state, a lot of views on ahead of us! When we arrive to WSD and we brought our luggage to the rooms that we chose. It is more fancy and more space to “hang out” more around with friends than ASD dorms. Then we have a leisure time and we are ready for tomorrow which will be our first work to do.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006 – the first day at the Washington and Oregon

At one in the morning, all of us woke up and packed all the bags in the bus. That morning, Mike and I were not very tired except other kids were. Al, the driver, drove all the way to the airport in Newark, New Jersey. After we entered the airport and went to the bag check out. The minimum weight for the bag is 50 lbs. Lucky because my suitcase is on that weight! I was so shocked; I thought that I did pack light but did not.

Next thing is we had to take our metal stuff out to keep the airplane safe. I took almost all my clothes because my short was bit bigger than usual and took out the belt. Suddenly, Anne told me that I don’t have to then we got in the airplane and were so excited to take off. However, the major problems did take us long time (1hour). Later after the problems solved, we started to move and was told by the captain our plane will be take off next 25 minutes but we stayed for almost three hours and half and we have to wait until all other airplanes take off safe. We felt like, “AHH!”, we wanted to arrive in Washington and observe there! But we were STUCK. So we were thinking if we were unlucky to take the wrong plane. “That’s life”, Anne said.

Finally, it’s now our turn to depart from the Newark, NJ to Portland, OR. We felt like, oh thank God! During our flight we were in the (heaven) clouds, we often observed out the window to imagine how Lewis and Clark can walk through the horrible situation and events. We took pictures of ourselves in the airplane.

After we arrived in the Portland, Oregon airport, it was a very nice and tidy environment. Now I have noticed that we, Connecticut people waste lots of dirty things more than Oregon and Washington does. There does have more evergreen trees than we do. Anyway, we started to pack the entire luggage in the big van and went to the Washington School for the Deaf which is about ten minutes away from the airport in Portland, Oregon.

Meanwhile, we arrived at the WSD and started to observe around the campus. Then went to cottage, where we will be sleep in. That cottage is more tidy than our dorm back in American School for the Deaf. After that, we went to restaurant and ate our late lunch and went back to cottage and begin to type the journal. After that we will take our leisure time.

DAY ONE June 21, 2006 On the Road

The three hours difference between Connecticut and Oregon/Washington has really taken a toll on me. Today was one of the longest days I ever experienced since I came into this world. This morning, we all got up at around one and started to load the suitcases into the bus to start our trip to Newark Airport down in New Jersey. The three hours drive didn’t bother me because I think I got a good hour worth of sleep. But the toll actually took me when we all got on the airplane at six thirty and waited for a long period of time.

I believe it was around seven thirty when the captain announced that there was a little problem with the plane so the flight would be delayed an hour away. It was actually until around ten that we all got back on the plane and started to fly at ten thirty. All of this waiting made me really tired and uneasy. I had to suffer with my tiredness for the next six hours. Lucky for myself, I got probably two or three hours of sleep.

During the times that I was awake on the flight, I got myself a chance to look out the side window. I have never traveled any farther than Florida but the experience of looking the landscapes of New Jersey throughout the Midwest to the west was simply amazing. It could literally take me a book full of descriptions to tell how fantastic the view was. The view can be characterized like a pure work of art because the amazedness of how the landscapes changes as the plane move. From the farmlands of the East into plains of the Midwest into the Rockies of the West has transformed into a beautiful work of Mother Nature.

Soon after we saw the Rockies, we knew that our flight would be over in few hours. As time went by, we were already landing. We arrived at the Portland Airport, got off, and got our baggage then went straight to car rental center. While we waited for the teachers to rent a van, we all grabbed the opportunity to email our parents and friends to let them know we have landed safely. Other simple problem showed up as when we boarded the van, one of our teachers didn’t have her seat belt on because it seem like her seat belt was broken. We tried to fix it but we couldn’t then we called a worker who came and figured out the problem. It took him a while to found out a simple attachment for the seat belt as he attached it on.

The situations of morning and afternoon have taken more time and energy away from me. But we didn’t give up as we arrived at Washington School for the Deaf and settled at one of their cottages. Their cottages is much better than what we were living at ASD. It made me felt more independent and more socially comfortable. We all went out for dinner at a small hamburger shack where we all ate well then went back to the cottage to have a short meeting. Afterwards, two of the teachers went out shopping for us all as we started on our journals. That’s a brief summary of what our long day was like. I better put my tired hands into rest and tell everybody back at the east coast good night as their bedtimes is approaching. P.S. Tomorrow, I will continue my description of what I’m seeing here in Oregon and Washington.