Jet off to Jeddah

After much time and effort spent on obtaining my work visa, I finally left on Thursday past for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to begin my teaching career.
It was a hard send off, and it was an interesting send off all at the same time. After a wonderful lunch with my aunt and my niece at Press and Bean, I headed to the airport to meet Dad. I had already said my farewells with Mom. It was a blessing in disguise to have the good-byes split up, as it was hard enough as it was.

Steph and I went through security where we saw Alan Doyle, Sean McCann, and Bob Hallett from Great Big Sea. It was a coincidence that theirs was the only music I had in my suitcase. Being the big old dork that I am ( I completely admit it!!), I felt compelled to go up and talk to them. I introduced myself as a huge fan, and informed them that I was heading off to Saudi Arabia with only their music in my suitcase. They all thanked me. Alan asked me what I was going all the way over there for, and Bob suggested that I keep the Ol' Black Rum on the DL. I mentioned very briefly to Sean a previous encounter compliments of Sherry and Mike! They were very nice and wished me well, and off I went as happy as a lark. What a way to leave the province and the country!!! It was much more pleasant than the tearful departure of moments just gone.
The flight to Toronto was uneventful. Just chatted with Steph and I think I watched a movie. The flight to Frankfurt was another story. We were in the middle set of seats, where I was on the aisle. Poor Steph was seated next to the most foul smelling man I have ever come across. I didn't know who to feel worse for....him for smelling so foul (he had to know it, the poor thing) or Steph for enduring it. I had to endure it enough, so I can only imagine how bad it was for her. Of course, I chose to feel worse for Steph.
The flight then to Jeddah was also uneventful. We were not sat together, but in window seats in consecutive rows. I watched some more movies as I wanted to stay awake for the rest of the trip to try to avoid jet lag. I ended up watching in total, "The Proposal", "The Hangover", "Hannah Montana:The Movie" and I saw parts of "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and "Fast and Furious 4." It all made the flight go very quickly.
We landed in Jeddah, along with 2 others who were coming here to work, and were met by some of the people who work for the school. We had a bit of a wait, had a photo (which I am sure was my best ever!) and our fingerprints taken and headed to the bus.
I want to write more about the arrival, but I am just too tried right now and want to go flake out for a while. It is Wednesday, which is the start of the weekend here, so I will have the day tomorrow and will perhaps write some more when I get back to my apartment from our morning out!!