Apple tea, olives, extra seats = sweet sweet bus ride

That´s it, I´m outta Slovakia and back in Germany! And it seems I was running away from the snow, which was my exact idea really... I got on the bus in Bratislava and it had just been lightly snowing, then as I traveled through Czech it was evident it had been really pouring recently. However, it held off largely until - when I was semi-comatosed from a sleeping pill - the bus had to slow to a virtual crawl and therefore ended up adding another 1.5 hours to the already 14 hour journey. Now in Germany, there´s little evidence of recent downpours and I´m hopeful I can ride some at G´s place.

I am so thankful for sleeping pills. Except when you´re woken by a jab from a policeman at the German border asking for your passport. That is one confusing wake-up call. I must´ve looked like a drugged-out escapee from the forests of Slovakia (I´m sure there are some out there) with my lion hair spurting all directions and unable to fully open my eyes for them to compare my passport photo with my actual face. Perhaps the pill worked so well because I´d lubricated myself up before I got on the bus with 5 beers and pasta with a sauce I created myself that included a Baileys-styles white liquor before I got on the bus. Mm mmmm...

The times I did look out the window it was quite pretty, with little mounds of snow everywhere and white roofs and streets covering the scars of the world. Nothin´ like a good bandaid hey.

I tell you, it is quite a weird experience teaching kids while looking out the window at their playground just covered with snow. I know I have been away long enuf to appreciate the look and experience of snow but somehow I just can´t get over it.

And speaking of kids, me and N did our presentation with them for the parents, teachers and virtually all the students and it went much better than expected. I was super stressed because the boss had arrived from Budapest and I didn´t want him to think he couldn´t leave the week to us and not screw it up. But everyone seemed to enjoy watching it... I guess it helps when we dress up one of the kids as Santa and get him to throw lollies into the crowd.

But regardless of the delay, the bus ride was pretty sweet. From Prague, the numbers started to dwindle - even tramp lady with evil smelling feet got off, thank fuck - and I was able to stretch across the whole row of seats and enjoy several free cups of apple tea and hot chocolate. Yum. Oh, and I popped out at one stop to get a sandwich and found the BEST olives EVER. Oh yeah mama...

Now I have to chill in Hamburg - which I´ve just found out is the sex capital of Germany (lucky chance or not...???) - for a little while before heading back to Lüneburg and then Göhrde, wherever the hell that is. I just hope someone is there to pick me up!