When I arrived back from Sweden, my mom wanted to know all about my trip. I told her to ask me yes or no questions, because I just was too tired to type anything out. She didn't want to do that. She wanted the "funny, witty, Sara Pyszka version."
My dad then came to visit up from Florida. Again, I told him to ask me yes or no questions. I was still exhausted. Flying across the pond and back? Exhausting. He was not having that, either. He wanted a Sara P story.
I guess I'm in the right career. Everyone wants and loves my stories.
So, here I am, five days later, typing everything out. Not only for my mom and dad, but for you as well.
Before the trip, I really didn't think it was going to happen. People were like "Are you just so excited? You are going to Sweden!" And in my head, I kept thinking, "Yeah, whatever." It wasn't that I thought I couldn't do it. I just didn't know how I was going to do it. I couldn't picture how everything was going to work out. It wasn't until I was in a taxi in Sweden, I was like "Oh my God! I did it! We did it! I am in Sweden!"
Tobii DynaVox asked me to come speak at a conference at a hotel. Naturally, I was thinking... Conference. Hotel. Business. Type. Stuff. Well, the hotel was not really a hotel. It was more of a camp, where they have retreats. (Of course, I appreciated that!) And the conference was not business ish, at all. After I told everyone what the DynaVox could do for me, we just played problem solving games and just really got to know each other.
That night, we all went out to dinner. Unfortunately, down a hill that was more for mountain bikes. Unfortunately, I did not have my power wheelchair. Props to my assistant for pushing me all around Sweden! It took four guys to get me down the hill, and five guys to get me back up. When we were coming back up, my DynaVox's screws fell out and my device almost fell off its mount. That's how bumpy it was! Luckily, I was with all engineers, so it was all good!
The next few days I spent touring Sweden and the Tobii DynaVox office. I tried eye tracking. For those of you who don't know, I work the DynaVox with a switch by my head. I am considered a fast scanner, but I still get extremely frustrated with how slow I am. Eye tracking is where you just look at the letter that you want and it types it. I have come so far but I still have trouble with keeping my head still and focusing my eyes.
I have hope for the future though.
After we figured out how to navigate all around Sweden, I thought we were in the clear for the trip home. Wrong. We had a connecting flight from Stockholm to Paris, and Paris to Pittsburgh. On the way to Sweden, we gate checked my wheelchair so that I could use it during our time in Paris. So, naturally I assumed we would do the same on the way back. Instead, we arrived in Paris and my wheelchair was nowhere to be found. I had to sit in one of the airport's wheelchairs while three non-English speaking men held me up. Two hours later, the airport was able to intercept my chair on its way to being loaded into the plane that would eventually take us to Pittsburgh. However, it was pouring in Paris so my wheelchair was soaked! A half hour later, a lot of blow drying, and a lot of craziness, I was finally back in my chair.
You would think that would be enough of a disaster, but no. Here I am in Pittsburgh, 5 days later, with no luggage.
And that is about it. I am going to be honest. This has been one hell of a year. Just absolutely insane, I can't even tell you. But, things are getting back to normal. I don't think anything else crazy will come up, so my new deadline for my rough draft of my second book is November 30th. That gives me about 90 days.
I know. I know. I suck with deadlines.
But it's coming!
My dad then came to visit up from Florida. Again, I told him to ask me yes or no questions. I was still exhausted. Flying across the pond and back? Exhausting. He was not having that, either. He wanted a Sara P story.
I guess I'm in the right career. Everyone wants and loves my stories.
So, here I am, five days later, typing everything out. Not only for my mom and dad, but for you as well.
Before the trip, I really didn't think it was going to happen. People were like "Are you just so excited? You are going to Sweden!" And in my head, I kept thinking, "Yeah, whatever." It wasn't that I thought I couldn't do it. I just didn't know how I was going to do it. I couldn't picture how everything was going to work out. It wasn't until I was in a taxi in Sweden, I was like "Oh my God! I did it! We did it! I am in Sweden!"
Tobii DynaVox asked me to come speak at a conference at a hotel. Naturally, I was thinking... Conference. Hotel. Business. Type. Stuff. Well, the hotel was not really a hotel. It was more of a camp, where they have retreats. (Of course, I appreciated that!) And the conference was not business ish, at all. After I told everyone what the DynaVox could do for me, we just played problem solving games and just really got to know each other.
That night, we all went out to dinner. Unfortunately, down a hill that was more for mountain bikes. Unfortunately, I did not have my power wheelchair. Props to my assistant for pushing me all around Sweden! It took four guys to get me down the hill, and five guys to get me back up. When we were coming back up, my DynaVox's screws fell out and my device almost fell off its mount. That's how bumpy it was! Luckily, I was with all engineers, so it was all good!
The next few days I spent touring Sweden and the Tobii DynaVox office. I tried eye tracking. For those of you who don't know, I work the DynaVox with a switch by my head. I am considered a fast scanner, but I still get extremely frustrated with how slow I am. Eye tracking is where you just look at the letter that you want and it types it. I have come so far but I still have trouble with keeping my head still and focusing my eyes.
I have hope for the future though.
After we figured out how to navigate all around Sweden, I thought we were in the clear for the trip home. Wrong. We had a connecting flight from Stockholm to Paris, and Paris to Pittsburgh. On the way to Sweden, we gate checked my wheelchair so that I could use it during our time in Paris. So, naturally I assumed we would do the same on the way back. Instead, we arrived in Paris and my wheelchair was nowhere to be found. I had to sit in one of the airport's wheelchairs while three non-English speaking men held me up. Two hours later, the airport was able to intercept my chair on its way to being loaded into the plane that would eventually take us to Pittsburgh. However, it was pouring in Paris so my wheelchair was soaked! A half hour later, a lot of blow drying, and a lot of craziness, I was finally back in my chair.
You would think that would be enough of a disaster, but no. Here I am in Pittsburgh, 5 days later, with no luggage.
And that is about it. I am going to be honest. This has been one hell of a year. Just absolutely insane, I can't even tell you. But, things are getting back to normal. I don't think anything else crazy will come up, so my new deadline for my rough draft of my second book is November 30th. That gives me about 90 days.
I know. I know. I suck with deadlines.
But it's coming!
