The American Dream on Holidays

I wish I had a better title for this blog article, but frankly... I don't. I don't know, I just can't think of a joke. Not that it matters, it's about what the blog article self is about right? Well - I won't disappoint you, since this is me writing a blog article while being in Texas.

Yes - I actually went to Texas. A couple of weeks earlier I talked about the possibility of me going to Texas. It started out by dreaming about it, continued with talking about it and making a wish list and ended up with my entering a plane to Houston after having waited for more than 13 hours at London Heathrow.
Speaking of which: On July the 23th it was the FIRST time I got on a plane from Amsterdam to London. It was a great new experience. Not precisely a nice one - but a good one anyway. The headache you get during take off and especially landing makes me feel sleepy. Furthermore, the crackling noises, flickering lights, trembling wings kind of scared me. Luckily nothing has happened with the plane though. The second plane trip was hell too - over 10 ten hours in a plane traveling over the oceans and whenever I fell asleep, I would wake up not even 1 hour later. During the plane flight I have seen one movie in total: Hannah Montana the Movie. Surprised? I'm not. Oh, I've also seen one or two Friends episodes and A LOT of flight info. The first thing I noticed when I landed my plane? The American cars. Haha! They're all white, all trucks and all PLAIN. Second thing: Geez it's humid out here.

It took at least a half of an hour for me to check-in. During the entire time I stood in the line I was quite scared I wouldn't be accepted into the USA. I don't know why - but I'm only sixteen years old and traveling on my own, so that might've been somewhat suspicious. Anyway - I had everything in order, put my finger prints in the system, let them take a picture of me and explained I only had licorice with me. The not-so-wordy custom and protection guy let me through. I was officially in the USA. Hurray!
I was really anxious to meet Chris (Admin Zeph, Punisher, Penisher, Atrum Zephyr, ...) and I didn't want them to wait for me for ages. After actually being in the USA there was another thing that made me nervous - the baggage handler. After waiting more than 3 minutes I really thought my baggage didn't arrive in Houston. I wouldn't have thought that if it weren't for the fact I let them handle my baggage all the way from Amsterdam, but I did, so I thought perhaps something wasn't allowed by the LONDON customs. Ah well, after waiting about 4 minutes, swearing to myself the same bags have been passing by a couple of times now, I finally spotted a bag that looked a bit like mine. I took it without looking properly at it. After another minute I actually realized I took the right one.

The last thing I was nervous about was the fact I wasn't even sure if Chris was (still) waiting at me after I got to arrivals. I looked around and at first glance I didn't see him - he wasn't between the people cheering at the arriving people nor at the suited men with random nameplates with them. I really wanted to surprise him with my arrival, but when I randomly looked to my left I saw him standing and looking at me, waving in a rather silly way. The first thing the father was did was asking if I'd like a drink, while Chris took my baggage (weighing only 9 kilos!). After having talked a bit about stuff I can't remember we went to the garage and towards Chris' dad car. I didn't have to pay for my coffee, he did... Even the continuous driving after arriving was an experience by its own. I had to continuously talk English and I went American car spotting, HAHA the American cars are a joke! Chris' dad let me use his phone to call my brother at home. I found it funny to speak in Dutch with my brother, even if it was only to annoy Chris. Anyway - after the serious talk was done and my brother kept repeating "shoarma" whenever I said something, I hung up on him and waited for the adventure to continue.

Seriously though - the (spoiled) American life is good. Cheap, lots of variety... During my first week of stay I've been doing lots of good things with Chris and his folks. For instance: I've been sight-seeing quite a lot, I went to the Galleria in downtown Houston with Chris and hismomma, I went out for dinner and breakfast a lot..., I went to a gun show, fired guns myself, I went to "The Strand" (Yes, it's called like that... and yes it does mean "the beach" in Dutch) and made pictures of myself dressed as an American Gangster, went to Wal-Mart and Blockbusters and probably some other stuff I can't think of right now... There's also a couple of things I haven't done yet, like driving a car, going to NASA and make a podcast.

Chris' parents are really nice to me, they don't shout to me, communicate with me like I'm Dutch (meaning they explain words if I ask them too), ... The thing what makes them really nice to me is their generosity. I brought 70 dollars with me to America on July the 24th. Currently it's August 2nd and I still have about 60 dollars left. I haven't even been to an ATM yet and they have paid tens and tens of dollars on me. Excluding the out-for-dinners that I didn't pick, they also paid for my entry to the gun show, lots of souvenirs... It's crazy up to a point I feel a bit... sad I can't return the favor for now someway. I'm just trying to be polite as a thank you. Once I'm back I'll send them a vase full of flowers. The only ten dollars and eighty cents I have spent in America was for my pair of Wal-Mart White Shoes. I like those and they're cheaper here than back in the Netherlands, just like a shitload of more things.

Speaking of souvenirs, I got plenty of them already... F00dzors (Texan liqourice), comic books (three manga), photos, shooting target, a shirt and probably a couple of other things too...

Anyway. I think I'm done writing a blog article now, I haven't been paying attention anymore anyway because I've been playing Halo 3 during the making of this blog article. Hopefully I'll soon be updating about my life in Texas soon.

Cheers,