Safe and Sound

I'm here and well! Finally, all the waiting is over. My travel experience was quite less than relaxing, however. Though, I am not really complaining, because others have had far worse.

My flight from STL to ATL was delayed 1.5 hours due to weather conditions in ATL. Thus, I arrived in ATL at 10:20 with my next flight leaving to Paris at 10:55. I reached my flight about 10 minutes before take-off after scurrying across the airport, toting my heavy carry ons and reading directional signs - I was very out of breath. There were nearly a dozen stand-bys who were not very eager to see me arrive.

The flight was good but long. I was glad to have my down, winter coat on me because it was pretty cold. I was able to sleep some on and off. My Paris layover was slow and easy. Thanks for the prayers, it was very easy to navigate, I just kept looking for Concourse "G2" signs and did fine. I took a 10-min shuttle to the G terminal, and it was nice to see some of the outside of the airport. The terminal was run a little differently than an American one. Everyone in the concourse waits in this really large room full of benches and shops and such. Your actual gate number is not assigned until about 20 minutes before your flight. My flight to Basel, Switzerland was supposed to leave at 3:45, but kept getting delayed in 10 minute increments until 5:30. So, I finally arrived in Basel a little after 6:45 and was afraid Jan would have had to wait a long time, but she had looked up the flight online first, seen the delay, and didn't have to wait at all. Yay! Funny side note: As we were driving back I was looking at road signs and saw one for "St. Louis." My host family explained that there was a town about 10 minutes north of Basel that we would travel through on our way home called St. Louis. So, I left St. Louis and paid lots of money and time to arrive in St. Louis. Great. :)

The drive from Basel to Kandern was about 20 minutes. We had delicious taco salad for dinner while watching British television, Strictly Come Dancing. My hostfamily, the Formans, really like to watch tv at nights, so I'm sure I'll get quite a taste for British television. I'm looking forward to watching BBC.

Today was slow and relaxing; I finished unpacking, met up with Julie, another Cedarville student teacher who just arrived, and she, Jan, Jan's daughter Maria, and I all went shopping at a nearby town. I was proud to buy a glue stick. My goal was to get through the check out without making it clear I didn't speak German. I thought I had succeeded until at the end she spoke a long sentence followed by an expectant look. I randomly guessed that she was asking if I wanted a bag to put the glue stick in, so I said "yes," and was relieved to see her reach for a bag. Whew...

Ok...more updates to follow. I'm meeting my cooporating teacher, Jill, tomorrow after church and will start in school on Monday!!