Germany in the beginning

ahhhhhhh! There is just so much for me to write about! I guess I'll just dive right in and see what comes out.....

As you should know I am now in Germany (I think I informed you of that almost every post for the past month or so....sorry about that but I was really rather excited)! I am getting to be quite the expert little traveler. Sometimes it kind of feels as though all I ever do is pack up my things. So I did manage to get all the way from Slovakia to Germany in one piece glitch free. I took a train from Zilina to Bratislava and then got onto another train which took me to Vienna. The whole trip totaled 3 and half hours and so was not bad at all considering I went all the way through Slovakia and into another country! My cousin, Katherina, met me in Vienna at the train station and took me out for the day. And boy what a day it was! She took me all around Vienna so I really got a good look at it. It is truly an amazing city with stunningly beautiful architecture. I just love how much history and beauty Europe seems to have packed away over here, it's almost like it is never ending. Vienna is full of these really big, old, apartment style buildings. They line the streets and are truly magnificent. The centre of the city is FULL of people from ALL over the place. You can hear so many different languages being spoken at any given time. It was actually really cool. But confusing for my poor brain. You see I have now been programmed to speak Slovak in response to another language I hear and so when people were talking to me I would automatically answer in my very broken, heavy accented Slovak and then they would just look at me like huhhhh? And then I remember that I can speak English again..... So I'm having to work to turn my Slovak off because no one here understands it! But that was, what I would say, the only draw back of Vienna, that it was swarming with tourists. And for me that kind of takes away from the magic of the whole city but it was still gull darn magnificent. I saw the Stephen's Cathedral again which is stunning, Schonbron Palace and the even more fantastic garden behind it, The university, town hall, and a whole lot of other important buildings I can't quite remember. We went for lunch in a little cafe in one of the back streets and were able to sit out in the sunshine which was wonderful. I had schnitzel which was delicious! and a green salad for the first time in seven months! Then after a day of sight seeing, we went back to katherina's house to see her father, and younger brother and sister. With them I went out for dinner to a winery just down from their house and we had a really nice chat. It was so good to see them again after almost three years! Then it was off again to the airport for my 920 pm flight to Hamburg. And so here I am in Germany which really is only a hop, skip, and a jump from Slovakia.

It's actually really quite interesting being in yet another country after you have become accustomed to a home away from home. Now I find myself comparing everything to not only Canada but Slovakia as well. It really is like I have two homes. And the more I talk to people about things the more I realize how unreal these past seven months have been to me. It's almost as if this past year didn't happen. It feels like I paused everything in canada and my life beforehand and then came and kept on living in Slovakia and then I will go back and unpause it again. But I do know that isn't how it actually happened, and I'm sure lots of things have changed, but that's how it feels. strange. but cool.

I hate to say it but I have been terribly deprived for the past seven months. Deprived of fashion trends, of fresh vegetables, of big houses, shiny fast cars, brand names, good shopping, and the one most worth noting; beautiful dark boys! I had no idea how much I have gone without while in Slovakia until now. If anyone tries to tell you there isn't a difference between East and Western Europe they are so so SO wrong. There most definitely is and I am seeing it. NOW I understand why people say Slovakia is a hard country to go to. Because it really IS. So yes, Slovakia is a developed nation and it has all the comforts of home that we have in Canada but it is still missing a lot of what the "western world" has. It's kind of hard to put into words but it is kind of like Slovakia is under a rock. Now I see just how closed Slovakia is to the rest of the world and although it is changing it isn't changing at near the rate other countries are. Really when it comes down to it, everything in the "west" is bigger, shinier, and newer and I don't know if that is necessarily a good thing but I do know that it makes me very very happy. I didn't realize just how much I miss having access to all of those things. Being able to go shopping in a huge mall, with H&M and Tommy Hilfiger and, seeing big cars again, and oggling at beautiful chocolate boys on the street, eating fresh vegetables and seeing substantial sized houses, standing up in a real shower; all of it is a nice reminder of home. And you may think this would make me wish I hadn't ended up in Slovakia but in fact it doesn't. It's quite the opposite really. I'm very pleased I had the chance to experience and really get to know something so different. That I was pushed to adapt to something so far from my comforts of home and I got (and will continue to) spend ten months in a country I would have never otherwise discovered. And all of that is awesome.

So it's been really cool comparing and sharing what I know about Slovakia and Canada with my family here in Germany. I'm really getting a feel for yet another part of the world and think it's really eye opening to have seen how much a way of life can differ from one country to the next even if they are only a couple hundred kms apart.

Up until now I haven't done anything too exciting. I have done a LOT of walking and am thinking I should invest in a pair of decent walking shoes as my feet are killing me at the moment. I have blisters and don't even want to think about putting my shoes on again tomorrow but we'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I have taken quite a few pictures of the centre of Hamburg which I will post here as well as the pictures of Vienna. I hope to be able to take more pictures and as I do I will add them to my online album for you to look at. I did some wonderful shopping today with a girl my age I met through my Aunt Karin and bought two very cute colored cardigans for summer. Not too sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow but we shall see. I am just going to go with the flow as I'm very very good at that now....

night night! or shall I say Guten nacht!

p