In honor of Halloween

Happy Halloween!!
This is one of those holidays that can cause some homesickness. To Americans, Halloween means fall and little kids. Every October, I tell Joern about going to a pumpkin patch with my parents when I was little, finiding the perfect pumpkin and then buying some apple cider to bring home. Then, we'd find a good night when my dad and I would carve the pumpkin. On Halloween, my Jack-o-Lantern would be ready and my dad would take Nadia and I out trick-or-treating.
Here in Germany, Halloween is slowly catching on. Right now, it seems to be more of a commercial thing, you can find a small display in most grocery stores selling home decor, and Halloween parties are growing in popularity- but then again, Germans will use any reason to party.
Sadly though, I miss the whole Halloween feeling. Especially, the trick-or-treaters, who especially early in the night, are just so darn cute and proud of their costumes.
One thing that really perked me up this year though was my international candy exchange. This is my second year involved in the candy exchange, and is through my group of friends who are living all over the world. This year, I picked someone living in Germany. What are the odds? There are only about 10 of a group of close to 50 living in Germany. Oy! She lives in the next state over, so I sent her some Swabian sweets- I sent her chocolate Maultaschen :) and Wiebele, small Swabian cookies. I also got her a bunch of Stuttgart brochures, including a wine map and a brochure for the upcoming Christmas market. I hope that she liked her gift!
Yesterday when I got home, I found my package had been delivered as well! Mine came from an Australian living in England. So cool! Even cooler, was that her dog had even personally chewed the corner of the envelope :)
Here's what I got in my International Halloween candy package:

I am so excited about my candy!
So far, I've only tried the Chomp bar, a little chocolate/caramel bar. Joern split it with me, and we both really liked it! I hope to make this special Halloween candy last, just like when I was little, and tried to make my Halloween candy last as long as possible!
So, thank you very much to my friend in England who helped bring a little Halloween fun to Germany!!

Sometimes, it doesn't pay to live abroad

Last week, I decided to order another subscription to Country Living Magazine. I had let the subscription run out because the magazine got kind of boring. But, their website has really pepped up, so I decided to give a subscription another chance. Unfortunately, when I tried to order, my bank card was declined. I guessed it was because it was the website was trying to process my card with my German address. Joern was gracious enough to place the order for me.
The next day, I decided to order my bridesmaid's dress for my friend Mandy's wedding. Good thing I went to order it from J.Crew, because the color had been placed on sale. When I placed the order, my card was denied. Weird. So, I called my bank (at home) immediately. Turns out that they cancelled the card because of tampering. Thanks again dear bank for not allowing overseas addresses. I was told that there was a letter and new card sent to my US mailing address. A lot of good it did me here.
The good news at least though, was that after a 25 minute phone conversation with JCrew, I was able to order my dress with a German credit card. Phew! Now, I will be able to keep my position as bridesmaid, because I got my dress :)

No fun!!!

Last year, my tooth broke in half. I know, I should have gone to the dentist immediately, but it didn't hurt, and well, the dentist is not my favorite person. On Wednesday, I got a pretty bad toothache. It wasn't unbearable, but there was a definite pain in my mouth. So, we made an appointment with the dentist for Thursday.
When Thursday afternoon came, I realized that the pain had died down quite a bit, but I also knew that I still needed to go to the dentist.
We went to the dentist, and well, I thought he was going to tell me that the tooth needed to be filled, or tell me about some minimal procedure. HA!
He looked in my mouth, and then did an X-Ray. I was already tipped off when he came in the room with one of those uneasy smiles on his face. He tiptoed into the room, and said, ever so softly, "I have some bad news. The tooth must come out."
I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have never had any dental procedure worse than an intensive cleaning, with some plaque scraping. So, I shouldn't complain. But, having a needle inserted into your mouth is not a pleasant procedure. I even joked about having arthritis and being afraid of pain. For me, it was more the thought, and the odd feeling of a NEEDLE being inserted into my gums and cheek. Bleh!
Once the numbness set in, and my tears stopped, the dentist had me lay back and told me to close my eyes, saying, "believe me, you don't want to see any more of this."
He got to work, and it honestly seemed like he was scraping at my tooth. The sound was really no worse than scraping. Thirty seconds later, he said to me, "do you want to bring the tooth home?" I thought he was just talking to me to calm me down. The nurse, who had been holding my hand, walked away. That was it! He was done! Honestly, the extraction did not hurt at all.
I finally mustered up the courage to look at the HUGE tooth that had been removed. Wow!
The dentist gave me some ibuprofen for the pain, and sent me away with some gauze to keep in my mouth. Of course, he also sent me away with a note for work, saying that I should not go in on Friday, because I needed to recover.
That was it. We headed out to a tile store and stopped by one of Joern's friends, who is a tile installer. We wanted to know how much he would charge us in comparisson to what the builders are charging us. I have to say, I never would have thought, I'd be running errands immedately after getting a tooth pulled. But, I am a little embarassed by my akward smile, and well, my slightly slurred speech.
I took it easy on Thursday night and Friday. I took a preventative ibuprofen at 7 and then again at midnight. I thought that I'd rather take medicine before I was in pain and not wait. But, I woke up on Friday morning with no pain, so I decided not to take any medicine. Yesterday I had minimal pain, but my mouth still felt a bit raw. Today, everything's great. I'm hoping I'm over the hill now.
I have to say, I am so thankful for this experience. I think if I had a bad experience, I would have a lot more trouble returning to the dentist, and would have huge problems with any future dental procedures.