June 19, continued

Frankfurt was absolutely insane. We were told to go upstairs to find out the new flight schedules their staff had worked out for us. When we were told this, we were still in the double-decker airplane. I thought there was a slight possibility we needed to go upstairs in the plane for a moment and the flight attendant told me I would need to wait because the people were coming down. I then told her what I needed to do and she said, "Oh, no, I thought you wanted to see the pilot!" At that point, I knew for certain the upstairs they spoke of was most definetely in the airport! They announced the gate we needed to find to pick up our new flight information if we were headed to Bangalore, Hyderabad, or a number of other places as well. I headed to that gate (in the opposite direction of course), found a bathroom, got turned around, and found the proper gate -rather, desk, with a loooong line of people. Luckily for me, a woman called out names really fast - I couldn't tell what language she was speaking, and the last name she spoke sounded like, "Lucas". I decided it would be better to be safe than sorryso I followed the others who had been called to the front of the line. Yippee! I reported in and she took my boarding pass which had expired by two and a half hours and I received my new flight itinerary. This itinerary did not follow Lisa and my plan to stay at a Frankfurt hotel overnight, and then catch the flight going out tomorrow. This told me I would fly to Dubai, stay there somewhere around eighteen hours, and then head to Hyderabad on Sunday night around 11:00 p.m. to reach Hyderabad at about 3:30 a.m. I wasn't sure this was a good idea at all, so I headed to a phone to call Lisa and fill her in. I found a phone that takes your credit card and I attempted to use that. I didn't, however, know the U.S. country code, so after a few failed attempts, an operator assisted me. I hope that call wasn't too terribly expensive, I don't even know what the rate was. Nor would it have mattered at the time - I was desperate. Anyway, the call quality was horrible, so it was difficult to communicate. I finally gave her some information she needed and told her I would call back in 10 minutes. There were 2 people nearby looking at tickets they had recieved, so I asked them a couple of questions about my flight. They helped me decipher the military time, and I found out they were on the same flight as me to Dubai. Their final destination was Bombay and they were on business. I thanked them and voyaged on. I decided I better find my gate if I was going to keep the flight. I plundered on what was undoubtedly the wrong path, and stopped to ask the security at one of the gates. They looked slightly bewildered as they switched from German to English to communicate with me, asking me if I was really flying with Emirates Air. I said yes and I just needed to know where the gate was, when the kind woman from before (headed to Bombay on business) tapped me on the shoulder. She found me to tell me that their travel agent said there were many seats open on the flight that would leave tomorrow morning from Frankfurt, in case I preferred that arrangement. Then she remembered I wasn't headed to Bombay also, but I decided to ditch the clueless security guards and pair up with her. She was at least going to be on my first flight! So, as she called it, we were the blind leading the blind as we searched for our gate. At least she had a cell phone that worked internationally which I could use to call Lisa and give her information she needded to reserve a room for me in Dubai. The only bad part was, I wasn't able to tell her my visa information aloud where we were, so it took quite awhile to get it accomplished. Meanwhile, we were riding on the train, then getting off, and we accumulated 3 more companions at this point who were also searching for their gates. One lady joined our team, who was also traveling alone, and riding the same plane as us to Dubai. We finally found out (somehow) how to get to the 2nd terminal and the proper train to catch - this part is still a bit fuzzy to me! After arriving at the 2nd terminal, I could sense we were nearing our final destination. We really did not have that much time to catch this plane and then one of the ladies realized we did not even have our boarding passes yet. We simply had the printout of our flight itinerary. After a long line at security and a search of my backpack, they let us through. I was happy to get away form a boy who creeped me out. He was WAY to interested in my text message to Lisa that included my visa information, and I had to keep moving on the other side of my friends. I just prayed he would not end up as my seatmate on the plane, and my prayer was answered. We are about 45 rows different. I am in the very last row of the entire plane, next to the restrooms and the flight attendants' area. I guess that is handy. Whew! I am happy to be far from him! My seatmates are wonderful on this flight once again and the lady next to me was on the flight from Chicago with me as well I found out. I feel so bad for her. She has been on business for 2 weeks in Indiana and she is now returning home to her husband and 2.5 yr. old son. She misses him a lot and now has all of these delays and complications. She is from Mumbai, so has a few more rides after this one to get there. I was happy to befriend her. I have her my snack of crackers and she gave me her leafy greens at dinnertime after I awoke from my slumber. So, it has been quite a day. We are now 1:56 hrs. away, traveling at 35,000 ft., and we are going over many Arabic nations. Oh yes, and the Tigris river too! I keep thinking of how the average person reacted when they found out I was traveling alone to India. It was typically something like, "You are going all by YOURSELF?!" to which I would respond something like, "Yes, it should be exciting!" or "Yes, most of the other interns have already safely arrived in their countries." Little did I know just how exciting it would be or how I really never have been alone. All along the way, I have had little angels helping me find my path. I am very thankful to my parents for raising me to turn to God when in need and He will always deliver you, because He surely has been helping me out! I am very thankful for all of the prayers and support back at home, it is very reassuring. I will keep you posted on how the hotel-findin goes when I arrive at Dubai. Apparently, the hotel is attached to the airport (in the terminal), so that should be better thatn having to take a shuttle in Dubai at midnight to a strange hotel. Better indeed! The hotel is really nice, Lisa says, and really pricey also, but I will be reimbursed for that, so that is a big relief. More later, I am going to rest now, considering it will be 11:30 p.m. when we arrive.