Here goes nothin'

Well, here is attempt number one at a blog. Daron, you are welcome since you refuse to cave to facebook.

Not sure where to start. Most of you know that this change of scenery felt like a calling in a sense. Life, for me, needed a new twist or turn. And I am here as a result. Being a teacher, I've always believed in learning and being a lifelong learner in particular. So, as an adult who felt like I was no longer being said learner...I knew I needed to venture out. One job fair later, and here I landed, teaching 5th grade at the Casablanca American School in Casablanca, Morocco. (Northwest part of Africa for my geographically-challenged friends. Not that I'm mentioning any names. Sherry.) I'll write more about school another time, but all I can say is...so far, so good. Granted, the students don't arrive until Aug. 30th. But still, I'm just sayin'.
Plane ride over had one casualty. My iPod. Lost on first flight to NYC. Which sucks. Hope karma bites the person who took it and did not turn it in. Because I totally would have turned in someone's iPod. Except for maybe when I was younger and had no money or iPod. Then I might have thought about keeping it. Just being honest.
Hanging out at JFK airport for 7 hours was not as much fun as it you might think. Although for the last couple of hours I met Rubin in the wine bar and he told me of life in NYC since he moved here from Mexico. He told me about this as I drank a $10 draught of beer, of which I told him I had never paid that amount of money for, which led to him telling me what it was like when he came here in 1983. Or something like that.
Flight to Casablanca was as good as a 7 hour flight can be. Some interesting tidbits aboard Royal Air Maroc. Things are written/spoken in Arabic. And French. And then English. At beginning of the flight, they pass out a baggie with headphones in it, and socks. Yes, socks. Blue ones. Not sure if people's feet typically get cold on planes? Oh, and they also handed out those eye covers for sleeping. and people used them. Pretty funny looking. Anyway. Might have been the best meal in flight I've ever had. Good fish that was still warm in a sauce, rice, peas, soda, cheesecake for dessert. Good stuff. After eating and trying to watch a movie, I was ready to sleep. And apparently the man in front of me was too. So, he proceeded to launch his seat back, shoving my tray into my stomach. He then flopped around like a dying fish trying to get comfortable from the looks of things. The foreign boy sitting next to me was laughing with me.

A big group of us were on this flight together, and personnel from the school were there to greet us. Eventually, we were taken to our apartments in small groups and dropped off one by one. Later that evening, we all dined at our Director's home (kind of like a Superintendent of Schools). And, the man (and his wife) had beer and wine waiting for us, along with a fabulous dinner! 'Speciale' was my beverage of choice. And a German beer I don't remember the name of. Good stuff! One of the girls commented that it tasted like Coors Light. Ha! Anyway, that was day one basically. Bottom line is, arrived safely, without much incident, and settled nicely into my new home of the next few years. Life is good!