Today we went to a Farm Festival in a nearby town! It was lots of fun. We walked around the vendor's booths and saw cute halloween stuff, soaps, pasta, salami, wooden cutting boards, cleaning brushes, jewelry, all kinds of stuff. The best part was when we walked over and found the huge display of pumpkins!!! We got some food, well Chris got a brat and I was going to get pumpkin soup but they ran out. After eating we picked out a beautiful handmade basket, then filled it with pumpkins!!! I went back to the booths to buy some cute ghosties, but only one was left and I talked myself out of it because he had a goofy smile. But I bought fall leaves instead to put in my vase. It was a beautiful area, especially since it was covered in pumpkins! There was a really nice golf course, so I imagine we'll go back there sometime.
Callie was bad yesterday! I let her roam the yard while I was watching tv and when I called her she didn't come, she had gone into the next yard and was playing in the bushes. She still wouldn't come, so I had to bribe her with treats. I think I'm going to have to break the leash back out. Maybe I can find a longer one so she can roam the yard more freely, but still be contained. She;s happy now though because Chris and I dissected her water fountain and removed the furry cat hair that was blocking the pump, now it flows freely!
On Thursday I ate at an Indian restaurant for a girl I work with's going away party. It was the best Indian restaurant I've been to! I'll have to take Chris soon, he couldn't go because he was working. Last night I went to a party at a friend's house while Chris was working away. I'm thinking maybe we'll have a Halloween party! How fun would that be! Once we get through this week Chris's schedule will be much better. When we got here he was in charge of the customer service counter, then he was on quality assurance (checking all the documents from the customer service counter), and now he's in budget to help with the end of the fiscal year. He may end up staying in budget until he leaves in March. Personally, I like him in budget better, but as long as he's happy I'm ok. When he's working customer service he doesn't have a free second for anything, he can't call me to tell me anything, he doesn't even get more than a 5 minute lunch. In budget he gets his hour lunch, he can take a second and call me if necessary, it's a lot easier to contact him. So we'll see what happens.
On Tuesday I'm having my sewing machine lesson at the store I purchased it! It should be interesting, the nice German man who sold it to me's son will be teaching me, and his wife will be translating. Really I want to know how to clean it and keep it up, I've completed all the squares for my quilt top and now I'm starting to sew the squares together, so I pretty much get the basics. I haven't had much luck finding fabric around here, though there is a huge fabric store in Berlin. I think I may order some fabric online, JoAnn's is having a fabric sale this weekend online.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fall in Germany
Autumn in Germany is chilly. Let me provide an example of how chilly it is: today is September 23 and I wore a sweater to work. In Missouri you could barely convince me to wear a sweater in December or January, I would get too hot. Okay, so it's not that cold, today was in the low 50s, but the sweater thing is true! Maybe I get too hot because of excessive heaters...speaking of heaters we do not know how ours work. It gets pretty chilly at night, we have a quilt, and down comforter, and we're still snuggling for body heat. Each room has at least one heater, and we tried to turn a few on but nothing happened, I suppose we'll have to call the landlord.
I was so excited to go back to work today and be awesome because I just got back from training. Didn't happen that way. I only did 3 things today that I had learned at training. But I did them well! There's soooo much other stuff to do that I've never been introduced to before. Our banking center gives me a headache, I can't wait for the new Kaiserslautern Military Community Center to open on Ramstein, we will have a fancy new facility in it! Unfortunately, it was supposed to open 2 years ago, there are construction problems and it keeps getting pushed back. So I wonder if I'll even be here for the move, but I hope it won't take 3 more years!
Chris is working long hard days in the budget office for the closeout of the AF fiscal year, so after work today I went exploring! I went to the grocery store in Ramstein Village (as opposed to Ramstein Air Base) because I had been recommended that their produce was much better than the commissary's. It was so much better! The produce was wonderful, I just ate a fresh yummy salad. I also bought some yogurt, there are so many different kinds and flavors. Since I'm not big on the texture of yogurt, I also bought museli, which is kind of like granola, to put in it. I love finding new things, especially when they're off base, I feel more like I'm experiencing the German culture. Have I mentioned lately that I love the Germans? I can very much tell my heritage is German.
We received our new queen mattress and box springs yesterday! Here's another example: when we take Callie outside she's so excited and plops right down on the concrete and rolls around stretching because it feels so good. When Chris and I laid down in our new bed, we rolled around because it felt so good! I slept so much better last night on our happy new mattress than I have for months! Now we just wait for our gorgeous wooden Belgian bed to be made and delivered, and our bedroom will be all set! Then comes a new couch, chair, and ottoman, our borrowed living room furniture is even more miserable than our borrowed bed. It's very miniature, so to compensate we've chosen an oversized sofa to buy!
Remember the fancy, expensive kitty cat water fountain I purchased for Callie? It stopped working :-( The motor makes it's little noise, but it's not pushing the water out the fountain anymore. Callie was appalled at the bowl of water I presented her with this morning! I bet she'll be back in the sink pretty soon...
I was so excited to go back to work today and be awesome because I just got back from training. Didn't happen that way. I only did 3 things today that I had learned at training. But I did them well! There's soooo much other stuff to do that I've never been introduced to before. Our banking center gives me a headache, I can't wait for the new Kaiserslautern Military Community Center to open on Ramstein, we will have a fancy new facility in it! Unfortunately, it was supposed to open 2 years ago, there are construction problems and it keeps getting pushed back. So I wonder if I'll even be here for the move, but I hope it won't take 3 more years!
Chris is working long hard days in the budget office for the closeout of the AF fiscal year, so after work today I went exploring! I went to the grocery store in Ramstein Village (as opposed to Ramstein Air Base) because I had been recommended that their produce was much better than the commissary's. It was so much better! The produce was wonderful, I just ate a fresh yummy salad. I also bought some yogurt, there are so many different kinds and flavors. Since I'm not big on the texture of yogurt, I also bought museli, which is kind of like granola, to put in it. I love finding new things, especially when they're off base, I feel more like I'm experiencing the German culture. Have I mentioned lately that I love the Germans? I can very much tell my heritage is German.
We received our new queen mattress and box springs yesterday! Here's another example: when we take Callie outside she's so excited and plops right down on the concrete and rolls around stretching because it feels so good. When Chris and I laid down in our new bed, we rolled around because it felt so good! I slept so much better last night on our happy new mattress than I have for months! Now we just wait for our gorgeous wooden Belgian bed to be made and delivered, and our bedroom will be all set! Then comes a new couch, chair, and ottoman, our borrowed living room furniture is even more miserable than our borrowed bed. It's very miniature, so to compensate we've chosen an oversized sofa to buy!
Remember the fancy, expensive kitty cat water fountain I purchased for Callie? It stopped working :-( The motor makes it's little noise, but it's not pushing the water out the fountain anymore. Callie was appalled at the bowl of water I presented her with this morning! I bet she'll be back in the sink pretty soon...
Friday, September 19, 2008
Second Week in Mainz
Yay, training was awesome! I flew right through it, earning 100% on my final role play, sent back to my branch with a level of "minimum" supervision (the lowest possible), and recommendation to return to credit training in the near future! I learned a lot, and it was an exciting break from the normal bank scene, but I must say I am pleased to be back home with Chris and Callie and get back into our routine. I'm also glad to be home because I was sick all week :-(
Maggie's 11 month old lab puppy came to stay with her for the last 3 days of training! We took him on long walks through the city park, which I fell in love with. It's huge, with animals, a beautiful flower garden, an aviary, mini-golf, fountains, playgrounds, and who know what else because we didn't explore it all!
Today I walked on the Ramstein Flight Line! The Ramstein Officer's Spouse's Club is hosting their huge fall Bazaar, and it's located in hangars and tents on the flight line. It was pretty cool watching planes take off and land in the near distance while I explored.
I have a lazy 3 day weekend I plan to fill with plenty of sleeping, reading, and quilting. Plus, Chris and I are planning and reserving our trip to the Mediterranean! We're going to go stay in Agrigento on the island of Sicily in Italy! There's beaches, Ancient Greek temples, and of course Italian food, how much better could it get!
Maggie's 11 month old lab puppy came to stay with her for the last 3 days of training! We took him on long walks through the city park, which I fell in love with. It's huge, with animals, a beautiful flower garden, an aviary, mini-golf, fountains, playgrounds, and who know what else because we didn't explore it all!
Today I walked on the Ramstein Flight Line! The Ramstein Officer's Spouse's Club is hosting their huge fall Bazaar, and it's located in hangars and tents on the flight line. It was pretty cool watching planes take off and land in the near distance while I explored.
I have a lazy 3 day weekend I plan to fill with plenty of sleeping, reading, and quilting. Plus, Chris and I are planning and reserving our trip to the Mediterranean! We're going to go stay in Agrigento on the island of Sicily in Italy! There's beaches, Ancient Greek temples, and of course Italian food, how much better could it get!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
New Belgian Bed!
We bought our bed today! It's a beautiful wooden Belgian bed, I tried to find a photo to post but it wasn't on the store's website. Chris loves it, and it was a king size which I wasn't too thrilled about, but then the nice lady told us we could get it in queen size so that's what we did! Our new mattress will be delivered next week, and the bed will be made and delivered in 8-12 weeks. Yay, our first piece of European furniture!
Here's the photos that go with my last blog, I finally got them to upload.
Here's the photos that go with my last blog, I finally got them to upload.
Friday, September 12, 2008
First Week in Mainz
This week was the first week of my Community Bank Customer Service Representative training. I’m staying in a four star hotel in Mainz, and I go to class daily at the Community Bank headquarters on the Mainz-Kastel post, a tiny, sad army post. There is a teller class too, but this was their second week and they’re done with school. In the CSR school we have 6 girls, 3 in the Germany class and 3 in the UK class. We are in separate classes because the UK has a sterling pound account to learn about, and of course in Germany we don’t have a pound account! We’ve been learning and creating accounts and such all week, everything is starting to make sense and go well.
The first things we learned about were the Community Bank values, spirit, seven key drivers, and lots of theory behind the way we work with customers. It was a nice review, but we were excited to start getting into the practical, on the job stuff! We have been opening accounts, which involves creating and signing forms, creating customer files, and adding the accounts on the computer. We’ve also gone through adding overdraft protection, and ordering VISA check cards and checks. Today we did standing payment orders, which are essential because that’s how we pay our German bills automatically in euros each month from our Community Bank accounts!
The 6 CSRs have really hit it off, we hang out all the time! We eat breakfast and dinner together daily, and do other fun stuff like exploring the hotel and town. Our hotel is amazing!!! In addition to fancy rooms, it has a few restaurants, a spa, overlooks the Rhine river, and is right on the edge of the city park. Sunday night when Maggie and I arrived (we carpooled from Ramstein) we walked through the big wine fest going on in the park. It of course included Germans singing old ‘80s songs in English, they’re big fans. Monday night we found fun things in the hotel, there is a bunny hotel, a huge aquarium, a large tropical room with palm trees and such, an amazing pool, a sauna, a solarium (fancy German word for the tanning bed Maggie utilizes), and a massage room. On Wednesday night I had a massage. That’s right, I was rubbed down by a burly German man, and it was great! I haven’t felt so relaxed in years, he rubbed out all the kinks and tension I’ve been carrying for so long. Thursday Maggie and I enjoyed the rooftop hot tub, we watched the sunset and enjoyed the not-too-hot-just-right temperature of the water.
It’s a lot of fun to feel like a part of a group again! Maggie and I have hit it off great, we do everything together. Rebecca is fun, and we joke about Missouri because that’s where her husband is from. She was surprised and thought I was joking when I said I had been to his hometown, Boonville, but I’ve been there tons. Jennifer is from Missouri too! She’s from West Plains, down by Arkansas. She’s super sweet. Katrina is the most hilarious person I’ve met in a long time. She’s from Carrolton, GA which Chris says is near Newnan. She’s so innocent, and says the best things! One of the questions she asked was “are unicorns real? I’ve always wondered” and so much more. Amie-Leigh is British married to an Italian American, and she lived in Idaho for 6 years. She is a nut and we love it! She tried to convince our waiter to let her keep her beer glass the other night, and then pointed out she couldn’t steal it because her purse was too small anyway.
I found the coolest book in Maggie’s hotel room, it’s a book full of sheep. Very few words, just sheep. Pictures and pictures of sheep. The purpose is to look at it when you get in bed and it will make you sleepy! I wonder if the Germans count sheep. I love it!
The first things we learned about were the Community Bank values, spirit, seven key drivers, and lots of theory behind the way we work with customers. It was a nice review, but we were excited to start getting into the practical, on the job stuff! We have been opening accounts, which involves creating and signing forms, creating customer files, and adding the accounts on the computer. We’ve also gone through adding overdraft protection, and ordering VISA check cards and checks. Today we did standing payment orders, which are essential because that’s how we pay our German bills automatically in euros each month from our Community Bank accounts!
The 6 CSRs have really hit it off, we hang out all the time! We eat breakfast and dinner together daily, and do other fun stuff like exploring the hotel and town. Our hotel is amazing!!! In addition to fancy rooms, it has a few restaurants, a spa, overlooks the Rhine river, and is right on the edge of the city park. Sunday night when Maggie and I arrived (we carpooled from Ramstein) we walked through the big wine fest going on in the park. It of course included Germans singing old ‘80s songs in English, they’re big fans. Monday night we found fun things in the hotel, there is a bunny hotel, a huge aquarium, a large tropical room with palm trees and such, an amazing pool, a sauna, a solarium (fancy German word for the tanning bed Maggie utilizes), and a massage room. On Wednesday night I had a massage. That’s right, I was rubbed down by a burly German man, and it was great! I haven’t felt so relaxed in years, he rubbed out all the kinks and tension I’ve been carrying for so long. Thursday Maggie and I enjoyed the rooftop hot tub, we watched the sunset and enjoyed the not-too-hot-just-right temperature of the water.
It’s a lot of fun to feel like a part of a group again! Maggie and I have hit it off great, we do everything together. Rebecca is fun, and we joke about Missouri because that’s where her husband is from. She was surprised and thought I was joking when I said I had been to his hometown, Boonville, but I’ve been there tons. Jennifer is from Missouri too! She’s from West Plains, down by Arkansas. She’s super sweet. Katrina is the most hilarious person I’ve met in a long time. She’s from Carrolton, GA which Chris says is near Newnan. She’s so innocent, and says the best things! One of the questions she asked was “are unicorns real? I’ve always wondered” and so much more. Amie-Leigh is British married to an Italian American, and she lived in Idaho for 6 years. She is a nut and we love it! She tried to convince our waiter to let her keep her beer glass the other night, and then pointed out she couldn’t steal it because her purse was too small anyway.
I found the coolest book in Maggie’s hotel room, it’s a book full of sheep. Very few words, just sheep. Pictures and pictures of sheep. The purpose is to look at it when you get in bed and it will make you sleepy! I wonder if the Germans count sheep. I love it!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Brussels...Sprouts?
This weekend Chris and I took an adventure to Brussels, Belgium. Starting off, it took us over half an hour to find the hotel, with the GPS. Then it took us an hour to find a parking space. We finally got oriented and found the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, the main square in town.
We started with the Brussels Brewery Museum, which was small but nice. We walked into the original old part displaying wooden barrels and old brewing tools. The new part displayed stainless steel brewing devices, a video, and a wall description. We went back to the old part and were served Belgian beer!
Our next stop was the Comic Strip Art Museum, which I read to display Tintin, the Smurfs, Charlie Brown, Batman, and more. We were quite disappointed by finding one Smurfs display amongst lots of unfamiliar comics.
Our next museum was a surprise Chris found for me on the map, the Frommer's guide I read mentioned nothing of it! Chris took me to an instrument museum! It was great! The first floor explored different sounds that different instruments make, and it had a hands-on room where we played piano, trumpet, clarinet, and bass. The second floor showed native instruments from all over Europe as well as the Middle East, the Far East, and Africa. The third floor chronicled the development of today's instruments. My favorite finds were bassoons, the coolest ones I found had serpent/monster mouths for the bell joint, I wish I could have taken a photo!
We wandered around the Grand-Place and stepped in and out of shops. Belgium is known for handmade lace, and after several lace shops I finally found a Q monogram hand lace handkerchief! We went to the Manneken-Pis, which we found tributes to all over town. Walking along the seafood street, a waiter caught our attention and whisked us in for dinner. My meal was great, but Chris was not terribly impressed. We were completely exhausted by this time so we walked back to the hotel and watched movies till we fell asleep.
Sunday we woke up and headed for the Atomium, a structure 65 million times the size of an actual atom. It was neat to look at, and we decided it was too expensive to wander inside the spheres and learn about atom stuff I already knew and could explain to Chris myself. We tried to find the Grand and Petit Sablons, but didn't have much luck. We went back to the Grand-Place and ate Belgian waffles for lunch, I bought some Belgian chocolate, and we hit the road.
On the way home we stopped in St. Vith, Belgium and explored two large furniture shops filled with gorgeous and outrageously expensive Belgian furniture. I've decided it's time to start browsing antique stores.
Very relieved to be back in Germany, we decided Germany was the prettiest country! It's hilly and the rolling hills are covered with pine forests. Back home we decided we needed something familiar after such an unfamiliar weekend so we ate dinner at Chilis, which promptly made my stomach upset :( so I went to bed.
We weren't terribly impressed with Brussels, but we're not giving up on Belgium. There's still other cities to visit, which will hopefully be more fun. But we're glad we went, otherwise we wouldn't know if we liked it or not.
We started with the Brussels Brewery Museum, which was small but nice. We walked into the original old part displaying wooden barrels and old brewing tools. The new part displayed stainless steel brewing devices, a video, and a wall description. We went back to the old part and were served Belgian beer!
Our next stop was the Comic Strip Art Museum, which I read to display Tintin, the Smurfs, Charlie Brown, Batman, and more. We were quite disappointed by finding one Smurfs display amongst lots of unfamiliar comics.
Our next museum was a surprise Chris found for me on the map, the Frommer's guide I read mentioned nothing of it! Chris took me to an instrument museum! It was great! The first floor explored different sounds that different instruments make, and it had a hands-on room where we played piano, trumpet, clarinet, and bass. The second floor showed native instruments from all over Europe as well as the Middle East, the Far East, and Africa. The third floor chronicled the development of today's instruments. My favorite finds were bassoons, the coolest ones I found had serpent/monster mouths for the bell joint, I wish I could have taken a photo!
We wandered around the Grand-Place and stepped in and out of shops. Belgium is known for handmade lace, and after several lace shops I finally found a Q monogram hand lace handkerchief! We went to the Manneken-Pis, which we found tributes to all over town. Walking along the seafood street, a waiter caught our attention and whisked us in for dinner. My meal was great, but Chris was not terribly impressed. We were completely exhausted by this time so we walked back to the hotel and watched movies till we fell asleep.
Sunday we woke up and headed for the Atomium, a structure 65 million times the size of an actual atom. It was neat to look at, and we decided it was too expensive to wander inside the spheres and learn about atom stuff I already knew and could explain to Chris myself. We tried to find the Grand and Petit Sablons, but didn't have much luck. We went back to the Grand-Place and ate Belgian waffles for lunch, I bought some Belgian chocolate, and we hit the road.
On the way home we stopped in St. Vith, Belgium and explored two large furniture shops filled with gorgeous and outrageously expensive Belgian furniture. I've decided it's time to start browsing antique stores.
Very relieved to be back in Germany, we decided Germany was the prettiest country! It's hilly and the rolling hills are covered with pine forests. Back home we decided we needed something familiar after such an unfamiliar weekend so we ate dinner at Chilis, which promptly made my stomach upset :( so I went to bed.
We weren't terribly impressed with Brussels, but we're not giving up on Belgium. There's still other cities to visit, which will hopefully be more fun. But we're glad we went, otherwise we wouldn't know if we liked it or not.
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