Superficial Joy

I have a rocky relationship with luggage.  My luggage has not arrived with me at least a dozen times over my lifetime, including 3 times last year alone (Dallas, Nepal, Abu Dhabi). My belongings were no different. At first I wasn't going to ship my stuff...school in Abu Dhabi ended the last week of June and I had to be in Israel August 1 to begin quarantine. I thought I would use my shipping allowance [read: defrayment] to check a bunch of extra suitcases and stay in the UAE during the month. As the lockdown restrictions and the heat increased, however, my longing for home also grew. I met a woman in Abu Dhabi also moving to my new school in Israel and decided to ship my stuff using the same company she had hired. We ended up combining our stuff with that of a 3rd woman moving to the same school from Dubai (who also happens to be from the same place in Dallas I'm from, but that's not really related here).   Off our stuff went to Dubai to wait for transport to Tel Aviv, pr...

Well, I made it. I'm going to post things all out of order, beginning with my new digs and going backwards to the packing. The last few days in Boise were so busy and I was so exhausted I had no time. Now it is 8 on Saturday morning and I am in the Starbucks which is super conveniently across the street from my new apartment building. Here's my building: I was collected at the airport by a few staff from school and along with about 6 other new teachers. They are from Iraq, Ireland, Australia, and the UK. As soon as I arrived we gathered then moved to the shuttle bus. I was happy to see everyone else had 3 suitcases and a carry-on as well! We are not all in the same building but scattered amongst about 5 different apartment structures; 4 of us in this one. Two school employees handed out keys, etc. and made sure we got to our quarters okay. Here it is! Let me just say, it is nice than these pictures make it look like. The living room. There is a balcony behind th...