Rubber necking

In mid-August, I returned from the land where every day, Donald Trump does something so awful that you can help but pay attention. It's like the whole country is rubber-necking to see just what kind of train wreck he caused this time. We know we shouldn't look but it's just hard not to.

And as so many Americans are excited for/worried about/fascinated by/tired of the drama that is Trump vs. Hilary, the people where I live are pondering whether to vote for this guy.

It's time for the city and regional council elections. Now Frank, who's running to represent my neighborhood, looks like a guy you could vote for. He looks like a guy with no skeletons in his closet and a lot of schnitzel in his fridge.

German election posters like Frank's lack a certain sense of flair. Or maybe they have a certain sense of sincerity. They look like the head shots that Germans are expected to place on top of their resumes (right next to their age and marital status... but don't get me started). After all, Frank is running for office, not for prom king or reality show TV star.

I've written about German elections before, but the contrast with the U.S. presidential election this year is too hard to pass up. With the gawking that Americans deal with, Frank and his straightforward posters are refreshing.

I was getting my teeth cleaned last week when my dental hygenist, who is an immigrant from Kazakhstan, asked me what's going on with our election. What do I think of it all, and will Donald Trump win? She's not the first one who's asked me that question. It puts me in an uncomfortable place, and not just because I was trying to answer while she scraped my teeth. How do you explain (in German, with your mouth open) how somebody like that gets so close to the top? How do you describe the voters he appeals to?

I have tried to do that in other conversations, to explain what I think is happening. It's a tough role to take on, to explain our political situation as the only American in the room. I think more Americans should have to do it. But at the dentist's office I just gave a few vague answers and spit.

Stay tuned

If you have noticed that I shut down (or shut up) for a little while over the summer, you are right. I had a week in northern Spain followed by 2 days at home and then 3 weeks in the US of A. I slept in seven different beds on my Midwestern visit, spent a lot of time with family, a few great days with friends and as much time as possible out on the lake. Everything was wonderful and familiar, except that  Brian was not with me. He was pursuing every boy's dream of being alone on the frontier. Except that his frontier was in Central Asia and his cowboy days were filled with pre-teens playing baseball. More on that later.

Now that my tan is fading, and my husband and our domestic bliss will soon return, I am back to the blog. And I'll be back to work on Monday but, as I promised my fans back home, I won't forget about you, dear readers. Stay tuned.