Traveling Back (Second to Last Post)

6-4-09 Sorry for the long break between posts. But I am happy to report that I am safely back in the United States. I left Friday Ebeye time, and arrived two days later on Saturday evening.

I actually had a very nice surprise when Alan, Jordan, and I got onto the plane at Kwajalein. Two friends who had been SMs in Chuuk were on the plane--one of which is a friend from Southern. We spent the flight to Majuro talking back and forth. Then, on Majuro, another "Southern"er got on the plane. He'd been on a outer island and had been traveling for over a week to get to his plane. Eight hours later and a day earlier we arrived in Honolulu. At 2:30 AM.

Jordan's parents (I think) had set the three of us up with two hotel rooms. We took the airport/hotel shuttle, checked in, and went to sleep. We all slept in a bit, and ate at the continental breakfast. Then we checked out (or else we would have had to pay more). However, the hotel let us store our luggage (we had ALL of it), and then we took the city bus and went to Pearl Harbor. It's free to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, and so we did. It started out with a half hour documentary about what happened at Pearl Harbor, and then we took a ferry ride to the memorial, walked around, and came back. Then we headed toward Waikiki so we could eat. However, we had hit some traffic (besides not truly knowing how the city bus system worked) and realized we couldn't make it to Waikiki before I had to check into my next flight. So we ended up at a shopping centre, got our supper, and tried to make our way back to the hotel (to get my bags and the shuttle). We ended up taking a cab back to the hotel. It was very hard to say goodbye to Alan and Jordan at the airport, partially because it was the end-end (if you know what I mean) of our time on Ebeye. Thus ended my second Friday of last week.

I spent all of Saturday sitting in Terminal C of the Houston airport. My flight to Chicago was a little turbulent, but we still ended up coming in ten minutes early (and then spent that time taxiing!). My parents were right there at baggage claim (where my bags had been sitting since the earlier flight [the one I didn't take]). We took the shuttle bus back to Michigan City, my parents took me out to dinner, and then I finally made it back to the house. It had been a long two days.

Sunday I went and bought clothes that fit. I don't think that unless it's happened to you, it's difficult to understand how NICE it is to have clothes that fit properly. It is very nice! So I've been sleeping and getting unpacked and buying things I need (like getting a new cell phone; my other died while I was gone. I now have a new number). I am looking forward to camp, which starts in a week from today.

There will be at least one more post after this one. More later.

~Ashlee