From thence we marched forth

I think this was the year in which I travelled the most, and it's sort of a blur. Before it all escapes me, let me try to remember 2007. New Year's Eve 2006, I returned to the Tri-Cities Airport at about 9:30 PM. Most of the previous seven months, I'd spent in China. Joe was waiting for me at the airport.

With little "down time," I plunged into Spring semester. I kept noticing American accents, American flags, and our wonderful Western toilets. The US seemed like a foreign place for quite awhile.I hadn't seen my children at Thanksgiving or Christmas, so they gave me a late Christmas and birthday present by visiting Johnson City on the Dr. MLK weekend.On Spring break 2007, I returned to China with Drs. Chen, and Rhoton, and our Dean Dr. Hal Knight. We worked on arranging exchanges, and did some glorious sightseeing in Nanjing, Beijing, and Jinan. But again, there was little "down time."

Having been half way around the world, it was fitting that I visit my family. Joe and I cranked up the ancient Hyundai and headed North. We saw Emily in Cincinnati; Ben in D.C.; Mike in Philadelphia. Then we visited my brother Ken, my aunt Hilda, and my aunt Rita, all of whom live in New Jersey. It was wonderful seeing them, but it sounds exhausting, just writing about it. And I can't blame it on the university.

On our return, I worked feverishly on a possible summer partnership between ETSU and North China University of Technology in Beijing. For awhile, it didn't seem to be coming off, but things came suddenly together in July, and our visitors arrived. Our visitors were here for a month. The experience was glorious and exhausting. Especially challenging was the last week, during which we took our visitors on a tour of Philadelphia and D.C. At times, I was clearly out of my depth, but the staff who went with us were excellent, and Ben and Mike helped out a lot.

Fall semester, I tried my hand at online instruction and supervised student teachers, in addition to the work I usually do. One day a week, I drove out to Morristown TN, to teach in a cohort program at Walters State Community College. My tenure papers went in September 15. Just after completing them, I attended the Poznan linguistic meeting in Poland. In October, we were back in Cincinnati for our son-in-law's 30th birthday party. The following week, we headed for Tulsa Oklahoma to attend Joe's youth group reunion. We returned to Cincinnati again at Thanksgiving.

Rereading, this narrative sounds rather like the description of a forced march, almost like Xenophon's Anabasis, parts of which I read during college and detested. There has been little time to do writing of any kind. There have been meetings on international education and the task of heading a search committee. The year culminated with our glorious Christmas, spent with the internationals and our kids. On December 30, my birthday, I did very little. New Year's Eve, I spent with my friend Charlotte. Today, I was planning to work on a linguistic diversity grant. Instead, I've been reading an Inspector Lynley mystery. I suppose I really need "Down time." I like what I do, but I understand why people retire.

Scenes from the year: Street Festival in Poznan, Dinner theater, Cherokee church, My son-in-law's birthday party.