I'm Still Here!

This entry is a bit old and long in coming...sorry about that.

It seems as though real life (re: Work) has taken over much of my free time. Recently the job has had its demands on my time…serious demands on my time. Just when you think you have things under control and its all going well, the feeling of comfort starts seeping into your bones…and then the wheels come off. It seems as though there has been one thing or another that has popped up in the past few months that have kept me on my toes. But…this isn’t about work, is it?

A couple weeks ago, I took off on a trip for a week of meetings in Oregon, followed by a quick trip to see Expat Daughter.

My first stop of the trip was…GZ. Yes, of all the travel I have done, I have not had the pleasure of dealing with (personally) a canceled flight (thank you NWA). Well, OK, it wasn’t canceled…it was just delayed by 10 hours, making my connection useless. The whole experience was somewhat humorous…but it sure wouldn’t have been, had it happened somewhere else.

As I sat in the lounge and the time for the flight went by without a boarding call, I asked the attendant, 'WTF?' He indicated that he is hearing nothing too. Just then, a group of American passengers walk back into the lounge muttering something about being there a while. So I asked them. ‘The flight is delayed until 6pm (it was scheduled to leave at 8:15am).’ I went back to the lounge attendant and told him I needed to change up my flights, I wouldn’t hit my connection. At the same time, I noticed the line of about 100 people outside the lounge (which seats about 40), waiting to get in and the lounge manager arguing furiously with the NWA representative. Apparently, the people at the gate told everyone to go help themselves to the lounge. It was at that moment, I made a very easy and quick decision…change my flights to tomorrow…I'll go home.

I proceeded backwards through security and then waited outside the immigration stations. I was finally able to get to speak with a woman who was trying to help people change flights and get people wherever they needed to go. She was stressed. Crisis management is not a strong suit of the Chinese. She asked me if I needed help. ‘I live in Guangzhou. I want to change my flights to tomorrow and go home.’ She looked at me in relief…my request was so simple. She took my passport and walked me to the diplomat line in the immigration queue where a supervisor canceled my stamp out of the country and passed me back into the airport  where I went back to the check in counter and changed my flights to the next day.

The next morning…I got on my way without a hitch.

My first stop was San   Francisco; a city I have been to a couple of times but have never visited. I had never been downtown…never seen the famous cable cars…none of it. I was to meet all of my colleagues and we were heading out the day I was arriving. Upon arriving, I passed quickly through immigration. I have to say, the man that greeted me to the USA was the nicest immigration officer I had ever run across coming into the USA (and the immigration officers in the USA are nothing short of abusive…the worst in the world). Funny thing…he was Chinese. Go figger. Anyway, into a cab and on my way downtown to the hotel. As I arrived and checked in, all of my colleagues were gathering in the lobby getting ready for their day. I told them all to wait 20 mins for me…I headed up to the room, quickly showered and was back down ready for the day. But, by the end of it, I was dead. LONG day.

In my travels, I have been to many large cities and walked the streets of their downtown confines. I have never been to a city that was full of more scum and villainy than San Francisco. Every street corner there was some street leech awaiting to dispossess you of a dollar or more. From the drunk and drugged out lying on the street looking for a hand out, to the more clever street urchins with a story and an angle…the city was full of them and it completely turned me off to ever visiting again.

It culminated on Sunday morning…after having a pretty decent snooze that first night, I woke up somewhat early (7am). I wasn’t meeting up with my colleagues until 10am, so I had some time to kill. I initially set out for some breakfast. While walking down the street, I passed a man that was dressed somewhat dapperly, although I noticed the tie and shirt didn’t really match that well…and his raincoat didn’t fit that well. He was on the phone, ‘…yes Sargeant, I understand. Yes. Thank you.’ Mind you this, going on just over my shoulder. After hanging up he exclaims, ‘SHIT!’

He then apologized for his language. I told him not to worry about it. He then said, well, you are obviously not from around here, because you aren’t an asshole. Heh…kinda funny. He then went on to tell me that he was on his way to Eureka from LA and he was car jacked at gun point. The police are unable to locate his car and he’s having a hard time getting home, etc. It all sounded pretty legit…and then he asked, ‘I am just wondering if you could spare a couple of bucks so I can get a bus back home and…’ I cut him off. ‘No, sorry.’ I was stunned. The guy was very smooth…VERY smooth. His story and his act was pretty decent…right down to the emotional plea at the end for the money.

Maybe I am a heartless wreck…but…if that were me (or you) in the same situation, with a cell phone in hand, would you be begging for money on the streets of San Francisco if you were in the same situation? I think not. He was scamming…and he was good at it. I wondered how many tourists he had suckered in the previous month.

It’s a crap city…but the waterfront and baseball (in Oakland) was nice.

After my week of meetings, I stopped off and checked out what Expat Daughter was up to. The key to this visit was to find out her plans for the future…and ensure that she is well fed for at least a couple of days out of the year. Upon arriving and checking into my hotel…we went out to dinner and shared a veggie pizza and salad and caught up on things. She showed me her house she shares with some friends. It was easy to spot her room amongst the other 3 that live there. Your little girl grows up…but some things never change.

The next day we went on a road trip around her island…it was the first time I was able to really see the place and she was excited to be the tour guide Incredible diversity of climates in such a small place. What really blew me away…by the end of the day, I had driven nearly 400 miles on the car…how do you do that on and island??

While driving on the north end of the island, she was telling me about this terrific waterfall swimming spot that I had to see. She had only been to it once before and her memory was a bit fuzzy…but as we drove the road, we came to a bend in the road and she said, ‘this is it!’ We parked and she took me on a hike through virgin forest…nobody had ever walked where we had walked before. Fallen trees, stumps, rocks, vines…we made our way through it for about 150 meters. We came to a clearing in which two creeks merged together, but no waterfall. ‘Uhhh…I don’t think this is the right place.’ So, we decided to walk back. For a fleeting moment, I thought, this was it…she is going to take her old man out to a nice place in the forest and leave him…just like a sack of unwanted kittens. Sweating, dirty and 45 minutes later, we were back in the car.

We set off in the same direction we were traveling and about 1km further down the road, we went around a bend that was similar to the first…’oh no…THAT’S where it is.’ Forget it…I had my hike for the day.

She took me to see some beautiful sights…we jumped off a 4 meter high rock in ice-friggin-cold water at the not so aptly named, ‘Boiling Pots.’  For the first time in my life...I felt old.  I couldn't keep up with her.  The water was freezing, I was swimming, but I felt so out of breath.  We had to sit a while after swimming a bit of a distance to see the waterfall.  I'm getting old...creeeek.

We walked on the lava field she visited…but the authorities had shut it down, so we couldn’t get out as far as she had been previously. She took me to church and people were so happy to see me and said, ‘she says you are her best friend.’ We listened and shared music. We walked around…we bought shave ice and sat on the roadside and made fun of the tourists that were all around…had a load of great meals…and I left feeling a little empty, because I thought I needed another day with her. I can’t wait for Christmas time again.