Let the Games Begin

I've made it.  I arrived in Erlangen two days ago after a couple of little adventures and Murphy reminding me that he's still there.  In retrospect, I suppose it's a wonder I'm even alive, seeing as I should have died from alcohol poisoning thanks to my friends sending me off in style, but what're you going to do?  All in all, it's been an interesting few days.

Let's start with the sendoff.  This was weeks in the making, as I don't think I could have crammed another ounce of activity into my schedule since I got back from my recon trip earlier this month.  Between training classes and cleaning up at work, getting ready to move, and selling the house (and all the fun that goes with that - show of hands, who else hates inspectors), I didn't have a moment to myself.  

So when last weekend rolled around, and it's all about me, I was ready to get stupid.  Rest assured, mission accomplished.  After having a good day at my friend's golf course, the party in my honor started.  I'm pretty sure there was some food there, and pretty good stuff from the looks of it, but I was all about the booze.  Now this is the point where another facet of the name became evident.  I was definitely the dog's ass, but it wasn't because the sun was shining on it.  Apparently, if you were female and single, I was making a pass at you.  Ah, good times all around.  And I take no blame for this, either.  If I hadn't been given a naughty blowup doll as a going-away present, and then been forced to make and partake of several shots, then there's no way that sex even crosses my mind.  I'm sticking to that, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind.

So after making it through the next day, and completing the last few errands that I needed to do before I left, I got to the airport right around when I wanted to, ready to embark on this grand adventure o' mine.  Travel arrangements made, itinerary in bag, everything taken care of.  I approach the ticket counter and hand the lady behind the counter my passport.

"Yes, I'm here to check in for the 5:20 to Munich, flight 429."

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't see your name on the passenger list."

These are not words you want to hear upon arriving for a flight that takes off in two hours.  But, no, this can't be right.  Like I said, I've got my itinerary in my bag.  Well, I'll show her.  I'll just get out that piece of paper and prove her wrong.

"No, no.  It's listed right here.  Flight 429, leaving May 29th, at 5:20." 

It hit us both at about the same time.  If you haven't seen it yet, look at that last sentence again.  Yep, that's right.  I'd shown up for my flight a month in advance.  Not really, of course, but that's what it amounted to.  How the hell this happened I have no idea, but at this point, it didn't matter two shits how, just that it was happening.  Well, a frantic phone call to the travel agent ensued, and lucky for me, there were seats left on the flight, and everything was good.  Turned out that the same was true for both the train from Munich as well as the hotel.  Granted, I'll have to return the train tickets somehow (since I didn't get them from the train people in Germany, I couldn't just exchange them),  but hey, worst case, I'll just make sure I'm in Munich on the 29th just to travel here again.

The train ride was fairly interesting as well.  You'd think that I'd quit assuming how things work by now, but no.  I was figuring that a first class ticket got you a big comfy chair and a meal.  Guess again.  Big comfy chair, check.  Meal, not so fast.  Yep, you gotta pay for meals in first class.  Now, they're not bad at all (and I ate a dish with cucumbers in it, and liked it - go figure) and not even that expensive, but come on!  It's first class, for Pete's sake.  You should get something other than the big comfy chair, surely.  Come to find out that it also gets you a seat.  Yes, that's right, a seat.  

You see, if you go second class, that gets you on the train, but it doesn't guarantee you a seat.  You have to also purchase a reservation, and that is what gets you the seat.  Same thing with first class - you need a reservation in addition to the ticket to get a seat, but the catch is that you can't get a reservation on the day of purchase for second class, just for first.  Couldn't make it simple, could they?  Now it turned out that the train wasn't even close to full, so getting a seat would have been no problem, but how are you supposed to know that in advance?  I'm guessing experience, and I bet it's the kind of experience that has you standing someplace for a three hour train ride.

So anyway, that's all for now.  I'm here, I'm rested (I think), and I'll have further stories later on.  Gotta go drink some bier.  Auf Wiedersehen.

An Introduction

Guten Tag und willkomen! Those of you who know me have been asking many questions and wanting to be kept up to date on my assignment to Germany with my company. Well, for one reason or another the days have turned to weeks, have turned to months, and I still haven't gotten started yet to let you know what's up. But now, thanks to the wonder of modern travel, coupled with my inability or desire to sleep on a plane, I've finally had a chance to start things up. So either don't say you weren't warned, or be careful of what you wish for, whichever suits your fancy.

As a kind of brief introduction, let me explain this here thing before we go any further. And yes, this is also an out for you if you so choose. I can get to rambling sometimes, and maybe you'll come to decide that you just don't care to read my droning. I completely understand. I get tired of myself sometimes, but unfortunately, I can't tune me out.

So back to the intro. I work for a global energy company, and as I said above, I have been given the opportunity to work in Germany for two and a half years. Pretty cool, huh? Well, I used to live by Murphy's Law, and was convinced that the dude hated my guts. But over the years, after things like hitting the winning square on a Super Bowl pool (the only square I bought, and worth a tidy little sum) and winning a five-day Carribean cruise, I've revised that a bit and decided that I'm more like a blind squirrel - every once in a while I find a nut. And let me tell you, Germany's some big nut. Unfortunately (or maybe not - blind squirrel doesn't really translate), somebody's already claimed a blog with that name. So instead of the squirrel, I've decided to go with the dog's ass that the sun shines on every now and then. Turn it to German, and voila! Der hundepo (dare hoont-eh-poh, phonetically). That's me - the dog's ass.

First off, a ground rule and a couple of warnings. I will be using no (real) names in this thing, so if you know me or know any of the other subjects of whom or which I am writing, please respect that fact in your comments, and don't spill the proverbial beans in regards to identity. This is for various reasons, but mainly privacy concerns for myself and others. So keep that in mind, and we'll be cool. As for the warnings, these are more for your sake than mine. First, you're going to notice that I throw in a lot of asides (you know, the stuff in parentheses). I realize that this can be a bit irritating, and I'm trying to cut down on them. Hey, I'm an accountant, not a writer. Cut me some slack. The same goes for punctuation. I realize that most of it is atrocious, but I'm trying to convey my thoughts in writing as if I were there talking to you. So if I'd pause while talking, there'll be a comma or some other thing. I don't care if it's grammatically correct or not, that's how I talk. Also, I'm going to be throwing in a ton of German (with pronunciations following). At first, anyway, this will be more for my sake than yours. I'm trying to learn the language, and any usage I can get is helpful. Deal with it. Also, I'm going to be getting one, but right now I don't have a keyboard or computer that has umlauted letters (you know, letters with the dots above them) or a couple of the other special characters used in German. My favorite is this one that looks like a funky capital B, but is pronounced as "ss", but I don't know what it's called.

I can tell you now, learning the language is going to be a bitch. Despite the fact that English is primarily a Germanic language, I haven't had hardly any exposure to it in real life, the way you run into Spanish, or even French. I've found that the ability to mimic, say, a Frenchman's English helps immensely with your own pronunciation of French. Unfortunately, I've not known any Germans in the US, so there's been no one to mimic. Just being here for even a day, though, has made me feel a little better. I still don't know shit, but just being immersed in it makes me a little more comfortable about knowing that I'll be able to pick up the pronunciation with time.

So that's what this thing will be about - my life in Germany. Experiences, anecdotes, impressions of things, places, and people I've met, that sort of thing. I'm here now for a week in order to look for an apartment, set up a bank account, and other stuff to get ready for the actual move, which is targeted for the end of April. Since I'm so late in starting I'll need to catch you up on some of the stuff that's happened to this point, but I'll try to be a little more succinct with those topics. I also may not be posting on a regular basis until I get back here for good, as picking up everything you own and moving it half way around the globe can be a tad time consuming. But I'll do my best, and I appreciate all the feedback that you'd care to give me. It's pretty much validation for what I'm doing and I'm shallow like that. So 'til next time, Auf Wiedersehen (owf vee-der-zehn)!

It's Alive!

Finally, I have created this damn blog. Real posts to follow, as soon as I figure out why the f%&#ing add image button isn't working for me. Personally, I think its my computer, but what do I know.