Yesterday, I made a valiant attempt to go to work and keep my desk chair warm, as per my state-appointed duty, but my immune system just wasn’t having it. As I shuffled out of the office, vaguely dizzy and looking forward to returning to bed, I passed by a group of girls who were also moving at a shuffling gait, towards our program’s conference room. They wore bubblegum pink, shorts with “KANSAS” printed on the posterior, and quilted paisley bags. The gaggle of girls peered uncertainly into the open conference room, shrugged, and followed the ringleader of the bunch inside.
These were not our students. These were econ majors. I had to do something about this!
Just for Faye…sorry this has been a long time coming! Please refer back to Octopus Garden for further details.
This pattern will make the blue octopus posted on that page, which is kind of short and squat and looks like a blueberry. The finished dimensions are something like 3.5″ or 4″ in diameter, I believe (I gifted it before measuring).
I’m back, and in one piece, despite Washington / Dulles International Airport’s attempts upon my sanity and well-being. (Please note when choosing flight plans: this is, hands down, the most poorly designed and mismanaged airport in the history of EVER. Really, thousands of travelers coming in, with connecting flights, and they can only come up with four people on staff at customs? Yet they have five people on hand, hands jammed firmly in pockets, to escort one guy in a wheelchair? Come on.) I just got in last night, and found myself a bit swamped at work today, well, as swamped as a person at my job can actually be (I have stuff! to do! whoa). And missing Europe, of course, and spending time with Elijah.
We went to several places in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. I arrived in Frankfurt on the 20th, and soon after, we set off to Marburg and Limburg, Germany (according to E, German towns ending in -burg are the best); then we met up with his parents and drove down to Austria, staying a night in Salzburg, and two nights in this wonderful Alpine town named Halstatt. Afterwards we drove up to the Netherlands, to Nijmegen (where his parents are staying), and to Amsterdam for a day. Then we went back to Germany, to stay with his grandmother in Höhr-Grenzhausen, just outside of Koblenz (which is an hour away from Frankfurt). Yes, a whirlwind trip in just ten days! I’ll be sorting through my photos and posting my journal entries over the next few days. Meanwhile, here are some fun factoids:
