It's times like these when I'm waiting to fly to the US that I get the most anxious. I haven't yet had a repeat of that terrible January day years ago which soured me so badly on customs and immigration. I wonder what trivial or obtuse reasons they might come up with to deny entry, the mismatched initials, or the change of position. Any newspaper or magazine article that says that the US has put a chill on foreign researchers coming to study gets my attention. Perhaps it will be fine, but all I can do is endure the 14-hour flight, and hope that the customs agent is in a good mood. I won't believe it until I'm out of that airport. For now I'll write to give me something to do other than worry.
My last day for a while in Australia has been ok. I am in Sydney at a nice hotel, and have done a great deal of shopping. How exactly I am supposed to get my excessive baggage back on the plane has not yet been determined. I suppose I have that to keep me busy until checkout tomorrow. My flight won't leave until the afternoon, but I'll check out around 11 am.
I miss my parents a lot, and I wish I could come back sooner. I promised I would come back around the same time next year, the first time I am likely to have any time off. My Dad is on some new medications, and I think they give me bad acid reflux. On my last night at home however, we'd all had a few drinks and so I convinced him to get out his old family photographs. In them I saw my Dad without a beard for the first time ever, and it was a nice family evening.
I talked with Kadie, and she won't meet me at the airport so that we can save the price of her roundtrip train ticket. We can put that money to good use for personal entertainment. I'm a bit stressed about the immigration control, because she will be travelling a long way to see me. She seems so happy at her work at the moment, and it is reflected in her voice. We're trying to figure out how we will organize my visit in June or possibly July. I bought her an imitation Akubra hat for a present, and as another gift I have bought a little 24-page photo album and put photos from our trip and my visit home in it. For her birthday I bought her an “everlasting” torch, which doesn't require any batteries. You charge it up by shaking it, and some people call it the “wanking” flashlight.
In Montana it is apparently quite nice, and my boss is back in the country after his own holiday. I have not heard from Jake, and I should have sent him an email before I left home. I am sure I will have a slew of new email by the time I am able to check it again.