We returned in the middle of the night. Uli's friend Andy picked us up at the airport which was very fortunate and helped a lot given that neither of us really knew what time it was - actually and in our bodies. Max had been really great, he actually slept voluntarily on both flights, just sort of curled up on top of us, closed his eyes, and fell asleep. I guess he has become such a traveling veteran that he doesn't find flying exciting enough anymore to stay awake. Needless to say that both flights - from Vienna to Chicago and from Chicago to SFO - were just absolutely awful. On both flights every last seat was taken so when Max slept we were either standing in the aisle or he was lying on top of us which - trust me - can get pretty uncomfortable after three hours. I learned that one can't sit on the floor in a plane, I got up so Max could stretch out and had that silly notion that by the door in the back I could just sit, cross-legged and read a book for a bit but - oh no - that is against regulations: one has to stand. So I crouched down and - you guessed it - that wasn't allowed either. Seems like ones butt has to have a certain clearance from the ground - everything else is forbidden. In Chicago we had one of these "delayed incoming flight" thingies going and 94 people on the stand-by list. We started with about 2 hours delay after sitting for at least one hour on the tarmac - an all time favorite of mine.
But we eventually made it back in one piece. Only the bag we got in India which accompanied us on Indian planes and trains as well as on European planes, trains, cars and busses and survived all of that in very good shape got destroyed on the very last leg of the trip between O'Hare - where we cleared customs and it was still okay - and SFO. No surprise really, that's when the United Airlines people took over, carelessly dragging it around by one handle thereby ripping the top apart.
As an aside, United Airlines accomplished something rather rare, 10 years ago I was a loyal customer. I'd fly United even if it cost a little more, they were my airline and I liked them. Now I hate them, I hate them with a vengenance and if there is anything I could do to make live miserable for them I would. The managed in a few short years to turn me from a loyal customer into an enemy. That is not a small accomplishment! Those kids at O'Hare dragging bags around with the most bored expression possible - taking obvious pride in being as destructive as humanly possible without using outright violence or putting knives or explosives to the baggage they are entrusted with - convinced me again that the golden rule of flying is to avoid any and all American airlines (and United in particular) if you can at all help it and if this means stopping over in Karachi it is probably worth doing.
Anyway, here we were back in our house that really didn't look much like ours mainly because all out personal stuff was still stored away and also because it feels strange to return after such a long time and find that things are essentially the same but just not quite. I opened the cupboard without looking wanting to take a glass out but wait, where the glasses used to be are now the bowls and where the bowls used to be are now the plates and what is the cheese grinder doing next to the wok? I am sure there are very good reasons for storing the cheese grinder next to the wok and it is a perfectly legit thing to do - I just can't imagine ever doing it.
Then we started the search for Max's bed which I found pretty quickly but his blanket remains unaccounted for to this day. I know I will find it in some unlikely place and then I will remember how I put it there thinking that I will never forget that I put the blanket in - say - the freezer and promised myself that I would never forget that I stored it in such an ingenious place.
The first week was all about putting stuff away and doing necessary repairs and modifications (the grass-green wall in the walk-in closet would fall in that category and - in case you wondered - it looks awesome). We slowed down quite a bit by now and so there is still chaos abound but at least the clothing is organized, the kitchen sort of and the bathroom mainly. Don't ask about my office and don't even think about asking about the garage.
The first week was full of surprises of the not so good kind. I knew about the gas prices, about $4.50 per gallon and therefore almost 4 times as much as in 1999 when I came here, but I wasn't prepared for the 50 - 100% price increases in other products. My trip to the farmer's market prooved eye-opening: the bretzels I used to buy at the German bakery used to cost $1. A bit much but okay as a once a week acknowledgement of my German heritage. Now the same darn things are $1.75 and with that 75% price increase in just 6 month they are off the shopping list. I will miss then dearly but I am not crazy - bretzels I'll eat next when I am back in Germany. Then there was the visit at Max's favorite Chinese Dim Sum place ("oh, yummy, spinach!" form my child who would rather die than eat an ounce of spinach at home). This is how it used to work: we drive there and by the time we entered the parking lot I would jump out of the car and with no regard to good manners or bodily injury to others or myself bolt into the place pushing people aside as I run. I would run up to the counter and from afar start screaming something like "table for three" or just "three!". At this point they would hand me a small piece of paper with a number scribbled on it, generally something like 57 or 83. Then I would wait, eventually Uli and Max would join and we would hear them call "number 24, party of 4" or something like it. Eventually 57 or 83 would be called and we'd get a table. So, this time I did just that, jump out of the car, run to the counter, yell "party of three" and the hostess looked at me a bit strange and said "follow me". I was like "did I hear this correctly? Follow her where?" but she was already marching into through dining room and pointed at a table in the back. I said: "I don't like that table, I want another one up front" and she said "just give me a second" and indeed by the time Uli and Max arrive three seconds later I was already seated at a different table, tea being served and the Dim Sum ladies with her carts where upon me. The explanation came later when it turned out that the lunch which would have cost us maybe $25 six month ago now was $37. Ticker-shocked we vouched to eat at home more frequently!
Max is back at Nelly's and still really likes going there. There are a couple of boys his age now which I am very happy about. I felt for a while that he needed more peers and now he has got them. His Spanish has unfortunately disappeared but seems to be coming back all right although Nelly told me on Friday that my little Latino who used to speak perfect accent-free Spanish ("Max no tiene accento") now speaks with a noticable German accent. The rolling Spanish "r" has become the German in-the-back-of-the-throat "r". We'll be working on that!
By now we are sort of moved back in - boxes still everywhere. The initial enthusiasm for cleaning has dwindled to a trickle especially since I have started working on a consulting assignment and I have to admit developing a strategy for a company beats cleaning the floors or putting underwear away any day. We are back but I still wonder whether we are home. I love our Eichler house but the sterility of the Californian suburbs is getting to me: no real city centers, one has got to drive everywhere and everything is so darn far. But no matter where you go it sort of all looks the same: gas stations, Home Depots, car dealerships, a million little Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants (all of which I love) in faceless buildings, shopping malls - by now emptier than I have ever seen them because even the last person seems to have understood that they need to save money and stop spending more than they make on a regular basis. I miss walking to the center like we did in Merida, Florence, Kochi, Sevilla, Malaga, Konstanz, Vienna, and Graz where there are people walking, shopping, eating in outside restaurants, hanging out and playing in the parks. I miss old buildings, good bike paths, houses that aren't a mumbo-jumbo of French Country mixed with Hacienda and a bit of Old English castle thrown in for good measure (the Eichler buildings like ours being the exception to that).
I find myself checking flights, mainly to Merida because I really liked it there and because its the closest from here. Predictably the prices are crazy right now and so this is just day dreaming. In my head I have started to plan the next "sabbatical" - I have never been to Istanbul and really would like to see more of Eastern Europe, especially Albania, then there is Laos and South Africa and Namibia, Chile, more of Central America .....
If it ever comes to that I will let you know. Until that time: Good-bye, Tschuess, Ciao, Hasta Luego, Pinne Kanam (Malayalam), Servus and So Long.
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