The first 24...

Since I just got internet access in my apartment, I am only now doing my first blog post from Germany! This post actually has two parts...

Written on the train to Augsburg (Wednesday, May 4)

I arrived in Germany relatively problem-free. For the first time ever, I was on a plane with an all-female flight crew (including the pilot and the co-pilot) from Burbank to Dallas. You go girls! The flight from Dallas was long but that flight is always long. I did manage to sleep for much of the "night," such as it was in the plane. I also watched a bit of one of the Shrek movies (don't know which one) in German. Dubbing bothers me unless the show is animated, so I am glad that movie is a cartoon.

It was actually at the train station at the Frankfurt airport that I had my first transportation snafu during this trip. I have been travelling to Europe for 20 years, and today was the first day that I actually got on the wrong train. There were a few reasons for this - the train I was supposed to get on was late, and the next train on that platform showed up. I was also so worried about my heavy bag that I didn't even think that it might be the wrong train as I was getting on it. I finally realized this after it had already left.

Fortunately, neither my German skills nor the nicest train conductor likely in the history of the Deutsche Bahn failed me when I tried to rectify the situation. I explained to him what I'd done and that I'd been travelling for 20 hours from California and was tired, plus that I had never made that error in all the years I had been travelling in Germany, and he said it was totally fine and that another man had done the same thing. Then he sat down with me and worked out another connection, so that I can still make it to Augsburg not too much later than I'd planned to. He wrote an explanation on my ticket for the next conductor, and he told me I did not have to pay any extra. HOORAY for the Deutsche Bahn.

So now I can really enjoy the train ride. My word, Bavaria is as lovely as I remember it being. How have I managed to stay away from here for so long? The yellow flower fields are in full bloom like they are every spring. I am very happy to be here, and thrilled that I could work out the train problem without reverting to English. The train is passing through Wuerzburg while I'm writing this. What a gorgeous city! I am excited to be spending a week here at the end of June. South of the train station are hills filled with grape vines, and people are working on them. I wonder if they grow wine here - if they do of course I will have to try it.

I'm supposed to be in the "quiet car" of the train, where people aren't supposed to be using cell phones. However, an African lady near me is yelling at someone on her phone in a language that doesn't sound like anything I've heard before. Her young daughter is with her, and she looks embarrassed by her mother. Some things are universal.

I put my German sim card in my Blackberry - I can receive and send texts, and receive calls but not make them. I'm not sure why that is. Between a combination of texting and email I was able to get in touch with the two people who are meeting me at the train in Augsburg to let them know what's up. You can buy wireless access on the train and at the train station through Deutsche Telekom, which I did. And again I ask myself - what did we do before cell phones and internet? We missed a lot of appointments, that's for sure.

In my apartment (Thursday, May 5)

I am settled into my apartment after a whirlwind 2 days. I think I found the cure for jet-lag - make yourself as tired as possible by running around and carrying a crapload of heavy stuff, and then drink a big beer. I fell asleep last night at 11pm and slept straight through until 7:30am this morning. It was unbelievable. I have never slept that well upon first arriving in Germany. Hopefully I can keep that going.

Today, I walked to the Augsburg city center, which is about 1/2 an hour away. Someone waved a magic nice-weather wand over Germany, because it is about 70 degrees and sunny. I bought a FONIC surf-stick, which is a very cool invention. It's a memory stick with an SMS card in it, and all you need to do is plug it into the computer to have internet access wherever you are. No long term contracts required. You are charged per day, maximum of 25 Euros a month. This is very good. It has worked well with doing basic Internet stuff, but I haven't tried Skyping yet. We'll see how the bandwith does for that.

I am settled in here. The apartment is small but very nice - clean, in a well-kept building. It is in a quiet area of town - I can hear lots of birds singing through my open window. It has the smallest shower I have ever seen. I miss my big walk-in at home, with the huge shower-head! You have to go through this whole process to check in at the apartment, including checking every item of the inventory off on a list, down to the spoons in the drawer. This is actually okay, because the check-in was also a real orientation, with information about how things work around here. I appreciated that very much. There's nothing like being handed the keys to an apartment over here and being left to your own devices, only to not even be able to figure out how the key works so you can get in (if that sounds like it's happened to me before...it has). More information is always better than less.

Coming to Augsburg has been a time-warp experience for me. It really hasn't changed very much since I was here 5 years ago. I remember where everything is, and so far I have not gotten lost or turned around. Shopping, eating, etc. is also all the same. However, if you're away for a while, you do forget certain things about Germany. For example, just try to get by here with only a credit card. You can't. Cash is still used widely, as are bank debit cards that don't have a credit capability. If you don't have either, you will be in trouble.

One thing that's interesting is that I think people here are heavier than they were 5 years ago. An American-like physique used to be the exception among young people here, but I don't think that's true anymore. The fast food and snacking are catching up with the kids. It makes me sad.