Trick or Treat!!

Hey all! I want to wish you all a very happy Halloween!! Make sure you eats lots of candy! :) I'm actually looking forward to seeing how they celebrate Halloween around here... I have noticed that they aren't as big on the candy aspect of Halloween, which is definitely a good thing! Brian and I are planning on attending the Halloween party put on by the English-speakers in the area... Being that most of them are not from the U.S. and have never celebrated Halloween, it should be interesting! We ended up deciding on our Halloween costume... I'm going as a painter and Brian is my "work of art"... it's cheesy, I know, (and let's just say that Brian isn't overly thrilled with the idea. :)) but, it was inexpensive and it'll serve the purpose. :) I will make sure to take plenty of pictures of our costumes and of tonight's festivities to share with you in my next post...

As for the upcoming weekend, we don't have too much planned... They have some sort of holiday here on Saturday, so all of the businesses with be closed, and then everything is always closed on Sunday. Therefore, I have to cut this post short so that I can make sure that I can get all of my errands and running around done today; otherwise, I'll have to wait until Monday. On that note, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and have a safe and happy Halloween!! We miss you much!!

** I'm leaving you with a few pictures of the cutest "trick-or-treater" you'll see this year... (I'm not a proud aunt or anything! :)) **

He's got to be the cutest dinosaur I've ever seen! :)

Traveling Carpenters...

Hey all! It's still raining here... It actually hasn't stopped raining for the past 3 days... Lovely! However, the weather forecast for this afternoon says that it's supposed to snow... So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get snow today! :) I would much rather have snow than rain... Plus, if it snows, then maybe we could head to the Alps for some skiing this weekend! How fun would that be?! :)

So, yesterday I met up with the English-speaking women for our weekly "coffee talk". As we were sitting there chatting, we heard a couple of really loud thumps on the floor and then a man, who was dressed kind of strange, started speaking very loudly (in German, of course) through the restaurant. Considering that many of the people at our table had no idea what he was saying, we were a little confused by the situation. :) Luckily, one of the women in our group has been here for 14 years, so she's pretty fluent in German... She quickly began translating what the man was saying for us...

We were informed that the man and his friend were carpenters and they've been wandering around through Germany for the past couple of years looking for work... We learned that this is a tradition for carpenters in Germany. They are required to complete an apprenticeship, and then if they want to open a carpentry business they have to earn a certificate. In order to earn that certificate, they must roam through the country for three years and one day looking for work. They wear a specific outfit (it's part of the tradition), they are only allowed to take two very small bags with them, and they do not take a vehicle. During this time, they are not allowed within 50 kilometers of the area where they grew up as they would have too many connections there to help them get work. They are also not allowed to get married, have a relationship, or have children during this time frame. They said that they find places to stay by exchanging their services... For instance, they can stay at someone's home if they help to fix a leak in the roof, etc. They get food by means of donations. They go into public places and explain what they are doing in the hopes that people will donate money to their cause... Hence the reason they were in the restaurant yesterday... :) After the three years and one day are up, they are able to receive their certification and can then open a business.

After the woman gave us a basic description of who the men were and what they were doing, the men actually came over to our table. Fortunately, the one man spoke very good English and was able to give us a little more information about this tradition. It was definitely interesting and something you don't see everyday! :) And, of course, me being the picture fanatic I am, I had to take a picture so that I could show you... I have to say, the guys were very happy to oblige to my request for a picture, and requested that I get into the picture with them... Great! :)


I have to say, that I seem to learn interesting tidbits of information about this culture on a daily basis. It's definitely been a learning experience so far and I look forward to what else is in store for us... :) Well, I'm going to head out... I have to finish getting our costumes ready for the Halloween party tomorrow evening and then I'm off to the gym... I really hope the rain clears up for a little bit, or at least while I'm out and about. :) I hope you all have a great day! Miss you!

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head...

Today's been one of those dreary, gloomy, rainy days... It hasn't stopped raining at all and it's the type of cold rain that is more than a sprinkle, but not quite a downpour... ugh! And, from what I learned today, this is the type of weather that is common here throughout late October and all of November... Oh joy! Guess I should invest in a raincoat, rainboots (which, lucky for me, are currently in style! :)), and a much better umbrella if I'm going to have to endure this for the next month! :) Looks like I'm back to walking as well, because riding a bike in this weather is so not fun!!

Today has been a pretty low-key day... I ended up going downtown and meeting up with Eva (who is on a holiday break from school this week) for coffee, which was a great way to warm up on a dreary day like today. I then wandered around the downtown area for a bit looking for accessories for Brian and my Halloween costumes. (And no, I'm not going to tell you what we're planning on going as... You'll just have to wait and see the pictures! :))

I was also quite proud of myself as I braved the public transportation system (i.e. the bus) to get me to and from the downtown area, so that I didn't have to walk so far in the rain... And I managed to make it back and forth, safe and sound... woohoo! It's amazing how the smallest things around here can feel like such big accomplishments... :)

Well, I'd better get going... Brian and I just got back from rock climbing for the past three hours and I think it's about time I head to bed. (Plus, my hands are a little raw from climbing, which makes typing slightly uncomfortable at the moment... :)) Before I go, I'd like to leave you with the following picture. I took it of myself yesterday after I went to the grocery store. I always end up buying too much and then I get stuck lugging all of it back home. And it never fails, I tend to attract alot of stares from strangers because I look like such a "bag lady". Will I ever learn?? :)

Hope that put a smile on your face! :) Have a great day! Miss you!

Night Grooving and Sky Diving...

Hey all! I'd like to start today's blog off by wishing a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad!! I've been thinking of you and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you! :)

I can't believe that it's already Monday... The weekend seemed to just fly by! We originally thought that we would have a relaxing weekend with no plans; however, we ended up keeping ourselves pretty busy. On Friday night, we went out to dinner with Katrina and her boyfriend... and yes, I managed to get the apartment looking presentable. :) On Saturday, Brian and I decided to go to the Kletterhalle to go rock climbing, and we ended up climbing for almost 4 hours... And, I was able to get up some of the walls that I haven't been able to before... yay! :)

Saturday night proved to be quite interesting. We were invited to an event called "Night Groove"... The restaurants, coffee shops, and bars in the downtown area all participated. Each location hosted a different type of band... The bands played a variety of music, ranging from Hard Rock, Pop, Latin/Salsa, Reggae, etc... Basically, you purchased a ticket and you could go to each of the locations to listen to the different bands.... Pretty fun! The bands played until 2 a.m., and then they had DJ's playing music at two different dance clubs until 4 a.m. (And just to clarify, their bars/dance clubs can stay open until 7 a.m.... yikes! :))

The evening turned out to be pretty fun! I ended up running into a few of the women that I've been meeting for coffee, so it was pretty nice to see them out and about... We went to a few restaurants and bars and listened to the different bands. We noticed that the bands primarily played American music from the 80's and 90's... And it was funny to see the difference in culture... Most of the people there would get REALLY excited when certain songs came on (i.e. the song "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky, etc... )... Meanwhile, you would most likely not hear those songs at a bar in the U.S. and if you do, people definitely do not get excited about hearing them! :) So, it was just interesting to watch the difference between the two cultures on Saturday night... We definitely had a few good laughs! :)

On Sunday, we went to a skydiving facility with Eva and her boyfriend, Dominic, to watch him skydive. It was quite interesting, and it definitely peaked my interest, so now Brian and I are plotting a skydiving adventure for next year... We'll see if it actually happens. :) Brian actually got to go up into the plane with the skydivers (I was very jealous about that... especially considering that I had to sit on the ground and watch everything! :( ) Apparently, after all of the skydivers jump out of the plane, the plane does a nose dive and and does some crazy flying techniques so that it can get to the ground before all of the skydivers land... Brian claimed that it felt like he was on a long roller coaster ride... How fun! If we would have had more time, I definitely would have tried it out... Maybe next time. :)

Well, I'd better get going... It's almost time for bed. I hope you are all having a great Monday! Miss you much!

Brian and I at "Night Groove"... The night is still young. :)

Larra, me, and Katrina... The Americans at "Night Groove". :)

After Brian's flight on Sunday...

Brian sitting in the plane, ready for take off... He's kind of hard to see, but he was wearing the headset and everything... He looked like a professional! :)

That's Dominic on his way down...

Outdoor Movies? Not Exactly...

Happy Friday everyone! We don't have much in store for us this weekend... We figured we'd stick around here and be low-key this weekend, since we were fortunate enough to spend last weekend in London. :)

Yesterday I met up for coffee with some of the English-speakers I've met here... They used to only meet monthly, but we've decided to try to get together once a week for lunch, coffee, or even a walk. We've agreed that it's a good way to break up the week and, in a way, it's therapeutic... It's been really nice meeting with these women, because we're all kind of in the same boat. Their husband's have been transferred over for work, and they've all had to uproot their lives to come over here. It's been helpful to talk with them because they've all experienced the same things I'm experiencing (some have been over here for up to 14 years, while others have been here for 8 months). I guess it just helps to know that I'm not alone, and they've also been through the same type of emotional roller coaster that I've been going through... Because, let me tell you, there are some days where I feel like I've completely lost my mind! There's days where I wake up and I'm really happy to be here, and I feel adventurous and extremely thankful for having this opportunity, but then there's those days where I'm cranky for no reason, or I cry all day because I'm so homesick. Needless to say, it's definitely been quite a ride... And being able to talk about everything with these women has really helped! :)

Last night, Brian and I, along with Brian's coworker, Dominic, went to Ravensburg for the "European Outdoor Film Tour". Now, when I originally found out that we were going to this, I thought that we were going to watch European movies while sitting outdoors... Granted, I though it might be a little chilly, but it sounded pretty fun... Well, I quickly found out how wrong I was! Instead of sitting outside, we sat inside of a very old Opera House (which was gorgeous, by the way!) and instead of watching European movies, we watched movies about people who do extreme sports in Europe and in the U.S.... Not exactly what I originally expected, but, nonetheless, it was quite fun and pretty interesting! And, fortunately, portions of the movie were in English, so we were able to understand half of what was going on! :)

One more thing... thank you to everyone who posted ideas for Halloween costumes! There were some very original ones! :) I'll let you know what we decide on... :)

Well, I'd better run... I have to run some errands, go to the gym, and then finish cleaning this apartment... We're going to dinner with Katrina, the other American who Brian works with, and her boyfriend and they're meeting us here, at the apartment... This will be the first time we've had anyone over to this place, primarily because we're both so embarassed with what it looks like! :) So, I'm currently in the process of straightening up and attempting to make it look "presentable"... Wish me luck! :) I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Miss you much!

The Postal Service...

Hey there! I hope you're all having a great Wednesday! I have to tell you how annoyed I am with the postal service in this country... I sent a package to my family about two weeks ago, and they still have not received it. Now, when I mailed it out, I had a slight communication problem with the postal workers... They didn't speak English and I don't speak German! So, we had to communicate primarily through the use of our hands... Lovely! Either way, I managed to let them know that I wanted to send the package to the U.S. and I wanted it to get there quickly... and I was pretty confident with the fact that they understood what I was saying... I mean, it's pretty self explanatory... or so I thought!

Now, two weeks later, I'm still waiting for the package to get to my family. I've been quite concerned considering that I've mailed things out from here before, and I've also received mail from the U.S., and it's taken about 1 week to get to where it's going... So, today I decided to find out what happened to the package. This time when I went into the post office, there was a woman working there that spoke a very small amount of English... So, I showed her my receipt and told her that the package still had not arrived. She then looked at the calendar and told me that it was ok... Why, you ask? Well, apparently, the men who helped me the first time decided to just ship the package to the U.S. instead of telling me that I could have it flown over to the U.S. (Now, being that I am from the United States, I just assumed that they always flew the mail... I quickly found out how wrong I was!) From what I learned today, the package that I mailed two weeks ago, is sitting somewhere in the middle of the ocean and it may not arrive in the U.S. for another 3-4 weeks... Great! Needless to say, when my family finally does get the package, the food may not be so tasty! :)

On another note, I'm looking for a little advice in today's blog... Brian and I were invited to a Halloween Party and costumes are required... Well, those of you that know us, realize that neither of us is too keen on the idea of dressing up for Halloween, and the costumes that we do have are at home, in Michigan... And being that they just recently (within the past few years) started celebrating Halloween here in Germany, their costume selections are very slim... You have your choice of Vampire, Witch, Princess, or Devil and they are outrageously expensive!! So, I'm now trying to come up with ideas for simple, easy-to-make costumes that we can wear to this party... Any ideas??? If so, please feel free to let me know... :)

Well, I'm off to bed... I hope you all have a great day! Miss you!

Our Weekend in London...

Hey all! I'm happy to report that we had a wonderful time in London this past weekend!! London is quite an amazing city, and it is filled with so much history! Brian and I spent the past few days wandering around and taking in all of the sights and sounds the city had to offer...

We arrived in London on Friday evening and had to try to figure out how to get from the airport into the city, which was an hour away... That was interesting... I was able to see, very clearly, the difference between men and women when it comes to getting directions... Being that neither Brian nor I had any idea as to where we were, I wanted to ask people how we could get to places, whereas Brian wanted to figure it out on his own... Great! :) Well, after a while, we finally called a truce... I asked for directions as to how we could get into the city and onto the subway, and from there Brian figured out how to navigate the subway system. :)

After about two hours of riding on trains, the underground subway (called the Tube), and walking, we finally arrived at our hotel. I have to say that I was quite impressed with our hotel! It was in a great location (it took less than 10 minutes for us to walk from our hotel to Parliament/Westminster Abbey), it was very modern/contemporary, and each room was equipped with an imac computer to use! :) After we got settled in our room, we decided to see if we could find a place to get something to eat. So we set out to explore the city, and we ended up finding a small pub/restaurant right up the road from us. Being that we were in England, we opted to order authentic English fare... fish and chips, of course. :) We also decided to order the beer on tap, which was called "London's Pride"... After tasting it though, I have to say that I'm amazed that they take any pride in it... yuck!!

On Saturday, we spent the entire day exploring the city. It was amazing!! :) We saw Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (where we also watched the "Changing of the Guards" ceremony), Hyde Park, the Queen's Royal Guards, the site of the Tyburn Tree, the original Hard Rock Cafe, Piccadilly Circus (which is like Times Square in NYC), the British Museum, the London Eye, Marble Arch, the Duke of Wellington Arch, the Princess Diana Memorial, and a variety of other places and monuments. It was like a whirlwind and the day flew by so quickly!

We spent Sunday doing pretty much the same thing... except we explored another side of London... We started our day by going to the London Dungeon, which is like a mini-amusement park where they take you through the gruesome parts of London's history (i.e. Jack the Ripper, the Great Plague, the Great Fire of 1666, Sweeney Todd and his barbershop, etc... ). Very fun! From there, we went to see the London Bridge and I have to say, we were quite surprised with what we found... We were expecting this grand bridge; however, when we arrived we found that it looks exactly the same as every other bridge... Definitely not the most exciting thing we saw! :) We also went to the Tower of London, which ended up being much more than we were expecting... It was amazing! It was a huge fortress which dated back to about 1000 A.D. and it was full of so much history! We saw the suit of armor that Henry VIII wore, the torture chambers they had used, the Crown Jewels, Roman walls which dated back to 200 A.D., etc... After the Tower of London, we headed to the Old Bailey (the old courthouse... and it was also in the movie "V is for Vendetta") and then on to St. Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Diana was married). St. Paul's Cathedral was beautiful! I was completely mesmerized as I stood inside! :)
By Sunday evening, Brian and I were very tired... We had spent two whole days wandering around the city and trying to take in as much as we could... It was like a whirlwind! :) There's so much to see and do there...

Overall, we had such a wonderful time, and it was definitely a great way to celebrate a birthday!! :) It was quite an experience to be in London, and to see and experience all of the history that it has to offer. After being surrounded by so much history, it makes you realize how small you really are in the scheme of things... I definitely look forward to going back again sometime... :)

Here's a few pics of the trip... I'm also posting all of them onto our photo site, so feel free to take a look! :) I hope you have a great Tuesday!! Miss you much!!

London's infamous phone booths... And if you look closely, I'm holding a Starbuck's cup... How happy was I?! :)

Parliament Building...

Westminster Abbey... This is where the Kings and Queens of London's history are buried...

Big Ben... This is my favorite monument! :)

The Queen's Royal Guard... He was literally sleeping in this picture! :)

Buckingham Palace...

Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace...

At the National Museum...

A view of Parliament and Big Ben across the Thames River...

The most exciting part of London Bridge was the sign... :)

The White Tower...

At the Tower of London, with Tower Bridge behind us...

The Old Bailey courthouse...

St. Paul's Cathedral...

London at night...

The Packing Dilemma...

Hey all! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this upcoming trip!! I've always wanted to go to London, and now I finally get to! :)

I'm currently in the process of doing all of the last minute packing and running around that comes before every trip... However, I have to say that packing for this trip has been significantly more difficult than I imagined... See, the airline that we're using only allows passengers to bring 15 kilograms (about 30 pounds) with them... Anything after that costs extra. Well, when we booked the tickets, Brian thought it would be ok if we just packed one suitcase for the both of us... which means that we're only allowed 15 kilograms of clothing and shoes between the two of us... yikes! (At that time, neither of us had any of our clothing here so it wasn't that big of a deal... but, now that all of my clothes have arrived, that's another story! :))For those of you that know me, I'm notorious for overpacking! I mean, I take a large suitcase AND a duffel bag with me when I just go to Chicago for the weekend! My philosophy has always been to overpack, because you just never know where you might end up and you always have to have the right outfit to wear for every occasion. :)

Needless to say, packing has been a struggle... I originally had six outfits (two for each day we will be there) but then I realized that Brian also has to put clothes into the suitcase... So, I had to downsize. At this point, after a couple of hours and big mess of clothes in the bedroom, I think I'm pretty much set... I only have three outfits packed (one for each day that we're there), a dressier outfit (just in case we go anywhere that we would need to dress up.. :)), and four pairs of shoes (you can never have too many shoes! :)). And there's still room left in the suitcase for all of Brian's things! I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with myself at the moment. :)

Well, I'd better go so that I can get all of my running around done... We promise to take LOTS of pictures so that we can share them with you when we return! :) I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! We'll be thinking of you! Miss you much!

Coffee Talk and a Walk...

Hey all! We've been keeping pretty busy here, hence the lack of a post yesterday. :)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet up with some fellow English speakers for coffee talk and a walk. I received a call from Valerie a few days ago (she's one of the women I met at Cafe Aran a few weeks ago) asking me to join her for coffee and a stroll along the lake. I agreed and we set up the meeting place/time. When I met up with her yesterday, she had brought along a few other friends (who also speak English) to join us. There were five of us... two from South Africa, one from Australia, one from North Carolina, and me. It was quite a variety! :) We all ended up taking a walk by the lake, as it was absolutely gorgeous outside, and then we spent a few hours talking over coffee at a little bakery by the lake... It was a very enjoyable afternoon. :)

The women were all very friendly. Three of the women have lived here anywhere for over five years, and Valerie has been here for 8 months, so it was interesting to see their perspective about life here in Germany. It was funny because they all gave the same advice... The first year of living over here is the worst. They said they cried everyday and were extremely homesick. The second year they spent traveling and getting to know the culture, and the third year they decided they didn't want to leave. I then told them that we were only here for two years, and they said that was the perfect amount of time... It gives us enough time to travel and learn the culture, but we still will be excited to return home... I couldn't agree more. :)

I also found out that they all participate in a group called the "Bodensee Players". It's an all English-speaking group that puts on plays and performances twice a year. It also organizes an event once a month (i.e. picnics, hikes, dinner, etc...) for all of the members and their spouses to get together. I thought about joining, considering that it sounds interesting and it would be a really great way to meet people. Here I go again... the social butterfly I tend to be! :) Don't worry though, I won't try to start acting in any of their plays! :) I'd prefer behind the scenes work when it comes to that... :)

Well, I'd better run... I have to continue getting things ready for our trip to London, since we leave tomorrow afternoon... yay!! :) And then I'm off to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for an onion cake. Maike and I are having our weekly "Girls Night" tonight and we've decided that since it's so rainy and dreary outside today, it's the perfect evening to bake an onion cake and settle in to watch "Sex and the City", which I cannot wait to see!! (Yes, I can thank my wonderful family for that! They sent me a package for my birthday and I was extremely excited to find "Sex and the City: The Movie" inside!! Thank you!! :))

I hope you're all having a great Thursday! Only one more day until the weekend.... :) Miss you much!!

My New Wheels...

Hey all! I just wanted to share my new "toy" with you. I finally have another means of transportation... woohoo! :)

My very sweet husband purchased it for me in the U.S. and it was shipped over here on the boat with all of our belongings.... I can't tell you how excited I was on Friday when it arrived!! :) And, of course, after 8 weeks of doing nothing but walking, I was extremely eager to ride it!

After taking it down to the local bike shop to have the pedals put on it, I decided to take my new bike on a test ride, so I headed downtown... It was such a thrill to not have to walk! I felt like I could actually hear the song "Freedom" playing as I was riding down the sidewalk... and I made it to the downtown area in about a quarter of the time that it typically takes me to walk! I was oh, so happy!! :) Being that I still had alot of unpacking to do, I knew that I couldn't stay out very long, so I headed home and decided that I would try to convince Brian to go on a bike ride with me either that night or the following day...

On Saturday evening, we finally had the opportunity. We decided to ride our bikes to our friend's apartment, and I was all excited to take my bike and not have to walk. It was such a nice night for a bike ride and I was thoroughly enjoying myself... However, that feeling didn't last for very long... When we were about 3/4 of the way to the apartment, I heard a loud noise coming from the back of my bike, and then my peddles started going really fast. I called out to Brian and told him that I needed to stop and look at my bike. So, we checked it out and ended up seeing that it was.... completely broken. Go figure! I wait almost 8 weeks to get a bike and within the first two days of me having it, it breaks... Great! Apparently, in "technical terms", the bolt on the rear derailure broke, which caused the rear derailure to detach and go around the spokes somehow and get caught in the chain... Crazy! Needless to say, I was not a very happy camper...

Fortunately, I only had to go without the bike for one day. Brian was able to talk to one of his coworkers and they were able to fix the problem yesterday evening.... He's so good to me! :) So, as of today, I can officially ride my bike to the store and the gym... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't manage to break anything else. :) I'll let you know how it goes...

On that note, I'd better get going. I hope you have a great day! Miss you!

Hiking in the Austrian Alps...

Hey there! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was pretty low key, as we were trying to rest up for our upcoming weekend in London! :)

On Friday, we spent most of the evening getting everything put away... We finally managed to find a place for everything! It's so nice having our own things here now... It feels much more homier! Now, if only we could just ship our house over, along with all of our family and friends. :)

Saturday was spent running errands. Being that I haven't been brave enough to drive the car around here, I wait until the weekend to run most of our errands... That way, Brian can drive and it takes less time. :) That's right... I haven't started driving over here yet... I plan on driving eventually, but for now I'm still a little nervous, considering that I don't feel comfortable driving stick shifts, the roads are VERY narrow, and the people drive CRAZY around here (even worse than they do in Detroit)!! Until I learn, it just means that I'm stuck walking everywhere I go... I do get annoyed at times because it takes so long to get things done, but I'm trying to look at the fact that it's such good exercise! :)

On Saturday night we went over to the apartment of a fellow American... We met him (Casper) and his friend, Everest, at our gym a few weeks ago.... Casper is from Arizona and Everest is from Alaska, and they're both over here teaching English at a private school. We had a nice time chatting away about politics, the economy, life in Germany, etc. Brian claims that his favorite part of the evening was when they brought out the tortilla chips and salsa to snack on... We've been unable to find any time of "Mexican" food over here, and we've been going through some serious guacamole withdrawals! :)

Sunday morning we recieved a call from Maike inviting us to go on a hike in the Alps with her and her boyfriend, Norbert. And, of course, we jumped at the chance to go... I mean, how often do you get the chance to drive to Austria for the day and go hiking in the Alps?! :) We ended up driving to Bregenz, Austria and hiked up Pfander Mountain... It's about 3500 feet. Since we started later in the day, we decided to take a shorter route to the top. We ended up taking a route which was very steep, and it went straight up the side of the mountain... Let's just say that it wasn't a very leisurely stroll to the top... It felt like we were walking on a stairmaster for about two hours straight!! I have to say that I was very happy to get to the top! :) After all of the work to get up there, it ended up being a pretty view. Unfortunately, due to the cloud coverage, we were unable to see the view of the lake from the one side of the mountain... However, the view from the other side was great, and the fall colors were gorgeous! Here's a few pictures from our hike...

Getting started... Notice the incline of the road? That's what the entire hike was like...

This building was dated 1513...

This is about half-way up...

Brian and I at the summit...

The fall colors were gorgeous! :)

This is the view of Lake Bodensee... Unfortunately, the clouds were covering it. :)

On that note, I'd better run... I'm on my way to Media Markt and then to the gym. I hope you're all having a great Monday! Miss you much!

FINALLY!!!

Well, I can now officially report that we have all of our belongings... yippee! :) They arrived this morning around 11:00 and I have spent the rest of the day unpacking... We only had one minor problem... our measuring cup was broken in the move... such a devestating loss. :)

I spent most of the afternoon trying to find places to store all of our things... We had 16 boxes delivered to our tiny, one-bedroom apartment, so it's been quite a task finding places to put everything. Needless to say, I'm struggling to find a place for all of the clothes I brought with me... Hmmm... I brought too many clothes... Shocking! :) I took some pictures of what our apartment looked like during the unpacking process. It looks quite scary! :)

On another good note, the maintenance man came today to check out our kitchen wall... and he left very happy, so that was a good thing! :) Apparently the wall is completely dry and ready to be painted... When they decide to paint it will be another story. :)

Well, I'd better get back to unpacking... By the looks of this apartment, we still have alot more to do! :) I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! Miss you much!

Oh Happy Day!

Hey all! So, I just received a phone call from Brian and I have some great news to share... The moving company called him this morning and informed him that all of our personal belongings will be arriving tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.!!! YAY! Although, based on some of our recent experiences in this country, I am going to try to not get too excited until all of our things are officially inside of our apartment. :)

I can't tell you how happy that call just made me!! :) I started to feel like we've been over here for so long (7 weeks yesterday to be exact...) without any comforts from home, and it was starting to really get to me... And to now realize that all of our things are almost here, I can't stop smiling! :) I keep thinking about the fact that all of my clothes will be here... I don't have to keep wearing the same three outfits over and over and over... :) Also, all of our rock climbing gear will be here so we won't have to rent all of the equipment anymore.... All of our movies will be here, so we can actually watch something other than CNN and all of the really bad MTV shows... Our grill will be here and we'll be able to grill up some hamburgers and brats... Our XBOX will be here along with Guitar Hero, so we'll have something to do other than reading or staring at our flying man that hangs from the ceiling... :) All of our pictures will be here (and you all know how much of a picture fanatic I am! :))... And the list could just go on and on...

We also received word yesterday that Brian's company approved our German lessons... FINALLY! Now we just have to wait to see when the classes start... How exciting! We just might learn how to communicate with the people over here after all! :)

On that note, I better get going. I need to get busy and unload all of our cupboards as the people are supposed to come today to take them down... oh joy! I hope you're all having a great day! Miss you much!

Kitchen Fiasco...

Good Morning! For all of you who have been following the story of our moldy kitchen wall, I have some updates... At the end of last week I had two gentlemen come in and set up some contraption in the kitchen. This is what it looks like...


As you can see, it takes up quite a bit of room in our already tiny kitchen! :) Apparently the yellow fan blows hot air out to help dry the wall faster, and the white/black box, that it's sitting on, sucks all of the moisture out of the air... (And in case you're wondering, the only way I have any idea as to how all of this works is because the two gentlemen brought a girl with them that could speak English so that she could tell me what was going on. :)) I was also informed that the door and windows in the kitchen were to remain closed while this contraption is in there.

As the two men were setting up the fan in the kitchen, I heard one of them say "Uh oh!", which is never a good sign! They then explained that they did not realize that the cupboards were hanging on the wall that they are trying to dry... Apparently the cupboards will make it more difficult to dry the wall, so they are now sending someone here to take all of the cupboards down in the kitchen... Great! It just keeps getting better and better! So, as far as we know, the cupboards are scheduled to be taken down this week... But, at the rate they move in this country, who knows when it will actually happen. :) We'll keep you posted...

In the meantime, we still have this contraption blowing alot of hot air into the kitchen... And believe me, it's hot in there.... the food in our cupboard is actually melting!! At this point in time, our kitchen would make a great sauna! :)

Well, I'm off to the gym and then the post office... I hope you're having a great day! Miss you!

A Very Busy Weekend...

Hey all! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I'd like to start off today's blog by congratulating my best friend, Becky, and her husband, Matt, on the arrival of their new baby girl, Ruby Ann! She's absolutely adorable and I can't wait to meet her! I'm so happy for you!! :)

Brian and I had quite an eventful weekend! On Friday, Brian had the day off, so we decided to head over to Konstanz to Oktoberfest. We met up with Larra (another American who's over here) and her friend, Andreas. It was quite a fun time! This Oktoberfest was significantly smaller than the Oktoberfest in Munich... There was only one beer tent and fewer rides in the carnival portion. However, we quickly found out, that even though it was smaller, everyone celebrated Oktoberfest the same way! People were dressed up in their Bavarian outfits, the band played German music, people danced on the tables, there was alot of beer, and everyone was simply having a great time! :) Now that I've been to a couple of the festivals, I'm finding that Oktoberfest is quickly becoming my favorite time of year! :)

Wandering around Oktoberfest...

Inside of the beer tent...

This was the scarecrow that greeted us as we went into Oktoberfest! :)

Our group at Oktoberfest...

On Saturday evening we were invited by Eva, over to her boyfriend's apartment for dinner. They told us that they were making a traditional German meal that is typically made in autumn. The meal consists of onion cake and new wine. When we arrived for dinner at 6, we were given our first taste of new wine. It's a special wine that can only be found during this time of year. It's called new wine, but it's actually a mix between cider and wine. It isn't quite cider, but it hasn't quite turned into wine either. It has a very tart taste to it, which I really liked. :)

After we sat around and visited for a while, Eva informed us that she was going to start making dinner. So, Alex and I joined her in the kitchen to try to help. That's where all chaos broke loose! :) Eva wasn't quite sure how to bake the onion cake and she couldn't find her recipe. Alex, who does like to cook, had never made it before so she didn't know how to make it either. And then there was me... who had no idea what onion cake even was! :) We were like the Three Stooges in the kitchen, and I have to say, at that moment, I was beginning to think we should just call and order pizza! :) We eventually found the recipe for onion cake and we were able to get started with making it. I honestly think that we should have had a camera in the kitchen to document the chaos... We definitely had a fun time! :) The guys would come in every so often to check on us, but for the most part, they all stayed in the living room and out of our way! :) Eventually, after about 2 hours, we finally finished the onion cake... And I have to admit, it turned out to be quite tasty! :)

This is a picture of the onion cake...

After dinner, we sat around and chatted for a while. Then, at about 11:30 everyone decided that they wanted to go out to a club... Even though Brian and I were slightly tired, we opted to join everyone else... We got there around 12:00 and it wasn't very busy... Let's just say that it was quite an interesting place. It reminded us of a college bar, but not quite as nice. It was kind of dirty, the floor was sticky, the people there were really young, they played some strange music (they even played "Twist and Shout" at one point! :)), and the dance style was quite unique. After about 30 minutes, Brian and I were quite ready to leave... but, the rest of our group wanted to stay a little longer... A little longer turned into ALOT longer, and after what seemed like hours of sitting there and waiting and people watching.... everyone decided they were ready to leave... It was only 4 a.m.!! Yep, it was very early in the morning! Apparently clubs around here don't really get busy until midnight and they stay open until 7 a.m.... Crazy!! So, after we finally found a cab and were dropped off at our apartment, it was almost 5 a.m. Can't say that we've been out until that early in the morning in a very long time! :)

Here's a picture of us at the bar around 4 a.m.... I'm looking a little tired! :)

After getting home and only sleeping for a few hours, we received a call from Maike on Sunday morning. She wanted us to join her and her boyfriend, Norbert, on a day trip to a historical village/goat show... Yes, that is correct... a goat show! :) And, of course, Brian and I decided to join them!!

We drove to Wassers, which is about an hour from here, and we spent the day at this historical village... The village was very spread out and they only had a few buildings, but it was a very pretty area. They had displays set up where people taught you how to make traditional German meals. They had a little farm market set up. We were also able to wander through some of the old houses and barns. They also had a museum that showcased the history of robbers in the area... A little strange to learn about robbers, but it was very interesting to see! :) And then there were the goats! There were goats everywhere!! There were also places where they showcased the "prize" goats, places to buy goat cheese, and other goat related items... In a way, it reminded me of a 4-H fair that focused only on goats! :) It was definitely something you don't get to see every day! :)

On the way home, we stopped in Markdorf to walk up to the observation tower so that we could see the view of the mountains and the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous!! Here's a picture of the view...

Here's Maike and I petting pigs at the historical village...


Brian and I in the museum...


Petting some goats...

Overall, we had quite an exciting and eventful weekend! Now we're looking forward to having a much more relaxing week... :) Well, I'm off to the gym... Hope you're having a great Monday! Miss you much...