The Beginning!

Armed with a cell phone, suitcase and an emergency credit card, Sunday, Oct 2012 I found myself stranded in the middle of Times Square, rushing in a panic to exit the city before Hurricane Sandy hit the coast.  Just hours prior to the mandatory evacuation, I had been sitting in a room with 40 other applicants, sipping tea, smiling and patiently waiting for our interview.

(dark gray sky just before the storm)

A woman walks in, greets us all, asks for our paperwork and 2 interviewees later it was my turn.  Dressed in my sparkliest ( I made that word up ) head scarf, 6inch suede stilettos, I bent the corner, took a deep breath & greeted the panel with the biggest smile. They reviewed my credentials, asked some "obvious-answer" questions and requested my grade preference.....aaaaand....so began my journey.  Two weeks later, I received my offer letter and was told to begin submitting a mOUNd of paperwork.

So began the acquisition of a multitude of passport pictures, passport renewal attempts, teaching license renewals, teaching license authentications, transcript and each degree authentications, and lastly signatures of the county clerk, the secretary of state, & the department of state...now... time to wait.

Needless to say a couple of hundred dollars, storage fees, Uhaul fees and 2 garage sales later... I finally have my departure date.... Aug 19th Insha'Allah!

I said I wouldn't Instagram or Blog until I knew for sure...so...here we are.  So, I make this promise to you Oh Reader... no post will ever be longer than this initial one... from now on...quick and to the point w/ blasts of info for you to skim :-) with pics & video included.

(catching the last train from Grand Central Station)

Ohhhh...so you're still wondering about my escape from Times Square...... Well, luckily, my aunt lives up north just a bit, and I was able to get out of the city on the last train.  My flight ended up being pushed back, and I stayed in NY for a week, but hey... I got to spend time with fam, fill up on Uncle Mark's guacamole dip, and share power adapters with total strangers in the only open Starbucks with electricity in town. #memories 

Sorry in advance for the angle.. I'll get better in the future IA!