Tue, Jun 10th 2008, 10:03
I got back from the U.S. on Sunday night. I have to say I was a little relieved to get back into my normal routines. It is no fun living out of a suitcase and having limited internet access for three weeks.
So, was the US everything I had been longing for? Yes and no. I had lots of fun shopping and eating, although many of the foods I used to love made me feel sick. I still know that I want to live in Chandler or Tempe, Arizona, but I wont be longing for the things I miss as badly now that I've had them recently and they weren't as amazing as I had built them up to be.
Sidenote: San Francisco to Frankfurt is a really long stinking time to be on an airline that doesn't serve free drinks!
I guess I can officially announce it here, since I finally sent out the announcements to my family: Mike and I are getting married this summer.
No date and no ceremony. We are still trying to work out all of the paperwork. When we do, we are just going down to the Whateveramt and getting a license. I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the date.
This weekend we are going to Lindau, which is an island on Lake Constance in Bavaria. We will be very close to all of the amazing fußball action (lucky me), so it will probably be a zoo. I don't have to watch the games to know the outcomes. On Sunday night when I got home from my flight and was exhausted and trying to sleep, I could hear that Germany had beat Poland 2:0 by all of the sounds of jubliation coming from my neighborhood.
It is really, really hot here. Not Phoenix hot. But atleast in Phoenix you know you have some refuge from the heat: in your car, in your home, in your office. But here, air conditioning is practically non-existent, so it is quite miserable in our apartment. I am hoping our new apartment on the ground floor will be a bit cooler.
We just found out that we will be able to move in next week! Very exciting. Only hitch is that the internet may take a while so we wont want to move in yet. I need to move now. My fuse is getting shorter and shorter.
This news about Saxony is a little worrisome. I haven't personally experienced any of these types, and hope that I don't have to while I am here.
And finally.....they are mailing out my diploma! Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Marketing. Woohoo! Whatever that means!
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Sun, May 18th 2008, 21:22
Heute today
Things I did today...
Ate bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast
Went shopping at the mall
Saw Iron Man in the theater
Had popcorn with butter on it
Drove a car
Went swimming
These are all things I wouldn't have been able to do in Germany.
The flight was kind of long and miserable since I had to fly on a different plane than Mike. And we had a scare in Chicago because his flight arrived late and we were worried he wouldn't catch his third flight to Phoenix, but thankfully he did.
I got kind of cranky and upset in Chicago because Mike's plane was late and because I was sleep deprived and confused. In Chicago I had to pick up my baggage (which I thought was strange), change terminals, re-check my baggage, and then go back through security.
I really, really hate security. For some reason they make me feel like I'm guilty, having all of those people looking at me like that. Because of that, I don't wear any belt and I don't carry any liquids or a laptop, because I really just want to get through the stupid thing as fast as I can.
One employee seemed to sense my distaste for the process, and he smiled at me and apologized, saying "This is the last time we will bother you!". And I thought, "Yes, until I fly back in three weeks!"
When we got to Phoenix I just passed out at about 6pm. Because it was 3am in Germany and I had been awake for 43 hours.
I woke up at 4am, so a couple of hours later, Mike and I went to IHOP.
It was kind of surreal being in IHOP. The waitress was so friendly and extremely fast. We hadn't even sat down before she was asking us what we wanted to drink, and I excitedly ordered a water. Imagine that! Free water, with no bubbles in it!
After that, Mike and I went to Super Walmart, which was also strange seeing rows and rows of products I cannot usually buy. Mike let me drive, since I haven't driven in nine months. Apparently, it is like riding a bike.
We went shopping on Sunday, which would have been impossible in Germany. And we also got to see Iron Man, which was pretty entertaining for an action/super hero movie (those usually aren't my thing), and I got to eat buttery popcorn which made me sick to my stomach and got stuck in my wisdom tooth holes.
After that, we went to some cheap Mexican fast food joint and I got taquitos, and then we went swimming in the hotel pool. It is still crazy hot outside even though it is night.
Tomorrow I plan on shopping until I drop! And lucky me, there is a Saver's store right across the street from our hotel!
It's good to be back!
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Thu, May 15th 2008, 10:24
Flugzeug airplane
As you can see, I have had a lot of time on my hands lately. I decided to try to decoupage which is basically just a fancy name for cutting and pasting.
I bought the little wooden boxes and the frame, and some floral wrapping paper. I cut out the flowers and glued them onto the boxes and then painted them with glaze. The red one, I actually painted with nail polish because I had no paint, and it has sort of a vintage looking design on it that I also found at a store here. I don't know if they are that amazing, but I think they are cute, and plan on giving some of them away to my family. I also have dreams of one day selling crafted items on Etsy, which is a website where you can buy and sell crafted items.
I also took a walk around Dresden the other day. It was really warm and nice. Unfortunately it was the wrong time of day to take pictures of the Elbe Panorama because the sun was behind the buildings. But I still crossed the bridge and took pictures because I had walked all the way. You can see the Frauenkirche and the Royal Palace, among other buildings.
Tomorrow I will pack and hopefully keep myself occupied so I don't go crazy with boredom. We are going to go pick out our kitchen for our new apartment! Fun times. Next time I post, I will be in Arizona! But first I have a really long and lonely flight ahead of me. I hope there aren't too many delays and that all of my bags arrive!
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Mon, May 12th 2008, 05:17
Kurort a resort or spa area
This weekend we went to visit Mike's family again. It is warm and beautiful in Germany right now. Everything is green and there are flowers blooming everywhere. We ate most of our meals outside, and at night I could hear the frogs at the pond across the street.
We drove quite a ways to Oybin,
which is a "Kurort" close to the Czech border. Oybin is most famous for the Oybin mountain, an exposed sandstone rock that towers above the town and on top sits the ruins of a medieval monastery.
The old church was pretty cool looking. There were several rooms you could go into. We hiked up the mountain, which was pretty steep, and then climbed these very narrow stairs to a tower of the church that had a great view.
Today I woke up with the idea in my head that I could go to the center and shop a little bit for souvenirs to take to my family and for some food. But then I remembered that it is a holiday (how many holidays do they have here, anyways?), so everything is closed.
I am terribly bored, and getting very anxious about my flight to Arizona this Saturday, so naturally, this week will be one of the longest I have had in a while. And it is really hot in our dachgeschoss bedroom (our room is in the roof, which means the ceilings are slanted and the windows are in the ceiling). There is not much of a breeze in here.
We found our new apartment in Gorbitz. It is on the first floor, so it will be easy to move into. Plus, it is slightly elevated and has a balcony that we can sit out on, and perhaps let Penny have supervised trips outside. The cool thing is that we are getting a brand new Einbaukuche (built in kitchen) that I get to pick! I also get to buy kitchen stuff and curtains, so that will be fun. We are hopefully moving in July. We just have to find some people to take our place in our current apartment.
I am going to have to start reading a book or cleaning soon so I don't go crazy with antici....pation. It will be so much fun to go shopping and eat my favorite foods and to see my family. Nathaniel is graduating high school!
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Mon, May 5th 2008, 06:23
(Going for a walk) Mike and I took a walk in the park the other day.
"Dresden - hier wurde die Schönheit erfunden. Nichts als Fluss und Wiesen - in zartesten Farben und märchenhaftem Licht."Johann Joachim Winckelmann, 1755
Dresden - here beauty was invented. Nothing but rivers and meadows - in tender colors and fairytale light.
It does look nice here in Spring, but I think Johann went a little overboard.
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