Auckland to Olympia

July 30, 2009

This is the end of my trip! It’s been a wonderful month down under but I’m definitely ready to be back home. There was frost outside of Raven’s house on the 28th and now it’s the 30th and it’s 104 degrees in Seattle. Yipes! That’s like a 70 degree jump. This’ll be interesting.

I got up, got ready and tried to be quiet because of the other occupant in my room. She was STILL asleep. She had gone to bed at 9 or earlier and was still in bed. I packed and got ready to check out at 10 and she was still asleep. I don’t know why it annoyed me so much but it did. I guess it’s because I hated being quiet the entire time. LOL. Anyway, I went to a cafe for breakfast and finally had kiwi french toast. Yummy! I then headed outside to wait for the bus to the airport. I was incredibly early but knew there wasn’t anything really worth doing in an hour so I waited for the bus. The bus came behind another bus and didn’t wait to pick up their passenger. The other bus driver honked at him, trying to get his attention but he wasn’t interested in stopping. It’s a good thing I was early! I waited 20 more minutes and this time I got on no problem. I headed to the airport, got my luggage, checked in and headed to the duty free area to buy more last minute stuff. I went through customs, which surprised me, and then waited for my gate to be called.

I had an aisle seat on the plane but it was in the middle row, being a 747. No one sat next to me or next to the guy on the other side of the middle row so we had two seats open between us. Score! I could actually lay out to sleep, not that I could sleep a lot. Really, nothing to report on the plane. LOL.

I landed in LA and went through customs. Raven had told me that she loves coming back to NZ because the customs agents say “Welcome home”. I’m happy to report that when I went through US customs, the agent said exactly the same thing to me! Yep, welcome home! No issues going through customs and the atmosphere felt so much better than 5 years ago when I came back to the US. I’m not sure if it’s just time passing after 9/11 or if it’s the change in administration or both but it was nice to not be made to feel like a criminal going back to the country. Yay! I had a 6 hour layover in LAX and headed back to Seattle. My dad picked me up at the airport, we went out for dinner and I headed back to Olympia where Chloe was waiting for me. I’m home!!!

July 30, 2009

This is the end of my trip! It’s been a wonderful month down under but I’m definitely ready to be back home. There was frost outside of Raven’s house on the 28th and now it’s the 30th and it’s 104 degrees in Seattle. Yipes! That’s like a 70 degree jump. This’ll be interesting.

I got up, got ready and tried to be quiet because of the other occupant in my room. She was STILL asleep. She had gone to bed at 9 or earlier and was still in bed. I packed and got ready to check out at 10 and she was still asleep. I don’t know why it annoyed me so much but it did. I guess it’s because I hated being quiet the entire time. LOL. Anyway, I went to a cafe for breakfast and finally had kiwi french toast. Yummy! I then headed outside to wait for the bus to the airport. I was incredibly early but knew there wasn’t anything really worth doing in an hour so I waited for the bus. The bus came behind another bus and didn’t wait to pick up their passenger. The other bus driver honked at him, trying to get his attention but he wasn’t interested in stopping. It’s a good thing I was early! I waited 20 more minutes and this time I got on no problem. I headed to the airport, got my luggage, checked in and headed to the duty free area to buy more last minute stuff. I went through customs, which surprised me, and then waited for my gate to be called.

I had an aisle seat on the plane but it was in the middle row, being a 747. No one sat next to me or next to the guy on the other side of the middle row so we had two seats open between us. Score! I could actually lay out to sleep, not that I could sleep a lot. Really, nothing to report on the plane. LOL.

I landed in LA and went through customs. Raven had told me that she loves coming back to NZ because the customs agents say “Welcome home”. I’m happy to report that when I went through US customs, the agent said exactly the same thing to me! Yep, welcome home! No issues going through customs and the atmosphere felt so much better than 5 years ago when I came back to the US. I’m not sure if it’s just time passing after 9/11 or if it’s the change in administration or both but it was nice to not be made to feel like a criminal going back to the country. Yay! I had a 6 hour layover in LAX and headed back to Seattle. My dad picked me up at the airport, we went out for dinner and I headed back to Olympia where Chloe was waiting for me. I’m home!!!

UPDATE: Oh my goodness, how could I forget to mention the flight from LAX to Seattle?! First of all, in my LONG layover I was getting close to boarding the plane when I looked over at the seats and saw a girl that looked a lot like one of my former students. Then I saw her twin. OMG, it was the Drama Twins!!! Joyce knows of whom I speak. They were in California with their mom and partner and they were very excited to see me. It was funny because they were freaking out saying "Are we really in California?! We're not in Shelton". Ha ha. THEN I got on the plane and while I was walking down the aisle I saw one of my favorite professors from HUC, Dr. Cutter. He was happy to see me and arranged so that I traded seats with someone so that I could sit next to him. It was a wonderful 2 1/2 hours talking with him. He said that the school sees it as one of its biggest failures that I left the program. Wow! He said that a lot of people assumed I'd be back after a leave of absence, including himself. There's no way I'd pursue that path again but it's nice to hear. Funny how no one from the college ever contacted me if they were so concerned about me leaving. He also asked me about my thoughts on our year in Israel. A few years ago, I may have sugar coated what I thought but not now. I told him exactly what I thought of my experience and he thanked me for my honesty. He really was one of my favorite professors in LA and I may have blogged a few years ago (it would have been in 2005) about when he took me to a Dodgers game and when he called my phone and left a message when he heard I was leaving. I should go back and reread the post because I seem to remember transcribing the message onto here. Anyway, it was strange to have my own students and my own professor on the same flight as I'm feeling very jet lagged and out of sorts but it was truly an amazing conversation and I was glad that I hadn't flown standby for an earlier flight.