west coast, the final frontier

west coast...the final frontier. these are the voyages of your german blogger. her continuing mission: to explore strange new u.s. worlds, to seek out new u.s. life forms and new u.s. civilizations, to boldly blog from where no german girl has blogged from before.

okay, blogging right now from the airport in phoenix, arizona, i am not quite there yet. but at least i am already on pacific time. plus with 103 degree fahrenheit/39 degree celsius (yes a 3 and a 9), it's even hotter than swampy humid dc in the hatching summer time.

before the big move west i quizzed my friends and colleagues what it is about the west coast. one said people there are wearing clothing in more earthy tones. quite fittingly my friend gave me a soft orange and brown dress of that kind to take.

another friend said the people there are more laid-back. for instance, when my friend and i strutted right to the counter of a frozen yogurt store we brushed by a few undecided people stood indecisively in the entrance area. i remarked that they must be confused not to be in line. my friend said, there you go, at the west coast lingering would be okay.

in that line of thought a colleague menionted that there is more of a work-life balance. that is there is a life after work. hard to fathom in the 24/7 news industry where breaking news get your brain going where ever you are.

yet another group of people mentioned the west might have more of a european feel. everyone told me about this wonderful green emerald city, portland, oregon: tree huggers ride on manifold bicycle lanes to shop for vegan food at their favorite organic bakery. i'll soon find out.

what i know for sure from my favorite u.s. american is that the most popular book store of emerald city is as big as a city block AND has german Duden copies sitting on its shelf. i have seen german novels and of course language learning books. but the Duden is the merriam-webster for german language, an authority, and i hadn't seen it on a u.s. book shelf before. (i am sure they exist in language departments. but the only time i saw a Duden in the u.s. was when a lovely German package arrived with the bright yellow brick-like word collection inside.)

another intelligence report from my favorite u.s. american promised a bakery close to book heaven that makes german breads upon pre-order. on the website of the bakery the german bread looks at least dark enough and shows a list of the right ingredients to be taken seriously.

only four and a half hours separate me from emerald city. upon arrival my favorite u.s. american will swoop me up to go straight to the bakery.

i'd say, make it so!