theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for August 2009

Share the love

filed under: blog stuff, this and that

Blog Day 2009

Everybody comes across some new, interesting blogs every once in a while, correct? So today is the day for everyone to share those blogs with each other.
I don’t care if you share a blog that you’ve read for a long time or if you just recently stumbled upon something worthwhile – I want to know! So feel free to join in on the fun that is called  Blog Day 2009.

Here are the official rules:

1. Share 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2009
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag and a link to the BlogDay web site to your post

And without any further ado, here are the 5 blogs I want you to check out:

Yourwishcake–  Wishcake is a 20-something blogger from So-Cal (originally the Northwest)) with a beautiful way to talk about herself and her ambitions in life. She’s someone with a creative mind (and hands!) and has her own Etsy shop (which I recommend you visit after reading this and she’s hosting a give-away, too!). You’ll see that her blog is quite popular (with often 50+ comments per post), but maybe you’ll also find out why when you go and check it out.

Sizzle says – Sizzle is very funny and self-reflective. She doesn’t shy away from being honest and critical with herself and calls things what they are. Throughout all of her posts, she manages to maintain a fantastic kind of humor and positive outlook on life.

Highwaybynight – Kat is a (German) full-time college student at Maastricht University (yes, that’s in the Netherlands! I know.) with a big longing for Kentucky, where she spent a year in high school. You’ll be blown away by her writing ability. She’s always funny and entertaining, even if she – as she claims herself – doesn’t have anything interesting to say. Go and see for yourself that she continuously proves herself wrong.

Questionable Rationale– I found Terra’s blog on a lazy Sunday afternoon when I was surfing the web, clicking my way from blog to blog to blog. She lives in Virginia with her hubby and a dog. She was deployed to Kosovo for many months (I have yet to catch up on the whole story) and has just recently gone back to school.

EmmySuh– I got intrigued because EmmySuh was going to be a Nanny in Germany for a year. I was curious to see how she liked Germany and to hear about her adventures over there. Unfortunately, she cut her stay short and is back in beautiful Kentucky again, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have anything interesting to blog about. EmmySuh always finds something in everyday life that is worth a blog post! :)

Now, what blogs do you read and would like to recommend?

Seize the opportunity

filed under: excitement, family, FYI, good things, home, travel

I am a big fan of seizing opportunities. It’s a matter of efficiency for me, as well as convenience. Killing two birds with one stone? Even better!

I’ll be sent to a work-related training event in September. Yes! This is überexciting for two reasons, a) I’ll finally, after two years on the job, get my first official training (in a software program that I’ve been using for over a year already, thank you very much!) and b) since this training will take place in Alabama, I’ll be seizing the opportunity to jump over the big pond and visit my parents for their 60th birthdays! I’ll be half way across the country at that point anyway and what better excuse than to take advantage of this geographical vantage ground? (Not that I need excuses to go home, but whatevs.)

In case you didn’t get that the first time and need it spelled out (I sure do!):

I am going to GO TO GERMANY! For 9 WHOLE days! :)

(I know, only someone with 10 vacation days per year can get excited about the length of this trip, and no, I won’t be using up all my vacation time with this, because I have accumulated so much overtime!) And it’s only a month away!
I am not quite sure what I want to do first: jump up from my chair and run around the office, frantically waving my arms and exclaiming “I am going home!” or pick up the phone and call my sister to tell her the good news.
(Ok, scratch that, my sister knows already!
That leaves option one, so hold on a second.  I’ll be back.)

Ok,  moving on.

I know this all comes a little bit unexpected, but to be honest, I didn’t even think it was a possibility at all until the work-related trip to Alabama came up a few weeks ago. I remember thinking: Is this a sign? This MUST BE a sign! Am I supposed to be in Germany for my parents’ birthdays? It sure looks like it! Somebody (the universe?) wants me to go! (THANKS, universe!)

I checked with my boss if it was ok to take some personal leave after the workshop, I checked with my sister if this was a good time to come (read: see if my parents were actually planning a birthday celebration during this time!) and then I started looking for flights.
It’s going to be a painfully short trip, but so well worth it!

Who wants to welcome me at the airport?  Who?

Too much fun

filed under: friends, fun!, my so-called life, weekend

Damn it. I had it all planned out. I was going to give you a bunch of pictures and let them speak for themselves about what I did this weekend and how much fun it was. I had already thought out in my head what kind of shots I was going to take and I had a blog post pre-written in my head. But then, well, then I completely forgot about the camera in my bag and that I should have taken it out to document my weekend. Talk about having too much fun!

So this is just the boring written out version and I have to rely on your imagination to come up with some fun and colorful pictures in your head while you’re reading along.

My friend S and I went to a BBQ organized by my German Group last Saturday. The organizer was so kind to make the pool area (with a deck and BBQ grills) of her apartment complex available for our group and it just turned out to be so much fun. There were about 20 people, at least half of them all Germans!, I didn’t even know there were that many Germans in our group.
It was a potluck BBQ, everybody brought something to eat or drink. I contributed a German Macaroni Salad, vegetable skewers and a few slices of pork belly (that I still had in the freezer – and which, not surprisingly, were pretty popular, especially with the other Germans! You would hear things like “Oh, Bauchfleisch! Das ist ja wie in Deutschland!” (Oh, pork belly! This is like being in Germany for a German BBQ!) or “Das habe ich ja schon ewig nicht mehr gegessen!” (I haven’t eaten this in forever!)). Instead of sausages, we also had the obligatory American burgers on the grill and overall it was a nice German-American mix of food and conversation.

The most interesting discussions unfolded why we were gathering around a table, the obvious topic being “differences about the US and Germany”. Of course, we all had good and bad things to say about each country and it was a very interesting exchange.
First question from me: Who in the world would “tie down” chairs and tables in a gated apartment complex in Germany? NOBODY! But apparently, that’s what needs to be done in the US, because alas, otherwise somebody is going to steal the furniture. (Owing to my comment, somebody jokingly suspected that they tied the furniture down, because I was just that kind of person who would walk off with it at the end of the day! ;) Yeah, right!)

Other favorites included “Why do you think Americans are so obsessed with putting out at least ONE ‘World War II movie every year?” (Any thoughts on this?), “What are the differences between German and American elementary schools?” (as 9-year old Marvyn explained to us, “In Germany, you’re allowed to run on the concrete playground, in the US you’re not” (think:  “law suit potential”?!) and “Should little girls be allowed to run around topless?”.
It was very entertaining, to say the least :)

Later in the afternoon, we went for a quick jump in the pool and oh, what a treat! I really miss living in an apartment complex with a pool (not that I would really use it on a regular basis, but the option of being able to cool yourself off at the end of a hot day is just compelling.)

So, just the fact that I was able to ramble on and on about the BBQ on Saturday is a pretty good sign that it was a real blast and that I am bummed that I have no pictures whatsoever to prove it.

On being bored and uninspired, despite the “creative” urge

filed under: about me

I really, really feel like being creative lately. The strange thing is that a) when I feel creative, I don’t have any time to go for it, and b) when I finally have a couple of hours to myself, I feel totally uninspired and just bleh and end up hanging out in front of the TV or, on a good day, reading a book.
Sometimes I miss all the free time that I had when I was still in school. I would spend whole afternoons in my room writing letters and drawing and doing crafts.

I think my problem these days is that I always feel like I have to have at least (!) a half day or so set aside for myself, or I don’t even feel “relaxed” enough to start anything.
Take scrapbooking for example. I’ve been dying to start a new scrapbook for months, but I just can’t find the time, or space for that matter, to get the ball rolling. Since our apartment is so small that I can’t really leave my stuff lying around until I can squeeze in another hour or two, I don’t even see any sense in getting it out of the closet in the first place, because what good is it if I have to put it away again before I’ve even really started?

I honestly dream of a big house, with a special room for painting, scrapbooking, crafting, quilting and knitting, because yes, oh yes, believe you me, I do and enjoy all of this, when there is time. Oh, and did I mention photography? I don’t really need a special room for that, I suppose, unless I get my own dark room, but whatevs.

Or letter writing? I don’t need a room for that either, but I do need some piece and quiet to sit down and write and I haven’t felt that in a while. Peaceful and quiet enough, that is.

Maybe I just need some time off. Have I mentioned that it’s freakin’ August and I have not yet taken any vacation time? I know, gasp, who could go 8 months without vacation, right? Well, apparently, that’s what Americans do all the time and I cannot for the life of me understand the reasoning behind the concept of “having to earn your vacation time”. In Germany, taking time off – mandatorily – is all about “sustaining your work force”, not a (may I say, meager) “reward” for having worked your ass off.

But I digress.

I think I really need to figure out how to make the most of my time, because right now more often that not my free time, the little that I have, just feels wasted and I really don’t like that.

Sushi = my (not so) new love

filed under: food, good things, my so-called life

J and I went out to dinner Friday night. There is a fairly new Sushi restaurant right across the street from where we live and instead of ordering out, we decided to go over there and have a night out.

Sushi is one thing I have really come to love since I moved to California.
I never thought I would say this, but it has become one of my favorite dinners when we eat out. Strange is that I always seem to forget how good it is.
If J asks me if I wanted to go out for Sushi, I am always willing to go, but not overly excited… and then when we leave the restaurant I am ecstatic and don’t know why we don’t eat Sushi more often!

It really is an acquired taste, but once you can bring yourself to taste the sometimes – to the European eye – strange-looking Sushi rolls, you’ll be surprised how delicious they are.
It took me a little while to venture out and try all kinds of “crazy” creations, so for a beginner, it’s probably safe to go with a California roll.
It’s an inside-out sushi roll – which means the rice is on the outside and the nori (seaweed) on the inside wrapping the filling – containing cucumber, crab meat, and avocado.
I am quite aware that most of you know this, but I might have some readers who haven’t been exposed to sushi that much.

Anyway, the restaurant across the street is really good. We’ve kind of befriended the owner, a very nice older Japanese gentleman, and he’s always supernice when we order out or eat there. Last night, we got miso soup and a dessert for free! The sushi rolls are huge and we usually order 2-3 rolls between the two of us.

We had the Queen Roll (deep fried) – Crab Mix, Cream Cheese & Jalapenos Topped with Salmon & Special Sauce, the Dragon Roll – Shrimp Tempura Topped with Unagi, Unagi Sauce, Scallions & Sesame Seeds, and a surprise Special Roll from the sushi chef and what can I say? He didn’t disappoint us! So, so good!

Who wants to come and go eat sushi with us? :)

Tying up some lose ends… or not.

filed under: bureaucracy, FYI, my so-called life

You gotta be kidding me!
Is it really always too early to get excited about some good news? Is it really that you can’t share anything with anyone, can’t share the giddy anticipation, until it’s all over?

I think I will refrain from getting everybody excited for me from now on and instead just tell you about the good things that happen to me (when/if they happen!) in the past tense, alright?

I am referring to this and this post, in which I cautiously announced victory over bureaucracy after a long personal (and in my opinion, totally unnecessary, but obviously inevitable) fight and yet, I am still waiting for things to happen (read: checks to be sent).
What do you do, if someone tells you “Yes, you’ve been right, we apologize and will rectify the situation” and then nothing happens?
Right now, I am still pretty calm, just a little bit irritated, but that might change any minute. I mean, seriously! What’s wrong with people?
I feel like I have some kind of mysterious magnetism for unbelievable situations in which I have to deal with unbelievably incapable people.

I’ll keep you posted.