Taveuni to Texas

    I'm not sure that at 15, I would've left my state for the first time in my life,  boarded a plane for the first time in my life, alone, and traveled across the world to Fiji. Janet is a brave young woman! She is in Houston, after 24 hours of travel. She was very sleepy but in great spirits. I explained jet-lag to her and she immediately understood what I meant! Janet left Nadi on Saturday night and arrived in the US on Saturday at noon. She said the plane ride was bumpy and a "little bit scary," but she seemed to handle it like a pro. She and her parents had some fun shopping in the airport shops before she left.

   On a more serious note...I am forever grateful to Janet's parents for allowing her to come here. In January, Illy and Waisake's youngest daughter/Janet's 8-year old little sister, Lela, passed away suddenly. I can't even imagine their pain. For Illy and Waisake to put their only other daughter on a plane to the other side of the globe after losing a child three months prior had to be agonizing. They are as brave as Janet is.
    I flew to LA on Friday night and got to see my brother Rob and his wife, Kristen and my REALLY smart niece and nephew. On Saturday, my new friend Caron took me to LAX and waited outside customs with me for Janet to emerge. We both teared up a few times watching all the reunions. I think one day this summer, I'm just going to go hang out in the customs area at IAH watching people as the arrive! I was expecting it to take an hour or more for Janet to get through, but miraculously she walked up the ramp about 40 minutes after her flight landed. She sauntered out like she'd been through customs hundreds of times. An airline representative had helped her through the process and brought her to me.  She told me the flight attendants on Fiji Air were "very pretty and very nice" and helped her a lot. We happened to see one when we were walking out and she spoke to Janet and wished her a great trip.

We got to the Southwest terminal for our flight to Houston and the questions began...what was the scanner/security machine looking for? Why did the girl next to us have blue hair? What were the people in the massage chairs at the airport doing and WHY? What was chocolate milk? Why was a pizza so expensive? (Even people who have never been to the US immediately understand how ridiculous airport prices are!) How long until we were in Houston? Why was it so cold everywhere? She's not at all a fan of our constant AC. I had so much fun watching her pick candy from the "make your own mix" bins, watching her eat "American pizza" for the first time, etc. She has had pizza before, but says "ours" is better.

Janet ate two pieces of pizza and immediately started falling asleep in her chair. Since we had three hours to wait, we moved to the floor and she had a solid nap on the floor in the middle of LAX - like the pro traveler she already is! We boarded for our Houston flight, she watched High School Musical 2 and then slept some more, occasionally waking up to look out the window. At one point, she asked me what all the green squares on the ground were...farmland/crops. She tried peanuts and chex mix for the first time and liked both. We descended in the middle of a thunderstorm/lightening, which miraculously did not wake her up. When we landed, I said "welcome to Texas!" and she got a huge smile on her face and hugged me. I think we were both still in disbelief that we pulled this off and she is actually here.

I mentioned in my last post that when we arrived to Janet's village three years ago, it was raining harder than I'd ever seen. Last night in Houston was a close second. We arrived to my house and had to sprint inside, but still got soaked. Janet remembered that it was raining the night I met her and said she thinks the rain here was a sign of good luck. We got inside and I showed her around. Ellie the Elephant welcomed her and when she saw her room, she said "Is this real?!" which almost made me cry. We went to the kitchen, and she noticed a picture of herself on my refrigerator that has been there for the last three years. She said, "Is that me?!" She ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich, some blackberries (for the first time - she was a fan!), potato chips (her favorite snack) and apple juice. I didn't want to overwhelm her with much more, so we headed to bed. She took a bath in a bathtub for the first time in her life and then slept in a traditional bed for the first time, falling asleep to Friends on Nick At Night.

13 hours later, she woke up. We had breakfast - eggs, bacon, toast and blackberries. She used a toaster for the first time. I gave her hot tea and she asked for water instead. Apparently, my hot tea bags were not up to snuff! We'll get the right kind a little later. She put salsa on her eggs after she saw me doing it and liked it. She's been indoctrinated to our Texas ways! When I went to get her water, I showed her the automatic ice/water in the door of the refrigerator, and she was fascinated, of course. She looked up the hole inside the door and then opened the freezer to understand where it was coming from. We ate and she offered to help me do the dishes. She's been extremely polite and helpful already. She was impressed with the dishwasher, and when I showed her the garbage disposal, she opened the cabinet doors underneath to see where it was going. It's amazing to watch her view so many things that we take for granted.
   We got dressed and headed out for a mani-pedi! Suffice it to say, she loved it. My friend, JoAnn, who does my mani/pedis was so sweet to her and gave her some extra massage time. Janet loved the automatic massage chair, as well. After we finished, I showed her the pool near my house, and she can't wait to swim, despite the fact that the water is going to be freezing cold. At home, she swims in the ocean and/or waterfall pools, but apparently, the very average man-made pool in my complex is way better! Ha! As I am typing this, she is lying on my bed under a blanket, eating the $8 airport M&M's and watching Ella Enchanted. She's declared "the small ones" (plain, not peanut) the better M&Ms. Up next on the junk food list is Jelly Bellies so she can guess all the flavors, but we have to go easy on the sugar and processed foods. This afternoon...shopping and bbq for dinner. She told me she really wants to eat beef. I let her know that she came to the right place! And tomorrow, school! I cannot wait for my students to meet her and hear her thoughts on American high schools. We'll report back soon!