Laid Over in Heathrow

Well, I didn't expect to be blogging my plane rides home, play by play, but it's 6am, I'm sitting in Heathrow Airport, I'll have my arse parked here for another 5 hours, so, hey, why not?

The first flight was loooong. 13 hours that seemed more like 30. I was lucky enough to get the romper room section on the plane. Three siblings constantly bickering and kicking my seat. They NEVER seemed to run out of energy!!! I'd be just about to fall into a nice comfortable sleep and BAMBAMABAMABAMABAM against the back of my seat. They were so obnoxious that they woke up the two year old across the aisle, who then started screaming, no, make that screeching, at periodic intervals to make sure no one on the plane slept. Couldn't blame the two year old though... But the other three... If looks could kill...

So the first thing I noticed upon getting here to Heathrow, the obvious. It's friggin cold!!! Second, for the first time in 10 months, I am not a minority, and am sitting here feeling completely anonymous, something I rarely feel while living in Asia. I'm not sure if thats a negative or a positive thing. I guess it's both, depending on my mood. Certainly, in my current mood, anonimity is good. That said, I'm still sitting next to a big group of Malaysian so I can listen to them speak. For some reason I feel like simply coming back to this part of the world will cause instant forgetfulness. More though, as of late, I've become very much amused at the fact that I don't have to translate everything in my head anymore when I hear it. I hear it, and it makes sense. There are still plenty of words I don't know, but it will always be like that to some degree. I wish I could say it comes out of my mouth with that kind of ease, but not quite that good yet. But I do feel like I've made really significant progress lately, and that makes me feel good. It also makes me glad that I still have 7 months left in Malaysia. I think to stop now would be alot like waking up and watching the memories of your dream fade away.

And now, as I look around at everyone in their scarves and hats, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.