Journey So Far

Hey...how you doing? (somehow, everytime I say that, I picture Joey!)

 

This is gonna be a lengthy post with every gory detail captured (yes, am excited!!)

 

Ah! Did the last 30 hours just fly by?? I rem’ber being told by all and sundry that the 15 hours flight to US would be excruciatingly boring and then a halt of 4 hours followed by another 5 hours flight would turn me into a well done steak. Hmm…but actually, the one thing that I seldom scolded myself for came to my rescue. My inane ability to SLEEP. Anywhere, Anytime. So during the fifteen hours flight to the US…I was wide awake in the first hour…slightly drowsy by the second and post dinner, completely in slumber. Which lasted a good 10 hours :D. Well yeah, there were intermittent breaks coz of people wanting to move around and also since the first 2 hours of my sleep were uncomfortable due the position. But I remember being surprised and impressed by myself that I could so easily adjust and how comfortable the whole set up was for a nap (I told this to myself in the sleep!!)

 

I had good neighbours for company. Shirley on the right, some ol Indian uncle on the left. So whenever I wasn’t sleeping or checking the inflight entertainment, we’d talk (which u’d figure, wasn’t much!) But Shirley was a surprise. She was an American and was so courteous that I began to doubt her after a while! Nice lady. Uncle was also nice with his usual Indian style of conversation which begans with “What’s wrong with the world”. But he too helped me fill up the Customs form and am grateful to him for that.

 

So the DEL-EWR part of the journey was smooth. Infact, I noticed that turbulence doesn’t bother me if a Shahid Kapoor movie is playing :D. Cool. Umm..so though we departed an hour late, we arrived just in time at Newark at around 5 am local time. The Customs was a breeze. I checked in for the Guatemala flight and made some calls. (Note – Not the police guys in the airport, or the passengers or the security is aware how the phones in those booths work!!) I had to spend some time figuring it out…but chalo..calls made..I went about exploring the airport. I spotted McD’s and decided to give it a shot to see if there was any difference in the Indian and US service standards. Well, Yes. The coffee is much better, much creamier and same goes for the burgers. I sat there for 40 mins…just looking around and taking in the sights when I spotted Ben & Jerry’s. I totally cursed myself for not checking it out before the McD’s meal :-( …I wanted to try their “Ben & Jerry’s Belgium Dark Chocolate Ice cream” (wink wink) but was full and didn’t want an upset tummy on the trip  :-|

 

I passed time listening to some music and then boarded for the last leg of the journey. I wasn’t expecting a window seat and voila, didn’t get it either! Just kidding :D…I had a nice window view and again, touchwood Mashallah, a nice neighbour. This lady was American, worked as a nurse all her life and now was part of an organization which volunteered for social causes in Guatemala. We hit off pretty well…she showed me all the pictures of the work they do and must say, it was pretty impressive. For an hour or so, we discussed about her work in Antigua. And then we started discussing America and Indians. :D. She started on how seldom there’s any Univ topper who’s not an Asian or an Indian. How these kids are always acing their academics and learning languages and learning music and some more and some more! The American kids often get under pressure coz of the Asians. It was a good discussion wherein we discussed how the education system equals brilliance with straights A’s. She was from the school which believed that living a quality life was more important than being a topper in everything u did. So it was a typical “3 Idiots” kinda discussion. We then discussed about American way of life and the Indian. She also said how these days being American wasn’t so cool and everyone hated them. I told her how misplaced her thoughts were and she should pay a visit to India to learn how much we adore Amreekans. We talked about Indian rituals and American rituals and everything in between. And oh, by the way, she asked me if I had learnt English in the US coz I spoke it so well! Ahem. Francamente, even I was surprised at the compliment ;- ). Then I told her that in India, its normal for people to know 2-3 languages, English included and she went “Why am I not surprised!?” ;- ) .

 

Meanwhile the scenery outside was so breathtakingly beautiful! Esp the part when we crossed the Atlantic Ocean and entered Guatemala…it was like…velvety rich brown mountains on the left, blackish sand in the middle and pristine blue ocean to the right…wow! Sorry, no pictures captured as the cam was in the bag overhead and I didn’t want to miss these moments in scurrying for it and trying to capture the best angle. Sorry again.

 

The landing was another adventure. The journey was smooth so far but as we approached the Guatemala City airport, Judith (my neighbor) was already nervous. The plane started shaking (?) in all directions….I couldn’t figure out why coz there were no clouds…we were just 2-3K feet above the ground. We went right and then 180 deg to the left, up and down…it was like those horrible adventures rides I so hate. As we approached the runaway, the plane did some more disco moves and on landing, we all got pushed to the front due to the sudden halting or something…this lasted for some 15 seconds and trust me, Judith was in tears. As soon as the plane stopped, the passengers started clapping!! Reminded me of my watan (sigh, nostalgic already!). Infact, I used to think that we Indians are the only morons who stand up in the aisles as soon as the plane stops…but no Sir! The Americans do it, so do the Spanish and Guats. So it’s a social global phenomena. :D

 

We arrived 1.30 pm local time. The Customs at Guat was smooth too and I decided to test some of my Spanish. Err…welll…learning by yourself on the Net is so different from actually speaking it with those who have an accent! So the customs guy (CG) and me went like

 

CG : Bienvenidos (welcome)

Me : Gracias (thanks)

CG : something something in Spanish

Me:  Umm?

CG : *smiles* Espanol?

Me : Yo hablo espanol un poco (I speak spanish a little. This I had read on one of the cust rep’s badge and then added “the little” improvisation)

CG : Oh.

We both look at each other.

CG : It’s okay! You’ll like Guatemala!

Me : Muy bien. Mucho Gracias (that’s nice, thanks so much)

 

I scurry out and to my disappointment..I have to repeat the same sentence every where… “yo hablo espanol un poco” :- (. One of the guys at the baggage clearance asked me where I was from. “India”. “Oh India! We are so similar…we have so much in common!” he beamed. I smiled back thinking “Yeh, wish u spoke Hindi as well and then we’d be like 2 lost brothers separated at birth by the oceans!!”

 

The guy from the hotel was there, waiting for me. Roberto was his name. I tried impressing him with my Spanish…hehehehe…he liked it. You need some practice, Senora..you are doing fine, he said. :D. And yeh, he told me that I had a cheerful face and I smiled from my heart unlike most people who faked it. I gave him a big grin. :D

 

At the hotel, I checked in and called Glenda, a colleague from Philippines who was also putting up there. She came over, we chatted and ordered some lunch. Grilled Fish Fillet with stewed vegetables and Chicken Breast Salad. And we got Grilled Chicken Breast and Vegetable salad. The funniest part was when the waiter showed us the dishes, asked us with a beaming face on how nicely they were presented. We looked at each other…and were “Muy Bien! Me encata! Gracias!” (Very nice! I like it! Thanks!) Its another story that first the grilled chicken and coke arrived and they completely forgot about the salad. So we had to do this routine of “wow!” twice coz the poor waiter really wanted us to like the stuff.

 

All this while, we had the CNN on coz Chile was stuck with an earthquake and there was a Tsunami warning for Hawaii. The Americans recorded every inch of increase/decrease in the water level till both of us dozed off. Jennifer from the HR team here had called to check if I had arrived and wanted to go out..it was so sweet of her. We decided we’d go out at 6…and she called me at 6.30 to check if the plans were still on :P. Thanks to CNN, I was so deep in slumber, I told her we’d go around on Sunday. So let’s see…how that goes.

 

I’ve been at this article for almost an hour now…it’s 6.20 am here. I don’t have a net connection, so this might reach the blog later. Breakfast beckons. And I broke my specs… :- (. Thank god, I had spares.

 

All in all…its been good so far. Mashallah. Glenda and I would go apartment hopping sometime this week and might check out by fin de semana (this weekend).

 

Till then…Hasta Luego….!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Nikhil said…
cut the crap...upload some pics...bloody wasting my time
Zareen said…
***Smiles galore ****

Pictures speak louder than words post some pics por favor linda la margarita :)

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