4 days into the adventure!

My bags and I made it here!!  It was a bit of a journey and the adventure had even begun before I left Salt Lake!  Our plane in Salt Lake turned out to have a minor mechanical issue and before we could take off we had to get that taken care of.  Of course you never know how long that will actually take (any moment-right Caitlin?) and in this case it took a little over two hours-which was the exact amount of time my lay over was going to be in Philadelphia...  So I missed the flight from Philly to Athens so they put me on a flight from Philly to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Athens.  It wasn't too bad (it did bring back some memories from the last time I was in the Frankfurt airport...) it just took some extra time, which meant I went a full 24 hours without proper sleep!  But this actually helped with the time change because I was so exhausted when night time came around.

But alas I made it!  It turned out that the person I just randomly sat next to in the Frankfurt airport was also an incoming ACS teacher and the person that I sat next to on the Frankfurt flight was another incoming ACS teacher!  Funny how those things happen!

My experience so far has been great and I am learning a lot!  The grocery stores are a bit different-but of course you get used to it.  Everyone here is really nice; both the American teachers as well as the Greek people.  The Greek's all seem to speak a good amount of English which helps me since I have yet to learn Greek.  However, I do want to learn to speak and understand the language-so this may hinder that process.

So far I have been trying to get adjusted to the culture and the fact that I have no idea what people are saying here.  I have been hanging out with the other American teachers, which has been a lot of fun, but at the same time I do want to learn the language and be able to use it.  Today, I met with a guy who is on the Athen's Triathlon team, which was so awesome.  Last night I went out with some of the other teachers at ACS and it reminded me of back-in-the-day when I used to go out more.  I didn't get home till 2..way past my bed time!!!  Although I do want to experience the culture, I would really really like to stay in good shape and be able to wake up early and get my workouts done.  So I was really pleased to be able to meet up with my triathlon friend and have him tell me about the stuff that they do, which got me so excited about racing over here.  

I have yet to go down and explore Athens-although I did see the Parthenon last night because we went out in downtown Athens-which let me tell you is a little different than the Salt Lake night life!!!  Apparently it was "empty" because a lot of people are still on holiday.  I can't imagine what it will look like when everyone comes back!   I live in a suburb of Athens called Halandri, which is a nice place to live.  I was a little worried at first, but I think it will be just fine.  I have made the walk to school and it is about a mile, which will be a good way to wake up in the morning.  I do want to get a commuter bike to ride to and from school-to make the trip a little quicker :)

I just finished setting up my apartment and I love it!  I added a little local touch to it.  I haven't gotten any picture frames, so that is the only thing that it is lacking.  I also need to figure out if I can get pictures developed over here for cheap...hopefully!

So, I often have been forgetting why it is I came over here...for work!  I met with one of the other fourth grade teachers yesterday and she was so nice and it seems like it will be a good year.  I am a little worried about school, just because I haven't done anything to prepare for it because I don't really know what I need to prepare.  I know that it will be just fine once I get into the swing of things, so I am not TOO worried, just a little :).

I hope you are all doing well!!  Miss you guys and thanks for reading!

So I have attached a link to a video of my apartment. I hope that you can see it okay.  Other pictures are to come..very soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciCfwY1BQy8

Carly