Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow will be my last day in Seattle for a while. After work, I will drive down to Vancouver to meet my family. The next morning, we will hop a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, Germany. There, I will meet my good friend Petra, her boyfriend Olli, and their two year old son Linus. I can't wait. I haven't met "baby" Linus before and it's been two years since I've seen Petra and Olli.

Petra and I have known each other for what seems like forever. We met when she was an exchange student at my high school -- yep, ages ago! And now, in a few days, we will celebrate 4th of July together for the 3rd time. The last time we celebrated 4th of July together was back when we were 19. I was spending the summer in Germany with Petra and her family. She and I were hell-bent on introducing her (who eventually also became my) friends to American traditions. The most important thing on our docket was to make one of those silly American Flag Cakes. (Surely, you know the ones I am talking about -- whipped cream atop of a rectangular sponge cake, decorated with berries to look like the American Flag.) Ah yes... but there was no Cool Whip to be found in Germany so we tried to make our own. (Big mistake!) And the berries we needed were scarce to come by that time of year. All in all it was a big mess and less than successful, but we were proud of our attempt to bring American traditions to German soil.

Truth be told, we were less than successful in other American traditions as well. We had this brilliant idea of taking our friends camping and introducing them to S'mores. Well, there were no graham crackers in Germany (so we substituted biscuits) and the only "marshmellows" we could come by were akin to Peeps, shaped like peanuts or strawberries, and flavoured to suit. Gross. The only redeeming quality was the Swiss chocolate that we were using.

This 4th of July we hope to be more successfull.

Though honestly, we will likely be too busy running around Mainz, exploring the cobble-stoned downtown streets, drinking a caffe au lait in front of one of the many fountains and being entertained by the multitude of street performers. It will certainly be a welcome change from sitting on a cramped plane for hours on end! :) And when we get bored of downtown Mainz, there is always St. Stephen's Church and the Chagall windows to explore. St. Stephen's is the only German church for which the famed Jewish artist, Marc Chagall, made stained glass windows. They are breath-taking. And truly, there is nothing like sitting in the pews of St. Stephen's listening to organ-music and gazing at the sunlight filtering through the Chagall windows. I can't wait.

So, that, in itself would be enough of a trip, but after our day in Germany, we will hop a back on a plane and head to Amman, Jordan, for my cousin's wedding. There are four parties preceeding the wedding. (And yes, you need a different cocktail dress for each one.) So, we will be busy from the moment we land. We have family flying in from literally all over the world (Canada, the US, Spain, and Australia) for this wedding, so it's going to be a massive family-reunion as well.

After the wedding in Amman, the plans haven't quite been set... there's talk of the entire famly going to Sharm El-Sheikh for a few days and there's also talk of going to Jerusalem and Ramallah in Palestine. Personally, I'm not too excited about the prospect of Sharm El-Sheikh. Afterall, I could go lie out on a beach anywhere (even here in the Pac NW if I'm willing to brave the cold). Jerusalem and Ramallah have so much more to offer... and I've spent so much time with my Auntie and Uncle in Ramallah that it feels like "home". Besides, take a look at this garden... who wouldn't want to spend time there?

The front yard at "home" in Ramallah.

It's not my choice, though, so we'll see where we end up... either way, it will be fun. I will do my best to blog while traveling and will hopefully be able to upload pictures, too!