The Arrival

It's definitely time to dust off this blog and get it up and going again.  After two years of preparation and a slightly hectic summer of job hunting, I'm about 2 weeks away from finally being a teacher.  Overall, it's been a whirlwind month (has it really been that long?) between first learning about the possibility of a job in Egypt and today.

Week one involved dealing with administrivia galore.  It seemed that whenever I tried to complete one task (getting certified in Manitoba), another few tasks were added to my to do list.  I found that I was so focused on what I needed to do (will my police check arrive in time) that I never really sat down to realize what was happening.

Week two was my week of waiting.  I started planning for the courses that I would be teaching and amassing any resources I could find to get myself ready.  Things started getting crossed off of my to do list and best of all, I was no longer adding to it.

My third week was the shopping week.  Things such as luggage, teaching equipment, power converters (etc) were acquired and it finally started to dawn on me what I was up to.  Despite having advised everyone how thrilled I was to be blending math, science and history in such an amazing way (teach two and live close to the third), it didn't really start to feel like reality until this week.

Finally, week four happened along with the typical last-minute crises that always crop up despite the best laid plans.  As my dealings with my student loan have always been slightly confusing and frustrating, my arrangements for repayment were par for the course.  I went through the typical packing crisis of what to take and how will I fit it all in such a small place (thank goodness my wife was able to keep a cool head during the process).

Well, I've arrived.  Sounds slightly anti-climactic doesn't it.  During my flight over (somewhere between watching the "Hunger Games" and "Shakespeare in Love", the full magnitude of what had been going on hit me.  At least my "what the hell am I thinking" moment of reservation occurred somewhere in the air over Newfoundland ... and it was too late to reconsider.  By the time I arrived in Frankfurt, I was tired enough that any concerns and worries had faded from my mind.  During the flight to Cairo, even the large population of crying children couldn't keep me from fading in and out of consciousness throughout the entire flight.

Well, time to get back to my kitchen clean-up.  Tonight will be our first touristy-trip part of orientation and I can't wait.