What a fun weekend…

which I spent with three of my girlfriends in Bremen :) I took the train to Köln Friday night and met Ilka at one of the Autobahn exits. Since we both hadn’t eaten anything, we decided to have some “greasy fast food” from McDonald’s for dinner. The drive to Bremen was ok, although the many construction areas on the A1 just drove us insane ;)

We made it to Kim’s place safely where we were warmly welcomed by Kim and Sanna. It was so great to see Kim again and it was my first time to meet Sanna, who is just like I had imagined – a very sweet girl :) We had a really fun night chatting and talking till almost 3 a.m.

Since Ilka and Sanna both are allergic to cats, they had the privilege to stay in Kim’s bedroom while Kim and I camped out in the living room :) [which was totally fine and I could have slept on the ground for TWO nights, Kim  ;)]

We had a very nice, yummy breakfast the next morning and afterwards hung out watching “friends” and then Kim and I got a haircut and dyeing from Ilka [thanks so much sweets ] before we took the tram to downtown Bremen. It was our first time to Bremen and we all liked it very much. Kim showed us around and we saw the Bremen City Hall, Roland, the Market Place, the Bremen Cathedral, the Schnoor  and the highlight was the beautiful statue of the Bremer Stadtmusikanten (Bremen town musicians).

After walking around for quite a while, we had to take a break and had coffee, Apfelstrudel and Dampfnudeln at the Café Engel. Afterwards we took the tram home, did some grocery shopping for the evening and relaxed and chatted until some of Kim’s friends came over. Originally we had planned to drink a little bit at home and then go out later, but it was so cozy on the couch and we kept talking until there was no point in going out anymore… we had a great time anyways :)

The next morning, Kim made a yummy breakfast with boiled eggs [a typical German Sunday Breakfast :)] and then we took turns in taking showers and watching more “friends” episodes. It was quite relaxing :) and Ilka one more time opened her “magic suitcase” to give Sanna’s hair a little makeover :)

Well, then we had to realize that the weekend was coming to an end and we were all kind of sad that time had flown by so quickly. Ilka and I took off at around 4:30 p.m. and Sanna took the tram to the train station. Ilka dropped me off at the subway station in Köln again at 8 p.m. [thanks again, hun] and I got home around 9: 15 p.m.
It was truly an absolutely awesome weekend! Thanks girls :)

from left: Kim, me, Ilka and Sanna

Oh yeah, and then I have one more good news to tell you:
I came home to an email from Gerald and guess what? He said he got the approval to write the letter on my behalf to the USCIS! This is great news!!!!
I talked to him today and he said that the application might (hopefully) go out this week and that most likely the USGS management will write this letter itself and not Gerald – which is even better.
I’ll definitely let you know as soon as I get any more information.
It’s clear though that I obviously won’t get the visa by Friday and I am seriously thinking about flying back to California on Friday, stay there for a few weeks and then come back again to pick up the visa. It might sound insane, but a) I do have to take the flight by the end of October anyways or otherwise I’ll lose it and that would be $450 worth of money and b) I would be able to see Cathy before she leaves and I want to be back in Sacramento with Jon for his birthday (which is on the 18th) and since I am not expecting to get the visa in the next four weeks and therefore would have to book a new flight anyways, it seems reasonable to use up the flight that I already have… what do you think?
I just want to make sure that it wouldn’t cause any trouble if I went back there on a tourist waiver while the visa process is in progress. That’s why I am going to call the embassy tomorrow and ask about that.

Ok… more to come tomorrow. Hugs and kisses!