So I arrived in Birmingham, UK, on Saturday, only to be met by no one at the airport. Also, I was questioned a lot by customs, about my intentions for studying in the UK, why I want to study religion, why I can't study that in the US, etc, but thank God it wasn't that bad. Several people before me were interrogated pretty harshly, so I was kind of nervous, but it turned out fine. I guess the UK is really getting strict about student/work visitors nowadays.
Upon calling the guy who was supposed to pick me up, I realized he thought my flight was the day before. But thank God he was on his way to the airport anyway to pick up someone else. He gave me a mini driving tour of the city of Birmingham, which seems to be a little torn down and full of dilapidated buildings, and told me there are a lot of Muslims (mostly from Pakistan) and Asians in Birmingham. We then drove to a city in the outskirts, where the training center is based.
I admit I didn't know what to expect, so I was a teeny bit taken aback to be led into this old building that looked like it might fall over anytime. But the inside wasn't so bad. We have a lounge, a conference room, dorm rooms (I'm living with 12 other girls and sharing a communal bathroom - pretty much same as college), laundry facilities, a wonderful cook, and even a library. I was a little bit traumatized by the showers at first. I thought they were open showers, but it turned out we had shower curtains. And the water pressure was so low the water was literally dripping onto my hair, drop by drop. But then I realized that was the only shower head that was so bad; the other three were not much better, but an improvement at least.
As I looked around at my surroundings, I realized - I am on a mission trip. What did I expect?? So it's taking some getting used to, but I am getting used to things here. I was a bit jet lagged at first, but it's better now. And I was a bit overwhelmed by all the different nationalities here - there are people from France, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Spain, Korea, Austria, USA, Australia, Mauritius, Nigeria... everywhere. It's pretty amazing. For most of them, English isn't their first language, so it was and is still a little difficult trying to understand them in their halting English. I think it will be interesting trying to communicate for the next few months with some of them, but I'm sure their English will improve by leaps and bounds by then.
So the first two nights I kept questioning myself - Why on earth am I here?? Why did I fly across the globe to come and suffer in this place with a ton of other people instead of staying in the wondrous comfort of home?? Why do I keep trying to make myself move out of my comfort zone?? Seriously, WHAT am I doing here?
The thought of going home crossed my mind several times, but I knew I couldn't. I wouldn't. I guess I was a little homesick and exhausted from the traveling (by the way, Emirates is, without a doubt, the BEST AIRLINE EVER. Their TV screens are TWICE the size of SIA, they have tons of leg space, AND they even have twinkling stars in the ceiling when the lights turn off! Plus the air stewardesses have awesome headgear! The food is good too). I was a little overwhelmed by the people here, too, and I wondered again why I left all my friends back home to come here and be forced to make new friends again. All in all, I just didn't know why God wanted me here, but I do know He wants me here, because I am here, and He must have some sort of purpose for me for the next 4 months.
So yesterday was a good day. We went through orientation, got to explore the tiny town and its tiny mall, learned more about the ministries here, and we bonded as a team, so it was good. And it's funny how movies can bring people together - even though we're from all over the world, we were thoroughly entertained by the movie 'She's the Man.' haha.
So yeah. God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good. I'm learning a lot, and there's a lot to process, but this is a pretty amazing experience, and I'm grateful to be here.
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