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Excuses
for Missing a Class Reunion |
Posted:
Aug 13, 2003 6:53 AM |
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Dear
Classmates from the Weyauwega, Wisconsin high school,
Please accept my sincere apologies for my absence at our recent class
reunion in Wisconsin on August 2nd. It was inexcusable that I not be there,
and I truly had planned to make it. After all, I was on the planning
committee for this reunion! I am only glad that the package of door prizes
that I posted from India made it there in plenty of time. I hope those of
you who won a prize are happy with the cloth, paintings and other things
that I sent. Let me explain what happened:
I'm not making excuses, but it all started back in April. At that time, I
knew that my tenure at the Mission School in Ladakh would expire on 4 July
of this year. I had planned on a trek immediately after this to finish on 25
July, leaving plenty of time to say good-bye in India and return to America.
Well, in April when America attacked Iraq, the 40 percent of the population
in Leh that are Muslim suddenly turned hostile and made living there
extremely difficult.
I'm not making excuses, but in order to help redeem my honor in the eyes of
these Muslims, I accepted an offer to go to Srinigar in Kashmir to meet with
officials of the state and explain that I, as an individual, am not
responsible for what my government does. And, that I personally did not
agree with my president on this issue. I was well-received by the Kashmiri
parliament. But, the militants in the area thought otherwise. Before I could
leave the city, I was kidnapped by a gang of 16 of these characters.
I'm not making excuses, but convincing this band of rowdys with machine guns
and hand grenades of my good intentions took more doing - a month to be
precise. I was then released only minus a dozen pounds and plus a dozen
bruises.
I'm not making excuses, but by mid May the road should have been open. A
late snowstorm changed those plans and I had to fly back to Leh. Of course,
all of the flights were booked solid due to the road still being closed. I
had to pay "backsheesh" to officials in Srinigar to "find" me a seat.
I'm not making excuses, but what should have been a simple financial
transaction took another week. Due to the Muslim Eid holiday, there was a
4-day weekend in May that I had to sit through. Following this, it was a
mad-house at the banks for two more days; especially as there are no queues
at banks and post offices in India. When I finally got someone to assist me,
I found that my credit card declined the amount required and stopped action
on the card for the 3rd time during my stay in India. The problem is that I
have gone for 2-3 months without using the card, followed by a request for a
few hundred dollars. The credit card company assumes that this indicates a
stolen card and "protects" me by stopping all action on the card. How nice.
This problem took 2 more days to correct, due to the phone system, and I was
soon flying home.
I'm not making excuses, but my school was gracious enough to let me off with
only a week's extra work at the school to make up for the more than a month
lost. This only left time for a short trek, and not the one I had my heart
set on in the Rupshu/Changtang area of Ladakh. I was heart-broken.
I'm not making excuses, but the shortened trek finished on the 25th of July,
as scheduled. At this time, I recalled that I had left my passport on a rock
at a lake a 3-day's walk from any road. Fortunately, the embassy in Delhi
(after extensive paperwork, phone calls on a flawed telephone system, and
slow email when connections are working) was able to get me a new passport
and visa in only 4 days.
I'm not making excuses, but I next went to the Jet Airways office to
purchase the airline ticket that I had reserved back in early April. Their
wonderful computer had no record of me, even though I was there before the
deadline to purchase that ticket. On the date I intended to fly, there was a
LONG waiting list. BUT, they could confirm me on the following day. So, what
to do? I flew to Delhi a day late. (this paragraph is the only true one
besides the first introductory one)
I'm not making excuses, but after all of this, I was NOT going to miss Agra
and the Taj Mahal. I just shortened that trip from 3 days down to 2 in order
to make my flight. On the first day, I caught the fast train to Agra, and
had a wonderful time looking at the Taj, taking photos and ignoring all the
shop owners. After a year in India, I've gotten used to walking past
everyone that starts off by saying "Yes, friend?" What I didn't count on was
a bad case of food poisoning that left me in the hospital. As it turns out,
this is a scam in Agra. My cheap hotel fed me contaminated food in order for
"backsheesh" from the hospital that treated me.
I'm not making excuses, but my hospital lasted a day, after which I felt
weak, but better. But, this put me back on a 3-day schedule for Agra. I
missed my flight. But, KLM/Northwest was kind enough to find me passage on
the flight the following night at 1AM (without even having to pay backsheesh).
This meant that I'd fly out of Delhi at 1AM on the 2nd of August, and arrive
in Milwaukee at 1:15PM the same afternoon, as I'd be travelling with the
sun. I'd just make the reunion and get to see all of you guys!
I'm not making excuses, but due to being weak from the food poisoning, and
run-down from the early-morning flight schedule, I slept through my second
flight take-off during my 2-hour layover in Amsterdam. THAT is why I missed
the class reunion, and I am sorry.
Keith "burntfoot" Koepsel
P.S. It seems that 5 years ago, it was easier getting back to the reunion
from my Alaska trip. And, the time before that from my teaching job on Guam
in the Pacific. And, why is it I always get that "furthest travelled to get
to the reunion" award?
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I Love the Mountains |
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