Trip trip and more trip
Most of this is covered on my site's "Trip Updates," but I felt like doing some random rambling while I wait for things to charge up. Once it all finishes, I'm off to Leipzig's HBH to catch a train to Berlin so I can go to the Fanne Meile for the Final.
The European legs of the trip ended up being from 24 May to 18 June in five countries ("I took the long way to the Cup."), immediately followed by driving 8 hours to get to Rochester for my brother's wedding. Instead of two more weeks of vacation, driving around the eastern seaboard, I ended up loaded down with 7 boxes of stuff I needed to bring back to my house. The weather being what it was, I kind of didn't make it back out much, save for a trip out to Albany last weekend to go shoot waterfalls with Ralph.
In those 6 weeks, I ended up with over 12,000 pictures, including some 3-4,000 from the three World Cup matches I was able to attend. There's a lot to be said for shooting digital lol I've only finished screening and cropping the Holland-Serbia match, so still have a little over 11k to go through. This is going to take a while lol
A funny thing started happening to me at the Rehearsal Dinner. As people asked me about my trip, they'd also ask me when I was going back for the rest of the Cup. I'd reply that I wasn't. After 25 or so people asked me, I started replying that I wasn't planning on it. Tuesday was when I was asked for about the 50th time, at which point I said, "tomorrow." A few hours of route planning, scrambling, and repacking later, and I was on a plane headed back to Germany.
Rich, of course, is not pleased with me. Having managed to not make it on the trip the first go round, and not even make it to Albany for the shoot with Ralph and I, I asked him Wednesday if he wanted to go on a road trip. "Where to," says he. "Germany," says me. The only reply he could summon was, "I hate you."
I've managed to sleep in my own bed for 4 nights since 24 May and won't get home now until 19 July and it's been worth it ... even if I still can't figure out how the hell to operate a European washing machine. I may have to drag Kerstin to the basement and make her explain it to me lol Heh, last night she told me to stop using the formal "you" so maybe she'll come willingly ;-)
They say that immersion is the best way to learn a language. They're wrong; it's only second best. The best way is trying to pick up women who don't speak a word of English. I still think my German sucks, but I've somehow managed to hold up my end in a number of 2-4 hour conversations, so I guess it's not completely horrible.
I get home a week before Shar's birthday. My bed already thinks I'm a stranger, so you can probably hear the gears whirring in my head lol