Travel Sized Bites.

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By Author: Sincere Lee
E-mail: LeeJohnMax@Prodigy.net

Submitted on Monday 9th August 1999

In 1983 I was an exchange student to Germany. At only 16 years old I had been turned loose to explore the world and boy, was I ready to do so. The first month was spent at a language study school in Koln. What a time we had. The discos, the Rhine, the wonderful people and what else ?.... The beer. I was not much of a drinker at 16 but I found it hilarious to go hang out at the bar after school with my friends.

I made many new friends that year abroad, but am sad to say not ones I was able to keep in touch with. I didn't understand the link I was making to my future at the time. We laughed and played and , well, lived with each other for a year... then I went home.

I tried writing for a time and even using the phone now and then but it just wasn't the same. We were millions of miles away from each other with no real contact in sight. We lost touch. I was home. It was hard enough to re-aquaint myself with the people I had left behind for a year. Or had they left me behind ? I didn't know them anymore and they sure as heck didn't know me. I had changed. Hard as it was to accept, I was a new person. Changed by a year in a foreign country.

I went back to Germany with my own little family 12 years later. It was like returning to a past life experience. I was happy and happier still to be able to share the coming back with the one person who had witnessed it all with me. The boy I left behind is now my Husband . I showed him my discos, my Rhine, my favourite restaurants and bars. Still...

The people were gone. I didn't know them anymore, having left so long ago. I did recognise someone though...I think. I was afraid to approach her for fear of being a fool. Shame on me. When will I learn to stop leaving things behind ?

If you see me, say hello - I'll do the same to you.

Sincere Lee