(Warning! Much fiction follows!…)

Thursday, April 21st was a RED LETTER DAY in Germany. The first American female ever to fly a Lufthansa 737 without a pilot’s license or any flight training successfully took to the skies, carefully and skillfully guiding 94 passengers (including a stunned pilot and co-pilot) from Düsseldorf to Hamburg without a hitch. The German transportation authority and German government were amazed, citing it a “miracle”. “Those Americans just keep getting smarter and smarter!”, Chancellor Schröder exclaimed.

After landing, the American was greeted with a tickertape runway parade, fireworks, Bavarian dancers, and lots of German chocolate. The Chancellor declared it a national holiday from that day forward, lauding it a “day of reconciliation and bridge building between two great countries and their great citizens”. Miss Crawford took it all in stride, saying “it was a nice break from the international tax treaties that I am usually writing & translating into myriad languages. Flying jetliners is a piece of cake in comparison”.

In other news… we successfully moved all of Soenke’s stuff into our new apartment in Poppenbüttel(neighborhood in north Hamburg). I had no idea one guy could have so much stuff ! Thankfully we had the assistance of several friends, including Knut, Mehmet, & Klaudia. I was a good supervisor & coordinator, meaning that I kept an eye on the sodas & made sure no one was slacking. At the new pad, we put things in order (roughly speaking), hung a few necessary window coverings, and bought some kitchen stuff at Ikea (they even have WAL MART in Hamburg! It’s so great!).

Somewhere in there I had a Girls Day with Sally, which meant that I brought over all the Mary Kay stuff she’d bought from our gal Brenda (USA), & went through it as only girls can do (LOVED that Satin Hand Lotion!) We then took to the roads of Hamburg & somehow found our way to the university area where Sally used to live a few years back, & enjoyed a great Italian lunch. I was especially happy that we found somewhere to park that didn’t involve parallel parking!

Back to the 737 story. Here are some more, er, factual details. I actually got to ride in the *COCKPIT* with Soenke on his flight from Düsseldorf to Hamburg, and I got my OWN headset, with a microphone, & some buttons on the control panel that I was allowed to push. IT WAS SO COOL. So I pushed my button, & we took off. Then later I pushed another button, & we landed. It was a miracle. In between sitting at the gate & landing, I tried not to pass out from sheer terror. After admitting that small fact to Soenke, I don’t think I will be invited back to the cockpit again. (TIM STOP LAUGHING.) But it was still VERY VERY COOL, definitely a red letter day for me !!

Photos follow…

Here’s the plane I flew:

My cockpit:

Soenke assisting me as co-pilot:

Me doing the hard flying work:

Soenke congratulating me after a successful flight! :

On to the Hamburg apartment move…

Assistant Mover Klaudia

Assistants Mehmet & Soenke at the old flat:

Our Fearless Leader Knut:

Has anyone ever seen me vacuum before?!? :

Soenke successfully installs window covering; too bad the door won’t open now! :

Sally & Jen enjoying caramel macchiatos:

Another gratuitous shot of Soenke in his uniform:

Some nice buildings in Düsseldorf: