"Rock, flag, and eagle"

I am back in the U.S. after a full day of travelling. The Accra airport was a little disorganized, as I expected, but I managed to make it through all 4 security checkpoints with my drum in plenty of time for my flight. I was apparently lucky, because another volunteer got pegged as a drug trafficker because she "only had two small bags for a month! Where is all of your stuff??!!!" It was a huge ordeal that ended in her having everything taken out of her space bags and searched 4 times and being questioned when her plane landed in the states. Speaking of space bags, they are amazing. It was so easy to pack with them...even the 8 yards of fabric and 7 purses that I brought home was no problem. The first flight went well apart from a shaky landing (bad weather); I managed to only sleep 30 minutes of the 10 hours in my attempt to beat jetlag. I watched 4 movies and read half of a book. Productive day. I was also so hungry from not eating much the day before that I ate airplane chicken and rice. Ha. I was pleasantly surprised to find my drum when I got of the plane--they refused to let me carry mine on even though some other guy did. I had a 3 hour layover at jfk, so I managed to get some nonairplane food. I am going to have to readjust to American pace; when I was paying for my sushi, I stood and stared at the cashier for half a minte cause I am not used to things moving so fast anymore haha. I also have a habit of trying to hoard small bills since it was always hard to get change in ghana. I kept paying with $20 bills at the airport--I ended up paying the Jimmy johns delivery guy almost all in ones since I had gotten rid of most of my bigger bills. My second flight was also on time, and all of my bags made it to kc! Hallelujah! I am surprised every time I see my bag coming off the belt, cause I always expect the airline to lose it. Note: this is why I hadn't checked a bag for 5 years until his summer. My wonderful friend Courtney picked me up from the airport and let me spend the night at her house. She even let me borrow some pj's that don't stink and take a hot shower! I got in to kc at 10 p.m. after being awake since midnight Missouri time, so I crashed pretty soon after I got here. I guess my plan to avoid jetlag worked except for the fact that I woke up at 5 this morning and haven't been able to go back to sleep. I also woke up in the middle of the night and tried to tell courtney something that was completely incoherent. And, when I woke up this morning, I thought I was in a hostel in Africa. It took me a good 10 minutes to figure out where I was. Now I am getting ready to go to worlds of fun. What a great way to spend my first day back...so excited...if the rain will hold off!