Day 59 and counting...

I have noticed that certain habits that I used to take for granted as a part of the travel or "expat" experience have atrophied.

Take for instance the art of writing, or specifically, writing a journal. Remember when that was THE thing to do on the road in Europe or elsewhere? When a rainy day in the city cafe, Lenny Kravitz overhead on the radio, writing in your journal about the places you've been or people you've met... was the preferred way to immortalize your travel experience?

Ha, ha... I sure do. I keep trying however to "bail" on this tried-and-true method, and switch full-time to the 21st century (aka "my laptop computer"). However, I always come back to how cool it is to one day, years later, look back upon my handwriting from an earlier time... not some inantimate, non-emotional thing... but MY handwriting from a time long past. I always wonder, what was going on with me then... what was I thinking or worrying about, or wishing for, when I wrote that particular passage?

Things which might get lost however in writing the old-fashioned way are some details, which get lost when your "writer's cramp" sets in and you begin to wonder if I should just "sign off" now and go get another Pilsner!

Details like the look of intellectual curiosity about the learning of languages, discovering other places, and getting to know people of other cultures, that I saw in the eyes of two new friends today. I had met these two people, a 20-something guy from Kosovo and his 20-something Bulgarian girlfriend, on my way into the Schlossplatz (Castle Square) here in Schwetzingen... the two approached and in a very polite way asked in German "Wo ist die Schlossplatz, bitte?"

Having uttered a few of the German words I DO know at this point (give me a break though, it's over 200 by now), I was able to respond... but they quickly determined my origins (USA) by my accent. The guy is a fellow explorer and lover of languages... as is his girlfriend, and they were really trying to learn English! I of course am trying HARD to learn Deutsch... which they know very well.

As you do when in Europe, you quickly size up people and "flash-bond" friendships... and numbers got exchanged... a sort of "Well, if I don't get a method of contacting these very cool people, I will never see them again, SO..." moment. We've all had them over here.

That said, a trip the following week was made, 3 countries represented by the 3 of us, all of us Expats living abroad in Germany, to Heidelberg to explore with wonder the over-touristed but still amazing beauty of the Heidelberg Schloss (Castle) and the MAGNIFICENT views of Heidelberg spread out below like a pictue postcard.

This all occuring after meeting a really effervescent and humorous British couple of Expats the day before in the Biergarten... studying my German over Schnitzel or Apfelstrudel as always.

I knew I would enjoy this experience, as much and in some ways more than even my experiences in my 20s, but this truly is a joy, plain and simple.

Cheers to world travel! Stay traveling my friends out there on the road, and stay connected to the Grapevine. Represent. Represent well.

Tchuss!

Brett