Today was my last day at Atelier Dreiseitl.  It is hard to believe that I won’t be returning to work on Monday.  My bags are almost packed up and I feel like I’m going on vacation, instead of moving back across the world.

It is a custom in Germany that on eventful days, like first or last days, birthdays, births, whatever…the person having the event brings treats for everyone else.  I learned this on my first day when I was asked why I didn’t bring anything!  (Germans are quite direct)  So I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

So last night I was busy preparing my chocolate chip cookie dough (with the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips sent to me by my dear Mom since they are not available in Germany!) that I would take to the office to bake in the oven during coffee break.  I wanted everyone to enjoy authentic out-of-the-oven homemade American-style chocolate chip cookies. Made by a real American!  An unfortunate thing happened though.  I didn’t have a baking sheet in my vacation flat so I hoped the office would have something, but they didn’t!  I missed having them available for morning coffee break and had to endure, once again, the questions of where the food was for everyone after they presented me with an signed copy of their New Waterscapes book following a little goodbye speech by the principals.

I had to call dear Wolfgang who drove down and brought me a baking sheet so that I could bake them up for afternoon coffee break.  Whew!  So I started baking and I was nervous with the whole celsius oven thing but each batch turned out perfect and just as planned, the whole office smelled like fresh cookies!  I enjoyed handing people fresh out-of-the-oven warm cookies and watching their faces light up. 

Before going home and after wishing everyone in the office a fond farewell, I had to stop over at the Überlingen Christmas market with some others from the office.  We exchanged stories over Gluhwein (a German holiday hot drink) of our various stages in our foreign experiences.  I was joined by an American who is just beginning her German adventure, a Singaporian who works at Atelier Dreiseitl Asia and is in Germany for an office exchange and will be going back at the end of the month, and also a Colombiana who has just begun working in Germany in conjunction with attending a university in Frankfurt.

When I first moved here, I definitely realized the immediate challenges before me but now, at this moment, I feel comfortable and like I’ve reached that point where things almost feel normal.  I have to say, I’ve come a long way from who I was just one year ago and I’m so proud of myself for having taken this huge leap and living outside of my comfort zone.  Now, it’s time to say “Tschüss!” to my new friends and wish them luck on their own journeys as I prepare to go back home and begin my next chapter.