Jimspeak

Who knew this would actually be a week of work! And long days at that. We've been leaving the apartment around 7 or 8 and not getting back until between 9 and 11pm.

Suffice it to say, I'm exhausted and you'll have to wait for a real update (lots to tell, don't you worry). The days have been long and I've seen very little of the city, but the conference has been amazing and the people are incredible. Really incredible.

Brain just died, it's getting close to midnight and I am tired.

soon

Not only did I sleep for 11 hours, but I only woke up twice: once in the middle of the night at which time I had to remember where I was and where the bathroom was (found it, but not the light switch) and then this morning. Sleeping so soundly is pretty unheard of for me so I guess I was tired.

Right now I am drinking my second cup of coffee while looking out into the sunny backyard and ignoring the raucous cries of the rooster next door. Steph's cousin lives in a beautiful house in a great looking little country town (or so it appeared to my slepp deprived eyes last night). After breakfast we are going out on bicycles to explore a bit.

And, there is a plan! I think we'll grab a train in Budapest tonight that will get us into Sofia, Romania by tomorrow afternoon. Then a bus will whisk us to Istanbul in time for an evening with our host, and some prep time for the conference which begins Monday morning.

Time to eat.

I tried to post last night, the night before, whatever it was, but apparently it didn't work. I'll have to redo that one later. Right now I am way too exhausted to type much. I am in Mons, Belgium. Arrived around 3:30pm this afternoon. Spent almost 24 full hours traveling. Three hour drive to Seattle, 9 hour plane ride (it's a bad sign when you back hurts before the place takes off), 5 hour layover, a 35 minute flight and then an hour train ride. And here, I found Steph who was kind enough to wait at the station for me. What a doll! So phase 1, complete.

Quick recaps: don't look for ways to get from Portland to Seattle at 5:45pm when you need it early the next morning. Chaos and extreme stress is sure to result. Thank you thank you Liz for bailing me out.

As I was walking towards the baggage claim in Brussles, I realized that I had no idea what my backpack looked like-it's a month old and spent that month in the closet. Not to worry, I found it.

Was greeted in the Brussles airport with "Take My Breath Away". Top Gun will never die.

Have slept maybe 2 hours since waking up....whenever it was that I woke up. Wednesday morning? This waking was on the heels of sleeping 2 hours. Suffice it to say, I'm a hurting unit right now.

Ate better on the flight (Northwest) than I have at home in weeks. Three meals in 9 hours? And decent food? Not to mention free booze (which sadly did nothing to persuade my stubborn body to sleep) and my choice of movies and music on my own video screen. Rad.

It's been to long since I really traveled. Not having 1.000.000 million things to do is going to take some getting used to, but I'll get there.

Tomorrow night we fly to Budapest where we might meet up with a buddy's brother. Next day, it's looking like a train to Sofia and then a bus to Istanbul. We think. Who knows what will actually happen.

I just fell out of my chair and slobbered a bit on the rug. In the interests of not being a worse guest (Fortunately, I warned my hosts that I can not be held accountable for anything coming out of my mouth tonight. Blather blather) I had better sign off and fall down onto the floor. Hopefully some luck gathers steam around me and I can fall asleep. I'm afraid to try as I think I might be awake for a while. Hooray for insomnia!