I'm so late writing about my trip to Germany that I will just give the highlights.
My purpose for going to Germany was for a company conference--for those of us who have been living overseas for about a year. My flatmate and I decided to go two days early so we could enjoy some vacation time in Frankfurt.
We had a really enjoyable time eating good food, shopping, window shopping, and sightseeing. It was a great get-away! I absolutely love where I live and what I do, but there is a certain heaviness here that I can't really explain to you. And that heaviness can become even heavier for an ex-pat like me. For example, once I entered Germany, I suddenly felt a certain freedom as soon as I noticed all the diversity around me...red, yellow, back, and white. I fit in! I also got mistaken for a local several times, which was funny.
I enjoyed shopping for some new clothes and other stuff, but really the window shopping was just as "therapeutic". Shopping where I live is just not an enjoyable experience, so it was fun to stroll the streets, browse through beautiful displays, try things on, and no one was hovering over my shoulder glaring at me. Fun stuff! And once we found the good sales, it was even more fun!
As for the food, we did eat the major things we can't get here in restaurant form. Pizza Hut, German schnitzel, Burger King, Japanese, and Mexican. And we brought back tortillas, tortilla chips, granola bars, and other random stuff back with us.
The conference was good. Some of the information was a little "late" and would have been more useful to me 8 or 9 months ago. Still, it was nice to sing and hear the Word in English and the encouragement and fellowship were also nice. Also, the conference was at a conference center in a little German town that was completely covered in snow! Luckily, the conference center had lots of great windows and I got to spend some time reading at leisure and watching the snow fall.
Yay for conferences and vacations!
Downside: We flew back home all night and before we boarded our first plane I felt like I was coming down with something. By the time we got back to Yerevan, I had a man voice and had not slept. I'm still getting over a cold? upper respiratory infection? Anywho, I'm taking drugs and hope to get rid of the junk soon!
3 comments:
I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip. And yeah since the post is kinda late, you've told me all about it already, but I enjoyed reading the post anyway. It's nice to just get away from "normal life" sometimes.
It sounds like a great time of worship and fellowship with other company workers. I can almost picture the convention site with the snow. Do you know the name of the small town? We've had some pretty snow here, also. Hope you took pics. Sorry you got sick. Hope you are getting better. Girls have got to shop... so it's nice that you have conferences in good locations.
I know exactly what you mean about 'fitting in' I experience the same over here. Glad you had a good time!
Post a Comment