Hello from Turkey!

This week my work travels have taken me to Bursa, Turkey. Therefore, everything on my screen right now (except for this text) is displayed in Turkish. Hmm, good thing I know blogger pretty well. The best thing is that the hotel in which we are staying has free wireless internet! That's not true in very many hotels.

The hotel is a very old building which has been renovated. The room was absolutely gorgeous. I took a picture, which I will upload when I get back to Germany. It's located on the edge of the botanical garden, so each morning we (my colleague and I) have been getting up extra early to go walking in the garden. It's cold here, but it's been sunny in the mornings, so it's a nice way to wake up.

Unfortunately, as is typical with work travel, I have not seen very much of Bursa. I have seen, from a distance, the mountains. But there is a lot of smog here, so the view of them is not very good. I have seen a couple of restaurants. The first night, I ate octopus (it was already cut up on a plate and didn't look like octupus at all). It tasted good. I let my Turkish colleague order for me, because he knows the food here better and could make a recommendation. So, the main course was fish and my fish was delivered in full body style, meaning that it still had it's head. I am proud to say that I ate it anyway (not the head of course, but a few years it ago, it would have been unthinkable for me to even touch a fish with it's head still on).

Yesterday, we ate a lot of various dishes, a lot of kebap. The meal was delicious! This afternoon, we will head back to Istanbul, about a four hour drive. Then tomorrow morning we plan to do some sight-seeing before flying back to Germany.

In Germany, it's nice and warm. In the 70s in April! We've already been to a beer garden.....

I have pictures of the new apartment, which I will also upload when I'm back. And in other news, I got a pretty major hair cut. My hair was below my collarbone and is now just below my jaw line. It's a little bit too short, but I remembered why I like it better short - less drying time in the morning!!

I just saw our driver pull up......more when I'm back in Germany......hopefully with pictures from Istanbul!!

By the way....

I tried out the new garage yesterday - absolutely lovely! I no longer fear parking in my own garage. :o) It's good.....

And there's an elevator from the (underground) garage all the way up to the fourth floor!!!!! No more carrying impossibly heavy things up 99 stairs. Imagine that...........

Moving Day!

Who would have thought that after only 8 months in my apartment, that I'd be writing that phrase already?....Wow and that means that I've already been in Germany for 9 months - I think that time really does fly!

Anyways, today is the big day. The cats already moved on Saturday and Jemma is totally freaked out in the new apartment, because she can't find any place to hide herself. It was so pitiful, when we went in yesterday, she was standing in the corner trying to make herself invisible. So I stacked some boxes on the kitchen counter and put her behind them, which made her happy until my friend starting drilling into the ceiling to make holes for the light fixture. Then she decided that the bathroom sink would be a good place. It was so cute.

So thanks to a very productive friend, all of the light fixtures were removed from the Feuerbach apartment yesterday and installed in the Fellbach apartment, along with a couple others that I bought at Ikea. (The old place already had some fixtures, the new place didn't have any, so I was short a few.) It's looking good. The whole time we were there, I kept expecting the neighbors to ring the doorbell and complain about the fact that we were drilling on a Sunday and until 9 p.m.!! But they didn't. They probably just sat there and thought evil thoughts about this new inconsiderate neighbor....Seriously, I think two or three drill bits were flattened by the ceiling, which apparently is made out of concrete or something similar.

Here in Feuerbach, almost everything is packed and what isn't will be in the next few hours. (Thank goodness for friends and a week of vacation!!) The infamous Kleiderschrank was disassembled yesterday and I think that (if I measured correctly) it should fit just perfectly into the Fellbach apartment. (If it doesn't, you'll be able to hear the grief I get from my "Engineer" friends all the way in Michigan.) (And I think I might cry if it doesn't fit.)

Yesterday we painted over a few spots in Fellbach, too, so the new place is looking pretty spiffy. Pictures are coming, I promise. The batteries in my camera are dead (if you looked at all the pictures I uploaded to Flickr, you can see why - overusage!). Plus it will look better/more interesting with furniture in it anyways. I have to get in touch with the moving guy today to see about getting my couch delivered out of storage. (yippeeeeee!!)

(I have to say how glad I will be when moving is over - so much to do, I am exhausted and the really hard work is coming this evening...)

To Brazil and back....

Okay, here's the deal. There's a lot of stuff that I don't blog about. Why? Because I don't want the whole world to know everything about me. So when something's stressing me out or bothering me, but it's something that I won't blog about, then I just don't blog at all. And the past few weeks were pretty stressful. On top of that, I had the worst cold I have had in a really long time. On top of that, I flew to Brazil for a week for work.

Last time I posted, I promised pictures of Dresden would be forthcoming. I've finally uploaded the pictures from Dresden to Flickr. I also uploaded pictures from the trip down the Romantic Road a couple of weeks ago. There's really nothing that romantic about the Road in my opinion. And then, we got lost. It's a pretty weird feeling when you're driving along and you suddenly see a sign "Welcome to Austria!" Ooooops, how did that happen?? And then, you have no idea where you are, cause you're in the middle of the boonies and all you can think about is how you're probably going to run out of gas before the next station and you'll freeze and starve before someone finds you. But other than that, Austria was really beautiful. It was so funny, it was really snowy (as you can see in the Neuschwanstein photos) up in the mountains. But as soon as we got into the city (in the valley) it was sunny and beautiful. Neuschwanstein is pretty (it's the castle after which Disney modeled Cinderella's castle). But I personally preferred Schloss Ludwigsburg, which was actually lived in, had a much better tour and is much closer to home!

After returning home from the Romantic Road, I noticed that there was water creeping up my walls in the hallway. I didn't upload those pictures, but I now have these lovely yellow water stains on my walls. I called my Landlord, who said "ach du gruene neune!" which Leo translates as Gorblimey! (Who knows, something British.) I had no idea what he meant, so I repeated it out loud and asked what it meant, which had my colleagues all laughing out loud at me. He asked my neighbor to have a look. My neighbor decided that it happened because the floor of the shower wasn't caulked completely. So he caulked and it should be all better. (Can you tell that I'm thinking that's not what caused it? It's an awful lot of water for some little holes in the caulk.) I'm pretty sure there's water under the floor and in the walls. Lovely.

Not because of that, but that's just another good reason, I've decided to move. For many reasons. (Hopefully my landlord doesn't read my blog.....I haven't told him yet.) I'm moving out of Stuttgart to Fellbach. I'll sign the contract tomorrow. I think I have the absolute best new address: Bahnhofstrasse 123....."Train station street 123." It's in the middle of the city and 5 minutes from the train station (on foot). There's an underground garage (yea, no more hating my garage!!) and an elevator (yea, no more lugging suitcases and cats up and down 99 steps - although I might have to join a gym since I won't have the 99 steps any more).

In Germany, you have to give three months notice. So instead of paying three months on two apartments, I'm going to look for someone to rent the Stuttgart apartment myself. Basically, if I find someone, my landlord pretty much has to take them and let me out of the notice period. Hopefully I'll be successful!!

Last Sunday, I flew to Brazil. I was so sick. And Saturday night was the Long Night of the Museums. So we (five friends and I) had dinner at my apartment (my first dinner party here!! :o) and headed to the museums. We didn't see much, because we had to wait in line a long time. It was really fun anyways. But I was really dragging by the time I got home. I got about 4 hours of sleep and took a taxi to the airport. I flew from Stuttgart to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Sao Paulo (11.5 hours!). When I got to Sao Paulo, I stood in line at passport control. Then I stood in line at baggage control. Then I stood in line at the check-in counter (I totally associate Sao Paulo with standing in line). The ticket agent told me to hurry to the gate, my flight would be boarding soon. I stood in line for security check. I got to the gate and no one was boarding. So I sat down. An older Italian gentleman leaned over and asked if I knew that the flight had been delayed. Delayed for 5 hours until 1 am (local time - or 5 am in Germany)!!!! Nope, didn't know. I was so tired. I had been traveling for 18 hours. I went to the counter and asked if there was another flight to Curitiba - nope. I told the guy that there was no way I could stay in the airport for 5 hours, I wanted to be put in a hotel. He said that was fine, but I had to go all the way out to the ticket counter, find one specific lady and tell her that he said I should get a hotel. I thought about it, but it seemed harder to do all of that, then to lay down in the waiting area and sleep for a few hours. So I did. I've never slept in an airport before. But I was soooo tired. About 12:30, they let us board. I checked into my hotel at 2:30 a.m. on Monday, a full 23.5 hours after I had left my apartment on the previous day.

The week was full of meetings, but was very successful. I'm only disappointed that I didn't get to see more of the city. It's a really interesting place. Security is a serious issue - everything has gates or fences or barbed wire. And the difference between rich and poor is really noticeable. They don't have many garbage trucks, because there are people who pull these wire carts around the city collecting garbage. And apparently there's a whole hierarchy behind that and if you work your way up high enough, you can buy a horse to pull the cart. The weather was beautiful - 25 degrees celsius every day. Meanwhile, it snowed in Germany! I would like to go back to Brazil someday.

On the trip back, the plane left Curitiba late, but that was no problem, because the next plane left Sao Paulo late. I slept for 7 hours straight on the flight (after watching the new James Bond movie). Can I just tell you how much I love business class??? You can make the seat into a bed! I've never slept so well on a plane before. Because the plane was late leaving Sao Paulo, I got into Frankfurt only 20 minutes before my train left for Stuttgart. I pretty much counted on the fact that my bag wouldn't make it. It didn't. So I asked the lady at the train station to call me when it came, instead of sending a taxi, so that I didn't have to worry about being home. But then there was a shift change and the new lady didn't get the message. So when I stopped by that evening on my way to a housewarming party, the bag had been sent to the airport (which is much farther from me) for delivery by a taxi. So they sent it away to bring it back. Because I knew I wouldn't be home, I asked them to bring it back to the train station and call me when it got there (sound familiar?). So I ended up getting my bag on Sunday.

This morning, I went to the Turkish Consulate to get my visa for my trip in three weeks. It was just pure luck that it was a Tuesday, because they only issue visas on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I really didn't know. My passport is filling up fast - German work permit, visa for Brazil, visa for Turkey, stamps from Poland, Brazil, Germany.....I'm worried that I'll run out of pages and have to get a new passport. Or I heard that they'll tape extra pages in for you, but it apparently looks really hillbilly.

My cold's much better, but still not gone. And I'm looking at everything I have to pack and wondering why I wanted to move? Because there's no move from Bosch this time. Fortunately, I have a bunch of really good friends who have promised to help. And just think, I'll get to have my couch back!

Next week I have vacation, which is perfect timing. I can pack and move day and night. And then on Friday, 10 Americans are flying together to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend. It should be really fun! And I learned some Portugese in Brazil to use in Portugal - obrigada is thank you.

My house in MI still hasn't sold. So I think it's going to go up for rent in the next week or two. If you know anyone who wants to rent it, send them my way!! It's a cute house!

That's what's going on here.....pictures of the new place to follow. :o)

Man, these things are good.....

You Are a Mac

You are creative, stylish, and super trendy. You demand the best - even if it costs an arm and a leg.

Are You a Mac or a PC?

I LOVE my Mac!!!!!!!

No surprise here....

If you know me, you will not be shocked to know that:

You Are a Chocolate Cake

Fun, comforting, and friendly. You are a true classic, and while you're not super cutting edge, you're high quality. People love your company - and have even been known to get addicted to you.

What Kind of Cake Are You?

Still here

I kind of fell off the face of the earth.....I know. It's been a busy, stressful and emotional time here of late. And I just haven't had the energy to post. Thanks for the emails and comments asking where I am....that's really nice.

So what's been going on in the last couple of months?

Among other things, I've taken weekend trips to Poland, Dresden and Cologne. I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded them. I'll work on that.

I've worked a million, billion hours. There's a lot going on at work right now. I leave for Brazil two weeks from today for a week. I'm looking forward to it, but there's a lot to be done before then.

This upcoming weekend, my friend S. is coming from the States. I'm also looking forward to that. We're going to check out the Romantic Road here in Germany, including stops at Rothenburg o.d.T. and Neuschwanstein, the castle that Walt Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after.

Then, in the first week of April, about 8 Americans are going together to Lisbon, Portugal for four days. A friend and I are also considering going to Prague during that week as well.

What else? Well, the weather's generally been awesome. Considering that it's cold and snowing in Michigan, sun and 50-degree weather in Stuttgart has been a treat. Even if it has rained a lot as well. Of course, this mild weather is making the Germans nuts, because "it's just not right" and it's a sign that the world is coming to an end.....well, that's dramatizing it, but it really does make them upset. The general consensus seems to be that if the Americans stopped driving their big SUVs and started recycling more, this wouldn't be happening. You'll all get right on that, right? Oh and to do "our part better," we're going to be getting these delightful little stickers for our cars. They look like this:

They are color-differentiated to indicate the emissions that the car releases - red, yellow, green and none. Some specific cities in Germany will start with a pilot and one of those is.....you guessed it.....Stuttgart. So when you enter into the city, you'll see a sign that looks like this, which says environmental zone and by the little color circles underneath, you'll know if you're allowed into that city's limits or not. I guess this officially became effective March 1st, but I haven't seen any cars with the sticker yet and I don't have one yet. Maybe I'd better get going on that. In principle, I have no problem with this system and I certainly think that the idea behind it is noble. My problem is....what are you supposed to do if you get up one morning and hear on the radio that no "3"s are allowed in Stuttgart today and you drive a "3." I don't live near a bus stop or a train stop, so I would have to walk a good distance to work if I wasn't allowed to drive. Which is just a little crazy, isn't it? Because it's not like you can call in - "Hi, I can't come to work today, because I'm not allowed to drive my car within the city limits." Well, we'll see.....

So, that's what's happening here......I'm going to try to be better about blogging and I'll be uploading pictures shortly - maybe today.....

Now this is funny.

If you haven't yet seen this video from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, you have to watch it!

Run-down

Okay, I've been totally deliquent about posting. Almost seems like that's becoming the theme of this blog, doesn't it?

My weekend went like this: on Friday night, we celebrated my friend Ira's birthday.

On Saturday, I painted at Rene and Melissa's new apartment. The lady that lived there before them must have never cleaned - the walls were filthy, with cobwebs and dirt everywhere. We painted the kitchen white and it looks much better! Their building is really old and the apartment needs a lot of work, but when they're done, I think it's going to be really nice.

On Saturday night, we celebrated their return to Germany with a fondue night. We had 8 different kinds of fondue, including 2 chocolate fondues. It was delicious! And really, really fun. On Sunday, I was so tired from all of that, that I came home from church and went to bed. Later I went to Ira and David's to meet some other friends of theirs. We went walking (typical Sunday activity), even though it was quite windy and cold.

Monday after work, I went back to Rene and Melissa's and helped take down wallpaper. It was not particularly fun, but the company was good.

Yesterday afternoon it started snowing. So after work, I came out to a car covered in snow. And no snow brush. Oops. So on my way home, I stopped at the home improvement store and bought a snow brush and an ice scraper. It continued to snow all night long and all day today. I don't know how much snow we have, but it must be close to a foot. This morning, after backing out of the garage, I got stuck in the snow. Fortunately, two people from the next building over decided to be really helpful and they came over and pushed out the car. And then on my way into work, this guy offered to share his umbrella with me. Somehow, people were just very helpful today!

Traffic was a mess. One of my colleagues didn't make it into work at all and another need four hours to get there. I'm really glad I bought those winter tires now!

It was funny to come home today, because my windows that are on an angle in the roof are all covered with snow, so I can't see out of them at all. Fortunately, I have a few "regular" windows, so I can still see some things.

Today, I also started filling out my tax organizer. Now, I have to admit that I have the "luxury" of having a tax advisor, who will be completing my taxes for me. But it's amazing what I have to report: how much I spent in utilities in Germany, how big my apartment is, how long my bank accounts have been opened, what the balance is, what the highest balance in 2006 was. It's soooo much and it takes a long time to look up. And of course, I'm finding out that not all of this information is available online. For example, the bank that I use only provides statements back six months. Which means that I had to write and ask them questions. Good thing my info isn't due until March!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

January 19, 19xx......that was the day on which my Dad was born. He's the sandwich kid...one older brother, one younger sister. My Grandpa owned several different businesses and I'm pretty sure my dad worked there....a laundromat and a car wash, at least I think. My dad was lucky enough to grow up on the west side of Michigan. I say lucky, because visiting my grandparents was one of my most favorite things in the whole world when I was little. To me, their house and the area they lived in were perfect. You'll have to ask my dad if he actually liked growing up there.

After college, he headed to MSU (since this post is in honor of him and because I have no particular college affiliation) - Go Spartans! What's your degree in again, Dad? Latin American Studies? No matter what it's in, my Dad has always worked in insurance, at least as long as I've known him. He's never been one to stay in one place for long, though. Fortunately, that didn't mean that we ever had to move out of the Metro Detroit Area....although there was that one time he talked about us moving to St. Joe. (I'm sure glad we didn't! - No offense to Bill & Rhonda.)

My Dad's always taken care of us. My mom's mostly always worked, too, but it has always been pretty clear in our family that my Dad is the primary breadwinner. And he's done a good job of it. Being the provider didn't come without it's share of sacrifices, including working as a janitor at our school/church, so that we could have a tuition break on some pretty hefty private school tuition. My Dad hasn't only provided for us financially, though. He's been a spiritual and emotional provider as well. And a provider of Red Wings tickets, trips to Boblo Island and lots of other fun things that I won't ever forget.

My Dad's always been kinda last-minute. One of my Aunt's favorite stories to tell is how every week, the whole family would sit on the couch waiting for him so that they could go to church. That trend has continued to date. I was pretty proud, though, because in 2006 he managed not to buy my Mom's Christmas present on Christmas Eve...I think he bought it on the 23rd instead!

But the good thing about being sorta a slow-poke....you get to enjoy life as it comes, because you're not racing through it. And that's something I've learned from my Dad. I've learned that if I slow down and enjoy, it's much nicer. And I've learned that you don't have to let the little things get you all worked up. My Dad doesn't get upset too easily. He's pretty calm. And that's an attribute I really admire. I've not been bitten by the adventure bug that my dad has. I have no desire to go mountain biking on trails that might send me flying over my bike handles or result in me landing in piles of mud. But maybe I did get some of that from him with the whole traveling thing. (I also got his calves. But sadly, I didn't get his teeth...how does that whole genetics thing work, anyway??)

My Dad never flinched at holding back my hair when I had the stomach flu. He's got a restaurant story for every occasion. He's an all-around handyman (he can replace a toilet!) And he always has advice to give on......well, pretty much anything you might need.

My Dad's over the hill, as the saying goes, in life years. But in Spirit, I think my Dad might be younger than me. Maybe that's something I can still inherit......

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you.

(Sorry there's no pictures....Blogger's returning errors every time I try to upload.)

I'm better!

Thanks for the emails and the comments. When I woke up this morning, I felt 100% better. I know it doesn't always work that way, but it was a good reminder that I need to pay attention to my health and when everything's saying slow down, slowing down might be a good idea.

Today I was back to work as normal. After work, I had an appointment for the cats to get their annual shots. I put Jemma and Cheese in one crate together, so I only had to make two trips down the stairs. I found the vet with no problem, it's really close, right in my town. Parking was the issue. Little did I know there was a parking lot behind the building. I parked down the street - a city block, maybe. Do you know how heavy those cats are? But there was no way I was making two trips that far, so I hauled them both. I really got in my workout today.

The vet was fine, but boy did I get lectured. I got lectured for the three-year rabies, because it's not valid in the whole European Union (my cats don't travel, it doesn't matter, as long as it's valid in Germany....which it is). I got lectured for having them declawed (it's illegal in Germany, you know - hey, they're American cats). I got lectured for not changing out of my work clothes (we ask the owners to hold their pets.....dude, cat hair is a regular occurrence on my clothing. It's removable, if you didn't know.) I got lectured for being late on their shots. (That one I'll take.) I got lectured on how fat Mac is (ummm, do they make kitty treadmills, cause otherwise....). I got lectured for not parking in the parking lot (nobody told me!). By the time I left, I felt sufficiently reamed out for the day. Really, she wasn't mean, but she was pretty harsh somehow. And I waited for a very long time. My appointment was at 6:15, but I was early and I didn't go in until 6:40 and I didn't leave until after 7:15. What happened to German punctuality??

Mac weighs a whopping 17.63 pounds! Holy cat, Batman! But even the vet admitted that he's very sturdily built - like we'd say about a person being big-boned. And at least he hasn't gained any since we were at the vet in May. Cheese did better having weighed in at only 13 pounds, down from 15 in May, and Jemma is, of course as always, the smallest with 8 pounds. And now they have these nifty little passports with all of their info in them.

After bringing the cats back home and lugging them upstairs (I really am going to buy harnesses and leashes so that they have to walk up), I went to a Thai restaurant in Stuttgart East for dinner for a meeting of the International Women's Club - Stuttgart. We sat at two tables and of the six women at my table, five of us are here because of my company (the husbands of the four others work there). But I hadn't met three of the other women before, so it was really nice. And I had a lovely curry dish, which I enjoyed immensely.

And now I'm going to bed.

I'm sick

No, not in the head, but physically sick. It's not bad, really. It's that kind of sick where your head hurts, you're exhausted, your stomach is all out of sorts and you just can't think straight. I've been much sicker before. I've had strep or a sinus infection or an ear infection (yep, as an adult...). I'm sick enough that I came home from work. At least I made the effort of going into work. But I just couldn't stick it out.....why risk making anyone else sick and why not just go home and rest in order to get better. So that's what I did. But now I'm bored. Since I have no couch, I don't have anywhere to lay in the living room and watch TV. And I don't feel like sitting in a chair to watch TV. I've read all my emails, I've read all my usual blogs, I've updated my own blog (do you like the new template?), I've registered my new camera......
So.....I'm downloading Season 1 of Lost from iTunes. I hope it's as good as everyone says.......'cause I am really bored.

Excuses, excuses....

I said there would be pictures and stories.

And there aren't. But I have a good excuse.

Jet Lag and Reintegration.

Yes, that's right, my excuse is Jet Lag. And here's why. I got home around 10 a.m. (local time) on Sunday (12/31). Then I had to go pick up the cats and so I crawled into bed for a nap around 1 p.m. Which is 5 a.m. in Michigan. Then I got up at 4:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. in MI). Then I celebrated New Year's into the wee hours of the morning, or about the time I would have gone to bed had I still been in Michigan (are you figuring out the problem???) I didn't get up on New Year's Day until 12:30 p.m., which would have been early to get up in MI (6:30), but would still be morning. Monday, I got home around 8 p.m. and just didn't feel tired at all. Around midnight, I tried to go to sleep anyway. But I didn't. Literally. I did not sleep for even one minute of Monday night. And the rest of that whole week, my sleeping patterns were really messed up. Then last week was busy with work and friends and trying to unpack and clean and and and.......(Reintegration).

But I have to post now because my brother yelled at me for not posting. And because I found a great article this morning! Researchers have found that bilinigualism delays the onset of dementia. Is that good news or is that good news?? Having two grandmothers who suffer from dementia, I find this to be a very positive thing. The only thing I wonder is...how do they come up with these research topics?

So to what's happened in life.....I had an awesome trip to Michigan. And to celebrate my birthday, my fantastic friend Tim gave us access to a suite at the Joe. And to further celebrate my birthday, the Wings won. Now, I'm a hockey nut and I've been going a little nuts not being able to watch any hockey, so this was a great gift (thanks again, Tim!!). And because my Christmas wishes came true, I had my amazing new camera with me. When you look at these photos, keep in mind that we were in a suite, so in the upper ring of the Joe.....yep, my camera has that much zoom! (Thanks to Matthias for taking many of these photos.) Okay, Blogger is not cooperating with me, so I've uploaded the pictures from the game here to Flickr instead.

Speaking of the Red Wings, did you know that Governor Granholm declared January 13th to officially be Steve Yzerman Day?

New Year's Eve will have to be a separate post, I think..

In the meantime

I'm working on a "proper" post, but until then I give you.......

My GOOD side.....

You are Superman

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others. Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

and my BAD side....


You are Lex Luthor

A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...

Hello 2007!

As the first day of this new year is about to end, I thought I would look back at 2006 (still being jet-lagged, I'm not feeling nearly as tired as I should right now).

2006 was a pretty big year in my life (if you missed that, check the archives ;o). Thank you to my family and "far-away" friends, who have been supportive through these major changes and have been so good about keeping up with my blog, emailing and even downloading Skype to call....I love you all and I was soooooo happy to see (most of) you while I was in MI. I can't wait to hear about your plans to travel to Germany in 2007 (hint, hint)!! And thank you to my (newish) "near" friends, who have been hospitable above and beyond my expectations, extended friendship so readily and become my family away from family (like home away from home).

I am so thankful for you all, near and far, and I hope that 2007 will be a wonderful year for you!

My "firsts" in 2006:
May: I put a house up for sale for the first time (I hope that I'll be able to very soon say that I sold a house for the first time....).

June:
-I started a blog for the first time.
-I moved out of Michigan, out of the US and to a foreign country for the first time.
-I traveled with cats for the first time.
-I rented an apartment for the first time.

July:
-I started working in an office where the official language is something other than English for the first time.
-I went alone to buy a car for the first time (and while speaking in German!).
-I bought my first Mercedes (hopefully not my only ;o)!

August: I made my first official work presentation in German.

September: I became an Aunt for the first time.

November: I celebrated my first Thanksgiving away from my family (and felt really, really lucky to have such awesome friends to celebrate with in absence of my family).

December:
-I flew to Michigan "on vacation" for the first time.
-I met my nephew for the first time.
-I turned 28 for the first (and only) time.
-I celebrated New Year's Eve in Germany for the first time.

There were lots and lots more firsts.....if you've been reading for a while, you know about most of them.

I haven't made any grandiose resolutions for 2007. And I like it better that way......

Tomorrow, when I'm hopefully over my jet lag and motivated to learn how to upload photos from my new camera, I will write about and post some photos from the festivities yesterday.....or should I say today, since they continued until the wee hours of the morning?

Although I am not tired, I will now try to sleep. So, I leave you with a German tradition, the film Dinner for One (in English!), which is watched by many on New Year's Eve. (We didn't watch it last night, but it was quoted frequently.) I hope you appreciate British humor. (If not, it's only 11 minutes!)

Happy New Year!



----If you're wondering about this film, Wikipedia has a good entry about it here. I don't know, I guess it's just one of those things...

Happy New Year's Eve!

I have returned safely to Deutschland. I heard many comments about my blog during my trip....I'm too wordy, but I'm a good writer.....I write too much about my cats, but I'm a good writer....I write about the mundane and don't share the really interesting, but I'm a good writer....while I'll try to take this all to heart, don't expect too many changes.....

Departing Detroit on my birthday turned out to be a really good idea. My large suitcase was very heavy. I was very up front and told the lady at the check-in that I thought I was over the limit on it. Later, I pointed out to her that it was my birthday. So when my suitcase was almost 10 pounds over, she said, "Happy Birthday, you're all set!!!" That was a nice birthday gift!

I think I had the oddest seatmate I've ever had on any flight. The chicken dish had some gravy on it and she used her finger when she was done eating to get all of the gravy out of the dish. And then she licked all of her fingers and didn't wipe them off.....then she even licked the plastic covering that you peel back off of the food. It was gross!

No problems at all at customs in Amsterdam. It's so much easier to get into the EU than into the US. And I guess that work permit stamped into my passport helps too. But I HATE having a layover. It's just wasted time. I haven't had one in a while, but this reminded me how much I hate it.

I splurged and took a taxi home from the Stuttgart airport, instead of taking a train to Feuerbach and then a taxi the short distance. I figured that I didn't want to have to lug my 30 and 60 pound suitcases onto the train, so I just paid for it.

There was no way the sixty pound suitcase was making it upstairs. So I backed the car out of the garage and unloaded a bunch of stuff into the car that I have to deliver to various people right there on the sidewalk. Hope none of the neighbors were looking!

I picked up the cats....they seemed happy to see me. There were 20 cats boarding there! So the lady seemed okay with giving back my three. They seem a little weirded out....there's more meowing than normal and Cheese is currently sleeping under the covers (yes, I'm in bed at 1 p.m.), but other than that, I think they're just fine.

After four trips up the stairs (or what my Mom has taken to calling my personal gym), I have a few hours to lay around (not unpack) and try to sleep before heading to the New Year's shindig.

More to follow.......

Merry Christmas!

Procrastinator is in fact my middle name.

You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you're making someone else happy. Why You're Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn't belong Why You're Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland!

Or see you again, Germany!

The car is parked in the (hated) garage.
The cats are at the cat pension.
The out-of-office notice is on at work.
The neighbors have the contact info in the US.
The neighbors will take over my Kehrwoche if it snows.
The alarm clock is set for 4:30 a.m.
The taxi is ordered for 5:20 a.m.
The seat on the train from Stuttgart to Frankfurt is reserved for 5:51 a.m.
The arrival in Frankfurt is shortly after 7 a.m.
The flight departs at 10 something a.m.

The suitcase is not packed, but will be.
The heat will be turned down.
The dishwasher will be run.
The garbage will be taken out.

Better get going........

Catching up.....

This week flew by. Tuesday and Wednesday were both busy days at work.

Wednesday was St. Nikolaus Day here in Germany. On this day, the children are all supposed to put their shoe in front of their door and St. Nikolaus (Santa Claus) comes and fills their shoe with goodies, usually chocolates and perhaps a small gift. Well, I didn't get a shoe full on Wednesday, but I did get a stocking full on Tuesday night. My friend made me this stocking and filled it with chocolates and a tiny little book. I love traditions and holidays, but I wasn't expecting to participate in this one, so this was definitely a fun surprise!


Wednesday, we left for a business trip. But, because of the meetings I had, I couldn't leave until 4:30 p.m. And because we were driving, the trip took 8 hours. So we arrived around midnight. Then we couldn't find our hotel. And it took forever to find someone who could speak either German or English. So we checked into the hotel really late and went straight to bed. The next day was filled with meetings. Then in the evening, we went into the city, which was very pretty. And my colleague, using my camera, took a bunch of pictures. Here's one:
But what is it? Well, I asked the same question, because they almost all turned out like this. I had my camera set on night scene, which means that you have to hold it still longer, because the shutter is open longer. Apparently, he didn't. And apparently, he also didn't check to see if the picture had turned out after taking it. And then my battery went dead during dinner. So I don't really have any good pictures. Which I'm very sad about. But we did get a picture of how my soup was served at dinner...
It's a little blurry, but you can probably tell that that it is a small pot hanging on a stand over a tealight. It was a delicious goulash soup.

We drove back on Friday. I think that I drove for six of the eight hours. Somehow, though, when you can go 110-120 mph, it just isn't so bad to drive for that long. (Wherever did I get this need for speed???)

Yesterday, we went to the Christmas Market in Ludwigsburg. It's a Baroque-style market and was very pretty. But the camera drama continued. I had switched my batteries, but apparently, the batteries I put in weren't new. So after two pictures, they died. Here are the two pictures.

The Christmas pyramid is very popular in Germany. It's a pyramid of figures with candles and at the top there's a "fan," which is rotated by the heat rising from the candles. This one was oversized (about as tall as an adult man) and was lit with electric candles.
















This one's a little dark, I realize, but it's an angel. The body is sculpted out of metal and the wings and the circle are made out of christmas lights. These were standing high in the air, above the market stalls and were absolutely gorgeous.


At the Christmas market, I was reminded of how small Germany is, when I ran into some people from work. My friends were very surprised when someone loudly called my name and then I was hugging a bunch of people that they had never seen before....there were three of them and two of their spouses. I had seen the one guy at the Volksfest this summer, but the other two I haven't seen since I left Michigan. That was a really nice coincidental meeting!

Then it started to rain, unfortunately, so we left the market. Snow would have been nice, but rain so wasn't.

Today after church, I went back to the Stuttgart Christmas market by myself. I saw lots, bought a few things and ate some Bratwurst. Sorry, no pictures, because nothing's open on Sunday, so I didn't buy batteries. Well, I probably could have found them somewhere in the train station, but they would have cost a small fortune. Another funny coincidence today - the chairman of my company was signing oranges at a charitable booth at the Christmas market (don't ask me why oranges....). They were selling for 1 Euro and the money was of course completely for charity. I thought that was pretty neat.

Tomorrow and Tuesday should also fly by, as the days at work are packed with meetings. Tomorrow night, I will have dinner with my friends from Michigan who are also here on assignment. And then on Tuesday, I have to take the cats to the cat house by 6:30 at the latest, so I can't even work late. Especially because I will have to make three complete trips up and down the stairs to get each of them to the car. I am sure the lady will take good care of them, but at the same time, I hate having to give them to a stranger for 2.5 weeks.....Speaking of my cats, Miss Jemma was watching TV a couple of weeks ago....
If you look closely, you'll see that there's a cat on the TV - I guess she was trying to make friends......

Tuesday night, I think we're going to try to fit in one more Christmas market (they're fun and addictive!) and then it will be Wednesday and I'll be getting up way too early to get to the train station at an unlovely hour to be at the airport in Frankfurt at a reasonable time.

I'm sure I'll have no trouble getting out of Germany and hopefully they'll let me back into the States (I always seem to have the pleasure of having my luggage searched....). And then we'll head to Red Robin for some Diet Coke, a Turkey burger and endless fries..........