So many things are going to be odd for me: clean public bathrooms (compared to what I have been using), Internet almost everywhere, driving a car (that will be scary), and speaking English all the time.
So, am I ready to come back to the States. I'd say the answer is a biased yes. If I was in Bolivia and still had a couple months worth of travel, I wouldn't even be thinking of the US, I'd be dreaming of the jungles of Peru or Colombia. However, the US is on my mind, who lives in California? how long can I spend in each place? what should I see along the way... I was always anxious to the to the next country, and now that country is home, so I'm ready to get back. Now how soon before I'm ready to leave the States again? Well that's a whole nother question...
The plane ride was rather boring. Now that I'm back on a US airliners, there's no real food, no TVs in the back of my headset, crappy seats, and a staff that complains at every request. I went from watching new movie releases to some crummy NBC programs; I wonder how much NBC paid AA to be the sole provider of entertainment on their flights??
As we fly over Miami, I knew I was in the States. Highways stretch across the vast landscape, uniform suburban neighborhoods, schools with amply athletic fields (real football and baseball!), and nice houses at every turn. I exited the plane and gave a not so serious thank you to the staff, the first time I have exited a plane and not said thank you in a foreign language; that felt good. I made my way to immigrations and for once, headed over to the local's line. Quickly made my way through the line, then, "sir, you passport has been flagged. Just wait here and someone will be right over to clear this up." I couldn't help but laugh a little because I felt that something like this would happen. I was escorted to some holding room with a couple other foreigners and waited, and waited, and waited. After about a hour, my questioning began. This young guy, probably around my age, started to ask me everything, where have you been, how long in each country, how much money did you spend... Before answering the question about money, I asked him what was going on. He said that a black man with the name William Bailey was wanted by immigrations, since I have the same name, I have to go through these questions. About 30 minutes later they started questioning me about the Middle East. This is what I feel like they were really questioning me for. "Why did you go there? How long were you there? Give me a day to day description of what you did in Egypt. Did you make friends with Islamic locals? Where you scared? Why were you not scared? What religion are you? So you are a practicing Christian? Why are you Christian but don't practice? Did you participate in the protests in Cairo? Why were you not scared? Ok sit down." This went on for about a hour. By this time, I had already missed my flight to San Diego.
AA put me on standby for the 5am flight tomorrow morning and recommended a hotel. Since I was stuck with TSA not AA I had to pay for my nights sleep. The US sure does know how to welcome its citizens back home after a long trip.
I didn't really do much with the rest of the day (it's around 7pm now). I got settled into my hostel, grabbed some food from the gas station, pulled out some US bills from the ATM (it was weird seeing that for the first time in 8 months) and grabbed some dinner at a Cuban restaurant.
Even though I'm in the US, I feel like I'm still in South America. Everyone speaks Spanish. The TSA would ask me a question and then consult each other in Spanish, my waitress spoke very little English, and the staff at the hotel also spoke Spanish.
I enjoyed a long hot shower and a comfy be to sleep in.
No comments:
Post a Comment