*Warning: This post may read a little dramatic.
So there I was, three hours into my three hour and twenty minute flight and eagerly looking forward to touching down in Olgii when the unexpected happened: the plane made a u-turn! "What the heck!" I thought, "Why are we flying east?!?" Soon the flight attendant made an announcement in both Mongolian and English that due to bad weather in Olgii our plane was being diverted to Hovd, the other big city in the west and the place where we spent Thanksgiving.
Needless to say, I was crushed. I think I had my head in my lap when the flight attendant came to check on me and apologize. I immediately texted Ashlee (the ban on cellphone use during flight be damned!) and she was equally upset.
Minutes later we began our descent into Hovd. We were lowering down onto the runway when the plane suddenly pulled back up into the air and banked left. "Woo hoo!" I thought, "We're going back to Olgii, after all!" Nope. It turns out the pilot just didn't like his approach because he performed another u-turn (this was getting really old), lined up with the runway again, and landed the plane.
Then the waiting game started. An announcement was made in Mongolian. Fortunately Bahtgul was with me so she was able to translate -- we had to wait for the weather to improve in Olgii. The wait could be three hours. Crap bag.
I made a few calls -- to Ashlee to commiserate, to Todd to vent, and to the safety officer at Peace Corps to let her know where I was.
The time passed extremely slow. I was a wreck -- I couldn't sit still and I definitely couldn't focus on the book that I hoped would keep me occupied. I was just so worried that I wouldn't make it to Olgii for Christmas. I kept hearing the song "Please Come Home for Christmas" play over and over in my head. You know, the really sad one by Josh Groban? See, I told you this post would be dramatic.
By 4pm, I finally got news that the weather was not improving and that we'd have to stay the night in Hovd. I was obliterated.
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