Deutschland? Jawohl!

I don't normally use this blog to discuss current events in my life, good or ill, but this is a fairly major one that I wanted to share. About a week ago, my mom gave me the idea of going to Germany to visit my cousin Tami and her family. This is the same cousin I went to visit in Boston a couple years back; I think I mentioned that here before. Her idea is to cover half the air fare as my birthday present this year.

We still have to contact Tami and work out the logistics of the trip, figure out when would be a good time for them, etc. But if we manage to pull this off, it will be the first time in my life I've been outside the continental United States. So, as you can imagine, this plan holds some appeal with me.

I'd be going alone, which would also be a first for me. I like alone time as much as the next guy, but when I'm going on a trip, I like to have someone with me, be it friends or family. But of course I'd be staying with family once I got there, so it'd really only be on the plane that I'd be by myself.

My only real concern is that I don't speak a lick of German. For all I know, my cousin will be the only native English speaker around. Her husband Denny speaks English just fine, and her son Noah's English is about as good as any four year old's, but that's about it. It's probably not that big a deal, except that if I feel like striking out on my own for a day, I'll probably spend most of the day saying "Excuse me, do you speak English?" everywhere I go.

But, with that one caveat, I still want to do this. I haven't had a real vacation in at least a year, and I've always wanted to go to another country. So, I'm gonna get in contact with my cousin and see what we can't iron out together. So I'd better practice saying one of the few things I can say in German: "Ich bin ein Amerikaner."

-Long Days and Pleasant Nights