I woke up in my nice hotel room at about 9, cleaned myself up, and got ready for the last (and longest) stretch of my journey home. I had about 27 euro left, plus a large
Ziploc bag full of coins that I had planned on giving to gypsies but never quite got around to it. I wanted to go on a mini shopping spree at an airport store with that remaining money, but unfortunately I had to drop most of it on a ripoff cab ride to the airport. Turns out my fancy hotel didn't have a complimentary shuttle service.
Customs at the gate to my flight were intense. They had several agents there with individual podiums,
interrogating each person. The lady interviewing me asked me for my itinerary for my journey, and I told her that I was actually just heading home. She kept leaving to talk to her colleagues, which I thought meant that I was in trouble. Actually, it was her first day on the job, so she was still training. She said that my passport showed that I had been to several different places and asked me to tell her about business in each country. "I've been to like 15 different countries this year...do you want me to tell you about each of them?" I asked. "No, how about just tell me about Turkey and Tunisia." I assured her that I hadn't converted to Islam...I just rode a camel and smoke hookah.
The flight wasn't too bad, though my personal tv kind of let me down. All the movies and songs that showed up on the screen were misalligned, so everytime I selected a movie or song to play, it played a completely different one. At one point I wanted to get up, maybe throw a few things, and punch the screen, but then the meal cart came around and gave us lunch.
After I think about 10 hours, I landed in Spokane, went through customs again, and then got picked up by my dad. We went to Andrew's soccer game that night. It was senior night, and they blew out Issaquah 6-0. They're looking pretty strong right now heading into the playoffs.
Being home is pretty strange. It doesn't feel like I've been gone so long. Usually, after I've been away at school for a few months and come home on break, I get a strange feeling as I pull into the neighborhood. I didn't get it this time. I felt like I was just coming home after a normal day in the valley. North Bend's just as beautiful as ever, so green. I am absolutely loving the fresh mountain air that I haven't been able to enjoy for so long. As I was staring out the window yesterday, looking at Mount Si, I made a connection. The sight of Mount Si has always been a defining image for me, but when I was away from it for so long, it was replaced by the Duomo in Florence. They really share that same power, beauty, and majesty.
All in all, it's great to be home. I'm a little restless and the jetlag is kind of confusing me, but it's been a decent transition so far.
