angekommen - here we are

p.s.: ihr lieben - ich hatte ehrlich vor, eine zweisprachige version dieses beitrags zu verfassen, aber hier passiert dauernd so viel, dass ich so schon nicht hinterherkomme - ihr werdet merken, auch hier fehlen bereits zwei tage. ich hoffe, alle verstehen genug englisch um folgen zu können. wenn nicht, schreibt bitte beschwerdekommentare.
und schreibt doch auch kurze "ich bin dabei"-kommentare, ich weiß gern, für wen ich schreibe :)

i intended to give you a bilingual version of this posting. i fear there's just too much going on here to realise that. i hope everyone understands enough english to follow. if not, please post in commentaries. also, please post your attendence in commentaries, i like to know my audience :)

and here comes the story:

does anyone know the feeling of not knowing where to start from because you're afraid to start from the wrong end of things and then you miss out important information and so on and so on?

i'm gonna try to sort things in chronological order, but there's slight chance that this will work out the way i intend, so nevermind if i keep jumping back and forth.

okay, so things started at five a.m. on friday. five a.m. is real early. i stuffed some things in and out of my backpack, i tried not to forget anything important and so far it looks like i have succeeded with that intention. i took the tram to the airport and it was pretty crowded which strengthened my opinion with regard to capitalism. people did not seem exactly happy about having to get to work at six a.m. and i can see why.
i checked in. i was surprised how easily everything worked out with my backpack and my guitar (flying in a soft case - i would never have dared to send an espensive instrument this way, but things worked out fine). i went for coffee. at the bakery i saw another girl from my group and her family who had already checked in and were enjoying their breakfast now. as some of you may know i'm not exactly an early bird and so i was having trouble following their vivid conversation or even getting involved in it. i drank my coffee and smiled empty-eyed. they're great people, no questions about that, but guys, six a.m. is just really not the time to get to know a lively anna....

we bought souvenirs for the people who organize our stay in ky (werder cup, werder rubber duck). i bought a resealeable plastic bag to put my tooth paste in. we hung around for a while doing - ... ... ... - well, something i cannot remember.

we got on the plane. it was a small plane that was mostly occupied by business men aged 50+. i read die känguru chroniken which i can only recommend to all of you, but specifically to those of you who are involved in left politics, because it's an incredibly funny book about a communist kangaroo moving in with an unsucceeding writer (thanks again to leo for that!). i kept rolling over the plane floor from laughing which might have disturbed the cute steward who was sitting next to me. too bad.

we landed. we met another girl from our group. we hung around. we looked for and found our gate. we were checked for extremely dangerous things like lotions, pencils, water bottles, that kind of stuff. while the guys in bremen had found out about the evil plan i had with my craft scissors (bastelschere) and at least asked me about it, those in frankfurt did not seem so worried about me hijacking the airplane.

"passport, please"
(me, showing my passport.)
"you have to go over there with that passport."
(me, going over there with that passport, holding it out to the american passport checking guy.)
"show me your passport please."
(...)
"thanks. that's a russian passport."
(...)
(in russian): "where are you going?"
"lexington, ky"
"why?"
"to attend a summer school program at the uk"
"aha. and where do you live?"
"in bremen."
"you live in bremen?"
"yes"
"how many suitcases do you have?"
"one backpack, one guitar."
"and who packed those?"
"me."
"and where did you pack them?"
"at home."
"in bremen?"
"yes, in bremen."
"so you live in bremen?"
"yes."
"and who packed your suitcases?"
"I packed them."
"and where have they been between the packing and the check-in?"
"only with me."
"do you have any electronic devices with you?"
"yes."
"and who has used them the last time?"
"me."
"and where have they been ever since?"
"only with me."
"and where do you live?"
"in bremen."
"do you have any liquids with you?"
"yes. in a plastic bag."
"so, they are in a plastic bag?"
"yes, in a plastic bag."
(me, showing him the plastic bag with the liquids)
(him, pointing on a box with cream in it): "that box is too large, they will not let you in with that. throw that away."
"alright, i'll throw it away."
"yes, throw it away please."
"okay, i'll throw it away."
"have you come here directly from bremen?"
"yes."
"and where do you live?"
...........

i still have my cream, for that matter. and the scissors; i still have those too.
and the us passport guy in charlotte by the way asked me about which school i was attending three times. they do seem to be very interested in geography around here.

we got on the plane. nine and a half hours, the rest of the kangaroo chronicles, a strange movie with julia roberts and clive owen (duplicity) and various once-an-hour-beverages later we got off the plane. the movie taught me about why it isn't wise to make movies too complex for people to understand and that confusion isn't always a good thing.

in charlotte, nc, they checked one of our fellow travellers who is orignially from turkey for terroristic intentions for about 45 minutes. i don't think he had any.

we got to know rege, who is probably taller than two of us together, and who drives around passengers who are unable or unwilling to walk to their gates in cute little cars. we wanted to hijack one but since rege was so tall we decided we needed a better plan than just overwhelming him. we tried to talk him to unconciousness but that did not work out quite so great. so we ended up just re-checking-in and getting on our plane to lexington.

by that time it was about 12 a.m. in german time and we were all pretty much done with the day.

we arrived in lexington at 19:30 (always count plus six for germany) and were met by karen, andrea and david, the guys who give their very best to make us feel like kings and queens here.

we got on the bus, off the bus, checked in, got some pizza and went to sleep.
finally. it must have been about 11.30 p.m., 24.5 hours after getting up.
it never stops to amaze me that these days you can cover a distance of 7000 km within a few hours. really.

pictures and more impressions to follow.