Wilkommen in Deutschland!

Why is it that when I have little to do, I get so little done? I've no excuse for not updating the blog, as I've had practically unfettered internet access for the past month and not a whole lot to do. Anyway, better late than never, I guess.

Let's see...if I can remember where I left off more than a month ago...

We rode out of Austria through Bavaria, continuing along the Via Claudia Augusta bike trail, and freezing our butts off, particularly at night and in the morning at the campsites. Because it was so cold, our bikes had seen better days, and we were lugging stuff from Crete that we really didn't need on a bike ride (including this laptop computer), we decided to take the train to Matthias' parents' house once we reached the end of the trail in Donauwörth. Then, since we were so early in Germany with time to kill (we were expecting visitors in June), we decided to get the bikes fixed and go out on the road again for 10 days.

We took the train to Dresden on the 1st of May, a big holiday in Germany, with our bikes and "bob, the bike trailer" with our air mattresses, chairs and various other amenities. We spent a couple of days in Dresden (nice campsite - close to town) and enjoyed gorgeous weather, street fairs and beer gardens on the River Elbe. Our (loose) plans were to ride into the nearby parklands, perhaps into the Czech Republic, and back along the Elbe to Gommern. The weather took a turn for the worse, and once we reached the Sächische Schweiz (or the "Switzerland of Saxony" I think) we ended up morphing our excursion into more of a hiking than biking trip. We took short (but hilly!) rides from campsite to campsite, and spent a couple of days hiking around each area. The scenery there was simply gorgeous - huge sandstone formations jutting out from lush valleys. And, except for one day, the rain tended to hold back until nighttime.

We came back to Gommern on the 11th of May, went to various doctor appointments, firmed up plans for our trip to Asia, and secured an apartment in Berlin so we would have someplace to stay for cousins' Harry and Charlene's visit, while we secured our visas for Asia, and followed up on my German citizenship application. But first we had a quiet few days in the Harz, where we had a nice visit with Matthias' cousin Katja.

And, speaking of my German citizenship application....as we boarded the trail to Berlin, my mobile phone rang - it was the lady from the goverment office that processed my paperwork saying that we could pick up my new Staatsangehörigkeit (my new favorite German word!) We picked it up the next day and immediately applied for my passport, which I received last week. I am now a dual citizen. And strangely enough, my German citizenship has nothing to do with the fact that I married a German; rather, I got it (and was able to keep my US Passport) because my ancestors had to leave Germany because of the Nazis. Now we can leave the country and not worry about keeping my residency, and (at least in theory) I can now work throughout the EU and not just in Germany. Anyone know of any jobs in Andalucia? Oh, never mind, I just saw a report that unemployment in Spain is at 18%!

So, we're now in Berlin, awaiting our visitors and looking forward to seeing my CELTA (EFL) classmates again. Then, we're leaving for Thailand on the 27th of June, where we will travel around the Northern region (Matthias plans to learn fruit carving there) and then head into south China where I will attend an orientation for my English teaching gig. Not exactly sure where in China we will end up, but I requested one of two towns: one in Shaanxi not far from Xi'an, or another in Sichuan province about five hours from Chengdu. I won't know for sure until we get there. Either way, we're both pretty excited!