random updates

It's (finally) beginning to look a lot like Christmas...... Well, by Cali-Standards, it's been "Christmas-y" for quite a while, prompting me to pull out the warm gloves, leggings, and boots. However, by Germany-standards it's practically Spring. So, we had our first frost (heavy-duty white coating that refused to melt in the sun) and I am now reduced to wearing leg-warmers under my jeans to mute the cold.

I finally finished my application for the Monterey Institute of International Studies, which I procrastinated through, and drew out a lot longer than probably necessary. I still managed to send it in by the 1st deadline (which is best when trying for a scholarship), although applications can be sent until May/June. I'm also looking at some universities here in Germany for Grad School, since tuition here costs 500 euro per semester, so it is inarguably more affordable than in the US.

On another note, I've decided to give up (processed) sugar until Christmas/Christmas Eve since sugar, cookies, cakes and everything are sooooo big in Germany. Then I can indulge a little over the holidays with the bf's family. I figure if I put it in writing then I will "have to" stick to it. lol. Since then I am "back on" coffee. Yum, from one vice to another.

Tomorrow the bf and I are going to the Christmas Market in NeuMunster (the next ok-sized city). I work on Saturday, so I get tomorrow off to go. :) There will be Gluwein (hot, red-wine based Holiday drink), warm soup and much more.... specifics? I don't know, because I've never been to a real Christmas Market, but I will report back on it after.

Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving Everyone. I hope you all had something to be thankful for. In lieu of a Thursday evening celebration (since I work during the week), the boyfriend I had a cozy Saturday Thanksgiving fest. We bought a 3.3 Lb (1.5 kg) chicken (from the local mom and pop, organic fed ranch), which we stuffed with homemade stuffing (first time I've ever attempted making my own stuffing) and it turned out wonderfully. We accompanied this with self-made mashed potatoes (sooooo much better than the box, or frozen sort), gravy and kale. Delicous. Photos to come, since they are on the bf's camera.

chimney sweep

Two blogs in one day... wow. Yesterday the chimney sweep came by. Actually, he was here the day before too, but only to ask if we needed his services and then to pencil us in. So, I found this exciting why? Cause I've never seen a chimney sweep.. well, other than in Mary Poppins. He was only like 25 or so, and pretty attractive, although it's kinda hard to tell under all the layers of grime. Mrs. A asked him how long it takes to get clean at the end of the day (we were all wondering), and he said a good 15 minutes of washing. wow. Anyhoo, the chimney is clean. And we should all have good luck, since it's said seeing a chimney sweep brings you luck (although other variations claim you must kiss him or throw soot over his shoulder).

snow!

This weeks has been rainy, so there have been many crafts constructed. The 4 year old is now addicted to paper-bag puppets, and tiolet-roll figures. Wednesday it actually snowed (crazy!), although it didn't stick and was quickly washed away by the rain- but still, the first snow of the season. :) I've been spending my evenings working on the application process for MIIS (the Monterey Institute of International Studies). It is pretty intense. Two essays, two translations, one abstract, two readings, 2 oral responses, 1 current event summaruzation (two of almost everything... one in English, one in German). And this is all before the acceptance... gees, I'm not sure what I am getting myself into. It's sure to be a lot of hard work, but you know what? I reaaaallly, reaaalllly want it. Today is Mrs. A's birthday. She's off at a photo shoot (like Glamour Shots, I imagine). I am simply looking forward to the weekend with the bf.
In other news, my tiolet is acting up and kinda a bummer. I have to hike down a flight of stairs to pee... not such a big deal except at night. Especially cause the stairs to the third floor squeek... so the everyone in the house is alerted everytime I sneak down to use the loo. Super.

win, win, win

Yesterday the bf and I went to see Monchengladbach play Hamburg in Hamburg (soccer). Hamburg was ranked number 2, and BGM number 15, so our hopes were low that we would beat Hamburg at home. However, much to our glee, Gladbach won 3:2!!! Who could believe it?! And did I mention we were there? Now we are back up to place 12, and Hamburg has moved down one spot to 3rd. Hopefully we've broken our losing streak (it was 6 losses before this). It was really cold (8` C) but well worth it. Here are some pictures.

me at the game

the boys warming up


the field

game time

things looking down

better....

Final Score. Yay.

celebrating in the stands

a baby is born

Yesterday was my first day at the women's Gym. It was nice to have a real work-out, and not just bike-riding (although Yoga is not bad either). Afterwards I rode my bike to the 'middle point of Schleswig Holstein' to meet up with the boyfriend who had been out biking while I was at the gym. We then fed some carrots to a few local horses and ponies who are just too cute. Then, we got a huge surprise when we saw on another field that a baby cow had just been born. Of course we had to go take pictures of the adorable new calf, who a little while later took his first steps. Another cow looked about ready to have a baby too. I didn't know that cows had babies so late in the year.. I would have exected Spring babies... but anyhow, today we are going to go check on the baby in a little while. Here are some pictures:

The center of Schleswig Holstein

feeding the horses

Funny Little Pony


Baby!!!



baby


the other prego cow

bike riding

So, Sunday evening I got a phone call from Mrs. A saying the kid were at their Grandparents for 2 days... meaning 2 more days to spend with the boyfriend. :) So yesteday we spend the afternoon bike-riding and hiking, from about 2 pm until 6... then we had to bike qickly home since it was getting dark. The last few days have provided perfect Fall weather; cold but clear. I took some picture of some cool mushooms, and a cute little newt we came cross, as well as an old water-mill which is still in use. Enjoy.

I know, I know....

I know, I know, it's been way too long since I've blogged. I've been busy, but mostly I've been telling myself "tomorrow." And, as you know, tomorrow never comes. What have I been up to in the last 2 months? Almost every weekend I'm at the boyfriend's apartment (in fact, I am annoying him by typing loudly right now when we should be watching Gran Torino). But I wanted to get something on here. Yesterday we spent the day bike-riding. We discovered an old Youth-Club biulding, which is falling into despair, but at one time must have been an amazing place for kids and teens to hang out.I blame the internet and video games for its lack of use today (I say that somewhat ironically, since I am online now). We hiked a little and enjoyed the cool autumn weather. It's really beautiful now, cold and crisp and clear... but it rains a little too often for my taste (since Fall is my favorite season). Gladbach (our favorite Soccer team) has lost the last 5 games, and pretty much are sucking unnecessarily... beh, prehaps they'll win today, but they're playing the team who was number one last year, so the chance is.... meh, not great. In two weeks they play Hamburg in Hamburg, so we're considering going to the match, but it may be too depressing. lol. Other than that, I lead a boring life. I've joined the new woman's gym, which opens next weekend, and I had my first yoga class last week. I thought Yoga might be boring... since I have a bit of a short attention span, but I actually really, really like it.
The little girl, S, had her 4th b-day a few weeks ago. She invited 4 friends over for a wild little birthday party which I helped run. The next two weeks Mrs. A works every day, which means I will be working 7-6:30/7 everyday too. Next week the kids still have vacation, so it may be brutal. But the week after I'll be able to send them to school for 4 glorious hours... lol. Ok, at least I broke my 2 month dry spell. Hope this wasn't too boring.

hello again

Wow, so it seems like I've been on Blog-Hiatus. Yikes, time to get the ball rolling and throw another blog out there. My time has been spent being routine and boring, and since I didn't want to write a boring blog, I have been skirting the task. But no more. The boyfriend, M, has moved into his apartment, and we've cleaned, painted and decorated. Since he lives only 5 km away (3 miles for all you non-km folks), we see each other a few times a week, although we have to limit our visits so as to not forget about my job and all the other stuff I actually have to do. bummer. We've been going to a local sports bar to watch all of Borussia Monchengladbach's soccer games, although last week's loss to Bremen brought us from 4th to 10th place in the Nation. again, bummer. Hopefully tomorrow we'll win, although Mainz (whom we are playing) did beat FC Bayern last week, so they must be arguably good. I only care about BMG for the most part, so I don't actually know how good the other teams are.
Last week we went to the beach again, and M came with. It was a lot of fun. L, the boy-child, spent last week at his Grandparents' in Hannover, so I had lots of one-on-one time for princess S. A friend of hers came to play Monday, so I had the pleasure of entertaining two 3 year-olds instead of one. Really, they were quite cute. Monday the kids start school again, which also means they will have to be getting up earlier, which will surely be an adjustment... hopefully not too painful of one (for us all).
On another note, I finally screwed up the courage and deleted myspace. I know, I know. It isn't like I ever logged in, but it was a security thing. I knew the ability to log in and myspace-stalk my friends, post annoying questionnaires, and comment on photos was there waiting to quell any extreme boredom. So it was a pretty big step for me, but hey, there's still Facebook to ease my addiction...

Denmark

I think I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, and I'll add the short recaps I wrote while up there. Enjoy.

Day 1-Sat
We survived the 5 1/2 hour drive up (it should have been 4 hours, but there was an accident which caused a lot of traffic), and arrived at the vacation house in Denmark around 4pm. The house is lovely with windows from the floor to the ceiling. We went to the beach, but couldn't swim since it was so windy and the waves were huge. We walked around the small town (Saltrum) a bit, and then headed home to watch a little TV. I have my own room, on the end of the house near the living room, while the other 3 rooms are at the other end. Nice and private. There's a cool loft bedroom with TV and PlayStation for L, the 9 year old. I'm still trying to figure out the monetary conversion here (something like 7 to 1,
in favor of the euro), but I still can't fathom paying 23 anything for 2 scoops of ice cream. lol. Oh, there's no internet here, so I'm writing daily recaps in word, and I will put them together and post them when I get home.





Day 2-Sun
Today the weather was almost perfect. It would have been perfect if not for the wind, which was still better than yesterday. I was woken up at 7:30 by the kids, who somehow where full of energy despite reeking havoc until 12:30 in the morning. Wonders. We spent a few hours wandering around Lokken (the biggest near-by city), where we saw people making candy... which was a very long and painstaking process... but the end result was yummy and very artistic. We then took a brief walk to the ocean. Then we headed home, where I laid out and read for an hour or so, and the kids took a nap before we headed to the beach once more. We walked bare-foot along the shore, and the water was surprisingly warmer than I expected, in fact we may go swimming sometime despite the wind. We came home for dinner, and the kids hung out in my room attempting to play Pac-Man on my laptop. Then at bedtime the little one asked if I would read her her bedtime story- this is the first time she's ever asked me, and is to be interpreted as something of an honor. We read for half an hour, and it went well, despite her short-attention span and seemingly unending energy. I also fell in love with some goofy pants, but we will see if I break down and buy them... I mean, their name does translate to "Harem Pants".. but they're cute.



Day 3-Mon
It rained almost all day today, so we planned to go to the aquarium. However, after driving half an hour there, the line was ridiculously long, and there was no way the kids were willing to wait an hour in the rain. So plan B. We visited a candle factory and L got to hand dip his own candle, which turned out really nice.
Then we stopped by an art gallery, and the little one (S) got a cute little ceramic piggy bank. We then picked up some fresh fish and headed home. I napped a little and we played games indoors (monopoly, guess who, kids Yatzee and so on). After dinner the kids watched Madagascar, and I took a long soak in the jacuzzi tub.
Very relaxing. Hopefully the weather improves tomorrow.


Day 4-Tues
The weather was perfect today, so we spent the day outside. We visited an old lighthouse, which is being swallowed but he dunes. The door is covered, but it has been broken down enough to squeeze through, so of course I had to go in. The stairs were missing railing in some places, but I made it to the top and (despite a fear of heights) got some pretty amazing pictures. We stayed and played in the dunes a little too. After, we visited a museum about the lighthouse, and a history of this particular part of Denmark. We had lunch at the beach, and spent the afternoon playing miniature golf. Nearby on a stage setting up for an evening concert, they performed the sound check by playing a Tracy Chapman CD. In the evening we stopped by the beach once more, and walked along the shore and collected shells/rocks.






Day 5-Wed
Today we drove to the northern most point in Denmark, which also happens to be where the east and north sea meet. Of course we took pictures with one foot in the north sea, and one in the east sea. Much fun! After, we visited a nearby city and then played in some of the biggest Dunes in Denmark.We also visited a cute little church, where we had to climb tiny little steps to get to the top.




Day 6-Thurs
Today we got up early and went to the aquarium. We saw sunfish, seals, and lots of other cool creatures. After we went to the Barracks Museum on the coast, home to 54 barracks built by the Germans during ww2. (over 7,000 in total were built in Denmark during the German occupation). It rained, we bought fresh fish and came home.




Day 7-Fri
Last night was a big storm, I was awoken a few times by the pounding of the rain and wind. We all slept a bit later this morning. The weather was o.k. today, windy but with hardly any rain. We visited a candle factory in Vra today, and I bought a few candles. Then we went to downtown Lokken to shop and walk around. I bought a cute beige skirt, and the harem or Punjabi yoga pants I have been lusting over. They are sooooo comfy, I must learn to make them. :) I also got some postcards. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, packing and cleaning the house to leave early tomorrow morning.