Me?! Blogging?!!!

I have really enjoyed the times we have gotten together so far and am soooo excited about the trip.  I am counting down by the number of shifts I have left to work at each job, 1 each.  I have been really off balance the whole last year and thought that once the spring semester was over I could breathe, apparently it was just a warm up.  I am looking very much forward to the actual plane ride where I can sit still and not run around hither and yon.  I still have much to accomplish before my daughter takes me to the airport and have only packed my toiletries for real, the rest is virtual, on lists and in my mind.

I am concerned about doing well at the conference and these classes even though most of the coursework is completed.  My social self is the part of me that is in major transition and this trip has a lot to do with that.  My topic of expertise is Culture and Language.  Although I have lived in other cultures, it never occurred to me to analyze it from that perspective. And yes Carol in this particular assignment, I find you quite intimidating.  This stuff is woven into the very fiber of your being, you are so accomplished and I could hardly ever imagine being able to "teach " you anything about communication.

Well back to the laundry so I have clean things to wear in Salzburg.  See you all Wednesday morning! 

Leaving my Son

I wonder would they notice if I packed my son in my luggage. I have never left my son, sure he has left me to go on over nights at his grandmothers, sleep overs at friends homes, but I have never left him. As the days come nearer I had been unconsciously convincing myself that maybe I don't deserve this experience, I'm nervous. I am scared out of my mind, I have only traveled east of the Mississippi, once to California, and there was that time my mother took me to Tijuana, but that doesn't count, everyone spoke English.

What if I don't say the right thing or I say too many wrong things. Do I say hi or is it okay for a woman to give a man a good firm hand shake. What do I wear?!? What will my son think? He is happy for his mommy, then again he doesn't realize that I'm leaving him or maybe he doesn't really mind and I'm being too critical of him.