More Orienting

In just 8 hours I will be on a plane to LA then Hong Kong then Cambodia. Wow. I feel ready and excited and at peace. A huge group of us heading to Southeast Asia will be traveling together all the way to Hong Kong. It should be a party.

But before that happens, let me give all of you a few more fun facts about orientation:

• In addition to the e-coli outbreak, I experienced another first this week. A tornado warning. Yeah. On Tuesday night at dinner a staff member stood up and calmly told us to all evacuate to the basement. (By the way, this was a first for SALT orientation. Tornadoes are not common here) We were only down there for about 20 minutes, but the whole thing was hilarious. But, the story gets better.
• On Wednesday morning at 5:30 AM, my roommate and I woke up to a horrible siren. I mean a 2 minute long, bombs are about to be dropped on us, harbinger of death siren. We open our eyes at the same time, look at each other, and say "that's a tornado siren." Our response is to go to the bathroom, put on clothes, and head outside. I was expecting a crowd of 100 panicking people. But instead, we find 3 other people, staring at the sky. No one else woke up. We are a very prepared group of 5- we've got clothes on, water bottles, and in a few cases, our passports. We go online to see if there is a tornado warning and there isn't. Then, after about 20 minutes we read in a notebook that those sirens mean that the volunteer fire department is being called to duty. The town is so small the firefighters sleep at home. At breakfast, people didn't even believe us! But, if there had been a tornado, we totally would have saved everyones lives! It was pretty hilarious overall.
• And yes, afterwards I realized that if tornado sirens existed, they would have gone off the night before. What can I say? I'm good in emergency situations : )
• On the last night, we had an international talent show. I was part of an act doing America's national and only original dance- Cotton-eyed Joe or in other words, line dancing. Gotta love it. But it was pretty great joining with dancers from Africa, South America, and the Middle East.

This whole week has been amazing. A good learning experience. The people here are so beautiful. From every continent, sharing their love for Jesus and their desire to serve humanity. Its truly been a privilege. We are living proof that mankind can live together in peace.