The Picture Post :)

Alright folks... hop on the train so I can take you on a virtual tour of Mannheim (the condensed version at least)!!

The Mannheim Watertower. It is pretty centrally located in downtown. Apparently when there isn't snow on the ground the lawn is covered with flowers.

The university in Mannheim. I am pretty sure at one time it was home to some sort of royalty.

More of downtown Mannheim. Germany is one of the few European countries that drive on the same side of the road as us. Score one for the home team.

Now the next series of pictures are of our apartment. Keep in mind this is military housing. It is the equivalent to living in college dorms.

This is Elizabeth's room. She essentially condensed her old Kentucky bedroom (3 small rooms) into this dorm room.

As you can see, she has a lot of .... stuff, but it is all uniquely Elizabeth. :)

The snowy view from my bedroom. This is all housing. The outside of our apartment looks just like those. Beautiful is not the first word that comes to mind, but it's home for now :)

This was a couple of days ago as I was walking to the USO/Education area. I walk down this path until I get to the church and pass the clinic to the gate and take a left to cross the street. On the right is the area where the USO, Bank, Education building...pretty much everything is. Round trip is about a mile.

...and this is where I want to live. It is nicely located in the heart of Mannheim.

My bedroom! I finally picked out a duvet cover to match my curtains. I have decided to go with black and white pictures on the walls.

Ahhhh. I do love James Dean. Notice my dorm closets. Feels like Kerr Hall all over again :)

The living room. On the right hand side of the picture is a bookshelf with curtains hung on it to act as a divider from the living room and office area. This is the first thing you see if you look to the right as you enter the apartment.


The office on the other side of the bookshelf. Pretty cozy.

Quaint kitchen area and dining room.

Today it snowed. I know that is no surprise, but this is what I walked through just to get on the computer. It may not seem like much, but the windchill is COLD!!

All of the sidewalks are cobblestone or brick.

This is where all of the computers are located. The building straight ahead is the education building, which is where I am now. The building on the right beyond the square P parking sign is the USO. In this same area is the MP (Military Police) station, Mr. Donaldson's (the man who helped Elizabeth get into school and started my installation pass paperwork) office, Housing, and the bank.

Hmm....what is missing from these pictures? The sun. Whomp. Whomp. While I love the idea of waking up to fresh snow, I am not crazy about the idea of having a day without sunshine. It is very rare that sun and snow happen on the same day. Well, so far it is very rare to have a day with sunshine at all. We have had some crazy weather.

Lenea and I bought train tickets to Amsterdam today. We will be taking the ICE which is a very fast train. It will be a four hour ride instead of the 7 it would have taken if we chose anything else. Yay! Lenea is going to go early with me so that I can be in Amsterdam when Kristin, Rachel, and Angie come in. I am so excited for friends to come over!! So very excited! Now that I have purchased my ticket I feel very official! It is only four weeks away!!

Now I will give you the highlights of last week:

Saturday (Feb. 6): Elizabeth and I explored the walking district on our own, and we happened to run into this one man band/show. I was pretty impressed. It reminded me of the Dr. Seuss characters riding their musical bikes with crazy horns and drums coming off of the sides.

That night for dinner we had GREEK! Mmmm!! It is so good! I wish I could send care packages of all of the yummy food for you guys to try! After dinner we headed to Ikea to buy my awesome duvet cover. We spotted an awesome black and white photo of Amsterdam where the only color in the photo is a red bike. I loved it. Paul and Lenea picked it out as a Valentine's present for me. It is pretty over the top for a Valentine's present, but I'm not complaining. Who needs chocolate?

Sunday (Feb 7): We went to go eat at Sushi Circle with a woman who was in the German culture class with Paul and Lenea. She happens to be a dentist at the clinic on post. She is so sweet! She is in her fifties, single, and she has traveled the world. She is a doll! She also was telling me about one of the young doctors (well let's be honest... he's not a doctor, but a dentist) who is single, 27, and wants to meet people his age. I was pretty excited, until I met him. I will explain more about that in a minute. This Sushi Circle place was so much fun! They serve the sushi on a conveyer belt and you just grab whatever looks good. The plates are color coordinated according to price, so they can just tally up your bill at the end. The sushi was just as good in Germany as it is in the states. Yummy!

Monday (Feb 8): I had to go to the clinic to get a PPD skin test as part of the pre-employment packet to work at the CDC. While we were at the clinic Lenea and I decided to go to meet this dentist that I was told is cute, young and single. Let's just say he was not for me. I was very polite, but made sure to leave the situation without giving him my number. After that, Paul came home for lunch to give Lenea and I the car to drive around and explore a little. We really didn't do much, but it was fun to explore some more of Mannheim that I hadn't seen in the comfort of a cozy warm car.

Tuesday (Feb 9): I finished my 7 year background check for the CDC. This packet was intense. I had to list every place I have lived, every job I have ever had (well that part was not too bad- I have only had three legit jobs if you don't count babysitting), any tickets if the amount was greater than $150 (there were two. I know. Lead foot.), and a lengthy list of references. Don't be surprised if you get a phone call :) and thank you in advance if you do! Also, I got my fingerprints done today. The woman who did them was a German and she loved to talk. I did a lot of smiling and nodding. Her accent was really thick, so I caught about 70% of the conversation. :)

Wednesday (Feb 10): I had to go to Human Resources and type in my 7 year background check. It took 11/2 hours. Yeesh. While I did that, Lenea drove up to Vodafone. I think we will be cancelling our service with them and switching to TKS. Turns out they have not put in a service request yet. Go Vodafone. In Germany, Deutch Telecomm runs a monopoly on the phonelines. They rent out the lines to different phone providers such as Vodafone and TKS. Since the jack in the wall is not working, Vodafone must call Deutch Telecomm to put in a service request. When Lenea found out they had not done that yet, she flipped. Rightly so. It has been 4 weeks since they told us it would be turned on. Aye yaye yaye!

Today: It has taken about 2 hrs to upload all of the pictures on here, which is why I can't wait to have internet in our apartment. My computer is so much faster than the public ones in the education building. That's okay because I am in a pretty good mood today. I have some country theme songs playing in my head.... "Feeling Good Again" by Robert Earl Keen and "I'm Alive" by Kenny Chesney ft. Dave Matthews. I also bought my train tickets to meet my girls in Amsterdam, then Germany and end up in Paris, France. Oh my goodness I am excited!!!!

Tomorrow: We are going to take a day trip to Frankfurt. We found a ton of museums located along the river so that we can stay warm in this crazy snowy weather! I can't wait to explore. Until next time..... I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Doctor Appointment

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment so that I could get a new supply of insulin. It was crazy! One of the medical liaisons from the military post setup my appointment, calculated how much it was goign to cost, and would potentially act as a translator if need be. He scheduled my appointment for 9:15 because German doctors only take appointments until noon, and then they make their rounds in the hospital. Before I could see the doctor, we had to go to the international patient office to make a deposit for the doctors appointment since my insurance is not covered overseas. Grr. That still makes me mad, but now I have a job so I will soon have good insurance again. Yay! Anyways... The liaison wanted to meet at the main entrance of this ginormous hospital at 8:30. Lenea and I had no idea where the main entrance was and figured it would take us a little while to find it, so we planned to get there early. We left our apartment at 7:30 AM to walk to the train. Luckily the train has a stop right at the Mannheim hospital so we didn't have to wonder around too long. Did I mention that it was raining and we only had one umbrella? Yeah. A doctors appointment with a new doctor that I am having to pay a fortune for isn't enough, so let's add some terrible weather in the mix. Yahoo. By the time we got inside my feet were soaking wet. I was wearing my Tom's and whool socks, neither of which dried until I got home. I did learn something interesting...

As we were walkig up to the hospital, we saw two girls talking/smoking so we asked if they spoke english. Luckily one of the girls did and she helped us find our way through the maze of the hospital. She was telling us that she was going to be a nurse or a doctor, but that she really didn't want to be either one of those. We then asked her what she wanted to be, and she said that she had no idea because it wasn't really her choice. Lenea and I looked at each other very puzzled and continued to ask the little girl questions. She was only 16 and was doing an internship at the hospital. She then told us that in Germany, the parents and teachers of the kiddos decide what a child is going to do for the rest of their life when the child is in fourth grade. My jaw dropped. Kids go to school from first to ninth grade, and after ninth grade the child starts an internship. Every child does an internship for three years. This little girl had a three year internship at the hospital to decide if she was going to be a doctor or a nurse and then she was going to attend an university to further her education. If it was decided that a child was going to be a salesperson, the child would finish school, do their three years of internship, and then begin working. Crazy. Man I love the freedom of being an American and getting to see all of these beautiful places, but still have the freedom to decide what I want to do. Back to the story...

Through a series of doors, staircases, ramps, and sliding doors we made it to the international patient office at 8:05 AM. At 8:45 we decided to enter the office and start the paperwork without the liaison so that I would not be late for my appointment. As we are sitting down, the liaison strolls through the door deeply apologetic for being so late. I told him it wasn't a big deal, but that we had started on some of the paperwork. It was all simple stuff...Name, height, weight, address, phone number...yadda, yadda, yadda. I then paid the 500 euro. I got a reciept and was told that it would be two weeks until the invoice was processed in order for me to receive any money back. Great. Then Michael, the medical liaison, walks us to the endocrinologist and talks with the receptionist about my appointment. We then walk to the waiting room where Michael informs me that the doctor speaks great english, so I shouldn't need him anymore. I looked at him, and calmly told him that I would appreciate it if he waited just in case I needed something else. For instance, what if I had to go somewhere else to get my insulin because the doctor did not have a supply in the office. He looked dumbfounded that I asked him to stay. I didn't have to wait too long and the doctor escorted me to the room for my appointment. She was awesome. She asked what I was going to be doing in Germany and how long I would be staying. Then she asked me about my family and where I was from. She truly got the time to get to know me. I didn't feel rushed at all. I felt like she genuinely cared for my wellbeing by getting to know me. From there she did her doctor thing... looked over my numbers, discussed my diabetes care in the past, etc. She then gave me two months worth of free insulin. She was amazed that my insurance did not cover me overseas and she wanted to do whatever she could to cut down the cost of my appointment. She told me to call her whenever my insurance kicks in to schedule another appointment to do bloodwork and all of the doctor stuff. She was incredible! I could not ask for a better doctor. I felt like she knew what she was talking about and cared about me.

Today I walked to Human Resources to pick up my pre-employment packet so that I can start my job. The weather today is gorgeous! The snow has melted and the sun is actually shining. I am loving it. I was actually excited to walk all over this place to find the building, until I got there and no one was there. The entire bottom floor was deserted. The rooms were filled with stacked up chairs, desks, and lamps. It was kind of spooky! Then I called to see if I was in the right place, because it definitely did not feel like it. Apparently all of their offices are now located upstairs. Yeesh. This place makes everything way too hard. I have already filled out tons of paperwork just to get my interview and now that I have the job I have to fill out even more paperwork to start working. Oh well. It is a job that pays well and gives me insurance. I am a happy camper! Now I am going to search for some cheap tickets to travel over spring break. First stop Amsterdam, then to Berlin/Frankfurt/Mannheim, and finish up at Paris. I am pumped!!!

I got a job!

That's right ladies and gentlemen. I got a job. Yippee!! I interviewed last Thursday at the Child Development Center for a lead teacher position. The school is walking distance from our apartment which is a good thing because that is how I will be getting to work everyday. Walking. It will be good exercise to and from work everyday, and it will give me an opportunity to come home for lunch every now and then. Luckily I checked my email today because that is how the offer was sent. I opened my inbox and saw an unfamiliar name with the subject reading, "Potential Job Offer." I opened it and saw, "Congratulations!!!" The email was sent on Friday, but it was only going to be available until tomorrow. After tomorrow the position would have potentially gone to someone else. It is crazy how things work in the military. Not a phone call. An email. Hah! It's okay. A job is a job. The director said that my hours would start at 5:30 AM and that I could potentially stay until 5:45 pm. Gasp. It is not ideal, but I am used to working crazy long days from my time at Copeland Elementary. I know I can do it, but it will definitely take some getting used to. I am not a morning person. Eek.

Now that the exciting news has been shared I am going to try to fill you in on the last week. Let's see where we left off....

Monday- You already heard about my Monday being a Monday. It sucked, but luckily the week got much better!

Tuesday-Lenea and I went to downtown Mannheim for her haircut. Her appointment wasn't until 2:15 so we went to DolceAmora before to have the business lunch. It was so yummy! We chose the business lunch because it only had 3 choices where the menu was filled with pages of German. It was much less overwhelming to look at 3 German options, even if the selection wasn't as good. We lucked out! I ordered an Asian salad with Tuna and tons of yummy veggies. Lenea ordered an Asian inspired chicken and rice meal. We then finished our meals with latte machiattos. Mmmm! My new obsession :) After that I walked Lenea to her hair appointment and headed to the walking district. It is a large street that is lined with shops. Essentially it is an outdoor shopping district where cars are not allowed, only the trains. I haven't decided which is more dangerous. Trains or cars? Anywho... I bought some aviators because somehow I managed to pack everything I needed except for sunglasses. Then I picked up a thank you card for Mr. Donaldson for all of the work that he has done to help us. I am almost positive he is part of the reason I got my job so quickly at the CDC. Mr. Donaldson is close friends with all of the higher ups, including the director of the CDC. He told me to mention his name in the interview and use him as a reference if needed. He is a great man!

The inside of DolceAmora. It is so eklectic. I just love it!

Wednesday- I went with Lenea to the clinic for her dental apointment. Last week the dental hygenist broke one of her tooth. Needless to say she is a wee-bit intimidated by the dentist, so I accompanied for moral suppport. What else was I going to do?

Thursday- Job interview. I pretty much knew I had the job because the assistant director kept introducing me as the new teacher on staff. Everyone seems very relaxed and laid back, but I haven't been hearing too many wonderful things about the CDC. Hopefully I can help to change things and show these people how to love what they do. After the interview I came home and did 10 loads of laundry. This unfortunately is no exaggeration. My aunt Lenea had her tooth worked on. One of the educated dental hygenists broke her tooth, so she had to get a crown. She was not feeling so hot so I took on the household responsibilities for the day. That night we went to Flea Market BINGO. It is a pretty cool idea minus the fact that it is BINGO. I don't care what kind of spin you put on it. BINGO is just not my kind of fun. After each round of BINGO, the winner got a prize from the local flea market. They were pretty cool prizes, but I did not win a single one. I can successfully check off BINGO on the list of things I never want to do again. :)

Elizabeth and me getting ready to go to what we thought would be a fun night of BINGO. Hah!

Friday- I got my haircut by Toby, a gay Germany. He was wonderful! I pretty much gave him free range on my hair and he did a spectacular job. Apparently the stacked bob is the look for me because I get some form of that hairstyle everytime I give a hair stylist free range on my hair. After my haircut we walked around Mannheim and ate wonderful lunch at Vapianos. Friday night Lenea and I ventured out into Mannheim nightlife. It was pretty funny. I called Toby the hairstylist and asked him where Lenea and I could go to dance. He told us Baton Rouge and reassured us it was safe for just the two of us. So we got on the train and arrived at our stop. We get to inside and it costs 6 euro a person to get in. Not too bad...that is about 9 USD. Then we get inside and their is coat check. The whole concept of coat check is completely foreign to me. I have never lived where it has been cold enough for their to be a need for a coat check. Once we checked our coats, we walked to the bar to get some drinks. Oh my goodness... two drinks cost us 16 euro. Yikes! We then decided those would be our only drinks for the night. We danced for a little bit until our ears started bleeding from Techno. I finally had enough once I heard Snow (Hey Oh!) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers turned into techno. We then got back on the train and headed home. Paul picked us up at the train so we didn't have to walk home. Thank God! because we saw some of the most irresponsible soldiers I have ever seen. These young boys went out and got hammered to the point that they were crawling on the ice/snow to get back to their barracks. Ridiculous. One of the fun things about living on post is that you are suspect to random searches. Of course we got picked at 1:30 AM. When your car is picked you have to exit the car, open all of the doors and the trunk, and stand to the rightside of the car so that the security people can search your vehicle. I don't blame the guards. I would search every car that came through the gates on the graveyard shift because there aren't too many people that drive through the gates at that hour. Unfortunate for us because it was cold! My Texas skin has not adapted to these temperatures yet. Everyone keeps telling us that it never snows. I don't believe them. Since I have been here it has snowed almost everyday.

Lenea, Elizabeth, my new haircut and myself at Vapianos! This is the outside.

Saturday- Movie Day. It snowed crazy hard Friday night causing icy roads and bad driving conditions. We stayed home and enjoyed the freedom of not having to do a single thing, and not feeling guilty about it because there was nothing else we could do. I watched the latest Harry Potter movie and Public Enemy. Both great flicks.

Sunday- We went to the Spinelli barracks because they have a large spread of cheap furniture/home decorations available. We purchased a large beige floor rug for my room and a black and white picture of James Dean. He was a handsome man. I promise I will upload pictures of our apartment soon!

Monday- Today I finally got my 90 day installation pass. Do you hear the sound of trumpets for this glorious occassion? I walked out of that office on cloud 9! My pass looks like a military ID but it says VISITOR instead of listing military information. When they took my picture the lady commented on my smile. I told her it was so big because it was so hard to get that stinkin' piece of plastic. No more 24 hour passes. Thank you Jesus! Go figure that I get my pass the day I found out I got the job. Oh the irony.

Me holding my 90 pass!! Joy!!!

Holy Canolli Time Flies...

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. I apologize for my delay in posts, but it is so stinkin' hard without a computer at my fingertips. Today I had to walk through the snow to illegally use one of the computers in the Education building. I am technically not allowed to go anywhere without my sponsor, aka: Uncle Paul, by my side. Whomp. That essentially means that I can't leave the apt because the man has to go to work Monday-Friday. I can assure you that I don't/can't stay in the apt all day doing nothing. So far it hasn't been too bad because Lenae and I have been exploring. We have dared to explore without my sponsor. Haha! I am fighting the system. We have asked if it is okay for me to go without him and we have gotten different responses everytime. There is no standard here. Everyone tells us something different everytime we ask. Some say it is okay as long as I am in the company of someone with a military ID (Paul, Lenae or Elizabeth), and others say that it must be Paul. Who knows? Once I get my 90 day pass I can come and go freely. I won't need the assistance of another person to leave post. I will be able to do it all by myself. The crazy thing is that until I get my 90 day pass my uncle has to sign me in and out every 24 hours. As you can imagine this becomes quite tedious. For the meantime we are following the rules...somewhat. Friday we called and asked Mr. Donaldson about the pass and he said that I have been approved. Yay! but the paperwork needed to start from my Uncle's unit, and since we started the paperwork from Mr. Donaldson we have to start all over. Bummer. The good thing is that part of the reason it took so long the first time is because we had to wait on a background check. Since my background check is already done it should all happen much faster. I am thinking by Monday I should be a big girl. We shall see. Oh yeah....did I mention I can't get a job until I get my pass? Not yet. As I was responding to a backup of emails because Vodafone still hasn't fixed our phone/internet, I received a call from the elementary school. The secretary was so sweet and so encouraging, but she said that they can't interview me until I have something that changes my status. Currently I am just visiting so there is no priority on my application. They are required to hire wives of soldiers who are on the soldier's orders and I am not a wife or close enough relative to be on anyones' orders. Whomp! Until I get my pass my status won't change and I will not be able to get a job. Once I get my pass I will be able to get an ID card that will change my status so I can be interviewed for a position. It is absolutely mind boggling and ridiculous! I know things can work, but they (the military) are making it all so very hard. This is why I am saying that I love Germany, but not the American part of it! Grrrrr. I was able to find an employment readiness program that I am going to call tomorrow morning to see what I need to do to get a job! I need to work. I need to be able to meet people. I have made friends with one couple, but I would like/need to make more. You can never have to many!

The highlights since last week:

Tuesday Lenae and I went into downtown Mannheim to the farmer's market. We were able to get lots of fresh fruits and veggies. It was crazy awesome.

Markt Platz (aka: the market)

Thursday night Lenae and I went to the Top Hat Club which is a multiuse facility. One night it is a Latino Club with salsa dancing. The next night it is a disco....yadda, yadda, yadda. On this particular night it served as a country and western dance hall. It was funny! We entered and found it basically empty. There were two couples, three men at the bar, a DJ, and a bartender. It was hoppin'. Hah! We stayed for all of an hour, and we only stayed that long because we knew one of the men at the bar. He is part of the security division and lives in the building across from us. He arrived the same day as Paul, Lenae, and Elizabeth. He was drinking hot tea and gingerale. My kind of man. I'm kidding, but he was pretty funny. His wife arrives in one month...she stayed behind to sell their house and allow him to get everything set up for when she arrives. She is a smart woman! By the time she gets here her furniture will already be here, her husband will have internet and phone already established, and she will be able to enjoy her first few weeks here instead of shoveling through all of the crap we have had to deal with. It's okay, because as much as I have not liked dealing with all of the military mumbo jumbo, I have enjoyed every second I have spent outside of the military gates. I love Mannheim and I love the German people. They love to talk to Americans because it gives them a chance to practice their English, and it gives us a chance to practice our German. It is a win-win situation.

We have our furniture! Giggidy giggidy. It arrived on Friday, January 22 and most of it was unharmed. There were damages to some of the legs on the big pieces, but we filled out a form so that we will be reimbursed for damages. My room is still pretty bare, but I plan on collecting pieces as I travel. Little knick knacks (I have no idea how to spell it...every way that I try looks ridiculous) from random places. It will come together in time. :) We no longer have boxes in our apartment either! Everything is unpacked and in place. This morning Lenae and I cleaned like crazy! It is starting to feel like a home!!

We found a yummy Greek restaurant two train stops away. It is legit! We went Sunday night after bowling so that we could celebrate unpacking two truckloads of boxes. We decided that it will be our new Mexican since it is nonexistant here. Everything we have had has been incredible. The first time we went was on a Saturday because they only serve gyros on the weekend and we all wanted to try them. They were different in that a typical gyro is served without the pita bread. If a gyro is served in a pita, it is called a doner which is pronounce derner. So yummy! Since we are in Germany, the gyro is served with a side of fries. You can get it served with rice, but Germans love their fries! Another thing that is crazy is that you must eat french fries with a fork and knife if they are served on a plate with meat. The second time I ordered pork chops smothered in garlic. That is another thing- Germans love pork. The chops had so much garlic that my breath was kickin'. I am pretty sure that if I were a cartoon, green smoke would have oozed from my mouth. I am telling you it was kickin'! Some bites had so much garlic it was spicy. Delicious! Another thing that is fun about it is that after the meal, they serve you a complimentary shot. Our waiter always brings us a shot of Bailey's with one piece of ice to act as dessert.

Also, my German is improving so that I am able to speak a few key phrases. yay! Tomorrow Lenae has a hair appointment and I am going to travel with so that I can shop around the walking district of Mannheim to find some fun stuff for my room. There is also this little dessert shop/cafe that we are going to eat lunch at. I think I talked about it in an earlier post... the Dolce something or other. I am pretty pumped! I can't wait to go into the city and explore some more!!!

I made it!

Okay, here is the deal... I know I am late on my posts, but we currently do not have internet in our apartment yet. Whomp! Whomp! This is because everything run through the military takes on average about 10 times longer than it should. If you think I am kidding, guess again! Here is the shortened version of what is going on thus far:

1. I might have a job! I sent in my resume to the elementary school and there are two positions available for next year. That's right, next year. For the time being I can sub or act as an aid. Either one is totally okay with me, because I will be in the school and seeing how everything works. Also, there are several other positions 0pen at the Child Devel0pment Center which is really just the daycare/preschool. I am totally okay with whatever, as long as it is a job. If I don't have a job within 90 days I will be coming home, and I don't want that to happen after I have already been here living in Germany. It is gorgeous and amazing. People are so willing to work with you if you show them that you are trying to learn their language. It is a beautiful thing!

2. Today I get my installation pass which allows me to stay on post for 90 days. We have been getting a 24 hour pass since I landed. Pain in the butt! Especially because everytime you leave post you have to check in and out. Ridiculous considering that Mannheim is made up of three posts and everything is scattered among the three posts.

3. I have a phone now! A cell phone that is! Our phone is not working...Whomp! As soon as the phone starts working, then our internet will work. We are trying to get it all figured out.

Well I have to go now because I am using the public computer and I have a 15 minute time limit, of which I have already used some of it checking my email and bank account.

One gem so far.... Apparently Cy Fair ISD witheld some money from my paycheck so I recieved a large sum of money from them. Thank you Lord!!! It will come in handy in this expensive country!

Germany!!!! Yipppeeeee :)

Today is the day. In a matter of hours I will be in the sky headed to Germany. Wish me luck! I can't wait to be there and see it all. There are so many emotions running through me right now.

1. Nervous. I am a little nervous to fly on my own. I don't know why, but going through customs is so intimidating to me. I have two large suitcases, my backpack, and a purse. A lot of stuff. I have nothing to hide, so it should be a breeze. Worst case scenario...I get deported. Haha! NOT going to happen :)

2. Excited! I am going to Germany. How could I be anything but excited?

3. Sad. I hate goodbyes, and I feel like this has been one of the longest goodbyes of my entire life. I know I will be coming back in a matter of months, but it is still hard.

4. Anxious. I want to know if I have a job or not. I sent in my application and apparently a position just opened at Mannheim Elementary. God is working here. There is no denying that. Thank goodness he knows what is going on, because I am just kind of going with the motions....aimlessly floating along.

5. Tired. Every night is like Christmas. I am so excited that I can barely sleep. Hopefully this will be good for me on the plane.

Anywho....I love you guys and I can't wait to do my first post from Germany. I know I am not an aggie, but WHOOOOP! I am excited :)

Singleness

This last Sunday, December 27, my sweet friend Jamie Lynn got married to Mr. Cody Bayles. It was a beautiful wedding! I danced my little heart out, so much so that I bruised the balls of my feet. Ouch!! The wedding as a whole was PHENOMENAL! I enjoyed meeting everyone there and seeing other people that I hadn't seen in a while.

All of this to say...there is nothing like a wedding to make a single person feel so stinkin' single. Are you with me single people? I think so. Don't get me wrong, there are some definite benefits to being single. On the other hand, sometimes it just plain sucks! So this is me being vulnerable and telling the whole world that I am ready to meet someone. I don't want to be setup with someone because that never works for me. The meeting is always awkard and just feels forced. I want to feel those butterflies every time I see him and I want to be swept away. What I want is a freakin' movie script and real life is not that way. Reality just keeps slapping me in the face. Real guys don't act like prince charming, but why do I want prince charming so bad? I blame you, Disney. for making me believe in those perfect happy endings. Ahhhhh.... What is the deal with me? Sometimes I just go through these cycles of feeling really insecure about the single factor, but other times I feel totally okay with it. Why so wishy washy? I do not know.

Well I know that sounds pathetic, but I know/hope that my turn will come. One day I will meet the man I am to marry....not the man who will complete me, because I know that no man will be able to complete me. Believing that will only lead to more heartache. Men will fail, just as I will. Well I didn't mean to become philosophical. My brain was just reassuring my heart and my fingers just kept typing. That's enough for now :)

2 weeks til Germany... OH HAPPY DAY!! :)