Time for one last photo...

time to say goodbye

I came, I saw, I ate pizza.

After a... hmmm... well... I won´t say it was a tearful goodbye because didn´t cry till afterwards... I got on my train to Frankfurt where I now wander the airport looking for something to occupy my time. Both Natan and Mchel are now playing soccer games and I awaot the 20 hour flght home. Happy to return but sad to leave frends behind...

Post script...

Now in Singapore... the flight was bearable but now I have to hang here for another 6 hours or so...

For those gettting really excited that I'm coming home, don't get too excited cause I fly out again for another couple of weeks for a course... I promised I would come back and I did...

well worn

well worn 4
Originally uploaded by Shok.

ever get the feeling you're only just holding it together?

Sex and the city

Well, not really want I want to talk about but it's what always reminds me of shoes...

I came to Germany to buy shoes. Seriously. I have big feet. I have wide feet. They're great for swimming but suck for shoe shopping. I usually hate it with a vengance simply because it is just down right depressing.

But not today! Today I triumphed!! I had almost given up on this city and it's shoes when even in another language, one look at my feet brought on serious shakes of the head... not even mens shoes....

Until I finally found the Birkenstock shop. Four pairs people. Four pairs. Including a pair of boots! I have triumphed!

And also spent a ridiculous amount of money. Which is what reminds me of sex int he city. i mean seriously how can someone love shoes that much? Have so many pairs and spent so much money? I don't know what her excuse is but I almost fainted when I did the calculation in my head...I kinda forgot about the exchange rate...

But you know what really bought my triumph to a screeching halt? Passing person after person begging on the street for money and me muttering under my breath, apologising for not speaking for german, carrying my bags of shoes...

Nana from Gana

Today (well yesterday) I made a new friend...

In Koln there are a lot fo buskers and 99% of them are really good.

I passed an African guy playing flute so I chucked him a dollar. He stopped playing and started a conversation, which turned into coffee. He is a very talented muscian and dreams of returning home and started up a kind of orphanage.

There's more to the story but it doesn't really belong on a website me thinks!

Finally, some photos...

Scroll down to the end and they'll be in chronological order... the comments make more sense too...

This is the Cologne Dome or Cathedral... I was over 200 metres away and I still couldn't get the whole thing in. It's massive!!

This is the lake the boys live close too... it's pretty awesome... hell of a long walk around though...my butt still hurts!

What trip is complete without a couple of clowns...

Time for another clown...

A lot of things are taken seriously iin Germany... esp the K9 police force...

Onwards to the big city... cologne... where public policy says all men must smell nice... (not really but it's a good idea don't you think?) This is me and Mary, Michael's dad's dog. Michael's dad was nice enough to take me on a wlaking tour around cologne, then out to lunch :) We had pizza!

High on a hill was a lonely goat herd... and now we know where he lives...

This is Julianna and also my first mode of transport on the autobahn...For those looking for a new vehicle I highly recommend these. The leg room in the front is awesome... and the back is great for those who have none at all...

Everything is small... the streets, the cars... i think that the mini cooper is classed as a family wagon here...

Now we arrive in Bamberg... the polar opposite of Chicago...

Sears Tower... The little buildings you see to the left are only 50 storeys high... do we have any that big in Auckland?

This was my host family in Chicago, Joan and sproglets.. Seriously, I tried to get them to take a proper photo but they refused!

From the top of the Sears tower every thing looks little... everything except the way down...

This is Chicago... with a parking policy after my own heart...

This is a part of the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim (the one you see on tele on sunday mornings). It's stunningly beautiful with it's own drive in worship centre and million dollar womens toilet. Ladies, it was sorth every cent!

This was about as exciting as hollywood got... you see, it doesn't really exist. It's just an urban legend

Yes, it's as cheesey as it looks!

Directly on the other side of Rob and why he is leaning ever so slightly to your left is a cliff face of a couple hundred metres... and I mean directly... This was along the pacific coast highway... pretty but not as pretty as our west coast!

Yes, the blurred image is what you think it is... Jesus: The Action Figure. Comes complete with leper, loaves and fish. Batteries not included

The beginning of Tash's new fall collection of tradtional american images... not me, the coke truck!

Santa Cruz Beach... with it's own Boardwalk (I now know what that is) andtheme park...

Photos...

no power for laptop... not getty photos off camera and on to memory stick... plus havenät found anywhere that will let me stick stuff on their machines.... there will be heaps when I get back... but I promise, not as many as last year!!

Strike that, reverse it.

Got power, got laptop with wireless capabilities... got wireless signal in flat... got internet! And that means photos! Hold tight!

I feel dumb...

Really, I do. The fact that I only speak one language fluently makes me feel dumb. Sitting through hours of conversation you dont understand, hours of television that you dont understand. Eatign the same food in the super market because you cant tell from the pictures what everything else is makes you feel a little helpless and a little useless... but apart from that it´s cool.

I´m trying to convince michael to come up in a hot air balloon with me but so far with no success.

I ridden bikes more this last week than ni the alst ten years of my life. The first night Natan took me out which was the first time Iäve been back on a bike in ages and I had to try and follow himin the dark, with no street lights, through a flippin forest! It was an adventure and I didnt fall off that time.

Michael and I took a road trip down south where he had to do some work for a couple of hours on behalf of the soccer federation. One the way there we got stuck in traffic on the autobahn for about 90 mintues all because they were trying to get everyone to merge lanes. On trhe way back it was the same except it was some sort of accident. We had to turn off the car for 40 minutes and just sit there so we had a nap.

I also calculated (very roughly) that on average we passed 14.25 trucks per minute coming in the opposite direction... we travelled for 270 mintues onthe way home... that´s over 3800 trucks. It´s not even the main autobahn people!! Plus at every rest stop which I will conservatively say there was one every 20 kms there were between 8 and 20 trucks parked for the night... crazy.

I´m a little home sick now and the guys are working and training quite a bit so I´m having a lot of reflective time.

I have to go home now and decide if I can handle the 16km cycle to midnight soccer tonight... I have a feeling that´s what made me sick last week... hmm... I tell you, this is a crazy country!

Love to you all, and if you see dottie give her a hug from me!

köln... the city of mens aftershave...

not really but thatäs how you pronounce it.

I arrived here this afternoon to be greeted by Michael´s late Hungerian butler who managed to lose our chauffer... Michael´s dad. Funny thing was, mIchaeläs dad walked straight past me on his search for Natan... apparently he was looking out for someone more kiwi..I promise, I havenät done anything to my hair... yet... (but mum... I diid get my ears pierced again... twice... jstu so I could say I did it in Chicago...)
SOrry about the typing but they gave gfunny keyboards here.

The boys scored the coolest flat. Itäs like an old stlye american farmstead with stables etc... or maybe more english... but anyway, theyx have a little flat int he sceons floor with very cool views of the garden. Michael is at work coahing his kiddies team so Natan has been giving me a tour fo the sports university where they study... itäs quite cool... not as cool as carey though!

Bye bye for now!!

PTL the lord for indoor plumbing...

Thank goodness for indoor plumbing is all I have to say after Julianna took me clubbing last night with her freinds. We had several hours of dancing to crazy old songs and crazy german songs and numerous guys who refused to believe that I didnt speak german. They also had some of the worst pick up lines... it was like being in primary school again. Anyways... back to the indoor plumbing. After the club closed you had to be really quiet because it was below residential apartments. The guys who were with us started play fighting (as boys do) and the next thing us girls are soaking wet... you see in bamberg, they don´t yell at you to be quiet they just chuck a bucket of water out their window and hope their aim is good enough to persuade the party gooers to move on... it was. Again, thank goodness for in door plumbing!!

Jermany... my first customs search...

I made to the airport at Chicago and without any trouble got on my plane. It was scary saying good bye to everyone as this is the first part of my journey where I venture out alone. The flight was uneventful and I did manage to sleep for some of it. However the highlight of my travel was German customs... I must have looked stoned cuase they pulled me aside to empty my bags. Now had this been Tere of past this would have been a nightmare but having found in the states these wonderful vaccuum bags for clothes, this was relatively painless. They kept asking me 'what´s this?´ (at least I think this is what they were asking). They were very suspicious of the two sets of 8 ´nooma´dvds, and the 8 cds I had bought at the conference. I shoudl point out at this stage that neither of them spoke english. So for an entertaining (not) 15 mintues or so I tried to explain to them that they were christian teaching resources for young adults - not pirated hollywood movies. I thinkit helped when he pulled out my bible case and said ´what´s this?´. Now, the word for bible is the same in german as it is in english (for that matter so is dvd but they didnät understand that either) and he looked at me blankly for a few moments and then said ´bible?´ ´ja´as I opened it to prove that it wasn´t a very clever way of smuggling drugs.

The funny thing is, that although you know that there is nothing illegal in your bags you get very nervous that somehow something appeared from another dimension just to cause you trouble.

After my flight I had to catch two trains to get to bamberg and I can only put down my success to the grace of God. I got stopped at customs which should ahve made me late but my flight was early. I had carefully written down all the instructions and contacts numbers for Gerd and for Michael and put them in a very special place... when I find that very special place, I´ll let you know. I have the most terrible jet lag after 4 time zones in three weeks and was falling alseep on the train only to wake up after we pulled away from the stop where I would look frantically for a sign letting me know that i´d missed the stop to bamberg.

But thanks to modern technology I was able to kept entertained by texting a friend back home and when I got to bamberg 3 hours late I was able to call mum, wake her up at 5am and ask her to call Gerd for me... ain´t life grand?

Bamberg is beautiful. I get to go clubbing tonight but i´m not sure if I´m going to be able to stay awake... or how you order ´lemon lime & bitters´in german...

The Willow Beast...

Saw my good friend Bill today... also went to americas largest mall and possible my largest nightmare but we hung out with th e lovely ladies from the JC Penny Salon and had our nails done (just to say we did). You know why all the ladies get those huge great nails? Cause it only cost 26 bucks US (about 40 NZ).

Also had fun telling the host kds about NZ's huge chocolate sheeo dropping export. I even bought them a bag.

count down now 2days till leave the US. It's been a blast but can't wait to leave the tour group and just hang out with some friends!!