Hey everyone,
Hello, hello, here I am, back in the US, sitting at my kitchen table and looking at my backyard--which is still very green with no foliage change on the leaves of the trees. 61 degrees and yes, I was out in the outdoor shower this morning!! It felt good after three weeks of showering INDOORS. LOL
The trip home was fine although it seemed very, very long. Hannah and I were in the middle two seats of the middle four, which always feels confining. It was an 8 hour flight and at the end, we had to circle for another 40 minutes or so since there was terrible rain and congestion at Logan airport. My husband was waiting for us (yay!) but the drive home was long and slow since we were having torrential downpours of rain. We finally got home at about 6:45 pm which meant that we had been traveling for more than 16 hours (from the time we left Chrissi's). I managed to stay awake for the first 20 minutes of the debate and then fell into bed at 9:25 pm. I think I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.
Thank you again to Chrissi and Fabienne for your wonderful hospitality!! I had a great time and Hannah did too (on her German leg of the trip). It was so much fun just being with people and living day-to-day (even if we did do alot of sightseeing). I think we have much more of a feel of what it is like to live in Germany or Belgium or Switzerland. Even in my 2 weeks of touring Norway, I didn't feel quite as "home" as I do/did after this trip.
As for rummy, I found this version of the rules, although the way I play it (after years and years of summer camp) we have a few variations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_RumOur variations: 1) we only deal 7 cards, not 10; 2) Aces are 15 points when played high; 5 points when played low; and we do play "ace around the corner"; 3) Face cards and 9's are 10 points; 2 to 8 are 5 points.
I think that is it for right now...
Hugs to all,
Leslie