My ESL class ended in late July with a whopping party and celebration that we made it through...it was a fun time with our students and fellow teachers. I think only one of the student teachers managed to get asked out by a student.
I packed up my "dorm" room at the Kirby's and headed down to San Diego for my MACing experience home. I got to meet the extended Kirby family (the fun Colombian side) before I left and have a taste of South American get-togethers that are so entertaining and fun.
While in San Diego, I stayed with Nick and Lucy (our dear friends we met here in Guam and they now live on Coronado) and their 2 kiddos which was fun...it's always great to spend time with friends that make you feel right at home. And then the journey home began. On Wednesday morning, there was a flight from North Island (where we used to be stationed) in San Diego to Hawaii...so after packing up and getting to the terminal, I walk in to find many many upset people that didn't get on the flight that had been waiting for many days. And of course, I was the single girl that walked up to the counter and because of my "sign-up" date, I was the last person to be accepted for the flight. It's funny how people get mad at you when you are not the one that controls who gets chosen and who doesn't. It's like they need to post a sign in the terminal saying "NOTHING is guaranteed" in this Space-Available service. I was excited to leave that terminal with all the dirty looks I was getting from moms with their 3-6 kids trying to get back to Guam from summer vacation...I can only imagine that being me in about 10 years. Note to self: Don't get mad at a fellow passenger when they get on the flight and you don't.
So we load up on the C-130 (AKA the Navy plane that breaks A LOT!!!) and it is very packed with lots of people. We stopped at a small base outside of LA to pick up another crew when I found out that this plane was continuing on to Guam the next day (yippee to find this out). So I made friends with the crew and once we landed in Hawaii, he told me to be at the terminal to leave for Guam the next morning. One of Aaron's Academy friends, Fred and his wife Jen (now good friends of mine), are stationed in Hawaii and although she had just had surgery, they willingly put me up for the night and I got to hang out with them. The next morning Fred took me to the terminal. We loaded up (with 2 passengers) and took off. This is when the fun began. Two hours into the flight, we had to turn around to head back, declare an emergency and dump 8000 pounds of fuel in air, and shut one of the props down to safely make it back to Hawaii. So I call Fred and Jen..."I'm back...can you come get me." I spend the night again and they say the plane will take off in the morning...so back to the terminal I go, load up, take off, and 3 hours out the same thing happens and we turn around AGAIN. So I call Fred and Jen..."I'm back...can you come get me." I spend the night again and this time I decide to go to the AForce terminal at a different base to get on one of the five flights they had going to Guam...but I had to check in by 3am. Fred was quite the trooper in taking me. Once in the terminal I didn't make the first flight (not high enough priority...did I mention that my traveling orders expired during these few days and bumped me down in priority?) and I was not a happy camper. I made friends with a few other passengers and we ended up getting on a KC-135 going to Guam (these don't break as much, supposedly). We loaded up, were sitting on the runway and they canceled the flight. The crew had found out about my previous two days so I thought they were playing a joke. No joke it was...we unloaded and I call Fred and Jen..."I'm back...can you come get me." I spend the night again, but the next day we were manifested onto the flight (no roll call or waiting to see if you're on the flight)...we take off...and after being spoiled by the crew (it's not normal for the crew to hand out snacks, pillows, blankets, provide make-shift beds for you to sleep, let you sit in between the pilots for take-off and landing, AND get to see F-18s being refueled (see May post) all the way back) we arrived in Guam. I've never been so happy to be home. Some of the other passengers loved the crew so much we thanked them through a BBQ at our house a few days later (they were an Air Guard crew that flew out from Utah but came for a few weeks to Guam).
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