Bye Bye Deutschland
So things are winding down. My last day of work on Friday was really weird. A little sad.
The weekend was focused on getting rid of my final furniture and clearing out the apartment. The sofa was picked up on Saturday, leaving me to sleep on the floor Saturday and Sunday nights. Not entirely keen on doing that again in the near future. Or ever again. I'm sleeping in a hotel from Monday until Thursday's departure.
Today was busy busy. After sleeping at the hotel, I had to be back at my apartment by 7am because the moving company was to arrive between 7 and 8am. UGH. So they came and packed everything up. As they were doing that, I was in the kitchen opening and pouring out a bunch of beer bottles. Twelve in all. I wouldn't be drinking them and wanted to get the deposit back. These guys probably saw me and almost had a heart attack. Beer down the drain... Sacrilegious. Anyway, the big weigh-in moment: 160 kilo, so I'm in line with my allowance of 200. I, on the other hand, weighed in at a hefty 58 kilo. Err... Diet starts Monday!
Continued cleaning the apartment and hauling out lots of trash. I also de-registered at city hall, where a favorite German past-time presented itself once again in the presence of an American. That just means that I was asked about U.S. politics and Bush's departure and Hillary's chances and hopefully the end of war and less killing and all that. I agree. But let's not talk politics. Then I went to the bank to arrange how my account would be closed. After leaving and heading back to the bus stop, a cute little gray cat with big yellow eyes peeks his head around the corner. He brought a smile to my face. I continued to the bus stop, and as I was looking back, I saw the cat heading toward the street. I froze and could only repeat to myself "No, no no." He made a run for it and a car got him. It was so sad. Boom - life gone. Some lady picked him up and removed him from the road.
I hand over the keys to the apartment tomorrow at 2pm. Not sure what I'll be doing the rest of that afternoon and evening... the final one in Germany.
Leaving and saying good-bye to people has been a very humbling and emotional experience. I'm continuously caught off guard by all the compliments that people have given me. I just never expect it. If nothing else, maybe it's minor validation that I'm doing something right in life, as I seem to have made a positive impact on many people - more so than I ever imagined. It makes me sad to leave. I grabbed a small pizza in the Aldi store around my house to throw in the oven this evening for dinner, and my favorite cashier was working. As I've always paid with my debit card - but today had cash because the bank forced me to turn my card in earlier - she said surprisingly "You're paying with cash today?!?" I'm shocked that others remember me or little things like that. We had a nice little chat and I told her I'm leaving for good. She didn't even know I was American but said I was always so friendly and she'll miss my smiling face. The funny thing is, she was that same person to me, and I'd always choose her checkout line when she was working. I don't know, I guess I always thought I did a lot of things anonymously in life, not really mattering or being noticed by others, but the fact is that people do take notice and we all have effects on others, even in something so trivial as grocery shopping. That's the lesson to which I was reintroduced over the past week.
I leave with a bit of a heavy heart, but I take a lot of memories, friendships, and life lessons with me. I plan to hold on to all of these.
The weekend was focused on getting rid of my final furniture and clearing out the apartment. The sofa was picked up on Saturday, leaving me to sleep on the floor Saturday and Sunday nights. Not entirely keen on doing that again in the near future. Or ever again. I'm sleeping in a hotel from Monday until Thursday's departure.
Today was busy busy. After sleeping at the hotel, I had to be back at my apartment by 7am because the moving company was to arrive between 7 and 8am. UGH. So they came and packed everything up. As they were doing that, I was in the kitchen opening and pouring out a bunch of beer bottles. Twelve in all. I wouldn't be drinking them and wanted to get the deposit back. These guys probably saw me and almost had a heart attack. Beer down the drain... Sacrilegious. Anyway, the big weigh-in moment: 160 kilo, so I'm in line with my allowance of 200. I, on the other hand, weighed in at a hefty 58 kilo. Err... Diet starts Monday!
Continued cleaning the apartment and hauling out lots of trash. I also de-registered at city hall, where a favorite German past-time presented itself once again in the presence of an American. That just means that I was asked about U.S. politics and Bush's departure and Hillary's chances and hopefully the end of war and less killing and all that. I agree. But let's not talk politics. Then I went to the bank to arrange how my account would be closed. After leaving and heading back to the bus stop, a cute little gray cat with big yellow eyes peeks his head around the corner. He brought a smile to my face. I continued to the bus stop, and as I was looking back, I saw the cat heading toward the street. I froze and could only repeat to myself "No, no no." He made a run for it and a car got him. It was so sad. Boom - life gone. Some lady picked him up and removed him from the road.
I hand over the keys to the apartment tomorrow at 2pm. Not sure what I'll be doing the rest of that afternoon and evening... the final one in Germany.
Leaving and saying good-bye to people has been a very humbling and emotional experience. I'm continuously caught off guard by all the compliments that people have given me. I just never expect it. If nothing else, maybe it's minor validation that I'm doing something right in life, as I seem to have made a positive impact on many people - more so than I ever imagined. It makes me sad to leave. I grabbed a small pizza in the Aldi store around my house to throw in the oven this evening for dinner, and my favorite cashier was working. As I've always paid with my debit card - but today had cash because the bank forced me to turn my card in earlier - she said surprisingly "You're paying with cash today?!?" I'm shocked that others remember me or little things like that. We had a nice little chat and I told her I'm leaving for good. She didn't even know I was American but said I was always so friendly and she'll miss my smiling face. The funny thing is, she was that same person to me, and I'd always choose her checkout line when she was working. I don't know, I guess I always thought I did a lot of things anonymously in life, not really mattering or being noticed by others, but the fact is that people do take notice and we all have effects on others, even in something so trivial as grocery shopping. That's the lesson to which I was reintroduced over the past week.
I leave with a bit of a heavy heart, but I take a lot of memories, friendships, and life lessons with me. I plan to hold on to all of these.