I would have liked to start this entry off on a positive note, but the very act of writing here brings up the one significant glitch I've had. I'd considered/planned on bringing my good old composition book journals, but I have left them at home. However, I am now on the plane to Germany, as scheduled. I shipped stuff. I think, as I packed, that I saw some stuff I thought I wished I'd shipped, but I can't remember what those things were. Everything has gone surprisingly smoothly. When I first got on the plane and heard a lot of German being spoken, I started to feel as if I was now in foreign territory, even as we were still in Virginia. I started to have some other feelings -- mostly apprehension, I think, but I can't quite recall every feeling. I wish I could have started writing as soon as I got on the plane, but you know how it is with planes: no futzing with your stuff until you've reached altitude; then drinks, food, and more drinks. After they do all their serving, you (that is, if you're me and were having vague feelings of apprehension about living auf Deutschland for the next 4 months) kind of forget any notions, real or imagined, of being in hostile territory.
I am excited that, for possibly the first time, I spoke German to a German. I said Danke schön to the fairly hot flight attendant. Of course, I've said this countless times to any Americans I thought would understand (which is a lot more than would understand kamsa hamnida), so in some sense it didn't feel entirely like speaking someone else's language. Weird.
So now we are dealing with Bob's unhappy back, his legs that fall asleep, the Bob that basically doesn't sleep on moving vehicles, except the ones that have well designed seats. Oh wait, that's none of them, so never mind that qualification.
Listening to the Italian Symphony now, ironically. Haven't found anything inspiring and German on the in-flight radio... well, actually, shoot, I just realized all the composers I can think of who I've heard on the classical instrumental channels have been German or Austrian: Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Hindemith, Weill, Mahler, von Weber.
Well, I've gotten an assignment in Germany for 3-4 months. I always vacillate about how much personal information I put on this blog, but I'll just put this out, and tell the world I'll be working in Darmstadt, Germany. I'll leave around the 17th; this means that, most likely, my blog (at 66.92.171.57) will go offline for the duration. Ummm, that's it, I guess.
If there's anyone reading this who knows me, who doesn't already know about my expatriation, and wants to know more, you know where to contact me :-)