back from berlin

Well, we're back from Berlin. Okay, so we got back on Sunday night, late... and I was busy (and too lazy to write) yesterday, so here it is, a beautiful Tuesday, and I'm finally writing.

First, let me say that my heart goes out to all those people in the Southern USA. The Hurricane (Katrina as it is called here, don't know if that is the same name or different from the one in the States) is all over the news here, and I feel bad for all those people. They are in my prayers!!

Berlin was awesome. Simply awesome. We got there on Friday night, got to our hotel, then took off (On public transportation) for Alexanderplatz, where we saw The Blue Man Group. The Blue Man Group are the people you see on the Intel commercials in the States. They have blue heads and hands... they are very cool. Their show was hilarious, the music great... we sat in the eighth row, so we got to see lots of stuff. It was so much fun. I highly recommend going and seeing them sometime! There are links to the webpage to the right. After the show we went and ate at the Sony Center, which is a really cool dome thingie with lights in the dome... I can't describe it other than that. It's just really awesome.

On Saturday we saw lots of sights. We visited KaDeWe, a huge luxurious department store and ate breakfast there. THen we oogled the good american food you don't get over here. We also saw an Anne Frank museum (really cool), the Gedaechtnickirche which is a church that was bombed in WW2, the ruins are still standing and along with a new church tower are a memorial/reminder of all of WW2. We also saw the East Side Gallery, which is part of the Berlin wall which is still standing and has artwork on it. We saw a beach (sand put over dirt on the river's edge in Berlin), and several other things that I'm forgetting right now. Oh yeah - we went on a tour too, a boat tour around the city and saw lots more buildings. Lots of old buildings, and lots of new ones too.

On Sunday we saw the Brandenbuerger Tor, Checkpoint Charlie - where the US's section of Berlin (when Berlin was split after WW2) ended, ate really good food at a restaurant (okay, so we ate good food everyday), and where all the decisions in Germany are made.. I forget the name right now. Then we flew to Cologne, and drove home.

It was so much fun. I really like Berlin. It's a capital city, not too dirty with lots of history and lots of modern buildings and stuff too. We saw it all in only two and a half (not even) days... but it was fun, and I'm happy we went. And, I also spoke two days of German!!! yay!

I take my placement exam for my German course on Thursday... I'm nervous - i've been studying... i hope i do well. Then I start it next week. I got a new computer game, which my boyfriend bought for me... it's Zoo Tycoon, and I'm totally addicted. To my anonymous friend who leaves me comments - if you're still visiting on here, feel free to e-mail me at hisgirl1@gmail.com.... and, well, I think that's it for now. To the people who get my pics - new pics will be coming soon... I promise! I just need to finish them.

that's all for now folks... until tomorrow.. or whenever i blog again...

here is a pic of all of the band poeople, except dennis, who didn't come down the mountain with us. front row, left to right: Heike, Angie, Me, Kerstin, Axel... back row, left to right: thomas, fabian (my boyfriend), and Jonny.. on top of the mountain.. it was so cool. 

here you can see a corner of the oldest library in the world... all the books are really old, they had over 1,200.. it was totatly awesome. 

more on allgaeu

okay, so.. where did I leave off? We got there Friday afternoon, and just relaxed for a while after unpacking everything. The band practiced I believe that night. They also practiced everyother day that we were there... so, most days i got up, we had breakfast at nine, and then the band practiced. I read a lot while they practiced, played game cube and watched them... nothing really that exciting. Since it rained a lot, we stayed mostly indoors.

We did visit the oldest church in the world though. It was in a church in Isny. You went into the church, then had to climb up these narrow, dark stairs to get to the room which was the library. It was made so that the priests could study and be smart...it is exactly the way it was in the 1700s, when the last priest used it. Totally cool. I didn't understand much of what the tour guide said, but my boyfriend translated a little for me, and it was really interesting. i'll try to put up a pic or two later, maybe.

on the same day, after the library, we went to Lindau. Lindau is a city on the Bodensee (lake constance in english). It is literally on the Bodensee because the city is on an island. you get there w/ a bridge, and it was very cool. we made a bet, that i had to speak german for 2 hours and the other girl, who i mentioned in my last post, had to speak english for 2 hours. if we spoke our normal languages we had to put a color in our hair (like pink or something.. and only temporary color). we both earned a color. we'll see if i actually have to do it...

another fun thing we did was climb a mountain. Well, we took a ski lift to the top of the mountain, and then climbed down it. I got lots of beautiful pictures, and had incredibly sore legs for days and days... ahh, but it was fun... and i was just told the name of the mountain was Hochgrat (i didn't know that).

and, actually - that was all we did. boring huh? but fun... afterall, it rained most of the time, so there wasn't too much else to do, and when we were at the house they practiced and i read, and we all played games... i got a chance to practice german a lot (but not only german... just, a decent amount of german... oh, and duh - we also had two concerts. one on Friday 8/19 in the building, which seemed to go well... we all made a bet about how many people would come... i won... except that i never got whatever it is i won...

the last few days however, were the most interesting. Saturday night my boyfriend got sick.. but, first, i got tipsy, for the first time ever. i didn't drink much, only about two shots of whiskey - which maybe is a lot, i don't know. i did it of my own free will... so, don't worry family - no one's forcing me into anything. i also did it in a setting that was completely safe, so it wasn't bad. anyways, i drank the whiskey. it tasted horrid. i don't know why anyone ever drinks the stuff, and i won't ever again..it was bad. then i noticed my fingers felt weird, and my eyes couldn't focus so well. I laughed a lot, and couldn't concentrate on people speaking german at all... anyways.. it was an experience, but the sucky part came the next morning. First - you all have to understand something. I occasionally have "dizzy spells." for some unknown reason i have them... they set in at random times and last for a few minutes. I can go months w/out getting them, and then suddenly have them for 2 weeks off and on. anyways, apparantly the alcohol triggered them... so for three days after that i had dizzy spells all day, off and on. It sucked! And... for my family: don't worry about me... getting tipsy was my decision, and i didn't get tipsy on purpose... i only drank the whiskey on purpose, which made me tipsy. and, even more reason to not worry: i plan on never getting tipsy again... i hate my dizzy spells.. they suck, and the last few days were horrible for me...

and that was about it. sat night, sunday and monday my boyfriend was really sick, so i hung out with him, and kept him company... and we came home tuesday... tomorrow we go to berlin.

but i better go. this is long, and i have other things i want to finish before i go to berlin tomorrow. until later!! :)

so much to say...

well, hello again! I am back from the allgäu region of germany!!! It seems I survived a week and a half w/my boyfriend's band (not that I ever doubted I would). ahh... but there is so much that has happened that i'm dying to put up on here... so it may take several different posts to let my say it all!!!

Lets start though, where I last left off.. I said I was going to go shopping w/a friend of mine before we left for our vacation, and I did. It was a lot of fun. This is the first time that I have gotten to go shopping for myself in a long time. Since I've been here I bought a few things I liked, but it was my big shopping day, and boy, did I go shopping! I now, officially, look more european, and am quite content.... shopping can be a girls best friend.. but just for the record: i didn't spend more than i should have, and i'm not a shopping addict... i just go once or twice a year, and usually go all out when i do. :) anyways, my friend and I had lots of fun, and i'm happy i went with her.

ahh, and then, Thursday 8/11/2005 was my boyfriend's birthday. He loved the videos my parents gave him (a big thanks from him to you guys) and the stuff I gave him. We spent the entire day, from 8 am until 5:00 pm, cooking. We made all the things I said we were going to make and they were all delicious. It was an interesting day, since we were both stressed out, particularly at the end of our cooking time... but we only got a little frustrated at each other, and all was well. :) on the way up to the forest where we had the party, I got our premade punch spilled all over the back of my pants (that sucked), but thankfully was able to change for the party. I think about 40 people showed up to the party, and they all loved the food. They were a little unsure of some of the stuff, especially our Oreo Delight desert, but they were good sports. However, nobody, except one person (who is half american and has had them before) at smores. That was sad.. but more marshmellows for us!!! and the pop.... it is quite entertaining to watch people try the pop that you are used to, when they've never even heard of them. For example, we had to explain to most of the people that there wasn't actually any beer in Root Beer...we finally got home, and got everything completed and cleaned and done by about 2:30 am that night... a long, but incredibly fun day.

then friday, we got up bright and early, finished cleaning, packed all of our stuff, and headed off on the band trip. It was about a five hour car ride to where we were staying, and we had a game cube to play.. so that wasn't so bad. My boyfriend played it the entire time, sometimes w/me and sometimes w/another girl who is in the band and does the technical stuff with him. When I wasn't playing game cube, I read The Davinci Code, which is an incredibly good book for those who haven't read it. I really enjoyed it, and read it most of the time I was there. It makes me wonder about lots of things he talks about, and i am hoping to find time soon to research some of the things he talks about to see if they are actually real.. or maybe real...

we stayed in the mountains (allgaeu is a region of the Alps), in the country.. lots of cows all around. Not the black and white kind, the brown kind, and they all had cow bells around their necks.. so you always heard "ding ding ding." there were also lots of sheep. Anyways, we stayed in a two story building. An old couple lived upstairs, and the bottom part was mostly a place they rented out, with two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, a shower, a bathroom and a sink room (literally, that room had two sinks and their water heater, and that's it). We also used a dining room upstairs, and another room for the "practice room" where we also had a concert one night. since there were 11 of us total, four of us stayed in the main place (me, my boyfriend, and two other younger people in the band), five others stayed in another building next door and two stayed in a van which converts into a camper. On the outside of this house, there was a huge clock, which made a "bzzz" noise every minute as the hands moved. it was the butt of many of our jokes (including my boyfriend's best friend attempting to predict its exact buzzing time)...

okay.. well, this is sort of long, and i'm in need of some food, so I'm going to sign off for now, and try to write about the actual trip tomorrow... sorry if i left anyone just hanging... but i'm in desperate need of sustenance.... :) until later!

Lots of Stuff

well... its tuesday and oh what a day it has been.... more like what a weekend.

this past weekend we went to Giessen to visit my friend Tiff who is in the U.S. army. We rented a car, which ended up being quite an ugly car, that used the most expensive gas in germany (most cars are diesal, this one was super premium unleaded... which means gas was way more expensive). Not only did it use the most expensive gas in germany, but it got horrible gas mileage too. However, we did have a very nice stereo, so that helped a little.

well, we drove up there, which took about 3 hours. We finally got to the base, and got our passes (every time we entered or left the base we had to check in. this means we had to give them our passports and they gave us our passes until it was time to go, then we got our passports back. this didn't happen one time for the entire weekend it happened each time we left or entered a specific part of the bases.. so we got really good at checking in). Then we went up to my friend's apartment, which was actually really nice.

Friday night we didn't do much, Saturday we drove to Frankfurt. While in Frankfurt we went to the zoo (for those of you who don't know me I am planning on working in a zoo after college), Starbucks (a big deal, there aren't so many of these in Germany), and then we just wandered around a bit at a festival they had for the river. Literally... they had a festival to celebrate the river. It was just a carnival actually, not so much of a festival really.... it was cool though.

Sunday we went shopping at the Comissary, which is the shopping center on base for the army people. We bought lots of food for my boyfriend's birthday party, which we are having on Thursday. we are having an "american barbecue" in Germany... so we are making american potato salad, hamburgers, hot dogs (american kind), snicker salad, oreo delight, and american pop... it should be interesting, since about 40 to 50 people are coming (my boyfriend knows way too many people), they all speak mostly german, and all have no idea what all this stuff is that we are making. after shopping we played cribbage, and then had a tearful goodbye and came home.

It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy hanging out with tiff. It was nice this weekend to go up to the army base and visit with her. Being in the apartments there is just like being in America. It even smells like america. All of their stuff they eat gets flown in from America, even the milk, so it was like getting a taste of america again. and the milk was so good. I love milk, I can drink a gallon in a week and a half all by myself, and the milk in Germany is different. it still tastes good, but it is different than the way the milk at home tastes. so, it was nice to have good american milk one last time. and a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich like at home. those were the two things i missed... and i got them, plus a weekend with one of my best friends. i was sad though, to say goodbye. i won't see her now, for a long time. she goes to iraq in September... I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her... so, please, keep her and all of our other troops in your prayers.

but anyways, this is long. i'll try to write more tomorrow, though i'm not sure i'll have the time. I'm going to go shopping w/a friend of mine, and then thursday i need to be busy getting ready for the party we're having. Friday morning we leave for Allgaeu, it's a region in germany that we're visiting w/his band... We'll be gone until the 25th or so, then on the 26 or 27 we are going to Berlin for the weekend.. so I may not post until the end of August again.. so I apologize for the long time, but it can't be helped.

My goal for the two weeks with his band is to speak only german. we've yet to do that, and his band members are starting to talk to me, and i'm starting to feel more comfortable with them. they are great people, and they are patient with me,a nd my german (or lack thereof).

oh, and i didn't really join the military... saturday evening my boyfriend and Tiff decided it'd be fun to dress me up in all her gear, and then take lots of pics. these are only a few. it was quite entertaining... and i felt quite fat in all that gear... the helmet was soo heavy even..

lastly - thanks for all the comments everyone!

Well, it seemed that all the training needed for the army was too physically demanding for me. Shortly after joining up with the millitary, I died from all the hard work. They were able to bring me back to life, but then they kicked my lazy butt out of the military. Ah, but it was fun while it lasted! :) 

We thought that as long as I joined up the military, I might as well take a picture next to one of the biggest American flags I've ever seen. 

Well, a crazy thing happened this past weekend: I joined up with the army! Life is crazy sometimes, huh? Well, I thought I would put up a pic of me learning how to put on all of my gear. 

a test

Career Inventory Test Results Extroversion |||||||||||| 40% Emotional Stability ||| 10% Orderliness ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% Altruism ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% Inquisitiveness |||||||||||| 40% You are a Guardian, possible professions include - counseling, ministry, library work, nursing , secretarial, curators, bookkeepers, dental hygienists, computer operator, personnel administrator, paralegal, real estate agent, artist, interior decorator, retail owner, musician, elementary school teacher, physical therapist, nurse, social worker, personnel counselor, alcohol/drug counselor.

Take Free Career Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

ha ha ha.. i took a quiz i found. It's actually quite accurate. A definitely can see myself as a guardian, especially since I want to care for animals as a career. did you notice, my emotional stability is only 10%!!!! Sadly... that is soooo very true. It's better when I'm in the states, but here, I'm more emotionally unstable than I ever have been before. ah well... just something to work on. but, we all have our bad parts and thing we need to work on.. mind just happens to be my emotional stability! :) actually, I think it is QUITE hilarious that it says that. Okay, for real now, I'm gonna stop posting on here and be productivve with me life (i.e. showering, then playing my computer game). I've learned I can contendly do things on my computer all day... i think that is my hobby.

Batteries, again!

Good morning! This morning I got up bright and early (9 am.. yes, i consider that bright and early). I had to go to the Bank and post office before they close. The bank closes at 12 noon on Fridays, since fridays are considered the weekend... but, I'm proud of myself, because I was able to ask politely to exchange money (we are going to the army base, where they accept only dollars, so we needed to get some), and to ask nicely at the post office to send my letter to my sister (HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY SIS AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!). Then I went for a walk, because as of today I HAVE BATTERIES WHICH WORK IN MY CAMERA!

For some reason, the stupid AA batteries don't work (anyone need 10 AA batteries?) but the rechargeable ones, which I charged up, now work... so I have batteries! This is super exciting.. which is noticeable because I went camera happy.

If anyone is interested, I do have photo albums online. I cannot just link them on my page, or else I would, so if you are interested in seeing lots of pictures, let me know and I will e-mail you an invitation.

Well, this weekend we're off to the Army base in Giessen to visit my friend who is stationed there. I'm really excited, and I'm sure will have stuff to share when i get back!

"Home sweet Home" This is the building I live in. Each floor has its own apartment on it. We live on the third floor. All of the windows on the third level up are ours. From left to right there is a window in the kitchen, two in my room, five for the living room (the round part), three for the office (the part that's sticking out from the building) and another couple for my bf's mom's room! :) 

"Life from Death" This flower pot is on our balcony. All of the plants inside of it, are dead, except these few. I took this pic because it reminds me of the sacrifice Jesus gave for us - His death for our life. Also, it reminds me that even when all seems lost, and nothing seems to be going our way (everything is dead around us) God can give us a new chance or a new way to make our life possible. 

batteries are dumb

hey everyone... there two things that are sad in my life right now.

1. no one ever leaves me any comments. that's sad. i know people are looking at my site, afterall i have a visit counter thingie, and i know i haven't been here that many times, but no one is commenting... am I just that boring? i even did all the things the blogger people say to increase traffic. hmm... and still no one comments... that's okay though, eventually someone will :)

2. i can't seem to buy batteries that work in my camera! This is more frustrating than sad. I have a Kodak digital camera which is from the united states. the duracell bateries i had from home died, so i went to buy new batteries. i buy four, get them home and learn they don't work. i accidently got rechargable ones.. so okay, whatever. i buy more today, making sure they are Alkaline batteries. Get them home, they don't work either!!! grrr... i even checked the batteries to my duracell batteries which worked, and they are the exact same!!!! the only difference is one is a german company and one is Duracell... so, as of right now, I can't take any pictures, even if i want to...

but, on the positive side, i did get two cute jackets today. one is a jean jacket, which will look good with lots of stuff, and one is a white (gasp! me? in white? yeah.. i know its scary) jacket that i can wear when i want to look nicer, or when i'm wearing a longer shirt that looks weird with a jean jacket...i've never had more than one style of spring jacket at once, and these were only 10 Euros each (that's only like 15 dollars or something) so, i couldn't resist!

but that's all for now, i just wanted to share my ANNOYING battery problem. This weekend we're going to Giessen, to see a friend on the american airbase, so if all else fails, i can probably buy working American batteries for my camera there...

a surprise

yesterday, we spent the evening with Swimmy, the band my boyfriend is involved with, at their concert. They played from about 8:30 until 1 am in a town called Morbach, at their carnival. It was a lot of fun actually... i hung out with a girl named Angie all night and we had fun, despite the slight confusion on my part due to the language (which is normal, and is improving a bunch). we took lots of pictures... or at least she did. the best part though, was catching my boyfriend looking at me off and on all night long from where he was on the sound board. made my stomach do some flip flops... the good kind. :)

but, the surprising part is this: we didn't wake up to the alarm this morning. we got back at about 3 am, my boyfriend had to get up at 5. his alarm is the kind that buzzes annoyingly until you shut it off. Usually I wake up to any alarm, even the most quiet, no matter how tired i am.. so i figured i'd hear it and wake him (he never hears alarms really). i woke up at about 5, and rolled over to snooze until the alarm went off a few minutes later. next thing i know, i wake up and its 6:30!!! his alarm was still on, and still set to the normal time.. so... we figure we must have slept right through it because if it goes off for an hour it will automatically shut itself off. this is completely unlike me.. and i'm still really surprised that it happened... sort of funny and really sad, and not normal all at the same time. i guess i was more exhausted than i thought?

well, that's all from me today.. we spent today being lazy, watching tv, eating a good lunch... all in all a great time!

ah ha!

Good morning! I hope everyone reading today is doing wonderful. I'm doing pretty good myself.

Yesterday was a very interesting day. It started out well... my boyfriend and I lounged around for an hour or two in the morning talking about a crazy bird we saw outside (we couldn't figure out what type of bird it was, so he decided it was a turkey... it definitely wasn't a turkey) I wish I had taken a picture of it, then maybe someone could tell me what it was, but I didn't think about it! We also talked about some other things... I love just talking to him about life and dreams and goals we have, it started off my day well.

We eventually went with his band to a gig they had. Basically from 11:30 until 4 when the show started I was bored out of my mind while the band set-up and did sound checks and all that lovely band stuff. The show was good, I enjoyed it a lot, ate some good cake, and they are pretty good.

Then, after the show, is when things got interesting. Everyone in the band speaks German, though some do speak English well. They are a great bunch of people... after the show we were standing around, and everyone was talking. I wasn't paying too close attention to the conversation, but then they start talking about someone taking the train, because we don't have enough space in the cars to transport everyone. Next thing I know, me and another person are taking a train back to Saarbruecken. So, they drop us as close to the train station as we can get (in other words, a long way from it, but we didn't know where it was, and there was construction, so we decided to walk). Eventually we find the train station, which looks like a bus stop with tracks next to it, only to learn that there is no time table. In other words, we have no idea if the train comes in five minutes, or five hours. So we call my boyfriend, who calls a friend, who looks up the next train time and calls him back... then he calls us back, and we learn we have to wait 40 minutes for the train. So, we sit, and we wait. we talked in both german and english about all sorts of things... it was actually fun. Then we took the train, got back, and got picked up to go to dinner... I had a Shish kebab... which was quite yummy... and tried some beer, which was quite not yummy.

all in all, a very good day.