Archives for August 2005

believe it or not, this weekend was gorgeous! It seems like the sun is back, at least for a little while.
Ilka and I went to a wedding yesterday and the wedding party was definitely really lucky that it was nice and sunny weather. Surprisingly, the church wedding was really short (at least for my catholic standards) – only 30 minutes- and we were then invited to the parish hall where coffee was served. The bride used to be a friend of ours, but our contact has been very irregular lately. Ilka and I definitely felt a little bit out of place and were relieved when we could leave at 6 p.m.

Nina hat invited Ira, Ilka and me for dinner. Ira picked us up at 7:30 p.m. and when we got there, my sister had already prepared Mexican food for us nachos, tortillas, chicken and bell peppers, cheese, sour cream and salsa. It was delicious ;)
We had a really great time together. Ira talked about her experiences as a flight attendant and Ilka shared her experiences as a hair dresser and colorist. Then she also cut and dyed my hair :) I love it! She used a “chocolate brown” for my hair and cut some layers.

Yesterday morning, Sanni had invited us for her birthday brunch. We arrived in Essen at 10:45 a.m. and met Nina, another one of Sannis friends. Then we walked over to “Porky & Beer”, a restaurant in a reconstructed colliery building, where we enjoyed a very nice breakfast buffet :) Sanni told us about the “holy Barbara”, the patroness of the miners – probably something you have to know about when you are from the “Ruhrgebiet”.

Ilka and I left at 3:30 p.m. and when I got home, I took a nap. I was tired somehow ;) in the evening, my Mom made Sauerbraten mit Kartoffelklößen… so yummy!

I hope you’ll have a wonderful day and tomorrow we’ll celebrate together!
I am really happy that we’ve become such good friends over the last 1,5 years and therefore I have to say “Thank you” that you dropped me a line back then just because we have the same name :)
Sometimes it’s these coincidences that let you meet special people in your life!

love ya very much! HUGS & KISSES.

Susi is going to come and visit me on Monday! She just called me and said she booked a train ticket. I am so happy that I’ll be able to see her again! :)

I didn’t really do much, but I still would like to update you after the disturbing news yesterday. On Wednesday, I spent the whole day at home. I had some coffee with my aunt in the morning and in the evening I visited Sabine, another one of my friends. We had a nice evening, made spinach pastries for dinner and caught up on the last 1,5 years ;)

Yesterday I tried to organize stuff in my room and in the afternoon, I took my Mom to a doctor’s appointment. I wanted to go shopping while she was there and bumped into my great-aunt and -uncle. They invited me to coffee and pie :) and we waited for my Mom to join us.
Last night I made some phone calls and watched some TV. Nothing too exciting ;)

I just received an email from my boss and I am not happy about it. We have come such a long way with all the paperwork for my visa and I have invested money into all of this, just to get an email from him saying that the H-1B cap has been reached (too many H-1B visas have been issued over the last few weeks and that there are no more to be given out :().
If you remember, there is an exception to this cap, if the sponsor company is a government agency or an institute of higher education (e.g. College). USGS is not allowed to hire me directly, but now they’re trying to work something out with CSUS, [California State University Sacramento] on which Campus our office is located. I just can’t believe this is happening :( as if we didn’t have enough problems to deal with over the last few weeks.
I don’t know what that means right now… I am afraid that I won’t be able to fly back in two weeks … which wouldn’t be too bad, if I was to fly back at all some time later in September.
I don’t know…

What a beautiful morning. The sun is finally back… which is kind of ironic after I learned from the news yesterday that it had been raining for days in Bavaria and that Garmisch-Partenkirchen [where my dear friend Susi lives] is flooded and totally insulated. I totally freaked out and called her to make sure she’s ok. Fortunately, she is fine and her apartment didn’t get flooded either, but I talked to her on the phone today and she said that she had never experienced anything like that! She lives near the river Partnach that was partly responsible for all the water in the city. It’s kind of scary to think that water can have such powers! :( On Monday, I was kind of lazy. I didn’t do much at all. I played tennis with my sister in the afternoon and then watched her match against one of her teammates. Unfortunately she lost :(
Yesterday, my cousin Nicki picked me up at 1:30 p.m. and we went to a tattoo studio where she had her tattoo finished. She decided to get this huge tattoo on her back, reaching from her right shoulder down to her left hip. I personally would never get a tattoo. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I think it’s ugly, in fact, I really liked the motif that she picked out. I just can’t imagine having a tattoo myself.
Afterwards we went to her place and then my sister and my Mom joined us for a “Tupperabend” where someone comes to your house and presents tupperware®. I had never been to any kind of these home sales events :) but it was kind of funny and we also received a gift for free. So it was worth it *lol*

Enjoy the nice day, girls!

Edited: I should have mentioned that I didn’t buy anything (I think that stuff is way too expensive, too!), but the free gift was nice :)

I have the best friends in the world and therefore I am very grateful! The last three weeks have shown me that I am surrounded by very special people in my life. Friendship has nothing to do with physical closeness, but it’s an invisible bond reaching across the globe. It really gives me a lot of security and calmness to know I have wonderful friends that I can rely on.

On Friday, my cousin Nicki came over for breakfast and we went to the ESPRIT outlet store again afterwards. We shopped for four hours and I bought some really nice clothes, some shirts and these very cute pants!
The only thing that really bothers me is that people in Germany are so rude sometimes. The store was really crowded and I got really pissed when people tried to squeeze through without saying something. I mean, why is it so hard to ask if someone could let you pass? Also, people get so competitive (especially in Outlet stores) if they see something that they want to have and recklessly go for it pushing people away. It just drives me crazy ;)

Yesterday my very good friend Anke from Rostock came to visit me. I hadn’t seen her in two years and it was awesome to see her again. With her it is the same as with most of my other friends – even if we can’t see each other for extended periods of time, it’s never weird between us. We went for a really nice long walk and had some coffee afterwards. We had so much to talk about! We also bumped into Thomas’ [my exboyfriend’s] brother and his wife and child. It was kind of weird as I hadn’t seen him in a long time. i had the feeling he was glad to see me, although we hadn’t talked in over two years! His wife was kind of pushy, because she wanted to go… oh well.

In the evening, Anke, Ira, [another] Sandra and I went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Düsseldorf. We sat at one of these low tables where you’re sitting on ground level and your legs are dangling in a whole under the table ;) very nice! The food was delicious and we had a really nice time together.

Afterwards, Ira, Anke and I went to a cocktail bar and had very good [non-alcoholic] cocktails :)

We got home around 2 a.m. and Anke and I talked some more before we both fell asleep. It really felt like we had to use the short time that we were together. In the morning we had a nice breakfast with my parents and went for another long walk, before Anke had to take off and drive back to Rostock.
In the afternoon, my Mom and I went over to my sister’s for a little bit and I also saw my aunt for a coffee.
I really had a great weekend and I am glad that I was able to see yet another one of my friends…

Hugs and kisses. I love you, girls!

Most people don’t really like having big family dinners, but I enjoy them very much. Our dinner yesterday was awesome and absolutely delicious :)
We had a tomato soup as a starter, then pork filet with rosemary potatoes and a bean-mushroom-tomato salad. As a dessert, my Mom made mixed berries with vanilla ice cream and a cheese platter *yummy* Did I mention that I am spoiled by all the great food right now? ;)

My Great-aunt loved everything and told us afterward that she enjoyed the evening very much and that it was definitely better than having dinner at a restaurant!

Today my sister and I went to her elementary school and I helped her prepare her class room for next week when school starts again. It was great to finally see where she works and what her class room looks like. We cleaned out shelves, rearranged the tables and attached posters at the walls.
My sister really is an elementary school teacher with all her heart. It’s awesome to see how much work she puts into everything. I know she’s very determined and dedicated to her job and I know she’s a wonderful teacher.

In the afternoon, I went over to my aunt’ s to have a coffee with her. I hadn’t visited her at her place yet and it was nice to spend some time with her.

In the evening I had dinner with my parents and afterwards I talked on the phone with Alicia, my friend from California who moved to Germany last December with her boyfriend Andi. We were on the phone for about 1,5 hours and it was absolutely awesome to talk to her again. I’ll definitely try to manage to see her while I am here. She lives near Frankfurt and since I have to go there for my appointment at the embassy anyways, I’ll try to stop by her place. I miss her not being around in Cali anymore. Her German is really good already. I am impressed how much she has learned in the last 8 months!

Look what Cathy pointed out to me…

JOEY- LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD – JOE MAC HEADLINES THE KEY CLUB ON SUNSET STRIP ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 14th AT 9PM.

If everything works out and I catch the plane back to Cali on September, 9th, I’ll be back right on time to see Joe perform in Hollywood again :) This is so awesome! The bad news: Cathy will be on the cruise to Mexico at that time (she’ll be leaving on the 12th), which means that I can’t go and see Joe with her :( It would have meant so much to both of us, since Joe is pretty much the reason that started our friendship – so to speak.
It’s really great and bad timing at the same time…

Yesterday morning I went to see my doctor to get my blood check again. I have been taking the pills for my iron deficiency for over two years now and I wanted to know if I still have to continue the treatment.
Afterwards I went out for breakfast with my Mom. We met with some friends in Mönchengladbach.
We also went to IKEA and I bought a CD-shelf for only 6 Euros :) I thought that was a pretty good deal!

I spent the afternoon and evening at home, which was pretty nice, and worked -as you already noticed- on my layout a little bit ;)

This morning I went out for breakfast with my friend Ira. It was the first sunny day in a while and it was great! We went to this really cute café called “Am Tulpenfeld”, which used to be an old farm house [Gut Birkhof], which nowadays accommodates a golf club, a restaurant and the café.

We had a really nice breakfast and enjoyed the sunny weather!

Now I am home and I’ll have to help my Mom prepare dinner later. It’s my great-aunt’s “saint’s day” and we’re going to have family dinner tonight!

Hugs and Kisses.