The Last of Many Sighs of Relief

My thesis has been bound and safely delivered to the IU Graduate School.  Right on my deadline.  I’d been going completely nuts hoping and praying that it would be done on time.  I think the first sigh of relief came when my defense date was set, because it meant that my adviser probably liked my work and thought it was ready to defend.  The next came when I passed my defense and exam.  And then when my modifications were approved.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t done in time for me to receive my signature page and do my printing and binding in the US, so I made a quick decision to have the Grad Secretary send the page to Jordan, so I could have the remaining printing and binding done there.  BAD DECISION! 

First, it took awhile for the signature page to arrive (the next sigh of relief came when it did arrive) because of the Eid holidays, and all the office supply stores and binderies were closed for awhile.  When I was finally able to visit the office supply stores, I found that none of them had the kind of paper I needed, even the University bookstores and the largest office supply store in Amman!  So I mailed the signature page BACK to the US, to a Kinko’s in Indianapolis, who then copied it, printed the rest of the material I emailed to them, and delivered the whole lot (for free) to National Library Bindery Company (a bindery I HIGHLY recommend; their service was excellent), who made sure the pages were all in order and delivered them to the Folk/Ethno department, and the Graduate Secretary delivered two of the copies to the Graduate School just on time!

Thanks to God, my family for supporting me through the long process, the musicians who allowed me to interview and survey them, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah also for letting me interview him, my department, Kinkos, the Bindery, the American and Jordanian mail services, and all of you for your comments and prayers!

Now, how does teaching English relate to my degree again?