It's Lotsa Fun!
Ever heard that Genesis song called Illegal Alien? Talkin' 'bout how it's no fun being an illegal alien. Well, I just might be one and I'm having a blast!
As the gods of irony would have it, it all started on July 4th. I flew from Calgary to Denver where I was supposed to have a layover of about 2 or 3 hours but since my flight was late I just proceeded to the next gate, (B-53, I missed B-52 by ONE gate!) waited a short time, and boarded my flight to DC. Dulles airport. I deplaned and followed the procession of passengers to this moon mobile/glacier bus - looking airport shuttle to the main terminal. I got outta the shuttle and walked to the other side of the airport to baggage carousel #1 where I found my luggage immediately. Then I looked for immigration, customs, or maybe some other person to stamp my passport and/or ask me questions about my entry into the United States. None were immediately evident but there were exits every hundred yards or so. I had a heavy backpack and two giant bags and even though they were both wheeled they were unwieldy. So I spent 6 bucks (AMERICAN BUCKS MIND YOU!!!) on a little luggage cart.
I stopped a security guard and asked where customs and/or immigration were. He pointed out the wall way off in the distance on the opposite side of the airport and said, "You see that wall?" I said, "Yeah." He says, "It's on the other side of that and you cain't get to the other side of that wall." So I said, "Well I came in from Canada, don't I need to get my passport stamped?" He stroked his chin hairs a bit and inquired, "Did you come in from Denver?" I nodded. "That musta bin where all that was done." I told him I hadn't gone through either customs or immigration in Denver either but he shrugged and said, "Well you're done here. There's the exits," and pointed to the many exits as he backed away and proceeded to where he was going.
It was something like 6 in the morning and Mike had awakened military early to come pick me up. I was worried my phone would not function in the airport but the wifi was okay. Mike had already messaged me on Facebook. I exited the airport as I answered his text, "Where are you?" I told him where I was and within seconds he was there. By far the easiest airport I have ever been through in my LIFE! No fuss, no muss, no stamp, no photos, no fingerprints, just collect my bags, throw them in the truck and head to Lexington Park. Easy peasy macaroni and cheesy!
After reuniting with my bestest American family of friends we had a few beers, a gorgeous feast of turkey and barbecue, a cigar and a swim. Then after somehow making it the whole day with no sleep (I can't sleep on planes so I went two days straight without sleep) we ended the night with some fireworks. I'd share the vid but it exceeds the limit here. Here's a pic of Mike and the meal instead. It was epic!
It's now July 22nd and I still haven't been kicked outta the country to I'm guessing everything was handled at the Calgary airport when the girl at check-in swiped my passport and tagged my bags. Either that's the most convenient trip I've ever taken or I made it over Trump's wall. Either way I'm having a great time!
I have been swimming as often as possible. Sometimes the weather isn't cooperative and sometimes the pool water is being treated. I had no idea the scientific solution pool water actually is! We're swimming in a giant, blue beaker out there for cryin' out loud! But between salinization, chlorination, shocking, mustard algae fighting, brushing, vacuuming, skimming, PH testing etc., etc., I've been swimming as much as those summers of my youth in Castlegar. I haven't regained my stroke yet but that's another problem I won't get into yet. Kelly and I shoot hoops, play pool air hockey, dive for the rockets, pool skeetball, and invent our own games like try to ride the Ninja for 8 seconds. It's an inflatable punching bag we ("we" meaning Kelly) threw into the pool one day. It's super hard to get on and stay on!
I think it was two days after I got here we all went to the "Tackle Box" which is a little shop here that we believe sums up the Southern Maryland mentality succinctly: "Bait, Tackle, Guns." What more does a fella (or a fell... ess?) need? I came within a few dollars of buying my first lethal weapon after only a few days in the country! There was a slingshot on sale and I was once pretty deadly with one (in my days of picking off pigeons at the grain elevators) but there was also a set of 6 Panther Martin lures on sale for about the same as the slingshot and some ammo, so I got the lures. It was a wise choice since I caught three fish on them the first fishing trip we took. This was Friday the 12th. Roman, Kelly and I went to a little lake nearby and dropped lines. I figured Kelly would get at least a crappie. I got some bait called "Crappie Snacks" and set him up with a bobber and a hook with that bait on it. He didn't manage to catch any although at the end of the day we spent some time dropping a hook with some crappie snacks on it into the shallows by the docks and the crappies attacked it in numbers. But we were just feeding them. They were too small and their mouths weren't big enough to take the hook with the bait.
 |
| Kelly crappie hunting |
 |
| My first fish of the season |
We were not satisfied with this outing though. So everybody but Reilly and Iryna went fishing Saturday (the 20th) and only Heather got skunked. Kelly and Mike teamed up to catch three, Roman got one, and I got one. We were using shrimp instead of crappie snax. Shrimp worked better. Only bad part was the turtles in the lake like the shrimp too. I was reeling one in and luckily it came off. I think it was just holding onto the shrimp and let go when I had reeled it close to the dock. I don't think I hooked it. Heather had something feasting on her shrimp too. Probly a turtle. We're planning on going back today. I wanna try some other areas of the lake. If only we had float tubes...
I'd say reeling in my latest bass, which included a couple jumps right outta the water, has been the highlight of my leisure time here so far. But it was only a little better than attending my first major league baseball game. These guys are all from Chicago and the Cubs were in Baltimore for a three-game series. We went to the last game of that. Cubs swept the series and won the final game convincingly. The Baltimore fans had nothing to cheer about really but they were cordial while telling us to go back to Chicago and thanking us for sweeping them. I was wearing a Cubs hat and cheering for them. Even sang the ho ho hey hey Cubs are gonna win today song. But any port in a storm. I wore Calgary Flames gear and cheered for them last winter too.
 |
| Roman, Kelly, Mike, Heather in Camden Yards |
 |
| Eating a Baltimore Oreo |
 |
| Iryna and Lucas |
I'm eating like a king here too. Already mentioned the turkey, but we're eating lotsa BBQ, borscht, had corned beef yesterday, steak, ribs, potato salad, egg salad (beautiful with borscht!), and if we figure out this fishing thang we'll be eating bass soon.
This country has undergone some massive controversy and change since I've been here! The other day I was chatting with cousin Nate in Texas and he invited me down to shoot some of his guns. I said, "Yeah, we can set up targets with pics of Trump's ear on them." But I don't want to get political yet. I'll save that for a later post. Suffice to say I am doing well. Getting in on the cheap insulin that Biden arranged prior to my arrival so I benefitted from his presidency. Blood sugar is fine. I have sciatica pain in the hip but that's been going on for months now. Probably a result of the sedentary life of a master's student. The master's is on hold till Sept. when I can find a class upon whom I can do an educational study. Swimming and fishing and sitting in front of the computer less will hopefully get rid of that. Hasn't worked yet, but we still have over a month.
In short, new country, new blog. Welcome readers.
Comments
Post a Comment