Sunday, December 26, 2004

Does anybody care?

This is too much work. If anybody cares I'll finish, but man I wrote a lot. I think I would rather just get together with you and talk to you about it. Okay?

So, I went to bed at 7 o'clock last night and I woke up at 5 this morning. Nice. But that means I have to spend hours alone with no one to talk to, so I'll type.

Let me tell you the story of my last couple of days. So, there we are in Tokyo (Narita Airport?) trying to figure out where it is we are suppose to go or what it is we are to do next. Eventually, we ended up in the check-in line for Japan airlines (very nice, by the way) and we were told that we could not sit together on the eleven hour flight home. Joanie told them that she paid for three seats and she wanted them all together. So, after lots of typing on the computer and a phone call, the lady told us that she had three seats together, but they were bulkhead (very front row of a section.) This made me happy because that means no one can lay their seat back onto my lap. This made Joanie unhappy because in bulkhead the armrests don't go up (and that's a bit uncomfortable for us ummm. . . fluffier folk) Well anyway, when we boarded the plane we discovered that we had been upgraded to business class. Oh man, how nice is that? The seats layed ALL the way down. They had foot rests and everything. They were like recliners. That was a very nice eleven hours.

But, when we arrived at Chicago, we discovered that all flights to Dayton had been canceled for the day and that the waiting list for flights after that would leave us in Chicago until after Christmas. I cried. I just wanted to go home. So we had to go stand in a customer service line forever and we found out that all flights to Cincinnati and Columbus were booked until after Christmas also. There was no way we were going home that day. Ug. Finally, we decided to fly into Indianapolis the next day and have our family drive out to get us.

I have never been more happy to see Ashleys face. And I have hugged everybody excessively. Well, not everyone obviously, I haven't seen so many of you. Oh but hugs are the best. Its like, maybe if I squeeze you hard enough you'll know how much I need you.

When we arrived home, they had a Christmas eve/ kaitlynn b-day/ welcome home party. I wasn't feeling very friendly at the time, so Ashley and I hid in the bedroom most of the time. Eventually, I started crying because I just wanted to go home and sleep and not socialize. I have never been so tired.

cue normal Christmas here.

And here we are at today again.
Lessons learned in China:
Getting up early and eating breakfast are both good things for me.
Diet Coke is just as good as Chinese Coke, so why not just drink diet?
Not eating after seven o'clock is a good thing.
If I can walk through the streets of Changsha, I can handle my neighborhood, I need to walk more.
Naps are a bad thing.
I live in a consumer society, and I am addicted to buying things.
Yogurt is good.
pineapple juice is awesome.
Music makes me happy, and two weeks without my choice of it made me sad.
Something can be completely different from what I know and have experienced, and not be wrong.
I should enjoy the simple things, like ice (and my super-fast internet connection)
American money looks funny.
One yuan is equal to 11.8 cents.
Being stared at by masses is flattering and disconcerting.
I STILL want to adopt a baby from china.
China and Japan are way ahead of the U.S. in conservation and recycling efforts.

Im sure there are more, but now I want to post pictures.

Sarah Jo


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