20 some hours and counting

That's how long we've been awake... but the mind is more powerful than the body, or at least my mind is telling me so, and I am still up. If I sound a little crazy in this post, just blame it on jet lag. I should be able to use that excuse for at least a week.

Today we started in Germany, touched down in Denmark, touched down again in Sweden, and landed in the US. It's 87 degrees (farenheit, of course), the sun is shining, and people are speaking English. Immediately after getting off of the plane we saw not only White people, but Black people, Hispanic people, and Indian people... it was so cool. My dad picked us up and whisked us off to my parents' Powers Lake, WI house. We had to stop at the 7 Eleven so that Brian could purchase the largest fountain drink of Mountain Dew ever created. I think it was 64 ounces, maybe 72, I don't know (I was never good at ounces to begin with, and now that I'm thinking in liters it's even harder)... it was a small bucket and he was a happy guy.

We have escaped the perpetual mid-May weather of Hannover for true hot and dry summer. The grass is brown here, which looks really strange to us. The corn is struggling, its leaves spiky from the dryness like some scrubby desert plant.  Today while sitting on the deck we saw three deer run across the field behind the house.

Brian and I are still excited from our recent trip to the grocery store. Here are the things that were cool - an entire aisle dedicated to just chips. Potato chips, baked potato chips, barbecue potato chips, tortilla chips, round tortilla chips, pretzel rods, pretzel twists, pretzel rings... you get the idea. This volume and variety of snack food is unheard of in Germany. The produce section alone was bigger than the grocery store I shop at most often in Hannover. Brian reports that he smiled and said hello to at least three strangers, who smiled and said hello back to him, in English. There were teenagers working at the cash register, while standing. In Germany it's usually a full-grown lady seated in a chair with a nametag. I was asked whether I wanted paper or plastic, and someone bagged the groceries for me. There was no mad rush to shove my things in a fabric bag before the next customer checked out.  We also purchased a tri-state array of beers: Goose Island 312 from Chicago, New Glarus from Wisconsin, and Grain Belt Nordeast from Minnesota. I am hoping that drinking a couple of them will keep me awake a few more hours.

Powers Lake is the best possible place I know to spend a summer day. It smells good here, like warmth and sunshine and grass that's too dry. You can hear a faint buzz of boats on the lake. The agenda for this week involves sunbathing, swimming, sitting on the deck, and working on a tan while reading magazines in English. Right now Brian is watching ESPN and we are planning to eat some corn-fed beef for dinner. It's going to be a good trip, if I can just stay up for a few more hours.