germany
2008-12-29 11:22 p.m.
and so, i have been in germany for 2 days and have accomplished a grand total of...nothing!!
except eat, sleep, eat sleep sleep eat eat eat eat eat and eat some more.
there is a time difference of 7 hours here but i feel not a hint of jet lag because i have been - what else - sleeping! oh-so-much.
as soon as we got here on saturday night - sunday morning in singapore - it has been a straight road trip from frankfurt to hamburg.
one that is 8++ hours long, with so many stops in between i lost count, some for no reason at all except to look at a ski resort for a while knowing FULL WELL we couldnt stop to ski.
as a result what should have taken 8 hours took 2 days.
and what do you do in a car for 2 days?
you SLEEP.
and with my father aka bottomless pit at the head of this journey, it also includes numerous stops for food.
and so i have learnt to eat when not hungry, sleep when not tired.
it has been an extremely boring existence.
when we finally got to hamburg - yesterday - to see my maternal relations whom i have not seen for 10 years and who all seem so astonished that i should have actually grown in these 10 years, our cycle didnt change much.
except now we sleep at our uncle's house and drive outside to eat.
the only physical activity ive done is to borrow my uncle's bike and go cycling outside for about 10 minutes, which was all i was able to take because its -5 degrees outside and my ears got so cold i stopped feeling them.
but then again i cant feel them even when im warm.
except you dont start worrying about that until you're cold.
weird.
i have been oh-so-sedentary the past 2 days that when i did my stretching yesterday so many things cracked it was slightly alarming, but yet extremely comfortable. there is this strange sense of satisfaction and comfort to be felt when you crack joints, i cant explain it. ask dionne.
all in all im rather grouchy here (if you hadnt yet realized from my long rambling monologue). all my relatives are sick - there is apparently a flu bug sweeping hamburg, now of all times - and so they cannot do anything and we have to tiptoe around them.
there is also the extremely annoying fact that i cannot understand anything anyone is saying anymore, since i am the only one in my family who is completely german-illiterate.
my mother had lived here for a period of time, my father met her here when he was studying, and my sister took german in school and had an exchange program in munster.
and of course all my relations live here.
so when they smile at me and pour out a string of german all i can do is smile back and nod intelligently as if i understand every word.
then when they pause and look at me expectantly there will be a long, pregnant pause as i realize im busted and look around desperately for someone to translate.
my relations also speak teochew which i am ALSO not privy to.
this illiteracy of mine seems to delight my mother particularly, who seems to have fun gossiping with my aunt in german/teochew whilst pointing and nodding in my direction before bursting into laughter.
and you never thought you'd see the day your mother acts your age.
i cant wait to go home.
i feel as if i havent moved for days.
its quite weird to go from having an extremely hectic, physical daily life to such a sedentary one.
whats more when i get back i want to start taking SEMI PRO at xen for real!
so yes dionne its up to you now ive made up my mind already.
my little cousins (who hadnt even been born the last time i was here) are now watching ice age 2.
unfortunately it is all in german so once again im completely out of the loop.
on a random note, spongebob squarepants in german becomes spongebob schwammkopf which actually means spongebob foamhead, which completely misses the point of spongebob's pants.
oh for singapore again.
