Some Pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I finally uploaded our summer pictures. We still don't have a picture of our house but it wouldn't really show much from the front since it is blocked by trees anyway. You'll just have to visit!

First here is a picture of when we were in Monterey. Doesn't that fish look yummy! At least it does to the pelicans and seagull.










Second, Elk Inn. We spent Labor Day weekend there. It was beautiful!






















Third, Chris had fun painting the baby's room! He is such the artist. I just painted the other two walls solid yellow. He wanted to be more creative. Each picture covers one whole wall. It was hard to take the picture of the whole painting but this is close.













Lastly, for laughs. Currie, our new kitten we got in June, has been learning lots, even about the creatures of our world. If she is not pouncing on insects and jumping sky high at flying bugs, she is rolling around on her back in the backyard. Indoors, she loves chasing and pouncing on feet or hands that move under blankets. But this moment was great- the squirrel looking down at her and she up at it. Her new friend.

so Good-Bye Germany, Hello New Adventures

I can't believe it has been almost 5 months since I left Germany. The last post was back at the beginning of May. I guess you can say I have a LOT to catch up on and that I sure have been busy. Well, I'll tell you it has. But also, it is more about continuing things you did when you were away from family. Now, I have shared much of what is going on with family and friends I see, that I don't get around to repeating it on the blog for those I don't talk to all the time. I have wondered if I will keep blogging now that I am back in the States. I am going to, but I'll tell you, it won't be as often unfortunately.

In May my parents came over to Germany to help me pack up and move. We had movers from Chris' company pack and ship our stuff, so it turned out not to be a lot to do. Besides cleaning and organizing what items are mine versus my landlords, we had plenty of time to explore one last time and say goodbye to places I probably won't see again. It was a very strange feeling. Saying goodbye and remembering all the things we have learned and discovered was sad but fulfilling as well. We went up to Copenhagen for a three day weekend to visit some friends of my mom. It was one place Chris wanted to go, but again, he missed out as he was already in the States by then. We went to Salzburg again, as that was one of my favorites and my parents wanted to see. My mom left with her load of suitcases after two weeks. My dad stayed with me and flew back with me to the States. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have my parents come at the end like that. It was great to share what I experienced. My dad, being there a whole month, really got to feel what it was like living there. He explored a lot while I was at work. He came to my work on my last day when the parents put on a good bye party.

Now that was hard. I was in a very different spot that day. I was fuzzy with all that was going on, me packing and moving back, leaving Germany, saying goodbye to the kids, parents, and co-workers. I was giddy and non stop talking, whereas everyone around me was crying and sad. It was such a mix of emotions. I was very impressed with the farewell. I have never in any prvious job had such a touching emotional goodbye. Looking back on it, I really think a lot of it has to do, other than the fact that this group of parents were such wonderful parents, was that Melanie and I were the first teachers these kids had. It was a brand new Kindergarten and all the kids were in the same position. Most classes have a mix of old students and new, but this was a fresh group that has never experienced being away from parents. And it was two years, a long time for kids. It was very touching to see how each kid said good bye to me. Some attached themselves to me and wouldn't let go, whereas others ran away and did not want anything to do with me. In each their own way, they said goodbye. It all fit their personalities and really showed me the importance of goodbye.

The last days were a bit stressful and went in a blur. We had the movers from Chris's company come to pack up. They didn't bring enough boxes so they had to come the next day. Needless to say, they forgot to come. Luckily, they left a phone number to reach them in case WE were running late. They were lucky that we saw one last box they forgot to bring to the truck before they left. It all arrived fine in the States, so I am happy. It was just weird reading my book, as much as I can with them around, while they were busy packing. I am not used to that service. I would have rather do it myself but they required their movers to do it. Benefits to our liability scared world, I guess.

Chris has been enjoying his new job. It took a while to adjust to the differences of academic and the industry world, but he has gotten to like it. I started working part time at my father's office. I didn't want to start a new job with kids as we found out I was pregnant on Father's day. I told Chris I was pregnant by saying Happy Father's Day. So, as most of you know I am 5 months pregnant now. My estimated due date is February 25th. We are not finding out the sex. We want that as a surprise. We are loving this new experience. I have had a non-complicated pregnancy. No sickness, just the usual tiredness. I am feeling the baby move and am really enjoying that experience, maybe not for long. :)

I didn't think a new job would like me leaving in 8 months, plus I didn't want to have to say goodbye again after a short time with the kids. I also wanted part time to allow me to look at houses. And we now are living in our new home. We moved in at the end of September. It is finally coming along. We have been working on it a lot. I think we got a lot done. With me working on unpacking during the week and both of us in the evening and on the weekends we have accomplished a lot. It was in good shape to begin with so we really didn't have to do much in repair work. I was loving opening up all the wedding gifts finally. It is great to finally get to use the stuff we got two years ago!

Chris and I have continued to take time to explore or just get away. Things we miss about Germany- trains and walking through parks and gardens. One weekend we got the craving to go on a train as it had been a while! So we took the BART to San Francisco for the day. It was fun. Nothing like the trains in Germany, but it satisfied that urge. We walked through the park and botanical gardens, so got a little of what we miss.

Over Labor Day weekend, we needed an escape as we had been very stressed over purchasing our house. So we went to a bed and breakfast inn on the coast of Elk not far from Mendocino. We spent four days walking. We walked along the beach, along the cliffs by a lighthouse, through the towns of Mendocino and Fort Bragg. It was nice to get away in this beautiful landscape. We enjoyed the break. Once our main computer is set up, I can post pictures.

One week Chris had a conference in Monterey. I tagged along. I got to enjoy walking around Monterey, sitting on the beach, riding a bike along the coast, reading my book while Chris was at the conference. Another wonderful three days in a beautiful place.

Now I am itching to go on a plane ride. We have a trip to Arkansas for Thanksgiving week. I am looking forward to it. I am not sure if it to see Chris' parents, getting away for a break, or the plane trip that I am so excited about. I think some of it is the travel urge that I thought would have gone away now that we traveled for two years. Maybe it will never go away. I hope it won't in a way.

One benefit we love about being back in the States, is being around family and friends. We went camping with some friends one weekend. I have gotten to be with my friend's new baby, and we enjoyed a day with my extended family at our family reunion get together.

So, I guess you can say we have been busy when I lay it all out like this. It has been a great 5 months. Two unfortunately were very stressful with the buying of the house, but now we are loving every bit of life.

Our trip to Belgium and Netherlands

So I am finally going to try to catch up. Now that Chris is in San Jose already and I have some time to myself, I am bored. I have to go back and remember what happened. It seems like long ago, and it was, a month! But doesn't everyone write that in their blog, wish they could write more often or writing to catch up.

Heather came to visit for two weeks. One week I had to work so she was on her own while I worked. The weekend she came in we kept it low key. We walked around Munich on Saturday and on Sunday went for a hike in Tegernsee. We tried a different trail we had not done before. Turned out, it wasn't the best as it did not get to a point where we could see the view of the alps from the top. There was still snow on the ground and the path got lost with fallen trees, so at times it was an adventure just trying to find our way.

On Monday, Heather came with me to work and see the Kindergarten. I hope she enjoyed it. I sure enjoyed her there and having part of both of my worlds in the same world. She went off to the royal Residence after lunch and later we met up again after I got off work. We walked through the Englisher Garten. On Wednesday, Eva, Gary and Melissa came to Munich for dinner with us. Eva and Gary were visiting Eva's brother and his wife, Melissa, who live about two hours away from Munich. It was great to see them.

I had four days off for Easter weekend and we chose to go on one last trip. The week before it was warm, in the upper 60s/low 70s. This week it dropped quickly and got quite stormy. We pick the best times to go traveling! On Saturday morning, we left for Wurzburg, Germany. It is a town I have been wanting to go see. It was very pretty. There is a castle on top of the hill. We went to the residence and cathedral. We walked around. It was rainy and cold, but a nice start to our trip.

Sunday we left for Luxembourg. Luxembourg was our favorite I think. You can really tell it was a fortress town with the deep valley surrounding the city. We walked and walked. We saw
most of the city on the first day we were there. Everything was closed due to it being Sunday. We ate at an Indian restaurant. It was quite an expensive city, more than I thought it would be. We stayed at a hotel that was close to the train station outside the city center. On Monday we went to the underground caves that were created to protect people during war. It had cannons still in them to demonstrate what it was like. It was interesting to imagine the people living down there during war invasions. Across the valley on an opposing hill are the EU buildings, which a quite a contrast from the old city center. They were pretty similar to the other ones we have seen in Brussels and Strasbourg. To celebrate Chris' 30th birthday, we searched and found a tea house with delicate cakes and tea mid afternoon. After dinner we then found another dessert place for more cake.

Tuesday, we went off to Brugge. It is the city I wanted to go to on our last trip to Belgium but wasn't able to. We stayed at this hotel that was dab in the middle of the town. We actually managed to get an apartment with a kitchen that could hold up to 6 people. It was nice as we were able to cook our meals and save some money on eating out. It was also the cheapest hotel I could find in Brugge, so hey why not. Brugge is known for its lace and chocolate, as anyone can tell by the amount of stores that were selling them. It was definitely good chocolate! Brugge is a medieval city with its cobblestone streets. It, however, is getting too popular with tourists and school groups, as there were a lot. We think it is a field trip common to Brussel's schools. We spent three nights in Brugge. It was the most stormy days of our trip. It was miserably cold and windy one day, we decided not to go on our day trip and stay indoors in Brugge at museums, brew house, etc.

On another day we went to Ostende just because it was on the coast. It was a nice beach town with a long promenade along the water and a pretty garden in the town. We walked around. The wind was still quite strong along the coast but once we were blocked by the tall buildings of the town it was bearable.









On Friday, we traveled to Rotterdam, Netherlands. We found our hotel after a long walk and then went exploring the city. Rotterdam is definitely the modern city of our trip. There was a lot of new buildings being built in the modern, very artistic style. The architectural world of this city was fascinating. Anybody interested in architecture must go see Rotterdam. It is the up and coming style. In the picture are lights created to look like cranes. They can be positioned anyway they need light.





The next day we took a trip to The Hague. It was raining all day. We went to an art museum, which we all enjoyed. It had the "Girl with a Pearl Earing" painting and many other famous Dutch paintings of Rembrant, etc. It was a great collection of work. Made me really like Dutch style of painting, very realistic. On the way back we stopped at Delft, a small town that is known for its pottery. The bike commute must be crazy with this many bikes at the train station! We went to a factory to see how they make the pottery. It was interesting the technique and to hear the history of the pottery. On the way back, the clouds opened up and dumped gallons and gallons of rain on us. We were soaked despite huddling under umbrellas as best we could. I still laugh at Heather's comment as we were coming to a bridge ahead. We knew we had to get up there somehow and we saw steps to the right of the bridge. She said we had to just go up those steps. Well, the bridge was not over a street, but it was over a river, and the steps were on the other side. Everything was so shiny from the rain that the river just blended in. Hey, we are already so wet it wouldn't be that much different to swim to the other side! Well, we found steps on our side of the river that was much better. It made the day adventurous. We ate dinner at this culinary restaurant, where student chefs were sharing their work. It was very good and very artistic. The presentation was amazing, the help was superb and the food was amazing. It was so good. This is a picture of one of the meals. Our favorite was actually a vegetarian dish with goat cheese, cranberries, nuts, and veggies all in a bread bowl. The other dishes we had were a stew with beef, rabbit, and chicken, a salmon salad, and of course a dessert of almond cake with cinnamon liquor and fresh whipped cream.

To make the day even longer and more adventurous, we found a church we were told about from our receptionist at the hotel. We wanted to find out what times the masses are for Easter vigil. We happen to go in when it was taking place. The church was packed with people. We found seats luckily at the back. Some ladies next to us were nice enough to give us a program. As we found out where they were in the mass, we realized we were towards the end of the mass. Oh well, but we got to take part of a mass in Latin for Easter. The interesting part other than the difference of a mass in Latin versus English and the elaborate church, is the congregation. The first thing Heather notices, is what they are wearing. Everyone had on very nice outfits, mostly black clothes, very formal. Here we are, she in sweatshirt and jeans, me in slacks and sweater, that have been soaked and dried. We were also two of the four white people there in the whole church. The other two was the priest and one older gentlemen in the crowd. Everyone else was black. It was amazing to me. I would have thought there would be a mixture of races in the church. I am not sure if it was the location of the church or that people flock where they are most comfortable, usually with their own race. On the way back to the hotel, we found out that I had put the umbrella in the bag that I had given to Chris so we crossed our fingers that it wouldn't rain. Unfortunately, it started soon after we left the church. We got soaked for the second time that day and this time no cover of and umbrella.

Sunday, our trip home was frustrating. Everything went so smoothly with the trains and hotels this week, one thing had to go wrong and it was this trip. Our train out of Rotterdam broke down. They brought another train to take us but that train as well didn't work. The power lines on that line must have been broken. We went onto a different train that was the next train on schedule going the same route. It was packed with people so we had to stand the 40 minutes to Utrecht. We, of course, missed our transfer in Utrecht. We had to wait two hours for the next train to go to Dusseldorf. At Dusseldorf, we were taking a cheap flight to Munich. We got to the airport as the plane was taking off. They booked us on the next flight and charged us the difference for the new tickets. Of course, the price skyrocketed because it is two hours before the flight. We spent 400 euros on the new tickets total and waited in frustration for the next flight. Ugh! Deutsch Bahn does some reimbursement for delays, so I sent off the paperwork to them. But I doubt they will pay. We'll see..

It was a great trip. We will miss being able to travel so easily when we are back in the states but are also very eager to start our next phase in life!

Fasching, Skiing, and our return home

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Our internet has been down for almost two months. So, I have a lot to catch up on. I think I may do this in two blogs so not to make a really long blog but two smaller ones. We have done a lot since January!

In February we had Fasching (Carnival, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras- however, you want to call it). It is a huge thing here in Germany, as Diane has noticed in the Netherlands as well. We had a half day of work and it was just for a party. The kids come in costume. It is like Halloween but colorful and happy. Clowns are out selling confetti. Music bands are playing throughout the downtown area. Tons of people are drinking and dancing. It is one big party. I walked through downtown this year to get a feel for it. It was quite crazy, but people were having a lot of fun.

Chris' group from the lab decided to go skiing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen one Sunday. Since this was only Chris' second time on skis, it was a bit of a challenge. Where everyone in Germany doesn't quite understand how someone doesn't know how to ski, it was a little tricky for Chris to get the message across that he really doesn't know how. But I think he did a great job at it as it was a challenging mountain for a beginner. There are two lifts up the mountain and of course Chris' colleagues chose the lift that had only difficult runs at the top. So, we had to ski over to the other side to get to the bunny hills. It was difficult even for me who has grown up skiing. With not many falls we made it. It was a very sunny day and really warm. It was beautiful up there and while I waited for Chris and Tei, who was also a beginner and skiing with us, I got to take some gorgeous pictures. The alps are just beautiful.

At the beginning of March we did not do much except for Chris interviewing with KLA-Tencor in San Jose. Chris accepted a position as a research scientist. We originally aimed to leave Germany in July or August, but it turned out they wanted him to start mid April. Chris and I gave notice to our work places. It was quite hard to do, but we are ready for the next step in our lives. Chris got a flight April 23rd to move back to San Jose. I am moving June 2nd. I gave my work another month and half to give them more time to find a replacement. It will be strange to be away from each other for six weeks! My parents are coming to stay with me for most of it thankfully.

We are excited to be back in the States.

My Big 30th Birthday!

Not that I feel that much older than last week, but I have moments when I realize I am not in my 20s anymore. I'm not sure it helps with Chris keep pointing out the fact that he is still in his 20s, and that "I am old now." Can't wait for two months when he joins me in the 30s and I can repay for his teasing.

I took Friday and Monday off work to have a four day weekend. Felt the 30th birthday deserves a little break from work. Chris had to work however. He is pushing to get his experiment done. Actually, for the laser to really work so he can finally start his experiment. Hopefully, that will be soon. So, on Friday I looked at the map of Munich and picked out Ostpark/Eastpark. I have not been there before. I took my music, bundled up and went for a walk. It turned out to be a very nice day out. The park was pretty empty, a few walkers and a group of men playing curling on the frozen pond. It was great. It was such a stress reliever. Great way to start the weekend. There was a gymnastics arena there that was covered in snow and so since there was no people doing performances, I decided to make a snowman with arms out saying "tada" as he finished his performance. It was kind of funny. But well, got me to do something. After the walk I went home and had a nice relaxing rest of the day.

Saturday, we went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It is a small town in the German Alps. It is like Germany's Tahoe because a lot of people go here to go skiing on Zugspitze, the highest mountain in the German alps. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty gray so we could not see Zugspitze. When we arrived it was snowing pretty hard. We had lunch at a cafe/konditori. By the time we left it had stopped snowing. I borrowed two plastic sleds from work. We were going to rent the wooden German sleds and go down the hills that are set for only sledding but this allowed us to hike and sled wherever we found. It was great. We found a trail and just followed it to see where it led us. We found a small hill at first and sled down. After 20 minutes playing there we continued and came across another path back down the mountain. We sled down that path to the parking lot at the bottom. It was fun because you had to turn here and there and it was narrow. So we were using our arms to turn and our feet to slow down. Chris went flying off the path several times but luckily was not injured. It was both fun and challenging. At the bottom we looked at a trail map and decided to go back up the path and to a larger path made for cross country skiers. There was a tree-less slope marked on the map that could bring us back down but it turned out to have a substantial cliff along it so that was a definite no go. But we sled down a really steep hill under a cable lift that only ran in the summer time. It was fast and fun. But when we put our feet down to slow down we only got snow spraying our face. The snow was so powdery and soft. It was hilarious. Most of the time we walked our feet were under the powder about mid calf height. It was a great day. Exhausting. We stopped back at the Konditori again to grab a slice of cake for the trip back. We got home, made spaghetti and crashed.

Sunday, we stayed home. Our bodies sore and warmed up now, going out wasn't desired at all. Chris made a yummy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chicken roll-ups, my childhood favorite.

Monday, Chris was back at work and I went off to Augsburg, a city an hour away. It was windy that day and pretty cold. I walked around fast. It was a pretty city but not very fascinating. The cathedral was destroyed like most cathedrals, but this one wasn't rebuilt to resemble what it used to. I went around taking more artistic pictures for fun. There was one section left of the old city wall and gate. It was pretty busy with people walking about. I walked through some residential areas. It is like Munich, in that everyone lives in apartments, but in Augsburg every apartment was different and unique, which I liked. It made it it look more cozy to me. It has more character in home life, whereas Munich has the character in the historical buildings. Later in the afternoon it started to snow again and I was tired of going in shops just to defrost for a bit. So I went back to Munich.

For my birthday, Chris got me tickets to the Ballet at the city Opera House. The ballet was Onegin, a Russian story performed with Tchaikovsky's music. We were glad we read the story before we went, we'd have been clueless otherwise. We dressed up fancy, but were one of the few that were. The place was rebuilt, of course, but it was still magnificent. The chandeliers and the style was amazing. They still had the king's box in the center. The entrance was also done fancy with big rooms with chandeliers and mirrors. We took a picture with us by taking a picture of the reflection. It worked okay. I cannot express how wonderful the performance and the experience of going to the ballet was. The dancing and music was great. It was our first time and hopefully more to come in the future. The funny moments of the night are: my feet did not touch the ground but there was a bar that you put your feet on, made it awkward. The couple next to us, the man was so enthralled with the performance whereas the girl was bored silly except for the climatic point where the dual occurs. Downstairs there is refreshments. People could reserve tables actually and had a meal during intermission. Quite a fast meal, I'd say. It was a wonderful night. I am glad Chris likes to dress up occasionally like I do.