Wednesday, July 19, 2006

A Day In The Life

I don't know, today so far has been sort of a typical, atypical sort of day, but it sort of sums up my living in Germany, kind of, not so much fitting in, maybe settling in is the phrase.

I was up at 7:45 UGH! First sort of atypical thing about today. I usually sleep MUCH later, but a lot of things have been going on lately at ungodly hours of the morning.

Today I had to go down to HR and get a form in so they could get in sent in with a batch of others. ( I THINK it was for a background check, it was too early in the morning and I just signed what she put in front of me. It could very well have been something to put my mom in a nursing home. (sorry mom, I can't use the giving away my first born anymore, no one will take them))

HR also gave me like a 10 page booklet to fill out, both sides, in order to be able to enter it into the computer tomorrow. 10 years of jobs, schools, relatives, friends, type of toilet paper I use..... LOL

I go in at 1:30 tomorrow to enter it in, I guess the library needs me badly.. (yaye!)

So that was done by 9:00. From there I tried to find the Dr's office to get my prescription refilled. Dr Lomiento, my reg Dr is on vacation this week, and I REALLY need my meds. Soooooo. after heading off inthe wrong direction, getting lost, calling, doing the usual "does anyone speak English?" thing on the phone, I got the right directions, This is of course only if you understand German streets said over the phone.....Kastanalllanaliineeeee which luckily turned out to be something sort of similar I found.... I actually made it there with only one more phone call! Let me tell you, German street names are freaky... WAYYYYYYY to long.

I got there, did the VERY nice refilling of prescription, which basically consists of you telling the secretary what you need, her filling out the form, having the Dr sign it, and sending you on your way.

This is really something almost incomprehensible to me, trusting people enough to have them just tell you what they need, and giving them a prescription for it. I mean, this was a Dr that had never even seen me before, no office visit, just come in between 10-12 when they do the prescriptions, and you are done. Again, then you go to the pharmacist (Apoteke) hand them the script, and then hand you a box of medicine. Simple, easy, no problems. Have I said that I love living in Europe???

Soooo... after that I was supposed to go get brakes for Jess' car. To do this I had to take money out of the cash machine with her credit card. She had given me her pin, well the first time it didn't work, nor the second... and I was having such a wonderful day, the little bad imp inside of me said.. "Go ahead, try it a third time, this is Germany, it probably won't eat up the credit card..."

WRONG!! *rotflmao* It did...

Jessica was NOT amused when i told her she had to take her lunch hour to come try and retrieve her check card.. :-P

She was even LESS amused when they said they could not open the machine and the card would most likely be sent back to the stateside main bank......

LUCKILY there was a woman who worked there that convinced them to get the woman who could actually open the cash machine (something I figured all along) and they got her the card back... I knew it would work like that!!!!

Anyway, this whole time Jess is pretty much telling me how I am on her shit list saying random things like now I owe her $20 (WHAAAAA???) and now I have to mail her stuff at the post office AND pay for the postage (HUH???)

She cracks me up, when she is under stress I alwasy seem to owe her money for some reason...... (Too much bribing when they were young???)

Anyway, the whole time I am just trying not to laugh...... The imp inside was really getting the kick out of it. PLUS now we know that German cash machines will actually eat up credit cards after 3 times wit a wrong pin. A true learning experience.

I evem bought her a whole kilo of the MOST gorgeous red cherries from the open air market inthe marktplatz, along with some outstanding raspberries for myself. Those I ate warm, straight from the container, while I sat on the steps of the bank waiting for Jess to get there.

I love the lifestyle here, I really do.

Now I have to go buy her brakes, and go mail the stuff at the Post office for her. LOL I will be hearing about this for a week. I'll bet she even tries to gt me to do her turn washing dishing, saying I "OWE" her. LOL who cares, I am happy to do it. (she used cold water and I have to redo them all anyway) *g*..

Tschüß from Germany!!(pronounced almost like choose, or cheers with a strong accent, means bye!)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

New job with benefits!!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo! I am so excited I keep hitting weird keys. :-p

I had applied a while ago for a Permanent PT position as a library aid at the library on our base. I never even got called in for an interview, and was so upset. Then a few weeks ago a flex position came up at the library. I had no idea if it was a permanent or if it had benefits, but I applied for it anyway. I went in last week for an interview, and the assistant director loved me, but when I found out it may not have benefits, I knew that if I was offered the job, I wouldn't be able to accept it. Then today I received a call from the HR woman asking if I was intereted in the PT regular library aid job. I asked if it was the flex job and she said nope, it it the regular one with benefits. I told her the story and how badly I wanted it, and she said. "well you really must have wanted it badly because the person they offered it to declined the job, and then someone suggested they hire you!"

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!

So now I still only have to work PT, will get benefits and even better, will be working in a library. This also gives me the option to transfer within the system when the base closes down, etc.
The woman I interviewed with said I had "mad" computer skills. (LOL) which I think is part of the reason they hired me. anyway.... I have been so depressed lately because I have applied for sooo many jobs, and not gotten anything, but now I can sort of relax and know that as long as I want to be here, I will be able to stay.

(should I get horned rimmed glasses??) LOL

Monday, July 10, 2006

Back in Germany

The trip back from Sardinia was nothing special. I had to leave about 7 am to get to the airport, etc, and the flight back was no biggy. I did find out the Ryanair has a shuttle form the airport to Frankfurt main train station. This was good because Jess had my car and I wa son my own getting home. LOL.

One of the reasons that Ryanair has such good fares is that they do run fly out of the conventional airports. They fly out of smaller ones, sometimes quite a ways away from the reg airports, which can mean that transportation to and from can be a bit hairy. I had jess and Leo leave with me at like 3 am to get us to the airport to go to Italy, and we got lost several times. Luckily I saw the shuttle sitting outside the airport when I got back, so that sames me several hours of switching trains, buses etc. I was able to go to the main rail stations for 12 euro, then catch a train back to Hanau for 6, and that included catching the bus from the Hanau train station to the stop close to my apartment.

I knew I was going to have to work the day I got back, but it has taken me from Thursday to yesterday to sort of get back into the swing of things at work. My mind has just not been able to concentrate. I am already planning my next trip. LOL

Looks like we are getting another car. Jess is working farther away now, no bus service there, so Leo and I have been taking turns picking her up at night, and I have been either driving her in the morning, or letting her have the car til lunch. But we still have problems when I work at 4 or 5, and she is off at 6. This means we needed to get another car. I"ve been watchign the parking lot where everyone parks the For Sale cars on base, and saw a little Mitsubishi hatchback I wanted to try. I got ahold of the woman today and went down, drove it and really liekd it.... She wanted 975 for it, and I really wanted to talk her down to 70, but I only went down to 800. Jess is paying me 300 for the car I have now, so then it will only cost me 500. Then we will all be able to get back and forth to work with no porblems.


I have still been looking for other work, though now it looks like the store manager will be leaving in just a couple of weeks. If my supervisor Nick takes over the store like we hope he will, he will be talking to "them" W\(We have had long conversations about who the hell exactly IS THEM
In the meantime I actually had an interview for a helper/receptionist at a veterinary clinic! Man I wanted that job sooooooooooooooo bad. But it has been over a week and I have not heard back from them, so I guess that one is a no go.

So now it is back to the PT evenings and FT weekends job of slinging tacos in Taco Hell. LOL I will be glad when the weather cools down a bit, pretty hot in there this time of the year.

Anyway, that is about it. i am trying to decide where to go next, and also checking the airfare to see where there are deals. Seems like you can pretty much always get a good deal going to Ireland, which is one of the place I do want to go... I just want to go to Southern Italy next, though it will have to be before the first of August when all Italians go on vacation..... We will have to see.

In the meantime I SHOULD be going to pick up and register the new car tomorrow...

Later!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Good grief Charlie Brown!

LOL Well, have been having a hell of a time, the only problems being loack of internet access and the fact that MY FREAKING DIGITAL CAMERA FELL INTO THE OCEAN WHEN GETTING OUT OF THE SNORKELING BOAT. LOLOLOL CRAP... We were in one of those rubber boats like they use when white water rafting, and thinking I would be cool (first mistake) I decided to just slide down the side to get out instead of being a wuss and going down the stairs in the back like normal people do. I lost my balance when I hit the sand and went all the way in. (is this where you stand up, act like nothign ahppened and try to give the look like "I'm cool, I meant to do that") ROTFLMAO. Yeah well I don't think I pulled that look off too well.

Anyway, I did still have the pictures from the underwater camera, soo..... I bought a disposible camera today and am going to go back to the most beautiful view in the world and take pictures for you.... *sigh*

I was going to go snorkeling again today, but no alarm clocks in Italian room (forget the time, go by your own speed, miss your plane). The hotel was supposed to call and wake me up, but the first day it was just one short ring... That may have happened today, or they forgot. My second snorkeling seesion was going to be at another beach about an hour from here, stintino.... but when I woke up and called to ask what time it was they said it was 9:30, that's when the boat left, so no go.

Yesterday's snorkeling was such a blast. It only cost 25 euros, like $30. We left at 10, got back at 12:30 or so.. What a deal! Got to wear a wet suit (suck that stomach in) and they took us out in a boat to a little cove surrounded by HUGE cliffs. I have some pictures of it on my digital camera, but.......

When we first got there we thought, no way, where is the green water we want to be in? But when you got closer there were spots hit by sunlight.


I will always be spoiled by the snorkeling in Maui, I will have to go back some day. Every time I have gone since, I keep expecting the same beautiful florescent fish, etc... and have been disspointed every time. So this time I decided to just relax, enjoy being there and started looking at the boulders themself that were covered wit life. Nothing florescent with the exception of one wildly res starfish, but when you got up very close you discovered a whole new world. Tiny little weird fishes hiding in the vegetation, odd plats, just a lot of cool stuff... I was so into it, I loved it... I decided to take a scuba class the next day, but ended up not signing up because to be able to actually dive would take you the entire day, and I thought I could use my time in abetter way. NEXT time!

A lot of people werein the water only a 1/2 hour or so, but a few of us staying there every second we could. I loved it, though after a bit i had to go get a drink of water, salt in the throat. A few of the people swallowed a lot of water and wanted to puke.

Once we were all back in the boat and heading home, I closed my eyes and just thought of how lucky I was to be there... Sitting on the side of a big rubber boat, boating along on the meditteranean(sp) feeling the breeze on my face, hearing the motor, the people taliking around me, looking at the amazing scenery on all sides. Again I thanked the powers that be for allowing me to be in such a beautiful place.

It turns out we go tto go to a second cove! I mean, I think they undercharge for this..

This second one had HUUUUUUUGE bloders and crevices into the sides of the cliff, it as a LOT deeper and just a little scary.. I forced myself to just relax and then had another amazing time. You could snorkel almost right up to the cliffs, and then you would have the waves goig over you, kind of sucking you back and forth, so sometime you would have to back paddle a bit not to hit the rocks, but was FUN... Again, tons of interesting things attached to the rocks. I REALLY want to scuba next time.

Anyway, after abou 45 minutes there we finally headed back... To be honest I was about as relaxed as I was driving home the day after visiting Amsterdam. LOLOL

That evening I went to the restaurant called Pacos that everyone in the Trip Advisor forums recomends. I was a little upset because they had horse on the menu, but the kind I wanted was only available at lunch. I just didn't know if I wanted to go for a straight horse steak.... I decided to order as an appetizer the fresh tomatoes sliced whith mozzerella on top. with freshj basil leaves you cut up and put on top also. The mozzerella in Italy is NOTHING like it is there. Here is is very watery, bland and sort of rubbery, but very good, just not what you would think of there when you get it.

Then I had gnocchi ina cheese sauce with balsmaic vinegar drizzled on top. I wasn't thrilled with the vinegar, but otherwise it was good. For the second course instead of the horse steak (i was tempted to go there for lunch today to get it) instead I had traditional Sardinian sausages. OH MY GOD were they good. I am going to stop at the store here and get some, though now that I think of it, I may not be able tpo bring them back into Germany. Not sure... Will have to check..


Sardinia in July seems to be nothing but British and French tourists. I mean, we all know not to go in August because that is when all the Italians close down the country and take their vacations, so I guess the rest of the people in Europe know to go in July. L

Anyway, I slep too late today to really do anything, thanks in part to the fact the the Italians won against Germany last night in the world cup games. MY GOD! I was hanging out my 3 floor window watching them all going down the street haonking etc.. The people on scooters were absoultely suicidal, going bewteen cars let and right, down thye sidewalk, everywhere. LOL. I called my mom to talk to her and held up the phone so she could hear. LOL


So the rest of the day I am going to go back up to where I was yesterday, take some pictures for you with a real camera with film (how cute and antiquated and a pain in the ass to develop) LOL and then find something to eat and go to bed early. I fly out at 9 am tomorrow. ;-(

At least I have an alarm clock to get me up on time. (darn it)
Later!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Writing this froman outside restautant in Alghero

Italy! I made it here. I missed Italy so much. Sardinia,well Alghero is a lot diff fromthe hill towns in Umbria. A lot more run down, a LOT of construction going on everywhere, and HOT! 90 something today. I didn't get any sleep last night because I worked until 10:30, and had to leave at 3 am to go to the airport, so I took iteasy today, got to the hotel, walked around a bit, then took about a 3-4 hour nap.LOL Then got in the car and took off towards the south in the car. Good lord, you would not believe the cliffs youdirve along. The roads are good, but the scenery amazing!

I am heading north tomorrow I think it wil lbe flatter, one of the beaches I want to visit lookd sto be on a penninsula, so my guess is, no cliffs. LOL

Actually first thing I am doing tomorrow is going on a 3 hour snorkeling cruise. YAYE! It leaevs at 9 am, comes back at 11, you get about an hour in the water. Was only 25 euro, I thought that was good.

So I had my melone gelato today, along with coconut and honeydew scoops. When I am done with this will make sure to have another one before I go back to the hotel.LOL

I forgto about the wholeItalian stray cats thing, I hate that, malkes me so sad, I want to take them all home.

The dinner I had tonight was tortellini, and it was actually a microwaveble meal!! I laughed out loud when I realized it. Hey it was only 5€, soo.. But they didn,t even get all the top wrap off the paper dish and didn,t even try putting it on a regular plate. Sheesh.. BUT that meant I was able to take the whole thing with me and go feed it to one fo the homeless cats (what was left of the meal)

After that expereince I went online to the TripAdvisor forums to get some restaurant recommendations.

So not I am sitting outside along the beach at a table, all kinds of peploe everywhere, scooters all lined up. Teens hanging out, kids yelling, it is great! Now if I just had that perfect Italian man, all would be as it should. *g* Anyway, I am having a great time, looking forward to snorkeling tomorrow, and also getting some sleep tonight. I am off to get the promised gelato, and then to bed.

I will try writing again tomorrow, much better then trying to remember it later. Ciao! Oh yeah, the name of the restaurant is Ciau, Ciau where I am sitting, forgot the name of the place I ate. UGH. Later!

Last minute prep

Well, here I am, 2:30 am, just trying to get everything packed and ready to go in the next 15 minutes when I have to wake Jess and Leo so the can drive me the one and a half hours to the Frankfurt Hahn airport.

I have my underwater camera, bathing suit, sarong, sun tan lotion, towel, sandals, my itinerary all printed out, though I forgot to go get euros out of the ATM, that will be no problem, there should be ATMs at the airport.

Now I have to quickly jam them all into mysuitcase and get the hell out of here! Talk to you in a few days!!!! Italy here I come!