The last couple of weeks have been filled with milestones on the path to Montenegro. Purchasing tickets made the theoretical a reality – several thousand dollars (even if a fair bit of it will eventually be compensated) goes a long way to solidifying what is happening. Given Montenegro’s small size I scoured every possible flight permutation between airports near the DC region and near Montenegro. The one stipulation I had to follow was that the flights had to conform to US Government regulations, which require us to fly on either US flagged carriers or EU carriers that include a stop in an EU country. While I imagine those restrictions may be more constrictive to people flying to Asia, for me it just ruled out Turkish Airlines, which despite their low prices, their reputation had already taken care of. Future Fulbrighters: keep in mind that Iceland Air is not an EU carrier; I’ve heard at least one horror story about that mistake. We will be flying into Rome then making our way across Italy to Bari, where we will ferry across the Adriatic to Montenegro. I look forward to posting pictures of the first few days, Rome, and the Italian countryside!
Last week I also attended the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) training in DC. There were 32 ETAs in attendance; the countries represented included Ukraine, Azerbaijan, the former Yugoslav countries, Macedonia, Belarus, etc. – smaller countries without the in-house resources to conduct the training after we get overseas. We spent two and a half days learning teaching techniques and lesson planning, and I am pleased to say that it was some of the best training I have ever received. I had expected death by PowerPoint, and instead found myself solidly engaged for the entire time. The venue was sufficient and satisfactory, though reflecting the budgetary constraints that are an inescapable reality these days.
I really enjoyed meeting my fellow Fulbrighters – it was a real pleasure to be surrounded by other young (okay, all but one were younger than myself, and none of them had kids), energetic, well-traveled and intelligent people. I have never before done group work where everyone so consistently pulled their own weight. Wednesday night about half of the total group gathered in one of the rooms stayed up, shared libations, and talked. Travel stories, Fulbright stories, and personal-histories-in-brief made up the bulk of the conversations, though I did hear “declension” used in a sentence. Gregarious and charismatic nerds, all of us. By 12:15 we had all drifted off to bed; coming in from all over the country many were wrestling with jet-lag. Thursday night we walked about forty miles (or so it seemed) to a very enjoyable dinner in Adams Morgan. For next time: get someone to call around and make reservations at lunch time…trying to find seating for 18 with no notice, even on a Thursday evening, is asking a lot in DC. Rachel was able to come down on Thursday and join us for dinner, and she fit right in, had a great time, and made a lot of new friends.
I was a little apprehensive about how my military background was going to be received, and like similar concerns I had when I started school in 2009, it was unfounded. Though my fellows were by and large a left-leaning lot, there was clearly a separation between their political feelings and their opinion of me as a former Marine. I answered a lot of questions and was able to provide a few pieces of advice based on my wartime experience. All in all, it was a great three days. To my fellows, if you’re reading this, I’ll see you soon!
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