Montag, 22. Okt. 2007, 17:00 GMT+1
Yeah, I'm back on the mainland now. Sigh.
I do love my German family. I still argue that I have the greatest job in the world, but it's tiring. Somehow, being in Europe is tiring. It's a culture where....you always have to worry about something. I suppose there are elements of that anywhere in the world, but I'm still getting used to it.
Today seemed like such a long day. All I did was take Joel to Kindergarten, go grocery shopping, come home, fold clothes, dust, sweep, vacuum, and cook lunch, but somehow that took from 7am until 3pm. Again I ask how working mothers can do all that and still have time for a full-time job.
Saturday after leaving Edinburgh I spent a couple of hours in Glasgow, but honestly there wasn't much to do there. It's a very industrial city, with all the interesting cultural institutions outside the downtown area, and I couldn't will myself to walk that far with a full backpack and a bad ankle. So instead, I walked into a bunch of shops, most of which I know from back in the states already. Urban Outfitters and Claire's Boutique, for example. Walking past Subway I saw advertised coffee and a cookie or donut for 99p, so I absolutely had to stop. Ninety-nine pence is just about two American dollars, but for coffee AND a Subway cookie, which I love anyway, that's crazy cheap by UK standards. In London, I was just dying for a bagel with cream cheese. As I've mentioned before, you can occasionally find cream cheese in Germany, but they don't even know what a bagel is, and that's a fun one to try to explain: It looks like a donut, but it's made out of a heavier dough and....it's boiled? I think? How does one make a bagel, anyway?? Well, I found a bagel place that took credit cards (that was the determining factor for me), and I ordered my two pound bagel (over 4 dollars). Unfortunately, the minimum charge to use a credit card was 3 pounds. Just then a bum came up and asked me for change, and I answered quite honestly that I had none, but I offered to get him a cup of coffee instead. That cost me another pound and a half (about 3 dollars), but at least it allowed me to have my bagel. I've bought coffee for bums before (the one drug for which I don't mind being an enabler), but that has got to be the most I've ever spent on it.
Anyway, back to Glasgow, I noticed a guy sipping a cup of coffee with the same cookie bag as I had, and in front of him was a copy of "Europe on a Shoestring", so I sat down next to him.
"You on a shoestring too? I notice you went for the coffee and cookie deal too," I started.
He answered in the affirmative with a southern-hemisphere accent.
"Cool...where you from?"
"Australia, but I've been working in London for 12 months. I'm on my way home now."
"Whoa, what were you doing in London?"
"I'm a manager for McDonalds. How about you?"
Some of you might be tempted to laugh at the fact that he moved from Australia to London to work at McDonalds, but I say more power to him. I told him I was from California, and he asked me if I'd ever been given a million dollars.
I was puzzled. It seemed like a strange question to ask. "No...? Why...?"
"Cause I just happen to have one million pounds for you."
Finally I understood what was going on. I haven't seen enough British currency to know whether it looked authentic (the biggest bill I ever had during my stay was 5 pounds), but on the back of the bill he handed me was exactly the script I'm used to seeing, and even to handing out: "The million pound question: Will you go to Heaven? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said..." You know the end of the story. So do I, and just as I had Wednesday in Edinburgh, I chuckled, and thanked him profusely. I told him that yes, as a matter of fact, I not only have been given a million dollars, but I give them out regularly. He was pretty excited, and showed me copies of both the Australia and New Zealand million dollar bills. God bless Ray Comfort.
My flight back to Germany was with Ryanair.com, a government subsidized airline, meaning that they can afford to give out flights for practically free, because they still get money just for having bodies on their plane. The ticket itself only cost me 40 dollars (one British pence, plus about 18 pounds in taxes), but unfortunately it left from Glasgow-Prestwick airport, a several hour journey from Edinburgh, and arrived to Frankfurt-Hahn, also a decent hour and half journey from Diethardt. So by the time you add in transportation to Prestwick and from Hahn, the ticket cost me more like 70 dollars. But still, that's a lot cheaper and still faster than traveling back with train, so I was pretty happy. Also, the train ticket from Edinburgh to the airport was half off when I showed my Ryanair.com confirmation, so that wasn't too bad, and I got to get off in Glasgow and have a look around the city.
There was no assigned seating on the flight, but for whatever reason they gave me priority boarding, so even after waiting until the final boarding call (I was watching the Rugby World Cup, what do you expect?!), I was able to sit in seat 1A. I still don't know why, but the entire first row was free. I thought people usually liked the extra leg room, especially on a small airplane. I certainly enjoyed it. It also allowed me to get off quicker when we arrived. Early, by the way, which meant I was standing outside in 6 degree weather (43 Fahrenheit) for almost an hour until the bus came which would take me to Koblenz.
Simon was already there waiting for me when I arrived, and that was definitely a welcome sight. I missed that boy, you know? And he was thrilled with the whiskey I brought him. Since I couldn't buy from the experts there in Edinburgh, I had to take my chances at the duty free shop inside the airport. I knew that I wanted a single-malt, but nevertheless I didn't have that much money to spend, so I took my chances with the youngest single malt I could find. We sampled it Sunday evening, and it tasted ok to me, but then again I woudln't have been able to to tell the difference anyway.
It was 3 am Sunday before I went to bed, but being that the next day was Sunday, I slept until 11am. I can't remember the last time I slept so late! Even on the rare occasion that I go clubbing, I still usually wake up at 8 or 9 and then take a nap in the afternoon. I spent the entire day in my PJs on the computer, skyped with Rendy, Mom & Dad, Andrej, and Jorden, and went to bed. The end.
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