For the remainder of our Detroit--> Amsterdam flight, I watched The Blind Side, a bit of Mockingjay in German, and did exactly zero sleeping, of course. Can't sleep on a plane. The food was surprisingly decent, they fed us a snack, dinner, and breakfast two hours after that cause WAKE UP it's 6:30 AM!
It's so weird to see the sun rise again when your poor Eastern time brain is not expecting it. Our plane landed at 7:20 at Schipul Airport in Amsterdam.
We had to wait what seemed like forever for the little shuttle car that would carry her to the terminal.
I was dearly hoping that we'd not have to go through customs in Amsterdam, as I had no idea if they would speak English and I know precisely zero Dutch. But, much to my chagrin, I had to hop off the cart and get in a gigantically intimidating line to go through customs, which, as I said, I believed would happen in Germany, not Holland. They said Aunt Rachel got to skip out for this round because of her mobility.
After making it through an intimidatingly long line, I walked up to the youngish dude who was sporting one of those Euro haircuts that looks like an updated form of a combover or something.
He looked and me and said playfully,
"Well well, why are you so happy?"
"Welllll, because I'm going to Germany to visit my cousin and his family."
"Ah, I see! yes, (points to my ticket) Stuttgart. Big base they got there."
And rather unconcernedly, as if it didn't matter to him, but he's supposed to ask anyway:
"how long will you be there?"
I told him five weeks and then he riffled through my passport for effect before stamping it.
As I hurried to my gate, I was enjoying hearing little snatches of Dutch, which was intriguing to me even though it sounded like a complicated symphony of gibberish to my ears. Now and then I'd know a word that was borrowed from German. The cutest example was listening to a young Mom playfully scold her child in the bathroom for something or other- that is translatable in any language. ;)
Having miraculously made it through customs and to my gate in record time, I reunited with Aunt Rachel, who had been brought there by the Shuttle Fairy. With about 15 minutes or so until boarding, I opted to go in search of Euros, as I had about $420 USD that I needed to change. I walked so fast that the moving sidewalk people had nothing on me.
Not even kidding. I could see this lady walking on it out of the corner of my eye and I was keeping ahead. I was bookin' it y'all. And just when I thought I had better give the search up, there was a currency place (thank you Lord!) I ended up getting a rather good rate (still lost a bit of money I the exchange, but whatever. That's the way it goes.)
I mad-dashed my way to get some water and made it back just as the plane was boarding. In the line to get on the shuttle, we met two middle age guys, one was an Army guy from Charlotte NC of all places, and a Navy guy from WV who was going to be stationed on the exact same base that George works on, Schönaich.
We rode a little plane called a "city-hopper" that took us to Stuttgart. It's the small kind where you have to taxi up in a shuttle and then walk up the stairs like you're a celebrity or dignitary or something.
The flight was short, sweet, and only an hour long. And, I could see stuff out the window. And when I say "stuff," I mean the Dutch seaside, Frankfurt, and, of course, Stuttgart. I sat next to this middle aged guy who lived outside of Stuttgart and was returning from a business trip to Singapore.
We disembarked the flight and the attendants wished us a good morning to which I thought "Morning? Huh?" And then I'd go look at the clock and realize it was the early morning. The hired muscle came right on cue to push the wheelchair and miracle of miracles, all of our luggage made it intact and on time. We even walked out of baggage claim to see George standing right there!
Oh, and then this credit card salesman guy approached me and said in very rapid German:
"Hallo, sprechen sie Deutsch fräulein?
I replied in my favorite word:
"Was?" (what?)
He repeated and I said "Ja, ein wenig."
Then he said something off hand in English, I said "oh, so you speak English too?"
And in English thickly accented with a thick Irish lilt he said "haha yes, I do"
And he continued with his pitch:
"So do you have a German bank account by any chance?"
"Ah, no, I'm from the States."
"Oh! Ok...well, I guess I'm done....*looks sheepish* "but....uh.....I can give you a lollipop! Yes, here, I will get you one!"
Then he gave me a compliment and said goodbye to complete the picture. I still have the lollipop as a souvenir. Perhaps I'll let one of my brothers eat it. Boys? ;)
We came around a corner and there was Arnheidur (George's wife)!and Erla! So good to see them again.
En route to our lunch, we picked up Embla and Ellert up from school and then got some AMAZING strawberries from a roadside stand as well as some Asparagus. The berries were like the ones we'd get from Tuttle's Farm in Eden, but better: small, exquisitely sweet, and very red.
It's worth noting that we did ride the Autobahn today (a highway in Germany) basically, it's a fast track highway where you get to go at max speeds of 130 kilometers per hour (81 mph)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn
Fun, right? Until, as George pointed out, you go over the limit by just a tad and they fine you like crazy.
Sulzbachtal Restaurant (aka a Biergarten) was the restaurant we all ate at and I got a very well-cooked pork chop dish, some amazing sausage, as well as a giant salad with plenty of cabbage. Served with sparkling mineral water cause I'm all about them minerals.
Over our meal, Arnheidur had been telling me how good Erla (the toddler age 3) was doing with her German, since she goes to a German preschool. Erla was asking for where her jacket was.
I happened to see it, so I picked it up and asked
"Erla ist das deine jacke?"
Her eyes got big and she gave me this look with her big blue eyes that said "oh wait, you speak my language?"
And she said yes, nodded, and took the jacket. Cutest thing ever! This little lady has become my favorite person for practicing German with, as there is no ridicule if I mess something up. We have the best conversations and I learn every time we talk. ;)
Ellert, Me, Erla, Embla
Aunt Rachel and Erla
We got to their cute little German-style home and I began to settle my things in our room that they kindly prepared for us. It's usually used as a combo storage room/Ellert's room, but it's a roomy space with two beds and windows that look out over the little village.
There is a kindergarten nearby, so a lot of times if the windows are down you can hear the happy chatter of the little ones. But it is very QUIET here, no highway noise, no loud lawnmowers even (yet!) The church bell rings every hour on the hour and you can hear it all over town.
I didn't feel the tiredness come on until about 24 hour mark of no sleep, which was around 3 this afternoon. The floor starts swimming and you feel like you're walking on a ship in stormy seas when you're sitting still. I am forcing myself to stay up until an early bedtime to get myself used to this time difference quickly. Worked great for me in London, so I'm gonna stick it out here. I shall adapt. ;)
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