Last update!

Jesse is in Kansas City!! (Not home just quite yet, but should be within 30 minutes or so.)

Los Angeles

Jesse just called me at work and he's in LA! In Tokyo, when he was waiting for his flight to Seattle, there was one boarding a couple gates down to LA, so he walked over and asked if there were any first class or business seats open, and he got the very last business seat. 2 hour wait until he boards the flight to Denver, and he should be back in KC around 6. Shew...my updates can finally slow down now!

The Long Flight

Jesse landed in Tokyo a little after midnight last night (our time). He was again going to e-mail if he didn't make the next flight, and I didn't hear anything, so he should be in the air heading to Seattle now. At least once this flight is done, he will have all of the majorly long ones out knocked out! I know this is silly, because he is still far away, but just having him on the same chunk of land seems so much nicer. Anyway, I'm hoping that I will get an actual phone call once he is back in the states. Until then, I'm off to get ready for work!

Next flight...

Alright, I got an e-mail from Jesse around 4:15 and he was getting ready to go check in for his flight out of Hong Kong. He was only going to e-mail me again if he didn't make it on. Over 2 hours later and I have no e-mails....so I am taking that as a very good sign.

The weary traveler is on his way home!

So I got up this morning hoping to have an e-mail from Jesse, and he is back at the airport now. This is his flight plan (in his exact words!)

Change of plans, again (are you surprised)
Tomorrow,
Hong Kong to Tokyo
Tokyo to Seattle
Seattle to Denver
Denver to Kansas City.

If all goes well, I will arrive in Kansas City at 5:57pm. If not, then it will be later. These are by far the most open flights though. the tightest one is leaving Hong Kong.

He has a 12 hour wait in the Hong Kong airport, which would be nighttime there - he hoped to stay in the transit lounge to sleep and shower there before heading over for his flight, but immigration wouldn't let him back out, so he said he's sleeping by the ticket counters and won't get to shower after all.

So, let's hope he makes all the flights and doesn't get sick on them. (Staying with Rex, he had some good Filipino cuisine...)

Jesse Update #4

Jesse should be starting his last day in Manila about now. Last time I heard from him, he mentioned that he's really enjoying the trip and has gained some clarity about his life goals/direction. (I promised that I wouldn't drill him with questions about this until after he's rested up...but after a good nap, he's fair game!) I'll update again when I know he's made it to the airport and is on his way home. ***new update from e-mail I just got about two minutes ago: flights are really filling up fast...pray there is space for him!*** In the meantime, here is an interesting factoid he told me about South Korea:

The urinals flush twice. Once when you walk up to them, and once when you walk away.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

I used to LOVE that game. (Never did I except to be playing it with my husband though...) Just wanted to do a third update real quick...he made it to Manila just fine. Flights on his return trip are filling up fast, so he's thinking about leaving earlier than planned. Not too sure yet...I just get random e-mails like this one:

"these are my options: flt 702 to ICN departs at 1320, arrive at 1800 / flt 918 to HKG departs at 1745 arrive at 1945"

Can't say I blame him for the shortness though. There are some things I will never forget about my time in the Philippines, and trying to use the internet there is one of them. It honestly takes a virtue that transcends patience.

In any case, Mrs. Nikkel won't be sad if he has to come home early due to flights filling up.

Jesse Update #2

Jesse had his day exploring Seoul. He said he felt very safe and comfortable everywhere he went. The scariest thing was apparently the food, as he was afraid to eat from the street vendors (although he said it did look tasty), but he didn't want to get sick and then have troubles on the flight to Manila. Also, we had both talked about the weather in the Philippines before he left, which of course, is stinking hot. However, we didn't really talk much about weather in Korea right now...which is stinking cold. Jesse finally broke down and bought himself a jacket, although he said he was "chilled to the bone", which we all know is a rare thing for Jesse! Anyway, I think between not eating much during the day (he did have granola bars and teddy grahams that I had bought for him to take along) and being so cold all day, he is starting to feel pretty wiped out.

On top of that....he had to make a minor change of plans. He was going to stay the night in the airport again and then take off for Manila the next day. However, when he went to go back to the airport, they didn't want to let him in without a boarding pass. Flying standby on a morning flight, he didn't have a boarding pass. Well, he managed to get Asiana to issue him a boarding pass flying stand-by on a flight that left that night, but he really wanted to just stay in Korea for the night, so he thought at least that boarding pass would get him into the airport, and then once he got in, he could just have them change it to the morning flight that he originally wanted. Well, once he got in, they wouldn't change it. He didn't want to leave the airport again and come back in the morning, because he thought that may send up some red flags with immigration, questioning why he would come and go twice in 24 hours. So, needless to say, he's already off to Manila and was going to get a hotel room there for the night, and meet Rex the next day as planned.

So, let's see...with the time difference, that means that right now he is probably on his flight to Manila, and then as we are all heading to bed, he will be waking up and getting ready to meet Rex that afternoon.

Jesse Update

I just thought I would give everyone a quick "Jesse update" to keep you in the loop (and I know he'd sure love lots of prayers while he's on the trip!) He flew through San Francisco to Seoul (South Korea) and arrived early early this morning our time (evening in Seoul). He got first class on the plane, which he was very excited about because they have the lay down beds in the cabins. He also said the food on the plane was really good. Anyway, he was going to sleep in the airport (trivia tidbit: Seoul's airport has been voted "best airport for sleeping"). When he wakes up, he'll go exploring Seoul for the day and then will fly out to Manilla next, where his friend, Rex, should be waiting for him. Thankfully, because the Olympics were once held in Seoul, their public transit is marked in both Korean and English, so that will be very helpful for Jesse to get around. He sounds like he's feeling pretty good and things have been very smooth for him so far. Anyway, so if you read this today (Saturday) you can pray that he is sleeping well right now in the airport...and if you wake up in the middle of the night tonight, you can pray that he's having fun exploring the city....that's it for now...more later....

Kitchen In Progress

What I spared you all from was the photo where Jesse insisted on showing me his "plumber's crack". Your welcome. After a while, home projects make you act stupid.
Horton and Abe like to help make dinner...
...but most of all, they like snuggle time.

Sort of Book Review, but Not Really

My mom bought Jesse a so-called early birthday present. It's Anderson Cooper's book, Dispatches from the Edge. I stole it last Monday and finished it up Tuesday (ah, the joys of having a job where my boss lets me read personal items on the clock). It reads extremely fast, and I don't think I would have enjoyed it nearly as much, had it not been laced with Cooper's interpretation of how his own past ties into his current life's viewings (aka: genocide, death, etc.) While not extremely personal, it's just enough transparency to warrant some sort of space in your heart for the man. Somehow reading it, I also saw bits and pieces of Jesse. Parts of the book made me angry enough to question whether any media tool can be fully used for good, or whether it more often than not just gives cowards in disguise a place to hide while they tell themselves they are heroes who are bringing us stories to "change the world" I once heard a story (probably from Jesse..or either I read it in his Photo District News magazine) about a photographer who was shooting a piece on starvation. At a critical moment in his life, and the life of his subject, he chose to press the button and snap a photo of a starving child reaching for bread. The child died reaching. Upon returning from the trip, the photographer committed suicide, presumably haunted by the question of whether he could have saved the child's life by reaching the bread for him instead of simply photographing the reach. I suppose there is no good answer, yet when I would read about an adernaline rush in Cooper's book, or the hunt for the most tragic of all scenes, I couldn't help but wonder what humanity is. On one hand, the Western public demands shocking images before being moved to action. On the other, this demand seems to fuel some sort of twisted pursuit for horror. Cooper describes one scene, in which he videotaped a woman being beaten, called a whore, and led away to who knows where by a group of men. He said when he was shooting it, he knew it would never make a news story, but he still shot it - relatively safe behind his camera, behind a wall at his hotel. Did he make the right choice, or did he use his camera to be a coward? I don't have the answer to that question.

More Kitchen

Jesse and I headed out to an early lunch this morning, then walked the dogs, and Jesse headed off to work. I decided to start digging in on the kitchen and ripping off the backsplash. It's always interesting as you dig into deeper into houses. Layer by layer, you see new patterns, and it always makes me wonder who lived here before and what stories they have to tell. In this case, there is some nice wallpaper peeking out for the first time in years. A nice little house and tree scene, which I imagine was up in the 50's. I got one section completely finished, but decided to give it a break and have a little snack before I start in on the next section.

We went to Lowe's yesterday to order our countertops. We had gotten a "rough estimate" from a guy there before, but when we went to order and get the exact pricing, we realized that "rough estimate" we got was indeed very rough....needless to say, our selection was quickly narrowed back down to the four in stock countertop patterns that they carry, which are ironically now the exact same patterns Home Depot carries since their recent "change over". Anyway, it was slightly disappointing, but also exciting because that means we don't have to wait four weeks to get counters, thus is why I started chiseling off the old backsplash today. I'm hoping I can get the majority of it off today.

Anyway, here's how incredibly cool I look while doing home projects....eat your heart out.