Where in the World are Mike and Katie?

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

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

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 everyone!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday! We had a lovely Christmas with Katie's family here. We got to see some amazing sites:

Katie and her family spent the weekend in Paris:

du Louvre

The bridge of locks - couples come here and place a lock with their initials on it to show their everlasting love.

The hotel we stayed in

Versailles - that's real gold!

The ceilings were magnificent

The palace bedrooms

In Du Louvre

Mona Lisa - so small!

Notre Dame

Family walking around Notre Dame

Amazing stained glass windows!

Then we spent time in Germany. Everyone got to experience the Christmas Market in Rudesheim. We also visited a castle - Schloss Heidelberg. You can see the changes in architectural style as the castle was destroyed and re-built over the years.

Giant wine barrel

Stairs to walk over the wine barrel

Destroyed part of the castle

Overlooking Heidelberg

We also saw the world's largest cuckoo clock in Wiesbaden:

It was wonderful to have family here. We learned that there is not much to do here after Dec 23rd (note to future visitors). Regardless, it was fun to relax and hang out with the family.

New Year's eve was a pretty low-key event for us. We had friends over and went out to dinner and watched a movie. In Germany, fireworks are legal for New Year's use only, so at midnight every German was outside lighting off fireworks. There was no organized town or city show, it was just on all the streets, in between houses, in the fields, everywhere! It was pretty amazing to stand outside and be surrounded by fireworks. It was hard to know where to look - every direction there were fireworks! Mike promised that next year he will be out there with everyone else setting them off (note to future visitors).

As with any new year, I like to reflect on the past year. And let me tell you, 2012 was a year we will never forget. At the beginning of 2012 I would have never thought we would be living in Germany right now. This year has been the most exciting, challenging, adventurous, stressful, straining, and busiest year of our lives. I cannot speak for Mike, but I am extremely thankful for what this year has brought me. We are both very excited for 2013 and hope it will not be quite as busy as 2012. I have a lot of plans for this new year. No resolutions per say, but just goals. My main goal is to learn more German and get a productive job/volunteer position started. There are lots of plans in the works and I hope to have something finalized in the next month.

Look forward to pictures of our furnished house in the next few weeks!

Wishing you all an adventurous 2013!

~Katie and Mike

Friday, December 21, 2012

Christmas in Germany!

Hi everybody!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! The house is just about ready for my parents and brother to visit. I will be spending a few days in Paris with them and then we will all be in Germany for Christmas. Very exciting!

I have to say that I loooooove Christmastime in Germany. The approach to the holidays is vastly different than in the US. There's no black Friday. No crazy sales and pressure to buy buy buy. It's much more low key. Christmas here means Christmas markets which are these rows of vendors set-up in towns and cities. People visit them during the week and especially on the weekends, in which they meander their way around the vendors, eat delicious fair food and drink Ghulwein (delicious spiced, hot wine). It is the perfect way to find unique gifts and enjoy the company of your family and friends. Here are pictures from some of the local markets:

The market in Wiesbaden (closest large city to us). We went to the opening ceremony where they turned the lights on. These were the angels who danced around and turned on the lights.

So pretty with the lights on. The symbol for the city is lilies so that's why they are all over the market.

After the lights came on, Mike and witnessed the craziest performances ever. On stage is a large bubble. Inside - a woman playing the saxophone. After a few minutes someone ran on stage and popped the balloon.