Monday, October 28, 2013

Day one at GDF- Fall 2013

Well, Day 1 at GDF is coming to a close.   Was a good day overall. :)

Got up this morning with Katie to spend some time with the kids before they all went to school, knowing that I wouldn't be home when they got home.   I was struggling when Alex and Meaghan left though, as both of them held me tight and Alex didn't want to let go, close to tears, and says with his head down- "I don't want you to leave."    Yeah, tore at the heart strings majorly there.

I then finished off filing the paperwork I had to be filed and by this point it was time to head to the airport.   Went over the last minute things with Mike on where I'd put things and we made the drive to the airport.   It was a gorgeous crisp fall day out and clear as far as the eye could see.   This still didnt keep the nervousness away that was building in my stomach like butterflies fluttering around.

We arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport and went and made our way to the check out desk.   Mike teased me as my suitcase was 53lbs and I retorted back that I expected it to be overweight, with packing for a full month and keeping it to one suitcase.   He was given a companion pass and we then made our way to the Security checkpoint.   The TSA agent asked the person in front of us if he had any metal knee or hip implants, as if so, he'd need to go through a different line.   Mike was taking care of talking to the agent and completely spaced the CI on my head.  

So as we stripped our stuff off- belts, shoes, emptied the laptop and CI bag into the trays, I bring this up and we go back and tell the agent about the CI.   He tells us to go ahead and they'll send someone over to scan me.   With the next agent that was working the scanner, since it would set off the metal detector said I'd either have to be patted down or I could do the x-ray machine thing.   I opt for the x-ray and have to step in and place my feet on the yellow foot prints and place my hands over my head as the machine goes in this full circle around me in one quick swoop.   We were quickly done and able to move on, as all the agents were very friendly and helpful through all of this.

Now that we were through security, we go and grab us a bite to eat for lunch and then make our way to the gate.   I check in with the ticket agent and confirm the gate assistance once landing in La Guardia.   It was nice to sit and talk with Mike for while before leaving too.    Before I knew it, it was time to board on the plane, which amazingly was really empty.  The flight was really good and without any issues, as well as arriving in NY about 15 minutes early.  

An agent at the gate helps me down to baggage claims and trainer, Barb, met me there.   Since there were so few people on the plane, the baggage came off at record speed and we had my suitcase in no time.   Trainer, Jody E., had met up with her person and we all made our way out to the GDF van, in which a third student was there and waiting for us.    Barb then takes the three of us and we head back to the GDF campus.  

The traffic was really good on the highway, without any hang ups/slow downs and we made pretty good time getting bac to the campus, whih is normally about an hour away.   I quickly found myself right at home, being right across the hall from the room I was in last April while here.   At the suggestion of a friend, when we made our way back to the room, I asked if I could push the bed against the wall instead of sticking out in to the middle of the floor, centered along the long wall of the room.   I am blessed in that I have one of the few rooms with a full bed, vs the twin bed.    So we moved things around and got the room situated.  Barb said she needed to get a couple of things done and would be back to do irentation with me.

I unpacked my suitcase and stuff and am settled in for the long haul.  Shortly, Barb came and got me to do some orientation about the building to make sure safety things had been covered and so forth.   We also bumped into Kevin, GDF's AMAZING Chef, and I made it a point to go ahead and ask for the half portions now, before my pants don't fit me like last time. :)

Kevin and I talked for a good while, catching up on the things of the summer and I headed back to my room.   I take a look at the clock, which says 1:00pm.   Not even thinking that we'd just unplugged the clock about an hour earlier, I'm thinking I have about 3-4 hrs that I can take a nap, so I lay down.    I'd just really gone into a deep sleep when I shot out of bed at the hard knocking on my door and it's Jody saying it's 5:30 and dinner time. :)

I am in such a hurry to get down to the dining room and not hold people up, that I promptly rushed out the door without my room key and the door locked. Oye!    Dinner however was amazing, with breaded baked chicken and steamed mixed veggies of green beans, broccoli, and some other stuff too with a bit of mashed potatoes too.   Here at dinner we got to meet most of the other members of class that we'd heard, but not seen before.  

Everyone downs their dinners and our first lecture is at 7pm in the lobby/leather lounge.    We all gather up and all the nitty gritty stuff of rules, policies, and tentative schedules are discussed with all of us.   They explain that through the day tomorrow, we'll be doing Juno walks- where a double ended handle is used and the trainers are the "dogs" and lead us.   We are to tell them where we are comfortable and such as they will make a final decision of which dog will be the final choice to match to each of us students.  

All of us there at GDF right now are also blessed with the presence of an apprentice that is training by participating within our class for an entire week- but blindfolded.   She is staying here on campus with us and the blindfold is to stay on until next Monday afternoon.  Barb made us promise though to be nice to her this week and no pranks/moving furniture around on her, as she is using a cane right now and will use a guide dog the later part of the week to get a feel for what blindness is like.

After the lecture, I came back to my room to settle in for the night and gave Mike a buzz, in which they were heading home from MD's gymnastics Halloween party.  Once they got home, Mike and the kids jumped onto the computer and signed in to Skype, and we got to chat for a few minutes and was able to do the back camera on the Ipad Mini to show them what my room looks like.

Thus it's time to sign off and say Good Night, as the 6am wake up call will definitely come early and we begin a new day tomorrow with Juno walks and time here about the building.

Kacie and *What will my name be???*