RECAP: 7:45am, Wednesday, June 11, 2008

"It’s a funny thing – sitting in an airport for over five hours and not actually going anywhere.

Yesterday around a quarter to 4pm, Mom drove me to Dulles to catch my 6:20 flight to Orlando. I was planning on spending a few days with my aunt, uncle, and little cousins before they leave for their trip to Puerto Rico, and I’ll stay at their home and hang out with Pancho – the newest addition to the four legged sector of the Zipf clan. In reality? I get to hang out with my little cuz’s (for the last time before I leave for Bulgaria), then spend the next week and a half engaging in lots of ME time. If you know anything about me, I love having time to myself like that. I’m not a stir crazy person who gets lonely after a couple hours of solitude. I’m the type that salivates at the thought of experiencing Europe someday with a backpack and not much else. Meet people along the way, sure, but spend most of the time doing what I do best – processing, reflecting, and yes, a bit of overthinking. J Anyway, I’m looking forward to the first real Katie time I’ve had in a long while, and the last I’ll get before the whirlwind of my last month in the U.S. begins…

So, around 5:30 yesterday, they made an announcement that our plane hadn’t even left Boston yet, due to a ground lock from weather in the north east. A woman across the aisle from me seemed flustered as we all listened to the announcement. Oddly enough; she was the whole one in the entire waiting area that appeared at all frustrated. It quickly became apparent to me as she looked around and managed to grab the attenion of the gentleman next to her, that she didn’t speak English and only caught pieces of the loud speaker. The next thing I know, he was repeated the message and was working hard to help her understand. Not only was it awesome to see someone take the time to help someone out like that, but he didn’t stop there. I watched in amazement as he moved away from her, took out a cell phone, and started explaining our flight situation to someone on the phone. It got so much better when I heard him say, “so, this woman sitting next to me doesn’t speak English, so I was thinking that maybe you could talk to her and translate what I just told you into Farsi?”

Farsi! How awesome is that? It breaks my heart that so many people are so unwilling to barely go out of there way to help someone out, yet this guy (who was wearing a cap from my brother’s ship in the Navy!) went way above and beyond to make sure she wasn’t left in the dark. Kinda renews your faith in people a little bit, doesn’t it?

About 45 minutes later – it still wasn’t on its way to D.C. Long story short, at about 8:30, countless delays, one bag of chips and a Coca-Cola later, I made my way up to the gate counter to see if they could get me on the next flight to Orlando in the morning. While I was rather enjoying chatting with those around me, working some Sudoku puzzles, talking to my big bro, playing some Mario, and ACTUALLY working on my Bulgarian lessons, the later I left DC, the later I would be arriving into Florida, and the later I would need to be picked up in Orlando. Considering no one in my family would let me crash any longer in the airport if I tried…

So now, here I sit. Back at gate B70 in Dulles airport after 5+ hours here yesterday, a shoddy nights sleep, and an hour at the ticket counter this morning. Turns out the flight didn’t even get into DC until 2:30 am…. Go figure. ;p I will be in Orlando, God willing, by 11:30am today to begin my vacation. He’s good, isn’t He?"