September 1. 2010--From an airplane over the Atlantic

12hrs 20 min since I woke this morn, drove to PDX, said bye to D and went through security. Im writing this while on the plane with about seven hours to Frankfurt.  I am finally at the point where I feel I can really get ready to land but i also feel that this is the easy part of my journey.  I can just sit here on the plane and not have to worry about anything.  I can just sit and watch the lady across the way mirroring the Karate Kid movie playing. My plane yoga is not on par otherwise it would probably be good for my circulation to join.. On the plane there is at least nothing I can do , really not too much to worry about.  I feel as though once I arrive I am bound to be a spectacle, like the vw bug in a mattress commercial--the people having monopolized on the savings and stacked the car three fold its height in mattresses.  In my inevitable awkwardness I may even wish I was sitting on the plane once again.  Or perhaps not. .

I figure what better time to write my first post here than  before I arrive and embark toward  Dresden.  Once I get off the plane my forced inaction must abate and I will be consistently moving for the next days. 

This is me after reaching Frankfurt.  I wish I had taken a picture of me with all my stuff but, unfortunately, I didnt want to dig through my bag to find my camera.  Note the large backpack has my other backpack strapped to it. .



 The next photo is a poor image of my strapping of my other backpack to the roll-y bag.

I titled my little set of writings here "Ziemlich Gut Deutsch" because I speak, read, and write ziemlich gut Deutsch (I'll let you look that up: dict.leo.org).  As I wrote emails to German students asking for rooms to rent, or more poignantly, talked to them on the phone I realized that I am most quintessentially a sorta good speaker.  I hope by the end of the year I can drop the ziemlich.  This is a blog about my experience as a Fulbright Fremdsprachenassistant in Dresden/Radebeul, about my travels, the many lessons I will learn.  I hope I can get across some sort of clear image of my life through these writing and photos.  My dear friends, please comment, tell me how I am doing with this goal, and in this way, by reading and perhaps also interacting here, I hope you can join me in this place I will soon call home.