The date has officially been set! We leave July 11th for our trip! I have let work know, supposing there are no paperwork problems I write the test next Monday, and then I book my practical. But even if there are some problems, I should be writing it within 2 weeks, and that leaves a little room for error. No on back for me this time like last time. WAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA
After last week, this final date setting was exactly what I needed. Pillion no more! It is no longer an idea or a thought or something we just talk about. Its real again! We are going to try to meet Joscha and Ed in Bulgaria as they will be on their way back from the exact same trip we want to do. This of course has two reasons, one is that it would be awesome to meet up with them and show them how much cooler BMW’s are to Africa Twins. (Although if Patrick buys the bike tomorrow he is planning on, there will be two sets of twins, as their Africa Twins are in fact, twins):
And Patrick is planning on buying my bike, only with a yellow seat. (Which means that Betty remains the sexier beast of the two, because a yellow seat on this blue? aaaa why?)
But also because the roads from Croatia to Albania are not exactly paved. At least not always. I just bought a book titled “Dodging Potholes In Eastern Europe,” and so it may be better to have a little more experience behind me with Betty before we tackle a day of gravel. For the sake of our relationship.
This was just one of those weeks, the first week back to a regular work load after some time off traveling with my parents, and also the kind of week where if it can go wrong it will and does go wrong. But this mornings class was lovely, it is hot and sunny out, Im forsaking the gym for a beer in a beer garden with friends (and for anyone with a comment on why that’s why I’ve rounded out my figure in Germany you can bite me, I have after all, had one of those weeks) , and even if my savings account does not like it, I am treating myself this afternoon!
Or at least the Black Devil does, the universe may take that as an opportunity to really taunt me. Sigh.
Quick review, which if your a regular reader at Gypsy as well you already know. I spent this weekend at a motorcycle travelers meeting just north of Heidelberg. Watching some of the presentations created a physical pain in my stomach and my chest as I literally ACHED at the memories of our previous trips, and the knowledge that 6 weeks and German paperwork stands between me and the next one. (and if you wonder how we afford it, we live life on the cheap the rest of the year, no new cars or Bertolucci watches for us. Mine is free!!!)
I did spend a chunk on my bike, and the license itself. But then that is why we cut our trip from one year to 3 months.
Anyway, this is all how life is good. And I admit my life is good. I make mistakes that I need to pay for, but all in all I am very happy with how my life has turned out, and the direction it is going. So my partner is a Swabian with no intention of living outside of Germany. He is however an avid motorcycle traveler and a freelancer who is only too happy to take months up to a year off for motorcycle adventures. And he is still here despite some pretty impressive tantrums that I have thrown since moving to Germany. (I never expected to go back to teaching English, and I admit that though it offers the life I want, there are some major drawbacks).
Enter bad day Monday.
First off I am a freelancer. Most jobs on the ESL market in Germany are. Thats fine. It means that no contract binds me, and I can take all those holidays that I do so love without losing my job.
It also means spending half your day on trains as you run from class to class, and so 6 times to be late. There is also a lot of split shifts, so I work most days 8 - 12, and then again 4 - 9 30. Suck. And though I can take holidays when I want, I dont get paid for those holidays. Whats more if I take too many Im regarded as unreliable, and though work wont promise you hours, they do like for you to promise them it back.
But not so unusual and a small price to pay for the holidays I do take.
So today after missing my bus the last train I can take wihtout being late proceed to shut its doors in my face. Literally. I should have stuck a body part in there, but I didnt. That is why German trains are always on time. Door shuts, it doesn’t reopen. I need to call work to tell them I am going to be 10 minutes late. I am in fact 15 by the time I tear up the stairs.
Fast forward to this afternoon. I go down to check the Black Devil and make sure she starts. In fairness I never do this. I also ASSUME she will start. But today I just wanted to make sure. Bad day in all. She does, lovely. I go back, and play on the internet to the last second, and then I leave. I need 20 minutes to get there, I always leave 30 minutes early just in case she wont start.
She starts, I go, Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Halfway there, on the back road of nowhere, where no buses ever come, she dies. Just dies.
I scream, and cry, and scream some more.
I think about kicking over the hill, jumping on her, and tearing her exhaust pipe off, just because I can. Instead I call Patrick to come get me.
Enter strange German man on his BMW, who fixes her, (her spark plug had come out, now I know for next time at least), gets her working, and merely demands a kiss on his cheek for his efforts.
I make it to work, you guessed it, 15 minutes late.
Sigh, and this moments after writing on my cousins wall to buy a Vespa and not a pedal bike.
On the upside, turns out Patrick had his pedal bike at work, and literally tore from work to the house to get his car to come get me and drive me to work. (I was late the very first class with this group as they are literally out in the middle of nowhere, this was a theme work was not going to like, despite my best efforts otherwise.) Which also makes me think that instead of taunting me maybe the universe is in fact telling me to switch careers, as I have an awesome country, the best biking, a partner who rushes out of work to pedal his ass off to get to his car that is parked in our driveway 15 kms away to rescue me (and he did it in about 15 mins, I dont know how), and the only time I am really unhappy is when I am running around spending half my time chasing the work, and the other half actually doing it.
Anyway, the best part is that in roughly 6 weeks we are off for our 3 months adventure. Thats lots of times to think about work, and to come back and set my own terms a little better, rather than work work work to have the cash for the travel lifestyle I do so like.
And so considering what my life could be like, I shouldn’t complain.
So though I have been busy relaxing a little (and any time not spent in 12 hour working days is considered relaxing to me, even if my work takes me to the computer screen instead. I will forever insist that though an office job may be stressful, it is so much easier to hide your bad days when it is you and a computer screen rather than you and a roomful of students), I have been updating, just in terms of a present for my parents. If you are a reader over at Gypsy as well you know that mom and dad’s European trip is up over at Journizer under Newfies In The Black Forest.
My favs are the story of beer fest - where you can learn what these demons and my mother have in common, namely no stopping until I am crying. (whoever would have thought I would admit publicly my mother had something in common with satanic green men, at least that is, anytime from the age of 20 on )
Burg Hohenzollern, or why North Americans fed on a Disney diet should not go in search of Europe’s castles,
And Strasbourg, or why me and my father are not allowed in the same car during rush hour in a large European city.
Just an hour before hand I had threatened to put my foot through the windshield and he had screamed he was driving back to the Black Forest!
But we love each other!!! And the final consensus is that we would do it all over again!!!!
I know I promised to have my blogs updated, but it just seems harder than I thought. Im trying to make it to the gym every day, and though this week is rather relaxed in terms of workload, I am still working to some degree every day (like 3 hours instead of 12). This for me is paradise, and I end up just wasting a bit of time instead of being productive. But I also have been given a task for researching promotional products and ideas from an outside source, so its nice not to have to chase students all over Germany and instead spend some time on the internet researching. Which to me is one of the better jobs out there.
Today I had another motorcycle lesson and my trainer told me that as long as the paperwork gets processed quickly to get me in and sitting down to write the freaking paper test I should be able to take the exam by the first week of June. So , hopefully (fingers crossed all over the place!) this little paperwork thing hasnt set back the license as far as I thought, and this fractional ownership thing that is going on with Betty is ending, and Patrick is going to have to go out and replace Emma and stop driving my baby! (I also need to remember that whole right before left thing when we leave main roads, which Canada doesn’t have. I frustrate my instructor because the driving is not the problem, but the traffic rules are, whereas all his other students seem to have the opposite problem before a test).
Mom and Patrick on Betty because Im not allowed to legally drive her. Sniff!
And the final consensus is that we would do it all over again!!!!