Sorry.

I apologize for not keeping the promise of continuing my weekly blogging ritual.  Not a real apology actually, just an entry into this next post.

I keep another blog for my personal use as a journal.  A few select friends and brother have access, but this following post was one I thought to be relevant.

Europe.

It’s strange.  7 weeks to the date prior, I was ready and excited to return to my original home in the United States.  7 weeks later I am ready to go back.  It is as if I just needed a little pit stop rest.  Or more to realize that nothing changes and no one gives a hoot you are back, the world continues to turn.  If I were to leave it would be alright, I am not missing anything going on here and I Franklin Fox am the one who lives this life, therefore do what I want to do.  I will be returning if I can have it my way but if not I will have had a good reason not to go. Although I think an international job is in my future.  Middle East, Asia, Northern Europe, it’ll be good.

I want to write about my arrival into Hamburg, 10 months ago.

I got off the plane in the Hamburg airport and made my way to get my baggage.  Daniel and Rieke were outside of a large glass sliding door, keeping passengers and guests apart.  We took the S-Bahn to their apartment in Altona (a suburb in Hamburg).  It was a beautiful sunny Sunday.  And when it’s sunny in Germany, it’s real nice because it is usually cloudy and the green covering the land really comes out.  We had breakfast at their modern looking (to me, not to them) white, minimalist looking apartment on the 4th floor.  We had eggs, yogurt, broetchen, meats, OJ w/ gas, and it being German food, it therefore, was rich, thick and amazing.

At this time, I had been up for a solid 16 some odd hours and it was daytime. I was not going to get on a bad sleep schedule to start out my 9 month long trip abroad, and so I stayed up and we went out to walk and see Hamburg. We walked to a park, the port, and saw lots of happy, hung over Germans from the night before (jk they weren’t happy).  Later in the day, around noon, I had my first taste of the famous Doener Kebab.  It’s a turkish-Berlin invention, we would call them Gyros or wraps, but they are far from anything we have in the U.S.  A package of grease, protein, love, and deliciousness, by far the best fast-food grab in Germany.

After our Kebab we met up with a friend of Daniel and Riekes’, at this time I forgot what his name was but he was very nice and welcoming.  We went over to his house, they smoked some weed and we talked. They smoke a lot in this relationship, Daniel is a chain smoker and Rieke sometimes joins him. Doesn’t bother me anymore but at first it was a bit surprising, from when I met Daniel in 2005 to now, he has changed a bit.

Finally made it through the day and had a long, glorious sleep back at their apartment.  I am spacing now what exactly happened the first day, as it is mixing with the first whole week of my stay.  I stayed with Daniel and Rieke for 7 days before going to Lueneburg to stay with my future family the Keller’s.  My first few months in Germany were full of infatuation, excitement, and a new found love in a city that I will visit again.  Idaho is nice, it will work for now, but I feel that my talents can be put to better use somewhere else.  Finding my tribe, my people, and my Element is the goal.  

-f

Late Posted Pics

Pictures from the last 3 weeks that I never posted.

La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

My first Beer.  (Robin's Apple Juice in the  famous Hofbrauhaus - Munich)

Our breakfast of weiss wurst und brezel.

Munich downtown Rathaus

BMW Welt Showroom (huge)

For Ben.

Outside of BMW factory

Mozart Statue- Salzburg, Austria 

?

Going up the tunnel into the castle (FREE 11 Euro ticket from bunk mate in Hostel)

Overlooking Salzburg oldtown from Castle

Backside view of valley from castle 

Salzburg river, castle to the top right

night time

better shot

Sound of Music 

Big 5'10'' Austrian Power-Frau

3 Para gliders on nearby hill -Salzburg

Kehlsteinhaus

Omar Bradley, WW2 U.S General at Kehlsteinhaus

I ♥ Berchtesgaden

Home - 1 Week

I made it home exactly a week ago.  I think I'll keep the blog going because it serves as a journal and in some ways an outlet to my family and friends in other parts of the world.  

Being home has probably been more positive than negative but it has had it's uncomfortable"ness".  Prior to coming back I had read and talked with a lot of people about re-entry into your home country and kind of what to expect.  And so I think it has been smooth.  

I was very nervous to do 3 things.  Get off the plane and walk to my family in the airport.  Go to the YMCA where I used to "live".  And go to church and see my extended family. All went fine.

I have noticed some things about Boise and my home that I never had before.  First,  the mountain range behind Boise called the foothills is very pretty.  The weather here is HOT, hotter than any place I'd been in Spain.  We use a lot of resources that we don't need.  Our cars our bigger and use more gas, only one person is riding in the car or pickup.  Our toilet bowls have more water in the basin, in Europe there was less, saving more water.  At the Fox family there is no wonder that sometimes we worry about our weight, there is food everywhere and always available, cookies on the table at all times.  ( i did add to that btw :) )  Electricity; there is AC in the house, lights left on, dryer, dishwasher being run 3 times per day.  Along with the water comment I even noticed that sprinklers near the road don't hit there intended grass and flower targets completely and that they are wasting water by formulating big pools of water on the sidewalk from missing, just a lot of things I have been realizing that I never bothered to think about before.  I thought life was similar everywhere you went.  Apparently it is not.  If I were to become a guy in the business to have to cut and find ways of saving money, I would enjoy that. ;)

Americans.  I have some criticisms and praises of my fellow countrymen.  But the first thing I noticed about being home was just how nice and friendly Americans can be.  For the past 9 months I was not used to getting "excuse me", "sorry" or friendly eye contact.  I also wasn't used to small talk, and so still here in Boise I will be "split-second" wondering, why a store employee or cashier is asking me "so what are you going to do today?, etc". To Europeans and they told me on numerous occasions, "Americans are nice but they are fake, they act like your friend but really aren't that good of friends after"   Well there is some truth to that, we come off superficial in some areas, but it is our style of communication to chat and make "small-talk" just as it is for Europeans not do that and be more direct.  It is culture.  I find both ways to have strengths and weaknesses. ..so political. :)

It is nice to be back in a country where I speak the language.  Not just English.  But the slang, some of these words have come up (dope, yoked, tight, feel?) and then just being able to speak at any rate I like and knowing, if spoken loud enough, will be comprehended.  I have also enjoyed the abundance of food as mentioned in the above paragraph, I don't have to go to the grocery store right now or think about what I have to buy for tomorrow, etc.  

My impression from Americans at home before was that Europeans are sex crazed.  I don't have that view anymore and I think that Americans are more promiscuous and have much more modesty issues than their European counterparts.  I see many 12 year old's wearing "spandex booty shorts", on average more woman showing cleavage, and when I see Television Ad's or posters it's more in your face. I would never see the amount in Euro. as I see here of little girls and woman wearing revealing clothing.  It's just interesting to see it for what it is now that I have 4 countries to solidly compare with life here in the U.S.

Now my plan is to find a job this summer, an apartment, and continue developing.  I feel much better about my life now than I had before and I would like to as my friend Robin in Germany told me," take what you've learned here, that energy and keep it going".  I have been so far and it's worked out much better.  You have to treat and respect your family like you do people and they will give much more back than if you treat them like "family" and think you can say and do whatever you want without consequences.  Be nice.

'til next time

All Flights Fly From Frankfurt.

1:44 pm CET

Arrived in Frankfurt, my final resting place before heading home on Wednesday.  I am sitting on the 3rd story of the "Frankfurt Hostel" and looking across the street at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), easy access to the airport Wednesday morning.  It's a beautiful summer day in Germany the kind of what we call "Seattle Sucker" weather back home, it shows a few sunny days and you think this is how it always is, in reality it's so green here, meaning it usually rains.

I spent Wed, Thurs, and Friday night in Freiburg with Robin and his roommates in their WG.  They are a good group of guys and were very helpful and welcoming.  We made German-German pancakes on Friday night, tasty.  I worked out a few days and caught up on some sleep.  It was a national holiday on Friday and so all supermarkets and stores were closed.  Europeans have so many dang holidays, especially the Spanish, I can remember running across the town to the University to go to the gym only to find out it was closed because of Fiesta de Cerveza or Enrique Iglesias birthday, etc. jk. I ended up going to McDonalds for dinner.

On Saturday morning I took a blablacar share with 3 Germans but due to all the rain the autobahn was closed and many other roads and so it took 4 hours to get from Freiburg to Mannheim when usually it takes two.  The driver and girlfriend of driver were very friendly and they drove me the extra way from their original destination to the Heidelberg train station just to make sure I was on time.

In Heidelberg I saw two LDS missionaries.  I said "hi Elders!" kinda of cheekily and they were caught off guard.  They were actually both pretty cool and not socially awkward.  We chatted for about 5 min, they have both been out for over a year.  One from Utah and the other from Houston.

From Heidelberg I was picked up by a friend of Robin's roommate, Paul.  His friend Phillip lives in Mannheim about 30 minutes away and was in the neighborhood and let me stay at his apartment.  He is a writer for a famous German guitar magazine (it's called "Guitar").  He had  the opportunity to interview Slash from Guns N' Roses multiple times.  Said he's a very nice, guy and "you can't mess up an interview with him because he's so easy going".  Phillip drove me to Mannheim and then we ate at a Turkish restaurant.  He lives in an urban downtown area in Mannheim, it's pretty cool.  He lives with 4 other roommates in a very nice place.  I spent the night talking with another one of his roommates who had traveled the U.S.  It was a great little visit.  Phillip was extremely nice and nice to be around. I told him about my sisters and dad who play guitar and collect guitars.  He thought that was cool, he obviously plays as well and said, he wished his parents were into music. He wanted to hear some of Lauren's music. This has happened numerous times Lauren, that is why I made an account on Sound Cloud for you to upload your music so people can take a listen. ;)

I will spend the next 3 nights in Frankfurt.  Chilling, running, looking around.  I do have to say.  I've been to Frankfurt before and for Riley's interests, it's not the best German city.  It's regarded as the ghetto of Germany (maybe that'll be cool) but I'm sure he will be placed in many of the cities around.  Heidelberg and Mannheim are both very pretty, just an hour south.  The thing about this area and much of Germany is during the war, as you might know it was basically bombed to rumble by the Brits and Americans and so many of the cities are very new and so you don't get to see a lot of the old architecture as you do in other areas of Germany.  So Riley, you're going to a dump German town but you will speak better German than me when you come home. ;)

This is my last post in Europe unless something unusual happens so for the record.

I went to 6 of the largest cities in Europe.  Hamburg, Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Munich.  Lived with 2 families for more than 4 months each, 2 other families for a week, learned 2 languages at a B1-B2 fluency, Spanish and German, visited the continent of Africa, made countless close friends and acquaintances, developed as a person, was out of my comfort zone for 9 months and learned to be comfortable in it, swam in the Mediterranean, climbed the alps, slept in the Sahara, walked on the Baltic shore, strolled past the Colosseum, ran in the black forest, ate the worlds greatest pizza in Naples, saw Cristiano Ronaldo play futbol, only kissed 2 girls ;), and did much more, which hopefully was written down and can be retrieved from this blog in time to come.  Mom and Dad it was the best reason anyone could have spent the family fortune.. I will now become more successful than Ben and buy you a house someday. (Ben loves it)  I owe it all to you, thanks. ;)

bis gleich.

-f

"Everybody and their brother is trying to get to Berchtesgaden" w/ Video

Read from a poster from an Allied War newspaper on top of the Kehlsteinhaus aka Hitler's Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

The 101st Airborne Division captured Berchtesgaden in May of 1945.  Sixty-Eight years later Franklin A. Fox ascended the Eagle's Nest in an air condition, 4 wheel drive, Mercedes Benz bus along with 40 other tourists.

I spent 1 night in Berchtesgaden.  It was the most impressive and beautiful area I have ever set foot-in. The rain and fog luckily cleared the day I left from Salzburg to Berchtesgaden.  The sun was out and you could finally see all the beautiful sights people come from all over the world to see.  The snow capped peaks, yellow flowers, green valleys, turquoise blue rivers.  This place is the above all be all for me personally, I was a bit teary eyed seeing it in person.  Some may enjoy the ocean and beach scenery better.  Certainly those places are nice but for me..THIS WAS IT.  Never in my life did it all look so original and classic like the films I had seen.  Sound of Music, the part from Disney's first Fantasia when Goofy skis down the alpine slope, Band of Brothers.  Which by the way was not filmed on site.  The places seen in that last episode resemble the area but were entirely blown away by the "real thing".  

I would like to be fair in one thing.  We are lucky enough to live near an area that reminded me of this dream-esque place, and that is McCall.  They smell very similar.  That is it.  The rest is not even in comparison.  The mountains stand directly around you, and they are cliff like mountains, with rock faces the size of the mountains in McCall.  They are tall, big and intimidating.  The water is turquoise blue, and you are surrounded by old time German built houses with their unison red-brownish roofs.

I write with not exaggaration or fluffiness of this area.  (I know in the past I have been a bit infatuated with some places, Rome, Hamburg, Berlin, Naples, etc.)

and I write with no sarcasm in telling you that if you really want to see why God loves his children go to Berchtesgaden, problem with this, is you'll see that God loves the Germans a little better. ;)

In seriousness.  John Fox I strongly recommend you sell your Mercedes in a few years time, fly to Germany, take mom, and do that deal with the dealerships here, where you buy a car and drive it around then they ship it to the U.S.  I would recommend staying in the southern region of Germany and then heading towards Austria, for the food and sights and because the  up-kept paved roads are very windy in the mountains and perfect for trying out the handling.

This wont do it justice but here's a video I made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEGucmW5BaI

Süd Deutschland

Ive been in southern Germany for about 4 days now.  Its been great to be back, the food here is my favorite in all of Europe besides Italy.  That may be just a personal choice, many belive german food to be just sausage, i dont even like sausage.  its all about the breakfast food they have here. 

I stayed with Robin in his flat in Freiburg Wednesday night and then thursday we took a bus to münchen (munich).  We attended a conference that night which involved the world of pick up.  It is kind of an unknown thing but it involves game and pikcing up girls, good stuff.  Ask me later.

We are staying in a freind of robins flat near downtown munich and it has been good.  This morning we ate at the famous hofbrauhaus and had white sausage with pretzel.  I had some apfel strudel this morning for mom at a bakery, there is a great bakery on ervery corner. my time is almost out on here.  going to salyburg ansd then berchtesgarden for a bout 5 days will chat later. bye

Barcelona: Runner's Paradise.

Not much has happened since writing Friday night.  I kept it very low key by sleeping a little longer each day, and taking a nap in the afternoon here in the Hostel (sick with a sinus infection).  I took some long walks Friday and Saturday seeing the port as mentioned before and then the downtown "touristy" area.  I walked up a nearby hill, where a gondola was taking passengers over the city and saw a nice view of  the city , (I now know where the Sagrada Familia/Gaudi Masterpiece lies) Later walking down I look over to my left and a Red Ferrari pulls out of a parking garage and roars by,  very nice.

Today it rained this morning and later in the evening.  The clouds broke around 2PM and after google'ing "is it OK to workout while having a sinus infection?" I laced up my Nikes and took off towards the port.  It had been 2 days since doing any strenuous activity, and Foxy Brown was cruising, legs as fresh as John Stockton.  I ran for 2 hours continuous along the beach, past some futuristic style office developments, and a solar power plant.  Good time.

Exercise I have come to conclude is one of the best inventions for me. I have ADD and bi-polar manic depression, I need to move to cope and think.

I have also decided to come to honest conclusions with myself, to just agree that fitness is my life. When people ask me what I like to do, I usually don't bring up too much on Fitness, because those people get a bad rep of being self-possessed gym rats.  Far from that in reality, the supplement taking crowd is not my crowd. (going for the Bill Henry crowd)  Health is definitely a passion of mine. Some member of this family love to play guitar, blog (IDK what you do Whitney HAHA) , Kayak, or are in the confident pursuit of becoming the next Mitt Romney, maybe even Frank Bruneel. ;)

My bunk mate from France and I are going to go to the free "famous Magical Light Show" tonight.  Think Bellagio but built in 1924.

2's

F