[jessmith07]

...and all I can say is WOW! My husband, the seasoned world traveler of 25+ years, just laughs and says, "You have this shell-shocked look in your face". But the fact of the matter is, I've never been outside of the United States (unless you count the time I crossed over into Nogalas, Mexico for about an hour, just to say I did). It's astonoshing be driving around and have no clue what the signs mean. Or that when the speedomoter on the taxi says 180, its not MILES per hour. Oh, and you can FORGET nutrition contents on packaging in the grocery store!!! Even if it was there, unless you're fluent in German, you'd have no clue what the heck it meant!

Tomorrow is Sunday, (well, actually, today is Sunday as it's going on 3 am and ~ BIG SURPRISE ~ I can't sleep) and I really have no desire to leave the safety of this room. Even when I finally managed to get my computer connected to the internet...guess what? My yahoo home page was WHAT?!?!?! IN GERMAN!!! And there was no way around it that I could find! I know that this will probably be very comical one day, and probably is hysterical to those of you that have already been through this, but HOLY CRAP! I planned, I prepared, I made lists, I packed, I asked questions and I read other peoples questions...I only forgot 2 small things, and WHOA! I TOTALLY wasn't prepared for the culture shock! I think it wouldn't be a big deal if I'd ever been out of my home country before, but for a "virgin trip" this is a whammie...having to realize that not only am I traveling to a strange place for a strange surgery by a strange team of doctors that I've never met before, but guess what...I'M GOING TO BE A FOREIGNER! Don't get me wrong, the people are WONDERFUL, it's just a strange sensation...I'm on the flip side of the coin and I don't think that I'll ever be able to look at foreigners in our country again without genuine compassion and admiration for them and how difficult it must be.

Anyway...I suppose I should try to get some sleep...

I'll keep you posted. Hopefully I won't spend the day tomorrow (well, later today) hiding in the closet sucking my thumb Hubby and I had a wonderful dinner with Mark M. and he introduced us to another of Dr. B's patients who's 2 weeks post op and doing phenominal. I also met Katherine (she's next door and doing great) and Cathy (treefrog) is just down a couple of flights of stairs. I must admit, I felt quite euphoric after dinner, but the panic monster began setting back in within a couple of hours and now Hubby is sweetly snoring and I'm...well...I'm not snuggled up to him where I should be.

So, maybe I should just get that way...I do love that man!

Good night all...
Jess