You would think that after a week in Germany I would have more to write about.
The trip went very well and the group got a lot accomplished in a relatively short period of time. Flying in and out of Africa is a real pain with our return trip taking a total of over 14 hours.
It was great to get out of Djibouti for a bit. I had forgotten what normal (at least to me) civilization looked like. The town we stayed in (really a small city) had all the things you would expect to find. By the time we got done with work during the day, nobody really felt like doing much besides going out and grabbing dinner.
I managed to eat a few tasty meals and drink some of that delicious German beer. The one thing I had forgotten about is how expensive everything is in Europe. It is not that it is expensive in local terms, just expensive when you convert US dollars to Euros. It takes $1.40 or so to buy one Euro. So, a $20 Euro meal ends up costing you $28 USD. Throw in a one Euro tip (15% is not customary as tip is built into price, but you usually round up and leave the server the change) and you are looking at $30 USD for a decent restaurant entree and a beer. Seems like kind of a lot by American standards.
The strong Euro is not necessarily a bad thing (unless you are traveling to Europe). As you probably know, strong foreign currancy relative to the USD helps American companies who EXPORT goods to those places with strong currancies. Companies like Catarpillar, Harley Davidson, Coca-Cola, and the few other companies in the US that actually export products make out pretty good as their products become cheaper as foreign currancy becomes stronger. It is also beneficial to companies like Disney, various ski resorts, and other tourist destinations in the US because it is cheaper for tourists from other places to come here.
At any rate, it is always nice to be done travelling and I have quickly settled back into a normal routine.
This upcoming week, I will be taking a few days off to go SCUBA diving. A group of us from camp will be going out on that 75' twin mast schooner that I go diving off of on Sundays. We will leave Monday morning and return Thurs afternoon. Should get in 3-4 dives per day including night dives, wrecks, whale sharks, and a dive between the earth's teutonic plates (gap in the earth's surface/plates).
I have almost completed my Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification which included underwater navigation, deep dive (went to 100' which is pretty deep by recreational diving standards), and still need a night dive.
Time to put those skills to work!
At least when I get back, I will have something more interesting to write about.
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