welcome to miami (bienvenido a miami)

(ok, i just published this blog, and just so you know, it's frickin' long. just so you know)


(yall remember that will smith song from waaaay back??)
but i'm actually in atlanta, georgia, home of such marvels as coca cola, mlk jr., "gone with the wind", and of course, yours truly (you surely know me well enough to know i'd say that!)
anyway, it's my 2nd day in atl, and i'm doing okay. i started experiencing that "reverse culture shock" thing people kept threatening me with when i was in schiphol. there was this group of southern businessmen chatting away about such things as dubya and college football. i really, really had to have God be like "shanka knock it off!" because i was totally developing hateful feelings toward my fellow countryman. and then i had the delta 9 hour plane ride, which was no cause of complaint...though i did develop this headache, the flight attendant gave me some non-aspirin medicine and i was right as rain. aww.
and yes, there was food lol sorry twin.
i actually took public transportation to my sister's house. it was a pretty minute or two (that's southern slang meaning it took a while), but i got there just fine. i hadn't been on atlantan publ trans in such a long time; i think about 10 years! wow! i'm old enough to say that i hadn't done something in 10 years! lol craziness
and thank the Lord for pub tra; in amsterdam that 2 hour trip would have been so much more expensive, in atlanta $1.75 baby!
then my sister came and we hugged and chatted, and saturday morning we went and visited family. first stop my dad. we spent about 3 hours just talking. it was so nice! i even hugged him. thrice! and there is no God? lol please! we're going to hang out next weekend with chinese and bowling, my 2 favorite things to do. i'm so stoked!
i love my sister kedra (tae). we are so much alike...like we'll talk about stuff then switch subjects about 50 times and are still able to follow one another, and we have about the same sense of humor. i told her that we aren't as close as i'd like to be, but we get along so well that it really seems like we are. it's so great to be with her.
i went and saw friends and aunts and my other sister...i hadn't seen her in so long! my sister tae walked in pretending like she was alone and started talking to tawon, then i walked in afterwards. tawon's mouth dropped, then for a good 3 minutes she just jumped up and down screaming, then lunged for the hug. nearly hit the floor. never have i felt so loved in my life! lol it was so great.
i got to eat checkers fries; some of the best fries on the planet. we had american chinese buffet last night. can you just hear the swells of "star spangled banner" ? dude on the plane after we landed they totally played that over the pa. like right after they said "tot ziens" to our dutch flyers. i actually laughed out loud. then i went through the maze that is hartsfield and about 1.5 hours later, i claimed my belongings. it was cool though. i kept getting slightly funny looks from people...this black chick with these obviously european type clothes on and a guitar on my back. lol i was just 2 decades too late, people!!
ooh ooh then i went to wal-mart!! so far the pinnacle of my stay here! there was a salesgirl "playing" the bass. i had to go and try it. lol so fun!
anyway, i'd better wrap this up fellas. it's 730 am, and i have no idea why i'm up. i woke up at 640 (!?) and started cleaning (??!!)...i really don't know.

my date and time thingy still reads 130 pm. aww.