Archives for October 2006

Happy Halloween!

October 31, 2006 filed under: friends, fun!

I really want to carve pumpkins again. People get so creative with it. I found quite some interesting jack-o-lanterns searching for a nice halloween picture… have a look here and here and here. I really miss celebrating Halloween with Jon. Ok, I am not into the whole “scary thing”, but I do like the decorations that are put up and I think Halloween parties are kind of cool.

Tonight I am going to go out with my friend Ira. We haven’t been out together for months and we thought Halloween is a good reason to go out one more time [before I leave]. I am not quite sure what to expect. I’ve never been out on Halloween in Germany and frankly, I am not sure if it’s going to work for me, but I can tell you all about it tomorrow ;)
I am not going to dress up though. I don’t have a costume and I think dressing up half-assed is even more boring than not dressing up at all. But hopefully I can take some nice pictures for you of other people’s costumes :) Would that make up for the fact that I am a bore?

Have a great Halloween everyone… and [for you guys in the Catholic parts of Germany] enjoy the day off tomorrow!
Wikipedia tells us that “The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe’en, is shortened from All-hallows-eve, as it is the evening before “All Hallows’ Day” (also known as “All Saints’ Day”)” which we celebrate tomorrow. So it kind of should be celebrated in Germany, too :)

Fall is here

October 29, 2006 filed under: family, this and that

This is what Germany looks like in the fall. It’s almost a nice Indian summer like in New England… well, almost! ;)

I went on a “road trip” with my parents yesterday. They’re planning to buy a new car, so they rented a car over the weekend to make a test drive. After running some errands in the morning, we left at 2 p.m. and drove towards the “Eifel” – a hilly region in Germany. There we went for a nice walk through the autumnal woods.
We stopped for some coffee later in a tiny little village and I had a piece of one of the best applie pies I’ve ever had… and the piece was huge. It could have easily been cut up into two or even three pieces! [Damn it, I didn’t take a picture, before I went about eating that chunk.]
What also amazed me: In rural areas you really get good value for your money. This piece of cake would have cost at least twice as much had I eaten it at a cafÃƒÂ© in my town.
On the way back we drove to Aachen and I was about to buy a big box of “Aacher Printen” [a special kind of gingerbread] to take to CA… but then I changed my mind, because what is the point? Seriously. Jon doesn’t eat gingerbread and I do like to have it occasionally, but I definitely won’t finish the whole box. Besides, I really don’t have room for that in my suitcases. So I controlled myself and didn’t give in to the temptation. It smelled so good though.

Oh yeah, before I forget… Friday, my sister, my Mom and I visited my cousin Nicole and her new babyboy Luca. He’s three weeks old now and so freaking adorable. We just couldn’t get enough of him. She let me hold him for a while and he was sleeping on my arm and he smelled so good. Sometime [in the very far future!], I want to have one of those ;)

The rest of the weekend was busy with cleaning out drawers, sorting papers and other menial jobs around the house. It just hit me again today: only 24 days until I’ll get on the plane! ;)

SPF: Breast Cancer awareness month

October 27, 2006 filed under: my so-called life

Since itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s National Breast Cancer awareness month, Kristine has asked us to honor the girls… :) Ahem, yes… which could be easily done by showing the following:

1. Your Pot Holders (Oven Mits)

Every girl needs pot holders [in the kitchen]… I think these are the ugliest pot holders I have ever seen. They were, in fact, the only ones I could find in my Mom’s kitchen. The thing is that my Mom is possibly the only woman who never uses pot holders in the first place. Yes, first of all she is the only woman that I know that can touch really hot pots and pans, but she also prefers to use kitchen towels if she really needs pot holders.

The calm before the storm

October 26, 2006 filed under: LDR

I feel like there is not much interesting stuff happening right now, but at the same time I wish I could already post about all the stuff that is going to happen in the next few weeks, because I am worried I won’t have enough time to post about everything when the time comes. Strange.

I suppose you could say “I am getting ready to emigrate”. That sounds big. Well, it is – I guess. I avoid using the word “emigrate” when I talk about moving to the US. I know that technically “emigrating” is what I’ll be doing, but I still like to see LA as our “temporary” home. I don’t know, but I think very few people move to a different country with the intention to never return to their home country again. The thought of this would scare me.

My days are pretty busy right now [yeah, you wouldn’t think that days can be busy when you don’t have a job ;)]… I usually do some chores around the house in the morning. It makes me feel better about having lived with my parents for the last couple of months. I run some errands, work out, cook lunch and in the afternoon I usually tutor or see people. In between, I try to get my room ready for when I leave, sell stuff on ebay, sort through things and start piles for what I have to fit in my suitcase. I am so glad Jon took one suitcase filled to bursting when he flew back in September. Yet, I am afraid, I will still have a hard time fitting all my stuff into only two suitcases. I mean, come on… you should be at least be allowed to take an extra bag when you move somewhere permanently, don’t you think?
So yeah, I have to make compromises and I really have to work myself through the list that I started weeks ago… I am sure there is still so much missing on that list that I definitely need to get done before I go. Why isn’t there a check list for emigraters? Or is there? Then please would someone point me to the website? ;)

I am kind of freaking out about the changes that are going to happen. I am a little scared, I guess, but I know everything will be fine. Yes, it will be.
[Maybe, if I keep telling me this, I’ll eventually believe it.]
Well, I’ll be with J… and that will make up for all of it ;)

Why I like Sundays…

October 23, 2006 filed under: my so-called life

Sunday is the perfect day of the week. You’re supposed to do nothing on Sundays. Not a damn thing. You’re supposed to lie on the couch, read a book, watch movies. I like Sundays for the peacefulness. There is something about the Sunday feeling. You can go out if you like, but you can also stay at home. That’s totally fine.

Also, on Sundays they usually have some good stuff on TV. Good old movies and TV shows… like “Die Sendung mit der Maus” [“The show with the mouse”], a very popular German TV show for kids. It basically is a collection of short movie sequences consisting of comics, illustrated songs, a “factual story” [explaining how things in our world work] and short sequences of “the mouse and the elephant“. They never talk, so if you follow the link, you’ll be able to understand :)
Note: the mouse is HUGE and orange and the elephant is small and blue. Oh yeah, and then there is a yellow duck [but this was added much later, when I had grown up already].

So, the factual story was focused on the question: “How does a battery function?” Do you know? Well, I definitely didn’t know… I had a rough idea of the physical mechanisms, but it was fantastic to have someone explain it in “kids’ language” :) Adults can learn from this, and kids should definitely watch these kinds of shows over any of these stupid cartoon movies with no educational content whatsoever.

The rest of the weekend was pretty nice, too. Friday night I went to another cabaret performance with my parents, but I didn’t really like it. It wasn’t funny at all and actually really boring at times. Oh well… at least I didn’t pay for the ticket, because someone else couldn’t go and I got her ticket.

Saturday morning, I ran some errands with my Mom and we stopped to get some coffee on the way home. Saturday night I went to a concert with my parents. A German musician [who sings in our regional dialect] was performing at my old school. This was awesome! I am so glad I got to go. I also enjoyed the time with my parents a lot.

Have a great Monday everyone.

A random [and odd] SPF

October 20, 2006 filed under: my so-called life

This week’s SPF assignment by lovely Kristine was really easy, but still fun! I like to look at other people’s living environment and the like :) It adds to the image that you create of the people in your blogging world!

So here it goes…

1. The kitchen sink

This would be my Mom’s kitchen sink again… I think I have to post a whole bunch of pictures of our place in CA when I get there. Kristine asked for so many pictures around the house and I could only show you around my parents’ house so far. I do love our sink though. The faucet has a long tube, so that you can pull it out to fill the coffeemaker for example and the little white lid on the right is a direct connection to the garbage can underneath the sink [ so you don’t have to open the cabinet door to through something away. Convenient, huh?]

And did you notice? German sinks have a draining-area attached to the sink. Why don’t American sinks have that?

Happy Birthday, sweetie!

October 18, 2006 filed under: LDR

Today is J’s birthday and I so wish I could be there with him. J and I have been separated a few times during our relationship and I thought it’s not going to be a big deal to do it one more time, but it is. Especially on days like this. Also, getting married and then being forced to be separated for MONTHS (!) is cruel. I thought it’s just going to be like all the other times, but we really were betrayed of the first feelings newlyweds have when they start sharing their lives [and apartment] as a married couple. Sure, we will have that when I get there… but it will have been put off for 11 months!

The good news is, I have booked a flight. Unless the Consulate comes up with an absurd reason to not issue my GC, I will be in CA with J in exactly 5 weeks.
Wow, 5 weeks… this almost scares me now ;) Being in Germany again for almost a whole year, I have almost gotten used to it again. It feels like there is so much left to do for me, although I have been anticipating to finally have a date for such a long time. However, it’s going to be hard to leave my family and friends again. Now that Kim will finally be reunited with C, it would have been so nice to meet him. This is really bad timing, because they’ll be coming back here around the same time I’ll be going over there. It’s almost a funny coincidence that for both of us the LDR crap will be over at around the same time… but YAY for ending LDR’s! [And we’ll see each other in Long Beach next year, Kim!]

We do celebrate Thanksgiving…

October 17, 2006 filed under: family

… after all, it’s a European tradition to give thanks to God for the harvest.
In Germany, many smaller communities celebrate Erntedankfest [ = Thanksgiving] in October by decorating a carriage with field crops and having a procession through the town.

My family has a Turkey dinner once a year in October and it took place last Saturday. Traditionally, we get together with some friends of the family and prepare the meal together. My Mom roasts the turkey [it’s usually a really BIG BIRD… like 7 kgs or something] and she usually makes homemade bread dumplings and brussel sprouts with it. I especially crave the bread dumplings with gravy… LOVE IT! My Mom’s friend prepares red cabbage and we traditionally have semolina pudding for dessert. It’s so yummy.
It’s always a very nice get together, too. As I have mentioned before, I love dinner get togethers with family and friends.

This year I have asked my Mom to write down all the recipes for me, so that I can fix this meal for Jon and me next year! I have written down so many of my Mom’s recipes over the last few weeks that I will have a whole lot of cooking to do when I finally get to our place :) but to be honest, I can’t wait. I am looking forward to being a “housewife”… as odd as it may sound! I enjoy cooking and baking and I can’t wait to have my own kitchen again! I think J can’t wait either [he’s not much of a cook, but he’s a good cooking assistant ;)].
Our new kitchen is great. I would show you a photo if I had any, but I’ll make sure to post one as soon as I get to LA. The kitchen itself is pretty old, but we have very nice built-in cabinets, tiled countertops and to top it all off, a gas stove :) I love cooking with gas. This is going to be so much fun. Also, the kitchen is separated from the living-room and big enough to hold a table and chairs. I love having a place to sit in the kitchen! It might just become my favorite place in the apartment!

I am getting carried away here… be assured you’ll get to see pictures of the whole apartment soon!

SPF… the season edition

October 13, 2006 filed under: my so-called life

TGIF! Time to play. SPF has become a part of my weekly routine and I love it. This week Kristine thought she’s making it easy for us, but in fact, this has been a little bit tough for me, because a. fall hasn’t really started here yet… [yes, we already had some cooler temperatures and some rainy days with some sun in between, but the colors of the leaves have not really changed yet] and b. showing you the beauty of my home was kind of difficult, because I wanted to show you the fall of my “old” home here in Germany and my “new” home in CA. So here’s what you get:

1. Show me your season changing.

Despite the fact that some people might think that the most beautiful sunsets are either at the ocean or in the mountains, what do you think about that??
We do have gorgeous sunsets here in Germany in the fall. Don’t you think?

Day out!

October 11, 2006 filed under: family, fun!

We, that is Nina, Dirk, my cousin Basti and I, spontaneously went to “Phantasialand” yesterday – it’s an amusement park here in Germany.

I have some fond memories of this place. My sister and I used to go there a lot when we were kids. My Grandad and my great-aunt took us there once a year [my Grandma died when I was six and therefore my great-aunt kind of took her place]. We loved it :) It always was something special for us.

My sister was all crazy about the rollercoasters and crazy rides. I enjoyed the set up, the beautiful figures and costumes, and the whole atmosphere much more.
It was fun to go there again!
I actually went on two rollercoasters, one of which did a 360… I was screaming my lungs out :) I usually chicken out of rides like that. I enjoy the “log” ride and stuff like that more. This is “crazy” enough for me ;)
We really had a fun day though and I am glad that I was able to have that special time with my sister and my cousin before I leave in a few weeks!

In the evening, I went over to my friend Ira’s and we watched “Brokeback Mountain“. I had been dying to see that movie and I loved it! It was really touching! I can see why it was nominated for the “Academy Awards”. Even more than director Ang Lee for making this highly controversial movie, I admire Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger for their acting skills and moving performances. I also admire them for their courage as heterosexual actors to portray this story of two homosexual men and their unique love story.
Have you seen it? You should!