Wednesday, August 4, 2004 - First flight

On my first flight—ever, we had a miscommunication between the ground and the cockpit over the baggage doors, so they shut down the plane’s power for a little while saying that the plane’s generator wasn’t working. They were referring to the baggage compartment doors not anything used in flying. We circled around JFK for an extra 45 min. and ran through JFK to our gate. We were about 10 min short of missing the flight. On arriving in Rome, we had to go through regular security again because the way the Airport is set up. We made it to the door with about another 10 min. to spare. Every time we turned the corner in Rome we found another hallway and at the end was our gate.

I got to meet Susanna Jaruzzi. I’m not sure what the spelling is. I saw her reaching her hand into a box on the floor 10 min into the flight and clicking her tongue. I thought maybe she had a gerbil or pet rat stored, but it was a mangcoon cat. We talked about cats and Greece and Greek cooking and Horatio Hornblower (she was reading a historical fiction novel). Turns out that she has taught Greek cooking and gave me some dishes she thought I should try. I keep on hearing about this fried cheese that I need to check out. Anyway, she brought her cat out for about 3 hours near the end. He, Mr Bailey, acted well and only mewed twice.

When we flew from Italy to Greece a friend of mine began telling a French joke and I stopped him mid-sentence and said, “Ummm, we are in Europe.” We had problems with what those who had their creditionel had to do at the airport. Then, an AOB volunteer helped us with talking with others in Greek. Her name was Fiffee (I think) and she was there to practice her English since she has head of a English speech and doable club. We didn’t even go though customs. We had a hard time with the taxi driving around in circles in the neighborhood her. Today we went to Rafina, a port city on the east coast. It is the closest way to the Aegean Sea from Pikermi, which is where I am staying.

~ Stephen

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