Time Warp: April 25th

This is a direct excerpt out of my journal. (Good thing I am a meticulous journal-er)

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Friday, April 25, 2008 10:25 PM
I'm in the Nadi airport right now. I'm wearing my carefully planned going home outfit. I'm wearing a teal Sydney Opera House shirt, red boomerang earrings from Australia, my orange bandanna, a multi-colored sulu from Fiji, and my pink turtle necklace from New Zealand. MOst of us are in sulus. Kathy and Taylor are in Aladdin Pants. Steph is sleeping. Jacapo is talking to some random person. (Kathy and her Aladdin Pants)

Everyone is in their own peace. We're all trying to grasp the idea that we're going home.

Today we packed up and put our luggage in the storage and went in the van with Christ. First stop: ATM. KPax unfortunately lost her card to a hungry ATM machine. It took us 40 minutes to get it back.

We did some souvenir shopping down the main street. KPax got a sweet wooden mask for $6. We met up with Chris and started to the Indian temple. It's very colorful-I think every color of the rainbow. We found out it cost $3.50 so we decided against going in and just went to Natadolla. On the way Chris pulled over, ran to a sugar cane filed, chopped down a stalk, pulled the leaves off, and gave us raw sugar cane.

Who ever thought of using sugar cane was brilliant. It looks like a hard stick. You have to peel back the bark with your teeth before you gnaw on the white, chunky middle. Kira Elliott would be jealous.

We got to the beach and Johnny "horse man" was there. He talked to Chris for a while then Chris called to me, "Marzie, here is yor freend" and pointed to Johnny. I thought this was weird because last time we were at the beach I barely talked to Johnny at all. He mostly talked to KPax. Maybe he just remembers me better because I'm blonde.

The beach was great but more crowded than last time. Erin and I took pictures with my snorkel, mask, and flippers and BULA written in the sand. Two native boys Gina and Tima were selling things and we got them in our pictures.

I ate my can of soup-chicken noodle-(which I let warm up in the sun) and tried my pineapple that I bought on Sunday. It was so gross I couldn't eat it.

I brought my snorkeling gear because Mary said she was going to. I decided to use what I brought and went snorkeling. I had a heck of a time getting past the breaking point. There wasn't much to see. Just sand. But it had cool patterns. I took pictures with my waterproof camera. I had gotten back to the breaking point. SMASH&CRASH. I lost my goggles. I had 'em on my arm because Myron (my SCUBA instructor) said to keep your mask on your neck or on your arm-never on your forehead. I went under the wave, felt it moving off my arm, and came up. It was gone and too sandy to see. I had managed to save a $10 camera but not a $100 mask and snorkel. Dang.

(This is the last of you will ever see of this mask and snorkel)

I was so mad that I was so close to shore, knew when I lost 'em, but couldn't get 'em back. Brooke asked me how it went. I looked out at the sea and yelled, "Damn it!"

That's the first time I've sworn. That's also the first time I've written a swear word in my journal. I don't like it.

I was way mad. I blew bubbles for a while until I could be positive. I consoled myself by thinking ....

-I can buy new ones

-I was lucky to have lost it on the last day, not before my scuba dive

-some little fishies will find my mask and love it

After that I went skinny dipping...in Fiji.

That was also a first.

I had to pee so bad I went in the ocean. Don't tell Brooke because I always get mad at her for that.

That is yet another first.

We came home and stopped at McDonald's to get 55 cent ice cream. That was amazing. I got pictures with Chris and gave him a thank you card I made last night.

We all showered in the outside showers at the hotel and took pictures with Mala.

I played Nertz with KPax. Then I played Uker (spelling?) with Kirsten, Ramsay, and KPax. I still don't get that game.

We had to go to the airport in two shuttles. I was in the first group. The shuttle was the last one from our hotel that night so we had to take the 6:30 shuttle even tough our flight isn't until 11:20 tonight. Check in isn't until 8, so we found some couches and sat to wait for our check in time.

"In two hours, we'll be home."-Jacapo

Isn't that crazy the way time works? I'm leaving in the future and arriving in LA in the past.

While we were in line to check our baggage I talked with KPax. I asked what she was most afraid of going home. She simply said, "Being replaced." I thought that was a good answer. Poetic, even.

My fear is that everything I want to be consistent will have changed and that I'll revert back to the mundane ruts I so willingly abandoned on January 10th.

We went threw baggage and found our way to the airport luggage. And there we sat.

I feel like I did when I was getting to leave the US and go to New Zealand: I don't know what I'm getting myself into. Going to Australia and Fiji was different-those were just fun jaunts. I don't feel like I'm going home. I feel like I'm seeing my family and that's it. I don't really have a home anymore. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

(Continued after boarding the plane)
Air New Zealand has the best meals. Real dishes, (blue bowls for salad & desserts, orange tea cup, wine glass, and the best plasticware ever.) This meal was chicken and rice, potato salad, roll, New Zealand cheese <--so happy! and blueberry crumble-seeds of which are currently wedged in my teeth crevasses.

Anticipated Adventures for Utah
- job -$ -room -$ -concert -$ -scholarships -money
and that about sums it up.

Friday, April 25, 2008 4:53 PM

I went to sleep after I wrote in my journal yesterday...I mean today. This time travel thing is weird. Right now I'm just getting out of the outside shower in Fiji.

Well after waking up at 8AM Fijian time and 1PM L.A. time I had a breakfast of scrambled eggs with a gravy, sausage, a tomato, apricot yogurt, orange juice, and a raisin roll. I got an apple juice and some Milo :) Kirsten, Haeree, Caity, Erin came to visit me up front. Steph sat in front of me. Ramsay in back of me. I talked to Erin and I said, "Remember that one time when we were in Fiji and saw Polynesian fire dancing? My next door neighbors the Tiatias did Polynesians dancing and would practice in their back yard. My brothers and I would watch from the bathroom window. That was a long time ago. The End. Thank you for caring."

Erin said, "Didn't you say that yesterday?"
"You mean.....today?"

I've been planning that for a LONG time.

We landed. Coming in I got a glance out the window. LA is gross. It's all city. I haven't seen that much city in a long time.

Customs went unusually fast. I didn't have to get anything checked. The line to get our passports checked was long and I have never been so racially confused. USA is a melting pot. In Invercargill everyone was New Zealand. In Australia they all look like Aussies. Everyone in Fiji is either Fijian or Indian. Here there are Mexicans, Africans, Germans-or so they all look, but they are all Americans.

I'm in the LA airport now. This is the longest day of my life-quite litterally.

I didn't give anyone a goodbye hug. I didn't realize it. It didn't occur to me that I won't see them. Taylor is staying in LA for a while then going to Hawaii. Haeree is going to Devner. Kirsten to Indiana. A bunch like Caity, Ramsay, and Jacapo are going on Delta instead of Southwest.

So here we are: Brooke, Kathy Jones, Mary, Stephanie Richards, KPax and me keep waiting for more of our group to walk around the corner.

But no one else is coming.

(I finished the following after I got home)
We finally boarded the plane from LA to SLC. It was delayed 20 minutes. That wasn't so fun. I was number 47 in group B. The way Southwest works is you get to choose where you sit.

The plane ride was short. I sat next to KPax and we made our LIVE SIMPLY list (click on the link). I was antsy the entire flight. I wore my sulu and took off my shoes and socks because I wanted the full island effect when my family saw me. I saw snow on top of mountains and I got teared up when our wheels touched the ground of Salt Lake City.

We were the last ones off the plane. I walked rather briskly through the airport to the baggage claim. KPax kept pace-even with scuba fins and a didgery doo flopping out of her pack. I got to the escalator and saw a blonde head in the distance. Then a bunch of people started jumping up and down. THAT'S MY FAMILY!

I pushed KPax aside and ran down the escalator in my bare feet and I didn't stop running until I ran smack into a hug. I cried a little. I saw Brooke, KPax, and Steph's family though I didn't talk to them. Sadly, Taylor was still at a play instead of the airport. Jordan had a rugged poster for me. We picked up my luggage and got in Mom's purple van. I walked out of the airport and clung to Dad because it's so cold here. They showed me pictures of the family trip to Manti. I'm sad I missed that.

It's been a long time since I've seen so many temples or mountains or a lot of things. It was weird to see bilingual Spanish signs in the airplane.

We picked up Taylor on the corner. Everything is still under construction.

It was 10PM when I got home. I made a taco for lunch...well, lunch in Fiji time. We have new glasses, we use BYU creamery milk with an orange lid instead of the familiar blue or green lid. Dad doesn't buy ranch packets any more. He gets that pre-made at the creamery as well.

Oh how things change.

I handed out gifts and told some stories. This is a busy week because Dad is running for school board, Taylor has the play, and Sarah has the soccer tournament. Mom says she could really use a 3rd driver and she needs me to take Sarah to soccer in the morning.

My room is still messy. The toilet still takes talent to flush. The shower still has no cold knob. Some things never change.