My Eurotrip 2009: Days 1 & 2

The Voyage
Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2

I know Chicago has a very large Polish population, but I never imagined that I'd feel like I was in Poland before even boarding the plane. My flight to Athens, Greece had a connecting flight in Warsaw, Poland, and I traveled on Lot, a Polish airline, for both legs.
While waiting at the gate and aboard the plane, all of the announcements about my flight were in Polish, and it seemed like only some of them were translated into English.
As I boarded the plane, I had my ticket out and showed the flight attendant so she could tell me which aisle I should go down to get to my seat. Without hesitating, she directed me in Polish and the only thing I could think to say was, "English?" She smiled, and without missing a beat, she directed me in English.
I found my seat near the aisle in the row of seats in the middle of the plane. I was immediately surrounded by Polish chatter. The safety instructions were in Polish first, accompanied by a funny-looking video. (I'll upload that later.)
Because of the "Swine Flu" going around, my step-dad gave me some masks and rubber gloves to use, just in case anyone was coughing around me, etc. I thought I would try to be safe anyway, since I catch any cold that comes within 50 feet of me. I fell asleep with it on, but it didn't last long. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I kept getting stares from the people sitting next to me and the little toddlers that were walking up and down the aisle with their moms, as if to practice for later. I took it off to eat our first meal, and kept it off.
The food was miniature, as were the forks and knifes. There was a choice of beef or chicken, and I chose beef. Among the other items on the food tray was a mini Kit Kat bar. How did they know I liked Kit Kats?
At some point, I tried explaining to the flight attendant how I felt like I seemed to be the only person on the plane that didn't speak Polish, and all she did was nod and grin. I don't think she had the faintest idea that I was trying to converse with her about something other than water or orange juice.
I went in and out of sleep, then caught the second half of the movie "Bride Wars". Just for kicks, I listened to the dubbed-in-polish version on my headphones and I think they had a man do the voice of Murphy Brown!
Shortly after breakfast, we started our descent. As we got closer, I peeked out the windows near me to catch a glimpse of the landscape from up high. Most of what I could see was miles of flat farmland, some forested areas, but no city. It wasn't until we were lined up with the runway that I could look out the other side of the plane and see what seemed like thousands of high rises scrunched next to each other.
As the Polish lady that I met at Jamaican Gardens said, the Warsaw airport is pretty small. It was neat the way most of it was made of glass, so you could look down on people that were waiting for their flights to board. After a little bit of confusion, I learned the word for Athens in Polish (Ateny) and eventually found my gate.
At a gift shop, I bought a Glamour magazine in Polish (to look at the fashions they show) and my first bottle of water. The label was entirely in Polish, so I was a bit surprised to find out that it was carbonated when I opened it later. I paid in Euros, but got back some Polish coins instead.
Around boarding time for my flight to Athens, I loaded into a bus with the other passengers and we boarded the plane via one of those little staircases on wheels. I slept the whole way and was surprised to find that I didn't have to go through customs once. The door I thought led to customs actually led to the welcome area, where dozens of people were gawking at the doors, waiting for their friends to walk through. I paused, but once I realized everyone was staring at me, I quickly walked around the 'barracade'. I looked around and around but didn't see Despina or Siena, until I went behing the crowd of people and saw the side of Despina's face.
We hugged and chatted on the way to Despina's house in one of the suburbs of Athens and were greeted by her mom, Elini, and grandmother [yia yia]. Elini fed us, Siena showed us her artwork, and we chatted until it was Greek "siesta" time. I took a much-needed shower and now I'm on the internet on Despina's tiny little HP Mini laptop. :)