Things that can happen in one day

So today was the day I finally moved. It's really been two days in total but I lost 7 hours during that time so I'll count them together.

i had been packing somewhat frantically all day. I cheated and put my two actual luggage bags together with lightweight stuff so that they'd come up to exactly 23 kg - what I was allowed to take. All the heavy stuff was in my cabin bag, which ended up heaver than the other two combined.

I went to the train station in Aplerbeck early to pick up my ticket to go to the Frankfurt Airport. For no good reason, the travel agency hadn't included the pickup code with my reservation so I had to call them to ask for it first. I put some stuff into envelopes for my parents to mail and headed off to the station with plenty of time to spare. My train was scheduled to arrive 4.5 hours before my plane would take off, just to be absolutely sure. Every single other train was delayed, except mine. Possibly because Dortmund was were this particular train started altogether. I went inside and handed my winter jacket to me dad on the way in - i was pretty much dressed for tropical climates/indoors now.

Every single sign had a "Possibly Reserved" tag on it because the computer that hat the actual reservations froze (maybe literally, who knows) but I did get a seat pretty fast. While we left Dortmund on time, the delays piled on with each additional station. by the time we arrived in Cologne 8about halfway) we had been a good 20 minutes late. There, the train proceeded to do nothing and just sit around for another 30 minutes. On the other side of the platform there was an empty ICE headed for Frankfurt Airport, too. Originally scheduled to leave almost an hour after my original train, I thought it might be faster and tried to dig out my bags from beneath other people and their bags in my train, which was suddenly completely overcrowded, standing room only. Actually barely even that. By the time I had made the decision to switch trains our train slowly left the station so I just sat down and shut up.

By the time we arrived at the next station (the last before the Airport) the announcing lady said that the train was too full to continue and everybody without a reservation had to leave. Allegedly a train would pick us up from the station 20 minutes later. That wasn't really an option for me in my summer clothes, but I dug out my bags for real this time and headed towards the exits. When I had almost made it, the train attendant decided that enough people had left and the train slowly started moving again.

I had given up my seat for nothing and had to stand in the corridor for the final hour. At least we made it to the airport with only one hour delay, which fit easily within my schedule. After a short detour during which i decided I was not going to take the shuttle bus to the terminal I needed to go to (I would have had to go and wait outside for that bus) I managed to get to the check-in. I hid behind some plants and put the strap of my cabin bag underneath my jacket so they maybe wouldn't notice how much I was already straining under its weight. That seemed to work, she didn't make me weigh my hand luggage. My actual luggage was a bit above the acceptable weight but it was by less than a kilo so I thought I would get away with that anyway.

She gave me my boarding pass and explained the way to the Japan Airlines Lounge, and that my seat would be upstairs on the plane. The boarding pass had my Frequent Flyer number on it which I only applied for a week ago and I thought that maybe this was some special perk that came with pretending to be a frequent flyer, but it did seem odd that they had Economy seats upstairs on the plane.

After I looked at my ticket again, which clearly said "BUSINESS CLASS" I was slightly worried. Surely somebody had made a mistake. Surely I wouldn't be upgraded without anybody actually telling me about it? I was very nervous about being uncovered but decided to coast along as long as they'd let me. At the Air Japan Lounge, some lady checked if my name was on the list of people admitted - which it was! So yes, apparently you do get upgrades without being told about it.

I hung out in the lounge, eating cookies and perusing WiFi in lounge chairs until it was time to leave. I was in the second group of people permitted on board, but there seemed to be some hold up when I handed the lady (the very same as the one i checked in with) my boarding pass. She told me to stand aside and wait for a minute.

Clearly this meant I had been uncovered and I would have to fly as a piece of luggage now. It turned out though, that for "security reasons" (nobody bothered to explain anything further) I had to sit downstairs in Business Class instead. Also, I lost my window seat. That's the kind of sacrifice I can live with.

I sat next to a lady who was a frequent flyer but had also been upgraded and we spent some time trying to figure out where the try tables folded out from and where our screens were. We then ordered our breakfasts as in room service (we just went through a lis and checked off what we would want in the morning), and afterwards we order some dinner (I went for the parsley-chicken pot pie).

After our meal we both read and chatted a bit and then went to sleep. the seat actually folded into an almost horizontal bed (it had a slight slant but that didn't really matter all that much) and I actually fell asleep. After four hours though I decided that I had slept enough and watched some tv and read some more.

Stretching out your legs throughout the entire trip makes quite a bit of difference. After breakfast (which was served by two inordinately smiley flight attendants, one of which looked exactly like Amy Poehler and even wore her trademarked plasticky smile) we were pretty much there already. I didn't even have time to use the toiletries kit they gave us.

I got lost for about 100m at the Airport in Singapore, but I found my way again pretty quickly. At immigration, i was sent to stand in the line for foreigners first, then I was moved over to residents (which i would be soon), then I was told I hadn't filled out a needed form (which the flight attendant told me I didn't need) and after I returned with the form I had to stand in line with the foreigners again. luckily, My baggage turned up at the carousel just when I did, and the company representative picked me up right away. We chatted all the way to the hotel in the cab, which the driver apparently completely bungled but at least I got to see some of the city. it all looked very tall and clean and orderly just as I was told. My future colleague called the cab driver "uncle" which I thought was weird but which I knew was something that was fairly common.

The hotel check-in was nice and quick but I had a hard time understanding the ladies' English. they needed some credit card to block a certain amount which my colleague ended up doing for some reason. I found my way to my room just after my bags did.

Okay I should be sleeping right now, and I have listed enough meaningless information for one day. I will continue describing this day tomorrow.

White Kwanzaa

In expectedly racist fashion, Germany provides a thoroughly white Kwanzaa for its residents this year. At least Christmas went by mostly without a hitch and I can get back to worrying about my move.

Church was interesting. It seemed to be the same as every other year (including the songs), except the sermon. It provided only minor variations, but those were interesting. It was all about accepting that superficial consumer culture doesn't buy you happiness (like they say every year), that Jesus is love (ditto) and that you have to accept a dark side, and not suppress all the negative things that happen to you, but deal with them instead, like failed relationships. This was interesting for two reasons: I don't think I have heard (teenagers of all people) refer to "failed relationships" as something Jesus should be helping them with in speech, in church. Not that I disapprove.

But when the priest went on about dark sides and mentioned all the bad things that happened this year, like the BP oil-spill, I kept thinking "and the child-molestation epidemic in your church, right? You're going to mention this, won't you?" But, no. He just went on and on about other terrible things that happened elsewhere and were the fault of other people. Such as "Afganistan and Iraq, two countries living in figurative darkness". And the more he didn't mention the pedophile elephant in the room, the more I thought "Really, church? Really?"

Apparently yes, really.

In other news, I almost didn't do anything to help with my move and insulted my mom's food for lunch instead. Then I made everyone have miso and Jasmin tea for dinner, so they get to have some Asia in their lives, too.

Ready to go, sort of

I haven't gone yet. In fact, it isn't even christmas yet. I am leaving on boxing day, the 26th. That is barely three days away now, but there is Christmas in between, and it's keeping my flight from looking like it's actually close.


Although that could be the snow. There's lots of snow, here. Some airports in other countries have shut down entirely, due to entirely too much of it. I'm hoping the one I am planning to leave from (Frankfurt) will be doing fine. At this point, I'm not even sure I will be able to successfully take the train to the airport. My flight leaves at 11:20 om so in theory, there should be ample time for catching some train during the day that will get me there in time. Considering how the trains have been running, for which "erratically" seems too generous, I may have to fall back on my dad driving me two hours to the airport.

I haven't packed anything yet. A bunch of shirts, T- and otherwise, is all I can pack anyway, both for reasons of weight and climate. That shouldn't take several days. All I have left to do now is mailing out several things, like the notification of my cellphone company that I won't be in Germany anymore, and my tax returns. The latter, I did in a panic when the Berlin Finanzamt decided I owed them 1800 Euros 2 weeks ago. Which turns out was an honest mistake on their part, but I have my tax returns ready now, and I will be getting quite a refund, so it seems a waste not to mail it.

I bought several guide books, too. Of course, I don't yet know if any of them are any good. Katrin helped me pick one for general siteseeing, Bettina bought me one against culture shock (and a Singapore novel) and I got myself a Luxe guide and a Lonely Planet.

I wonder what I will be doing for New Years eve, in a city where I don't know anyone. It's only 7 days away now.