OMG I'm in Germany what?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So I made it! My flight over (on beLOVEd Air India) was a lot more like a movie montage of international travel than the actual trans-Atlantic trip that it was. I checked all three bags (yes, THREE - I was trying not to think about how exactly I would transport them from the luggage carousel to my Hostel in Frankfurt...along with my guitar and backpack...but I digress) in Chicago. And then, for some reason or another, I was allowed to carry BOTH my guitar AND backpack on. It was almost too easy. I wish I could chalk it up to my awesome smooth-talking abilities. But that would just be a lie.

The flight itself was fine. I started reading Julie & Julia (and was SO excited to start it - I mean - the movie was so good! How could the book disappoint?) and put it down after an awful thirty pages and decided to catch up on my less than stellar offering of in-flight movies. The food was, as usual, delish. 7 hours later we started to make our descent into Frankfurt. At this precise moment, the adorable little Indian boy who'd been peacefully napping across the aisle from me decided it was time to get sick. Inside a plastic bag. Twice. Ah well. Thank god for my stomach of steel.

I cleared customs without so much as a 'business or pleasure' question and found my way to baggage claim. Ah yes. Those three bags. Those THREE. HUGE. BAGS. I managed to disengage one of the luggage rack carrier things with little difficulty, heaved my three huge backs on top, topped it all off with my guitar and made my way verrrry slowwwwly to the first exit I saw. Which, I swear to god, came complete with a line of waiting taxis. I splurged and went with the mini-van model (but only when the first cabbie took a look at me and all my luggage and gave me a look that clearly said...yeeeeeah...that's not going to fit in HERE, you crrrrazy American). But my driver was awesome. We have the same birthday. We shook hands. We're besties.

And then - poof - I was at my hostel! It was quite possibly the easiest time I've ever had traveling over hrr. And oh my LORD the hostel is amazing. I HAVE MY OWN SHOWER. I was NOT expecting my VERY OWN SHOWER. AND it comes complete with Real Shower Doors. Which are a rarity in Germany. As in - somehow, Germans have perfected the art of showering without shower curtains. I've tried it a couple of times (that makes it sound like I tried it for fun or something, but I was forced to, at various other hotels and hostels) and I'm AWFUL at it. The floor gets all wet and slippery and treacherous. Thank god for my shower doors.

The first day was a blur of check in, lugging my suitcases around, buying a cell phone etc. I had a quick nap and went out to meet [my german friend] Daniela and [my brazilian friend] Rodrigo for drinks downtown. It was completely surreal. It was as if I had never left. And then I walked back to the hostel in the rain - drinking in my beautiful Frankfurt - the huge church downtown [Dom], the row of re-built traditional houses in the town square [Roemer], the bridge [Eiserner Stegf] over the river [Main]. It felt great to be back :)

Day two I talked to Mariella [my old host mom of the family I Au-Paired for] and we made plans for dinner. It was a really warm and cozy feeling to ring the doorbell at the old house and see Mariella in the kitchen and Livia [the 4-year old] running around on the couch. It's like having a second family here. Bernd [the dad] and Lara [the outspoken 11-year old] came home from shopping a little later, and after exchanging a couple of awkward greetings [Lara: "Um. So...why did you get your hair cut?" and Bernd "You lost weight."] we were right back to where we'd been a couple of months before - joking and eating, drinking wine, telling stories, the girls crawling on my lap and tugging my hands every which way, showing me what they had gotten for Christmas, arts and crafts projects I had missed, etc. It was great. They [Lara and Livia] are pretty much convinced that I should be looking for a job here in Frankfurt and stay. Forever. Awesome.

New Year's Eve I went to a party with my friend Daniela. A german party. LOTS of germans. Hoo boy. They're not the most outgoing of people, but the party mood and a little champagne helped them relax a bit. The whole gang headed down the street a little before midnight to Friedberger Platz to countdown to 2010 and watch the fireworks. [New Year's Eve in Germany is Kind Of Awesome. They are LOTS of fireworks. Last year, in front of the old opera house, a burned-out firework fell on my head. Not to worry. Nothing like that this year.] After counting down and hanging out outside for a while, Daniela and I moved on to a party at an apartment of a friend of ours. And I get to see ALL these old friends I hadn't seen in forever - Nico, Thomas, Martin, Bobo and Robert. The whole gang was there. Crazy shenanigans ensued. It was a great New Year's.

Since then, a major highlight of being back in Frankfurt was a late night walk-about past the opera. I was on the prowl for a cafe that was open (things in Germany close all the time. Sundays, holidays, it's impossible. Meijer and the 24 hour Beaner's left me SO spoiled) and found myself close to the Oper Frankfurt and decided to check out the schedule. Little did I know, minutes before, a production of Die Zauberfloete [The Magic Flute] had started. They have a huge speaker outside of the main entrance of the opera that broadcasts whatever is going on in the auditorium, so I stayed for an aria or two. For all the closed grocery stores and expensive internet cafes, it's amazing to be able to walk for 15 minutes from your youth hostel and hear a little snippet of a live opera. Reason number 583 I love Germany.

I went for an awesome run along the Main river today. The second day I was here it rained all day and I was forced to work out in my hostel room. Um. Yeah. I jumped rope. Without a jump rope. For twenty minutes. And then did twenty minutes of jumping jacks. I'm sure it's my just-arrived-from-the-states paranoia, but I was convinced the hostel police were going to knock on my door and frown and say something like "Let's just try and keep it down in here, shall we?" So running outside was nice. Cold, but nice.

I'm determined, over the course of the next two days, to finish my cover letters and be ready to send everything out to all of the various language schools this coming Monday. And then I'll get a job. Can't wait.

I'm going to try and end each entry with a little "What I Love About Germany" section. For today's entry it's going to be about restrooms. I totally forgot that the restrooms in restaurants and bars in Germany are IMPOSSIBLE to find. For example, I'm sitting in a cafe downtown right now, and if I wanted to use the restroom, I would have to walk to the back of the cafe, go down a flight of stairs (!) and through a hallway to find the ladies' room. And that's nothing. There's a restaurant close to where I used to live in an old watch tower. And THEIR restrooms are literally up four flights of a winding staircase, down a hallway, through multiple doors, and behind a curtain. At movie theaters, forget about ever finding your theater again. Multiple split levels, going up (and then down?) stairs, turning right, turning left. They certainly don't make it easy. Ah well. So ist es, einfach. [That's just the way it is.]

Hope you're all doing well, family! Life in Germany isn't the same without The Jukes! Give my love to Michigan!

Aud