Got a crazy story for you honeybunnies!! When I was ready to check into the Delhi airport I discovered I had no ticket, so we had to go to the Lufthansa office and drag all my 40-some kgs of luggage up two flights of stairs to get a print-out of my e-ticket... Finally got on and LH is like, the best airline EVER!! I was sitting next to this middle-aged German guy who was reading "Steppenwolf" and looked ruther steppenwolfish himself; I didnt even think he spoke English until 20 minutes before landing, and dont think he figured out I didnt speak German until then, and we both looked pretty surprised if I do say so myself! I was at Alisas house about 6 hours before she got there, and took a shower while I had the house to myself... Nicholas, her 14-year-old brother, knocked on the door all confused like, "Hallo?" and I almost dropped the showerhead because I was so surprised to hear his deep voice! Haha. He's soooo cute... And taller than me. Finally I feel short!!! Yesterday Alisa left for the opening game of the World Cup all decked out in Germany-wear, and I got on a train to Frankfurt au Mein. It got in about half an hour early, so I bought an AMAZING pizza and a Fanta which exploded all over me; I didnt wash it off because I didnt feel like paying for the bathroom. Haha. After 45 minutes I realized I wasnt IN Frankfurt, I was in Mannheim. Only I could get off one stop early... So I called Kira with the help of an English-speaking German woman, and she, laughing and worried, told me to get on the next train to Frankfurt - which was incidentally leaving 5 minutes later, so I ran and caught it, sitting on my suitcase in the back of the train until Frankfurt. Got off in the right spot this time! I ran around in Frankfurt for like 5 minutes trying unsuccessfully to call collect because I have no German, and finally asked for coin change at this deli. The call timed out, though, while we were trying to find each other, so I hung up reluctantly and heard from behind me, "Clara?! Clara! Hallo?!" "Kira!" And she jumped on me. It was a happy reunion. This drunk Irish guy asked us to help him get to a motel in Offenbach, which is of course where Kira lives, so he hooked up with us on the underground and started hitting on Kiras mom and waving his fist at me bellowing, "God bless America! And God bless the British!" Dumped him. We ate a whole 24-cut pizza with Tati and Jo and Marlon, and went to sleep on the futon watching "Sex in the City." Im gonna gain a lot of the weight I lost at WS eating all this amazing German bread. Seriously. We got haircuts in the morning and then bought AMAZING Italian ice cream, eating it as we walked to Kiras dads house, which is the ultimate grown up party house, with a floating piano room. No kidding. Its so freaking awesome. His neighbor is an accomplished professional piano player. On the way home we stopped at the supermarket and got super-hyper, running around screaming "BIFI!" (German slim jims with free Germany face paint) and "MUTTI!!!" and hanging underwear on hot sauce jars and cans of nuts. Haha. Kira said everybody thought we were being cocky because we were speaking English. Haha. We are too cool for school. Germany won the opening game, for those of you who didnt know, and Ecuador kicked Polish butt last night... German fans went all out, wearing flags as skirts and black, red, and yellow afro wigs and Cat-in-the-Hat hats, and waving German flags out all windows of their cars, and screaming "GERMANY!!!" as we drive up the streets. Germany rocks MY socks...