Initially, GST placed me in Athens. Opa! I imagined conjuring up the ancient philosophers in columned ruins and stretching out on white sand beaches. Guidebooks were procured and my energetic little Midwestern mother started saving for a trip to visit.
And then the e-mail came. Greek airline workers were on strike. My placement was being moved to Prague.
"Prague?!" mom's incredulous voice cracked on the phone. "It's just that... well... wasn't it part of the Eastern Bloc?"
Apparently she'd been envisioning white sand beaches, too.
But my experience in Prague was better than anything I could have ever imagined, ma came to visit with her best friend and were bananas about the place, and the parents weren't too fussed when BW and I moved here in August. Happy ending.
However... I still sort of really wanted to go to Greece.
And now, years later, I'm taking 16 students to a Model United Nations conference in (drumroll) GREECE! The MUN adviser - an English/History teacher and former state senator from Michigan (!) - was nice enough to ask me to be a chaperone. And BW is nice enough to hold down the fort with J-dog.
Sometimes it pays to be a teacher! (Besides the loving kids and learning part, you know.)