I have taken to the skies again, this time back to Belem, Brazil to work on the administrative end of MAP testing. I departed from my school in Lima at around 9:15 am yesterday and arrived in Belem at 12:13 am today. I knew when I left Dunkin Donuts yesterday morning in Lima that I better enjoy the ability to understand and speak Spanish because it would be a few days before I’d be able to do that again.

I am thankful that airlines, globally, have English as the standard – which is good for me, but not for someone who speaks another language that isn’t widely used. My first fun was getting the correct forms on the flight to Brazil. Was I a resident of Brazil, did my flight originate in the US, was I a resident of Peru, was I going to live in Brazil? All of these were questions in order to get me the right form. Thankfully the guy sitting next to me, one of the few times I didn’t mind a middle seat partner, was able to get me the right ones. My next fun was the announcements that pilots give mid-air. Because of my flying experience, I pretty much knew what he was saying, but it was interesting none-the-less to watch everyone else around me.

I think my favorite part is when you land they give you the speech about being careful when opening overhead bins, or you may use your cell phone, or the do not unbuckle your seatbelt until the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. Take note that it said, “when he turns the sign off” not “when he turns the engine off.” We land in Sao Paulo, taxi to the gate area, but we’re not at a gate, we’re in the middle of the “driving” area between two terminal areas of the airport. You know, the big area where planes move, trucks drive luggage around, and the occasional mishap occurs. Well our plane had turned in to this area, went forward a bit, then stops in the middle of this driving area. The pilot stops the plane and disengages the engines. Like cows when they know its feeding time, people in the middle of the plane all get up, open the bins, get their stuff out and start moving about. I’m sitting here thinking, there is no way in hades, that we’re getting off this plane here. Sure enough, the attendants make frantic announcements for people to sit. What happened was the airlines use a tug to bring the planes in rather than planes using their engines. Comical on my end. And so I arrive now in Belem, and unlike last time, familiar faces are actually waiting on me. Nice.