Confusion Re: The International Date Line

The first thing that happened was that I thought the pilot had got the day wrong when he said, “It’s Saturday the 13th, 10:15 a.m.,” just as I was congratulating myself on a very easy trans-Pacific flight. “Wait, did he get that wrong?” I worriedly asked the guy sitting next to me. “Is that possible?” Because, of course—due to my apparent unfamiliarity with the International Date Line I had told everyone that I was coming in on Monday.

I borrowed a very nice gentleman’s cell phone in the line for Customs and to her credit, Anna didn’t laugh very much when I called all sheepishly to tell her I was at the airport. No, not the Auckland airport. Yeah, the San Francisco airport, actually. Yeah. Yes. Yes, I’m there now. No, I know it’s not Monday. Okay, great, see you in an hour. They came and got me, I had a pomegranate Jamba Juice on the way back to the ABL, and she and Rob say that they’re actually happy to have another story to tell about a time I was ridiculous because the green bean story was so long ago.

It’s been a low-key trip so far, which is just what I wanted. Those two extra days I got were actually perfect because it meant I got to actually spend some time with Anna, as otherwise I would have only seen her when she was home from work. She and I got in the hot tub on Saturday night and sat up talking as we have since we were eighteen years old; we just realized that as of this year we’ve known each other half our lives. Sunday I slept late and woke up to scrambled eggs and almond waffles and that night we went to see Rob in a Shakespeare play and Monday we went to see Attack The Block with their movie group. I have been spending most of my time napping in the hammock, doing my hamstring physio (owwww), swimming in the pool, working on video stuff, eating Trader Joe’s chocolate-covered cranberries, and thanking my lucky stars that I left Wellington right before a major blizzard hit, resulting (according to my wild-eyed social media networks) in the first snow for like forty years or something. I am pretty sure that if I were there right now I would be drawing up an Excel spreadsheet of buddies in my neighbourhood to take turns coming over and actually physically getting in my bed with me to keep me from expiring of cold in my non-insulated, no-central-heat-having house, and surely that would get awkward at some point?

Today Rob and I went out for a delicious Korean barbecue lunch and then I went to Dave’s house in San Jose and met his girlfriend and his dog and just sat on the couch and talked like it hadn’t been three years since we last saw each other. He and Britt drove me back here to Sunnyvale and we all had tea out by the pool—The ABL has an electric kettle for some reason, which I am enjoying very much and making full use of—and then Anna came home and we all sat around the outdoor table making old jokes and telling new lies. Dave and Britt left and then Sahana and Joe and their two gorgeous little girls came over with dinner from their local taqueria and we ate that and made refrigerator magnet mazes and looked at iPhone pictures and laughed at each other. Tomorrow I’m going into San Francisco proper and meeting up with Mo and Ian and little baby Mina, and if I’m lucky with one of my old college roommates, and with another friend for drinks, which will feel very fancy and big-city indeed. I’m going to see my cousin and some other friends on Thursday and Friday, and then it’s on to Seattle for a week on Saturday—my other cousin has already asked me on Facebook if I’m SURE that’s what day I’m supposed to arrive.

It feels and doesn’t feel weird to be here. I mean I’ve been actually coming to visit the ABL longer, chronologically speaking, than I have lived in any house other than the one I grew up in, so it’s all very familiar here. I’ve had a couple of moments of American awareness (“You guys, Burt’s Bees is really cheap” and “You guys, I can’t believe there are ads for TV shows at the movies” and “You guys, this California-style frozen-yogurt concept is blowing my mind right now”) but not as much as I’d expected. Last time I saw Anna was Inauguration Day (which feels so far away, in so many different ways) and I don’t think we’ve exchanged more than a couple of emails in the intervening couple of years, but it doesn’t matter, we just sat in the hot tub and next to each other at the play and across from each other at dinner tonight the way we always have.

I don’t have any touristy things to do while I’m here, really—I don’t have anything to do, full stop. I’m technically on holiday, and I’m certainly very aware that I’m not going to work every day, but there’s no culture shock, so far. That’s not what this trip is about. I’m just here to see people, some of the ones I left behind but still think about and still love. It’s been…it’s been very relaxing, actually. Now that I’ve sorted out what time zone I’m in and what day it actually is, all I have to do is hang out with people who don’t blink an eye when I show up two days early. Everyone should be so lucky, you know?