Jetlagged & Sick

We made it back home! After some 30 hours plus of travel we made it home from Singapore to Blue Ridge. The journey, difficult enough as it is for a single, healthy person, was made that much more daunting for many reasons: (1) Ethan and Kelly were both sick, (2) we lost one seat on the return flights for Ethan and were down to two for the three of us though we paid for three seats, (3) we had 2 huge checked in luggages and 5 (five!) carry-ons (is this even allowed?) plus a stroller, (4) Blue Ridge is still a two hour drive from Atlanta after all those flight hours, and "so on and so forth" :-D

Our colleague, Renea, picked us up from the airport. Luckily she had spoken to our supervisor and colleague, Dr. Tidman, and was told by him that we would be delayed through immigration in Atlanta so to not arrive when our flight arrives but 30 minutes to an hour later. Boy was he right! And we had totally forgotten to remind Renea before we left or even while we were in Singapore that we would be delayed through immigration.

And so, we arrive in Atlanta airport, and are greeted by long lines queueing up for immigration officers. Not surprising, everything takes that much longer in the U.S. and you just can't help but harbour all these negative thoughts and feelings for why the officers take so long to do their job (compared to the many airports we had passed through on this trip in other countries). Lest, finally, it was our turn, and a cue on my passport always signals "special" - for "special registration" that is. And off we were for another hour in a smaller, stuffy room where persons born from certain countries are always detained a bit and screened. Myself, I was born in Iran - probably the *number one* country being flagged these days by the U.S.

But the veteran that I am, now having gone through this NSEERS process half a dozen times or more, I was patient and answered questions briefly and succinctly and in time was granted the stamp I needed to proceed to baggage claim. By the time we had arrived to the carrousels, the place was literally desserted. It had taken that long through immigration for me, that only our lonesomes from our flight of hundreds were left to collect luggage.

And anyone who's flown into Atlanta's Heartsfield-Jackson (??) airport knows how confusing and long the walk from baggage claim to your car can take!!

Alas we meet up with Renea who had been waiting some 30 minutes - though would have been a heck of a lot longer had she not been fortunate enough to speak to Dr. Tidman before picking us up.

Atlanta was 38F, few degrees above freezing. Penang, Malaysia was 32C (90F?). So it was a change to get used to :-P I am the type that enjoys having four seasons. I welcome cool to warm and back, but this was extreme even for my liking.

A 2 hour drive later, and we were home! Lug all our stuff and we were inside our home, but still freezing since we had put our thermostat way down while away. A few hours to warm up the whole house later, then we were fast asleep -- at 4pm! LOL

We awoke at 10:30pm, did some unpacking, ate something, went back to sleep at just past midnight or 1am. Ethan woke up (and so we all did) at 5:30am for good to start our day.

And this patterns has continued for the past couple of days, each getting slightly better and back to our regular cycle though still not right. Two days ago was bed at 6pm instead of 4pm, and waking at 12:30am, back to bed at 2:30am and up at 6am for the day. Last night was bed at 8:30pm, up at 4:00am, and well.. I'm still up and probably will be for the rest of the day today. So sort of getting back to normal, progressing 2 hours a day it seems.

Now it is my turn to be sick. I now have what Ethan and Kelly had the last few days of our trip. Funny, when I am sick and tired, it seems like I just cannot remember the last time I was healthy and without these symptoms. Sniffle, sniffle, cough, cough.