welcome to the usa

I am finally here!

I didn't get to take a picture of the "Welcome to the USA" poster though, even if I was in the Border Control queue for more or less an hour because I was afraid I might be chastised by the officers, especially since there were signs saying "No Picture Taking." And the line was really, really long... To pass the time, I just observed the people around me and the immigration officers. Everything was so busy, although you can sense anticipation among the people, getting ready to be interviewed (it felt like we were all first time visitors in my queue).

And it was an added bonus that I noticed a few good looking officers (I know, so shallow of me! =D). As I got nearer the counters, was hoping that I'd get to be interviewed by one of the them whose counters were located in the central area. However, I was called at the end of the counters near the back. The officer who interviewed me was really tall and he was really nice. He asked me about where I am going, how long, what did I bring - all usual questions but when he asked for my age, I drew a blank for a moment and had to ask him to wait so I could think how old I really am. He just smiled and told me, "You forgot, huh?" to which I answered, "Yeah, I stopped counting." LOL. After that, he let me go but, maybe because I was randomly selected for a secondary security check or because I told him I have noodles (Pancit Canton!) with me, I was asked to go through another bag check. 

The line was short but it was taking forever because for each person, an officer would always ask what's inside the bag and if they see something in the big x-ray, they'd open the bags and check. I was really impressed with the officer on duty today because there were some arrivals who do not speak good English so he had to speak in their language. I heard him speak a bit of Chinese (pointing to pictures of prohibited foods from China) and then again in what seemed like French, and Italian. When it was my turn, he asked me from what port I departed from and when I told him Manila, he asked me if I brought Chicharon and Magic Sarap. Ohmy! I couldn't help but smile and told him "No." But still, my bag was checked and true enough, they opened the bag where the pancit canton was. After checking the ingredients, they returned it inside the bag and let me go.

So that's it!

Welcome to America to me and I am so glad that when I left the airport, my friend was already waiting for me to bring me to her home :)

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It was raining when we left the airport. (Btw, my cousin said I was lucky to have arrived in NAIA earlier yesterday because there was a bit of rally and traffic was bad in the evening.) I just remembered that when I was doing my Europe tour, it was also raining in most of the places I went to. I'm thinking of this as a blessing.

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But before going to her place, we stopped by Texas Roadhouse to have lunch because, even if the food was great onboard Korean Air, I was already hungry. It was good to just sit down and hang out for a while. 

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So happy to see my friend and her kids as well. This was the only the second time I got to see her son and the first for her daughter. I hope they'd visit home soon so all of our friends can see them.