a break

a tourist visa to ukraine is available on entry (meaning you just get the normal stamp in your passport - for people of many nations, but not all) and good for 90 days...i knew i'd have a guest when my 90 days were up, and due to a special schedule for a week in school, the last weekend in october turned out to be perfect for me to make a visa run...so off i went to stuttgart, germany for a long weekend...
i flew to a small airport semi close to munich late wednesday night...i wasn't keen about the arrival time, nor was my host, but my other option was to wait until friday night, and that seemed silly...i love the german autobahn system...you get to drive fast, and signage is pretty good...obviously, i didn't get to see any scenery...we arrived at the home of my host, i got the tour, and went to bed...

my host is in the US air force, and is originally from michigan, so there were heaps of directions relating to the university of michigan, which i dearly loved...as always seems to happen, military members posted overseas often have great housing, and this was no exception...i felt like i was in a palace:)
the next morning, my host went to work, and i slept until past 10...that's the latest i've slept in ages, apparently i needed it...i caught up on email and generally lounged around...i skipped trying to figure out the tv, as i'm not technologically inclined...hee hee...sometime in the afternoon i walked into the center of town, and just enjoyed being out and about...the weather was 10 degrees warmer than what i left in kyiv, and the leaves in stuttgart were still in a lovely rainbow...i love red leaves, and there aren't so many of those in kyiv...my host lives on the side of a valley around the city, so walking into the city center meant going down heaps of steps...my only thought was that i'd have to go back up all those stairs:)...fortunately, i'm used to it since kyiv is built on hills...i had hot chocolate from starbucks, and moseyed through a couple parks...i really like stuttgart...dinner that night was at home, steak!! i fell asleep as we watched "hoosiers"...one of the best movies ever:)

the next day i spent in the same way...lolligagging around in the morning, not doing much of anything...in the afternoon i went out, then met up with my host and another american...this time, instead of spending the evening at home, we drove (meaning, my host drove) to burg frankenstein...traffic wasn't great, and there was more than one stau...that's one thing i don't miss about the german highway system...
at halloween time the castle is turned into a haunted house, open to the public for a whopping 20euro entry fee...there isn't much parking near the burg, so there is a good shuttle bus system set up...there were heaps of people at the castle, and we wandered all over...we watched one couple as they were 'tortured'...(meaning that they tied up the lady and tickled her a bit...the man was tied to a table, and they ended up putting ice down his pants)...humorous for everyone watching, and all in good fun...

the whole thing was done really well...good costumes, good music, etc...at one point we watched a short dance performance with vampires...i kept waiting for michael jackson's thriller to be used in the soundtrack, but they didn't use it...another michael jackson song though, (not that i can remember the name right now, argh)...the drive home was heaps faster, my host said the spedometer showed 200km/hr for a little while...
the next day was saturday, and ended up being one my favourite day of the trip...another slow wakeup, and a trip to two of the military bases in the area to run errands, including grocery shopping...to most people this probably doesn't sound like anything special, but this was the first time i'd been in an american grocery store in over a year and a half...soooooo many foods i'd forgotten existed...some foods i never knew existed...there were plenty of things i wanted to buy, but i stuck with two boxes of hohos, a pint of ben + jerry's chocolate fudge brownie (not surprisingly, the commissary didn't sell the latest ben + jerry's flavour) and a bottle of gatorade...i was a happy camper, to say the least...i don't usually miss american things, but i loved going through the grocery store...good times...

from there we went home, and my host showed me how slingbox works...well,  i got to see it, but i still don't really understand...all i got was that the tv in stuttgart was somehow connected (through internet i think?) to a tv in the states, and through that connection we were able to watch american tv...what that meant for us is that we could watch american college level football...I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL...i grew up watching it nearly every fall saturday afternoon, and it's something i really miss...we got to watch the michigan game, yahoo!! if i lived in stuttgart, i'd be parked on that sofa every saturday afternoon...hee hee...a dinner out with the friend who'd joined us at the haunted castle, then back home to watch the florida/georgia game...the friend is a georgia fan, but my host and i met through a florida fan...since it was an SEC game, i didn't really care who won, i was just happy to watch...though i did fall asleep at a couple points, i'm not used to staying up late...hee hee...

the next morning was me waking up, packing up, and making my way to the frankfurt airport...not long after i queued up to check in, they closed and cleared an entire area of check in...are you kidding me? there was no information being given out, so no one knew what was going on...a dog was brought in, and sniffed the area, and apparently everything was cleared, as we were let back in...i queued up again, closer to the front of the queue this time...since i didn't have a bag to check, and it was just me, checking in took no time at all...getting through passport control and security took longer, as it was slammed with all the folks who'd been waiting with me for the dog to finish sniffing...i was rather concerned about missing my flight, as were plenty of others...howeva my flight left late, so it ended up not being an issue...
arriving back in kyiv, in the cold, was not so fun...but the weekend was great!! i needed that break:)

back in the fatherland

after taking a bus from central london, i arrived at stansted airport, ready to spend the night...apparently i wasn't the only one, as there were LOTS of other people all around the building..i ended up putting my stuff down near a guy who had a sleeping pad underneath his body and was covered in a sleeping bag..he was definitely prepared for a night in the airprort!
i didn't sleep much that night, but that's been the norm these days..i have had a lot of trouble adjusting to the time difference..i flew ryanair for the first time, not much to say about that airline..as far as budget airlines go, i like air asia better overall..(and i wish there was something cheaper than southwest in the states)..ryanair flys to frankfurt hahn airport, which isn't anywhere close to the other (larger) frankfurt airport..anywho, my friend mandy picked me up at the airport, and we drove around for a while..it's nice to be on good roads again, (in a nice vehicle,) but go figure, they make me carsick!! argh..we saw rivers and castles and all the lovely german architecture i've missed over the last few years..
and then we got to her flat..it's HUGE!! i got to have my own bedroom:)..mandy had to work one of the days i was there, but the other days we just hung out and got caught up with each other..we know each other from my hometown, so we know a lot of the same people..i learned about the existence of apple tv, and we raided a large german grocery store..she had a snowboarding trip planned for american thanksgiving, so we spent a couple hours in an outdoor store figuring out everything she would need..even though i wasn't buying, it was still fun..
from mandy's little village of schopp i took the trains to stuttgart, and met up with jenn..jenn and i met in australia in 2008, near uluru..she also has a huge flat, in the city..surprisingly, (because trains in germany almost always run on time, down to the minute) one of the trains i took was late leaving, so i was an hour later than expected getting to stuttgart, which has a huge hauptbahnhof...thankfully i had jenn's handy number, and we met up quickly enough..after dropping my stuff off in her flat, we went walking downtown..there is an old schloss, an old church, and other stuff to see in stuttgart..plus, since it was november, the christkindlmarkt had started..even though i couldn't drink the gluhwein, it was still pretty to see..a nice walk..
that evening jenn had a birthday party to attend..the birthday boy was american, but his wife was german, and he threw the party in german tradition..that is, he paid for everything..he had reserved a room at a restaurant and had a buffet set up with lots of yummy food...the evening was fun, and i enjoyed meeting new people, even though i felt a bit odd, since i was a complete stranger to anyone else in the room..the next afternoon we went to the tv tower on the outskirts of stuttgart..the city has a great public transport system, each time we wanted to go anywhere we were able to hop on the s-bahn or the u-bahn...yay!! the tv tower is one of the tallest in europe..i think berlin has a taller tower? anywho, you take the elevator up, to your choice of three levels..one is a cafe, with views all around of the entire area, and the other two are entirely open to the elements..jenn and i had joined up with one of her friends, kristina, and all three of us signed the tower..that evening, the three of us went to the flat of more friends, and i got my first experience playing wii..according to the wii, my fit age is 45..hee hee..i got my butt kicked (in 3 rounds) in boxing, and ended up actually being sore a couple days later! eeek!
jenn had to work the next day, so i wandered around downtown stuttgart again, taking pictures, wandering through shops, watching people, etc..jenn and i cooked dinner that night, fun..the next morning i was up early, to take trains to the airport in frankfurt..(thankfully, these trains ran on time)..when i checked in, i received a "coin" worth 2 euro off anything i wanted to purchase in a duty free store..i ended up not using it, given that things in duty free are still pretty expensive, and there wasn't anything i needed..
the end of germany for a couple weeks......................