On Saturday, December 18th, I went to the Christmas Market in search of a Christmas tree. Jay insisted that we have a tree for our gifts. I was completely unsuspecting of his plan to put an engagement ring under the tree. Sadly, I didn’t manage to find a suitable tree that day because of Jay’s pine allergy, but I got two teddy bear ornaments and a large gingerbread heart that said “I love you.” I found a small ceramic tree for tea light candles in the grocery store. I picked vanilla scented candles because that is Jay’s favorite smell, and I wanted things to smell more like Christmas.
On Sunday, I was busy preparing for Jay’s arrival in Stuttgart on the 20th. I was nervously watching his flights because the weather was pretty terrible. I was devastated when I saw that his flight into London was cancelled. I called him at 6am Central to inform him that the weather was against us. For a short period, I was terrified that I would have to spend Christmas alone in a foreign country. I had a breakdown and cried for hours nervously waiting to find out if he could make it here in time for Christmas. After waking from an unplanned nap, I discovered that he had worked some magic with his travel agent while I was sleeping. Relief flood through me when he said he would arrive in Frankfurt on the morning of December 23rd.
I tried to keep my normal routine that week by going to all my scheduled classes, but I couldn’t pay attention. I was too excited about Jay’s arrival to learn anything. I made it through the classes with notes that I will have to relearn about ten times before grasping the concepts. I went grocery shopping several more times than usual so that I could feed Jay for a few days when he arrived. I bought train tickets in advance for us so that we would be able to travel without much trouble. Jay was originally flying into Stuttgart, but since the city was changed, we needed long distance train tickets.
On December 23rd, I woke up at 3:30am and started getting ready to see my Jay. I ate a small breakfast, drank a large cup of strong espresso, and walked to the train station. I had to catch a train into Stuttgart Main Station at 5:10am so that I could catch my 5:45am train into Frankfurt airport. I thought I might be able to nap on the train, but I couldn’t sleep due to excitement. I was zombie awake the whole way. Once I got into the airport the navigation began. I knew from earlier that Jay’s plane would land at gate 1C. The electronic flight boards helped to tell me when it landed and where to go to meet him. It took me about 20 minutes to find the right place. I waited outside the gate for 30 minutes while the baggage claim took forever. Jay and I were impatiently texting back and forth. It was an eternity for us to be so close to each other and still have to wait for something as trivial as a bag.
Finally, Jay walked out the sliding doors. I almost missed him because he turned so quickly and walked to the right. I was waiting on the left. I quickly walked through and around the crowd to meet him in front of the glass barrier. I was so happy to see him. We hugged very tightly and shared passionate kisses. His smell was just as powerfully wonderful as it had been in the Zwolle train station. He looked tired from all the travelling, but very happy to see me. I was tired because I hadn’t been able to sleep.
I guided us through the airport so we could wait for our train. We were an hour early for our train, but we were so happy to see each other that it didn’t seem to matter to us. We were all bundled against the cold and sat hugging and talking. I fed Jay some breakfast from my bag because he didn’t want to eat out. I had an assortment of fruit stashed away. Jay was happy to eat it because he had had a bad experience with food in the last 24 hours. We sat on the platform for nearly two hours because we were an hour early for a train that happened to be an hour later than scheduled.
When the train finally arrived, we were cold from being outside for so long. We hurried to find seats expecting the train to be full, but it was pretty empty. We had both consumed so much water waiting for the train that I quickly found the bathroom. I used it and told Jay where it was so he could use it too. We talked some more about things that I have since forgotten. Jay was doing some sightseeing out the windows, but he had been awake for a very long time. He fell asleep in my lap and slept for about half the train ride. I woke him as we were getting close to Stuttgart so that we could get ready for our transfer. I made sure he didn’t forget any of his bags as we left the train.
I guided Jay through the station and onto the next train we needed. He was so tired at this point that I wanted to help him carry things, but he wouldn’t let me do it. Jay is always stubborn like that. It made me smile. We used the elevator to leave the University station because I knew Jay didn’t have the strength to carry his things up the stairs. We slowly walked to my dorm building through the heavy snow. I offered to help carry his suitcase up the stairs, but he wanted to do it for himself. After some huffing and puffing, Jay and his suitcase made it up the stairs and in the door. We dropped all his stuff in the kitchen and shared some much needed cuddles. Around 1:30pm we cuddled up for a nice nap. Jay was so tired from all the travelling. He slept very deeply.
Unfortunately, I had to wake him about 4 hours after he passed out so that I could show him the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in downtown Stuttgart. It was the last day for the market, and I wanted to make sure he got to see Christmas in Stuttgart. He was a bit grumpy from lack of sleep, but he seemed to enjoy the Christmas Market. We shared some chocolate covered strawberries and a Glühwein (mulled Christmas wine). While we were walking, I got Jay a hat because his head was cold. We picked up about a dozen wooden ornaments for our families, and I got a small wreath of bells. I thought it was a really amazing ornament, and upon seeing my excitement, Jay bought it for me. Jay was very happy walking around the Christmas Market with me, but we were both tired and cold. We spent about 2 hours walking around enjoying the atmosphere. We finished our wine as we were waiting for the train that would take us back to our little space in my temporary home.
We fell asleep almost immediately after we got back from the Christmas market. We were both extremely tired from our long days and needed to recover. After a long and much needed sleep, we discovered ourselves wide awake at 4am on Christmas Eve. We shared some amazing cuddles. I had been nervously trying to figure out when and how to ask Jay to marry me for a couple of weeks because I loved him so very much. I had nothing to offer him except for the love in my heart, but I was determined to ask him. This seemed like the perfect time, and after wrestling with myself for about a half an hour, I got up the courage to ask Jay if he would marry me. I knew I had caught him entirely off guard, but he only paused for a moment. He said yes and kissed me passionately while hugging me as tightly as he could.
We shared a few powerfully emotional kisses, and then Jay started insisting that I open my Christmas present early. I knew he was up to something by this point. He had been acting a little strange for a couple of weeks, but I ignored it because he doesn’t keep secrets from me unless it’s really important to him. I unwrapped the box to find a Lego Creator set that could be made into 3 different cars. I opened the box to find all the things to make the cars and a suspicious little brown box. I ignored the car parts because I knew they were not what was exciting Jay. I took out the brown box and opened it to find another brown box. The second box was carved wood with a golden latch. As I opened this box, Jay asked me to marry him. I was shocked at the size and brilliance of the diamond ring. I said “Of course, silly,” and kissed him. He moved to slip the very large, sparkling ring onto my hand. It was a bit snug, but I knew I could wear it. I’m glad Jay had been able to keep this secret. It was an amazing surprise. I know I shall never forget that night.
I didn’t want Jay to feel left out about opening presents, so I gave him one too. His present wasn’t quite as wonderful as mine, but he seemed to genuinely enjoy the magnetic, travel chess and checkers. I gave myself to Jay for Christmas 2010, and he gave himself to me. We decided that we needed to make it a tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve, and the giver chooses which present is opened. I’m wondering what next year’s present will be, but I know I will always enjoy my Christmas Eve present of 2010.
We spent the rest of Christmas Eve in blissful peace, and I made Jay’s favorite food for lunch, Thai Chicken Curry. He eagerly devoured more than he should have, but I was happy to see him eat. We awoke early on Christmas Day to the smiles of each other. I gave Jay his other present and watched the expression on his face as he opened it. It was a Lego Technic forklift/plow. We built together as we ate our breakfast. I built the main car design in my Lego kit, and Jay built the forklift out of his. We decided to also make the giving of Lego a tradition. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010 will never be forgotten by either of us.
While that is the story of how we got engaged, Jay was here for three weeks. We did many many more things than just getting engaged in the first three days.
On December 27th, we went to Ludwigsburg Residence Palace. We walked in the snow covered gardens and took many pictures of the winter landscaping. We took a tour of the inside of the palace too. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as my trip there in October because they don't heat it in the winter. It was still very lovely aside from my very cold feet. I knew my boots were wearing out from using them so much. They were broken worse than I thought. The side seams were completely busted, and while we were playing in the snow it snuck into my shoes and made my feet cold. Jay was very upset about this and gave me a very stern "Don't let your feet get wet like this" talk.On the train back into town, he made me take my shoes and socks off and put my feet against his stomach for warmth. I was very grateful. We stopped on Königsstraße to rectify the broken shoes problem. We found some really nice hiking boots and wool socks. Jay bought them for me because he was determined that I was not going to have frostbite when he could do something about it. I was so thankful for the boots. I think I said thank you to him nearly every day he was here.
December 28th was super geek day. We went to the Porsche Museum and the Mercedes Museum. Jay had a blast in the Porsche Museum with all the race cars. He took pictures of nearly everything they had on display. I had to remind him that I didn't have a spare battery for the camera. I nearly had to drag Jay out of the Porsche Museum so we could get to the Mercedes Museum too. When we arrived in the main station for our train change, the second train was across the platform and we had to dart across like crazy people to catch it before it pulled away. The Mercedes Museum wasn't nearly as much fun as the Porsche Museum. Mercedes was more concerned with the history of the automobile from start to finish. This made for a very boring audio guide. It was almost History Channel quality boring. Even though it was bigger, we didn't spend nearly as much time there.
We went to the medieval village of Esslingen on the 29th. We looked around at all the architecture and took many pictures as well. We strolled through the shopping high street and found our way to the market square. From the market square we could see three cathedrals and the tourist office. We went to the nearest cathedral first and then the tourist office. In the second cathedral we lit 2 candles for Jay's relatives. One for Grandpa Kinzie and one for Uncle Al and Aunte Bette. We figured out how to cross the busy street and went to the third cathedral. It was under restoration so much of it was closed to visitors. We made our way back to the marketplace and found a Cafe for some hot chocolate. It was very cold that day, and we needed to warm up. While we were enjoying our cocoa, Jay's mom was texting with him. It was nice to talk to her for a bit.
Later that day I showed Jay part of the city-center university campus. We didn't walk through much of it because it was so cold, but he did like the garden next to central administration. We also stopped on Königsstraße again. This time it was for some high heels and undergarments. I had lost so much weight that nothing fit at all. I was in desperate need of undergarments that fit. I don't mind if my outer stuff is loose, but I want supportive and snug fitting bras and undies.
We were invited to a bar party for New Year's Eve, but we chose to stay home and celebrate together. It just didn't seem like it would be a fun-filled atmosphere for either of us. We don't really care for parties. We watched Up, played some Minecraft, and just enjoyed our time together. We rang in 2011 with a hug and a kiss.
On January 3rd, we went to the very first television tower in the world. It's on the rim of the valley that Stuttgart is in. I had an absolute blast on top of it. The view was amazing, and I got lots of really great pictures. Jay was hugging the wall the whole time. I wish there was a way for him to let go of that fear and enjoy all the awesome things that involve heights like that. In the previous visit to the city-center campus, Jay had found an ad for a gym. We visited that gym on the 3rd and spoke with the trainers. On the 4th we went back and set up contracts for using their facilities. Jay's only ran for 10 days, but mine is set up for the remainder of my time here. We went to gym nearly every day after we got signed up.
I had to resume the boring classes on the 10th. I felt really bad for having to leave Jay alone while I was in class, but I had to go to them. On the 11th during my mid-day break, I made some chocolate chip cookies with broken Toblerone pieces. I sent most of them home with Jay so he and Teegan could enjoy them. On the 12th we stayed up late packing and trying to spend every possible second with each other we possibly could.
On the 13th, we awoke early and numbly started preparing for the impending goodbye. We checked to make sure he had packed everything necessary and was within the weight limit. We ate in silence and then shared some final cuddles before we had to catch a train. We rode the train tightly holding hands and mostly silent. We found his check in desk and after getting his luggage turned in, said a tearful goodbye outside the security checkpoint. I hugged him as tightly as I could and kissed him with as much passion as I could find. I walked away crying and numbly found my way back onto the train that would take me back to reality.
I cried a lot the first few days after Jay left. I went and exercised like a crazy person too. The familiar place helped and being exhausted like that didn't allow for as much crying. It took me nearly 10 days to get back into my habits and routine. This time I had exercising to help out. I spent about an hour and a half there for as many days as my body could handle. I numbly went to my classes. Took some exams. I went to workshop about inter-cultural communication hosted by my scholarship donor. It was a good workshop, and I finally made friends there.
