Christmas story from Anais point of view (in English)
Любі друзі, до Вашої уваги наша Рідзвяна істрія з точки зору Аніїс (француженки, котра подорожувала з нами до Берліну):
What could have been...
Hey kids ! Let me tell you the story about how I met...
Let's go back in 2010. That was December 24 th, Christmas eve. As usual, everything at the last
moment... as usual I'm flying home to spend Christmas with family. That could have been an usual
day.
Guys, you really made my day ! =)
To make a long story short : 11.40, the plane is supposed to take off from Львів to Dortmund, but at
10.30, Mr Wizzair comes and says that the flight is going to be delayed because of weather issues.
Take off expected around 1.15. That could have been a problem, that could have really pissed me
off, but well... it's Christmas.
1.15 Mr Wizzair has to update us about the situation : Dortmund airport is closed. Obviously, I don't
understand much of what's going on. I have some language issues. We are told to wait till 2.30. I
definitely need to cancel my train tickets Dortmund - Köln - Liege - Luxembourg - Metz - Nancy.
I was hoping that being ''only'' 1h30 late would just have make me race the trains, one after the
other, but I would have caught one, somehow. That would have been quite a nice race.
Sociologically speaking, it's a pretty interesting experience to watch people behaviours while
waiting. (I wasn't the only one doing this kind of scientific experiment though !). There might have
been some screaming, some shouting at Mr Wizzair (who handled pretty well the situation by the
way), that might have involved fighting as well. What actually happened is that people just started
to look at each other with something like interest. They talk, some in Ukrainian, others in German, I
can hear some Russian, English and French as well.
Then comes the food story, Mr Wwizzair and his crew bring some toasts for all these hungry
passengers. Yeah, Wizzair is such an outstanding company ! (That starts to look like advertising
right?) The way people just run to get some of these canapés is both pretty funny and quite
frightening. That could have annoyed me, but instead, I’m smiling from ear to ear... listening to
some nice Ukrainian music. ♪♫ « beautiful Karpaty » ♪♫ the lyrics says. Nostalgia... Am I really
leaving this place ? I think the food never went further than the first room... there is three or four.
Finally comes the « We have to kick you out of here » story. It's 3.30 already, Dortmund airport is
still closed, we have to leave this waiting room, get our luggages. And what's next ?
Last phone call to parents, just to say to my sorrow I'm not going to make it tonight. That could
have been the very worst Christmas eve ever.
But then starts the fun. There had to be some fun right ?
I need some fresh air, and a cigarette. I think we all do. Outside, there is a certain amount of people,
near Mr Wizzair desk. They are trying to figure something out, to find a way. Most of them look
kind of familiar to me now. We are all in the same boat... well... I'd better say we were all supposed
to be in the same plane.
As far as I'm concerned, it started with « Do you want to join the circle ? » said by the guy with
polish T-shirt. The one that was doing some kind of sociological experiment also earlier. Sounds
pretty good to me.
I would shorten the following part that way :
« Where are you from ? Bla bla bla... What will you do ? Bla bla... plane bla bla train bla car... »
STOP
« Car ????????????? » « Yes but... bla bla » « ok bla bla » « bla bla bla car bla bla bla car bla bla
bla bla bla bla car » « Fuck it ! We'll take my car ! Watch my bag(s), I'll be back in one or two
hours » That was Tim, pretty cool guy from Germany => The Driver !
Time to go get some informations about refunds of plane tickets. Mr Wizzair gives us some cool
food-tickets for the restaurant next door.
Tim goes to the garage and us, with the bag (heavy, heavy bag) to the restaurant. What's is there ?
From dead babies to cocaine, we're trying to guess. So Julia, Sean, Ben and I took very good care of
the mysterious bag(s), waiting for our saver (hmmm...driver) to get the car fixed and to pick us up.
Cool food, nice talk. Julia calls Tim, the car fixing is going to take a little while. We're thinking
about going to city center to have a beer, but all the bags... A bit later, Tim calls back and says the
car is not fixed yet, we could go to city center and he would pick us up there. Sound like a good
idea, let's go ! While looking for a place to stop and have a drink, phone call. Tim is ready to pick us
up soon, close to the Opera. There we go, all five of us, behind Opera, with the Jeep Cherokee. That
is going to be a long night, but we're all pretty exited about it. A couple of hours, Christmas in
Ukraine... boarder crossing... Chrismas in Poland ! Later on, we all start to be quite tired... the back
crew (Julia, Sean and I) get some sleep. Ben manages somehow to stay awake, keep company to
Tim, who's driving our way through Poland.
We finally arrive in Berlin just before noon, have really nice chilling breakfast at the place of those
that Tim calls his Berlin's family. We all get to meet his « business partner » and some of his
friends. Time for each of us to look for a way to reach our final destinations. I'll stay in Berlin for
the day and take a train in the evening that should arrive home the next morning while the crew is
going to Dortmund by car. Final stop for Tim, the three others will take the train to Amsterdam.
Little bit hungry, the crew decide to grab something to eat in a great Turkish restaurant. I don't want
to leave you guys... let's do this together ! Down the street, time for goodbye picture with the car =).
Wonderful time with remarkable people.
… my Christmas story !
What could have been...
Hey kids ! Let me tell you the story about how I met...
Let's go back in 2010. That was December 24 th, Christmas eve. As usual, everything at the last
moment... as usual I'm flying home to spend Christmas with family. That could have been an usual
day.
Guys, you really made my day ! =)
To make a long story short : 11.40, the plane is supposed to take off from Львів to Dortmund, but at
10.30, Mr Wizzair comes and says that the flight is going to be delayed because of weather issues.
Take off expected around 1.15. That could have been a problem, that could have really pissed me
off, but well... it's Christmas.
1.15 Mr Wizzair has to update us about the situation : Dortmund airport is closed. Obviously, I don't
understand much of what's going on. I have some language issues. We are told to wait till 2.30. I
definitely need to cancel my train tickets Dortmund - Köln - Liege - Luxembourg - Metz - Nancy.
I was hoping that being ''only'' 1h30 late would just have make me race the trains, one after the
other, but I would have caught one, somehow. That would have been quite a nice race.
Sociologically speaking, it's a pretty interesting experience to watch people behaviours while
waiting. (I wasn't the only one doing this kind of scientific experiment though !). There might have
been some screaming, some shouting at Mr Wizzair (who handled pretty well the situation by the
way), that might have involved fighting as well. What actually happened is that people just started
to look at each other with something like interest. They talk, some in Ukrainian, others in German, I
can hear some Russian, English and French as well.
Then comes the food story, Mr Wwizzair and his crew bring some toasts for all these hungry
passengers. Yeah, Wizzair is such an outstanding company ! (That starts to look like advertising
right?) The way people just run to get some of these canapés is both pretty funny and quite
frightening. That could have annoyed me, but instead, I’m smiling from ear to ear... listening to
some nice Ukrainian music. ♪♫ « beautiful Karpaty » ♪♫ the lyrics says. Nostalgia... Am I really
leaving this place ? I think the food never went further than the first room... there is three or four.
Finally comes the « We have to kick you out of here » story. It's 3.30 already, Dortmund airport is
still closed, we have to leave this waiting room, get our luggages. And what's next ?
Last phone call to parents, just to say to my sorrow I'm not going to make it tonight. That could
have been the very worst Christmas eve ever.
But then starts the fun. There had to be some fun right ?
I need some fresh air, and a cigarette. I think we all do. Outside, there is a certain amount of people,
near Mr Wizzair desk. They are trying to figure something out, to find a way. Most of them look
kind of familiar to me now. We are all in the same boat... well... I'd better say we were all supposed
to be in the same plane.
As far as I'm concerned, it started with « Do you want to join the circle ? » said by the guy with
polish T-shirt. The one that was doing some kind of sociological experiment also earlier. Sounds
pretty good to me.
I would shorten the following part that way :
« Where are you from ? Bla bla bla... What will you do ? Bla bla... plane bla bla train bla car... »
STOP
« Car ????????????? » « Yes but... bla bla » « ok bla bla » « bla bla bla car bla bla bla car bla bla
bla bla bla bla car » « Fuck it ! We'll take my car ! Watch my bag(s), I'll be back in one or two
hours » That was Tim, pretty cool guy from Germany => The Driver !
Time to go get some informations about refunds of plane tickets. Mr Wizzair gives us some cool
food-tickets for the restaurant next door.
Tim goes to the garage and us, with the bag (heavy, heavy bag) to the restaurant. What's is there ?
From dead babies to cocaine, we're trying to guess. So Julia, Sean, Ben and I took very good care of
the mysterious bag(s), waiting for our saver (hmmm...driver) to get the car fixed and to pick us up.
Cool food, nice talk. Julia calls Tim, the car fixing is going to take a little while. We're thinking
about going to city center to have a beer, but all the bags... A bit later, Tim calls back and says the
car is not fixed yet, we could go to city center and he would pick us up there. Sound like a good
idea, let's go ! While looking for a place to stop and have a drink, phone call. Tim is ready to pick us
up soon, close to the Opera. There we go, all five of us, behind Opera, with the Jeep Cherokee. That
is going to be a long night, but we're all pretty exited about it. A couple of hours, Christmas in
Ukraine... boarder crossing... Chrismas in Poland ! Later on, we all start to be quite tired... the back
crew (Julia, Sean and I) get some sleep. Ben manages somehow to stay awake, keep company to
Tim, who's driving our way through Poland.
We finally arrive in Berlin just before noon, have really nice chilling breakfast at the place of those
that Tim calls his Berlin's family. We all get to meet his « business partner » and some of his
friends. Time for each of us to look for a way to reach our final destinations. I'll stay in Berlin for
the day and take a train in the evening that should arrive home the next morning while the crew is
going to Dortmund by car. Final stop for Tim, the three others will take the train to Amsterdam.
Little bit hungry, the crew decide to grab something to eat in a great Turkish restaurant. I don't want
to leave you guys... let's do this together ! Down the street, time for goodbye picture with the car =).
Wonderful time with remarkable people.
… my Christmas story !