Office Christmas Party and the Trip Home

Tuesday, after work, was our office Christmas party.  I was hoping to get to Blue Mall between work and the party to pick up some jeans I had tried on the other weekend when I was there, but by 5:00 I still hadn't received my Christmas bonus pay.  I needed to get the pay that day since the next morning I had my flight home.  I was told that I'd be getting the same amount as my monthly salary as my bonus, but when I went in to get the pay I got less than what I was supposed to.  My boss ended up asking me if I had received the pay and I said that I had gotten it, and mentioned the amount.  Then he was sure to send me back in to get the rest, which made me happy.  

O ended up giving Robert and I a ride over to the club where the party was at.  It was an outdoor area with a dance floor/stage and several tables set up around palm trees that were lit up with Christmas lights.  Of course, we had to wait a few hours till supper was served.  It was a buffet dinner, so of course, only portions of it were non-meat for me.  For the amount we paid, it wasn't really worth it as there wasn't a whole lot of left overs for people to have seconds.  Like any good Dominican party, there was loud music and dancing.  A lot of people were trying to get me up dancing and finally I did with one of the auditors.  I ended up having a lot of fun.  I also found out that my "Angel" was V.  For my main gift, I received some body wash and lotion.  Quite nice.  My secret person wasn't there again so I have no idea if he liked the tie I got him.

Here are some pictures from the evening:

After the party, I took a cab home with Robert and proceeded to pack until about 1am.

I was up early doing the last minute packing before Don Pedro came to pick me up at 9:15.  We had a nice chat on the way to the airport.  I told him how cold it was back home, which of course he found to be unbelievable.  He was also sure to tell me to pass along to Bart his greetings, in fact, he even reminded me twice to make sure I tell Bart when I arrived.  At the airport, my baggage had to go through an extra scan to check for any agricultural products.  During this process I ended up chatting with an American couple who had been traveling through the Caribbean and South America since October.  They were both quite nice.  The check-in at US Airways was a disaster.  They were able to print out my luggage tag that went all the way to Edmonton, but couldn't check me into my flights.  However, they tried to figure it out for over 1/2 hour.  By the time they just gave up and told me to pick up my new boarding passes in Philadelphia, I had to run since the plane had started boarding.  Security was a breeze and when I arrived at the gate, everyone was still sitting and waiting.  So I took the time to grab a snack and then sat down by the American couple and chatted some more.  We finally boarded the plane at 11:30 (the time the flight was supposed to leave).  Once we were on, we still had to sit there for quite a while.  Finally the pilot came on to tell us that the Captain had been detained at security due to an identification issue.  They expected that he would be released soon.  Another 15 min or so later, the pilot came on again to tell us that the Captain had been released and was heading toward the plane.  I was glad that I had such a long layover in Philadelphia, since a lot of people on the plane ended up having to take later connecting flights.

While in the air, there was a neat occurrence where a rainbow circle appeared against the sky and the shadow of the plane was right in between:

When we landed in Philadelphia I wandered through the corridors to customs, then to pick up my baggage, and then through the second customs and then to drop off my bag.  The next section directed me right into the next security section, but of course, I didn't have my boarding pass.  This was a bit of a hassle, since they had to send me out and I had to walk outside from Terminal A to Terminal D.  Luckily, it wasn't too cold, so being in just my hoodie was okay.  But through the entire process, everyone - even the US security and customs officials - were super friendly!  My layover in Philadelphia was long but good.  I had dinner and wandered around and did a bit of shopping.  Even picked up a new watch for myself and for Bart, along with the Lug travel blanket/pillow combo that I realized was cheaper there than I had seen it previously in Canada.  The flight to Toronto was uneventful and short.  I watched "Salt" but didn't quite get to see the ending.  I saw enough of the ending to know how it turns out but didn't get the details.  

Toronto was also a breeze, although I did have to have my hands swabbed at security.  I hit up the Tim Horton's for a sandwich and then made good use of the free wifi to catch up on some picture uploading that I had to do.  The flight to Edmonton seemed to take forever, as it always does.  I ended up watching "The Other Guys" and "The American" on the plane.  When I got into Edmonton, I walked out of the doors and looked around for Bart.  I checked my phone and he had written to me that he was going to be in the right spot this time.  I had a good chuckle, since I came out of a different door than I had the last time.  He had already realized this though and met up with me moments later.  The luggage took forever to arrive, but it gave me lots of time to get myself bundled up and prepared for what awaited me outside. It was cold and at first I had issues with the breathing since I had forgotten what that cold air inside your lungs and nose feels like!  Bart, of course, found this funny.