The last leg

   My seatmates from Seoul to Chicago were not at all scary.  They were in fact very nice people--a mother and daughter duo from St. Louis who had been in Korea visiting another daughter who was teaching there.  We all dozed off and on, ate off and on, chatted off and on, and watched movies off and on.  We took a decidedly different route back than we had going over--MUCH further south and this time over some ocean.  It was dark most of the way though.  I was so disoriented as to time.  I'd never had to change my watch, since there is exactly 12 hours difference between Cambodia and home, but I couldn't have told you WHAT time is was along the way.
    The trip was blandly smooth and uneventful.  Did we arrive in Chicago on time?  Of COURSE we arrived in Chicago on time.  This was Korean Air Lines, and no delays are tolerated.
     I was a little nervous about going through customs.  I hadn't spent much at all so wasn't worried about duties, but I WAS worried about my little hand-carved elephants, the coffee I'd bought in Mondulkiri, and the mucky red clay on my shoes.  We'd been informed during the flight that we had to go through a special gate if we'd been in an agricultural area and/or had any agricultural products, and after about two hours of deliberation, I decided I HAD been in an agricultural area and that I did in fact have some agricultural products.
    Chicago looked great to me!  I was particularly impressed with the cheerful nature of the people at Customs.  The guy checked my passport and said "Hey!  Did you have fun in Cambodia?"    [For you cynics out there, yes, this WAS Chicago!]  This was a reassuring difference from the Cambodian guy's demanding MORE!
     I noticed--as I probably wouldn't have noticed a month earlier--that even the luggage carriers were friendly and chatty and kidded the incoming travellers about what they had in their bags.    Seemed like a really friendly place, and I found myself most appreciative.
     At the agricultural stop, the official said "Did you work around farm animals?" and I said "Well, elephants,"  and he said "ELEPHANTS!" and merrily waved me through.  I thought I had more official stops to make, but I walked through a door and there was KURT!  My oh-so-kind brother-in-law coming to pick me up.  The first familiar face I'd seen for nearly 3 weeks.  I was home.