Culture Shock

Fourteen hours on a plane is a long time. And to get back on the right schedule, I had to try to stay awake for as much of it as possible. So, I watched a few movies (Lars and the Real Girl, the Savages, Empire of the Sun), a couple of TV shows (Top Chef, How I met your Mother, CSI Miami), and continued to push thorough Midnight's Children, the book club book that has lasted way longer than it should have! I also ate a wide variety of confusing meals. When you're on a plane for that time, switching through time zones, you lose track of whether you are hugry, thirsty, bored, or asleep...so whenever they bring food, you just eat it. Luckily, the food was good in business class, and the chairs were the kind that lie down most of the way. I managed about 4 hours of restless sleep. Krisi did a little better, but mainly because she's finishing off the holiday with a bad cold. Even our fun airport game "spend your last Thai baht as creatively as possible" wasn't able to make her feel a whole lot better. But we do have some gummi elephants and a box of "Amazing Thai Dessrts" to show for it!

We got into LA at about 8pm, waited in line for immigration for about an hour, waited in line to get out of baggage claim for about a half hour, and then waited for our hotel shuttle for about an hour. Whenever a car would honk I found myself looking around for a taxi or a TukTuk. In Thailand, people honk all the time, to invite you ito the taxi, or even just to say a friendly hello to a friend on the street. I forgot that honks are acts of aggression, here in North America! I was also very confused about why the driver of the shuttle bus was on the wrog side.

By the time we got to the very fabulous "Travelodge LAX," we were so exhausted we pretty much fell into our beds (with a little help from cold meds for Krisi, and a sleeping pill for me). The reason we picked the Travelodge, initially, was that it was right beside a 24-hour Denny's. We figured we'd be craving a big american breakfast after weeks of asian food. We sat down, ordered, and were pretty much blown away by the portions we received, barely making a dent in half of it. No wonder north americans are sufferig from an epidemic of obesity! On the pro side, the showers here rock. I feel perfectly squeeky clean. Oh! And cheese! There is cheese in the Air Canada lounge. Cheese, my friend, it has been too long.

But oh, how I will miss the street vendors! Anywhere you go you can get a quickly made phad thai or noodle soup, balls of mystery protein on sticks, and a freshly cut pineapple or mango with chillies! And I do love picture menus.

We're soon to board our final flight of this trip. I am looking forward to unpacking, sleeping in my own bed, seeing my family and friends, seeing Merlin. I've saved myself the guilty pleasure of a few trashy magazines for just before boarding.

I've been thinking about whether or not I am going to continue blogging. I've really enjoyed blogging about my trip and the feedback I have received has been really nice. I know that many of my close friends have been reading...and I've even gotten comments and emails from some newer friends! Even my mom (who regularly calls to ask me how to work her computer, or what she should click to get the thing back that disappeared when she clicked the other thing) has gotten into the action...reading regularly and emailing me! Good going, mommy! But my everyday life isn't particularly blogworthy, and I don't think I'm much of the "poetry / virtual hug - pass it on / 10 things you didn't know about me" type. We'll see, I guess. I mentioned this to Krisi and she said, quite simply, "I guess we'll have to do more things in Montreal worth blogging about, like hikes and stuff." OK. I like it. Sounds like a plan.