The longest day of my life

So much has happened over the past couple of days so I am writing 2 posts this week.

I arrived safely in Veracruz 2 days ago at 11pm local time. In the space of a day and a half, I set foot on 4 different continents and spent almost 32 hours in the air. It was literally the longest day of my life! I gained an extra 14 hours because I crossed so many time zones.

On my way over I stopped at Singapore, Moscow and Houston airports.

My plane connecting plane from Singapore was delayed for 2 and a half hours so I didn't end up leaving until 3.45am local time. That meant I had over 4 hours at the airport during the night. Singapore airport in massive and luckily there was lots to do. There was a butterfly garden which was really pretty and there was even a free movie theatre! Not many shops were open but I was able to buy a Starbucks coffee and an authentic steamed pork bun.

The butterfly garden, Singapore airport

The flight was delayed because they had had problems the previous day on another flight to Moscow. As an extra precaution we weren't allowed to bring any liquids in our hand luggage at all, not even if they were in sealed 100ml containers! This meant I wasn't allowed to bring my deodorant, tooth paste, mouth wash, hand sanitiser or face wash on the plane.

Moscow airport

We arrived in Moscow at about 11am local time to a white blanket of snow covering as far as the eye could see. We were ushered through the airport into a waiting area where we reboarded the plane about 2 hours later. I didn't see much of the airport and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to buy tooth paste or deodorant.

After another 12 hour flight, I landed in Houston. I cleared customs, check in my luggage and still had 4 hours left. I started to feel really sick and I thought it may have been food poisoning so I drank lots of water, sat in a quiet place, ate some food and 2 hours later I still didn't feel better. I talked to my host family about it and they suggested a travel sick tablet and it helped a lot! I spent the rest of the time shopping and walking around. Lots of things are so much cheaper in the US then they are in Australia.

The last leg of the journey was probably the best. We flew down along the Gulf of Mexico and I saw the coast line for almost the whole flight. It was a smaller plane and I had a window seat so I got one of the best views.

I cleared customs in almost record time- it only took about 20 minutes. My first host family, the Herrera’s were waiting for at the airport. It was so great to finally meet them. I already feel at home and I have only been here for just over a day!

The drive home from the airport was really strange. There are very few similarities between Boca del Rio and Perth. There were guys on the side of the road burning grass fires and there were police utes driving around with 2 armed guys standing on the back. I'm not use to seeing that in Perth. 

The roads here in Boca del Rio are really crazy! Perth is tame compared to the drivers here. It’s even crazier than Italian roads!

The family dog, Pancho likes me. He keeps on following me around the house. I've never had a pet dog before so I'm not use to being followed. He is quite cute and likes to play soccer. 

Pancho the dog

The food so far has been really nice. For breakfast, I had bean paste and grilled cheese on half a bread roll which was topped with fresh diced tomato. We ate dinner at about 3.30pm which I’m not use to. We had tomato soup with noodles in and then tortillas with mince mixed with vegetables. Luckily the chilli was optional!

My mama, sister and I went shopping in the afternoon for the school uniform. The shopping centre is massive but Dany (my sister) told me that it was really small compared to other centres. It was almost twice the size of my local shopping centre in Perth (Garden City) and was spread over 3 levels! There are lots of security guards and police officers everywhere which makes me feel safe but it will take a bit of time to get use to.

I got stared at a lot while we were shopping. I am 172cm tall and in Australia I am about an average height of a female but I am really tall over here. I also have really fair skin and so far I haven’t seen anyone else here who is as pale as I am. I wish I did have tanned skin but unfortunately I don't tan, I just burn. 

Dany and I

Tomorrow I will start school. School starts at 7am and finishes at 3pm. I will need to wake up at 5.30 and we will leave at 6.20 which is the time I normally wake up. I will be going to La Salle which is the same school as my sister. I am really excited because I have never had the experience of being the ‘new kid’ before.to seeing that in Perth.
The weather is beautiful! It's winter here but it feels like it's spring.
The family dog, Pancho likes me. He keeps on following me around the house. I've never had a pet dog before so I'm not use to being followed

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who came to Perth airport to see me off on Saturday. I really appreciate your support. Hasta la vista!

My brother and I at Perth airport