Sorry for being MIA the last few months :)

But it was for good reason, I think.

The summer and fall was very busy for Mike and I. We made two trips back to the states, one in July for our wedding shower and one in October for our wedding! It was a wonderful and busy few months leading up to the wedding, trying to plan everything from abroad, and the actual day of our wedding could not have been more magical. It was everything we could have wished for and we enjoyed every second of it. I am told by our photographer that we will have our pictures soon and I will be sure to post them here for you all to enjoy.

When we got back from the wedding, I was hoping to have more free time to blog, work on my hobbies, and put more effort into learning German, but that did not happen! When I got back to my 20 hours per week job, it soon became many more hours because of an influx in new American patients being referred to our clinic. It is wonderful to be needed and valued in this community, but it was extremely overwhelming for my boss and I to wade through the 20 referrals a day and countless phone calls. We sort of have it under control now, but its definitely a work in progress. I am grateful for this job - I am learning more and more every day, but working with American patients 8-9 hours per day, makes it very hard to learn German, as you can imagine. It's definitely getting better, but its going slowly for sure!

In other news, Mike is taking a new step in his career - he will be entering the world of management starting this summer. This also means that our time here has been extended by an extra year (more time for you all to visit us!). We will now be here until Fall 2016.

Not much else new here. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our friends here who really are more like our overseas family. We are so thankful to have them in our lives and it makes holidays away from family that much easier. Now it the time of year where we get to enjoy lots of Glühwein and Christmas Markets. Mike's parents are coming out next week to visit us and enjoy the magic of Christmas in Germany. Then, Mike and I will be travelling to Südtriol (the Italian Alps) for the week of Christmas for skiing (hopefully) and relaxation. I say hopefully for skiing because Misty and another dog ran into my knee last week while playing and the pain is not going away. We'll see what the doctor says later this week - fingers crossed!

Here is a taste of the Wiesbaden Christmas Market, one of my favorites!



We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be better at updating, I promise! :)

Miss you all,
Katie (and Mike)

Die Sommer!

Hallo Freunde!

I can't believe how fast this summer is going! We finally have summer(ish) weather here in Germany and I am realizing why this country is so great (I am also understanding why Germans are so sun obsessed). Sadly, I also know it will not last forever. So, we are making the most of the nice weather and trying to get out on the weekends. Since we are in Germany, there is a fest pretty much every day and we have been taking advantage of them.

Let's catch up on what's been going on here in the last few weeks:

I spent a long time getting our backyard in better condition since it is overgrown with weeds. Here are some before and after pictures:

BEFORE

AFTER

My Rose Bushes bloomed this month too:

There was a fest on July 3rd on base for Independence Day. There was food, rides, games and of course, fireworks. It was really fun and the fireworks were impressive.

On Friday after 4th of July, Mike took off from work so we drove 90 minutes to Burg Eltz which is a really cool Castle. It has been owned by the same family since it was built over 800 years ago and still has many of the original furnishings. We took a really nice tour through several of the rooms of the castle. Definitely somewhere we would return to when we have visitors.

This is the path you walk from the parking lot to the Castle, it is a nice 10-15 minute walk. 

The first view of the castle.

The courtyard

The car ride had some crazy windy roads up and down the mountain that you can see here on the GPS. Mike was loving driving this road in his BMW, I was thankful for the slow truck ahead of us on the way back :). 

Over this past weekend it was Sekt Fest in a town near us. Sekt is what the Germans call bubbly wine or Champagne. We had a few bottles and hung out with friends along the river, it was a good time.

This picture is of a woman who came to the fest via kayak and her dog is sitting in the kayak with her! So impressive especially on the Rhein river which moves very fast!

We enjoyed the fest. 

In other news, all three animals have been having issues over the last several weeks. Both cats had UTIs and were on antibiotics and supplements and now special food for the rest of their lives. And, Misty had an infection from a bite she got at the kennel we had her in when we went to Croatia last month. Luckily, after 8 days of antibiotics and lots of bandages to keep her away from it, the sore is healed and Misty can run free in the stream again! We are glad to have all our pets healthy!

I have been working 3 days a week in the afternoons (its a pretty nice schedule) at the German clinic. I have an amazing variety of clients and I feel like I am becoming a "generalist". This is something odd for occupational therapists as of late, since we all seem to specialize in a certain area. I was a brain injury specialist and now I am seeing children and adults with all sorts of diagnoses. I am learning a lot and growing professionally for sure. I feel challenged and have very supportive bosses. It has been a great experience thus far!

In addition to working, I am also taking German lessons with a private teacher who specializes in medical terminology. I work with him twice a week for 90 minutes at a time. It has been super challenging to learn German and I have had my ups and downs with how I feel I am doing. Overall, I am definitely understanding more and while I can say a bit more in German, I freeze up when it comes to using it in public. I study several hours a day and I am trying to immerse myself in as much German language as possible. 

Other than that, we have been good. We are getting ready to head to the states in a few weeks to see family and do some wedding preparation. We are definitely looking forward to seeing our families and getting a little taste of "home". 

This weekend is BretzelFest (yes, a fest for pretzels), and I will take lots of pictures for you to enjoy!

Schönes Wochenende! (Have a nice weekend!)

~Katie (and Mike)

Croatia

Mike and I were able to squeeze a 4 day vacation into our busy schedules and it was wonderful. We went to Rovinj, Croatia. We stayed in a hotel on Katarina Island off the coast of Rovinj and took a short boat ride to and from the island to do site seeing everyday. It was a very relaxing, enjoyable four days and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. Croatia uses the Kuna as its currency and currently the exchange rate is 1 kuna = .17 cents USD. So pretty good deals even in a touristy area. Because it is on the Adriatic Sea, there are lots of fishermen and the fresh fish daily was amazing! We had some of the best fish ever on this trip. In fact, the first night the waiter brought a platter of fish caught that morning and we picked the exact fish for them to grill - delicious! Mike did learn a lesson though - don't order the grilled squid, no matter how fresh it may be :)

Here are some pictures from our trip:

The pool at our hotel

Downtown Rovinj, a sea of boats

Oldtown Rovinj

The oldest Roman archway in the city

We climbed the clock tower of the cathedral. The staircase was really, really old and wooden - needless to say it was a bit scary!

But, ultimately, worth the views.

The view from our balcony at the hotel. I love the color of the water here. 

On a boat cruise around the islands off of Rovinj

With some sketchy grappa they gave out on the tour. 

Relaxing after some grappa and wine on the boat. 

Love love love!

On the island we stayed on.

Part of the island. The beach is very rocky (no sand here).

Mike's favorite find while exploring the island.

We took another boat cruise to the Lim Fjord a bit north of Rovinj. It was nice but disappointing because the boat stopped for an hour and we thought we could go hiking or something and it was only touristy stuff - oh well. We also stopped at a cave where the Captain Morgan stayed one night - but again, it was turned into a touristy bar and you had to pay to go in. I would not recommend this boat tour.

It was a lovely trip and I wish it had been warmer so we could have gone swimming, but maybe next time. They are predicting the coldest summer since the 1800 for Europe this year - go figure. 

Anyway, life has been busy since we got back. It has been raining a lot here, so much that the Rhein River, which we live on, flooded - the worst in 10 years. So bad that the major road that takes you to our house was closed for 7 days - making commuting a bit of a hassle. Luckily we had a few sunny days last week and the water has receded so that we can use the roads again. 

This past weekend was a big fest in Wiesbaden. It was a fun time and I got to see what I call "butt bells". Here is a clip of what I am talking about: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10100234465591009&l=5075769002196804169

Okay, maybe it was all the strawberries soaked in wine, but I thought that was pretty funny!

Next weekend is Strawberry Fest. I am really enjoying strawberry season here - its hard to not eat an entire box of strawberries every day!

That's all for now!

Tschuss! 

Katie and Mike

8 months!

Can you believe it, Mike and I have been living in Germany for 8 months already! I am really starting to feel settled, especially because I finally got a job doing Occupational Therapy, see details below :)
So as many of you already know, I am currently as substitute teacher and while I do enjoy it, the constant changing schedule and not knowing if you are going to get a call to work and having to jump into someone else's shoes, is exhausting. But, I will say that because of substitute teaching I made enough connections to find an OT job here in Germany! Hooray! Let me tell you how it happened. I was subbing for a special education teacher for a while and one of his aides and I became friendly. She started going to a PT for an orthopedic issue in a German therapy clinic. One day the PT told  her that he would like more English speaking therapists because he sees so many Americans at his clinic. She got in touch with me through the secretary at school and told me about the opportunity. Well, after a meeting with the PT and his OT co-owner, they decided to hire me!

It wasn't as easy as "you're hired", and through some mis-communication due to language barriers there was a lot of stress involved, but at this point, I am hired! We are still working on getting the tax documentation so they can properly pay me, but that is the last hurdle to jump.

I have learned a lot in this process about how the healthcare system works in Germany, the crazy amount of taxes that employees and employers pay here, and how little therapists are paid. So, while it will be awesome to be paid in Euros vs Dollars (because of the exchange rate), I won't be getting paid nearly as much as in the States. Regardless, I made the decision to take this job because of the experience. I mean really, did I move to another country to work on a military base, be surrounded by Americans all day and never learn German?! NO! While I will start out treating only Americans at the clinic, I will be working part-time so I can go to language school and hopefully become fluent in German. If I become fluent, I will start working with German patients as well and then I could work as many hours as I want because they need so much help at the clinic.

I am excited, but have so much to learn. The clients I will have at the German clinic will be mostly children with Autism, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, etc and some adults with orthopedic issues. All of my professional experience is with adults with traumatic brain injuires - hence the "I have a lot to learn". It will be good and I will move back to the states with a very well-rounded resume of experience.

So right now, I have three jobs - substitute teaching, volunteering to see patients on base, and the German clinic - making my life a bit busy. Luckily on June 14th substitute teaching will be finished and I will have a set schedule for the German clinic and volunteering. I am going to keep volunteering because it will allow me to keep working with people with traumatic brain injuries, which I love.

So that is the big news. Very exciting and overwhelming at the same time. But I think that is the way it goes for any big change, right?

Anyway, Mike has been super busy with work, but we were able to fit in a short 4-day vacation to Croatia this past weekend. It was beautiful there but still not quite warm enough to go swimming. I will post more on our vacation next week.

We were teased with Spring weather a few weeks ago but now it is rainy and cold again. The one good thing is that when it is sunny, we have sunlight from 4am to 10pm pretty much. Hopefully the weather will start to get better soon because I have a lot more gardening to do and lots of fests I want to attend this summer!

HOp

~ Katie and Mike

Dogs.....

Guten Tag!

I have a song stuck in my head....its called "Dogs". It is a preschool song, stuck in my head because I was substitute teaching in the developmental preschool all last week. Let's just say after the same song, "Dogs" is picked 3 days in a row, it will be stuck in your head. It also reminded me that I have been meaning to write a post about dog culture in Germany.

Dogs in Germany are a beloved animal and treated with a lot of love and respect. Much more than in the United States, in my opinion. There are some animal shelters, but most dogs in Germany are purchased from breeders. The breeders are very picky about who buys their puppies and interview all potential owners and their family members. Most Germans do not spay or neuter their dogs and this can be a challenge when everyone walks their dogs off leash.

Did I mention, everyone walks their dogs off leash here (at least in the farm/vineyard areas). In fact, if your dog is on a leash it usually means there is an issue for example, they might be in heat or have behavioral issues. Germans see a dog on a leash and avoid them. Sometimes, owners will put their dogs on leash to meet initially, but then take them off after they smell each other.

Because of all these cultural differences, it has been an interesting transition for Misty here in Germany. Misty has never walked off leash before. One, it is illegal in the United States (and in Germany, I have come to discover, but no one pays attention to that law here) and two, she has very poor attention and the nose of a hound. So, when I first started walking Misty in Germany, I got a lot of funny looks. Eventually, there was a group of women who I met and they said I could walk with them and Misty would learn from their dogs how to walk off leash. After months of daily walks and lots of tasty treats, Misty now walks off leash with great success.

Another issue we had with attempting to walk Misty off-leash, was how she approached dogs to meet them. Misty would see another dog and take off running full speed into the dog, which is a very agreesive approach and did not help her make any friends. Eventually she figured out that she needed to slow down, and let the other dog approach at the same pace as her. In fact, now she doesn't go up to all the dogs and knows which ones she does not get along with and avoids them.

So now Misty is walking off-leash, knows who her friends are, and can introduce herself appropriately to other dogs and people. Woohoo, progress! But, there are still bumps in the road for Misty here. Since Misty is a rescue dog, she has some issues. One of those issues is with farm animals and, unfortunately, we live in farm country. It wasn't a big issue over the winter because the animals were quiet or tucked away where Misty could not see them. Now that Spring is here, she can see them and hear them, and they bother her. The two types of animals we see most often are sheep and horses. Misty once ran away from me to try and get to the sheep and now I have to distract her with treats and sometimes, put her on the leash for the short part of the walk by the sheep. She has mostly gotten over her issues with the sheep and will listen to me if she sees them.

The bigger issue is with the horses. There is one horse farm near our house which we pass daily. She can see the horses across the stream and sometimes barks at them. They also ride the horses by our house sometimes and Misty gets very agressive and barks incessently. She shakes and just cannot get over the fact that the horse is next to our house. I don't know why, and I cannot stop her barking when she starts. The cats hate it too and will come and attack her to try and stop the barking. Needless to say, it disrupts the calm, quiet house we have.

The horses also recently moved to a field across from our house. Misty can see the horses all day long and she can hear them too. Oh boy, has this been a fun issue to deal with. I have to cover the windows in the room where she stays during the day when we are not home and block the bottom of the gate by the door so she cannot crawl under. We are hopeful that the horses are being temporarily lodged by our house, so that Misty can not be a barking nuisance every time she sees them. Maybe someday she will get over it, only time will tell.

I hope you are all enjoying the Spring weather. It has been beautiful here with all the green leaves popping and flowers blooming. The vines are starting to get a few leaves too which is fun to see! I got my first sunburn of the season this weekend at a wine fest (in my defense, I have a head cold and Mike was responsible for me thinking straight and forgot to remind me. In his defense he says, "You always put on sunscreen!" haha).

I am working 3 jobs right now, with only one actually paying me, so it has been very busy. There are changes for my job coming up this summer and they are exciting, but I will leave that for a post later this week. :)

Until then, have a wonderful week!

~ Katie and Mike

Where is Spring?!

Hi friends and family!

I know that we have not updated our blog in a bit, but there has not been too much to update on. It is still cold and dark here in Germany. It has been the darkest winter on record here. Our German friends tell us that we might just skip Spring all together at the rate we are going. Slowly, it has started to get warmer and there is supposed to be sun on Sunday!!! That has probably been the hardest part about this winter, the lack of light is just terrible.

Anyway, right now it is Spring Break for me (Katie) because the schools are out so that means no work for this week. I have a big to-do list that I am trying to work on over the week. Mike has been really busy with work. And prior to this week, I have been working almost every day at the schools. The teachers are starting to realize that I am an occupational therapist and are hoping I take a job as a special education aide next year. Right now there are no prospects of an occupational therapist job where we live. And with the government budget cuts, I doubt they would create a position for me. That leaves me with an aide position at the school or maybe commuting 3 hours a day to the largest military hospital in Germany. So, I have been doing a lot of soul searching about this. I love being a therapist but the commute would kill me. I do not want to move us - it is too difficult, we are just starting to feel settled and we would be living far away from all of our friends. I haven't made any firm decisions yet, but I have lots to think about over the next few months.

In other news, I am starting to pick up more clients at the clinic on base where I am volunteering my OT services. It is hard balancing a volunteer position and paid work at the school. Right now I have been able to work a full day at the school and then see two patients one afternoon after work. But, as my caseload grows that will not be feasible anymore. It will get figured out, it is just nice to be doing some therapy again.

Mike and I did want to get away for a weekend during this break, but it didn't work out. We were able to get out to Strasbourg, France on Sunday. It was actually sunny and we had lunch outside. The waiter thought we were crazy, it being only about 48-50 degrees, but we couldn't resist with the sun being out! Strasbourg is only about 2 hours away from our house, so it was a nice day trip. The city is surrounded by rivers and we took a boat cruise which taught us about the history of the city and allowed us to see a lot more in the 70 minute boat ride than we would have just walking around. We also climbed tiny little spiral stairs up 66 meters to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral where the views were amazing! At the end of our trip we stopped at a chocolate museum which sounded awesome on the brochure, but was a big letdown of 1980s animatronics and unsanitary conditions. (Don't worry, we won't take our visitors there).

Here are some pictures from our day trip:

 Yay! We made it to France!

 On the boat cruise - sorry for the glare on all the pictures (we'll have to go back when it is warm enough for the boat to be uncovered). We went under these tiny bridges that were just tall enough for the boat to fit under. One bridge actually pivoted away on one side to let us go through. 

 We were in a lock at one part and the water slowly rose over 5 minutes to allow us to go through - pretty cool!

 The town is really cute and has lots of old, traditional houses. 

 This is the oldest tree in Strasbourg. 

 Covered bridges were common in the 18th century, I believe. I can't remember why...I guess I'll have to go back and hear it again! :)

 You can see holes at the lower part of the wall here where they used to shoot at people to protect the city.

 A pretty church on the river bank.

Such a beautiful day! Did you know that the European Union parliament is located in Strasbourg?!

 A perfect sunny day!

 Notre Dame Cathedral 

 Climbing to the top!

 Getting closer!

 At the top of where visitors could climb to, but the building keeps going up!

 The view overlooking Strasbourg to the south (I think).

 The view to the north (I think).

 Back down we go!

 Inside - stained glass from the 12th and 14th centuries

 The square outside the cathedral.

The chocolate museum - enough said!

We'll that's all for now! Miss you!

~Katie and Mike