Things that stood out...

Hey all!! Ok...I know I haven't written for awhile. I'm sorry. And...some of you are going to get really mad at me for not writing sooner about what I've been up to. But...I had VERY limited time. That's what I'm going to say about it to try to stop you from getting upset. :)

During the last week, I've frozen my butt off (hard to believe, I know), eaten a boatload of AWESOME food, and had tons of fun catching up with friends and family. But all of this happened outside of my community...it happened in Columbus, Ohio. That's right! I took a quick trip back for Thanksgiving. Some friends of mine were AWESOME and got me an early Christmas present - the ticket back. I was SHOCKED that they would give me a present like that, but I was so appreciative and had so much fun. (Again, I'm REALLY sorry if we didn't get to hang out!! I really do miss you!!)

So, this is only going to be about my trip and the things that I noticed during it. So there isn't too much drama. Skip this one and read the next one if you enjoy the drama. :)

Getting to Columbus was craziness. I got up at 4 in the morning and took a FREEZING bucket bath, the rolled my suitcase down main street in town to the bus stop, where I heaved the thing up onto bus #1 and bus #2 with everyone I encountered on the way staring at me. I took the bus to the terminal in San Salvador, where I took a taxi to the airport. 1.5 hours and $21 later, I happily arrived at the airport with all of my belongings and started to walk through the doors to wait for my 2 PM flight. The guard (there is one stationed outside every entrance) stopped me and asked which airline I was flying. I told him and he said, "What time is your flight?" I told him and he said, "Well, you can't come in yet." I said, "What? Why not?" And he said, "Because your flight doesn't leave for 7 hours and there is no one at the counter." I said, "Well, can't I wait inside instead of on the curb?" He said, "No." (I, too, was amazed that there was no fijateque with that.) I said, "Why not?" He said, "Because it's full." So I looked through the windows at the empty waiting area. And I was just like, "Ok." So I talked to him for the next 2 hours. Nice guy. Then I said I had to go to the bathroom and was allowed in. I didn't go back outside. :)

When the airline personnel got to the counter, I checked in and found out that I had to pay some $30 tax for my ticket. I was like, "Wasn't that included in the price?" "Fijateque, no." So I paid it, leaving me with $5 for the rest of the trip. But, because I could speak spanish pretty well (at least the gate agent could understand me), I was able to score an exit row seat for the first flight!

So, on flight #1, they served us lunches. Oh my goodness!! You know the public transportation food system. It's definitely not 5-star quality food...but...I got chicken and mashed potatoes and I thought that I died and went to heaven. It was SOOOOO good! Every bite, I seriously was actually SAYING, "Oh my goodness....this is SOOOO good!" And the woman next to me, a women's studies professor in the US just looked at me for about 10 seconds and said, "Wow...you must have been down there a LONG time..." I guess it was a little obvious...

So I arrived into Atlanta and it was OBVIOUS I was in the US. Or maybe it was just obvious I was outside of El Salvador. I was actually thinking in spanish, which is amazing since my spanish isn't that good, and had the impulse to say "buenos" (hello, good afternoon/evening, etc.) to EVERYONE...airport security, random passengers, etc. It was VERY odd. And I was thinking, "OK...time to eat some good American food!!" So I visited a food court area and found that my $5 wasn't going to get me anything. So I bought a Reeses, which made me VERY happy. :)

Then I got on my last flight, from Atlanta to Columbus. I arrived at 11 at night and was picked up by my mom, step-dad, and baby bro. They said, "Where do you want to go to eat?" I was like, "I don't care!!" So we went to Friday's and found that the kitchen had just closed and wasn't able to re-open for a poor Peace Corps volunteer that had been living in a 3rd world country for 6 months. Yeah, I played that card...unsuccessfully I might add. :) But we did go to Steak n' Shake. And I got a cheeseburger, chicken fingers and fries, a bowl of chili, and a 50/50 milkshake with strawberry and cookies and cream topped with hot fudge. And I ate it all. Again. SO good.

The rest of the week was just so much fun. I got to spend time with family and friends and just was able to relax. And there were little things that were weird to me.

(1) Throwing toilet paper in the toilet. That's odd to me now.
(2) Walking outside without worrying that someone was going to rob me. Seriously, it was so awesome to just walk around and feel safe.
(3) Breathing. Ok...more the lack of. I live with LOTS of animals around me here in El Salvador. But everything is open so it's not a big deal. Going back to closed up houses with pets? I really don't breathe too well in that environment.
(4) Cold. Wow, it's cold up there! I couldn't feel my face on the first day! How do you live up there??

Ok...that's all I have for now. I'm back safely now. And I'm MUCH calmer than I was before I left...I feel like I'm back to myself. :)

And thank you to everyone that spent time with me (especially those of you that were involved in the ticket purchase)!! It was a BLAST! And everyone else...we'll catch up soon, I'm sure. :)

Miss you all!! I'm sure there will be more adventures to relay in the near future...