Arrival in the U.S.

After HOURS and HOURS, I have FINALLY arrived in VA.  I had quite an interesting encounter (unfortunately, it didn’t involve being a ‘mile high’).  hehe  I met an old couple from Egypt who also have American citizenship and are deaf.  When I arrived at JFK, I was supposed to have a couple of hours layover time which turned into hours and hours due to the plane scheduled to pick us up being stuck in Canada due to snow.  I became Randy the translator for two different groups.  haha! 

Ok…first there was the deaf people.  Even if I DID know ASL, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them by using my hands because the sign language is different in Egypt so I was stuck ‘long handing’ communication for something like six hours because noone in the area was able to communicate with them.  Then I caught a couple of Spanish words from two old Spanish women behind me in the lobby who were also wondering what was going on.  Employing my rudamentary Spanish skills, I was able to tell them of the delay.  They began engaging me in conversation, which must have been quite amuzing for them.  I mixed in Italian a couple of times, and it turns out that they are both fluent in Italian so we switched to Italian.  As we were chatting, some white dude next to me entered into the conversation…turns out he’s and Italian on holiday as well.  haha  It was all quite entertaining.

Since I don’t possess a mobile phone here in the U.S., I continually called Brian, son of deaf people, to update him.  I was very suprised how willing people were to allow me to use their mobile phones….perhaps it’s due to the holiday season.  Quite nice of them though.  When we FINALLY boarded for Ronald Reagan, the airline gave me free drinks for assisting with the deaf people, which was nice but not needed…I was ‘out’ as soon as my head hit the chair.

It’s cold here, and I lack proper clothing.  There are demonstrators everywhere.  When I saw the first group of them as we were near a crosswalk, several of them were smiling.  Thinking they were simply a bunch of nice people, I smiled and waived.  (I’m white, and they were all black).  They began giving me ‘the finger’ and began shouting things.  haha!!!  What in THEE hell??!!  I asked my brother what in the hell that was all about, and he said they’re demonstrators and are there ever day.  haha!  Hell, I just thought they were Christmas Carolers or something!

I went to the Chinese Embassy today and got my visa for my trip there, so that’s cool.

I don’t believe I ever flew into NYC at night before…it was a very lovely site from the plane. 

Made a good contact on the flight from Amman, Jordan.  I upgraded to business class.  Got a really great low upgrade rate due to the plane being so empty.  I was initially sitting next to some ass who walked to the front of the pplane to talk to the staffers.  You know how you get the feeling that someone is talking about you?  Well, it was obvious he was talking about me.  haha  He returned to his seat, and I asked, "Is there a problem?"  He said, "I normally like to sit alone so I can work on my computer while we fly."  I said, "Then perhaps you should purchase two tickets in the future."  haha!  what an ass.  Anyway, the flight attendant, who was quite lovely and had an enchanting French accent approached me and asked if I minded changing seats.  I had no problem and complied.  I would up talking to an American man for hours and many subjects.   It was obviously a very nice bonding session.  He had initially asked me what I do for a living, and I told him, but that was the limit of work talk.  Prior to getting off the plane, he handed me a business card, and said, "Drop me an email."  I looked at the card, which identified him as the President of Blackwater USA, which is a security contracting company…the best one out there actually.  I worked for them during the Katrian business.  A most excellent contact.

I’m lagging and need to lie down. 

Peace