garbage full of sweet pea pods

back in the country girls! It is really, well, neat coming back to a country where you can read all the street signs and the clocks are the good ol' 12hour clocks with 'am' and 'pm.' Not that I have ANYTHING against 24hour clocks...they just seem so 'no-nonsense,' no wiggle room if you know what I mean. 'Kay, enough of that...
Wednesday I left Munchen with my Mom in the morning, luggage checked in fairly smoothly (one bulky item, two neat umbrellas from my beloved aunt :) ) and I didn't get labelled as 'terrorist suspect' or anything...although I lost my best scissors which I'd forgotten to shift to my check-in luggage :( ah well, if that's the only thing to complain about I'll count myself extremely lucky. Plane ride was long...but it was nice to fly during the daytime - it's pretty difficult to sleep on the plane, cramped seating, lights on, noise etc...but it's a small price to pay for a trip for sure. Plus, I got to update my 'movies watched' list - they showed three movies and I'm proud to say I watched all of them :P. "Marmaduke," "The Backup Plan," and "Prince of Persia." They could never compare to Fred Astaire or Doris Day in my opinion, but they were welcome entertainment. I'm pretty sure the plane we travelled on was fairly aged, it tended to creak and shudder a fair bit...and we passed through areas of turbulence frequently. Won't need a roller coaster ride anytime soon. Descending to the runway was the only worrisome part, the plane seemed to roll from side to side, due to the wind I think, and it must have taken some skill on the pilot's part to make sure we came down flat on the wheels...I've always marveled at the miniscule size of the plane wheels in proportion to its body. I figure it'd be like a pelican on toothpicks...sorry about the visual.
Our luggage took its time to arrive, but I managed to locate all of it and stack it onto the cart solo while my Mom figured out the next stage of transportation. We waited quite a while longer for the umbrellas, and then were redirected to another 'bulky luggage' area where they were waiting for us. No trouble in the customs section, and soon I was on a bus to downtown, where I got on the subway that brought me nearer to school. A bit of an interesting time walking my things to school, but all was well.
Internet is working, major plus, and I'm actually so relieved to be back in a completely familiar zone with people I know. Really, this past week it's just gotten more and more comfortable: from res on exchange I went to my uncle's house, then to school where I can now truly appreciate laundry and food being done for us and the security and direction that is provided. Wow, are we ever priviledged.
Yesterday we had a nice surprise, we got to go see the ballet company's version of the choreographic workshop :D. It was majorly neat to see the creative side of members we'd only ever seen performing other peoples' movements. It was quite the audience too, very small (the showing was in a large studio) but oh, how distinguished. And how amazing to see the company dancers only a few feet away! Wow, their good training, natural talent and professional know-how really stand out. Again, what a treat.
Today we had an 'academic Saturday,' which we'll have three more times this year in order to fulfill the ministry's requirements for the year. Four hours, four tasks. In short, our raw egg didn't break, our parachute floated lives to safety, our bridge defied all odds of flexibility and our straw-paperclip-rubberband contraption was closer to success than failure.
A quick lunchbreak, and then our art class got to go to our art teacher's house! She's so generous, we got to see her artwork, meet her daughter and exchange student, and then we had tea and homemade cake out in her garden, wowee! I'm SO excited for the art course, I've missed a consistent artsy escape this past year, and I just love being in the studio again.
I must head down for dinner before it closes...I hope you are all having a great weekend, busy I'm guessing by the lack of blogging (:P). I didn't have a chance to wish you all good luck on your first day of school (especially to you Rachel ;) ), but I was thinking of you and I can't wait to hear from you!
P.S. Rachel, Savannah says she needs you to send her the email with the link to allow her to start blogging...not sure about the details. Dunno if it's possible...hope the auditions went well :)