Tatqiq's Big Adventure

Ok, so the blogs from July 26th onward are all coming at you at the same time, but are about different adventures! We are starting with the traveling day- Monday, July 26th!

After a wonderful weekend with best friends in DC and family in the 757, it was really hard to say goodbye. The traveling day(s) was a whirlwind. Mike left Newport News at 4am to head back to Cville for work and I was super emo after that and couldn't sleep! Thus allowing me to start packing (hahah, seriously). I managed to get all my stuff into 3 pieces of luggage and lay on the floor til Mom woke up, her coffee, and joined me to help boost my mood! We then headed to the salon for (what I thought was going to be) my last mani/pedi for a while and it was relaxing and helped me not to think about things for a while. After we got home, Dad Xeroxed the last important documents and load up the car. We decided to bring an extra bag incase we had to unload some from my supah heavy luggage when we were checking in. I had a pretty low moment leaving the neighborhood when I realized I had forgotten to say bye to Roxzie :( I can't wait to see her on skype! The airport was quite the scene (of course). They couldn't figure out how to give me 3 checked bags since the limit is 2 and in the confusion my Mom and I were able to weigh my bags and saw that one was 46 lbs (golden!), one was 51.5 (pushing it) and one was 63 (ummm??). I think my sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the counter looking exhausted helped my cause because they let it slide.

Mom, Dad, Tatqiq and I went to Starbucks until it was time to go through security. Luckily, there were only 2 people in front of me (busy airport!) and they were both NUNS!  They took forever because they had infinity accessories and lots of gaping fabric to hide things. That, in combination with the security guys teasing me that they were going to cut Tatqiq open to make sure I wasn't smuggling anything helped me to wipe away the tears. I was so excited to arrive at Dulles because Mike had made the drive up to hang with me! (He is so great!) I met him at baggage claim and we wandered around the limited area Dulles provides for those without tickets. We eventually settled on another Starbucks trip! The timing was perfect: Ben and Tory were in the airport and were able to stop in for a quick hello/goodbye :) After a few (million) more tears and a few (million) more hugs I waved goodbye to Mike at security and headed to meet Savanna at the gate. She greeted me with a much-needed hug and started spritz-ing my face with this wash and that, and I really did feel fresh and ready to begin the journey! 

The gate was bustling with people... all different nationalities and garb. We made friends with a lady named Rosemary who grewup in Dhaka, but is now running a dance troop in DC! She helped us find our way through the confused masses to get on the plane. No one seemed to know what he or she was doing. It was verrrry disorganized. But, once on the plane- it was a PALACE! Every seat had a pillow, blanket, and a pretty pouch! In the pouch were earplugs, socks, eye mask and a travel toothbrush! We even had our own TVs in back of the seat in front that were touch-screen!

They had video games, 193 movies, live television, regular television and so much more! I settled in to How to Train Your Dragon and waited for the delicious meal I could smell from earlier rows. The food was great! I can't remember the last time I had a full meal on an airplane! And- free beverages! Any kind! Sav and I jumped right on the little bottles of wine… moments after the tray was cleared, we passed out for a good 4 hours. When we woke up, we went on a lap around the plane to keep the blood flowing and then decided to test out the "sandwiches, snacks, and ice cream available at any point during the flight" statement. It was true! One chicken wrap and ginger ale later, we were ready for sleep again.

Before we knew it was breakfast and time to open the windows to see that we were flying over Iraq and nearing Qatar! We checked out the scene as we flew in and I remarked that I didn’t know the airport was so close to the water, to which Savanna explained that was desert- not water! It went on for as far as I could see and looked like rolling waves! We grabbed “all” our belongings, took a .3 second tram to the airport from the GIANT plane and went through security. Once on the other side we headed to our gate. Right then I realized I had forgotten Tatqiq on the plane! Thank goodness Sav was there- she kept her cool and we went on a quest for a Qatar agent to help us. A very pretty lady (all the flight attendants were gorgeous!) called down to the plane to ask about my white teddy bear (she had to hold back a laugh) and they had her! At that point I had to give her my passport (SO scary) and she went out to the tarmac and got Tatqiq and she got a free pass through security. (Phwew!) It was pretty traumatizing, so to feel better, we hit up the duty free for our 1 liter of alcohol. You can’t get it very easily in Dhaka! At our gate, a sudden group of AIS/D teachers formed. We exchanged teaching titles and past stories as we headed to the last leg of our journey.

The plane wasn't as posh as our first (but we got exit row with TONS of legroom!). There were plllenntty of people who had probably never been on a plane before. Standing up during landing, smoking in the bathroom, and causing all sorts of extra stresses for everyone else! Haha J But when we made it safely, the whole admin team was waiting for us at our gate! We flew through the lines getting our temporary visas and headed on to baggage claim where everyone’s things (some people had up to 7 bags!) arrived safely! We got to exit through the VIP exit (it had the letters written in what looked like tin foil on the door)!

Savanna, Melissa (an elementary teacher) and I headed to a bus with Rich (the new school director). He took us to our apartment where we met Niru (our cook/bearer) and had a good 5 hours to unpack. I tried, but was in such a daze I needed a power nap. 2 hours later ;) Sav woke me up and we headed to school for our first meeting. Some quick get-to-know-you games and a tour of the school exhausted all of us, so when we arrived at the American club and were greeted with icecold beers at the bar- we were happy campers.

It was a surprisingly beautiful day! Blue skies, a slight breeze and a gorgeous sunset made for a perfect backdrop for the rooftop meal. Savanna and I could barely keep our eyes open long enough to let our heads hit the pillow. All that journeying brought us to Wednesday July 28th!