DER TRAUM

Coming back home yesterday felt like stepping onto the set of a long canceled TV show, left perfectly preserved.

It's dusty in here and the plants all needed watering. I'm afraid to look at my mailbox as I'm sure it's stuffed to capacity.

So here's my situation:

I had a talk with my Hamburg boss at the end of the day on Thursday and he told me that having me in the office and working with me had been an absolute pleasure, and that I'd brought a spontaneity and energy to the project that had previously been missing. We talked about what projects I would work on and who I would work with if I were to have a job there.

Also, he wanted to hear my impressions of what it had been like to join their office; how it seemed good and how it seemed bad, and what I had thought about the people and the presentation that we put together.

The bottom line is this: They want to hire me badly. Everyone loved working with me and wants me to join the team. But the office hasn't done well lately, and money is the problem. The numbers are dismal, and there's nothing extra laying around to hire me with.

But, in two weeks they'll have the budget for next year nailed down, and if the numbers look alright, they're going to see what they can do for me. So my boss promised me he'd call as soon as he knew what the deal was.

If the numbers don't look good and I don't end up working at the Hamburg office, it'll suck, but I have a list of 25 other good agencies in Germany to pursue, and I'll get over there one way or another.

My flight leaves Tuesday night. There's a 3 hour layover in London, and I'm scheduled to arrive in Hamburg Wednesday evening a little after 5pm. Needless to say, I'm excited.

I got a facial after work yesterday, and I'm getting my hair done this afternoon. I'm also going to hit the fancy stores and get myself some nice clothes because I'm going to be there for 3 days and my wardrobe currently consists of skinny jeans and worn out T-shirts.

S tells me there are no diners in Germany – you know, greasy spoon restaurants where you can order a burger and fries or a stack of pancakes on a Sunday afternoon. And Sunday afternoon... that's another thing. Nothing's open on Sundays, so you have to do all your shopping and errands on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how well I can transition into my new life. I'll have to look into German classes in Hamburg...becoming fluent in German is going to be my first priority once I am there (aside from the new job, of course). I refuse to be one of those foreigners who moves to a different country but never learns the language or makes an attempt to assimilate.

My ancestors came to America from Germany looking for a better life, and did everything they could to assimilate into American culture, and here I am, one hundred years later trying to do just the opposite. There's some irony in there somewhere.

I got up early this morning and hauled my ass over to the photographer's studio to be photographed for my German resume. I was out of breath and stressed out when I got there (work stress, from having to go into the office and work over the weekend), but the photographer was nice and I took off my big coat and got under the giant lights. The session lasted about 20 minutes, I paid, and then had to race out the door and off to work.

In the early afternoon my supervisor came over and told me that he'd spoken with the group creative director regarding my desire to be transferred to one of the German offices. "She's behind you 100% and really wants to make this happen for you; she's going to get everyone involved, even R, the Chief Creative Officer." This was huge. I had no idea the company would be so receptive to the idea.

I met with the group creative director before I left for the evening. "You'll need to be ready to leave in an instant, so that when we pull the trigger on this you'll be able to go." Jawohl!

While we were talking she mentioned that some of the work I did last year won a Reggie Award and that the award dinner and ceremony will be next Wednesday. It was great news – I haven't won any awards since 2001. So, hooray! Free dinner next Wednesday.

Got home and went over the photographer's selects from this morning.
( I think these are my three favorites )