Unexpected Visit to the United States – Oct. 2005 to Feb. 2006

Unexpected Visit to the U.S.A.

Immigration at JFK: the worst border-crossing experience of my life
We arrived at JFK at 6 AM, eager to see Kevin and Fiona, but were detained at customs for what seemed like an eternity. Without going into details, suffice it to say that the customs officials gave us a heck of a time (and others, too, from what we could hear). It was the end of their shift and they were all in a foul mood. We were insulted shamefully. We were fuming! We had gone through immigration in 16 other countries and had never had any trouble of this kind. And it was my home country!!! It was disgraceful! For many, immigration at the airport is the first impression that they have of the United States and its people, and if the officials welcome all visitors in this manner, I can only say that it is embarrassing, disgraceful, and completely unacceptable.

What a welcome home!

The Party
And then, we had a real welcome home. Kevin had woken up at 3 o’clock in the morning to drive up to the airport to pick us up with Fiona. When we finally picked up our luggage, there they were, waiting for us! Talk about a great welcome back! Big hugs all around, and Fiona, having just turned 5, had grown so tall. We arrived at their place a couple of hours later, and Kevin and Nina treated us like king and queen. They took us out to eat and gave us the most comfortable bed in the entire world. I took what was quite possibly the longest shower of my entire life. Hot water was something we had rarely had for a couple of years!

And then I thought that I couldn’t arrive at the party in my dirty biking clothes and with my hair still recovering from my chopping in Istanbul. So they drove us down to Karen’s house, who cut my hair on Sunday afternoon, and then to Jen’s, who had a choice of several outfits laid out for me, complete with matching accessories, shoes, and make-up! By the time that we got to Jen’s house on Sunday, we were rushing to make the party on time, so we didn’t have much time to catch up. It was “Hi Jen! Bye Jen!” as I ran up to her bedroom and tried on an outfit and she dragged me into her bathroom to make me up in record time. Ten minutes later, we were out the door and on our way to the club, where we had arranged to come through the kitchen door in order to avoid running into anyone at the entrance.

Our idea was to surprise everyone completely. We thought that the best way to do that would be to wrap ourselves up as a present (ie. in a box) and then to jump out when they opened it. Nina had found a great big cardboard box for us, which we had wrapped and decorated like a real gift. Once we were safely inside the club, we climbed carefully into the box, Kevin and Nina closed the lid, and then we were wheeled into the dining room. Matt announced that the club had a gift for David and Sharon, if they would come to open it.

I could hear dad saying, “Come on, Sharon…” as if mom was reluctant to approach the box. We tried not to breathe. They lifted the lid cautiously, and out we jumped! I think everyone took several steps back and stopped breathing for a moment, but I’m not sure, because all I could see was dad jumping back and looking scared as I was trying to climb out of the box. In any case, mom started bawling then (tears of joy, I hope, mom!), and then we started to fear that she might have a heart attack from the surprise! It started a chain reaction around the room. Probably can’t top that entrance any time soon, but mom made me promise never to try, so that’s alright.

Whew…welcome home to the family…everyone was there…plus our baby niece whom we hadn’t yet met and our adorable nephew who is now 3 years old. So we got to see some old faces (no pun intended, mom and dad!) and some new faces. And then we were home, in our old bedroom and our old bed…and everything just the same as it always was!

Four months in Pennsylvania
We had made the decision to come home so quickly that we hadn’t yet had the time to talk about how long we would stay. We wanted to stay long enough to visit everyone, but we also had to take the seasons into consideration when thinking about when to go back to Asia. Winter was coming to China and the roads in Tibet would be impassable for several months due to snow and possible avalanches. Before coming home, we had already discussed the possibility of looking for work in either Laos or China, while we were waiting for the snow to melt in the mountains. If we went back to Asia right away, that’s what we would do. Otherwise, we could stay home and look for work in Pennsylvania. The latter choice seemed much better, and so that’s what we chose to do!

We spent four months in Pennsylvania, visiting with family and friends, working, and scanning the photos that we had taken over the past two years. Stephane’s brother, Jerome, bought him a plane ticket to see his family in France in November. He spent two weeks there, but although it was quick, it was still good to see everyone, and he got a chance to meet our niece, Mathilde, who was born last July.

We were home for a lot of the big holidays this year. We celebrated Halloween at a party with Jen and Seth and by going trick-or-treating with little Rick. Stephane, dressed as a pirate, hid behind the bushes and scared the kids as they came to the house! It was our first time home for Thanksgiving since 1998 and for Christmas since 2001. We had a true feast for Turkey Day – quite a bit different from the goat brain curry that we had in India the year before! And Christmas was celebrated in style, too – with candles and tree lights, gifts, music, decorations, and all the trimmings. It was special to be with the family after having spent the last two Christmases in Budapest and India.

Visiting with friends was a definite highlight of being home, but not all was rosy all the time. The day before Thanksgiving, I became sick with gerardia, a parasite from bad food and water. I had most likely gotten it in Laos, or possibly in Cambodia, before flying home. By the time I felt its effects, it was pretty bad. It lasted for several weeks. But at least parasites, unlike amoebas, are treatable – and so I was able to wipe this one out!

Things were in the process of changing a little bit. I came home to find Vince with a lovely girlfriend, and to find Jen, Mohammed, and Ellen all engaged. I had the luck of being able to shop for bridal gowns with Jen, which I was so happy about because I thought that I would miss out on all of her wedding planning. And Ellen announced her new engagement to Dan when they came down to Philadelphia! Not only that…Kevin and Nina are now expecting their second… congratulations!!!

Any Changes?
Stephane expected that, after being away for so long, we would find a lot changed when we got home (or find it difficult to readjust). I didn’t really feel any different, but there were a few things I thought about. First of all, the fact that we didn’t have to take off our shoes to go inside of someone’s house – that only seemed strange for the first week, until we got used to wearing our shoes again. Then there was the fact that I had a whole closet full of clothing and had a choice of what to wear each morning (unlike while we’re on the road, when I only have two tee-shirts, one pair of pants, and one skirt). Along with that goes the washing. At home, I didn’t have to wash my clothing in the sink every night – there was a washing machine! One of the biggest things was the fact that we could just drink water out of the tap without having to worry about filtering it or getting sick. It seemed like a miracle and was something I appreciated every day until the day we left. Hot water in the shower was also something I appreciated every single day, and was especially wonderful during the first couple of weeks. The same went for central heating. And I can’t forget the paved roads – I now appreciate the road construction crews more than ever!

Back to Asia
We flew back to Bangkok in mid-February, leaving the house early Monday morning after the winter’s biggest snowstorm and catching our Thai Airways flight out of JFK airport in NYC. It was New York’s biggest snowfall ever on record, and it was a bit strange to leave in freezing weather in over 2 feet of snow and land 17 hours later in Bangkok, in 92-degree weather. So we’re back to the heat and humidity, the mosquitoes, our sandals, and Thai spicy food and sticky rice.

We have six months here in Asia to travel through Thailand, Laos, China, Tibet, and Nepal. Then we will fly back to the States for Jen and Seth’s wedding in September and Ellen and Dan’s wedding in October. Then we hit the road once again – the next time farther east over the great Pacific.