Home again, home again

Okay, it's a little belated. And it's not international. But I think it's always best to let people know that we made it home alive.

I thought I'd write a post about our Pan-Asian Airport Tour 2011. I was shuttled through Hong Kong and Tokyo, while Carla spent several hours in South Korea. My flight ended up having an eventful start-- I got an email the day before letting me know that my original flight had been cancelled and giving me a new schedule, only to arrive at the airport and be told that I was not booked on the flights I was told about. It took me two entire hours of talking to various people on the phone and in person before I straightened it out, but in the end I made all my connections and got to Hawaii in one piece. There, I attended the wedding of two dear college friends, slept little, and had an altogether splendid time!

Meanwhile, Carla stuck around in Bangkok for a few more days and then made her flight to California. I joined her here in the Bay Area on Saturday and have been really enjoying being home! From here, Carla will go to Barcelona for the summer to lead high school kids in a summer program, and I will go back to El Paso to work for the family business for a little while. After that? Who knows! You'll have to ask us when the time comes...

I will close (my portion of) this (episode of the) blog with a short list of things I REALLY, REALLY appreciate about being in the United States.

-Being able to take a shower without worrying about keeping my mouth closed to avoid ingesting unsafe water
-Being able to drink from the tap (and water fountains!!)
-Not being quite obviously foreign and therefore targetable for scams, tuk-tuk hassles, etc.
-FIXED PRICES. No more haggling!
-Automatic flush toilets. NOT!!!! I hate those and was really sorry the first time one flushed under me.
-Normal hair. For some reason, my hair turns into a big frizzy mess on foreign soil. It got completely back to normal after just one wash!

I'm sure there are many more things, but I guess I've already started to take them for granted!

So long, dear readers, and thanks for joining us on our journey!