Nanny extroidinaire

I looked after my cousins kids for 3 days. Thought it would be a piece of cake! Clearly I was deluded and now have come to the realization that i'm not cut out to ever raise 3 boys! It was quite the journey. I went from talking to deaf ears to "I'm taller than you, I don't have to listen" to having fun and getting along.
When I have kids I am definitely hiring a cook OR a househusband. Mark my words. Being snowed in, it was hard to get to the grocery shop - only I could mess up and burn grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Being a 'mom' is hard and after 3 days I think i'm good for quite a long time!

The longest trip of my life

Sunday evening I hopped onto a flight from Toronto and made my way to Frankfurt. Piece of cake right?

I was slightly nervous because my connection time between flights was 1 hour and 10 mins. When I checked in, the friendly Air Canada staff all assured me that it would be A-OK. I only wish they had been right.

Right before we were about to leave a family of 6 stroll on the plane (2 parents and 4 children aged <1yr>

Finally a flight attendant said "give me the baby and PUT YOUR BAGS AWAY". Long story short, after being reprimanded by the flight attendants numerous times for delaying the plane they finally all sat down. Unfortunately we were waiting for sometime that frost formed on the wings and we had to get de-iced for take off.

This was about the time that I decided to take a percocet to ease the pain of my flight. After washing it down with some red wine - I was really enjoying my flight and onboard entertainment. Needless to say, I also slept quite soundly.

Upon arrival to Frankfurt, the captain announced that due to weather conditions we had to circle for 20 - 30 minutes until we were cleared to land. That left me with 5 minutes to make my connection due to our tardiness at YYZ. I was told to talk to the staff once I got off and they would be very helpful.....

We landed and the pilot must have thought we were in hawaii. Not sure how he confused snow and sleet for palm trees and coconuts, but there we were walking off the plane in the middle of the tarmac with busses waiting for us.

One word for my first impression of the Frankfurt airport. GHETTO. Although Germans are known for the efficiency and it is one of the busiest airports, it was the most chaotic airport experience to date. No one knew where I was to go. I talked to information, they said it was canceled but I needed to take a bus to the terminal. I went through customs, asked a few more people who pointed me towards a huge line - which was for international travellers. Was trying to find someone in line who spoke English - I kept point to myself saying 'Dusseldorf' and people would introduce themselves with their name 'Hans'. Really? Have you ever heard of someone named Dusseldorf??

Finally after not being able to find the so called bus I was supposed to hop on, I went to another information desk and she informed me I missed me flight by 10 minutes. I was fighting back the tears, drenched in sweat after hustling over half of the airport. She sent me to the Lufthansa ticketing window who then sent me to the baggage drop off to get a new ticket. I was informed that the flight was cancelled and so was the next one. I could get on a flight 5 hours later but there was no guarantee it wouldn't be canceled as well.

It was 1 pm and my cousin Deb was enroute to pick me up in Dusseldorf. I called her house a few times but she had already left. 1 phone call to my aunt at 5am, a few emails and several voicemails, her husband phoned me and told me to hop on a train.

Finally - a solution - 1 train straight to Dusseldorf! WRONG. 2 trains later (standing room only) and a missed 3rd connection, I was picked up in Aachen, 20 kms from where I was to stay.

Now hopefully my luggage will arrive soon!

Sabbatical

I am on a short term sabbatical from work. 7 weeks to be exact! Well technically this is a stress leave but I find sabbatical to sound much more acceptable with society.

What is a sabbatical?

According to wikipedia

"In recent times, "sabbatical" has come to mean any extended absence in the career of an individual in order to achieve something. In the modern sense, one takes sabbatical typically to fulfill some goal, e.g., writing a book or traveling extensively for research."

Now I am not sure I am up for the pressure of fulfilling a goal like writing a book. I do however enjoy the idea of travelling and finding myself and I am definitely on a break from my career. But this is something that someone in their mid (late) twenties rarely does.

Its easy to continue with the daily grind in Vancouver, but I'm looking for a new adventure that life has in store for me. It hasn't presented itself on my doorstep so I going to to look everywhere to find it. Think of it as a giant game of hide and seek.

I hope you find my adventures interesting - but more importantly I hope others will laugh, learn and love along with me.

Wish me luck!!!