Travel Day

August 21-22, 2008 – Moving Day Last night was a great night having dinner with all my good friends: Chris, Pam, Dave and Shannon, Kirsten and Geoff, and JT. So after all these years JT finally met all my “Maryland” friends and they met JT! This morning I was in the taxi by 8am on my way to Reagan National Airport. Checked in at Delta, paid $150 for my extra piece of luggage – fortunately they didn’t weigh my bags because I think one of them was over the 50lbs. Flight to JFK was quick and easy arrived in NY around noon. Walked to the other terminal and waited for Olympic Airlines to open their check-in counter at 12:30. Was the first in line and the guy asked me how many bags I had to check and I said I had already checked them in DC. He asked for the - receipt for the extra baggage. I had my own receipt which had my baggage claim stickers on them so I didn’t want to give that to him but he said I needed one for them from Delta. So I had to wait until 1pm to talk to them and get my boarding pass.Went through security and walked to Gate 8 – when I arrived I saw two girls sitting together and recognized Kate from Facebook – so introduced myself to her and Lindsay – both from Atlanta. They actually were roommates in NY, found out they lived in the same city and ironically both got jobs in Athens, so they are going to be roommates. Next Dwain called me and we realized we were in the terminal and I set out to find him and his wife Miah. Dwain and I have been conversing since May as we both trudged through the paperwork. Next we all conjugated together introducing everyone and finally Colin and Susan appeared. It was one of those moments I looked hard and smiled and said “Are you Colin?” So the 7 of us gathered around and discussed how we got the job and then waited and waited and waited until we boarded the plane. Our flight was to take off at 4:30pm but at 4:30 we were still waiting at the gate. Finally boarded and then waited on the tarmack until we finally took off at 5:40pm – No discussion of what caused the delay. Now there are 4 other ACS employees on this plane but we have found them yet! So I requested a window seat and there is no window!!! Plus there is this black box under the seat in front of me so I have no leg room and the guy in front of me’s seat seems to come back further than anyone else’s. My TV didn’t work nor did my reading light so I decided to watch the Netflix movie I couldn’t return at JFK because there weren’t any mailboxes so I started to watch it. An hour into the movie my computer died – thought it was best to go to sleep! The plane ride really wasn’t too bad and going through customs fine. Through the exit we met everyone else. Bill the music teacher from Portland, Oregon; Eric and Phaedra high school counselors from Arizona; Flynn – high school English teacher from Winchester, VA; Kate – third grade teacher from Atlanta and Lindsay – ESL teacher for elementary school from Atlanta as well; Colin – elementary school math specialist and his wife Susan from NY city; Dwain and Miah – Dwain high school language teacher and Miah – elementary school art teacher from Kentucky. Terry from Seattle who will be the ES librarian and John (don’t know his job) were not on our plane but were supposedly arriving today. Walked around the hotel’s neighborhood with Eric and Phaedra and had lunch. Then I lay at the pool on top of the hotel – hot (but not humid) and great view! Took a nap – then walked around with Colin and Susan and had dinner (pork gyro with french fries in it). Our itinerary indicates we are getting picked up at 10:20 tomorrow morning – spending a day at the school and begin house shopping tomorrow afternoon. It honestly hasn’t truly hit me yet that I have moved here. As we all met each other, it honestly felt more like a Global Volunteers adventure. As the sun sets and the night lights appear, I am looking out my bedroom window and saying to myself This is where I live now – a little surreal.
Well I was ready to hit the hay when some new friends knocked on my door and was wondering what was up and what they should do. I suggested and they whole heartily agreed to go upstairs to the pool/penthouse level to enjoy the wine my parents had purchased which was sitting in my hotel room with a basket of fruit. So there were 6 of us - Dwain, Miah, Lindsay, Kate, Flynn and I on the top terrace - beautiful night enjoying music and wine. A photo will be posted soon.
Tomorrow we go to the school for the day and then go apartment shopping.