Shew.. that is over... I spoke with a man named Anders and another gentleman whose name I did not understand. He may have been from Nigeria or some such place.
They asked me a lot of questions about my work background. Very straight forward, none of the "How would your best friend decribe you" types of questions.
They wanted to know how I felt about traveling. It seems the job will be based out of Geneva, not the Hague, so scratch the Hague link from yesterday. When he asked me about traveling, he said the places they go to were not the usual tourist spots, he actually said it could be "deepest Africa" or southeast Asia. LOL.
I am not sure how I did, i know I am weak on a couple of things they are looking for, such as Zenworks and any programming. BUT, it also sounds like they use Novell, because one of them was asking me about my GroupWise experience as well as asking if i had any Novell certifications, so that is a good sign.........
We spoke about 1/2 hour. The human resources person that was supposed to be there got lost finding the place, so they just went over a bit about the hiring process. That they had more interviews, and that I would probably hear nothing until about 3-4 weeks from then. Then if I got the job an HR person would contact me with an offer.
Another thing they asked was that if i received an offer, how long before I could be in Geneva. I said it would take no more than two weeks, that I was renting month to month and would just need to get things together back here and go. AAUUGGHHHH... :-)
Pretty cool huh, being called up by a couple of people from the United Nations in Geneva about a job where I could be traveling to "deepest Africa" and Southeast Asia??? *G*
Well, I will just be keeping my fingers crossed. I am going to have to talk to Jess and see if she would move to Geneva with me (and Rob could come) so that they could share an apartment and take care of the cats for me. Otherwise i am not sure I can take the job, depending on how often I travel.....
Not going to plan too much though, since there is no promise that I will even get the job, but it is nice to not be sideblinded if I get it, by having made no plans.
I am also kind of hoping about the AF job in the Azores. The waiting 3-4 weeks for a reply from the UN kind of gives me time to hear from the other job.
So things are looking up at least. more sun in Germany..... i was standing at the bus stop waiting to catch the bus here (I am at the USO on post using a computer at the library) and I was just watching these three boys play football (soccer) in the street, and the bells from the town square started ringing at the top of the hour, and I have to tell you, I was pretty frigging content with where I am right now.. So that it good.... Much better off then I was a month ago.
Anyway, i need to get going and get some other things done here before I go to work. 6-10:30pm for the next 3 nights.
Bye!
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Monday, January 23, 2006
Things are looking up
Well, at last some interesting things to put on the blog. I was at the vet today with one of the cats when i received call from the united Nations in Geneva wanting to do a phone interview with me on Wed about a job I applied for a few months ago.. It is for a computer assistant job in the Hague (Netherlands) at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia! (try saying that three times fast.. Here is the site for those interested: http://www.un.org/icty/
I also checked on the status of a computer job for the Air Force in the Azores, Portugal, and I am eligible for it, so we will see if I get a call or email from them! Here is a link to the Island that the base is located on: http://www.destinazores.com/index.php , The job would be on the island of Terceira. The islands are actually about 900 miles west of Lisbon, it is the most Western part of Europe. See what you think! I just started checking out the two places myself, though obviously there is no guarentee I will get either job..
Something must be in the air because I just got a call from Heidelberg asking if I wanted a job in the commissarry. that one I said no to, i don't have a care right now, etc, and it is an hour train ride away. i would not make enough money at that job to justify going.
Well, cross your fingers that one of these jobs comes through (I personally want the one in the Azores.) It is only a 5 hour flight from there to Boston, so the US would be closer, and maybe I could get my mom to come over........ Now if I was in the Hague, Nick would be more likely to come, he wants to visit Amsterdam, soo..... Either way both pay about the same money, obviously the UN one would look better on a resume.... there are porbably a lot more perks to it also. Well, we will just have to see if either pans out. cross your fingers!!
OK, Holland itself looks pretty fricking interesting... *sigh* Here is a link: http://www.holland.com/us/
I also checked on the status of a computer job for the Air Force in the Azores, Portugal, and I am eligible for it, so we will see if I get a call or email from them! Here is a link to the Island that the base is located on: http://www.destinazores.com/index.php , The job would be on the island of Terceira. The islands are actually about 900 miles west of Lisbon, it is the most Western part of Europe. See what you think! I just started checking out the two places myself, though obviously there is no guarentee I will get either job..
Something must be in the air because I just got a call from Heidelberg asking if I wanted a job in the commissarry. that one I said no to, i don't have a care right now, etc, and it is an hour train ride away. i would not make enough money at that job to justify going.
Well, cross your fingers that one of these jobs comes through (I personally want the one in the Azores.) It is only a 5 hour flight from there to Boston, so the US would be closer, and maybe I could get my mom to come over........ Now if I was in the Hague, Nick would be more likely to come, he wants to visit Amsterdam, soo..... Either way both pay about the same money, obviously the UN one would look better on a resume.... there are porbably a lot more perks to it also. Well, we will just have to see if either pans out. cross your fingers!!
OK, Holland itself looks pretty fricking interesting... *sigh* Here is a link: http://www.holland.com/us/
Monday, January 16, 2006
New direction maybe?
Well, that old travelin jones is hitting again. Looks like we will be trying to get to Portugal in the next few months. Jess' boyfriend is living there and she wants to be closer to him. To be honest, warmer weather sounds wonderful. I have been watching the military sites for job openings. I just applied for a computer assistant, it closes the 20th, so we will see if I hear anything after that.
The other thing we have decided to do is buy a car if we get enough tax money back. It's really needed, esp when you first get to a place, looking for apts, applying for jobs etc. So we will se how much we get back.
Been working, working, working. Still only getting about 30 hours a week, no benefits, but it is enought for the apt and utilities, and some spending money.
I have been working closings, so I come in around 1 or so and work til 10:30 a couple of days, then come in at 5:30 or so and work til closing. I LOVE sleeping late, man how I love it.
My weight loss is now up to 40 pounds!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that is the happiest thing of this trip, losing all the weight.
Living in Germany is OK, the weather in the winter sucks, a bit of snow here and there, in the 30s mostly, but no sun most of the time, and to me it look slike MN in the spring when everything is sort of dirty and no leaves on the trees yet.
Living in Dt Hanau has been nice, you just walk into town to do your shopping, etc.... The main downtown blocks are all paved and cobbled, with blocks and blocks of stores. I still have not been impressed with the cooked food available. pork mostly, and sandwiches. There is this one butcher shop where you can get a leg/thigh of chicken roasted with paprika for 1.7 euro. YUM, but not a lot of other places to eat. We still have no kitchen in the apt, so we are unable to cook. This means I am eating a lot of Taco Bell. YUCK...
So now it is just work work work while we look into going to Portugal.
Note: Visit to a local dr here cost TEN euros, about $11!!!!! Can't beat that.... :-)
The other thing we have decided to do is buy a car if we get enough tax money back. It's really needed, esp when you first get to a place, looking for apts, applying for jobs etc. So we will se how much we get back.
Been working, working, working. Still only getting about 30 hours a week, no benefits, but it is enought for the apt and utilities, and some spending money.
I have been working closings, so I come in around 1 or so and work til 10:30 a couple of days, then come in at 5:30 or so and work til closing. I LOVE sleeping late, man how I love it.
My weight loss is now up to 40 pounds!!!!!!!!!! Yes, that is the happiest thing of this trip, losing all the weight.
Living in Germany is OK, the weather in the winter sucks, a bit of snow here and there, in the 30s mostly, but no sun most of the time, and to me it look slike MN in the spring when everything is sort of dirty and no leaves on the trees yet.
Living in Dt Hanau has been nice, you just walk into town to do your shopping, etc.... The main downtown blocks are all paved and cobbled, with blocks and blocks of stores. I still have not been impressed with the cooked food available. pork mostly, and sandwiches. There is this one butcher shop where you can get a leg/thigh of chicken roasted with paprika for 1.7 euro. YUM, but not a lot of other places to eat. We still have no kitchen in the apt, so we are unable to cook. This means I am eating a lot of Taco Bell. YUCK...
So now it is just work work work while we look into going to Portugal.
Note: Visit to a local dr here cost TEN euros, about $11!!!!! Can't beat that.... :-)
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Back
Sorry, I was deciding whether or not to keep doing the blog, which is why I haven't updated this for a while. I had a rough time during Christmas, and am just now getting back on my feet and up to speed. I only have a minute before work, so I can't go into everything now, but I have Tuesday off so then I will have time to hit the computer and update you all on what has been going on. Take care until then!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Life in Germany
Lots going on, little time to be online.
I am going down to Heidelberg Army post tomorrow to interview for a Computer Support job. It is a LONG commute, so not sure if I will take the job or not, will have to see. About half of what I made in the states, but double what I am making now, plus health care, etc.
We are in the new apartment, no kitchen for a month, nothing on the walls or floors (welcome to renting in in Europe!) not even light fixtures. We will be buying wallpaper and will be taking advantage of the long weekend for Christmas to paper the walls.
Have bought a couple of beds, that is it. we have the TV, basic cable comes with the apt..... will be getting a land line in this next week i hope. internet (YES!!!!) in a few weeks.
Cats are confused, the place is huge and empty so it echoes.
Am short on time, will try to write more in the next couple of days....... Bye!
I am going down to Heidelberg Army post tomorrow to interview for a Computer Support job. It is a LONG commute, so not sure if I will take the job or not, will have to see. About half of what I made in the states, but double what I am making now, plus health care, etc.
We are in the new apartment, no kitchen for a month, nothing on the walls or floors (welcome to renting in in Europe!) not even light fixtures. We will be buying wallpaper and will be taking advantage of the long weekend for Christmas to paper the walls.
Have bought a couple of beds, that is it. we have the TV, basic cable comes with the apt..... will be getting a land line in this next week i hope. internet (YES!!!!) in a few weeks.
Cats are confused, the place is huge and empty so it echoes.
Am short on time, will try to write more in the next couple of days....... Bye!
Friday, December 16, 2005
Officially Army
well, before I get into my day,I just to reply to the comment made about my adventure having a purpose...
This blog was was simply created so that I could communicate with friends and family without having to write emails to everyone. That's it.
SOOOOOO.. today we went in, and finally got our ID cards that gives us access to the base. We also received a card that goes with our passports that will allow us unrestricted access in and out of Germany, since our three month tourist visas will be up.
Of course I went and got the covetted(sp) bars of Coast soap and the can of Sierra Mist. (Just about as good as I hoped, but will taste much better in a glass with ice when I am sitting in our new apartment.
We think we have an apartment right in Hanau! This means a 5 minute bus right to and from work, not bad!! It is also owned but a woman Veterinarian, SCORE again, she said no porblem to the 4 cats. it is also located right next door to her Vet clinic, score again for the cats! i can't stand it, cn hardly wait until Monday to see it.
Whe have an appt Monday at 9 am to see it, but unless there are gaping holes in the walls, we will take it. That means we only have to pay for bus to and from work, about a 5 minutes ride from the apt. What a deal. monday and Tuesday we also have real orientation.... Two all day sessions.
Jess actually worked until 6 tonight, I am waiting for her to come back any time. I work tomorrow from 1 pm to 9 pm....so I get to sleep late....
What else, oh yes! We both opened up APO boxes, meaning that we can get mail from the US at regular stamp prices. This means my mother no longer has to put 5 stamps on everything, if she sends it to the APO box. Cool!
What else, oh yes, tomorrow we have to go before I start work and open up accounts at the community bank on base. This way we get direct depost and also are able to pay our German bills through this account.
I am so tired, really can't think of much else to say right now, so am off for the evening. Take care!!!
This blog was was simply created so that I could communicate with friends and family without having to write emails to everyone. That's it.
SOOOOOO.. today we went in, and finally got our ID cards that gives us access to the base. We also received a card that goes with our passports that will allow us unrestricted access in and out of Germany, since our three month tourist visas will be up.
Of course I went and got the covetted(sp) bars of Coast soap and the can of Sierra Mist. (Just about as good as I hoped, but will taste much better in a glass with ice when I am sitting in our new apartment.
We think we have an apartment right in Hanau! This means a 5 minute bus right to and from work, not bad!! It is also owned but a woman Veterinarian, SCORE again, she said no porblem to the 4 cats. it is also located right next door to her Vet clinic, score again for the cats! i can't stand it, cn hardly wait until Monday to see it.
Whe have an appt Monday at 9 am to see it, but unless there are gaping holes in the walls, we will take it. That means we only have to pay for bus to and from work, about a 5 minutes ride from the apt. What a deal. monday and Tuesday we also have real orientation.... Two all day sessions.
Jess actually worked until 6 tonight, I am waiting for her to come back any time. I work tomorrow from 1 pm to 9 pm....so I get to sleep late....
What else, oh yes! We both opened up APO boxes, meaning that we can get mail from the US at regular stamp prices. This means my mother no longer has to put 5 stamps on everything, if she sends it to the APO box. Cool!
What else, oh yes, tomorrow we have to go before I start work and open up accounts at the community bank on base. This way we get direct depost and also are able to pay our German bills through this account.
I am so tired, really can't think of much else to say right now, so am off for the evening. Take care!!!
Thursday, December 15, 2005
THANK GOD FOR MOTHERS!!!!!!!!
Ok please, I would like every one of you to post a comment thanking my mother for being there and being generous enough to save our butts again! I can't really explain how and why she did it, but you will have to trust me, short of giving up a kidney she made the ultimate sacrifice so that we were able to stay here, get back and forth to our jobs, find an apartment etc. All I am asking of you who read this is to put an anoymous comment on this blog thanking her....
I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!! thank you for being there for us.... nothing I can say will truly express how thankful I m that you have been there behind us!!!!!!!!
Both Jess and I received a call today saying that we have been apporved to work before we even go to orientation on Monday, so tomorrow morning we go in, fill out paperwork, and start our respective jobs at Subway and Taco Bell. LOL
Should be a lot of fun to be busy again, and be around people esp those that speak English!
That is all for now, bye! (mom, to read any comments, just click on the number of comments at the end of this blog.)
I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!! thank you for being there for us.... nothing I can say will truly express how thankful I m that you have been there behind us!!!!!!!!
Both Jess and I received a call today saying that we have been apporved to work before we even go to orientation on Monday, so tomorrow morning we go in, fill out paperwork, and start our respective jobs at Subway and Taco Bell. LOL
Should be a lot of fun to be busy again, and be around people esp those that speak English!
That is all for now, bye! (mom, to read any comments, just click on the number of comments at the end of this blog.)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
The best of both worlds?
Anothe short blog, sorry.
We went on post today, the woman at Taco Bell didn't even really interview me, just said how many hours a week were available, anywhere from 25-35 or more. Asked if I could work evenings, weekends, holidays. I said yep, I have no life, will be glad to, so i now work at Taco Bell!! piece of cake...less problems with carpal tunnel! plus there may be a supervisor position coming up, which changes my staus from intermittent to PT, which gives me more benefits, though not sure health....
We went in to the commissarie, and I found COAST SOAP and SIERRA MIST! I actually started crying (ok, that is mostly because I have been off meds a month, and I have a tendency to cry when not on them.) but it was soooooooo nice to find things like that. Hey, I left America because of the crime, etc. No one said i could not have coast soap and Sierra Mist if I left.
I had 3 bars of Coast, a can of Sierra Mist (all I could afford) a Slim Jim and some ladies items that Jess can not find in Germany stores. AND THEY WOULD NOT LET US CHECK OUT WITHOUT AN ID from on Post.. I about died... no fair.... *SIGH* That is OK, we will get them within the next week. We have orientation on monday and Tues and should be able to start as of next Wed.
There is an unfurnished apt we want to take a look at. Unfiurnished being nothing in the kitchen but walls and outlets. Bathroom had toilet and tub, but the place is huge, two bedrooms, and cheap, 360€ a month, which is about $400, so I am waiting to hear from the agent tomorrow about going up and seeing it.. YES!! It woul dbe so nice to be in a place of our own by xmas. ok, have to go, using the expensive coputer time at the hotel. No cash right now. Love you all and take care!!!
We went on post today, the woman at Taco Bell didn't even really interview me, just said how many hours a week were available, anywhere from 25-35 or more. Asked if I could work evenings, weekends, holidays. I said yep, I have no life, will be glad to, so i now work at Taco Bell!! piece of cake...less problems with carpal tunnel! plus there may be a supervisor position coming up, which changes my staus from intermittent to PT, which gives me more benefits, though not sure health....
We went in to the commissarie, and I found COAST SOAP and SIERRA MIST! I actually started crying (ok, that is mostly because I have been off meds a month, and I have a tendency to cry when not on them.) but it was soooooooo nice to find things like that. Hey, I left America because of the crime, etc. No one said i could not have coast soap and Sierra Mist if I left.
I had 3 bars of Coast, a can of Sierra Mist (all I could afford) a Slim Jim and some ladies items that Jess can not find in Germany stores. AND THEY WOULD NOT LET US CHECK OUT WITHOUT AN ID from on Post.. I about died... no fair.... *SIGH* That is OK, we will get them within the next week. We have orientation on monday and Tues and should be able to start as of next Wed.
There is an unfurnished apt we want to take a look at. Unfiurnished being nothing in the kitchen but walls and outlets. Bathroom had toilet and tub, but the place is huge, two bedrooms, and cheap, 360€ a month, which is about $400, so I am waiting to hear from the agent tomorrow about going up and seeing it.. YES!! It woul dbe so nice to be in a place of our own by xmas. ok, have to go, using the expensive coputer time at the hotel. No cash right now. Love you all and take care!!!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Money in - money out
Sheesh, we seem to get enough cash in for a couple of days, then it is gone. We have been broke the last few days, which is why we have not been online and/or written blogs. We've simply been sitting in the hotel room sulking, waiting for the week to begin. What a LONG weekend. Some money came in this evening, but then this internet cafe closes in about 20 minutes. Will write more tomorrow. Got a call from Taco Bell and have an interview tomorrow at 10 am. Then we will be contacting a couple of rental agents in Hanau about an apartment. YES!........ So til tomorrow..... Bye!!
Friday, December 09, 2005
A bit of America in Germany
Yesterday Jess and I went to the Hanau Army base for her two job interviews. One with Subway and one with a pizza place. Obviously they loved her a smuch as she loved them, and before we even left the base after the interviews, Jess was being offered the Subway job. YEAH!
I had decided enough for shooting big with jobs, and the day before had gone ahead and applied for a fast food job also. WEE NEED MONEY! (That and being able to access the base means books and magazines in English, access to used cars cheap, commisary, etc..)
Since Jess has taken the one, and the HR person has spoken with me while jess was making out paperwork, I got lucky. The HR person called Jess this mornign and said they had reopened the pizza job so that I could apply for it. LOL. I never thought I would be bragging about a pizza job being opened for me so that I could apply. :-D
Works for me, will get us money for transportation and an apartment while I keep applying for other jobs. To be honest, I don't even care if I get an IT job any more, I think this is a blessing in disguise.
We will also be able to go to the onsite university for cheap, and then I think I wll go ahead and take the few classes I need to get my BA. It walways seems to haunt me that I have 2 -two year degrees, so close to a BA.....
Well, i have to go, we have used the last of our cash again, waiting for a refund on some clothing i brought back to a store. Will talk more later!!!!!
I had decided enough for shooting big with jobs, and the day before had gone ahead and applied for a fast food job also. WEE NEED MONEY! (That and being able to access the base means books and magazines in English, access to used cars cheap, commisary, etc..)
Since Jess has taken the one, and the HR person has spoken with me while jess was making out paperwork, I got lucky. The HR person called Jess this mornign and said they had reopened the pizza job so that I could apply for it. LOL. I never thought I would be bragging about a pizza job being opened for me so that I could apply. :-D
Works for me, will get us money for transportation and an apartment while I keep applying for other jobs. To be honest, I don't even care if I get an IT job any more, I think this is a blessing in disguise.
We will also be able to go to the onsite university for cheap, and then I think I wll go ahead and take the few classes I need to get my BA. It walways seems to haunt me that I have 2 -two year degrees, so close to a BA.....
Well, i have to go, we have used the last of our cash again, waiting for a refund on some clothing i brought back to a store. Will talk more later!!!!!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Baby Steps
are what we are taking. Going to another part of Germany means leaving our comfort zone and going somewhere where we have NO idea where things are, how far away, what they cost, etc.. It is going to take a few days for us to get our bearings. In the meantime, WE GOT OUR MONEY BACK FROM ATENA!! Which works out really well, because we had 4€ in our pockets, enought to get online and see if my money came in, and then we were broke..
My dear mother had emailed them saying what a digsgrace it was that they would not return my money. They emailed her back and CCd me saying how rude she was, but amazingly my money showed up today also. Co-inky-dink? I THINK NOT!
Below is the blog I wrote out on paper last night....
We have escaped, YEAH! We gor into Langensbold, a town about a half hour out of Frankfurt, at about 5 pm or so, with minimal trauma to the cats, etc. The drive took about 3 hours. We found the hotel and saw that it had undergraound parking. SCORE. We got buzzed in and got out of the car to go to reception when suddenly a god awfulear splitting alarm went off! I mean this was LOUD. In my version of this story the lights are flashing on and off. I later made the mistake of asking Jess if this really happened or not. The killjoy she is, she said NO mom, the lights were not flashing on and off. She then goes on to say, but the lights did go off and I had to find the button to get them back on. I say that qualifies me to be able to say the alarm was skrieking and the lights were flashing on and off.
We make it to the elevator, all the while yelling back and forth.... Did we cause this? What IS it? Did we make this happen? It finally stops somewhere when we were going up to reception in the elevator. We ask check-in and they say no, we didn't cause it, they were testing the alarm system. (Is that some sort of sick German way of greeting guests?)
I hate checking into hotels with the cats, because even though I pick pet friendly hotels, my worst nightmare will be them seeing up drag in 4 cats and they will proceed to kick us out.. In thi hotel the elevator goes directly from the parking ramp to the rooms, bypassing the lobby altogther. SCORE again. This way not only do they not see us bringing up the cats, by they will also miss the show of us making 6 trips up with all our worldly possessions, parking themin the hotel room. I was however able to get just about everything into the armoir, only leaving out our suitcases. Thus housekeeping will get the idea we are just your ordinary travelers. LOL.
The room is only 29€ a day, or about $33. Although after getting up and lookkng at the information we are supposed to pay an extra 5€ a day, so that makes it more like a whole $40 a day or so, and that includes the taxes. Let's face it, it would not be possible to rent something habitable for that amount in the US. This room is GREAT. We each have a full sized bed, a mini-bar refridge so we can buy pop etc and store it. We also have a corner room on the second floor, with a big windows on each side, and also a small sofa and a huge desk, worok area. AND, a tub. YES... It has been so ong since I have been some place with a tub. I don't even like baths, but I plan on taking one every night here. Sheer heaven.
I have had the stomach flu this last week or or so. I have not had the flu in so many years, has b´to be 20 or so.... Must be some strange European bug. I would much prefer a cold thank you. The constant queasiness sucks big time.
Anyway, tomorrow (really today, I wrote this Monday night) we take the car back, check out buying some sort of weekly or monthly rail tickets and start looking for a place to live, etc.
Off the subject.
In Germany people don't eat french fries with their hands, they use this cool little thing to spear them. It looks like one of those flat wooden sticks youget when you buy the little individual containers of ice cream,but this is forked at one end. It is disposible and you use it to spear your french fries. I'm telling you, it beats the hell out of getting your hands full of grease, and if you have been shopping, etc, who the hell knows whathas been on those hands. I have even been in some semi-fast food restaurants that have a little sink right in the eating area so that youcan wash your hands before and or after eating. Pretty smart.
So now it is Tuesday,and we have brought back the car in frankfurt, and inquired about rail passes. looks like we can get a bahncard, where it will get you 25% off your tickets for one year for 50€, 50% off all your fares for one year for 200€ and for a mere 2,000 €, free riding for one year. Man, I like that one. But I don't think we will be going for it quite yet. Though the 200€ one would pay for itself in a month or so if you are riding back and forth to work. Train fare is expensive here!
JESSICA alread received a call for an interview to work at the onbase Subway in Hanau. The interview is for this Thursday. Certainly not the most glamorous job in the world, but a great start! The next step is for me to get some sort of interview.
Anyway, enough blogging, I need to get to work online looking for a place to stay, work etc. Later!
My dear mother had emailed them saying what a digsgrace it was that they would not return my money. They emailed her back and CCd me saying how rude she was, but amazingly my money showed up today also. Co-inky-dink? I THINK NOT!
Below is the blog I wrote out on paper last night....
We have escaped, YEAH! We gor into Langensbold, a town about a half hour out of Frankfurt, at about 5 pm or so, with minimal trauma to the cats, etc. The drive took about 3 hours. We found the hotel and saw that it had undergraound parking. SCORE. We got buzzed in and got out of the car to go to reception when suddenly a god awfulear splitting alarm went off! I mean this was LOUD. In my version of this story the lights are flashing on and off. I later made the mistake of asking Jess if this really happened or not. The killjoy she is, she said NO mom, the lights were not flashing on and off. She then goes on to say, but the lights did go off and I had to find the button to get them back on. I say that qualifies me to be able to say the alarm was skrieking and the lights were flashing on and off.
We make it to the elevator, all the while yelling back and forth.... Did we cause this? What IS it? Did we make this happen? It finally stops somewhere when we were going up to reception in the elevator. We ask check-in and they say no, we didn't cause it, they were testing the alarm system. (Is that some sort of sick German way of greeting guests?)
I hate checking into hotels with the cats, because even though I pick pet friendly hotels, my worst nightmare will be them seeing up drag in 4 cats and they will proceed to kick us out.. In thi hotel the elevator goes directly from the parking ramp to the rooms, bypassing the lobby altogther. SCORE again. This way not only do they not see us bringing up the cats, by they will also miss the show of us making 6 trips up with all our worldly possessions, parking themin the hotel room. I was however able to get just about everything into the armoir, only leaving out our suitcases. Thus housekeeping will get the idea we are just your ordinary travelers. LOL.
The room is only 29€ a day, or about $33. Although after getting up and lookkng at the information we are supposed to pay an extra 5€ a day, so that makes it more like a whole $40 a day or so, and that includes the taxes. Let's face it, it would not be possible to rent something habitable for that amount in the US. This room is GREAT. We each have a full sized bed, a mini-bar refridge so we can buy pop etc and store it. We also have a corner room on the second floor, with a big windows on each side, and also a small sofa and a huge desk, worok area. AND, a tub. YES... It has been so ong since I have been some place with a tub. I don't even like baths, but I plan on taking one every night here. Sheer heaven.
I have had the stomach flu this last week or or so. I have not had the flu in so many years, has b´to be 20 or so.... Must be some strange European bug. I would much prefer a cold thank you. The constant queasiness sucks big time.
Anyway, tomorrow (really today, I wrote this Monday night) we take the car back, check out buying some sort of weekly or monthly rail tickets and start looking for a place to live, etc.
Off the subject.
In Germany people don't eat french fries with their hands, they use this cool little thing to spear them. It looks like one of those flat wooden sticks youget when you buy the little individual containers of ice cream,but this is forked at one end. It is disposible and you use it to spear your french fries. I'm telling you, it beats the hell out of getting your hands full of grease, and if you have been shopping, etc, who the hell knows whathas been on those hands. I have even been in some semi-fast food restaurants that have a little sink right in the eating area so that youcan wash your hands before and or after eating. Pretty smart.
So now it is Tuesday,and we have brought back the car in frankfurt, and inquired about rail passes. looks like we can get a bahncard, where it will get you 25% off your tickets for one year for 50€, 50% off all your fares for one year for 200€ and for a mere 2,000 €, free riding for one year. Man, I like that one. But I don't think we will be going for it quite yet. Though the 200€ one would pay for itself in a month or so if you are riding back and forth to work. Train fare is expensive here!
JESSICA alread received a call for an interview to work at the onbase Subway in Hanau. The interview is for this Thursday. Certainly not the most glamorous job in the world, but a great start! The next step is for me to get some sort of interview.
Anyway, enough blogging, I need to get to work online looking for a place to stay, work etc. Later!
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Escaping to Reality
So my son Nick… I LOVE HIM! He is doing great at UPS and sounds like he is also working a lot of hours at Blockbuster. He has a girlfriend who is very nice to him, and some great friends who are covering his back.
He has pretty much moved out of the apartment I rented for him, and will be sharing a townhouse with some friends starting the first of the year (I think)
I miss him soooooo much. I love when I get online in the morning and he is on AIM. Some days I get a hard time from him, but most times we just talk. That works for me.
I can hardly wait until he gets here or I get there to visit. He’d better get ready for one hell of a hug!
*SIGH*
Well, tomorrow we head off to Frankfurt. Not sure if I can even get Mark to give me a ride to Northheim as he promised…. Typical… So I will be online tonight checking train fare to go pick up the car. We have the car for one day, thank god in Germany it costs no more to drive a car one way, so I will be able to drop it off in Frankfurt Tuesday morning. We have a hotel rented for a little less than a week, and about 60 euros in our pockets. LOLOL Back to the adventure.
Trust me, Tues after I drop the car off we will be calling every base ion the area looking for work, and going out to the main hiring HQ and dropping off CVs, etc.
I am hoping things go better there. In the back of my mind I see myself saving every dime I can, doing a bit of cheap travelling to Spain, England, Netherlands etc, and the whole time doing research on what would be the nicest, safest area of the US to live. Propose to my mom that when her lease is up next October, to move in with me somewhere… We’ll see, so many things seem to change, and I know now that plans don’t seem to go the way we hope. So………..
I will be so glad to leave here, the Pension. Even though Mark was nice enough to give us a place to stay, it is time to move on and find a place of my own. I really long for a place of my OWN. Without jess, just me, mine, no one else’s. I am tired of trying to make sure everyone is happy. I actually came over to Europe so that I could be selfish. Yeah, right. HA.
Well, I need to get online and print out some directions to the hotel, etc. mark is on the phone, Jess is sitting here SIGHING because god forbid she may not get online right at 9 to talk to Rob. A word of advice to those planning to be parents, do NOT give your kids everything. Be really mean to them, deny them everything, beat them. Trust me, they’ll turn out to be better people and thank you for it. Damn straight.
He has pretty much moved out of the apartment I rented for him, and will be sharing a townhouse with some friends starting the first of the year (I think)
I miss him soooooo much. I love when I get online in the morning and he is on AIM. Some days I get a hard time from him, but most times we just talk. That works for me.
I can hardly wait until he gets here or I get there to visit. He’d better get ready for one hell of a hug!
*SIGH*
Well, tomorrow we head off to Frankfurt. Not sure if I can even get Mark to give me a ride to Northheim as he promised…. Typical… So I will be online tonight checking train fare to go pick up the car. We have the car for one day, thank god in Germany it costs no more to drive a car one way, so I will be able to drop it off in Frankfurt Tuesday morning. We have a hotel rented for a little less than a week, and about 60 euros in our pockets. LOLOL Back to the adventure.
Trust me, Tues after I drop the car off we will be calling every base ion the area looking for work, and going out to the main hiring HQ and dropping off CVs, etc.
I am hoping things go better there. In the back of my mind I see myself saving every dime I can, doing a bit of cheap travelling to Spain, England, Netherlands etc, and the whole time doing research on what would be the nicest, safest area of the US to live. Propose to my mom that when her lease is up next October, to move in with me somewhere… We’ll see, so many things seem to change, and I know now that plans don’t seem to go the way we hope. So………..
I will be so glad to leave here, the Pension. Even though Mark was nice enough to give us a place to stay, it is time to move on and find a place of my own. I really long for a place of my OWN. Without jess, just me, mine, no one else’s. I am tired of trying to make sure everyone is happy. I actually came over to Europe so that I could be selfish. Yeah, right. HA.
Well, I need to get online and print out some directions to the hotel, etc. mark is on the phone, Jess is sitting here SIGHING because god forbid she may not get online right at 9 to talk to Rob. A word of advice to those planning to be parents, do NOT give your kids everything. Be really mean to them, deny them everything, beat them. Trust me, they’ll turn out to be better people and thank you for it. Damn straight.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Phase 3? 2.5?
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to look for work we go.
As of Monday, we will be broke and down in the Frankfurt area looking for work and a place to live.
My mother God bless her, has come to the rescue again and is lending us her credit card to rent a card for one day and a cheap hotel for the next week or two until we can get settled. My only fear is that the car rental and hotel will say no to it being used and not even there with me. I have a feeling that the hotel will not care, but the car place I am not sure about.
(Oscar speech time)
I would like to take this time to say thank you to all of those who have helped Jess and I get to this place.
First and foremost my mother, who besides giving birth to me, has put aside her own feelings and stood beside us the entire way, giving moral and monetary help even when I know she just wanted to scream “WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DUMB THING ARE YOU DOING? JUST GET BACK HERE SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY AND HAVE A NICE JOB AND HOUSE AND BE NEAR ME SO THAT WE CAN ALL BE TOGETHER AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE ALL THIS WORRY AND YOU WILL BE SAFE!!”
Hopefully at some point things will settle down, in the meantime, I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!
Next I would like to thank Jodi, my friend and unfortunately for her, my real estate agent. She gave me the initial money for the house, in good faith that it would sell, and the damn thing is still on the market. She also was able to give me a couple thousand more that should have been paid only when the house sold. This got me out of trouble a few weeks ago and allowed me to pay the car payments and insurance up, get Nick out of the red in his checking account (my fault he was there) and buy pants that fit me and winter coats for Jess and I. We went a little spend crazy because I thought we were set staying in the house, had I known, we would at least have a couple of hundred dollars left in my account. Oh well, it is more important that Nick is able to have a car to get to and from work.
Next would be Eric, who no matter what anyone else thinks about this craziness, has ALWAYS backed me 100%, saying to go for the risk, take a chance and enjoy it all. Of course he admits that is not what HE personally would do, but he knows me well enough to know that these are things I have to do. THANK you Eric, for standing by me! ((HUGS))
Ann is my voice of reason, tells me what I should be doing, the smart way to handle things. I of course ignore her, but I love the fact that she worries about me and wants me to be safe and secure!
And then there is everyone else who reads the blog and sends words of encouragement. I finally put a counter on the blog, I have no clue how many read it, but I received a comment the other day from someone I worked with at the state, he works in another building. He said he had gotten the site address from someone at work. So now I am wondering just how many people might be checking the blog out. Might be fun to see, or maybe depressing. LOL
This started out to be thank you, and as I read it, it almost sounds like a goodbye letter! LOL Not at all, This is the next phase of the journey, I just wanted everyone to know that I am thinking of you all, and thankful I am able to share all this, and to thanks you for supporting me!
All that aside, Monday we rent a station wagon, pack up all of our worldly goods and cats and take a 3 hour drive down to Frankfurt. Once we get there I know we will be able to get jobs at the army bases right away, even if they are only cashier ones, those are always available.
The big problem is to get money for an apartment. The damn rental place in Italy is STILL sitting on almost $400 of our deposit money. They keep saying it has been sent, be we have seen nothing of it.
Well, I need to get online and post this. Will keep you informed the best I can when we get down there. Will be using internet cafes again, and depending on money, may only be able to post once in a while.
Will talk to you all before we leave on Monday. Take care!
As of Monday, we will be broke and down in the Frankfurt area looking for work and a place to live.
My mother God bless her, has come to the rescue again and is lending us her credit card to rent a card for one day and a cheap hotel for the next week or two until we can get settled. My only fear is that the car rental and hotel will say no to it being used and not even there with me. I have a feeling that the hotel will not care, but the car place I am not sure about.
(Oscar speech time)
I would like to take this time to say thank you to all of those who have helped Jess and I get to this place.
First and foremost my mother, who besides giving birth to me, has put aside her own feelings and stood beside us the entire way, giving moral and monetary help even when I know she just wanted to scream “WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DUMB THING ARE YOU DOING? JUST GET BACK HERE SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILY AND HAVE A NICE JOB AND HOUSE AND BE NEAR ME SO THAT WE CAN ALL BE TOGETHER AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE ALL THIS WORRY AND YOU WILL BE SAFE!!”
Hopefully at some point things will settle down, in the meantime, I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!
Next I would like to thank Jodi, my friend and unfortunately for her, my real estate agent. She gave me the initial money for the house, in good faith that it would sell, and the damn thing is still on the market. She also was able to give me a couple thousand more that should have been paid only when the house sold. This got me out of trouble a few weeks ago and allowed me to pay the car payments and insurance up, get Nick out of the red in his checking account (my fault he was there) and buy pants that fit me and winter coats for Jess and I. We went a little spend crazy because I thought we were set staying in the house, had I known, we would at least have a couple of hundred dollars left in my account. Oh well, it is more important that Nick is able to have a car to get to and from work.
Next would be Eric, who no matter what anyone else thinks about this craziness, has ALWAYS backed me 100%, saying to go for the risk, take a chance and enjoy it all. Of course he admits that is not what HE personally would do, but he knows me well enough to know that these are things I have to do. THANK you Eric, for standing by me! ((HUGS))
Ann is my voice of reason, tells me what I should be doing, the smart way to handle things. I of course ignore her, but I love the fact that she worries about me and wants me to be safe and secure!
And then there is everyone else who reads the blog and sends words of encouragement. I finally put a counter on the blog, I have no clue how many read it, but I received a comment the other day from someone I worked with at the state, he works in another building. He said he had gotten the site address from someone at work. So now I am wondering just how many people might be checking the blog out. Might be fun to see, or maybe depressing. LOL
This started out to be thank you, and as I read it, it almost sounds like a goodbye letter! LOL Not at all, This is the next phase of the journey, I just wanted everyone to know that I am thinking of you all, and thankful I am able to share all this, and to thanks you for supporting me!
All that aside, Monday we rent a station wagon, pack up all of our worldly goods and cats and take a 3 hour drive down to Frankfurt. Once we get there I know we will be able to get jobs at the army bases right away, even if they are only cashier ones, those are always available.
The big problem is to get money for an apartment. The damn rental place in Italy is STILL sitting on almost $400 of our deposit money. They keep saying it has been sent, be we have seen nothing of it.
Well, I need to get online and post this. Will keep you informed the best I can when we get down there. Will be using internet cafes again, and depending on money, may only be able to post once in a while.
Will talk to you all before we leave on Monday. Take care!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Hmmmm
Sooooooo.. We have been asked by the new renters to be out of the house before they arrive.
We are trying to find a way to get back down to Wiesbaden, about 3 hours away. (hi mom!) and rent a room while we get jobs at army bases.
UGH.. I was going to write more, but not even sure I want to right now.
We are trying to find a way to get back down to Wiesbaden, about 3 hours away. (hi mom!) and rent a room while we get jobs at army bases.
UGH.. I was going to write more, but not even sure I want to right now.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Yee-Haw
Amazing how quickly things can change on this great adventure of ours (said with just a bit of sarcasm). One day you think that you will be the chef for a bistro, the next you are again sitting wondering what the future will bring.
And yes, all of you who told me to go for the job interview may now tell me “I told you so!”
Well, nothing is concrete yet, but the people from the UK who wanted to rent the house seem to be backing out. They’ve dropped the price they want to pay up front from 10,000€ to 3,600€ and are just sort of making noises like if this who thing doesn’t come together quickly, it won’t at all.
Jess was just sobbing last night as we talked to the woman via IM. Now those of you who know Jess well also know that she can really push people too far. When we found out about the possibility of the deal going sour, she wanted to go with the family to Portugal so that she could be with their son. Well, this was too much for the woman who literally said she didn’t know us or our history and that she had to think of her family first and she felt she was being pushed into something…. Now in reality these are all valid statements, but it was the way she said it that came as a personal affront to us.
These were the people who blew in one day, stayed for four, made all these plans and sucked Jess and I into them, continued to be in contact with us and then who suddenly are really rude.
I’m sorry, but I still live in a state where I do trust people, and as you already know, am more than willing to take a leap of fate, but I have to tell you that yesterday my “glass is half full” optimism took a hard hit.
So I emailed the man who wanted to interview me for the job in Frankfurt and asked if the position was still available and if so, would he still be interested in talking to me. I also went back and put in some applications for civilian military jobs.
And now we sit and wait. To be honest, if they bought the place I wouldn’t be too happy staying here, though I would until I found a job, then adios.
Either way, Mark is saying to hang in there, a solution will come up, and to not worry. He may be really hard to listen to all the time, but he is nice, he has never questioned our “history”.
So we have two couples staying here for the next couple of days, and I decided to use an empty table in the former bar now lounge/TV area and put out coffee, tea, and some cookies for the guests. In the back of my mind I was thinking, if I wanted people to eat dinner here, I would start out giving them a reason to hang out, in order to smell food, see others eat etc. Maybe the first night they would g out, but the second stay in. I just wish I could take this place and run it myself, with all my own ideas. It is very hard butting heads with Mark. I would want to be able to just dig in and make my changes.
I don’t think I will plan on staying here if Mark stays, only because he wants to open the bar up again. I know it does make money, but I just hate living in a place where it is so disgustingly smoking and there are people coming in and out the door all night.
But who knows, planning does not seem to be my forte. LOL
In the meantime Jess moved into the small single room last night, and is still sleeping. I am surprised she didn’t come down to check her mail every second. I feel really badly for her.
And yes, all of you who told me to go for the job interview may now tell me “I told you so!”
Well, nothing is concrete yet, but the people from the UK who wanted to rent the house seem to be backing out. They’ve dropped the price they want to pay up front from 10,000€ to 3,600€ and are just sort of making noises like if this who thing doesn’t come together quickly, it won’t at all.
Jess was just sobbing last night as we talked to the woman via IM. Now those of you who know Jess well also know that she can really push people too far. When we found out about the possibility of the deal going sour, she wanted to go with the family to Portugal so that she could be with their son. Well, this was too much for the woman who literally said she didn’t know us or our history and that she had to think of her family first and she felt she was being pushed into something…. Now in reality these are all valid statements, but it was the way she said it that came as a personal affront to us.
These were the people who blew in one day, stayed for four, made all these plans and sucked Jess and I into them, continued to be in contact with us and then who suddenly are really rude.
I’m sorry, but I still live in a state where I do trust people, and as you already know, am more than willing to take a leap of fate, but I have to tell you that yesterday my “glass is half full” optimism took a hard hit.
So I emailed the man who wanted to interview me for the job in Frankfurt and asked if the position was still available and if so, would he still be interested in talking to me. I also went back and put in some applications for civilian military jobs.
And now we sit and wait. To be honest, if they bought the place I wouldn’t be too happy staying here, though I would until I found a job, then adios.
Either way, Mark is saying to hang in there, a solution will come up, and to not worry. He may be really hard to listen to all the time, but he is nice, he has never questioned our “history”.
So we have two couples staying here for the next couple of days, and I decided to use an empty table in the former bar now lounge/TV area and put out coffee, tea, and some cookies for the guests. In the back of my mind I was thinking, if I wanted people to eat dinner here, I would start out giving them a reason to hang out, in order to smell food, see others eat etc. Maybe the first night they would g out, but the second stay in. I just wish I could take this place and run it myself, with all my own ideas. It is very hard butting heads with Mark. I would want to be able to just dig in and make my changes.
I don’t think I will plan on staying here if Mark stays, only because he wants to open the bar up again. I know it does make money, but I just hate living in a place where it is so disgustingly smoking and there are people coming in and out the door all night.
But who knows, planning does not seem to be my forte. LOL
In the meantime Jess moved into the small single room last night, and is still sleeping. I am surprised she didn’t come down to check her mail every second. I feel really badly for her.
Travelling with the Ortegas
Well, a bit more excitement our way.
Jodi was kind enough to send me the remainder of the money from the house (YEAH!) so I have been able to pay up the car payments, get Nick’s bank account back into the black. Not sure if I told that story, but basically they took his pay check to start to pay off Jess’ overdrawn account, so he ends up minus $500 after fees!!!!! AUUGGHH.
Note: NEVER, I repeat NEVER open up a bank account at US Bank. NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
So that got paid up, now all he needs to remember to do is get MY name off his account or they will probably take his pay check for my overdrawn account. But hey, I’m betting he forgets to. GRRR……..
Also,(GOD forbid I ever have money for me) it turns out somehow I had missed a car insurance payment, which I need to check out, because I am not sure I did, but nick was driving with NO insurance. AAUUGGHHHHHH…………
Looking bank through my bank account, I remember one month the State Farm statement being like $18, which I thought was cool, did not question, and I though I paid, but maybe something was wrong with online payment or something, but I do remember that, so…. Anyway, there went another $300 of my newfound money to get it back on, WHICH Nick is supposed to do this morning by going down and giving them a check, cross your fingers he does this.. (HUGE SIGH)
So yesterday Jess and I took a train to the nearest fairly big town to go shopping.
We get to the station in Herzberg, which is basically a little platform next to the train tracks. We get our tickets, board the train, and then notice that the train is going the total opposite direction. (Welcome to the Ortega world of travel)
Our only guide up to this point has been this laminated train schedule in German that Mark has hung up at the house. (THAT should have warned us right away) It’s really odd, you would think in a normal world that one side of the schedule would be times the trains come and the other side would be times the trains leave. Well, we never really figured the damn thing out, and then later in the evening coming back, Jess decided that it wasn’t even the right schedule for where we needed to go…… yeah….
ANYWAY, we are heading in the wrong direction, and Jess deciphers that the train will go the same way about a ½ hour, and then it would start back the opposite direction to where we came from, and THEN go the right way…. We started out at 10:30 in the morning, expecting to get there by 11:30…. Read on! LOLOL
So the ticket lady comes by, she looks at my ticket and says it is no good. (FUCK, I think, it’s bad enough it is going to cost us something like $40 to take this trip, she’s now going to fine me…) Luckily she must have seen this happen before, because she sort of laughs, shakes her head like “more American idiots” and goes on…. SHEW!)
Off we go, back and forth along the same route for another hour, and instead of getting to the city by 11:30, it’s now 12:30. We head out of the train station and look for a bus that says Zentrum, meaning center, which we figure will take us to the shopping district. (Need I say more?)
We hop on the bus, and within a few minutes we are going through the shopping district. BUT, being who we are, we decided that in order to make sure we get the right bus back, we need to make sure we get off at the stop that actually says Zentrum. After a bit we leave the shopping area.. Now somewhere deep down inside we KNOW we should immediately get off, but again, somewhere in our pea brains we think, or at last I think, (who KNOWS what Jess was thinking) I think ok, no stop that says Zentrum, maybe there is a BIGGER shopping area in the mystical place called Zentrum.
So we hang on, and drive and drive through the university area, the low income area, and the start heading out of town. Ok, by now we are saying hmmmmmm… should we have gotten off at the shopping area? Do we want to get off and walk all that way? Do these busses make a circle back? Are we in fact going to France?
Back out into the countryside, we sit frozen in our seats, and then we start to laugh. Oh what the hell, our journeys are always an adventure, relax and enjoy.
We pick up a bunch of little 8 year olds coming home from school. That is one thing we have noticed in both Italy and Germany, school kids take trains and local busses to get to and from school. There are no “school busses”
The kids all have their backpacks on, dolphins and undersea creatures seem to be the craze with them this year. After about 5 minutes of mass chaos, the bus driver takes off, using the brakes just a bit to put them off balance and into hysterical and VERY cute peals of laughter.
By now Jess and I have moved ourselves into the fat person seat at the very front. We figure this because it’s bigger than one person, but certainly not big enough for two. We know this because half of my left leg is hanging off the side of the seat. We fight for space for a few minutes, pushing each other back and forth until I give up and balance precariously off the edge. I hang onto a pole for dear life and hope the bus driver doesn’t notice and decide to be a smart ass and turn a sharp right to make me hit the floor.
After we are settled, we ask the driver if he speaks English and then ask about Zentrum and shopping and he laughs and basically says relax and enjoy the ride, it’s going to be another ½ hour before we get back to town.
We sit back and enjoy the outskirts of town, the clean German streets, houses, yards, and finally head back to the shopping center. Not once have we noticed the elusive ZENTRUM stop.
We decide to be smart and get off the bus.
Now the trip that should have taken us a little over an hour has now taken over 3 hours. This, we decide, is typical for us, so we hake our heads and then go off to shop!
We go first to our favourite German store – CandA. I LOVE the clothes there. I head for the jeans. FINALLY I will be able to get a pair that fit, since mine have been hanging off me for months now.
I get into the dressing room and joy oh joy! I look THINNER! The stomach is still there unfortunately, MUCH smaller, but I decide I really need to start doing sit-ups to help that. My legs and hips however look great!
I try on the jeans, they looks great! I then have to put the old pants on… MY GOD, I look like a skateboarder gone bad. The crotch hangs down LOW, very sad looking. After we pay for everything, I make sure I go to a WC as soon as possible to change pants. I FEEL HUMAN again!
I also finally get a coat!!!!!! It is brushed leather, a camel color, shortish, with a lining, collar and cuffs made out of what I can only describe as shorthaired curly caramel colored cocker spaniel ears. I LOVE it and it is WARM. Now I just need a scarf, mittens and hat.. It has turned cold here and the wind is deadly.
Jess now needs a heavier coat, but she did get jeans and a sweater.
Anyway, we did our shopping we each bought a couple of books in ENGLISH! We also stopped in the town square where everyone was drinking glasses of warm punch and hot chocolate. There was a kinder (child) and adult version of the drink. I thought it meant size, but soon found out it meant with or without alcohol! Jess had the hot chocolate which had like coconut liquor in it, I had the punch, which I personally though sucked, but I am not much of an alcohol person. We both understood why everyone there was in such a good mood and not complaining about the cold!
I have not been very impressed with German Christmas so far, very limited I think. I like the lack of commercialism, no huge Christmas displays in the stores, etc, but there is a lack of variety as far as cookies, etc…..
We ended up eating at the same Chinese place we ate at the last time we came into town. Well actually we got it to go and ate it at the train station. It was NOT as good as last time. Of course last time we felt like we had come from the ends of the world for a decent meal, and now that I have been cooking decent food, I think we just realized it was always so-so Chinese food. LOL
We knew that the last train left about 19:46, 7:46, so we made sure we got to the train station on time, even managed to catch the right bus! Even though train stations have an indoor area underneath the rails, there are open stairwells that go up to each track, so finding a warm place to eat our food was not easy. We finally decided to go up to the track early and were lucky enough to see our train was waiting, so we were able to go in ½ hour before it left.
On our adventures in the morning we found out that Herzberg actually has two train stations. The little one we were at and a big one. We had no idea where this big one was located with perspective to the main town we knew, so we had bought tickets back to the little station.
All was well, the train stopped at the main station first, and then we assumed at the small train station…. Uh-huh, you guess it, back off in some other direction we went. Not even to the same place as in the morning, some really unknown town we had never heard of. This was the last train of the night and we again were heading off to France or some other strange place.
After some discussion, I went and asked a young girl if she spoke English.
Note: This may have been made before, but is an important note: Ask young people first if they speak English, as they now have to take English classes in school.
She was very nice and told us we could get off at the next town (thank god we asked when we did) and then wait and there would be one last train coming back to the main Herzberg rail station. We did as she told us and decided we would like to get home some time, and took a taxi from the main station in town. I decided to look on the bright side of things….. I thought the train fare was too expensive, so we certainly got our money’s worth of ride!!
Once again, a 1 hour trip took twice as long. We had decided to go into town and use the internet café, since they had screaming fast computers compared to the dial up at Mark’s. I am not complaining, thank god he has access, but screaming fast internet was nice for a change.
Well, that was our big trip to the city.
We got about 2 or 3 inches of snow today, very pretty to see the snow on the pine trees up on the mountain.
I took the dog for a walk the other evening, about 10 pm. It was so quiet, really nice. Chilly, and as we walked down the street the mountain went straight up along one side of us, and on the other I could hear the stream that runs through town. The sidewalk was cobblestone and there weren’t many cars going past. We walked and walked, and I just breathed in the air, listened to the water, and admired the Bavarian style houses along the way.
I was trying to figure out what was different and I suddenly realized…. I was not spending any energy listening to hear if anyone was following me… in America if I would walk at night I would be nervous, and listening to make sure no one was walking behind me, etc.
Here I was simply walking and enjoying myself. It was a nice feeling. I liked it a lot…………
Jodi was kind enough to send me the remainder of the money from the house (YEAH!) so I have been able to pay up the car payments, get Nick’s bank account back into the black. Not sure if I told that story, but basically they took his pay check to start to pay off Jess’ overdrawn account, so he ends up minus $500 after fees!!!!! AUUGGHH.
Note: NEVER, I repeat NEVER open up a bank account at US Bank. NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!
So that got paid up, now all he needs to remember to do is get MY name off his account or they will probably take his pay check for my overdrawn account. But hey, I’m betting he forgets to. GRRR……..
Also,(GOD forbid I ever have money for me) it turns out somehow I had missed a car insurance payment, which I need to check out, because I am not sure I did, but nick was driving with NO insurance. AAUUGGHHHHHH…………
Looking bank through my bank account, I remember one month the State Farm statement being like $18, which I thought was cool, did not question, and I though I paid, but maybe something was wrong with online payment or something, but I do remember that, so…. Anyway, there went another $300 of my newfound money to get it back on, WHICH Nick is supposed to do this morning by going down and giving them a check, cross your fingers he does this.. (HUGE SIGH)
So yesterday Jess and I took a train to the nearest fairly big town to go shopping.
We get to the station in Herzberg, which is basically a little platform next to the train tracks. We get our tickets, board the train, and then notice that the train is going the total opposite direction. (Welcome to the Ortega world of travel)
Our only guide up to this point has been this laminated train schedule in German that Mark has hung up at the house. (THAT should have warned us right away) It’s really odd, you would think in a normal world that one side of the schedule would be times the trains come and the other side would be times the trains leave. Well, we never really figured the damn thing out, and then later in the evening coming back, Jess decided that it wasn’t even the right schedule for where we needed to go…… yeah….
ANYWAY, we are heading in the wrong direction, and Jess deciphers that the train will go the same way about a ½ hour, and then it would start back the opposite direction to where we came from, and THEN go the right way…. We started out at 10:30 in the morning, expecting to get there by 11:30…. Read on! LOLOL
So the ticket lady comes by, she looks at my ticket and says it is no good. (FUCK, I think, it’s bad enough it is going to cost us something like $40 to take this trip, she’s now going to fine me…) Luckily she must have seen this happen before, because she sort of laughs, shakes her head like “more American idiots” and goes on…. SHEW!)
Off we go, back and forth along the same route for another hour, and instead of getting to the city by 11:30, it’s now 12:30. We head out of the train station and look for a bus that says Zentrum, meaning center, which we figure will take us to the shopping district. (Need I say more?)
We hop on the bus, and within a few minutes we are going through the shopping district. BUT, being who we are, we decided that in order to make sure we get the right bus back, we need to make sure we get off at the stop that actually says Zentrum. After a bit we leave the shopping area.. Now somewhere deep down inside we KNOW we should immediately get off, but again, somewhere in our pea brains we think, or at last I think, (who KNOWS what Jess was thinking) I think ok, no stop that says Zentrum, maybe there is a BIGGER shopping area in the mystical place called Zentrum.
So we hang on, and drive and drive through the university area, the low income area, and the start heading out of town. Ok, by now we are saying hmmmmmm… should we have gotten off at the shopping area? Do we want to get off and walk all that way? Do these busses make a circle back? Are we in fact going to France?
Back out into the countryside, we sit frozen in our seats, and then we start to laugh. Oh what the hell, our journeys are always an adventure, relax and enjoy.
We pick up a bunch of little 8 year olds coming home from school. That is one thing we have noticed in both Italy and Germany, school kids take trains and local busses to get to and from school. There are no “school busses”
The kids all have their backpacks on, dolphins and undersea creatures seem to be the craze with them this year. After about 5 minutes of mass chaos, the bus driver takes off, using the brakes just a bit to put them off balance and into hysterical and VERY cute peals of laughter.
By now Jess and I have moved ourselves into the fat person seat at the very front. We figure this because it’s bigger than one person, but certainly not big enough for two. We know this because half of my left leg is hanging off the side of the seat. We fight for space for a few minutes, pushing each other back and forth until I give up and balance precariously off the edge. I hang onto a pole for dear life and hope the bus driver doesn’t notice and decide to be a smart ass and turn a sharp right to make me hit the floor.
After we are settled, we ask the driver if he speaks English and then ask about Zentrum and shopping and he laughs and basically says relax and enjoy the ride, it’s going to be another ½ hour before we get back to town.
We sit back and enjoy the outskirts of town, the clean German streets, houses, yards, and finally head back to the shopping center. Not once have we noticed the elusive ZENTRUM stop.
We decide to be smart and get off the bus.
Now the trip that should have taken us a little over an hour has now taken over 3 hours. This, we decide, is typical for us, so we hake our heads and then go off to shop!
We go first to our favourite German store – CandA. I LOVE the clothes there. I head for the jeans. FINALLY I will be able to get a pair that fit, since mine have been hanging off me for months now.
I get into the dressing room and joy oh joy! I look THINNER! The stomach is still there unfortunately, MUCH smaller, but I decide I really need to start doing sit-ups to help that. My legs and hips however look great!
I try on the jeans, they looks great! I then have to put the old pants on… MY GOD, I look like a skateboarder gone bad. The crotch hangs down LOW, very sad looking. After we pay for everything, I make sure I go to a WC as soon as possible to change pants. I FEEL HUMAN again!
I also finally get a coat!!!!!! It is brushed leather, a camel color, shortish, with a lining, collar and cuffs made out of what I can only describe as shorthaired curly caramel colored cocker spaniel ears. I LOVE it and it is WARM. Now I just need a scarf, mittens and hat.. It has turned cold here and the wind is deadly.
Jess now needs a heavier coat, but she did get jeans and a sweater.
Anyway, we did our shopping we each bought a couple of books in ENGLISH! We also stopped in the town square where everyone was drinking glasses of warm punch and hot chocolate. There was a kinder (child) and adult version of the drink. I thought it meant size, but soon found out it meant with or without alcohol! Jess had the hot chocolate which had like coconut liquor in it, I had the punch, which I personally though sucked, but I am not much of an alcohol person. We both understood why everyone there was in such a good mood and not complaining about the cold!
I have not been very impressed with German Christmas so far, very limited I think. I like the lack of commercialism, no huge Christmas displays in the stores, etc, but there is a lack of variety as far as cookies, etc…..
We ended up eating at the same Chinese place we ate at the last time we came into town. Well actually we got it to go and ate it at the train station. It was NOT as good as last time. Of course last time we felt like we had come from the ends of the world for a decent meal, and now that I have been cooking decent food, I think we just realized it was always so-so Chinese food. LOL
We knew that the last train left about 19:46, 7:46, so we made sure we got to the train station on time, even managed to catch the right bus! Even though train stations have an indoor area underneath the rails, there are open stairwells that go up to each track, so finding a warm place to eat our food was not easy. We finally decided to go up to the track early and were lucky enough to see our train was waiting, so we were able to go in ½ hour before it left.
On our adventures in the morning we found out that Herzberg actually has two train stations. The little one we were at and a big one. We had no idea where this big one was located with perspective to the main town we knew, so we had bought tickets back to the little station.
All was well, the train stopped at the main station first, and then we assumed at the small train station…. Uh-huh, you guess it, back off in some other direction we went. Not even to the same place as in the morning, some really unknown town we had never heard of. This was the last train of the night and we again were heading off to France or some other strange place.
After some discussion, I went and asked a young girl if she spoke English.
Note: This may have been made before, but is an important note: Ask young people first if they speak English, as they now have to take English classes in school.
She was very nice and told us we could get off at the next town (thank god we asked when we did) and then wait and there would be one last train coming back to the main Herzberg rail station. We did as she told us and decided we would like to get home some time, and took a taxi from the main station in town. I decided to look on the bright side of things….. I thought the train fare was too expensive, so we certainly got our money’s worth of ride!!
Once again, a 1 hour trip took twice as long. We had decided to go into town and use the internet café, since they had screaming fast computers compared to the dial up at Mark’s. I am not complaining, thank god he has access, but screaming fast internet was nice for a change.
Well, that was our big trip to the city.
We got about 2 or 3 inches of snow today, very pretty to see the snow on the pine trees up on the mountain.
I took the dog for a walk the other evening, about 10 pm. It was so quiet, really nice. Chilly, and as we walked down the street the mountain went straight up along one side of us, and on the other I could hear the stream that runs through town. The sidewalk was cobblestone and there weren’t many cars going past. We walked and walked, and I just breathed in the air, listened to the water, and admired the Bavarian style houses along the way.
I was trying to figure out what was different and I suddenly realized…. I was not spending any energy listening to hear if anyone was following me… in America if I would walk at night I would be nervous, and listening to make sure no one was walking behind me, etc.
Here I was simply walking and enjoying myself. It was a nice feeling. I liked it a lot…………
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Counting down the time
Well, at least Jess is counting the days. I just know that in a little over a week the new owners will be coming here and another great change will happen in this adventure of ours.
Or not. I have beening talking online with Jan, and she is very nervous about how unorganized Mark is. She feels like he is not telling here everything and she doesn't want to sink 10,000€ into a place where he might want it back in a couple of months. I DON't see him doing that, he wants out badly, but I can't blame her for being VERY nervous about the whole thing. She told me not to worry, things will work out, they are moving ahead on the place in Portugal. Maybe they will let us come work there if this falls through. Let the chips fall where they may. We seem to have become permanent wards of whatever family will have us. :-)
In the meantime, I tried to get ingredients for some sort of Thanksgiving dinner here, NO GO. I think I would have to go out and grown my own sweet potatoes, plus we have no oven for turkey, etc. No problem. I am thinking Tacos, which here is just as good as turkey. We haven't had any sort of Mexican food since we were in the states. Taco shells here were a whopping 3.27€ which makes it around 3.75 dollars for a box of 8, probably old shells.LOL Oh well, worth a try.
The weather here is sunny but cold. About the same tempp as it has been in MN. I can see why there is such a large German population there. SAME weather up to this point, but I kknow that pretty soon MN will be WAY colder than here.
Not much else going on, just hanging out, trying not to die from boredom. I think we are going to have to scare the sit out of Mark today and make him see that if he doesn't get on the ball with this, the deal will fall through, he will have NO money and will end up losing the house altogether. Oh joy.
I WANT MY MONEY FROM ITALY SO JESS AND I CAN GO TO FRANKFURT FOR AN ENGLISH MONVIE MARATHON!
ME, the person who loved movies, looked at the listings in the Blaine area yesterday and didn't even recognize the names of half the movies playing! Amazing. Starting to feel like a European.
Well, I am going to go now. Later!
Or not. I have beening talking online with Jan, and she is very nervous about how unorganized Mark is. She feels like he is not telling here everything and she doesn't want to sink 10,000€ into a place where he might want it back in a couple of months. I DON't see him doing that, he wants out badly, but I can't blame her for being VERY nervous about the whole thing. She told me not to worry, things will work out, they are moving ahead on the place in Portugal. Maybe they will let us come work there if this falls through. Let the chips fall where they may. We seem to have become permanent wards of whatever family will have us. :-)
In the meantime, I tried to get ingredients for some sort of Thanksgiving dinner here, NO GO. I think I would have to go out and grown my own sweet potatoes, plus we have no oven for turkey, etc. No problem. I am thinking Tacos, which here is just as good as turkey. We haven't had any sort of Mexican food since we were in the states. Taco shells here were a whopping 3.27€ which makes it around 3.75 dollars for a box of 8, probably old shells.LOL Oh well, worth a try.
The weather here is sunny but cold. About the same tempp as it has been in MN. I can see why there is such a large German population there. SAME weather up to this point, but I kknow that pretty soon MN will be WAY colder than here.
Not much else going on, just hanging out, trying not to die from boredom. I think we are going to have to scare the sit out of Mark today and make him see that if he doesn't get on the ball with this, the deal will fall through, he will have NO money and will end up losing the house altogether. Oh joy.
I WANT MY MONEY FROM ITALY SO JESS AND I CAN GO TO FRANKFURT FOR AN ENGLISH MONVIE MARATHON!
ME, the person who loved movies, looked at the listings in the Blaine area yesterday and didn't even recognize the names of half the movies playing! Amazing. Starting to feel like a European.
Well, I am going to go now. Later!
Saturday, November 19, 2005
SAFE? We don't need no freaking safe!
Well, most people said to take the job in Frankfurt... That means I went ahead and emailed not to call me about the job, I had found another. LOL
Most replies were about it being safer to take the job, except for Eric, who knows me sooo well. LOL He said he chose number 1 for me, but HE would take 2.....
EXACTLY! Staying here is not safe at all, much more risky, but hey, risk is why I came here! I would rather put "Chef in a German restaurant on my resume" than "Helpdesk in Germany" any day.
Plus, it was just a man wanting to talk to me about the job, I was not being offered it. This is really where I want to be for now.
So Eric wins the prize of the day.......
Not to make anyone mad, because I did want peoples' opinion.... I was surprised how many times the word safe came up in the replies.
Anyway.. I was desparite(sp) for dessert tonight, so made a cake, oil and eggs, flour and baking soda and pineapple juice, made this stuff that I bought a while ago, hoping it was cornstartch, but is some sort of cake filling mix, which cooked turned out sort of like custard.
The cake once again didn't cook in the middle because I did it in the toaster oven, but I scooped out the middle part where it was raw, then filled it with canned pineapple, and then poured the custardy stuff all over the cake and pineapple.... NOT BAD!
Anway, not much else new here...... Thank you very much for the replies on what to do!!!! Later!
Most replies were about it being safer to take the job, except for Eric, who knows me sooo well. LOL He said he chose number 1 for me, but HE would take 2.....
EXACTLY! Staying here is not safe at all, much more risky, but hey, risk is why I came here! I would rather put "Chef in a German restaurant on my resume" than "Helpdesk in Germany" any day.
Plus, it was just a man wanting to talk to me about the job, I was not being offered it. This is really where I want to be for now.
So Eric wins the prize of the day.......
Not to make anyone mad, because I did want peoples' opinion.... I was surprised how many times the word safe came up in the replies.
Anyway.. I was desparite(sp) for dessert tonight, so made a cake, oil and eggs, flour and baking soda and pineapple juice, made this stuff that I bought a while ago, hoping it was cornstartch, but is some sort of cake filling mix, which cooked turned out sort of like custard.
The cake once again didn't cook in the middle because I did it in the toaster oven, but I scooped out the middle part where it was raw, then filled it with canned pineapple, and then poured the custardy stuff all over the cake and pineapple.... NOT BAD!
Anway, not much else new here...... Thank you very much for the replies on what to do!!!! Later!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
It snowed last night and this morning, it was NICE to see snow when I didn’t have to drive to work in it. The mountains are beautiful, and did I mention that I don't have to drive in it? ;-)
Well, I KNEW this was going to happen. As soon as it looks like I could be settled here, I get a couple of calls and then an email asking me to contact a man abut a helpdesk job in Frankfurt that I applied to. GRRR… I received two calls from England on my cell phone that I missed, and since I have no credit left on it, I can’t even get into my voicemail to see who the messages were from. Then I get an email today from a gentleman with that number, asking me to contact him about the job in Frankfurt.
Ok people, here is where I could REALLY use your advice. There might be 2 options if this man is going to offer me a job. Tell me what you think about both, which you think I should do (this could obviously change if I don’t get offered the job, etc)
I also would like to know who might like a Christmas card from Germany, should my money come in, in time to send them out.
After reading this, please send me an email at synch390@yahoo.com with your opinion and
Whether or not you would like an xmas card (send me your snail mail address)
Here are the possible two scenarios:
#1
Stay where I am.
Help set up menus
Learn to cook things
No need to find place to stay
No income until kitchen is up and running
No guarantee of income should kitchen not make money
Kick back atmosphere
Lots of nice people around for support
SMALL town atmosphere, but will have car to use to get around (they are bringing one down from England for us to have (use)
Chance to fly back and forth to Portugal to help in the kitchen when they are busy
#2
Accept job (if offered)
Make way more money guaranteed, even if pay is not huge
Get apartment of our own in large city
Will have to FIND apartment in city
Privacy, but no one around for support
Live in larger town, be nearer to stores, transportation
More time to ourselves
Ok, this is dumb, even I can see option number 1 is better, it just the no money thing gets old after a while, though I know they will take care of us, etc.
UGH.
I made some sort of funny potato thingies with dinner tonight, they are sort of like mashed potato buds in little plastic bags with holes in them. You boil them and the water goes through and constitutes them, though they tasted stale and starchy to me. Maybe old, and maybe better with gravy. I made them with frikkadel(sp) pork of course, every damn thing that is meat here, is made out of pork. If I start making piggy noises….slap me.
Well, that is enough… I think I will just email the gentleman back and say that I am no longer looking for a job. I can’t believe I will be doing that. God I hate having to be an adult again to do this. It has been so nice not being responsible.
Either way, email me with your address if you would like a Christmas card.
Love to you all!!
Well, I KNEW this was going to happen. As soon as it looks like I could be settled here, I get a couple of calls and then an email asking me to contact a man abut a helpdesk job in Frankfurt that I applied to. GRRR… I received two calls from England on my cell phone that I missed, and since I have no credit left on it, I can’t even get into my voicemail to see who the messages were from. Then I get an email today from a gentleman with that number, asking me to contact him about the job in Frankfurt.
Ok people, here is where I could REALLY use your advice. There might be 2 options if this man is going to offer me a job. Tell me what you think about both, which you think I should do (this could obviously change if I don’t get offered the job, etc)
I also would like to know who might like a Christmas card from Germany, should my money come in, in time to send them out.
After reading this, please send me an email at synch390@yahoo.com with your opinion and
Whether or not you would like an xmas card (send me your snail mail address)
Here are the possible two scenarios:
#1
Stay where I am.
Help set up menus
Learn to cook things
No need to find place to stay
No income until kitchen is up and running
No guarantee of income should kitchen not make money
Kick back atmosphere
Lots of nice people around for support
SMALL town atmosphere, but will have car to use to get around (they are bringing one down from England for us to have (use)
Chance to fly back and forth to Portugal to help in the kitchen when they are busy
#2
Accept job (if offered)
Make way more money guaranteed, even if pay is not huge
Get apartment of our own in large city
Will have to FIND apartment in city
Privacy, but no one around for support
Live in larger town, be nearer to stores, transportation
More time to ourselves
Ok, this is dumb, even I can see option number 1 is better, it just the no money thing gets old after a while, though I know they will take care of us, etc.
UGH.
I made some sort of funny potato thingies with dinner tonight, they are sort of like mashed potato buds in little plastic bags with holes in them. You boil them and the water goes through and constitutes them, though they tasted stale and starchy to me. Maybe old, and maybe better with gravy. I made them with frikkadel(sp) pork of course, every damn thing that is meat here, is made out of pork. If I start making piggy noises….slap me.
Well, that is enough… I think I will just email the gentleman back and say that I am no longer looking for a job. I can’t believe I will be doing that. God I hate having to be an adult again to do this. It has been so nice not being responsible.
Either way, email me with your address if you would like a Christmas card.
Love to you all!!
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
One hospital per country!
Wow, another blog entry from me! Spent the majority of the day at the local hospital seeing if I had a sinus infection. I thought it was too early in the lifespan of it, to go in, but figured why wait until I got really sick before I went in.
I was also very lucky to have been made to buy insurance in Italy, because they let me use it here. Sooner or later I am going to be forced to come up with some sort of insurance. UGH…..
The German hospital was so much better than the Italian one, we only ended up waiting for about 15 minutes versus the 2 hours in Italy. In the waiting room I had been translating everything I could think of and putting it on this little teeny bit of paper I had in my billfold. It was about 1 inch by 3 inches and had someone’s email address written on it.
I wrote down the German words for “headache”, “stomach ache”, no fever, “I have chronic asthma”, “today asthma OK”, “but” no antibiotics, “possible” pneumonia.
I didn’t know if the Dr would speak English, so right away I handed him this tiny scrap of paper, and all the words were in different places on it, so I had to point out one, then the next, make him turn the paper over, show him the next. He was laughing and when he was done looking at it, began speaking in English .LOLOL. Hey, I wanted to make sure everything was understood!
It turns out they have a blood test (only in Germany? I had never heard of this) that checks for a certain protein that will tell them if you have a sinus infection. I didn’t have it, so that was good, but he still wrote out a prescription for me that I could get filled if I got worse. He said wait until I needed it, because it is about 45 €, but was good. So I am hanging on to that.
Not much time online tonight, so will just let you know that I FINALLY managed to get through the whole Lord of the Rings Triligy. Ok, I do admit to fast forwarding through some of the war scenes.. *YAWN* Anyway, I will keep this short, and will write tomorrow. Night!
I was also very lucky to have been made to buy insurance in Italy, because they let me use it here. Sooner or later I am going to be forced to come up with some sort of insurance. UGH…..
The German hospital was so much better than the Italian one, we only ended up waiting for about 15 minutes versus the 2 hours in Italy. In the waiting room I had been translating everything I could think of and putting it on this little teeny bit of paper I had in my billfold. It was about 1 inch by 3 inches and had someone’s email address written on it.
I wrote down the German words for “headache”, “stomach ache”, no fever, “I have chronic asthma”, “today asthma OK”, “but” no antibiotics, “possible” pneumonia.
I didn’t know if the Dr would speak English, so right away I handed him this tiny scrap of paper, and all the words were in different places on it, so I had to point out one, then the next, make him turn the paper over, show him the next. He was laughing and when he was done looking at it, began speaking in English .LOLOL. Hey, I wanted to make sure everything was understood!
It turns out they have a blood test (only in Germany? I had never heard of this) that checks for a certain protein that will tell them if you have a sinus infection. I didn’t have it, so that was good, but he still wrote out a prescription for me that I could get filled if I got worse. He said wait until I needed it, because it is about 45 €, but was good. So I am hanging on to that.
Not much time online tonight, so will just let you know that I FINALLY managed to get through the whole Lord of the Rings Triligy. Ok, I do admit to fast forwarding through some of the war scenes.. *YAWN* Anyway, I will keep this short, and will write tomorrow. Night!
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