In fine November tradition, our very own illegally-adopted Amy Platt joins the ranks of 27 today. Have a great time at Kitt Peak, guys! Wish I could join you.
And speaking of honorary family members, my dear friend Sara Unangst is also turning 28 today. Jeez! We met when we were 15 -- since when did we suddenly become adults?? (Oh wait, maybe that's what all that "growing up" stuff was...)
Happy birthday, my dearly loved friends.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!!
Well, November is just a birthday-filled month! First, Shauna and I turned 27; then last Saturday, Michael turned 28; and guess who's turning 8 today...???
I hope you have a wonderful day today, Chloe! I love you and miss you... eat an extra piece of cake for me!
Two splendid sisters
I hope you have a wonderful day today, Chloe! I love you and miss you... eat an extra piece of cake for me!
Two splendid sistersSaturday, November 17, 2007
Fun in the cold November rain
Speaking of birthdays, last weekend was one of the most memorable in years.
To begin with, it was going to be my first real birthday without *any* family or old friends. (Last year's didn't quite count as "overseas", I think, since I had so many friends and acquaintances from Arizona who happened to be spending the year in Germany that our meeting in Leipzig was still a very American one!) But this year, I was a bit curious as to how it would be. Having just started all this freelance-English-teaching business, I'd been too busy to really plan anything in particular; not to mention we'd just made such a big deal of Bert's birthday, plus Halloween two weeks later, that it felt a bit too soon to be having yet another party at our place. Yet what else can you do with a group in the middle of November? And... well, somehow I felt a little shy about asking everyone out to celebrate my bday. I don't know why; maybe it's because, even though I have felt very much accepted from the beginning, and really taken into the group, some part of me still felt a bit like the newest member and the foreigner. I didn't quite know how to approach it.
Well, I really do have the most wonderful friends, here. They must have all sensed this, somehow...
First off, Nadja called last week to inform me that she and some of the other girls were taking me to a danceclub on Friday night, no ob's, und's, or aber's. So I called some of the people I knew from Neustadt -- Linda and Verena, plus an American and Australian couple who just moved to Germany this year -- and asked if they'd like to join us. We ended up having about a dozen people at a wine bar on Friday night! Not everyone knew each other at first, but they all got along great. From there, we went to a club in Ludwigshafen, and had such a great time that everyone stayed until closing. We danced, laughed, requested songs, exchanged phone numbers... the Ludwigshafen girls even had the DJ announce my birthday at midnight! It was such a wonderful time that the slight hangover the next morning was worth it. :)
Well, I thought that was it. What a lovely birthday celebration: great company, great mood, great time. I already felt loved and welcomed into my new life, here.
The next day, Saturday, Bert had instructed me to get ready to go hiking. He wouldn't tell me where we were going or what we were doing, just that I should dress warmly. So we hopped a train headed for the Pfaelzer Wald... and got off again at least half an hour before I'd expected to. ? Get off; look around; and there at the train stop, standing in the rain and grinning at me, were *everybody*! Not only the ones who'd come out the previous night, but also everyone who hadn't: Martin, Florian, Olaf & Sonja, Ritch & Julia... huddling under umbrellas and yelling, "Ueberraschung!!!" Someone popped a bottle of champagne (hm, hair of the dog?) and we all stood right there at the train stop and toasted and opened presents. Everyone was dressed in hiking gear and backpacks; so, despite the rain, we took off toward the woods for the originally-planned hike.
We didn't get very far. The November weather was so nasty that everyone was quickly soaked, and Bert decided that the front lobby of a bank (closed on Saturday) was just as good as any Waldhuette. We all piled inside, and proceeded to have a merry little picnic right there in the lobby. Everyone had brought different ingredients: Sonja had a delicious hot Gluehwein in her thermos-pot; Olaf had Wurst; Florian had cheese; Martin, bread; and Verena had even made a loafcake with chocolate frosting, and brought it wrapped in tinfoil, along with plates and forks. Bank customers would come in to use the ATM machines, and look around in surprise at the crowd of hikers and dogs -- wet gear steaming in the warm room -- drinking Gluehwein and offering them a Wurst.
We finally adjourned to a cozy little Gaststaette in Maikammer for some hot coffee when the rain let up, and afterward set off once again to walk through the gleaming autumn vinyards towards Hambach. The walk was beautiful: golden grapevines, heavy with the late harvest, all under the watch of colorful hills crowned by the Hambacher Schloss. The wild weather made everything cozy, and the mood of the whole day festive and fun -- even as the afternoon gradually wore on toward evening, no one really wanted to go home! The rest of the night was spent hopping from cafe to restaurant to tavern, eventually ending up at 2 in the morning back at our local Ludwigshafen haunt, Cafe Josephine (where I got my free bottle of birthday champagne :) ). My last memory of the night, I think, was falling rudely asleep at 3 in the morning on Martin's couch while he attempted to show me pictures of their last hike in Bavaria. It was such an unexpected and wonderful birthday surprise. Yes, I knew I'd made friends, here; yes, I like them all very much and have felt quickly integrated into the group. But it so touched me that they all had made such a special effort to show me that the feeling is mutual, that they like me for my own sake, too, and not just because I'm Bert's girlfriend; I was told several times that I'm not allowed to go back to America any time soon. Awww!
Man, I don't think any one person can get any luckier or happier. Thank you so much, everybody. And here are the pictures, too!
To begin with, it was going to be my first real birthday without *any* family or old friends. (Last year's didn't quite count as "overseas", I think, since I had so many friends and acquaintances from Arizona who happened to be spending the year in Germany that our meeting in Leipzig was still a very American one!) But this year, I was a bit curious as to how it would be. Having just started all this freelance-English-teaching business, I'd been too busy to really plan anything in particular; not to mention we'd just made such a big deal of Bert's birthday, plus Halloween two weeks later, that it felt a bit too soon to be having yet another party at our place. Yet what else can you do with a group in the middle of November? And... well, somehow I felt a little shy about asking everyone out to celebrate my bday. I don't know why; maybe it's because, even though I have felt very much accepted from the beginning, and really taken into the group, some part of me still felt a bit like the newest member and the foreigner. I didn't quite know how to approach it.
Well, I really do have the most wonderful friends, here. They must have all sensed this, somehow...
First off, Nadja called last week to inform me that she and some of the other girls were taking me to a danceclub on Friday night, no ob's, und's, or aber's. So I called some of the people I knew from Neustadt -- Linda and Verena, plus an American and Australian couple who just moved to Germany this year -- and asked if they'd like to join us. We ended up having about a dozen people at a wine bar on Friday night! Not everyone knew each other at first, but they all got along great. From there, we went to a club in Ludwigshafen, and had such a great time that everyone stayed until closing. We danced, laughed, requested songs, exchanged phone numbers... the Ludwigshafen girls even had the DJ announce my birthday at midnight! It was such a wonderful time that the slight hangover the next morning was worth it. :)
Well, I thought that was it. What a lovely birthday celebration: great company, great mood, great time. I already felt loved and welcomed into my new life, here.
The next day, Saturday, Bert had instructed me to get ready to go hiking. He wouldn't tell me where we were going or what we were doing, just that I should dress warmly. So we hopped a train headed for the Pfaelzer Wald... and got off again at least half an hour before I'd expected to. ? Get off; look around; and there at the train stop, standing in the rain and grinning at me, were *everybody*! Not only the ones who'd come out the previous night, but also everyone who hadn't: Martin, Florian, Olaf & Sonja, Ritch & Julia... huddling under umbrellas and yelling, "Ueberraschung!!!" Someone popped a bottle of champagne (hm, hair of the dog?) and we all stood right there at the train stop and toasted and opened presents. Everyone was dressed in hiking gear and backpacks; so, despite the rain, we took off toward the woods for the originally-planned hike.
We didn't get very far. The November weather was so nasty that everyone was quickly soaked, and Bert decided that the front lobby of a bank (closed on Saturday) was just as good as any Waldhuette. We all piled inside, and proceeded to have a merry little picnic right there in the lobby. Everyone had brought different ingredients: Sonja had a delicious hot Gluehwein in her thermos-pot; Olaf had Wurst; Florian had cheese; Martin, bread; and Verena had even made a loafcake with chocolate frosting, and brought it wrapped in tinfoil, along with plates and forks. Bank customers would come in to use the ATM machines, and look around in surprise at the crowd of hikers and dogs -- wet gear steaming in the warm room -- drinking Gluehwein and offering them a Wurst.
We finally adjourned to a cozy little Gaststaette in Maikammer for some hot coffee when the rain let up, and afterward set off once again to walk through the gleaming autumn vinyards towards Hambach. The walk was beautiful: golden grapevines, heavy with the late harvest, all under the watch of colorful hills crowned by the Hambacher Schloss. The wild weather made everything cozy, and the mood of the whole day festive and fun -- even as the afternoon gradually wore on toward evening, no one really wanted to go home! The rest of the night was spent hopping from cafe to restaurant to tavern, eventually ending up at 2 in the morning back at our local Ludwigshafen haunt, Cafe Josephine (where I got my free bottle of birthday champagne :) ). My last memory of the night, I think, was falling rudely asleep at 3 in the morning on Martin's couch while he attempted to show me pictures of their last hike in Bavaria. It was such an unexpected and wonderful birthday surprise. Yes, I knew I'd made friends, here; yes, I like them all very much and have felt quickly integrated into the group. But it so touched me that they all had made such a special effort to show me that the feeling is mutual, that they like me for my own sake, too, and not just because I'm Bert's girlfriend; I was told several times that I'm not allowed to go back to America any time soon. Awww!
Man, I don't think any one person can get any luckier or happier. Thank you so much, everybody. And here are the pictures, too!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!!!
After a week of all three of us being 27 at once, my bro has decided to break away and turn 28 today! This has been -- and will be! -- an eventful year for him. Not only is he finishing his degree in Business Management, he's also moving up to the lovely city of Seattle in a couple weeks. I'm so excited for him... if I weren't so happy here myself, I'd want to move to Seattle, too! So hey bro, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and here's to great new beginnings!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)