Hello beautiful friends! I've actually got very little to say, but I'm in a coffee shop on UCLA's campus and honestly have nothing else to do & I'm afraid if I don't look busy some young, trendy whippersnapper will come and ask me to give up my table. So here I sit, and here I write.
Yesterday I woke up at 0330 EST to drive to the Jacksonville airport and catch a plane at 0925. Needless to say I was well over 2 hours early, and had nothing to do then, either. It was almost 70 degrees out when the plane took off in Jacksonville, and upon landing in Denver 4 hours later it was -8. I don't even know how to register such a temperature, but it was COLD. Fortunately yesterday was very clear with few clouds in the sky, so I was able to see all kinds of snow from a bird's eye view. However, being the Fatty Patty I am (sorry for the expression Patty!), all I could think of was vanilla soft serve ice cream. Those mountains looked delicious! Getting off the plane and feeling the chill was enough to curb my craving though.
My plane out of Denver was delayed by 1.5 hours, which had me arriving in LA at approximately 1515 (3:15pm)Pacific...roughly 1815(6:15pm) EST. I personally thought that was an excellent time for bed, but Hot Rod operates on west coast time, so she picked me up and we went to the world's earliest dinner (in her time zone, that is).
At my friend Kristina's recommendation we went to In-N-Out Burger in Westwood and I had animal style fries and animal style cheeseburger. Now, if you talk to a Californian, the special In-N-Out sauce is truly special and unique, but if you talk to a Georgia girl who loves a Big Mac she will tell you it's wildly similar to Mickey-D's sauce! The relish is more prominent in In-N-Out's sauce, but they taste incredibly similar. I love a Big Mac any day of the week, so I think this is 100% fine, but I do apologize to the In-N-Out faithful out there who may be offended by my opinion on this very important matter. Regardless of sauce, the burger was delicious & I'm glad I kicked off my LA vacation with a California-specific dining experience.
Following dinner, we went to church youth group where Sarah assists as one of the group leaders. Though exhausted and having a very difficult time focusing on the message, I really enjoyed attending this event that serves as the highlight of my dear friend's week, and getting to meet some of the people she so dearly loves.
California kids are different than our southern Georgia kids, y'all! As a long-term people watcher, I liked being able to sit back & observe the kids as they interacted with each other. When I was in youth group, I remember discussing such important things as who was kissing who and what our plans were for the upcoming weekend. When I was a teacher, I observed kids discussing much the same things, very rarely anything long-term or goal-oriented unless it involved a date to the prom. These kids spent all of their time discussing school. "I need to take these classes so I can get into this school," and "I'm waiting to hear back from this school that I applied to in order to start this summer," and "I'm on break because I'm studying abroad in another country this year" (In HIGH SCHOOL Y'ALL)...you get my point. These children also seemed especially articulate when discussing important subject matter, but I would assume this is attributed to their private school educations. Not much time for learning how to have an intellectual discussion or debate in the standards-based classroom, am I right? These children were truly more like miniature adults than teenagers. I'll keep my slightly biased opinion to myself, but it was interesting to compare the culture from east coast to west. We often forget how much we differ even though we all live in the big US of A. And, if I may interject this here, I'm happy to be a small town Georgia girl and to (hopefully) raise my children the same way....I'll probably teach them a few big, swanky LA words in case they need them though:)
Also, youth group went from 1900-2030(7-8:30pm)! SO LATE!! I remember going from 1800-1900 (6-7), maybe 1930/7:30 at the latest on a school night. It might've seemed later because their 2030/8:30 is actually my 11:30/2330. On a typical night, I've been asleep for at least 2 hours by then.
After youth group I 100% crashed. I'm talking didn't even brush my teeth or wash my face crashed. Plugged up that phone that said 0030 EST and I don't remember much else. Total jet lag exhaustion & I thought I'd sleep for days like I did when transitioning back and forth from night shift to day time living. Instead, though, I woke up about 5 times in the night and finally woke up for good around 0745 Cali time/1045 EST.
This morning I did nothing except get ready & come to campus on the bus with Sarah. Currently, I'm feeling a wave of nostalgia and longing for my glory days @ good ole UGA where I took the bus and ambled around campus. California's nice, but you can't beat North Campus no matter how hard you try.
In other news, half of my heart is in Thomasville. I think it's excellent that Tyler & I are comfortable spending time apart & taking solo vacations, but I'm also glad we don't make it a regular occurrence. I'm having a fabulous time, but words can't express how much I miss my man!! He's pulling double duty at the school these days, and I know he's stressed, so I'm sure that doesn't help matters. So thankful I took a few extra days off work so we can spend some time together when I return to the east coast in a few days.
I guess I had a lot to say for somebody who had nothing to say initially, but that's pretty much the story of my life. Also, my dad is traveling to Costa Rica as we speak/type/read, so if you could send up a prayer for safe travels I would appreciate it!
I'll probably write again soon...Hot Rod as another class this afternoon.
XOXO,
Hannah
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