Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Departure

The past week of my life has been a complete whirlwind of change. I set everything up for a wedding, got married, packed up my whole life into boxes and suitcases, and then moved to another country with my new husband. It was a long trip to get to Kosova, but we have finally arrived. We left on Monday night and took an eight hour flight from Washington, DC to Vienna, Austria. I didn't think the flight was that bad, but I also slept about three hours of the flight and watched a movie. Unfortunately the food so not very good at all. Joe was extremely tired, because he did not get much sleep for three days in a row and he could not sleep on the plane (that makes for one grumpy husband).

Then we had to wait five hours in the airport, which were definitely long. I had a hard time because if I read anything then I would get tired and we didn't want to spend money on expensive food. However, we found out in the last hour that we had wireless connection on our computers and sent a few emails out. I also wrote thank you cards (Joe did two, he was so spaced out from not sleeping).

After that it was an hour and a half into Prishtina, Kosova. Both of us expected a longer flight and were relieved to hear that it would not take long. Plus they fed us lunch and it was quite delicious. Customs was the fastest I had ever experienced (they asked Joe what he was there for and never even asked me). I guess it was just assumed. All of our luggage arrived, much to our relief. And thankfully the principal of the school was there to pick us up. We were a bit worried about that, since we had no definite confirmation.

He took us to our apartment, which is just okay. The furniture is old and the shower does not drain right. So we have a few concerns, However, you can also tell that the landlord has put in for a lot of improvements. So we will see how it turns out. I think we just need to put our personal touch on the place to make it feel more comfortable. The electricity has already gone out three times since we have been there...something that we knew would happen, but is a lot more annoying than you think. Oh well.

We also went to the school today for a tour. No bad, I am excited to teach there, but I hope that I can handle the multiple preps. Five subjects will be a bit overwhelming. Joe was relieved when he found out that the P.E. teacher likes to hike and does some moderate no rope climbing. That means he will probably help us find the area to go around here.

The weather is hot here too. So although I like the fact that I am walking around the city I wish it was not so hot outside. They need more trees to line the street. And as expected it has a definite European feel. Lots of shopping, except for sporting equipment (I think they don't like to exercise here!). Anyhow, I am getting tired. I need to post some pictures and wedding pictures, but we officially made it here!

3 comments:

Jeff and Stephanie said...

TRACY! Congrats on getting married! Hope you got my card in time before you left! Sounds like everything was great! Can't wait to see pictures! You are a brave soul to take on this new adventure in another country! Good luck and can't wait for updates!

~rzmom~ said...

Yea! I'm glad to hear you made it safely. I will email you the link to Sandy's pics from the wedding. When do you start teaching? We had our first day back today, and I had to leave Zoe at daycare. So sad! Can't wait to hear more from you!

Modigliani said...

So glad you made it in one piece. Wow ... so many great changes. :)

Congrats all around. I'm really excited to read your future posts about married life, and teaching/living overseas.

Update in February

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