Happy Valentine's Day!!

Since I am finally starting to feel better, I am starting to get back to myself and the real world.
On Friday, my friend Mandy called and asked if we could dog-sit for her soon-to-be stepdog, Abby. We adore Abby and always jump at the opportunity to spend some Q.T. with Abby. Plus, it is fun to pretend to be doggy parents, if only for one night.
We got Abby on Saturday afternoon, and met up with Mandy and Doug this afternoon to give her back. Even though we only had one night with Abby, we had tons of fun with her. She's a big black lab, who is just the sweetest soul. And, she loves the snow that we've had this winter. We took Abby out to the fields to let her run, and it was so much fun to watch her. I realized that Abby's pleasure was really like a small child's fascination with snow. As adults, we don't play with snow, we use it for sports, and we complain about it, but rarely do adults appreciate snow with the same wonder as kids and dogs.


Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of her many, many back flops, nor her snow beard that was oh so adorable. But it was really fun to enjoy the wonder of winter through a dog's eyes.
After we got home and cuddly, Abby found a sock. She has no shame when it comes to finding socks in people's homes, and just loves walking around with socks in her mouth. She's had 2 or 3 in her mouth at a time. Here's Abby this morning:


Even though it was sad to see her go, we did have a good time, that provided plenty of conversation for the rest of the day. And of course, my Valentine's Day gift was just wonderful, I have the best Valentine ever!

10 years ago

I don't know why it didn't hit me before, but we're in 2010! A decade has passed by, and without a doubt, it was a decade of HUGE changes for me. Ten years ago today, I was sitting in my dorm room in Dublin, Ireland. What is very exciting too is that I've only recently found my journal from my time in Ireland. It is so much fun to look back, and remember the person who was writing that journal ten years ago. I know it was me, but it seems hard to imagine just how different my life would become.
I arrived in Ireland on January 6, 2000. I was going to spend the semester at the American College Dublin. I was living in a residence hall that was shared between our school and Trinity College. My roomates were Maura from New York, and Evan from Virgnina. Soon after, I began my first class, which was a two week art and humanities tour of Paris and Lyon. When I returned, I started my regular classes and began settling in to my semester in Ireland.
Here's what I found in my journal from February 2, 2000:
Well, my second week of class is over, and am now completely confident that the semester will be over before I know it. My classes are good... Yesterday, I wore my new boots to go to the ATM (5 mins away,) and by the time I got back, I had the biggest blister ever on the back of my heel! It is SO gross! To make matters worse, it is so difficult to get gauze pads and tape. First, Band-Aids are plasters. Second, I couldn't explain gauze. At the pharmacy, they gave me 3 absorbent pads- no more. They told me they only had 5 in the store. All I wanted was a good old huge pack of Johnson & Johnson gauze pads, from good-ol CVS.
Well, tonight I am going out with Kelly and Marta.
...Hopefully, Dad will come visit me. I think I am going to Belfast next weekend. And hopefully, I'll be going to Galway and the Aran Islands in 2 weeks. I'm sure that once I start traveling, it'll make the time go by quicker and maybe I'll enjoy Ireland a little more.
The talk radio had a discussion last night about parking at the police station- then about public housing, which is regular housing bought by the republic and given to the people on the housing list. They charge 7 Irish pounds a week for the same house that costs 200.000 pounds! Its crazy! To make matters worse, they were also disputing if people want to live near people on housing lists. Then they started talking about people would make undesiriable neighbors- immigrants, travelers, and single mothers! Crazy!
...I also talked to Jorn through email- hopefully, during our study week, I'll be able to go to Stuggart for a few days!
... Well, that's all for now, tomorrow is the Dublin tour I didn't go on last week.

Some commentary. First off, when did "gross" exit my vocabulary? I never say that anymore! I still miss CVS, but European pharmacies are much more "homey" to me now. Marta and Kelly became my closest friends in Ireland. In 2008, we reconnected through Facebook. My dad never came to visit (in a few more days, I would have to head home for a month,) which changed plans quite a bit. I cannot believe that I was so smart to listen to the talk radio. I HATE talk radio, but it was a really good way to learn about the culture. I think I listened to that program every night I was in Dublin. I think its funny that I started talking about Jorn (whose name I now know how to spell,) I had NO idea what was to become of "me & Joern." I also know how to spell Stuttgart now :)
What really suprised me though was how I was wishing my time away. Here, I'd love to go back and slap some sense into that Allison, who was wishing away the most amazing experience of her life. And to get back to what? Baltimore? Oy!

And what am I doing on Feb. 2, 2010? I've just returned from my second physical therapy appointment for my back. It went well, and oh yeah, IN GERMAN! I drove- my X5. This evening, Joern will pick me up to drive to my in-laws' house, which is where we are building our house (in Germany) to see my father-in-law's new M class.

I've really enjoyed looking back at the person I was 10 years ago, and where life has brought me today. I'm completely amazed!

Navigating the world of illness, in another world

Being sick, even if you're like me and sure that you're not exactly "sick" is always trying. Not only do I have a recurrent back problem, but I also have a chronic illness. Both of which don't qualify me as sick, but do require me to have lots of experiences with doctors.
Add to that the fact that I'm navigating this world of doctors in another country, in another langauge, and well, sometimes it'll make your head spin!
This is my third week of being out of work for my back. After last week's visit to the GP, I received a referral to an orthopedist. The result from Monday's visit, I ended up with a referral to physical therapy for my back, and for my arthritis!
Today was my first PT session. It went really well, and I was all by myself, and understood almost everything- IN GERMAN! The therapist did some stretches and realigning of my spine. Then, he taught me a few exercises to do at home. Last, I got to sit under a hot lamp (like a baked chicken) for about 10 minutes- I totally could have fallen asleep!
I also learned that the arthritis therapy is "functional training," and will be done at a gym. Some gyms here work in conjunction with health insurances, so my sessions should be mostly covered by my insurance. I will receive two years of training for my arthritis- wahoo!
Hopefully, this will all work, and I can get stronger and better.

My extended Christmas break

2009 marked my first Christmas spent entirely in Germany. We flew back home on Monday. I have to say, Christmas was a little sad here. Since we didn't know we would be spending the entire holiday here, we had no tree, no decorations, nothing. We spent Christmas Eve with Joern's parents. Very quiet. We had würstchen and "special salad" which is a potato salad recipe from Schlesien, the area of Germany where Joern's dad was born. It is pretty tasty. After dinner, we watched Christmas Vacation in German, with Joern's parents. It was a rather enjoyable evening, even though I kept thinking of the ham sandwiches I was missing at Cheryl's.
On Christmas Day, Joern and I were pretty quiet. We went to Joern's parents' for Christmas Dinner, we had duck, dumplings, and sweet-and-sour red cabbage. Quite yummy. It was nice, and very quiet. Unlike home, where we rush between relatives on Christmas Day. But, I did miss home, and miss my dad, and the rest of the family.
We left for home on Monday morning, after running to the Rathaus (town hall) to get an alien registration form since I didn't have time to get my residency permit placed in my new passport.
The flight home was uneventful, and we arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon to find my cousin Bill and my cousin Katie's boyfriend waiting for us. I have to admit, it is always nice to see a friendly face when you get off the airplane. Makes you feel loved.
We were home for about 11 days. We spent a good portion of time with my dad, and my sister Ginia. We also spent some time with my aunt and cousins, but they were all sick, which was sad. It was ridiculously cold at home, so we decided to cancel our annual New York trip. Much too cold. We did manage to spend a great deal of time on Long Island though, at the outlets in Riverhead. We had dinner with my godparents, which was an enjoyable night, and we were able to talk about our upcoming trip to New Hampshire in February.
Of course, we made our obligatory restaurant stops too: Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Duchess, Bagel King, and the Cracker Barrel.
The time home flew by, and before we knew it, we were back in the airplane to fly home.
Of course, I haven't mentioned my back yet. A few years ago, I had the most horriffic experience with my back, all from sleeping in a bed that was far too soft. When were home this year, we were sleeping on an air mattress. I don't think we had the mattress properly inflated, and after a week, I could feel my back starting to rebel. I was getting nervous that the flight back would be miserable, but surprisingly, it was okay. It was the 2 hour car ride back from Frankfurt that was the beginning of the end. My back has now been miserable for a week. I went to the doctor on Monday, and he gave me a shot, perscribed some pain meds and muscle relaxers, and wrote me out of work for a week. Now, its Friday, and I can't say things have improved at all. Its been a miserable week. I feel good and would love to get back to the kids and my friends at work. I have an appoinment again with the doctor in about an hour. I hope he can help!

My passport story

Joern and I had a great Christmastime this year, and I can't believe we're already so far in to 2010, but I guess I have some time now, so why not catch up?
Our break started on Dec. 18th this year, with a little drama. My passport had expired on Nov. 30th 2009. I was a good little girl when I was home this summer, getting the proper passport pictures. When I got back to Germany, I immediately filled out the paperwork for passport renewal. Then, I realized that the passport photos I got were incorrect because they did not show my ears. So, it took us a while to find a photo store here that knew the requirements for US passport pictures. Once I got the pictures, I bundled up all the documents to send in the paperwork. Then I realized that I needed my passport to get my driver's license. This was in October. Once I got my license, I then realized that my bank card (which was then my only credit card) had been cancelled, and I needed to call my dad and send me my new bank card. I finally got my bank card at the end of October. Then we realized that I couldn't find an official marriage certificate, without which, I could not change the name on my passport. I finally got everything together, and sent my passport out for renewal the week before Thanksgiving- giving me 6 weeks till Christmas.
I started to get nervous the week before my Christmas break, somewhere around the
15th, when I still didn't get my passport. The embassy website clearly states that if you do not have 3 weeks to wait for a passport, then you should not renew by mail. I was working on 5 weeks at this point. I finally decided to call the embassy, during their calling hours on the 21st, my first day of break. Turns out that they have specific calling hours, all of which were during my work day, so I had to call when I was on break. When I called, they were able to track my passport. It was in New Orleans? Well, in transit from New Orleans. Seriously? I thought the whole point was that they did the passport there at the embassy, obviously not. Oddly enough though, my bank card had been charged with a foreign transaction fee. Whatever.
So, I was told to call back on Tuesday, because it was possible that it would be sent back soon. On Tuesday, I called, again, during calling hours, to find out the passport had arrived, but they could not tell if it had already been sent out to me. But, they finally red flagged it, and I was told that I would be called on Wednesday morning by the person who sends out the passports.
I thought that they would call and tell us that they would hold the passport and we could pick it up on Thursday. Ha! On Wednesday morning, at 7:15, we received a call from the embassy, saying that I had until 12:00 noon to pick up my passport, otherwise, it would be placed in the mail. Because of Christmas, I would not receive my passport in the mail until sometime the week after Christmas.
So, we jumped in the car, and made the 2 hour drive, in the snow, up to Frankfurt. Once we got to the embassy, I had to wait in line to get a number, and Joern was not allowed to come in with me :( I had to wait about 30 minutes for my name to be called, and in about 5 more minutes, I was out the door with my shiny new passport.
I have to admit, it was a lot of hassle, but it is so ridiculously cool. Joern is convinced that it is the coolest passport in the world. I have to admit, you feel a swell of patriotism when you look through these new ones. Joern said it would be worth it to become a citizen just to get one too :) Of course, he won't, but its cool.
Because Joern was so nice, he took me for a Starbucks in Frankfurt center, on the main shopping throughfair, the Zeil. Afterwards, we did our Christmas shopping too, which was also a relief, because I was nervous about getting pressies for everyone at home before we headed home.
Although it was stressful, it was a good day, and I am so relieved to have my passport back.

An update

Its been a busy month, but so sad that its almost been a month since my last post. Not much was really blog-worthy though.
I sent my passport off on the 20th of November to be renewed- it expired on the 30th, so I needed to get it done. It turns out that I am still waiting for the dumb thing a month later- grrrr!
On December 4th, St. Nikolaus visited our school. On December 6th, St. Nikolaus Day, children wake up to find that St. Nick has come to visit and placed some yummy treats in their boots. St. Nikolaus' visit was a few days too early to our school since St. Nikolaus Day was on a Sunday this year. It was so much fun to watch the kids arrive at school and find their boots filled with chocolates, oranges, and walnuts. It was so cute! That evening, we attended our holiday dinner put on by our school's PTA. It is a fancy-schmancy fundraiser, and I do enjoy getting all dressed up. They had it at a Carribbean restaurant this year. It was so nice, and the food was so incredibly yummy! Best yet, the 50 Euro ticket was free to teachers, so we just needed to buy a ticket for Joern. It was great!
On the following Wednesday, I went with my friends from the ELC (early learning center, grades Pre-K through Senior Kindergarten) met up downtown at an African restaurant for our ELC Christmas dinner. Oh my goodness, it was sooooo tasty, and the restaurant was so cool! I can't wait to go back. And yes, if anyone wants to visit me, we are so going to this restaurant!
School finished up for Christmas break this past Friday. I got quite a few lovely gifts from my colleagues and from our parents. We got a lovely bookbag with all of the kids' handprints on it. And, strangely enough, I got a giant Peace Lilly from the parents too. This is only strange because I was the only one to get a Peace Lilly, and it was my mom's favorite plant. It is really pretty!
Christmas break has started quite well. We woke up to snow on Saturday morning. Although it wasn't quite as huge of a snowstorm as the one at home (we had a Nor'Easter at home,) It was nice to see a few centimeters on the ground and the dusted rooftops. So Christmassy!
So, here it is Monday morning. Joern went to talk with our builder and I need to do some laundry. I'm waiting and hoping the passport comes in today.

The house

I know that this is not my house blog, but if you're interested, I have our house plans posted in our house blog.