After the most horrible travel day I have ever experienced, I am home. Maybe I should say days. I'll start at the begining. On Sunday, my principal and her family drove me to Munich. It snowed most of the way there and it was a lovely drive. It was my first time on the German Autobahn and quite an experience. There are no speed limits and we were averaging about 100 mph while others blurred by as if we were standing still. We went to the Christmas market in Munich, which was overpriced and not very Christmasy. Then they drove me to a hotel near the airport. I checked in and asked when the shuttle left for the airport in the morning. I had a 7:15 am flight and needed to be at the airport around 5:00. Imagine my surprise when the receptionist told me the hotel did not opperate an airport shuttle. I was quite shocked because I had the German teacher call them and ask specifically if they had a shuttle and if there was a charge for it. She was told yes they did and it was free. I explained this to the nice lady and told her that was why I picked the hotel. She said she could order me a taxi to the airport that would cost about 15 Euros, about $20.

So, I go to my room and get settled in. I decide I should eat an early dinner and go to bed since I was exhausted and would be getting up at 4:00 am. I walk to the reception desk and asked them to order me a taxi for 5:00 am. I walked to the restaurant, sat down and waited and waited and waited. So I got up and went back to the desk and asked if indeed that was the restaurant. Yes, it was but it was closed. I was told there was a nice Bavarian restaurant which was a five min walk. Since I had no choice, I walked about 10 minutes in 5 inches of snow until I found a pizza cafe. I ate there and walked back, read a book and went to bed. Got up the next morning and went to check out. The taxi was waiting for me but there was no one to check me out. Finally got checked out and into the taxi, 25 euros later (about $35-40) I arrive at the airport.

My first flight was uneventful, 2 hours to London. Once in London, it was a bit crazy. We had to go through another security check. They asked a bunch of questions and re-issued our boarding cards. Then I had about 2 hours to kill. Was happy to get on the plane and get going. The flight itself was ok, a little bumpy but ok. Until we landed in Raleigh Durham. First of all, we landed on one wheel and I was a bit concerned until we came down on the other one. Then as everyone was getting their things together we get an announcement from an US Customs and Border offical to take our seats. I was worried at first, did something happen at the airport, some terrorist attack? Was there a dangerous person on the plane that had to be apprehended? Something did happen. A water main had broken and there was a huge leak in the federal customs area. The whole area was under 2 inches of water and we couldn't deplane until it was cleaned up. So I start a conversation with the bloke from London who sat next to me in silence the entire flight. He promptly tried to pick me up so I started to read a book. Two hours later they let us off the plane and packed us into two sealed off gates and we were guarded by fed agents until they could finish the clean up which was anther two hours or so later.

From there chaos insued. They herded us through customs, letting those of us with connections go first. We went through passport control then had to collect our baggage to take to customs. Since mine was being sent on, they had to hand inspect my bags and do a swab test before re-checking it. The guy inspecting my bags told me it was good that I was still smiling. "What else can you do?" I asked him. Then we went to the exit where no one from AA was waiting to help us with our missed flights. We finally found someone to help us (a nice British lady named Meg, who was going to Dallas, too) who booked us onto a Delta flight, two flights actually....Atlanta then DFW. So I made it at 1:00 am CST with out baggage, of course. I won't tell you about having to go through a special search by delta after the harrowing experience we had or the nasty shuttle driver. We'll just leave it at that. The important thing is I am safe and at home. And now I am going to watch Savannah ride her bike. She has been bugging me since I started typing this. Ciao and Merry Christmas!

So, I was wondering....have you ever been so cold that you felt like your nose hairs were freezing? Yes, it is as awful as it sounds and it hurts! What I am saying is, it's pretty darn cold here. I am literally freezing my butt off, your butt gets extremely cold when you walk a mile to work. And it's only going to get colder. It's supposed to snow all weekend. The best part about that is I get to see the pretty snow before it turns to ugly snow then hop on a plane to Texas with no snow!!!!! I don't think y'all know about ugly snow in Texas. It turns black from the cars and the roads are all slushy and it's easy to fall on your tush.

So...Texas, a little (Ha Ha!) place we like to call "God's Country." I'll be there in 4 days. I am excited and I hope I won't be too overwhelmed since it's such a short trip. I have finished all my Christmas shopping and I have to say it was a bit different without the Salvation Army bell ringers at every store. I felt like something was missing. I am sure I will get my fair share next week when I visit my favorite store, Target. Can't wait for options galore and reasonably priced clothes. Ok...look me up if you have time. Can't wait to see y'all. Merry Christmas!

Jess

Ok, so I promised you a story about 5-alarm chili. It had been snowing like crazy all day and it was one of the first really cold days. Being the good Texan that I am, I decided it was time to make a pot of chili to warm things up a bit. Well, I looked at a new recipe and made a few changes. I look at recipes as more of guidlines rather than hard and fast rules. I decided that the amount of chili powder called for was not enough. I added more and lots of onion and garlic to boot. You can guess the outcome. It was some HOT chili but it was yummy! I will make it again, but with a little less chili powder.

I would like to respond to a comment I recieved earlier this week. I have NOT been de-Texanized. I was merely being sarcastic when I said that 40 was a warm spell. The Czechs say it is like spring time and I was making fun off that. I have been freezing my butt off and it will only get worse! I've heard that this will be one of the coldest winters on record. I hope they are wrong.

It's funny what amuses me now. Lena's contact fell out the other night. It is my job to find them when she looses them. I couldn't find it anywhere and I asked her to look in the pocket on her shirt. When she pulled it open she wiggled a bit and squealed, "ooooh, I found it!" She then lifted up her shirt a little bit and there it was, sitting in her bellybutton. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I was crying I laughed so hard. Yes, I know....I need to get out more.

I will be home soon. Can't wait to see y'all and eat some of my favorite foods. Hope you aren't too busy with the holiday rush. See you in two weeks!

Jess

Let's try this again, shall we? I know I have been remiss in my blogging duties as I have only written about once a month. I hope to correct this egregious lack of communication and try to stay on top of things. I wasn't at school the last two weeks. I was at home with a sinus infection and wasn't allowed to go to school. The doctor tells you how long you will be sick and you can't work until he says you are ok. Your insurance pays your salary while you are out and they even have "health police" who make sure you are home resting and not out playing. I went to the doctor with out anyone to translate. He was nice and told me I spoke "perfektni chesky." He's a liar but a good doctor.

It has snowed several times this month. We don't have any snow now. We are in the middle of a warm spell; it's in the 40's.

Thanksgiving was very nice. I spent it with 56 other Americans at a hotel in Hodonin. We had turkey and dressing and lots of pie. I made a pecan pie. Thanks to Mom, she sent me pecans and Karo syrup. It was a big hit and I have requests for another one.

I will be home in three weeks. I can't believe it. It's the first time I haven't wished for a white Christmas. I want it to be nice and sunny so I can hold that in my memory for the winter.

Well, I need to go. Look for the next post, I'll tell you about my 5 alarm chili.

Jess