Time to Move On...

    So, I've been forgetting to mention something...Tyler and I are moving soon. No more Army for us, at least, for now anyway. Moving is always stressful, but this move, well, I really don't know how I feel about it. On the one hand, I'm super excited to go back to California and be with friends and Tyler's family, but on the other hand, I know I'm going to miss Germany and the new friends I made here. Plus, I don't even get to see my family or some friends I still have in Texas :(. I feel like there is still more I could do here in Germany, but alas, my time is coming to an end. I'm also scared, well, maybe nervous is more accurate, about finding a job and going back to work.
    Now, along with deciding what things I can live without for about 3 months (that's how long it can take for them to ship our stuff to us ahhh!), I'm looking for jobs, and an apartment. Looking for an apartment is fun, but sucks because I can't go look at any yet. I absolutely hate looking for jobs. There are so many I feel I could do/am qualified for, but according to the requirements, I supposedly am not qualified for the job, sigh. Anybody have any good sites I should look for jobs on? I am using a lot, but I am always open to suggestions.
    Speaking of job hunting, I always thought I was pretty good at interviews, but, 2 or 3 years ago, I was told after one interview I did for my school I wasn't. What?! No one else had ever told me that. And trust me, if I didn't get a job that I really wanted I inquired why and what I could do better next time. Ah well, maybe it was a fluke thing, or maybe I need to prepare more. I do know one thing I struggle with is what questions to ask. Anybody have any suggestions on questions to ask and/or interview tips for me?
     Anyway, I'm excited and yet very scared for this new chapter in our lives. But, ya know what? I bet it's going to be a good one. :)

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My Travels with the in-laws

    Tyler's parents were just here. It was a nice almost two week visit. They arrived Thursday evening, and we left for Munich Friday early afternoon. You can read more about our Oktoberfest adventures here. In short...Oktoberfest is intense, epic and drunken. We went on opening day, so we saw the parade, and were in the tent where the keg gets tapped. I saw the mayor of Munich and apparently I saw major German celebs...who knew? We had the luxury of has a reserved table and tickets for a tent. Most people who go just walk around and try to get in a tent...but we were VIPS! It was all thanks to Tyler's parents friends who live in Munich. Thank goodness for them.

So many people!

Beer is served!

Our first beer! Excuse my crazy eye haha.

Inside the tent

The whole group!

Doing the YMCA...not kidding, they played it

     During the week, Tyler had work, so Tyler's parents had I traveled around the area. The next weekend, we went to Berlin. I LOVED Berlin. It's like a combo of SO many major European cities...it's amazing. I stood where Hitler was burned after he shot himself...I saw the wall...I saw Frederick the Great's Sanssouci...I saw the hotel Michael Jackson dangled Blanket out of (lol). The only downside, it smells like sewage when it's warm because it's built on a swamp.

Brandenburg Gate

At the wall...well, what's left of the outer wall anyway.

Memorial to the murdered Jews.

    While there, we took a walking tour of the city and had the BEST tour guide, Barnaby.  All the history, the cool buildings...oh man...love Berlin! On Sunday, when we wanted to go to Sanssouci. One problem, there was a HUGE marathon going around Berlin. Ok, so, the hotel we were in was in what used to be East Berlin, so it was like we couldn't get out of East Berlin. haha...kinda cool. At 10:45, there was a gap in the race and we could get out! woohoo! Sansouci was EPIC and AMAZING. It's a must see. Below, are pictures from different parts of the Sansouci grounds.

     His parents left on Tuesday and I hope had a great time. I know Tyler and I had fun.
   Other than that, I've been cleaning, job/apartment hunting for our move back to California and working on my cooking. Thrilling huh? Hope everyone is having a very happy Friday!

Oktoberfest and Fall!

    Last I left you, I was preparing for Tyler's parents arrival. Well, they're here! In fact, they got here on Thursday night. Friday, we went to Munich to visit their friends who live there and go to Oktoberfest. After terrible traffic and getting re-routing by the gps...meaning, we went a crazy and long way...we finally arrived in Munich. We had a lovely evening with one of their friends, drinking beer (ugh already), catching up, etc. Saturday, we got up bright and early to go to Oktoberfest. We were all dressed in our dirndls and lederhosen and had tickets to a tent. That's right friends...we had a reserved table in a tent. In fact, we were in the one where the beer was tapped! It was really cool to see. Beer was served right after the tapping at 12 (not allowed to serve before that on the first day) and thus the festivities begun! It was INSANE, fun, but INSANE...side note, Tyler drank a bit too much, haha, happens to the best of us. So, we left earlier then planned. I was a little upset because I wanted to walk around more to see all the different tents and festivities. Ah well. Guess that just means I need to go back yeah? haha.
    Sunday, we had a relaxing day walking around Munich, watching tv, eating...ya know. Today, we had a relaxing morning, then drove back to our apartment. We've just been watching TV, made a wonderful steak dinner, then had some wine and ice cream. Now, we're just relaxing and watching a movie. Sounds like a good night to me!

    In other news, who's excited about fall!? This girl. I LOVE fall. Especially all the pumpkins and boots! LOVE THEM! I've already started to decorate the apartment with pumpkins, falls candles, other fall things and even some Halloween things. I can't wait to get more boots and fall clothes. :) hehe. Is anyone else as excited about fall as me?? :p

    As always, the pictures are coming...happy Monday friends!

Time to Review

   Ok, last I left you it was last Saturday and I ad just gone to Bamberg. Last Sunday, Tyler had to leave for another couple weeks of training, and my parents and I went to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Concentration camps are always interesting to me...sad and emotional, but very interesting. This one was also in a beautiful area of Germany.
   Monday, my parents and I were off to Munich. Now, I've been to Munich twice already, but I feel like there's always something new to do there. We stayed and had adventures in Munich until Wednesday, and then made our way to Heidelberg. LOVED Heidelberg. The castle ruin was SO cool, and its a small town feel with being a bigger city. Warning, it is pretty touristy. We had some nice walks around the city and river...even took a river cruise! Coming back home on Thursday was an adventure! My GPS likes to take you on the most direct route, so we ended up on this small, scary, crazy one lane mountain road with two way traffic. Ugh. Thank God my dad was driving.
   Friday, we relaxed, my parents did laundry, my dad and I did yard work hehe. Good day.
   Saturday, we went to Wuerzburg. I've done basically everything there, but I still love it. So pretty.
   Today, we're going to go eat breakfast and walk around our little city. Even though basically everything is closed on Sundays, its still fun to walk around.
   I'll update again soon and talk about our travels more once I have pictures (hurry up mom) haha. Have a blessed and happy Sunday!

Trip to Bamberg

   Well folks, I finally made it to Bamberg. I've been trying to go since February when my SNAPS Class was supposed to go, but we ended up going to Wuerzburg instead. I LOVED Bamberg! Makes me wish Tyler was stationed there...it's so pretty. That, and it's a much bigger city then where we are haha. We explored the city by walking around and just going in to different places like churches. My dad had never seen old European churches like that, so he was excited. One of the churches we went in to was having an organ recital, which was cool and my mom LOVED. We had a big, delicious lunch at some restaurant near the river. It was a nice, fun and full day. Pictures to come (my parents took them hehe).
Happy Saturday!

Parents are coming!

   Well, as the title says, my parents are coming for a visit tomorrow! This is my dad's first time to Europe...I was going to say out of the country, but I think he's been to Canada (lol). I'm pretty excited. :)
I got the spare room all nice and ready for them. I can't wait to start traveling all over Germany with them...should be a good time.
   In other news, Tyler has to leave to go to the field for training in a few days. Bummer; But at least my parents will be here for some of it.

   Also, I want to apologize for my accidental blog hiatus. I just, well, I've been getting things ready, and honestly haven't been that inspired to write. Not sure why, I just haven't. It happens to us all I guess. Hmm...maybe we could call this unforeseen hiatus writer's block...haha. Well, whatever it is, I hope I kick it soon. I miss writing. I guess I just need to get inspired!

   Safe travels parents...see you in the morning! :) Happy Hump day everyone.

Pet Peeve

   So this weekend while watching Office Space for the first time, I was like, "omg, they're filming in Texas! I bet it's Dallas...right off the 75." THE 75? THE??? Oh lord. I'm turning in to a Californian officially now. (I've lived there for about 4 years and have the license). Why the use the definite article in front of their freeways I'll never know, but they do. After I said the 75, my eyes got really big and Tyler just started laughing at me and said I'm turning into a nice little Californian ha. Sigh. Oh, and in case you were curious, Office Space was filmed in Austin.

   And here's my pet peeve...people yelling at waiters/waitresses, especially when they're speaking English for you in a non-English speaking country. Really people?! You're just embarrassing yourselves, well, and Americans in general. Please don't do this. 
   Unfortunately this happens a lot where I live. I try and speak German, and if I can't figure something out, I'm nice about it. It could also be a personality thing, but listen, some people are just plain RUDE. It really makes me uncomfortable and embarrassed for them. And you wonder why some people hate Americans? ha. Thus I digress. Happy Tuesday everyone.

long weekend

Sorry for neglecting this, but Tyler had a four day weekend, and I just wanted to enjoy it. :)
   Thursday, he had staff duty. Basically, you’re watching headquarters for 24 hours. There is also CQ, which is watching the barracks for 24 hours. Yikes. He’s been doing it a lot these past 2 months too. Ah well, such is life I guess. For some reason, I was a little more bored and lonely then usual; one of those days I guess. Sometimes I really enjoy my nights alone and take advantage of them. Thursday was not one of those nights. I watched some TV on my computer (yes, we still don’t have a TV, so we watch everything of the computer. But it’s cool. I would rather travel than get a TV anyway.) and just relaxed.
   Tyler slept a lot of Friday to recover from being awake so long, haha. I got a good workout in and some cleaning. I even took a nap with him. Then, I woke him up he could actually go to sleep that night. He also started to work on our family tree. Needless to say, he was up VERY late...dare I say up early?
   Saturday we went to Kreuzberg in the Rhön Mountains with our neighbors.  It is a monastery that makes beer. It's so pretty there, and the beer was delicious! And this is coming from a person who doesn't even really like beer! The food is also pretty good and cheap! I recommend going.There are also some really neat places to hike, camp, etc. around there.

   Sunday, we went over to a friends for an early Memorial Day BBQ. We had some margaritas, delicious food and fun with friends. Unfortunately, Tyler's allergies got the best of him in the evening. He couldn't stop rubbing his eyes. He finally had to take his contacts out. Then, he came up to me and was like, "you're going to have drive home. I just had to take my contacts out, and I don't have my glasses with me." Luckily, I hadn't drank TOO much (also ate with it and had water), and we could sit around and chat for awhile just in case. Tyler's allergies have been SOOO bad lately! Hopefully they get better soon. 

   Monday, memorial day, we just relaxed. Good way to spend it I think. :)  Before I end this post, I just want to say this: Thank you to all who serve/have served in the military, especially those who have lost their lives. We thank you and will never forget what you have done for us :)

How was everyone else's weekend/memorial day? Do anything fun?

Day 20: Travel

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

  In my 23 years, the only two countries I have been to are India, Germany and Italy (just Rome though). 


   India was actually my FIRST experience out of the country (go big or go home). I absolutely loved it there! We went all over that country. Sure on my way to India I had emergency layover in Osaka, Japan and both on the way there and way back we had layovers in Taipei, Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (on the way back it was a 10 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur so I actually saw some of the city), but do those really count? ehhh.  

Now, I live in Germany and have been to several cities in the southern part. Still got to get to Northern Germany though.  The first time I came to Germany was in April 2009  (see picture left) to visit Tyler...who knew then that someday I would be living here? 
























In January of this year, Tyler and I went to Rome.  It's honestly one of the most beautiful and interesting cities I have ever been to in my life.

Anyway, there are many places that I want to visit...Prague (we're going THIS weekend...stoked!), Paris and other places in France, London, more places in Italy like Venice and Florence, more places in Germany like Berlin, Austria, Greece, China, Japan...the list could go on for days. I pretty much want to go everywhere. Right now, Tyler and I are working on tackling Europe...next stop, PRAGUE! 

via site

Days 17 and 18: The I's have it! (Impact and Insecurity)

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

via site

Yup, that's the German flag all right. Living in Germany has truly had the biggest impact on my life right now.

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity

   I don't really have a picture for my insecurities...that would be kind of odd. I am a people pleaser (which I am working on) and I really just genuinely love people, but that means one of my biggest insecurities is having people not like me/ignore me. I am working on that, and there are some times I can handle not being liked and ignored, but sometimes it really just bugs the crap out of me and I get sad and insecure. Sometimes my weight/ stomach fat is also an insecurity. I know I'll never be a skinny girl, and I love my smile, hair, legs, eyes and boobs a lot, but sometimes, well, most of the time I wish I was thinner. Sigh. I do workout and try to eat right, but it's something I will always struggle with...carrying weight in my stomach.

German Travels

  This past week, Tyler and I went on a marriage retreat, which took place in Garmisch. Garmisch is located right by the Alps. If you're a skier or snowboarder, this is really the place for you! (Too bad Tyler and I aren't haha).
  The retreat itself was ok. I mean, I did get to meet new people/make new friends and spend some quality time with my hubby, but other than that, it really wasn't for us. It was designed for people basically on the brink of divorce. Now, it's always a good idea to work on your marriage and I'm not saying I didn't get anything out of the retreat, it just got a little preachy. Plus, we had to watch the movie Fireproof starring Kirk Cameron. Gross.  But hey, lodging was free, most of our meals were free and Tyler treated me to a massage. :)
   Thursday afternoon, once the retreat was over, we headed to the city of Regensburg. Like most of you reading this post, I had never heard of the city. I found out that it is located right on the Danube River, that it was the furtherst point north of the Roman Empire and the old stone bridge that crosses the Danube was used in the Crusades. How cool is this city!? It is also a very diverse city that is open to all sorts of people and religions. So we spent the night and went exploring more on Friday. Oh, I forgot to mention, right before we left Regensburg, we drove to the Walhalla, which is a replica of the Pantheon. We got there 20 minutes after it was closed, but it was still neat to look at.
   Friday we then drove to Munich to visit our family friends there. They are always the most hospitable people. We had lots of wine, lots of food and a very relaxing weekend with them and their dogs. Monday morning, it was back to reality. Sigh.
   Thus I digress...that's all I have about our past week's travels. Pictures soon! Have a great day :)

SNAPS Class: Day 5

   On Friday we were supposed to go to Bamburg, but since our leader got sick, the new one that took over knew Würzburg better, so we went there via train. I love Würzburg. We had such a great time exploring the city and practicing our German. For reference, Würzburg is about 30 minutes away from where we live. After breakfast at a wonderful bakery, the guides gave us a quick tour of the city, told us where to meet, and let us go explore the city. I went around with 3 other women. Man, did we have a great time! We had some lunch at a local bar, explored churches, found tourist information and went shopping. We also had some great conversation. I really like these women :)
   Thus, I digress, Würzburg is an amazing city that everyone needs to visit. Enjoy some pictures below! 

Würzburg :)

Such a beautiful city

Most of the group, plus some husbands, listening to one of the guides talk about Würzburg.

SNAPS Class: Days 2 and 3

   Yesterday, Tuesday, was a really fun day! We took a bus tour of the perimeter of the city to see where the hospitals were, the wild animal park, the water park, etc. Then, we got to go shopping. We went to some of the coolest home stores! Plus side, they were fairly cheep! I'm definitely going to have to take Tyler back to some of them. Most of the group at the restaurant in the first store, XXXL, and you know what? I had to order and help people figure out things, because I'm the one who knows the most German besides our leader. It was kind of cool. :) I felt like my minimal German was finally paying off. After all of that wlking around and shopping we went back to base. I hung out with a girl I met in the class until Tyler got off work and could take me home.
   Today, we were in the classroom again. We learned about the intense recycling you must do here, mail services, Family Advocacy Program, Family Readiness Groups and Deployment Readiness, Women Infant and Children Group, EDIS (Educational Developmental Intervention Services), Community Spouses club, Resiliency Training and ACS resources . It was all very informative, but I must admit, at times I did get bored. Ah well. Such is life. I did learn a lot today.
   There is such a different variety of women and one man, from all parts of the U.S. and all different ages. The oldest in the group said the other day that she has grand kids, but she doesn't look a day over 37. I guess you age well in the south. The youngest is almost 19, and very mature for her age. And no, she didn't get married because she was pregnant. I really enjoy these people and hope to become friends with at least some of them.
   Thus, I digress and will leave you to enjoy your day. More tomorrow! :) 

SNAPS Class: Day 1

   So I started out last night not wanting to go to SNAPS (----------- Newcomer Awareness Program for Spouses) class. Why? I have no idea. There was no real logical explanation, I just didn't want to go. I guess to some degree I was nervous, but I don't know...for some reason I just didn't want to go. I just knew I had to though. And sure enough, I had a pretty good time. When Tyler picked me up at one I couldn't shut up about it. 
   We learned about anti-terrorism, volunteering and employment on base, the chapel and what it has to offer, the Garrison Colonel came, and much more. More importantly I met some pretty cool women and one guy. Yup, he's the only guy in the class! Good for him! :) I learned a lot today, even if some was boring, I did learn a lot. And you know what? I'm glad I went. This is shaping up to be a great week.
   Thus, I digress. Happy Monday everyone! :)

P.S. We're almost done building all our IKEA furniture! woot!

Oh Germany, how you amaze, er, I mean, confuse me.

   So, Tyler and I went to IKEA this past weekend to buy some more furniture and stuff for our place. I love IKEA so much. Words cannot truly express how much I love this store. Moving on,  surprisingly IKEA is generally cheaper here than in the states, even with the exchange rate. Weird huh? Not that either of us minded of course.
   Once we got all our furniture on to the carts, we went up to the cashier, she rang everything up and then said the total. Tyler hands her a credit card and she's like, I can't accept this, only bank cards. So he tries a debit card...she's like no, that's the same. And Tyler was like, well, then we can't pay. How embarrassing. Then she's like, well, there's an ATM around the corner. We move everything to the side and I stand with it while he gets cash, which took awhile. Ugh. Then we can finally pay. See, lots of stores in Germany don't take visa/mastercard credit or debit cards, they only take bank cards (which is some German thing) and cash. I mean, we figured it out, but man, do people just pay cash at IKEA!? It was the weirdest thing. After that we waited in the transportation line to get these things shipped. They're coming Thursday wooo. Needless to say, we were at Ikea almost 4 hours, which normally I wouldn't mind, but we were in lines for a decent portion. Ah well. At least we got our stuff! :)
   Now, I totally understand the no debut card thing. I know ours are made differently than ones in Europe, but no credit cards? I mean, H&M and most restaurants even take credit cards. What's the deal IKEA? Maybe Germans just don't over spend? ha. Who knows. Anyway, I'm excited that our apartment is finally coming together and starting to look and feel like home. We're going to some other stores this weekend to get rugs and more decorative items. I can't wait! I love decorating. After we get everything up I'll start taking pictures of our place, and then we can finally have people over!
   Next week I have my SNAPS (----------- Newcomer Awareness Program for Spouses) class. It's the whole week and we go over stuff like what base has to offer, employment opportunities, how to take the bus, where things are located in our city, and the final day we have a day trip to some nearby city. Not sure which city yet, but I hear it's fun. I'm actually looking forward to this class, my only wish is that it's not to boring. haha. I also wish I could've done the one in January, but alas, it was full before I found out about these. Also, I would've still been in Rome for the first two days of it. I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes! Hopefully it will be fun and I'll learn a lot.
   And finally, I'll leave you with this...this is the longest I've ever kept writing somewhere. I'm being serious, and I'm glad I'm actually physically writing stuff down. Usually I just "write" in my head. I know, I know, I sound crazy, but it's true. I always "write" stuff in my head. Whether it be stories, my life, a blog/diary type entry...it usually all goes in my head and nowhere tangible. I tried to keep a diary in middle school, that lasted like a month. Then I found it a few months later and tried again, ha. I had a Xanga in high school. Again, didn't update it or did those stupid quizzes. Then, I tried to write while Tyler was deployed. Failed at that as well. I really wish I would've been better at writing while he was deployed. I think that could've really helped someone in the future. Oh well. Maybe I'll try and recall those memories. We'll see.
  Thus, I digress. Have a good day everyone :)

Finally Here

So, I made it. Finally! And, man oh man, let me tell you...what a journey! Yesterday was a long day. Let me paint the picture for you...
I leave LA, Monday at 3pm. I actually think we left late, whatever. Lufthansa airlines is ok, nothing to special I feel. There were some REALLY obnoxious people on the plane. They were adults, but shouting across the plane. NOT ok. Luckily, the wonderful Indian woman sitting next to me spoke up, along with a few others. We land in Germany around 10:15/10:30 in the morning. When you land with Lufthansa you don't get off at the Terminal, you get off and go on to a bus that takes you to the terminals. Once there I exchange some money, hand them my passport, which gets stamped and go to get my baggage. Once I have my two bags (big mistake fyi) I make my way to the ticket station for the train. After I buy a ticket I wait for the train to take me to Wurzburg. Mind you, I was struggling getting on the train with my two bags. Sigh. In Wurzburg I have to change trains and have only 5 minutes to do so. I thought I was doomed. But this wonderful middle-age German couple saw me struggling and helped me find where I needed to go. They even ran with me. Pretty sure they didn't speak English. Thank goodness the train was running a few minutes behind. 30 minutes later, I was in Schweinfurt. From the train station I took a taxi to the hotel and could finally shower and rest. The hotel is ok. I was told online there would be internet in the rooms and there's not...only in the lobby. Probably something to do with the construction.
    Last night I had met some of Tyler's friends and guys he's spent his past year with. That was really nice. They were all very nice to me and I got to hear great stories about my wonderful husband. I just wish he would've been there. Oh well. 3 shots of tequila and a margarita later (yes, I did eat too) I was off to bed. Though, when 2am came around I was wide awake for a few hours. sigh. No naps today!
    Random, tangent...if one more person thinks I'm German...haha. Kidding. It is kind of nice that I blend in. What sucks is that I don't know German that well. There's lots of smiling and nodding, and of course, laughing. It started on the plane with most of the flight attendants speaking to me in German. Then, the Indian woman next to me asking me what they were saying over the intercom in German. When I told her that I was American, she was shocked! It kept going...the taxi driver was so confused when I spoke English to him haha. Last night when I was sitting in the lobby on the computer (like now) I asked a man for the internet pass code. Once I handed it back, he looked at me and was like "Wow, either you're American, which I doubt or you've just learned how to get rid of your accent." I was really taken aback when he said this to me and was trying to think of a way to act like I was actually German. I came up with nothing. So I was like, "No, I'm American. haha" Oye vey. Let's hope I pick German up quickly! At least I know some.
   It's 10:20 in the morning here, I feel like I should probably go out and venture, but truthfully I'm kind of scared.  Yes, it's a safe city all things considered and yes, I can do things by myself, but I'm tired of being lonely and alone all the time. I want someone to explore the city with. Hell, even a host family or something would be nice. Ha. I guess I'll shower, relax and prepare myself for the cold and go explore for a little. Pictures to come!