| My Christmas Break, again posted earlier on MySpace |
[Jan. 21st, 2007|01:53 pm] |
It's so odd, sometimes I feel like that student again and sometimes I (regrettably) hear myself being that kind of teacher. Just plain scary!
The Holidays were extremely nice for one reason and one reason only, I got to go HOME! Now there were other good things about Christmas but they were all tied in to that one simple fact of being home. I got to see friends who I really miss (and didn't get to see some that I miss just as much...You know who you are!)! I got to see my family, sleep in my bed, play with my dog, go out to eat at Tex-mex restaurants (interestingly enough, that was actually one of the first things that McEntire and I did when we arrived in LAX while waiting for our connecting flight), use a hot water faucet (if I haven't told you about that...ask!), a nice LONG hot shower, driving my car, and more. But all that I had to be in the US to experience. Unfortunately it was just too short! I wanted to do far more than I actually had time for.
Christmas Day was really nice. I got to help my family first make dinner and then eat all the food that I love and missed on Thanksgiving. Then we opened presents, after which I snuck out and went up to see the McEntires; concluding the evening with Swearingen and Cassidy. I'll have to have to say it really was an awesome Christmas!!!
Now, I will never say that I don't like to travel and I'm rather confident that once this experience is over and about six months have passed I will remember mostly the good stuff, like the friends I have made here, being able to read on my way to work, the Pizza Box, being greeted by (and what I mean by that is that she waves to me across the food court as soon as she sees me) the waitress at the noodle place in Harbor City's food court and her knowing exactly what I want (well not exactly, I ordered ice tea early on because I had a sore throat at the time and she always equates my Spaghetti Genovese with ice tea. I could correct her but it's a nice change), saying hi to the convenience store guy on my way to work, and a bit more. But with all that said, I will also be very happy to be back in the USA.
Back to my Christmas trek; man was it ever difficult to traverse!!! The flight over was challenging enough but the way home ended up with its own trials. Going, McEntire and I left early Thursday morning from Hong Kong and arrived in Texas late Thursday night. All in all, we traveled upwards of 26 hours to get to DFW where we learned that US Airways (a bad bad company right now) did not have our luggage; it was still in Las Vegas (our previous lay over). But that isn't why they are a bad bad airline, it because when I called the next day to check on the luggage, we weren't even in the system. But a redeeming factor, we did get our luggage that day (Friday) or for me I should say that evening.
Jet lag was a bear!
After loosing the luggage on the way home I was hoping things would go smoother on the way back. That was not to happen. McEntire and I left early on the morning of the 30th and arrived back in Hong Kong on the morning of the 1st after traveling about 40 hours. These 40 hours were fraught with layovers, longer flights due to head wind, and cancelled flights (our America West/US Airways flight from Phoenix to LAX was cancelled...luckily our layover in LA was long enough to accommodate this set back and we didn't miss our international flight) but at last, it was over and we arrived home.
Jet lag was a bear again!
Now it's been over a week, I'm finally being able to stay awake past 9:30 in the evenings (I don't think I've ever gone to bed so early so many nights in a row!) and alas, most of the gaudy Christmas decorations in the malls and on the streets here have come down. I've never seen so much time and money put on so many elaborate displays. The mall entrances almost feel vacant without out these mammoth Disney floats.
So what are they going to put up for Chinese New Year (it's said to be bigger than Christmas was!)? |
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