I suddenly realized that I left you all on Friday without having paid for my glass of wine. Sorry for that. Owe you one.
I went upstairs in to make my suitcase to find out that the lock was stuck and it wouldn't close. Fortunately there were two locks on the side, which held it all somewhat together and the check-in lady gave me some tape to reinforce it. The airport was crowded at 6 am already , with long slow queues everywhere. I said goodbye to Paola who continued in the taxi to another terminal and Daf who was headed to Atlanta. It took me quite some time to go past the whole security business. The plane took off at 8 am and after an hour of heavy turbulence and shakes we safely landed aT JFK at 3:30 pm, where I waited until 9 pm to get my connecting flight to Sao Paulo (used the business lounge again).
The flight home was uneventful but for a Korean guy who did not understand my request for moving to two empty seats so that I could have three in the middle and stretch down. He insisted on staying next to his wife who sat on the aisle next to him :-(
As we neared Brasilia, we noticed the plane was flying in circles and the pilot informed us we were going to Rio instead as the airport in Sao Paulo was closed and he needed more fuel. We waited in Rio for 2:30 hours for permission to take off to Sao Paulo until 10:30 am (we should have landed there at 8 am). We finally landed aT 11:30 (my son had almost given up on me) and as there were lots of planes arriving at the same time, I only managed to drive home at 2 pm., where I just had a shower and went straight to bed to wake up now at 8 pm with the telephone ringing. Tomorrow - 8 hours of classes at school!
However, in spite of all these delays, I do not regret a single moment of having participated at this conference. It was awesome meeting and being with all of you. We should plan to do this more often (without the conference bit...hehehe). Who knows we can get another WiA jamboree for the Braz-Tesol conference in Fortaleza next year?
My photos are on Flickr if you care to see
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bee/
and I would appreciate if you all could send me the address to yours. Or just tag them all with wia2007tesol and they will pop up in Technorati.
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7 comments:
Dear Bee,
Thanks a ton for your wonderful pictures and link to them. I have been enjoying looking again and again at them. I left a couple of comments there, but observing them don't have time to write much.
Stay in touch,
Nina Lyulkun (from Ukraine)
Dearest Bee,
I'm so sorry your return trip was so complicated, but so glad I got to spend a whole week with you--what fun we had! Braz-TESOL sounds like a great idea!
Lots of love and loads of hugs, Jane
Bee, it was so nice to meet you. Your name was everywhere in the B4B group--your warmth lived up to your reputation. Thanks for the lovely memories.
Veronica
Dear Bee,
Your pictures are wonderful! (I love your flowers!) How did you find so much blue sky in Seattle last week--or were those sunny pictures taken elsewhere?
It was our pleasure to chip in for your wine. Consider it a toast to our friendship!
I have worn the beautiful silver leaf ever since Friday. I love it! It's unique and will always remind me of you and the wonderful webhead offline convergence in Seattle!
Dear Bee,
It was great to meet you! Sorry about the long flight- I complain about just going back to Illinois, but so many of you have a much longer trip!
Loved your photos...mind if I crop & use the one of Dennis' flowers?
Dear Bee,
What an ordeal your flight home was! I hope you're beginning to return to normal now. The fact that you managed eight hours of classes so soon after you returned to São Paulo is amazing!
Thanks for the link to the photos. I've viewed the entire slide show twice! Like Nina Liakos, I epecially enjoyed the photos of flowers, particularly the spring ones. I can still remember the jonquils and tulips and hyacinths I saw blooming in Seattle in 2001.
Very best wishes--
Dennis in Phoenix
Hi Bee,
What a great assortment of photos, Bee, you've captured both the business and the pleasure of our TESOL experience.
Unfortunately, I can't comment directly on your flickr link, but in answer to Sus (I think) who asked about the quilts: it was me, Leanne, who designed and made the quilts for Dafne and Teresa in appreciation for their help and support to me in both BaW 2005 and in 2006 when I co-moderated the BaW. I could go on about them, but....
Pictures do speak a thousand words.
Hugs to you,
Leanne
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