tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72333647923327751222024-03-14T11:45:40.017-07:00With Me It's Always An Adventure!If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone, cause I’m going to make this place your home.Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-19719957711039043582013-04-23T21:53:00.000-07:002013-04-24T13:18:45.769-07:00Tuesday TenSo I am coming to terms with the fact that I just really stink at blogging, or at least keeping up with it on a regular basis. Oh well I guess. I have a lot on my plate (purely an excuse). Hopefully I'll hit publish before it's actually Wednesday...<br />
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1) I'm working my butt off to lose weight. It's been a week. A week of me watching and counting ever. single. calorie. A week of me running and swimming and lifting and hoping and praying that the pounds will come off easily. And the result? I gained weight. What. The. Heck. Anyone want to tell me what I'm doing wrong here? I'm frustrated. And a little defeated. <br />
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2) My dad leaves for Germany this weekend. I'm so jealous. Too bad I don't fit in his suitcase...<br />
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3) In 11 days the "next generation" of GV students go to Germany for the summer program I did last summer. I can't believe it's already been a year.... (You had better believe that there will be a long post in 11 days about how much I miss Germany... what else is new!) As I said to some friends today, I'm half tempted to drive to MI and steal their tickets so I can go instead :)<br />
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4) This week has/will be crazy busy for me in the "work" department. I will be sitting babies (and toddlers and preschoolers) every day this week! Heck yes :) Good thing I LOVE my job and ALL of my families. <br />
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5) I had a cookie fail today. I didn't use enough flour (because I was 100% OUT of flour.) But my mom rocks and brought me more flour! :) Thanks mommy.<br />
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6) Brini is half way done with her exams! Hooray!! 21 more days until she is totally done with her exams! Then we start counting the days until she is here with me! :) I couldn't be more excited!<br />
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7) Hopefully within the next month I will get to go look at a few more schools. I want to figure out where I'm going and what my plan is. There are just too many variables in my life right now. It all needs to calm down.<br />
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8) With the craziness of my work schedule, there are days I'm tempted to just start a babysitting service.... It's crossed my mind more than once in the past few days. But really. How awesome would it be to help other girls earn some money but I would still earn money too. And all the families that need a sitter gets a well trained sitter (cause I would train them of course) they can trust, with back up sitters built in!<br />
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9) There is a good chance I'm going to start painting my room and crafting and rearranging furniture soon. I'm just sooooo bored. I need something to do with my life. Before I had the task of getting the house ready for Alycia and the gang, but now I have nothing.<br />
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10) I have started going to Wednesday night trivia with Andrew which is pretty much the best part of my week now. I can't go this week due to work, but next week I'll be there. It's so nice to go out and socialize with people my own age for a change.<br />
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So. There is this week's Tuesday 10. And it only took me 15 minutes. Awesome :)<br />
Maybe y'all will get another post this week. Maybe not. Depends on how determined I am. (And how bored I am....)<br />
Until next week! (Or sooner!)<br />
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Lots of love!<br />
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~Katy JoKaty Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-46343381762075192062013-04-16T20:09:00.000-07:002013-04-24T13:19:40.589-07:00Tuesday Ten!Two posts in one day! I know. Craziness...<br />
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1) Loved having my friends here for a weekend. Made the house feel so full of love and fun. Plus seeing them all was ahhhhh-mazing.<br />
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2) I doubt anyone will find this as enjoyable or funny as I did but.....<br />
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Baby gates and a kids' step stool in a shower...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a BABY SHOWER!</td></tr>
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Hahahaha.....<br />
My hilarity and I will go hide in a corner now....<br />
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3) My best friend Sabrina is studying her butt off right now for her final exams. So send her some good vibes people. She's got 28 days until she is DONE DONE DONE (as long as she passes, which she will because she is the bomb.com).<br />
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4) Mumford and Sons = my new music love. "I Will Wait" is my favorite song EVER at the moment. Like on repeat all day kind of love. It makes me wiggle and dance and smile. Nothing better than that!<br />
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5) Speaking of music, I'm super sad I'm not going to the Carrie Underwood concert that is coming up. I love her. Her concerts are magnificent. I've seen her twice at Ravinia and she was jaw dropping good. <br />
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6) It's hard not being in Michigan with my friends and teammates. I see things they put up on Facebook and Instagram and I'm just sad. I wish I was there with them. I have to keep reminding myself that this is what is best for me right now.<br />
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7) I'm also terrified of going back to school. I start classes in May and they are all online. Hopefully it won't be too awful but I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway!<br />
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8) Tomorrow I'm going out with a friend and being social. I don't get to do that very often so I'm pumped. Hopefully I remember how to be social with people my own age. I spend my days with kids age 8 and under. AND it's a trivia night. Oh boy.<br />
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9) All the college kids come home soon! Hooray! That means more opportunities for a social life! I can't wait to see my high school friends. It's been so long. I wasn't home last summer so really, it's been a long time.<br />
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10) <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you see what doesn't belong here???</td></tr>
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The boys I was babysitting the other week did this to a painting in their house. All 3 of us were dying of laughter.<br />
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Alright. Well that's it for now. Have a great end to your Tuesday! Hope to post tomorrow about my weight loss goal!<br />
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Lots of love!!<br />
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~Katy JoKaty Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-43841421156719928382013-04-16T19:29:00.001-07:002013-04-24T13:20:20.900-07:00My weekend with my Michiganders!So do you remember last Tuesday when I mentioned I had friends coming to visit???<br />
Well they came! (and then they left... but after being here for a few days)<br />
We had a great time, or at least <b>I</b> had a great time. <br />
So Alycia, Chase, Little Miss and Tipter came to visit. We had been planning this for about a month, maybe more. I've spent the past month cleaning to get the house ready for them to live with us for a weekend. Our house isn't very big, barely big enough for the 4 of us some days. But we had to find a way to fit 4 more people, granted 2 of them were much smaller than the rest of us, but regardless a total of 8 people had to fit in our house... Mission impossible? Almost. But I got it done.<br />
So Friday (after mucho drama and one person almost not being able to come) my 4 loves were on the road to Palatine! We got everyone in the house, did some introductions (Little Miss decided to be shy for once in her life), and had dinner. After dinner we left Mom and Dad at home and all headed to Coldstone for a nice treat.<br />
We ended the night soon there after due to a VERY tired Little Miss (who wasn't feeling the best either). Alycia and Chase went to investigate a hotel for Saturday night and once they were back we all went to bed.<br />
Now Little Miss and I were in my brother's room and around 2:45 she was up, therefore so was I! She was WIDE awake, crazy kid. By 6 am we were downstairs playing with my old baby dolls. Kiddo was a hoot. We talked a lot about our plans for the day: taking a train, then a bus, then going to see some fish, dolphins, whales and penguins! Boy was she excited.<br />
Everyone got up, dressed and we were out the door to catch the train. The train ride was good, nothing too special I guess. Little Miss seemed to like it, Tipter could care less, as you can see.<br />
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After a bus ride to the Shedd and a bit of waiting in lines, feeding Tipter and a potty break, we were finally looking at some fish!<br />
Little Miss LOVED the aquarium. Her nose was pressed to the glass the <b>whole </b>time. <br />
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We didn't get to see the show they have but that just means they will have to come back again to see it! </div>
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Down in the viewing area for the dolphins, whales and penguins there is an area where the kids can touch a star fish and some other cool things, along with water to splash in. </div>
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Little Miss LOVED that too. It was hard to peel her away from it. She wasn't so sure about the star fish, but the water, LOVED IT! :)</div>
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We ended our day downtown early. Leesh was sad we didn't have time to see more. We finally took a picture together (as we were walking...). But the Shedd with the two littles was a lot to do in one day. Plus Alycia and Chase had a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice hotel room calling their names. That meant I got the kids for the night (after our dinner at CPK). Baths, a bottle for Tipter and some play time for Little Miss. My brother actually started to enjoy playing with the kids! A first for him.<br />
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Off to bed we went! Sunday we were up and playing away. </div>
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Happy baby Tipter took an awesome nap and John actually held him! (First time he's held a baby!) </div>
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Chase and Alycia came around 11:30 for our Chipotle lunch and after that they all went home. The house is wayyyyyy too quiet for me now.</div>
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All in all a wonderful trip. We loved having them here. Little Miss charmed and chatted her way in the hearts of my family and Tipter just smiled and giggled his way in :) Love this whole family soooo much!</div>
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I can't wait for them to come back! :)</div>
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Lots of love!</div>
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~Katy Jo</div>
Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-12112412215443743512013-04-09T21:21:00.000-07:002013-04-24T13:21:07.788-07:00Hello again! Tuesday TenHello blogging world. Long time no read/write. My apologies for the overly long dramatic pause. I left you with quite the cliff hanger there. I didn't even make it to Christmas!<br />
But alas, I survived christmas, and finals and leaving Germany. I survived finding a job (that i love love LOVE!), I survived moving back home (so far at least), and I'm surviving being so far away from my best friend.<br />
I know I say this a lot, but I'm hoping to catch back up. I promise to shorten it up a little. I am using this blog as a sort of diary, a way for me to remember my trip. so please bear with me.<br />
Today I'm going to start something I hope I can keep up, Tuesday Ten! Here goes nothing!<br />
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1) I'm currently getting the house ready for my girly Alycia and family to come visit! As I told a friend this week, I'm not a fan of cleaning, but I don't mind cleaning for a reason! And she couldn't be a better reason!<br />
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2) Spending so much time in my room, cleaning and organizing has brought back many high school memories. People swear that your college years are your best years and while I don't want to completely call them out, I really loved high school. Those were the good days. The easy days. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the college years too!<br />
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3) Whilest cleaning, I've been rewatching Criminal Minds. LOVE this show. I thought I had seen most of the episodes and would end of skipping most of them. But behold!! I was wrong! There are a ton that I hadn't seen before! Hooray for "new" episodes!<br />
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4) I'm waiting for the dreams about the Criminal Minds BAU team members to start... When I was watching Grey's Anatomy day in and day out, I started having dreams and thinking of the characters as real people, my friends even. Pathetic I know, but it was spring break and I had to stay on campus...<br />
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5) Last week I starting helping out in a second grade classroom. Today when I walked in (first day back after the weekend) and all the kids said good morning to me. It made me smile. I'm so easily pleased.... :)<br />
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6) I've been trying to find a new planner. Mine ends after July and I'm so picky. The one I have isn't exactly what I want. I'm so specific about it! Anyone know anyone who could customize some pages for me? Or just make me a template? I want it to be fun and colorful, but I'm 99% positive I don't have the means to do that.<br />
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7) Cleaning/organizing my room has more than just the purpose of getting it ready for my guests. While I was in Germany I started daydreaming about redoing my room here at home. So once my room is clean and semi-organized, I will hopefully be painting, rearranging and doing a whole slew of crafty projects to spruce up my room!<br />
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8) My walls look so bare without all the high school posters. It's almost sad. Yet at the same time, it's freeing. No more staring at the walls and reliving my high school days. Life is so different now...<br />
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9) Look at these gems I found today while cleaning out my brother's closet.<br />
<img alt="image.jpeg" class="hv" height="238" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=082f0d6a02&view=att&th=13df222479528f0f&attid=0.0&disp=thd&zw" width="320" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvvRXIY8Q3LlKUYWJ2vKYhEM5JvteypdMs5xBz_Cztb3hdA-mRGGNAfKdcIXQYDkrYbrQAhiTwwycQSSkpBqt-jVvl5Ur2xexrMZu47M1t4YETvSGopgQQGztLahiLyDiWw7mvmPcF5U/s1600/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvvRXIY8Q3LlKUYWJ2vKYhEM5JvteypdMs5xBz_Cztb3hdA-mRGGNAfKdcIXQYDkrYbrQAhiTwwycQSSkpBqt-jVvl5Ur2xexrMZu47M1t4YETvSGopgQQGztLahiLyDiWw7mvmPcF5U/s320/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a><img alt="image.jpeg" class="hv" height="239" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=082f0d6a02&view=att&th=13df222479528f0f&attid=0.2&disp=thd&zw" width="320" /><br />
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I also found the <strike>lack there of </strike>attempts at a baby book my mother made. Good times y'all, good times.<br />
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10) I miss Germany y'all. It's crazy how much I miss it. Not just my friends, or the freedom, but the language, the lifestyle, the city, the landscape, everything. And it's been almost a year since I went with 14 others from GV to spend the best 6 weeks of our life in Germany. TAKE ME BACK....<br />
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Lots of love!!<br />
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~Katy Jo Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-44812793706020763042013-02-10T11:52:00.000-08:002013-02-10T11:52:04.185-08:0024.12.12-30.12.12: Christmas and Bad NauheimSorry for my 98% lack of posting. I seem to go through phases where I write a bit, then there is a dry spell, then I write a bit, cue another dry spell, and then yep you guessed it another whole bunch of posts! I'm working on it I swear. Once I get home I hope to carve out a little blogging time each week, or each day if I'm lucky!<br />
Big-ish things are on the horizon for me so keep your fingers crossed that everything works out! I still have to tell you all about my goals, hopes and dreams for this year! But hey, it's only February.... yeah no. I'm a little late aren't I? Whoops...<br />
So back to the blog post! Remember December? Around Christmas time? Here we had no snow and it was gloriously warm! Like almost (if not over) 50 degrees Fahrenheit!!!! I'd take that over a white Christmas any day!<br />
Germans do Christmas a little differently, but that is (yes you guessed it) a another post of its own. I have a whole list of things to talk about and trust me, one day I will write all of them... one day. That day will hopefully come in this life time, hopefully this year, and even more hopefully this month! Not going to push it and say this week because well... I have a lot going on! Sorry internet friends...<br />
Anyway....<br />
The 24th is Sabrina's cousin's birthday so a chunk of our day was spent with relatives. There was cake and coffee and more importantly champagne, hehehe. I tried this chocolate that ended up having some kind of jam in it. Not my favorite but I survived! We chatted with Sabrina's cousin and her friends. One of her aunt's kept asking me questions. I think there was a whole little group of them talking about me. What can I say, I'm a pretty hot topic around here! :)<br />
No one really stayed too long because after all it was Christmas Eve. We headed back home, finished making some food, and headed downstairs to Sabrina's Opa and Oma's flat for dinner. Her mom's sister and her daughter Kim, and Kim's boyfriend were there, along with the four of us, Oma, Opa (who had just returned from a long stay in the hospital), and a great-grandma (Opa's mother). We had lots of starch for dinner, french fries, potato salad and spätzle along with some meat and sauce. There was salad too. Dinner was yummy, as usual. We exchanged some gifts. Oma gave me a gift too. I was beaming! Then they gave Oma and Opa a big gift, a digital picture frame! We set it up and watched for a good 20 minutes! It was fun seeing all of the pictures of the family. I think they really enjoyed it! From there we cleaned up from dinner and headed back up to our flat.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WmsCCk92daNzerYczLZsGitef5MLX0Oi2e7eOoCJCq58HrS7Y53SRG_mjrfiRSxf2WiLcKC5irqw7ztVT0NbHLyth0uBGo0pbBGpxmroqNzFQvMgVK9qCvWTm6e6Tpn0hyYXhVGYr6Q/s1600/IMG_2661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WmsCCk92daNzerYczLZsGitef5MLX0Oi2e7eOoCJCq58HrS7Y53SRG_mjrfiRSxf2WiLcKC5irqw7ztVT0NbHLyth0uBGo0pbBGpxmroqNzFQvMgVK9qCvWTm6e6Tpn0hyYXhVGYr6Q/s320/IMG_2661.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Binder/Stähle Christmas</td></tr>
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Sooner after, we were joined by Aunt Mani, Kim and her boyfriend for opening gifts. Sadly my presents from my parents hadn't arrived yet which meant the big part of my gift to Sabrina was here yet, sadface. I thankfully had one small thing for her, so she wasn't left totally empty handed. I did receive gifts from Kim and Mama and Papa Binder, and of course Sabrina :) I was more than thrilled to be such a part of the family! I am overjoyed with the thoughtful things I received and all the chocolate.<br />
My favorite gift was definitely the ticket to see the circus from Sabrina!!! I've never been to the circus!!!! I'm so glad she heard me say that a month ago when we walked past a poster for a circus that was coming to SG. She is so amazing. Love her to pieces!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_CGgcveJUaqT5FeQSKZEWqr1yFWFSxuxM8jIe6AnP4vHOm1_sklXpZLKw6o0mMAHVzCu238rKxT42LjwzH1ounEfIu6zf9ICK9VbNqs_jQvnNBoeBN8RAMvuJk-4-eBd4XgQw7CVo1o/s1600/IMG_2664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_CGgcveJUaqT5FeQSKZEWqr1yFWFSxuxM8jIe6AnP4vHOm1_sklXpZLKw6o0mMAHVzCu238rKxT42LjwzH1ounEfIu6zf9ICK9VbNqs_jQvnNBoeBN8RAMvuJk-4-eBd4XgQw7CVo1o/s400/IMG_2664.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My circus ticket and my favorite person!</td></tr>
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We wrapped up the night by skyping with my family!! I was finally able to introduce some of my favorite people to some of my other favorite people! Sabrina has met both of my parents and my brother at least via skype (if you have a good memory you might remember her <a href="http://withmeitsalwaysanadventure.blogspot.de/2012/12/111-511-bad-nauheim.html" target="_blank">meeting my dad in Bad Nauheim</a> in November, if not there is a link conveniently placed right there...). But they had never met Mama and Papa Binder! It was really cool to watch them "meet" for the first time! To top it off my parents had sent the Binders flowers for Christmas and to say thank you for taking such good care of me! It was a sweet moment when they figured out who the flowers were from :) Well I ended up talking with my parents for over an hour with Mama and Papa Binder close by and Sabrina right next to me. It was a great end to a great night!<br />
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We took one final Christmas picture and called it a night! I had to get a good night's sleep, I was going to the circus tomorrow!!<br />
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The 25th we had a normal morning: woke up late, laid around in bed, had breakfast, did nothing productive, etc. For lunch we had Raclette which Aunt Mani was here for! There was lots of cheese, salami and bread involved and it was DELICIOUS as usual! Maybe, just maybe I can find the means to do this back home too!<br />
After lunch Sabrina probably worked on her thesis. But she was in the last weeks of it so I let it slide. We had an early dinner and then all 4 of us (Sabrina and I gave her parents tickets to the circus for Christmas too!) headed to the CIRCUS!!!!!!! I was so pumped!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhV_4F0QaVlgUlSYetgFd-WoHNQTMRW2zYU2lnXESkltVR1-RMUgr1IMxFEDwRMhyBvrPkUmIXruhhqg9CuSnPzfaXb0UgpaS_cxXcKG1vUqgEfFqgoHe3oyhgoA7xzXt5vX3e4N21Jaw/s1600/IMG_2674.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhV_4F0QaVlgUlSYetgFd-WoHNQTMRW2zYU2lnXESkltVR1-RMUgr1IMxFEDwRMhyBvrPkUmIXruhhqg9CuSnPzfaXb0UgpaS_cxXcKG1vUqgEfFqgoHe3oyhgoA7xzXt5vX3e4N21Jaw/s320/IMG_2674.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">THE CIRCUS TENT!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!</td></tr>
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Inside we bought some popcorn and waited to go inside to snag some seats. The acts were either really cool or hilarious. There was a ventriloquist. He was probably my favorite. Him or when we got to bounce around the giant balls!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznXoXhT7vBhnagu1-uSzQT0o_GBvAbTYh1t5rMYyRNxiAVNPxeOVdOgKUMNfbl8ai2GplFAxUVGwegaP-KVyWTmzX3qoeRMmKHS5xCPFI9JLCQSfclb__x7xgUsYcEzUTDp9u-dUkz2g/s1600/IMG_2673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznXoXhT7vBhnagu1-uSzQT0o_GBvAbTYh1t5rMYyRNxiAVNPxeOVdOgKUMNfbl8ai2GplFAxUVGwegaP-KVyWTmzX3qoeRMmKHS5xCPFI9JLCQSfclb__x7xgUsYcEzUTDp9u-dUkz2g/s320/IMG_2673.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keeping to giant balls afloat!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c9mJ_c1_nWpJNby8f1oN9CTqq7aOBaCgpO_JpM8Og9d810ZCQqEfIEqALghyyVS0TSgkna3mm6saZ2HLXgHETLY39QIhZTIylZRUJwWQrbEtKdhXK2_yxlo8OfHEZ5_Ox9xPUM3bLfE/s1600/IMG_2672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1c9mJ_c1_nWpJNby8f1oN9CTqq7aOBaCgpO_JpM8Og9d810ZCQqEfIEqALghyyVS0TSgkna3mm6saZ2HLXgHETLY39QIhZTIylZRUJwWQrbEtKdhXK2_yxlo8OfHEZ5_Ox9xPUM3bLfE/s320/IMG_2672.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bored at intermission</td></tr>
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It was one the best Christmas presents ever. I loved it! Thank you Sabrina for such a wonderful night! It was an added bonus having your parents there too! :)<br />
The 26th is still a holiday in Germany. They spend 3 days celebrating which is fun and all, except everything is closed all three days. On the 26th we spent most of our day with Sabrina's mom's side of the family at Tom and Nico's house. We played games with the boys and had lots of good food and good family time. I really enjoy my time with Sabrina's family. It makes me wish my family didn't all live so far away and taught me to treasure the time that we do have!<br />
The 27th was nothing special. Just a regular lazy day for us. Sabrina worked on her thesis. I got ready to go to Oma's the next day.<br />
The 28th was Oma's 88th birthday. I knew I had to go see her. I had hoped Sabrina could come with me but she had her thesis to attend to. She dropped me off at the train station early in the morning (7 am), I bought my ticket and got on the train. The train ride there was simple. I'm practically a pro at this point. I only had my half full suitcase and my backpack. I arrived at Oma's around 10:15 am and she couldn't have been happier to see me! She told me about all the calls she had received so far, specifically the one at 8 am from my niece. Apparently she babbled for a few minutes as her happy birthday to her great-grandma. She got ready for her birthday lunch and my dad's ex-wife came to pick us up. Yes it was awkward, but that's the norm for my family... who knows. We drove to the restaurant where a few of her friends were already waiting for the birthday girl! Mark, Nadine and Cutie Pie would be joining us soon, Cutie Pie just needed a nap first. Nadine's parents were there as well. I think in the end there were 14 of us (including my brother, SIL and niece who eventually showed up).<br />
When they all finally showed up I was amazed by how much Cutie Pie has grown since November! I feel like she is suddenly sooooo big! And she is starting to mumble a few words, mostly mama and papa. We worked on Opa for a bit too. She started off a tiny little bit shy, mostly just wanting to hang on mommy and occasionally on daddy. We let her toddle around for a bit before I scooped her up and we started playing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXtl0CSxKpWhGWWrMbxh6XeDPT2geLMvGr4pyM8VS-jjIg9gHLdiNozkhQtjlMHMb9kO4DU8mF2Rn4LoKT8ZP0o2Xi5JdoXFK1t9gqRdPVMDugMtsGd5M5aW27UajlX4R6nZFKRN843U/s1600/IMG_2679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaXtl0CSxKpWhGWWrMbxh6XeDPT2geLMvGr4pyM8VS-jjIg9gHLdiNozkhQtjlMHMb9kO4DU8mF2Rn4LoKT8ZP0o2Xi5JdoXFK1t9gqRdPVMDugMtsGd5M5aW27UajlX4R6nZFKRN843U/s320/IMG_2679.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toddling around cause she was bored...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VBx47lEajn1dKlhc2UbfuJwwRb5jcdv5KsQaGYuJrz8FIhyfzfCtvA1zBXM_yond3YQTNTpPfQ4qELaNszUd7PjdPQESCbwsHdM3p6kTMBJqpgnZuj7MoeXTYHFA4bqASy9uTyOxg9k/s1600/IMG_2685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8VBx47lEajn1dKlhc2UbfuJwwRb5jcdv5KsQaGYuJrz8FIhyfzfCtvA1zBXM_yond3YQTNTpPfQ4qELaNszUd7PjdPQESCbwsHdM3p6kTMBJqpgnZuj7MoeXTYHFA4bqASy9uTyOxg9k/s320/IMG_2685.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite picture of us to date!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvk9wdnfyxrjCqrcvGzmjCe1hoZ7bV04tJmuHit3ctuq7Exbw2YmdTCJQikPIoSWpJZpAvHxQ3siyp3fZNFrcxsR0SZC0HJg2GS5WI5vnVQBr0-UcFqHui3IZd3cNOpw8aZghY0eJ26us/s320/IMG_2686.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="239" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have come to the conclusion that my father is the carrier of the weirdo gene. My evidence is this picture.</td></tr>
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We had a great time at lunch catching up, talking and playing with Cutie Pie. I really was wishing it didn't have to end. Nadine's mother saw how much I was enjoying the time with my brother and family so she told me I was just going to go home with them, unbeknownst to my brother. As we were walking out of the restaurant Cutie Pie was waving at me all crazy and giving me these hilarious faces. I think it made her day when I got in the car with her! Her face just lit up! Gosh I love her.<br />
So back to their house I went and it was wonderful. Mark had some things to do in the basement so it was mostly just Nadine, Cutie Pie and myself and boy with Cutie Pie being cute. Wonder how she got the nickname... ;)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She really really really loves books.</td></tr>
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Our afternoon started with her showing me each and every single toy she owns. She took them all out of the bin and shoved them in my face. I said "thank you" each time and exclaimed at how wonderful each toy/book was. Cutie Pie also has her own language as many kids her age do and it was the best I've ever heard. She sounds like some is fast forwarding her. It's hilarious. I'm also pretty sure I got her to say "Katy" at least once. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough for this proud Auntie. She enjoyed climbing all over me and especially liked snatching my iphone as I tried to snap a few good pictures of her. So I ended up distracting her with books. Now I have a ton of pictures of her looking at books, but not too many good ones of her looking at the camera. Oh well. They are cute pictures none the less. She also enjoyed using her toys to comb my hair. It was hysterical and she thought it was absolutely amazing. Obviously mom and dad don't let her do that very often.<br />
Mark took me back to Oma's around 5:30. In the car I attempted to pester the gender of the bun in the oven out of him, but I had no luck. They found out the baby's gender but won't tell anyone. They also won't tell what names they have picked out. How rude. I don't do well with such big secrets and surprises. I can't wait until April/May to "meet" my next niece or nephew. Sadly I will not be able to meet him/her for quite some time, but if my dad is lucky enough he might just be there for the birth of his SECOND grandchild!<br />
Back in Oma's room we played Rummikub until I was half asleep. In the middle of one of our games my dad called to say happy birthday which meant I got to talk to him too! I gave him the scoop with Oma, how she was doing and all that jazz. We wrapped it up after a bit so I could go back to kicking my Oma's butt at Rummikub. Seriously though. It was kind of pathetic at some points... until she suddenly went on a winning streak. Not cool Oma, not cool at all.<br />
The next morning we had breakfast and sat around chatting before I had to head to the train station. A good friend of hers insisted on driving us there which was super sweet of her. I'm glad my Oma has friends like that. It makes me feel a tiny bit better about us being so far away. She is living in a great place and is surrounded by great friends. Makes my heart smile.<br />
We were extremely early which was fine. Just meant we had more time to talk. I had to buy my train ticket at one of the machines which amazed Oma. She thought it was pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread. After 45 minutes of sitting around it was about time for my train to come. I said my tearful goodbye not knowing when I would see her again. I boarded the train and off I was back to Sabrina.<br />
Three and a bit hours later I was back in Göppingen getting picked up by Sabrina. The feeling of "going home" was overwhelmingly wonderful. Like I had butterflies in my stomach. And I was gone for just over 24 hours. It was weird and a little pathetic. Just means I love it here.<br />
She informed me that she had to go visit the hospital the next day because her Opa wasn't doing so well again and her family wasn't sure he would make it through New Years. She still wanted to go on our little trip, but she needed to see him first.<br />
The 30th Sabrina spent some time at the hospital in the morning and came back sad. It was really hard for her to see her Opa like that. A lot of emotions. So we spent some time watching funny movies and videos on youtube. Anything to make her smile again. Then we packed up for our New Years trip.<br />
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The details of that coming in the next post!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!<br />
Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-39007903930487036072013-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:002013-02-04T11:00:17.086-08:0017.12-23.12: Christmas PrepI spent this week at Sabrina's again. Don't know why, just felt like it I guess :)<br />
I had decided to bake a whole bunch of cookies for my translation class on Thursday and for my kids on Friday. I did that Wednesday and frosted them Thursday. There were soooooo many! I didn't think baking would be so difficult in a different country. But it really has been for me! There were over 100 cookies, maybe more like 200... that's a lot of cookies!<br />
This week we ate well, watched funny movies and just waited for classes to be over.<br />
Translation class on Thursday was nice. Glühwein and cookies. And translations of course :)<br />
Afterwards Dayna, Sabrina and I headed back to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was sooooo yummy! This time I got mozzarella sticks as an appetizer and then a burrito for dinner. There was soooooooooo much stuff in that burrito but that made it just that much better! LOOOOOOVED IT!<br />
After dinner we headed back to our rooms (well I went to Sabrina's but that's no surprise) and I finished frosting cookies. I attempted to get myself ready for the early morning ahead and have things packed up to go into Sabrina's car. I can't remember how well I did at that, but I'm going to guess not too well... Whoops.<br />
I got up around 6:30, thus giving myself a good chunk of time to get ready. I attempted to take the fewest trips back and forth from the bathroom to Sabrina's room hoping not to wake her. I threw on clothes, did up my face all pretty, packed up the millions of cookies and flew out the door thinking I would almost miss the bus. Well the bus was just 10 minutes late. Slight panic attack....<br />
The sun had yet to rise by the time I got to the school. The kids had started to gather in anticipation of the school day beginning. Frau Jung found me almost immediately and took me up to the classroom. Not too long after the bell rang and the kids came rushing in. And with the kids came more and more and more treats! The tables were overflowing! The parents really out did themselves.<br />
Once all the kids were there, we headed to the church for a quick service. A few of the girls were fighting over who got to hold my hands. I think I had 3 or 4 total. They were happy to hold someone else's hand who was holding mine. So that helped.<br />
We got to the church and settled into two pews. The service wasn't too long well for me at least. It was for the kids. My kiddos started getting fidgety. We sang some songs, some older kids put on a little shadow puppet play, sang more songs, the priest talked and then it was over.<br />
We headed back to the classroom for treats and some Christmas fun! They were all so excited for the cookies. They pigged out. It was adorable.<br />
When the kids went outside to play Frau Jung and I went upstairs to the teacher's area. I met a few of the other teachers and the principle. 15 minutes later the break was over, and we were back in the classroom with the kids.<br />
We finished up the advent story Frau Jung and the kids had been reading. She had me help out with that too. Then it was back to eating cookies and having fun.<br />
At the end of the day, the kids wanted to sing some songs for me. They sang the gingerbread man song we had worked on the weeks before. It was hilarious. They were so much fun! They really seemed to pick up a lot of the english. I was impressed.<br />
Sabrina picked me up in a very fully packed car! It was crazy full. I can only imagine how full it will be when we have to try and get all my suitcases in there....<br />
Saturday and Sunday we just sat around and got our presents (or lack there of) ready for Christmas. Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-6330629042714852662013-01-26T11:37:00.003-08:002013-01-26T11:37:55.340-08:00Exams, papers, end of the semester!Hey all.<br />
So some of you might have noticed my total lack of posts recently....<br />
I promise I have tons of them planned, written down on scraps of paper, jumbled up in my head screaming to be let out! I have so much to tell, so much to talk about.<br />
But right now I just don't have time. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. School started after Christmas break, I saw some old friends, Sabrina got sick, and now I'm writing papers and studying for exams! Where did the semester go???<br />
So I promise to get back on the horse as soon as things die down! Give me 1 more week and I will overload you with posts! PROMISE!!!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-9332800676142228242013-01-09T04:09:00.000-08:002013-01-09T04:09:09.923-08:0010.12-16.12: A sad and rough week with some perksClass Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as usual. Thursday night was a rough one. I'll save all the drama for another post.<br />
I spent this week at Sabrina's. I think I went to my dorm room once for a few hours on Tuesday. It was a hard week for both of us. We both had things going on at home. Sabrina's Opa was still in the hospital. It's been really hard for her and the family as a whole. And she was really starting to break under it all. We started looking at different options for New Years. Originally we were going to go to Belgium with Dayna and Bert. But then her international friends from her semester at GV decided to all meet up in Amsterdam for a few days and she wanted me to come with. But as of the beginning of this week she just didn't want to be that far away from home in case anything happened. So we started looking for other options.<br />
We spent a lot of time this week watching funny, uplifting movies. No Grey's. No hospital stuff. Not the right time.<br />
This Friday was the second lesson we were going to have about the Gingerbread man in my second grade class. I somehow was put in charge of planning it all. But with everything swimming around in my head (especially after Thursday) I let go of the reins for it and turned it over to Frau Jung and the others. I just didn't have the brain power or the concentration or the energy. I barely slept Thursday night. I spent most of the time skyping with my family. It was rough.<br />
Friday morning I got up and went to my school. Frau Jung (and the kids too of course) were really happy to see me and almost immediately upon walking into the room I had a smile on my face. It's like the kids somehow knew I needed some cheering up. They were super loving and clingy. Bert wasn't with us again this week because he was already heading home.<br />
We reviewed the gingerbread man vocab. Then we moved on to the activities. There was a song for them to learn. I read the story them again. There was a counting game (with candy) and another activity with different spices. The kids had a lot of fun and time went waaaaaay faster than we thought! We only got through one rotation of the activities. Oh well. Maybe next week!<br />
Sabrina picked me up and we headed to Adelberg. On the way we stopped in Göppingen to do a couple quick errands. We picked up a gift certificate for a massage for Mama Binder's birthday. Then we went in search of a fabric store for me. There were a couple of crafty things I wanted to do. The store was a major bust though. They didn't have much fabric. Oh well. It can wait until I'm back in the states. We stopped at DM and picked up some things we needed. Then we grabbed lunch at the Weihnachtsmarkt. Why can't those be up year round? For reals though. The food is so yummy and cheap and quick to eat! Finally we headed home to Adelberg.<br />
That night I got the devastating news that my mom had to put our cat down. And then about an hour after that I learned about the shooting in Conneticut. There will be a post about that soon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My baby boy. I miss him so much.</td></tr>
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Saturday was a day of respite. Lazy day. Preparing for Sunday.<br />
Sunday was Mama Binder's birthday. So people started arriving not too long after 10 am and stayed until about 4 pm. Sabi's cousins Nico and Tom were there. I got to meet some of her dad's side of the family too. It was a nice day. It makes me wish my family lived closer together. It's practically impossible to get us all together and completely impossible to get together as often as Sabi's family. But it helps that they all live within a half hour of each other...<br />
Monday back we went to SG. Ready to go for the last week of classes before our 2 week Christmas break! Woo hoo!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany! <br />
<br />Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-7696356250641839442013-01-09T03:35:00.002-08:002013-01-09T03:35:28.649-08:003.12-9.12: Gingerbread man, Mercedes Benz, WeihnachtsmarktJust another boring week in school :) But the end of the week got a little more fun!<br />
The English lesson for my second graders this week was about the gingerbread man. Frau Jung had brought up this idea a few weeks before. The lesson this Friday was going to be working on vocab and reading the story. Bert and I were in charge or reading the story. Well Friday morning I received a message from Bert that he had a family emergency and wouldn't make it to class. Poor guy. (All was okay in the end. No worries people!)<br />
So off I went to read the book solo! The kids were sad that Bert wasn't there but they got over it and were very excited for the English lesson. They are so much fun. They work so hard to remember those words and there were a lot of them! Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, flour, eggs, baking powder, old man, cow, horse, fox, old man, old lady, farm, oven, river. They did so well!<br />
I read the story twice. Then switched to the other book Frau Jung had. We read that one twice. Then we talked about the differences between the stories. They actually caught a lot of them! I honestly didn't think they would understand so much! I set the bar waaaaaay too low for them. What little amazing sponges these kids are :)<br />
After school I headed back to the Wohnheim to finish up a few things before I headed to Sabrina's for the weekend. Bert needed to borrow my bed again this weekend because he had another friend coming to visit. So I had to clean, change the sheets, pack, and I was finally finishing up Sabrina's birthday present. Her birthday was in August. Whoops. But it's hard when we are so far apart. And then I just never got around to it. But I got it done! I made her a big poster with pictures of the two of us and put a couple of cute sayings on it plus the TWO cards I had for her. One store bought, one hand made!<br />
She picked me up and then we turned around to take the bus to go into town. She had to buy train tickets for our excursion the next day so we stopped there first. Then we went to Marktplatz to buy her some tights to keep warm tomorrow. We stopped at H&M, got tights, and then walked around the Weihnachtsmarkt. I really wasn't in the mood to hang around downtown but I didn't have much of a choice. A couple of her friends met us in town and they all went and had Glühwein. It's this warmed up wine pretty much. The Germans drink it at Christmas time. There is also a non-alcoholic kind (Kinderpunch) which is what Sabrina normally drinks due to the fact that she doesn't like wine normally. I didn't feel like having any. I really didn't feel like doing anything but curling up in bed. Don't know what was wrong with me that day. It happens though. Another friend came too. Sabrina saw I was kind of miserable and shaking because it was cold so she found us a spot in front of the fire. Not too long later we headed home and I went to bed right away hoping sleep would help me shake off the bad mood.<br />
Saturday we (as in all of the Erasmus and tutors) were going to the Mercedes Benz museum and then to another Weihnachtsmarkt in Esslingen. A good 8 hours of sleep sadly did not help shake the bad mood. First thing that made me smile that day was Bert :) He was borrowing my room for the weekend and I realized I didn't have a good purse with me for Saturday. So in the morning I sent him a text begging him to bring me a specific purse. And he's a rockstar and did! :) There he was, on the bus, carrying a purse :) Love that kid!<br />
We went to the train station and waited around for the train. I chatted with Christoph a little who I hadn't seen in what felt like ages. We all got on the PACKED train. Sabrina, Dayna, Bert (and his friend), Christoph, and I all stood together. It was a good train ride. Let's just say that by the time I got off the train my head was in a MUCH better place. We walked to the Mercedes Benz museum and waited outside while Sabrina bought the tickets.<br />
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Alas, inside we went to put away our coats and bags. I kept mine with me because it was just easier and I didn't really trust the big bin everyone was using...<br />
We all got an audio tour thing to carry around. I got the kids version but in German. :) Sabrina, Christoph and I walked around together looking at everything. Cars aren't really my favorite thing. And neither is history. But it was nice to look at all the different things. If only all the walking didn't make my back hurt so stinking much! :/<br />
Christoph was taking tons of pictures. Sabrina and I just walked and talked. Dayna found us at one point and joined our little group.<br />
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We had fun.</div>
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We finished walking through the museum and sat at the cafe downstairs to have a snack. Then we went back up to meet everyone else and then head to Esslingen. Once people got their ducks in a row (which took way too long for a bunch of college students) we were off to Esslingen. We got off the train in Esslingen, Sabrina told them when trains would take them back to SG, and off we all went in our little groups. Sabrina and I just stuck together. The Weihnachtsmarkt was huge! There were 2 parts: one normal and the other was medieval/middle age! It was cool. Sabrina got Glühwein (the real stuff this time!) and we walked around. I had a lot of people I was trying to find gifts for but nothing grabbed my attention. Bummer.</div>
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There were so many people it was hard to get any good pictures of anything. After about a half hour we were pretty much ready to head back to SG but had to wait almost an hour for a train. So we did a few more walk throughs, got food, and started walking back to the train station. But we STILL had time to kill. Plus it was cold. There was a small mall that we decided to pop into just to warm up and waste time. There was a huge Christmas tree inside where we snapped a few photos.</div>
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We finally headed to the train station but we were still early. So more pictures it was.</div>
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We got on the train (apparently the rest of the Erasmus students were on it too) and headed back to SG. When we got off we decided to go back to Marktplatz. I had some shopping I wanted to do and was finally in the mood to do it. Plus it was only like 5:30 or something like that. We started walking towards town and Bert and his friend followed us :) As we were walking Bert stopped. He had found a nice (and it looked practically brand new) smartphone in the snow! A couple of teenage boys claimed it was their friends but couldn't prove it. We decided to take it to the information center in Marktplatz if it was open. The boys came back with their friend on the phone who they claimed was the owner of the phone. The kid on the phone said it was his brother's phone. But once again couldn't even tell us the color or make of the phone. So sorry greedy boys. You aren't getting this phone! As we continued to walk the phone rang (just as I was saying we should look for a home contact or a mom or dad and call to let them know we have the phone). The name on the caller ID was Mama! She was so grateful we had found the phone and was at the Mexican restaurant just down the street. Bert and his friend had somewhere to be so Sabrina and I took it to the lady. Just to be sure we asked her a question about the phone and she got it right so we gave it to her. She was so happy she forced us to take 5 euro, no matter how much we said no. So we decided to give it to Bert and were on our way (finally) to Marktplatz.<br />
So we went to H&M again where I found a couple of things for a couple of people back home (which I have yet to send. Not sure if I reeeeeally like what I bought....). We were cold and hungry and tired so we decided to go back to Sabrina's, pack the car and go to Adelberg.<br />
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Another low key weekend for us. Just the way we like it :)</div>
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Lots of love from Germany! </div>
Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-64921567530555810692013-01-09T01:45:00.001-08:002013-01-09T01:45:39.708-08:0026.11-2.12: Semester is 1/2 over and trip to UlmThis week Herr Kornetta notified us the semester is half over. Whaaaaa?!?!?!? How did that happen so fast? It amazes me every day how fast time has flown! It feels like I have been here for a few weeks. But at the same time it feels like I've been here my whole life. Love and hate that mixture of feelings. Sabrina and I both agree this summer went by much slower. 8 weeks this summer seemed like a life time compared to how quickly the past few months have passed. I have been here for 8 weeks at this point, the same amount of time I was here this summer. It does not even come close to feeling like the same amount of time. I think a lot of it has to do with the routine I'm in. I go to school every day. I go to Adelberg on the weekends. It's pretty much the same day in and day out. This summer we went on trips and every week was different.<br />
Anyway. This week was fairly laid back.<br />
Friday was the big BW-Stipendium Jahrestreffen in Ulm. I know... translation please? I'll give you that AND an explanation. So I (along with a few other of the Erasmus students) am here on a scholarship. I still had to pay a good chunk of money (tuition for GV, plane ticket, etc) but the scholarship I have covers the rent for my room in the Wohnheim, my health insurance and then some. I may actually come home with extra money. That would more than thrill my father :) Well this scholarship (stipendium) came from the state (Baden Württemberg hence the BW). They hold a bi-yearly thank you event (Jahrestreffen) for all of the scholarship holders. This event was held in Ulm, a city not too far away. About an hour and a half from Schwäbisch Gmünd by train.<br />
There were 5 of us from the PH that went to this event (Orsi, Mascha, Yulia, Dayna and myself). I haven't spent that much time with them, so getting this Friday afternoon/night together was nice.<br />
I met them at the train station in SG after my praktikum. Bert and I had attempted to walk to Burger King (shout out to you Angela! :) ) and I just about made it there before Dayna let me know they were on their way to the train station. NUTS! Oh well. I don't need the fat and grease anyways.<br />
We all got there, chatted for a bit, and then got on a train. It was so stinking cold! It was the first time I was wearing my big wool coat and I was still chilly! We stopped to get coffee and hot chocolate but I wasn't really in the mood. We had a tiny map that was of no help to us and had to ask a few people how to get to the convention cener where the whole thing was taking place. Eventually though we did make it. We shed our coats, signed in and quickly talked with Frau Becher. She was so happy we were all there. There were a few hundred of us packed into this tiny room. There wasn't anything to really eat or drink. It seemed like a real bust. There were different languages flying everywhere. It was almost overwhelming. I met a really nice guy from America and within moments of walking away, didn't seem him again, ha. Must have gotten swallowed by the crowd!<br />
Suddenly there was this giant puppet person coming through the door. It was so weird, but totally cool too! It was made of a wicker like material and there were at least 5 guys making him move, plus the guy on the side making the music and noises. The "man" walked through the hall doing all this "cool" stuff (it was a giant wicker puppet. anything and everything it did was cool). Then it opened this giant door that lead to hallways and these big rooms. There was a room with chairs, tables, and a big stage. We all took a seat and the whole thing began. Not nearly as much of a bust as we thought! Well there were multiple speakers. Then there were 3 presentations. By the time all of the talking was done it had been 2 hours! We didn't think we would end up staying that long!<br />
We were then dismissed to do any of the activities that were taking place in the convention center. The line for food grew instantly to an insane level. We decided to find a place to sit and wait until the line got a bit shorter. Dayna and I got something to drink at the bar and found a seat upstairs. There we met this really nice German guy who would be going to study in South America. We all chatted and had a nice time. Finally, Dayna and I got food. There were lots of traditional schwäbisch dishes. So delicious! We looked at the clock and scarfed down our food. Ulm had a big Christmas market up and we wanted to go see it before heading back; and I had a specific time I wanted to take the train. We had just under 45 minutes to go to the market before my train left. We walked through the main area of Ulm, took some pictures, but by the time we got to the market it was time for me to go to the train station. The other girls decided they were going to stay another hour so I headed back alone. I found my train (and triple checked to make sure it was the right one) and headed to Göppingen to spend the weekend with Sabrina. She was there to pick me up and we had a normal, low-key weekend.<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-1088992589143960362013-01-05T03:03:00.002-08:002013-01-05T03:20:58.606-08:0019.11-25.11: Thanksgiving, a birthday, and a reunion in Stuttgart!I pretty much spent the entire week at Sabrina's. Don't know why. It just kind of happened. I had so much stuff at her place I would have needed her to drive me home to get it all back. So it was just easier to stay at her apartment :)<br />
This week I had 2 presentations to give. Terrifying. Both were in German. One was for my German language class. We had to present on a country. I chose France because... I don't really know why. I just felt like it wouldn't be too difficult. The presentation went fine. I wanted to die (even though there are 5 of us in the class and I'm friends with all of them...). But I survived. The other presentation was the next day. Dayna and I presented together to our family structure and socialization class. We talked about the big differences between American and German families. The class was really really nice about the whole thing. No matter how many times we stumbled (okay... I stumbled) or the countless errors we must have made, they were extremely respectful. I will talk about the presentation, and the big things we talked about in another post. There's a lot to say about it all :) <br />
Thursday was Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a rough day, knowing my family and friends were all home enjoying time together. But honestly it wasn't that bad. Everyone at home kept asking if I had a good day, and truth be told, it was only another Thursday. Nothing was different about it. Dayna and I were going to try to cook a "Thanksgiving meal" to our best abilities, but it was just too much work, effort, and not the most cost friendly meal in the world. I will have many more Thanksgivings to come, so I'm really not that worried about missing out on one. Besides... I'm studying abroad in Germany. That beats Thanksgiving just about any day!<br />
This weekend when we went home to Adelberg, it was packed full of fun!<br />
Saturday morning Sabrina had to go into Stuttgart for her biology class. She had been gone the night before too for a reunion with the people she went to France with this summer. I spent the morning being lazy and then getting ready for a birthday party.<br />
Saturday was Sabrina's youngest cousin's, Nico, 8th birthday! The way birthdays work here is way different. But that's a whole different post!<br />
We spent the entire afternoon and evening at her aunt and uncle's house celebrating Nico. He got a ton of Legos and ran up to his room to start working on them. There weren't many people our age there, so Sabrina and I just went up to hang with the kiddos. Tom, her other young cousin, is 12. Then there is Nico who is 8. There were 2 little girls there too, but they are just family friends. The four kids, Sabrina and me worked on building all of Nico's new lego star wars ships. Brought me back to when my brother was younger!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, 13, and John, 8, in Bad Nauheim summer 2005</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He can't be more than 2 years old here. Look at those chunky cheeks!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why can't he still be this cute?!?</td></tr>
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Sorry, back from my trip down memory lane... Where were we? Oh yeah, we were helping Nico build his legos. Kid has soooo many! And he got soooo many more! He was in total birthday bliss.<br />
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Nico gave Sabrina one of the bows from his presents and told her she was now a princess. Why does she get to be a princess and I don't? So unfair...<br />
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There were multiple kinds of cake and coffee. Then we spent time building legos with the kids. Then we played Uno Attack with the kids and another one of Sabrina's cousins, Kim, who is a few years older than Sabrina. Uno got interrupted by dinner (sausages, bread, salads). After dinner we went back up to the kids rooms, where there were pillow fights, more games, and rummikub. We left around 10 pm. Man. A loooong day.<br />
Sunday I woke up and got ready. I was going to Stuttgart to spend the day with Marianne Jozsi. We've known each other for practically forever! Our parents have worked together for quite some time now. She was studying in London and her and her flatmate decided to spend a weekend in Germany! How fun! She was flying out of Stuttgart and had a few hours on Sunday to meet up before her flight. I found her and her flatmate Sarah at the train station. Because it was Sunday, none of the hundreds of shops in Stuttgart were open. Bummer, no shopping today. We walked around, decided we were hungry and found this cute little restaurant to eat at. I had texted Sabrina asking where was a good place in Stuttgart to get a traditional Schwäbisch meal and she sent the name and location of a place. It was actually the restaurant we had just passed! So that was where we decided to get some grub. It might have been a little pricey, but getting a great meal was totally worth it. Marianne got Käsespätzle, Sarah got Wienerschnitzel, and I got a whole plate of different things, the best part was the Maultaschen. Oh my. To. Die. For. <br />
After our late lunch, we kept walking and found a Starbucks. We each got a little something and then found a bench to sit and chat. After about an hour we decided it would be best to head back to the train station so the girls could get to the airport to catch a flight, and I could head back to Schorndorf so Sabrina could pick me up. By the time we got there I had all of a few minutes to catch my train! I briskly walked the track and hopped on the train right before the doors closed and it pulled away. It took me a moment to realize that the train had left 3 minutes early. At first I didn't think anything of it, until we came to our first stop and it dawned on me I was most likely on the wrong train! Gah! What was I going to do? I texted Sabrina in a panic. At the next stop I was able to see the sign saying where the train was going, and the major stops it would make. One of the city names stood out to me... Göppingen.... Göppingen... Wait! That was close to Adelberg! The other side of the mountain. Schorndorf is on one side, and Göppingen is on the other. I texted Sabrina letting her know the train would be going to Göppingen and could she pretty pretty please pick me up from there? Of course she said yes. Phew. Bless her heart. In the end it was fine. I figured out that the train I was supposed to be on came right after the one I had gotten on left. But it all worked out fine.<br />
Crazy busy but fun weekend!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-69272236750339201442013-01-03T08:53:00.000-08:002013-01-03T08:53:04.902-08:0012.11-18.11: Laid back week and an English lesson!Well this week was pretty much as boring as it gets! There was a party at the PH on Wednesday. Sabrina and I had tickets to go, but by the time Wednesday came neither of us really felt like going anymore. Sabrina needed to work on her thesis. Dayna wasn't going. Bert was going later. My friend Sarah didn't get a ticket in time. I was bummed that everyone that I was hoping to see wasn't going (except for you Anne :) ). So I spent the night in my room, doing homework, watching a movie, just relaxing.<br />
On Friday, Bert and I had our English lesson! We had planned it all out on Wednesday morning, so by Friday we were ready to go! We got to the school, greeted the kids and waited for Frau Jung to get there. Poor thing looked absolutely awful and she felt worse than she looked. She had some kind of stomach bug. She spent the duration of our time there either laying on the couch in the reading corner or running to the bathroom. Sorry if that was too graphic. Poor thing was miserable. For the first lesson she had the kids finish up their weekly activities: math, reading, writing, spelling, etc. Then it was Bert and my turn to teach! Ah! So exciting!<br />
Bert and I had chosen about 10 words to teach the kids. They were simple words: dog, cat, bird, mouse, owl, frog, squirrel, run, sleep, cold. Frau Jung had a squirrel puppet we used to act out some of the words. The kids loved it! They laughed and laughed. After Bert introduced the words, the kids had to say it back to us a few times. Then we would pick a couple of kids to recite the word individually. They were adorable.<br />
After the two of us and introduced and revisited the words a few times each, we moved on to a game to reinforce the words. We had pictures for each word hung up on the board. We had two kids come up to the board, their back to the pictures. We had a kid from the peanut gallery say a word, and the two at the board had to find it. It was fun watching them scramble trying to find the picture that went along with the word. They did way better than I thought they would! They are like crazy little sponges! It was great.<br />
After everyone had a turn, we had them come sit down in "Kinositz" so like theater seating. A row of kids in chairs and a row of kids sitting on carpet squares, this way everyone can see the small board book. We ended up reading the story 2 or 3 times. They loved it :) I loved it. IT WAS AWESOME! Honestly. After today, I know teaching is 100% what I want to do. I love it.<br />
Sabrina and I usually head to Adelberg after my internship on Fridays, but this week was different. Sabrina was taking a CPR/first aid class Friday and Saturday so we didn't get to go home until Saturday afternoon. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning cleaning, putting some finishing touches on the decor (not that I'll ever be done....). I was getting the room ready for Bert to use that weekend. He had a friend visiting and needed to borrow my room that weekend and possibly a little into the week.<br />
My room was finally up to the standards of me taking pictures.<br />
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That's all from that week!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!!!<br />
<br />Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-63527187352536505002013-01-02T12:05:00.000-08:002013-01-02T12:05:05.130-08:00Where to start...Where do I start? I have so much catching up to do! There are so many different things I have to say, so many events, days, activities, experiences to talk about. AH! It's been a great couple of months. I have done a lot of thinking. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I'll pick up where I left off.<br />
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<b>06.11-11.11</b><br />
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This week was... well... just another week for the most part. Class in the afternoon/evening on Tuesday. Class at night on Wednesday. Class all day Thursday. The big event of the week was the start of a <strike>short lived tradition, but nonetheless</strike> tradition.<b> </b> I don't know if I had mentioned it before, but I have become a part of a small, fairly close knit group of friends. Bert (aka Bertrand, he's from Belgium), Dayna (from the USofA, and GVSU), Sabrina (y'all know her by now), and myself got fairly close fairly quickly. We had lunch together in the Mensa one day and ended up sitting at a <b>very </b>wobbly table, which was soon deemed as an unstable table. Then at the bar crawl, we were all together and decided to make an official name for our little group. Only thing that seemed to suit us and our crazy personalities was "The Unstable Table". With a facebook group made that night, it became official. We were the unstable table. It's catchy. Say it a couple of times and try NOT to smile. I dare you.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Unstable Table</td></tr>
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Anyway... So the unstable table decided to start a little tradition. We went out Thursday after our classes. There is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Gmünd that we had heard many good things about. So we decided to try it out. We got lucky. Thursday nights you get to roll a die for the price of your cocktail (and no matter what you roll it is cheaper than a regular priced cocktail). The four of us sat down, and each got a drink. Sabrina and I had checked the menu online earlier that day. My mouth was watering before we even sat down I was so excited for this food! We both ordered strawberry margaritas, but I was the lucky one to roll a 1 :)<br />
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We ordered appetizers and enough food for a small army. And it was all superb, delicious, wonderful. Can I say much more? We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.<br />
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Please excuse the god-awful lighting in those pictures. Even trying to edit them didn't make it any better....<br />
<br />We headed back to the Wohnheim for more drinks and a game night. We played some of my favorite games. We laughed and laughed. We have a pretty awesome time together. It was a great end to a great night.<br />
The next day was Friday. Friday is when I do my praktikum. This week I went to my new school, where Bert (and two of the Turkish girls) were doing their praktikum. I was excited to be with friends and to be into a classroom where I would have an opportunity to teach English! Upon arrival I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was hoping it would be a little better than my last school. And boy was it! This new school is a dream! I LOVE the teacher, Frau Jung. She's young, enthusiastic, and so much fun! She was so excited to have me there! It was adorable, I gotta admit :)<br />
The kids started to filter in soon after we got there. They were excited to see someone new in the classroom! We didn't get to help out much that day because the kids had to take a test. I walked around the room and tried to help them a little (not too much obviously, it was a test!). As I did that, I started to learn names, personalities, strengths, weaknesses, etc. The kids were great.<br />
In the middle of class, Frau Jung came up to Bert and me asking us if we wanted to do an English lesson the next week. We exchanged glances and immediately said YES! She handed us a book, explaining they were talking about fall, squirrels, etc. She said we could read the story, or do vocabulary, plan a game, whatever we wanted. She left us to discuss and Bert and I threw together a quick, very vague plan. When she came back to talk to us about it again, we told her we would love to introduce the vocab, play some vocab games with the kids, and read the story. She got a wide-eyed look and big smile on her face! She was so excited that we were willing to do so much! <br />
At the end of the lesson, Frau Jung had the kids all bring their chairs and sit in a circle, including all of us "students". She wanted us to introduce ourselves to the kids. So around the circle we went, each of us older students introducing ourselves and answering the kids questions. They asked where we lived, when our birthday was, and so many other questions. It was really quite adorable. They are so much fun :) One of the boys even asked me a question in English. I was impressed.<br />
After class, Bert and I chatted with Frau Jung as she made a copy of the book we would use for our English lesson next week. She is such a sweet person! I love her already! :) It's going to be a great semester with her and these kiddos each Friday!<br />
<br />Well that's about it for that week. On to the next!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-82729607278431900532012-12-30T14:36:00.001-08:002012-12-30T14:36:53.730-08:00Happy New Years, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!So sorry for the lack of posts recently. I have really lost all inspiration and motivation to write. But I want to keep up with the blog! I have a long list of things I want to write about, so hopefully the new year will bring some inspiration for me. <br />
Sabrina and I will be heading to a city called Erding for our New Years. We are spending tomorrow relaxing in our hotel room, drinking, eating unhealthy foods, watching movies, and not giving a damn. It will be wonderful. On the 1st we will head to this pool/water park/spa place. The goal is to relax and have fun. Not worry about anything. And on the 2nd we will head back home for our last few school-less days. It isn't a huge trip but it is exactly what the doctor ordered. And there is no wifi. So we are planning on spending our time unplugged from the wifi world. It will be a nice break.<br />
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas(or Hanukkah or whatever you do/don't celebrate). I have lots to say about my Christmas it was wonderful.<br />
And I wish you all a happy, healthy, joyous end to this year and beginning of next year! <br />
Already getting excited to write again!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-7498806313270297982012-12-16T11:13:00.000-08:002012-12-16T11:13:17.297-08:001.11-5.11: Bad Nauheim! :)On Thursday around 11, Sabrina and I headed back to Adelberg for the day. The plan was to leave Friday morning and drive to Bad Nauheim to see my Oma, brother, niece, SIL and dad. But by the end of the night that was no longer in the cards. Sabrina's Opa ended up being rushed to the hospital because he was in serious pain and having a hard time breathing. Overall, a very scary night for the Binder family. We decided it would best to not leave Friday morning and to wait and see what the doctors say before making any more decisions.<br />
Friday afternoon the doctors told us that it was just pain and they needed to find a better way to manage it. It was a relief to all. Sabrina and I called my Oma to let her know we would be arriving Saturday in the early afternoon. We spent the rest of the day watching movies and trying to keep Sabrina's mind off of her Opa.<br />
Saturday we woke up, had some breakfast, and hit the road! The drive to Bad Nauheim took a little under 4 hours, so we arrived earlier than expected. I called Oma but she didn't pick up. So the two of us drove into town to try and find something to eat. Well good thing I totally forgot how to get around the town... I couldn't remember where anything was and was totally turned around. Eventually we found our way through all of the rain and found a little bakery/cafe to eat a quick sandwich for lunch. We then headed back to Oma's. She met us at the front desk, and happily greeted us. We got our room key, and eventually found our room, or the penthouse suite as we liked to call it. This room was HUGE! We had a little entry area, a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom! It was bigger than Oma's apartment! We honestly could have stayed there forever. We considered it a good deal ;)<br />
Once we were settled in, we headed to Oma's room to chit chat with her. I think she really enjoyed having Sabrina there. She just kept talking and talking. Telling story after story. It was really nice to see her so excited. She was happy to have me this summer, but she wasn't nearly as chatty then. Maybe it was because this time she had just spent the past 2 weeks alone, due to having lots of dizzy spells. But regardless, she was a talking machine. We played a few rounds of rummikub, and then it was about time for Sabrina and me to get going. We had to pick up some groceries and go eat dinner. We picked a few things up from Edeka, and then headed back into town. This time I knew better, and got us around town much easier.<br />
We had a delicious dinner at Deutsches Haus. Man, do they have some amazing food there. And of course I had a Licher beer :)<br />
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Sabrina and I headed back to our penthouse, went to the computer room, watched a movie, and passed out!<br />
On Sunday, we got up, got ready, and headed to Oma's room for breakfast. In the middle of breakfast the phone rang. It was my dad! He had landed and was in the taxi on his way to Oma's! I was so excited to see him! He had to leave a few days before I left in October, so we never had a proper goodbye. But now he was coming to Bad Nauheim to spend some time with Oma. After finishing breakfast, we headed to the lobby to wait for dad to come. And within minutes, there he was! It made me giggle. Oma was showing off so much. When she came to the lobby on Saturday to welcome Sabrina and me, she was using a walker. Then when she went to welcome dad, she just had her cane. She was so excited for him to be there, as any mother would be. It had been almost a year since she had seen her son.<br />
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All four of us quickly headed back inside to Oma's room. Dad unpacked his bag a little, pulling out all of his goodies for me! There was some cake mix, some vanilla extract, baking chocolates, some Halloween candy, a pair of jeans, my German-English dictionary, and a rape whistle keychain. Oh my mother... Love her.<br />
We all chatted for a bit. Dad got to know Sabrina a little. It was really nice. I was so happy to see him, and for him to meet my best friend (and hopefully newest addition to the family!).<br />
Dad wanted to take a quick nap, so we headed back to the penthouse and created a sims mansion :)<br />
HOURS later, Dad called us wondering if we wanted to quickly head to the cafe upstairs before getting ready for dinner. Of course we wanted to spend time with him! So off to the cafe we went! Dad and Sabrina had some kind of coffee drink, while I had some Apfelschörle (sparkling apple juice). We had a nice chat while we sipped on our drinks. But time went quickly and Sabrina and I raced back to our room to get ready for dinner!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Favorite picture of us EVER! (so far at least)</td></tr>
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Sunday night we had a nice dinner. Those in attendance were as follows: Dad, Oma, Sabrina, Willi Rühl (Nadine's dad), Ingrid Rühl (Nadine's mom), Mark, Nadine, Cutie Pie (my niece), baby-#2-in-utero (oh yeah, did I mention I'm going to be an aunty again in May????!!!!), and myself. Nadine and Cutie Pie only stayed about a half hour because both were feeling under the weather. Willi and Ingrid drove Dad and Oma, while Sabrina and I followed in her car. Mark and family met us there. Oma really showed off for dinner. No walker. No cane. Just herself... and my dad's arm :)<br />
It was a very small, very nice restaurant. We were the very first people there. The menu was short, and Sabrina, Dad and I all ordered the same thing, a nice rumpsteak. Mom had sent a few presents for Cutie Pie with Dad, and he brought those to dinner. When Cutie Pie got bored with looking at her mother, father, everyone else at the table, playing with everyone's keys, playing with gloves, and anything else we could think of, we handed them the gifts. Mark helped her open one (the other they saved for home). The sparkly legging caught her attention :) Those lasted a little longer in the attention grabbing department, but not long enough. Soon she was walking (oh my goodness she's WALKING!) all around, munching on some bread, and being totally adorable. After much too short of a time, Nadine decided it was time for her and Cutie Pie to head home. Before they left we took some pictures!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark and I were laughing, which would then distract Cutie Pie, making her turn around and look at us. It was practically impossible to get a picture with her looking in the direction of the camera. Forget smiling.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closest thing we got to us all smiling and looking at the camera, but a good looking group none the less!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-JvKc50_KWX5eYvS0xhjUHBZaEEIEhYtnU55qkOYhkbJxumPY90HiOAZV6aKs_cNCL8BDBj9lLrBTTbW4ldlgtJuczjTxqLv_GwxDc7wrA5LykhtKSAoRA_wY-qpaj2RCKqqw9HnccM/s1600/IMG_2420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS-JvKc50_KWX5eYvS0xhjUHBZaEEIEhYtnU55qkOYhkbJxumPY90HiOAZV6aKs_cNCL8BDBj9lLrBTTbW4ldlgtJuczjTxqLv_GwxDc7wrA5LykhtKSAoRA_wY-qpaj2RCKqqw9HnccM/s320/IMG_2420.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aunt and niece :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeNUeSLcCOq0oixio4AKntM_gZqv2q4c1FXuW9B-VJdB-S_vt9qbTYvyZ4qaGxEeYtWKfCbM0xPwtcqZ3vNtntvYlF6ebo9pk7pppYfiLvvSp7lXqMzN3GjbnGv0PLDBjZkEAFuIU2qQ/s1600/IMG_2434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeNUeSLcCOq0oixio4AKntM_gZqv2q4c1FXuW9B-VJdB-S_vt9qbTYvyZ4qaGxEeYtWKfCbM0xPwtcqZ3vNtntvYlF6ebo9pk7pppYfiLvvSp7lXqMzN3GjbnGv0PLDBjZkEAFuIU2qQ/s320/IMG_2434.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's getting so big!</td></tr>
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And then they were gone. Well Mark came back. To annoy me and be a big pain in the butt brother :) I can't complain though. I love him to pieces. Wish he was closer. And was a bigger part of my life.<br />
Dad and Sabrina got along great. They sat next to each other. Super cute :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-25Ik5BE5wd7sbPh9p68N9iBO3t8wULrxUysMrCAw-s0TZVHFP3IMe_AEl3GMRmeKZUcb19p5DTbGKZ_dwgeeV87-2c2zwW7VdyioQRTmhgEpNXmaFrAtxO61fFEIC2OxGzFVcCdWAU/s1600/IMG_2435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-25Ik5BE5wd7sbPh9p68N9iBO3t8wULrxUysMrCAw-s0TZVHFP3IMe_AEl3GMRmeKZUcb19p5DTbGKZ_dwgeeV87-2c2zwW7VdyioQRTmhgEpNXmaFrAtxO61fFEIC2OxGzFVcCdWAU/s320/IMG_2435.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think they like each other :)</td></tr>
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The food was great. The company was even better. Overall, a wonderful and successful family dinner!<br />
After dinner, we showed Dad the penthouse suite (he was very impressed), went to the computer room, watched a movie, and fell asleep.<br />
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Monday morning the plan was to have rolls for breakfast at Oma's, but she had no rolls. So Dad, Sabrina and I walked to the hospital down the road (there is a bakery inside) and picked up some rolls. Then back to Oma's for breakfast. She shooed us out fairly quickly because the cleaning lady was there. But we made sure to say good-bye first. Sabrina and I would not be coming back before heading back home.<br />
Then Dad, Sabrina and I squeezed ourselves into Sabrina's car, and headed into town. We stopped by the apotheke; sadly Till was not there. Then we went on a nice walk. We saw the Sprudelhof.<br />
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We saw the salines. We walked through the park. We went to the post office. We (I) bought beer (Licher of course!) at the Kaufhaus. We went back to the apotheke, but Till was still not there. And then we attempted to find a place to eat lunch. All of our favorite places were closed, so we found a new favorite place :)<br />
I had brats with mashed potatoes and a salad. Dad had pretty much the same, and Sabrina had a GIANT baked potato. It was delicious.<br />
Then back to the car we went. We drove back to Oma's and said good-bye to Dad.<br />
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And off we were heading back home. Traffic was good. And then it was bad. Bad enough that we were at a pretty much stand still. Bad enough that we could take pictures....<br />
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Fun times. We made it safely back to Adelberg, and were there for about an hour before heading back to good old SG. On our way we ONCE AGAIN hit bad traffic. We were ONCE AGAIN at a stand still. So we ONCE AGAIN took pictures :)<br />
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Obviously we made the best of it and had some fun.<br />
Overall it was one of the best weekends EVER. Sabrina agreed. Just what we needed. We will have to do it again soon!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!<br />
<br />Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-71135108171914267942012-12-09T07:26:00.002-08:002012-12-09T07:26:52.039-08:0030.10-31.10: Shortened week!This week I only had class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both days of classes were nothing special.<br />
Tuesday night there was another school-sponsored party, the Ersti Party. If you have been reading since the summer then you might remember me going to an Ersti Party in May. Well this semester was not as much, the music wasn't as good, there weren't as many people. All in all not as good as this summer. But it was still nice to get out of the dorms and spend time with friends. It did make me miss all my friends from the summer though. Like I really missed them a lot on Tuesday night. Bert did not come with us this time because he was playing some sport. Such an athletic one that kid.<br />
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Thursday is a holiday so we don't have class, and the elementary schools have the whole week off for fall break, so nothing on Friday! Off to Adelberg we go on Thursday.<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-40671493814044340512012-12-09T06:42:00.000-08:002013-01-05T05:03:29.721-08:0022.10-29.10: Dayna's birthday and Bert and Dayna come to Adelberg!Monday we headed back to SG and started celebrating Dayna's 21st birthday!<br />
We
picked up some things for us to grill dinner that night. We got
everything together, got all layered up, and headed out to the park to
grill up some kabobs and sausages. It was quite the project. The grill
thing Sabrina and I had bought wasn't lighting properly so it took way
longer to get everything going. But it was fun. We ate some delicious
food, spent quality time together, played on the playground, listened to
music and huddled around the fire to stay warm. Around 10 (maybe?) we
headed back to the Wohnheim where we had some drinks, played card and
board games, and when the clock struck midnight lit the candles and sang
happy birthday to Dayna in 3 different languages :)<br />
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The cake was soooooo rich and chocolatey. It was good. Just way too
much. The white frosting actually helped even out the chocolate a lot,
so it all worked out.<br />
We were up until the wee hours of the morning having lots of laughs :) It really was a great time. We discussed Bert and mine's birthdays and how we will celebrate those. Bert turns 22 the day after I turn 21! :) So it will be a fun few days of celebrating as the semester winds down.<br />
On Tuesday Dayna and I decided to go to the lower level language class, which turned out to be perfect for us! The teacher evaluated us and said she will run the class at a B1/B2 level which is perfect! English class was pretty much the same. Kornetta is an interesting teacher and really likes to talk about his shoes.... and show them off by using the tables as a runway.... Enough said.<br />
Wednesday I had my first session of my Familiensozialation class. The professor is really nice. Dayna and I are both taking that class and another international, Bernadette, is in the class too. He told us all we have to do for the class is a presentation in a group, which we already had found (a group that is). So that shouldn't be too difficult.<br />
Wednesday night there was a karaoke party at the school. Sabrina, Dayna and I went and stayed for about 20 minutes before leaving. It wasn't very exciting. Apparently it got better a few hours later, but we were all already asleep by then :)<br />
Thursday, my morning class was cancelled, which we didn't find out until we got there. Oh well. Afterwards Dayna, Sabrina and I went to Lidl (a grocery store) because they had Halloween/American food for sale! There were Halloween shaped chicken nuggets and french fries! It was so fun! We went back to the Wohnheim (dorms) and ate them :) It was delicious! It's amazing how something as simple as an "American meal" of chicken nuggets and french fries can make you so happy when you are far away from home.<br />
Friday I was hoping to start my Praktikum at the other school but the teacher at the other school hadn't contacted Frau Kimmel yet, so back to Hardt Grundschul it was. I had a good (last) day there and almost felt bad for leaving the kiddos there. But I know that the other school will be better for me... or at least I hope so.<br />
Friday afternoon Sabrina and I headed back to Adelberg (as we do every week) and shopped big time! Dayna and Bert were planning on coming Saturday/Sunday so we had to get lots of food. Plus we were having raclette for dinner on Sunday so we had to get all the ingredients for that.<br />
Friday night Sabrina and I made another pinterest recipe! The <a href="http://www.iheartnaptime.net/cheesy-pesto-bread/" target="_blank">cheesy, pesto, pull-apart bread</a> you are always seeing floating around the internet? We made it! And it was pretty delicious. Really filling and gave us awful breath, but it was tasty.<br />
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When we woke up on Saturday there was snow!!!!!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEUpfnP7so_L4IAw2LPgODJuoqyopLvfjTngwcHVtQP5vcGXwQyoo_e0JWFb4zJ_a440L_Qn6HBs9zHds0lK5VMKZW3Tg26XpPQGZdnKvCQ6ONTJw0a45Gj3clNGFq0DBzTDgZ7m-5_I/s1600/IMG_2387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEUpfnP7so_L4IAw2LPgODJuoqyopLvfjTngwcHVtQP5vcGXwQyoo_e0JWFb4zJ_a440L_Qn6HBs9zHds0lK5VMKZW3Tg26XpPQGZdnKvCQ6ONTJw0a45Gj3clNGFq0DBzTDgZ7m-5_I/s320/IMG_2387.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">playing in the snow :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fireplace keeping us warm and toasty!</td></tr>
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Lots of time was spent in front of the fireplace keeping snug and warm :)<br />
Plus I made <a href="http://notyourmommascookie.com/2012/07/incredible-nutella-fudge/" target="_blank">nutella fudge</a> (another pinterest recipe! call us butter because we are on a roll!) and my famous brownies! In the later afternoon we went and picked up Dayna from the train station. The three of us had dinner together and headed to bed.<br />
Sunday morning the three of us went out and played in the snowwwwwwww! It was fun :) and kind of cold....<br />
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<br />In the afternoon Bert arrived, and not too long after that we started getting everything ready for the raclette dinner. Lots of cheese, meat, and bread. It was yummy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hehehehe gotcha :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">goof :)</td></tr>
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That night we watched Despicable Me, Jeff Dunham and Gabriel Iglesias.<br />
Monday morning we had breakfast, played board/card games, had lunch and headed back to SG.<br />
It was a really fun weekend together :)<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-43681350344873884322012-12-09T05:38:00.001-08:002012-12-09T05:38:37.782-08:0016.10-21.10: First week of classes!On Tuesday I had my first day of classes at the PH! It was exciting and nerve racking all at once.<br />
Tuesdays I have two classes, my language class and an English class called "The Introduction to the Teaching of English" taught by none other than Herr Reiner Kornetta :)<br />
So when it came time for our language class on Tuesday afternoon, Dayna and I had decided to try the lower level class instead of the one we were pretty sure would be over our heads. Well on our way to the class Frau Kimmel said it would be a beginner's class. Not the middle kind of class we had thought she said it would be. So off to the hard class we went. Well that was a bust too. We were in over our heads. The class was scheduled from 4-7:30. That's a long time to have to think about everything the professor is saying. The first two hours were exhausting. I was so glad I got to escape early to go to my English class.<br />
The intro to the teaching of English class with Kornetta. Oh man. So I walked in, a minute late (because of my language class)(sorry Kornetta) and of course it's in a huge, packed full, lecture hall. Well Kornetta sees me walk in and first thing he does is yell "What are <b>YOU</b> doing here?" and then tries to push me out of the classroom. Not the warm welcome I was expecting, but it made me giggle. Eventually he decided to let me stay and I found a random seat off to the side. But now that I was there, and they all knew I was an American, I could feel all eyes on me for the rest of the class. It didn't help that Kornetta would ask me to define every other word and ask me my opinion on everything. It was a fun class regardless.<br />
I headed back to Sabrina's place for dinner.<br />
And of course I have to share some of our first day of school pictures :)<br />
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On Wednesday, Bert, Sabrina, Dayna and myself didn't have class/class was cancelled/just didn't go to class (mine was cancelled Mom...) which was nice. We decided to go to the park and play :)<br />
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That night there was a champagne toast and bar crawl (that ended at a club) hosted by the school. So Sabrina, Dayna, Bert and myself headed downtown in a very very very crowded bus and went to the Rathaus. There we got free champagne and the mayor said a little speech, wishing us well in our studies this semester. Somehow our table turned into the table to put empty glasses on, so we had fun with it and made a face :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers! Here's to a wonderful semester together!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was very early on in our face making...</td></tr>
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After we had had our fill of champagne we headed outside where had a little picture session :)<br />
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Then groups started forming for the bar crawl. We just picked a direction and ended up with the rest of the internationals! And Dayna's feet hurt so Sabrina was nice enough to give her a piggy back ride :)<br />
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We stopped at 3 or 4 bars. At the last one I ordered a tequila sunrise. Yum. It was good. I really wanted a strawberry margarita, but they were all out. Nuts. Oh well. I got to try something new (hand picked by Bert :) )<br />
After the bars we went to a club across town where we danced the night away. But literally. We were there until like 2:30 am. We would have left much earlier because of the awful music. But the music suddenly got better. Then we made the <strike>really stinking stupid</strike> healthy and smart decision to walk the whole way home. It took FOREVER. It was all uphill. I thought I was going to pass out (thank you asthma). But we survived, just barely. Our feet (and my lungs) were not happy with us, but we sure worked off all caloric intake from the alcohol :)<br />
I got home, flopped down on my bed, and didn't wake up until 12 the next day. I had my translations class (again with Kornetta) at 4 pm so that was my only class of the day (this week...). The translations class is for students who are preparing to take their written English exam. In the exam they have to translate 2 texts, one from English to German and the other German to English. This class is all about translating texts. Dayna and I both decided to try this class. And it's Kornetta, so that makes it fun.<br />
On Friday I had my first day of my Praktikum (it's similar to an internship, but in a school, and it is not as much work). I was placed at Hardt Grundschule in a second grade class. There were 6 students from the PH plus another international, and myself. We spent our two hours there observing and helping the kids out. I was very worried about it, and it was better but not better than I expected. I wouldn't be required to teach a lesson which was good. And I was able to somewhat help the kids, also good. But I wasn't able to help them as much as I should. They were working with a story and there were portions I didn't understand. I felt awful when a kid asked me a question or tried to talk to me and I had no idea what they were saying. I had trouble keeping up with the teacher and other PH students when they were talking. So as much as I enjoyed it, I decided to talk to Frau Kimmel about placing me in another school where the rest of the internationals are. The teacher there does an English lesson during the Praktikum each Friday.<br />
When I was done with my Praktikum, Sabrina and I headed back to good old Adelberg for the weekend. We had to stop at the store and pick up food for the weekend, plus all the ingredients we needed for Dayna's birthday cake.<br />
Saturday and Sunday were spent baking and cooking. We made baked mac and cheese for lunch (it was okay, not as good as Hannah's tho :) ) and started working on Dayna's cake. I had found a Martha Stewart recipe for a devil's chocolate cake that looked good. The batter tasted great. We put it in the oven. And it wouldn't firm up. The middle was complete mush. We obviously didn't use enough flour (really missing American baking measurements), but with some chocolate frosting it looked okay. But the chocolate frosting.... It hardened. Really fast. Like we couldn't get the sprinkles on fast enough. We tried some nontraditional methods to warm the frosting enough for the sprinkles to stick, but that just made a mess. Eventually I decided we had to add some simple white frosting to it. The cake ended up looking okay, considering our problems.<br />
We also made <a href="http://www.ohbiteit.com/2012/10/cheesy-biscuit-bombs.html" target="_blank">cheesy biscuit bombs</a> and <a href="http://www.asweetpeachef.com/sauces/how-to-make-alfredo-sauce/" target="_blank">alfredo sauce</a>. Both were pretty tasty :)<br />
It was a good weekend full of good food and fun together :)<br />
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Lots of love from Germany! Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-59308874427980757282012-12-09T03:15:00.000-08:002012-12-09T07:39:30.609-08:00Orientation week (9.10-15.10)Tuesday afternoon I went to a presentation about this program called TODDLERS. It is a research project a group of professors, and other important people, are conducting. They are trying to learn more about daycare and preschool and kindergarten and trying to improve the training of those that work in the those settings and overall improve the experience for the children. There was a discussion/presentation that was being held and Sabrina thought it would be good for me to go, even though she could not.<br />
It was a very interesting few hours. There were 8 of us all together that came. The two guys in charge of the session had us talk about parent involvement. I walked away with lots of new information and ideas. I think I also surprised everyone else in the room with how daycare works back in the US, well at least how the daycare I worked at works. The fact that we send home daily communication to the parents, plus do child evaluations/parent conferences, and we have video cameras in the classrooms was surprising to them. I wasn't sure how the whole thing was going to turn out, but I learned some things and made a few new friends :)<br />
That night Sabrina and I did some pinteresting :) I introduced Sabrina to pinterest upon my arrival (maybe even before that?) and she was hooked real fast. We found a couple of recipes to try out and Tuesday night we made a creamy pesto sauce and our first batch of apple pie moonshine. Both were delicious. :)<br />
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On Wednesday, our orientation week started. We started off with the paperwork. Everyone else was late (I was on time because I was with Sabrina...), and the whole thing lasted a couple of hours. Frau Becker and Frau Kimmel talked to us about classes, and afterwards Frau Kimmel told me where I would be doing my Schulpraxis, which was pretty exciting. The only part I wasn't too sure about is the fact that I will be teaching German. To second graders. Who probably know wayyyyy more German than I do. Yikes.<br />
We also made Käsespätzle. I did the same thing this summer when I was here, so I was a pro :) My group rocked it, except for the burnt onions on top. But I would have picked them off no matter what.<br />
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On Thursday all of the internationals went downtown to the immigration office and town hall to do more paperwork. I didn't have to go to town hall, but had to sit in the immigration office instead. Joy. But it all went just fine.<br />
After that we went to get everyone phones and minutes. I already had a phone, and a plan for getting minutes so I just waited for everyone else to be done. Everyone was calling home and all excited to have phones. Not gonna lie, it was kinda cute :)<br />
On Friday morning, a group of us went to the bank to open accounts. I am so grateful to have been given the scholarship I have. It really helps with rent and food and such. Anyways.... the lady having us sign all of the papers thought I was hilarious. And my signature is hilarious. If anyone has seen my signature recently, they would probably agree. It's just two crazy scribbles. Writing my whole name is tough. It's long. And I can never spell it right. I have to think out each letter.... K-A-T-H-R-Y-N. Ugh.<br />
Saturday was a fun day. We took the train downtown to Stuttgart.<br />
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Once we were there we walked around (and kept losing people because they weren't paying attention.... haha). It was not my first time in Stuttgart, and not my first time sightseeing there. After a few hours of walking around we headed to Bad Canstatt for the Volksfest. It was very similar to the Frühlingsfest we went to when I was in Schwäbisch Gmünd this summer. There were beer "tents" which look more like giant buildings, but they call them tents... so.... Lots of food and sweets. There were rides (none for me). And everyone was dressed in traditional clothing. I wanted to wear my dirndl, but it was cold. And I didn't have anything warm to wear under my skirt. Sooooo I didn't. And I regret that. Just a little.<br />
Sabrina, Dayna, Bert, Christoph and myself stuck together. We went into a tent, which was packed full of people. We never even found a seat. I would have ordered a big ol' beer, but I really didn't feel like holding it, and drinking while standing. So no beer for me, at least not yet. The boys drank their beers. The girls sang and danced. It was fun.<br />
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We left fairly early, and then Sabrina and I headed back to Adelberg for the rest of the weekend. Sunday morning Sabrina's parents (and Sabrina) had to get up sort of early to head to train station. Her parents were going on a week long cruise in America! So they were off to New York. And we had the house to ourselves for the next couple weekends :)<br />
Sunday we decided to try and bake some pinterest ideas :) The first thing we tried was a white chocolate brownie. Nope. We screwed them up big time, especially in the amount of salt. There was a miscalcuation somewhere when converting to grams. Oops....<br />
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They were rock solid and made you foam at the mouth. Pin-FAIL.<br />
Next we made s'mores cookies. If any of my water polo girls are reading, it's like the "diabetes cookie" but with a s'more inside instead of an oreo.<br />
It's a chocolate chip cookie with a s'more buried inside :) I'm not a s'mores person so we also made some plain chocolate chip cookies for me.<br />
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They came out HUGE! They were as big as your hand. But apparently they were good :)<br />
Monday we were home until the early afternoon when we headed back to SG. We got lucky and both of us don't have class on Mondays. Woo hoo!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!<br />
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<br />Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-2472796695380283722012-12-03T06:52:00.000-08:002012-12-03T06:52:25.049-08:00My first few days back in Germany :)We pulled into Adelberg and man did it feel good to be home :)<br />
Sabrina and I grabbed my carry-on bag and took that upstairs while her dad oh so kindly, and amazingly got my bags into Sabrina's car.<br />
There was spaghetti was waiting for us to eat it alllll up. After dinner and showers, Sabrina and I watched some shows and then went to bed. I slept the whole night through without a problem.<br />
Friday morning we headed back to Schwäbisch Gmünd so Sabrina could pick up more international students and I could unpack and move in.<br />
I was pretty impressed by how much room I actually had left in my room after getting all of my clothes and things unpacked. I was glad to have Sabrina's help every once in a while. She was meeting the 3 boys coming from Thailand and so she was kind of running around like a crazy person. We had pizza for lunch and continued with our craziness.<br />
I spent the night at her apartment because I really didn't like the thought of being pretty much alone in the wohnheim.<br />
The next day the other girl from GV, Dayna, was arriving. We had talked pretty much all summer and had met up once before she left for Germany (in August because she was taking a language course in another city during September). So I considered us friends.<br />
Sabrina and I had to run some last minute errands in the morning, so we did those, and then headed to the wohnheim to say hi to Dayna before we headed back to Adelberg for the rest of the weekend. I felt bad for leaving Dayna on her first weekend there, but I really didn't want to spend my first weekend reunited with my best friend away from her :)<br />
So back off to Adelberg Sabrina and I went! We spent the weekend catching up, sleeping, eating wonderful home-cooked meals, and watching Grey's Anatomy. :) I'm hoping to get her caught up real soon!<br />
We were in Adelberg until Monday afternoon when we headed back to good old SG!<br />
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Hope to get all caught up here really soon!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-19416239748088837672012-11-24T02:44:00.002-08:002012-11-24T02:44:40.703-08:00Packing, packing and more packing!So on Saturday Sept. 29th, I tearfully left Michigan and headed home for a few days before flying to Germany.<br />
I arrived around 10 on Saturday and went straight to get my hair cut. And guess what I did?!?<br />
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I chopped it off! I took at least 8 inches off. I'm sad to see my long hair go, but this will be easier to deal with. My hair was really stinking long!<br />
Then my new do, my family and myself went to our favorite restaurant with our favorite people! (We went to Il Sogno in Wheaton with our friends the Erdelyi's)! It was a nice first day back at home.<br />
Then on Sunday we had our pictures taken by a girl I went to high school with Cassie. My cousin Matt is currently editing them but here is one as a sneak peek.<br />
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We look decent right? These were the first family pictures we've taken since I was an infant. Ha. My family sucks :)<br />
So that was Sunday. Well the most exciting part of Sunday really.<br />
Monday I started pulling out clothes to pack. Ugh. Sadly Dad had to head to Michigan on Monday for work. So I said good-bye to him a few days early. He didn't think they would make it back in time to see me off. But that's okay. I'll see him in about a month when he comes to visit Oma!<br />
The good thing about my dad being gone, I actually had somewhere to sleep. My bed was somewhere under a huge pile of clothes... So my dad's side of the bed was mine for the next couple of nights.<br />
Tuesday was about the same. Going through my clothes to decide what to pack. Going through all of the stuff I brought home from Michigan. Trying to figure life out.<br />
Wednesday I got myself all packed in just a few hours. Mom was quite amazed. The only thing I needed was a few space bags, to pick up some pictures I ordered, and lunch! We got the space bags and pictures. In the process of packing I found a photos gift card so we headed there for lunch. Sadly they had lost power so mom and I had to resort to something else. I think we just went back home, but I honestly can't remember.<br />
Anyway... I finished packing. I tidied up my packing mess a little bit. I skyped Alycia, Little Miss and Tipter. And I did some last minute crafting :) <br />
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I ate a quick dinner, and then we were off to the airport. We found the kiosk and checked all 3 of my bags. <br />
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And then we said good-bye. By taking pictures :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I am very much aware that my mother is a diva :)</td></tr>
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From there I headed back through security (where I was stopped because some the big ziploc of pictures looked funny on the x-ray), and then on to my gate. I grabbed a bottle of water and a little snack on the way. I called my daddy, and then boarded my flight. They checked my carry-on bag, which was totally fine with me. One less thing to haul around.<br />
The flight was fine. I slept through 80% of it. I only woke up for meals and landing. My tv didn't work, which helped the sleeping situation. It was pretty relaxing.<br />
I landed in London and headed towards my connecting flight. It wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered. I have flown through Heathrow a few times now and it was absolutely awful. But it was fine. The only issues I had was I couldn't buy anything because they have a different currency, and I wasn't going to exchange money for just the one lay-over. So I sat there and read my book. The other issue was they don't post where you gate is until 20 minutes before boarding. That just seems weird to me. But it worked out just fine.<br />
The plane ride was uneventful, which is a good thing. I read my book and listened to music. We landed in Stuttgart and I started getting butterflies in my stomach (from excitement of course). I went through passport check and found my bags. I wheeled the cart through the doors and was tackled by Sabrina :)<br />
We hugged for about a minute, and her dad took my cart for me. They led me to the car, and we somehow got all my bags in. And we were off. I was officially in Germany. I was going back to one of my many homes in this world :)<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-7615305043630438332012-11-10T09:15:00.000-08:002012-11-10T09:15:05.172-08:00The rest of my summer!What did I do with the rest of my time this summer you ask?<br />
Welllll since you asked....<br />
I came home on the 4th of July. I know, how patriotic. I spent the next week at home with my family. I went to the dentist, the doctor, and other general maintenance things. <br />
While I was still in Germany and had decided I wanted to come back in the fall, I had gotten the ball rolling in finding a subleaser for my room in the townhouse. I found this girl Carly, who seemed to be a perfect fit for the townhouse. I wanted to try and meet her when she went stopped by GV for the day on the 13th, plus I figured I could start unloading my storage room! So on the 12th I headed up Hudsonville where Alycia once again took me in. Girl has the heart of an angel. Earlier in the week she actually offered to let me stay with her, her boyfriend Chase, and Little Miss while I was in Michigan for the rest of the summer. She's a saint. Really.<br />
So on Thursday I drove to Hudsonville, with a car full of luggage. Not any luggage, but luggage filled with gifts. Not exactly filled, but you get the point. I kind of spoiled Alycia and family. I headed up the stairs and knocked on the door. The shrieck I heard come from inside made my heart melt. Oh Little Miss, how I missed you. Alycia opened the door and Little Miss exclaims "KAAAATYYYYYY!!!!!!". Be still my heart. She remembers me. I pretty much died.<br />
After lots of hugs all around (and a little belly rub for Baby Tipter) it was time for presents! Little Miss didn't quite understand that the things I gave her were her's to keep. She kept trying to give them back to me. Silly goose. We had dinner that night, put Little Miss to bed, and Alycia and I chatted. It was sooooo nice to catch up with her.<br />
The next morning she had a doctor's appointment and I wanted to go to Appletree to say hi to the girls, and meet my new babies I would be working with on Monday. It felt so good to walk back into that building. Ohhhh how I missed it. I ended up staying wayyyy longer than I should have. They almost had me clock in and start working right then and there! But then Alycia called that she was done at the doctor and ready to run errands. We headed to Party city to get decorations for Little Miss's second birthday party and to look at decorations for Alycia's baby shower! We found some good deals and saw some super cute baby shower stuff. Little Miss was being bossy and a stink so we high tailed it out of there quick. From there we went to Applebee's for lunch. While we were there Little Miss was talking up a storm and turning on the charm to all who passed. Wow had she grown over the past two months. Her hair was long, she was talking in sentences, and she was a ham, more now than ever. Too stinking adorable.<br />
I never did make it to my storage room that day. I had to drive down to Fort Wayne for my cousin's wedding. Oh and I never met Carly. She was only in the area for about a half hour, and at that point I was out to lunch with Alycia. Oh well.<br />
So on Friday, we (as a family... in 2 cars.... coming from different directions) headed to Fort Wayne, IN for the third and final Kartholl wedding! Hurray! It's been so much fun seeing all of my cousins get married in the past 13 months. I have loved each wedding so much. I get to see their personailities shine through. Well this wedding was no different than the other two, gorgeous, fun, and just all around wonderful. Congrats to Kristina and Chris! Their reception was at the Courtyard in downtown Ft. Wayne, right next to the baseball stadium, where they happened to have fireworks that night! How cool is that?!?! My cousin pretty much had fireworks at her wedding!<br />
My mom and Uncle Steve had a pretty great time dancing too. What goofs.<br />
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From there I drove back to Michigan where I started work early Monday morning. I was nervous to be back, but super excited at the same time. I didn't realize how much I really missed my babies! And my oh my how they have all grown. It was nice to see how excited parents seemed to see me! They asked how my trip was and everything.<br />
For the first month back at Appletree, I was just a breaker, aka going in for people so they could go on break. I didn't mind it at all. I got to see all the little kiddos every day. But then they needed me in infant room, full time! I was over the moon. I loved being in infant room every day with Heidi and our babies. We had so much fun this summer. We are both super sassy and sarcastic, so that worked out really well. Plus we had some fantatstic babies :)<br />
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Life at home with Little Miss, Alycia and Chase was fun. Baby Tipter was stubborn. Little guy just did not want to leave his momma's tummy! She had a couple scares along the way, but in the end she went into labor on her own the night before she was scheduled for an induction!<br />
Tipter was over 9 lbs and 21 inches long! Big boy for sure! And what an angel. We were all amazed by how chill he was after he was born. He just slept and slept and slept. He would barely even wake up to eat! Compared to the constant kicking, punching, hiccup routine he had a few weeks earlier, this was a huge difference!<br />
Little Miss loves loves loves her baby brother. For her birthday she got a baby doll, which I think was perfectly. She carried her baby around allllll day. Plus she had tons of new toys to explore to distract her from the fact that she was no longer the constant center of attention.<br />
Oh Little Miss. How you make us laugh. Honestly. This little girl lights up so many peoples lives. She brightens the day. Her smile warms a room. Yes she can be sassy, bossy, and down right awful sometimes. But she is 2. Everyone is like that at 2.<br />
Some of the best things I heard her say this summer:<br />
<ul>
<li>booonana</li>
<li>get to the choppa (when Dora say get to the gym, Little Miss responded with GETTOTHECHOPPA!)</li>
<li>boom-shacka-lacka (right into monkey's face)</li>
<li> when asked what her monkey's name is she would reply "MUN-KEEEEY" in a very deep voice</li>
<li>the same would go for her baby doll when asked what her name was Little Miss would reply "BayBay" in the same deep voice</li>
<li>the way she says Tipter :)</li>
<li>when you ask Little Miss she will say her whole name, quiet, quick, and as one loooong word</li>
<li>If you say, "Little Miss, guess what?!?" she replies "I love your face!"</li>
<li>she would grab my phone, say it was hers, then Alycia's, then Chase's, then Tipter's, and eventually finally get to my name with a big foolish grin on her face</li>
<li>pank you</li>
<li>the way she yells at herself in time out</li>
<li>One day, Little Miss put monkey and baby into Tipter's car seat. She walked in with Alycia's shoes on her feet and a purse in her hand. When we asked her what she was doing she said "I go bye-bye!" We asked where she was going and Little Miss responds with "I go Meijer."</li>
<li>begging for yogurt like it's candy</li>
<li>"Little Miss what do you want to eat?" the response is almost always "Cereal" or "a sammich" no matter the time of day</li>
<li> hearing her count right before we spin</li>
<li>when I would leave for work she would always say "Katy go apptwee." "Yes, Little Miss, I am going back to work at appletree." "Katy play wit babies." "Yes Little Miss, I'm going to go play with the babies."</li>
<li>singing "Slippery Fish"</li>
<li>"I runnin. With my cheeks." (translation: I'm running with my feet)</li>
<li>"I pissed it" (I kissed it)</li>
</ul>
Oh Little Miss. There is so much more I could share, but it would take forever! <br />
Here are some of my favorite moments from my summer in Michigan.<br />
(Pause the music at the bottom of the page so you can hear the video :) )<br />
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I also got to spend a little bit of time with Ali, Hannah, Carly and Sarah. I was supposed to be living in a townhouse with them, but with my second trip to Germany I had to give up my spot. Cue Carly and her need for housing and it was a perfect match! I love those girls so much! We spent a few nights together and had lots of laughs. Man I miss them!<br />
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I think that about wraps up my summer. I spent my time in Michigan with babies (and toddlers) and I wouldn't change a minute of it!<br />
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Lots of love from Germany! <br />
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<br />Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-3691518402175026122012-11-03T12:54:00.001-07:002012-11-03T12:54:50.574-07:00My bad....So I really failed at keeping up on this blog up and running, especially in my last few weeks in Germany this summer. You could let me use the excuse that I had a lot going on, which I totally did, but I don't like excuses. So in the end, I just suck.<br />
But I am determined to catch up. Be ready for a long and painful post. My apologies already.<br />
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<b>Friday 15.06</b><br />
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On our last Friday together, the school hosted a Grill-fest for us Americans and our host families. Anderson told us we each had to bring an "American dish", so I chose brownies :)<br />
Friday then became a crazy busy day for me, and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything done and on time! Plus my brownies weren't very good. But in my defense, they were from a box. I didn't have the time or resources for the real things.<br />
I got myself ready and headed to the Grill-fest to meet up with Sabrina. I helped finish setting up and Anderson got the grill going.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to open the champagne </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">still trying to open the champagne</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Krzyzstof and his apron</td></tr>
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We had SO MUCH FOOD! There were sausages, salads, chips, desserts. It was delicious.<br />
It was really nice to finally meet some of the other hosts too. They all seemed so nice.<br />
After we finished eating, we had some thank you speeches and then squeezed together for a group (aka family) picture :) Sadly Sara and Evan weren't there so someone eventually will have to photoshop them in. It was a hoot trying to get one good picture of all of us. Well actually it is an impossible task because we are all crazy.<br />
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From there the night just got funnier. Must have been all of the sugar :)<br />
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Nick was showing us his kung-fu moves, which somehow turned into dancing, and then playing tag with his host siblings. By the end of it, all of the boys had taken turns running around like crazy playing tag. All the girls just watched because none of us had appropriate footwear. :P<br />
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People started leaving. I started saying goodbye. It was rough.<br />
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After everything was cleaned up only Jason, Kyle, Angela, Sabrina and myself remained along with a whole case of beer (so like 20 bottles of beer) and a couple bags of chips. So we hauled it all over to Angela's place, sat around drinking a couple beers, talking, relaxing and having a great last night together.<br />
Around 1 am Jason and Kyle realized they wouldn't be able to take a bus home until the morning so I texted Janine making sure it would be okay for them to spend the night. When we got home, there were beds made up for us and even little chocolates on our pillows :) (Thank you Janine!)<br />
We fell asleep quickly. When we woke up there were rolls for breakfast which we ate on Anja's patio. We stared at the gorgeous view, just taking it all in. Our last moments together. It was weird. Crazy. 6 weeks ago we barely even knew each other. Now all 15 of us were like family.<br />
Writing this post makes me miss that so much.<br />
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<b>Saturday 16.06</b><br />
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Once the boys left, I started packing all of my stuff. Sabrina and I were going to the opera that night and then spending the weekend at her parent's house, meaning I wasn't coming back to the apartment. I quickly packed, said goodbye to Janine (Anja wasn't there) and headed to Adelberg with Sabrina.<br />
We caught the train to Stuttgart with the rest of the internationals. Once in Stuttgart we grabbed some food, and waited for the opera to start.<br />
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The opera itself was... interesting. It was in Russian and then there were German subtitles, making it all around difficult for me to understand what in the world was going on. Every once in a while Sabrina would see the completely confused look on my face and explain what was going on. But all in all it was a good show.<br />
We headed to the train station, grabbed some ice cream, and headed home.<br />
<br />
<b>Monday 18.06-Thursday 21.06</b><br />
<br />
I spent the week at Sabrina's apartment in SG. Her roommate had an extra mattress that we put on the floor in Sabrina's room. It worked out nicely, except for the fact that her small room was NOT meant for 2 people. But, we made it work.<br />
I either went to class with Sabrina or stayed at her apartment, watching movies/tv or working on my paper for Anderson.<br />
It was a weird feeling to be on campus at the PH without having all the Americans with me. I went to our "Let's get together and talk" course. It was odd without them, but all the Germans were excited to still have me in the class, even if it was just one more day. Everyone had to give a short presentation that day. Kornetta kept asking me grammar questions, which I had no clue how to answer, of course. He just likes to pick on me. But hey, I can handle it. He's a pretty nice guy.<br />
I also went to Sabrina's New York class, also taught by Kornetta :) He gave me crap for being there and not knowing any of the answers. They really have to know a lot for that class. It's crazy.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday 22.06</b><br />
<br />
Friday morning Sabrina and I got up really early to spend 2 and a half hours in the car. Where were we going you ask? EUROPA-PARK!!! It's pretty much just the European version of six flags. But it was so much fun! We got there shortly after the park opened so the lines were fairly short for the big coasters. We had devised a plan to go on all of the big coasters first and then do the smaller stuff, hoping to miss the big long lines. The lines really weren't that bad. And the coasters were pretty awesome :) I had lot of fun and could have done that allllllllll dayyyyyyyyyyy. But Sabrina couldn't handle it. What a wimp ;)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On a coaster going up up up!</td></tr>
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From the big coasters we moved to some smaller and tamer rides, like the carousel.<br />
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We had a fun time. It was a blast. One of my favorite days here so far :)<br />
<br />
<b>Saturday 23.06 - Monday 25.06</b><br />
<br />
I spent another few days at home with Sabrina before heading to Munich. It was nice to just relax and spend time with my friend :)<b> </b><br />
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<b>Tuesday 26.06 - Thursday 28.06</b><br />
<br />
On Tuesday I headed to Munich to visit my Uncle Carlheinz and Aunt Do. Sabrina had class that day so I was the crazy looking person on campus hauling around a suitcase. And then I may or may not of forgotten to give her her keys back... Oops. Thankfully the nice people at the train station held onto them for her :)<br />
I was so proud of myself for finding my way through all of the trains and streets. I safely and fairly easily got to Charlie and Do's place. I felt accomplished.<br />
I love their house. Maybe one day I'll take pictures of it. It's beautiful and cozy and just wonderful. I had a room and bathroom all to myself. I really had the whole basement to myself. I had internet and food and everything I needed.<br />
When I arrived we sat around and talked a little and then headed out for dinner. Do and I walked the whole way there and Carlheinz drove. I had some sausages and mashed potatoes and of course a beer. For dessert (which I was pressured into ordering...) I had these pieces of apple that were dipped into some kind of batter and then fried or something. But they were warm and cinnamony and served with vanilla ice cream and just perfect. Tasted kind of like an apple doughnut. YUM.<br />
I let Carlheinz drive me home. :)<br />
The next day we had a nice BIG breakfast with just about everything you can think of, oh and some AMAZING orange juice. To. die. for.<br />
Then we headed into town for some shopping. Do needed a few things before they went to a wedding the next day. We found a new apron for her dirndl and some new stockings. Then we met up with a family friend (whose daughter is the bride in the wedding they are going to) and had some lunch. Carlheinz ordered some Lebekäse and potato salad for me. I had never had it before so I was a little worried, but nope. It was delicious. I even tried it with some mustard. Nope. That wasn't to my liking. But the meat was soooooo good. He was pretty proud of himself for that find :)<br />
After lunch Do went to look for some new shoes and Charlie and I went to find a place to exchange some money for me. After lots of hunting (and 2 new pairs of shoes for Do) we headed home. We just relaxed the rest of the day. For dinner we had some little pizzas. And then Carlheinz made me a big bowl of strawberries with some vanilla ice cream he found in the freezer. He takes such good care of me :)<br />
Thursday morning Carlheinz had to go to work and Do had to stop by later. The two of us ladies had a quick breakfast and then Do dropped me off at the train station. I headed back to SG and spent the night at Sabrina's. As usual :)<br />
I really really really enjoyed my time in Munich. I loved seeing my family and being so well fed! I will be sure to come back the next time I'm in the country!<br />
Thursday night was a sad night. It was my last night Sabrina. We watched tv and movies and tried to not think about the good bye we would have to say in the morning.<br />
<br />
<b>Friday 29.06</b><br />
<br />
Today I left SG for the last time this summer. It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Sabrina drove me to the train station. We didn't say good bye, just see you later. I think it helped that I was (hopefully) coming back in the fall and I knew we would skype every night I was in Bad Nauheim.<b> </b>So it's not like I would never see her again.<br />
I hate hate hate hate hate traveling by train with two suitcases. It is awful. But I survived. Plus it was really stinking hot.<br />
I finally made it to Oma's and we sat and talked for a while, ate a little bit, and I ended my night by skyping Sabrina and watching some tv shows on my laptop.<b> </b><br />
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<b>Saturday 30.06</b><br />
<br />
Oma and I had breakfast together and then I waited for my brother Mark to come pick me up for the day! I was so excited to see him, my sister in law Nadine, and my niece, Cutie Pie.<br />
Cutie Pie was actually sleep in the back seat. Toooooo precious!<br />
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It's amazing how much she has grown since I saw her in December! She's such a little ham!<br />
Mark had to get some grocery shopping done, so I got to join in on the fun and keep Cutie Pie entertained. She was fascinated with the camera on m iPhone. I have lots of adorable pictures of her from that shopping trip.<br />
Mark kept asking if I needed anything to eat, knowing how empty Oma's fridge is. I picked up some cream cheese and salami. I didn't want to hurt Oma's feelings by buying a whole bunch of food.<br />
From there we went back to Mark's house, unloaded the groceries and just played with Cutie Pie. I got to chat with Mark and Nadine, something I don't get to do very often. <br />
Gah! How this little girl has grown. It makes me sad because I have missed so much of her life. I wish I could be a super involved aunt. I'm her only aunt. My little brother John is her only uncle. We are all this little girl has! It drives me insane.<br />
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Cutie Pie had to go down for a nap so Mark and I walked into downtown Friedberg. We did a little shopping, some talking and got ice cream to cool off. It was really stinking hot that day. <br />
We headed back and everyone at home was awake and ready to play again :)<br />
After a few more hours, Mark and Nadine decided it was time for me to head back to Oma's. But Mark being Mark, he packed me a whoooooooole ton of food so I didn't starve :) I mean there was orange juice, rolls, chips, chocolate, cookies, just about everything. <br />
Mark dropped me off at Oma's, I ate some dinner and headed to bed excited to see my brother and SIL and niece again the next day!<br />
<br />
<b>Sunday 01.07</b><br />
<br />
I spent time with Oma in the morning until Mark came to pick me up for lunch/dinner. We had tappas. One of Mark and Nadine's friends came over to join us for the meal. Good thing cause there was SO much food! Mark out did himself for reals. It was all really good. I couldn't tell you what was my favorite.<br />
My time with my brother and sister in law and cutie pie didn't last too long. I left before cutie pie even went down for a nap. But that's okay.<br />
I headed back to Oma's for some quality time with her.<br />
I cherish the time I had with my niece these past few days. I don't get to see her often so it was very special to me.<br />
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<b>Monday 02.07</b><br />
<br />
My last full day in Bad Nauheim. Oma and I went into the city fairly early in the day. I had a whole list of places to go, things to buy, people to see, and things to eat/drink.<br />
<b> </b>We started off by getting a cappuccino for Oma. I just had some water. No coffee for this kid.<br />
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After being lectured another million times about how to get back via the bus, which stop to get off at, and how much it costs, we went our separate ways. I tried to say hello to one of my dad's friends, Dr. Michael Rahn, but his office was closed. From there I went to a few different stores. I bought a coat for Little Miss. I bought presents for everyone at home. I bought Cutie Pie's birthday present. I bought some beer and cookies and candy.<br />
I stopped by the Apotheke (pharmacy) that my dad's friend Till owns. He stopped everything he was doing to spend an hour of his time chatting with me. I felt really special. I got to go in the back, and even downstairs to the office. It was nice to talk with him. To feel like I had someone to go to when I'm alone in the city. <br />
For dinner I stopped at one of my favorite restaurants, Kuckuck. As soon as I mentioned who I was, one of the waitresses got excited. Pretty much anyone who came through those doors from that point on was told who I was. It's like my dad is a superstar here or something. I love it :) I had some good food and great beer.<br />
While waiting for the bus I called Oma to let her know I was on my way back. She was apparently very worried about me. Miscommunication is all. And I didn't leave her my cell phone number... oops.<br />
I skyped with Sabrina, like I did every night and then went to bed.<br />
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<b>Tuesday 03.07</b><br />
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This morning Oma took me to the train station. I took a train from Bad Nauheim to Frankfurt. Got delayed in Frankfurt. From Frankfurt to Köln. Got confused and delayed in Köln. And finally Köln to Düsseldorf. It was a loooooong trip. Way longer than it was supposed to be. Then finding my hotel was not as easy as it should have been. According to the directions the website gave me, it should have been right <b></b>by the tram stop. But alas, it was not. I ended up walking in circles for a while, until I mustered up the courage to go ask for directions. It was just a few blocks (which at that point felt like miles) from where I was. I got to my hotel, which was really nice and comfortable, and first thing I did was flop on the bed. Second thing I did was get internet.<br />
I spent the night watching tv and talking to Sabrina and my mom.<br />
I was hungry beyond the point of hungry. When you are so hungry you don't feel like you are so hungry anymore. Plus I was cranky and didn't feel like moving after all the crazy traveling I had done that day. But with both Sabrina and my mother threatening, I decided to get up off my butt and find some food. Luckily there was not one, but TWO grocery like stores practically connected to the hotel. So I walked all of 1,000 feet, got some <strike>awful for you junk junk and more junk food</strike> nutritious food and headed back to my lovely room. I watched more tv, spent more time on the computer and eventually fell asleep.<br />
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<strong>Wednesday 04.07</strong><br />
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I woke up this morning, got ready, packed up all my stuff, and flew out the door in search of the post office. I had two things to mail, the phone I had borrowed from Janine for the past 2 months, and then the gift and letter I had for Sabrina and her parents.<br />
I went to the front desk and asked. All they could do was point me in the right direction. So in that direction I went, and I decided to keep going that way no matter how unpromising it looked. Soon I started seeing mail deliverers on bikes. I saw more and more. I followed the trail of bright yellow bikes all the way to the post office! Hurray!<br />
I mailed my packages (for quite a low price!) and headed back to the hotel. I grabbed my bags, got on the shuttle bus to the airport and was gone.<br />
The airport wasn't too difficult to navigate. The first time I really cried was right as the plane was taking off. I was sad to leave my family, my friends, and Sabrina (who at this point was somewhere between friend and family). <br />
After a nice long 7 hour plane ride I was finally back on American soil! Then the long long long long long long (and did I mention long?) customs line. I honestly think I waited for over an hour. My poor parents had to stand and wait anxiously for me to come through those doors too. Ugh. Made for a very long day, and a very unhappy Katy.<br />
I went home, gave gifts to the family, and unpacked. Hurray for America.<br />
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Well for those of you who just read that whole thing, thanks for sticking it out.<br />
I hope to get back up to date on this blog. It's my goal.<br />
Next post will be covering the rest of my summer, which I spent in Michigan working and living with one of my closest friends. I honestly can say this was THE best summer of my life.<br />
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Grüße aus Deutschland!!!!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-4200667969997193022012-08-16T17:47:00.002-07:002012-08-16T17:47:38.116-07:00GUESS WHAT!?!?!?So it has been a while since I posted on here, I actually still have a lot of catching up to do....<br />
BUT! I have a BIGGGGGGGGG announcement to make!<br />
I will be going back to Germany on October 3rd. I will study there until February. The plan is to then come home and go back from April to July, so essentially a full school year!<br />
ALSO I have switched my major to elementary ed, and will be getting an endorsement in special ed and early childhood ed.<br />
I am so excited for these changes! I will miss everything here in America, but I am way more excited to go back to the place that I feel at home, good old Germany!<br />
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!<br />
The countdown begins!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7233364792332775122.post-10811546579574846512012-06-18T10:07:00.001-07:002012-06-18T10:07:12.043-07:00Thursday 14.06Today was a free day for all of us. 4 of the girls had spent the night in Stuttgart for the game, and a little over half the group was going to meet up with them in Stuttgart. I didn't feel like going into town. Too much stress. So I decided to go to the Freibad (pool) with some of the others. We got to the pool around 2.<br />
The pool is super big and nice. There was a big twisty slide, but there weren't enough people to have it up and running. Then there was a big semi-shallow pool that had a lazy river attached to it. We played tag in the lazy river for almost 2 hours. How does one play tag in a continuous, basically oval shaped lazy river? Well you would be surprised. It was fun, fun and more fun :) We took a little break from the pool and went inside for a while.<br />
We ate some ice cream, chips and candy while watching this crazy show called Daisy of Love. It was so awful it was funny and addicting! We watched 2 episodes. During the first episode Sabrina got done with class and headed over to the pool to join us. Then we all watched the second one together. It is a ridiculous show and makes me kind of ashamed to say I am American, but it is strangely amusing...<br />
Thomas, Evan, and Sara left after we finished watching Daisy of Love, and Nick and Dustin had to go eat dinner. This left just Sabrina and myself to go back to the pool, which we did. Eventually Nick and Dustin came to join us. We got out of the pool around 9 pm. We had so much fun. I never would have thought a lazy river could be so much fun, but it was. It was the entertainment of the day!<br />
We went back inside where Nick attempted to fix Sabrina's rolled ankle and remember the pain I had in my foot in Berlin? Well it came back today while swimming. So he tried to fix that too. We ended up staying until after 10, ending our time at the Freibad with Nick showing us his killer dance moves. It was awesome :)<br />
I went home and fell asleep way too early. I really needed to stay up to study and work on my journals....<br />
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Lots of love from Germany!!Katy Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10866930546448340180noreply@blogger.com0