"La La La La Take Me Home. Mother, I'm Coming Home"

  Piet's arm giraffe

                                                                  

                      Typical Piet, Nu Nu at his side.                  

And Catrin's adored poppies

Only four more full days in Deutschland.  Can you believe that?  My mind really can't grasp that I'm coming home and leaving Piet and searching for a job all at the same time.  My body has reacted by being really anxious and not letting me get proper sleep.  I just can't wait to do dumb things, like understand the television, pump gas in my own car, and go outside without a jacket.  Yep, it was 57 degrees today and windy.  Mostly, I can't wait to be at Maw Maw's house for Sunday lunch and back at home to talk endlessly with Mamma and Daddy and then stay up with Madi, Tad and Kelsey.  Can you tell ready to get back? : )

But, the last days have been quite nice. The race in Oldenburg went really well, despite the fact that, of course, it was the one and only hot day we've had, actually in the 80s, so everyone was running a bit slower than they expected. Due to Piet's adorable cheering, I managed to run the 6.4 K in 44 minutes, and got a nice t-shirt for doing it.  Also got to fill up on pizza at an Italian restaurant afterward, so it was a lovely day.

The week went smoothly then I made a trip to Hanover to see Julie one more time. On the train ride there, I met a really nice girl who happened to teach English so we had lovely conversation.  Julie met me at the station then we rode our bikes to watch a bit of the world cup.  Neither Germany nor America played so we just chatted the whole game.  The next morning we joined some of her water polo teammates and checked out the Hanover Zoo.  Now, I must interject a story that I forgot to post earlier.  I've now seen three zoos in Germany, those in Berlin and Hanover, but neither compare to an amazing one in the middle of nowhere near Edewecht.  Oh my gosh is it cool.  Or maybe it was just cool based on the circumstances. The place was small and appeared a little "used" but Piet, Catrin, and I went on a chilly Monday when all of four other families were there and it was awesome.  It was more of an animal park because there were really great rides as well, small roller coasters, blanket slides, tilt-a-whirls, flower cars on high rails that you have to pedal to make move.  The cool thing was that no one operated most the rides, you just jump in and do it yourself.  This totally shocked me when I had a go on the "Bob Karts."  If you're ever in a German Tierpark, ride this ride! OMG!  You sit down, don't even bother to buckle up, and push down on two handles on the side.  The cart starts quickly and you zoom in a chute like speed racer.  And really, you go fast.  Piet was even allowed to sit in my lap and wanted to go really fast.  I couldn't believe that Germans allowed a ride that fun; in America it would be a law suit waiting to happen.  Because the park was basically empty we rode it about a dozen times. Probably one of the more fun things I've done with Piet.  When my stomach needed a break from the carts and Piet wanted to drive tractors with his mom, I took the opportunity to see the animals.  I discovered that nothing in the world is weirder than walking around a zoo on a cloudy day alone.  The animals don't look at you, they glare.  I swear a puma wanted to have my head.  The animal exhibits are likewise risky.  There was a lemur area that you could walk in and stand just inches from the little guys.  They were hilarious; they found sunny spots and would sit upright, nodding off and then shaking their heads to wake up enough to check you out, only to nod off again.  After the animals had sufficiently creeped me out, I asked a guy to start a roller coaster for me and got to do it twice, alone. So yeah, amazing experience that I really wish I could share with my family and friends.

Alright, back to Hanover.  That evening Julie and I went out and found an Irish pub where we knew we could watch the U.S. and England play in the world cup.  We managed to encourage a particularly handsome group of German boys to sit with us and had a dandy of a time.  The game tied, which was annoying, but a fun experience none the less.  Our evening ended early because we had to get back to the house to put the kids in bed, but we got a good night's rest and the next morning  took a long bike ride to some castle gardens.  It was pretty and we spent the better part of the afternoon beside a giant fountain, just chatting away.  I'm so happy I've met Julie on this trip.  She's the only American I've clicked with, and it's been nice to just get each others inside jokes and understand stories from home. Hopefully I can make a trip to California for a rendezvous soon.

So, came back to Edewecht by train and shared a ticket with some folks I connected with on the internet.  It was fine, but the guy who organized everyone was a wackadoodle.  Harmless, but strange.  He made me speak in German "for practice" and then pulled out his travel size chess board and requested I play.  Needless to say,  he was victorious.  He gave me his business card regardless.  Oh man, I am a nerd magnet.

The last full week here has been pretty typical.  Piet has been a little clingy, but super fun lately.  I'm glad he's reacting like that instead of pushing me away here at the end.  I think he's going to handle me leaving better than I will, he'll have vacation soon after and then his birthday and then the new au pair, Maggie, will come at the end of July.  So, he'll probably be too busy to be sad, which makes me feel much better about going.  I do hope that he's had a good year and remembers at least some of it later.  We've made ten million videos, so at least he'll have those. It's been a crazy up and down experience, but I've learned so much from him....mostly patience : )  Oye, Tuesday at the train station is going to be hard.

But like I said, busy busy until my plane takes off Wednesday morning from Berlin.  We're going to the train restaurant again tomorrow (Piet is pumped) then I'm going to make one more trip to Bremen to say goodbye to my buddies there.  I'll go to a party with the vegetable place people on Sunday afternoon and then I'll say bye to a couple more people in Oldenburg Monday evening.  Tuesday I'll ride with my friend Arne to Berlin where we may meet Elisa and then off I go.  Wow.  It's a little daunting, but it's going to be a great few days.  And then home home home Wednesday night at 11:30.  Get ready Georgia, I'm coming back in full force and I'm going to need a hug from everybody I meet.  Pray that the dumb plane journey from Berlin to London to Chicago to Atlanta goes well and my poor mother can calm her nerves as she waits for me to get home. See you next week!!!

Amsterdam and Denmark

Sun and Stars

Halo readers who have managed to find my blog even after the long pause! I guess I've been slacking because I know I'll be able to talk to you all so soon, but that's not a good excuse, so here goes....

The first weeks in May were really just business as usual; made a weekend trip to Bremen with Elisa to see our friends and met up with in Daniele in Oldenburg a few times.  But! one super amazing thing happened, that thing being a visit from my lovely friend Lea Purvis! She arrived on May 17th and chilled in Europe until June 2nd, and my oh my was it wonderful to have her here. Not only was it cool to get to share a taste of this experience with someone from home, but we also got to travel a bit and see Amsterdam and Denmark.  We were afraid at first that we'd be stuck in Edewecht for some of her trip because Lea was yucky sick her second day here.  Piet and Jorn both had an ugly bout of a stomach virus the weeks before and so we worried it had caught Lea, but miraculously she was fine the next day. That day was Daniele's birthday, so we celebrated with him at an Italian restaurant and then stayed the night at his place so we could get to the train station super early the next morning to go to Amsterdam.  The train ride went smoothly and we soon found ourselves in the bustling main station, amidst hundreds of other Saturday travelers.  The first moments were pretty overwhelming because we weren't sure where to put our luggage or how to get to the big attractions in the city.  Apparently we looked pretty confused, because a local spotted us and asked if we needed some help.  He showed us where we could ask about day traveling cards, and while we stood in line, he checked a machine he thought might work too.  He came back with two paid cards and when we offered to pay him back, he refused to take the money but just asked us to do the same for travelers who come to our cities some day. Interactions like that just warm my heart. So, we used our lovely cards and found the bus station where we'd be leaving from that night to go to Denmark.  We found it easily and put our luggage in the lockers of doom (more on that later) and set about our lovely day.

To my surprise, Amsterdam has more canals than Venice, and the local folk take full advantage of them. There are plain boats, shmancy boats, house boats, party boats, and even a magical troubadour boat! We took a boat tour and got a pretty nice view of the city.  We thought about checking out the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, but after seeing the 14 euro admission price we decided to keep on walking.  We managed to find a few local art galleries including one which showcased animals who had been taxidermied (which isn't a word, but should be) and made to look totally adorable.  There were dancing pigs with cute hats, deer whose bodies were fused together and then decorated. It's all kinda disturbing and a waist of animals (and dinner opportunities), but interesting.  After the gallery looking and running into a guy who looked just like the actor who plays John Lock on "Lost," we were hungry and decided to gorge on tasty Argentinian food.  We shared a scrumptious steak alongside potatoes, olives, and mushrooms and oh boy was it good. Apparently the Netherlands isn't known for their own special food, but they do a good job of highlighting great food from other places.  After the dinner, we walked around for a bit longer and took pictures.  At this point I must make a vital note about walking around in Amsterdam: it's insanely dangerous. You don't have to worry about cars more than any other place, but you must constantly be on watch for bicyclists because there are millions of them, and by law, they have the right of way on the sidewalks or anywhere else they please to drive.  I like to drift along in my own world, so more than once Lea had to grab me before I was squashed by a two wheel contraption.  Really, it was intense. At the end of the day we found a nice place to watch the boats pass on the canal while we waited for our bus.  It was lovely to enjoy about an hour of best friends in a cool place time.

So, this is where the story takes a dreadfully inconvenient turn.  Lea and I made it to the station no problem, with about thirty minutes to spare before the bus left.  We went to the locker where we'd left our luggage and (dun dun dun) there was a note on it that said to call security.  (Hearts dropped).  We called, said we had a bus to catch soon and needed to figure out the problem quickly, and of course, twenty minutes and several phone calls later, two people strolled along to "help" us by using a special card to open the electronic lockers, but no luck.  We asked them if they could call somebody else, and they said yeah but it would be a while for him to get there (remember the legal pot smoking element of Amsterdam, no one is in a hurry. Ever.)  While I waited with the security folks, Lea was running to the bus to make sure we weren't left and tried to explain our situation to them.  They didn't care at all and were quite rude, saying that the bus couldn't wait for us.  So, we made a frantic choice to leave our luggage in the lockers and just give them all our information and hope they'd get it back to us.  Oh it was awful to do that.  Lea had a lot of nice books and art work in there because she planned to read and work while she was in Denmark.  We boarded the bus and began a 13 hour trip of misery.  Not only did we have to call and fuss with the station about our luggage and deal with the thought that we may never see that stuff again, but the bus was totally packed, babies and all, and the air conditioning made us too cold to sleep.  I ended up sitting beside a nice guy from Latvia who had nice stories, so some of the hours passed more quickly than others.  When we finally arrived in Denmark where Lea's friend Meg lives, we were worn out.  Luckily Meg works in a castle, so I got the pleasure of asking the question Kelsey once posed, "Where's the nearest castle?" and got an accurate response.  She works in the cafe there (it's a museum, sadly, no potential for me to meet a prince and finally become a princess there) but she offered us food and soon took us to her flat for tea and chocolate.  Those niceties mean so much after hard traveling.  She was insanely kind and rented an apartment for us near her place and gave us clothes and what not in lou of our belongings.  After we tidied ourselves, we joined Meg and her in laws for a tasty meal followed by a trip to the beach.  It was quite cold so we huddled up in blankets and brought a little chocolate and wine and chatted on a dock above the Baltic Sea.  Perfect moment.

The second day in Denmark was spent traveling to the other side of Denmark where we enjoyed the beach at the North Sea.  Again, it was cold and windy, but quite pretty.  We had a traditional Danish hot dog with pickles and weird crispy things and later ice cream. Yum.  Nothing huge happened during the day, but it was all quite nice. That night Lea and I chilled in our apartment and then Meg joined us she and Lea chatted about the olden days. Meg is German and came to Georgia about ten years ago as an exchange student.  She was visiting Lea last year when I was considering moving to Germany and her encouragement helped me make the decision.  The next day I got insanely luckily and got a free ride back to Germany with Meg's mother in law who just happens to live 10 K from my host family and was visiting at the time.  I just couldn't believe how well that worked out. 

Being back was a little sad for whatever reason.  The weather was still dreary that week and I had the feeling of being close to going home, but not quite there, and feeling all kinds of mixed emotions about leaving here.  Luckily after just a few days Lea was back to add some excitement and distract me from my negative tendencies.  Oh, and our luggage made it back to us, thank goodness.  The train station sent it all by another bus two days later so Lea and Meg picked it up after I left.  Poor Lea had to travel back to Denmark with all of it alone, but was a trooper and made it just fine.  Over the weekend Catrin had her 40 and a half birthday party so we helped her get it all ready.  It was a pretty big to-do, but it came off nicely.  Julie and her host family came from Hanover and the weather was beautiful, so we spent most of the afternoon lounging in the grass and eating from the bring-your-own-dish spread.  We did a lot of clean up work to pay for that food, but it was worth it.  We ended the day watching the terribly cheesy song contest Eurovision, and then slept soundly.

The next day Lea, Elisa, and I ventured into Bremen so Lea could see a little more before heading back.  Unfortunately it rained more that day than it has before or since, but we braved the weather and saw the sites and met up with our good old Bremen boys for a Bavarian dinner Martin's mom had made.  Some kind of delicious meatball and soup concoction. Mmm.  Always a pleasure to visit them. 

The last night Lea and I decided to stay in and watch "Where the Wild Things Are."  I know the movie didn't get good ratings, and it's definitely not the kid's story most expected, but it floored me.  I loved it.  I think it does a brilliant job of using gorgeous puppets to portray to complexities of human interaction and love and loneliness and fear.  Just really raw, and after this year and the range of emotions I've experienced, I can relate to little Max.  Anyway, this isn't a movie review blog, but check it out if you can.  I was happy that Lea shared it with me.

Lea left last Tuesday and as a goodbye meal, we stopped for a greasy Irish fry at the pub.  Sausage, potatoes, beef patty, and fries.  Good Lord, couldn't move after all that.  Reminded me that my German dinner of bread and cheese suits me better these days.  She set on her way and 57 hours and a detonated WWII bomb later, she made it home.  Yeah, bombs are still found pretty often and are usually easy for the bomb squads to deal with, but something when wrong and killed them : (  I think Lea was on a train near it, but not really affected.  Anyways, I appreciated that she endured a lot of rough traveling to see me and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

 The rest of the week has been sure and steady.  Still loving my Wednesday afternoons cleaning vegetables and dreading saying goodbye to the people out there in a couple weeks.  Said a temporary goodbye to Elisa last night who is going to spend her last month with another family near Cologne. I'll miss her, but it's really good that she'll be able to see a new place and travel even more during her last weeks.  Oh, and big news for her, I told her about the Savannah College of Art and Design because she wants to pursue theater and design, and she got in!  So, we've already established that she'll be spending Thanksgiving with the Dotsons and I don't have to say a forever goodbye to her.  Daniele is even considering a research position at Vanderbilt in Nashville, so it's possible that my two favorite people here will be in arm's reach next year.  I sure hope so, I love them both. We enjoyed lovely conversation last night followed by silly trips to the little lake in Edewecht and the huge lake in Bad Zwischenahn, both beautiful under a sky full of stars.  Marvelous.

I chose to stay in tonight so I can be good and ready to run a 6.4 K race in Oldenburg tomorrow.  Also attempted to write a cover letter for a possible job. I still have no idea what I'll be doing in the next year, and while I'm reaching out for opportunities here and there, I don't think I'll find the right thing until I'm situated at home.  Which is soon, scary soon.  Oye, saying goodbye to Piet, Catrin, and Jorn is going to be annoyingly painful.  When I see Piet again he'll be older and different and who knows how much of the year he'll remember.  Crazy!  As I should have expected, the weather in Germany has finally turned from dreary to amazing, and I'm about to leave.  I've spent hours and hours in the sun lately, lounging about and reading while Piet is in kindergarten and then playing various games with him during Piet and Katie time.  Yesterday we made clover and buttercup stew and served it to his stuffed animals. Given that Kelsey and I had a whole restaurant fashioned around the big five trunk tree in the back yard, I'm the queen of outdoor cuisine. The sunshine has released us from the confines of the house and the repetitive train routine we were stuck in, and Piet and are having a wonderful time. Sigh, the trouble with loving people.  But, knowing that there are so many smiley faces to see when I get home warms my heart.  Everybody who wants is invited to my house for 4th of July! (Hope that's okay, Mamma).  Alright, time for some sleep.  Wish me luck in the race. Miss you and see you soooon!