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."

life-changing updates

1. the high tomorrow is 41. its just now october.

2. i voted absentee last week!  God bless america!

3. i've started sleeping in thick socks.  you should try it.  i woke up at about 7 this morning and the first thing that went through my head was, "oh, my feet feel nice."  then i fell back to sleep with a smile on face.

4. i love the new season of gossip girl- here's what i think:

      a. b looks better than ever!!

      b. dan is bothering me and isn't as cute as last season.  and he's heartless.

      c. s should stop her pouting look, but i'm liking where she's going.

      d. little j drives me nuts and is so anorexic that her hair is falling out. did ya'll know that she           was cindy lou in the grinch stole christmas?

      e. i just love rufus.  he's a great dad.

      f. i cannot stand vanessa.  she ruins everything.

      g.  why was chuck bass wearing american eagle??

5. my campaigners small group started last week, and i'm so excited about it! 

6. club is going REALLY well- a handful of new kids come every week.

7. i finished my 5th book in the month and a half that i've been here.  i'm a nerd, but the book was great!!  everyone worth knowing, its by the girl who wrote the devil wears prada.  its a must read.

8. i can't wait to see my family and friends in 3 weeks!!!

9. after talking with countless numbers of people and listening to hours of elevator music on help lines, my german wireless rowder still never worked.  i returned it yesterday in defeat and ordered an american rowder online.  apparently its hard to configure a german wireless rowder to an american internet server.  who knew?

bad ads

at my house, we have an afn (armed forces network) satellite that enables us to pick up about eight channels.  since the shows are random and at least a year old, the commercials are definitely my favorite part.  there are no normal commercials like coke, car, or anything else that you'd normally see on commercials.  instead, the military makes its OWN commercials.  here are my favorites:

1. hypothermia is real, and you can catch it year round

2. be careful when listening to your ipod; it can be distracting.

4. when moving, be sure to include your kid when packing.

5. when off post, don't act like a fool.

as you can see, the military has very crucial information to air to the masses.

oktobertest

the meaning of "party"  has been redefined after going to notorious oktoberfest this weekend.  it was quite the cultural experience- i LOVED it!  its pretty much like the regensburg fest that i told ya'll about a few weeks ago but way bigger and way better.  i met people from pretty much every country- germany, france, ireland, scotland, england, new zealand, australia, spain, finland, etc.  i would say most people had on traditional german clothes (leiderhosen) but tons of people had on their culture's traditional clothes, like kilts.  and everyone would sing their countries drinking songs and toast pretty much every 5 minutes.  there are about 15 tents (they are actually more like giant buildings that hold about thousand people each i would guess) and we (tessa and i) were at the main tent from 10 am-8pm sitting and talking with tons of different people.  all i know, is if i get a chance to go again, i definitely will.  the not so great part was we kept missing our trains.  so i was supposed to get back at about 9 and ended up home at 2:30.  the train we were supposed to take from regensburg to parsburg (a train lay over) was moved and so it didn't leave until 5 am.  so we had to sit outside in the cold (probably the high 40s) until someone could come get us.  definitely did not get my required 9 hours of sleep since i had to be at the church at 8. those who know me well know that this was not good.  being sleepy makes me gag.  literally. rough.

so i'm mobile now!  i took the german driving test, passed, and can now cruise the autobahn whenever i want.  here are some of my favorite german driving rules:

1. the tread on your tires can NOT be below 1.6mm.  they do indeed check this.

2. you MUST lock your doors.  if you don't, you will find your doors locked when you come back with a ticket on the driver's seat.  

3.  the police (polizei) carry cameras and take pictures of you when you get pulled over.  they mail you the photo along with the citation.

4.  you are expected to expect others to drive/act completely irresponsibly

5.  you MUST have a 1st aid kit underneath the passenger seat.  not the glove compartment, not the trunk, but underneath the seat

6. if your not 5 feet, you have to sit in a car seat (so thats most kids under 12)

7. no cell phones while driving or even while the engine is running

8. at an intersection of any kind, the driver on the right always has the right of way unless otherwise marked.

since everyone is safer and more "by the book" kind of people, the unlimited speeds do not seem irrational at all.  apparently most wrecks here don't even happen on the autobahn.  now i just need a car.

love you all.

what happens in seubersdorf...

the high today is 42. unbelievable. it was raining and 35 last night. frigid. the boxes i mailed myself haven't gotten here yet, so i'm stuck cold and coatless. its september. when my boxes finally come, i think it will feel like christmas. i packed them so late at night that i'm not even entirely sure whats in them. hopefully some coats.

i went with the howards to grafenweir on saturday. graf is a big army post about an hour away thats probably the size of nacogdoches. the PX (post exchange...the tax free cheap store that is on a military instillation) was more like a super walmart that was attached to a mini-mall and food court. it was amazing! and SO cheap! there was even a starbucks; even though i'm not a huge coffee drinker, it was still such a nice taste of home.

"what happens in vegas" is the funniest movie i've seen in years! i watched it the other day by myself, and chris and meaghan said they could hear my laughing downstairs in the living (3 floors down!) i think i laughed the entire first 20 minutes of the movie. you should all go rent it!

to update you on my wireless situation, nothing has been accomplished! i think i'm just going to return it and order an american online. geez.

i finally finished the 3rd book of the twilight series. everyone has been comparing it to harry potter, and i have not the slightest clue why or how. the twilight books do not hold a candle to harry potter. but they are still good, so if you want a new book, go get twilight by stephanie myer.

so sorry this has been a boring post... i just don't have too much to say! except that i'm cold.

innovation renovation

germans are smart, thorough, and logical.  i have noticed this to be completely true in most areas as i am beginning to grow accustomed to german technology.  the german way is often superior to the american way; however, with all the german technology i encountered and fought with this week, i learned a few things germans do not value: ease and time.

1. my phone.  the phone itself is great.  its exactly like the old nokia that i loved and couldn't part with until i spilt orange juice on it.  it even has snake!  and those of you who know me now i much i love snake and how good at it i am.  its one of my features.  i was looking through through the ring options, and all they had was techno.  no mozart, just glow stick loving beats.  its a nice excuse to have an obnoxious ring.  when i tried to text, i learned that you can't use predictive because its in german.  so i've got to do it the good ol' fashioned way.  the phone service loves sending me text messages (all in german of course which i don't speak) with phone promotionals and other news they think i'd like to know.  the phone totally redeemed itself by having snake.  i love that game.

2. the washer and dryer.  meaghen, the lady i live with, had to give me a 15 minute tutorial in how to use the german washer and dryer.  its completely digital with more washing/drying options than i know what to do with.  i thought it was really funny though because the quickest options on both the washer and the dryer were the only options in english: the super 15 and the quick 30.  i guess the germans know that americans don't like to wait.  i sat there messing with the temperature, repetition, time, and a million other things until i finally got frustrated and picked the american options.

3.  wireless internet.  i bought a wireless rouder for the house (so that i can watch tv online in my bed of course) and chris (meaghen's husband) and i have been messing with it for 2 days and cannot get it to work.  it has to be THE most complicated instructions.  there are no pictures, no diagrams, no step-by-step processes.  they were originally written in german and then translated to english, so i don't think a lot of the words and key phrases translated quite right.  gossip girl just isn't the same when sitting upright in the office.

4. garbage disposals.  they don't have them.

so enjoy life's simple pleasures you americans.  life is not that easy everywhere.

a festivus for the rest-iv-us

i love the german culture.  not only do they know how to relax, they know how to celebrate too!

now, although i've been a seubersdorfian for a little over 2 weeks now, i haven't gotten to do any exploring because everything closes as i'm getting home from work.  so, i put on my walking shoes (thanks kara...the asic 2100 series is truly magical) and headed out to see the sites of my great town.  the first thing that i love about seubersdorf is the cobblestone sidewalks.  they are not only charming but make it easy for someone with no car, like myself, to get around.  i pretty much circled the town and went into all the shops that were open in just a little over an hour.  that can give you insight into the grandeur of seubersdorf.  the first store i went into was a really cute gift store.  it had tons of stuff crowding the doorway, so i just carefully stepped over all the stuff.  i didn't understand why the sales girls were looking at me so funny until i later realized that germans put stuff in the doorway of their shops when they are closed so that people won't come in.  it was a hot day (well in the 80's) so the door was open to keep it cool while they restocked.  oops...but ignorance is bliss so i walked around, bought a few cards for people and went on my way.  i went into a few other stores and realized that german stores don't always make a lot of sense.  there was one store that was things that plug in. everything from fans to washing machines, to travel sized hair dryers were sold here.   i noticed that around 2, all the stores started closing.  when i was in italy, i expected this.  i also expected the stores to be closed on sundays and even one another day in the week.  however, germans definitely know how to relax too.  their work days aren't nearly as long as the average americans, and everything is closed half of saturday and all of sunday!  they even usually close on some random day during the week.  because they are not a consumer-driven nation, they are able to relax without being called lazy.  this was a huge surprise to me given that they are considered some of the most rule-loving and abiding citizens.  (i will post more about their funny laws later)

last night, i got to experience a german fest.  a couple of friends and i went to regensberg for their annual festival (all towns have their own fest, like oktoberfest, but not nearly as big or touristy).  we all wore the traditional german clothes, lederhosen and dirndls and fit right in.  this towns fest put the texas state fair to SHAME.  there were rides, bands, food, and lots and lots of german beer in portions 3 times what you'd be given in the states.  the food was amazing!  contrary to the "food" you can get from carnival venders in the states, this was quality, german cuisine!  if you ate at the tables in the tents, you are served by a waitress.  pretty high class festival if you ask me.  in the big tents where the food and and music are, the tables are pushed together to where the benches all touch.  everyone (all dressed in their traditional german clothes of course) stands on the tables and dances.  it is crazy and awesome!  i quickly found that every twenty minutes or so, the band plays a traditional german drinking song and EVERYBODY sings along and waves their beer in the air.  i will definitely frequent more fests.

  i think we americans could learn a lot from the germans.... a true festivus for the rest of us.

(the pictures show: the beginnings of my exploration of seubersdorf (for the entire memoir, please see my facebook album), my house, me and nickayla in our dirndls and the inside of a festival tent