Wed, Jun 25th 2008, 22:08
I was asked by someone, how do you register for absentee voting if you will be living overseas?
The rules may or may not vary by state. But in my state (Arizona), I just did a quick google search and found my state's Secretary of State web page.
I found this page which lists all of the states and their websites, but if you can't find it on the list, just do an internet search for "-your state here- Secretary of State"
At the Arizona Secretary of State website there is a link for information about voting, and once I follow that link, I see another link to information about Military and Overseas Voting.
Your state secretary's website should either provide an online form that you can print out called a Federal Post Card and Absentee Ballot Request (FPCA), or information on how to obtain one.
There are deadlines for turning in this form, which vary by state, and election type, so make sure you do this ahead of time!
In order to fill out the FCPA, you must know the mailing address that you will want to use overseas.
On the Arizona application, they gave me a few choices for how I would like to receive my ballots: by mail, fax, or email. Make sure that each option is available in your state and county before selecting it.
There was also the option of changing your political party at the same time, if you would like to do that. And some states require that on the application you provide your political party for primary elections.
You need to send the FCPA to the county clerk in the county in which you are registered to vote.
After I sent my FCPA (about six months before I was coming to Germany), I didn't get any response after three months, so I got kind of woried. I looked up their website again, found a contact to email in the voting department, and asked if they had received my ballot. They had (maybe they don't send you anything in return, or maybe my county office is a little slow). So if you don't get a response or are confused, you could try looking for someone to contact on your state's secretary of state website.
With these important elections coming up in November, you wouldn't want to miss the chance to vote! So if you are moving abroad, be sure to fill this application out ahead of time!
This information is only based on my own internet search and personal experience. If you have any questions, or for information that may vary by state and county, please contact your county clerk!
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Wed, Jun 25th 2008, 04:11
Test your geographical knowledge of Europe. I scored 90/141, kind of lousy. I didn't know any of the countries east of Poland.
Thanks to Eurotrippen for the link.
Update
There is a wicked thunderstorm outside so I will try to post this quick since our internet keeps going on & off. It almost makes me feel like I'm back in Arizona for monsoon season.
This photo does not do it justice. We had our windows open for about 30 seconds before we rushed to shut them, but there were already puddles on the ground.
What is the worst about it is we can't open our windows, which means it is miserable and humid in our apartment. My eliptical machine tells the temperature, and for my American friends, 28 C = 82 F. Pretty warm. And that's not including the humidity. (How do you like my old school iPod?)
Oh, and for kicks, here is a picture of me trying to look purrty. We are moving our furniture tomorrow and I conveniently have a cough, and possibly a cold. Fun!
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Sat, Jun 21st 2008, 11:15
Abenteuerin adventuress
The title of this blog post is sarcastic, since I am anything but.
As I was scanning my Wörterbuch (English-German dictionary) for appropriate titles for this blog entry, I was reminded of something that I think is very cool about the German language: just about any German word can be dissected into parts and you can discover its meaning. It's actually kind of fun.
My German oral exam is not on Tuesday like I thought, but next month (collective sigh of relief)! My German comprehension has increased a lot, but my speech and grammar is still abysmal. And whenever I am in a situation where a German speaks to me, any German knowledge that I had suddenly goes out the window and I am speaking cave-man German or just copping out by saying "Ich verstehe nicht!" (I don't understand).
But back to the title of the blog...
Mike and I are working on the necessary paperwork for us to join in holy matrimony sometime this summer. On Thursday Mike said to me, "So tomorrow you will go to the consulate in Leipzig and get this form."
"Huh? We are going to Leipzig tomorrow?" I replied.
"No, you are."
Of course this made me scared. I usually try not to expose myself to situations where I may have to actually speak German. I mean, I have "mastered" the trams in Dresden and I can pretty comfortably go to class and shopping by myself. But travelling to a whole different city on my own? No way!
"It will be easy. You will get a train to Leipzig and then you'll have to take a taxi to the consulate."
"Huh? Taxi? I have to talk to a taxi driver? No! I can't do it. Boo hoo!"
"It will be easy, I know you can do it."
"I know that I can. But I don't want to!"
So on Friday morning I got on a train to Leipzig. We had compromised by deciding that I would not take a taxi but walk, so Mike printed me out a map. For some reason the taxi idea really freaked me out.
The trip was relatively uneventful. The walk was not that long, the weather in Leipzig was nice, and I got to walk through the center and see some of the nice buildings, although I didn't know what I was looking at. I think this picture is of a church.
The consulate was weird. The whole street was blocked off and I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go in, so I wandered around for a while. There were lots of cops, so finally I just approached one. Suddenly my cave-man German came into play and I must have said something like "me want marry, must go consulate". Finally I showed them my passport and they let me in. When I got in they checked me for weapons and then confiscated my cell phone and camera. A woman escorted me into a room and I sat down at a table. No one was speaking English with me, so I tried in my cave-man German to tell them what I needed: a Konsularische Ledigkeitsbescheinigung. What?! I couldn't even say it. Finally I just said "Ich will heiraten" (I want to get married). The woman said "congratulations!" and switched to English (thank you!).
They asked me for my address in the U.S. and in Germany, my father and mother's names, and then they printed me out a paper in German and English saying that I am single.
So, my little adventure went smoothly. I even got to have some McDonald's at the train station before I left.
Soon I will have to post a blog about how to marry a German in Germany. But first I have to finish figuring it out myself.
In other news, our kitchen was installed in our apartment! It looks really nice. Today Mike and I went over and cooked a meal there, even though we didn't have any chairs to sit on since we haven't bought any yet. I am really excited to move in. I just wish I could wiggle my nose like Jeannie and make all the heavy furniture in our apartment here suddenly appear in the new one. We probably can't afford movers, and besides, I don't know who would want to carry all of this already assembled furniture down from the top floor of our apartment. Atleast our new one is on the first floor.
And for fun, here is Penny. I know you all want to see another hundred photos of my cat, right? She is excited about the new apartment as well.
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Wed, Jun 18th 2008, 05:23
Lindau is a German town and an island in the eastern part of the Lake Constance, or the Bodensee, as it is also called. The lake borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Over the weekend we stayed there with some friends of Mike's in a cute little bed and breakfast. The island was tiny, and all of the buildings were cute, with balconies up on the roofs.
Because I complained so much about the heat in Germany last week, it decided to do me a favor and start raining for our vacation. How lovely.
The first morning we decided to rent bicycles and ride a path that goes along the coast line. We were lucky with no rain most of that day and we rode all the way from Lindau to Rorschach, which I think was in Switzerland, which was just a little too long for me. I started to get cranky, so we rode a ferry back to Lindau.
On the next days we were going to ride the ferry to an island called Mainau, which is a garden island, but both days the ferry did not run for some reason. Then we wanted to go see the Zeppelin museum in Friederichshafen, but it was closed as well.
So we ultimately ended up doing a lot of relaxing, walking around, window shopping, and sitting outside cafes drinking espressos in the rain. It wasn't that bad, since anytime I go on vacation I seem to have sudden attacks of extreme fatigue and just want to sleep all day. I haven't decided if this is just a result of the travel or if it has to do with all of the German speaking wearing me out.
One thing that I notice even more since I got back from the U.S. is just how awful service is here in restaurants. I don't think the locals find it awful, so I guess I am just spoiled. But it was seriously annoying to sit in a restaurant and be ignored for atleast a half an hour, and to have to chase down your waiter to get a bill after you have been sitting finished forever. It makes me practically livid, because if I got service like that in the U.S. I would never go back. Maybe I just need to work on my patience.
We got back safely on Tuesday, even though the plane we were riding in was tiny and made me sick and frightened. We picked up our keys to our new apartment and went to check it out. The kitchen has still not been installed, and the power & internet weren't working, so we have just been slowly taking stuff over there. I hope we can move in after a week or so.
I got a little depressed while shopping for some things for our new apartment because in a year we will have to give or throw away all of this stuff. I really, really can't wait until I can have a home in a place where I can stay and accumulate tons of stuff, which is probably every girl's dream. I have less incentive to buy nice stuff for this apartment and make it look cute since I don't want to waste money on things I can't keep for long.
A lot of people have asked about wedding gifts since I announced the happy news. This is one of my dilemmas. I don't want people to buy me things that I will have to part ways with in a year! What is a girl to do?
Anyways, I am looking forward to moving in. The apartment is a lot bigger than I remembered and with so many big windows. I can't wait. And I think Penny will like being able to watch out the windows now that we live on the ground floor.
I have my German final exams on Monday & Tuesday which I am really dreading. I hate oral exams so much, and I am supposed to give a formal presentation for seven minutes with no notes. "HOW?" I ask. But then my class will be over and I don't know what I will do next. I need a hobby.
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Wed, Jun 11th 2008, 19:59
German newspaper commentators have launched a scathing attack on US President George W. Bush's record, saying he embodies "the arrogance of power" and has shattered the world's faith in America (Der Spiegel Artikel).
Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:
"In Germany, America is no longer seen as a country of individual liberty, as a reliable ally and definitely not as a model. There are a large number of justified accusations levelled at Bush's policies. They include dangerous naivete, lies and the sustained infringement of human rights.
"Bush won't care, but in the thoughts and feeling of many Germans he is leaving behind a mixture of antipathy, ridicule, anger and skepticism towards US policies and towards America in general. Differentiating between the two has become more difficult with every year of his presidency.
"The memory of Bush will darken America's image in the world for years to come."
Another one of the many reasons you should all vote this fall.
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