Do you know how you take things for granted

God continues to humble me daily. He never fails at anything. I seriously thing humbling is the thing he HAS to do most often. Because, seriously, we most often NEED it.
A bit about my trip and how humbled I am forever grateful to Jesus for reminding me daily.

The minute I got on the plane to my home country (for those of you who don't know me or where I am originally from, I prefer to leave the name of the country a mistery) I was immediately humbled. After my long flight from NY, Rome wasn't very welcoming. The flight attendant on my NY flight told me the wrong time as I was leaving the plane, so I thought the whole time I was in plenty of time to connect. Upon attempting to even locate the check in desk (not an easy thing to do in Rome since their system is so very different and I never flew thru ROme) I wasted a good half hour. When I finally found it the clerk asked me to put my carry on the scale! I was horrified since my carry on contained all my camera equipment (haven't taken a pic yet!) and ton of other heavy stuff (laptop was out already). I was horrified to be informed that I had 17 kg too much. And it was 5 euros per extra kilo for a total of 85 euros (around $115, my ipod informed me to my already shocked mind). So, downstairs I went to exchange money, with my luggage and carry on in tow (why can't we have our luggage go directly to our destination anyway? Why do we even have to do this stupid luggage thing mid way? What's wrong? It's not like we mess with the luggage while we are on the plane?). THe whole time I am thinking I have plenty of time. After taking my time figuring out which items are the heaviest (not hard to figure out) and which ones are really needed (that was impossible for I put only the necessary items anyway) I proceeded to load my new purse I got for the trip from one of my fav stores (TJ max). IT was a huge one! SO, let me tell you! I loaded that baby! My camera, lenses, chocolate (that was important gifts stuff and I wasn't about to get rid of it or even eat one bar). I ended up leaving a pair of barely used men's shoes by the trashcan in hopes that someone will pick them up. Then I exchanged 75 euros in hope (faith more than anything) and headed on back to the counter. I was relived to find out that I didn't owe anything but one kg and I took that out and defianly, openly proceeded to stuff another kg of something into my purse! LOL! Those italian gals thought I was nutto! I was dirty, makeup messed up, teeth unbrushed since I didn't even bother on the flight from NY with any of that stuff. I didn't even sleep! I was a sight. Then, they told me to hurry and get to the gate for boarding. I was frozen for a bit, looked at my watch and realized the attendants mistake! Oh, my!I turned to the security gate and glanced in horror at the 50 plus people in line in the only register open! There was no way I could go thru that line in 10 minutes. I took a deep breath, said a prayer and thought about a good friend of mine who told me she saw me cut (barge) thru a line years ago. I don't recall that at all since I am usually very respective of lines and sincerely think it was an honest mistake on my part. But this one would really make her thankful if she was with me in a hurry to get thru that line. I bit my american (now) pride, raised my boarding pass and waiving it wildly barged my way in front of an English speaking couple. They graciously (had to) let me in and I made it to the plane in time to see the tail end of the boarding. I so wanted to run to the bathroom but knew I could use it on the plane in just a few mins. Well, .... airlines don't bother opening those till after the take-off, which wasn't till another 45 mins later. Needless to day, I was fuming inside..
I already miss US. The internet is very slow, everywhere. If and where there is wifi it is excrutiatingly slow. THe roads are worse than ever. There is mud (recent snow melted) everywhere and nothing is being upkept. All my neighborhood memories of playgrounds and parks are unkept and decaying further. It pains me so much. The hot water in the apartment building was shut off in the middle of the nite as well as the central heat. It was quite a surprise to wake up to a cold apartment (caughing horribly :( ) and not have had a shower (i was exhausted when I arrived yesterday, I just crashed). THankfully, my cousin lives nearby and her boiler was working. So, I was able to visit her and shower. The conditions the people live, teh prices in the markets and stores are just way above and beyond! People aren't paid well here but the prices are higher than the ones in the US!
To be continued... since my computer time is running out and dad is waiting to play a game of chess and I am at internet cafe...