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!

Driving or low-level flying???

When I woke up on Sunday in Munich, I felt I had had the strangest dream that someone had climbed into my bed uninvited and started trying to hook up with me. The fact I was in a different bunk kinda made me wonder if it was in fact a dream. Then, when all but one of the boys left to get breakfast and I tried not to get up at all, one comment from the remaining boy confirmed it was not in fact a dream. Dammit.

Doing my best to forget it happened at all and not give said boy any impression that it was to be repeated in any way, shape or form - as well as reminding him he actually had a gf - I turned over in my bed and tried to mentally ready myself for checkout. That done (and me having gotten away with not paying anything!!), we went downstairs and threw our bags into the luggage room before heading to a beer hall for a hair of the dog. Took me a little longer to invite any hairs or dogs back in my world but I managed. What a trooper.

At 3pm, I had to meet the lady who my new German host family had arranged to take me to Hamburg in her car. At 3:30pm I was starting to worry - I couldn´t get through to this lady and she apparently already left by the time my host had gotten through to her. Luckily she turned around and picked me up. Hey, it was easy money for her, she had 2 others in the car already!!

I dozed on and off during the 6 hour trip as she cruised at a pleasant 220km/hour down the autobahn. Yes, I admit it, I was shitting myself at first, having never been that fast in a car in my life (even with my dad driving race cars) but eventually fatigue took over any nervous emotion my body cared to throw at me. At least we got there in good time.

I got my ticket to Luneberg at Hamburg train station and managed to jump on the wrong train, so had to break the news to my new hosts that I wouldn´t be at Luneberg til 11:30pm. Oops. Finally got to the house about 12:30am and just collapsed.