17 hour trance

Not all travel is awesome in a good way. It's just full of awe, and you have to decide which adjective to use with it. My travel? Well it went like this. Get 4-5 hours of sleep on Wednesday night in Vietnam. Get up at 3:30am to catch the first short flight. Then wait around an airport in Ho Chin Minh (Saigon) for a few hours. Catch another short flight (under 2 hours) and wait around the Singapore airport for half the day. Catch another flight at 1:50am that is 7 hours long. Arrive in Tokyo at 10:30am on Friday 20th. Wait around the Tokyo airport and catch a 10 hour flight and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:30am on Friday the 20th.
Life can seem so strange sometimes. On the last plane I was half asleep and half awake, and I was pretty much chanting: Last flight. Over and over again. I was going to try and do something constructive on these flights, but I was so tired. Too tired to read or even watch a movie.
So I decided to call it meditation, and I tried to just go with the flow. The flow of the plane was over 500 miles per hour. I tried to really stay in the moment and process things as best I could.
Meditation is different things to different people. My favorite definition is to just allow myself to watch my thoughts go by, because awareness is the first key to unlocking my potential. My brain was all over the place, with all the past travel, the current wind beneath my wings, and all that was ahead of me for being back in a world that I had set aside for so long.
My favorite part of the trip was the Tokyo airport. We paid around $19 each for a shower. It was worth it. Then the regular bathrooms were very cool. Large stalls and big doors. Thank you so much for that, city of Tokyo. I appreciate it. Plus that bathroom was... kind of electronic/automated. There were buttons that I was too tired to try and play with. I took pictures, but they didn't turn out well enough. But apparently I could have adjusted with one panel for "Stop" "Spray" "Bidet" "Dry. On the bottom it said: "Water Pressure" "Front" "Position" "Rear". There were 4 big colored buttons, and 4 small white ones. When I sat down it automatically played a kind of light music/waterfall kind of sound from a speaker. There were some official looking notes on the wall, and the toilet appeared to be plugged into an outlet. I just wanted to pee, it was almost overwhelming. I just wrote that, and I just laughed out loud at myself.
We arrive and all is well. Yay for family to pick us up at the airport in a big tall truck with a good view for the long drive to their place in Apple Valley, California. So good to see everyone! We get back and it's nap time. Then stay up late talking. Then 2 days of visiting and planning, and figuring out allergies with a cat and 4 kittens in the house. I did ok, I even let one take a nap on my lap on Sunday. Her name was Chimichanga. There was also a Simba, a Banana, and a Fish Sticks.
We get back on Friday, and leave California on Monday for the trip to Cedar City in Utah. The long hot drive through the desert and Joshua trees that I am so familiar with. (We have lived in both Vegas and Apple Valley in the last 6 years) I was sad that we didn't get to stop and see family and friends in Las Vegas, but I made it to the office to sign paperwork and do fingerprinting for my new job. It's only 3 hours to Vegas, so we can plan a weekend visit some time soon. We spent the evening visiting several friends and had such a lovely dinner with my daughter and her hubby, and my son, and a granddaughter.
We were reaching out to everyone about finding a place to live. There is a housing shortage in this college town. The next morning was a church breakfast to celebrate Pioneer Day in Utah, which was a great way to see a lot of old friends. Then more house hunting. Then I get an allergy attack and a migraine headache and sleep for 14 hours. Man.
Today I woke up feeling fairly functional. And we put in an application for a house, which means I will be very hyper until we hear back. It's a rental, not a purchase so we may be able to hear back tomorrow. Fingers crossed! My new job training starts in 5 days, it would be hard if we didn't have a place to live by then. Wish me luck.
It has been a mad rush of jet lag, staying up late and taking naps. At least everyone speaks really good English. So many hugs, so many distractions, so much to be done still. I tell myself that if we get this house then I am supremely blessed. And if we don't, well then I guess I will be supremely humble. And keep up the mad scramble.
Time to head out, we have another dinner with more family tonight. Then tomorrow is a day of painstaking waiting. I must find something to do. I hear my daughter has some yarn for me, that could be helpful to keep me sane. A little crocheting goes a long way. And I still have to go through storage to see how much clothing I may need to buy for work. I don't know how much of shoes and clothes are in there, or if they even still fit.
The adventure continues. Adventure 1: find a job and a city to live in. 2: find a place to live. 3: start new job with the renewal training that includes things like first aid, CPR, human rights, and restraint training. Good times. Oh, and I have to get my food handler card again. I will be working in a school, but no ordinary school!
So it's back to beautiful Cedar City with the big mountains, some of which look orange red. Back to finding things long forgotten like Cow Tales candy, the chewy carmel with an apple flavored cream center is my favorite.
We didn't take many pictures though. We had a good sign, there was a rainbow the first day we arrived. Yay for the USA.