Refueling in Rome
Local time – 12:55 PM EST – 6:55 AM
We’ve been sitting for a bit now, so I’d guess we’ll be taking off again soon. We just stop to refuel, get more food and drinks, take on a new crew… and I think I saw someone come through with things from cleaning the bathroom.
This plane is different than the ones we flew on on last year’s Ethiopia trip. I think it’s a little smaller (7 seats across in a pattern of 2, 3, 2) and it seems older. The seats are more worn, more of the tray tables and cup holders are minorly broken, and – much to my chagrin – there are no screens on the backs of the seats. Not long after take-off they started an in-flight movie shown on the TVs that are placed at regular, though not exactly frequent, intervals above the aisles. I think the move was “Facing the Giants”, but I’m not sure because I was in the bathroom when it first started. I tried to watch it for a while but eventually gave up. I found that I was either straining my eyes to see the TV a ways in front of us or I was craning my neck to see most of the screen that was almost directly beside us. The whole exercise began to make my head hurt which in turn started me feeling motion sick, so I decided to stop trying. It was just as well, because partway into the movie it cut out for an announcement and they never turned it back on again.
I am happy to report that, though this may be a different airplane, it too has the toilet held together with tape that says “Evidence – Do Not Tamper.” I’m beginning to think of that as a rather quirky feature of Ethiopian airlines and I would have been a bit disappointed had it not been there. Unfortunately, the toilet paper dispenser was also broken and had not been taped, and the soap dispenser left much to be desired – namely, soap. I had to content myself with extremely well-rinsed hands until someone thought to put a small bar of soap at the back of the sink.
I have a window seat this time, and I was noticing that the game of finding shapes in clouds can be done in reverse. As we approached Rome, I could look out at the patchwork of lands, and a group of trees might look like a dancing girl, a grouping of fields may look like a whale spouting, and the varying shades on a hill may give the appearance that a giant is resting his hand there.
People on this trip so far have been very kind. Actually, I started to get the idea that I must look particularly naive because of how many people decided to help me. From the man at the ticket counter carefully explaining my boarding pass and where I should go next to my seat mate who assured me that I would do just fine on my trip, everyone has been taking care of me. Just another one of God’s blessings on this journey. The blessings are overflowing!