Crying in Croatia

June 12, 2012

Since my last posting about our adventure to Italy, we made trip to Croatia. We went to Croatia in early May for a long weekend. We took a cheap airline there, and everything was going smoothly… too smoothly. We made it to customs and I have never had my passport   ALL of our passports examined so closely--- minutes felt like hours. Thankfully we were allowed into the country. Then the unimaginable happens: Caitlyn didn’t get her way. She had set down her prized possession (a pink blanket) in the customs line, and a lady handed it to her… Caitlyn didn’t want it handed it her, and the temper tantrum of 2012 begins…

Caitlyn is screaming, kicking, and crying. The security guards have now focused in on us. After about 30 minutes I get Caitlyn to calm down, and we can now get a taxi to go to our hotel. Once in the taxi and leaving the airport, we are pulled over by the airport police, and he is asking the taxi driver questions about us (Because the taxi driver is the perfect person to ask details about our lives :::::sarcasm:::: ). In the end we made it to our hotel.

The trip started out a little rough:

-We broke a glass

-Dave walked into the closed slider door (haha)

-Oh yeah and I locked us out on the balcony at 11pm while it was raining. To get down from the balcony it was a choice of jumping into staggered rocks 30 feet below or climbing a wall and knocking on the slider door of my neighbor who was climbing into bed. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place! Well, I’m still alive so I chose knocking on the neighbors sliding glass door as she was climbing in bed--- then I found out she didn’t speak English, but she got her husband and thank goodness he spoke some English. I walk through their apartment to make my ¼ mile walk in the rain to the front desk. Made it back in time to finish my beer! J

When we had breakfast the next day I think our waiter could tell we were slightly tense. He came out with two spirits for Dave and I, on the house! I don’t think I have drunk a spirit that early before--- but it really turned things around! We relaxed, and made it the rest of the vacation without any good stories to share! 

 pula amphitheater

A time for self reflection

June 7, 2012

We are half way through this life adventure, and there have been many emotions that have surfaced that I did not know existed until now. The first 5 weeks were more challenging than I can even express. The emotion of isolation was most prominent. I do not have extended family to love, friends to laugh with, and in most cases I am not in the position to fill these voids. Having a language barrier is extremely difficult. I have learned to appreciate other things in life: laughter, play, beautiful sights, and the sky.

After the first 5 weeks, life here in Germany became my life. To be honest I was happy and I loved it. We were fortunate to have David’s parents visit us the past 2-½ weeks. We traveled around Europe together (more stories to come). After I brought them to the airport, I cried--- the type of cry that takes your breath away.

Dave asked,

“What is it?”      “Do you miss home or your parents?”

My reply was,

“I don’t know whose life this is… but it is not mine.”

Thankfully I am not in that position anymore! This is my life!!!  J

But I do miss all of you… everyone from ‘home’. I’m happy living in Germany once again, but life is not the same without coming in contact with people who know me. I am afraid I may come home a better person J I will make more time for the people in my life and cherish that time, and for that I am grateful.

Italy and Life

April 15, 2012

I am FINALLY a pro at German grocery shopping! YAY! Let me give a little information about grocery shopping here… you need reusable bags. (If you don’t have any, then you have to buy them at the store.) Emma was my grocery bagger, but she could never keep up. Every trip I would say “Come on Emma hurry it up.”

Then I went shopping alone… and had to bag the groceries myself---- surprise surprise--- I couldn’t keep up. In my head I was thinking That cashier is rude… she was scanning my groceries at a 100 mph 160 kmh. I decided I needed to watch how other people were managing to bag their groceries… and the verdict is…… they don’t bag their groceries! I should have put them back in my cart and bagged them once I got to my car! It makes me laugh thinking about how many times I went to the store, held up the line, and bagged every last item! J Oops!

On Easter weekend we took our first big family vacation. We drove through the Swiss Alps, into Italy. and we stayed on Lake Como. I kept wondering…

“Is this real?”      “Am I dreaming?”

It was an eight-hour car ride, and the kids were behaved the WHOLE time. And I again asked myself    “Is this real?”   “Am I dreaming?” ha-ha They loved the mountains, and they LOVED Italy.

A couple side notes:

The other day Dave was pulled over by the police. A police car pulled in front of him, and a sign on the back on the car flashed  :::please pull over:::: so he did. Fortunately, it was a random pull over to make sure everything was legal. He didn’t get a ticket, but how crazy is that!!! I can’t imagine how I would have reacted.

Emma just completed a horse camp last week. She really enjoyed it and wants to do it again later in the summer. They taught her how to take care of the horses, and they did some riding.