I Just Found Out There's No Such Thing as the Real World

It's been interesting how similar the experience has been to being in Mexico.  Everything is foreign to me.  Everything is a brand new experience.  Everything is unknown.  I guess I shouldn't be shocked with this... since it is what I signed up for.    I'm happy though.  This is EXACTLY what I said I wanted to do when I graduated.   I wanted to get the heck out of Indiana.  I wanted to meet new people.  I wanted to start somewhere new.  I did it!  I actually did the unexpected and I'm loving it. 

This morning was an example of how much of an adventure this job is.  Flying in teeeny tiny airplanes to and from the village into Bethel is still something I'm getting adjusted to.  Today was the first day for all the new teachers to fly out for our 3 days of training, because new teachers receive extra training for culture shock and district expectations.   This morning we were to fly out at 12, but our flight was postponed until 1.  So around 1pm the two of us made our way to the village airport, which if I haven't already described it is rocks and a windsock...  The walk is about 15 minutes and it was drizzling rain.  By the time we got to the airport we both were pretty much soaked from head to toe.  We waited for about 20 minutes before receiving a call saying our flights were cancelled/delayed for the day.  To this we both laughed and trudged back home.  After stripping out of the sopping wet clothes, making lunch, and putting a movie on I heard a pounding on the door.  It was one of the other teachers saying our plane had landed and was waiting for us at the airport.  Needless to say, I was in my pants and boots in less than 2 minutes, grabbed my book bag of clothes and purse, and was ready to leave.  We hopped on the school's 4 wheeler and hightailed it. Thankfully we made it with no problems, minus getting soaked again with mud and rainwater.

Again, I rode in a teeeny tiny airplane, this time the pilot was more cordial and spoke to me when I was boarding.  After getting to Bethel we met several of the new teachers and were transported to one of the dorms for the local college.  Girls on one side and boys on the other.   It's funny.  I lived in dorms for all of my undergraduate years.  And now that I have a big girl job and a big girl apartment... I get put back into a dorm.  Thankfully it's just for the inservice trainings.  But in all reality it's not that big of a deal, just comical really.  The ladies I room with are very sweet and seem to be just as unsure of things as me.

Today has been mainly been a chance to get paperwork in order, get the district issued computers (MACBOOK AIR :D ), and a chance for everyone to meet and get to know one another.  I've met several Midwestern people, a few people from Cleveland (cough cough Ram Rearls), and several East Coast people.  Everyone has their own story of how they made it out here.  It's been great hearing the joking, laughing, and talking between everyone.  I even found out that one of the new teachers was an RA when she was in college.  We'll be the best of friends leading everyone in the icebreakers.

Tomorrow starts the actual training.  Tomorrow we will actually listen to district expectations.  Look for more updates soon.