06.21.03
En Route to Colombia
Saturday, June 21, 2003 5:33 AM - Portland Airport
I got up at 3:30 this morning so I could be at the airport by 4. Am waiting at Portland Airport to take a flight down to Houston TX. After three hours in Texas I will take another plane that will deposit me in Bogotá around 8pm tonight. On my way to the airport an hour and a half ago I saw the aurora begin to paint the sky a pale blue. I realized that I was seeing light so early because today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. I was very pleased to realize that I will see the solstice from dawn to dusk.
It was 1984 when I left Colombia as a child. Since then I have only returned once, in 1992 to visit. It did not dawn on me until a couple of days ago that a full decade has elapsed since the last time I saw the city where I was born. I am curious to see how my family and my childhood friends have grown and changed. I am excited and nervous to take this trip. Exited and happy to see family that I rarely see (I have not seen my sister in about two years, the extended family in ten) and nervous that I will not fit in.
Colombian culture is in many ways very similar to US culture and in others very different. There are certain things that you do and do not do that are assumed known by everyone. I hope that the people I meet realize that I could not possibly remember all the customs as I make inevitable social faux pas. I also hope that people are understanding and patient with me as I communicate.
I still speak Spanish pretty fluently but make occasional mistakes, most of them false cognates. There are also some subjects (such as sex, technology and politics) in which my vocabulary is sadly lacking. I left the country at the age of eleven, before I had the need or opportunity to develop my ability to converse on these topics. I have had people attempt to carry a conversation on popular culture or politics with me in Spanish, always with the same result: a look of consternation as the person tries to figure out if I am truly stupid or just not very knowledgeable. From what I remember of Colombians they tend to be very understanding and accommodating, yet I know the frustration of knowing something but not being able to communicate it (I lived in this intellectual purgatory for the two years it took me to develop my ability to converse in English) and am not looking forward to it.
I left Colombia on a blue moon. I will return on the solstice. There seems to be some poetic synchronicity to the spin of the universe and of my life.
12:09 PM – Houston George Bush International Airport
The prerecorded voice at Houston Airport has a number of lines. The most disturbing one is and I quote: ‘Any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest’. Wow. Shall I salute the fuehrer now? Speaking of which, we just walked past the statue of Bush (Sr.) standing in a heroic pose with his coat flying behind him and his tie furrowed by the wind. The statue stands about seven feet tall. Makes me wonder how tall Sr. actually is.
Bush International Airport is actually pretty nice. Or rather the brand new concourse E is very nice. The older concourse C is a bit lacking. Being an international hub for North, Central and South America there is the most fascinating mixture of people walking around. A tremendous place for people watching.
My mother met me at the gate as I arrived in Houston. She has been here for something like six hours now waiting for our connecting flight to Bogotá. We had dinner at a restaurant called ‘Pappadeaux’ here on the concourse that turned out to be remarkably good and very comfortable.