Well, guys, I'm very glad to be alive. And this is why. I think I can tell this in three parts. Here is the first.
Part I--A Delay
I was crying. We had just said goodbye to the team for the second-to-the-last time. In April, we'll say goodbye again, and then...that's it. So I was sobbing into my handkerchief in the Kunming airport. I would remember how Katrina teaches me a little Chinese...how much fun Rachel is...Aunt Laney's sweet concern for my cough...etc. (Just because I haven't mentioned somebody just means I can't exactly put into words what I will miss). And I was trying to eat an expensive meal of fried rice chock full of la jiao and pickled vegetables. It tasted terrible, and I had ten minutes to stuff as much as I could into an uncooperative stomach. I managed to do it some small justice, but I was still crying as we hurried away from the cafe at 2:00 sharp. We'd already checked our baggage, but we needed to go through security before our flight left at 2:50 PM.
We hustled through security, waiting impatiently as the man checked our boarding passes and passports. He looked at the picture of the frowning girl in a blue checked short-sleeved shirt and her hair pulled back in a half-ponytail. He found enough resemblance in her face to the acne-spotted, tear-streaked face in front of him, and let me pass. I pulled off my purse, handkerchief, jacket, and camera and shoved them into the bin before passing through the security check. Soon we were heading down the familiar passageway down to the exact same waiting hall our flight to Xishuangbanna with the whole team had waited at. Down the exact same gate we would go, at the appointed time, to fly...alone.
I was heartsick. Time and again my blue eyes filled with tears, and my glasses smudged. I forced myself to eat a chocolate muffin, bought for an exorbitant price at a small airport commodity and gift shop. 2:30 PM. When would we begin boarding?
My head was starting to hurt as it reached 3:00. I looked around, trying to find some information in Chinese and Chinglish about the flight to a small city that should have left ten minutes ago. Nothing. Then, to my annoyance and concern, a woman shouted something into a microphone. My Chinese is very bad...(all right. Nonexistent!) and I couldn't understand what she said, but I heard our city's name mentioned...numerous times.
Soon, I heard the "doo-doo" and a woman's voice crackled onto the intercom. "Ching wang Loshan [For purposes of storytelling I've made up a name for our city] duh li cuh ching cho leh"...or something like that. I knew she wasn't telling us to board because she continued: "wo men..." that means "we" and it precedes every delay and cancellation message I've heard there. Then she repeated in English. "Ladies and Gentlemen. May I have your attention, please? We regret to announce that flight MU1167 to Loshan cannot leave on schedule. Due to..." I couldn't make out what she said, "...would you please wait for further information? Thank you. Ching wang Loshan..."
What is it? I thought, frustrated. Soon, they posted a noticeboard in English and Chinese that announced that there were mechanical difficulties and the flight would leave on "no time". Which, in my experience, is Chinglish for "we don't know and please don't bug us about it."
A few minutes later, they wheeled in a library cart filled with boxes. A man started shouting "Loshan...blah blah blah blah blah," into his megaphone, and immediately our fellow-passengers began crowding 'round him and the boxes. In a minute, I could see why. They came back with cans of coconut juice. I was so thirsty and really wanted something besides water to drink. Plus, the day before I had enjoyed a fresh coconut with Aunt Laney and knew what it was like to drink. My sister and I felt the same way, so we showed the man our boarding passes, as everyone else was doing, and came back with a tall cool (not cold, but not lukewarm, either) can of juice each. I opened mine and took a sip. Obviously, there was sugar and coloring added, but it had the same wonderful taste. I settled myself down to read some critical notes on Jane Eyre while my headache wonderfully disappeared.
Next to us, there was a flight to Beijing boarding. To my astonishment, I noticed a plethora of tall skinny lao wai women dressed in the height of fashion with their faces made up. A lot of them had their hair bleached or dyed. They seemed to be from European nations, but I caught an American accent on one of them. Fashion show? Some of these women looked half-starved! More and more flocked on. Now, expatriates who live and work in China, or even just casual tourists, have a "look" to them. They're dressed a variety of ways...they speak Chinese...they don't wear a ton of makeup...we decided that these women were definitely fashion show material. I looked with astonishment at one whose head was somewhat short and skinny, with bleached hair, a short torso, and long legs. And skinnier than Katrina, who to my mind is plenty tall and plenty thin. I think Katrina was shorter than some of these women.
After they stopped flocking to their flight to Beijing, there was nothing else much to see. Our flight, they told us, would leave about 17:50. Finally, another gate opened, and our flight was announced. It was 17:30. We crowded into a shuttle and were bussed out to another plane. I'd seen a plane at our gate getting one of its under-wing engines fixed, so I was glad it was a different plane.
Finally we're on our way, I thought. Now nothing can go wrong.
Nothing?!
