Ethiopian Journal

6:00am, Sept. 18, Amsterdam:
All is well so far. A dicey connection out of Missoula from the start… Very hard to say goodbye to Halle (that girl is such a good kisser!) and of course last minute I found myself DYING to stay with her, stay in Missoula, stay with what I know, stay, stay, run away from going away! But I did, somehow, manage to turn my back on her, walk through check-in without getting searched (I got searched later getting on the plane) and moved up to the rather depressing waiting area. Depressing because it was a nice stormy morning outside in Missoula, and we were all trapped there inside, with no one to say last goodbyes to us because they were all potential terrorists. There was a woman sitting by the window who began a VERY loud and VERY annoying phone conference on her cell phone, which lasted for the course of over an hour, which everyone in the terminal was privy to, and which covered every stomach-turning aspect of a cosmetics scam (“Organic Minerals”) perpetrated on seniors nationwide with total lack of conscience or self respect. The woman was either very brave, or very stupid, because the assembled crowd drew nearer and nearer to lynching her with every discourteous instruction to her invisible minions.

Anyway, we were informed (horribly, the woman on the cell phone delightedly announced into her phone that she could now continue the phone conference) the flight was indefinitely delayed due to high winds in Minneapolis, but after only 45 minutes of delay, we boarded and were quickly airborne, with a brief but good view of the Black Cat fire burn. Some temporary but intense sweating on my part over missing the flight to Amsterdam was allayed after I discovered that I had a significant layover in Minneapolis, and the connection went off without a hitch… My only regret the enormous Subway sandwich I bought and devoured at the airport. I declined to enter the now-famous bathroom stall where Senator Craig was so recently disgraced for foot-tapping solicitations. The flight to Amsterdam was uncomfortable (I hate huge planes!) but I kept my lunch down, and things were eased by watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on my little TV… although the ridiculous plot was also upsetting my stomach by the end. Thankfully, the gate I depart out of to Addis is right next to the gate I entered from, and I did not have to wander the Airport browsing Danish cheese and porn (unavailable anyway without Euros) before finding my seat. Brushed teeth, applied deodorant (too much!) and now I’m thinking about a good poop and reading my book about the Brazos river. Thinking about how silly and wonderful it is that even here in Amsterdam, everything is still in English. That’ll probably change soon. I considered taking a bus to take a quick walk around Amsterdam, but I only have 4 hours, and am not gutsy enough to risk making that phone call to Rebecca: “Uh, I missed the flight to Addis because I was exploring the Red Light district…” So, I poop and read. On to Khartoum!