Seat of Our Pants

A smart person once said, “Discussing poo makes a bad first impression.” It’s sound logic. A first impression immersed in toilet talk is generally bad for business. Well, today gave me not one opportunity, but two to test that theory. Let me explain – without getting into too much detail, for obvious reasons.

This is my first time meeting Juergen (Martin’s travel buddy during his time in Australia) and his family. They’ve been nice enough to house, feed and entertain us for five days. Things were off to a good start – we’d spent a great first evening eating sausage and drinking good German beer. I woke this morning, had a nice cup of coffee and headed to the bathroom. It was business as usual, until disaster struck: my new necklace (the only jewelry purchase I’ve made this entire trip) fell into the toilet bowl. This was before I flushed.

OK. I had two choices. I could wave goodbye to my new necklace and try to forget about it, or I could break the cardinal “no poo talk” rule and ask for a glove to fish out my necklace. Yeah. I went for option number two. I’ll only tell you that my necklace is now safe and sound in two plastic bags, waiting for a thorough cleaning in Sweden.

Feeling like the worst was over, I took a second cup of coffee and tried to laugh off what had happened. Martin and I went for a walk with another cup of coffee. This was followed by a car ride to Gauersheim and a fourth coffee drink. It was only after the fourth drink that I realized I was in trouble. We’ve been drinking tea for months and this girl’s system wasn’t ready for the full caffeine assault I handed it today.

I squirmed around in the back seat of Juergen’s car, drenched in my own sweat until I broke, telling him that he needed to pull over this instant. He found a suitable spot (on the Autoban, no less) and I ran from the car into the bushes.

I mean, what the heck! I’ve just spent months traveling in India and Nepal. The first time I’ve had not one, but two stomach emergencies is in Germany – while busy trying to make a good first impression with one of Martin’s close friends.

Jaime = 0 Bad first impression = 1

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