Going Home: The 36-Hour Day

(This is technically the day I went home because I was still at Crazy Cocktail at midnight) I had a great iced coffee, talked to people in my group and then said my goodbyes and left on xe oms with Jill and DiDi at 12:45. Some guy on the street yelled "Hey you going to bed?" and I said back "Not with you!" which DiDi found hilarious. The next few hours entailed packing one bag, major cuddling with DiDi, and reviewing our time together via songs and pictures. She played the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and it was just so rough. Yesterday I decided that I would come back to Viet Nam for at least a month after graduation. I'll live with DiDi, teach English, and volunteer at an orphanage. It's so much easier to say goodbye if you know you're going to see each other again.

So at 3:30 we got out of bed (stopping the spooning was sucky) and I dragged my bags downstairs to the lobby. I was an absolute mess and saying goodbye to the rest of the group made me so upset. I went back up to the room and wrote DiDi one last note which she found and read before I left and then she decided to have Bryan take her to the airport to say goodbye. I was surprised that she came to the airport. This was a big deal for her because she has always said how she's had to leave a love at the airpot and, for that reason, doesn't go to say goodbye any more. Monica and I finally got into our taxi with all of our stuff and I cried during the entire half an hour ride to the airport. We checked in so quickly (Will, Mike, Monica, Cathy, Becca, and Tica with Graham and Natalie pretending that they didn't know us) and then we figured out that DiDi and Bryan had to wait outside. It was so emotional saying goodbye to them outside the front of the airport and after a while DiDi just wanted us to walk away and we did. I had made myself so upset that I had a gigantic headache and my stomach was empty and heaving. We got through security in our rice hats and then I ate my two free baguettes before conking out on the hard floor. They woke me up to get on the first flight from Sai Gon to Hong Kong and then I boarded the flight and fell asleep. I slept the entire flight, 7-9:00 am and then I hung out in the Hong Kong airport with everybody until our next flight to Los Angeles.

We boarded at 11:30 am on December 6th (Hong Kong time) and I was seated next to a 35 year old Vietnamese guy who'd been living in California for the past 20 years. It was nice to speak to him in Vietnamese and slowly wean myself from the culture and language. We commiserated about the lack of pho and chopsticks at lunch served on the plane. I had a Coke, some bread, and some crunchy rice with snow peas and marinated chicken. I then discovered this Christmas carol radio station on the plane and they had really good professional choirs singing hymns which were excellent. During this time I also attempted to fill out my customs declaration card while watching CSI, Ugly Betty, and Everybody Hates Chris. I also wasted a bunch of time watching this outlandish movie about some guy who wants to be a stunt guy. My Game Boy entertained me and then I slept for the rest of the flight. I woke up for a short time to eat some Ramen (with chopsticks!) and we arrived at LAX at 11:30 am Vietnamese time and 8:30 US Pacific Time. We technically arrived in LAX before we ever left Hong Kong. We had to wait 20 minutes before unboarding the plane because we had to wait for customs/immigration to open and "our government to come to work" as our pilot announced. We got our bags and then reveled in being the majority and all of the people speaking English.

In the airport, our group encountered culture shock. I accidentally cut the entire line at McDonald's with Becca (to get a Happy Meal, of course) and then realized that they have lines in America. We sheepishly moved to the back of a long line of generally obese Americans who were speaking English. I spotted an airline worker yelling at a Vietnamese man and his young son and noticed how protective I felt of the Vietnamese family. They won't accept our Vietnamese dong either- trust me, we tried. At least my McDonald's soda had non-uniform ice so there's a very small chance that they just chipped it off a giant block that was previously dragged down the street behind a motorbike. All of the Christmas music and decorations are a welcome change, however. Granted there were some Christmas trees, Santas, and techno carols in Sai Gon (not so much in Ha Noi), but it's just not the same there. People in the LAX airport are also wearing boots and heavy jackets. Ordering my food was accompanied by a "please" as well, which was odd because you only say please in Vietnamese when you really want something. Becca also took one look at the McDonald's menu and got physically ill.

I opened my computer, turned it on, and was more than surprised when it worked! Thank God! I uploaded some photos from a cd Jill made me on her computer. We boarded the last flight of the day at 11:30 am (LA time) and on the plane I sat next to Will and some smelly kid and accidentally slept through most of the five hour flight. I got off the plane at 7:00 (EST), grabbed my bags, and set them to be watched as I asked about shuttles and went to the bathroom. Becca asked her boyfriend to drive me to my hotel and he agreed but they got lost for half an hour before dropping me back off at the airport. I took the skytrain and then stood and waited for the shuttle to the Days Inn for half an hour. They finally showed up and I got to my hotel, checked in, and felt pretty lonely in the room until Mrs. C. called my hotel room. DiDi and Brittany then called me on Skype and I wrote a journal entry and read my book before falling asleep at 11:30 am.