Sweet home Chicago

I am just coming to the close of my second day in Chicago. After 23 hours of travelling I landed at O;Hare international airport, grabbed my bags (after laughing my arse off at the guy who got a bit tired and SAT DOWN on the conveyor belt while we were waiting. I reckon her travelled about 2 metres before he was able to stand up) and headed to the hotel. One thing will comment on - I am yet to meet a white taxi driver, waiter, front desk attendant or barman. I staggered in the door here, got into my room and was promptly called back down to the front desk, where I had left my credit card. Ooops! I got some dinner, which was an interesting experience - I ordered french onion soup and it came out with the biggest crouton in the universe and so much melted cheese I seriously doubted there would be any soup in the bowl. I located it eventually, but it was only because I put some serious effort into digging through the molten cheese. I never thought there would be a day where I would say there was too much cheese on something! Fell into bed after calling in and having what must have sounded like a very weired conversation on the phone with Tim, as I was somewhat stonkered with lack of sleep.

The trip itself was pretty good. The only "bad" thing was being seated next to two vegetarians, who ate a lot of raw broccoli etc during the flight. Did you know, that after a while, raw broccoli starts to smell like farts? Well, it does. Or the raw broccoli was working really well and this couple were passing more wind than our local gas company. Stinky. There was a little girl seated near us who was very good and very cute, laughing at the Elmo they were playing on the children's channel inflight. The guy near her got shitty about the laughing and wanted to be MOVED. Again I fell around laughing when I considered how bad it could be (our trip on the plane to NZ last summer came flooding back. William is just not at sitting still and I think everyone near us wanted to be moved). The flight attendant - more camp than a tent - suggested he could pinch the little girl and make her cry when the shitty passenger demanded that "he should DO something" about the laughing. I nearly spat out my food that was giving a good impersonation of being an omelet. I love it when people who traditionally have to "turn the other cheek" answer back. US customs and immigration went surprisingly smoothly and I had time to wander around LA airport for a while before I had to get on my flight to Chicago. All was uneventful except for when we landed, as we did a few two circuits of the runway waiting for a plane to get out of the "alley" we had been assigned. Must have looked funny from the terminal - a plane doing what must have looked like really slow doughnuts on the tarmac.
Not surprisingly, I slept a fair bit today (1pm when I woke up) as I got only about 3 hours sleep when I was in the air. Went out and about for a walk and found a really nice place to grab lunch - it's called potbelly's and the sandwiches were really nice and not too expensive. I got to people watch as well, which turned out to be really funny. Whilst I was chomping away on my lunch, three young guys went past with a queen sized mattress on a hand trolley. It wasn't balancing too well and they spent a lot of time grabbing it and setting it straight. Then the next trip, two were carrying a table and the other was trying to balance a chaise on the trolley by himself. It wasn't going too well for the time I could see him. Then other bits and pieces were paraded past my window and it occurred to me that I was either watching some students move or the world's most incompetent burglary. Either way, fun viewing. Back at the hotel, I walked into an african american fashion convention and I have to say, if I wanted to get immersed in American culture, this was the night. It was kind of like getting to sit on the set of one of those B grade flicks where there is a lot of portrayal of what we might think is very stereotypical behaviour going on. Most seemed ok, but a few were behaving like real tossers and giving EVERYONE around them so much attitude it was like being in a room full of toddlers who were coming down after a day on fairy floss and cocacola. There was a lot of shouting about "disrespectin' people" and to be very honest, sheer bloody rudeness to the staff working in the hotel. It often strikes me as odd that just because you can afford a bottle Moet (that and long island iced tea seemed to be the drink of choice), some people seem to think that they can treat you like you are a piece of seagull pooh. Anyway, it was interesting to watch. Didn't say anything - didn't want to be disrespectin' people.