Thursday, December 18

December 18th 1:50 (Aus time)

We got off the plane, and WOW what a contrast. There is so much difference between the US border patrol and the Australian Border patrol. They started cracking jokes and I was so stunned, I just stared back at them thinking "Can they DO that? Are they allowed to do that?"

Squinting at them... Cocking the head...

Not just one of them either. About 3 or 4 different employees. All cracking jokes. Wow... what a contrast... They are NICE... Are they allowed to be? hehe... I'm glad they are!

December 18th 12:01 (Home time) 6:01 (Aus. Time)

So inbetween turning off and on the lights in the cabin/ seating area, we skipped a day. The 17th of December passed in a few seconds. I finally fot up out of my seat during our 13.5 hour flight, and found my ancles to be swollen as well as my toes.

----(time passes)-------

It's been an hour since I wrote last, and all the swelling has gone down pretty much. Amber, Mom, and Roxsane all had the same issue.

It's really cool looking our the windows. The clouds below are teh only thing we can see. I believe we are still over teh ocean right now. The sun is out and it has illuminated everything. It's very angelic or heavenly. I took some photos of the ocean when the clouds parted. I's excited. This is going to be so new!

----(time passes)-------

WE'VE LANDED!
& THERE'S NO SNOW!

and my next thought is... "Where's my deoderant?"

December 16th 9:13pm

Different airport, and different carpet.

San Fransisco. Excuse the judgement, but this carpet is very much more bland than the last one.
More people. Everywhere. Laying on benches, sprawled out, sitting crosslegged. Makes me wonder what some of them are thinking... but not really. It would take too long to discover what everyone was thinking.

There is a very interesting social psychology going on here. This it the United States. Very interesting... Keep that point in mind here. Roughly every five minutes a female voice comes through the intercom with an extremely interesting statement. (The last statement I heard, ironically, took place at 9:11pm) The statement was like (but not exactly like) this: "San Fransisco Airport has a threat level Orange. Help us keep the threat to a minimum by keeping bags attended at all times, and reporting any suspicious activities or persons, and any baggage that is left unattended by calling 911."

Qua?

I could look at anyone, and I'm sure I could find something suspicious about them. Everyone is suspiciously abnormal (some of them in a normal kind of way).

There is a mindset here that was not present at the last airport. The last one (Canadian may I remind you) said the same basic thing (about not leaving your bags unattended) but they said it without all the kerfuffle about threats or breaches in safety something or other... They seemed at least a little bit more in control. They never said anything about 'Orange'. If anyone is familiar with the forest fire scale, it goes from green (no risk of fires) to yellow (slight risk), ro orange (risk of fire), to red (extreme risk of fire). So that makes me site the question "Qua?" We are in a threat level Orange? Is that constant here at this airport or just since 9/11?

At least it's a little bit warmer weather. But their carpets are still numbingly bland.

December 16th... 5:40pm

This is day one. I am staring at carpet... That is, when I'm not staring at this pencil and the page beneath it. Every few minutes I glance out the enormous windows to somehow satisfy my curiosity regarding our flight. There isn't very much that glancing out the window provides in the way of updated info.

At one point, one jet plane (the largest I've seen so close up) went round in circles on the run way for seemingly no reason. It appears to have parked on the runway itself, blocking traffic... don't ask me though, because I'm Canadian, and apparently Canadians don't know anything.

I'm staring at the carpet wondering "Is this Canadian soil or American?" We have finally passed through the lineups, boarding pass area, border, and luggage checking area. We deduced that most of the officers assisting us MUST have been American, because they didn't laugh at our jokes or smile when we smiled at them. And that doesn't shine well for the American populous, but it's the most logical conclusion here at the border.

We have passed the border line where they scrupilously checked us and re-checked us to make sure that we aren't terrorist threats. So my question is, have we crossed onto American soil? Here in Calgary, beyond those winding hallways and 'dutiful' border patrol officers, is there an American sanctioned spit of land that is American soil? Is the carpet I am staring at, claimed or purchased by the Americans?

Anyway, our floight... well we missed it. The first one anyway. We are trying for the second one now. The first time we hadn't located my aunt yet because of a delayed connecting flight. So we re-scheduled and here we are. FINALLY.

No offense to Americans... I love most Americans. It's just the border patrol Americans who tend to show no emotion other than irratableness, and give off the distinctive aura of being smarter than all Canadians, thereby placing us kindly in the "Stupid Canadians" slot.

I look out the window again. It will be good to leave those mounds of snow behind. And the Americans.