Highlights of my Day... Sunday, July 27

1. Getting up at 3am for my 4:30am bus after a mere three hours sleep was actually easier than expected. Now saying goodbye to Mi Nam for three weeks… much, much harder than expected. No sooner had the door closed but I already missed him.

2. Q squatted down on the floor after I passed through the airport gate, watching me for as long as he could, all the while I thought in my head, “I sure hope this time will be different than last time”. Last time I went to Canada, I returned to Korea totally questioning things… everything. I don’t want that this time, I can’t have that this time. And so, having said that, this trip to Canada will give me a definite answer as to whether or not I am ready to take the next step with my relationship with Q.

3. My journey to Canada started off on a bit of a bad note but I always have great experiences with traveling cause, well, things always just seem to work out for me, always have, always will. So this bad note I mentioned, it was this dude who looked Iranian. He was arguing with a male Korean airport worker about his passport. The Korean worker didn’t speak much English and was refusing to let him on the plane and so I offered to help. I could see the Korean man was so stressed and so I tried my best to make sense and translate what he was saying to the Iranian man but gave up when I sensed myself clenching my fists and wanting to upper cut the Iranian man for his total lack of manners. Two dudes walked by us and joked, saying that he looked like a terrorist. Definitely not something to joke about and so it only made the Iranian man more mad. Finally they let him on the plane, he was escorted on, escorted off upon arrival, and the whole time I kept my eye on him.

4. Heading into Beijing, China was pretty cool. The airport was buzzing with Olympic athletic teams all dressed from head to toe in uniforms. But as for the airport its’ self, not a good experience. My four hour wait in between flights ended up turning into only an hour wait after figuring out where to go cause of their total lack of signs, having to take a train and a bus to the other terminal, and then waiting in line to use an automatic kiosk machine to check in… not fun. And to top it off, my emailed itinerary said I had to travel next to New York but the only signs I found were for Newark. I joked, saying that they spelt it wrong. Turns out my itinerary was wrong and Newark is in New Jersey… little American geography lesson for me, nice. Regardless, I give Beijing’s airport one star for it’s total lack of organization and lack of signs/directions. And to think, they’re going to be hosting the Olympics in about two weeks?! Oh gosh…

5. When traveling alone, I never fail to have a great seating partner, random guys who willingly carry my bags for me, people who offer me food (or in the case of the New Jersey airport, a magazine and a borrowed coat), and airport security who always pull me out of the lines. In New Jersey I had to take off my belt and shoes but upon taking off my belt, I realized that unless I totally wanted to moon the crowd, bending over to take off my heels… no worries… that’s why God created men… just joking. Not only did some random security guy help me take off my shoes, but he also then put them back on for me and refold the bottom of my jeans… ahhh, the power of being a female… hehehe.

6. Got pulled out of the crowd by another random security man while getting my bags. He drilled me on where I was going and where I was coming from. Asking me questions as to what my job was and so forth. Upon asking me what my job was, I told him I was a professional boxer. He responded with, “You’re not going to punch me, are you?” whereas I answered, “..professional, not amateur, but keep asking me a million questions and I might punch ya one on the house.” I was pushing my luck with that comment but he loved it… hehehe. My mom says it’s cause I’m cute that I got through customs with a over sized bags full of over-the-limit liquor, nuts, and plant seeds.

7. Finally it was time for me to board my last of the three planes. It was a smaller plane with only 76 seats. My seating partner was this super cool young grandmother of 7 grandchildren, Cool Cat, who had me giggling in no time with her “I love the Internet… I love Facebook, so cool!” stories… hehehe. We chatted the whole flight, barely stopping for breaths in between our conversations… hehehe. No sooner had our tiny plane taken off but then we hit turbulence. Our cute little plane dropped, causing my feet to rise from the floor. I instantly grabbed unto the arm rests and clinched Cool Cat’s hand. This went on for a bit, us dropping in the sky and then smoother patches of flight. Some people closed their eyes, others felt like they were going to puke, but all felt uncomfortable and stressed. I tried to make a joke to Cool Cat, to ease the tension. “Oh no!” I blurted out. “I didn’t just travel for over 20 hours to die in my last hour of flight!”

8. Then it came time for me to walk out of the airport gates and meet my parents. Instantly I spotted my dad’s Pollack head in the crowd and so I called out to him. He took my picture and then ran up to me. We hugged and then my mom came to hug me too. Feels so strange to think that it’s been so long since I last saw them.

9. My parents picking me up reminded me of when they use to pick me up from horse-riding summer camp. I’d talk non-stop and then pass out from exhaustion… from talking too much… hehehe. Same went for last night. I wanted to tell them about everything and anything. My stories were so scatter brained and random… hehehe. We headed over to Tim Horton’s for my much anticipated and much craved for coffee… and it was delicious, mind ya, after drinking Korea’s shot glass sized coffee, my small sized Timmy's was way too much coffee for me and instantly sent me into hyper mode! I wasn't feeling jetlag and hadn't slept much on the plane, but it felt weird knowing that I left Sunday morning, Korean time, and arrived Sunday night, Canadian time. I had traveled well over 24 hours and yet, cause of the time change, arrived the same day... so weird... hence the long posting today ;)

10. Walking into my house where I grew up felt great. Seeing my cat Scrappy-Joe was awesome… she remembered me!!! She’s lost a lot of weight and so with her mounds of fur she feels more like a deflated teddy bear. I figure she’s about 12 now but doesn’t have much time left, sadly enough. She’s as happy as ever but because of her crazy sneezing fits, slippers are a must now in my house and the kitchen window constantly has to be wiped cause of her oozing nose and bad drooling… hehehe.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
I am finally here, now what?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
— St. Augustine