Adventures of NaDave: Dave Germany: 1 (it was a long day)

So after mentally acknowledging how great it was to make it to my apartment in one piece, there were still things to do before 'calling it a day'. I shed my stinky travel clothes and took a warm shower. I then unpacked a few important items, and refreshingly changed into clean clothes.

I then wanted to let Nadine & my family know I had arrived safely! Paul (my boss) had showed me the wireless router in the living room, and he even turned on the power switch. (Spoiler alert...I failed to actually check that I could log on). Paul said "there's no code to get on, it should be public and then you can change it to the password you want". So I got my laptop out, and sure enough, I needed a p-word. Argh! I looked high and low, under and over, and no paperwork with a p-word to be found. And since it was a Holiday, the cable company wouldn't be open. Plus, I didn't have a phone anyway.

After I searched the apartment, I started to become unexpectedly short and irritated. I began to realize that I NEEDED to chat with Nadine & family, more than I originally thought my body was telling me they wanted to hear from me. I was becoming emotionally drained, and just needed to hear a voice or see a face, or just share my thoughts with somebody! The silence of the apartment started to feel unwarming, compared to the solace it had provided only minutes ago.

Well I also needed to get cash & get food before places closed. I knew I was spaced-out from traveling and maybe I could figure out the wireless when I got back. So I headed towards the bank that Paul had showed me near my apartment. When I stepped outside, it was raining, so the streets were pretty empty. So no locals to ask for help. And I didn't have an umbrella or rain coat.

When I got to the bank, it was closed for renovation. Well shucks. But there's gotta be another bank in town, but what the heck is 'bank' in German? Well after 30-45 minutes of wandering around (and I do mean wandering...no cell phone with GPS) I started to feel defeated, and also got really hungry. The only business open was a pizza shop, so I decided to walk in, hope they spoke english, and see if they could point me to an ATM (and let me order food). It was a success (with broken english)! I ordered a '#19 Vulcano' in the largest possible size, and then walked in the direction they pointed for the ATM. Again success! I finally had cash, and food was on the way. I went back to the small pizza shop, sat down, starred out the window, and quietly celebrated the most recent small victory.

I walked back to my apartment with a poster-sized pizza, and chowed down. It was deliciously greasy. With a full stomach at about 6pm, I unpacked a few more items, and then went to plug in a power strip & a wall-plug adapter to charge my things. POOF! I had blown a fuse. %#$@!! It never happened in Australia with the voltage difference, but sure enough, the first time in Germany. And worse, it was the room with internet and TV. So now I was guaranteed no contact with anybody.

I began to get tired, but needed to stay up to fight jet lag. Reading would put me to sleep, so instead I opened up my laptop, and started looking at pictures from Australia & Home. It brightened my day, but also made miss everyone even more. It really started to set in that I was here in a small town in Germany, on my own, without the normal comforts of a phone, tv, internet, car, etc.

And I also realized that my physical and emotional reserves were incredibly low. Too much had happened too quickly. All in the past 24 hours, all in the past 14 days.

I couldn't fight it anymore, it was 8pm and sleep was setting in, no matter what. I thought it was late enough for me to sleep through the whole night. So I layed down in bed, and it felt great. My eyes closed, Day 1 was over. Tomorrow I would wake up and officially become an adidas employee!