Bosnia, barely.

So far I have easy access to wifi, which means easy blogging, face booking, and e-mailing, but no great way to upload pics from my camera, but bear with me. So far it's been quite the whirlwind, and of course not in any way you might expect. To begin our travels (we flew to Sarajevo from Pittsburgh via Boston and Munich), we sat down and assessed our connections, realizing that we only had 60 minutes in Boston to get from one terminal to another (obviously complete opposite sides of the airport). So, being the proactive person I am, I went up to the desk to find out what our plan B would be, in the case that we would miss our connection. Of course we only had one hour in Munich also, and since there are not exactly hourly flights in to Bosnia, a missed connection would mean arriving at least a day later. At least. So, as I am talking to the gate lady, she asks me to hold on, gets on the speaker, and announces that the first officer was coming in on another flight, which was late. So, our 60 minute connection dwindled away to 30 minutes. However, being that there were no other flight options, we decided to just get on the Boston flight and then assess the damage from there. In Europe it is so easy to get from one country to another, so we decided if we could just get somewhere in Europe that night, we could get a train or another flight to Bosnia the next day. So, we get off our Boston flight at 8:00 (our next flight is already boarding) and the gate agent is already calling our name, telling us we've missed our connection. I asked him if there was any chance at all of us running to make it and he's all like "um, uh, well..." .... Enough said - let's go! So we take off running, with backpacks banging, wheels squeaking, and flip flips slapping - oh, and I of course am laughing hysterically because we are 'those people' looking like absolute idiots running through the airport for a flight we're not likely to catch. 20 minutes later, after the longest sprint of my life, sweating and panting, we squeeze into the middle two seats between two German guys who are not happy (along with the entire crew of Lufthansa) that we have delayed their departure by 30 seconds. All was well for the first three hours of our flight, until I woke up from napping light headed and passed out in my sleep. My last memory is of the infamous announcement "we have a medical emergency - any medical personnel on the plane please ring your call button". How embarrassing. But, Matt the medic was very helpful and brought me back to life. I spent the rest of the flight sitting in the galley in one of those flight attendant chairs, which are not, by the way, particularly comfortable. Miraculously, we arrived in Sarajevo in one piece and on time, sans luggage. I know I'm not the world's fastest runner, but unless that luggage moves faster than I can sprint, it never stood a chance. We spent the day yesterday fighting sleep and wandering around Sarajevo. It's really a beautiful city. Geographically, it's located in a valley between mountains, but the city itself is quite flat. It's really narrow, with one main street and river running through it. Now, I'm not an architecture guru here, but even I can see the striking difference between different parts of the city. There are the oldest buildings, from the Turkish-Ottoman empire, and then Austro-Hungarian styled buildings, all in stark contrast to the Communist-style housing. All of them are missing chunks out of the sides. As you move through the streets the stores change from little bazaars selling trinkets and tin, to L'Occitane and high-end clothing stores. Mosques and churches are mixed in between, as are hundreds of little outdoor cafes. In fact, many restaurants didn't even seem to have an inside at all - just hundreds of chairs organized outside and labeled with chair covers. We meandered through the shops, got some coffee, and made sure not to sit too long so we wouldn't fall asleep. There is such a contrast between people here - walking down the street you'll see a girl in a mini-skirt and heels, followed by a woman in full body and face cover. I did, however, have to stay outside the mosque on account of my bare shoulders. Slutty tanktop. The churches, mosques, and temples are everywhere. You can be standing outside a Jewish temple and hear the Muslim call to prayer from across the street. We returned to our hotel room, I washed my feet in the designated foot basin, then went back out for dinner. So far the food here has been quite good - not so different really, but it's always fun to find out what you ordered since the menus are in Bosnian only. The biggest challenge so far will be avoided an asthma attack as people here smoke EVERYWHERE. Supposedly, there is a law prohibiting smoking indoors in Bosnia, but since there are ashtrays as soon as you get off the plane at the airport, I am thinking this isn't widely enforced. After depriving ourselves of sleep all day, we slept well, had breakfast at the hotel, and then met to split up all our therapy materials for the three different cities we will visit. SO MUCH STUFF! We have 10 FULL suitcases of materials for the therapists and kids here - its so awesome! Right now, we are sitting and sipping espresso as I blog and send happy thoughts to the airport in hopes that my bags are there. We will catch a 4:30 bus for the hour ride to Zenica, where we will start home-visits tomorrow. Next time I'll try to blog from a computer so I can upload some pics. Love to all!