Move over Rip Van Winkle

Fourth week of February, year one

Inq link – here

Dear Diary,

I suppose I should have told my parents that I was flying to Dubai last weekend.  It honestly never occurred to me until Mom called today to make sure I had gotten my Valentine’s box of chocolate chip cookies.

Her:  What did you do this weekend, Honey?

Me:   This weekend….?  Hmmmm.  Well, mostly I slept and studied.

Technically that was not a lie, plus, after the fact did not seem like a good time to tell her that I’d spent the weekend traveling halfway around the world.

I have, however, made a mental note to sit my children down on the couch when they are about five or six and make them promise that they will never, ever leave the country without telling me.

So, what did I do this weekend?

Well, Saturday morning I got on a plane, flew to Minneapolis, then to Atlanta and eventually to Dubai, arriving about 7:15 Sunday evening (Dubai time).  Twenty some hours on the plane gave me lots of time to sleep and study, so that’s exactly what I did.  I’m now caught up on all my reading in all my classes and I’m even two chapters ahead in “Pets in Society”.  I know!

My actual time in Dubai was rather uneventful, mainly since once I got there I barely had time to buy a cup of coffee and a newspaper (the Gulf News), before it was time to fly home, this time by way of Kuwait City and Amsterdam.

The whole experience was rather surreal, especially being in a Middle Eastern airport like that.  I know that I was just in Brazil, but somehow this was different.  Mr. Mallard was right, though – it was good for me.  Of course I never really felt alone or scared because I knew he was right there with me.

I’m sure I saw him.  I kept seeing glimpses of this guy – behind a potted plant, just visible around a corner, pretending to read a paper and I could tell that he was watching me.  He was trying to be stealth, but it was just so obvious.

He wasn’t exactly what I expected – older for one thing, and not nearly as, dare I say, dashing as I thought he’d be.  I also thought he’d dress cooler, have brown hair instead of blond, and maybe would wear glasses.   At any rate, it was just nice to know that he was there.

Right now I’m exhausted.  I have a weird case of jet lag because I never even changed the time on my watch.   I feel like I’ve been to the world’s longest party and now I need the world’s longest sleep.  Move over Rip Van Winkle.