On the Road Again
I have started my trip homeward back to Oocryeenya. Germany was a wonderful time. It was great to see my old sitemate again, hang out with his family and enjoy some honest to goodness American meals. When he met me at the McDonalds by the train station (had to take a bus from the airport) he said, "hope that pot roast is okay!"
Okay??? As family and some friends are aware, pot roast is my absolute favorite meal. I was in heaven. Because his parents are still connected into the military there, his dad even picked us up some root beers from the commissary. You can imagine that it was hard for me to leave his place, but as he himself is travelling back to the States as I type, it would have been strange if I moved in!
From his parents home, I went to visit a former student who is an au pair. She lives really close to the my sitemate, as it turns out, and she showed us the castle in Heidelberg. It was a tad strange to be the guest of an au pair in a German home, but the family was nice to me. My student mentioned that the mother was more talkative to me than she has been to her or others. I assume that is because I am an American, and not an au pair from a developing nation. Who knows. But they were very kind to give me a ride in the wee hours of the morning to the bus station in Manheim where I got a bus to the airport.
My impressions of Germany were basically as follows:
1) the scenery looked somewhat like Lancaster County and Western PA. This only made sense to me, as so many Germans settled in this part of our country. This is also not uncommon for other Europeans to settle into landscapes that resemble their homecountry.
2) The cities and suburbs look like they were all ordered out of an Ikea catalog. Yes, Ikea is Swedish, but it seems to me that they flew in a big box, opened it, and there you have it. Everything was super modern, super neat (in the sense of orderly), and super clean. Considering that so much of the country was rebuilt after the war, it shouldn't be so surprising.
3) The language is ridiculous. I was amused in the past by Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Hungarian, but German takes the cake. My first day there I must have drove my sitemate nuts saying "flippingy flootenhop" because that's what it all sounded to me. I did learn how to say such important things like "good dog" and uh, I think that was it. I will not be learning German in the future.
4) Unlike Justin Timberlake, the Euro is NOT bringing sexy back. It's tough enough being a Peace Corps Volunteer travelling in the EU, because we are poor to start with, and the Euro is kicking the US dollar all over town. It was one of the sadest experiences I have had in a while, handing over a nice $100 bill to only get 67 Euros back. Ugh. At least it wasn't the UK.
Once I am back in Ukraine, I am heading to Kyiv for midservice medical. I was going to do it later, but upon reflection, I did not want to take off any time from my university to go up to Kyiv. I ended up with more American money left than I thought (as I used the ATM more than money exchange, since the rates weren't as good, unlike in Ukraine) so I should be set for the three days.
I am hoping that Eric will post more pictures of our Ukrainian trip together, and I think that I am going develop at least one roll from this trip to see if my old camera is still functioning. It also seems to be on its last legs.
Okay??? As family and some friends are aware, pot roast is my absolute favorite meal. I was in heaven. Because his parents are still connected into the military there, his dad even picked us up some root beers from the commissary. You can imagine that it was hard for me to leave his place, but as he himself is travelling back to the States as I type, it would have been strange if I moved in!
From his parents home, I went to visit a former student who is an au pair. She lives really close to the my sitemate, as it turns out, and she showed us the castle in Heidelberg. It was a tad strange to be the guest of an au pair in a German home, but the family was nice to me. My student mentioned that the mother was more talkative to me than she has been to her or others. I assume that is because I am an American, and not an au pair from a developing nation. Who knows. But they were very kind to give me a ride in the wee hours of the morning to the bus station in Manheim where I got a bus to the airport.
My impressions of Germany were basically as follows:
1) the scenery looked somewhat like Lancaster County and Western PA. This only made sense to me, as so many Germans settled in this part of our country. This is also not uncommon for other Europeans to settle into landscapes that resemble their homecountry.
2) The cities and suburbs look like they were all ordered out of an Ikea catalog. Yes, Ikea is Swedish, but it seems to me that they flew in a big box, opened it, and there you have it. Everything was super modern, super neat (in the sense of orderly), and super clean. Considering that so much of the country was rebuilt after the war, it shouldn't be so surprising.
3) The language is ridiculous. I was amused in the past by Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Hungarian, but German takes the cake. My first day there I must have drove my sitemate nuts saying "flippingy flootenhop" because that's what it all sounded to me. I did learn how to say such important things like "good dog" and uh, I think that was it. I will not be learning German in the future.
4) Unlike Justin Timberlake, the Euro is NOT bringing sexy back. It's tough enough being a Peace Corps Volunteer travelling in the EU, because we are poor to start with, and the Euro is kicking the US dollar all over town. It was one of the sadest experiences I have had in a while, handing over a nice $100 bill to only get 67 Euros back. Ugh. At least it wasn't the UK.
Once I am back in Ukraine, I am heading to Kyiv for midservice medical. I was going to do it later, but upon reflection, I did not want to take off any time from my university to go up to Kyiv. I ended up with more American money left than I thought (as I used the ATM more than money exchange, since the rates weren't as good, unlike in Ukraine) so I should be set for the three days.
I am hoping that Eric will post more pictures of our Ukrainian trip together, and I think that I am going develop at least one roll from this trip to see if my old camera is still functioning. It also seems to be on its last legs.
posted by Molly | 5:46 AM
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