(I'm writing this the next day and I'm totally exhausted so I'm glad that I can shorten this).
We did the usual: sleep in, eat delicious breakfast, get on the road. This time we were headed for another country, Luxembourg. Today however we wanted to go to the city Luxembourg and go to the US Embassy there. Ahmee and Poppy both wanted to vote.
While on the road I had the usual grand time looking out the windows and taking in the scenery. When I'm not busy in the car doing homework or preventing myself from getting sick (sit back with cool air blowing on your face-best if its fresh) then I'm busy looking out the window and imagining how I could incorporate such and such garden into an area of ours, or imagining how such and such a place would be an excellent date, or thinking "if so and so could see this!" I don't see how people can't sit for hours and hours and hours in the car. It's stimulating to just look out the windows! You end up dreaming for hours and adoring the views for hours. Nothing wrong with that.
As we headed down into Luxembourg we passed through several little towns. As we went through one such town Ahmee and I spotted a fair. Ahmee had Poppy turn around and go back so that we could look. We ended up spending about two hours there, maybe three. We looked in every tent (except one towards the front that we saw on our way out). While there I got two more gifts. Hahahahahahahaha! I'm not telling you Momma what I got you!
We grabbed wursts to eat out on the sidewalk. I know that's not their true names. Ahmee had a brautwurst, and Poppy and I had metwursts. It was delicious! I love sausages and hotdogs (just so long as the sausage isn't spicy) and my metwurst was soooo juicy! Wonderful, meaty, goodness! Mhm. Never had a thing like it.
After sausages we went into two restaurants. We were looking for a restroom. The first restaurant was stuffed with people. The second restaurant was tame, it seemed to be the place where the "gray-hairs" went (aka: older people). After ordering stuff to eat and drink we went and used the facilities. After having my wurst I just wanted a drink. I got coffee.
My coffee ended up being my desert. I put tons of sugar and creme in it, and then while I waited for it to cool off it melted my chocolate bar slightly along the side. That chocolate bar had an elephant on the top of it, I'm not sure what type it was, but that elephant brought me a lot of joy. Chocolate helps, it really does. Lupin couldn't have said truer words. That chocolate made me so happy with its goodness. It was the cherry on top of my meal. Metwurst, coffee, and chocolate. Doesn't it sound amazing!?! If it doesn't, hush, just take my word for it.
After the fair we headed out again to get on the road. Soon we were in Luxembourg where we got a very good look at more current buildings. Many many pieces of architecture were high-tech looking and were truely nice to look at. I think the oldest buildings we saw while there were the houses that were down in the valley. We saw these as we crossed over the red bridge into Luxembourg the city.
We went in looking for an information center. Course, my eyes were put to work to look for an American flag and for an I (information). I saw the I and told them we needed to head towards the central station. Off we went to the central station. I must say now that this was the first time we'd ever taken the car into a big city. In the past we've taken the bus or train from the outskirts and come in that way. This time we got to weasel our way through the streets in the car. I felt bad for Poppy, but I was most certainly glad I was not the one driving.
One of the hardest things to do when you've got a car in the big city is to find a place to park. After we found the central station it took us maybe 10 minutes to find a parking place. It then took us about the same amount of time to walk back to the station. From there we were shown where the US Embassy was and we were given directions as to how to get there.
We walked back, got in the car, drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. We got lost. Let me tell you, being lost on the interstate is not as much fun as being lost in a town when you're walking. One fun part was getting out and stopping at a Barnes and Noble-type store to get directions (both for the restroom and for the US Embassy). I didn't have much luck finding the bathroom when I asked for the restroom (this'd be in English), I got directed to the restaurant at the front of the store. I then asked a French woman in french how to get to that bathroom. After pointing diagonal from herself and talking in a babble of French I said, "OH! I see it now it's just there!" She switched over to English and told me it was hidden behind the wall.
In Luxembourg it's normal for people to switch from french, to english, to german. We found this out before we even got there. We saw this in action at the fair.
We got back on the road and managed to find the Embassy from their directions. Tada! Now Ahmee and Poppy could go vote. Or so we thought. I had never been to an Embassy before, and I was curious as to where'd they'd set visitors down inside it. I found it highly unlikely to be given a cozy living room to stretch out in in the Embassy. I never even thought about how airtight security is.
At first Ahmee and Poppy were denied entrance and were told to call a certain number. After they tried the number they were given and were told by a machine the the number wasn't valid, they told the guard and managed to talk their way in.
We went through airport-style security. Only difference was that we were not allowed any electronic devices into the building whatsoever. Poppy ended up leaving the cell phone, the camera, the cord for the camera, and I think his wallet (no clue why). We went up the ramp, got a short glimpse of the garden within the main gates, and then were ushered into a tiny waiting room where we had to leave our purses on the counter and walk through yet another scanner. There were two windows in this room. In one window we could see several men in uniform (I don't know how to tell them apart so I'll just say they're army men). In the other window there was nothing but a door behind it. We were told by the security officer who escorted us to this waiting room to wait in front of this window, while he stood behind the counter without passing through the scanner.
What happened next was haltingly interesting. It was haltingly interesting because the woman who came in and started talking to Ahmee and Poppy delivered not only halting news, but also delivered it in a very halting way, and seemed almost rude to Ahmee and Poppy. I sat back in the chair and watched and listened as Ahmee explained that they'd been told they could just come to an Embassy while they were abroad and just vote. The woman told them that that was wrong, that you have to register and get in contact with specific people and send several things back and forth (she did say specifics-I just don't remember atm). Ahmee eventually ended up asking for Kentucky's address. While the lady was gone getting that for her Ahmee checked out a not-so-small book that was on the coffee table that explained how to vote abroad. The lady got both the address that Ahmee wanted and the address for the US Embassy in Rome (so we could receive mail from Kentucky). After that we left. I know it sounds short, but there was a lot of confusion during this conversation, and a lot of informing about what you can and cannot do. We were there in the Embassy a long time to receive a short amount of information. It wasn't a very lovely experience. Maybe if I'd had a book to read I would've been able to sit there for hours without having to worry, like I did for 3 hours in the customs office when we were going through to Canada.
We didn't stay in Luxembourg long after that. We were there long enough to get back on the road out, that's it. I'll have to go back to Luxembourg some day. I know that the visit we had to the US Embassy, was NOT seeing Luxembourg.
The drive back was the same as the drive out. When we got back to Stadkyll we ate at a local Chinese Restaurant (not entirely blind- I understood banana, and Ahmee understood anana which is pineapple). After that we went looking for a wireless internet.
During dinner Ahmee'd asked me a question that made me worried, even though the question was asked playfully. She'd asked, "What would you do Rachel if we told you tough shit, you aren't having any internet until Thursday." When my first reply didn't work I told her the idea gave me a small headache.
After that we looked for a place in town to hook up via wireless (we'd already done this before, good to always check again). No luck finding wireless, but I did spot three deer that were on the opposite hillside/
After this I told them I'd like to at least let my teachers know about the situation. Poppy and I went back to the Play Arena, where I typed to: Mr. Owens, Mr. Johnson, Daddy (he'd written), Momma, Iain, and Emma. I have to say that my emails to Momma and Iain were the ones where I let my stress for the situation show. Even though I hadn't gotten anything from my teachers, I was still nervous about not being able to send them the work I'd completed. I felt like Ahmee and Poppy still didn't understand how much time I needed on the computer, and I told Iain and Momma that. Iain told me in a reply email to not worry, that Momma was going to talk to Poppy and Ahmee and that if "worse came to worse" she had an ace up her sleeve. I cautioned him in my responding email.
Let me put it this way: I wanted to try and work this out before that.
Once we got back to the bungalow I shared my emails, and then Poppy shared one he'd gotten. It was from my Momma. He looked at Ahmee and said that I'd been telling my momma that we weren't getting along, and that my momma was still worried about me getting too stressed out about internet. I'm fairly certain that that's not what Momma said, because that's not what I said. I told both of them that I'd told her that we had our tense moments and our good ones, and that there were more good ones than tense ones, it was just being on the computer made me stress out, homework stressed me out. I didn't explain it properly before we all went to bed (slightly better).
The next day (I'll write how Ahmee and I worked this out) I talked to Ahmee about it. She asked me to talk to them before I talked to Momma first off and then I did my best to explain what was going on, why I was getting so stressed out. I explained how I wanted to do well. I explained that even though I hadn't missed anything yet I didn't like not having wireless because I knew that I needed to complete Unit 2 because they were on Unit 3, because I knew that I was going to get a ton to do in AP US History, and because I knew that I needed to get more articles (English newspapers are difficult to come by here). Ahmee said I was basically trying to serve two masters. She said that they were going to be staying in Ibis Hotels from now on, so that I wouldn't be stressed out over internet. I also told her about the one class that really scared me: Spanish. I told her my plans for teaching myself, because as of yet I haven't heard a word from Mrs. Stuart. I haven't moved along in my book because I don't know how far to go, and I know that there's no way I'll learn a thing going through a chapter a day whenever there's 20 words at the beginning of the chapter. I've basically been going over the things I know in my blogs. Ahmee told me she'd show me how to memorize the words. I also asked to start having half of the happy hour dedicated to speaking on Spanish. It was agreed that the second half of happy hour would be the designated Spanish time. This way we'll both get to practice speaking our Spanish.
Oh! Forgot to mention that we're leaving Stadkyll early so we get go on ahead to another Ibis.
In short, it's worked out now.
I just hope Momma hasn't pulled out her ace now because of my being stressed out of my mind the night before (when I got back I had a headache and I felt like I was going to throw up immediately after Poppy told Ahmee and me the email he'd gotten from Momma). Right now I just need to set into action the new game plan, we've reached an agreement now, we just need to get it going. We needed to work things out (sends hugs to her Momma), and now they are.
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