Today was a busy day. Wednesdays are always busy days. I have kids to get places, errands to run, and, oh yeah, it's the day I teach all my students. Today was no exception, and, to add to the chaos I had a rehearsal this morning while Naomi was at pre-school.
Hauling a cello around is never an easy thing. It is awkwardly shaped, it is large, and I never like to put it in my trunk (rear-endings being the most common kind of accident). Today, as usual, I put my cello in the passenger seat. (The most annoying part of this transportation solution is when the cello sets off the passenger seat belt alarm - the beeping goes on FOREVER!) Anyway, after my rehearsal I decided to stop and get my mail.
And now (or those of you unfamiliar with the APO mail system) a little explanation. Our mailbox is not at our house. We have a German address, and a German mailbox here, but we rarely get any mail here. Our APO address isn't even in our neighborhood. It's actually located at a central mailroom on another Kaserne (a Kaserne is a small post, several of which make up the area's military community). We lucked out - our mailbox is on the same Kaserne where Ben works, so usually he can just pick up mail after work. Many of our neighbors and friends have to drive to completely random locations to get their mail.
Anyway, Ben is out of town this week, so I've been driving over to get the mail. I've been especially diligent because we are expecting our Wii Fit (which, by the way, I'm beginning to think some unscrupulous mail person may have stolen - we ordered it a month ago!) and I want to pick it up THE DAY it arrives. Because my rehearsal was near the mailbox, I thought it would be an ideal time to stop by. (I wasn't thinking about my cello at the time.) I drove through some crazy construction (did you know that in Germany all the road construction workers wear blue?), made a wrong turn (there are some really, really, really narrow two way streets in Germany) and finally made it to the gate.....and got pulled over for inspection. AAARRRGGGHHH!
I had to wait while they inspected me, my car, AND had my pull out my cello and open it up. I wouldn't have been so annoyed but I swear the guard was just curious to see what was inside the case. I'm pretty sure he knew I wasn't a terrorist. I understand that it's all "for our safety," but man, it sure annoys the heck out of me when I get pulled over. It annoyed me today, it annoyed me when I was deathly ill and was trying to get home as quickly as possible, and I'm guessing it annoyed my friend when she was taking her son (who had a head injury that was bleeding copiously) to urgent care. Really, all I wanted was my mail. And all I got was a bank statement. What a day.
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5 comments:
I'm really sorry Emma. That does not sound like fun. I hope your Wii Fit arrives soon. I am insanely jealous as it is the one game I would absolutely love to have. Today 8 little girls are coming over to make jewelry. I found some beautiful glass beads for them. I hope they like them. Jessica wanted an all girl party. Eileen cut out paper dolls on her Cricut machine and we will have pizza. Sounds like you had another adventure to add to your memories. What did the guard do when he saw the Cello?
Note to self: don't ever live on base. Ever. I'm so sorry getting your mail was such a pain. And I thought that kind of thing only happened in Russian airports. There are definite advantages to playing a tiny flute. I hope your Wii fit comes very soon.
Yeah. It always seems like it's the guards at the hospital kaserne that get all inspection happy. I remember getting inspected as I stood there with a 104 degree fever and tons of pain from mastitis, tears streaming down my face while holding a six-week-old Hudson and trying to deal with my somewhat confused and still very jet-lagged elderly MIL. And, of course, you have to make sure you pop your own hood and open and close your own car doors and trunk. I was told that "crying won't help you, ma'am" and "how do we know that you're really so sick?" Can you tell that my blood is still boiling?????
I hope your Wii Fit came so you could box out some of your (well-deserved) resentment.
Just buckle the seat belt before you put the cello in. No beeping. :) And boo for inspections. I had a problem with customs in Colombia and the U.S. once I got back. I understand lame inspections.
In Maryland my (non-military affiliated) friend was coming on post for an ensemble rehearsal. The guards were certain her French Horn was a weapon of mass destruction and insisted she not only open the case, but put it together. Then they wanted to look at it more closely. While "inspecting" it, the guard dropped it and put a dent in the bell. That little incident ended in a lawsuit and Wackenhut Security paying her $5000 to replace the horn.
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