My Utopia was more like a Fruitopia

First off I would like to give a special birthday shoutout to my girl Erin over at Prosperity Consulting Group. Hope it was a good one.

Sorry for no blog the past couple days but didn't have too much going on until yesterday (Thursday). On Monday I bought shoes new shoes for the prom (they were only 20 euros which is about $30) and on Tuesday I went to Gerlinde's English class at night. Her class is from 6 - 9:45. This class is mostly for older adults (20 - 45 year olds). Her teacher asked me what I should do and I told him that when I went to the high school's English class I gave a little introduction about myself and then the students would ask me questions. We did this until about 7 and then there was a break. At the break the teacher asked how long I was here for, and I said November 28th. But he meant for the class. I said until whenever you want me to be here. Then he asked if I wanted to teach the entire lesson. I was hesitant at first because I never really taught anything before and 2.5 hours was a long time but I couldn't say no. The 2.5 hours went by really quick and I think the students enjoyed much more than if he was teaching the lesson.

So yesterday was the big day. The tour of the Pez Production Factory in Europe (in Janossomorja, Hungary to be exact). It really ended up being the longest day in my life. The bus was due to leave the Mariott Hotel in Linz at 9:15. I had to wake up at 5 because Gerlinde's sister (who also takes the bus from Freistadt to Linz) was picking me up at 5:30. We took the 6am bus and got to Linz at 7am. I had only about a 10 minute walk to the Mariott. I stopped at a gas station to get some breakfast. I then went to the hotel and read the USA Today until it was time to meet my fellow nerds (these collectors are much more hardcore collectors then I am). The website had the itinerary as follows: Leave hotel 9:15, a three hour drive to facility, 1.5 hour tour, three hour drive back, stop at a winery, have lunch at some point and get back to the hotel about 6 or 7. We didn't leave the hotel until 9:45. There were about 13 of us, including 3 other Americans. One of the Americans was Shawn Peterson, he is a big collector from Kansas City and a famous author (has written a price guide book for Pez). From Linz we stopped in Vienna to pick up four other nerds. Everything seemed to be right on schedule. So we made it in Hungary and was driving and driving and driving. And eventually we drove ourselves in Slovakia. Obviously the bus driver got a little lost. I am wondering why the organizer didn't really we were heading into another country. So the bus driver turned the bus around and we EVENTUALLY made it to the factory, at about 2:45. Two hours later than I originally thought. Now I was beginning to worry about which bus I would catch back from Linz to Freistadt. The tour itself was about 1h and 45 min. At the factory they make a lot of the candy and other food products but I didn't see them making any dispensers there. At the end of the tour they gave everyone a goody bag which included 3 pez (one of which I needed) and an awesome pez umberella. So we left there at 4:30 and thought based on our way there I would get back to the hotel around 8:30 which would mean I would have to catch the last bus to Freistadt at 10:55. I thought for sure then we wouldn't have enough time to go to the winery. So when we dropped off the 4 people in Vienna at around 6 (meanwhile we were supposed to be back in Linz between 6 and 7) I asked if we would be back by 8:15 and she said no. Meaning we were definitely going to the winery. And of course this winery was in the middle of no where and about 1h and 45 min away). So we get there at 7:45 and now I am beginning to worry that I might even miss the last bus from Linz and Freistadt and I would have to pay for a hotel room somewhere. So we were at this winery until 8:30 and that would give me 2 hours to get back to Linz to catch the last bus. Of course we weren't anywhere near a highway so we had to take all back roads from village to village for like over an hour. On the bus the organizer said if we don't make it I could stay in the suite with the other 2 Americans (a mother and her son). Not exactly how I wanted to spend my evening after being in a bus for about 10 hours. So as it was getting closer and closer until 10:30 we were getting closer and closer to Linz. We made it back to the hotel at about 10:35. After we dropped off some people the bus took me to the bus station and I had 10 minutes to spare. I got on the 10:55 bus and headed back to Freistadt. Although, how was I going to get back from Freistadt to my house? I told Gerlinde to have a taxi waiting for me at the bus station at 12. We got in a little early at 11:40 and I didn't want to wait at the dark bus station all by myself. So I thought it would probably be best to head into old town where a lot of bars are. And sure enough when I got in front of Alcanto there were two taxis. The first one gladly took me back to Helbetschlag. I didn't get home until midnight. It was such a long day but I guess in the end I am glad I went.