Yay! I'm finally home, (and finally blogging again) after a long time. And as mentioned above, I nearly didn't make it home... like, 5 minutes short of not making it home.
It starts, with the long week of horrendous topic tests. Physics and Bio... grk. And they love to torture us by placing the tests on the most convenient days... the Monday sandwiched between the long weekend, and the afternoon of our last day of class before the two week break. And they just have to make the exams so fast-paced and hard...
These tests don't just test how much you know... they also test how fast you can think, how fast you can write, and how long before you give up and just start laughing manically to yourself about the hopelessness of the task. There's no time to second guess answers, no time to go, 'Hmmmm... I wonder what is the best way to answer this?'. It's all 'Arrrghhhh!! Write faster! Write faster!! Don't know the answer? Doesn't matter!! Just write something! And fast!! *pant pant pant*'
So, the last day of class was the Bio test. And gosh, it felt so good when it ended. The weight was finally off our shoulders and it was holiday time. So what if we screwed up the paper? We have a whole 2 weeks to ignore the problem and pretend the test never happened.
Soon, everyone is rushing off in all directions, with their packed bags. Bus station, taxi, mummy and daddy etc. etc.
Tricia and me had the taxi booked for 7.20pm. So we headed back (around 4pm) and started packing. Everything was smooth and steady, fun and happy, la-la-la and wheeee for those 3 hours. Our increased heart rates from the Bio test were finally coming back down to normal.
And then, we headed down to the bus stand to wait for our taxi. 7.25pm. He still wasn't there. I said to call him to ask if he was on the way.
Tricia called him, and a few seconds into the conversation, she looked at me and did the universal sign of 'we're in deep trouble'... the action of the finger slicing the throat. My already tender heart rate went up a few beats.
Our taxi driver forgot our booking. He was at least half an hour away.
Then a number of things happened in sequence.
It hit Tricia that our flight booking paper, which we need to get the actual tickets, was still upstairs. And for those of you who haven't read my previous post, we live on the FIFTH FLOOR (ominous capital letters). Uh-oh.
Then it hit me that the paper stated that departure was at 8.20pm. It was now 7.30 pm. We had to check in at least 45 minutes or so before the flight. Double uh-oh.
Basically, we were both under the assumption that 8.20 was the check-in time, not the actual flight.
And um, yeah...... the paper with the flight details was posted on our notice board, which was basically right in front of our faces whenever we sat at our study tables. (which was a lot due to studying for the Bio test). The paper has been there for about a month.
So yes, despite that, we still got it wrong.
In my defence, it was the BIO TEST!!!!! (everyone around go 'yeah, yeah, yeah... excuses, excuses...')
So there it goes, like the cascade of events in blood clotting, we were off in full adrenaline and panic mode. (told ya' it was the Bio test.... XD)
Tricia sprinted up the stairs for the paper. And lugging our heavy suitcases and backpacks, we raced to find a cabbie. This isn't usually a problem... but whoops, it's 'buka puasa' time. Thankfully, we managed to catch one guy who just pulled up as we ran up.Talk about Godsend!
And he was a pretty nice guy. He actually changed his radio channel to a Chinese radio station, just because he had Chinese passengers. Cool or what? Too bad we didn't understand Chinese... Ahahahaha...
We made it to the airport at about 8.10pm. The check-in counter for Penang was already closed. We ran to the guy at the counter and started begging for dear life. Thank God for this guy too, as he argued with the people on the other end to let us on... 'Kesian juga mereka ini... boleh kah?'
The people on the other end kept saying through the walkie-talkie 'Tak boleh, tak boleh', which of course totally freaked us out. I don't think I stopped praying since we stepped into the taxi...
But finally, he printed out tickets and told us to run for it, with our check-in bags. So there we sprinted, ala The Amazing Race, with our big heavy bags. And geez... airport terminals are long and far...
We finally managed to get into our seats, red-faced, oxygen-deprived, dehydrated, sweaty and panting like crazy. The plane took off 5 minutes later.
So yeah, in conclusion... Phew.
Praise God!
