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

Our House

Sorry for the absence in the last few weeks. The good news about the absence is because Katie got a job! Well, two jobs really, and working on a third. She doesn't like to be bored. So the paying job is substitute teaching at the elementary school on base. So far, she's been called in 1-2 times per week and has been able to work in the developmental preschool room where they loved that she is an occupational therapist (which means they will be requesting her whenever they need a sub!). The second job is the volunteer position at the health clinic on base. It only took 4 months and lots of hoop jumping to make this happen, but she will finally be treating brain injured patients again! Katie will be at the clinic one day per week with the hopes of convincing them that Katie should be a regular, paid employee (fingers crossed that sequestration doesn't happen...). The third job is a possible online craft store, but that's another battle of getting approval and jumping hoops.

In other news, we are finally posting pictures of our house for everyone to see! Enjoy!

 The front and side of our house

 

Front door and hallway

 Front room used for our large collection of books and where the dog stays when we are not home.

 

 Living Room

  Dining Room

 Kitchen

 

 Guest Bathroom and Laundry Room

 Guest Bedroom

 Upstairs hallway

 Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

 Katie's Craft Room and guest room when needed

 Storage space

 Office

So that's pretty much the house. Sorry for the dark pictures, but we don't get much sun here right now. We are looking forward to the spring so there is more sun and more stuff to do around here!

Miss you all!
~ Katie and Mike