What has Germany done to you – this year in particular – to make you tease us with thoughts of spring only to bring back nasty cold gray wet weather? Last week I was full of hope. I walked to and from work basking in the warmth the sun was imparting on my skin. This weekend, however, you brought back weather reminiscent of late October. Today, I have seen the sun peek out from the rain clouds a couple times, but with the next 6 days forecasting rain and snow, I don’t think I can get too optimistic. I don’t even think the rest of the tulips are going to be blooming by our front door anymore. I think the cold has ruined them. The budding trees and bushes are our one source of consolation.

Dreaming of brighter days,

Our lows have been in the teens again. Brr. Really.

We have some friends coming for a visit soon, and I really want the weather to be nice for them. I have been checking the forecast every day, and every day it’s drastically different. First it was supposed to be cold and rainy the whole week they’re here. Then it said it was supposed to be sunny and in the 60s (what? early spring? YES!). Today I checked the forecast, and it says we should have a mixture of snow, rain and sun with highs anywhere from the 30s to the 60s by the end of the week.

Oh my goodness, I would LOVE for it to be in the 60s even for just a few days of their visit. Maybe we will even get to see some blooms. Maybe.

While thinking about the photos, I realized I didn’t get to tell everyone that John got me a sewing machine for Christmas!! I can’t wait to start on some projects on there. He also got me a Juice Couture Viva La Juicy perfume, lotion and shower gel set. I have wanted that perfume for over a year, so needless to say, I was excited. I was also very excited about his other gift to me – a 30 minute massage!!! Hurray! I can’t wait to make an appointment. I was going to go today after work, but they closed at 2 PM. Rats. I’ll just have to wait a few more days.

I also got a great new tan purse, some fantastic new clothes that I can use both for work and leisure time, quilted placemats, a picture frame, a new Chi (!), Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, two of the Julia Child cookbooks and a few other little things.  I’m amazed at the generosity of our family and was a little embarrassed about having so many gifts to open. Again, thank you to all for everything!

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To ring in 2010, John and I will be having dinner at home – twice baked potatoes, steak and black-eyed peas (of course). Later in the evening, we’ll head to a local bar down by the river. We even bought some fireworks of our own this year. Unlike in Texas, people can shoot off fireworks of their own inside the city limits here. The other day, we were wondering where to buy fireworks since we’re accustomed to buying them at roadside stands outside city limits but are quite sure those don’t exist in Germany. Imagine our surprise when we stumbled across this in a local grocery store last night:

That’s right. Open bins of fireworks. In the grocery store. Madness, I tell you! (The sign basically says that you must be 18 years old to purchase the fireworks.) We bought two 1-meter long sparklers and 20 short sparklers as well as a package of assorted fireworks. It should be fun!

Einen guten Rutsch!

I had the busiest weekend. I was so busy running around, smelling new smells and trying new things that I’m not sure I can clearly remember what Mom and Dad did with me this weekend. The first thing I remember is that Saturday morning, Mom said my favorite word: park. I love that place. I immediately went to the door so we could leave, but Mom and Dad just shook their heads and said something I didn’t understand. Then I saw them do their weird grooming habits. I don’t know why they don’t just give themselves a few licks. That always works for me, and my girlfriend Emma the Rottweiler seems to like it a lot.

Much later, we finally left the house. Mom and Dad were saying the word “park” a lot now, so I hoped they were actually going to take me there soon and not continue to tease me. They did not disappoint me this time. As soon as we got close to the park, I started running back and forth in the backseat of the car preparing myself for all the running I was certainly going to do once they let me out of the car. A couple of my friends were already at the park and I met a few new ones too. I beat them all running for the ball. Hah!

Once we left the park, Mom and Dad made a few stops around where we used to live and then we went on a long drive. It did not seem like it was that long for them, though. They were happy it was “only 30 minutes,” whatever that means. When I got out of the car this time, I was innundated with the smells of a brand new place. There were people everywhere and it was noisy! There were lights and rides and lots and lots of food. I think I heard Mom say something about the biggest wine festival in the world, but I could be remembering that wrong. I don’t know what that means. I did hear Dad say we were in Bad Dürkheim, though.

We wandered around and about a thousand people wanted to pet me and some crazy man even handed me a stick. I don’t understand it, but Mom said he was drunk. Some other man also came up to me speaking gibberish. Mom had to translate for us and tell him though I’m a German dog, I speak English, not German. He shook my paw. Some crazy ladies oohed and ahhed over me and spilled their sweet yellowish drinks on the ground around me. Boy, I loved licking that stuff up, but Mom and Dad didn’t want me to have it. It’s like when they have their beers. They let me smell their breath, but I can’t ever taste their drinks! (But Dad sometimes lets me lick the outside of his bottle.)

Later some people gave me some cheese. They said something about it being from the Alps. I think I was there. After that, we sat around for a loooooooong time and Mom and Dad shared a table with a German couple. They talked a lot about how their wine smelled and tasted like coffee. I know what that is! Mom and Dad have it every morning, but the coffee machine makes crazy noises and I’m not so sure about it.

When we left that place, Mom and Dad made a phone call and talked in German to some people. Before I knew it, I was in a place I sort of remembered, but I couldn’t quite place it. Mom and Dad said something about meeting me here. I sniffed around a bit and then I remembered. This is where I was born! My breeder mama and papa were there. They were so happy to see me and were very impressed with how smart I am. They said my eyes are the color of bernstein (Mom: “which means amber”). It was fun to see them again. Apparently I have a lot of siblings there, but they were too little for me to visit. They’re only 4 weeks old.

We took a long drive home after that, and boy was I exhausted. I slept very well that night. Ok, I have a bug I’m tracking so I have to go. Thanks for letting me finally share things from my point of view. Hopefully Mom and Dad will let me do this again sometime.

Woof!

- Béni

17 days in the States. 17 days of craziness and in some cases, completely random and awesome surprises.

Returning to Germany…hmm, not many (ok any) good surprises. I’ll get to that later. However, the silver lining on our return to Germany has been the realization (by both John and me) that we like living in Germany now. Hah! It only took me a year or so.

While we were gone, I missed our lifestyle here. It’s relaxed and easy. We get to spend lots of time together and do pretty much whatever we want whenever we want. The pace of life overall here is slower too.

Anyway, back to the beginning…

Our trip started out marvelously. We arrived at the Frankfurt airport after getting up ridiculously early to catch 3 separate trains with all of our luggage (ok, that part wasn’t so fun, but the anticipation of the trip made it feel better than it was). We got there a little under 2 hours before takeoff, and guess what? They upgraded us to business class from Frankfurt to Dallas. Woohoo! It was fantastic. The seats will lie flat. The TV screens are bigger and you have on demand entertainment – not to mention a much more extensive selection than if you fly coach. They welcome you with champagne. You get a nice little menu to select your food from (it’s better than coach, but it’s still airline food). You get a warm towel with which to “wash up,” a thick down blanket to wrap up in, Bose noise cancelling headphones, and an amenity kit filled with socks, a sleeping mask, Burt’s Bees lip balm and lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, ear plugs, tissue and a pen.

If only we didn’t have to fly coach ever again.

Oh and the flight attendants are NICE in business class. They even referred to us as Mr. & Mrs.

At one point, our flight attendant had gone on break, and I wanted a glass of wine. When I asked the substitute attendant for a glass of wine, she asked how old I am, to which I responded 25 (the truth). She looked at me quizzically and must have decided that all was ok, because she left and poured a glass of wine. Upon her return, however, she announced that she needed to see my passport because if she gave alcohol to someone who is underage, she could get in a lot of trouble. I sighed and looked over at John who was all cuddled up watching his TV. I asked him to please get my passport from his backpack. John also sighed, sat up and started rummaging around for his backpack. At this point, the attendant says, “oh, are you two married?” We both reply yes, and she then says, “oh, well, here you go” and hands me the wine. Uh, what?

Oh well!

One last anecdote about the flight…

I have a hard time sleeping on planes, but apparently, this is much less of a problem when I get to sit in a large comfy reclining chair/bed with a nice blanket. I passed out while watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine. John, however, was not sleepy and thought it would be funny to blow on my face while I was asleep. When he did this, I remember thinking (in my sleep), “wow, that’s a nice breeze coming in our room this morning.” I then opened my eyes and was confused by my surroundings and my laughing husband. At least I was able to enjoy business class the rest of the way. If I had been woken up in coach, I would not have thought it was funny!

My status: “you know you’ve lived in Europe too long when you can’t decide between going to see the Tour de France or to eat at Chili’s (at the only German location an hour away) on Saturday.”

Out of the 16 or so comments that we’re mine, I picked out a few of my favorites to share with you:

Regarde le Tour de France à la télé avec ton menu Chili. (Watch the Tour on TV while eating at Chili’s.)

Tour de France is great, but all of you who voted for it have underestimated a dinner at chili’s– it’s hard to outrank a dinner that reminds you of home so much (there’s only so much bratwurst you can eat)

go to the tour and throw branches into the spokes of a Frenchmen.

Chili’s hands down…bike race? Not so exciting

In the end, we decided to go to Chili’s. Reasons?

1 – When you live this far from home, sometimes you just want to feel like you’re somewhere normal back home.

2 – We both want margaritas and queso.

3 – The Tour is a 2.5 hour drive each way from where we live. We’d meet at the starting point for the day (Colmar) and everyone would pass quickly, which means 5ish hours of driving for >1 hour of Le Tour viewing. Not worth it. We’ll try to plan better next year and make it out there.

4 – It’s supposed to rain all weekend. Yuck. That’s a vote for not even leaving our apartment!

- Sarah

Photos from Eric & Christine’s visit last week!! Yay!

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I also posted this picture to Twitter (Twit Pic, which sounds like I’m calling my picture names). It was accompanied by the caption “One of the many reasons why I don’t shop for clothes at the PX.” I was surprised and impressed to get a response from the AAFES (PX company for you non-military folks) Twitter account in almost no time. Good job, AAFES! (I don’t find myself saying that often, so this is huge.)

Shönes Wochenende!

- Sarah