Hello again and very sorry for the absence. Did you follow the stupendous national stationery show coverage? I'm excited to share a little collaboration that debuted there soon. Very sadly, my camera broke the second day I was in Berlin and I've been paralyzed without it ever since. To remedy the situation while there, I bought a Holga camera and used it with mixed results. There were some very key experiences and sights that went uncaptured. Today and tomorrow I'll wrap up what I do have, but I wanted to share this one photo that symbolized the revelatory experience that is Germany. There is a very fantastic chain of drugstores called DM. I. and I visited the one in Oldenburg, which is where she lives (more on that later). After you check out, and before you exit, there is this little wrapping paper station. As you see, it has three rolls of wrapping paper. There is also ribbon, scissors and tape. All free. Something about this was so awesome that I rambled on and on about it the entire day. Something about how generous it was, how the service wasn't being abused, how much happier I would be if there were free wrapping paper stations in the US. More broadly: is gift giving and free wrapping paper the mark of a strong civil society? This article in the NYT about Germany's Ordnungsbehörde, or Department of Order, speaks to some of these points. Are there generous customs in countries you've visited that you've been equally smitten with?