We got back from AZ Sunday night and had dinner at Ted's parents' house. Monday was a whirlwind of packing and shopping. There are a lot of little things I miss here (Cream of Wheat - Thanks Q!, Cream of Mushroom soup, scalloped potatoes, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch) and with Eden coming I had an extra suit case. We traveled with 4 checked checked bags: Eden's clothes, my clothes, academic regalia for graduation, and food.

Tuesday was Eden's last day of school and so she had an awards ceremony. Ted had two important meetings so he needed the truck. Ted's mom so graciously (maybe also somewhat too trusting) loaned me her PT Cruiser. At the ceremony I got a chance to talk to Mrs. O'Leary, Caravel's so awesome science teacher. I think the best part of ceremony for Eden was that school was over for the year. 

 

Afterwords I raced back for a meeting with the Dean. It was productive. The issue that I have is that I would like to see SGSB act as a bridge for the Faculty of Economics, Sarajevo to achieve accreditation and then SGSB's programs would basically be absorbed into the local school. This would probably take 10 - 12 years. The vision that seems to be shaping up now is more for SGSB to be a stand alone operation that would serve as an investment (read "cash cow") for our subcontractor and UD would walk away in the next 2 - 3 years. In either case, I am being offered a position until the end of the USAID contract (June 2008). After that, I would not be involved. It is doubtful that our subcontractor would hire me so I would have to just hope that UD would find something for me. My read is: I have one year to find something else.

So next was the mad dash to the airport. We arrived at 7:40 p.m. for our 8:50 flight - don't gasp - international flights close one hour before flight time, so we were perfectly fine...except one GIGANTIC oversight on my part - the actual flight time was 8:20. The ticket agent handed me back our passports and perfunctorily announced, "This flight is closed". I immediately took full responsibility for the situation and asked if anything could be done. She shot me a look that clearly said, "Gimme a break, lady", but then she seemed to be staring at my right elbow. There was Eden, pouring on the waterworks, and the charm. She complimented the woman's nails and told her she was totally disappointed. Lo and behold, it turns out we could get on the flight no problem. WOW! I was just bursting with pride. My little protege has seen me beg my way on to 5 or 6 flights in her lifetime so obviously she had been taking notes. (Wonder if the ticket agent felt a little played when she handed Eden the boarding passes and Eden said, "Thanks. Let's move it!" and dashed off without a hint of her recently morose state).  Let me give a special nod to U.S. Airways for helping us out when I definitely didn't deserve it.

...then the fun was over. We sat on the plane for 2 hours while they attempted to locate a Martin Frick who had checked bags but was not on the flight. But eventually we were off to Munich. We sent a text message to Auntie Ingrid wishing her a Happy Birthday, but I don't think it went through.  Eden slept like a log...a log that was laying all over me.