Leaving America

I promised everyone I would write and tell them all about my life as an English Teacher in Saudi Arabia. In the past I have sent email updates of my travel adventures, but I think it's time I moved into the 21st century, so here is my first shot at a blog.

Flying and spending time in airports has always been fun for me. Mostly because the people watching is at its best in airports. So many stories begin and end here. It's like watching a thousand mini-soap operas crossed with those choose your own adventure books. Waiting in the terminal for my first flight to Chicago, I watched a couple arguing. He had gotten her a sandwich and she was mad because she told him she didn't want anything and anyway it had mustard on it and she hated mustard. He said well what do you want to do, starve? You haven't eaten since we left and you won't get anything on the plane. It will probably be another 5 or 6 hours before we can eat again. Do you just want to starve? She said, I'm not gonna starve, and I'm capable of buying my own sandwich if I want one. Okay, he said, just trying to help. Stop trying to fix everything, the woman whisper yelled. Are you gonna be like this the whole trip?, he wanted to know. She gave him the stone coldest stare I had ever seen. Where were they headed? Would they make up? Would anyone eat the mustard filled sandwich? Choose your own adventure. 

After the Chicago flight, I had about an hour to kill before my next flight took off. I was hanging around in a gate across from mine since there were no seats left in my gate area. I watched a young guy re-pack his backpack. He pulled out a ball of yarn, a pack of lightbulbs, 3 pretty hefty looking books, though I couldn't read any of the titles, a few articles of clothing (including a single sock, into which he put a bag of sunflower seeds), a smaller bag with unknown contents (probably toiletries) a pair of plastic handcuffs, and what looked like a ziplock bag full of Legos. He meticulously put everything back in the bag and settled in to wait for his flight. He had on headphones, a hoodie, and the kind of glasses that quiet guy at work you always suspect would go crazy and kill everyone one day would wear. Or maybe that's the contents of the bag talking. The gate said the flight was headed for Albany, but mine boarded before his, so I'll never be sure if he got on the plane, or if the light bulbs were still intact when he arrived, or what he was planning to do with yarn and handcuffs. Choose your own Adventure.

The woman I sat next to on the flight from Chicago to Qatar had bought her ticket only hours before take off. Her sister in law had a fairly routine operation in India, but something had gone wrong, and now she was on a ventilator and not doing well. She was on her way to join her husband and son to be there when she recovered, or to bury her if she didn't. Choose your own ending.

Another thing about flying that I enjoy is the in-flight movies. I watched American Hustle first. Before it would let me start the movie, I had to agree that I was over 18. Then it told me that the movie was edited for content and format. I didn't think much of it until every time there was a scene that looked like it might be heading toward sex, it quickly cut to another scene. The first few times I just thought, huh, interesting directing choices. But I quickly realized it must be something the airline does. Nice if there are children next to you who could lean over and see your screen, but I think it probably had more to do with respect for muslim audiences.

I've gotten pretty good at long distance flights over the years, but I must say, I never remember quite so much turbulence... I have to wonder if it is just my imagination, I've been watching Lost (I know, only about a decade too late) and then there is the whole Malaysian Air thing, so perhaps I'm feeling more nervous about slight turbulence than I used to. In any case, it was bad enough to wake me up when we were about an hour and a half from landing in Doha. I knew I wouldn't probably have time to finish another movie, but I put one on anyway just to distract me from the turbulence. I know that I'm not the first to point this out, but it's so easy to cry when watching airplane movies. Maybe it's the dry air of the pressurized cabin, maybe it's that you are usually nervous, excited, sad, anxious, scared, and just an emotional ball of nerves anyway when you fly. Whatever it is, things that are only mildly sad, are suddenly tear jerkers. So the plane lands, and the movie is nearly over, so it's at a really sad bit, and I'm practically bawling, but no one is moving yet, just standing around in the aisle, so I keep watching, and crying, hoping I have time to see the end. And its fine, because everyone is facing forward trying to rush off the plane, so no one is paying attention to me. But then, disaster. The stairs are pushed up to the back exit of the plane, and everyone turns around to exit out the back. Suddenly, everyone waiting with their carry-ons slung over their shoulders, is looking at me, the only person still sitting, tears streaming down my face. The woman whose sister-in-law in India is in critical condition reaches over to pat my shoulder. I smile and wave her away and say, it's just this movie!, but I know she must think I'm insane. If anyone should be crying it's her. The man behind her, heard me explain and laughed out loud! I didn't get to see the ending, but I bet I gave a few people the makings of a great choose your own adventure story.