Gotta Love Transitions

Me in front of Notre Dame Cathedral
(No I did not see Quasimodo!)

Hey all! Sorry for taking so long. Well longer than I had hoped it to be at least!  When I last left you I was just about to leave Toronto!  Well just incase you did not know I made it to South Africa safely!  
The 'road' here was long, but enjoyable! During my flight to Paris I talked quite a bit with the lady who sat beside me, her name is Julie.  Anyway Julie and I decided we would take the train into Paris together.  This made my decision a lot earlier of whether or not I should go into Paris!  It ended up being that we spent pretty much the whole day together until I needed to head back to the airport before it got dark.  Julie was travelling for work and had been to Paris, it was so great of her to spend the day with me! It was such a blessing!
My time in Paris was spent mostly on a tourist bus.  Julie knew of a bus that went around Paris going to all the main sites where you could hop on or off the bus when ever as long as you had your ticket!  Julie and I got off at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower.  Both places we enjoyed both the sites and a bit of food! Of course I was in Paris so I had to take part in enjoying not only cheese and bread but a little glass of wine too.
It was very cool to be in a place with so much history, and to see these iconic places.

Eiffel Tower!

After spending a long day in Paris I waited around the airport for almost 4 hours until my flight left.  I spent a good chunk of my time on the flight sleeping...or at least trying to.  I then got to Johannesburg, (where all 3 of my bags made it!) and met up with Pros for a smoothie.  Then finally made it to PMB where Jon Barnes (one of the new South Africa reps, who are taking over for James and Joan) met me to bring me to the prison....the old prison.  Remember?
I have spent the last few days with Jon, Dawn, Khaya and Ali.  I am looking forward to getting to know and spend time with the Barnes Family over the next two years! Over the last few days Dawn and I have spent many hours running around trying to get things ready for me to go off to Lily.  So tomorrow the next transition starts.

Tomorrow I am heading to Lily and will start settling in to my new place and there is a hope that I will get to stop in at Hope Valley to see my fellow teachers and my old students!  I will also get to meet the new SALTers for this year.  So far I have met one, Melinda, she is working here in PMB at the Project Gateway School where the MCC office is located.

My new friend Julie, who took me around Paris

I have mixed emotions about tomorrow. I am excited about going and seeing everyone and getting settled in finally!  I will finally not be living out of a suit case for the first time in 5 months!!  I am a little nervous to see people at the same time.  I am praying settling into my new role will be good!  I will try to keep you up dated as things go!

Until next time... watch an episode of Friends! (Watching this show has been really great and helping me not to stress too much and miss people from home too much)