Like Post 30 I Think

MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU!
I just wanted to assure you all that I am not dead and will be blogging soon about the rest of my adventures. 

Love, 
Amanda 

Fun Times In Germany: Part 3 BLACK FORREST ADVENTURES

Ciao buddy!

I realize this is the first time I've addressed you as "buddy," but I feel that at my 29th posting you deserve the title for hanging this long with me throughout this crazy adventure of mine and reading my obnoxious rambles. Some of you have left messages on Facebook, telling me how much you've enjoyed reading these crazy entries of mine and I just want to thank you all SO very much. This means a lot to me. It's nice to hear that people are reading what I write and not only that, but are actually enjoying it as well. When I write these posts I often feel like I am just typing up my journal entries because this is very much the writing style of my diary entries. Only instead of saying something like "Ciao buddy!" I write "Hola Future Self." Anyhow I just want to thank you oh loyal blog reader.


Ok, on to day two of Germany...

Now I'm pretty sure that I mentioned this before--I probably said it back on my first night in Switzerland--but I am going to mention it again, plus you probably forgot if you're a guy, but will remember if you're a girl. Whoops! Hahahaha... I'm not going to go into this.

So anyhow, to the point since I always take forever to get to it, I didn't sleep that well the first night. Nope. I always have a difficult time adjusting to a new bed, mainly because of my back issues. I have to have the pillows just right and I have to have a pillow between my legs, and make sure my spine is aligned and yeah sometimes that just doesn't happen. I had a really bad night that night. I hardly got any sleep. I listened to my audiobook of the "Time Traveler's Wife," which is pretty much my all-time favorite audiobook ever. I love it so much, but not even that helped soothe me into my desperately desired deep slumber. It was so sad. I kept tossing and turning and getting angry. Yeah, I'll admit I even growled aloud. Well, here's another thing... the bed was a futon and futons--if you aren't familiar with them--aren't exactly the most comfortable things in the world. They are kind of hard (that's what she said... haha sorry, been watching the Office too much lately... that saying has been coming out of my mouth in a way that would make you question if I had Tourette's syndrome or not).
UGH! Woman just get to the point!
Point: I didn't sleep well that night, therefore I was tired the following morning.
There. It's not that hard Amanda (that's what---SHUT UP!).

The day before, Uta asked me if I wanted to tag along to work with her. She said I could go hiking in the Black Forrest, while she did her business. I, of course, said yes--I mean, why wouldn't I--but I cringed when she told me we had to be out of the house by 8 o'clock! UGH! But luckily the meeting time changed and we had to leave by 11 something.


Uta makes her own tea. She grows the plants and then does what she has to do in order to make them drink worthy (so articulate right? sorry, it's 23:30 right now and I am getting rather tired). She has so many different flavors. It is amazing! And they all taste so dang good!!! I want to make my own tea someday... I mean I can make tea... that is simple, but I want to do what she does.
Grow it.

And then do what you got to do in order to make it drink worthy.
I think my favorite of her's was the lemon flavored one.

I also had some coffee, but good god... Uta doesn't have ANY milk. She had a ton of sugar, but no milk. Ok, I don't know about you, but coffee is disgusting without a TON of milk and sugar. I mean, the way I drink it seems more like I am having warm, sugary milk with a dash of coffee in it. And man oh man was her coffee strong tasting. I'm pretty sure it gave me a belly ache. Ugh... and I was SO tired that I made myself drink a ton of it so that I could function that day. I'll tell you one thing... it worked.
I also had some bread. That was yummy as well.

This is where I ate. Behind that counter is the kitchen. If you look closely you can see my notebook I bring EVERYWHERE with me to jot down story ideas or interesting quotes. 

I remember Uta scrambling all over her house. She was sort of stressed out about her meeting. 
Oh! I forgot to tell you what Uta does for a living... or wait a minute... did I tell you this? Gosh I am so confused these days. 
Well, I will just go ahead and tell you anyways. She is an Interior Designer. An architect for the blood and guts of a house, hotel, building, etc. She mainly works with hotels, which is really interesting isn't it? I just stayed with a family who owned a hotel and now I was staying with a lady who designed them. I was going to be a genius when it came to hotels. 


Well, after Uta walked Lena and took a shower and got ready we hopped in her car without stinky Lena in the back (thank you God... no offense to Lena). 
Uta told me we were going to some fancy hotel that was near the edge of the Black Forrest. She said I could walk to it from the hotel and that her meeting shouldn't be that long. Only a couple of hours long. 

A little past Uta's neighborhood. 

Pretty day!  

The trees were really thin in this region. 

Germany is so beautiful! 

The trip to this hotel was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. I think it was like an hour and a half. I'm pretty sure that I mentioned this before, but it was weird being in a car again. I mean for two months I've just been walking or have been traveling by train. I almost forgot what it was like to be in a car, which I realize sounds strange, but it is true. And then something bad started to happen. I started getting car sick. Yeah, it sucked. 

And the road started getting windier (no, not windier... grrrr I can never find the spelling for his word... you know what I am trying to say right??? Curvier? There we go... curvier.). It was awful and because Uta was late she was driving really fast, which didn't really help me, but I didn't want her to be late, so I didn't say anything. I just prayed to the gods to help me keep my cookies in before the hotel. 

Well, we made it before saliva flooded my mouth, which basically means you're doomed to vomit. Oh yeah, when Uta parked the car I remember having major CODE YELLOW as well. Makes sense with all that coffee, tea, water, and whatever else I drank that morning... maybe some orange juice. And I didn't go pee before we left, so that was kind of stupid of me. Well, Uta basically jumped out of her car and raced to the hotel's meeting room, which was a ways away from the actual hotel... ok well, not that far from it, but it seemed that way with my full bladder. Uta just pointed to the forrest and said that I had to follow this road through a residential area and then up this gravel road and then I could go hiking in the woods. She also pointed in the direction of the lobby where they could help direct me to the restrooms. She waved goodbye and quickly head off, but before she left she told me to meet her in the lobby at 14:00 so we could have lunch together. 

I said goodbye to her and then walked in the direction of the hotel or waddled is probably the more appropriate term for that bladder of mine--I'll just call him... wait a minute... why is my bladder male? ok I'll just call HER Wally for now on--Wally was getting full. 
Now I couldn't actually see the entrance to the hotel from Uta's car. There were these really large bushes in the parking lot that were more like these thick green walls. I walked--I mean waddled--in the direction she pointed to and man oh man was that parking lot big. My eyes were turning yellow by then. 
The hotel was going through... OH! Hahahaha. Something just clicked in my head... I was about to say that the hotel was going through some construction and cleaning up and I don't think they were having many guests staying with them during that time of the year so seeing me must have been a strange sight... and I say "strange sight" because they all (there were like 20 men working outside) turned their heads in my direction and just stared at me as I walked--or rather waddled--to the hotel's front doors. I felt so weird with everyone staring at me. 
Not that they could possibly see this, but I glanced down to see if that dang zipper of mine was down. 
Nope it wasn't. 
Everything was zipped up and I looked fine.
At least I thought I did... 

That little aha moment I just got a minute ago had to do with my hat. See, I was wearing my fluffy red winter hat (one of the many things I own that mysteriously amuses my brother) that I'm guessing... nope, no guesses here... I know it makes me look like a dork... actually I will look like a dork in basically anything I wear, but anyways that probably through them off. See, I haven't met anyone in Europe who has worn this awesome hat of mine. People stare at it like it is something from space. 
Or maybe I'm just paranoid. 
Yes, I think this is the case. 


Anyhow I made my way into the hotel and was sort of startled at first because this was the kind of hotel that is like themed and people dress up in weird--well, weird to me--costumes. And then there was me... the dork in the red fluffy winter hat with watery yellow eyes. I went to the front desk and not thinking because that's what happens when your bladder burns asked where the bagno was.
Hahaha. Oh languages. 
I got help and felt very much relived. 

At first I wasn't sure which bathroom to go into because there wasn't a stick figure girl or boy on either one of the doors and they didn't say "Men" or "Women"--of course they wouldn't!--I was in Germany. I went with the one that said "Dame" on it and luckily was right. Either that or went into a SUPER frilly, pink men's room. The stalls weren't normal stalls they were basically their own rooms. 


Ok, done with the bathroom. 
I went outside. It was really cold, but really sunny that day. I remember this.
I walked through this residential area on my way to the Black Forrest and took pictures on my way up. 

I found this strange lawn ornament. It was of this dog taking a crap and on it was written "No!" which I find really weird. This person has this odd sign out in front of their yard because they don't want any dogs to crap on their yard.  Dog crap ruins the yard and makes it look ugly. It disturbs it. Distracts from the beauty of the yard. 
Well, in my opinion this dog-crapping-no-no sign disturbs the yard and kind of defeats the purpose. 


I reached a gravel road and walked up it, which was right next to some deer-looking creatures and in the country. 

Bambi?

I came up to the edge of the black forrest and took a seat on this comfy bench in the shade. At first I had gotten super hot from my trip up the hill in the sun, so I took off my sweatshirt, but then I started freezing in the shade, which I was in for about twenty minutes. 

There's that attention-grabbing red fluffy hat of mine. 

I pulled out my notebook and just sat there, getting inspiration from nature. Oh my goodness. It was SO quiet in this spot I was at. It actually freaked me out how quiet it was. I  almost thought I went deaf or something, but when I leaned forward I could barely hear the wind rustling the tall golden grass. 
As I sat there I looked up at this tree and saw this crinkled, brown, withering, lonesome leaf and decided to write a poem about this little guy from his perspective. Holy moly...
That was a REALLY intense poem that sort of scared the hell out of me. I think I will add it to a book one day, but for now it is all mine. 

Sitting on the bench in the shade.  

(I love to write by the way. I love, love, love, love writing. It is my passion and I can't imagine life without it. I would go insane. I need to release all this craziness out of my head.)

Later I saw this family walking up the path and decided to get off my bench and go hiking up the mountain some more. The trees in Germany or at least this part of Germany are skinnier than the trees in Oregon and they are redder. Their leaves have an interesting reddish brown color. 


I found another awesome bench with an awesome view. 
I like benches. 

That's right. The little ball-thing-a-ma-bobber on my hat came off when I tugged at it. And then it just crumpled in my hand. I almost cried. Super sad moment in my life. 

Then I later went back to the lobby and sat on the couch, waiting for Uta. I was there a couple minutes before 14:00, but ended up waiting an hour and a half because her meeting was running longer than she expected. And apparently it is super weird for someone to be sitting in the lobby for that long. I kept getting strange looks. Maybe it was my hat. No, maybe I am just paranoid. 

Tree in lobby where I sat in front of. 

When Uta got back she said it would be a bit longer. So, she led me to the hotel's restaurant where I waited on by this guy who looks like the guy who commits suicide in "Dead Poet's Society." Then there was this other guy who looked A LOT like Buster from "Arrested Development." It was weird. 
I ordered a cappuccino and some really delicious potato soup with this tiny croutons in it. 

Yummy cappuccino! :)

View outside my window at the restaurant.  

Since I was the only one there I started getting lonely. I started getting homesick. I started missing my mommy really, really, really badly. The language barrier, culture differences, and loneliness was getting to me. 

I texted my mommy and told her that I was REALLY homesick. She comforted me.
I sat there forever waiting of my check. I think I sat there for like an hour and a half. I was also waiting for Uta because she was supposed to meet me there after her meeting got done with, but I don't think it was going to be done soon. Once I finally got the waiter's attention I discovered that I didn't have to pay anything because apparently Uta is worshipped there and her guests are treated nicely. 
That was a very cool surprise. 

So then I went downstairs and aimlessly wandered through the shops. I went into a clothes store and my eyes widened at the prices. WHY WOULD ANYONE PAY THAT SORT OF MONEY FOR A FREAKING SHIRT?????
Then I found a place that was more up my alley... BOOKS! None of them English, but I was still pretty stoked. I walked over the magazines and picked up a magazine that was in ENGLISH!!! I was super duper excited. I read an article about Rooney Mara who plays Lisbeth in the American version of "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It was a very well written and intriguing article. 


Once I finished the article it was around 17:00. I heard my name called out by some German woman and knew Uta was looking for me, so I got off of the chair I was sitting in, put my magazine away, and then found her. She deeply apologized for my long boring day of just waiting around, but I told her not to worry because I enjoyed my time in the woods, getting a tasty treat, and reading a magazine. 


We got in the car. It was beyond freezing that night and Uta drove me up the mountain some more to show me this really cool cabin/restaurant. It was very beautiful. 

Then we went home. 


Next post I will tell you about my Freiburg adventure and all my eating out adventures. 


Tootles!