Victor Feinman

The very start of my journey has begun. I don’t believe I fully understand how long I will be away for. Six months, at least. That is six months without seeing my family. Six months without eating the food I was brought up with. What am I going to do? No Italian food? Oh boy, India has no idea who they are messing with. You never mess with a man’s food. Even though I have been saying it, being away for six months has still not hit me yet. Every time I think I have grasped the idea, an overwhelming feeling comes over me and dissipates quickly when I change thoughts.

Three vehicles. That is how many it takes to drop Victor off at the airport. It was 9:15am as I pull up to the curb with a 9:50 boarding time. Fashionably late as usual from the Feinman clan. I hurried out of the car and grabbed my luggage out of the back. I had to get the long goodbye process started. Mom gets out, dean gets out, Lee gets out, Elyse gets out, Dad gets out and poor little Mark in his car seat yelling get out. Dean and Jeff are now out of the car having trouble coordinating moving the three pieces of luggage from the street to the sidewalk. Meanwhile my mother is juggling her camera in hand trying to snap the last couple of photos of me and the family together before my flight. Mom hands me a few dollar bills for tip, dad then offers a few bills from his pocket, mom then hands me the remainder of what was in her hand (total now amounting to $20). I have not asked for any of this. Dad, in the name of parental competition, feels obligated to slip me even more money. It is now 9:20, mother is crying on my shoulder as I am pulling away from her trying to enter the rotating doors.

I check in at the counter, hand over my 49 and 43 pound bags (50 lbs is the limit), she gives me my boarding pass and off I am to security. Being a Feinman on the verge of being late for a flight it is only natural that I am chosen for a random screening. They say it as if I should be excited that I was selected for this rare and exclusive screening. Well as it turns out, being screened probably was quicker then waiting in the main line anyway. Seeing that I have nothing to hide I found the process painless.

It was all good. I didn’t have to wait too long before the plane was boarding. Looking out the window, I saw the puddle jumper I was about to board. The small puddle jumper was a poor excuse for a jet plane. What do you expect when you are flying to Washington D.C from Philadelphia; a flight (including all wait times) that last longer then the drive down. Who wants to buy a ticket for that? The inside was smaller then I had expected it to be. Three seats in each row: two to the left, one on the right. I couldn’t even stand straight up without feeling as if my head was grazing the top and I am a short Italian. The size of the plane aside, the flight was fine. Smooth sailing taking off, for all 10 minutes at cruising altitude, and finally for the descend.

It didn’t take long to spot my first co-trainee. He was carrying a Lonely Planet India travel guide on a flight to Washington, it was obvious. I made my way to the baggage claim and out to wait for the shuttle to the hotel. As I was waiting with the other guy I had just met, one by one more co-trainees joined us whilst we waited. Loading the van was fun considering we all had two to three HEAVY bags.
-3:30
Checking in to the hotel was no problem. Went to my room laid down for a while and got to relax for a little. I had some unfinished business to take care of before going to India so I went on a mission. During my mission I realized I haven’t called home yet. Since I was in Washington I called Rachael, a local call, in order to get a hold of all the other relatives. She called dad for me and asked him to call me at the payphone. When the conversation ended I asked him to call Elyse for me. A minute later Elyse was ringing on the payphone next to me. It was really nice to hear her voice, strong, confident, and proud. She told me how proud of me she was to embark on my journey. That really meant a lot to me coming from her.

After all of the telephone calls were though with I went back up to my room for a little nap. It was 3 o’clock before I fell asleep. I needed to be downstairs for check in at 4. I woke up to my roommate entering at 5. Needless to say, I was late. It was okay though. I had only missed the first buss and there was a second on the way. The second buss came and swiftly took us away to Alexandrea Virginia to a place called red hot and blue. We ate dinner there and then took off to Georgetown. In Georgetown my number one priority was to full my outstanding prescriptions I had. I asked directions to the nearest CVS. When I arrived I was disappointed to find out they didn’t have a pharmacy in their branch.

I knew of a 24 hour CVS pharmacy branch was at Dupont Circle. I hailed a cab and when I arrived he asked for 9 dollars. It was a little steep for a two mile hike but I paid the fair and left. Upon entering I quickly found the pharmacy and made a b line to the drop off counter. I asked the clerk if she had the drugs I needed: they didn’t. Yet another speed bump in my damn drug fiasco.

Walking the 6 blocks to the next closest 24 hour CVS wasn’t too difficult but hearing the pharmacist tell me I could only fill on the two prescriptions I had was painful. It put a stabbing end to my quest for the medication I needed. To add insult to injury, my copay miracusly doubled. Whatever I have gone to great distances to get these scripts I won’t allow a lousy $20 get in the way. I paid the lady and left. Only to return for a drink.

I scheduled a rendezvous with Rachael at the adjacent Ritz Carlton. For the 20 or so minutes I was waiting for her I was living in Luxury. A very nice hotel. Surely I will be staying there in the future, when I have a disposable income to do so. She picked me up at this place of luxury and took me back to my stating point in Georgetown. We had a piece of pizza and then went our separate ways.

The buss ride back was slow. The girl sitting next to me wouldn’t stop talking. Have you ever noticed that it is always a woman who never stops talking? She was going on and on about India and her experiences there which I have already heard from her. She was intoxicated.

The buss didn’t even stop and Corbin was screaming “to the bar.” We all followed like sheep to a Sheppard. I had myself a scotch and played a game of pool all whilst getting to know others. Overall it was a great day. I survived yet another plane ride, I got half of my prescriptions filled, I met new people, and I didn’t break down and loose it. A great day indeed.

-Victor