Don't Anger the Natives...

Hey all! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! Hopefully you didn't eat too much!! :) Last night, Brian and I celebrated Thanksgiving by having dinner at La Scala, a little Italian restaurant. Our pasta was quite tasty, but it just didn't taste quite as good as a home-cooked turkey dinner would have. :)

I'd like to start today's blog by wishing a very Happy Birthday to my favorite little man... Kaden! :) He's 2 years old today!! I can't believe how fast time flies!! It seems like only yesterday that I was holding him when he was only a few days old...

That was then...

This is now... This is one of my favorite pics of the two of us... :)

I still can't believe how quickly he's grown! Either way, I hope you have a wonderful day, Kaden! My wish for you... is that all your wishes come true! I love you and miss you lots, little buddy! :) (And, yes, I do realize he can't read this, but it's the thought that counts, right? :))

As of today, we have 20 days until we come home for Christmas... yay! I can't tell you how excited I am to come home! Especially after this past week here in Germany... For some reason, I think I may have angered the natives, because in terms of interacting with the people from here, it's been one heck of a week... yikes!

It started last Friday, while I was on the bus. There were only two of us on the bus... Me, and a little old lady sitting way in the back. Well, we were stopped at a bus stop and we were sitting there waiting for people to board. I had my iphone out and I was using it to send an email to my sister... For the record, I was not talking on the phone, I was merely sending an email. Well, I suddenly hear the bus driver babbling away about something. (Now you have to understand something here... Being that the majority of the time I have no idea what people around me are saying because they're speaking in a different language, I have gotten very good at tuning people out... That's right, half the time I don't even pay attention when I hear someone talking...) Anyways, I vaguely heard him babbling about something, but I continued to focus on sending my email. I then heard the man babble something again, this time in a much harsher voice, and I still continued with my email. He then started speaking very loudly and very harsh, and that finally got my attention. So, I looked up and the driver was shaking his finger at me and babbling in German. I must have had a very puzzled look on my face, because he started babbling and pointing his finger at me again. At that point, I was completely clueless as to what he was saying... He finally pointed to a sign at the front of the bus, almost hidden by the mirror, and it showed a picture of a cell phone with a big red "X" through it... I looked at the sign, looked at him, and looked back at the sign, all the while thinking, "WHAT?! What kind of ridiculous rule is that??" Either way, even though I thought it was an extremely dumb rule, I decided that I'd better put the phone away... It was a cold, rainy day, and I didn't feel like being kicked off the bus and have to walk into town. :) To this day, I'm still completely baffled as to why you can't use a cell phone on the bus!!

A few days after the bus incident, I had another run in with someone... This time it was over a shopping basket. I had walked to the store and once I got there I realized that I'd forgotten my shopping bags, and heaven forbid, they should have bags available at the store. So, Brian had taken the car to work that day, and he was scheduled to get off work shortly, so I called and asked him to pick me up on the way home. I figured that would be easier than having to carry all of the groceries back without bags. So, I went in and did my shopping. After I went through the checkout, I placed all of the groceries back into the basket, and I went out to the lobby to wait for Brian. About 30 seconds after I stepped into the lobby of the store, the cashier storms out there, stops in front of me, starts pointing at me and then the basket, and is babbling something in German. (I'm assuming that she thought I was trying to steal the basket... Nice!) I looked at her, and said in my best German, "Ich spreche kein Deutsch." (which means "I don't speak German."). Apparently she didn't care about that fact, because she proceeded to keep babbling on in German. At that point, I wasn't too happy about the situation, so I retaliated by looking directly at her and speaking in the fastest English I could muster (which, for me, doesn't take much to do! :))! I figured, if she can do it, then so can I! :) It definitely caught her off guard, and she said a few more things and then turned around and marched back into the store... HA! Brian pulled into the parking lot shortly after that, so I unloaded all of the groceries, and then took the basket back into the store and threw it on the floor in front of her... I think after that, she must have realized that I wasn't trying to steal her precious shopping basket. :)

The following day, Brian and I had an issue at the gym... We had just gotten there, and I was ready to do some ab work before cardio... So, I went over to the ab equipment and started doing my exercises. The gym employee comes directly over and informs me that I can't use the equipment because I didn't have a towel... WHAT?! Apparently, they require everyone to use a towel... I'm assuming that they think this is the way to keep their machines and equipment clean... However, they don't provide them for you. They don't even provide the disinfectent wipes to use. Instead, they must think it better, to have people use their sweaty towels on the machines instead... eeww! At that point, I was furious... I had had it up to my eyeballs with rude German people, who have no rhyme or reason for their oftentimes ridiculous "rules"... ugh!! I think I gave the employee the dirtiest look known to man, and I joined Brian on his machine (that's right, Brian had brought a towel, so he could use the machines...). I still am baffled by the nonsensical rules they have here. For instance, they require the use of towels on their machines, and they call me out for not using one, but they allow people to come into the gym, whom smell like they haven't showered in the past year, to work out on the equipment... I just don't get it!

And, to top everything off, I went down to city hall today to try to get my visa taken care of. I sat and waited for an hour... When my number was finally called, I went to the next window and sat down. There was an older woman sitting at the desk... I gave her all of my paper work and waited for her response. She then starts speaking to me quickly in German. I then told her in my best German "Ich spreche kein Deutsch. Ich spreche Englisch." (I speak no German. I speak English.) She looked at me and started speaking in very fast German... Oh boy! All I could catch was "nicht Englisch", which means "No English". She just sat there shaking her head and repeating the same thing in German. At this point, I'm asking her, and everyone around her, if anyone speaks English. Now, maybe it's just me, but if you work at City Hall in the Visa office, doesn't it make sense to speak English, being that you're working with people from all over the world, who are trying to get their visa?! C'mon... English is the language of business, so if you're working in a government office, you should probably know it! But, this woman didn't... And, very true to the German culture, no one made an attempt to jump in to help me... even as I asked if anyone (or rather gestured) if anyone around knew English... And, there were plenty of young people around, who probably knew a little English (they start learning it in school, as a required course, in 1st Grade!). Everyone simply stood and stared while the woman proceeded to yell at me that she didn't know English and I should speak to her in German. She then motioned for me to leave, and she turned her back to me and started working on her computer... So, all the while fighting back tears and a few not so appropriate words, I gathered my paperwork and stormed out of the office! Let me just say, she was one of the rudest/meanest women I have ever met!

Needless to say, based on my experiences over the past week, I'm currently looking forward to coming home in a few weeks, back to a little bit of normalcy. Now, don't get me wrong, I've met many very nice people here and I do thoroughly enjoy the experience of being here, but I have dealt with one too many rude people recently, who are not good representatives of this culture. And, I'm also finding some of their rules here to be rather odd, to say the least. :)

Well, I'm going to sign off now, seeing as how I practically wrote a book today... Can you tell I'm a little frustrated?! :) Before I go, I wanted to leave you with a picture of our little Christmas tree, which I bought at the market today after my unpleasant experience at City Hall... Just looking at it cheered me up a bit... It's kind of like the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! :) I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Miss you lots!

Happy Turkey Day!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!  Enjoy spending time with family and friends, and make sure you eat lots of delicious food! :)  

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays.  It's a day that my immediate family has always spent together... and it's also one of the few times during the year, that our entire extended family is able to spend together.  We make a delicious feast and spend the day enjoying each other's company.  Every year, I take the time to look around and soak in the atmosphere, and I always realize how lucky I am to be part of such a wonderful family! :) 

I also love helping in the kitchen on Thanksgiving!  We have the traditional recipes that we make every year, and we each have a recipe that we are in charge of making year after year.... My mom and dad get up early to do the turkey and stuffing, my dad makes his infamous deviled eggs (which my brother will sneak out of the tray throughout the day, until he's eaten every last one! :)), my sister makes the wild rice & broccoli, I typically make the 7-layer salad, we all help in the making of the desserts, veggie trays, and salads, and then Stacy and I typically get stuck making the mashed potatoes (where we always liven things up by adding way too much butter... We both agree that mashed potatoes taste so much better with lots of butter! :)).  During this time, my mom will be hurrying around the house picking things up, cleaning, and making it look festive, and my brother and Brian will typically spend the time watching t.v. in the living room... safely out of the kitchen! :)  The hustle and bustle of the kitchen in preparation for dinner is one of my favorite parts of the day. :) 

It seems strange today, to realize that it's Thanksgiving, and to not be participating in the preparation of dinner... and to not be getting ready to spend the day with our families.  Instead, Brian is working all day, and I'm at home alone...  (This is definitely one of those days where homesickness really sets in!)  However, we do plan on going out to dinner this evening (after our German class) to celebrate Thanksgiving.... It won't be quite the same, but at least Brian and I will be together and celebrating all that we have to be thankful for... which is definitely alot! :)  We really do have so much to be thankful for this year... our wonderful families, great friends, our health, having this opportunity here in Germany, and the list goes on.  Even though we're over here in Germany this year, and they don't observe Thanksgiving here, we can still celebrate it with everyone at home... So, we wish you a very wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  Eat, drink, and be thankful! :)  We're thankful that you're such an important part of our lives!!  We miss you!! 

Oh, and I'd like to leave you with this poem I found... I know it's kind of "cutesy", but I thought it was very fitting... :)  

Milestones...

Hey all!  I'd like to start by wishing my mom a very Happy Birthday!!  I wish I could be there to celebrate with you!!  I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll be thinking of you! :) I love you and miss you lots!

All is going well here... I've been keeping pretty busy lately.  Yesterday, I spent the day in Ravensburg with Isabell (she's one of the English-speaking women I've met).  I was quite proud of myself too, as I took the train to Ravensburg to meet her.  It was my first time using the train on my own (The previous times that I've taken the train, I've managed to be with someone who actually knew what they were doing! :)).  Initially, I had a difficult time with the ticket machine, as it was written entirely in German, so I had no clue what to do... After standing in front of the ticket machine for about 15 minutes, getting increasingly frustrated with it and practically punching the touch screen with my finger over and over again, and having a line of about 6 people behind me who simply stared at me without offering to help,  I finally had to ask the girl standing next to me for help. (Germany is one of those countries, where the people tend to avoid confrontation.  Brian explains their thinking process, in terms of conflict, as "If they avoid the problem, it will simply go away."  And that appears to be exactly what they do here... yikes!).  The girl ended up being able to speak English and she helped me with the ticket machine.  I was extremely thankful for her help too!  I managed to purchase the ticket and run to the assigned platform, with literally one minute to spare! Phew...What a fiasco that was!  The train ride was a bit nerve-racking too, considering that I wasn't exactly certain where I should get off (Ravensburg has quite a few different stations).  But, I managed to figure things out and I arrived at my destination safe and sound... and I proceeded to have an enjoyable day of shopping. :)  The trip back was much easier.  Being that I knew what I was doing by then, I was able to purchase my ticket and get to the platform at a much more leisurely pace. :)  I have to say, I was quite happy when I arrived home yesterday... I was pretty proud of myself for having managed to figure out the public transportation system.  I'm viewing it as another milestone... Who would have thought that such small accomplishments could mean so much over here? :)

I had two more milestones today... The first one occurred when I drove the car home after class today, and I managed to get home without gunning the engine, speeding through yellow lights, or stalling the car... Hooray! :)  I even stopped to get coffee on the way home, and I had to park the car in a very small space and then back it out when I left.... and I managed to do all of that without any damage to the car! :)  The second milestone was when I stopped to get coffee... I ordered completely in German.  I used a few sentences that we've learned in our classes,  and this time I even ordered a different type of coffee that required more elaborate ingredients (i.e. a tall Latte Macchiatto, with skim milk, a shot of vanilla flavoring, and no whipped cream... I typically order a tall Mocha...).  And the best part about that... she completely understood me!! How happy was I?!  I managed to communicate in German! :)  Ahh... the things that make me happy nowadays... :)  

Well, on that note, I'd better get going.  I'm going to attempt to drive the car to the gym today.  It's a bit too cold (and icy) to ride my bike there, and it takes too long to walk... So, wish me luck! :)  Once I get back from they gym, Brian and I are off to see the play that the English theatre group is putting on.  I'm looking forward to seeing it.  Plus, I'll get to see the props that I helped paint! :)  

I hope you're having a great day!  Miss you much!  

Winter Has Arrived in FN!!

Hey all!  It finally happened... Winter has arrived in Friedrichshafen!! Yay!!  I woke up this morning to 7 inches of snow on the ground... This is what I saw when I looked out the window this morning...

I can't tell you how happy I was to wake up to this! :)  I tried to convince Brian to call in sick today so that we could go skiing, but he didn't think that was such a great idea. :)  Oh well, we still have the weekend... Although, let's hope that it doesn't all melt before the weekend rolls around!   

Brian and I had a pretty good weekend.  I spent Saturday in Stuttgart with Maike... We had a great time! :)  We took the train into the city, and then spent the day shopping and wandering around.  They had a Starbucks there, which made me extremely happy!  We strolled through a Christmas Market that was being set up, and Maike explained some of Germany's Christmas Traditions.  We went to a mall that was actually a very old building which had been gutted out and turned into a mall. Maike showed me the Palace in the middle of the city... what a gorgeous building!  We ate dinner at a sushi restaurant that had a running sushi bar... That was a very cool experience! :)  Not only was the food delicious, but I can't say that I've ever eaten at a restaurant where the food is continuously going past me...  :)  We had an interesting train ride back to Friedrichshafen... We were befriended by a homeless man who spoke English, and once he realized we spoke English, he wouldn't stop talking to us... Great!  We finally were able to get him talking about Obama, McCain, and the election, and after that he lost focus and wandered into another part of the train... We were quite thankful for that! :)  Although, I do have to admit that I was slightly jealous of the man... His English was waaaaaay better than my German!! :)   

On Sunday, Brian and I spent most of the day studying our German... Fun, fun!  We then went to dinner with some of Brian's coworkers who were in town from the U.S.   It was great to see a few familiar faces again! :)  

Today was another pretty busy day... It's 11 p.m., and I'm just now able to start blogging... Although, with me being such a busy body, I'm definitely not complaining about being so busy today... I love to constantly be on the move! :)  Well, considering that tomorrow looks like it's going to be another busy day, I'd better get to bed.  I have to get up pretty early so that I can catch the train to the next town over, to meet up with someone. We're planning a day of shopping in Ravensburg tomorrow... Fun, fun! :)  And then Brian, Maike, and I plan to go rock climbing in the evening... yay!  Well, I'm off... I hope you're all doing well!  Miss you much!!  

Let It Snow...

Happy Friday!  I'm sure you're all looking forward to the weekend!  I know we are... I'm looking forward to my trip to Stuttgart with Maike tomorrow... We're planning on doing some shopping, and then she wants to take me to an old palace that's located outside of the city... Should be fun, and don't worry, I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures! :) I do have to say though, that I'm pretty much going along for the ride just so I can see Stuttgart.  I don't plan on doing much shopping, considering that I'll be back home in the U.S. in less than a month... yippee!!  I'd much rather do all of my shopping at home! :) Brian's simply looking forward to a day of relaxation tomorrow... I won't be around to drag him all over the place. :)  He just plans to study German for the majority of the day... Such an overacheiver! :)  

On another good note, it's supposed to snow tomorrow... yay!  I'm hoping that we'll actually get snow this time, unlike the last time they predicted it and it rained for a week straight instead.  I'm starting to really get tired of the rain... It's another dreary, cold, and rainy day outside again today... ugh!  It's been like this for pretty much the whole week...  So, a little bit of snow is definitely needed. :)   

Well, I'd better get going... I've got to run so that I can catch the bus.  Being that it's raining, I don't think riding my bike is a good idea, and we all know how well I do with the car, so I think I'll take the bus into town today. :)  I'm meeting Amy (she's from the U.S. and she's been here for 2 years) for coffee this afternoon, but I figured I'd get there a little bit early so that I can study some German... yes, I'm an overachiever as well! :) ( And for those who know me, I have to do most of my studying at coffee shops, because I just don't have the ability to focus when I'm at home... :))  I hope you have a great weekend!  Miss you much!!

Inside the Locker Room...

Hey all!  Well, I just returned from a very brisk bike ride back from the gym...  It's getting quite chilly out lately.  Granted, I could probably drive the car to the gym, but based on my last driving experience, I think I'll stay off the roads for a while. :)  

Now, I've been debating about whether or not I should blog about this particular subject I plan on writing about today... But, after my trip to the gym today, and I saw what I see during every trip to the gym, I decided to go for it!  Let's just say that I've noticed a pretty big difference between our cultures when it comes to the gym... And, to be quite honest, this difference makes me quite uncomfortable... I'm gradually learning that their culture is much more comfortable with themselves and they aren't quite as shy about their bodies like we tend to be in the U.S.  For instance, in the locker rooms, the women tend to just wander about with no clothes... And I've also observed that it seems completely normal to them to have a lengthy conversation with other people in the locker room, while standing in their "birthday suit".  (And, according to Brian, this is the norm in the Men's locker room as well). Let's just say that my first trip to the locker room was quite a shock for me! :)  You see, I'm not quite as comfortable with myself as they seem to be here, so it's quite an uncomfortable situation for me in the locker room! :)  I tend to walk in and go directly to my locker, all the while staring straight ahead... I literally ran into a bench today, as there were a few women standing around and wearing no clothing, so I proceeded to directly at my locker as I was walking towards it,  and I didn't quite see the bench sticking out by my knees... Ouch!!   Now, I realize that this is part of their culture, and I'm not ridiculing them by any means... But, it just makes me really miss being at my old gym in the U.S.... when I could walk into the locker room and know that people would be fully clothed! :)  

And, that's just one of the many differences between our cultures that I've found since moving here... And, there's no doubt in my mind, that we'll find plenty more during our stay here! :) I hope you're having a great day!!  Miss you much! 

Driving Shenanigans...

Hey all!  Happy Wednesday!  I just returned home from our German lesson... Can I just say that the German language is proving to be quite difficult to learn... yikes!  They tend to take words, and instead of saying them individually, they smoosh them all together and make one word out of them.  For instance, a word that we came across in our reading today was "Bushaltestelle". Apparently this word is made up of not one, not two, but three nouns... "Bus", "halte", and "stelle"... and when translated, we learned that this word means "bus stop stand".  Now, don't you think it would be easier to just say three small words like that, instead of trying to sound out and make sense of one huge word?!  So far, my favorite big word that I have come across while being here, is "Schwarzhalsziegenzucht"...  You're probably wondering what this word translates into... (Before I tell you, I have to explain that I came across this word at the goat show we went to with Maike in early October)... This word translates into "Black neck goat breeding".  Now, doesn't it just make more sense to just say that instead of trying to decipher that crazy looking word?! :)  Ugh!  We were told that it becomes easier once we learn more German words... apparently we will then be able see the individual words that make up the big word...  At this point however, I'm not so sure about that! :)   Let's just keep our fingers crossed that eventually this language will start making sense! :)  

On another note, I finally braved the roads yesterday.  That's right, I ventured out for a drive all by myself... and boy, what an event that was!! :)  As you're all well aware, stick shifts and I do not get along so well!  I like driving my automatic cars, where I don't have to worry about shifting gears every five minutes... (Becky, if you're reading this, you definitely know how I feel about driving stick shifts!! :)  Let's just say, I almost destroyed her car, which was a stick shift, on a number of occasions when I attempted to drive it! :))  So, anyways I've decided that I need to practice so that I can get used to driving one, because stick shifts are my only option in this country.  

Well, I dropped Brian off at work, and then ventured out on my own... The ride back to the apartment wasn't so difficult, as it was early in the morning and there weren't too many cars on the road.  I managed to only stall the car twice while sitting at stop lights... Great!  However, the drive to pick Brian up later on that afternoon, was a totally different story.  First, before I even backed out of my parking spot, I managed to stall the car while trying to put it in reverse... Lovely!  So, I wasn't off to a very good start.  I hurried up and started the car up and started driving.  I hoped that I wouldn't get stopped at the stop light around the corner, but sure enough, I pulled up to the light right as it was turning yellow... Go figure.  So, I sat and waited.  Now, as I sat there another car pulled up right behind me, and he didn't leave much space between my car and his.  Well, the light turned yellow, and I let off the clutch and got ready to drive away... Little did I know that I was parked on a slight incline, which meant that the moment I let off the clutch, I started rolling backwards.  Panic quickly set in!  I kept thinking, "Oh no, I'm going to hit that car!!"... So, I quickly stepped on the gas and managed to rev the engine quite loudly, all the while trying to release the clutch slow enough so that I wouldn't stall the car... Well, I finally released the clutch and, being that I was stepping on the gas quite hard, I managed to shoot through the light like a bat out of hell!!  You better believe that I got a whole bunch of stares from nearby pedestrians!!  Well, I managed to get things under control and I drove up the road for a couple of blocks, until I reached the next intersection.  As I sat there waiting to go, I hoped that no one would pull up behind me, just in case I started rolling backwards again... No such luck!  The same guy from before pulled up behind me again... ugh! This time I was determined to have more control of the situation, so I eased up off the clutch when the light changed, and I started to make a left turn... That is, until I stalled once again!  At this point, I was not a happy camper... I motioned for the guy to go around me, but he didn't cooperate (I think I was his entertainment for the day! :))... I quickly started the car and I started driving again, only to be stopped again after only driving two blocks.  This time I was at a roundabout and I had to yield to all of the cars on the left... So, I waited and waited... Finally, when the time came to go, I was determined that I wouldn't stall the car again... so I stepped down hard on the gas pedal and once again, the engine was revving as loud as could be... I let off the clutch, and just like before, I shot through that roundabout like a crazy woman!!  At that point, I just wanted to get to my destination so that I could just get out of the car... and being that the situation had gone from bad to worse so quickly, I started laughing hysterically, because if I didn't start laughing at that point, I would have started sobbing!! :) The rest of the drive proved to be just as interesting... I managed to drive through two yellow lights that managed to turn red just as I was going through... At that point, I had had enough of stalling and revving my engine that I didn't want to stop at anymore stop lights, so I hurried through them as quickly as possible.  Not necessarily the smartest move on my part, as I quickly learned that the stoplights all have cameras on them that take your picture when you go through them, and if you're not driving correctly, a couple of weeks later, you'll receive the ticket in the mail.  Let's just keep our fingers crossed that I'm not the lucky recipient of one of those! :)  Long story short, I finally arrived at Brian's work and pulled into the nearest parking lot...  I quickly found out that that was a big mistake, as I apparently needed a special pass to get out of the parking lot... Great!  Brian ended up having to explain the situation to security and they ended up giving him the pass that allowed us to get back out of the parking lot... Needless to say, I was very happy to let Brian take the keys and drive the rest of the way back to the apartment! :)  Let's just hope that I gradually start to improve, otherwise it might be a long two years with not being able to drive! :)  

Well, I'm off to run some errands... I hope all is well for you!  Miss you much!

Our Weekend in Berlin...

Hey all!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Brian and I definitely had a fun time in Berlin this weekend! :)

Brian and I standing with the "Welcome to Berlin" bear... The polar bear is the symbol of the city...

We left on Friday afternoon, and we were under the assumption that it would take around 7 - 8 hours to get there... We were proven very wrong!  We ended up getting stuck in a traffic jam on the Autobahn, which lasted almost two hours... ugh!  After being on the road for almost ten hours, we finally arrived in Berlin at midnight.  However, being that all of us had been able to sleep at some point during the drive, we were all wired up once we arrived... So, Brian, Matt, Cornelius, and I decided to wander around Berlin to see what it had to offer.  Being that Cornelius is originally from East Germany, he knows the city quite well.  So he took us to an area that consisted of quite a few bars and clubs, and we wandered through there for a while.  We finally called it a night around 3 a.m. and decided to head back to the hotel.  That's where things got even more exciting... When we arrived at our hotel, the doors were locked, and the sign by the door said that we should buzz the buzzer and someone would let us in.  So we buzzed and waited... and waited... and waited.  We continued to buzz (and we continued to wait) for the next 10 minutes.  At this point, we were a little concerned that we were locked out of our hotel!  Cornelius decided to take matters into his own hands at that point, and he proceeded to pry the doors open.  After they opened up, we walked into the hotel and we were immediately stopped by the desk clerk, who was not very happy with us AT ALL!  He stood in front of the elevators (which prevented us from going into them) and proceeded to scold us in German... Meaning that Brian, Matt, and I had no idea what was going on, so we let Cornelius do all of the talking for us.   After a few minutes, the desk clerk walked back to the desk and we were able to get onto the elevator... Cornelius then informed us that the clerk was very angry and had wanted to call the police on us, but Cornelius had managed to apologize for the misunderstanding and they worked the situation out... Whew!  I could only imagine what would have happened if the cops would have shown up!  Brian, Matt, and I would have had no way of communciating... And, at the rate Brian and I are learning German, all we would have been able to do is introduce ourselves to them!  Great! :)  Needless to say, we started our trip to Berlin off with a bang! :)  

We started our day early on Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, Saturday turned out to be cold and rainy... but, that didn't stop us.  (I found a Starbucks as soon as we arrived downtown, so I was a very happy person after that! :)) I have to say that one of the most memorable parts of the trip happened on Saturday morning.  We stopped at a bakery for breakfast.  There were quite a few people in there so Matt and Cornelius went up to order, while Brian and I found a table.  When they asked what we wanted, I gave them my order... But, Brian wasn't able to make up his mind about what he wanted, so he told Cornelius to just order him the same thing he was ordering... If Brian only knew what was in store for him, I'm sure he would have changed his mind! :)  Cornelius came back with quite an interesting plate full of goodies... Cornelius and Brian each had two baguettes, with raw meat and onions on top... Doesn't that just sound yummy?? :) If you could only have seen the look on Brian's face when he saw what his "breakfast" was... It was priceless!! :)  Apparently, this is a common meal in Germany... I can't imagine why, but I guess they really like it here... eew!  I do have to give Brian credit though... He did attempt to taste it, and he did manage to take about two bites.  But, after that, he wasn't much in the mood to eat anything else! :) 

Brian's delicious breakfast... raw meat and onions on a baguette... Mmm, Mmm! :)

Can you tell he's enjoying it?! :)  That will teach him to never again say, "I'll have what he's having!"  :)

After our breakfast shenanigans, we started our sightseeing... It was great to have Cornelius with us because he knew so much about the city!  He took us to a variety of places throughout the city and he was able to explain all of the history to us... He was our own personal tour guide! :)  We saw the Brandenberg Gate, the German Parliament Building, the Sony Center, the Berlin TV Tower, Museum Island,  the shopping district (yay!), Checkpoint Charlie, and the Berlin Wall.  I have to say, that the most remarkable part of the day was when we saw the Berlin Wall and when we went to Checkpoint Charlie! There was a monument at Checkpoint Charlie that described the history of the city and of the Wall.  I was so young when the Wall came down, that I didn't really understand all of the history behind it... But, to be there and to see the impact the Wall had on the city, and to see the role that the U.S. played throughout that period of time, and to hear Cornelius talk about what it was like to grow up in East Germany under Communist rule... it was quite an amazing experience! :)    

The Brandenberg Gate...  pretty remarkable!  It used to seperate East and West Berlin...

This is a memorial for the people who died while trying to escape from East Germany into West Berlin... Most of them were shot or drowned during their escape attempt...

Brian and I standing in front of the German Parliament Building...

Our Berlin Crew... Matt, Cornelius, Brian, and I...

This was the first section of the Wall to be removed when it came down!

This was the type of Russian architecture commonly found in East Germany... These picture was taken in the former East Berlin...

This sign stood at Checkpoint Charlie...

Standing at Checkpoint Charlie... It's such a small building, but it holds so much history!

Brian in front of the Berlin Wall...

And to think that if I would have gotten that close to the Wall almost 20 years ago, I probably would have been shot... Pretty amazing history!

After the Wall "came down", the city has invited artists to come in and paint murals on what remains of the Wall...

This is the view from the front doors of the castle... Can you imagine waking up every morning to that?! :)

Standing in front of the castle in Potsdam... 

On Sunday, we visited a city called Potsdam, about an hour outside of Berlin.  A French King once lived in the city and he built a castle within the city limits.  The city has since turned the castle grounds into a park and the castle is still fully intact.  The castle was built in the 1600's, and it is absolutely gorgeous!  So, we spent Sunday afternoon wandering through the castle its grounds... I actually would like to go back again during the spring or summer, to see what it looks like when the flowers and plants are in full bloom... Let's just say, there weren't too many flowers in bloom in mid-November! :)  After we left the castle, we hopped back in the car and headed back to Friedrichshafen.  Luckily, we didn't get stuck in a traffic jam on the Autobahn again, so we were able to make it back to Friedrichshafen in almost 7 hours... during which most of that time, I spent sleeping! :)  Overall, we had a great time in Berlin!  I definitely plan on going back again at some point during our stay over here! :)

Well, on that note, I've got to head to the gym... I hope you're having a wonderful Monday!  Miss you much!

Berlin... Here We Come!

Hey all!  Happy Friday to you!  I just wanted to wish you all a fabulous weekend!  We're currently getting ready to leave for Berlin... yay!  We have a nice long drive in store for us... It takes about 7 - 8 hours to get there... yikes!  I'm also going to be in a car with three engineers, so I'm guessing that I probably won't take part in most of the conversations, considering that I won't have any idea what they'll be talking about the majority of the time. :) My guess is that I'll probably pass my time by studying German, doing a little reading, and the most obvious of all, sleeping!  (For all of you who have ever traveled with me, you probably already know, that if I'm not the one driving, then sleeping is what I do best during a road trip! :))  

Since I'm not too familiar with Berlin, I've been online looking at all of the things to do and see there, and I found that Berlin has alot to offer!  Needless to say, I'm sure we won't have time this weekend to fit everything in... but, we'll give it a good try. :)  The sites that I'm looking forward to seeing the most are the remains of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the German Parliament Building... I also got quite excited when I found that Berlin is known for great shopping... Unfortunately, since I'm traveling with three guys, I'm pretty sure that shopping will be out of the question during this trip! :)  Oh well, maybe next time...   

Well, I'd better get going... Brian will be home any minute and then it's time to head out.  I promise to take lots of pictures so I can share them with you all when we return!  Have a great weekend!  Miss you much!

The Biking Conundrum...

Hey all!  Well, it looks like our computer issues might be under control now, so that's a very good sign! :)  

I just got back from "Girl's Night" at Maike's, where we made a pumpkin soup (It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. :)) and watched Sex and the City...  As usual, it was a fun and very laid back evening. :)  And, to make it even better, I was able to practice my German... woohoo!

So, I think I'm gradually getting adjusted to how they do things around here... and I'm feeling much more comfortable here.  However, the one thing I have yet to figure out is how to ride my bike, or simply take a walk, on the sidewalk without the fear of getting into some type of biker/pedestrian accident!  It's crazy!  I think I've managed to figure out what side of the sidewalk I should walk on, and what side I should bike on...  But, for some reason, I come across people on a daily basis who test my judgement on this matter. Let me give you an example... I rode my bike to the gym today.  I was riding along, minding my own business, and riding on the appropriate side of the sidewalk... Well, up ahead I see this woman coming towards me, so I veer towards the right hand side of the sidewalk so that I can get around her (seems like the logical thing to do).  Now, I assumed that she would veer towards her right side so that we would simply pass one another... That's where I was wrong!  As I veered to the right, she followed me.  Now, this means that we're still riding towards each other, head on.  I then veer to the left, and the woman proceeds to do the same... Meaning that we're still coming straight at each other!  So, I try one more time to veer to the right side in the hopes that she'll wise up and not follow me... No such luck!  She veered towards the same direction as me, and we were coming towards each other rather quickly... It was only a matter of seconds before we hit head on!  In a last minute effort to avoid a bike accident, I veered further to the right, into the road and into oncoming traffic, where I frantically tried to regain control over my bike so that I didn't get into a bike/car accident. After regaining control of my bike, I stopped on the side of the road and noticed that the woman was just biking on off, with no concern about what had just occurred... Yikes!  I was highly ticked off at that point considering that she was the reason that I was in that predicament, and she didn't seem to notice!   The thing that makes this most irritating, is that this isn't the first time that something like this has happened... I seem to have this type of problem on a daily basis.  If a bike is coming towards me, I try to be polite and veer to the side in order to avoid them... and every time, without fail, the people always follow me!  I'm currently very confused about this situation and I'm not quite sure how to appropriately handle it... I'm thinking that from now on, whenever someone is riding towards me, I'll just initiate a game of "Chicken" and hope that they veer out of the way before me! :) Hmmmm... we'll see how that goes... :)  

Well, on that note, I have to head to bed... I need to get up early tomorrow to finish packing and run some last-minute errands before we head off to Berlin... yay!! :)  I hope you have a great day!  Miss you much!

Sprechen die Deutsch... Not So Much...

Hey folks! Hope you're having a great Wednesday! This is probably going to be a very short post today, as my computer is really acting up... Hence the reason for not blogging yesterday. I almost finished writing my blog yesterday, and I was just getting ready to post it, and suddenly my computer crashed... lovely! And now today, it's having a hard time just staying on... It keeps shutting down on me... Ugh! So, needless to say, I'm going to type fast! :)

We had our German class again this morning. On Monday, we learned alot of vocabulary words, so today, our instructor wanted us to simply practice talking... Now, if this was back in the U.S., I would have been extremely happy to oblige! As most of you know, I tend to be quite a chatterbox, so having an excuse to talk during class is great! :) However, when it comes to me speaking German, that's an entirely different story! The German language is not the easiest language to learn... They have different ways of setting up their sentences (e.g. when asking a question, the verb comes first in a sentence, but when making a statement, it goes someplace else... ), they assign an article to every noun in their vocabulary (some nouns are considered feminine, some are masculine, and some are neutral... and you have to figure out which ones are which), and then some of the sounds in their language are unlike any sound I've ever had to make in my lifetime!! So, when it comes to speaking in German, I tend to get extremely tongue-tied. There have literally been moments during our class, when our instructor asks us something in German, and I simply look at her like a deer in headlights... Too confused to even get any words out of my mouth... Lovely! For some reason, when I hear people speaking German, I tend to panic and then I can't even make sense of any words that they are saying... Needless to say, I've got alot of studying ahead of me... oh joy! And, to make matters worse, I was actually making fun of Brian the other day for being so "studious"... He had made flashcards and was taking studying so seriously, so I told him that he was being such a "engineer" (they tend to be very "studious"... :)). But, now it looks like I'll actually have follow his lead, because it looks like he might be on to something when it comes to studying German... Great! :)

After class today, I met up with the English-speaking women for lunch... After speaking (or at least attempting to speak) German all morning, it was rather nice to speak English. :) And, now I'm off to the gym, and then Brian and I have to go pick up our translated Marriage License... In order for me to get my visa, we had to have our Marriage License translated into German, and I just received the call today that it's been completed... So, now we just have to pick it up and then I'm one step closer to getting my visa... woohoo!

I hope you all have a great day! Miss you much!

The German Movie Experience...

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend! Our's was pretty low-key...

We went to see James Bond on Friday evening. That was definitely an experience!! It was a good movie, but not quite as good as we were expecting. There was alot of action, but not alot of substance... However, I must admit that Daniel Craig (a.k.a. James Bond) looked very good! :) The movie experience in itself was rather interesting... The movie was scheduled to start at 10:45, so we arrived a few minutes early and found our seats. When you buy the tickets online, they assign a seat to you, so finding our seats was quite easy. (Oh, and for those of you who may be wondering... We were able to find the "fetching automat" and we were able to "fetch" our tickets very easily! :)) Well, we sat in the theatre for a while and waited for the previews to come on... At 10:55, I looked at my watch and realized that it was already 10 minutes past the time the movie was scheduled to begin. Now, in the U.S., if a movie has to start late, then there is usually an announcement explaining the situation... This was not the case here. :) Instead, we sat waiting for another 10-15 minutes before the previews finally started. (Mind you, the previews were all in German so we had no idea what they were about... Great!) Well, after about 5 previews, an advertisement for ice cream was shown... After the ad was over, the screen went blank and the overhead lights came up... Hmmmm? So, we all sat and waited some more, all the while trying to figure out what the hold up was... Well, about five minutes later, we finally figured it out. The "ice cream" man was walking around through each of the individual theatres selling ice cream... So, after waiting for him to arrive in our theatre for almost 10 minutes, he finally showed up... and then we had to wait some more so that everyone could buy their ice cream for the show... Lovely! After the ice cream man finished selling his products, the lights went out again. At this point I figured that the movie was about to start... Nope, I was proven wrong! Instead, we sat through about four more previews! Once those were over, the movie finally started... almost 45 minutes past the original start time... ugh!! Since we've been here, I've noticed that they have a very laid-back attitude when it comes to time, and this just proved how laid back about it they really are! It's crazy!! Let's just say, that we probably won't be going to too many movies while we're over here... I don't think I have the patience for them! :)

After all of the "excitement" at the movies, the rest of our weekend was pretty uneventful. I did get to practice driving on Saturday. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I did fine with the navigating and whatnot... I wasn't even too bothered by the fact that the streets are so narrow. It was driving a manual transmission that was the problem! I drove about 5 miles and somehow managed to stall the car 6 -7 times... Great! We'll just say that I need alot more practice before I start taking any road trips! :)

On Sunday, we had coffee with a Scottish couple that I've met since moving here... So, it was nice to visit with them. After coffee, we ended up spending the rest of the day studying German... Fun, fun! At this point, we know how to introduce ourselves and how to order drinks at a restaurant... (I've got ordering coffee down to a science! :)) Watch out... at the rate we're going, we'll be speaking fluently within the next few weeks! Ha, ha! :)

Well, I should probably head to bed... We have a pretty busy week ahead of us, and then we're heading to Berlin on Friday... yay!! :) I hope you all had a great Monday! Miss you!

Dinner and a Movie...

Happy Friday to you all! I spent most of the day today painting... And, I have to say, that it was actually quite fun. :) Val and I arrived at the theatre around 9 a.m. and we were given directions about what our task for the day was... We had to paint 4 big panels and a doorframe. Luckily for us (and for them! :)) we only had to paint them one color and it didn't involve us being artistic in the least. :) Being that I've done my fair share of painting over the years, it was quite an easy task. There were about four of us, and we spent the morning painting and chatting away.... I know, such a tough life I have over here! :)

I also learned a little history while I painted. The building that we were in was part of an old army barrack that the French Army used during the War. Apparently, there is an entire tunnel system underneath the barracks... I, of course, asked if we could go see it, but unfortunately I wasn't able to today... The woman in charge wasn't too familiar with the underground tunnel... But, she did tell me that she would get in touch with the gentleman who is familiar with the it, and then I can go have a look for myself... Very cool! :)

Once we finished painting, the woman in charge (her name is Sharon, she's from Canada, and she's lived here for 11 years) invited us over to her apartment for coffee and sandwiches... So, we spent the afternoon there... I'm actually very happy that I managed to get myself talked into helping out, because they're such a friendly group of people and I've enjoyed getting to know them. :)

Brian and I are now getting ready to head out for dinner and a movie... That's right, we're actually going to the movies here... yay!! We found out that the new James Bond movie is being shown here in English, so we immediately got online and purchased tickets for tonight! From what we've been told, they show a movie in English about every three months... and it's usually a very popular movie, which means that they sell out extremely fast. (For example, the last movie they had in English was Sex and the City, and I'm sure you all know how big that was! :)). Once we found that out, we immediately got online to buy tickets... and that was quite an adventure considering that the website was all in German... lovely! :) Needless to say, it took a long time to try to "decode" the website and figure out how to actually purchase tickets... But, we finally managed and we were quite proud of our accomplishment. It was kind of funny to translate the information on the website from German to English... We'll just say that some things are literally lost in translation... For instance, after we purchased our tickets, a paragraph popped up onto the screen, which (after translation) informed us that we are to "fetch our bought tickets at the fetching automat in the entrance hall". I have to say, that's definitely not something you hear everyday, and what exactly is a "fetching automat"?! :)

On that note, I'm going to head on out... Brian and I are off to "fetch" our tickets to James Bond at the "fetching automat"... whatever that might be! :) I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! Miss you much!

Shop, Shop, Shop...

Hey all! I hope you had a fabulous Thursday. I fully intended to have this blog finished early this morning, but somehow the day flew by, and I'm just now getting the opportunity to write anything... crazy!

I had the opportunity to meet another English-speaking person today... I'm actually quite surprised at the amount of English-speaking people in this area!! It's definitely helped to make the adjustment process a little easier. :) I made contact with this woman through a website that they have over here. The website gives information about the area and different events and groups that they have here. I posted a question on the website when we first arrived here in August, asking if there were any English-speakers in the area. After I posted it, I didn't hear anything until just recently when this woman, Sarah, emailed me. She explained that she's from Scotland and that she and her husband have been here since February. They're in their mid-thirties and they have a two month old daughter. She then asked if I would be interested in meeting for coffee. So, we set up a meeting for today... and we had a great time! She's very pleasant to talk to and she said that she hasn't had too much luck meeting English speakers over here... she was quite shocked when she heard how many English-speaking people I've met since moving here. :) Either way, she's planning on joining me the next time our English-speaking group gets together for lunch or coffee... It'll be nice to add another member to our constantly expanding group! :)

After meeting Sarah for coffee, I headed back to the apartment to meet up with Maike and Katrina (the American who works with Brian). We then headed to Konstanz to do a little shopping... yay! :) We spent the evening shopping in downtown Konstanz and at the mall, called Lago. Being back inside of a mall made me realize how much I miss shopping in the U.S.! :) I have to admit that I don't have much luck shopping here, being that everything is so outrageously expensive!! I tend to stick with window shopping... I figure that with the money I save by not buying things over here, I'll be able to go on a massive shopping spree when we come back to the U.S. in December... hee, hee! :)

Well, I'd better get going... It's time to get some sleep. I have to wake up early tomorrow so that I can help paint props for the upcoming play that is being put on by the English-speaking theatre group... That's right, I've somehow managed to get roped into helping with the props. Apparently, the shirt that I painted for Brian to wear to the Halloween party, made an impression on the people in the theatre group... For some reason, they seem to think I'm "artistic" and they've asked me to help... If only they knew! :) I guess we'll see how it goes... It'll definitely be an interesting experience. :)

I hope all is going well for you! Miss you much!

Proud to be an American!!

Hey all! What an exciting day it's been! Brian and I started our day early this morning... We woke up around 6 a.m. (which is about midnight in Michigan...) so that we could see the results of yesterday's election. We were hoping to find that Obama won... and lucky for us, we ended up turning the t.v. on right as Obama was about to give his acceptance speech... so, we were able to watch the whole thing! Yay!! :) I have to say that he gave a fantastic speech, and it was such a historic moment for the U.S.! I also have to admit, that watching Obama give his speech in Grant Park in downtown Chicago (which many of you know, is my favorite city!!) made me somewhat homesick, and extremely envious of all of the people who were able to be there!! :)

After the initial excitement of waking up and finding out that Obama will be our new president, Brian and I got ready and headed off to our first German class. Wow! What an interesting class that was... Let's just say, learning German will most likely be quite challenging for us! :) We worked on the vowel sounds and a few verbs today... Just trying to make some of the sounds is a task in itself... Their language is very "gutteral", meaning that many of the sounds come from the throat, and those that don't come from the throat, sound alot like the "sh" sound... I kept trying to sound out the words and make the sounds, and to be quite honest, I felt like I was spitting at our instructor for most of the session... Great! :) Needless to say, learning the German language will definitely be interesting! :)

After class, I headed to the gym, ran some errands, and cleaned the apartment... so it's actually been quite a busy day. Now, I just have to get dinner together, and then Brian, Maike, and I are heading off to go to the Kletterhalle to go rock climbing for a few hours... fun! :) I hope you have a great day! Miss you much!

Get Out and Vote!!

Happy Election Day to you all! Make sure you get out and vote today! My vote's been in for about a month now, so I'm very anxious to hear the outcome of today's election! :)

We finally have some good news in regards to our German classes... Brian received a call at work yesterday, giving him the ok to register for classes... yay!! It's been a long road... They've told us yes we could take classes, then no, they yes again, and then no again... It just kept going on and on for the past 10 weeks or so... ugh! So, before they could tell him no again, Brian went down to the Language School and registered for classes. :) Our first class will be held tomorrow morning from 8 -10, and from then on we will have class Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8 - 10... We're both pretty excited! However, being that we're both pretty competitive, we're sure this will turn into a competition between us to see who can learn German more quickly! :)

Well, I'm off to meet up with the English women for a "Tea and Brunch" at Val's apartment. And then I have the opportunity to observe in a Kindergarten classroom today, where the children are learning to English... It should be pretty fun! :) I'll fill you in on all of the details tomorrow... :) I hope you have a great day! Remember to vote! Miss you much!

Volcanoes, Vineyards, and Castles...

Hey all! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! In case you haven't already noticed, I decided to get a little patriotic with my blog in honor of the upcoming presidential election. :) I can't believe it's already November and election day is already upon us... Time sure does fly!

Our weekend was pretty relaxing... We went to the Halloween party on Friday evening and it turned out to be quite fun. Our costumes turned out very well, and we actually received compliments on them... what a bonus! :) Here's a few photos of us...

The Halloween Party was hosted by a theatre group called the Bodensee Players, which performs English-speaking plays in the area. They had Halloween games set up for everyone to play, along with Karaoke and Guitar Hero (which made Brian extremely happy! :)). Overall, Brian and I had a great time meeting everyone... They were all so friendly and it was just so nice to be in a group where everyone spoke the same language. :) By the end of the night, I somehow managed to volunteer my time to help with the upcoming play, which is scheduled for November... That should be interesting! :) Some of the members also tried to convince us to act in the next performance they have scheduled for May, but we quickly put an end to that... Brian was definitely not thrilled about the idea, and I already know that me, as an actress, spells disaster!! :)

Saturday was a very quiet day for us. It was a religious holiday here (similar to the "Day of the Dead") so all of the stores and some of the restaurants were closed, which meant that there wasn't a whole lot for us to do. Luckily our gym was open so we were able to at least workout for a couple of hours. Outside of going to the gym and going to get dinner, we literally did nothing for the entire day... Brian loved being able to relax, but, with me being such a busy body, I was going out of my mind with boredom! :)

On Sunday, Maike called us to see if we wanted to join her on a hike. Considering that Sunday looked like it was going to be just as uneventful as Saturday had been, we decided to take her up on the offer! :) We ended up driving to a city called Singen, which is about an hour away. This city consists of the largest castle ruins in all of Germany. The most interesting part is that they are located on top of an inactive volcano! It took us about an hour to get to the top (we somehow managed to take the short, but very steep route... lucky us!). The hike to the top wasn't all that bad though... Part of the path took us through some vineyards, where we proceeded to pluck grapes off of the trees and eat them... yum! :) When we arrived at the top, we were able to explore the ruins of a castle which dates back to the 16oo's, with some parts of it actually dating back to 1000. It was pretty amazing to be up there! There were quite a few buildings still intact, such as the church, artillery tower, the cellars, etc... The best part, was that we were just able to wander through everything... We weren't required to stay within a certain area. I have to admit that I could have stayed there all day just exploring all of the nooks and crannies... There was just so much history there! But, after a couple of hours, Brian and Maike were ready to leave. :) I also think that we picked a perfect day to go up there... It was a dreary day with quite a bit of fog, and it was such a fitting backdrop for walking through the ruins of a very old castle... It had a very mysterious and spooky feel to it... It was a perfect trip for the weekend of Halloween! :) We took plenty of pictures to share with you as well! I'll be posting all of them up on our picture site, but here's a few of the highlights....

Brian with the city of Singen in the background...

The vineyards we hiked through...

The grapes were pretty sour, but definitely tasty! :)

That's me exploring one of the many nooks and crannies the castle had to offer. This one led into a cellar...

This was once a restaurant on the castle grounds...

The view of the ruins from atop the church tower...

The view of the castle on our way up the volcano...

If you look closely at the bottom right of the picture, you can see the three of us... :)

Well, I'd better run. It's about time for me to start running some errands... fun, fun! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! Miss you much!