Sunday, April 16, 2006

DAY TWO - Afternoon and then some...

We made it through traffic and all the security check points to get to our gate at a comfortable pace. At the last minute I stopped to by some cinnamon candy, as the last thing I had consumed was coffee and I was starting to get an aftertaste. What could happen? How about I cracked a tooth! I think (or atleast I hope), it is a tooth that has had a root canal, so it dead and should be without pain. I know it has a huge filling in the middle of it, so I might be lucky. I was able to eat and drink cold and hot beverages without sensitivity on the plane, so I should be fine. I basically broke the corner of a molar.

The plane has a large group of students from a California HS going to Spain for a week, I guess it coordinates with their spring break. We have about six hours left on the flight.

I was right when I guessed that the meal will be chicken or something else. I had the something else. I also tried a Warsteiner, not bad.

I’m too big for my seat. Not in width, but “girth?” My laptop has a good size footprint so when I put it on the tiny table, its so close to me I have to lean the screen forward. So it is weird looking at the text from above. I’m praying the Belgian fellow who speaks eight languages doesn’t decide to recline quickly. I think he’s having fun flirting with the 17 year old girls.

Their chaperone is sitting across the aisle from me and he had told the stewardess no alcohol for the kids. A boy in the row right on front of the teacher asked for wine when they offered it and the teacher busted him. The stewardess asked him three times if he was with the group and he told her no each time, so she poured, and then the teacher reached over and took the glass away. His classmate couldn’t stop laughing.

The in-flight movie is Dreamer, it is a ‘horse’ movie so I’m not that interested. My battery isn’t strong enough to last a movie, so I’m limiting myself to work instead of entertainment. [I ended up watching the last half anyway] Maybe I can recharge in Frankfurt during our layover.

George got SKYPE working this morning on his computer. It’s a service that lets you make phone calls over the internet to other SKYPE users, FREE! Our jet actually has wireless service, but for a price. $9.95 for 1 hour or $29.95 for entire flight. I guess he dropped a few bucks because we had his headset on and was talking to someone a few minutes ago. That is some pretty cool technology. George and Andy are Mac users. Oh, I’m delivering two used laptops to Tajikistan, one for my partner teacher and one for use with the CPS system. During our pre-trip emails, those guys found out and each of them is also bringing their previous laptops to donate to someone too!

All my luggage comes in at around 82 kg, and we are limited to 20kg, with it being like $2 per extra kg, so I am hoping they cut me some slack when we board that last flight. The previous teacher said they didn’t charge him coming in, but charged him going out. That’s around $120 if they do hit me up. [Andy and I checked in as a pair, so they alotted us 40kg, but my stuff was 75kg, so I paid about $70 to get the stuff in]

Will update the story with pictures shortly!

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