I was a bit unsure whether I should be blogging from Madagascar, and whether I’d like doing that at all. I left my laptop at home, swapped it the iPod I had bought in Los Angeles (and that I had cracked the glass the second last day in Barcelona) with my old one, which should be good enough. Let’s see what happens. But let’s first catch up with things…
I was already deprived from sleep in Barcelona. I wouldn’t had guessed that this would be going on for a while.
My parents and my friend Alex were welcoming me at the airport in Munich on arrival. I quickly said “Hi” to the former, grabbed my keys that they gladly provided and Alex thankfully rode me back to my flat in the city.
It is amazing how things stay the same. Almost everything was the way I had left it. Nothing had changed except for a big layer of dust on various pieces of furniture. Anubis had been moved by a centimetre.
I unpacked my bag like I had done a hundred times before, dumped my dirty clothes into the washing machine and drank the two last remaining cups of the expired chai latte tea with Alex and Jan, while browsing through the huge pile of mail. It’s funny how only a few relevant letters were among it. In the end, like Ben Folds says, “life barrels on like a runaway train where the passengers change, they don’t change anything: you get off, someone else can get on.”
I wasn’t sure if I should make my bed for the three nights I would sleep in it, or just instead use the sleeping bag. But that was silly. I had longed to do this for such a long time and regardless that this was just a short stopover before heading to Madagascar, I was supposed to feel home again.
My iMac installed >3 GB of software updates, and my old laptop did a similar job. Is that really all after a year of absence? Computer software becoming obsolete? Well, somehow Jan never used my coffee machine while I was away. It now seems to be a bit upset and refuses to be turned on again.
I was slightly in a rush (can you believe it?) as I needed to talk with Lothar about the upcoming three weeks. It was impossible to see all my friends, but I wanted to fit as much into the 2.5 days as possible. The details of the trip were in my mail that I didn’t read yet. After hanging my clothes to dry, Alex drove me to the nearest subway station where I bought a three days tourist ticket for the public transportation.
The meeting with Lothar went smooth and while giving me an update on what had changed and what hadn’t, I ate a Schnitzel. We were both looking forward to Madagascar. A lot.
After a short night, Jan and I got up early to go into town to donate blood. It was exactly six months after I had left Malaria risk areas in South America and after Madagascar I would have been blocked for another six months for the same reason. For Jan, it was the first time and he had done good.
After that I bought myself some new shoes and ordered my new SIM card (no chance to get it before I left) and went home again to do some more washing and organizing.
I had to leave at 17:00 to make sure I would no miss my appointment with Alex and Alis at 6pm in Poing. They had invited Thomas and Moni from Buttenheim over for the weekend — and even if I couldn’t attend the pulled pork BBQ on Saturday, I wouldn’t want to miss the –wait for it– legendary Lemon Chicken(TM) Alis miraculously prepares. Or so I thought.
I hugged Alis a couple of times. I rejoiced seeing her again. Strangely, Thomas and Moni weren’t here yet and in fact would not be here in time for dinner. The chicken was as tasty as I remembered it, maybe even better.
Then there was this call from Jan.
He had locked himself out of the flat and said I needed to let him back in. He also claimed that Sandra (who had a spare key) was in Nuremburg (funny, didn’t we want to meet that evening before I agreed to be at Alex’ and Alis’ place?). I was very reluctant. Why did he try to ruin my evening? It would take an hour to get back home and another one to Poing? Alex suggested we could all meet at my place for a couple of drinks — he would call Thomas and Moni, who were on their way already.
In the end, I agreed. Even though the place was a mess and I didn’t have any drinks at home.
The Ben Folds song mentioned above also has the following lines.
“There was no party / there were no songs / ’cause today’s just a day like the day that he started.”
People say that no words can describe my face when I entered my flat and so many of my friends were sitting in my living room, waiting to party with me.
Not for a split second I had been thinking about a possible surprise party. I was deeply confused. They had all been playing a perfect piece of stage acting. I couldn’t stop blushing. It was just unbelievable. They were unbelievable! They are my friends. Priceless! Thanks each and everyone.
Some had come a long way from Nuremberg (Tobi), Erlangen (Daniel), Buttenheim (Moni, Thomas and Nico) or Otterfing (Kerstin, Simon and my godchild Johanna) to see me. It was difficult to attend to all of them individually and I’m always feeling guilty to not be able to spend enough time with them. I hope they will forgive me and maybe they still had a good time. I definitely had the time of my life!
I went to bed after 3am. I slept until 9:30, had a relaxing bath and was stung by a wasp that had been hiding under my office table. Grrrreat! That slightly delayed my packing by a few hours as I preferred to just keep an ice bag to my foot instead of running around.
In the evening I met in town with Tobi and Sandra to eat Schweinebraten and after switching restaurants, we were able to find some free space. It was a long evening of nice chatting. Four hours later, we departed again.
I arrived home after midnight and I still had to pack. My father would pick me up at 4am for the ride to the airport, there was no time for sleeping.
I packed up almost the same stuff that I had in my backpack the last year. Funny, yes, but also approved! I only upgraded my camera gear to the fullest extend as the wildlife was said to be very unique over there (the “Galapagos” of Africa?). I left a bunch of stuff at home though. Like my laptop. Give me a break, please.
