Scattered thoughts from the trip

[beige_alert]

I’m not sure that it’s humanly possible to have more fun than I did during my trip to Germany.

I have some 2400 photos (23 gigabytes!), the best of which are very gradually dribbling up onto my flickr page.

• Very first thing I experienced in Germany? 160km/h. We had just left the airport, got on the autobahn, and I noticed that the scenery seemed to be whipping by really fast. They, of course, laughed at the silly American who thought that was fast. Two weeks of that sort of thing, and I tell you, 88 km/h suddenly seems really, really slow.



• Another thing about being out on the roads is the paint stripes are different. They stripe a two-way street the way in the USA a one-way street would be marked. It’s a really interesting feeling at first to see traffic that you really don’t expect to see. I just kept reminding myself “they know what they are doing, they know what they are doing...”



• Grocery shopping was tons of fun. A vocabulary lesson on every shelf.



• I still know nothing, of course, but I do have a much better feel for the sound of the language after hearing so much of it, and I did pick up lots of vocabulary. So I do know more nothing than before.



• Really, just going about daily life was interesting. I never stopped noting small differences in the way things are done in the two countries. Fascinating for my hosts, too, who also had never thought about such little things and how they might be different elsewhere. Eventually it turned into a game. “So, what’s different about bed sheets in America? There must be something!” See this photo for another example.
  
  Now I’m going to be constantly saying “you know, they do this differently in Germany.” (In many cases, “this is another thing they do better in Germany, but many things are simply different without really being better or worse.)



• The Atlantic Ocean is big. Fortunately, the 767 is a nice airplane. I had an empty seat beside me both ways, which also helps. The flight back was barely half full, so everyone had space. Also, you know the Hobbits and their many meals—breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, tea, dinner, and so on? Delta’s overseas flights follow the same pattern. Snack. Meal. Mid-flight snack (ice cream!). Afternoon refreshment (pizza!). Sure, we had nine hours to eat it all, but they did seem to keep the food coming, and, while not a fine dining experience, I really thought the food was quite good considering we were out over the north Atlantic in a Boeing on a flight that I selected, in part, because it was among the cheapest. (It was also a flight at a reasonable time with only one change of planes, both highly desirable.)



• When I went to Canada the border officer questioned me at some length. I tried to make sure I had some sort of seemingly-coherent story ready for Germany, but I was not asked a single question upon entry. My passport was scanned, leafed-through, stamped, and I was on my way. Exit was similarly pleasant, with the airport security officer starting by asking “Deutsch or English?” and then, after I said “English,” telling me what they wanted me to do in clear courteous manner in flawless clear English (better than the American’s English tends to be). They asked to look in my bag (really more of an order than a request, I think, but they phrase it politely), and they looked around in it a bit, zipped it back up exactly as I had had it, and sent me on my way. Much more orderly than the Americans are.
  
  When I got back to the USA, I had to fill out a form, wait in a long line, answer some questions (though fewer than on my return from Canada), then get my checked bags, hand my paperwork to another person, send my bags back into the system for the connecting flight, and clear security again, in chaotic American fashion.
  
  It’s an interesting contrast.



• One is constantly reminded in airports to make sure you keep track of your carry-on bags to be sure they are not tampered with. I had a very expensive flute and an expensive SLR camera with numerous expensive lenses in my bag. Terrorism aside, I was pretty attentive to my bag!

Scattered thoughts will continue....

Comments

[lisande.livejournal.com]

Very first thing I experienced in Germany? 160km/h. We had just left the airport, got on the autobahn, and I noticed that the scenery seemed to be whipping by really fast.

*lol* It was so cute - going just the usual speed and then hearing that rather intimidated voice from the back seat: "How fast are we going?"


Glad to hear that you so much enjoyed your trip!

[aryana-filker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, crazy German drivers. :)
Good you ha dso much fun! I sometimes feared we bored you with all the animals!

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

My relatives in Germany have switched to using German-style bedsheets. (Burritos, they call them.)

I would have been happier doing my grocery shopping (I had to by chocolate for my co-workers) if I'd realized that I was going to have to bag my own. Not that I mind doing that, but not having been prepared, I caused a delay for the people behind me as the cashier stared stoically at me. I never found the bags, I would probably have had to pay for them anyhow, but luckily I had a backpack of sufficient size with me.

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

Then, from the other side, at the con I heard stories from someone's first visit to the USA. Wondering what that person was doing with HER groceries! Or not understanding that the restaurant waitress was taking the still-not-empty glass of soda away to refill it for free.