...aaaaaaand we're back!

Whoa, nelly! Time flies when you're having fun (and doing a ton of stuff).

First of all, loyal readers, apologies for having kept you in the dark. Many things have been happening the last couple weeks, and now that I am back into the swing of things, I'm excited to share them with you. 

First of all, I will tell you that I returned to Berlin a couple days ago after being in Chicago for close to a week. ::GASP:: I know, I know. How could I not say anything? Well, it wasn't a planned trip--I bought a ticket after hearing about a loved one's death--so I didn't really have much time to devote to other things besides being with my friend and her family, nor did my time seem as useful to anything except this event of loss. BUT dear friends and readers, be comforted that Jack and I are nearly halfway through our life here in Berlin (I can't believe how quickly time flies!) and we will certainly be available come July. Aaaaaaand since our residence permits expire 30.6.11, you better believe we'll be home come in July...or else we'll be running from the law! Hmm. Tough choice: legal citizens or fugitives? I mean, I do enjoy a good adventure once in a while...har har har.


Anyhoo, in my recent travels (more on Italy in a future post), I did find myself between a rock and a hard place. First and foremost, let it be known that me+8.5 hour flights=crabtasticness. I never get any sleep on international flights, even if they take place during the time I would normally be snoozing the night away. Sucks. I see Ambien in my future. Anyway, the flight from Chicago to Madrid got me to Spain at about 2am Chicago time (7am in Madrid) and then I only had about 45 minutes to get to the next gate (Madrid to Berlin) before boarding began. Thinking this would be no problem, I deplaned (ahahaha LOVE this word) with confidence, only for it to be promptly shut down. As I began to follow the signs for the next terminal, I came to the panic-inducing realization that I was not only a train ride away from the next terminal, I had to be processed through customs before I could continue. Um, CRAP. My empty stomach started to churned wildly as I got to the customs area and scanned the crowd of non-EU passport-holders, desperately calculating to myself how long it would take to get up to the little glass window and get my stamp. Shit, shit, shit. There were airport personnel standing near the entrance to each of these lines (EU and non-EU) so I decided to see if they could help me through to the front of the line--or if there was just anything, ANYTHING they could do to expedite the process. HELL NO, I was NOT going to miss my flight. I was too tired, too crabby to even consider what I'd have to do if I missed it. 

"Um, excuse me, my flight boards in 40 minutes from now. Is there anything I can do to move through this line?"

"Oh no," said the woman, glancing at my passport. "Where is your passport from?"

"The United States," I answered gloomily. "But I do have a visa to live in Germany."

"A visa, errrmm," she said, frowning. "Let me see."

So I handed her my passport and showed her the German residence permit, which she stared at ambivalently, until I declared,

"It's a residence permit! I live in Berlin until the end of June!"  

With my declaration, she nodded and pointed me in the direction of the EU line, which of course had almost no one waiting in it. I nearly danced up to the little glass box, grinning my tired grin. The customs agent readily recognized my document, and off I went, in a timely and ecstatic manner, towards my gate. Aaaaaand a BIG SIGH of RELIEF. 

So I suppose, for that trying moment, I was undoubtedly lucky to have a document proving I was a current EU resident. Perhaps my previous talk of bribing the German government to allow me to stay here has come back to (nicely) bite me in the butt. Because you know if I hadn't made it through customs, and missed my connecting flight, it would TOTALLY have been the government's fault...right? RIGHT? Of course. =)