I'm happy to report that my trip over to Sarajevo went very smoothly. All my bags arrived no problem and Elizabeta and Haris from the embassy met me at the airport. They took me to my hostel to drop of my bags and then over to the USAID building for the second half of the day of briefings. I slept a decent amount on the plane to Munich plus I was pretty excited so I stayed awake and alert to meet different officials at the embassy, hear what they do and how they see the relationship with Fulbrighters panning out. Everyone was extremely welcoming and enthused about our being here.
We also went over to see the local American Corners in Sarajevo. American Corners is a partnership that the U.S. government has through its embassies with local libraries all over the world to make spaces for English books and magazines to be available. They also hold activities and celebrations for American holidays and lectures in English for the public. It's a very interesting partnership and I hope to make use of it this year.
The briefings were for most of the Fulbrighters in the country which includes the other ETA who will be in Banja Luka, Caroline, several scholars, and English Language Fellows (and yes, they are referred to as ELFs.) It was nice to see everyone again who I had met in D.C. and meet the ELFs. After seeing the American Corner we went out for coffee and then slowly made our way to the restaurant to have dinner with the embassy staff.
(To the left is my first official Bosnian espresso coffee of the year.)
We ate at a restaurant called Panorama with (obviously) a fantastic view of the city. It was a great first night that left me feeling like there was so much to do and so little time! The embassy staff seemed really open to collaboration, ideas for programs, events, and partnerships. So, once I find an apartment and get settled into teaching, some mega-brainstorming sessions are in order.
Snippets to be talked about later: "This is not China" and "A Librarian's Thoughts on Cowboys".
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