When you drive in Germany (or Austria/Switzerland for that matter) you learn a lot, mainly about yourself. Especially when words like this can make you giggle like a school girl…
gute fahrt… have a good trip
ausfahrt… exit
Ok, not very mature, but at least I am honest. So we are driving around Europe in one of these bad boys…
The Fiat Punto! It is a fine car. Not the sexiest, but it is good on gas and isn`t the slowest on the Autobahn. I got it up to 180 km/h (120 mph), which I thought was cool. That was until I got passed by a Ferrari going at least 250 km/h. I should have upgraded to one of those!!
Driving on the autobahn actually is not as intimidating as I make it out to be. The no speed limit thing is only in rural areas, and drivers are very respectful. These are things that Illinois should look into!
Probably my favorite part of driving over here is the stoplights… just before you get a green light, both the red and yellow lights come on as a second length warning that you better be ready to go. Which is great! With driving a stick you need that extra second to get into gear. The Germans are so smart!!
Last thing… you should come to the Alps, it will change your life. This is our view…
More later.
We are currently outside of Luzerne in a town called Horw. Just guess what I have been calling Alisha the last few hours!
The trip is going very well… unless you read Alisha`s blog- she is cold.
New things that we have learned from our endeavors and through the new friends that we have made…
-Switzerland is huge fans of boyz to men
-Pretzels are for good for every meal
-I have to say enschuligung in every city (you may want to look this up and it will be apparant why)
-Starbucks and McDonalds are the two places we can absolutely count on… being there, being clean, being free (bathroom/WC-wise) and being what I always want.
-The Swiss Franc is like play money that can really burn you when you do the math that a coke just cost you $20.
-We are much faster than horses, and smell (marginally) better
-Thez put the Y and Z button in the wrong places on the kezboard. Zou alwazs are deleting words to trz it again. Crayz europeans!
More later.
Just a quick note from our current stop in Salzburg, Austria…
Here is what we have learned so far…
The English hate rubbish bins.
The Germans are very friendly, enjoy clean bathrooms, and don’t listen to as much David Hasselhof as you would think.
The Austrians love Mozart and his balls.
Time is up at the internet cafe…
I’ll get to another one soon!
Today we celebrated the newly married Mark and Kristi Patterson. They had a noon o’clock wedding on a Saturday, which is a little early (especially considering trip[s] to Talanya’s the 2 nights before). By the way, if you like karoke and you are brave… try Talanya’s sometime, it won’t disappoint.
The wedding turned out great and we are excited for their new life together. The event really brought Alisha and I back to memories of our wedding. The pastor who did the service (Ron), started off with the same script that our pastor (Kevin) used- Ron used to work under Kevin, so that really isn’t that surprising. Also, the wedding was in same room as ours and they sampled our intro music. Being there was such a trill for us, especially considering it is our two year anniversary on Monday. It was just fun to watch and remember the excitement we had on our day.
They had their reception down on the Landing a few hours after the service. The party was one of the better receptions I have ever been to. The highlight of the day, outside of a rousing rendition of “physical”, was the meal… they served brinner! Breakfast for dinner!
Eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and cereal! Classy move Pattersons, classy move.
If a meal could tell the future… the two of you will have 15 kids, live in a mansion, drive bentleys, and have Oprah consulting with you on what she can be “about” because the two of you have solved world hunger and the HIV epidemic in Africa.
I know it isn’t going to be easy, but with brinner on your side, anything is possible.
I have been in a funk the last two days. More heavy, less funny. That happens from time to time. It may be a good thing, but I’m not sure I want to submit to it.
Tonight we got to hang out with family and close family friends. To be honest, I wasn’t jumping up and down about it, but I knew I would enjoy it and that it would be good for me. It’s just that the bed seemed more inviting at the particular moment.
Joe and I played a rousing game of respelling letter blocks (they originally spelled “count your blessings” in scrabble tiles… the two favorite respellings of the night were “robin yount cuss legs” and “oily scrubs gone nuts”). After the game, Joe said something real smart. It was one of those statements that brought clarity. He said that he thought it may be weird to watch his daughter when she is our age. At first I didn’t understand where he was going. He followed that up with “being our age is kinda like the middle school of life, we have no idea what we are doing”.
Joe, you have my attention.
I did a good job of faking like I knew what was going on in middle school, but in reality I WAS LOST. Eventually, I figured things out throughout my time in high school and college. But since then, life has changed at break-neck speed and because we are “adults” I am expected to handle it.
I think that is contributing to my funk. I want to figure it out now, but I am pretty sure I can’t. So instead I just put more effort into work just hoping that I can be on the “varsity team” by the time I do start figuring it out.
Joe, thanks for having the guts to say it. Maybe it was just a funny statement, maybe you heard it on tv or something. But I needed to hear that. Why? At this point the struggles of middle school seem like a faint memory. Not that there hasn’t been struggles since, but I need to know that this adult puberty/awkwardness will end at some point.
