Blogwurst Leftovers, Part I

Hallo Volker!  I hope everyone has had a nice few weeks, and that the weather, wherever you are, is (check one): improving; or staying nice.  I don't want to scare it away by saying anything, but I think Spring is poking it's head out and looking around Kassel, wondering if it should come out at all.  I'm trying to be unassuming and not look it right in the eye, but still welcoming.  I am treating Spring like a timid puppy.

Anyway, I have had a very good few weeks, especially after getting the wretched geflügelwurst out of my system.  It's not that I have done anything particularly adventurous or exciting, I'm just doing well with my papers, progressing well with the research project at work, and making plans for the future.  I did have a nice girls night out last night with Christine, which was long overdue.  I have seen plenty of the Svensons lately, but it's only when I'm arriving to babysit, or they are arriving home after I've babysat.  It was high time for us to have adult-centered time.  We went to the movies to see "The Kings Speech", in German.  I had already seen in it English, and I thought it would be fun, and beneficial, to see it in German.  If you haven't seen it yet (in any language), I highly recommend it.  Colin Firth earned the best actor Oscar, and Geoffrey Rush is an excellent complement.  Anyway, it was brilliant in English, and also in German.  I didn't understand everything, of course; they speak quickly, and it was often a translation of "stuffy ole British", but I never had a moment where I thought, "Jeez, this is obviously dubbed."  Actually, I was only reminded of that at one moment when the characters are watching a broadcast of Hitler speaking, in German, and the little girl asks her father, in German, "What is he saying, Papa?" and the father answers, in German, "I have no idea."  That reminded me that it was dubbed.   Still, they did an excellent, excellent job.  After the movie we went to the most wonderful and hilarious bar I have ever been to.  I was so happy that it exists, I could barely control myself.  I actually felt afraid that it might close or disappear before I could visit again.  

So after a night of delicious cocktails and adult conversation, I have spent my Saturday cleaning, doing laundry, window shopping for clothes, and working on my paper.  I am actually pretty on my own this week, as all of my friends have abandoned me.  Ok, that's a lie.  I have plenty of friends left in Kassel, but the people that I would see on a daily basis have all gone away.  Two of them jetted off to Bologna for a conference, two jetted off to Chile for a conference, and one has the audacity to have a internship in Brussels.  It's a bummer, but it's given me motivation to be productive.  And also, to update this silly blog with memories from my time at home last fall.  So, let's hop in the DeLorean and head back to October 2010!

(Do DeLoreans even say "vroom"?)

I left Frankfurt on October 1, had a fairly uneventful flight to Toronto (except for my broken tray table and TV screen), and went through the customs and security to get to my flight to Boston.  I had to go through US customs in Canada too, and the officer was kind of rude.  He saw my German residence permit, and took that as license to question why I was coming to the US at all.  He didn't believe that I had family in the US, that I would want to visit them, and that I could possibly have three months to do so.  He also didn't believe that I didn't have a billion dollars worth of smuggled leather in my suitcase.  Still, being the nice guy he was, he let me in and I prepared to go through security again.  The agent scanned my boarding pass again to confirm that I wasn't an illegal stowaway (I presume), and promptly informed my that my flight to Boston had been cancelled.  I was directed to the Air Canada desk to find out why and what could be done.  It turns out that they had cancelled almost all the flights to Boston because it was windy.  Windy.  Now I get it, I'm sure it was  extra windy, and if they thought it was bad enough to cancel the flight, it probably wasn't safe, so I'm glad that they did cancel it.  I'm also grateful that we didn't find this out after we were already on the runway or in the air.  But the matter of fact way that the attendant said this was ridiculous.  "Oh, your flight's been cancelled.  Cuz it's windy down there in Boston."  Seriously?  But to Air Canada's credit, they gave me a voucher for $30 so I could have dinner in the airport.

I should mention that since I was flying on October 1, which happens to be right at the end of Oktoberfest (I know, the timing doesn't make sense), there were a bunch of beer-tourists on my flight.  And since this was supposed to be a normal route from Frankfurt to Boston, most of the beer-tourists were Boston-based.  Do you have any idea what a Boston-based beer-tourist is like?  Do you?  I'll tell you.  They are loud, and still drunk.  Also, they have stupid accents.  (Note: I fully admit that I am a breed of Boston-based beer-tourist, but I don't have a stupid accent.  Also, I'm not always loud.)   There were two Boston-based beer-tourists that were not so drunk, not so loud, and quite nice.  We met at the Air Canada desk, and one of them was kind enough to let me use his cell phone to call my mom to tell her that it was windy.  I ran into them again at the only restaurant in our terminal of the airport, and we had a nice meal together.  

We had all been re-booked on a later flight, but that flight continued to get delayed.  Finally, we boarded, and then sat on the tarmac for an hour.  I had bought a little travel pillow in the airport, and I have never been so glad to have anything in my life.  After 7 billion hours (rough estimate) of traveling and not sleeping, I arrived in Boston Logan airport to see my mom and our dog waiting for me, tails wagging.  I arrived in Providence around midnight, and slept for a week.

Early in October I started my internship at Brown University, which was the main reason that I went home in the first place.  I was working in the Office of Continuing Education, and it was a fantastic experience.  I learned a tremendous amount, and I met some wonderfully friendly (and professional) people.  I got a number of good ideas for some papers, as well as a lot of inspiration for a possible angle in my thesis.  I will definitely  keep in touch with the people in that office, they were great to work with.

Slightly later in early October, I got a visit from the Svensons.  It had been about two weeks since I'd seen them, and we just couldn't bear it, so they came to visit.  Well, they were also going to a wedding in Delaware, but I like to think that was secondary.  We went out to Martha's Vineyard for a few days, and they were with me to celebrate my birthday (that's two years in a row!).  They seemed to have a lot of fun on the Vineyard, and I was so glad to be able to share it with them.

Birthday Breakfast!

The picture-perfect family comes standard with the cottage.

Feeding Cheerios to Maisie

Lena loved the flying horses carousel

Towards the end the month I made a trip down to New Jersey to visit my good friends Jess and Vinnie.  This was lovely because they are nice people and I hadn't seen them in a year.  But forget them... there was a BABY!  Their daughter, Hannah, was born in September and I was so looking forward to meeting her.  My friend Hannah (not a baby) and I drove down together from New England, and arrived in the middle of the night.  This wasn't really a problem since "middle of the night" is baby Hannah's favorite time to wake up and yell.  She is a serious baby, and seemed skeptical, but being only a month old, this is understandable.  And being a baby, she is also incredibly sweet.  I loved her instantly.

Hannah and her aunties, Amy and April

So, that's all for October.  Stay tuned for more adventures on our next episode!