In Europe already!!

My last week in the United States was quite exciting. I got to dog-sit my sister's and my sister-in-law's dogs. A cute black Lab called Rocky and a feisty tall puppy German Shepherd called Mater. Both were so much fun to hang out with. Of course, it was also the last of the 3 months that I spent this summer with my parents. Wow, what a blessing to be able to do that. It was so much fun especially since I spent almost a month with them after I quit my job..

After my sister and my brother-in-law came back, I suddenly realized that I was going to go to Europe in a day.. for a year...Wowieee. I ended up going to the outlet and dropped another $200 for a laptop bag (that Terry did not like), a wallet (Strike 2 with Terry) and a pair of Nike shoes (Phew!! No strikeout this time). A nice family dinner with Anson and Archana along with my parents, my sister, my brother-in-law and the dogs was a nice little last dinner in the US for a year.

I got a chance to record the ambient sounds (my parents complaining, my sister fooling around, my brother-in-law trying to get the dogs to behave and the dogs just doing their stuff) of the last hour before I left using the recorder that Bindu and Spandana gave me. Thank you guys. Now, whenever I want to hear my parents complain (:)), I can just play it back.

After a nasty shuttle ride to the airport, I reached the terminal where the person behind the counter at United Airlines was really asinine. She did not know what a Schengen Visa was!!!!! Sheesh and she was manning the counter for a flight to Europe. After some convincing after she told me that I need to purchase a return fare from United so that I would be able to come back to the US if the Germans did not let me in.. What a start!! I promised to purchase one and promptly ditched the idea when I got my boarding pass. I figured that if I was not allowed in Germany, I would just seek asylum in some Greek Island as a persona non grata!!!

No problems with luggage or security but I was in for a surprise in the plane. No personal TV.... Luckily, I had some movies on my laptop. The food was horrible... Moroccan chicken, Sheesh. The first movie on the big screen was even worse that I even forgot the name.. I ended up just screwing around with my IPOD touch and my laptop. Slept only for about 2 hours total on the 10 hour flight. They skipped me when serving breakfast and I had to ask for it. Something that I regretted when I saw what they were serving. Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian Airlines rock!! I think that United should be banned from flying cross-continents.

We landed ahead of time and we had to do the old fashioned deplaning of just getting down the stairs and hopping on a bus. The funny part was that I was among the first ones at the Immigration. I was now a little worried but the immigration officer was with me for 17 seconds. Just enough time to scan my passport to see if it was real, stamp my visa and Voila, I was outside at baggage claim. The bags came a little later. Customs was a breeze and I saw my lovely smiling wife waiting for me. She was continuously smiling and I realized how much we actually missed each other. She did not realize because she was having fun in Munich. I did not because I had so much stuff to do and I was always with family. After a quick kiss and a quick blessing from my father-in-law, I met a priest from India. We loaded the bags and decided to go directly to a car dealership to check out a car.

The first impression I got was that the day was really hot!!! I was not prepared for this. We decided to look for other cars once we realized that the Opel Astra car that we were looking at was a rental car before. Our hunt for cars continues. We checked out a Mercedes A class, a BMW 323i, a Renault Clio and a Peugot something. We are going to decide tomorrow.

Priya had baked a nice cake for me. Thank you Priya. Mama (my father-in-law) brought us nice breakfast today and a good lunch.

KPW, pay attention to this... I got to go in a fully loaded BMW M5 today. At 260kmph, I knew why they made cars so fast. What a rush!! And hold on to the applause.. this friend actually offered to let me drive it. The shortest 5 kms of my life but I never went past 70kmph. If I crashed the car, my student loans would double!!!!!!

I know that the car I am going to buy if I get a good job and if I settle in Europe is this!!!

We visited some more family today and I am ready to sleep now.

I must miss the US but I am too tired to feel it now. Slept like a baby last night and plan on doing the same tonight.

Stay cool everyone and until next week....Auf Wiedersehen!! (Mr. Bunce knows what this is)