Blog-worthy praise of the city of Köln

Today I am rejoicing. OK, so right now I am just sitting grumpily in my room, wishing I hadn't bothered washing my hair before going to bed because now I can't be bothered to dry it and straighten it, which means I will wake up tomorrow looking like this.

I had to make this picture very small because the sight of my own forehead(/fivehead) upsets me. But it is necessary so I understand the consequences of not drying my hair before sleeptime.

Today was a seriously successful day though. First, I taught 4 lessons. Meaning I actually spent the whole of each lesson doing things and no time at all sitting in the corner feeling awkward. And I felt good about it! I felt the sense of accomplishment I imagine one might get from actually doing a day's work. Plus I got to play Simon Says twice.

But the real win of today, was getting a slightly ominous email from my Mum, saying I had a letter from the British Consulate in Düsseldorf and did I want her to open it. Well, I did want her to open it. I don't know what the British Consulate is, let alone what they might want from me.

The British Consulate wrote me a letter to inform me that my bag had been found! 

I almost had a fit. And instantly sorted my life out and got on a train to Köln to collect it from the Fundbüro; a place I'd already been to, and sent a detailed email to, informing them of my loss some weeks ago - yes, a phonecall would normally be more effective, but despite having a phone number, this office is not actually contactable by phone. Try it yourself if you like; you get a recorded message of what the website says, and then it hangs up on you, as there are literally no questions you could possibly ask that couldn't be answered with their fool-proof recorded message.

I didn't have high hopes; I thought it was a miracle even if just my driving license was in there, maybe with my MAC concealer and a bit of change. I can tell you that when I got to the Fundbüro and waited an agonising hour (or it might have been 5 minutes, it's hard to tell) for them to search the basement for my bag, having not listened to a word I said and interrupting me a lot while I tried to explain how I knew they had my bag, I finally got my bag back. I may have had another little excitement fit and squealed "JA! Das ist meine Tasche! Das IST meine Tasche! Ich dachte, dass ich es nie wieder sehen würde!" while waving my hands around trying to take it off him.

Inside my bag? Everything I left in it, including my phone, camera, my half pack of Marlboro Menthols, my concealer, a purple lipstick; everything. Apart from 40 euros, which the finder presumably took as a reward. I don't mind. At all.

I was on a high for the rest of the day. Here I am outside the Fundbüro, having been happily reunited with my bag and camera.

It's upside-down. Get over it.

So this blog is dedicated to the kind, honest person who gave my bag in, rather than ransack it and steal all my stuff. It is however, not dedicated to the cheeky fact that the Fundbüro charge a 10€ admin fee, before you're allowed to take your own stuff back. Especially considering the fact that they ignored my email, even though according to the label on it, they'd had my bag since the 15th March, and had not told me! Although I guess they get brownie points for managing to contact me eventually.

Kind honest bag-finders of the world. I love you.

Oh, and this is me on the floor in the train station. I am still confident that alcohol had nothing to do with me losing my bag.

Dora.
xxx