Shokufeh is... home

The blur of time

We got back to Honolulu yesterday morning, six hours before we left Beijing.

On my first Sunday, May 23, I:
- said goodbye to Shenyang, my Mom, and Anis
- left luggage at the Beijing airport, and took a cab into the city
- had a mini-meltdown due to frustration and fatigue
- ate at a noodle place where each party's arrival was announced and all the waiters responded loudly - no shy employees there
- marveled at how hot and sunny it was, when it was grey and dreary the weekend before
- read Digital Fortress
- slept
- was amused by the woman nearby putting on a mask, as I coughed from the dry air
- watched on the screen as our plane taxied and took off in Tokyo, via a camera mounted in the front of the plane

On my second Sunday, May 23, I:
- watched on the screen as our plane landed in Honolulu (I kept thinking it would be morbidly funny to suddenly see grass on the screen instead of runway)
- slept
- did laundry and picked up some groceries
- watched tv

Now I feel rather tired. The advantage of measured time is getting to live the same day twice, in two very different ways. I was thinking that the disadvantage of measured time is jetlag. But, as I thought about it, I realized that Polly O'Keefe, a real time L'Engle character, in A House Like a Lotus, sat in the sun in hopes of avoiding jet lag. So, whether you live in the O'Keefe's world or the Austin's, I guess travel takes its toll.