Home is where the heart is.......

By now , you are aware I am sure that I did in fact make it home ; did survive the misadventures in the Argentinian Super International Airport and am now telling the tale............. 

Morning dawns early for those that want to sleep and so it did for me as well...........several cups of café con leche later I am ready to head out to the gate and am praying that this flight is still on track for an on time departure. Scared , but knowing it is necessary, I look at the departure board and ... Whoo Hoo!!!! it is here, ready to depart on time and loading in 10 minutes. Can this be true?

Fast forward twenty minutes - no it wasn't true... we are still here and waiting and did I mention that my connection in Miami had 54 minutes between arrival and departure.....  What was that? loading the flight for Miami? alrighty..... here we go.  Settled in , I get ready to get caught up on movies and sleep , because Heaven knows I do not need bread, cookies, pastries or dulche de leche EVER again ....We go through the obligatory flight safety presentation and once we reach a cruising level that is stable, the movies will be available, right? What do you mean we have no selection and we have to wait until after breakfast? Are you kidding? Ok ... bring on the food...... frozen  containers of Greek yogurt, granola bars, bread, and of course - you guessed: dulche de leche!! Yea!!!! Is there fruit or juice? Mr. Flight attendant , sir..... I feel like some small British kid in a Dickens story: could I have a bit of fruit? No fruit, only what is on the trays...... this is going to be a long ride I can already tell.

Breakfast cleared and the movie time is on!! One movie choice....Thor and it is in Spanish. I fiddle with the option button an switch to channel 2 like the instructions said : If you would like to hear this video in English , switch to channel 2.....  umm.... Spanish. Well, maybe I hit the wrong button.... try again, Spanish........  This is not looking good: both audio channels are in Spanish. I call the Sr. Flight attendant over and ask in my best English/Spanish could they please turn on the English on channel 2 and he says: It is turned on , you have it on the wrong channel. Well , please , sir..... by all means .fix it!! But alas he cannot and says he will go change it. 45 minutes later I get the word that this movie isn't in English. Now, I am thinking: movie was made in the USA , how can it NOT be in English. I let it go and am promised that the second movie will be programmed for English. OK So must be nap time...... off to sleep I go and wake up a full 2 hours later, right in time for : you guessed it ! Lunch!!  More carbs...... sleep through lunch is probably the best plan and that is what I do.

Second movie starts : Noah ... good movie , looking forward to watching it again....... in Spanish? Umm what happened to programming?  I call the lovely folks back and am told that they have reported that the machine is broken.... so sorry................Argh. Mute the video and watch the action is best option here.... plan how to get through customs quickly enough to make my flight to Atlanta.....

5 hours later we are on the ground in Miami and I am pulling an OJ Simpson sprint to customs and then to the new gate for departure. Remember that I have only had carry on this whole time to avoid the issues with checked luggage ...... so I am thinking no sweat I am back in the states and we are good to go!!!...

At my gate with 5 minutes to spare and am feeling pretty good right about now!!! My zone is called and as I proceed to the door, I am stopped and told that the flight is very full and the overhead compartments are very small and I will need to check my bag through to Charlotte. But I really don't want to sir, really..... gah... fine....claim check in hand I start the last of my flights home..... the last two flights home. That really does sound nice and as much as I enjoyed the international group and the interactions and learned a ton....... there is no place like home....

Land in Atlanta, change gates..... last flight!! Delay? seriously? because?..... international flight that is our plane is late ? what a surprise........   luckily we are only on the ground 30 minutes more that we should be and my delay in getting home from Argentina doesn't extend any more that 10hrs late.... not too bad. Better than my companions that chose to leave on the 8:30pm flight....

Good flying and safe journeys, fellows..........

The plane leaves as the sun is setting over Atlanta.... I look down and say farewell to a beautiful and am ready to welcome an even more beautiful city into my view.... in 45 minutes .......Charlotte , NC

Welcome home. Steve is waiting in the cell phone lot because the construction is brutal and I have told him I will send a text when I get my bag....  20 minutes later he texts me to find out if I have my bag... still waiting..... Finally!!! and off I go..........

My Jeep! My state ( hot and humid , but mine ) and Steve..... all looking pretty good right about now....It is 10:30pm and to be very honest I should have been hungry and thirsty but I wanted to get home more than I cared about that.........

30 minutes away from my house, my shower, my bed........sleep   .............

I saw so many amazing things: the opera house in Buenos Aires with a children's choir performing, street performers; Evita's home and her tomb, La Boca with Tango dancers and crochet bombed trees, World cup fans on an epic scale, whales and friends and new global projects........ wealth and poverty.... more carbs and caramel than should ever be allowed; a local school that was amazing; more things than I can possibly remember at this moment. But that is the point of a blog........... the sharing, the excitement and the remembering . For those of you that follow me... I feel so grateful that you care to do so.. I hope this has been fun for you too...............  I will continue the journey in August to Kiwi land and over the year as I try to find funding to take some of my students to the iEARN International Summit in Brasil in the summer of 2015............   Adios , amigos Y amigas... 

It is amazing how quickly travel things that go wrong , become great blog stories

So .... where was I ..... The fact that the airport looked like a tomb should have been an pretty good indicator that there were no more flights leaving , but we were still all living in the glow that comes from being around and experiencing fabulous global educators that care about their students , their world and connecting us to them....so we ignored the warning signs. Finally , we dragged ourselves to find some gate attendants and were greeted with a rather rude , " What are you still doing here? You were  supposed to have been told that the flight was cancelled and relocated to a hotel."  Alas, we weren't and ow the games were to begin. Chris needed to get to Martha's Vineyard, Youssaf toNYC and I was headed to Charlotte. According to the woman in charge, the flights were leaving until the following evening. Now maybe if circumstances had been different, I might have opted for the , " stay in Buenos Aires in a hotel on the airline for one more day option" , but I was getting sick and really needed to get home.....

So began the job of finding the way home:
Options were as follows:
1. Wait until 8:30 on Monday evening - get home on Tuesday
2. Go through Uraguay then Cancun then Dallas then Miami then Atlanta then Charlotte ...... great miles but are you kidding me?
3. Flight through Miami to Atlanta to JFK to Charlotte

So the obvious question is why are you not offering me the Miami - Atlanta - Charlotte option? Well Ladies and Gentlemen, just in case you didn't know - Delta doesn't fly to Charlotte. So all of those flights that you and I have taken on Delta, well they just never happened ( according to Aerolineas Argentinas ). Picture the scenario: it is midnight ( we are supposed to be an hour into our flight ) , we haven't been told it was cancelled until the following evening, there appears to be now way to get home and I am getting sick ( courtesy of  my room mate). All in all , each of those pieces taken separately might not be so bad , but put them all together and I am a bit grumpy......

Chris and Youssaf opt for the hotel since they will take the Monday evening flight. I say to this lady - I know Delta flies through Charlotte , so here's what we book : Miami to Atlanta to Charlotte.... ok?   Ok she says and manages to get that taken care of. Now where to sleep...... I tell her that to go to a hotel for 2 hours sleep and risk missing the flight is dumb so how about putting me up in the Sky Team lounge.....

Holy Moley! It took an act of Congress, but mission accomplished, vouchers acquired for food and all three boarding passes in hand. Good thing because after I sit down to grab some coffee and food I take a look and I have a whole 54 minutes to deplane, go through customs and get to my new gate......doable? Well only time will tell.... now off for a few ZZZ's in the lounge before heading for the plane......  

So at what point were you going to tell us the flight was cancelled?

Over the past several days, it has been business as usual , you know in the sense that all conferences go about their business.... sessions lead to sessions and then you have a coffee break and then more sessions...

At last on Thursday, the time came for my presentation with Katherine on surviving the first year as a iEARNER. It was done in a panel style presentation with 7 other groups doing the same thing..... 6 minutes long and no more. When the slide changed, you better shift what you were talking about and get on with the program. Katherine did a fabulous job with the powerpoint and we received accolades about how the presentation captured the essence of what really happens during that learning period.

Once that was finished, then the evening and the cultural gala loomed. I had gotten some of the silliest head antenna things for our USA showing, that I could find. But... we still have no " act" to represent the USA and we are running out of practice time. And..... half  the people have no idea we are even trying to do anything... Be that as it may, we went to the gala and watched all the countries in their garb doing their " act" and we just resolved that our participation would be like most times when we didn't participate..... The Argentinian staff wouldn't let that go though and started playing the old USA standbye : YMCA ....

aw come on, you know it is ... don't even try to tell me differently..............I must say that it did go rather  well and the crowd in the ball room got into it very quickly!! so.... we were a success and the talk immediately started about what to do next year.... that made me chuckle because next year is a LONG time away and not likely to be remembered until right before the event again.

The singing, dancing , picture taking and trading commenced...... I must say that my favorite thing all night was giving one of the Iranian girls my absolutely fabulous red , sequined, star studded  hat...... she started to smile that smile that warms your heart and then got all excited and was laughing and wearing the hat ( which she wouldn't leave alone ) She wouldn't let the others take a picture with it on claiming it was hers.... which is true and she deserved it. They did a youth summit workshop ( the one I want to take some students to next year ) and their presentation was very well done. I finally got their principal ( she is titled the Manager ) to agree to let them come visit LHS.... and she shook a binding handshake....

Friday was really mellow......... some sessions, some closing remarks and a very long walk along the beach to sit and listen to the whales for one last time. They were so close and there was so  very many of them.......... we couldn't keep straight for trying to turn our heads every time one breeched............


Gala celebration was grand, and the dancing was fierce.... it seems that once tango music comes on , everyone becomes and experienced tango dancer. Actually there were some folks that were just amazingly graceful and a pure joy to watch. Since most people were leaving on the 5:30 shuttle bus, the party didn't last as long as it could have.... but it was fun while it lasted.

You know, you really don't get to see the worst parts of people usually while you are gathered for an event like this.... but it took a lot for me to keep my composure in my room this week. I am a very neat traveler and think that certain protocol is necessary especially when you are sharing a room........like don't stay up all night packing and keep others awake just because you don't see the point in going to bed ; or don't leave toothpaste all over the sink or not flush the toilet...... but I think I could have lived with all of the thoughtless things until I went and checked out this morning. It should have been simple,  expected it to be simple.... was it simple?  I mean what could possibly make it hard .... what really?  I took my keys to the front desk and waited patiently for my receipt....I wasn't given my receipt... nope it was two charges to the room I was give. I looked at them and asked what they would like me to do with them..... I was told I needed to pay them............ Say what? I think not !! I didn't charge anything...... what exactly were the charges for , please? Oh wait!!!! Umm that isn't me signature... it is my roommate's.....  I am not paying her bill , thank you very much. I did feel badly for the desk lady, I mean I know she was only doing her job, but it wasn't me....  My room mate left on the 5: 30 shuttle I said and I asked if my room mate had checked out,  why they hadn't allsgiven her the bill.............they said she hadn't checked out and they would give it to het when she came down to check out!! I told them again that she was gone and the bill was not mine.............


So now you are saying the day cannot get worse , right? I mean it just can't right? The 30 minute trip to the airport in Trelew was uneventful...... we arrived and got checked in ( with some minor sqirmishes about charges and weight overages)  and headed to get some coffee and watch the Argentina game. Now guys, believe me when I say that I like soccer.....but our flight  was delayed for 1 hour so that everyone could finish watching the game....Game over ! Argentina wins! Life can start again.   Flight relatively uneventful until about two hours before getting to Buenos Aires and then the weather was so horrible that we bounced around like in a jumpy thing....Landing was possibly to be diverted as the weather was just so so bad....but we made it and then the real adventure began. Finally found our way to the transfer bus and got the heck out of the wee tiny domestic airport and into the big daddy airport... you know, the one that is international, that can send people to other countries... so I am not really sure what happened this night...........

We went through security, again... first part A ok..... second part with the little people behind the glass and the pictures and finger prints, still ok..... third part : you know this one - the ex-ray , put your stuff up , clean your pockets out part..... So I took my jacket  off, put the slate in the tub, passport and bag on counter...... walk through the scanner and they wave me over ...... and where is it that you are going? New York USA I say.... second and third person ask me ...and where is it you are going? Sighing I say New York USA........ come here........is this your bag? Yes it is..... open it please..... ok................anything I can find for you, or move for you? Of course not........tear the bag apart in side for what? Beats the crap out of me..............I have no earthly idea because the little man seemed confused............. zipped it up and away we went.............  But, at this point they should have told us our flight was cancelled and gotten us to our hotel.............. it is now 8pm and we are roaming the halls of the airport searching for a place to put our weary butts down while they are deciding our gate............ should have been a sign...... the fact that soon there were no people in the airport should have been a sign..............and yet we were not in on the sign............

You expect me to do what when the USA World Cup game is on........

Day 2 of our conference and it has been like any other conference except that sometimes you find yourself in a conversation with someone who forgets that you speak English and a wee bit of French and you have to get the deer in the head lights or the constipation has struck look that is the universal sign for : What the heck is going on......

So let's see... I have learned so much that my head is most likely to explode and that would be rather unfortunate because should that happen, I will leak out all that valuable info and have to start all over again. I have learned that as bad as we think that Lincolnton High School has it , we could be ever so much worse and so I should be grateful for small favors. I am constantly amazed by the caliber of teacher that iEARN attracts and really hope aspire to be like them before I grow up.

So enough of that .... what have I done in the past two days?  Yesterday was really rather normal : sessions and the  Adobe Youth Voices Premier! What fabulous videos put together by students around the world... I am definitely kicking some AYV kids butts when I get back. We have to get going because I know that LHS AVY can produce equally as high quality as any I saw last night. Today we had sessions in the morning but before they started I managed to go for a walk on the beach and listen to the whales. They are just hanging out near shore playing and chilling. Wish that iPhone cameras could zoom  in far enough to get them looking anything other than a black streak in the picture. At any rate, I wandered for a bit and picked up shells and sea glass and took some cool sunrise pictures with a different technique..... not as good as with a camera not on a phone, but not too bad either.

As we finished the first session , we wandered out into the lobby and were over come with the odor of smoke and pretty soon saw billowing black clouds outside the windows...... I started to panic a wee bit, but my brain kept saying , hmm calm down.....that smells like burning tires not burning hotel. Sure enough , we were embroiled (excuse the pun) in a political protest and the protesters were right outside the hotel with a really large banner , tribal drums beating out a constant beat and a huge pile of burning tires. The sky was absolutely black and the smoke was just suffocating. You know that the smart thing would be to stay inside and away from these folks that were protesting the firing of a worker at the hotel and the overall poor working conditions. Now you know what I mean, avoid this right? But you see we had planned an excursion ( just a 2 mile hike up the beach and into town ) to go grab some lunch and soak up the atmosphere during the Argentina game. I mean , we are here , let's do this....... so this means out we go and down past the protesters we head. Successfully navigating through the smoke and yelling , we  head off and find an out of the way local place to eat. We figured the normal time for a game would match about how long we would eat. Do you  think that the Argentinians could do this quickly? Heck no! So we waited and watched and waited and watched and finally, sometime after three - game over .... we can leave! Now when I say leave, understand that this will not be a quick process. There is a parade of cars , all decked out with team colors, flags, people .. you name it ..being led through town by a police escort and honking their horns and playing music! People are hanging out of windows and all of the businesses are closed.... fire crackers are going off .... children are laughing and running around with flags draped over their bodies and old women and men are crying! I can only imagine  how excited we will all be to win our game this afternoon.

Leisurely walking on the beach to avoid the traffic, we are just hypnotized by the pod of whales that are so close we could swim to them ( I mean if the water wasn't 40 degrees). They are spyhopping and rolling and just having a grand time. It is such a calming feeling to hear them and the waves .

Back at the hotel , the others are waiting anxiously for us, afraid we will miss the opening seconds of the game. As we all gather and the game begins, we settled into our seats - you know what I mean ... sort of work your butt around until the spot is just right, right? Game on!!!!! Call for sessions to start!! Say what? you mean now? But you delayed for Argentina's game....come on............arggggh!

By halftime we are done and head down for what we think will be a victory celebration.............we are all there, even a few foreign supporters.....cheering and groaning and yelling and jumping and sighing and .........oh we are losing .......... oh we are losing by 2 ........................Yeah!!! WE SCORE!!!!!   tense comes now where close the  feeling in the room.......despair doesn't describe the final moments!! But pride covers all and we stand and cheer and clap for our team and speak only words of a positive nature. It was interesting to see how the other countries were trying to understand how we could cheer our team , even after they lost. But that is what it means to be a united country and to be American and proud of it! Way to go Team USA - well played .....