The HECK that is LAX

Clark did very well on the flight, he only cried for a bit when he woke up and I couldn't rock him because of turbulence. Though he didn't fall back asleep again until the last 2.5 hours of the flight, at least he did ok. I was rather perturbed when the stewardesses came by shouting about breakfast and I had to pick him up. Oy, do you not remember the baby I was trying to get to sleep for half of the flight? He luckily got a 4 hour nap later in the day, and is asleep now, so we are doing OK. The real torture was Immigration.

Let me start by saying I have always been annoyed by Immigration in LA, why? dunno, but SFO is way more streamlined, and goes so much faster. Today was exceptionally bad. We didn't know that since we are a family Masaki can come with me through the citizen line, and so he went in the visitor line. Oy, and got taken to what is called secondary. Yeah, the thought it was suspicious that he had the car seat and no baby, so the took him to interview him. I had NO idea, had to ask around, finally I saw him get taken upstairs, and had to ask a bunch more people for help. Let me say this, Immigration Officers are friendly, but for some reason anyone lower than a supervisor doesn't know JACK about what is going on. He finally got released with enough time to *miss* our connecting flight to SLC. YEAH! Would any of the airline people help by calling ahead or coordinating? 'Uh, I can't do that'. Oy, no one communicates here! We get to Delta to check in, and the lady at the end of the line was like 'Oh well, you're gonna miss your flight'...what?!?!?! why not bring us to the front? We've just dealt with INS...oy. We couldn't be placed on any flights today, so we are rescheduled for the same time tomorrow. Free of charge, unfortunately we have to shell out for the hotel, but at least at a discount(supposedly). It was a blessing, we all got good naps, were able to get a gophone, and learn how to use a bus in LA.

Let me say this, people here have no concept of distance. We wanted to go to Target and were told TWICE that it was only like a 10 min walk(that or just a mile down the road). Well after walking for around 45 min we decided to hop on a bus. Yeah, it wasn't a 10 min walk, it wasn't just a mile down the road, it was 20 LA blocks, which is several miles, and a 15-20 min bus ride! We got to eat at a nice little joint that is like a cross between KFC and La Salsa, Clark enjoyed the refried beans, got some snacks for the trip tomorrow, and we are set to sleep today off. Wish us better luck tomorrow.