"La La La La Take Me Home. Mother, I'm Coming Home"

  Piet's arm giraffe

                                                                  

                      Typical Piet, Nu Nu at his side.                  

And Catrin's adored poppies

Only four more full days in Deutschland.  Can you believe that?  My mind really can't grasp that I'm coming home and leaving Piet and searching for a job all at the same time.  My body has reacted by being really anxious and not letting me get proper sleep.  I just can't wait to do dumb things, like understand the television, pump gas in my own car, and go outside without a jacket.  Yep, it was 57 degrees today and windy.  Mostly, I can't wait to be at Maw Maw's house for Sunday lunch and back at home to talk endlessly with Mamma and Daddy and then stay up with Madi, Tad and Kelsey.  Can you tell ready to get back? : )

But, the last days have been quite nice. The race in Oldenburg went really well, despite the fact that, of course, it was the one and only hot day we've had, actually in the 80s, so everyone was running a bit slower than they expected. Due to Piet's adorable cheering, I managed to run the 6.4 K in 44 minutes, and got a nice t-shirt for doing it.  Also got to fill up on pizza at an Italian restaurant afterward, so it was a lovely day.

The week went smoothly then I made a trip to Hanover to see Julie one more time. On the train ride there, I met a really nice girl who happened to teach English so we had lovely conversation.  Julie met me at the station then we rode our bikes to watch a bit of the world cup.  Neither Germany nor America played so we just chatted the whole game.  The next morning we joined some of her water polo teammates and checked out the Hanover Zoo.  Now, I must interject a story that I forgot to post earlier.  I've now seen three zoos in Germany, those in Berlin and Hanover, but neither compare to an amazing one in the middle of nowhere near Edewecht.  Oh my gosh is it cool.  Or maybe it was just cool based on the circumstances. The place was small and appeared a little "used" but Piet, Catrin, and I went on a chilly Monday when all of four other families were there and it was awesome.  It was more of an animal park because there were really great rides as well, small roller coasters, blanket slides, tilt-a-whirls, flower cars on high rails that you have to pedal to make move.  The cool thing was that no one operated most the rides, you just jump in and do it yourself.  This totally shocked me when I had a go on the "Bob Karts."  If you're ever in a German Tierpark, ride this ride! OMG!  You sit down, don't even bother to buckle up, and push down on two handles on the side.  The cart starts quickly and you zoom in a chute like speed racer.  And really, you go fast.  Piet was even allowed to sit in my lap and wanted to go really fast.  I couldn't believe that Germans allowed a ride that fun; in America it would be a law suit waiting to happen.  Because the park was basically empty we rode it about a dozen times. Probably one of the more fun things I've done with Piet.  When my stomach needed a break from the carts and Piet wanted to drive tractors with his mom, I took the opportunity to see the animals.  I discovered that nothing in the world is weirder than walking around a zoo on a cloudy day alone.  The animals don't look at you, they glare.  I swear a puma wanted to have my head.  The animal exhibits are likewise risky.  There was a lemur area that you could walk in and stand just inches from the little guys.  They were hilarious; they found sunny spots and would sit upright, nodding off and then shaking their heads to wake up enough to check you out, only to nod off again.  After the animals had sufficiently creeped me out, I asked a guy to start a roller coaster for me and got to do it twice, alone. So yeah, amazing experience that I really wish I could share with my family and friends.

Alright, back to Hanover.  That evening Julie and I went out and found an Irish pub where we knew we could watch the U.S. and England play in the world cup.  We managed to encourage a particularly handsome group of German boys to sit with us and had a dandy of a time.  The game tied, which was annoying, but a fun experience none the less.  Our evening ended early because we had to get back to the house to put the kids in bed, but we got a good night's rest and the next morning  took a long bike ride to some castle gardens.  It was pretty and we spent the better part of the afternoon beside a giant fountain, just chatting away.  I'm so happy I've met Julie on this trip.  She's the only American I've clicked with, and it's been nice to just get each others inside jokes and understand stories from home. Hopefully I can make a trip to California for a rendezvous soon.

So, came back to Edewecht by train and shared a ticket with some folks I connected with on the internet.  It was fine, but the guy who organized everyone was a wackadoodle.  Harmless, but strange.  He made me speak in German "for practice" and then pulled out his travel size chess board and requested I play.  Needless to say,  he was victorious.  He gave me his business card regardless.  Oh man, I am a nerd magnet.

The last full week here has been pretty typical.  Piet has been a little clingy, but super fun lately.  I'm glad he's reacting like that instead of pushing me away here at the end.  I think he's going to handle me leaving better than I will, he'll have vacation soon after and then his birthday and then the new au pair, Maggie, will come at the end of July.  So, he'll probably be too busy to be sad, which makes me feel much better about going.  I do hope that he's had a good year and remembers at least some of it later.  We've made ten million videos, so at least he'll have those. It's been a crazy up and down experience, but I've learned so much from him....mostly patience : )  Oye, Tuesday at the train station is going to be hard.

But like I said, busy busy until my plane takes off Wednesday morning from Berlin.  We're going to the train restaurant again tomorrow (Piet is pumped) then I'm going to make one more trip to Bremen to say goodbye to my buddies there.  I'll go to a party with the vegetable place people on Sunday afternoon and then I'll say bye to a couple more people in Oldenburg Monday evening.  Tuesday I'll ride with my friend Arne to Berlin where we may meet Elisa and then off I go.  Wow.  It's a little daunting, but it's going to be a great few days.  And then home home home Wednesday night at 11:30.  Get ready Georgia, I'm coming back in full force and I'm going to need a hug from everybody I meet.  Pray that the dumb plane journey from Berlin to London to Chicago to Atlanta goes well and my poor mother can calm her nerves as she waits for me to get home. See you next week!!!

Amsterdam and Denmark

Sun and Stars

Halo readers who have managed to find my blog even after the long pause! I guess I've been slacking because I know I'll be able to talk to you all so soon, but that's not a good excuse, so here goes....

The first weeks in May were really just business as usual; made a weekend trip to Bremen with Elisa to see our friends and met up with in Daniele in Oldenburg a few times.  But! one super amazing thing happened, that thing being a visit from my lovely friend Lea Purvis! She arrived on May 17th and chilled in Europe until June 2nd, and my oh my was it wonderful to have her here. Not only was it cool to get to share a taste of this experience with someone from home, but we also got to travel a bit and see Amsterdam and Denmark.  We were afraid at first that we'd be stuck in Edewecht for some of her trip because Lea was yucky sick her second day here.  Piet and Jorn both had an ugly bout of a stomach virus the weeks before and so we worried it had caught Lea, but miraculously she was fine the next day. That day was Daniele's birthday, so we celebrated with him at an Italian restaurant and then stayed the night at his place so we could get to the train station super early the next morning to go to Amsterdam.  The train ride went smoothly and we soon found ourselves in the bustling main station, amidst hundreds of other Saturday travelers.  The first moments were pretty overwhelming because we weren't sure where to put our luggage or how to get to the big attractions in the city.  Apparently we looked pretty confused, because a local spotted us and asked if we needed some help.  He showed us where we could ask about day traveling cards, and while we stood in line, he checked a machine he thought might work too.  He came back with two paid cards and when we offered to pay him back, he refused to take the money but just asked us to do the same for travelers who come to our cities some day. Interactions like that just warm my heart. So, we used our lovely cards and found the bus station where we'd be leaving from that night to go to Denmark.  We found it easily and put our luggage in the lockers of doom (more on that later) and set about our lovely day.

To my surprise, Amsterdam has more canals than Venice, and the local folk take full advantage of them. There are plain boats, shmancy boats, house boats, party boats, and even a magical troubadour boat! We took a boat tour and got a pretty nice view of the city.  We thought about checking out the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, but after seeing the 14 euro admission price we decided to keep on walking.  We managed to find a few local art galleries including one which showcased animals who had been taxidermied (which isn't a word, but should be) and made to look totally adorable.  There were dancing pigs with cute hats, deer whose bodies were fused together and then decorated. It's all kinda disturbing and a waist of animals (and dinner opportunities), but interesting.  After the gallery looking and running into a guy who looked just like the actor who plays John Lock on "Lost," we were hungry and decided to gorge on tasty Argentinian food.  We shared a scrumptious steak alongside potatoes, olives, and mushrooms and oh boy was it good. Apparently the Netherlands isn't known for their own special food, but they do a good job of highlighting great food from other places.  After the dinner, we walked around for a bit longer and took pictures.  At this point I must make a vital note about walking around in Amsterdam: it's insanely dangerous. You don't have to worry about cars more than any other place, but you must constantly be on watch for bicyclists because there are millions of them, and by law, they have the right of way on the sidewalks or anywhere else they please to drive.  I like to drift along in my own world, so more than once Lea had to grab me before I was squashed by a two wheel contraption.  Really, it was intense. At the end of the day we found a nice place to watch the boats pass on the canal while we waited for our bus.  It was lovely to enjoy about an hour of best friends in a cool place time.

So, this is where the story takes a dreadfully inconvenient turn.  Lea and I made it to the station no problem, with about thirty minutes to spare before the bus left.  We went to the locker where we'd left our luggage and (dun dun dun) there was a note on it that said to call security.  (Hearts dropped).  We called, said we had a bus to catch soon and needed to figure out the problem quickly, and of course, twenty minutes and several phone calls later, two people strolled along to "help" us by using a special card to open the electronic lockers, but no luck.  We asked them if they could call somebody else, and they said yeah but it would be a while for him to get there (remember the legal pot smoking element of Amsterdam, no one is in a hurry. Ever.)  While I waited with the security folks, Lea was running to the bus to make sure we weren't left and tried to explain our situation to them.  They didn't care at all and were quite rude, saying that the bus couldn't wait for us.  So, we made a frantic choice to leave our luggage in the lockers and just give them all our information and hope they'd get it back to us.  Oh it was awful to do that.  Lea had a lot of nice books and art work in there because she planned to read and work while she was in Denmark.  We boarded the bus and began a 13 hour trip of misery.  Not only did we have to call and fuss with the station about our luggage and deal with the thought that we may never see that stuff again, but the bus was totally packed, babies and all, and the air conditioning made us too cold to sleep.  I ended up sitting beside a nice guy from Latvia who had nice stories, so some of the hours passed more quickly than others.  When we finally arrived in Denmark where Lea's friend Meg lives, we were worn out.  Luckily Meg works in a castle, so I got the pleasure of asking the question Kelsey once posed, "Where's the nearest castle?" and got an accurate response.  She works in the cafe there (it's a museum, sadly, no potential for me to meet a prince and finally become a princess there) but she offered us food and soon took us to her flat for tea and chocolate.  Those niceties mean so much after hard traveling.  She was insanely kind and rented an apartment for us near her place and gave us clothes and what not in lou of our belongings.  After we tidied ourselves, we joined Meg and her in laws for a tasty meal followed by a trip to the beach.  It was quite cold so we huddled up in blankets and brought a little chocolate and wine and chatted on a dock above the Baltic Sea.  Perfect moment.

The second day in Denmark was spent traveling to the other side of Denmark where we enjoyed the beach at the North Sea.  Again, it was cold and windy, but quite pretty.  We had a traditional Danish hot dog with pickles and weird crispy things and later ice cream. Yum.  Nothing huge happened during the day, but it was all quite nice. That night Lea and I chilled in our apartment and then Meg joined us she and Lea chatted about the olden days. Meg is German and came to Georgia about ten years ago as an exchange student.  She was visiting Lea last year when I was considering moving to Germany and her encouragement helped me make the decision.  The next day I got insanely luckily and got a free ride back to Germany with Meg's mother in law who just happens to live 10 K from my host family and was visiting at the time.  I just couldn't believe how well that worked out. 

Being back was a little sad for whatever reason.  The weather was still dreary that week and I had the feeling of being close to going home, but not quite there, and feeling all kinds of mixed emotions about leaving here.  Luckily after just a few days Lea was back to add some excitement and distract me from my negative tendencies.  Oh, and our luggage made it back to us, thank goodness.  The train station sent it all by another bus two days later so Lea and Meg picked it up after I left.  Poor Lea had to travel back to Denmark with all of it alone, but was a trooper and made it just fine.  Over the weekend Catrin had her 40 and a half birthday party so we helped her get it all ready.  It was a pretty big to-do, but it came off nicely.  Julie and her host family came from Hanover and the weather was beautiful, so we spent most of the afternoon lounging in the grass and eating from the bring-your-own-dish spread.  We did a lot of clean up work to pay for that food, but it was worth it.  We ended the day watching the terribly cheesy song contest Eurovision, and then slept soundly.

The next day Lea, Elisa, and I ventured into Bremen so Lea could see a little more before heading back.  Unfortunately it rained more that day than it has before or since, but we braved the weather and saw the sites and met up with our good old Bremen boys for a Bavarian dinner Martin's mom had made.  Some kind of delicious meatball and soup concoction. Mmm.  Always a pleasure to visit them. 

The last night Lea and I decided to stay in and watch "Where the Wild Things Are."  I know the movie didn't get good ratings, and it's definitely not the kid's story most expected, but it floored me.  I loved it.  I think it does a brilliant job of using gorgeous puppets to portray to complexities of human interaction and love and loneliness and fear.  Just really raw, and after this year and the range of emotions I've experienced, I can relate to little Max.  Anyway, this isn't a movie review blog, but check it out if you can.  I was happy that Lea shared it with me.

Lea left last Tuesday and as a goodbye meal, we stopped for a greasy Irish fry at the pub.  Sausage, potatoes, beef patty, and fries.  Good Lord, couldn't move after all that.  Reminded me that my German dinner of bread and cheese suits me better these days.  She set on her way and 57 hours and a detonated WWII bomb later, she made it home.  Yeah, bombs are still found pretty often and are usually easy for the bomb squads to deal with, but something when wrong and killed them : (  I think Lea was on a train near it, but not really affected.  Anyways, I appreciated that she endured a lot of rough traveling to see me and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

 The rest of the week has been sure and steady.  Still loving my Wednesday afternoons cleaning vegetables and dreading saying goodbye to the people out there in a couple weeks.  Said a temporary goodbye to Elisa last night who is going to spend her last month with another family near Cologne. I'll miss her, but it's really good that she'll be able to see a new place and travel even more during her last weeks.  Oh, and big news for her, I told her about the Savannah College of Art and Design because she wants to pursue theater and design, and she got in!  So, we've already established that she'll be spending Thanksgiving with the Dotsons and I don't have to say a forever goodbye to her.  Daniele is even considering a research position at Vanderbilt in Nashville, so it's possible that my two favorite people here will be in arm's reach next year.  I sure hope so, I love them both. We enjoyed lovely conversation last night followed by silly trips to the little lake in Edewecht and the huge lake in Bad Zwischenahn, both beautiful under a sky full of stars.  Marvelous.

I chose to stay in tonight so I can be good and ready to run a 6.4 K race in Oldenburg tomorrow.  Also attempted to write a cover letter for a possible job. I still have no idea what I'll be doing in the next year, and while I'm reaching out for opportunities here and there, I don't think I'll find the right thing until I'm situated at home.  Which is soon, scary soon.  Oye, saying goodbye to Piet, Catrin, and Jorn is going to be annoyingly painful.  When I see Piet again he'll be older and different and who knows how much of the year he'll remember.  Crazy!  As I should have expected, the weather in Germany has finally turned from dreary to amazing, and I'm about to leave.  I've spent hours and hours in the sun lately, lounging about and reading while Piet is in kindergarten and then playing various games with him during Piet and Katie time.  Yesterday we made clover and buttercup stew and served it to his stuffed animals. Given that Kelsey and I had a whole restaurant fashioned around the big five trunk tree in the back yard, I'm the queen of outdoor cuisine. The sunshine has released us from the confines of the house and the repetitive train routine we were stuck in, and Piet and are having a wonderful time. Sigh, the trouble with loving people.  But, knowing that there are so many smiley faces to see when I get home warms my heart.  Everybody who wants is invited to my house for 4th of July! (Hope that's okay, Mamma).  Alright, time for some sleep.  Wish me luck in the race. Miss you and see you soooon!

Ooooooh what to do....?

Well, after months and months of waiting, the verdict is in.  Of course, I got an answer I didn't predict.  Not a yes, not a no, but a wait. Yep, I'm qualified for the program but spaces have been filled this year so I'm guaranteed a spot for next year. Naturally, I'm bummed that I won't be heading up to Boston and I'm frustrated to begin the planning process again. On the other hand, I have another year to do whatever I please.  Oh, another bit of news, those camps I was excited about required I have my visa by last Friday, but I didn't know that. Also, I realized that if I did go to Boston I wouldn't have enough time at home and then to move up there, so I decided not to do them.  Well, that's what I getting for assuming. The money would be nice and I have plenty of time to do them and come home, but I know the camps are over staffed and begging to work there now seems rude.  So, I'll be home at the end of June unless I decide to go on vacation with my host family in early July.  I haven't been home for the 4th of July in a couple years, so I'll probably come on home.  Also, I think Mamma and Daddy have decided instead of seeing Europe, they'd rather check out a Caribbean island or something that doesn't require us to be at the mercy of the Icelandic volcano. I totally support this plan, I've seen plenty of Europe for now and I'm hoping that the ash doesn't delay my flight home. So, who knows what will happen next year. The best laid plans of mice and men, eh?  I've applied to some social work jobs and I've got a long list of possibilities, but I'm not going to get my hopes super high for any one thing.  I'll just throw out several lines and see if anything bites.  If not, Daddy says I can work out at the feed and seed store : )

Aside from my confused feelings and anxious pursuit of a new plan, I'm having a nice time in Germany still.  The end of April was a busy time for my host parents because they've had big exams to grade so I've watched Piet a lot, but still found time to run and meet up with my buddies.  Two weekends ago the weather was perfectly lovely so Saturday Elisa and I rode our bicycles to Bad Zwischenahn and ate brownies while we watched the sail boats float atop the gorgeous lake there.  That evening I joined my host family at a local talent show of sorts where my host mom danced and she, Piet and Jorn performed "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Piet seemed a little confused during the song, but did really well in front of the crowd.  Sunday was also lovely and Piet's grandparents came to visit, so after a huge lunch, I snuck out and laid (lied? I'll have to ask Cord later) out in the sun in the cute park in my neighborhood.  I don't think I brag on this little spot enough.  It's just a couple minutes away from the house and it's super cute.  There's a small pond where ducks frolic and a winding path serves as a perfect location for Piet and me to pretend that we're in an enchanted forest where witches give us maps, but not always correct maps, of course.  Anyway, on this particular Sunday Daniele and Yvonne joined me on a small hill to soak in the sun our skin has been missing for the past months.  Relaxed and fabulous weekend.

Last week was the normal schedule of watching Piet and cleaning veggies, with one lovely exception.  Elisa invited me to join her at a theater workshop in Oldenburg that was surprisingly conducted in English.  First off, the group met in an old Naval Academy that seemed abandoned.  Large lawns sported grass which was much too high for the meticulous lawn care that is standard in Germany while the retired airplanes aimed to uphold the grandeur the place must have once displayed.  I do have a tendency to romanticize history so I pretended that it was a former location for the Nazi Navy.  Elisa said it wasn't all that old, they just relocated, but that seemed too boring to me.  Ha, we also saw a large rabbit hopping about and when I mentioned that we didn't have rabbits that big in Georgia she quickly responded, "Yeah, because the Dotsons killed them all."  Never has a more accurate portrayal been made : )  When we walked inside the building, we had to meander through weird hallways and rooms to find our group. I think we passed a boat and a statue of a sheep along the way.  We were late, as always, but we jumped right in to the project.  The others had read a newspaper article about a person who had been murdered.  They were then divided into three smaller group so one group portrayed the beginning of the article, while another displayed the middle, and of course the last group wrapped it all up.  I joined the first group and had the rare advantage of being the only native English speaker, so it was a little easier for me to blab about my ideas than the others, but still, I was creatively on fire.  I guess I was just in a good mood that day (I read Fried Green Tomatoes last week and I felt like I'd taken a trip home) but I came up with several ideas for our group and helped connect each group's work when we combined our pieces. Because the article didn't reveal who had committed the murder, we decided to start the piece with two kids playing outside with guns until one (me) accidentally shoots a girl through her open window.  We used a red umbrella to symbolize the blood and the dead girl carries it around the room (no stage) and shows the blood dripping to another person's apartment and then the skit moves into a dance of a kid trying to clean the blood. The other kid and I stood at the window and watched as it all happens until finally the girl we'd killed comes over and hands the umbrella to us, trying to show that we've now got blood on our hands. Creepy, huh?  The whole thing was created in just over an hour and we even had an audience!  It had been so long since I'd been given the chance to think creatively in a group and I simply relished in the experience.  If I can ever figure out a way to combine my passion for theater and my love of social work, I'll be one happy gal.

Alright, so I haven't even started on the most exciting part of the past week...Berlin!!  I met two buddies in Bremen on Friday and we preceded to drive to Berlin. Now, I know my grandmother will shake her head at this, but we used a website to carpool with strangers who were also going to Berlin and only charged us 20 euro to ride with them.  Considering the insane prices of trains, it's a lovely system and probably only works in Germany where people see it as a practical way to save gas and money rather than a way to rob or kill people.  We rode with a Turkish man and his wife who were quite nice and remained so even in over an hour of traffic.  Turns out, May 1st is a holiday in Europe which sorta compares to our labor day, so everybody and their brother was on the autobahn, but we made it alright.  Unfortunately I was a little late to the the She and Him concert, but I still heard most of their set. I must say, Zooey Deschanel sings better in concert than in a studio.  We waited by her tour bus after the show to see if we could meet her, but instead we were just bothered by a drunk man who insisted that he's the new James Bond.  After the show, Julie and I joined some fellow Americans to a tasty Mexican restaurant and then to a pretentious bar where they insisted we buy a drink or leave.  I got a weird look for ordering banana juice, but it's a new obsession of mine.  After that I was tired from a long day of driving so we went to our friend Chelsey's apartment and got some sleep.

Saturday we walked around for a while and saw the Olympic stadium and a church that was bombed during the war, but not rebuilt so it would stand as a reminder of the past. Apparently that church doesn't signify the need for peace to everyone, because May 1st serves as a holiday of protests in most German cities. It seems that some haven't got the memo that Nazism is, like, so last century and they're still protesting for their rights as a political party.  I guess it's just like the idiot neo Nazi skin heads that cause a fuss in America, but these are more organized. Luckily, there are many more people who think that these people are dumb dumbs, so they protest against them. The scariest bit is the police force that marches around the city in full body protection, there to control the crowds.  The protesters usually wait until dark to get their craziness going, so we were out of the area well before that.  I suppose it's cool that there's a specific day for everybody to get out and speak their mind, but it's still strange to me that everyone marks their calendars to protest, does it, and then goes home.  I don't understand what gets accomplished. Maybe a German will explain it better and I can relate it to you.  But now, I'm perplexed.

{Since I first posted this, my buddy Arne informed me that the protests are not as popular as they once were, but they are a way for people to argue against the far right politics (near Nazism) which is "mainly a problem of Eastern Germany, where in some villages right wingers get like 20% of the votes."  He writes, "It's not as organized as you suppose. There are many different groups that only team up on such occasions (another is the day of the Bombardment of Dresden)." Wikipedia says that was a day  the U.S. and Britain bombed a town that Germany argues didn't have much Nazi significance and shouldn't have been touched. Alright, history lesson is done.}

After we left the festival area, Julie and I joined Chelsey at her place and we rested.  We all debated whether or not we could be bothered to get dolled up and go out, but we found energy and managed to meet up with my buddy Jonas from Bremen and his friend Arne.  The night proved to be the first in a long time that I had non stop fun.  We just went to one place, but it was everything a dance club should be.  Not too big or too crowded, didn't smell like smoke, music was great for dancing, and there was karaoke downstairs! After we heard an "interesting" rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody and an impressive version of a song from Phantom of the Opera, we assumed our American obligation of singing Journey.  After camp, "Don't Stop Believing" has become one of my all time happy songs, so I had a blast.  We danced and sang to our hearts' content,  and made it safely back home and slept oh so well.

Sunday we slept in and made ourselves a delightfully American breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. The rest of our time together was spent relating our lives as au pairs and chatting about the ambiguous future we're all approaching as our days in Germany come to an end.  Before I knew it, it was time for me to gather my things and head to a gas station where I'd meet my next team of car-poolers. I was a little nervous about finding the meeting spot alone, and this time I couldn't travel with any of my friends, but to my relief, the place was easy to find and the driver and the two other guys riding with us were super pleasant.  I enjoyed witty banter all the way home, so the 4 hour ride didn't feel long at all.  Good ole Jorn met me at the train station in Bad Z and I was home safely around 11.

This week I've just been trying to come to terms with the fact that I may be staying on my parents' couch for longer than I expected, but I'm happy to have time to enjoy the things I've missed so dearly.  Trips to Chattanooga, singing loud songs on car rides with Tad and Kelsey, riding my horse (if he remembers how), running the two mile loop, meeting little Finley, Sunday lunches at Maw Maw's, all so wonderful.  So, get ready to have me back soon and let me know if a dream job for a social work loving girl comes up.  Miss ya, but I'll see you soon : )

London Town!

 

Halo Lieben Leute!  Hello Lovely People (at least I hope that's what I said).  My German abilities are right at that dangerous point.  I make attempts now and then, only to learn that I've butchered the pronunciation to bits.  Anyways, things are nice here in Deutschland.  It's been sunny and the flowers are blooming, and while it's still chilly, it's pleasant.  I've been running tons and feeling good.  I guess the main point of interest to my dedicated readers is my voyage to the motherland, Britain.  Ah, but before I talk about London I should mention that the day we left we had a while to wait for our plane to leave Bremen so we met up with my buddies Andre and Martin and had a grand ole time.  There was a traveling fair, just as tacky and wonderful as the one that comes to Dalton in the fall (except they don't showcase the world's largest bull like ours does).  We checked out the fair and got to meet several of the boys' friends.  It was so cool to be in a large group of people my age again.  Doesn't happen much anymore.  After the fair we all went back to the boys' apartment and cooked two heaping, delicious pots of chili con carne. Oh yum.  I had a simply fabulous time there. Nothing is better than getting to know funny, interesting people over a home cooked meal.  But before the chili reached our tummies, my friend Julie and I had to get a move on and start our big adventure.

Everything went fine with the flight, but we soon met some difficulty as a result of our hopeful accommodation plans.  We tried out a website called couchsurfers.net where people offer up their couches and sometimes beds for travelers to stay in for free.  It's supposed to be a cultural exchange thing that links travelers to locals and everyone can share pieces of their own story.  So, beautiful idea, but as the wiser among you can guess, it also has great potential for failure.  So, in our case, it wasn't a total failure, but nearly.  Julie and I flew cheap with Ryan Air, which meant we had to arrive in a small airport called Stansted London super late, like midnight, and take an hour bus into the city.  From there we met this couch surfing lady at the bus station and saw that she was friendly and extremely nice to meet us that late at night, but a little hard to talk to.  She's French so English isn't her first language, but something was still off about her.  So, with her we had to take another bus that was like an hour long only to get off and have to walk thirty minutes more to her place, with our luggage.  I was exhausted and found it creepy to be so far away from everything, and get this, the name of her apartments is "Oman"  ha ha!  So we get there and discover that we won't be sold into sex slavery, but we will be sleeping in the same tiny, cigarette smelling room as her.  Not cool.  So Julie looks at me and says, "we're leaving first thing in the morning and getting a hostel", and I wholly agreed.  We made it through the night and after our long pilgrimage back to civilization we found a decent hostel that night and a really nice hostel the other nights and started the sight seeing. 

Overall impression of London: overwhelmingly grand, but difficult to access.  I think I'm a snob of a traveler.  I want to see the big stuff, but if I have to share the experience with ten billion other people and spend tons of money to do it, I don't get too worked up about it.  Still, it was cool to see such wonders as Big Ben, London Bridge and the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, various museums and galleries, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Parliament.  We tried to get to know the area a little by going into non-Starbucks cafes and tried to chat up the locals in a tiny Athens-esque pub one night, but we just managed to meet a talkative Canadian who had a bachelor pad on a boat.  Strange life choice.  On Easter we tried thought we'd find a church service, but as it turns out, it's pretty hard to find a non Catholic church in London.  We thought about seeing a Catholic service, but neither of us had ever been to one and decided we'd probably screw up some ritual and would feel really uncomfortable. So, we found a small protestant church.  I was amazed at the similarities between a service there and one at Holly Creek Baptist.  Similar songs, same vocabulary to talk about Jesus, same alter call.  Small world, I guess.  After the service there was a free meal.  Being the poor travelers we were, this sounded great so we joined them for a tasty pasta and salad meal with ice cream for dessert.  We learned that the catch to a "free" meal was having to listen to people blab our ears off.  Dunno how, but we managed to sit beside the one man in the church who had to investigate and then argue everything.  From our religious beliefs to our perspectives on marriage and dating at our age, he saw no boundaries in where he'd take a conversation.  Julie got tied up with him while I listened to a Spanish lady talk about her abusive marriage which ended her faith in the Catholic Church and having to learn English all on her own to survive.  Oye. We left the church feeling drained.  Did we have signs on our backs saying "We're young and nice so you can tell us all your woes and thoughts because we're silly enough to listen?"

To decompress from that pro bono social work, we decided to take a cheap boat ride down the Thames to see the city from a different perspective.  It was a fabulous decision. We were lucky that the weather was sunny and relatively warm and there was a guide that gave us a brief history of the buildings alongside the river. The boat docked at the majestic Greenwich Village where we walked around the royal gardens and took a look at the trade market as the vendors closed everything down. (We'd have seen everything if we hadn't stayed at the church so long...grrr).  I did have a chance to eat Ethiopian vegetables and buy Elisa a bracelet made from a fork though.  We headed back to London soon after and contemplated what an unusual but interesting Easter we'd had.

The last full day we decided we'd seen enough of London and we wanted to take a bus ride to the city of Oxford. I actually enjoyed the ride out there because there was lots of pretty country side to see.  Once there, I concluded that if my nine year old self had been given permission to just run around the old, scholarly buildings of Oxford, I'd have been the happiest kid in the world. My 23 year old self still had fun. Julie and I kept having giggle fits as she feigned hyperventilation due to the fact that the stars of Harry Potter had been in those halls to record bits of the movie.  We got to see the dining hall that inspired the gorgeous one in the movies, but sadly there were no floating candles or pitchers of butter beer.  It was neat to be in a place where some of the world's brightest brains have walked around.  However, I think Julie and I are the only people to have gone to Oxford and have our I.Q.s lowered.  We made the imbecilic decision to see a movie there since we never get to see English movies in Germany, but we'd have been better off watching the Oxford grass grow.  We saw the film "Remember Me" with that Robert Pattinson guy from the Twilight movies, and oh my heavens, was it bad. I mean BAAADD.  No plot, terrible dialogue, insanely bad acting, and worst of all, they kill off the main character at the end in the twin towers on 9/11.  On a plus side, Julie and I had a lot of fun griping about it the rest of the trip.  And oh, the rest of the trip was exhausting.  Our flight left at 6 the next morning which meant we had to take the 3 a.m. bus to the airport.  We decided to pull an all nighter and the lady at the hostel was nice enough to let us stay downstairs in the common area until we had to go.  We chatted with some nice people, and then lost track of time and had to rush to the bus to get to the station, but it all worked out.  By the time we were on the plane I was too tired to care that we were delayed because the doors on the plane wouldn't shut.  They eventually did, and to my knowledge, didn't open during the flight : )  I had to wait once more for my train to leave Bremen and by lunch time I was back in good old Edewecht, tired to the point of delusion.  I played with Piet for a bit and then took a nap.  Still slept like a baby that night.  Traveling is not for sissies.

So, London ended up to be a lot of strange little experiences within a gigantic city.  I don't think I'll want to go back unless I'm with people who've lived there and can show me the day to day side of it all.  Seeing things through tourist eyes slants everything.  Still, Julie and I got a lot closer and she's a friend I'll cherish for years to come.

Since I've been back I've hung out with Elisa, Yvonne, and Daniele and I'm still so glad that they're here. It's amazing how necessary friends are.  Piet and I have had a great couple of weeks and I'm beginning to realize how hard and weird it will be to leave him at the end of June.  He's figured out that saying things like "You're the greatest au pair in the whole world" just melt my heart. I think he picked up that phrase after I described my favorite chocolate in the whole world, but I'll take it just the same.  He spent the weekend with his grandparents and asked if I'd come with his parents to pick him up Sunday.  I did, and on the car ride home he looked at me and said, "It's so good to see you again."  Melt Melt.  We've been taking long bicycle rides and, of course, building trains.  I think these last months will be really fun.

Still no news from Boston, they now say they'll reach a decision at the end of April.  Maybe it was silly to put all my eggs in one basket, but I really want to be in Boston. Still, I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch.  (Southern expressions are golden).  I am quite sure I'll be heart broken if I don't get in, but something else will come up if I don't.  I'd have more time at home, and that would be nice.  Mamma and I have a tentative plan for our Dotson Family Vacation. Looks like we'll hit up Prague, Salzburg, and Munich and then fly back up here to the north and they can meet my host family and see Oldenburg, Bremen, and Hamburg.  That's a lot of cities, so the plan may shorten or change all together, but I'm liking it for now.  It's so fun to get to combine worlds.

So, just keepin on keepin on over here. Julie and I are planning to see the band "She and Him" in Berlin at the end of the month and my friend Lea from Athens will be here in mid May.  Oh, the love of friends. Going to clean some veggies today and then hopefully Daniele will come to Edewecht and I'll leave him in the dust as we run : )  Missing everyone at home, as always, but so happy that the time is flying and the sun is shining.  Enjoy your enviable swimming pool weather! Bis Spaeter!

Train and Ketchup Heaven

Well it's been a while since I last posted because I've been saving money, which generally results in long nights alone watching my favorite show Veronica Mars or reading...not really blog worthy.  I've never had so much alone time in my life, and while it can be maddening, I'm learning to value it.  Let's see though, what has happened this month. We've had some gorgeous days so Piet and I have finally played outside and I've helped Catrin in the garden a little.  I've been running a good bit too, which makes me feel really good.  Some days I feel like I fly and others I drag along, don't know why. Um, I went with my host family to a neighbor's house where we all sat around a fire pit.  Felt a lot like hanging out with Madi and Tad, with one funny exception.  Instead of hot dog weenies, Germans cook bread on a stick! They just stick some dough on it and practice extreme patience as it bakes. I like our cook it fast, eat it fast method, but this was nice too. Still, there's a business endeavor in there somewhere.  Bratwurst + fire = Euros!!  (maybe)

I guess the most festive activity this month was celebrating St. Patrick's day in the Irish pub.  Elisa and I met up with some of her school friends and were later joined by Yvonne and her brother and it ended up being pretty fun.  There was a nice band called "Arish" who played really well and because Elisa was bustling around the stage as they performed, they took note of us and even dedicated a song to me. I think it was a typical American song so it came my way.  They played again that Friday, and considering the desperate nature of our social lives, we decided to act as their biggest fans to see them again. They seemed pleased to see us too and we played cards after the show.  Although they deemed the game Bull (ahem) stupid, they were funny and nice to get to know.  But, now they've returned to their land of Sweden and it's doubtful our paths will cross again.  Who knows though, facebook has made the world a much smaller place.

Piet would give me a stern look if heard me claim St. Patrick's day as more fun than Monday.  Because, after months and months (literally) of waiting, we finally journeyed to the much esteemed train restaurant!!  To quote Ashley in "Junebug"  it was "Better'n Christmas!"  I have never seen him so excited.  The trains were just like the video and brought all of our drinks and even our desserts right to our table.  Piet was fully impressed when his mom asked for ketchup and before the question had left her lips, the train had arrived with a full bowl.  He also loves ketchup, so really, he's been to heaven and back.  The food was good for us though and it was a delight to see Piet so excited.  Ah, youth.
   
Veggie cleaning continues to be a highlight of my weekly schedule.  Sadly though, I got hit with some rough news there a few weeks back. One of my favorite fellows there was killed in a car wreck the second week in March.  The lady who told me didn't speak English so it took me a few minutes to even know what she was saying, and it floored me.  He's the smiley guy to my right in the picture below and that smile was the first thing anyone noticed when he walked into a room. He didn't speak English either, but he always gave me chocolates that I would save up and distribute to my German class. Oye, death even happens when I'm hiding in Germany.  He will, most assuredly, be missed. 

On a happier note, I got to see another smiley face this weekend for the first time in a while.  Daniele has been the busy scientist that he is and between conferences in Britain and visits from other Italians, I hadn't seen him since my birthday trip.  So finally this weekend we met up and went to an amazing Brazilian restaurant in Oldenburg.  They have this awesome deal where you sit with an empty plate and the servers bring big portions of vegetables and meat and just keep filling up your plate throughout the night.  They had steaks and lamb on skewers and cut it fresh in front of you.  Oh my gosh, it was delicious.  I was so full when we left that laughing caused me great pain.  Didn't stop Daniele from making jokes though.  He is definitely my comic relief in this zany experience.

So, today Jorn's parents came over which was lovely as always.  Piet had two more sets of ears to hear the wonders of the train restaurant and we had a valid reason to eat apple walnut cake.  I am so insanely spoiled with food here.  When/if I get to grad school next year, these days of over eating delicious, free food prepared by other people will be sorely missed. I'm trying to run enough just to break even. I plan to take a break from fine dining in the next week while I spend a cheap-as-possible trip to LONDON!! Yep, leaving tomorrow night from Bremen.  Julie and I will get to Bremen early in the afternoon so we can chill and have dinner with my buddies Andre and Martin and then we'll be flying out!  We've got all our accommodations set and I've composed a list of must sees, but other than that we'll be playing it by ear. I'm just excited to speak English to anyone and everyone again.  It's hard to explain how psychologically restricting a language barrier is when you have to live within it day after day, and although I'm learning and managing, I'll be so happy for a break.  I can speak to the waitresses! I can communicate with the bus drivers! I can talk to strangers! (Just Kidding :)  So yeah, long blog will be due after that.

Please keep us in your prayers this week though.  Traveling reminds me that a billion million things can go wrong, and while using your brain helps the odds, you need the Big Man to have a smooth, enjoyable trip. Also, I'm still waiting to hear from Boston.  I've had to fuss to get some of my paper work in, but it's all there. I called today to confirm this and asked if applicants would still find out in the next days, but the lady said they expect it will be the end of April.  Can you believe that!?!  I really really really hope I find out sooner because I want to start working on a backup plan if it falls through, but I also just want to know where the next phase of my life will be taking me.  Limbo is a strange, uncomfortable place.  But when was a long awaited deadline not extended? I half expected this, but I'm still impatient.  Let me in your school, Boston University!!

Alright, rant over.  I'm going to call Mamma and Daddy and then get some sleep. Hey, we've hit the 6 month mark now.  I'll be home before you know it.  Love you!

First, some eye candy

Geburtstag!!!

http://www.nwzonline.de/index_portal_ammerlaenderwoche.php?ausgabe=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ud3pvbmxpbmUuZGUvbnd6L21vZHVsZS9Tb25kZXJ0aGVtZW4vZmxpcGJvb2tzLzEyNjc2MjA5MzdiaW5kZXIxX3BkZl9mL0RlZmF1bHQucGhw

Hopefully you can access the above link and see the article. Click the right arrow to the second page and use the magnifying glass to zoom in and give your best guesses at the crazy German words. The reporter has assured me that he didn't write me as an axe murderer, so we can all rest easy : ) Actually, I think I understand most of it, and it's basically saying what you already know about me. I'm in Edewecht to take care of Piet, but I want to be involved while I'm here so I'm volunteering at the vegetable place. Mentions that I've studied social work and I hope to study in Boston this fall. I'm really hoping that I haven't jinxed myself by blabbing about that, but we'll see. It also brings up my birthday, and quotes me saying that in America you never plan your own birthday parties. I guess that's not entirely true, but here your colleagues expect you to bring them cake as a thank you for celebrating it with you. Backwards? I think so. Regardless, I planned to make a cake last week for the people at the vegetable place, but my host mom said it's rude to ask people to celebrate before the actual day, even if it's the day before. So, even though it's a little strange to me, I'll be making a cake in the morning for my lovely vegetable cohorts. I'm glad that they could read the article actually, because they really don't know much about me otherwise. Since my German is so limited, I spend most of my time there just doing the work and grinning when I think somebody has made a joke. They're all really kind, but I can tell it bothers them that they can't really ask me questions, so this is a great way for them to know who this weird girl that grins a lot actually is.

So the newspaper thing was cool, but in fact, my host dad stole my thunder by making it into newspapers all over Germany. Jorn managed to earn around 12,500 euros for the economic department at his school by explaining in a video contest what their department does. He's been giddy all week, and we're all really proud of him. He's been in tons of newspapers and totally trumped me by even getting to do a tv special this Friday. I'll have to come up with some spectacular plan now to beat that. Suggestions? : )

So, my birthday was absolutely fabulous. First off, I received a crazy amount of facebook messages and emails, and boy, did I feel the love. Kelsey sent me ten really cheesy e-cards which made me start the day giggling, and my host family went above and beyond. I woke up to a train (to Piet's delight) around my breakfast plate that had candles and 23 on train car. There was also a pretty sherbet colored rose, a headband to keep my ears warm, and a sweet card. They also bought me tasty special bread so I could start the day right with the buttery honey and molasses spreads I love so very much. I spent the morning gloating over facebook and went for a short run to the pretty lake I've discovered in Edewecht. I was blessed with one of the most beautiful days we've had here so I just took it all in beside the lake and thanked the good Lord above for giving me such a great family at home and a loving host family here. The goodness continued when Piet came home and sang Happy Birthday to me and then we had a delectable steak lunch. Mmmm. That afternoon Elisa came over and we all enjoyed chocolate cake. The cake was meant to be a surprise, but when Piet and his mom made it the day before, he came to me grinning with chocolate all over his face and whispered that they were make a surprise, so I put two and two together and chuckled. Cutie. So Elisa and I spent the afternoon riding bikes with Piet and then went to Yvonne's house for the cake that Elisa had made for me the day before. As you can imagine, I was well stuffed at this point, but she made a quite delicious carrot cake and I just couldn't say no. We took the cake to a cafe in Edewecht which was empty aside from a table of old men playing cards and the lady who worked there. We showed her the cake and asked if it was okay to eat it there, and she quite grumpily agreed. We ordered coffees quickly so she'd know she'd get some business and then Elisa pulled out 2 and 3 candles and stuck them into the cake. She and Yvonne started singing Happy Birthday and soon the gentlemen chimed in and even the old lady contributed. We cut the cake, and as we distributed it, a few of the men recognized me from the paper as the Beineke's au pair and happily shook my hand. I was a bit embarrassed, but it was nice of them. I was pleased to observe that after we offered her cake, the woman working at the cafe started to like us and even gave us birthday champagne on the house. She and Elisa exchanged cake recipes and when we left, she invited us to come back whenever we want. Ah, the diplomatic power of cake.

So the birthday madness continued Saturday when we awoke insanely early (for me) to get the train to a tiny town called Wernigerode. I wanted to go somewhere cool for my birthday, but cheap, so my friend Andre suggested we check out the mountains. I can't say that the mountains blew me away, or the town either, but there was a pretty castle and an all you can eat Chinese buffet, so I'm not complaining. Oh, I forgot to mention that Germany got hit with more snow. Yep, it came down Friday and it's still here. This allowed for many snowball fights and silliness throughout the trip, which reminded me that snow isn't all bad. We stayed there Saturday night and then planned to make several stops on the way home Sunday. First we stopped in a nearby city called Gaslor, which probably would have been nicer to stay in on Saturday night, but it was more expensive. I'm glad we saw it though because the buildings were all really old and much more traditional German than I see in Edewecht. It was really sunny that afternoon so we found a bench in a market place and just soaked it up. Really nice. After Gaslor we stopped in Hanover for some ice cream and then we dropped Andre off in Bremen where he walked us to a big hotel where a relatively famous soccer player lives (sounded more impressive when he described it). So the trip didn't have any wowing moments, but it was really fun to be away with a group of people I like so much. We had heated games of Uno and Bull (ahem) Shiz, and we worked pretty well as a traveling team. So yeah, good stuff.

This week I've been feeling a little bogged down with allergies, but my spirits are up. To be quite honest, before my birthday last week I hit an emotional low after I revisited an ugly falling out I had with a friend last year. After some nasty emails that cut me deep, I gave up and sent the whole thing up to heaven,along with my whole life. I listened to a great podcast by a preacher in Atlanta named Andy Stanley, and after praying I sent a simple apology back to my friend, and just like that, she gave me a sincere, understanding explanation and apology for her actions last year. So yeah, after over a year of bitter disagreement, Jesus cleared it up in minutes. Crazy, huh? Since all of that I've finally been able to find peace in my heart here. Before I've spent night after night reliving and regretting the past, and now I'm just happy. Too much info for a blog? Maybe. But that's where I am and I'm glad about it.

So I'm happy here but eager to know where I'm going. March is fading fast and it's not long until I hear from Boston University and can start nailing down some plans for the fall. If I don't get in, I guess I'm just going to have to bum a couch for a while. Any takers? I clean well and can build a mean train!! : ) It'll work out though, I'm certain. Hope everyone at home is enjoying the enviable 70 degree weather. Don't forget to give Madi a birthday hug on the 16th and enjoy St. Patrick's day if I don't post before then. Later taters!

How much for this tractor?

Good news!  The snow has finally melted and green grass has been patiently waiting to make its fabulous debut.  And oh, did it! I forgot how much I liked the landscape here when I first arrived; it can be breathtaking. We're still a few weeks away from the blooming flowers and good old garden work, but spring is in progress.  I've even been able to go for two nice runs.  Sadly everybody in the house has a cold or some junk so I haven't felt like running more, but hopefully I can make up for that this week. Right this minute it's crazy windy and rainy.  Usually it just drizzles, so it's kinda nice to hear the weather make a decision and toss around out there. I'm so very happy to be out of the constricting snow phase, but I guess I haven't given the nice elements of the snow and ice their due.  I loved that the neighborhood kids managed to find the one hill in the whole town and make an ice slide with a hump at the bottom that sent the little ones flying.  Ohh, it was fun to watch. Piet made me so proud by just going alone, but after a few times he was even doing twists and spins!. My little boy is growing up : )

Piet and I continue to play well as he challenges my creativity (That sounded very social worky, sorry, that Boston application has affected my brain). Anyway, one of our best ideas is a little tribute to my lovely Daddy.  Piet pretends to own a tractor store and I pretend to be the various people he must go through to keep it running.  First he comes to me as the banker to borrow money, then he comes to my tractor dealership and buys his tractors.  He sets up his store nicely and then I come as a customer and he has to be a real salesman.  He tells me how much fuel the tractor needs, how often it breaks, and whether or not it has a warranty.  Then I buy a tractor and take it to my farm where it breaks and we have to take it to the kitchen, I mean, tractor repair shop, and fix the problem.  There we take out his pretend tools and we go to town trying to figure out the problem.  If only I knew how tractors really work!  Regardless, he really gets into the game and of course has modified it so that he can sell trains too.  He's engine crazy, but it's cute.  We took him to a model train exhibit last weekend and he might as well have died and gone to heaven.  His parents made videos so we've been reliving the experience all week : )

Oh, another cute Piet story.  Here they celebrate Carnival; I don't know the history behind it and I'm too lazy to wikipedia it, but people dress up like it's Halloween and party like it's Mardi Gras.  The big festivities are held in Cologne and other big cities, but Oldenburg didn't celebrate to my knowledge.  Piet's kindergarten celebrated though and all the kids wore costumes to school. Oh man, brace yourself for Piet's totally awesome idea for a costume: a lighthouse.  Hilarious, huh?  Piet and only Piet could make a lighthouse costume totally adorable.  He loved it and so did everyone at school. I just love him.

Aside from Piet, I'm still enjoying my host family and I've had lots of time with Yvonne, Elisa, and Daniele.  Last weekend the girls and I met my friend Liska for another grunkohl tour which was nice, but struck by a random snow storm, so short lived.  Other than that we've just been doing the same old same old around here, hanging at Yvonnes and going into Oldenburg for the weekends.  It's kinda nice that we can just hang out without doing anything big.  The other night we just ate pasta together and watched Aladin because it was the only English movie on.  Simple, but comforting.  I'm really lucky to have those ladies.

Big news! I finished my Boston University Application Friday night!!  I'm just tickled pink to have submitted it, but now I'm dreading the month or more of waiting for an answer.  If you could send your prayer up that either Boston works out or the right opportunity opens up instead, I'd really appreciate it.  I just want to be busy and to be a resource to somebody somewhere. Anyway, Saturday I woke feeling all giddy about being finished with it and then realized that it was sunny and the Easter flowers I'm growing  in my room started to bloom. Birds were chirping in my head when I walked into the kitchen to find my face in the Saturday morning paper!  Want some back story? Yeah, I thought so.  Sooo, last week a fella came to the vegetable place where I volunteer and did an article about the organization. I think you can see it here:
http://www.nwzonline.de/Region/Kreis/Ammerland/Edewecht/Artikel/2266937/Zur+Pause+in+den+K%FChlraum.html
Good luck translating! I don't have a clue what it says, but as you can see from the picture above, I kinda stick out there.  Because of this, the reporter wanted to know why I was volunteering there.  After squelching any possibility that I may be a criminal doing service time, a lady there explained that I'm an au pair and I like to volunteer because I studied social work back home. He thought it was cool that I'm doing what I'm doing and wanted to do a full story on me.  He came to my house last Tuesday and we hashed out who the real Katie Dotson is over coffee and cookies.  I don't know if he captured the real Katie Dotson, but a bunch of German words were printed about me in both the Oldenburg and Edewecht newspapers. Perhaps I'm being called an axe murderer, who knows. I kinda like the mystery.  When I get a pdf version of it I'll post it and try to get someone to translate it.  It was flattering for someone to recognize that being here is kinda crazy and people might like to hear about it.

Other good news: I've booked a flight to go with Julie to London during Easter.  She's got a friend living close by who we'll meet and then we'll just check out the touristy stuff.  Something nice to look forward to, for sure.  I'm also planning to take a train to the Harz Mountains this weekend for a little birthday getaway.  Elisa, Daniele, and Andre are the only ones who can make it, but it should be nice to take in some natural beauty after the months of yuck weather.  So yeah, birthday week will soon commence and I'll do my best to call you guys since you can't call me like you would at home.

I miss you still, and I'm grateful that I've had such rockin people in my life for 23 years.  It's really cool to move to the other side of the world but still feel tremendous love and support.  We're over the half way mark now and the harsh months are behind us!  Just gotta keep making the most of Edewecht until the end of June then I'll be teaching English camps for a couple weeks.  And then!!! Mamma and Daddy join me for a Dotson family vacation!!!! I don't think they even have passports yet and we don't know where we want to go, but it's in the works and I'm insanely excited.  Any suggestions of amazing European destinations? I've heard that Greece and Spain are great in the summer but maybe Vienna would be nice.  I don't know, I don't even know how to talk like that in regards to a Dotson family vacation, so anything we do will be amazing.  Ahhh, so lucky to get to see all this stuff and have so much planned for the future.  I just pray that the right doors open and I get to experience beautiful things with the amazing people in my life. Anyway, enough of my blabbing, I should get some sleep.  Take care!

Freezing but Friendly

     Alas, another nice week in Germany.  I've actually been quite busy lately and have found myself in the company of great friends.  Last weekend was absolutely fabulous.  On Friday Elisa invited me to her house for a tropical fish dish, or a "let's pretend it's not icy and freezing outside" dish.  She also invited a girl who's dad works with her dad, who happens to be American!  Yvonne is from Chicago but now lives in Edewecht with her parents.  Her Dad is German but worked in Illinois as a horticulturist for a long time. Anyways, I'll chat more about them later.  It was great to meet her last Friday and we all had a nice, uber girly evening.
     Okay, new paragraph for Saturday, because it was a big, awesome day.  We woke up early and drove to Jorn's parents' house.  It was actually a pleasant, snowy drive with a little sun along the way. Oma and Opa were lovely as always and Piet was thrilled to be the center of their attention.  We stayed there for a bit and ate some tasty pizza and just tried to enjoy being warm, since we knew we'd be bleary cold the rest of the evening.  See, we were preparing to embark on an odyssey the Germans like to call a Grünkohl Tour. Grünkohl translates as German kale, but it tastes and looks more like collard greens than anything. I think the tour used to serve as a celebration of the harvests, but now it's just an excuse for old friends to get together and have fun.  So the tour is led by the Grünkohl King and Queen who were titled the year before.  It's their job to decide where everyone will walk and which restaurant they will end up in to eat the Grünkohl.  They also pack a wagon full of alcohol, which helps everyone stay a little warmer and makes the goofy games a bit more fun.  We began the tour at a Jorn's friend's house and then proceeded to walk for about four hours in the snow.   It was cold, but we kept a good walking pace so it was tolerable.  Although I was the only person younger than 30 except for one 13 year old boy, everyone was super nice and pulled me right into the activities.  We were divided into two teams and started the our Grünkohl games with a good old bean bag toss.  Next we tied balloons to our ankles and tried to pop the other team's balloons while protecting our own.  I mistakenly popped the balloon of my own teammate in the first 10 seconds which was really embarrassing and somebody got me out immediately after, so that game didn't go so well for me.  I did better with next game in which we had to put a spoon with a long yarn attached to it through the sleeves of our jackets and pass it on to the next person.  The silliness was fun, but for me the best part of the walk was seeing the sunset for the first time in ages. The sky was an unreal painting of oranges and pinks above vast snowy fields. Simple breathtaking.   But after the sun set the cold intensified and I was ready to be inside.   Luckily it wasn't long until we made it to the restaurant and were quickly served the Grünkohl with a tasty sausage called Pinkel and boiled potatoes. At the restaurant I was feeling a bit bored and tired of not understanding all the German being spoken around me, but after the food was consumed more drinks were served and that room of 40-somethings came alive.  They played music that they all listened to in high school and everybody was dancing and having a great time.  My host mom just loves to dance and is really good, so she pulled me onto the dance floor and I did my best to keep up with her.  We danced for a couple of hours and then became extremely exhausted so we went back to Jorn's parents for much deserved sleep.  The next morning Oma and Opa prepared a tasty breakfast of rolls and eggs and then we made our way back to good old Edewecht.
        Monday night Julie, the au pair from California who we visited in Hanover back in September came to visit me and just like before, we hit it off really well.  We ended up staying up late chatting about the crazy emotional ride of being an au pair and being so far from home and all the little stuff that's been challenging to get used to. As with Hannah, I find it so refreshing to talk to girls who know exactly what it's like to do this job.  So Tuesday I had hoped to show Julie around Oldenburg but the weather was a dreadful mix of snow and rain so we decided to stay in.  Elisa joined us and we played cards with Piet and Catrin served us tasty apple cake.  I really appreciated how accommodating my host parents were for my friends.  They really are lovely host parents.  Julie had to leave that night but we have high hopes of traveling again soon.  We've both applied to work the same English camps this summer before returning home, so maybe we'll even get to work together for a while. 
        The rest of the week was pretty normal.  I don't think I mentioned earlier that my German course ended in January and I've decided not to spend the money on another one.  I liked it but it's pricey and the bus money was adding up, and it's already served it's purpose of introducing me to friends, so I'm okay with my decision.  I've still been cleaning the vegetables once a week and have continued to really enjoy it, even if I never know what anyone is saying.  So I did that Wednesday and then Thursday was invited to have dinner at Yvonne's house.  Her parents are absolutely lovely and have graciously opened up their home to Elisa and me, even after we burned popcorn in their kitchen and stunk up the whole apartment : ) We've all clicked really well and have spent a lot of time together these past few days. Friday we went back to her house to watch a soccer game and yesterday we all went to Bremen to meet the buddy we met at Avatar a few weeks ago.  So, my social life has gone from sporadic to constant and busy lately, and I'm absolutely loving it.  I'm happy to be in a group of girls who are all in a new environment and who I think will take very good care of each other.  It's also nice to have Yvonne's parents around.  They've helped manage exchange student programs in the past and understand how it is to be young and in a new country, and are willing to help us out with little things like driving us the little ways home so we don't have to walk on the icy sidewalks.  My host parents have been great about driving me to the bus lately too, but I don't feel comfortable asking them to pick me up when I'm just out for fun.  Good Lord, I'll be happy when the snow and ice are gone though and I can walk around town with out freezing or ice skating.
     After all the girl time I've had lately that hasn't included my old buddy Daniele, I decided to spend today with him for a lovely Sunday drive.  We drove to the north sea in hopes of seeing the sun shine on the harbor, but of course, the sun was hidden.  We ended up spending several hours in a restaurant where only very old people eat and getting lots of funny looks as we giggled about ridiculous English jokes that we just hope no one understood.  We walked in the icy sand to see the water, decided it was really too cold to be outside, and then spent another hour giggling over cappuccinos.  He'd be angry if he knew I was depicting him as a giggly girl, but he really is hilarious and we laugh together a lot.  He's another friend that I'm glad is here to share this experience with.
      So nothing to whine about at all.  I've got a sturdy group of friends at the moment and things are going nicely with my host family.  Piet and I have had some really good days lately and his imagination is getting bigger and bigger so the games are more fun.  We've enjoyed checking out videos on howstuffworks.com so he can see how train engines work. I don't know how much of it he gets, but I'm hoping it will jump start his little mechanical mind.  If he grows up to be a mechanical engineer, I'm taking full credit : )   It's going to be so weird to see him grow up after I leave...hrm, don't want to think about that.
      I hope everyone back home is making it through these bleary months until spring gets here.  I know it will be here before I know it, but warm weather can't come quickly enough.  But, when it gets here the time will fly and I'll have to start again with new friends in new places, and I'm not ready to do that.  I'm trying hard to enjoy every moment here and make the best of it all.  I would appreciate if everyone could keep my future plans in their prayers. I'm still working on my statement of intent for Boston University and I desperately need inspiration in making it grad school worthy.  I'm confident in my blogging skills, but remembering how to write academically is a whole different ball game, especially when I have to talk about myself.  But, it'll get done and I've got faith that I'll end up where I need to be.  Your prayers have gotten me this far so I'm trusting that the future will play out as it should.  I'll keep you all in my prayers too.  Missing and thinking about ya, can't wait to see you again soon! 

"Everything, everything will be alright"

I am happy to say that I've been in great spirits the last week.  I've simply refused to think about the cold and have filled my mind with good memories of spring and summer.  In my mind I've spent a lot of time on softball fields that smell like freshly cut grass, running around the loop in Chatsworth just after dark on a hot summer night, or spending an afternoon at Aunt Ann's pool and then taking a long nap at Madi and Tad's house. When my mind is actually here I'm preoccupied with applications.  My camp application has been sent and the Boston University one is over half way completed.  Having a paper to write feels good, even though I feel stuck every time I sit down to write it.  I've got to put my intentions as a social worker down on paper, which is tricky.  But, I've got until the beginning of March, so it will get done. 

The past two weekends have been great fun.  Last Saturday I got up early and met Daniele and Elisa at the train station.  There's a ticket for trains that makes it super cheap for 5 people to ride in Lower Saxony, so we made it to Bremen and back for just 5 Euros.  It costs me more than that to take the bus to Oldenburg, so it's an awesome deal.  So, we made it to Bremen and walked around in the bitter cold.  We saw cute statues from the Bremen Town musicians (pictured above) and found a street called "Shnoor" that is supposedly the smallest street in the world with the smallest hotel in the world, which is only for married couples.  We went to see the movie Avatar in 3D while we were because it was in English and met some cool fellas who are students at a university there.  After the movie they showed us a manhole that has a picture of the Bremen Musicians on it and a little slot on the top.  When you put change in it either a Donkey, Dog, Cat or Monkey say thank you in their respective languages.  I mean, I guess it's thank you.  German and Donkey sound similar but I've yet to perfect either.  So after checking out these cute attractions we decided it would be nice to feel our extremities again so we warmed up over dinner and came home.  Definitely a successful day, mostly because of my humorous company.

Sunday and the rest of the week were nice but unexceptional.  I woke up early several mornings to take Piet to kindergarten because Jorn had to be at work earlier than usual and couldn't take him.  He is an economics teacher and his students were doing a business management game in a company in Oldenburg.  He was pumped about it and said that the kids really enjoyed it and did a great job.  His department also received an award from the state for their overall performance, so he's been feeling quite chipper this week.  Piet continues to be obsessed with trains.  I would love to share this obsession so rebuilding the train tracks five times a day would interest me a bit more, but it's just not my thing. We build trains in pretend restaurants that bring the drinks to you, trains in his room with lego and cardboard tunnels, trains that go into his playhouse, or office, where he can sort his order for toy cars, and today we made a train that can go straight to my closet where he had a party with all his stuffed animals.  Trains, trains, trains. If he'd just play dress up or Barbies, I could totally get into that.  We have pretended lately that we have horses that can change colors based on their moods (Wizard of Oz jokes are sadly lost on him) and that's fun to me.  We went out for coffee Saturday morning in Oldenburg and the horses came along. The folks sitting beside us understood enough English to be totally confused.  Good fun : )

The rest of Saturday was absolutely lovely.  After returning from Oldenburg with my host family, I had a quick lunch and then rode back to Oldenburg with Elisa and her host family.  They dropped us off near Daniele's house so we met him and went to a giant supermarket to get supplies for a big dinner.  They are both a little high strung so just watching them fuss over ingredients is like watching a sitcom.  I love them.  It took us about 2 hours, but we finally finished our shopping and went back to Daniele's.  Two other friends from our German course joined us as well as one of Daniele's coworkers, so for once we weren't an awkward trio. He made a huge pasta, cheese, and veggie dish that was fabulous and Elisa made a nutella cake.  Oh, and Daniele made a creamy Italian dessert called mascarpone. Delicious. Needless to say, it was difficult to move after all the food, but we managed.   We decided to go out later that night and meet more of Daniele's friends, who each proved to be delightful.  They were all in their early 30s which was nice, they felt old enough to keep an eye out for us but young enough to have fun until the wee hours of the night.  They showed us a cool place to dance and we had a ball. They played a song called "The Middle" by a band called "Jimmy Eat World" that was popular in the states about ten years ago, and it brought back all sorts of happy memories.  I think I first heard it on a family vacation in Madison, Georgia.  Tad played it on his Mp3 player and we jumped on the beds in the cabin, listening to it over and over.  I think dancing silly is what Tad and I do best together.  In addition to the nostalgia, the song kinda said everything I need to hear right now.  Basically, just to remember that I'm in the middle of a ride but it's all going to be alright so I need to keep my head up.  I guess it's a nice way to connect the past to the present and stop worrying.  So I have,  I've been in a splendid mood ever since.  Oh, and the sun was out all day today!! It was still insanely cold, like 19 degrees, but it was gorgeous.  The ground is only dusted with snow now so it's enough to look pretty but not be a hassle.  Oh, and it was Mexican Casserole day here, which happens to be my favorite lunch day.  I hummed "La Cucaracha" all morning and thought about how fun a Cinco de Mayo party will be this spring. Lovely way to start the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty and I have a lot planned so it should be an awesome day, but I'll wait to write about it after the fact.

So, I'm back in my groove and I'm feeling good.  I'll feel even better when these applications are in the mail and I know what I'll be doing in the fall, but I'm not too worried about it all.  I hope everybody is doing well at home and the rain hasn't carried you away.  I miss home, but time is passing quickly and I know I'll see you all so soon.  It's already been over 4 months, can you believe that?  Crazy.  I'll be in touch soon, love you!