what a great day...

well, maybe not for this guy, but his misfortune was my opportunity!

okay, let me start by saying no one was hurt in the taking of this photograph, or from the train hitting the car!

the past friday i was planning on catching the train and taking it downtown to meet a friend for a pedicure and lunch. taking the train is easy, you put your money in, get your ticket and sit for 15 minutes until you are dropped off yards from "american nails"...smack dab in the center of downtown dusseldorf!

the train hitting the car put a big glitch in my plan, and i'm sure it didn't do much for the person who was in the car~which my friend and i sure hope wasn't a new expat mom, because we are sure if it was she has now flown back to her home country by now. no way could i drive to "american nails" and park downtown, i had no idea where "american nails" was except via train. i would call my friend, tell her about the train/car incident and she would say "oh no worries, we can do it another day." but she didn't!!!

i call and tell her and what does she say? "no worries, drive down and meet me?" what? was she serious? drive into town and find "american nails", having no address at all...great, maybe she was unaware of the stress that this relaxing pedicure/lunch day was now causing me!

i can do this, i can do this!!! no, really i could do this, and yo know what i did it! with the help of my friend~thank you by the way~and her amazing directions, i crossed another hurdle; i drove downtown into the crazy construction zone, with no gps, parked in the parking garage, had a wonderful pedicure, an amazing lunch and even managed to get home in one piece.

i know, i know, to many of you this seems like an everyday outing, and you wonder "what's the big deal?" but when you live in a foreign country, don't speak the language to understand all of the street signs, and often get yelled at while driving, it's another step in the right direction of making me feel at ease in my host country.

what helps you feel at ease???