Epi-blog

Well, it's been over a month since we've been home. I already feel like I've lost touch with Dubrovnik, now having to drive a car to get to the grocery store and work, swimming in a plastic pool, cooking my own meals (with nary a fresh octupus in sight).

Cathy filled you in on our last few days in Dubrovnik. I'll bring you up to date with our departure from the country.

We left Saturday morning (July 12), early. The night before we said goodbye to our landlords, Cristo and Maria; they gave us each a bag of figs to take home, a remembrance of our wonderful trip.

The taxi arrived at the base of personal hell at 6:00 a.m. Mr. Vincent bid us farewell as we took the 30-minute ride to the airport. As we entered the room to board, we saw Gene, one of the students from the program. He would be on the same flights as us, as far as London/Heathrow. It was wonderful to have another friendly, familiar face on our journey.

Cathy and I were fortunate enough to have business class seating on our flights from Dubrovnik to Zagreb and Zagreb to London. Not that the plane was huge, but we had real china and glassware, cloth napkins; a delicious cherry juice, a cheese blintz, pepper cookies. When we asked Gene what he had back in coach seating, he replied, "an olive and a piece of bread" (that still cracks me up as I write it... I think he was kidding... at least I hope he was.)

Arriving in London, we had a brief wait to catch our overseas flight to Philly. The terminal we were in was like a small shopping mall... so many stores and shops... World of Whiskies, Caviar Center, Harrods! I went into Harrods, not to purchase anything, but just so I could say I had been in there :)

We said our goodbyes to Gene, as his flight to Chicago left after ours. We boarded the plane, not realizing how much we would feel like sardines. I swear, two of the largest men on the entire flight sat in front of and behind me. Thank goodness for my daily dose of glucosamine! The flight was relatively uneventful; there was a young couple nearby with two small children. The mother and baby boy sat in one row, the father and toddler daughter in the row behind. During the entire flight the kids were awake and passed back and forth between their parents to entertain them. As fate would have it, they both fell asleep minutes before we landed in Philadelphia. I complimented the mother on her patience; she looked exhausted.

As the co-pilot came on the PA system to annouce that cell phones, PDA's, etc. should be turned off, he concluded his announcement with a quiet "Marty, where are you?". Puzzled, people smiled and looked at each other but thought little of it. The co-pilot came back on a few minutes later with the same announcement. This time he ended it with, "... and the crew would like Captain Marty to come up to the cockpit to fly the plane." We burst out laughing.

About one and one-half hours before we landed we saw the infamous Captain Marty make his way through the plane, chatting with passengers, asking about their travel plans, making general conversation. He got to Cathy's and my seats and asked us where we had been, what we had been doing. We explained we were captionists, we had been in Dubrovnik for five weeks supporting a student who was hard-of-hearing. He was interested and polite, but we got that kind of confused "I don't get it, but I'll smile and nod and pretend I do" look that people give when they're not really sure what you do, as much as you try explaining it in layperson's terms.

We approached the east coast and Captain Marty came on the PA system to point out landmarks; Martha's Vineyard (what the heck were we doing way up there?), the Jersey Shore (home to Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi). We attempted to land in Philly, but there was a backup of planes, and so we flew around for an extra 15 minutes (I think that's when the little ones just started settling into sleep mode). With the exception of one poor girl who got sick during our second attempt at landing, it was relatively uneventful. As we were de-boarding (is that the right term?), Captain Marty congratulated the honeymooners, he wished a wonderful vacation to the little girl who was coming to the USA for the first time and he welcomed back to the States the "two educators who just spent five weeks in Croatia". Cathy and I looked at each other; ok, so we're not "educators" (then again, everyone is an educator and a disciple, right?), but we were tickled to be mentioned. Thanks, Captain Marty!

A short layover in Philly and we were on our way to Rochester, to the open arms of our family and to life as we left it in what seemed like ages ago.

Croatia was an amazing experience. Cathy and I both realize how blessed and lucky we were to have the opportunity to do what we love in a whole new environment. And we also realized how blessed we are to have families and co-workers and friends who kept us in their thoughts and prayers while we worked and played and traveled and climbed each and every one of those steps. Thank you for sharing our journey with us!

Mir... annette & Cathy