Back to the Real World

Back to Munich, cooking for us again, laundry and responsibilities. Some guy screamed at me yesterday afternoon because I left Henry tied up outside a shop for five minutes and he was barking.I cannot get my head around the fact that these people can be (but aren’t always) so confrontational about every little thing. I have been getting acclimated to life here, and have been enjoying my interactions with people, but the cheek of this guy to actually scream at me at such a small offense really bothered me. I ignored him and refused to become engaged in a battle over something so small, yet it threw me. I used to leave him tied up in front of CVS on Kings Highway in Haddonfield all the time and the big wimp inevitably would bark anxiously. However, in Jersey when I came out, someone would be petting him, and calming him down. Not one person ever took me to task. I love my life here and I love Munich, but I miss home, and I really missed it yesterday when this guy’s arrogance really took the wind out of my sails. I suppose what bothers me the most is that they seem to have no problem correcting what they consider to be the slightest infraction of the “rules” which they seem to make up according to whim. There is very little of the live-and-let-live attitude here and I miss that.

My absentee ballot arrived today, has been filled out (guess who I voted for?) and is ready for mailing. I miss all the election drama, though if I am to believe the BBC, Kerry appears to be closing the gap…

Chris left this morning for a few days of work in Zagreb, Croatia. I’m okay when he travels and in fact try to make the most of it and enjoy it.
In two weeks, I hope to meet Lee and Helen for a day and night in Bolzano, Italy and am looking quite forward to it as I like them both very much. In early November, we are meeting some of my Jersey gang for ten days in Italy. I cannot wait. A shot of Joanna, Tom and John, their friends Bill and Vincent, combined with me, Chris, Jen and Paul should bring a load of laughs and misadventures. Shortly thereafter, Chris and I will be in the States for Thanksgiving. Chris will be there for a week, and I will be there for two.