what a trip! day 1 part 1

i'm in the DR for the next 9 days.  it has been such an adventure so far.  first i didn't sleep the night before because i had to do my laundry so that i could pack some clean clothes for my trip.  then, since my flight was at 7am i had to get to the airport on time.  i called a cab to pick me up at 4:30am and they were there right on time.  as we set out for the trip through the jamaicaway, it was pouring like crazy. the rain just seem to be ready to finish anything it encounter plus the wind and lighting every so often.  when the old haitian cab drive turn on the heat to defog the windows it didn't work. everything started to fog up and he had to stop with his blinking lights on so try to fix it. eventually he gave up and turned on the AC.  go figure! the AC! i was freezing. so i get to the airport and my bag was 43 pounds which was good but i really don't know what i packed in there to make it so heavy.  then the guy tells me that my flight to NYC is delayed 50 minutes that that it leaves at 8:50.  then i asked him, well what happens to my trip to DR.  so he put me on stand-by for the 6:05am flight so that I didn't miss my connection.  there i found this woman from church with her little girl, she was also an ESOL student when i was at HERC. she was also on stanby.  finally they start boarding and i get on but she's left back. i felt bad.


the flight to NYC was pretty turbulent since it was raining so bad. my little PTSD kicked in.  while at the connection at JFK I attempted to withdraw money with my ATM and then realized i had not called BOA to tell them I was travelling so I did that. Thank God!  The flight to DR was nice. I slept. no one was beside me so it was comfortable.  Then i get to the airport.  I wait at baggage claim.  My bag is not there.  I wait. Nope, no light blue hardshell suitcase. I go to baggage claim and there's no one.  I wait. Then I go to baggage claim again and talk to the guy. in the imterim, there was this other guy that i had seen from my flight in Boston and he was also missing his bag.  i told him that I thought our bags had been delyaed since our original flight was delayed.  We both went to baggage claim. He was such a thug--covered in tattoos and with what appeared to be really bag braces or a grill.  not sure. i didn't want to stare.  i got a form to pick up my bag later and they told me that it was on the next flight at 4:15pm.   I was afraid that the guy who was picking me up would leave.

when i come out.there's really no one at the waiting area.  then i see these two little thugs with a hand-written sign that read, "Yassier Fernandez." no capitalizatoin whatsoever.  i go to them and they take me to pick up the car i was renting from my friend's brother who has a rent-a-car place.  good thing becuase the car they picked me up in was horrendous. as we go to the place it's not the place i had seen years ago so automatically i start trying to memorize where i'm going in case i have to run back. :) they looked like they had just been sniffing something so it's natural that i'd be a bit worried. cut me some slack. i get to the place and they can't find the key to the office. typical DR... i'm going to stop here because the internet cafe bill is going to be high and I haven't exchanged my money yet.  but it gets better! :)