rollawwwwwden

2 new life changing items:

I did my first adult thing a few weeks ago; I bought a car.  Watch out world; I am the proud owner of a 1994 red Honda Civic.  The only downside to the car besides the speedometer not working and the fact that is a lowrider (seriously- ghettos fabulous) is that its a stickshift.  It has been quite the lesson in humility as a stall out all the time and get laughed at by the germans.  Boy are they relentless.  However, I achieved quite the victory today after my friend Austin said that he wasn't scared to ride with me anymore.  Me: 1 Stickshift: 0

Car insurance sucks.  That bad boy costs me $140 a month for liability only!  for some reason, my car is classified as a sports car;  I guess they haven't been inside when the car starts shaking at 80 km.  Since Germans start driving when they are 18, a 22 year old (like myself) is insured as though she has only been driving for 4 years even though she has been driving for 6.  To top it off, when you're an adult and you live in Germany, you don't get insurance discounts for good grades anymore.  Texas would never allow that to happen.

Something else happened to my car that would never happen in Texas.  My door was iced shut.  It took lots breathing on the door seal and about 10 minutes of yanking on the handle to get the door open.  crazy huh.

The other thing that changed my world involves me moving into a new house.  As some of you know, I moved to Heidelberg which is about 3 hours away from my old town.  I'm currently living in a family's basement apartment.  Many European houses, including my new home, have these window shutters called rolladens.  They roll down on the outside of the window (similar to what you might see at a beach house) to black out the entire room.  I KNOW RIGHT!  These past few weeks have been the best sleep I've ever had (and I've had a lot of sleep).  I don't have that pesky sun trying to wake me up at 7; absolutely zero light comes in.  Since Germany hardly has any storms, i'm pretty sure that the entire purpose of these gifts from God is to blaock out the sun.  See, in the winter, the sun sets around 4 pm and rises at about 7 am.  It is dark for waaayyy longer than it is light.  BUT in the summers, the sun doesn't set until around 11pm and it rises much earlier.  So, if you want to sleep longer than 7 hours (which I personally do every single night), the rolladens make it happen.  I love them and insist they be in every home that I ever own.

outside the snow is falling and toby's calling, "yoo hoo."

ITS SNOWING!!!  it started last night and has been snowing constantly for the past 16 hours.  since i decided to move to bavaria this past summer, everyone has told me that it snows for like 6 months starting in october.  much to my dismay, it never snowed until now.  i was beginning to think that i bought my winterware in vain.  i woke up this morning and opened my curtains as i do every morning only to see snowcovered yards, roofs, trees, cars, and tractors (thats right, tractors).  i immediately bundled up with all my snow clothes and ran outside. after i started building stuff in the snow, i looked up and saw my neighbor toby, who is three, also outside to play in the snow.  so, my excitement for the snow was equivalent to that of a 3 year old.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-AxrJJNdMY

i'm going to italy on monday to see my friend cheyenne!  i'm so so so so excited.  i've been to italy before but never to this part.  she lives right outside venice and does YL at aviano airforce base.  although i do love the snow, i'm already tired of being cold!  so italy should be  nice change of pace.  

radio its shady-yo

i babysat today.  one of my favorite things about babysitting is that its my big chance to watch all the movies i've been wanting to see, but have been to embarrassed...like camp rock and high school musical.  today, i watched high school musical 2 and loved every minute of it!!  we also watched a few episodes of little house on the prairie.  gosh i love that show.  it was so refreshing and really highlighted just had awful my favorite shows are (like gossip girl).  i also love that laura and mary (from the little house) always wear night hats when sleeping.  i need to find one of those on ebay or something.  or better yet, reinvent one and make millions.  i like to sleep with my hair down but hate it when i have hair in my face.  a sleeping hat could solve all my problems.  my college roommates can attest to the fact that i need some hair solution other than my current plastic barrettes that i use to hold back my bangs.

i absolutely love german radio stations...well the ones that play american music anyway.  they play all my favorite songs that i've forgotten about in the past 22+ years.  AND i almost always know all the words to the song!  some of my favorites over the past few days have been

-lionel richie- hello (please watch the youtube video for this.  halarious.

-kid rock- picture

-the police- every breath you take

-shaggy- it wasn't me

-bon jovi- livin on a prayer

-susanne vega- toms diner

-billie myers- kiss the rain

the only bad part about german radio (besides the fact that i don't know german) is that they will turn off a song so that they can air the traffic report.  i mean, i will be in the middle of singing my heart out to mariah carey song, and the dj straight up turns it off.  

i also wanted to take this moment while i have your attention to brag about the shutters on my room windows.  they actually open and close!  boo yah.

lupburg

i've moved!!  i now live in lupburg with the cutest empty nester couple ever.  here's my room and house!

today, carl hanz came by who i found out later is the landlord.  i opened the door assuming it was beth or mark (the couple i live with) only to find a strange man.  i automatically assumed he was an attacker (obviously) so i quickly grabbed a key thinking that maybe i could fight off this 6'3'' huge man with  small piece of metal.  anyway, he explained in his broken english that he was the landlord and was here to fix some lamp.  so i went and locked myself in my room just in case he was indeed a bad guy. after he was done fixing the lamp, i hear a, "lady, LADY."  being the only one home, i figured that "lady" was me.   he told me his name.  i repeted, "collin" "colenz" and several other variations of his name.  he probably thinks i'm a freak.  but i love my new home!

don't be a bumpkin- go eat pumpkin!

i just wanted to alert everyone about the goodness of pumpkin.  a long, long time ago, when i was in the 2nd grade, i ate pumpkin seeds and threw up.  this obviously scarred me as a child and caused pumpkin anything to repulse me.  a few weeks ago, i decided it was time to try a pumpkin product again, 15 long years after my incident.  it started with a tiny bite of someones pumpkin pie.  it was one of those euphoric moments when heaven touches earth.  i went and got my own piece.  the next day, someone else made pumpkin pie, so i ate it...and i loved it.  the next day, meaghan (the girl i live with) made pumpkin bread.  i had a few slices of that.  i now have a craving for pumpkin stuff that can never be quenched.  i've had pumpkin cake, pumpkin scones scones are my 2nd favorite food), pumpkin brochen (a german type of roll) and cannot wait to have more.  i urge you, my readers, to not let an upset stomach 15 years ago alter what you eat today.

entschuldigung

after my e-mail was flooded with all my fans requesting another blog, i have at last come to post another blog.  i have a hard time writing something unless i have a good title to go along with it.  so, this title will be unoriginal and uncool.

i went to the states last week for sweet shelby's wedding.  being the smart, frugal girl (my daddy didn't raise no fool) that i am, i decided that flying air canada would be the best route.  unfortunately, i didn't realize that calgary was west canada- like above washington state.  i have shamed my dad's cartography business; i certainly did not inherit his map skills.  so, this is how it panned out:

nurnburg- frankfurt- 1 hour

frankfurt- calgary- 9.5 hours

calgary- houston- 4 hours

in order to save $100, i sacrificed 6 hours of my life.  i also ran in every airport to make my flight.  good thing some one taught me to say "excuse me" in german.

i love lufthansa airlines.  i took it on my first flight and felt like i was in a dance club. there were neon lights and sky lights.  well, they weren't really skylights but they looked like it.  the carpet resembled that of a carnival cruise.  AND there was some bumpin music.  party.

during my last flight to nurnburg, i sat next to a harry potter look alike.  it was a happy flight.

i had the best time at home.  my mom took off work which was so fun.  we got pedicures and shopped.  i got to spend tons of time with my family, including my precious nephew.   i got to see 2 good friends from high school and tons from college.  the wedding was perfect, shelby was a beautiful bride, and i got to cut a rug on the dance floor.  i especially loved this wedding because i feel as though i've had a front row seat throughout their entire relationship. i just love love.

things i missed about america in no particular order:

1. garbage disposals

2. chick fil a

3. mexican food (i had it 5 times)

4. my friends and family (obviously)

5. watching tv on their network's websites

6. malls

7. my car or even having A car

8. book stores

things i don't miss about america in no particular order:

1. liter

2. construction

3. commercials

4. radio stations

5. fast paced lifestyle

speaking of america, i feel like the worst american ever.  my absentee ballot was returned to me.  wrong address.  i guess every vote doesn't count.

sober, solemn, solace

i have been addicted to soda for the past 4 years of my life.  i looked at the back of my diet coke can and was freaked out by all the acids and chemicals in there.  i am proud to report that i have been soda sober for 8 days!  eat it aspertame.

i went to the hohenfels high school football game against af north.  since there are only about 150 kids in the high school, their team is incredibly small.  i think there are about 24 guys on the team.  they scored the first touch down of the season tonight!  the final score was 44-6.  so although the team may be lacking in football skills, i love the football games.  there is such a community there amongst the parents and students who come to the game.  they actually cheer with the cheerleaders.  after we scored our first touchdown, every time the announcer would say the score "44-6" everyone in the stands would cheer because we finally got on the board.  whenever one of the players would do something good, the announcer would say, "who's your mama and daddy, stand up and be proud."  so the parents of the player stand up and wave their hands and the crowd cheers for them.  my favorite part of the game was the national anthem. the junior ROTC walked the flag (similar to what you might see at a&m- they were all dressed up and marched with whistles) on the field which took a good 2 or 3 minutes and no one, out of the couple hundred people that were there, spoke, played around, or made a sound (which is obviously very difficult with high school and middle school students).  it was incredibly solemn and respectful.  their parents are the ones who are fighting and putting their lives at risk.  they understand.  it actually reminded me of silver taps. 

i absolutely love my church.  i go to the protestant church on post and am just in love.  at every military base there is one catholic mass and one protestant service every sunday.  so in the protestant service, you have everything from presbyterians to baptists to assembly of God people worshiping under the same roof to the same God.  the preaching and the music are great, but thats not what makes the church the church- its the people, the community.  i have tons of women and families wanting to invest in me by inviting me to lunch, to coffee, to spend christmas with them.  every though i love my job and love my life, it can be tough living without my friends and family.  my Church does everything they can to combat any loneliness that i could feel.   they are my family in Christ.  i've also started to play the piano at both mass and the protestant service.  i've played the piano since i was in the 2nd grade but am always very reluctant to play in front of people.  God has pulled me out of that and given me an opportunity to serve Him and the Church.  i am so thankful.  not only is the protestant service unified, but the catholics and the protestants are team mates as well, working together to build the Church.  not something you see every day.  i feel like i'm understanding what Paul was talking about in Ephesians 4 about a unified church.  "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."