Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the lovely and beautiful Anniz is in the USA. She came in Saturday afternoon and we finally made it down to Washington yesterday afternoon. Please allow me to recap…
Friday night, I left work around 6pm and drove to my aunt’s house outside of Philadelphia. Her family’s dog had passed away since I was last there, so it was weird not having my usual welcoming committee of one greet me when I got there. A half hour later, my aunt and family returned home from a synagogue service they went to that night. I was grilled incessantly by my 12 year-old cousin about the purpose of my visit, but having heard me discuss getting to the Jersey Turnpike, parking at Newark Airport, and finding my way to international arrivals at the airport.
At about midnight, I went to sleep, exhausted. About a half-hour later, five thousand miles away, Anniz woke up. She wrote me a last e-mail, finished packing, drank her coffee, and then her parents picked her up to take her to the airport. Fortunately, a friend of the family arranged for her to have a couple empty seats in her aisle so she could rest on the plane and lie down. She got on the plane without a problem and was somewhere over the Atlantic when I woke up at 10am EST.
I checked my e-mail then, and saw that last e-mail she wrote me, and then I checked her flight’s status. Oh shit, I thought, it’s running 30 minutes early. My timing was off. I hurriedly dressed and got on Route 1, then the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and I finally got on the Jersey Turnpike a little before noon. Her flight was supposed to land at 1.30pm, the updated time was 1.03pm.
I flew up the Turnpike (my little German car loves doing 90mph!) and got to the airport at 12.40, had no trouble parking or finding my way to international arrivals. There were a lot of people there, and every minute a new stream of smiling people exited the customs area and were greeted by happy friends and family.
I watched the video board and saw that her plane landed at 1.03, and then I went up to the glass wall to watch for her. About twenty-five minutes later, she came down the hallway. She spotted me before I saw her. Ten seconds later, we were reunited.
We exited the airport and put her bags in my car. She stood around for a minute, breathing the “fresh” air of northern New Jersey. Then, we got into the car and I headed back south on the Turnpike. We crossed into Pennsylvania, and I told her it was okay to breathe the air now.
We made it to the hotel I had reserved for us that night and checked in. We rested up in our room (we were both rather exhausted) for an hour and then we drove over to my aunt’s house to meet them.
My uncle was taking a nap, but my aunt and cousin were still out at the hairdresser’s (they had a black tie dinner to go to that night), so we walked around the block for a bit and tried to imagine what the migrating geese were squawking to each other. A few minutes later, my aunt came home and greeted us in the cul de sac.
We went back inside and chatted for an hour, before my aunt’s family had to get shiny and new for their dinner that night. Anniz, at this point, was barely awake, as it was approaching midnight back home in Sweden.
We returned to the hotel and tried to get dinner at the neighbouring TGI Friday’s, but there was a half-hour wait and there was no way she could wait that long. So, we grabbed some appetisers in the hotel bar. After dinner, we came back up to our room and watched a bit of the Flyers hockey game. While I was out getting some ice, there was fight on the ice, and she was amazed that the referrees let the players fight. She thought it was some sort of entertainment.
After the first period, she fell asleep and I waited until the end of the game (4-1 Flyers!) to join her. The next morning, she was up, predictably, at 4am, and let me sleep until 8 before waking me up. We dressed, packed up our bags, hit the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and then drove back south.
We got to my apartment at about 1pm, and I showed her around. We then hit the supermarket to do some shopping and then came back in time to get a bite to eat before the Ravens game. She’d never seen an American football game, so I tried to explain the game’s actions, as well as the rules of the game as they were applicable. She was slowly fading, though, and went downstairs to take a nap before the first quarter ended.
I woke her back up after the game to take her to dinner. We drove up and down the main road in Rockville after we ate and then came home. It was almost 10.30pm when we finally got back and we went to sleep then.
This morning, she woke me up, again, at 7am and brought me a Coke to wake me up. After I got dressed, she walked with me to the Metro station because I have to work today. I showed her how to find everything in the kitchen, and how to use the TV. She’s going to explore the wonders of American cable television today, I’m sure.
Tonight, she’ll meet me back at the Metro station when I’m done working and we’ll cook dinner together. On Thursday night, we’re going to Florida for the weekend to introduce her to my parents and grandparents. We’re also going to meet some of the Florida Dopers on Saturday afternoon.
After that, there will be Dopefests in Philly and, finally, here in Washington, before she returns to Sweden (if I let her…) on 10 February. Links to all the Dopefests are in my sig, of course.
Anyway, if anyone’s wondered where I’ve been over the last week, it was preparing for her visit. I had a lot of cleaning and other preps to do, and it’s (mostly) done. But, she’s here!