To Brazil and back....

Okay, here's the deal. There's a lot of stuff that I don't blog about. Why? Because I don't want the whole world to know everything about me. So when something's stressing me out or bothering me, but it's something that I won't blog about, then I just don't blog at all. And the past few weeks were pretty stressful. On top of that, I had the worst cold I have had in a really long time. On top of that, I flew to Brazil for a week for work.

Last time I posted, I promised pictures of Dresden would be forthcoming. I've finally uploaded the pictures from Dresden to Flickr. I also uploaded pictures from the trip down the Romantic Road a couple of weeks ago. There's really nothing that romantic about the Road in my opinion. And then, we got lost. It's a pretty weird feeling when you're driving along and you suddenly see a sign "Welcome to Austria!" Ooooops, how did that happen?? And then, you have no idea where you are, cause you're in the middle of the boonies and all you can think about is how you're probably going to run out of gas before the next station and you'll freeze and starve before someone finds you. But other than that, Austria was really beautiful. It was so funny, it was really snowy (as you can see in the Neuschwanstein photos) up in the mountains. But as soon as we got into the city (in the valley) it was sunny and beautiful. Neuschwanstein is pretty (it's the castle after which Disney modeled Cinderella's castle). But I personally preferred Schloss Ludwigsburg, which was actually lived in, had a much better tour and is much closer to home!

After returning home from the Romantic Road, I noticed that there was water creeping up my walls in the hallway. I didn't upload those pictures, but I now have these lovely yellow water stains on my walls. I called my Landlord, who said "ach du gruene neune!" which Leo translates as Gorblimey! (Who knows, something British.) I had no idea what he meant, so I repeated it out loud and asked what it meant, which had my colleagues all laughing out loud at me. He asked my neighbor to have a look. My neighbor decided that it happened because the floor of the shower wasn't caulked completely. So he caulked and it should be all better. (Can you tell that I'm thinking that's not what caused it? It's an awful lot of water for some little holes in the caulk.) I'm pretty sure there's water under the floor and in the walls. Lovely.

Not because of that, but that's just another good reason, I've decided to move. For many reasons. (Hopefully my landlord doesn't read my blog.....I haven't told him yet.) I'm moving out of Stuttgart to Fellbach. I'll sign the contract tomorrow. I think I have the absolute best new address: Bahnhofstrasse 123....."Train station street 123." It's in the middle of the city and 5 minutes from the train station (on foot). There's an underground garage (yea, no more hating my garage!!) and an elevator (yea, no more lugging suitcases and cats up and down 99 steps - although I might have to join a gym since I won't have the 99 steps any more).

In Germany, you have to give three months notice. So instead of paying three months on two apartments, I'm going to look for someone to rent the Stuttgart apartment myself. Basically, if I find someone, my landlord pretty much has to take them and let me out of the notice period. Hopefully I'll be successful!!

Last Sunday, I flew to Brazil. I was so sick. And Saturday night was the Long Night of the Museums. So we (five friends and I) had dinner at my apartment (my first dinner party here!! :o) and headed to the museums. We didn't see much, because we had to wait in line a long time. It was really fun anyways. But I was really dragging by the time I got home. I got about 4 hours of sleep and took a taxi to the airport. I flew from Stuttgart to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Sao Paulo (11.5 hours!). When I got to Sao Paulo, I stood in line at passport control. Then I stood in line at baggage control. Then I stood in line at the check-in counter (I totally associate Sao Paulo with standing in line). The ticket agent told me to hurry to the gate, my flight would be boarding soon. I stood in line for security check. I got to the gate and no one was boarding. So I sat down. An older Italian gentleman leaned over and asked if I knew that the flight had been delayed. Delayed for 5 hours until 1 am (local time - or 5 am in Germany)!!!! Nope, didn't know. I was so tired. I had been traveling for 18 hours. I went to the counter and asked if there was another flight to Curitiba - nope. I told the guy that there was no way I could stay in the airport for 5 hours, I wanted to be put in a hotel. He said that was fine, but I had to go all the way out to the ticket counter, find one specific lady and tell her that he said I should get a hotel. I thought about it, but it seemed harder to do all of that, then to lay down in the waiting area and sleep for a few hours. So I did. I've never slept in an airport before. But I was soooo tired. About 12:30, they let us board. I checked into my hotel at 2:30 a.m. on Monday, a full 23.5 hours after I had left my apartment on the previous day.

The week was full of meetings, but was very successful. I'm only disappointed that I didn't get to see more of the city. It's a really interesting place. Security is a serious issue - everything has gates or fences or barbed wire. And the difference between rich and poor is really noticeable. They don't have many garbage trucks, because there are people who pull these wire carts around the city collecting garbage. And apparently there's a whole hierarchy behind that and if you work your way up high enough, you can buy a horse to pull the cart. The weather was beautiful - 25 degrees celsius every day. Meanwhile, it snowed in Germany! I would like to go back to Brazil someday.

On the trip back, the plane left Curitiba late, but that was no problem, because the next plane left Sao Paulo late. I slept for 7 hours straight on the flight (after watching the new James Bond movie). Can I just tell you how much I love business class??? You can make the seat into a bed! I've never slept so well on a plane before. Because the plane was late leaving Sao Paulo, I got into Frankfurt only 20 minutes before my train left for Stuttgart. I pretty much counted on the fact that my bag wouldn't make it. It didn't. So I asked the lady at the train station to call me when it came, instead of sending a taxi, so that I didn't have to worry about being home. But then there was a shift change and the new lady didn't get the message. So when I stopped by that evening on my way to a housewarming party, the bag had been sent to the airport (which is much farther from me) for delivery by a taxi. So they sent it away to bring it back. Because I knew I wouldn't be home, I asked them to bring it back to the train station and call me when it got there (sound familiar?). So I ended up getting my bag on Sunday.

This morning, I went to the Turkish Consulate to get my visa for my trip in three weeks. It was just pure luck that it was a Tuesday, because they only issue visas on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I really didn't know. My passport is filling up fast - German work permit, visa for Brazil, visa for Turkey, stamps from Poland, Brazil, Germany.....I'm worried that I'll run out of pages and have to get a new passport. Or I heard that they'll tape extra pages in for you, but it apparently looks really hillbilly.

My cold's much better, but still not gone. And I'm looking at everything I have to pack and wondering why I wanted to move? Because there's no move from Bosch this time. Fortunately, I have a bunch of really good friends who have promised to help. And just think, I'll get to have my couch back!

Next week I have vacation, which is perfect timing. I can pack and move day and night. And then on Friday, 10 Americans are flying together to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend. It should be really fun! And I learned some Portugese in Brazil to use in Portugal - obrigada is thank you.

My house in MI still hasn't sold. So I think it's going to go up for rent in the next week or two. If you know anyone who wants to rent it, send them my way!! It's a cute house!

That's what's going on here.....pictures of the new place to follow. :o)

Man, these things are good.....

You Are a Mac

You are creative, stylish, and super trendy. You demand the best - even if it costs an arm and a leg.

Are You a Mac or a PC?

I LOVE my Mac!!!!!!!

No surprise here....

If you know me, you will not be shocked to know that:

You Are a Chocolate Cake

Fun, comforting, and friendly. You are a true classic, and while you're not super cutting edge, you're high quality. People love your company - and have even been known to get addicted to you.

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Still here

I kind of fell off the face of the earth.....I know. It's been a busy, stressful and emotional time here of late. And I just haven't had the energy to post. Thanks for the emails and comments asking where I am....that's really nice.

So what's been going on in the last couple of months?

Among other things, I've taken weekend trips to Poland, Dresden and Cologne. I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded them. I'll work on that.

I've worked a million, billion hours. There's a lot going on at work right now. I leave for Brazil two weeks from today for a week. I'm looking forward to it, but there's a lot to be done before then.

This upcoming weekend, my friend S. is coming from the States. I'm also looking forward to that. We're going to check out the Romantic Road here in Germany, including stops at Rothenburg o.d.T. and Neuschwanstein, the castle that Walt Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after.

Then, in the first week of April, about 8 Americans are going together to Lisbon, Portugal for four days. A friend and I are also considering going to Prague during that week as well.

What else? Well, the weather's generally been awesome. Considering that it's cold and snowing in Michigan, sun and 50-degree weather in Stuttgart has been a treat. Even if it has rained a lot as well. Of course, this mild weather is making the Germans nuts, because "it's just not right" and it's a sign that the world is coming to an end.....well, that's dramatizing it, but it really does make them upset. The general consensus seems to be that if the Americans stopped driving their big SUVs and started recycling more, this wouldn't be happening. You'll all get right on that, right? Oh and to do "our part better," we're going to be getting these delightful little stickers for our cars. They look like this:

They are color-differentiated to indicate the emissions that the car releases - red, yellow, green and none. Some specific cities in Germany will start with a pilot and one of those is.....you guessed it.....Stuttgart. So when you enter into the city, you'll see a sign that looks like this, which says environmental zone and by the little color circles underneath, you'll know if you're allowed into that city's limits or not. I guess this officially became effective March 1st, but I haven't seen any cars with the sticker yet and I don't have one yet. Maybe I'd better get going on that. In principle, I have no problem with this system and I certainly think that the idea behind it is noble. My problem is....what are you supposed to do if you get up one morning and hear on the radio that no "3"s are allowed in Stuttgart today and you drive a "3." I don't live near a bus stop or a train stop, so I would have to walk a good distance to work if I wasn't allowed to drive. Which is just a little crazy, isn't it? Because it's not like you can call in - "Hi, I can't come to work today, because I'm not allowed to drive my car within the city limits." Well, we'll see.....

So, that's what's happening here......I'm going to try to be better about blogging and I'll be uploading pictures shortly - maybe today.....