when i made my plans i didn't think about how mainz and düsseldorf, though 2 hrs apart by train, are both right on the rhine. the train goes along the rhine the whole way and it is so incredibly beautiful. there would be small towns we'd travel through with the water on one side and the houses right against the train on the other. then there'd be a small town on the other side and the castle way up high on the banks of the rhine above it. it's so ancient looking, it feels like the place fairy tales came from. someday i'll have to go to the black forest.
29.3.10
215/365
another morning, back at the hauptbahnhof! the messe is finally done, now i can have some fun! today i'm going up to düsseldorf to visit with anne. I've never been to düsseldorf and so i'm excited i'm going to get some sightseeing in along with all the time i'm spending with friends. Meike bought my ticket for me which saved me 20€ over buying it on the internet. i'm used to needing reservations to feel comfortable, but now i don't need them, because i am traveling with just a big purse instead of a big suitcase, and germany now has smoke free trains! i am so excited that though i may make the mistake of sitting in first class, i will never make the mistake of sitting in a smoking car ever again.
214/265
my phone finally came!! Meike's friend had a party last night and we all went so i had something to entertain myself as it was charging charging charging. then i popped the sim card in and.... got this message. :( i figured out i needed to register my sim card, which i did online, but it takes up to 24 hrs to say it's 'verfübar' i guess. wah wah.
waiting for the bus
every day when i wait for the bus back from meike's i have to wait in front of this cell phone store. i want to buy a new phone so badly so i can text her- and other people!- my plans. if i only knew where mine is.
213/365
there's a lot of rules people ignore. like selling straps, that's one we ignore. but this one i think is a good rule and i wish more people observed it. it makes my ears hurt. when i get home at night meike and i just sit quietly together. after talking all day over the wailing guitars it's so nice to go back to her quiet apartment in her quiet building and eat dinner quietly with her. it's a life i could easily get used to, i don't understand why germany and chicago have to be so far away from each other.
212/365
here i am selling guitar straps in our booth- actually taking them down for the night. i feel bad, i had a picture with jenny in it too, but it was really blurry and i feel like a lot of these are blurry. i feel so self concious taking sps in public. and i am never alone. there are always people around. there were more stores today who want to carry our stuff, so i think tomorrow will be the big day for stores and saturday for individuals. i am realizing in all of these pictures you can see my fancy shirts and neckaces but not one has my miniskirts and striped strumpfhosen. the messe is probably 95% men, so i feel like jenny and i stand out more as women than as americans. ok, that's probably not true. we stand out ALOT as americans. my german is not good enough to hold a conversation. but it is good enough to sell guitar straps. which makes me feel happy and useful here.
211/365
in the bathroom at the messe. the first day went well, though there are fewer people than we expected. my jetlag is still pretty bad. it's a long day, but after hearing about the crazy irish metal band staying at Jenny's hotel, i've decided to commute back to Mainz every day. it's not a lot of time to spend with meike, but it's better than drinking in frankfurt. and i think that Jenny and i will get along better working together all day if we have a break in the evenings. This picture was taken after my necklace broke. it was one of mom's, so i was sad about that, but i have another lime green one of hers as well. i think i have all the beads so hopefully iäll be able to string it back together.
210/365
took this almost right after i got here- i asked meike if i could upload pictures and she's like, wait! when did you take that? i have a painting of this plant and her cozy orange couch at home somewhere. the plant was considerably smaller 5 years ago, though! i can't believe it's been so long since i've last been here. hopefully now that i'm in a better place financially i'll be able to come back more often. meike's place is just the same only more homey now that she's been here 5 years. it was brand new the last time i was here. my german phone didn't arrive. i have the charger for my iphone but 'kein netz.' so i'm glad i didn't pay extra for the global package. i wish i would have come a day earlier- i don't think i'll be ready to work with only one night's sleep against the jet lag.
209/365
on my way! such a sunny day in the atrium of o'hare. i love that this is our second rate dinosaour. it used to be in the field museum, but once sue got there, the poor brontosaurus got kicked out. and they needed to find another place big enough to put him. where else but the airport? where indeed. i met lisa for lunch, but it was frantic and crazy. hopefully the rest of my trip will go better. i just hope i can sleep on the plane!
208/365
It is so awesome having a whole weekend before traveling! i got so much done, packing and shopping for gifts and warning my credit card companies and everything. i'm really excited to go, and nervous about the messe, and i already miss lisa so much just thinking about it. but i can't wait to see all my friends and to work in another country!
21.3.10
207/365
cutting out fabric for one more set of bag linings before i leave for germany. ever since we bought that extra bookcase our dining room is even more the library. it's the coziest room in our very cozy house and the heart mirror amy gave me for xmas only helps that along.
IMG_0014.PNG
i beat the computer at risk! i bought all these new games to play on the plane to germany. now i keep wasting my time draining the battery playing them on my commute.
206/365
after therapy i was sad so i went to cvs and bought headbands and pringles and they made me feel better. my bangs are way too long- maybe i'll get them cut in germany. putting on headbands while my hair's wet makes a terrible dent, though.
205/365
dont' remember why i took this picture. it was someplace interesting, and i snapped it thinking that the map would tell me where i was and i'd remember. but my camera has a bug and it says every picture i take is at montrose and california. so that doesn't help me caption at all.
204/365
i'm getting worse and worse at these. i miss about one a week. it's gonna take me a year and a half to get 365. but i think even if i'm not following the offical rules enough people started reading here after kickingthecancergator stopped updating that i better keep posting. and i post more often if i have a photo to go with it. so there.
203/365
shoppin at the indian grocery store. lisa and i love the frozen foods. horray indian lunches!
202/365
went to a party for one of lynne's friends. he lives in this crazy vintage high rise where elizabeth taylor used to live. the lobby is amazing. i was sad the elevator came so quickly.
201/365
waiting for the damen bus to work. it never comes. i don't think i've gotten to work on time yet since they cut busses. i wait in front of this bakery with crazy cakes in the window. here you just see the bottom of the panaderia sign.
10.3.10
195/365
left over hydrangeas from the party! don't they look great in our new ikea juice glasses? i took so many pictures of hydrangeas in sunbeams.
200/365
allie got sheets from grandma for her birthday and i said i'd sew a comfy sheet onto the back of a duvet for her. i cleared all the furnature out of the dining room to make enough room to lay it out. sadly, i could not clear out the cats. being themselves. ellie- hiding in another room. lisa jr- vogueing. mitzi- hunting.
199/365
hey, did you see the finished kitchen? i took pics for dad since he gave us the cabinets for xmas. and i thought since i was taking pictures i should take a sp. you'll get more kitchen pics soon once i'm finished doing the kitchen floor's grout. the color difference in AMAZING!
198/365
a note from the board president says the dryers (really, only one works) have been leaking carbon monoxide into the basement and shouldn't be used anymore. so off i go to the laundromat. here i thought i was done with laundromat pictures. oh well. at least i can put it all in at once.
197/365
grout. i mentioned to lisa!'s mom that finding something to clean the grout is something i still have to do for home ownership. this means she will keep buying me new things to try until something works. so far- no cleaners change the color, but the brushes do bring up gunk. and i have some re-whitener from clark devon hardware that looks promising.
196/365
i love this sign. there are so much interesting southloopyness on my way to knit night. and now it's light out when i go, so that's even more exciting!
3.3.10
194/365
Hmm, she thinks, contemplating the phone plugged into her computer. shourld i skip a day, or just take another sp here and now? how many of these do i have to take before giving up on the project all together?
193/365
on the way to the grocery store when lisa! sees something sparkle in the skylight's light and plucks My First Grey Hair out of my head. i am horrified, just horrified. what will my dad say? he's always telling me "don't get old, cait, don't get old. there's just no future in it." I hate not listening to him.
192/365
reminds me of my mom's line, "let me get out my camera and take your picture now before you drink too much. my subjects just get blurrier and blurrier the longer we stay out. they are prefectly clear when they arent' drinking, it's only after they start imbibing that they get blurry. what? no, it has nothing to do with me. the SUBJECTS are the ones that are blurry, after all."
191/365
urkish restaurant. it was sooo good! lisa and i are planning a trip to istambul this fall (wanna come?) and so it got us in the mood for ticket buying.
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