Toto, we sure aren't in Kansas anymore.

Wow. That's all I have really been able to say since I have arrived here. Bangkok is beautiful, interesting and most of all, hot. Very hot. This really is a foreign land and thus far, few things are even remotely similar to what I am accustomed to at home. As I am more settled now, I finally have time to recap my first days in my new home.
First off, anyone that has told me that flying is fun and "not bad" was lying. I was just a stressful hot mess. My first flight was from DC to NY and saying goodbye was harder than I imagined. I didn't want to cry however, because knowing myself, it would start just a chain of depression, so I let my mother do that for me. My first flight went off without any problems, but JFK is where the chaos started. I arrived in terminal 8, and my connection was in terminal 4. So, I assumed, rather naively, that I could just walk down and terminal four wouldn't be that far. False. It was in a completely different area, where I had to take a train to get to. I had an hour until my second flight, so I was like great, I should be fine. I will just take the train and no problem! Wrong again. There were signs that had estimated walking times, which was really interesting, as I had never seen that before. When I saw that the estimated walking time to the train was 45 minutes I was freaking out! I didn't know how long the train would take or how long I had to go after the train, so I was just running around in total stress mode. Fortunately, with the help of a very pleasant woman who obviously was taking pity on my frantic self, I made it there with 20 minutes to spare, as the boarding time was a little different than my ticket showed. Then I really felt like I was beginning my journey. My flight was 13 hours and seeing as I've never been on a flight over 3 hours, I didn't know what to expect. Well, everything I expected, I experienced the opposite. Many people told me that I would just sleep the whole time and it would be really easy. I would have loved to sleep the entire trip, but there was no chance of that. Sleeping upright between two complete strangers with lights from others reading was not an easy feat. Since I only got about 3 hours of sleep before leaving, I was exhausted, but I just couldn't sleep. So I watched about 5 movies, listened to a few albums and watched some tv shows. I slept long enough to miss the battle between Harry Potter and Voldemort, and awoke to see the offspring of the characters going to school.  And then again during the help for about 30 minutes. So I don't know how long that was. But that was it. I met some really nice people on my flight and It was a great experience. Arriving in Bangkok it was just an insane trip. I was tired, sweaty, and completely overwhelmed. I didn't know where to go or what to do. I was to be picked up by a person from my hotel, and I didn't know what to expect. After waiting an hour in line for customs, I made it through in about 5 minutes, it was much more pleasant than I expected. I was so excited that my bags made it through the journey, and through a sea of people with little signs I see my name. I was probably more than embarrassingly excited in greeting the little man that picked me up.
The ride to the hotel was incredible. Seeing the temples and buildings and flowers and trees. It was just insane. I couldn't believe that I was actually in Thailand.
I was so tired and just nasty from the plane. I took a nice, particularly cold shower in the most interesting bathroom I've been it. There wasn't a real shower quality to it, it was just a bathroom and the shower was indicated by a partition with a little bit of a step down from the rest of the bathroom. The shower head was one of those detachable shower heads with the long cord on it and then there was a short spout where your feet are, so I was confused at what you really do with this. The hotel and its staff are really nice, and my room is quite nice, and I am really happy that I chose to stay here.
Today, Cody and I plan to go to a forensic museum and scout out some more of our new home. Tomorrow is our housing tour and I am interested to see what kinds of places they will show, and what will be my home for the next 5 months. Five months. It is still insane to think about that. More to come later, hopefully more adventuring after the housing tour!