I like lists

1. The past week JM and I had a ball to go to and I needed hairspray so we ran into Kaufland and since we were pressed for time I was dressed completely American (old jeans, Asics, Wisconsin sweatshirt, glasses, hair in a ponytail) and the Germans were....nicer to me? What the hell... I will have to test this theory. Maybe they just don't like posers.

2. There is an amazing Greek restaurant near us; we went on a Friday night and every table was filled with other Americans. It was kind of funny to be someplace where all I heard was English, but this is a very common occurrence in the restaurants around base. They also automatically serve you a shot of liquor along with your drink (whether you get an alcoholic beverage or not).

3. Lately I've been addicted to apples with peanut butter.

4. We went to see a movie at the movie theatre on base; good movie (Daybreakers). It was almost like being home again. Except they played the national anthem before they started the movie and everyone stood up. And the popcorn, while very tasty, was no match for the (terrible for you) buttery deliciousness that is Marcus Theatres.

Interesting Tidbits

1. People from the water company stopped by to read the meters under our sink on Friday so we asked them if they perhaps knew how to work our dishwasher and they did! Glorious!

2. In talking to a German woman on base one day we learned that apparently only rich people live in our town. It's the "rich suburb". This doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to JM or me because we live, literally, steps away from a farm and it always smell like manure, and it's just a tiny little town. Who knows, maybe I sound a little bitchy but it certainly isn't like the rich suburbs of the states.

3. I made chili on Sunday and it turned out really well. Even tastier leftovers.

Oh Geez.

Oh man, I really have no excuse. Let's be real, it's not like I've been busy, except I have been; it's a strange concept. I can't believe it's been over a month. Let's see, this past month we had our one year anniversary (we celebrated by going to the Black Forest for a long weekend and buying a pretty sweet cuckoo clock), FINALLY got our household goods (after they sent them to Schweinfurt by mistake) and got to spend a good amount of time at home (although it went by too fast, as it always does).

Home. Home was wonderful. As I expected I didn't get to do half the things I wanted to do or see half the people I wanted to see but it was still a wonderful 10 days. Our flight left Nuremburg at 6:30am and it had, of course, been snowing steadily, so we left our apartment around 2:30am and got to the airport at 4. Unfortunately the desks didn't open until 5 so we sat around and waited. From Nuremburg we had the pleasure of connecting via Amsterdam three days after what happened in Detroit. I have never had a full body pat down before that day. Quite the experience. We finally got back home aroudn 5pm, had a big dinner with JM's fam and my parents. The whole first week was spent celebrating various Christmases with various sides and sizes of both our families. During the day we did various things, JM went hunting and I went shopping (so cliched, I know but I was SO happy to finally know where to go shopping and have someone to go shopping with!) or we'd laze around at either house. The second week JM and I did some errands (banking, etc), and the day before we flew out we finally made it up to Madison.

It was a busy vacation and I think if we did it again we'd do it differently and maybe not have so many planned events but all in all I can't really complain. I already miss home, the culture I'm use to, and having friends nearby. I'd forgotten how nice it was to be able to go familiar places with familiar people and just enjoy yourself. It's kind of nice to not be the constant tourist and not get stared at everywhere I go.

Lots of people asked me how I was liking (or adjusting to) Germany when I was home and it really made me think. I know I haven't been here long at all but the best response I could come up with without sounding melodramatic was that I'm trying to appreciate being here knowing I'll never have this opportunity to live abroad again but that by the time our time here is up I will be more than ready to come home. Lately these days I feel like I sound blatantly patriotic but, damn, I miss America. More accurately, I miss the midwest.

Soon more jobs should open up though and then I will be more occupied. Right now we are still trying to get our apartment organized (I feel like I never, ever stop saying that) (since our stuff arrived just 6 days before we left), there are boxes everywhere and paper/mail/stuff is just piling up. And now our suitcases from our travels are half-empty, half anywhere in our closet room. But today I made a big dent in organizing and did a ton of laundry. Tomorrow will be more laundry and more organizing but hopefully that will mark the end of the big time organizing.

This weekend JM has a three-day weekend so I'll make him do some heavy lifting for me. =) I think I'm going to take my first stab at chili (as both dad's have sent me recipes) and we'll just have a cozy, calm, relaxing weekend. I'll try to update more regularly, I promise. I want to do this for me too but I also like to keep you all at home updated!

PS: Sorry for the typos, I'm not proof-reading this, it's too long, haha.