home in NY! it is, i must say, very weird to be back in america after nine months away. the last few days of my travels were kind of a blur as i was trying to get back on new york time ahead of time (something that only succeeded in making me extremely tired and so out of it that i was unable to successfully handle the fact that i lost my tickets home and so had a complete breakdown at the airport). despite these minor setbacks, and minus an additional 750 dollars, i made it to america after a grueling 14 hour flight. i call it grueling because we did not have the personal tvs that seem to have become requisite on every airline besides air china. i would not have been surprised by this lack, except that i had met a woman on the flight to tibet who erroneously but enthusiastically informed me that air china flights do now have these tvs. now i dunno what godforsakenly long flights they reserve these personal tvs for, but if you're listening, airchina, Beijing-New York needs them!
anyway, i did not expect how weird it would feel to be back in the first world, if you don't mind the use of the term. i would, but after the six weeks of travels i gotta say, there's a lot of damn poverty-stricken parts of china. and it is so nice to have everyone here speak my language. i was devastated to notice on the cab ride home that my favorite pizza place seems to be on vacation, which i had actually been counting on as the very first thing i would eat when i got back here. so i'm going to have to find a pizza substitution. right now i'm headed out to a diner for some breakfast, even though my body is telling me i want some dinner. mm, what to eat? pancakes? french toast? pierogies? (its an eastern-european diner). i think i'll keep it simple and have a grilled cheese and some home fries. yum.