in transit

So it's only Thursday afternoon thanks to the time change, but it's actually been about three million years since I wrote that last entry. I'm surprising myself by writing another one so soon too, but I've got time during my layover, and plenty to say. 

I'm sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, and my flight starts boarding in an hour and a half. This part of the trip home is always sort of giddy for me, knowing that I'm about to get on my LAST flight. The only better part of the trip is when I'm waiting to get off the plane in Fort Myers, which is when I am so giddy that I can barely control myself, and usually creep people around me out. But I don't care! It's currently 12:20 Dallas time, and I've been travelling for... almost 24 hours exactly now. The trip went, I'm pleased to say, mostly without a hitch (so far!)

I went to bed after hakwon on Wednesday night around 9:30, but didn't manage to fall asleep until almost 10. I slept fitfully until 2, but at least I slept, and then I got up, took a shower, packed my last few things (with no stress), and got into the taxi to the bus station. This time I didn't do a backflip over a bikerack and injure myself within the first hour of travelling, so that's progress. It's my homestay mom's taxi driver friend who always takes me in the early mornings, and he's only seen me... maybe three times total over the past year and a half? So as soon as I got in he started asking me how much weight I'd lost, and how I did it. I'm like, thanks sir, but really, leave me alone. It's 2:45 in the morning. I got there much earlier than expected, and ended up on the 3:00 bus, when I was shooting for the 3:30 bus. And the trip to the airport was only 4 hours, rather than the 4.5 that is advertised, so I arrived at Incheon at 7 for my 9:30 flight... a little earlier than was perhaps necessary. But whatever, I got about 3 hours of sleep on the bus, and I had some time to change my money, get a Subway sub, and hang out, and I wasn't rushed for time. It might've been nice to sleep longer, but oh well. 

I also slept about two hours of my flight to Tokyo, which was unexpected and pleasant. I've been really worried about having 5 hours to sleep on Thursday night before turning around and driving to Orlando to pick up Manuel, so my goal was to sleep as much as humanly possible during travelling. I didn't have high hopes, however, because I never sleep well on planes. The layover in Tokyo was only an hour, just enough time to check my email, and then I was off again. I did get an aisle seat, and I wasn't next to anyone scary or smelly. (I wasn't, unfortunately, next to any sexy Japanese boys either, but I guess you take what you can get.) I was next to an old lady, who despite being talkative and having a very active bladder, was nice enough, I guess. I was going to try to stay awake for the first 8 hours and then sleep for the last four, but I decided to give an afternoon nap a try... successfully. I slept on and off for the first 4 hours, then watched two episodes of The Biggest Loser, read the rest of my book, and went back to sleep for a bonus hour or two at the end. Nice. It wasn't very comfortable, and I'm not sure why I was successful at sleeping this time where I'd failed so many times before, but I wasn't complaining. 

I'm so happy that my sore throat went away completely. I had a couple of runny nose moments during the flight, but nothing sustained, and I made sure to take my antibiotics because I do not want to get sick again. I arrived in Dallas and made it through immigration. I'm not sure why, but I always get emotional when one of the immigration people says "Welcome home." I remember crying when I left Ireland after my first month-long vacation, but I cried even harder when the plane touched down in America. It was my first time away from the country, and it just really moved me to be back in my country. Since then my response has always been similar, although lessened in intensity. This time it was just a little lump in my throat. It reminds me of that scene in Closer when Natalie Portman comes back to America at the end and someone says "Welcome home" to her. Anyway, it always makes me feel warm inside for a few moments. My luggage arrived, and I got through customs. I didn't even have to lie and say I didn't have any food or alcohol this time. I re-checked my bag to Fort Myers, bought a toothbrush and toothpaste, and felt like a human being again. 

And here I am, with my layover almost finished, getting ready to get on my last flight home. I'm excited, because I have the movie Donnie Brasco rented on iTunes, and it's two hours long, which should get me through most of the flight. It has Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, and is a gangster movie, so I'm hoping I'll enjoy it. I feel like I saw part of it, a long time ago, but whatever. 

It's awkward for me to watch foreigners go through airport procedures. I'm not sure why I'm only just now noticing it. It's just been on my mind for this trip. It started with two Korean guys on my flight from Seoul to Tokyo. The flight attendants for Japan Air were Japanese, so they spoke to the Koreans in English, which is interesting. The Koreans had a hard time understanding the question... she was trying to ask if they were staying in Japan or just in transit to another place, and it eventually came out that they were on their way to Australia. It's just funny to watch Asian people interact with each other in English. It gives me a greater appreciation for my work as an English teacher. That's one application I hadn't imagined. 

What isn't funny, though, is watching immigration officers lose their cool and be rude to non-native speakers. Even in the passport control line for American citizens (or permanent residents), there seemed to be some translation issues, and it was just awkward to watch how unfriendly the worker was. I understand to some extent that they're security officers, that it isn't their job to be nice. They're not usually particularly nice to me either, and I speak English. But they can be downright rude to foreigners. I can see it from both sides, I suppose. It's frustrating (I know) to talk to someone who doesn't speak the same language as you, particularly in your own country, and if you do it day in and day out, I can understand having short patience. But these are also some of the first Americans that foreigners encounter. And I would guess that a high percentage of Americans who go travelling don't know the language of the country they're visiting. I watched one customs officer snapping at someone, rattling off instructions and questions one after another at a Japanese student. I also know, from first-hand experience, that it doesn't become any easier to understand if you speak more quickly to me and demonstrate how annoyed you are that I don't understand you. In fact, that just makes me nervous and there's very little chance we can communicate at that point. Surely they understand that? And does being rude to people increase our national security, or make it less likely that they will perpetrate a terrorist attack? I think not. 

Flight attendants are usually much better... because they're in "service" positions, I realize. The more I fly, the more respect I gain for them. I watched a woman greeting a line of customers in three different languages without missing a beat. The Japanese flight attendants seem to be fluent at least in English, and I imagine the Korean Air ones are the same. It also just seems like such a physically and mentally taxing job. It would be fun, I think, in a romanticized sort of way, to be travelling all the time, but I think the job would just be so damn hard and frustrating too. The babies crying, the obnoxious passengers, the long hours being awake... Especially international flights, I guess, would seem unbearable. Short jaunts in the US wouldn't be so bad, although that also wouldn't be as cool a job. I'm not actually considering the profession, it was just something I was thinking about on the plane. 

I really liked the book about women's running that Suzanne sent me for Christmas. I should have taken notes... there was some stuff in there that I really appreciated, and it's renewed my enthusiasm for (and pride in) my own running successes. On the flight to Fort Myers I'm going to re-read a few chapters and create a new training plan for the next few months. It's definitely a fact that I feel much better about myself when I'm exercising regularly, and jogging is the first thing I've actually managed to do for an extended period of time. I did run up against a barrier... I'm not sure I'll ever be a distance runner. I liked running 3 miles a time on a regular basis, and could see myself doing that for the rest of my life, but I'm yet to discover if I have the mental strength to be alone and bored for more than 30 minutes at a time. I'm seriously thinking about starting to train for a marathon... that will let me know if I'm cut out for distance. If not, I could just work on improving my 5k time, and maybe start racing. I'll never be a winner, but it would be nice to work on improving personal records. I also really feel nostalgic for skating lately. I'd like to dig out my old rollerblades and give them a spin again while I'm home. I have a lot of high hopes for this trip... we'll see if I can make it happen and actually get down to that elusive 169. 

Yikes... I wrote a lot. And I'm starting to feel tired, which is, I guess, a good sign. Maybe I'll try to grab a quick nap for 30 minutes before my flight boards. Next time, I'm going to write about The Biggest Loser.