Saturday, August 10, 2013

P2P Arrival in USA: Day 20

It was finally time to head home.  Everything so far had gone perfectly on the trip, so we all knew our way home had to have some hiccup involved!  Our group checked in at CDG airport in Paris, and we said our tearful goodbyes to Charlotte and Sabrina.  Once we arrived at the gate, we didn't have a lot of time before our flight departed.  We all boarded the flight, and things went well.  The flight to New York, JFK airport was only 8 hours from Paris. I sat next to a man who was coming from India to do business in Ohio, so we had interesting conversations about languages and the importance of knowing multiple languages.  He knew 7 fluently!  What an inspiration!  I find it embarrassing that most Americans don't know a second language.  I know learning languages is not easy, but I feel we as a culture do not value this as we should.  I hope this changes in the future!  He actually explained why Chinese is so hard, and it made so much sense.  There are no letters in the Chinese language, but each word is a character- like a coded picture.  There are over 99,000 characters in the Chinese language, but Chinese simplified only has 30,000 characters.  Can you imagine memorizing 30,000 characters?  That is crazy!  The more I spoke to this man, the more I was inspired by his story.  His children are in elementary, and both of them can speak English fluently.  He had them learning languages as toddlers.  He was also honest in saying that it is a struggle- languages take work!  I loved chatting with him about the world and how important it is that we are global citizens.  

Ok, once we arrived in New York, we went through immigration and customs and then said goodbye to our dear friend Montana who joined us from New Jersey.  Next up we had to walk to the neighboring terminal due to the construction at JFK airport.  Once again we went through security and then said goodbye to our New York group.  As much as I don't want to, I always cry my eyes out as I say goodbye to students.  I am so honored to be a part of their experience abroad!  I know these adventures we shared together will affect them for the rest of their lives, and it is so cool to be a part of that.  I can always tell when I have a great trip- I cry even more!  We did one last count off, and of course I screwed it up!  Oh how I will never forget the number 38!



After leaving our new Rochester, NY friends at their gate, we grabbed a bite to eat before heading to where our flight was leaving from.  Our flight ended up being delayed by 2 hours, and once we boarded things were delayed even more.  On the flight, I had fallen asleep, but I had a feeling something was wrong.  The pilot came on to tell us that catering hadn't come to refill beverages, and that we had to wait.  That took about 45 minutes, and once that was done, we sat out on the runway for way too long.  I didn't realize how long it was because I kept nodding off, but it got out of hand.  The pilot came on and told us there was a traffic backup in the sky, so we would be taking a different route.  Seriously?  I have never heard of that!  While all of this was going on, one of our students sent me a message saying that there had been a plane crash in NY.  Come to find out, a plane had crashed at La Guardia airport, a neighboring airport in NYC.  All of the incoming air traffic was now re-routed into JFK which in turn caused a traffic jam.  

Then, while sitting on the runway for hours, a light came on and we now had a mechanical problem that had to be checked out before we were allowed to leave.  When all was said and done, we waited on the runway for 6.5 hours!  That is crazy!  Passengers were starting to get cranky, and I can see why!  I even complained that no water had been offered to us!  Ah!  They did offer us to get off the flight, but the problem with that was that if you got off, you were not allowed to get back on the plane. During  all of this, my phone was slowing dying.  I tried my best to keep the group facebook page updated.  I also communicated with the P2P program office to keep them updated on what the situation was.  As we sat there, we missed our flight to Grand Rapids.

Finally our flight made it to Detroit at 1:30AM.  We met with our Alpena delegates' families and said our goodbyes, and P2P had a bus pick us up and drive us back to Grand Rapids.  As we were going up the escalator at the airport, Skylar and Sara noticed that their bags were going around on the luggage conveyors.  We all went back to search for our bags, but only those two came through.  Our bus driver  Willie picked us up, and I asked him if we could go to a fast food place to eat since most of us hadn't eaten in over 12 hours.  Luckily a Checkers right across from the airport was open, and they had a walk up window!  It took awhile to cook up enough food for a group of hungry teenagers in the middle of the night, but we finally got back on the road and made it to the Grand Rapids airport by 5:30AM.  


Even with our delays at the end, and the fact that we didn't have our baggage, it was such a great feeling to be home after being abroad for 3 weeks in Europe.  The entire program was awesome!  Everything went so well, and our group really got along well.  It was sad to say goodbye, but I know we will keep in touch as well as see each other in a few weeks at the reunion.  Thanks to all of the delegates, leaders, and parents for an amazing P2P program this summer!  I am so blessed to have these life changing experiences with all of you!

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