Wednesday (8/13/14)
I made it! :D
 |
| This is the face of a girl who is SO happy to be done flying! (for the time being) |
I flew from Salt Lake City, to Dallas-Fort Worth, then JFK
in New York and FINALLY to Zürich. It was absolutely perfect. I had no problems
at all, even though apparently I almost missed the connection to JFK, but until
I got to the terminal and they told me they were getting ready to close the doors,
I was unaware haha oops! And in New York, my flight was ALMOST delayed for 2
hours, but only ended up being about 20 minutes thank goodness.
I kept falling asleep on each flight, then waking up
thinking hours had gone by… but they hadn’t. I swear time slows down in the
air. It’s crazy. Thankfully, during my longest flight, no one was seated next
to me, and you bet your little tushy I sprawled out like an animal.
When I finally arrived I loaded my ginormous suitcases (by
myself) onto a trolley – I was a little surprised no one stopped or offered to
help my little 5-foot self hefting these 60+ lbs suitcases that are like almost
¾ my size… but you know, whatever. I don’t need a man! …moving on – so yes,
suitcases, trolley, and then I found the family waiting for me in the greeting
area. Hallelujah! I was so nervous I wouldn’t find them and I’d have no way to
get in contact with them (airport wifi is THE WORST fyi). They had just gotten
there like 3 minutes before I walked out; guess that 20-minute delay in NY was
worth it! ;)
Ah, it was SO great to finally have these people right in
front of me, in the flesh. They were extremely warm and welcoming. We ran a few
errands, then headed home where they gave me a tour of the house (which is
gorgeous, albeit completely different than a typical American home) and let me
unpack. Um, I’m in love with my room and bathroom. It’s a lot bigger than I was
expecting, which was a lovely surprise, and it’s so… stylish! I will post
pictures of them, and the rest of the house, later. For now, here is a picture of the view from the house:
 |
| I live in a postcard. SO beautiful here. (Taken Sunday 8/17/14 - finally a sunny day! It's been rainy all week.) |
I unpacked and my very first meal in Europe… pizza! haha :)
I was out at like 7:30pm. Yay jet-lag!
Thursday (8/14/14)
Awake at 5:30am. UGH.
Today some of Tamara and Peter’s friends stopped by to visit
on their way home. It was a little awkward for me at first, but eventually, it
wasn’t so much and I tried to follow along their German, but they kept
switching back and forth between German and English for me.
Later Tamara took me and Svenja to her sister’s house to
visit her sister (obviously), nephew, dad, and step-mom. Her sister was SO nice
and offered me all sorts of beverages and refreshments. She had these delicious
fruit cakes that we all ate and I tried to follow along all the German
conversation (their parents don’t speak English). Tamara and her sister kept
translating for me every so often, which was very sweet. They were all very
kind and it was actually a lot of fun, even with the language barrier.
P.S. “Cake” is not cake like in America. It’s not as sweet
(which I’m fine with) and it was like… pie meets custard meets fruit. With a
cheese-cakey texture… sort of. haha. It’s difficult to explain, but it was
DELICIOUS. I had a piece of a cherry one and then the sister was having her 3rd
piece and offered me another one for the third time and I couldn’t keep saying
no haha so I tried some of the plum one.
 |
| Tamara "made" this on Sunday. A little different, but you get the idea |
Friday (8/15/14)
Oh Friday.
Friday was rough. Like “what the freak am I doing here,
God?” rough.
It wasn’t that anything bad happened… I think it was more of
just reality setting in. I’m not in MY country. I’m all alone. I have no
friends or family here. And I won’t see my friends of family for 1 year. 1
YEAR! That’s a dang long time! I’m also still very tired, and I cannot express
to you the frustration of seeing a person, a normal human being, smiling at you,
and you at them, and then they speak, and it is complete GIBBERISH to your ears.
AGH! I SO badly WANT to communicate and understand. I keep reverting to Spanish
in my head, and then it’s like, just kidding, that doesn’t work either! *grumble
grumble* I hate to admit it… and when I say hate, I mean loathe… but this
experience is definitely going to be much more challenging mentally and
emotionally than I thought.
On a positive note, I put together this awesome desk chair
Tamara bought for me, all by myself! With a little help from Peter at the end
cause the little knob things at the bottom of the chair legs did NOT want to go
in. He even struggled a bit with them. I feel so accomplished haha!
 |
| I've got mad skills |
I also went on a walk by myself in the evening to explore the area I’m living in a little bit. I couldn’t find anything of interest – it was pretty dead. And I was afraid if it got too dark, I would get lost so I was only gone 20 minutes or so.
Saturday (8/16/14)
Today has been a lot better. Tamara and Peter dropped me off
in Frauenfeld so I could explore a little while they went to the gym (they took
Svenja with them). It was such a surreal feeling knowing that I was wondering
the streets of this little town in Europe, alone. I couldn’t help but think
about my Dad’s utter terror at the idea of his “little girl” exploring the
big-bad-world by her lonesome haha. It was fairly uneventful though (don’t
worry Dad!). I walked and watched for about an hour and a half, looking at the
little storefronts and bistros. I even found a tiny little famers market (no
idea what it’s called here) and if I’d had some smaller bills or change, I
would have bought something. AH! There was a bratwurst vendor in front of a
grocery store where I sat for a bit… SMELLED SO GOOD. I was afraid they
wouldn’t have any change for my massive bill, but it looked so good.
I walked back to the bus station and sat where Tamara and
Peter dropped me off to wait for them to return. While I was waiting, this guy
came up to me with some sort of petition asking me to sign it… All I know, is
that it had to do with handicapped people. I kept trying to tell him I didn’t
speak German, but he was one persistent bugger. Then I thought he was telling
me he was deaf cause the motion he was doing, means “deaf” in ASL… but then I
was like, that doesn’t make sense cause obviously he can hear me! haha. Ugh. I
could have signed something that says we should throw handicapped people into
the sewer and make them live underground, and I wouldn’t know it. It gets
better though hahahaha I think he was telling me I was very sexy… AND THEN, he
just straight up asked me for sex. BAHAHA. He kept saying sex, but, you know,
language barrier and all, I thought I was misunderstanding or something, and I
looked confused so he said, “Sex, you know? Um… you, me, sex?” and then my
brain was like OH! hahaha and I laughed and shook my head no. He took the
rejection a lot better than most American boys. Ah, Europe! :)
xoxo,
Rebecca
If I ever meet you over there, you can point out the petition guy to me and I will give him something he will never forget, ha, ha. I am very relieved that you are adjusting. Tell me about the child, the picture is as good as a thousand words but how do you feel, what were your and his reactions to the first meeting? A year will pass before you know it but we do miss your cheeky personality or at least I do. I haven't had a argument since you left, ha, ha. God bless you honey, be safe.
ReplyDelete