Day 5: Shoppin' and Preppin'
It was completely dark outside when my watch went off at 7:30 am. Rain. Scheißwetter!

Before Marita went to work, she had breakfast with Peter and I. After morning rituals, Peter and I picked up Julia and Opa and went to Kaufland, a new supermarket in the area. Peter warned us that it would be busy and it was. Most supermarkets (and other stores!) would effectively be closed from noon on New Year's Eve until December 27. (The first and second days of Christmas, December 25 and 26 are national holidays.)

Along with buying the normal things to make egg nog, this year, I also got stuff to make potato skins for the second day of Christmas, which where will be spending at Oma's house.

The cute younger brother (i.e. D750i) took this pic:



I just pretended all prices (in Euro) were in USD. That made spending 75 Euro at the store a lot easier, although included in the price were not only the stuff for the potato skins, but also presents for Birgitt, Oma and Opa. Oh, and I got a 25 pack of Kummerling "bitter" shots. Hard to say whether the boyz back in Cincinnati will like the stuff. We'll see.

The rest of the day was spent unloading groceries, preparing for tomorrow, making sauces (on Peter's part) and wrapping presents (on my part.) We skipped lunch, but did have a nice tea, with Christmas Stollen at 3:00 pm.

RELAXING

Marita came home from work and last minute shopping at around 5:00 pm and made a special kind of sausage, along with fresh sauerkraut and potatoes from a mix. Deliciouso. These are probably my favorite kind of sausage (of the three we had had on the past three consecutive nights.)



We had initially planned to play Tripoley (the Christmas gift to the family) at Julia and Sören's house, but Peter, Marita and I were all a bit tired and we would be spending a lot of time with everyone over the next three days. We decided to stay in watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on ZDR.

I was tired and bid myself goodnight at around the middle of the film.

Sleep came swiftly and in my mind, I thought I would be able to sleep the entire night.

Then my new cell phone, which lay on the shelf beside me went off. Hmm. Unknown caller.

I picked it up and it was Marcin, from Kraków. He hadn't realized that I was already in Europe. We exchanged pleasantries and he agreed to buy two 35 zl tickets for Chase and I for New Year's at Klub 7. I'm looking forward to seeing him on the 30th.

I couldn't fall asleep...
- posted by Matt @ 4:14 AM 1 comments

 
Day 4: Osnabrück & Brain Sausage
I hadn't slept well. For all my bragging about not generally having jet lag, I screwed myself up with sleeping 12 hours the night before. I woke up at 12:30 am Again, I was up thinking about different things: German vocabulary, job, just about anything. To relax, I watched a couple episodes of Arrested Development. Even so, I could not fall asleep until 2:30 am or so.

I guess the important thing is that I have been awake and lively during the day.

The alarm went off at 5:25 and I was at the breakfast table at 5:45 and we picked up Julia at 6:10 to take the 6:36 train to Osnabrück. If you get the impression that I'm driven by times, understand that Germans are extremely punctual. It's in their genes. With a bit of effort, I can bring out that aspect of my blood's heritage.

I walked by a Nord See, a national chain that sells fresh fish (to go) on one side of the entrance and little fish snacks on the other. I thought of Mark. He loved the place and woofed down the fish sandwiches with a tall beer every opportunity he could get.

SIDEBAR: MARK

Speaking of Mark, Julia casually told me that he and his new boyfriend had visited two or three months ago. My first reaction was, "Oh God, now he's trying to steal my German host family from me. Or ruin relations like he had with my mother, for example. Julia made her allegiance very evident and assured me that I was their friend first and foremost. It's natural he was going to come back to Germany as he loves the place. I should be happy that he has the means to travel, as he was supposedly so financially destitute after the break up.

Anyway, moving on to pleasant times. Unlike other cafés, the NordSee one was not very crowded, which was perfect to get a coffee and a "Seelachs Filet Baguette" and to pull out my laptop and blog a bit.

THE HUNT FOR INTERNET



For some reason unbeknownst to me, there are very, very few Internet cafés or wi-fi spots in Germany. Is it because people do not have laptops? No interest in the Internet? I think back to some other recent cities that I've visited-Riga--Kraków-Prague-they all had a large number of places to get hooked up.

I bought lunch for Julia at a sit down Arabian restaurant. Actually, it was a low sit down place (with low couches.) Again, it was nice to talk with Julia, this time without interruptions from Mats.

CELL PHONES

She went back to work and I thought about my cell phone situation. My Sony Ericsson T610 phone had been one of my favorites of any I had had. It sync'ed perfectly with my Powerbook laptop, was easy to navigate and allowed me to read my email in a very nice way. It was small and reliable.

But, in recent months, after two years of faithful service, it had begun to drop calls. I had considered a replacement, possibly one of the new Motorola RAZR. But everyone has one of those, and the predictive text and interface on a Motorola are not as good as on Sony Ericsson models.

Earlier in the day I had bought a plug for the beloved T610 phone. Just for fun, I had gone into a couple of "Handy" (i.e. cell phone) stores to price certain models. The "Phone House" had some beautiful new models. The Sony Ericsson model, D750i really caught my eye. Sexy, a much improved T610. Kind of like if you found out a person you were really interested in had a cuter, smarter and more sophisticated younger brother.



The guy at the store had several customers but made some time to show me the phone. He put his SIM card into it and showed me how it worked. He complimented me on my German, with a smile, turning on the charm.

Now, I didn't have a list of approved iSync (i.e. Apple OS X) devices, so I asked him if I could try it out with my Powerbook. I pulled it out and launched iSync. After a couple of tries, he was able to configure the phone and 30 seconds later all my contact and appointment information was on the phone.

"OK. Ich nehme es." I told him l'd take it. I left the store with it and it killed me that I had to wait until after it was charged to use it.

The price also killed me. Despite the fact that I had kind of planned on spending an huge amount on a cell phone, I hadn't put it in my budget. Well, this is something I'll use multiple times per day and I'll really enjoy it. And I'm really not planning on buying any clothes or trinkets this time.

As a side note, later that night, Peter, always the practical one, reminded me that I could likely recover the built in tax that I paid. I may get up to $50 back, which would be cool (and make it seem less like an impulse purchase.)

WAITING ON JULIA



After a quick 3 Euro beer, I took a few pictures and at 4:30, I waited for Julia back at IMAG, the company where she was spending the day.

Although Germans are extremely punctual, Julia is not always. I waited a half hour outside the door, in the cold. That didn't bother me as much as the fact that there was a automatic teller machine next to the door and as people approached the machine, several people looked back, thinking "Who the hell is that? Why is he waiting there? Is he going to rape and pillage my friend? Can I watch?"

Julia and Alexander were interviewing a potential worker and it ran late, so she we rushed across town, passing the Christmas market, to catch the 5:09 train:



Deutsche Bahn was a bit casual and were 5 minutes later returning to Peine. (Have I mentioned that Germans are punctual?)

I liked the sign:



RETURN AND DINNER

Sören picked us up and brought me back to the parent's house. Soon, Marita had a steaming plate of sausages and Grünkohl, some kind of greens, with nice potatoes.

I ate a few bites before asking what kind of sausage it was. They explained that it was Brägenwurst, a traditional food to eat with the Grünkohl, made from Hog's Brain. I looked at the plate and kind of smiled a bit. Kevin would so be freaking out if he were in this situation.

It was quite nice. A bit on that fatty side, but delicious. I kept on eating as they explained that not much Hog's Brain was wrapped in the sausage, in fact, it was possible that there was none in there. It was just a name.

I smiled as I smeared the last bite into some mustard and shoved the tasty morsel into my mouth.
- posted by Matt @ 4:13 AM 1 comments

 
Day 3: LATE START AND WEIHNACHTSMARKT
At 4:00 am, my internal alarm went off and I couldn't fall asleep. I was thinking about different things. Foreign words in French and German were flying around my head. I finally got up and blogged a bit. Against my better judgment, I did not listen to music, so I lay in bed for another hour before falling into a deep sleep.

I slept past the school children playing outside.

I woke up and I asked myself how many hours I had slept. 3 hours? So, it must have been 8:00 am or so...

(Buzz) Wrong answer!

It was 12:34 in the afternoon! (Or 6:34 am in Cincinnati.)

The watch can't be right! I checked another clock. It was.

I gave Julia a quick call to tell her that I was back in the land of the living. I was a bit embarrassed to sleep so late, as I was hoping to spend a bit of time with her.

"It doesn't matter," Julia said lightly. Indeed, I had realized that I am on vacation and I am really not on any time schedules. (Well, I'm in Germany, so I have to be punctual for certain things, but meeting with her was one thing that did not have an expected time associated with it.)

So, I got a quick breakfast and drank some coffee.

Although it was the first meal of the morning, it WAS, however, after 1:00, so I felt it appropriate to have a Härke Bier. Härke is a local privately owned beer company, which has been one of my favorites since the first time I tried it, at the early age of 15. I took it upstairs to accompany me in my "morning" bath.

Upon returning to my room, I realized I had brought the wrong plastic adapter for electronic stuff, such as my cell phone and battery charger. My phone promptly died. So long for me bragging about having a cell phone in Europe.

Obviously, I did not forget the special plug for my Powerbook. If I had, I would have either hopped on a train to find the nearest Apple store or even considered shortening my trip and flying back home.

@ JULIA'S

I walked over to Julia's house, which is a "short" 15 minute walk. (Most Americans would be bitter at the thought of such a rigorous use of one's legs.)

Although it was daytime, I made a point to avoid Rape Alley, more due to the fact that I knew the main route better and didn't want to get lost.

Ilsede is so quiet and pleasant:



I met Julia and Mats upstairs where we read books, played puzzles and practiced how to jump like a frog. But then Mats got jealous and wanted to play, too.

Between activities, Julia and I had the time to do some serious adult talking, which was really nice.

PEINE'S WEIHNACHTSMARKT

Marita picked us up and we went to Peine for the Weihnachtsmarkt, the Christmas market in the largest nearby town of Peine. The streets were very full.

Before going to the market, we did some light shopping. Julia and I had both had the same idea for Mats for Christmas. I got some Duplo Lego blocks with the Bob the builder theme. I bought a couple of other small items. At C&A Kids, Julia asked me to watch Mats for a minute. I put down my stuff beside some seats. I realized shortly later that I had left the smaller my packages in the store. Luckily, the cashier had the package. I feel so dumb when I lose things! Vergeßlich!



The Christmas market had some of the normal vendors, which sold everything from roasted nuts to beer to cookies, to Bratwurst. We found a standing table near a vendor that sold 30 or so different mildly alcoholic drinks. With a bit of imagination, you could almost get a buzz off the 1/32 of an ounce of alcohol laden in each drink.

I got the first round and was soon drinking a Glühwein. We sat and people watched while Mats, much to his delight, went on the carousel once and on the nearby mini train several times.



Although it was cold, it was gemütlich, or pleasant in a friendly way.

Julia got the next round of warm drinks. I wanted to try something different. She was joking to me about the Warmer Bruder drink which means something like "nelly brother" (note the mild gay reference.) OK. I took the bait and had to try one (although more funny would have been me ordering it with a "straight" face.)



AFTER HOURS

Marita, Peter and I came home and ate Abendsbrot, which consisted of bread with cheese and basic lunchmeat. I indulged in a couple of Härke beers. We talked about Poland and watched a bit of Fußball before going to bed by 11:00.
- posted by Matt @ 4:13 AM 0 comments

 
Day 2: Paris, Froggy Airplane Issues and Arrival in Germany
You know, the 13 years of French that I took from 8th grade until my 7th year of college paid off. I excelled in the dialog with the chicks on the plane and breezed through any conversations with people in the airport. It was worth all the time and money I spent.
In all seriousness, France feels very natural to me. I need to spend more time than an occasional flight layover.

In the bus to the small Air France plane, there was an interesting mixture of French, German and American travelers. You could tell the difference at a glance, the Germans looked a bit strict, whereas the French looked a bit more laid back. The Americans talked loudly and asked absurd questions.

We boarded the plane and sat and sat and sat. Between mini-naps, the main stewardess chick explained that the electronics were broken on the plane.

Big deal, I thought, let's go anyway.

The stewardess butchered the German language, which is typical of Air France Stewardesses. (On flights to Poland, they don't even bother to have people that speak Polish.)

Earlier, in the airport, I bought a nice French Macintosh magazine which I read while they were deciding whether they could fix the electrical issue on the plane. We waited on the tarmac for over an hour.

Apparently, It really sucks to have an iPod in France. For unknown reasons, the French government imposes a tax on computer memory. So an iPod nano that costs 185 Euro in Germany costs ___ in France. Oh, and the French government is concerned that you might have the device too loud and "hurt your lattle Froggay ears," so they made Apple change the firmware to only allow you to turn the volume to a certain level.

I learned some new French words, like: "Internaute" and "Bloggeur"

ARRIVAL IN HANNOVER

I was a bit tired when I arrived in Hannover. I was convinced that I had left my cigarettes and other things on the plane. I asked a airline rep. She smiled thinking "You are a dumbass. Ordnung muß sein."

Peter greeted me as I left the baggage claim and zoomed us back to Ilsede. At "home," Peter and I relaxed and caught up on the year, talking everything from Politics to economics

DINNER

When Marita came home, ee walked to Julia and S¨ören's house.

It was very quiet and Dark. Even Marita commented on how dark it was. Had they turned off some street. lights in an attempt to save money?

My favorite part was passing through Gewalt Allee, or "Rape Alley." A paved, but unlit shortcut that takes you through the woods.

Later on, the family was amused at me bringing up the fear of getting raped in this Alley, in Ilsede.

Over dinner, I learned that Christmas is also stressful in Germany. They described all the preparations, how busy the supermarkets were, etc. "Take all the stress here and Germany and multiply that by 1.5... I think you'll find that number to be what we have in the States."

I was in bed by 9:30 as I was dead tired. It was so quiet and peaceful in "my" upstairs room. This is probably my 10th time visiting the Balkes and I have stayed in this room every time. It feels like home.
- posted by Matt @ 4:12 AM 0 comments

 
Day 1: Cincinnati/Houston
After 6 hours of sleep, I woke up early to go through my long list of stuff to do before the trip, including stops at the lawyer's office, my insurance agency, the bank, the grocery store and downtown to drop off Blake's Christmas presents.

At 1:00, I found my way to Paul's house where my Jeep would remain for some time. He immediately took me to the airport. Then I realized. Today is the day I leave.

I arrived at CVG a good 1.5 hours before my flight and it was nice to not be in such a rush for a change.

I approached the Continental counter and attempted one of the automated check in machines. No dice.

So, I solicited the help of "Fred," an older tall black gentlemen who was behind the counter.

Fred wasn't having the best of days. He struggled with understanding "my deal," where I was going, etc. He stuffed some paperwork into a folder and handed it to me, without saying anything. He went about doing something else.

"Uhh... Am I all set?" I asked.

"Yes," he said and I was on my way to the gates.

I had gotten down two escalators when the following rang through the intercom:

"ATTENTION PASSENGER VANT, PLEASE REPORT TO THE CONTINENTAL COUNTER TO RETRIEVE A MISPACED ITEM. PASSENGER VANT TO THE CONTINENTAL TICKET COUNTER PLEASE"

OK. I know I am forgetful. I just am. I can admit it. But I was curious to know what I had forgotten. I had my ticket folder and my passport.

I went up the stairs and waited in line for Fred.

He told me that he had forgotten to give me all of the paperwork that the printer had printed.

Without meaning to be mean, I asked "Didn't I ask you if I had everything?" My tone was not a mad one, just more curious.

He explained that I was his first customer of the day and that he was on "cold medicine." Can cold medicine cause brain damage?

I took the tickets and headed to the gate. I hadn't trusted Fred with knowing which gate the plane was leaving from, so I went to the one on the screen, which was wrong. The gate on the ticket was correct.

The next couple of hours were uneventful.

The flight from Cincinnati to Houston was a breeze. For distraction, I brought the first season of the show "Arrested Development." I love the show. It's very well, written. A lot of very good one liners. It's got a kind of dumb slapstick that I love. Quirky characters. They will do anything for a laugh. Sometimes, it's a bit heartfelt. I love Jason Bateman. His personality is adorable and caring. He is one beautiful individual.

ARRIVAL IN HOUSTON

In enjoyed walking around the Houston airport. I really like the architectural elements which were futuristic-in the 1980s.



I arrived at the gate for the next flight to Paris. They were accepting volunteers to go the following day. The incentive was $500 is credits with Continental (and free room and board for the next 24 hours._) I pondered the idea. I didn't have to be with the Balke's the following day. I could call them and everything would be cool.

I called Chase and he told me that it was a relatively low amount. He suggested I ask them if I could fly business class the following day.

I wasn't all that excited about spending the evening in Houston. I didn't know anybody.

When the guy behind the desk was unable to meet my request to fly business class the following day, I got back in line and boarded the plane.

I sat with 2 very friendly, pretty French women who were in academia. We talked quite a bit. I loved how the one woman said "ouais" (i.e. yes) while intaking air. This is something that only French woman can do.

We talked everything from universities in the US and in France, to RENT to gay adoption.

"Is it illegal to adopt in US? It is in France."

Hmm, I don't know about that, toots. Discouraged, yes. Illegal, I don't know. But you are the French one, not me.

I was fortunate to have been able to have slept about 4 hours.

(Note: 95% of the discussions today were in either French or German; For simplicity sake, I'll just translate any dialogs.)
- posted by Matt @ 4:10 AM 0 comments