What if it takes me an hour to find one of the 50 spaces?
What if the flight was actually early for some reason?
What if xyz goes wrong?
I pulled into a parking space at the rear of the garage and hopped out. I noted the awful angled parking job and whispered a prayer asking that the car next to me not back into the van. I power walked into the left side of the airport arrivals area following a mental note that Delta flights were on the left. I checked the arrivals board and it turns out the flight had been delayed an additional fifteen minutes. I sat down and read for a few minutes. I then went to the restroom timing it so I had ample time to be waiting at the escalator with my sign. I checked the arrivals board again noting that the plane had landed and that the baggage would be waiting on carousel 4.
I commenced the sign holding. I made a friend with a lady waiting on her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild coming from Denver. I assured her that she, like me, was at the correct escalator. I got the usual white American guy comment/joke claiming he was my international student and then had to break the news that he wasn’t the first to make that joke. I kept watching carousel 4 and figured out that the passengers waiting by that carousel were from Orlando not LaGuardia. I kept wondering when the LaGuardia flight would de-board and constantly looked for my international brother and sister duo in other parts of the airport. I eventually went to the information desk to find out if the plane had de-boarded. The kind man said that yes, the passengers should have already claimed their bags by now down on carousel 8. CAROUSEL 8? ON THE RIGHT SIDE? Insert genuine panic here. The man replied in the affirmative and that Delta was always on the right side. I quickly walked down to carousel 8 and realized that the LaGuardia flight had came and went. I called my supervisor and she calmly suggested that I have my students paged. As I waited anxiously for the brother sister duo to magically appear, an airport worker just happened to be escorting an international male/female duo to the information desk. I heard the words ‘Brazil’ and ‘Cookeville’ and quickly rushed over to explain and apologize for my error. They were quite gracious.
As we were walking to the van, I asked for their hotel information. The sister handed me a piece of paper with about 12 Cookeville hotels and the brother explained they wanted me to drive them around and find the hotel that was closest to the university but also cheapest. Huh? Enter typical unpredictability. First off all the hotels are in the same area and the closest ones are still 3-4 miles to the university. Secondly, I don’t think hotel shopping is part of my job description. I called my supervisor again and she made some recommendations about cheapest and nearest hotels. She said if I had time I could drive them around to a few hotels to let them find one they liked.
Once we got on the road, the brother and I began to chat. He understood half of what I said, and I understood half of what he said. For example, I asked if they had a big family. He explained that he has 2 sons and 1 daughter and his sister has only 1 son. I asked who was keeping their children while they were studying here. He said, “No. No children.” To which I replied, “Oh, ok” and nodded my head like I understood but I most definitely did not.
It was fun to watch their interest in the new sights. They liked the fishing boat store we passed and he was fascinated by the large pickup trucks here. They commented how slow and calm traffic is here compared to that in Brazil. He asked where people fish and if there were any “ryvers” (rivers) and what were the ryvers called. He also asked where Route 66 is located. I replied “I have no idea.” Then we saw a Philips 66 gas station and he pointed the 66 to his sister because it was similar to Route 66.
Once we made it to Cookeville, I took them to the first hotel suggested by my supervisor. A kind Indian man made them a great deal they couldn’t refuse. He asked if they would like one bed or two and the brother said one would be fine. Huh? If my brother and I were traveling together and had the option to have 2 beds, I would definitely take that option. I later found out that they were actually a couple and not siblings. I had been misinformed. And I think I figured out that he meant he had 2 brothers and a sister and she had one brother rather than sons & daughters.
I left them with their bags and some information on where to look for an apartment. I think the trip ended well and they thanked me for my help, hopefully forgetting that I was not there to welcome them as I should have been. I turned in my keys and paperwork and went home to decompress from the airport/culture stress. I was thankful for the money, thankful for the international company, thankful I found them quickly at the airport, and thankful that God is using this job to teach me much about flexibility and cultures.
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