Archives for July 2005

yes, here I am…and it feels kind of strange :) but let me start from where I last left off…Sunday afternoon we went to Venice Beach, walked along the promenade and had dinner at one of the sidewalk cafés. It was very nice :) then we walked all the way back to Santa Monica (where we had parked our car) and waited for the Sunset. Here are the last photos that we took that day.

Then we went back to the Motel and stopped at a supermarket on the way to get a few more things for on the plane.

We had a really nice and relaxed night and got up at 9:00 a.m. to go and have breakfast at IHOP which was right around the corner. I was already looking forward to a Belgian Waffle with Strawberries when we realized that the IHOP place was new and not yet open :( so we had to look for another place to eat and we found a little café, but they only had “very American breakfasts” with eggs, bacon, sausages and that kind of stuff. So I thought, what the heck, I won’t have that for a while anyways ;)

Jon took me to the airport at noon, we checked my bags and then went back to the car to hang out a little bit. Boarding time was at 2:30 p.m., so I was going to go back inside around 2 p.m. – I couldn’t help but cry a little bit when I had to go, but it wasn’t that much because I had to leave Jon [it’s only four weeks… piece of cake ;)] but more because of the whole situation at the airport that we had so many times before with a more uncertain future. Once I was in the terminal, it was ok though.

The flight was delayed for a little bit and we took off about 35 minutes later than scheduled, but the good news was: the flight would only be 10 hours (instead of 11) which I thought was great. I had a seat on the aisle (because I always try to drink as much as possible and have to go pee then every 30 minutes :)) and the seat next to me was empty. Lucky me!

Nevertheless, I couldn’t sleep at all, so I basically skipped the whole night’s sleep from Monday to Tuesday. I arrived in Düsseldorf at 11 a.m. sharp and my parents, my sister and my aunt were there to pick me up.
I always hate it when I am waiting for my luggage and people can see you through the glass doors already… this is usually my time to get prepared for seeing my family [or whoever picks me up] again ;)

They were totally excited and it was fantastic to see them :) but at the same time it felt so weird to be back here… can’t really explain it.
We went home [and I asked my Dad to put down the paddle on the Autobahn ;)] and then we had a nice welcome brunch at my house. My Granddad and Great-aunt came over as well and they were sooo happy to see me, as you can imagine. I hadn’t seen them for 19 months and my Granddad had been in the hospital recently. He always brushed it off as it was nothing, but he had been treated for prostate cancer [the doctor’s said it hadn’t spread out luckily] and he admitted that he had been kind of scared that he won’t see me again :(

We had a nice afternoon together, my sister had baked a pie for me and in the evening my uncle came over as well to see me. It was great, but at that time I was dead-tired. I didn’t go to bed before 11 p.m. though as I was trying to avoid a “real” jetleg by getting into a regular sleeping pattern.

I spent the day with my parents and my sister yesterday. We went to IKEA – always fun! – and Nina and I participated in a sweep stake and believe it or not… 20 minutes later my sister was announced over the store’s speakers as the winner of an Ikea gift certificate. I couldn’t believe it… my sister ALWAYS wins shit everywhere. It’s really not fair :)

In the evening, Dirk [Nina’s boyfriend] came over for dinner. I must say that my Mom treats me with really good German food right now :) it’s soooo good!

So, the next thing I am looking forward to is meeting Sanni on Monday *aah* I can’t believe it’s only 4 days! I hope I’ll have fully recovered from my sleep deprivation by then *lol* talk to you all soon.

we are at a hotel close to LAX now and the room has High Speed Internet *yay* :) which means I can quickly update you before I am going on the plane tomorrow.
We spent the last few days at Jon’s parents house in Ventura… went to the beach, relaxed, had great food :) I feel like I am on vacation [wait… I AM :) kind of]. Then we drove down to LA on Highway 1 this morning and checked into a hotel and later we’ll go back to Venice and have dinner and spend the evening there.
Tomorrow around noon Jon will take me to the airport… since we are so close to it, we can sleep in and have a nice breakfast before we go which is nice.
I am getting kind of excited…. although it feels weird at the same time. Can’t explain it really, but you, who have traveled to the US and back, will probably know what I am talking about.
I’ll see you all very soon… will enjoy my last 24 hours here now!

before I am back in Germany. Jon and I are driving down to Ventura tonight and I am not sure yet if I will be able to go online again [which will be very hard for me :)], so I might just get in touch with you again when I am back in Germany.The last two days were kind of busy and I am trying to organize my stuff, run some errands, and decide what to take to Germany and what to leave here. It’s a very weird situation right now, because I want to treat it like I am going on vacation, but on the other hand I am thinking if I should take things back just in case I won’t return… but these are stupid thoughts, right? because I will be back here in September…

I really don’t like this feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen, although I am hopeful that everything will work out just fine after all the hassle that we had. Of course I am excited to see my family and friends again [esp. the ones I have yet to meet *lol*].

Last night, we went to see the Swains, because I wanted to say goodbye to them… and since they had just returned from Europe, they had some Euros that they wanted to get rid off and I was very happy to get them off their hands. They gave me a really good exchange rate and it was a mutually benefiting deal for the both of us as we didn’t have to pay any fees or commissions. We had a lovely evening with them.

So, I guess I’ll see you all soon guys… well, most of you at least :) I am excited!

well, I got sunburned this weekend and I can’t move. I am so stupid… although I used sunscreen (I thought I was getting really good with remembering to use sunscreen in these extreme temperatures, last weekend proved me wrong again…), I got burned on my calves and back. I can’t believe it.
Well, let’s tell the story from the start… Friday after work we had the Bookclub over for a BBQ. It wasn’t an offical bookclub meeting really (since we didn’t read a book because -yes I admit it – I didn’t manage to pick something to read). I had been pretty busy at work wrapping up my projects that I couldn’t even think about reading). So Stoyan, Claudia, Scott and his co-worker came over and with Maria and Aaron, we were a group of 8 people. It was fun!

I got a call from Regine that night and she asked if I would be interested to go the coast on Saturday with her and Elcin (both girls were at the dessert party – remember?). I thought that was a brilliant idea, since it was supposed to get really hot again and you can’t pass up the opportunity to get some cooler air at the coast. I asked Maria if she wanted to come along and so we left for Davis at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Elcin and Regine had rented a car, so we put our stuff in their car and were off for our adventure :)

We first drove to the Muir Woods lookout and it was kind of overcast and foggy when we got there. As you can see here…

 

We drove a little further north after that to Stinson Beach and all of a sudden the clouds were gone and we had beautiful sunshine. We hung out at the beach for a couple of hours talking and lying around [and that’s where I didn’t pay attention to the spots that I hadn’t put sunscreen on].

We had a good time though and laughed a lot :) From there, we drove up to Mt. Tamalpais where you have a beautiful view over the whole Bay Area. We had to take a little hike up the mountain, but the view was just gorgeous. A few clouds were coming into the Bay and it just looked amazing. Elcin couldn’t stop talking about the beautiful “stratocumulus clouds” [you gotta know that she’s getting a PhD in Athmospheric Sciences ;)]

Around 6 p.m. we headed back to Davis and Maria and I had some dinner at Bakers Square – we could of course not resist to have some pie for dessert ;)
It was a very nice day – besides the fact that I was really exhausted from the heat, sunburned and possibly a little sun stroked. I went to bed pretty much right away.

On Sunday, I had agreed to meet Tatjana at the Arden Fair Mall. She needed to go shopping and wanted to see me again before I leave. Maria came along, because we wanted to go to the grocery store to buy stuff for Aaron’s birthday [which was today] afterwards.
It was really funny, because we went bra-shopping with Tatjana since she needed a strapless bra for a dress she is going to wear at a wedding next week. It can be quite entertaining when three girls are looking for bras *lol* :) as there were so many weird colors and all these supposedly “shaping” bras that just look ridiculous on you when you try them on.
We had quite a laugh in the fitting room! :

Well, and today was my last day at work… it was kind of weird, I must say. I expected it to be quite laid back, but it turned out to be a very busy day actually. I had to finish up some stuff for Gerald and also give him an overview over the projects I had been working on.
At lunch time, Gerald and Michelle took me out for a “good bye and see you soon” lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been there before, but it was awesome :) I had a Grilled Shrimp & Bacon Club Sandwich and afterwards they made me order a piece of cheesecake (which fortunately we split among the three of us!) It was delicious :)

They were both kind of sad to say good bye and told me that they hope to have me back soon again. Gerald really complimented my work again, which was a great feeling!
I ended up staying at the office till 7pm, because I had to clean up my computer (didn’t want to leave private files on there) and also had to clean up my desk. ;)

Then we celebrated Aaron’s birthday tonight. Three friends had come from San Francisco and they made their own Sushi for dinner (I was actually still full from lunch and skipped dinner completely).
Later on, we went for a swim in the pool… Maria and I hadn’t really planned on going swimming, but ended up taking a swim in our clothes *lol* [I have to say that we did that voluntarily and weren’t pushed in by the guys or anything ;)]

Well, and now it’s another 8 days until I will be back in Germany… start the countdown ;)

P.S. Don’t read further if you’re not up for yet another exhausting visa-related story… I had mentioned that I needed to get my degree translated and evaluated, right? So I found out about this company in New York who does it and I faxed them my documents last week Monday and requested a 3-day service, because I needed the documents back pretty quickly. I didn’t get a confirmation or case number from them, so I called them Wednesday to make sure that they had gotten everything and they told me on the phone that someone was working on my case. Didn’t hear from them for the rest of the week and decided to call them again this morning. They were all confused and apologized, but said that my case hadn’t been completed [just great :( not that I needed the documents yesterday], so they asked me to fax the documents again and that it would be taken care of today (!). When I hung up, I was like whatever, this is no news to me.
Fortunately, they kept their word this time and faxed me a copy of the translation and evaluation in the afternoon (which I forwarded to my sponsor company) and I’ll get the hardcopy in the mail.
I hope everything is taken care of now… wouldn’t be surprised if there is still more to come though :(

Ok, this is what I call the summer in the Central Valley… it’s freakin’ hot here today. It’s about 104°F (= 39°C) and that’s definitely out of my comfort zone. I went for a walk with Jon the other night and the air was so thick and hot that I felt like I had to work really hard to get my breath in and out of my lungs. We walked for over an hour and I was exhausted afterward and dozed off for half an hour on the couch. I am definitely not made for this sort of weather :( I am hoping the summer in Germany will be a little less intense for me… although I kind of fear the humidity that goes along with the heat in Germany. Here, the air is at least “dry”.

When I told my boss the other day that Monday will be the last day I’ll be coming in to work (because I’ll leave in a week after that), he was kind of shocked to realize that it’s already the middle of July. Yeah, time is running! He got kind of nervous, because we have to wrap some things up (for a publication :) on which I’ll be the co-author :)) before I leave and I could tell he’s not happy about not having me around for a couple of weeks. Makes him appreciate me and my work even more when I get back! :)

Last night, Jon and Aaron went to the Bay Area and I spent the evening with Maria. First we watched the latest episode of “Summerland” (perfect timing by the way… the season finale will be on Monday and the new season probably won’t start before I am back ! Lucky me :)) and then we made some dinner.
Afterwards we watched “How to lose a guy in 10 days”… and I was definitely positively surprised how witty and funny it was. Most romantic comedies are pretty “stupid” at times, but this one was really refreshing with quite some funny dialogs. I went to bed pretty late, because we chatted for a while after the movie…
but Maria made it up to me for keeping me up so late by coming over and making me waffles with strawberries for breakfast *yummy* it was a pleasant start into the day :)

I can’t believe I am flying home soon. It’s so weird to think that I’ll be back in Germany in two weeks. I just realized I’ve been away for quite a while (19 months). Let me tell you about my weekend. It was fun!

On Friday we went out for a group lunch. I was chosen to pick the place and since we’re always (!) going to Mexican restaurants, I decided we could try out “Panera bread”, a café & bakery. I had passed by that place many times and always wanted to check it out. So that’s where we went and I was blown away :) I had half a sandwich and a salad which came with an extra piece of French baguette – the best baguette I’ve ever had in the US. I was really impressed by the bakery’s various kinds of breads, bagels, and pastries and I wondered why I hadn’t been there before!

In my defense, I have to say that Jon and I checked out different bakeries before and there were all mediocre, so we didn’t really expect to find an exceptionally great bakery anymore.

I told Jon about it when I got home and the first thing he did Saturday morning was getting bread from there and he was equally impressed :) He said he’s going to get bread there every day now ;)

Friday night, Jon and I went downtown and walked around. We didn’t really feel like cooking, so we were looking for a new place in Sacramento to grab a bite to eat. We decided to try out “Crepeville”. Jon had a crepe with prawns, mushrooms and other vegetables and I had a soup and salad. It was yummy.

Saturday, I went shopping and then baked a cherry crumb cake. Sheila and Regine had invited me to a “dessert party” in the afternoon and everybody was supposed to bring a homemade dessert. I asked Maria if she wanted to come along and we drove to Davis at 4:30 p.m.

Sheila and Regine had really gotten ahead of themselves by preparing at least 3 or 4 desserts and then all the guests had brought a dessert, so there was way too much food. We started off with a delicious hot apple strudel a la mode (with vanilla ice cream), then there were cookies, cakes, tarts, brioche, fruit salad, jello, and (more) ice cream.

We were a pretty mixed group of international students from Iran, Germany, Turkey, Korea, The Netherlands, and also the US (photo will be added in the evening), so we had desserts from different parts of the world. That was really cool :) My original plan had been to try a small piece of everything, but that was just impossible.

We went for a swim in the pool later and then had some more desserts later. I had a really great time and we didn’t get home before 10:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jon and I got fresh bread again from the bakery :) and then we watched “Star Wars Episode IV”. Now, after having seen I-III, it makes a lot more sense to me!
I had agreed to play tennis with Sheila at 5 p.m., so I got ready after the movie and drove to Davis again. I hadn’t played in a while, but it was really fun [note: Sheila and I met in a tennis class that I took when I did my exchange program in Davis, so whenever we get the chance, we have to play tennis together :)]

We might play again this week.
I hope you all have a great Monday :)

Sorry, I need to vent. After last night, I am convinced the whole show “Dancing with the Stars” was a setup! I know most of you guys couldn’t watch the show, but I’ll briefly explain: It was the grand finale yesterday and there were two couples competing for the title of “grand champion”. One couple that had been favored by the judges all the way and the “outsider” couple which had a bad start, but improved immensely in the course of the show. The frustrating thing was that the judges -who had never given the highest score of 10 points to ANY couple throughout the whole show- gave 10 points each to the final, really messed up performance of the later couple.Not that I had cared who won this show as Joe was kicked out in the semi-final :( but this last show just gave the whole competition a really bad aftertaste. I was so disappointed. Anyways, enough of this blabbering.

The last two days at work were surprisingly “normal” considering that I am officially not here ;) I was wondering if I am supposed to pick up the phone anymore, but since I don’t really get too many work-related calls :) I should probably not worry about it. If anyone would ask, I am volunteering ;) although I was told they would make up for the hours once I start officially working again.

Last night we hung out with Aaron, Maria, Aaron’s Dad and brother (who came to visit). Jon and Aaron played some music for them, which was fun! :)
Then I had a nice long talk with Susi on the phone (I hope you’re ok, hun!) and went to bed way too late!  Oh well.

@ Cath: Thanks hun for your wonderful package that I received in the mail yesterday! It was truly awesome!?

@ Sanni: 25 days to go. wohooo! :)

@ Kim: It was great talking to you yesterday! Can’t wait to meet you :)

@ Ilka: Thanks for your call from the Big Apple :) I am glad you’re having such a blast! Say “hi” to Boston from me!

@ Uti: I am so happy you’re having such a great start in CT.

@ Ines: Sounds like an awesome concert! :)

Edited: @ Sanna: Sorry, hun, love ya :)

So, what did you guys celebrate your independence from?  I was thinking, I wanted to celebrate my independence from my job for the summer :) (although I am technically still working). I am really looking forward to going home for a couple of weeks and I am finally able to start the countdown 21 days from today!

We had a fun long weekend over here. On Thursday, Jon’s Mom came to visit for a few days. She took us and Aaron and Maria out to dinner that night and we went to the “Café Italia” in Davis – they have the best Fettuccine Alfredo anywhere (although I had a Chicken Caesar Salad  ;))

It was a fun night! Later Jon and Aaron played a little “concert” for us in the apartment. It was really cool!

Friday we slept in and went out for breakfast later. I had a Belgian Waffle with Strawberries and Cream! In the afternoon, we went shopping for a little bit and then went to the movie theater and watched “Star Wars – Episode III”. It was kind of fun! I am starting to put the pieces together :) although I must admit that I am very critical with the whole series. As I hadn’t seen episodes IV-VI before, I didn’t know that Aneken would turn out to be Darth Vader, so when I learned this during the movie, I frankly was very surprised. I also felt that his transition to the “dark side” was too fast – I mean, he’s this very ambitious Jedi knight and then -within minutes of the movie- converts to be the apprentice of the Dark Lord.
Yeah, I know I shouldn’t be so harsh with my criticism, but I just can’t help it :) I like movies which are coherent! I still enjoyed it though!

We had pizza for dinner and since the pizza guy messed up and delivered the wrong pizza to us, we got a gift certificate for another free pizza. That was a pretty good deal ;) After that we watched “The Aviator” on DVD (yeah, that was our movie day).

Saturday we went out for breakfast again (did I mention that Americans like to eat out? ) and then we had pretty much the whole Saturday to ourselves, because Jon’s Mom left for the Bay Area to visit some friends.
In the evening we drove to Davis and had a BBQ in Scott’s backyard. Aaron and Maria came along and then there were Stoyan and Claudia and another German guy, Frank, a friend of Scott’s. It was a fun group and we had a good time (despite the mosquitos that bit me quite a few times *argh* :(
It was supposed to be half of a “bookclub meeting”, so we went down to the basement later to watch the movie of the last book/play we read (“The Iceman Cometh” by Eugene O’Neill). None of us realized that it would be a 4-hour-operation *lol* (well, since it was originally a play there was not much to cut out in a movie version).
I must admit that I dozed off once or twice, although I thought that the movie was really good. When we left, it was 3:00 a.m.!

I spent most of Sunday writing letters and emails at Maria’s place, because the guys were playing music in our apartment. We had Chinese food for dinner *yummy* and I tried to explain the German school system to Aaron. God, I never realized how different it is! It’s almost impossible to compare it to the American System. We started talking about it, because I had heard about home schooling (which doesn’t exist in Germany – there is compulsory school attendance).

Yesterday, Jon’s Mom came back to stay with us for one more night before driving back to Southern California. We hung out at home in the afternoon, I even took a swim in the pool (there were NO kids in the pool yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised :)) and then Jon and I went shopping for dinner.
We watched another movie after dinner (we had just found out that Comcast offers free movies that you can order – without commercials :)), so we watched “The Freshman” with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. Pretty good movie!
At 9:30 pm we went outside to watch the 4^th of July-fireworks – it felt a little bit like “New Year’s” for me :) it was nice though.

I think I might have mentioned earlier that I have to get my University diploma translated *sigh* anything else you could tell me last minute??? :(
I realized that I had never received my transcript for my Physical Education exams, so I called my University last night (morning for them ;)) to ask for a copy – and you know what? It’s been 1,5 years since I graduated, but the lady at the administrative office still remembered me and – take this! – she even remembered my home address (my parents’ address) from the top of her head! I was speechless! You know, this is what I am talking about – there are competent people out there, who take their jobs seriously and know what they are doing! That’s a relieving thought!

Ok girls, let’s start the countdown… I finally booked my flight! :) I am flying into Düsseldorf on July, 26th. Here’s my flight info (I just received the confirmation!):

Mon, 25-Jul
LTU International Airways Flight 1531
Departing Los Angeles at 3:10P

Tue, 26-Jul
LTU International Airways Flight 1531
Arriving Dusseldorf at 11:00A

I was able to get a non-stop flight from LA which is convenient. We’ll drive down to Southern California on the weekend and see Jon’s parents and then he will take me to the airport on Monday. I’ll will be on the plane for “only” 11 hours ;) it’s not too bad, I guess!
I am getting kind of excited :) Now it’s exactly 25 days from today until I will be on German soil again ;) after 1,5 years! It’s good to finally have booked the flight, because it’s one thing less to worry about ;)
I am very much looking forward to see you all (except Cathy, I guess –  but I’ll see you soon, hun!)…

Love you all very much!