Photo Op

So we took another opportunity to go take pictures in our backyard.

This was Sunday 27 February 2011

.Sarah was the main photographer.

I did a lot of random photos with my camera whilst I awaited my photo shoot!

.Alyssa and I were in some pics together.

.Sarah, was in these pics alone.

Being as that is all there is to say about that, I am going to tell you about my day and intersperse it with some pictures of me. How wonderfully conceited of me. I talk about me, and give you pictures of me to look at while you read about me.

I guess that is why you come to this blog though.

So, this week I am supposed to be in room B (an infant room) all week, but....

... so far this morning I have been in an infant room, building 832, building 862, a toddler room, a preschool room, then back to room E, and finally a van.

... I'll get to the van in a second.

I have no idea where I will be after lunch.

Today was birthday day at building 800.

That means I ate some cake and decided to save my work out for after

work instead of during my lunch.

As I was exiting the building, LT, the maintenance man called me over to him.

He asked, "Are you going my way?" and I asked "Which way is that?" He pointed in the direction I was already walking and I said that apparently I was, and he said "Let me give you a ride." I decided it was okay since we have had many conversations over the past month or so since I have been here. He is here studying to be a preacher. Preaches on Sundays and does CDC maintenance throughout the week. Safe enough to ride with down the street with in that van I mentioned earlier.

Should be going to Munich and Dachau this weekend. The trip I was most looking forward to when I decided to come to Germany. Life goal will be completed. Talk to you later. I have an hour left on this lunch break, and I think I am going to use it making better food.

Sunday 27 February 2011

Since we were in town this Sunday I was planning on finding a ride to FBC, but on Thursday Alyssa asked me to try out the North Side Chapel with her. I decided that it was a good option. I was able to spend some time with Alyssa, and also check out another church here is Germany. It was about a fifteen to twenty minute walk from my apartment, and I was able to wear the dress I absolutely love. The service was pretty nice. We sung a lot of hymns, which I love, and thus I enjoyed myself. The message was a tad sarcastic in feel and thus not necessarily the feel I would want as a home church service (I was spacing out a little bit), but definitely worth the visit.

P.S. It's March this week. That means I only have March, April, and part of May left in Germany. America, how will you welcome me home?

Praha 18-21 February 2011

I will start this with, all of the pictures came from my room mate Sarah to whom I am grateful.

So I went to Prague, which is in the Czech Republic. (Not to be confused with Czechoslovakia, which no longer exists, but is a more fun word to say.)

We rode a CNL (city night line) train from Heidelberg to Praha. I slept great, which is a good thing, because it took like ten hours. It was such a long time. A very long time. Longer than planned. Two hours longer. It was okay though, because our AWESOME hostel made up for it.

The Mosaic House

When we arrived at the Mosaic House we were planning to see if we could check in early. We were to check in at three and when we arrived it was closer to 11:00 am. Turns out the all female 8 bed hostel rooms we booked we unavailable and we were therefore upgraded to two double rooms with twin beds and no extra cost. The rooms were beautiful. Really Really beautiful. I didn't have to lock up my passport or any of my important things, because I just shared space with Alyssa instead of 2-4 unknown traveling strangers from across the globe.

After we spent some time unpacking, showering and relaxing we decided to find some Czech food.

This night, I was drinking a tiny Fanta. It cost me like 65 koruna (Crowns).

Our total bill cost 877!

Later that night we went out for ice cream. Lindsey and I got the same flavor. I am not exactly sure what flavor it was. I went for something that looked interesting. Lindsey said she thought it was an alcohol flavor. I'm unsure.

That night we went to the hang out area in the hostel. Then the girls went out with the interesting Slovakian people we met, but I just went to bed.

The next morning we went out for the "see all the tourism things" time, and I had a map.

.The Charles Bridge.

At this point in the pictures we were very, very cold.

Praha...

Snap shots of Amanda.

Snap shots with my room mates.

And this is the snake bread. That's what I called it at least. I don't know if it had a real name, but it was good. Had some cinnamon on it.

The last thing we did on that day was go see the John Lennon wall.

It constantly changes, but this is what it looked like on Sunday 20 February 2011.

I took a picture by it. Which was a fun idea.

Lastly, I took one picture on my camera. It was when we were in the compartments that made me feel like I was in a Harry Potter movie!

Gosh, this blog wasn't that great.

Whatever!

Commercials

Here on the military base we have one channel. This one channel only shows one kind of commercial. Air Force Network, you put a smile on my face and a laugh in my heart!

Turbo Jam Thursday

So I was setting up a blog about Praha, but my blogger is not allowing me to upload pictures at this time. I will thus, do this tomorrow during lunch or after work. Until then I will mention ten things about daily life as Amanda.

1. I have decided that Pampers are the best diapers for Day Care workers. Reasons being: I don't know how much the cost is comparatively, so that affects me not. They pull over the hip easily because they have a stretchy layer within. Also, they have Sesame Street characters on them and the colors are the most vibrant of all the diapers I have seen.

2. Today I had to help hold down a kid so that we could change his diaper. The diaper soreness was so bad that it hurt his little behind. I felt really bad, and I also had to do it twice yesterday. He is also the smartest little boy. He speaks with clarity. I can see his mind soaking up words as I teach him. He asks me to read books and he doesn't turn the page before i finish reading it. I have been in his room for the past week. I will miss him when I am no longer in Germany.

3. Wednesdays can sometimes be the water to my soul.

4. Skyping with Rebekah Justice. Love that.

5. I constantly think there is a dog in the house I live in. This is a new realization. I will set something down for a quick second, and always think, "oh, Junk! The dog is going to get that." There is no dog.

6. There is a park on the way to work. I already told you this, but I still stop to play on it sometimes.

7. Turbo jam is my new lunch time activity. Twenty to thirty minutes depending on how much time I have. No time like the present to develop a habit. I do miss turbo jam with Brittini and Lana though.

8. I am in major need (read: want) some of my American shampoo. My scalp is talking a beating. Tee Tree Oil, will you rescue me?

9. There is a lot of Oprah on AFN. Which BTW has a lot of no commercials. As in, all of the commercials have to do with military and military life in Germany.

10. I spend another portion of my life thinking about my life. Things that have happened and things that will happen. Things I want and things I think I have to do. Where is my life headed? What will life bring when I leave the fair country of Germany? I am turning 21 sooner rather than later, and I wonder what that will bring me. I miss some people a lot and I miss other people a bunch. I wonder how things are getting along while I am here. I wonder about the floating options of life that are taking place around me. I think, and I think a whole lot. I think a lot of things a lot of the time. Thinking Thinking Thinking.

And then... I rest.

Fashionably late was an hour ago...

So, here's the deal. I went to the Czech Republic this past weekend. Being as it was our first and only three day weekend this semester we wanted to take a long trip. I will be honest though, the day we went out for the big picture taking moments etcetera, I forgot to bring my camera. Thus, I will be stealing pictures from my room mates soon and posting a proper post about my time in Praha.

What I can do is out of order tell you about what has happened since then. Cool?

I have, for the first time, the exact same schedule this entire week. I work from 7-5 in room E. That was crazy yesterday because our close called in. It worked out though. Kids are safe, and today is a new day. This means I have a two hour lunch break. That means that I come home. Work out. Eat. Catch up on internet activities. Etcetera.

I also found out that my sister up and moved to Colorado. Pretty proud of her. Colorado, I am hoping and assuming, will do wonders for her spirit. What that means for me though is that I am running out of things that pull me to Kentucky. Friends are great. Wonderful and necessary even, but there is no replacement for family, and with her gone I am starting to feel like the only family I have left in Kentucky is my mom. It's going to be hard for me to want to stay in Kentucky now, but soon decisions that affect the rest of my life are going to arise. Now is the time. I don't know how many of you have sisters, but the older I get, the harder it is to imagine my life without my sister close enough to go to when things go to the crapper.

Well, possibly a blog again tonight for me, which will be the afternoon for most all of my readers. I am not even going go link this one on facebook as it is likely going to be a throw off disappointment due to lack of pictures.

have to get back to the kiddos. Hoping to find some answers soon.

Heidelberg Saturday 12 February 2011

So I went to Heidelberg on Saturday with all of the interns.

We took another train, and we only had to make one change.

(Oh, and we also had to run to the front of the train, because the train split at one stop, fun times.)

I want to include this picture purely for it's extreme awkwardness!

Note the sign above says no loud music and no feet on the seats. I was doing one of those, Bob was doing two. Rebels; no cause.

The train station had this fruit stand. Note that it is a Chiquita fruit bar. Like the banana...

Well... I thought it was cool...

Outside the station there were a million bikes.

Yes, Amanda would move to Europe just for the train, bike, bus, etcetera... transportation that is all over.

Cool sculpture... enough said.

So we made it to Heidelberg and stopped in a chocolate shop. There I had dark hot chocolate, and it wouldn't surprise me if the woman just melted a chocolate bar into a cup, that's how rich it was.

We went into another Catholic Church. I almost bought this German bible. It was something like 3 Euro .50, but I didn't but it.

Next was the castle.

P.S. It was a ten minute walk.....

UP THIS INCLINE!!!!!!!

HERE IS THE CASTLE!

One of the few spots that looked like a castle to me.

We took some really cool pictures in this arch before a German lady came screaming out for us to get off. Probably a smart choice, because it was like a 50 foot drop out the window and one trip could lead to death.

Snail... I just like the picture.

Gosh, I stole this picture from Sarah, because it is just so good. I think she edited it.

All of the other interns.

P.S. ... look at this.

later that night the above pictured when to the K-Club. I wanted to type it K-Klub. It was referred to as the Kwanza club. Nope... not a black holiday Club... it was the Kazabra Club. No clue where the name comes from. On Saturday nights it western dancing night. Line dances and such. I wish I knew some line dances. I was asked to dance a two step. Did it. Pretty sure the guy asked me since he had just danced with my room mate, but whatever, I wanted to learn the moves. Later I did do some easier line dances, and this circle barn dance thing that was kind of fun. I am glad I decided to go with my room mates though. I would like to have some memories with them.

Now it's Valentine's Day. Some of the kids are wearing Valentine's clothing today.

I read out on our balcony for the first time today on my lunch break. Well worth it.

Okay. I'm done. I love you!