so over the last 2 and a half days, i’ve worked 32 hours. that’s strangely almost a full work week in half of what’s considered a full work week.

i’ve spent most of my time communicating to and from the united states and helping the german team get kick started on their tasks for delivering version 2. awesome, exciting, crazy busy. today, i felt like i walked into the office (at 8:30am) and minutes later someone asked if i wanted to get lunch (at 11:45am.) 3 hours had flashed by me, and moments later it was 5pm. then at 8:20 pm i walked to the hotel.

anyway, i was called today and asked to stay an additional week! so yay, i’m in germany for another week! that’s crazy super awesome. except i have 3 of everything, expecting i would only stay 3-4 days. now i’m staying 12 days.

i’ve arranged for a car for the week, extended my hotel stay, and moved my flight. i’ll have a weekend in germany to roam around nuerenberg, visit a castle, and hang out in a cafe somewhere and take pictures of “germany” as its meant to be seen.

so, today, as i roamed the back streets of erlangen, searching for a restaurant i knew existed, but couldn’t find because i got lost, i listened to the sounds. apparently, i’m in the countryside, yet i couldn’t tell because of the large office buildings around me. but the sounds of my walk around tennelohe this evening were nature at its finest. birds chirping at 8:30 at night, a running creek flowing next to the brickpaved street i walked along, and drops of rain hitting my jacket and face.

it sounded so peaceful. at 9pm, it was still relatively light out, a pleasant surprise considering i was accustomed to the days being short in a winter that is not willing to release its grasp on the world.

at the same time, the place (germany) just seems european, whatever that means. i haven’t seen a lighted sign indicating anything since i’ve gotten here. even the sign for my hotel is modest in it’s appearance, far from the neon yellow and red of a mcdonalds. i haven’t seen many cars actually driving (but many are parked on the side of the road) 

most surprising is that next to every bus stop i’ve walked by, there’s a vending machine for cigarettes, which accepts bills, coins and credit cards with rfid tags in them.

i haven’t seen a single person smoke since getting here.