"Ve must interupt your eating so zat ve maz eat some more"

Today's schedule: Breakfast followed by coffe cake and sweet cream interrupted by lunch and then dessert.

They must think we Americans are too skinny.

But besides eat, we have met various big shots in the German government, toured the Reichstag and the Berlin Jewish cultural center, toured the city by bus and the Spree river by boat, and even enjoyed some odd culture.

First, I would love to tell you about our engaging conversations. Except, I can't. It's all off the record. Sorry.

But I can tell you that everyone is just the opposite of the stereotypical dour, dull terse German we are all familiar with from watching too manz WWII movies. Everyone is warm and friendly. A woman asked me a question on the street yesterday. When I said I only speak English, she talked to me for half and hour. Another local asked me for the time, and when I had the same lame mono-lingual response, talked to me for another 15 minutes.

That would SO not happen in El Lay!

Something else, too. Germans are well aware of the pain their country has caused the world over the past 90 years or so. Reminders are everywhere. There are monuments to remember innocent victims of war, and a Jewish memorial that takes up an entire city block. And there are monuments to the pain they have caused their own people: just outside our hotel is one wall of a railroad station bombed during WWII, and many of the historical buildings and museums are scarred with thousands of 64 year-old bullet hole, and many of the enterior walls of the Reichstag still wear the graffiti of victorious Soviet soldiers, all preserved as a reminder of the cost of war.

But it's not all so serious.

Last night we had the option of going to an opera. When I called home and said I was goin to the opera, there was a long pause, and then Susan said "I'm sorry, I think we have a bad connection. It sounded like you said you were going to the opera."

Yep, the Oildale redneck at the opera. And not what any of us expected. A modern interpretation of Don Pasquel. Italian opera sung in German, with English subtitles digitally rendered on the seatback in front of you, featuring a 6"5' transvestite, the biggest disco ball you've ever seen, and something at the end of the first act that, because my mom is reading this blog, I can not describe to you here.

It may be the only opera I ever see, and it was a blast!

After the show we all went to dinner (yes, eating again) and as we were leaving we ran into the lead soprano, who was also having dinner! So nice and so friendlz, and so ... American! Imagine that... Italian opera preformed in German by a woman from Atlanta.

People are waiting for the only computer in the lobby, and I don't want to be the ugly american, so I must jump! More later!

Güten Tag!

a little jet lagged... a little overwhelmed...

So if you see some spelling that's funkier than usuall from me, keep that in mind. Oh, and keyboards in Deutchland are odd: extra symbols everywhere, letters in different spots.

So in the few minutes I have, here's some random stuff:

*I made sure to get a window seat on the 10 hour flight from LAX to Amsterdam (where I changed planes) so I could see the country I was flying over. But very low fog ment I only saw Amsterdam a few seconds before touchdown. And the first thing I saw in Amsterdam when we broke through the clouds?

McDonalds. Arches right there next to the airport.

*Walked to what was once Checkpoint Charlie: the main crossing between East and West. Right next to the guard shack was... McDonalds.

*Germans seem to love being warm. I'm keep mz windows open, and am almost sweating everywhere I go because eveyone had the heat set at about 80. (this helps explain why so many German's vacation in Palm Springs in the summer)

*Beer is cheaper than water here... as it should be everywhere.

more later...

*So far, most everyone speaks at least enough English to keep me from getting too lost.

So many stories, so little space on Facebook...

 I've discovered that Facebook, as much as we all like it, is way to restrictive. Sometimes stories I have to tell are much longer than that tiny space Facebook give me! So I'm going to try this.

I'm starting with my trip to overseas. I'll try to update as often as possible. And when this trip is over, I'll share other highlights and some antidotes from past trips, too. Well, I'll share as much as The Company will let me.

And I'll post some pictures and maybe a video or two, too.

I'll give you notice of new blog postings on Facebook.

I don't know if anyone actually wants to read anything I have to say, but at least it will be out there.