And now the rest of the story

Okay, I talk a lot; you know it, I know it. Therefore, I write a lot. If you haven’t come to terms with this, the time has come! I was writing a post to fill you all in on the week, and it got so long that I ended it and started a new one just for yesterday, so if you haven’t read the whole week’s post, and if you want to before reading about yesterday, you should scroll down. Otherwise, here we go:

I got home on Saturday morning and slept until, like, 2:00. It was awesome! Then I got up, still feeling kind of depressed and decided that I should straighten my hair. Straightening my hair always makes me feel better when I’m sad because it’s like giving myself a mini makeover. It doesn’t cost anything, or change very much, but I love it and it makes me feel good about me. So after making some lunch and bumming around (I do a lot of that) I took a shower and straightened my hair. Olivier has been very busy with these two presentations that he’s had to do and he promised to make me the perfect quiche as a peace offering. We have also had plans for, like, a month now, that I would bring my computer over there and we would burn some DVDs. It’s fun to have stuff on your computer, but when you start to run out of space, you need to get your hands on a DVD burner and put it on a disc to make room for more stuff.

So I headed over there with my computer and helped Olivier with dinner; he made the quiche and I made the salad. Then we ate as we played crib. It was the perfect quiche! Just watch, though, the next one will be even better. He keeps getting better and better at making that quiche! So I finally realized that it had gotten to be 11:00 somewhere along the line, and we still hadn’t even started transferring the files to be burned, and that can take some time, plus it takes a good 40 minutes or so to burn a DVD. We headed into his room and came up with a pretty good transferring assembly line between the 2 computers and 2 jump drives that we had. The in between times were full of more crib, watching funny stuff on the computers, and eating cake. That jerk Olivier sure is getting good at crib. I used to be able to wipe the floor with him and now he gives me a run for my money almost every time. *sniff* They grow up so fast *sniff* We’re gonna have to start playing with muggins, if I ever want a shot at skunking him again!

Well, at about 4:05 (we really, really like playing crib) we decided that it was time I left. I checked the internet to see when the tram runs and found that comes at 4:17, which worked out perfectly, so I packed up my stuff and headed out. The tram came on time and as I was riding it, I thought to myself how safe the trams are. They ride on rails, like I streetcar, I guess, and I thought about how few accidents they probably get in. Then I had one of those moments where I imagined a car T-boning the tram at the exact point where I was sitting – I was sitting on seat that is sideways, so my back was to a window, which made it even worse – but it was one of those passing moments and I laughed it off.

The tram continued on for a little bit and we stopped at the station Hauptbahnhof Nord (that’s for anyone who actually knows Munich). This is a main stop that lots of people get off at, so the tram usually sits there for a minute or so so that everyone can get on and off. Now, I always listen to my mp3 player while I ride the buses and trains, but it’s not so loud so that I can’t hear what’s going on around me, because being oblivious is scary. As we were sitting there I heard some scraping, which is common for when the trams get going again, but I realized that, while I was hearing scraping, we weren’t actually going anywhere yet. The trams are about 2 times the length of the long buses that have a joint in them, so that there are actually three joints on each tram. I was sitting in the very back quarter of the tram and, as I looked out the back of the tram towards where the scraping was coming from, I saw a car backing up. I realized that the scraping was coming from this car. As it backed farther away, I saw that one of its headlights was out. And then I noticed that the whole front driver’s side quarter was crumpled. And (slowly, very slowly) I realized that it had rear-ended the tram! It backed up faster, then swung its back end around and took off – riding only on its rim! It was hilarious! I just sat there stunned, as the tram drove away, the driver being totally unawares.

The next stop was mine and as I got off I ran to the back of the tram to see what kind of damage the car had caused: none at all! I guess the trams really are safe… well, provided the car doesn’t T-bone it, which would cause some sort of damage, I’m sure. So I head to my bus stop and check the schedule for when the bus comes. According to the schedule, I had to wait about 8 minutes until 3:35 and then a bus would come, so I stood there. After about 3 minutes, a bus came, but it said, “Don’t board, Bus is defective,” so I kept waiting. A group of two girls and a guy came and looked at the schedule and were like “Damn, we’ve missed the last bus!” and I’m thinking, “Silly people, they must be looking at the weekday schedule, because I know that there is still a bus on the way.” So the guy comes up to me and asks if I know when the U-Bahns start running, and I say, “About half to five,” (that’s how they say it here) and he’s like, “Well, there aren’t any more buses coming.”
“What do you mean? The schedule says that a bus should come in 5 minutes, and, while you did just see one go by, it was defective, so they should be sending another.”
“Are you English?”
“Yes.”
“Hey, Andrea, come translate!”
“Is my German really that bad that you can’t understand me?!”
“No, I just came from disco and I can’t hear very well.”
(Yeah, right. *roll eyes* So Andrea comes over and we start talking.)
“I think that a bus will be coming along in 3 minutes. The last one was defective, and the schedule says that one will come in 3 minutes.”
“No it doesn’t. The buses are done for the evening.”
“What?!”

So, for anyone who wasn’t carefully following along, I said that I caught the tram in front of Olivier’s at 4:17 and then I said that the bus was coming at 3:35. Yes, I lost an hour, just like I did after Noirin’s party on Tuesday. This is getting ridiculous. So, the bad news is that the last night bus came at 4:05. The good news is that the U-Bahns start running just before 4:30, so they were already underway.

The four of us headed down to the trains and kind of talked along the way. We needed to take an S-Bahn to Marienplatz and then catch the U6 (they needed that train, too) and I, fortunately, had a U6 schedule in my purse. It said that the first U6 to run through Marienplatz came at 4:34 or something, so it was too late. The next one doesn’t come till (get this) 5:23!! I decided that there was no way I was going to wait around for 40 minutes with my laptop in a train station! So I walked to Odeonsplatz and took a cab. That’s twice in a week that I had to take a cab, so shame on me! I need to stop flying by the seat of my pants and start forcing myself to go home at decent hours. One good thing in my defense, though: at least I’m not running around drunk on top of it all! While I usually do have a few beers or drinks, I cut myself off before I end up loaded.

Okay, so there’s the last of the week in brief. Erika and I were supposed to get together today for a Canadian evening, but she’s crazy busy right now with a PhD proposal and had to cancel, which is totally cool because it took me so long to write these postings! She, Olivier, Vanessa (a friend of Olivier’s) and I are supposed to go to a concert tomorrow, but she might have to cancel, too (again, crazy busy) and Olivier is concerned that he might not be feeling too well because he doesn’t feel tip top today, so he might cancel too, but only time will tell.

I leave you with another self-portrait I took. After I straightened my hair yesterday I was struck again with the impulse to take pictures of myself. Look how long my hair is!!