Homeward bound...

Three more days until I embark on my journey back to Canada. We're going to London first. The ticket was a lot cheaper if I flew out from Gatwick, so I arranged it with Greg for us to stay with him. He was going to meet Anna, we'd catch up, and we'd have our own tour guide for London. Unfortuantely, he has been exiled from the UK and had to flee to Paris a few days ago. It was so dramatic. During phone conversations with him, I felt like we were plotting to escape the war. Thankfully, he still has his apartment in London, so we still have a place to stay. I just can't eat Andrew's cheese. Must make mental note to only eat the Canadian cheddar. Can't be too hard. 

The next three days are full of errands. I need to find a mützen for Eli. I tried to tell him that I couldn't find one, but he wouldn't take that for an answer. He was like, "Well, I'm sure there are a lot of big cities around you. Can't you just go to a bike store there?" Yes, I could... Oh, and I need to buy cigarettes for mom. Even though smoking is pretty much illegal in Canada, I'm sure she'll enjoy smoking her German cigarettes in the privacy of her own home. 

It's definitely going to be weird to come home. Preston filled me in on all the new stores downtown. I enjoyed the stories about the drapes over the cigarettes. Anna and I had an argument last night about smoking. I said if there wasn't a smoke pit at my school, I probably wouldn't have been so tempted to hang out in it and smoke. She said that was stupid. She walked past her schools designated smoke area every day and SHE didn't feel the need to smoke. I guess it's the same thing with hiding the cigarettes. Some will be tempted while others won't.  And the one's that are tempted will be called stupid by their loving wives. Fair enough I guess.

Well, I need to go downtown and pick up the keys for Greg's place at the post office. I really hope he included detailed instructions that a five-year-old could understand...

Germany made me ugly

Before I came to Germany, I decided that I would quit smoking. I had my last cigarette with my mom in Nanaimo before saying goodbye to her. Six months later, I still haven't had a cigarette. My lungs feel worse than they have ever felt, and I've gained twenty pounds.  I lost ten pounds, so I guess I gained thirty in all. Germany has made me ugly. Tempted by sausages, chocolate, and an endless supply of beer, I had no choice but to gorge myself while trying to forget the lusty call of the cigarette.

It was only after the long, cold winter, when I shed my winter jacket and tried to put on my summer clothes that I realized just how fat I had become. Usually I would blame the dryer for shrinking my clothes, but we don't have one of those things. I had to face to hard facts--I was fat. 

So now, I'm starving myself because I have a trip home in 18 days. Anna tells me not to worry so much what my friends think, but she doesn't know my friends! Constantly, they're gossiping over whose ass got fatter, who is too skinny, who has shitty hair. Oh, the hair. My hair was so beautiful when I arrived in Germany. Then it started to grow, and grow, and grow. I didn't have my brother to cut it every two weeks, so it grew into this monster. I have a picture where I look like a cave woman playing video games. Out of desperation, I asked Anna to make me an appointment at the hair salon down the street called Krista's. I asked the hairdresser to take off 10 cm. Ten minutes and 20 cms later, she had thouroughly butchered my beautiful locks. It was a bad imitation of a Friends haircut circa 1997.  I have vowed to never let another stranger cut my hair again. 

I'm hoping Preston will cut my hair when I arrive before I'm reintroduced to the general public. I'm also hoping to buy some new clothes, so I'm not wearing the same shit I have been for the past four years. Europe is supposed to change you for the better.. I picked the wrong region. Anna swears we will be skinny once we move to Berlin. I agree. We'll be too poor to enjoy luxeries like cheese, sausages, and an endless supply of beer.