Touchdown
The plane arrived at San Francisco International Airport on 22/08 in the evening sometime past 7.
I followed the footsteps of my fellow passengers and found myself in line at the customs booth. I must admit that the stance of the officer who attended to me (and my passport) was rather intimidating. Throughout our exchange, he constantly threw me series of questions and simultaneously entered my data into his machine. Then, recorded my fingerprint digitally and took a photo of me (my head to be specific) before letting me through. I wonder if they pay more attention to people travelling alone as compared to a family going on a vacation.
Anyway, I have nothing to be afraid of – except that I may have to declare the 20 packets of instant noodles, 4 packets of bak kut teh, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, green beans and barley that I brought along. And not to mention it will be quite embarrassing if they opened up my bag to find my bolster inside. And worse still if they decide to dissect it to be sure that it is free of unlawful possessions, because I don’t have to confidence to sew it up nicely afterwards.
However, the officer kind of got me stuttering at one point when he asked me “What is your boyfriend studying over here. What course is he in.” Because I was not entirely sure and I did not want to lie, I managed a sheepish, “Err. Actually, I’m not very sure. I’ve forgotten.” Maybe the lie detector-ing radar sensors was working well and acknowledged that that was in fact the truth, because the officer did not probe me any further and I went through.
I followed the footsteps of my fellow passengers and found myself in line at the customs booth. I must admit that the stance of the officer who attended to me (and my passport) was rather intimidating. Throughout our exchange, he constantly threw me series of questions and simultaneously entered my data into his machine. Then, recorded my fingerprint digitally and took a photo of me (my head to be specific) before letting me through. I wonder if they pay more attention to people travelling alone as compared to a family going on a vacation.
Anyway, I have nothing to be afraid of – except that I may have to declare the 20 packets of instant noodles, 4 packets of bak kut teh, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, green beans and barley that I brought along. And not to mention it will be quite embarrassing if they opened up my bag to find my bolster inside. And worse still if they decide to dissect it to be sure that it is free of unlawful possessions, because I don’t have to confidence to sew it up nicely afterwards.
However, the officer kind of got me stuttering at one point when he asked me “What is your boyfriend studying over here. What course is he in.” Because I was not entirely sure and I did not want to lie, I managed a sheepish, “Err. Actually, I’m not very sure. I’ve forgotten.” Maybe the lie detector-ing radar sensors was working well and acknowledged that that was in fact the truth, because the officer did not probe me any further and I went through.
As soon as I exited the arrival gates, I saw him waving at me! Let’s call my boyfriend Don for convenience and the illustrative purpose in my blog. Hah. I was really happy to see him after so long and still cannot believe I am on this trip all by myself.
I managed to identify his car correctly. I guess it smells like a new car only because he sent it for some serious wash up and chose this polish scent called ‘new car’. Haha. The previous car owner kind of abused the car and did not take very good care of it though. It has some defects here and there, but it still works quite well. Here’s a photo of it.
I'll be adding more posts after the laundry is done :)
My companions for the trip
for this post
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