had a red-eye connecting flight before my booster covid vaccine and a full day of work. What could go wrong??
Actually, it all went really well. The flights were easy, the booster was quick, and eh, work was work. I think it’s about time I take a vacation.
I felt some muscle pain and sleepiness, so I happened to accidentally fall asleep during a company-wide training, but after that I was wide awake and could easily finish out the work day. Ann and Tyler had volleyball that evening, so I kept working until they got home. I should’ve made dinner, but I cleaned the kitchen instead as a break/mood-calmer from work. We had Mac n cheese and turkey sausage. Super yummy! I think we were all tired, or at least I was especially, so we sat and watched tv until we were all passed out. I think we still went to bed at midnight though, so idk how that worked out.
The next day, we all worked again and I took myself on a walk (or two?) as a stress reliever from work. We took a morning walk to near the Old City and sat at Ann and Tyler’s bench in the (National) Park, and later in the afternoon I strolled around the neighborhood and grabbed a hot chocolate and desserts from a nearby patisserie. I need to take myself on more walks during my work day, however I’m not sure where I could find such peaceful walks...
I ended the work day pretty fed up with things- I guess this is what you get for taking a vacation. I was ready to leave the house and start the weekend. We went and got really yummy Indian food nearby, and the manager was really nice so I hope we go back sometime. Afterwards we went back to the house and had some tea then rotated showers and talks, and eventually went to bed. It was a really nice and relaxing evening.
Saturday began with brunch at Ann and Tyler’s favorite brunch restaurant. They knew everyone who worked there so that was fun :) the food and pastries were super good and we really filled ourselves before the rents came. We thought we would go pick them up, but they ended up ubering so we just food coma’d at home.
They finally arrived and we hugged and got situated - dad got introduced to the spiral staircases- and then we headed off to the Italian market. I hadn’t been here before, but it was so cool! Felt like a real market. On the way to a wine restaurant, I passed by an old colleague from FlixBus who now lives in Philly, small world! I was really doubting myself so I didn’t say hi, but I really wish I would have- it would be great to catch up, and I would love to hear her experience leaving Berlin to go back to the US. Might as well start my new home shopping early!
Unfortunately I didn’t say hi, and I spent a lot of my headspace at the wine restaurant regretting not saying something and thinking about how I would have liked to hear her experiences. Oh well. I was kinda quiet through the rest of the weekend it turned out, I guess I didn’t have much to input on what others were talking about. This gave me good thinking time, for better or worse maybe, thinking about what and when I want my next move to be. I spent most of the weekend silently fuming over work from the past few days and wondering if vacations just calm the fume until the next fume. I want to figure out what exactly gets on my nerves so much about my job.
We went on a long walk back home to stop by a Japanese store for a gift for Tyler’s sister, then we walked by Ann and Tyler’s bench again to show mom and dad, then we finally made it back to the house. I didn’t feel like sitting, so mom and I went to the sushi restaurant to see if they would have a table open for us. They did, however they couldn’t hold it while we waited for the others. We all ended up going to a different restaurant a block over, and it was very good! Kind of American tapas-like.
After dinner, we went back home and played telestrations which was fun. Then I think we got sleepy enough to all go to bed. The next morning we took time to pack and run some errands, then finally hit the road.
2025-02-15