September 28
I
didn't realise that the hotel I stayed at near Aspen didn't provide free
Internet, so I wasn't able to access it yesterday to update the situation. I'm
pretty sure none of you were holding your breath, however. In any case, things
seemed rather unlikely in Las Vegas that I was going to get on that flight to
Denver. They announced that everyone had checked in, so I was feeling rather
saddened by this prospect. So I just prayed and then had peace that it was all
going to work out. Well, 5 minutes before the plane departed, they called my
name and told me one guy didn't get to the gate for some reason so that there
was space for me on that flight. There I made it, and I was so thankful! Having
gone through that heightened the tension I had built up in my neck during my
first flight. I had sat in the aisle seat next to 2 guys that were over 6 feet
tall, and of course, there's not enough leg room for these poor guys. Well, the
middle guy decided to sleep the whole way through, and he took up a lot of space
to do it, spreading out his legs so that neither his friend nor I had a lot of
space for our own legs (although at least I had the aisle!) and even stretching
out his elbows such that at one point, my own arm was even pinned to the seat
back by his elbow. It was rather unpleasant, although I do understand that it
isn't easy for tall people on planes, but still, trying to keep as far from him
as possible, I developed a very stiff neck on the left side! :o)
Once I
got to Denver, it was easy to get on a flight to Aspen. It was nowhere near
full so I didn't even have to go standby. I even got a window seat, which was
so nice to watch the fall colours and mountains below as I was flying into
Aspen. It looked like home, actually, except that we don't have mountains in
the city! Those kinds of flights, though, are not for the faint of heart. I was
on a small propeller plane that seated only about 20 people at the most. You
feel every bump and draft of wind. I like it. It's like being on an amusement
park ride, but I know some people for whom it would inspire only illness.
In the
sunlight, the yellow trees were like fringes of gold in amidst the pines. It
was just beautiful. The airport is very small in Aspen, but it works out well
when your luggage arrives before you, as mine did, because it's so small they
just leave your stuff on the belt for you for whenever you arrive. So I didn't
have to track down an airline representative or anything like you would have to
do at anothe airport. I just picked it up off the belt.
Everyone
in Aspen and area that I met was super friendly, from the car rental ladies to
people at the school to staff at my hotel in Snowmass Village. I would highly
recommend staying in Snowmass Village if coming to Aspen, however. The rates
for many hotels were much better than Aspen, the scenery is just as beautiful
if not more so. And it's only about a 30-minute drive away at most. That would
be like me driving from home to the university back in Edmonton, so not a big
deal. Both Snowmass Village and Aspen remind me a lot of Jasper and Banff. I
found tht driving from Aspen to Colorado Springs, pretty much all the towns you
pass throught are like them. They are quaint and rugged and are comprised of a
lot of log houses. I would love to come back just for a vacation. But I think I
decided that once about Estes Park, Colorado as well, that it would be a nice
place to go for a vacation or even honeymoon if I couldn't go somewhere exotic.
It's peaceful and relaxing here, and at this time of year, the colours are out
everywhere, and it's spectacular. Pics will be coming!
One
thing I really like about Colorado too is that most of them have heard of
Alberta, even if they don't know where Edmonton is. So it's a nice contrast
from a lot of other people you meet in the US and elsewhere, for that matter.
They play hockey and aren't afraid of snow. They're quite similar to us in many
ways, and I find it refreshing. Anyway, I have some work I still need to do,
but I'm happy to be connected to the Internet again.
6:20 PM | Permalink
September 27
I'm
really hoping that it won't be every flight I take for business purposes that
goes wrong when I try to leave Edmonton. In this case, I was switching from US
Airways to United in Las Vegas for my connection to Denver and then Aspen.
However, the US Airways person in Edmonton figured I'd likely be able to check
in right at the gate when I got to Las Vegas so that I wouldn't have to go
through security again. This would be especially useful considering my bag was
checked all the way through to Aspen. US Airways was unable to print all my
boarding passes for me because I was going to be switching airlines.
The
flight attendant advised us to check the TV screens when we were inside the
gate to find out where we had to go for our next flight. As I hadn't a boarding
pass, I didn't know what gate I was supposed to be at, so I was alarmed to see
that my flight wasn't even listed on the TV screen. Not knowing what to do, I
started walking, and I saw a US Airways customer service desk, so I asked them
there what to do, and the lady told me that I should go to Gate D, past
security, and see if I can get in that way, and if I can't, I should go to the
ticketing booth. When I arrived at the security line, which was very long
indeed, I saw a sign that said we had to have both passports/ID and boarding
passes in order to get through. So, I realised I would have to go to the
ticketing booth anyway. Once I got down to the United desk, a man from the
airline doing line control informed me that I could try the self-serve kiosk
since I wasn't checking any baggage. When I went there, I couldn't print out
the boarding pass because I was supposed to inform my United representative
that my luggage had been checked all the way to my final destination. That
meant standing in a huge line-up, and I only had 40 minutes to go before my
plane departed. I asked the same airline man what I should do, and he let me
into a special line for additional services, but even though the line-up had
very few people, because it was additional services, many of them needed extra
time at the counter. As a result, by the time I got to the counter, it was too
late for me to clean security, so they had to re-book me on the next flight to
Denver. Only problem is that I'm on standby. So who knows what will happen now.
All I can do is wait and hope that it all works out.
10:29 AM | Permalink
September 26
And you guys tell
me my obsession with grammar is silly. Check out this link, and see what can
happen when you don't get someone to edit your work! :o)
5:20 AM | Permalink | English Language
September 24
So
I've posted the Atlanta pics. For some reason, they didn't upload from my
camera in the order in which I took them, so if you're wondering why there are
pics of my cousins Paul and Amy as well as the pics from my hotel room in the
middle of those from the botanical garden, that's why. And I haven't the
gumption at the moment to re-order them. Too time-consuming. I know that many
of you will be missing my thousands of pictures of flowers from when I was in
Europe 2 years ago, so I added thousands more to this album. Lucky there
weren't any swans!
Anyway,
the flight home was without incident at least. That was good, although the
flight attendant from Salt Lake City was quite funny. She was telling us that
the first time she went to Edmonton, it was -7, and when a passenger asked her
if she meant Fahrenheit or Celcius, she said, "no, the actual
temperature was -7F," because apparently Celcius is not real. We all
laughed, and I felt badly for laughing, but it was too funny. She also asked if
Edmonton was near Toronto. Something tells me she is new at this job.
In
any case, I really enjoyed Atlanta and wish I could have spent more time there.
I went to eat at restaurants recommended to me by my friend Susan, who used to
live in Atlanta. One of the places she recommended was Mary Mac's Tea Room, which has traditional southern cooking.
It was really yummy but way too much food, so I was able to take it home and
eat it for lunch at the airport the next day.
September 22
I had
mentioned something about salsa clubs in my last entry. I decided to Google
some just to see what options there are in this city, and it turns out they
have a few here, certainly more selection than in Edmonton. Interestingly, I
learned that many of the clubs, however, are Gay Latin nights on Saturdays.
That's something we definitely don't have in Edmonton, unless there are clubs
that offer one that I don't know about. At first, I thought that would be a bad
night to go if I had been able to go out dancing on Saturday, but then I
thought it would probably be the safest place for me to go. I don't normally
like to go to clubs by myself because guys usually get the wrong idea. Also,
it's just not safe to do that in a place you don't know. But going to a club
with only gay guys would most likely mean a lot of hot guys who can dance, none
of whom will hit on me, and that sounds a lot better than meeting nasty guys
that you have to keep rejecting and trying to get them to leave you alone.
Well, in any case, I'm still happier I stayed at the hotel and rested because
it really helped me feel better the next day. I finally had my own voice back
again, although I still have a cough, but not nearly as bad as it was.
I went
to meet my cousins for lunch on Sunday, and that was really nice because I
hadn't seen them in 12 years. They're so cute. They were little kids the last
time I saw them, and now both of them are studying at university! Afterward, I
went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which I learned also seems to be a place
for gay guys. I shouldn't stereotype, but I did see a number of pairs of guys
there, some of whom were even photographing the flowers, and it's just not an
activity I know many straight guys to do in pairs. Not that it couldn't happen,
but it just doesn't seem as common. Anyway, the garden was beautiful. I had
wanted to see some sculptures there for an exhibit called Sculpture in Motion
that I had seen advertised on Peachtree TV back home, never thinking I'd ever
get the chance to see it. The sculptures were rather disappointing, but then
I'm really picky about the sculptures I like anyway. Other than that, it was
quite beautiful with many flowers still in bloom. They had an orchid house,
which was great. I love orchids. I can't wait to get my photos up of this place.
However, it doesn't compare to the Devonian Botanical Gardens back home, which
I think is about 2 or 3 times the size of the one here in Atlanta, but the
Devonian is also a research facility too, so I guess they need lots of space.
My
cousins had told me that I should go see the aquarium, which was built just a
few years ago and which is apparently the largest in the world. I was going to
go today, but the cost of admission was a lot higher than I can afford right
now, so perhaps next year I'll have the chance to go. I really like it here;
people are really friendly, climate is agreeable, and there are lots of yummy
restaurants. I passed by 3 Ethiopian ones on one street today! I ate lunch at
an Indian restaurant which actually had the best chole I've eaten at a
restaurant in years. I ate sushi last night, and tonight, I'll try some local
cuisine at a place recommended to me by a friend that used to live here. I
could easily live here! One of things that is really cool, though, is having
Spanish radio stations. I love that I can just turn on the radio and listen to
a cumbia station, although I don't like cumbia that much, but it reminded me a
lot of Mexico, and that made me nostalgic. But there are other stations, one of
which plays a mix of bachata, salsa, reggaeton, and pop/rock. It's really
awesome, and I wish we had a station like that back home.
September 20
I did
finally make it to Atlanta, I'm happy to report. I was indeed a very sleepy
girl. I was able to go for a nap in the Salt Lake City airport, thankfully, and
then I was on my way to Atlanta at last. However, the part that I was annoyed
with is that I had been "specially selected" to be thoroughly searched
at security. If this incident hadn't occurred, having to make an emergency
landing there, that is, I wouldn't have even had to go through any security
again at all. It's hard not to feel that you've been racially profiled, though.
In the security line in Edmonton, the only other non-white person besides me
standing in the line-up was "randomly" chosen to be searched, and
then when I was going through this line, I looked around and noticed that
everyone else in the line-up was white, and none of them had to use the special
red bins to put their stuff in like I did. I'm just happy that I didn't have to
be hand searched on my body like what happened to me in Amsterdam. I don't like
strangers touching me, and that just gave me the heebiejeebies for days afterward.
In any case, it's hard to prove, most of the time, that you've been racially
profiled. It could have been a coincidence, especially since the person that
stamped by boarding pass to cause me to be searched that way was himself
latino. So who knows. It was annoying, but I had decided to go through early
enough so that I wasn't in a rush, at least.
Then
while I was waiting at the gate, they called my name to come to the desk. So
then I was worried something else happened, but it turned out they just wanted
to reassign my seat, which I was fine with. I still had a window seat, so that
made me happy. The funny thing is that when I got into the plane, I noticed
there was no actual window next to me. The one in front of me was so far ahead
it was more useful to the person ahead of me than for me. I did get a photo of
that, but I forgot to bring my USB cord to transfer the photos, so I'll have to
wait until I get home, but it was kind of funny. Even if it's dark, I like to
still see the city I'm flying into because often the city lights look really
cool from the air. It also gives me a sense of the size of the city--especially
concerning for me considering I need to be driving through it in this case!
Thankfully,
the GPS unit I got at the car rental is super user friendly, and I got to my
hotel without one wrong turn. I was so happy to arrive, although it was about 6
hours later than planned. Then I got to the hotel, and they told me that all
the king bed rooms were sold out and that they'd have to give me an accessible
king bed for people with disabilities. I told the lady that as long as the bed
was still horizontal and that I could still sleep on it, that's all I needed to
worry about. I told her what had happened to me, and she was like, yeah, I can
see why you're just looking for any bed right now!
So
I've spent most of the afternoon resting, napping, and chatting on the Internet
because I've just been lacking sleep too much, plus I'm still trying to get
over a cold I developed a while ago. I could probably go out tonight and do
something. There might even be a nice salsa club here, but I just want to sleep
and do very little at this point. Tomorrow, I'll get together with my cousins,
who live in Athens, and then Monday and Tuesday I'll have more school visits,
and then I'll be on my way home before I know it. Not that I don't want to be
in Atlanta, far from it, but I just want to be healthy again!
September 19
So it has been a
while since I last wrote, I know. I was either busy and/or had nothing
interesting to write about. Nowadays, I'm working at a new job, recruiting for
the university again but this time in the US and Latin America. So 2 weeks
after I started my job, I had my first recruiting trip in the US. I'm headed to
Atlanta, and I can use the present tense in this case because I'm still on my
way there! I was supposed to have one stop in Phoenix, but my flight ended up
having to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City because one half of the
windshield shattered. They told us on the flight that the window had cracked,
but I guess they just said that because they didn't want to scare people. I
wish I had got a picture of it because we could see it as we were leaving the
plane, but I was more concerned with racing to the baggage claim and ticket
booth to re-book my flight. It was one nasty shatter, although at least there
weren't any holes. For the most part, people were ok with this situation because
we were just happy to be safe and sound. The worst was for people going to
Mexico, as there were no flights to Mexico today depending on where the people
were going, so they would have to be put up for the night, and as they were
going on vacation, they weren't happy. There was one guy I felt really badly
for. He had arrived a little at the last minute as it was, 45 minutes before
his flight was taking off, on his way to Vegas. He was able to butt in at the
front of the line as all of us were headed to Phoenix, but then I saw him
boarding my plane after, and he told me that they'd stopped to search him and
caused him to miss his flight! So here he had to be re-routed again. I don't
know what happened after he re-scheduled his flight, but I sure hope he's on
his way and the rest of his trip will be without incident. Anyway, I wish I
could go for a nap but it's hard to sleep when you have you watch your stuff,
so I'll have to wait until I'm on the plane. I just realised, though, that
despite the fact that 10:35 is late and that I'll be arriving in Atlanta much
later than planned, at least theya re 2 hours of Edmonton time, so it will only
really be like 8:35 at home. That's a comforting thought. Only thing now will
be navigating the city in the dark, which is something I was trying to avoid
doing since I've never been there. It should be interesting!
August 16
I was really
upset by all the negative talk about Canada's olympic athletes failing to win
medals during the first week of competition. Of course, it's always exciting
when your country wins a medal, but it really hit home how ridiculous all the
negativity was when I watched an athlete being interviewed for some Canadian
news show actually apologise for not winning. I mean, this is just terrible.
First of all, who are we to complain? We are not there competing against people
from all over the world where competition may be very stiff. Most of us are in
no condition be at the olympics to begin with. Secondly, I'm pretty sure the
athletes are trying their best. I'm pretty sure that they are not purposely
trying to get out of placing in the top three. I think it IS significant that
they have been breaking the Canadian records if nothing else! Finally, it
shouldn't be news to anyone that Canada has too little funding for its
athletes. I was just watching the aftermath of Michael Phelp's 8th gold medal
win, and they were saying that he had travelled to Beijing last year to familiarise
himself with the surroundings. I don't know that all the American team could do
that, but perhaps if some of Canada's athletes had more sponsorship, they might
be able to avail themselves of the same opportunities.
I'm really happy
that Canada finally has some medals, but for all those that didn't win them,
let's stop blaming them and direct our blame at the right people--potential
sponsors!
8:39 PM | Permalink
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