Vero Beach, Florida

I thought I would feel comfortable in the US.  It is after all America, a culture I am familiar with.  But how I felt when I got there was much different than I expected.  I don't know how to explain it other than I felt uncomfortable and out of place.  I was shocked by the huge stores, the amount of space and how vast everything felt; the oversized roads, the oversized cars with oversized people driving them.  Even the English sounded unfamiliar.  For the first two days I even kept reading all the English signs in German and of course they make no sense that way.  It's surprising how quickly I got used to living in a country with a different language, even one that is not my own and that I'm not even that good at yet.

I guess I expected it to be more familiar.  It probably didn't help that we weren't exactly  in a big dense city.  After all that is what I am used to - whether in Canada or Europe, and big cities have a different feel.  There are people all about and a sense that you belong to something (although some people have said that big cities have just the opposite effect on them).  One night driving, I asked Pauli why they would put a restaurant here in the middle of nowhere.  He replied that this was not nowhere, it was downtown Vero Beach.  We laughed. It felt so empty.

But the weather was great and beach time was amazing!  The ocean is such a wonderful place to be.  Sitting there, listening to the crashing waves, watching birds soaring overhead and some pelicans hunting for their lunch, I thought - gosh, I never want to leave.  Plus having Pauli by my side was the cherry on top of this whole trip.  I missed him so much.  I was just so happy to be with him.  He really has become an extension of me.  I felt somehow complete with him there.  I guess he really is my partner in life.  It felt really good to feel that.

I mentioned the weather was great.  Unfortunately not great for flying though, pretty windy and low clouds.  Pauli only flew once while I was there (sad for him, but good for me since I had him practically all to myself) and luckily I got to go along for that flight.  It was a fantastic flight.  We flew past sunset so I got to witness day and night flying, I saw some lighting in a cloud not so far away and Pauli got a complement on his "nice steady approach" from a fellow pilot who was flying next to us.  I was so proud and grinning ear to ear the whole time.  Pauli practiced some engine stalls and steep turns, landings and takeoffs from neighbouring airports.  It was really the highlight of my trip.  Here are a few pictures:

The first stripe.

I see a big claw ... you?

I'm certain I heard angels sing...

I'm always looking for hearts...

That shadow is us!

so HOT

That stuff coming out of that cloud is rain. Pretty cool.

The sky is a wonderful place.

Proud pilot's wife.

Into the night.

Well.  That was fun.  Now I'm back and I have to really apply myself to finish those assignments.


See you later,
Holly