International Affair

After landing in Oakland from Vegas, I had to "hightail" it (in bay area traffic) back to Ceres because dinner at Helga's scheduled for that night. And this wasn't just any dinner. Helga's granddaughters were in town just one more night before flying back to Germany. I was anxious to go and see them. They did not know that I was invited so surprise was inevitable. I met the graddaughters 5 years ago when they first came to Ceres to visit Helga, and they couldn't speak a word of English and I did not know German so we smiled and hugged a lot. Here are the girls, 5 years ago, Larissa (in my shoes) and Tamara:

Here are the ladies today. I just could not believe my eyes when I saw how tall and pretty they have become. Thank God for change, yes? (I am not referring to the girls as much as myself. If you have already seen the above photo, then you understand...)
They chatted with me easily in English and the younger one, Tamara, could not get over my new hair color. These girls had remembered me from their first visit and asked Helga about me on the phone all the time (always wanting to know if I had a boyfriend :) I got the opportunity to tell them that it was better to go to school then to worry about boys. They were very good for my ego as well, for "America's Next Top Model" didn't need any translating.

I hope its not another 5 years before I get to see them again, and I believe it's my turn to go and visit them. In the mean time, I should really begin to grasp the language so I can say "gluten-free" in German. Auf wiedersehen!