Touch Down

Well saying Albert arrived in the United States is very much easier said than done.
You try taking a 5 hour plane trip to Shanghai that ended up being a 12 hour one, and rushing through busy airports, clearing customs and immigration, getting on the same American airlines that crashed on 911, flying over the pacific with nothing more than movies you've already watched on your previous flight for entertainment, then rushing upon landing, clearing customs and immigration again, getting on another flight to Washington DC and moving around having the handle broken off your 20 kg luggage which you had to drag around thanks to the guys that check your luggage.

But yeah, he's now in the United States.

There was an orientation in DC with the other 40 students that traveled with him and they got to visit the Washington Monument(the white pointed tall building you always see on TV), the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol building. In between there was an interview with the the 8tv people and many other moments that were caught on camera which will probably make it to your TV come the end of July if it survives the censors.

The funny thing was before everyone left for their respective host families, a lot of them cried and hugged each other and you would have got this feeling that everybody would have rather stayed together throughout their 6 month stay rather than split up the way the acted. Even those that put up a brave face had dampened spirits. All this even when the have only spent 10 days together throughout the interviews, camps and orientations that they did together. Strange how fast they bonded together. The last couple of days especially for Albert as he shared a room with Daniel(that British Malay guy), Andrew and Joe(the rapper) who were absolutely hilarious. The last time he had so much fun was when he was with Boon, Tim and co in school. Sigh.

Nevertheless, they all had to split up, and there was the all too familiar promises to keep in touch which everyone agreed to do, but it was comforting to know that they will be together again before they leave the country(and hopefully even after that).

A couple of flights later(and a very nice American called John), Albert landed in Fargo, North Dakota where he was greeted with -10 c temperatures and AFS people. But he came prepared, had 7 layers of clothing on, which he soon discovered to be unnecessary, so he was all snug even with that kind of weather. He also got to see live snow for the first time. It didn't snow there though, but it will soon. He hopes.

Right now, Albert is living with his host dad and brother(an Indonesian guy who is on the same program) who have been extremely welcoming and friendly. Right now they've got a movie going, and Albert is supposed to join them. Its time to do something American anyway.