back from atlanta...
Mar. 7th, 2008 06:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickiemeeting was good, but as usual it's great to be home. the flight out was one of the worst i've been on -- there were bad storms in atlanta, so for the final hour of the flight the plane lurched and leapt all around the sky. you could literally feel the pilot trying to force the plane down through the storm clouds. everyone on the plane was stone silent the whole time (although i was quietly humming to myself: "whistle a happy tune" from The King and I, who would've thought a show tune would actually help with my flying anxiety?)... but when we landed, we all burst into applause. suuuuuuuucked so bad. a co-worker had it worse than me, though -- turns out her plane was just about to land, and suddenly had to take off again because there was "debris" on the runway. she said they were all bracing to touch down, and all of a sudden the nose went up and they shot stright up into the sky. i would have wet myself.
on the way home, i checked in at the delta ticket counter to see if i could get on an earlier flight. the ticket agent was wearing a gold necklace with her name in arabic; i have one myself, from when i lived in kuwait as a kid. it was a big fashion thing over there in the 80s -- with gold being so dirt cheap in the middle east, americans and brits would hit the gold market HARD and go back home dripping with bracelets and necklaces... i still have the pair of gold earrings and the "jennifer" necklace that my parents gave me then.
so, i comented on her necklace:
me: i like your necklace... i have one of my name as well.
her: yeah? so, where did you live?
me: kuwait.
her: *points to herself* saudi arabia.
me: i was 1980-83.
her: 1979-82... was your dad lockheed martin?
me: ford aerospace. do you wish you could go back?
her: every day!
hee. it was like i'd run into someone who was in my sorority or something. it's hard to explain, but meeting an american who lived in the middle east at the same time as me created an immediate connection between us. even though we were in different countries, our experiences were almost identical -- getting shipped to a foreign country because of your dad's job, going to an american school in the desert, living under very strict laws about how to dress and behave in public, your entire life taking place just in school or in your friends' homes because you don't understand the language and everyone dresses in robes and you feel like you stand out (especially me being a redhead... my family got stared at constantly when we were out). it was amazing to meet someone, albeit briefly, who could relate.
happy friday! i'm going to dig out my "jennifer" necklace and wear it to work. :)
on the way home, i checked in at the delta ticket counter to see if i could get on an earlier flight. the ticket agent was wearing a gold necklace with her name in arabic; i have one myself, from when i lived in kuwait as a kid. it was a big fashion thing over there in the 80s -- with gold being so dirt cheap in the middle east, americans and brits would hit the gold market HARD and go back home dripping with bracelets and necklaces... i still have the pair of gold earrings and the "jennifer" necklace that my parents gave me then.
so, i comented on her necklace:
me: i like your necklace... i have one of my name as well.
her: yeah? so, where did you live?
me: kuwait.
her: *points to herself* saudi arabia.
me: i was 1980-83.
her: 1979-82... was your dad lockheed martin?
me: ford aerospace. do you wish you could go back?
her: every day!
hee. it was like i'd run into someone who was in my sorority or something. it's hard to explain, but meeting an american who lived in the middle east at the same time as me created an immediate connection between us. even though we were in different countries, our experiences were almost identical -- getting shipped to a foreign country because of your dad's job, going to an american school in the desert, living under very strict laws about how to dress and behave in public, your entire life taking place just in school or in your friends' homes because you don't understand the language and everyone dresses in robes and you feel like you stand out (especially me being a redhead... my family got stared at constantly when we were out). it was amazing to meet someone, albeit briefly, who could relate.
happy friday! i'm going to dig out my "jennifer" necklace and wear it to work. :)
