Surprise. Part 2.

Okay so where was I.

Oh that's right. The most warmest bestest hug ever.

Let me teach you about today's word of the day boys and girls. It's called "reciprocation." That is to say "a) a mutual exchange b) a return in kind or of like value." This boys and girls, is the coolest thing EVer.

You'd actually think I'd be somewhat familiar with this feeling, through prior relationships or whatnot. Maybe it has just been a long time, but I really don't recall it being anywhere near as great as this. I truly felt when we hugged that she missed me as much as I missed her.

I wish I could describe her face when she saw me but it's pretty tough. I can do a pretty good impression of it though, ask me sometime. I guess it's a bit of a shock to see someone who you think is several thousand miles away suddenly several feet away. She really did seem happy though. And boy, I was too.

So we bid adieu to the best friend who must now go to work rather than the spa as was previously claimed, and we end up wandering around the base for a bit while she finishes up a few things and introduces me to various officemates. Kind of funny meeting people who recognize you upon sight, even though you've never seen them before. I guess various pictures had been passed around or whatnot. Eventually we meandered our way back to her place, and I got to see the infamous apartment. Only about five times the size of mine, at least. More like eight actually. I have no clue what I would do with all that space, that's for sure. By this time my body finally figured out that it was very far into the wee hours of the morning my time, and I eventually crashed for a while. That evening we got a pretty late start thanks to my snoozing and headed out to a German restaurant which I definitely wouldn't be able to pronounce even if I remembered the name. There I found out how to translate apple juice, as well as different kinds of meat before eventually handling the rumbly in my tumbly. It was fun hearing the gf converse with the waiter, at one point they used a bit of Spanish and I was able to follow along. But for the majority of the weekend I was helpless as can be when it came to speaking, and would just sort of look at her and smile and she'd handle it.

I also will admit to a gross cultural error when we were trying to find somewhere to park at the restaurant... Basically cars were all over the place, in the town there was no real curb or sidewalk or anything so cars were sideways and backwards and on the wrong side facing the wrong way, and we ended up just parking over near some bushes in what didn't look like a spot, so without thinking I said "What, they don't have any parking nazi's over here?" and then as soon as it came out was glad I was in the car and not anywhere where someone was within earshot. Just goes to show even I who claim to be politically correct do still ocassionally use terms such as that or "gestapo tactics." Pot calling the kettle black at times I guess.

I should say something about the weather, it really was quite nice the whole time I was there, somewhere in the 60s probably, and not below 40 at night, sunny both days. Wandering around at night was thus quite peaceful, rather than bone jarringly cold. I had hoped to see it snow, which I've still never in my life witnessed, but alas that will have to wait for another trip. After dinner we headed to downtown Frankfurt, which was actually quite surprisingly big. A really nice river flowing through it, I guess that's a common theme in Europe which is kind of neat. Some seriously tall buildings, and the usual parking strangeness although on a lesser scale. Our destination for the evening was called "O'Reilly's Irish Pub" which as you can probably guess isn't my typical fare. Alas I was not on my home turf and thus I was the tagalong to wherever she desired.

This is apparently her typical Friday night experience, and thus the most important reason for me to accompany her was so that she could flaunt me in front of various other regulars who continuously hit on her previously, and thus advertise that she isn't available. In my experience being unavailable just tends to make people want you even more, but what can ya do. There was much socializing and whatnot, and eventually she and her best friend took over the stage for a rendition of "I Need A Hero" off the Footloose soundtrack, quite a good choice for Karaoke. I'm not quite sure how but at some point I also ended up stage for an encore performance of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" with a few other people, I guess I got caught up in the moment. Been a while since I've held a mic, that's for sure. If you remember "Gotta Getaway" then you remember the last time I sang with a mic on stage, and I'm impressed. Pretty sure we still have video of that one, which luckily didn't get busted out when the girlfriend visited. Phew. I bet my mom will be sorry she didn't think of that.

At some point she and the best friend headed into the dancing section and I was reaching the point I could barely breathe because of the smoke, so I went outside for some fresh air. Enjoyed the downtown Frankfurt scenery for a bit, was pretty dead given it was 3 in the morning or so. But then through the night I heard the familiar rhythm of Usher's "Yeah" which was somewhat of a theme for us during ASBC. Like a wildebeest to a mating call I responded, immediately moving towards the dance floor. Conveniently she'd just left it looking for me, so we walked in a circle opposite of each other for the first minute of the song, before finally she stopped long enough for me to catch up. I've never claimed to be a hotshot when it comes to dancing with those of the opposite sex, but I feel about eighty times more comfortable in public with her than I do anyone else. Whether we're dancing or just being affectionate without being totally gross, it really seems like we're the only two people in the world at times. The next song up was "Get Busy" by Sean Paul, and yeah, there was a whole lot of bootyshakin goin on. Mostly by me mind you. Eventually the heat of too many bodies in too enclosed a space forced us to take our leave, and we made our way out of the place.

More riding on the freeway came next, which mostly consisted of me trying to pronounce place names, and her laughing extensively. I was particularly entertained by their word for the freeway exits, or "ausfahrts" as they're called, assuming I'm spelling that right. I was sure to announce every one I saw. Definitely seems like a cool place to have a fast car. Don't think I saw any going over 150mph or so though, I've heard it gets pretty crazy.

K now she was pretty dead by the time we got home but of course having slept some of the day away I was wide awake, so as is almost always the case when we're together one of us is always tired. Mass laziness ensued, and we didn't actually end up getting out to see more of Germany until around 4 in the afternoon. Out we went a bunch of clicks (kilometers for all you miler people) to a place where I've also forgot the name, to see a castle that was pronounced "Schloss" or something. I asked her where the "Schwinners" were who must have beaten the "Schlossers" in a major battle or something, but she just kind of stared like she does sometimes when I try to be funny, so I guess that one was sub par. I had actually never been to a castle before, so it was quite neat. It was up basically on a cliff overlooking a village and a river, and had a beautiful view all across the river valley. While we shared a hug looking out of the expanse I mentioned that although this view was pretty neat, I could only imagine how many more neater ones we'd see in the future. I must have been in a gushy mood because as we wandered around through the castle grounds we came up with another gross couple idea... We both love hugs, and she especially loves being squeezed and the affection it shows, so at some point I mentioned the idea that she should always try to stay freshly squeezed, and found my own pun quite hilarious. Strangely enough she is almost as big a dork as I am, and so we decided that she should definitely remain freshly squeezed, and if for some reason that isn't the case she should draw my attention to it with an exclamation like "I'm not feeling very Tropicana..." Aw doesn't that just make you want to vomit. Then again you might think we're soooo cute. I can probably guess which is more likely.

Oops skipped the fact that we ate prior to going to the castle, at a nice little restaurant in the area. I ordered pepperoni something or other as an appetizer, thinking pizza bread or something of the sort, and boy was I wrong. That would translate as PEPPERoni, meaning a plateful of jalapenos with a huge glob of garlic. Mmmm. Actually they weren't too bad, I guess I'm not as sensitive to spicy foods as I used to be, after all I love a good bowl of jambalaya, we all know that. They had a couple mirrors in the place, and I did my usual fool the girlfriend trick when I say "WOAH check out that girl, dang she's definitely worth a second look" and in a huff she turns around with an irritated glare only to see her own reflection...

On the way back we stopped at a gas station type thing and they had all the typical candy bars, but they were all in totally differently desigend wrappers, which I found strange. Different tastes on different continents maybe? A long overdue trip to the bowling alley was the next stop, where due to some temporary chemical imbalance in my body or a skewing of the polarity of the earth during the first game she managed to win. I recovered during the next two miraculously, including three strikes in a row that she pretended to not be impressed by. We're both competitve, but she's nicer about it than I am, which makes me feel bad sometimes. Something I'll have to work on. Later that night we went over to her office just to hang out for several hours since I was going to have to leave the following morning. Basically just did lots of cutesy things like reading blogs to each other, since these things tend to take on new life when spoken by the author. Her office is pretty nice, very large, two captain's chairs and a couch, and a nice leather chair for herself, although it's too tall for her and too short for me. Tried to eat all the candy she had but failed, she probably had some stashed away where I wouldn't be able to find it anyway. At some point after the clock struck four times, we were even more tired than before and we took a short nap for a couple hours, eventually having to get up and go home to pack and head to the airport.

I tend to get quite sad at this point of our times together, I guess that's understandable. There's always a question mark as to when we'll see each other again, but it's never quickly. Time passes so fast at times, and so slow at others. We just stood there outside the security area for about a half hour, since I'd gotten there well in advance of the flight. It's amazing how I can get lost just staring at her. There could be hundreds of people passing by, and I wouldn't be able to tell you what any of them looked like, or even tell you that they passed by at all. I could go on and on, but I guess you wouldn't really understand unless you experienced it. Eventually I did go through the security checkpoint, although I turned back to wave at least eight times. Even as I walked away out of view, she was hopping along between the gaps of the conveyor belts and screening machines waving and smiling through the several glass windows separating us. At the last one I paused and we signed I love you repeatedly, but alas, no matter how we try to stretch, our time together eventually ends.

It was a long trip home, alone. I had a chatty person next to me, which kept me busy for an hour or so along with the movie, but then I got so bored of a stewardness blocking my view to talk to someone for literally at least five full minutes I fell asleep, and missed the rest of the movie and the entire second one which was Lost in Translation which I wouldn't have minded seeing. Oh well. Obviously the first one wasn't that good I don't even remember what it was. I did see the Steve Martin one about having twelve kids on the way over, but I can't remember the name of that one either and I'm too lazy too look it up. It was only decent anyway, a little laugh now and then, 3Ms for whatever it was. They did have good TV on for both directions, Trading Spaces, West Wing, JAG, Whose Line Is It Anyway? to name a few, the latter with Whoopi Goldberg which was quite hilarious. I also almost completely completed (good english there) the crossword puzzle in the Delta magazine which was pretty difficult, and busied me for like an hour. Overall the trip back wasn't nearly as bad, although I was much more sad. Uneventful trip back to pick up my car from the economy lot and drive home, although as usual the songs that remind me of her seemed like they were on repeat on the radio. Jet lag wasn't really an issue since I wasn't there that long, I just always regret sleeping so much when I'm with her, if I could just stay conscious longer we could spend more time together. After all I can sleep any time.

The next time I'll see her is probably the end of May if a trip she's planning works out, and I'll get to show her where I work and sleep. If not it'll be sometime in July when she comes out to Ohio for training and will probably be able to pop down on the weekends. Meanwhile we'll keep doing what we're doing, and it'll all work out.

Ever travelled between continents to surprise someone? I highly recommend it. The trip was well worth it, and if money and getting permission to take leave wasn't an issue, I'd sit on a plane for twenty four hours in a weekend, every weekend, just to spend the time in between, together.