theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

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Archives for July 2006

SPF… before I am heading to Berlin

July 28, 2006 filed under: friends, this and that

spf

Kristine gave us another task for this Friday. We are supposed to post pictures of the following:

1. Something Mean looking.

IMG_1322s

Emma is my sister’s cat. She’s the sweetest cat ever and she has never bitten or scratched anyone before. I am going to miss her a lot, so I wanted to take some pictures to take to CA and put on my fridge… and there she is, looking all mean. I don’t believe she agrees with me moving to the States soon.

2. Your weapons

shoes

My supercute, thinly-strapped 4″ high heels… I love them and they look awesome, but if you don’t watch out, I could use them to pierce your eyeballs ;)

3. Your Hiding Place

hidingplace

Well, this used to be the place in my old room at my parents’ place where I would sit and talk on the phone or read or watch TV or write letters… or just hide from the world. It was either this couch or my bed. Seems to be a pretty common hiding place if you ask me.

So, I am going to Berlin today. I’ve spontaneously decided a few days ago to get a train ticket [I am still using my Weltmeister Bahncard] and keep my promise to visit my friend Silke who moved to Berlin a few years ago. I’ve known her since we were 3 years old and we went to school together. Since I have two more penfriends there, I am making this a “go and visit your friends”-weekend. I’ll be back on Tuesday. If you don’t hear from me beforehand, you’ll get all the news when I get back. Have a great weekend!

15

Staying cool

July 26, 2006 filed under: my so-called life, this and that

The only way to stay cool these days is to move around as little as possible, have cold drinks and ice-cream and go swimming.
And that’s exactly what I did :)

On Monday I went to the public spa pool with my aunt and my cousin Nicki. She had brought her godchild along. Yasmin is 13 [naturally looks older like most of the teenage kids do nowadays] and she asked my cousin how old I was. My cousin told her the truth, but she wouldn’t believe her and asked me again to confirm what she had just heard. Then she told me that she thought I was not a day older than 24. Ah, you must love that girl :)
I have to say, it was the first time in maybe 8 years that I had been to the public spa pool in my town. A lot has changed [we have two of these fancy water slides now], but then again, so much looked exactly the way it was when I was there the last time. The one thing that left me dumbfounded was the admission fee… 3.60 are wholly freakin’ expensive for a spa public pool.

Yesterday I had two tutoring lessons [which are a pain in the a** on hot days like that] and then Silke picked me up and we went to an ice-cream place in my town [with the best Italian gelato ever, I have to add]. She only lives about 20 minutes from here and it was really nice that we got the chance to meet up and spent the afternoon together.We chatted about this and that and hardly noticed how time flew and the first time we looked at the watch, it was 3 hours later.

Today, I had two tutoring lessons again [yes, I tutor every day right now] and then I went to the spa pool again. It was really the best idea to spend the afternoon there with the occasional leap into the pool. It’s the only way to stand the heat [unless you have a sprinkler in your backyard!].

0

Time to relax

July 23, 2006 filed under: friends, my so-called life

sankim

So I spent Friday with Kim. It was great to have her here with me. We had a fun day relaxing in our backyard, playing SPF, chatting, reading and just enjoying the nice weather. I did my best to cheer her up after feeling so down all week.
In the evening, we had a BBQ with my parents and afterwards I took her to Mönchengladbach for the last-minute rehearsal for Pia’s and Mike’s wedding. The other guys were already “singing and dancing” when we got there. I bet they had a whole lot of fun at the wedding this weekend :)

Saturday morning, my Mom usually goes grocery shopping at a local farmers market and then meets up with some girlfriends for some coffee :) She returned with a nice gift for me yesterday: workout pants from Tchibo. I thought they were so cute.
I love that store. It’s almost as addicting as Ikea. They have changing product lines and they have everything from clothes to electrical equipment to home accessories. It’s awesome and usually good quality.

The rest of the weekend I really took it easy. The temperatures were still well above 90 F and I didn’t move any more than I had to. I read my book, worked on some letters and just hung out in the backyard. Oh yes, and I have this new obsession: Sudoku. Have you played it yet? It’s quite addicting. My Mom, my aunt and I spent the whole afternoon on these puzzles. With some cold drinks and snacks it’s quite a bearable pastime :)

2

It’s SPF again…

July 21, 2006 filed under: this and that

spf�

Stuff Unnoticed

Forentreff in Oberhausen 31

I have never got my ears pierced. For some people that’s like a big shock… “Are you serious? You don’t have your ears pierced?”… [like it’s something a girl HAS to do at some point during her life … most likely before the teenage years]. So, I’ve never got them pierced… the earlobes that is. I am wearing a little ring in my right auricle. Can you see it on the picture?… it almost always goes unnoticed.

My Wish

gc_image

Right now my biggest wish is to get my green card and be able to live with Jon. The whole immigration process has been going on for much too long.

Stuff Under my [Mom’s] sink

IMG_3387s

Well, I have to admit… this is not my stuff under the sink since I am staying at my parents’ house right now. So I hope they will forgive me for showing off theirs :)

Happy SPF everyone… who else played?

6

WHAT’S UP WITH THE HEAT?

July 20, 2006 filed under: my so-called life, this and that

I am definitely not made for this weather. I am sweating without even moving. Is this supposed to be right? The thing here in Germany is that most houses don’t have air-conditioning. Houses here are just not built that way. We’ve had hot summers before.. YES… but not like this year [or 2003 for that matter]. We do have basements though. This is probably the only place in the house where you can go and don’t sweat.I’ve been pretty used to hot weather, because the Central Valley always gets freakin’ hot in the summer. I used to work with long pants and a sweater, because our office was blasting the AC while it was over a 100 F outside. I agree… you shouldn’t freeze in the office during the summer, but it was a lot more bearable than this right now. The worst thing: hot feet. They drive me crazy. I’ve been doing cold feet baths on a regular basis lately.
Browsing through some other blogs, I’ve noticed that we’re all in the same boat right now. So I won’t complain anymore ;)

I went to my gynecologist on Monday. Yeah, I know you probably aren’t too interested to hear about this, but if you are a woman, you understand what a sensitive matter this is. So I am moving away in a couple of weeks… to a different country. What am I to do? I had my gynecologist since I was a teenager. I don’t feel comfortable to go and see anyone else about my private parts.
But now get this: my gynecologist actually offered me to come and see him for the annual check ups :) Even though I won’t have health insurance in Germany anymore in a couple of months and I most likely only come home once a year [if at all]. Isn’t this awesome? There are nice people out there!

One thing we don’t really have in Germany foodwise is Mexican food. Yes, we do have some Mexican restaurants, but Mexican cooking is still very rare… partly due to the high prices for Mexican-style groceries. So whenever I come home for a visit, my sister asks me to bring tortillas… a lot of them. On Tuesday she invited me and her best friend for dinner and she made fajitas – a meal that Jon and I cook on quite often, because it’s easy, fast and soooo delicious :) We also had Caipirinhas… REAL good ones this time and I had three! Thanks God that I went to my sister’s place by bike.Yesterday my sister and I hung out with an old friend from College. She’s dating a French guy, she temporarily has a French roommate and we talked about the “chuckholes” of communicating in different languages. Ha, that was hilarious. We were sitting on the little patio attached to the back of her city apartment nestled between other apartment buildings and probably the whole neighborhood could hear us laugh!  This morning I met with Jessi in Neuss for some coffee. We met online and she’s married to an American as well. I got to meet her hubby too which was really nice. It’s funny how you meet people online who share the same experiences and  [have] face[d] the same problems. It feels really good though to be able to talk to people who understand. Thanks for the great time:) [I know you read this, Jess!]Now I am waiting for my girl Kim to get here :) She spontaneously decided to get a ride with someone today and stay with me for a night before she heads over to Pia’s wedding this weekend in Düsseldorf.

2

THE WORST CAIPIRINHA I EVER HAD

July 17, 2006 filed under: my so-called life, this and that

We went out Friday night – Ira, my sister Nina, Dirk and I. We wanted to have dinner in Düsseldorf and then go to a cocktail bar or something like that. We decided to try out a sushi place…Sushi and Soul. They had this really cool area where you were sitting at these low tables on the floor and where your feet were actually dangling in a whole in the ground below the table :)

IMG_3374s

It was Nina’s and Dirk’s first time to have sushi. Well, let’s put it like that…. for many people it’s an acquired taste. Just the look of it might be a little disturbing for the Western civilizedmeals of meat and potatoes.

IMG_3378s

But Nina and Dirk liked it. Dirk liked it so much that he decided to finish the Sushi platter that he and Nina had ordered together and she had to have the second entree of grilled fish.
Afterwards we went to a cocktail bar and Nina, Ira and I ordered Caipirinhas. Dirk was so nice as to be the designated driver and let us girls drink :) Bad idea. The Caipirinhas were terribe… they just tasted like alcohol. But what do you do with a 7.50-cocktail? You drink it. Bah… it was so disgusting and had the effect of a sleeping pill on me. I was about to ask Dirk to carry me back to the car.

I could have fallen asleep in the car if we hadn’t stopped at McDonald’s and Dirk hadn’t done the funniest thing ever. We used the drive-thru and he ordered our late night-ice cream cones in a Saxon dialect. I could have peed in my pants. I am not putting down the Saxons here, but everybody who knows the dialect must admit that it sounds funny. I could hardly keep it together when we drove up to the window to take our order. Dirk usually is a shy guy, but sometimes he outdoes himself :)

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. The high pressure area is still keeping Germany in an oven-climate. I spent most of the days in the backyard with a book. My aunt came over on Saturday afternoon and my Mom made strawberry tartlets. Oh, I love strawberries. And I love iced-coffee. Which reminds me of the Saturday before last when I met with Kim and Ilka for coffee in Düsseldorf and the waitress at the café had a hard time getting my order straight. I ordered an iced café latte… neither did I want an ice [cream] coffee, nor did I want the ice crushed or anything. Just ice cubes in my latte. Is this asking too much? ;)

4

SPF: YOUR PIGGIES

July 14, 2006 filed under: my so-called life, this and that

Well, you would think “Who would come up with THAT?”… well, Kristine did out of a strange mood of being a married woman now and she’s serious about it. This is her only SPF task this week.
So, this might be kind of weird, but I am posting a photo of my feet… luckily, I kind of like my feet, so I don’t care too much.

IMG_3363sw

Now I want to know… DID YOU PLAY?

8

Protected: Protected: BLOWING PEOPLE’S TAX MONEY… OR TELL ME THE MEANING OF “BEING EFFICIENT”

July 12, 2006 filed under: bureaucracy, my so-called life

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0

THAT WAS IT

July 11, 2006 filed under: my so-called life, this and that

well, we all know who wriggled their way into the World Cup Finals… so I am not even going to mention Sunday night and the outcome. I just want to quote Franz Beckenbauer asked for his impression of the World Cup, especially the gathering of thousands of people from different countries for the public viewing of the games:

“That’s how God imagines the world.”

Well said. The whole World Cup was just amazing and a matchless event :) The host of the next Soccer World Cup will have a hard time living up to the expectations.

I went to IKEA today with my sister and my Mom. I love IKEA. I could buy the whole store :) Unfortunately I have to contain myself since I can’t take much stuff with me to CA… but it’s really, really hard. I couldn’t help but buy a few tiny little things [and if I hadn’t bought them, my Mom would have done it… *lol*]. I bought some nice place mats and I was going to buy some very nice sheets and pillowcases – they are so much less expensive here than in the US that I decided to buy them here, but Jon has to measure our blanket so that I can buy the right size.

Oh yeah, and I am little bummed today – because Jon went to see Pearl Jam in concert last night. My all-time favorite band. Of course he had bought a ticket for me as well, because we both thought that I would be back in CA for a while already at that time… now he had to try and sell it and it’s just so unfair that I didn’t get to see them :( It has been much too long. I don’t know if it should be kind of comforting that living in LA will actually give me the opportunity to see many bands in concert on a regular basis. I just hope that Pearl Jam will be among them again. They are usually not playing too many gigs anymore.

0

54…74…90…2010

July 9, 2006 filed under: this and that

…ja so stimmen wir alle ein! Mit dem Herz in der Hand und der Leidenschaft im Bein, werden wir Weltmeister sein!

Germany played a marvelous game last night. They are the true champions of this Soccer World Cup. In the end, I believe coming out third of the competition is a more rewarding situation then losing the finals. I am so happy Germany beat Portugal 3:1. It’s kind of sad that the World Cup is over now. The whole atmosphere during the last 4 weeks can hardly be described with words… so many emotions of happiness, sadness, jubilation and despair so close together… and still a huge party of all nations. It was amazing. I wish the World Cup would never end…

worldcup

worldcup3

worldcup1

worldcup2

I watched the “petite finale” at Frank’s place [he’s a friend from College] with about another 15 people on a big screen. It was great to see some of the people I knew from College [P.E. Department] and that I hadn’t seen in quite a while. We had a potluck dinner and a great time! :)

In the afternoon yesterday Ilka came to pick me up and we met Kim and Pia for some coffee in Düsseldorf. It was great that we got the chance to see each other. We sat outside in a nice street café and had some fun chatting time. Pia is getting married next week, so we were exchanging ideas and experiences from my wedding.

Today we went to see my Granddad and my great-aunt in the afternoon. There was Schützenfest in their part of town and we usually go over to watch the parade [my Granddad is honorary member of the event] and have coffee and cake afterwards :) It’s a nice opportunity to spend some time together. Did I mention that I like those kind of family get togethers?!

0

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Hi, I am San – German native, dual-citizen living in beautiful Northern California. Runner. Knitter. Crafter. Reader. Writer. Proud aunt, sister, and friend.

I’ve been blogging since 2004 and don’t intend to stop any time soon. If you are looking for personal content and making a  genuine connection, you’ve come to the right place.

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