We landed a few minutes early at 7:25 am on Tuesday the 26th. About an hour before landing they suddenly turned on the cabin lights and pretty much woke everyone up (some people actually didn’t sleep at all during the 7.5 hour flight). They were giving us a light breakfast of a croissant with strawberry jam and butter, melon pieces (4 pieces total…not my favorite. I had one piece of Honeydew and one piece of Cantaloupe and called it a day) and coffee or tea. It was a surprise but, dang did they “force feed us.”
Once we passed through the clouds upon landing all I saw was green fields as far as the eye can see. I miss greenery! I was allowed into the country (thanks Mr. Passport man) and my luggage arrived safely. I then spent some time trying to find Anne at the airport. Silly me exited out to the wrong terminal. Nothing crazy I just had to walk over to her. Anne & Peter got a new car…it’s a beautiful Nissan SUV (not a version that we have in the States), it has a HUGE sunroof….basically the entire roof is glass. It rides really nicely too. At the moment I still don’t feel like I’m in Germany. They live just outside of the city center in a quiet, green part of Hamburg. I am set up on my guest apartment until the 9th (with no TV or internet…guess I really can study for those comps? Haha). It’s a cute little place in a quiet retirement community that will suffice for a week and a few days. I couldn’t live in such a small space forever. I will upload a walk through video on Facebook soon. Henry is soo cute; he smiles at me and keeps staring at me. Anne and I wonder if it’s because I speak another language. Haha. He even puked on me this afternoon. Thankfully not a lot, but I thought it was funny. I met Anne’s mother in law who lives downstairs from her, and she baby sits two little 3 year olds. Hanna and Lewis (real German names, right?), they were both little blonde haired blue eyed kids. So cute…they saw me again that afternoon and shouted “hallo!” J Anne’s mother stopped by to see Henry and of course me too. It was great to see her again after 14 long years. We are able to converse a lot better now than in 1997. She made us lunch which was very tasty. I told Anne it was similar to the dinner I had on the plane. Chicken, rice and veggies. And then they gave me a sample of some Woodruff flavored ice cream. Very different, but tasty.
Anne and I went to the grocery store to get some things and I was amazed at the size of the store. Not as large as a store back home, but maybe ¾ the size. City live in Hamburg is much different than the town where Anne grew up. They had a small little grocery store, this place we went to today was like Fry’s (or Wegmans) meets BJs, but you don’t need to be a member. My tummy has been bothering me from traveling and I was on the search for Ginger Ale…I found it in the beverage center at the grocery store…I couldn’t help but giggle at the Schweppes bottle saying it was “American Ginger Ale”. (I will upload food photos soon). After shopping I came back to my apartment to lie down and I managed to sleep for an hour or two. I then returned to Anne & Peter’s apartment and watched the news with her and the German version of “Hoarders.” I am proud of myself that I can understand what’s going on. Although when Anne and her mother or mother in law speak, it’s a bit fast for me at the moment. I’ll blame the jet lag. I was surprised to see that it gets dark here at 10pm and the sky still had light in it around 11pm. Peter connected me to their wifi in the apartment, so I am able to check my email and FB from there once or twice a day.
It was quite nice out yesterday. I was afraid I would be freezing my tuchus off, but due to the humidity that I feel here (it had rained all last weekend so I feel the moisture), that made it feel warmer. It’s in the mid-upper 50s in the mornings and low-mid 70s during the day. I fared well with jeans, sweater, and flip flops.
Whew! This is quite and entry. It’s about two days worth of information. After all I did see two sunrises…one over Arizona, and the other over the UK. This morning I am accompanying Anne to her Mommy & me class with Henry. I was happy to be greeted with a big baby smile this morning!
I hope you enjoyed my long update!
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