Teacher Exchange Day II

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Wanted to wake up at 8 am... My plan was
1) to pick up Catherine and Danielle in Queens drop them off in Manhattan
2) get ATT phones supplied by John Stephens in Manhattan
3) Drive to hostel on Upper west side drop off warm clothes
4) pick up Jill Knopic at JFK
5) pick up Ugandans at bus stop??
6) go get Sassers at JFK
7) drop car off at JFK before 5:27 when I am charged another very steep daily charge...

staying awake until 4 am...not good for early wakeup..

so here is what happened...

1) get to Catherines at 9:50.. George Washington bridge into the city was beautiful (not worth $8 tariff though) 2nd bridge was redundant but still cost $5.50.
dug young woman out of the snow...helped old woman shovel out her car that was buried 5 feet deep by plow...she tells me she is moving because she has no husband and no son and a plate in her leg...and snow removal sucks...still waiting as C and D are bringing down bags of stuff... tried to get Impala off to the side of street 3 cars get by, but not truck...Car is stuck...3 guys from the truck and I push it out as Danielle from South Carolina drives out of her first snow bank... off to drop off supplies...Manhattan is crazy but moving...2 stops...

2) find ATT store... walk to store... set up 5 phones for Ugandans....clerks were great and laughed every time my ringer played respect to get their numbers in my phone.... that part was easy

3) drove to hostel... toook a loooonng time with traffic

4) Jill loses out must find her own ride in...

5) We now drive from 103rd avenue to lower east side to find Ugandans at bus stop
find out that this Chinese bus company, kind of just a small store front that drops off people in front ... they tell us that one of the busses will not come to that stop but instead drop off people at 34th and 7th Avenue around Penn Station... we have to get there or Ugandans might get off and be alone in the middle of Manhattan... Manhattan is crazy... a couple of times, I have to walk through 3 foot drifts with snow above my knee to get to the street...

we get back there... Catherine decides after 33rd street does not go through to start walking on foot...good idea, as it takes Dani and I another 45 minutes to make the 4 blocks by driving 12 blocks.... We are there for over an hour, Danielle buying warmer socks, Catherine buying subway cards for all, and me walking forever to see a lot of other fly-by-night buses coming up 34th, but no Eastern company with possibly Chinese characters ( I forgot lunch was a can of Pringles shared by 3 of us at Chinese bus depot or storefront with metal benches in it...

Catherine talks to some lady who is waiting for someone from DC who has been waiting for someone who left at 730 am... we are pretty sure our guys left at 10, but don't know as we have no way to contact them... It is now 330 and still no Ugandans (quick call home----MOM get St. Anthony on this one, we have lost Ugandans!!!!!)...Start walking down 34th, tell Danielle that I have good feeling about bus that is 300 yards away... I was dead wrong, but now the one behind it says Eastern. It is stopped and within 18 feet of me....tried to find a way over the mounds of snow, but cannot finally found a break, but bus is now moving just out of my reach.... almost get runover by another truck as I get to the bus... motion frantically for Chinese driver to open door... I ask him if he has Ugandans on the bus, he tells me that I cannot be on his bus and to get off ... I climb steps and yell "Are there Ugandans on this bus, Invisible Children, INvisible Children"... then I hopped off.... ran to the corner but now I cannot find Danielle or Catherine easily 8000 people in 2 block radius... The bus stops around the corner for disembarking, but no Ugandans... a women tells me they said they were on there....but still no familiar faces....DO I HAVE THE WRONG UGANDANS??? FINALLY THE FAMILIAR FACE OF CALISTUS, THEN A SMILING PATRICK...

SUCCESS....

oh btw, the Sassers are stuck in Columbia and cannot get to New York..

had to get the rental back by 527... piece of cake it is 408....ended up stuck in Manhattan traffic for an hour and a half.

had PIZZA ....I was hungggry.... had a short meeting and then took Danielle and Catherine back to Queens and was going to try to take the car back to LaGuardia...

phone battery on low.... so Gps might die at any minute.... found LaGuardia, but missed all rental car returns sign and had to turn around... found Crowne Plaza hotel to ask for directions... ironically I parked in a spot for Hertz car but there counter was closed.....

Got to Hertz at 840 or so... Had an Invisible Children flyer and gave my whole story to the clerk...."So I know I brought it back to the wrong airport, and I am almost 4 hours late, but can I not be charged for the extra day... She smiles and says yeah she can work something out..... She smiles and hands me a bill for $300 more than I was hoping?????? She explains she gave me a discount of $200, but I tell her I was only looking a paying for one day....please.......she calls a supervisor who seemed at first like he was going to hold the line.... but relented.... still very expensive,....but I AM IN NEW YORK and half the country is trying to get here....

Hertz shuttle driver tells me that LaGuardia is a mess and lines for cabs are causing fights and it will take 2 hours to get a cab.....took the M60 bus back only a crammed bus full of many people in similar jams took an hour or so to get back... saw a lot of Harlem and the Apollo theatre...and got to within 3 blocks of the hostel...

went upstairs with head lamp to get my phone cord to charge my phone and grab my computer....CANNOT FIND MY PHONE CORD....

so came down to write this.....

Beginning of Teacher Exchange II

Christmas Day find out that I am not flying to Baltimore then New York, but flying to Chicago Midway then NYC

Decided to run to Walgreen's a buy HDMI cable and set up Blu-Ray player for mom and dad instead of packing and cleaning room.

Cleaned house Christmas night...mostly done Got up on the 26th and made two beds with fresh sheets off to Dad's for ride to the airport.

Get to Airport and here flight to New York Cancelled...tell me to come back tomorrow decide to push through to Chicago and bunk in with the Powers family for the night.

My bag was supposed to get pulled in Midway, but baggage mixup in airport is stupendous. your bag will be up in 10 minutes becomes 2 hours plus of waiting...

Connor picks me up (has been waiting patiently for me watching Bears at midway).. mishandled trunk lid full of snow, and sliced a good chunk out of my finger...as Connor drives me to Naperville, bleeding is continuous, sucking the blood is not working...

Chinese dinner with John and Patti is great, Packers winning is not...will get up the next morning for Islipp...start to hear other flights being cancelled but not mine!!!!
BUT WAIT!!!! now mine is cancelled...

Decide might not make it to NYC (time to problem solve) look at Southwest Flight schedule and decide Cleveland is far away without any problems... will get car and drive from there...

MEANWHILE, Ugandans flight from London to NYC is cancelled ...next available flight is 4 days...British Immigration tells them it is illegal for them to stay that long...tell them to go back to British Airways and find a solution.. BA flies them to Washington DC...

Phone calls aplenty, lance and justine probably stuck in SF...Patrick and Katherine stuck in Columbia...talking to Catherine the whole time.. tell her I am driving in ....Jen Bresler and my mother think I am crazy...

Maybe no cars in Cleveland, Patti Powers comes through with reservation (although dropping it off at JFK will not be cheap)... Get in car, but realize phone will die...Tell Catherine I will drive to DC to pick up Ugandans.. she trusts the bus... Ugandans find accomodations in DC...know exactly what I need from STL Best Buy unfortunately in Cleveland (not much help or expertise)...find a car charger for my exact phone... Hop in Car...It is snowing and a little wet....WHOOPS

Weather gets better in 45 minutes, and start trucking along Ohio--Pennsylvania...calling home looking for weather reports....roads are dry...making good time... Listening to the football game.....screaming WHO DAT WHO DAT think going to beat them Saints, but then Brees throws two interceptions.... Kevin Harlan says between the hashes a lot and caught the ball against his chest.... Dad calls tells me that Mom says I should pull over and quit for the night... I tell him that Rental Car has ON star and I have already talked to emergency operator as I thought Cross on mirror was up, down, left, right, not a call to emer. operator...

Still making good time... man is Pennsylvania (I-80) boring... Get gas and McDonalds only half way through Pennsylvania... Catherine calls from tarmac, stuck on plane, my GPS says I am only 1 hour twenty minutes from Queens...might be her there

Decide as wind is picking up that driving over Bridges into New York is more of a daytime activity and try to find a hotel in Jersey... finally find one in Saddle Brook...so keyed up don't get to bed until 4 am