July 30

36 hours door (Hanoi) to door (W. 94th St.).
Bill slept for about 24 of them.
I slept for two of them
After taking a sleeping pill.
Vietnam→Bankok→Beijing→JFK
Final leg was
Steerage class all the way
A plane packed with brand-new immigrants to the US
Copying their immigration documents painstakingly
From master copies they’d brought with them.
No paper towels in the bathrooms
No hot water
No movie
And a two-hour delay during which
Everyone’s seat was changed
In a thoroughly random fashion.
However
We flew over the Arctic Circle
On a clear, bright day
And saw the ice shelf
Glittering and gorgeous
And traced the thinning ice southward
As the flows began to crack.
A wonderous sight and worth the flight.
Also worth it:
Sitting next to ‘Gramps’
Who true to Chinese tradition
Was served both his meal and his wife’s
As well as his baby grandson’s
And who shoveled in everything he wanted from all the meals
(With such relish for the airline food)
and forked over whatever was left to his wife.
I knew Chinese custom was for the men to be served by the women
And for the women to eat their leftovers afterwards.
But on a plane to JFK??
Now back home in the melting pot
And happy to be here.