Good-Bye, 2018!

It's never a good idea to put overmuch emphasis on the things which have happened in the past, other than to figure out what it is that you should've learned from them.

Lots of things happened this past year. Lots of things.

Adam graduated college.
Mary finished her first year of college.
Deb went to Berlin to study.
We traveled to Germany to witness James getting married.
Cheryl took a few trips down to Abilene to help take care of Mom while she was going through chemotherapy. I got to tag along on one trip.
We traveled down to Texas for Christmas.

We sold a few cars.
We started (but did not finish) a front porch remodel.
We hoped to start (but didn't) a backyard deck rebuild.
We replaced a water heater.
We rebuilt a furnace.

Cheryl continued to work with the Cooking Club at the middle school, teaching young kids how to make nutritious meals from scratch.
Mary continued to learn more about baking, and we helped her to test out all those delicious recipes.

A beloved cat died.

Looking back over the things that happened in the great big wide world, they really haven't had that much effect on us, other than raising our blood pressure. Babies were born to the famous and un-famous. People died, some of whom we knew and most of whom we didn't. Facebook continued to be a time-sink. Congress and the President tried our patience. There were "wars and rumors of wars", along with natural disasters and terrorist acts and all kinds of criminal activity.

What did we learn from all those things that happened this year?

Don't hold onto old dreams that aren't going to come true. Some things will just drag you down. (I'm looking at you, old rusty Subarus.)

Jobs don't mean careers, and careers don't mean much of anything these days. If you can't do what you love, what you've been gifted to do, you're always going to wonder, "What if...?". Of course, you still gotta pay the bills, but you're in control of how big those bills get.

Children grow up way too fast, but they're always a joy. Even when you feel like strangling them, they're a joy because they make life fun and interesting and my goodness! they were just learning to walk the other day! how did they get so big and smart and talented?

People (and pets) get old and die, even the entertainers you grew up with -- maybe especially them, because it's been years since you've seen them and then suddenly you see their name in the news and realize their gone, so you go over to YouTube and watch a few hours of their shows or clips, then then get really nostalgic and wonder where the time has gone -- but then you remember that everyone's time is limited and we all need to be making the best of that time. And aren't there some letters I should be writing instead of watching YouTube videos??

We probably spend too much time thinking about the past rather than the present, the things that matter close to home. Can't say as we've making extraordinary progress in keeping in touch with our friends and family like we should; we tend toward the introvertical and like to hide in our rooms behind books, both electronic and paper. We don't eat as healthy as we should (some of us enjoy our wife's and daughter's cooking too well!) and don't exercise nearly enough (especially when the winter weather sets in) and will probably suffer for it in time.

One thing that did strike a strong chord with us this year was the fact that we live too far away from our extended family to be of much use when hard times come along; we need to be nearby. Now that the kids are getting along in their own lives, we're looking into finding a way to remedy that situation. Not sure what that means yet, or how it's going to end up, but we're actively looking for opportunities in other locales which are less than a day's drive from the grandparents in Abilene.

It's a fearful thing to be thinking of making a dramatic change of that nature, but it's a worse thing in my opinion to get too attached to any place just as much as it's a bad thing to get too attached to any thing; just about the time you realize you can't imagine not being there (or it not being there), is the time when you need to move on (or get rid of it). Life isn't static. And things don't open the gates of heaven.

So we're looking at possibilities and praying and hoping that something comes along that'll move us in the right direction.

Clogged Sink

Plugged Sink: Day One

Of all the little jobs around the house, plumbing is the worst.

Water cannot be trusted. It is a solvent. That doesn't mean it solves all your problems. It means that it dissolves your house. Drop by drop, splash by splash, puddle by puddle. It is insidious, invisible, incredibly annoying.

Why did we ever bring these pipes into our house anyway? Because we like to wash our hands, our faces, our bodies? Because we like to flush things down the toilet? Because we like to hear the sump pump go off in the middle of the night, reminding us that it is still working hard in the middle of the rainstorm to keep our basement dry? (Or, conversely, to not hear the sump pump go off in the middle of the night, making us panic to think that it is not working hard in the middle of the rainstorm but has died a horrible death instead, a precursor to the impending doom of our basement).

Water pipes are self-centered, selfish wastrels who are just waiting for an opportunity to clog up and send your life down the proverbial drain. And usually all it takes is a few grams of fiber or starch or some other substance that is so fond of itself that it tends to clump together in groups, crowds, assemblies, mobs -- and you know what mobs like to do. Yep, they impede progress, usually by some form of violence.

In this case, the "form of violence" is me attempting to push the offending substance (which I can't actually see) further down the pipe (because there's no point in trying to suck it back up; no vacuum on earth has power over a clogged drain) with whatever tool happens to be handy: plunger, compression pump, or metal snake. Violence is never the solution, though, as is proven over and over again. Pipes just laugh at violence. Or break. Which is far worse.

Last time this happened, it took two and a half gallons of Liquid Plumber (aka sodium hydroxide) to dissolve the offending substance over the course of eight or twelve hours, because I refused to take the stupid pipes apart. Do you know how many joints are in that short section of pipe underneath the sink? In a normal sink, you can get away with two: one between the wall and the P-trap, and the other between the P-trap and the sink. But if you toss in the disposal unit, now you're looking at a minimum of five because the disposal attachment has an angled T-connector with three connectors. Ours, incidentally, has six because there's a straight section of pipe between the P-trap and the wall.

Six connection points means six potential leaking joints every time you take the thing apart. So you can understand why I hesitate to break out the crescent wrench and start twisting.

So my first step was to dump a cup or two of Drano (aka sodium hydroxide) down the sink to let it stew awhile. Fifteen minutes. Flush. (Still plugged.) Repeat. Flush. (Still plugged.) Repeat. Flush. (Still plugged.) Repeat until all my remaining [Insert Product Name Here] (aka sodium hydroxide) is gone, gone, gone.

(Still plugged.) Rats.

It's late. I'm out of [Product]. Can't do anything more tonight.

Next morning, out to the store. Purchase more [Product]. Pour down drain. Wait. Flush. Repeat. (Still plugged.) Really??!?  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Nothing. Extreme frustration.

OK. Finally. Bit the bullet. Pull the pipes apart. Run the snake down the very short length of pipe going to the wall. Nothing. (Still plugged.) Unbelievable!

Plugged Sink: Almost ready for the Snake

Re-attach just enough pipe to create a vertical column (to add pressure) into which I can pour some more "Product" and then let sit overnight.

Plugged Sink: End of Day Two

Wake up in the morning and run to the sink. Column of "Product" is gone -- but that doesn't mean anything, because it will typically drain very, very slowly even there's a serious blockage. So fill up the column with water and ... yep, still plugged.

Now it's miracle time. Out of sheer flailure, I pass the snake through one more time, only now I jam it down as far as I can get it to go, twisting and twisting to get it past all the curves and kinks and turns and tweaks of that pipe that sits behind the wall. (Did I mention that the pipe has a sharp turn to the left just inside the wall because there's a window above the sink?) Push-twist-push-twist until it won't move any more. Pull out to see if it found anything. Hmmm... just a little bit of mushy stuff that looks like leftover rice. Really? Doesn't seem like enough to plug anything.

So. Fill up the column one more time. The water drains. Quickly. Huh? Repeat. The water drains. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. The water drains. Confusion reigns.

With the anticipation of defeat in my heart, I carefully re-assemble the pipes again. Pour water down the drain. Rats. Leaking joints. Tighten joints. Repeat. Still leaking! Re-adjust pipes, then tighten again. Finally, no leaks.

Fill the sink with water. Let drain. It drains! Repeat (because I don't believe it.) Still works. Repeat four or five times, all the while waiting for new leaks to appear beneath the sink (there is a pan underneath because I don't trust it). Nothing.

So it ... works? I still don't trust it. I will leave the pan underneath for the next few days until it is proven that no leaking is occurring.

Meanwhile, after five gallons of sodium-hydroxide-based ["Product"], we're back in business.

I hope.

Babysitting Lola

Lola, Deb's cat, needed to get out of the apartment for awhile so we volunteered to babysit. Er, cat-sit. Since she's a cat. Not a baby. (Although sometimes it's hard to tell, given the way Deb talks about her.)

So Deb brought her over on Tuesday morning on her way to school or work or something, and Lola spent a few hours wandering through the house checking everything out.

She wanted to go into every room. I shut all the doors upstairs so she couldn't get into the bedrooms. And I shut the basement door so she wouldn't go downstairs.

She had plenty of other things to check out, though. The closets. The pantry. The Christmas tree. Behind the couches. Underneath the tables.

She never really settled down even though she was there for hours and hours. Cats are so curious! At one point, Mary was in the bathroom doing her pre-school prep and Lola sat in front of the door, staring at it as if she were telepathically knocking to gain entrance.

At one point, which I did not capture, she even got up on her haunches (like a prairie dog).

Later in the evening, when Adam was making noise in the basement, she sat in front of the basement door and peered through the glass trying to figure out what was going on down there. And hoping someone would open the door so she could go down there and find out for herself.

We didn't give her the chance. I don't want to waste time chasing cats around my basement, or trying to figure out if they've decided to mark territory.

We kept her longer than we had originally anticipated, owing to some anticipated apartment work that might happen on Wednesday. Not a problem. Having had cats for years, we don't mind hosting them for short-term periods.

I love cats. But until all my floors are wood and all my furniture is cat-proof, I'll restrict them to guest-only status.

First Big Snow Storm of 2018 .... ?

Front Yard Snow Storm ?

They said it was the first big snowstorm of the season, but it really didn't amount to much, not by Michigan standards. I think we got between four and six inches overall. That usually isn't enough to stop the school buses from running, so I was surprised when they cancelled school this morning.

Perhaps it was because the temperature wasn't enough to freeze the snow good and hard. When the snow is powdery, the cars and trucks (and buses) actually get better traction, especially after the DOT trucks dump sand all over the roads. But when the temperature is hovering between 28 and 32 Fahrenheit (that's -2 and 0 Celsius) and the copious salt has turned all the roads into slush, and then the overnight freeze turns all the slush into an ice rink, them buses ain't a-goin nowhere.

So all the school kids stayed home, but Mary had to be up and running out the door early to get to work, and then off to school. No rest for the weary, not even when the roads are a mess. I ended up shoveling the driveway twice, once when it was time for Mary to leave, and again before she got home. The exercise felt good.

It was so pretty for awhile. And then it was time to get busy.

Back Yard Snow Storm (No Shoveling Required)

Thanksgiving Feast

I don't remember how long ago we started having Thanksgiving with the Shapins, but it feels like forever -- probably because we have such a thoroughly good time -- and we look forward to it every year. Actually, we like getting together with them any chance we get, but it doesn't happen so often that we get tired of one another's company. Whenever we get together, there is always excellent food, excellent conversation, and just enough visitation that we don't wear each other out.

We don't get up early in the morning to watch the Macy's parade or fall asleep in the recliners watching football; but we spend a good amount of time in the kitchen putting lots of food together, then sit around the table yapping and nibbling and seeing how much we can fill up our tummies; and then we go out into the living room and yap some more until we're ready to jump in and get some dessert from the dessert table:

Eric brought his guitar over and he and I played together for awhile, mostly instrumentals; and then, as our discussion started wandering in the direction of learning German in order to prepare for our next trip to visit James and Tabea, we watched a bit of Peppa Pig (in German) as well.

All in all, a very filling, very successful day!

Closing Up Shop (for Winter)

At some point at the beginning of the winter season here in the Upper Midwest (Rust Belt, Snow Belt, whatever you want to call it), it's necessary to put away all the warm-weather toys and hunker down by the fire and -- unless one is a child eager to build snowmen -- read a good book.

In prior years, the problem has been an overabundance of automobiles in the driveway for which there was no room in the garage. We like to keep the cars in the garage if possible to avoid long-term exposure to weather (snow, salt, rain, extreme cold), but over the past few years, too many of the non-functioning cars were taking up all the spare room in the garage.

Now that all the Subarus are gone, there is room for the Sonata, the Corolla, and (barely) the Grand Am.

If I am very careful.

It took me an entire day to reorganize things in the garage so that the Grand Am would actually fit, mainly due to the size of the larger tools (table saw, drill press, etc) taking up all the room at the far end. Then, of course, there's the rolling carts along the side. I was able to consolidate a lot of stuff in order to reduce the number of rolling carts needed, but the main issue is that there is only an inch of clearance on either side of the car (side mirror to rolling cart) so getting the car into the garage is a painstakingly slow affair. And there has to be enough room to open the car door and walk around one end of it or there's no point in even trying.

(Notice all my spare 2x4s underneath the car. That's my makeshift wood storage area!)

It's a tight fit, but it'll work for the winter.

And now the driveway is all clear!  Yay!

(Of course, this means I'll be doing a bit more snow shoveling this season....)

Subaruless

It finally happened. We sold off our last Subaru.

The car has been sitting in the driveway for several months doing nothing, other than taking a few trips here and there to the hardware store, mainly due to the size of the back section when all the seats are folded down. Easier to carry lumber that way, you know. But it's had its issues...

Six months ago (or thereabouts), it started leaking oil, dripping slowly from the oil pan. I tried to figure out exactly where it was originating from, checking the front timing belt covers and thinking perhaps it was a camshaft seal leak and it was going to destroy the timing belt and then the engine would completely self-destruct (which is what these interference engines do when the timing belts fail); but it didn't seem to be coming from there. Observing the bottom of the engine while it was running, the oil appeared to be coming from the back of the engine, which could mean that the rear main seal was bad. That would be ... well, bad. Because I don't the time or shop space to pull the engine and fix something like that.

Then there is the rust, the incredibly non-stop rust. The rear wheel wells are compromised; any rain or salt that gets picked up by the wheels is sent like a jet-spray right up into the inner part of the frame, and from there it rots the car from within. It's horribly insidious; in the space of a year or so, it etched huge gaps in the body along the periphery, from the support beam between the side doors all along the rocker panels and stretching on into the rear cargo space. Additionally, the entire underside of the car is covered with rust. Several of the body bolts have shed layers of rust so that it is impossible to gain purchase on their edges in order to loosen them. It would be impossible at this point to take it apart enough to clean the body parts, even if (and I had hoped) there were time and money available.

Other non-critical but annoying faults include: inoperative rear left wheel parking brake (the rear right one works fine); bald front left tire; alternator belt squeal when starting; missing radio; faulty hood latch (which explains the new windshield we put in several months ago); broken fog lights; inoperative rear window wiper; sticky rear hatch handle; various minor scratches, dents and dings.

So I put an ad on craigslist, listing a completely ridiculous price ($300, which is the maximum cash you can pull out of the ATM machine in one day), and within 20 minutes, people starting sending emails wanting to buy it. So many people responded, in fact, that I had to set up a spreadsheet to track them (to determine who is next in line in case the first-come, first-served start backing out).

The first couple were all gung-ho about coming to take a look at it, but due to various issues (on their end), they weren't able to come by on Monday afternoon (and I didn't want them coming by in the evening when it would be too dark to see all the details). And then they took forever to come by on Tuesday (today) due to various things they didn't explain. But they finally arrived, having driven 30 miles to see it! And apparently they liked what they saw (for the price), because they handed over the cash and drove away in my old their new car.

I'm sad to see it go. It was a lot of fun to drive, even though originally it was only intended to be the backup car while my main car (Serenity) was getting fixed. But Serenity never got fixed, and now Serenity II is gone, and that is the end of my Subaru adventure.

Soon it will be time to get rid of our other rust-bucket car, the Grand Am, and then there will only be the Hyundai and the Toyota, with constant weekly car washes to reduce the amount of rust that inevitably destroys cars in this part of the country.

If we stay in this part of the country, we'll need to find an all-plastic car. Or something made from a material that doesn't hyper-oxidize in the presence of salt.  Where's a good chemist when you need one??!

It's all about the brakes

Saturday was a busy day, in the sense that there was a lot going on, but not in the sense that there was a lot accomplished. At least, not according to plan.

The Plan (for me) was to (1) find out what was wrong with Deb's car, and fix it; and (2) find out what was wrong with Cheryl's car, and fix it; then (3) go to our neighbor's house for a nice dinner.

The Plan (for Cheryl) was (1) to go to Tai Chi; (2) to work on various projects around the house; then (3) go to our neighbor's house for a nice dinner.

The Plan (for Deb) was to (1) show up; (2) start some laundry; (3) go shopping with Mary; (4) fold laundry; then (5) head home to Lola, taking as many of her siblings as possible.

The Plan (for Mary) was (1) get up; (2) get coffee; (3) go shopping with Deb; (4) bake stuff; (5) hang out with Deb and Lola (the cat).

The Plan for Adam was (1) go to bed; (2) sleep; (3) get up; (4) hang out with Deb and Lola (the cat).

My Plan was all set, but it didn't happen as quickly as I had expected because there are some things more important then fixing houses and fixing cars, like spending time with family and sharing silly stories and laughing and having fun together. Once Deb showed up, Deb and Mary started swapping stories about when they were kids, playing with Barbies, and Adam put in his two cents, and I just listened and laughed.

Oh, procrastination can be so much fun!

So my plan was delayed a little bit while we spent the morning telling stories and laughing our heads off and having lots of fun -- and then it was time to get serious and get some work done. So I headed off to the garage to play work with cars and the girls headed off to the mall to do whatever it is that people do when they go to the mall (I used to eat bagels and drink Cream Soda, but that was many many years ago when it was 'cool' to wander around Regency Mall in my Izod shirts, and when I actually used to have brownish hair) where I spent the remainder of the morning/afternoon figuring out that:

Deb's brakes were screeching in reverse because sometimes brakes just like to do that when they aren't quite adjusted correctly, and the only way to adjust them correctly is to put the car in reverse and let the car build up a little speed and then jam on the brakes as hard as possible, which kicks in the auto-adjust feature (I'm not really sure how it works) and then repeat that about five or six times until the screeching goes away. And then hope it doesn't happen any more.

It actually took me quite a while to figure this out because, naturally, my first impulse is to take the wheels off and inspect the brakes and find out exactly what they are doing; unfortunately, there is (apparently) no way to tell if they are adjusted properly by just looking at them. So I put the wheels back on and put the front end of the car up on the lift (thanks again, Dad!) and started the car and put it in reverse and let the wheels start spinning and then jammed on them a few times but that isn't enough to kick in the auto-adjust feature (I surmise) because I couldn't get them to screech but the minute I shut the car off and let it down from the lift and went in reverse, it was no different than when I started. So I went upstairs and did some YouTube research (last refuge of the mechanical moron) and learned about the 'go in reverse and jam on the brakes' method of adjustment, and gave it a try.

Worked like a charm.

Deb had finished her plan by the time I finished the 'adjustment', so she headed home to wait for her siblings to show up. And I started working on car #2.

I thought this one was going to be a stumper because I've been chasing this issue since before the first time Cheryl went down to Texas and haven't been able to figure it out. But this time, the problem had gotten so consistent that the issue was obvious this time: the brake caliper piston was frozen up and wouldn't go back to its non-activated position once pressure was removed from the pedal. [Part of the test procedure is to pull the caliper off and push the piston back to the de-activated position and then press the pedal to confirm piston travel-and-return; it had always worked fine before, but now refused to de-activate.] The solution is simple: order the part on-line from NAPA, drive up there before they close, pick up the part (and leave the core), then install the new part and continue with normal life.

So I ordered the part on-line and drove up to the store and picked it up (they know me quite well up there because I've redone all the brakes on all the cars over the last two years) and came home again and installed the new caliper just in time to get ready for our dinner with the neighbors.

So both cars were working fine and we had a wonderful (and filling) time at our friends' house, eating and talking and singing (yes, there was a sing-a-long!) and then went home to do all the last-minute Saturday night getting-ready-for-Sunday things that we always do.

The Car Museum

"In autumn 1948, the Horch factory began work on the Pionier tractor, based on a pre-war design. On May 18th, 1949, the first of five prototypes was completed; in the summer of 1950, series production began. The Pionier was the most used tractor in GDR agriculture at the beginning of the 1950s" {slightly paraphrased from the original text}


Today James and Sten and I went to a car museum!!!  Fun ensued!!

The car museum is housed in an old car factory and takes up a lot of space, which meant that we were there for hours and hours. But I didn't mind. Because cars!

The (in)famous "Trabant"

The (in)famous "Trabant" was manufactured in East Germany from 1957 through 1990. It was a one-piece steel chassis with a plastic (compressed paper/cotton) body, 2-cycle, 2-cylinder transverse engine, front-wheel drive, independent suspension. Required the owner to use a combination of oil and gas, like 2-cycle lawn mowers. Polluted like crazy. Took forever to get one -- there was quite a queue of eager buyers. Years of waiting, in fact.

And now it's a serious collectors item. Which is why Grandpa Gerd has one!

Trabant with a Trailer! Very popular in the GDR!

We also saw some variants of the basic Trabant. My favorite was the one with the attached trailer. A lot of these trailers were home-built by enthusiasts.  Mainly because it was impossible to afford a commercial model! And the wait list was far too long!

Another famous German car

I was disappointed that there was only one or two Volkswagens, but there's probably another museum specifically for them somewhere else. They weren't manufactured in the GDR, that I recall. I think it was a West German thing. But it was still fun to see at least one of them!

After a wonderful morning/afternoon of browsing through the cars, we went back to the Becher's for some dinner at the big covered table in the backyard (which was our tradition).

A Visit with the Großeltern

Hmmm ... I wonder who this could be?

Today we started with a bit of a hike, just James and I, to see the vast and lovely countryside which he has talked about so much.

It was beautiful!

We hiked through the deep and lovely woods, crossed meandering streams, hiked on farm roads, climbed rolling hills, crossed busy streets, wandered past ancient (abandoned?) buildings, and enjoyed amazing views. All before lunchtime!

Then it was time for a trip to the Grandparent's House in the country!

Oh, look! Großvater Gerd and James!

Grandpa and Grandma (Tabea's mother's parents, aka Opa and Oma) have a lovely country home up in the hills that looks like an Alpine cottage, lovingly crafted by Gerd himself (!) and full of unique and beautiful architecture. I would show you pictures of all the wonderful things inside, but frankly I was too busy oohing and aahing over them to take any pictures, so you'll have to go there yourself and see them.

We had a lovely (and tasty) tea-time with them.

Opa (Gerd) and Oma (Seigrid)

Cheryl enjoys Tea-Time with die Großeltern

To cap off a thoroughly wonderful afternoon, Opa Gerd took us for a ride in his Trabant!

Famous East German Automobile!

(Opa Gerd could probably do well at the Indianopolis 500...)

Later that evening, we went to town for a concert at a local church. They had quite the pretty ceiling:

The Hebrew letters are for "Yahweh"

and quite the entertaining concert. Although the temperature inside the building - and the lack of air movement - was a challenge for those of us who struggle with asthma.

During the intermission, we took a stroll around the grounds:

Stretching the legs during intermission

OK, I guess we're done walking!

After all that entertainment, we were ready to go home and relax.

Aue Church Tour

Cheryl peeks out the window

This has got to be the biggest church in Aue, certainly an outstanding architectural achievement in the area. It was certainly impressive to me.

We left after breakfast to go back to Aue and tour a handsome church. We were actually allowed to walk up the stairs all the way to the top! And it had an absolutely stunning view from up there.

Truth be told, I felt a little nervous being up so high. Especially when I had already walked through the main sanctuary and see how high the ceilings were ...

The view from the sanctuary

... and then proceeded to walk up to the area above the ceiling ...

The "attic" above the sanctuary

... and then proceeded to a little room at the very top above where the bells are hung...

Cheryl and James look out over the city from atop the bell tower.

... which had an incredible view of the town and the surrounding countryside.

The red arrow points to where we were!! Way up high!!

And here is what it looked like:

Bird's-eye view of Aue

After all that adventuring, we had to soothe (my) nerves with some ice cream!

Rob relaxes with a cool treat

Touring Annaberg

James poses with a local historical figure.

We were going to do the tour of the mines first, but when we got there, we had just missed the scheduled tour; so we decided instead to head over to Annaberg and tour the town.

We looked at the building, the church, and had lunch, toured another church, and then suddenly there was this huge rainstorm! Which lasted about 30 seconds. Just long enough for us to purchase umbrellas which we probably won't need the rest of our vacation.

Then it was time to head back to the mines for the tour. It was awesome! We took the little train cars into the entrance through the cold, dark air and when we got out, it was wet and cold and dark. Good thing we had raincoats on!

Listening to the tour guide, when not mugging for the camera.

Riding the cave train!

After a lovely tour of the beautiful and haunting mine, we took the little train back outside and found, to our surprise, that it had hailed while we were gone. Didn't realize it was that cold!

We went back to the Becher house for tea-time (coffee and apple cake) and then dinner (pizza) and then shopping (Cheryl and the girls) and then games ("Concept"). And then it was time for bed. Finally. After a fun but tiring day.

First Day in Germany

Seeing the Berlin (Tegel) airport for the first time, after coming from such a huge airport like Chicago O'Hare, was odd. I was expecting a huge facility; after all, this is the capital of a country, right? Shouldn't the airport for a capital city be absolutely huge?

I didn't realize at the time that Tegel was only the fourth-largest airport in Germany. And that it has been scheduled for closure for many years. That explains a lot!

The fun part about flying in to an international airport in a different country is knowing that no matter how preparation you've done, you're still a foreigner and will never speak the language well enough to make yourself understood. And I didn't do any preparation at all. 'Cause I'm a 'murrican and don't have any time for such trivialities as studying foreign languages!

In truth, it was very frustrating to have been studying for a couple months prior to our trip, and still not be able to formulate sentences any more complex than, "Guten Tag" and "Wo sind die Toiletten?" Even if you have that ability, you have to be ready for the sudden rush of German which results from asking questions in the native tongue -- and my ears ain't nearly proficient to handle that little chore!

Luckily for me, most of the people understood English passably well, so we didn't have much difficulty navigating our way through the airport and out to the front area where we were able to call up the hotel shuttle and get picked up. We just had to wait awhile.

The Hotel Shuttle!

The hotel is only a short hop, skip and jump across the road from the airport, so it didn't take us long to get over there and find our room and get settled down for a quick night's sleep before hopping up early in the morning to grab some coffee and soda before jumping back on the shuttle to take us back to the airport where we were supposed to pick up the Flix bus which would take us to Leipzig.

The All-important Morning Coffee

Supposed to.

Seems there was a problem with the Flix bus route that day, and there was no service to/from the airport, so after waiting a while -- past the appointed pick-up time -- we discovered (through the miracle of eavesdropping) that we would need to catch a local bus to the main bus terminal where we could actually connect with the Flix bus we were trying to catch. But we would have to act fast because we had tickets on a specific bus which traveled at a specific time.

So off we went on our first little language adventure, trying to figure out which local bus to take ... asking people ... not really understanding them ... looking at the numbers on the bus schedule/map and trying to make sense of it all ... asking more people and hoping we got the gist of what they were saying ... using the kiosk to buy tickets and hope it was correct ... finally getting on what we hoped was the right bus ... riding past all these unknown stops and not sure which one was ours -- then finding out that we'd missed our stop and had to jump off at the next stop and then do a little back-tracking ... finally arriving at the central bus station and trying to figure out the overhead signs ... which didn't have our Flix bus number on them -- no, wait, they do have our bus on there, it's just that the routes are scrolling through the boards and we have to wait a minute to see ours ... then there's construction going on so we can't tell which platform is the one where our bus will be ... hey! There's our bus! Then running to the bathroom (which requires coinage to operate) before the bus takes off without us ... getting our luggage aboard ... getting our tickets scanned ... getting on the bus and finding our seats ... and -- whew! -- relaxing at last and enjoying the sights along the way from Berlin to Leipzig.

The Flix Bus! At last!

Relaxing on the Flix Bus

It was a very nice ride on the bus, watching out the window and seeing the countryside, linking up to the free WiFi and perusing the web when not otherwise distracted. Only a couple hours down the road, and then suddenly we were pulling into the Leipzig station and seeing this charming young couple waiting on the platform for us with big smiles.

It was so nice -- and so weird -- to see them again! And realize once again that we were in another country, and there was so much adventure to come!

We took a little side trip to the mall nearby to pick up a few things -- I wanted some new shoes suitable for walking a long time, as it was expected that we would be doing a lot of it in the coming weeks -- and then we jumped on a train or bus or something and rode it/them to a place near the apartment where James and Tabea are living. That was so cool! And we finally got to see the street where they live! Which reminded me of some streets back in New York where there's barely room to park a car.

Cheryl & Tabea in the apartment

We had a tour of their apartment and (finally) got to see all those things that show up on the screen when we're doing weekly Skype sessions with them. It's a nice place. Although during this part of the season, it's hot and stuffy and they have to keep the windows open to get any kind of air movement. And if the air isn't moving, you're just sitting and sweating.

James with his plant friend

We had a nice lunch with them, and then everyone packed up their stuff in Tabea's car and we headed onto the road again, aiming in a general south-east direction towards Aue and Bad Schlema where we would be spending the next couple of weeks.

After another couple of hours -- and a lovely view of the German countryside! -- we arrived in Bad Schlema where the in-laws live, and after greeting us warmly, they put us up in their guest apartment, which is an adorable little place that felt very cozy and comfortable. And we spent the rest of the day getting to know everyone and enjoying their marvelous hospitality and eating lots and lots of yummy food!

The Lovely Table in the Apartment

Note that I didn't get a lot of pictures taken once we arrived there ... because I was too busy yapping and eating.

Off to Germany!

We're all packed and ready to head down to Chicago to catch a plane which will take us to Stockholm, Sweden, and then catch another plane which will carry us to Berlin, Germany, and then catch a bus which will take us to Leipzig where we will connect up with James and Tabea who will then drive us down to Bad Schlema where the wedding festivities are going to begin.

Three weeks in Germany! I can't believe it. I haven't ever had a vacation this long. Especially one with so much activity packed into it.

Normally when I have any length of time off, there's a huge list of things to do around the house so that there isn't much time for really relaxing and doing nothing. I can't remember doing absolutely nothing (except maybe reading) since those long-ago days of high school when our family went down to Nag's Head NC to hang out at the beach and play in the sand and surf with brothers Craig and Kelly.

[Actually, if I count the times when the family - or just my dad and sister and I - went back to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa or go to Bible Camp - we may have spent three weeks doing it, but all those memories are a blur now.]

I'm really looking forward to the trip, although it makes me nervous to go someplace where my native language is not the primary language (although it is generally the lingua franca in much of Germany); I wish there had been more time to learn at least some basic German, but things have been too utterly crazy around here to allow that. I apologize to my German relatives in advance!!

Today we're driving for three hours to a hotel near O'Hare which will allow us to park our car in their parking lot; then we take the shuttle to the airport where we will catch our flight to Stockholm. There, we have a six hour layover before boarding the plane for Berlin.

Once we get to Berlin, we're staying overnight at a hotel next-door to the airport, then getting up early in the morning and catching the shuttle back  to the airport, where we'll catch a bus to Leipzig. Hopefully, James and Tabea will meet us there at the bus station and take us to their apartment. From there, we'll be taking a car down to Bad Schlema where the in-laws live, and hanging out there for a couple weeks.

I hope we don't run into a lot of traffic on the way!

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POSTSCRIPT

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It was a long drive, and then a seemingly longer wait in the airport before our plane was ready to board. But we finally made it! Now we're going to just kick back and enjoy the flight. Hopefully they'll have good food and good movies to distract us from being completely bored. I usually fall asleep in the first half hour of a flight, anyway. I really like being on planes (except for the lack of sufficient room and the stuffy, dry air).

See ya on the other end!