So I was wrong.

A few posts back I said that no one hands you a book and says, “here’s all you need to know about Germany.” Well, someone actually gave me a Manual for Germany this week. In English. Mind blown.

I did the JP Morgan Corporate Run this week. It’s the biggest run through the streets of Frankfurt with 72,000 er…runners. Side note: I actually witnessed people eating pastries, drinking beer and smoking before the run.

After the run, my work colleagues and I went to eat. I spent dinner talking with a lovely girl from Russia, who is married to a Brit. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know so many people from so many different countries. She brought the German Manual to work for me the next day .

And it was a day that I needed it.

It proved to be another tough week adjusting to the German way of doing things. Black and white. No bending the rules. I keep hearing Sheryl Crow in my head, “no one said it would be easy…” Mid-week I treated myself to a glass of Riesling at the café across the street. It was, after all, laundry day, and I needed fuel for hanging clothes all over my apartment (clothes that have a very distinct detergent smell leading me to believe that my guesstimate pour is a little too heavy).

Friday, I was greeted with this sign at my Underground stop.

After waiting 10 minutes, I realized my U was not coming. I ran to the connecting stop, got to the main train station, ran up 2 escalators, tea in hand, and reached the platform just in time to see my train pulling out of the station. I wanted to have a temper tantrum right there in the middle of the station. If I stomped hard, pouted, and threw my bag down, wouldn’t people feel bad for me? I took a breath. Regrouped. Checked my train app. Changed my mindset. Why did I miss my train this morning? There had to be a reason.

I got on a different train, had to change to another, but I eventually made it to work. This now gives me another train option I was hesitant to try before. It turned out to be not so bad after all.

That afternoon, I got the email that my container from LA had landed in Germany and would clear customs next week. Would it be weird if I went to the customs office and slept on my bed in my container? Because that’s what I want to do. And I equally want to go to my new apartment and sleep on the floor.

I got the keys to my new apartment today and I’m moving in next week. I finally have a home. I plan on doing snow angels on the floor before the movers come.