Let's go back to Saturday evening. Everything was on track. I was at the airport in plenty of time, no problems with my bags, no major lineups, and boarding was a piece of cake.
Welł, except that I was travelling with the Quebec Synchro team (according to their jackets), which seemed to consist of at least thirty screaming teenagers and one coach. Although I was hoping not to be sitting in their section, I ended up smack dab in the middle of them. (The girl beside me kept leaning over me to talk to the person on the other side of the aisle.)
Oh well, I thought. I can just watch movies and tune out the noise. No problem. So I got out my headphones and went to plug them in. Only they wouldn't plug in. There was a problem with the jack. I admit, this made me panic a bit, but then I figured I'd be proactive and flag down a flight attendant and ask to change seats. What I didn't realize was that the flight attendants were i tentionally avoiding the section of the plane filled with screaming girls.
So I pushed the call button. Still, no one seemed to be coming. Finally, one showed up, but instead of saying anything to me, he just turned off the call button light, assuming, I suppose, that it had been pushed accidentally by one of the rowdy teens. So I made clear that I had pushed it on purpose and showed him the problem. He said there was nothing they could do, and no, I couldn't switch seats because they were completely filled. He did suggest that I switch seats with one of my friends. I told him I was alone, and that it would have been a lot to ask someone to switch with me and go with no entertainment for ten-and-a-half hours.
To his credit, he did look apologetic, but then he said, "I wish I'd known this earlier so I could have done something about it." Unfortunately, in my stressed out state, I took this to mean that he wished I had told him earlier. So I got kind of mad and asked him when exactly I could have told him earlier, seeing as I'd just realized the problem. He clarified, and said that the last flight crew should have said something. Then he walked away.
Luckily, I still had my mp3 player, so I started listening to music. Then I realized that I could still watch movies, they just wouldn't have sound. So I did. Inidentally, "Paul Blart, Mall Cop 2" goes well with Serena Ryder's "Together We are One" in the background.
The flight itself was fine. The meals were good (yes, I like airplane food) and I managed to sleep. I woke up whenever there was turbulence, but amazingly was able to fall right back to sleep. (At one point I was awakened when the girl beside me rolled onto me and continued sleeping with her head on my shoulder and her arm across me. Awkward.)
How much do you want to bet that the next flight crew was not informed about the headphones problem in seat 50F?
Santiago airport was nice, relatively easy to navigate (although no one speaks English), and before long, I was sitting at my gate, waiting for my plane to be called. Or at least, I thought it was my gate. What I didn't realize was that there was an announcement about a gate change, but I missed it because it was in Spanish. Also, a guy had actually come and scanned my ticket, so I assumed I was in the right place. Sadly, once I realized there was a problem, I had missed my connecting flight.
Fortunately, I was able to fly standby on the next flight to La Serena (leaving three hours later), and able to let my host family know about the later flight. (Thank you Starbucks wifi!)
Aside from the hassles to get here, Chile seems lovely. My host mom (Vilma) is very nice, and the other coordinator, Tania, speaks English, which is a big help.
My room is small, but comfortable.
Oh, and flushing toilet paper here is a big no-no, so I have to remember that.
Today is my first day at placement! I'll let you know how it goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment