Dedication

It's been a sad year for pets. Last spring, my sister's cat Wic passed away (who was the kitten of my cat Stormy, and with whom I had a good bond). This past fall, my sister's other cat was given to a different home, due to some behavioral problems. (We now know the cat is very happy in its new home!)

Late this past fall, my sister, her husband, and my parents went to go visit my step-dad's sister, who lives in a more northern part of Minnesota. Their house is surrounded by woods, and my sister brought her dog with, Buffy. Buffy took off one day that weekend, probably after a squirrel or other small animal, and never came back. After much searching signs were put up for her, and not very long later someone called to let us know that the dog had been hit by a car on a nearby highway. Buffy now rests in peace at my aunt and uncle's, where a small grave was dug for her.

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My grandparents travel south every winter for a couple of months, and leave their dog, Boots here in Minnesota for the family. Up until several weeks ago, my sister was watching over him, and then it was my mom's turn for a few weeks. Unfortantely while Boots was at our house, both our dog Tipper and my Grandparents' dog Boots decided to run away, and they haven't been seen since. We don't know where they went, or what happened to them. Both dogs have tags on them, with the number of their vets... everything has been done to find them, but unfortantely to no avail.

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So, this post, and my blog is now dedicated to these pets, who were and still are much loved by their owners, who miss them greatly. To the pets who have passed on, I know they are in a happy place... to the ones whose lives we are not sure of, I hope and pray that they are found or come home. If you scroll down, you'll see pictures of the three dogs on the right side. The top one is Buffy, my sister's dog; then comes Boots, my grandparents dog; then comes Tipper, my parents' dog.

Advice

I need everyone's advice, so please COMMENT TO THIS POST! I would really appreciate it.

If I send my camera to the repair center for Konica Minolta, it will take 14 days to fix, they can fix it (if not they still charge me about 30 to 35 euros)... and according to Karstadt (where I bought it at) it will cost probably 150 to 200 Euros (although the konica minolta rep I asked couldn't say how much for sure). So.. here's my question: is this camera worth fixing? It is hardly 6 months old, I love it to death, already have an extra battery... considering I spent 250 Euros to buy the camera itself, is it worth it to fix it for about 200?

I'm not sure what to do. I need your guys' advice!

On My Way

I'm going off Trier tomorrow, so I won't post for a few days. I'm excited to go, but not at the same time. This weekend is supposed to be completely for me, I was supposed to go, enjoy myself, take lots of pics and do whatever I want to. Not worry too much about money, just enjoy myself.

Except now that I need to do something about my camera, I feel bad just going and spending money on myself, even though I was only planning on spending about 100 Euro on me (not including food, and lodging). So... yeah, I don't know now. But it should still be fun.

From the sounds of it, I will have to get a new camera. So far no one here in Saarbruecken can help me, some message board people for cameras dont' have any idea how to help me, and if it is going to take 4 - 5 weeks to fix, w/o a garuntee it'll actually work, not to mention 200 Euros, I might as well just get a new camera, hopefully one with the same type of battery as the ones I have now. But, this time I'll probably go a little cheaper.

So... that's all from me. I have a 15 page research paper due next Wednesday that I need to go research today. Have a great weekend, and I'll post again on Monday!

I have good news, and I have bad news...

The good news is, I finally got a reply from someone at NDSU (after waiting about 2 months) and learned yesterday that I will be receiving credit for pretty much everything I did here this past semester. For those interested, here is the credit I will be recieving:

International Study Major (ISM) Elective Credits for: History of Christian Church Service (Geschichte des christlichen Gottesdienstes), 19th Century Novels, and History of East and West Germany (Geschichte der BRD und DDR im internationale Zusammenhang) - this course may end up being substituted for Political Science 220, which is a main requirment of my ISM major, but I'm not sure yet.

German Minor - I will be more than likely receiving credit for my Conversation, Phonetics, and general Language Course in the form of German 301 and German 302 at NDSU.

This is GREAT NEWS!

And I found out who to contact at Concordia, a private college close to NDSU in Fargo where I will have to finish my German minor (NDSU only has through the 300 level of German offered, so students have to go to Concordia and take two semesters of classes I believe, which is free thanks to an agreement the colleges have), in order to see about completing credits for the minor while I am abroad here in Germany... which if possible would be WONDERFUL.

So pretty much, if things work out as good next semester, I could:
1. Complete my German Minor requirements.
2. Make great progress in my ISM, and only have three to four courses left to complete.
3. Knock off the Cell Biologie requirement for my Zoologie major.

Which means, that there is a chance, I could graduate sooner than Winter 2007! Unfortunately due to the courses left for my Zoology major, I will probably not be able to mentally handle loading myself up on too many in one semester... therefore will probably still graduate in Winter 2007, but be able to take a few less classes each semester, be a little less stressed, and able to work a little bit more. Since I'm starting to really support myself next year, working more will be a good thing. :) I'm happy.

The Bad news is, my camera is broken. Remember: this is a 6 month old camera only: I bought it last September, after the camera my mom gave me broke. I spent 300 Euro for the camera, and a good memory card, plus another 50 Euro since then on a second battery pack for it. In order to turn the thing on, you have to push a cover on the front to the side. The cover is broken, and no longer turns it on this way, and there is NO OTHER WAY TO TURN THE CAMERA ON! I never sent in the warranty card/I don't have the warranty card or the original receipt to show how old it is, and so I can't use the warranty to fix it. So I have to pay. When I asked yesterday, the guy said anywhere from 150-200 plus a service charge of 30-50 Euros! THAT SUCKS! I'm trying to find another answer. The guy said, "Well, its no problem to send it in to the company, but it is very expensive, and we can't garuntee it would even fix the problem, since its complicated and tedious work. You should seriously think about just getting a new camera, because you can get a camera which is just as nice for about 250 Euros anyways.... and you'll be garunteed it works, as compared to not knowing if they'll be able to fix it." To which I replied, "Yeah, but I spent a lot of money on this NICE, NOT VERY OLD CAMERA, and have an extra battery pack to boot. I don't want a new camera."

So I'm going to check at another camera place today, maybe I'll luck out. I'm so mad at myself for not sending in the warranty thingie, and for putting the camera in my purse without shutting the outside cover... we think what happened is that the cover wasn't closed, and got pushed against something and broke it. The situation is made all the more annoying because I also paid my mom 100 dollars for "breaking" her camera which she gave me. I don't mind that I paid her, but honestly, I don't think we broke it, I think it was just old and finally gave out.... but I paid her... so I've spent overall about 425 EUROS which equals 506 dollars on cameras in the last 6 months, and now will have to spend another couple hundred it seems, no matter what I do just to take pictures of my ONE YEAR ABROAD! Seriously! I'm so annoyed at the situation.

Oh, and other positive notes: I bought a straightening iron for my hair yesterday, and tried it out, and finally got my hair to do what I wanted it to do, and it looked great. I can't use it everyday (unless I want fried to a crisp hair) but it is nice to now that my hair can actually look good when I want. I also got my eyebrows taken care of professionaly which cost me only 3 Euro, and looks great. I will probably go back to this salon in March when I get my hair rehighlighted and cut, they were super nice, and not so busy as the other salon I've been going through. I felt less like someone to be put through the line of hair, and more like a valued customer. And, I think I can get my make-up done free if I get my hair highlighted, which is cool.

Okay, I'm done now. I'll let you know what happens with my camera.

Memories

So, for Christmas I received a huge, navy blue photo album, which will end up being a photo album/journal about my year in Germany. Today, I started planning it out (I haven't done it earlier, cause now I have two months before the next semester starts here in April and I wanted to start it now) and do you know... it's made me a little sad.

Why did it make me sad? Well, there's the obvious reason: it makes me realize how long I've been here already, how fast the time has gone, and how fast the rest of my time will go. Do you want to know a secret? While I will be happy to see my family in August, I'm sort of dreading having to leave already. This place has become my home, especially the part with being with Fabian, and knowing I will have to leave him in the end of summer breaks my heart already! (But don't worry, I don't think of it much, only sometimes. It isn't worth all my worries yet, it's still far away).

But I've also realized, with a sense of happiness and nostalgia you could say, how much has changed! I am not that same girl who left America, wide eyed at everything, excited and scared out of her mind at the same time. Well, often I'm still wide eyed at things, excited and scared... but its all different. I now know that I can handle life. Granted, I have my boyfriend here to help me out, but there are so many things which I have had to do alone (in German), and so many other things which I have learned to do. This half year has been a challenge to me through and through...a challenge which has been good for me.

So, cheers to memories of my past, looking forward to my future, and to a year I'll never forget.

Memo

To: Jeans Manufacturers Worldwide
From: Mindy
Re: Being Realistic

Dear Jeans Manufacturers of the World:

Hello. My name is Mindy, and I'm an average 20 year old woman. I'm 5'7" (170 cm), I weigh 132 lbs (60 kg), and I have a body which is two different sizes - my top half is smaller than my bottom half. I have acne, all the time and my hair only rarely does what I want it to. Oh, and my butt? Well, let's just say its flatter than Nebraska. And please, don't even get me started on my fashion sense.

Okay, I admit that these stats may not be "average" completely, but they are average in the sense that no two women are the same, and all women, yes even skinny ones, have parts of their body that they don't like, and some sort of problem when finding jeans to wear. So my question to you all today is: why, oh why, can you not make jeans to fit REAL people?

You see, for quite some time I have had the desire to change the way I dress, not because I'm such a horrible dresser, but because I would like to be a little more girly, a little more dressy, and feel a little more confidant about my clothes. I decided that I'm tired of having a lot of clothes I'm self conscious in (clothes which are too short, too tight, lost their shape, etc. etc.) and only a few clothes I feel good in. So, I grabbed my camera and took pictures of me in most of my clothing, later going through the pictures critically and getting ride of the clothes which just don't look good at all (no matter how cute they might be). And, when it came to my jeans, I noticed something: In EVERY PAIR, I could fit two of my butts in all that extra fabric at the back of my jeans. Now... maybe I'm lucky, I don't know... but I have a flat butt. Would it be too much to ask for you all to maybe, say, make a pair of jeans which fits me perfectly everywhere: including my butt?

And this memo isn't just from me. It's from ALL WOMEN. We all have problems with your jeans. Either they fit our legs perfectly, and not our hips/waist, or the other way around... or they fit perfectly but our butts don't have enough room/have way too much room, or they make our butts look great, but we just can't quite get them buttoned, or they can be buttoned, and all of our fat pudges out the top... or they are perfect everywhere, except or too long/too short (and face it: if you spend $30 {or Euros} or more on a pair of jeans, do you really want to spend a bunch more money to fix the length too?)

So please, I'm begging you: JUST MAKE SOME JEANS THAT FIT US REAL WOMEN!

Because face it: even modals don't look nearly as good as we all think they do. At least not naturally. So, please, make jeans for real women. It's all I'm asking for.

Sincerely,
Mindy

News Conference

She takes a deep calming breath, moments before heading out to face the large crowd of reporters waiting for her just on the other side of the curtain. Someone signals to her that it's time, and she nods, stepping around the curtain. She looks out and sees her readers, waiting for her with cameras, and she smiles as cameras start to go off. She pauses a few seconds, then makes her way up to the podium. Once there she raises a hand to quiet the crowd, and begins her speech in a very happy tone:

"Good morning, my faithful readers and newcomers. I realize that it's been quite a while since you have been last updated on my life over here in Germany, and I apologize for the delay. I am proud to inform you, first of all, that the evil-attacking-germ-things have been abolished from my body. The fight was long, but they finally surrendered to my white blood cells, who are currently celebrating with some much needed relaxation. Unfortunately, before the germs had been removed from my body, a couple made their way to Fabian's and his body is now fighting their best for him. The outlook looks good, but we will have to wait a few days more for the outcome.

In other news, I found out my first to grades for a couple of my courses over here in Germany. In my Coversation class, I recieved an 1 - which means an A! In my Phonetic class I have received a 2 - which means a B in our system! I am overjoyed with my Conversation course, a 1 more or less means that my conversation skills in German are almost like or are like a native speaker. I may have grammar mistakes and stuff, but I can get all of my ideas across, and react to conversations in the proper way. I am also extremely happy with my phonetic's grade. No one got a 1, because a 1 would mean that you speak like a native speaker (with the way you say words and such), and hardly anyone ever sounds exactly like a native speaker in a language they have learned (usually only those who've learned the language as a young child). A B means that I have improved since I've been in the class, and that my pronunciation is good! I'm very happy with my results, and anxious to find out my other grades, which mostly won't happen for several more weeks.

This is the last week of my classes for the Semester, and I am very happy to be finally getting a break. This break, unfortunately, will be filled with writing a research paper for a class, and studying for two other tests...plus working hard on my German, but I at least can use the time to catch up on some much needed studying, relaxing, reading, and working on my photo journal for my year in Germany.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day to you all! I got Fabian some chocolate, and Fabian got me two roses, and it was super sweet. We are very happy, and had a great first valentine's together (we've never actually been able to be together on valentine's day). We didn't do anything spectacular: we didn't even see eachother until 9:30 last night.... but we did get to talk, and cuddle and really connect and enjoy eachother... which is the most important thing on Valentine's Day. I hope everyone's Valentine's was as perfect as mine.

Yesterday was also a sad day, as I said goodbye to Megumi, a Japanese friend of mine, who I have become pretty good friends with, and a few others who's company I have enjoyed this semester. Megumi leaves for Japan again on Friday, and I won't see her until then. I wish her the best of luck, safe travels, and am sure she will go far in life.

And that's it for the updates for today. This was meant to be short, but unfortunately I've taken longer than I meant to. I hope you'll all forgive me. Thank you for coming out, and as always, leave any comments you would like. Have a great day!"

With that said, she smiles for the camera's one last time, then steps down from the podium, and quickly makes her way back behind the curtain, thinking to herself that today it was very tough to speak English, and not German. She takes it as a good sign, and heads off to get ready for her day.

Still Attacked

Dear evil germ things, that are making me sick,

I'm STILL SICK.

Seriously.

I mean... can't you little germs/bacteria/virus things just leave me alone?

I know you've looked all over for a nice warm home... but, lets just face it; I am NOT your place. So, stop tickling my throat to make me cough, stop giving me a slight fever, and please, stop zapping all my energy away.

I know this may be hard on both of us, but I think it'd be best if you just moved out.

This is your eviction notice.

You have 1 hour.

Or else I'm seriously going to sick my white blood cells on you even more.

Your not so happy host,

Mindy

i'm sick.

well. it's thursday, and I'm a bit under the weather. Yeah, I know, its not too interesting for the rest of the world to know. but I thought I'd share anyways. Taking it easy, and planning on spending the rest of my evening working on papers that are due soon.

I checked out my stats today for this site, and I learned that quite a bit of people are actually visiting me... at least quite a bit for my standards... That's cool. Also, seems some people are visiting from Germany, which makes sense, since I am here in Germany. Also a few from Britain...and it seems one from Columbia.

unfortunately it seems that most people load my site, don't find it interesting, then move on. curiously, I wonder if some of those people are germans who don't speak english and just move on for that reason. I think I'm going to look into a tool I once found for translating your blogs into german. So, keep an eye out, I'll probably start translating my blogs soon into German as well.

Now, I should probably find something more interesting to write about than me complaining about being sick as well. :)

Another Day, Another Paper

She sighs, staring at her computer screen. How does she explain what she needs to explain in this paper? She's not even sure how she'd say it in English, let alone German.

Bah. Her mind goes blank, and she surfs the internet momentarily.

She averages about a paper a day it seems, now that there are only two weeks left of the semester. And soon she's going to go eat lunch before her friend leaves.

"Guess that means I better get crackin," she thinks to herself, sighing.

Another day, another paper.

Hey everyone. Here is a cute pic of us from about three weeks ago in Marburg, where Fabian was born and lived until he was 10 or so. Yes, that is the cast he had on when he broke his nose. His nose is better now though (and he is cast free!) :) 

Too Early

Woke up at 6 am. Snoozed until 6:30. Laid wide awake until 7:10 am. Decided to give up trying to go back to sleep. Watched German Sesame Street which is called, Sesamstrasse (zay-zam-shtrasa.. more or less). Surfed the Net. Ate breakfast. Decided it's totally sad I woke up 3 and a half hours before I needed to get up. Waited until 1/2 an hour before I need to leave to take a shower and get ready.

I'm lazy.

I have lots to do today.

Tiff is coming over for the weekend. She gets here tonight, and stays through Monday. This is our third weekend with her. Tuesday she finds out what will happen with her, whether she goes to Iraq again, stays in Germany, or goes to the States.

Everyone pray for her.

And pray for the Iran situation. I don't know if you've all heard or not, but it seems that Iran wants to develop atomic power and we (the US and some other countries) don't want them to. They've threatened that if it goes to the UN and is discussed, then Iran will start to develop it more aggresively. I don't really know the details, or anything, so don't quote me on it: instead go read about it, but.. I think it's something else we should keep in our prayers. That it will be solved peacefully.

Have a great weekend. :)