Leaving on a jet plane...

After driving to Milwaukee, flying to Chicago, and waiting at O'Hare for four hours (the Fulbrighters must not be experts on geography of the midwest), I finally boarded the plane for Frankfurt. The sun was setting as we taxied out to the runway, and it seemed like the perfect stateside send-off.

O'Hare gets much prettier in the dark.

Peace, U.S.A.

The plane ride was about nine hours, which wasn't great, but there was no one in the seat next to me, which was really great. They showed Leatherheads and Ocean's Thirteen, and the meals were actually pretty good.

Passenger judgements: the guy sitting in front of me smelled like even the idea of showering was not within his grasp, the woman sitting behind me had one of those high-pitched grating voices that make you want to pull a Vincent van Gogh, and there was a girl sitting near me (she was actually gorgeous) who was wearing four-inch strappy stilettos for her trans-antlantic travel.

On the big plane.

I managed to get about three hours of sleep on the flight (something about sleeping in a lightly-cushioned, nearly-upright seat doesn't scream ergonomic), but the payoff was that I experienced a healthy dose of George Clooney's recent comedic exploits and got to catch glimpses of Ireland, London, and France on the decent to Frankfurt.

Erster Blick auf dem Vaterland.

What up, Frankfurt?

Touchdown, Germany!

The Frankfurt airport is huge, but clean, organized, and easy to navigate. Germans wouldn't build something any other way. Customs was quick, luggage retrieval was slightly more difficult, but I struggled out of the baggage claim to the sound of my name. It's Dirk, my mentor teacher, and he has come to take me to my new home.

The drive to Tauberbischofsheim took about an hour, which gave us the opportunity to get to know each other and for me to learn more about my new school, the Matthias-Grünewald-Gymnasium. (If you move here, speech impediments or a phobia of excessively long words are not advised). We came to the basic conclusion that teaching in Germany is a much better plan than doing so in the U.S. (teachers make between €100,000-150,000 per year and get about nine weeks of vacations during the year).

I also learned that Dirk had done a similar teaching exchange program to England after he graduated University. That would explain why I was riding in a Jaguar instead of a Benz.