Goodbye Germany, Hello USA!

Still Alive... :)

2011-08-21T20:34:00.001-07:00

Yes hi there!

I just quickly stopped by to say hi and tell you all that I'm still alive and well. The new job is taking its tolls and in addition to single mommyhood, 60-70h work per week don't really leave time for anything else. The branch has been open for over 2 months now and it's going really well. I actually took a very well deserved 2-day weekend this weekend to spend with Elaine, who is almost 8 months now, crawls around like mad and will start to walk soon. She is still the best baby ever! :)

Last night I celebrated into my "hump year day". 21. August 2011 means, I've been here for exactly 2,5 years now - halfway through to my goal of 5 years and citizenship... It's been an interesting ride and I'm sure it will stay that way. With the new company being a Start-Up in the USA, there are lots of possibilities and at this point, I have no clue if next month I will not suddenly be asked to move.... Anything is possible.

By the way, we also have a tropical storm named Irene out there in the Atlantic right now, whose predicted paths bring it very likely to us. Something to keep my eye on... I did not manage to get hurricane prepared this year, so if it comes, I'll be on the road up North!

Hope all of you are doing great as well! I'll get some back-up for the next couple of weeks in regards to lil E, so maybe I'll be able to post a little more again. Right now, the computer sees me about every 2-3 weeks. All else is done over the phone and for some reason, I haven't found a good blogger app yet... If anybody knows of one, let me know!

Sunny greetings from SoFla! - Jen

A month later...

2011-06-15T20:39:00.001-07:00

... and I officially opened MY branch today. Without a big bang, but still very exciting when the booking channels open up and people can actually rent cars in Fort Lauderdale with our company now.

So how did the last month go? Well, although this company is well known and big in Europe, over here it is a start-up business and things are being handled accordingly = sink or swim! I started with 3 days of training in the computer systems and some general knowledge, rented some cars and one week after I signed my contract, I was brought to the property in Fort Lauderdale, got a walk through which looked like -> Boss: "This needs to be done, and this, and this and this and this, and here we need this and you need to check for this and get me this and need need need..." and Jenny: "!" (writing as fast as possible to get everything that was being said).

From there on I was basically left TO DO! With a building from the 40's which interior did not look anything like someone could move a business in soon and a time frame of 3 weeks until opening, I decided to swim although I must say the length of To Do List and time frame to get things done looked veeeery crazy in comparison!

Well, 3 weeks later, I opened the branch today and it looks very nice. In 3 weeks I met more people than in the past 2.5 years I've been here since I had to talk to a million and one contractors. I was basically the construction site supervisor and while not having a clue about what I was doing in the beginning, it was very interesting and fun and I've learned a lot. I worked loooong hours, but I'm able to get Elaine in the evening hours and bring her to work, so that is great.

I'm amazed that I was hired and just thrown into the job that I had no clue off. Tomorrow my bosses leave on a 3-day trip and leave me on my own which tells me I must have done something right as they trust me to be able to run the show without them. One great thing: My employees have been trained very well, as they started, when I started and got all their training in the Miami branch. That makes things a lot easier.

I now can't wait to start my "real" job and to get into the analytical and management things instead of organizing a granite floor to be laid 2 days before opening after everything else was done and boss decided to change his plans... Telling the flooring guys to remove their dirty fingerprints of my freshly painted walls was definitely fun though. The wagon was way ahead of the horses when plans all of a sudden changed. Luckily that was not my fault as I said from the beginning to put a new floor in.....

In Deutsch mal kurz: Nachdem ich nun vor 4 Wochen angestellt wurde, Schwimmen lernte und mich als Baustellenleiter vergnuegte, habe ich heute MEINE Station eroeffne!

Wer haette das vor nem Monat wohl gedacht...

Wind of Change!

2011-05-16T19:33:00.001-07:00

It is official!!!

Today I signed my new job contract and I'm now an official employee of Germany's well known car rental company with 4 letters and the colors orange and black! :) In case you didn't know it, this company has not been in the USA before, but is now on expansion into the new world in their 99th year of existence. Since each State over here is like a single country in Europe, the company chose Florida to start with and opened their first location at Miami International Airport about 2 months ago. Now I did apply for an office position with them, but since my new boss (30 years old and one of Germany's top young managers) believes my profile fits their branch manager program better, but I'm restricted from travel due to baby, I might become something in between. I did already attend two interviews for "my future employees" today and we're starting training tomorrow. I'm so excited! I'll be training in Miami, but will be based at the new location in Fort Lauderdale once it opens in June.

I've been waiting for a position like this for quite some time now and after things in the restaurant were getting slightly frustrating - felt insulted by my new General Manager who offered me a $11-12/h position, less than I make serving tables - and quite a few customers just wanting everything for free - I was definitely ready for a change!

The greatest thing is, I'll even get a company car again! This couldn't have come at a better timing as I was wanting to buy or lease a new car this year and was trying to up my credit some more.

Well, wish me luck on my new job journey and come visit me at the rental car station in FLL one of these days :)

Nur eine kurze Uebersetzung heute, da ich ins Bettchen muss, weil sich mein Arbeitsrhythmus einiges veraendern wird :) :

Ich habe heute meinen Arbeitsvertrag mit einer sehr bekannten deutschen Autovermietung mit 4 Buchstaben und orange/schwarzen Farben unterschrieben!!! Ich freue mich ja so, da ich schon eine Weile auf so eine Stelle gewartet habe. Diese Autovermietung expandiert gerade in die USA und hat sich Florida als ersten Staat ausgesucht und in Miami vor ca. 2 Monaten die erste Location aufgemacht. Ich werde vorerst in Miami lernen und dann im Juni in die neue Location in Fort Lauderdale umziehen.

Alles ganz spannend!!! Falls von euch deutschen Greencard-Gewinnern jemand an diesem Gewerbe interessiert ist, wie gesagt, die sind auf Expansion und dementsprechend wird es da jetzt in den naechsten Monaten einige Jobs geben... Augen auf und Koffer gepackt! ;)

Drueckt mir die Daumen, dass ich mich gut schlage. Heute habe ich mich auf jeden Fall schon gut gemacht!

Tornado Desaster

2011-04-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

The USA was hit by the 2nd deadliest tornado outbreak since 1950 yesterday and as a lot of you probably know already, Alabama was hit the strongest. Luckily I can say that none of my family and friends up there was hurt. Lauderdale County, the county where I know most people, was spared, whereas all the counties around them had tornadoes touch ground and tore up whole neighborhoods. The pictures are devastating. My American cousin's boyfriends house was ripped apart but no one was hurt there as well. Some people I went to high school with, but that were in grades below me, are studying in Tuscaloosa right now (the location of the University of Alabama). This city was hit the hardest and it sure enough scared everything out of them. One had a tornado go through her apartment complex but it didn't touch the building where she was living in and hiding in her bathtub. Friends from high school that served in the US military and are now in the reserve were activated today. They didn't quite know for what reason yet, but since AL and several other states are in a state of emergency, they will probably be used to help clean up etc.

If you pray, please pray for everybody up there that has lost family, friends & property!

Neighborhood by 10th Ave., Tuscaloosa, AL

picture from FB group Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Die USA wurden gestern von der 2. staerksten Tornado-Serie seit 1950 ueberrollt. Wie viele von euch wohl schon wissen, wurde Alabama dabei am schlimmsten getroffen. Gluecklicherweise kann ich sagen, dass keiner meiner Freunde und Familie dort verletzt wurde. Lauderdale County, der Landkreis in dem ich die meisten Leute kenne, wurde komplett verschont, waehrend in allen Landkreisen drum herum, dutzende Tornados aufsetzten und zich Wohngebiete dem Boden gleich machten. Das Haus des Freundes meiner amerikanischen Cousine wurde zerstoert, aber auch da zum Glueck niemand verletzt. Einige Leute mit denen ich an der High School war, die aber ein paar Klassenstufen unter mir waren, studieren momentan in Tuscaloosa (dem Standort der University of Alabama). Diese Stadt wurde am schlimmsten zerstoert und das hat natuerlich alle in Angst und Schrecken versetzt. Ein Maedel das ich kenne, hatte einen Tornado der durch ihre Apartment-Anlage zog. Zum Glueck ging er knapp an ihrem Gebaeude vorbei, wo sie sich in der Badewanne verkrochen hatte. Einige Freunde, die im US Militaer gedient haben und nun Reservisten sind, wurden heute aktiviert. Der genaue Grund wurde noch nicht genannt, aber da neben Alabama auch in einigen anderen Staaten der Notstand ausgerufen wurde, werden sie wohl dort zum Aufraeumen etc. eingesetzt.

Falls ihr betet, sendet doch bitte ein paar Gebete fuer die Menschen in den betroffenen Gegenden nach oben. Es haben ja etliche Menschen ihr Leben und Eingentum verloren.

Obiges Foto zeigt ein Wohngebiet in Tuscaloosa was quasi ausradiert wurde. :(

1. MLB Game while getting paid...

2011-04-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today I was part of what they call the "Fun Patrol" team at work. It's basically a marketing effort and when working this position, I get to go to all sorts of events to promote my employer. I never signed up for it, but as I was only scheduled 4 days this week, but like to work 5, I asked a co-worker if I could pick up his shift and he said yes. When I asked him, I didn't know what the event would be, I just cared about the extra shift.

Come to find out, I got to attend the Florida Marlins vs. L.A. Dodgers baseball game at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami. I've never went to a baseball game, so I was all thrilled that my 1st baseball game would actually be one of the Major Baseball League and the best part of it: I didn't have to pay a cent AND got paid for being there!!!

The game was awesome! The Marlins made the 1st run, but then the Dodgers took over the lead and we couldn't reverse it and after 8 innings, the Dodgers were one run ahead of us, so the final inning was very exciting. However, in the final stretch, the Marlins were able to score two runs and we won the game! From a home-run to an "exploding bat" (the ball hits the bat in such an angle and speed that the bat will break, no wonder at ball speeds of 95mph)... I saw it all and it is to say that it's a great game to watch and not that hard to understand for a newbie like me.

We were able to sit wherever we wanted if there was no one sitting there and the actual work time was just 10 minutes, but we were paid for 5.5h. :) We were told a "Lucky Section" by a sales coordinator of the Marlins, it was announced on the big screen inside of the stadium and we handed out coupons in that section after the 3rd inning. Easy!

Heute war ich Teil der sogenannten "Fun Patrol" auf Arbeit. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Marketing Massnahme und wenn man in dieser Position arbeitet, macht man auf allen moeglichen Veranstaltung Werbung fuer unseren Arbeitgeber. Ich schrieb mich nie dafuer ein, aber da ich diese Woche nur fuer 4 Tage eingeplant war, ich aber gerne 5 Tage die Woche arbeite, fragte ich einen Kollegen ob ich dessen Schicht uebernehmen koennte und der sagte ja. Als ich ihn fragte, wusste ich nicht um welche Veranstaltung es sich handeln wuerde, mir ging es nur um die extra Schicht.

Wie sich dann herausstellte, durfte ich dem Baseballspiel Florida Marlins gegen L.A. Dodgers im Sun Life Stadium in Miami beiwohnen. Ich war noch nie auf einem Baseballspiel und so war ich super erfreut, dass mein 1. Baseballspiel eins der Major Baseball League (quasi 1. Bundesliga des Baseball) wurde und das Beste: Ich musste keinen Cent dafuer bezahlen sondern wurde dafuer bezahlt mir das anzuschauen!!! Das Spiel war super!!! Die Marlins gingen in Fuehrung, jedoch uebernahmen die Dodgers schnell die Fuehrung und wir konnten es bis zum 8. Inning (eine Spielrunde im Baseball) nicht wieder umkehren und so fuehrten die Dodgers bis dahin mit einem Run Vorsprung. Somit wurde das letzte, 9. Inning, super spannend. Die Dodgers waren zuerst das offensive Team, erzielten aber keinen weiteren Run. Das war unsere Chance! Und wir nutzten sie und konnten noch 2 Runs machen, bevor die Spielrunde zu Ende war und gewannen somit das Spiel!!! Vom Home-Run bis zum "explodierenden" Schlaeger (der Ball trifft dabei in solch einem Winkel und mit einer Geschwindigkeit auf den Schlaeger, so dass dieser zerbricht... kein Wunder bei Ballgeschwindigkeiten von knapp 160km/h), sah ich alles und ich muss sagen, dass Baseball ein tolles Spiel zum Anschauen ist und es auch nicht so schwer verstaendlich fuer einen Neuling wie mich ist.

Wir konnten uebrigens sitzen wo wir wollten, solange keiner diese Sitzplaetze gebucht hatte und die eigentliche Arbeitszeit betraf 10 Minuten. Wir wurden aber fuer 5.5h bezahlt! :) Ein Vertriebsmensch der Marlins teilte uns die "Lucky Section" mit, diese wurde gross auf einem Bildschirm bekannt gegeben und dort verteilten wir dann nach dem 3. Inning Coupons fuer meinen Arbeitgeber. Einfach!

The Marlin - Team Mascot

A player of the L.A. Dodgers
A player of the Florida Marlins
Me & my co-worker after we took our Fun Patrol shirts off, who happened to get my hair in his face... Stupid wind! ;)
9.Inning Offense for the Marlins at 4:3 for the Dodgers
Marlins WIN!!!!

Easter Sunday Pic

2011-04-25T21:49:00.001-07:00

Elaine is 4 months old now and despite me having to work, I decided to dress her up for her 1st Easter and take a couple of pictures. She wasn't that excited, but oh well! :) I hope you all had a relaxing time off!

Happy Easter Holidays!

2011-04-20T20:03:00.001-07:00

I know it's been ages again, since you've last heard from me, but this mommy here is one busy bee and apart from working and raising my beautiful daughter, there's really not that much going on. I have a few informative things on my mind that I'd really like to post, since it's more about life in the USA and not just my life, but I seem to not find the time right now. It will eventually happen though!

After trips to the Vital Statistics and Social Security Administration offices, I finally also made the trip to the post office to apply for Elaine's passport. I expedited it and almost $200.- poorer and 1 week later, I had this beautiful piece in the mail on Monday. Yes, the US passport is pretty - prettier than the German one (sorry!!!) and yes, I still work towards getting mine one day... Anyhow, it was one of these proud mommy moment... My little chubster has her very first passport! :) Bahamas here we come!!!

I hope all of you have a great and relaxing Easter weekend! I'm going to be working as usual, so while on an outing to West Palm Beach today with some German girls, I decided to take Elaine for her 1st visit with the Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter Holidays everyone!!!

Elaine during our self-made Easter home photo shoot! She's too funny!

Ja ich weiss, ewig ist es schon wieder her, dass ihr von mir gehoert habt, aber ich bin eben eifrig am Arbeiten und Kind erziehen und so passiert nicht wirklich viel Neues. Ich habe einige informative Sachen die mehr mit dem Leben in den USA als mit meinem Leben zu tun haben, schon seit geraumer Zeit im Kopf, aber irgendwie bin ich noch nicht zum posten gekommen. Vielleicht schaffe ich es ja bald!

Nachdem es in der ersten Monaten nach der Geburt bereits zum Einwohnermeldeamt und der Social Security Behoerde ging, schaffte ich es letzte Woche auch endlich mal zur Post um Elaine's Reisepass zu beantragen. Ich lies das Verfahren beschleunigen und so war ich knapp $200.- aermer und eine Woche spaeter, am Montag, im Besitz dieses wundervollen Papierchens. Ja, der US-Reisepass ist huebsch! Viel huebscher als der Deutsche (sorry!!!) und ja, ich arbeite weiterhin daraufhin eines Tages meinen in der Hand zu halten. Jedenfalls war das einer dieser "Super Stolze Mami" Momente: Meine Kurze hat ihren allerersten Reisepass!!! :) Bahamas, wir kommen!

Ich hoffe, dass ihr alle ein schoenes und entspanntes Osterwochenende geniessen werdet. Ich muss wie immer arbeiten und so entschied ich mich bei einem Ausflug mit ein paar deutschen Maedels nach West Palm Beach heute, beim Osterhasen anzuhalten. Da ist dann auch obiges Foto entstanden. Das 2. gehoert zu einer Serie die ich zu Hause fuer meine Osterkarten schoss. Elaine hatte viel Spass!

Ein Frohes Osterfest wuensche ich!

Gator Land

2011-03-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last week my friends Aline & Michael from Germany finally came to visit me. They dropped me off at the airport in Frankfurt over two years ago when I started my US-journey and it was about time to see them again. They're also the first friends who made it over here.

It was a short visit, since last year when they booked flights, I didn't know where I'd be living and so they squeezed me into their NY to LA and Vegas travel plans at last minute. The good thing with my job is that I can just take a couple of days off when I feel like it and so I did to be able to spend time with my friends.

The outcome of this visit: After two years I finally made it to the Everglades, saw some gators and went on an air-boat ride. The drive from Hollywood to the Miccosukee Indian village (planted there for tourist of course) was about 1.5h. Since we went on a Wednesday it was pretty dead. We saw a little gator entertainment show, held a mini gator and then headed over to one of the air-boat tour places. It was nice, but we somehow had imagined to speed through the Everglades from what it looks like on TV, but in reality we were in a boat that fit 42 people and went pretty slowly. We did see air-boats that fit only 2-4 people and those probably go faster, but are probably also a lot pricier.

The alligators were pretty lazy. One thing that was new to me was that they hiss to warn you when they feel threatened.... Just like a kitty cat... ;) The demonstration of how fast their mouth closes on contact made me want to keep my distance though!

I didn't take Elaine with us for this trip btw. I found a registered and licensed home day care and so she spent the day there.

In der letzten Woche kamen mich endliche meine Freunde Aline & Michael aus Deutschland besuchen. Die beiden hatten mich vor ueber 2 Jahren zum Frankfurter Flughafen gebracht als ich mein USA-Abenteuer begann und es war an der Zeit sie wieder zu sehen. Sie sind dann auch meine ersten Freunde die es geschafft haben mich hier zu besuchen.

Der Aufenthalt war relativ kurz, da ich letztes Jahr als sie die Fluege buchten noch nicht wusste, wo ich leben wuerde und so wurde ich noch kurzfristig in die NYC nach LA und Vegas Reiseplanung integriert. Das Gute an meinem Job ist, dass ich mir immer mal ein paar Tage frei nehmen kann wenn mir danach ist und so tat ich dies auch um mich voll und ganz meinem Besuch zu widmen.

Nach 2 Jahren hier unten in SoFla bin ich nun auch endlich in den Everglades gewesen, habe ein paar Alligatoren gesehen und bin auf einem Luftkissenboot mitgefahren. Die Fahrt von Hollywood bis zum Miccosukee Indianer Dorf (natuerlich fuer Touristen dahin gebaut) dauerte 1.5h. Da wir an einem Mittwoch da waren, war es ziemlich leer. Wir sahen uns eine kleine Alligatoren Show an, hielten einen Mini-Alligator und fuhren dann weiter zu einem der Luftkissenboot-Touren Anbieter. Es war recht nett, aber wir hatten uns irgendwie vorgestellt, dass wir viel schneller durch die Everglades rauschen wuerden, so wie man das immer im TV sieht. Das lag aber wohl daran, dass wir in einem Boot fuhren, was Platz fuer 42 Gaeste hatte und somit war das recht langsam unterwegs. Wir sahen auch eine paar Boote, die nur Platz fuer 2-4 Personen hatten und die wohl schneller fahren, aber die kosten dann wohl auch dementsprechend mehr.

Die Alligatoren waren alle ziemlich faul. Was ich dazu gelernt habe ist, dass Alligatoren fauchen wenn sie sich bedroht fuehlen... wie ne kleine Kitty Cat ;) Als uns dann aber gezeigt wurde, wie schnell die ihr Maul schliessen wenn da irgendwas mit in Beruehrung kommt, wollte ich denen doch lieber nicht begegnen.

Elaine habe ich uebrigens zu diesem Ausflug nicht mitgenommen. Ich hab eine registrierte und lizensierte Tagesmutter gefunden und so verbrachte sie den Tag dort.

Goodbye Cocaine Cowboys!

2011-03-07T20:37:00.001-08:00

Hello Hillbilly Heroin!

It comes as no surprise to me (see one of my latest blog entries) that Florida has topped all other States and took 1st place in the distribution of the pain killer, not only used by medical patients but also by a large number of drug addicts, OXYCODONE.

Story about Florida being No. 1 in Oxycodone distribution.

At least this wave of drug usage does not come with the violence the cocaine cowboy years brought with them. I think it is interesting to see how these things always seem to generate down here though....

Schaut mal, Oma & Opa...

2011-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Ich kann jetzt schon suuuper laecheln und mich freuen und endlich hat Mutti mal die Kamera rechtzeitig abgedrueckt um mich dabei zu "erwischen" :)

Ich bin dann heute auch schon ganze 10 Wochen alt und wie die Mutti findet, auch immer noch ein wunderbar liebes Baby!

Yes, Elaine can smile already and I finally caught it on camera. She's 10 weeks old today and still a very fantastic baby!

2 years...

2011-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

have passed today since me, my 2 suitcases and the dream of a life in the USA set foot on Florida ground. It's been an adventure with ups and downs, but I feel very blessed to have made it this far ON MY OWN and to have a beautiful baby girl as one of the results of this adventure. I don't know where the road will take me in the near future, but the plan of 5 years USA to hopefully gain dual citizenship stays strong.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if I had emigrated with another person to share this dream with, but I guess I'll never find out. I do admit that the biggest struggle within these past two years for me was loneliness. Yes, I am surrounded by millions of people, but building friendships has proven to be like the Himalaya. Very hard to conquer!

The two main obstacles:

1) I feel like a lot of people down here are very self-centered. It's not like I didn't meet people, but the people I did meet always wanted something out of me. It was always about "who do you know?" or "what do you have?" to bring them further ahead in life. Well, coming to the States with 2 suitcases, driving a '95 car and the black Amex being far, far away, I had nothing more too offer than my personality and that didn't seem enough. I do feel that this is different in other parts of the country as I didn't have the problem in AL for example

2) Drug Usage! I've never known/seen this many people "on something" in my whole life. Xanax, Oxycodone, Methadone, Klonopin, Trazodone... words I had never heard before coming to SoFlo, but quickly finding out what they meant. In Germany I knew a couple of people that were smoked weed and I had heard of cocaine and heroin and ecstasy and LSD etc., but I never knew where I'd go to get some of these drugs. Here this has totally changed and it feels to me like almost everybody is on something. We joked about why they do not drug test at my work the other day and came to the conclusion that they'd probably only have about 5 of 140 employees left. Well, since I belong to the small group of people that can say they have never even tried weed before, I'm the oddball and it proves to be another obstacle in building friendships. I just don't fit into this scene and I don't have the urge to, as I do not surround myself with drug abusers.

I did manage to establish friendships with two German girls and I guess it is better to have a few select & reliable friends than a bunch of random ones that are high all the time.

Since today was President's Day and my day care was closed, I was off and Elaine and I spent the day by shopping for her as she is starting to outgrow her 0-3. After the shopping trip, Tanja and us two went to an Irish Pub in Fort Lauderdale where we ate and I had my first proper drink after pregnancy and baby. It was called a Bikini Martini & was very delicious! :) We had a great day and it was quickly over.

Now after 2 years and last weeks craziness I can still say that my car has been very good. I got it back on Saturday and the total bill for servicing, tow, & car rental came up to $1150.-. Needless to say that I was very happy to have gotten my tax refund on Friday, so I was able to pay this bill.

Okay, time for bed now! If you find any errors, keep them ;) I'm almost falling over on this chair as I'm sooo sleepy, but wanted to have a blog entry on my anniversary!

Good night from beautiful, sunny South Florida with temps in the '80s!

Well Hello Roller Coaster...

2011-02-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

... long time no see!

Although this isn't really true, as my life has been a steady roller coaster ride for the past 6 years, I went down the vertical loop with high speed once again.

On Monday, I win a trip to the Bahamas...

On Tuesday, my car breaks down in the middle of 5-lane I-95, 6 days short of it's 2 year anniversary with me and up to now, I was soooo proud that it was well worth it's money... hmm. Of course I had my baby on board, but luckily also a German friend loaded as we were on our way to visit another friend in Pompano Beach. If I would've been on my own I would've probably panicked and gotten another cry-episode as this seems to be quite normal lately... Maybe some left over hormones from the pregnancy or just the fact that it can be quite hard at times if you have to figure everything out on your own and don't have a massive support system around you.

So what happened!? As I was driving in the beautiful sunshine, we were coming up to a traffic jam caused by a 2-lane closure about 3 miles ahead of us. There was no way out. After about 15 minutes of a very slow stop and go, I noticed some "smoke". I thought it was a truck next to us, but upon paying closer attention, I realized that it came from underneath MY hood and that it was more steam than smoke. Okay, now trying to move over from lane 4 to lane 5 before the engine would blow up (you know, crazy thoughts when this is the 1st time that happens to you...), was the goal. I did manage and had enough brain left to head for the bridge ahead of us. Hello!??? Baby on board! You definitely don't want to be in the sunshine that heats up cars in no time down here. So I found myself a shady place right next to the median and 5 lanes away from what I would have considered the "safer (right hand) side". Luckily for us, due to the traffic jam, cars were not speeding by as quickly as usual and we were able to put the thoughts of being hit by a car going 70+mph aside. Now I believe we all know by now that when your car breaks down on the highway, you're safest by climbing over the guardrails and waiting for help behind them. It does get a little difficult though, when you have an infant with you and the median behind the guardrails where you stopped is covered by bushes, small palms and other shrubs and you have no blind faith that there is no poisonous snake or other wild animal hiding, waiting to bite you.

Okay, okay, I do realize this seems very unlikely, because why should this wild, mean creature wait just for me in the bushes of a very loud 10-lane highway median!? However, my education in regards to Florida's dangerous wildlife could be a lot better and so all I was thinking was "alligators, Burmanese pythons, teeth, bite, bite, bite...". We stayed in the car! I did take a look underneath the hood though, where some fluid container was shaking due to the boiling fluid inside. Impressive! Never seen that before, but it was very clear that this engine had completely overheated. Back inside of the car, I was very happy about the little sticker Pepboys (like ATU in Germany) had attached to my windshield after my last oil change and it read "Need a tow? Call..."

I needed a tow. I called (didn't know who else to call). 50 minutes later the tow truck arrived! At the sight of my baby, I noticed that the driver started thinking and thinking and thinking, but didn't say anything. I somehow figured out that he was worrying about how he was going to get us off the highway. Luckily, I had arranged for our Pompano Beach friends to come pick us up and when I mentioned that, he was VERY relieved. The reason why: Apparently tow truck drivers down here are forbidden by law to take infants on board. He said if caught, it would mean a $1.000 fine and he didn't want to risk that of course.

Well, my friends came and picked us up. Interesting picture, seeing a highly pregnant woman (she's 38.5 weeks) with her very tall husband rescue two chicks carrying a baby... :)

I ended up having to get a rental car and have no news yet on what is wrong with my car, but I guess it is safe to say: There goes my tax refund! :-/

This much about "My life is a roller coaster" and another 1st in the USA... actually another 1st ever! Always wondered what it would be like to be one of these broken down cars stranded alongside the highways of this world... now I know and I prefer not to have a rerun.

To be continued.... :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T16:50:00.001-08:00

My Valentine (Elaine) & I went to the beach today for her first time. It was such a lovely day outside and Hollywood Beach was full of snow birds. It is so weird going to a beach and all you see is tanned people of the age group 60+ lying in the sun or playing cards or board games... Makes you feel as if this is a retirement community, although it is a public place. Well, them snow birds just looove Hollywood and I can't blame them, as I do too!

Hope you girls got some flowers or chocolates or big kisses today! I didn't, but hey, I won a trip to the Bahamas, so there couldn't have been a better Valentine's gift.

Lots of love, Jen & Elaine

Elaine und ich sind heute zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben an den Strand. Es war so ein schoener Tag draussen und Hollywood Beach war proppen voll mit Snow Birds (die Ueberwinterer aus Kanada oder den Nord-USA-Staaten). Es ist schon seltsam an den Strand zu gehen und nichts ausser braun gebrannte Menschen der Altersgruppe 60+ zu sehen, die in der Sonne liegen oder Karten- oder Brettspiele spielen... Da kommt man sich ein wenig wie in einer Rentnerkommune vor, obwohl es sich um oeffentliches Gebiet handelt. Nun ja, die Snow Birds sind einfach verliebt in Hollywood und ich kann es ihnen ja nicht verdenken, ich bin's ja auch!

Ich hoffe ihr Maedels habt heute schoene Blumen oder Pralinen oder wenigstens ein paar ganz dicke Schmatzer bekommen! Ich hab's nicht, aber hey, dafuer hab ich einen Trip auf die Bahamas gewonnen und ein besseres Valentinstagsgeschenk gibt es doch gar nicht!

Ganz viel Liebe

Jen & Elaine

The Duck Drop at the 2011 Duck Fest Derby

2011-02-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

In case you were ever wondering what it looks like when 15.000 rubber ducks are being put to race each other... :)

See my winning duckieeeeee???? No!? It's right there... the yellow one, with the sun glasses... :p

Waaaaaaaaaaah....

2011-02-13T21:25:00.000-08:00

So I was just getting ready to write about my first outing on my first day off after 10 days of working... which was to the Fort Lauderdale Duck Fest Derby that I had also attended last year.... Remember all the rubber duckies that were thrown into the New River to race for a good cause, Kids in Distress!?

The race was yesterday and like last year I had adopted a quack pack - 5 rubber ducks - and as I was starting to write this post, I thought, hey, let's have a look on their website and see if the winners have already been announced!

And this is where the WAAAAAAAAAAAAH comes in...

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!??? Bahamas, get ready for me!!! Wow! I had a chance of 5 : 15.000 and just as I was getting ready to be depressed over having to be single on Valentine's Day, I win something! Life is great!!!

I would say that was the best outing I had so far. Wonderful day out with Elaine, spending $20.- for a good cause and getting a trip to Atlantis on the Bahamas as bonus. Yeeehaw!

Die Kurzfassung des kurzen Beitrags hier in Deutsch: :)

Gestern war wieder Duck Fest Derby in Fort Lauderdale. Nachdem ich 10 Tage hintereinander weg gearbeitet hatte, mein 1. Tag frei. Also Elaine eingepackt und auf gings um schon wie im letzten Jahr 15.000 Gummi-Enten dabei zu zuschauen, wie sie in den Fluss gekippt werden und gegeneinander um den Sieg kaempfen. Wie im letzten Jahr, hatte ich auch wieder ein Quack-Pack am Start. 5 Enten fuer $20.- "Adoptionsgebuehr", die an eine gemeinnuetzige Einrichtung gehen. Als ich gerade diesen Beitrag mit ein paar Fotos von gestern schreiben wollte, dachte ich mir grad so, schauste mal auf deren Webseite vorbei, ob die Sieger schon aufgelistet sind...

Und was ist??? MEIN NAME!!! Als Gewinner eines Trips auf die Bahamas zum Atlantis Resort!!! Meine Chance 5 : 15.000... one lucky duck!!! :)

2011-01-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

Now I know that I'm biased, but I do believe that we created quite a pretty baby here :). This is from today, after we had a great bath time. She loved it and I think I finally got the water temperature right (as she didn't scream... haha). First 4 days of work have been okay, although I felt like a Zombie at times due to lack of sleep. I just miss her very, very much and my work makes it harder, as soooo many people come in with their babies. So I get to see all these cute little babies all shift long and can't have mine with me. Hmpf! She's a great baby though and the lack of sleep is really not because of her, as she sleeps just fine, but because I have to get up to express every couple of hours to keep my milk supply up and stay away from the formula (and save money). Would be so convenient, but I'm determined to take the harder path as long as possible to give her the best start.

Well, off to work it is again... money, money, money!

Nun weiss ich ja, dass ich ein wenig voreingenommen bin, aber ich glaube schon, dass wir da ein ganz huebsches Baby kreiert haben. :) Die Bilder sind von heute, nachdem wir eine tolle Badezeit hatten. Sie hat es geliebt und ich glaube, ich habe endlich die richtige Wassertemperatur gefunden (da sie nicht geschrien hat... haha). Die ersten 4 Tage Arbeit waren okay, auch wenn ich mich teils wie ein Zombie gefuehlt habe aufgrund des Schlafmangels. Ich vermisse die Kurze nur ganz arg und meine Arbeit macht es einiges schwieriger, da so viele Kunden mit ihren Babies kommen. Somit sehe ich also die ganze Schicht lang all diese suessen Babies und kann meins nicht bei mir haben. Hmpf! Sie ist aber ein super Baby und der Schlafmangel ist nicht durch sie ausgeloest. Sie schlaeft echt gut, aber ich muss alle paar Stunden aufstehen um abzupumpen, damit die Quelle nicht versiegt ;) und ich nicht dem Milchpulver klein beigebe (und Geld spare). So bequem wie das auch waere, ich bin fest entschlossen den haerteren Weg so lang wie moeglich zu gehen um ihr den besten Start zu geben.

Jetzt wieder auf zur Arbeit... Geld, Geld, Geld!

Happy 3 weeks Elaine!

2011-01-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

3 weeks old she is already... And mommy's gotta go back to work tomorrow. Boooo! But I have to do what I have to do :-/

Here's my cutie yesterday, rocking her pink suit and weighing 9 lbs 15 oz already!

Only state without snow!

2011-01-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

It is official! Although it was slightly chilly this morning again in South Florida, all of Florida is the only state without snow in the entire USA today. Even Hawaii has snow on its mountain tops. Brrr!

Being able to follow friend's snow fun on Facebook, I got a good picture of what it looks like in many other states. Especially Alabama has impressed me. The latest snow system from Sunday night/Monday brought over a foot of new snow to the counties were I spent my high school exchange student year. In the 8 years I've been in close contact with people in that area, I haven't heard or seen more than a couple of snow flakes and even my former host family being in their late 50's/early 60's said they have never seen snow like that in Northern Alabama. Needless to say, schools have been out all week up there and people didn't go to work for days, as pretty much no one knows how to drive in snow and does not trust their cars and tires (good thing!).

This is a picture of the local grocery store's empty bread aisle in Rogersville, AL from Sunday, taken by a friend of mine. Stores were pretty much sold out. Even Walmart was apparently very, very empty.

Rogersville, AL, Foodland 01/09/11

I would actually trade in a day of sun fun for snow fun, but since ONE DAY is usually not an option other than when on holidays, I rather stay down here. It's official by the way, that it's going to be at least another year here in SoFlo for me!

Oooooh, and by the way, since I've been quite busy with other things (being a mommy that is!):

A BELATED VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU! May you be able to fulfill your resolutions and enjoy 2011! One resolution that was NOT on my list this year: weight loss! I'm 13 lbs lighter than pre-pregnancy and I think more will shed since I start working again tomorrow, so nothing to worry about! :)

She made it!

2010-12-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

12 days late, but just in time for Christmas, my little Miss, Elaine Catherine came into the world at 6:38 PM on 12/23/2010 in Hallandale Beach, FL. Weighing in at 8 lbs 11 oz and whopping 23 inches long.

I had her as planned, in an all natural (100% drug-free) delivery and can only say it was a great experience!!! Soooo proud and in love and everything else :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!

Still waiting...

2010-12-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

For those stopping by for baby news: I'm still waiting!

I think after all the working I did, my baby decided it is quite nice & peaceful inside of me now and she wants to stay a little longer. I'm trying to not get too grumpy over that, but of course it is getting time for her to come out and her staying inside means I'm booked into hospital for a couple of exams to see if everything is still working the way it should and those exams mean quite some extra Dollars, which I'm obviously not happy about!

By the way, I do have insurance through my employer now... but I don't really know, if you want to call an annual premium of $1.250 for outpatient care and $2.000 for emergency care "insurance". It's a joke!!! That's like one blood test and one time opening your mouth for the doctor and listening to your heart beat and the premium will be used up. So it's obviously not paying for the exams I have to get done.

I was encouraged by my health care professionals to apply for Medicaid once more, now that I'm off work, just in case if this pregnancy will end up being delivered in hospital due to the length of it etc., so wish me luck that it'll be successful this time round.

Will keep everyone updated & if I don't get a chance before then: A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!

Happy Due Date!

2010-12-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today is my due date and although there's no sign of the little Miss yet, I am surprisingly patient. Normal term is considered up to 42 weeks, so I might be looking at a Xmas baby. We'll see!

Here's my due date bumpage from front and side angle:

Still more on the tiny and neat side, but with having a long torso and only having gained 7 lbs, it's no surprise. I'll seriously be in trouble after birth, as a lot of my clothes will be too big and I won't have time to go shopping and all money is being spend on baby. Guess I'll be doing the baggy hiphop style for a while :).

Enjoying my days off now. It's getting a little cold again starting Monday, so I'm glad I was in Germany last December and came back with my winter jacket! At least I won't be freezing!

Heute ist mein ET und obwohl es noch keine Anzeichen fuer eine baldige Ankunft der kleinen Madame gibt, bin ich ueberraschender Weise sehr geduldig. Termingeboren gilt sie ja noch bis 42 Wochen und wer weiss, vielleicht moechte sie ja ein Weihnachtsgeschenk werden. Wir werden sehen!

Oben seht ihr also mein ET-Baeuchlein von vorne und seitlich. Befinde mich nach wie vor auf der eher kleinen Schwangeren-Bauchseite, aber mit langem Oberkoerper und einer Zunahme von nur etwas ueber 3 kg, ist das ja auch kein Wunder. Werde nach der Geburt echte Probleme haben: Viele meiner Klamotten werden einfach zu gross sein, aber ich werde ja keine Zeit zum Shoppen haben und geldmaessig geht ja alles fuer die Kleine drauf. Ich denke mal, dann wird hier eine Weile der schlabberige HipHop Look angesagt sein ;).

Nun geniesse ich meine freien Tage. Ab Montag wird es wieder kalt und ich bin froh, dass ich im Dezember letzten Jahres in Deutschland war und mit meiner Winterjacke zurueck kam. So werde ich wenigstens nicht frieren!

End of Hurricane Season

2010-11-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

The last day of November officially marks the end of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. Although we had one of the busiest storms seasons in history, the USA were very lucky this year to not have been hit along its shorelines. Only Tropical Storm Bonnie made a small landfall in South Florida, but that was really nothing to be concerned about.

Thank you Hurricane Season 2010! May the next one treat us just as nice!

Now it's up to some cooler temperatures in SoFla. We might get down to 8-10 C in the next couple of nights. During the day time they still expect more than 20 C though, so all is good. Looking at a lot of snow pictures on Facebook from friends in the UK and Germany, I really wonder if we'll get such a winter as the last one as well down here. Let's see! At least my winter clothes will fit again by then or actually be a little loose, since I'll be smaller than pre-pregnancy :).

Now off to work! Wishing you all a great December!!!

Der letzte Tag im November beschreitet das Ende der Hurrikan Saison im Atlantik. Obwohl wir eine der stuermischten Saisons in der Geschichte hatten, waren die USA dieses Jahr sehr gut dran und ihre Kuesten wurden komplett verschont. Nur der tropische Sturm Bonnie traf hier in Sued-Florida im Sommer mal kurz auf Land, aber das war nicht wirklich erwaehnenswert.

Vielen Dank Hurrikan Saison 2010. Moege die naechste genauso nett zu uns sein!

Nun sind wieder ein paar kuehlere Temperaturen dran hier in SoFla. Es kann in den kommenden Naechten bis auf 8-10 C abkuehlen. Tagsueber werden aber immer noch Temperaturen um die 20 C erwartet, also ist alles gut. Nachdem ich mir etliche Schneebilder von Freunden aus den UK und Deutschland auf Facebook angeschaut habe, frage ich mich echt, was wir wohl dieses Jahr fuer einen Winter bekommen und ob er so kalt wird wie der letzte. Wir werden sehen! Zumindest passen mir bis dahin meine Wintersachen wieder oder sie werden sogar ein wenig zu gross sein, da ich "kleiner" aus der Schwangerschaft kommen werde, als ich vorher war :).

Nun wieder auf zur Arbeit! Wuensche euch allein einen schoenen Dezember!!!

Bump Pics & Celebration

2010-11-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

I never had the desire to show off my belly to the world, but pregnancy changes everything, so ya'll just have to look at it or GET OFF MY BLOG!!! :)

This is the bump at 36 weeks + 1 day. Still quite "tiny", but measuring spot on.

Today I'm also "celebrating" 21 months in the States by the way. On 21. February 2009 this journey began. It's been an interesting time, I took the roller coaster once again and I know what I want to change in the next year. So it will definitely stay interesting. One thing I can say for sure: Can't wait for 2011. 2010 was absolutely not my best year, but what doesn't kill you...... ;)

Maternity.... WHAT!???

2010-11-21T21:46:00.000-08:00

"Maternity Leave??? Paid??? How long??? Government-paid child benefit??? Parenting benefit??? Now why again did you move over here!?"

Yes, I know... it's been a while again... almost a month, to be exact, that I've been quiet, but as you can imagine things are different over in the USA and so I'm not sitting on the couch with my feet up, enjoying my last couple of weeks of pregnancy, but still working full-time and listening to the above questions almost daily.

Yes, in Germany, by law, as an employee you must be given maternity leave with 34 weeks, 6 weeks prior to your due date and you will be paid during this time off and also for another 8 weeks postpartum. Yes, after the child is born, the government will pay you a monthly child benefit up until the child finishes some form of education that will get him into a profession and yes, there's also the option to stay home longer and get paid a parenting benefit of I believe now 67% of your last salary (with minimums and maximums) for a maximum of 14 months after giving birth.

Here in the States that's all significantly different. First of, every state has it's own laws in regards to maternity leave and I guess with Florida, I chose to be in one of the States with the least "benefits" in this regard. Want a child? Have a child! But do it yourself!

So while in Germany, I would be relaxing right now, getting ready for Baby E, here I'm still on my feet working full time at 37 weeks and 1 day. My due date is 20 days away. With all the (physical) working, I don't know if I'll make it that far and I'd be quite happy for her to come out now as she is considered full term, but I sure know that I better not go overdue! Really, who wants to still be working past their due date??????? Since I haven't been with my employer for at least 12 months, I don't get any form of maternity leave. Not paid, not unpaid, not under "short-term disability" like my pregnant manager who's one week ahead of me, not under the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)... All I can take is up to 4 weeks of personal leave through my employee benefits. Sounds great, doesn't it!? Dropping my 4 week old baby off somewhere, so I can go back to work is not really something I want to think about, but that is the reality over here for my situation and I do understand why people ask me why I moved over here or why I didn't move back to Germany, where I would have had way better prospects. Well, one answer to the latter is: I have a Greencard. If my baby is born in Germany, my baby will not have a Greencard and things will be rather complicated to get her legal resident status for the USA. Plus, I would have to start over again. Indeed, I'll have to start over here again soon as well, but it's less of a new start than it would be in Germany. At least I have a car, some furniture, a job...

Although the news from the job and the last month make me want to move on once again: management is not really considerate. Past 34 weeks pregnancy (while I would already be off work in Germany), I had to work a 17 (!!!) hour shift and several 12+ hour shifts. Only this week it looks like I'll be able to "relax" a little more.

I also had another "nice" incident at work. While fellow greencard-winners bicycles in Miami were stolen, I was stolen from at work... by a coworker! I had helped out another coworker and for the first time in this business & the 1 3/4 years, put my server book out of my hand. It only took 2 minutes to realize I had left it at one of the computer stations in the back of the house (10 feet away from a manager expediting food), but when I came back, it was already gone... and with it $400.-, as of course Murphy's Law has always been my "friend" and on the one day, that I put my server book down, all but one table had paid in cash (usually everybody pays with credit cards) and a thief is around. Needless to say, pregnancy hormones took over and I was in quite a state and cried for an hour while management tried to find evidence and pinpoint suspects. At the end of the night, after sorting out all the paperwork with a manager for 1 1/2 hours, it was clear that $300.- of that money were my employers and I would have to pay that back over time. AWESOME!!!!!!!! Management "knows" you took it (and so does everybody else), but unfortunately the ultimate proof was missing, so that person is still working with me. Talking about uncomfortable... try working with someone that you believe stole from you, knowing your story of being pregnant and single and all... It's definitely not a great feeling!

Besides work, I really haven't done anything. Still lots of stuff to prepare for when Baby gets here, but unfortunately my days don't have 48 hours in them and I'm not having the energy to solely work on my "To-Do-List" on my days off.

I am however very excited now and can't wait for my baby to get here... one reason might also be that I'll finally get to stay home for a little longer than one day at a time... :)

Wish me luck with everything!!! :)

Small request :)

2010-10-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

Ooooh, before I forget - you know baby brain moments are quite common with ladies like me...

I've noticed several new followers and new cities showing up in my blog visitors feed and since I'm a very curious person by nature, it would be great to know who some of you are and what your story is. Okay, okay, no need to tell me your whole life story, but maybe why you came across my blog, if you follow a US dream or other dream etc... oh, and if you know any single tall guys that could like me....... haha, just kidding! :D

Please comment or write to my blog address:

happyinusa.... AT.... hotmail.com

Would be great to put a story to a nickname, picture or city! Thanks :)

Deserted....

2010-10-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Where did the last month go???

I came back from Sweet Home Alabama on 19. September and since then it feels like I wasn't "here". I mean, I was here, as I was working and sleeping, but it seems like nothing else was accomplished. Weird!

Anyways, HELLO WORLD!!!

I still exist, I have not had my baby yet (7 weeks to go) and I'm still working full time with double shifts and all that stuff. I was very proud to have made my final payment to the birth center on 6.October! In my opinion it's quite an accomplishment to pay over $4.000.- all by myself in less than 5 months on top of all other bills, so that's why I'm proud :). I'm just glad that through the course of my live-in relationship and marriage in Germany I mastered in budgeting. I track every incoming and outgoing cent and although it is sometimes a pain and I'd love to just spend money without having to think so much about it, it definitely helps. I didn't have to budget during my first year over here in the States, but it's good to see that once you learned the "How to" you'll always be able to adjust.

Florida weather has turned beautiful once again. It's mainly sunny and warm now and not so hot. I don't really want to do a forecast for the winter, but two weeks ago it was already a lot cooler at night than last year, so we may have a similar one than '09/'10. Or maybe it's just me!!! I didn't want to believe my buddy Chris (the illegal German that got deported last year), when he told me I would run around in sweaters come fall and not go to the beach and swimming anymore, when I've been here 2-3 years, but he may be right. I was last swimming on 30. September and the water felt quite cold... it was definitely a lot, lot warmer than the Baltic Sea where I grew up though. Just another adjusting thing I guess....

Pregnancy wise all has been lovely. With all the working and running around I have to do, I guess God decided to spare me of a huge bump and just gave me a small one. Although I get jealous of big baby bumps from time to time, I'm quite content with the way it is, as I know if I'd be bigger, I wouldn't be able to work the way I work right now and would probably already have the receptionist position at the front desk at my work - which would cut my income in half.
However, it can get a little annoying as well, to be so "small". We have a new general manager taking over as the old one will be opening up the new store in Orlando. He's been with us for a month now and there's been a lot of times I waddled past him (in the beginning of the shift I usually don't waddle, it's more at the end) or rubbed my belly in front of him. Today I worked at a Barmitzvah and the GM was in charge. He came into the party area before the party started and asked me to please tug in my shirt. I was like ???????? and said "I'd love to Sir, but I'm wearing maternity pants (the once that cover the belly), so it's impossible." Then he looked at me like ?????? to which I responded "Well Sir, I'm 8 months pregnant!" He thought I must be crazy! My co-workers had to confirm that it is really so and that I'm only one week behind in pregnancy as one of my managers. Needless to say that manager has gained 50 lbs already and has a big-big baby bump to which compared I apparently must look just a little chubby.

The reaction of the GM amazed me though as I figured staff issues like "this" would be discussed at the manager meetings they're having 2-3 times a week and all the other managers know about it. I know these kind of "staff issues" were definitely discussed at the last company I worked at in Germany... Maybe it's due to the fact that I haven't asked for special treatment yet. A girl that just found out that she's 8 weeks pregnant already asked for a transfer in job positions which was granted from one day to the other, but I'm still working as usual, so it's not that obvious. I just hope they all remember that I do have a due date!!! As "party season" is approaching, we as waitstaff are not allowed to request time off between 1.November and 15.January, meaning they count on every head to be there and work, work, work. Well, one of these days it is out of the question that I will have to leave very, very quickly or won't come in at all. :) There better not be a manager that day that will be like ??????? ;)

Last but not least for tonight (gotta go to bed, early work tomorrow): Here's a bump picture I took Tuesday at 32 weeks and 3 days :) Where's the baby hiding!? :)

SoFlo Time-Out!

2010-09-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

After 6 months (well, 5 months and 29 days) of working 5-6 days a week despite being pregnant and all the other circumstances and not taking any time off, I think I more than deserve a little time out. :) And it is finally here! I'm leaving the two furballs alone at home for a couple of days and will jump on an airplane in the morning! I already miss my two babies and I don't know how I will cope without them, but I know Tanja, my German friend, will be taking good care of them, so I shouldn't be worried.

I'm not going anywhere exotic this time (I wish!), but to my regular inside-USA time-out spot ;). You guys can't believe how ready I am to leave South Florida and all that comes with it behind for some days.

I'm all ready for this feeling......

BYE BYE!!!

What Jenny does at 3 AM...

2010-09-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

... Normal people sleep!

I assemble baby strollers. :)

FedEx had left a note on my door about the attempted delivery of a package two days ago. However that note didn't really say anything aside from the doortag number and so I was sitting here all day Friday waiting on the second delivery attempt, which never occurred. After coming home from work that night and not finding another note, I went online to check out the number and come to find out, the package had already been "delivered" the day before... just not to my door. Luckily I know the names of the ladies working for the apartment association, so I was able to tell that one of them signed for it. I went down to the office to get it today. That FedEx guy was one lazy prick! He never attempted to deliver it to my apartment, but dropped it off at the office right away. So pregnant me ended up hauling the heavy package out to my car, somehow shoved it into my small car and tonight after work, hauled it up to my 3rd floor apartment.

Of course I'm way too excited about the first baby things, so I started assembling right away and it turned out not to be too tricky! Voila, the stroller is ready to roll!!! Since it's a travel system I also got the car seat and car seat base with it, so baby can at least ride safely in a car now and I can take her places. Who knows if we'll go on a XMas roadtrip together, if she's on time! :)

Was Jenny so um 3 Uhr morgens treibt...

...Normale Leute schlafen da!

Ich baue Kinderwagen zusammen. :)

FedEx hatte vor 2 Tagen eine Nachricht ueber den Zustellversuch eines Paketes an meiner Tuer hinterlassen. Allerdings verriet diese Nachricht nichts, ausser der Nummer des Zustellversuch-Aufklebers und so sass ich am Freitag den ganzen Tag da und wartete auf einen zweiten Zustellversuch, der aber nicht stattfand. Als ich nachts von der Arbeit heimkam und weiterhin keine Nachricht an der Tuer hing, ging ich online und tippte die Nummer des Aufklebers ein. Wie sich herausstellte, wurde das Paket bereits am Tag zuvor "zugestellt"... allerdings nicht an meine Wohnung. Gluecklicherweise kenne ich die Namen der Damen, die fuer die Wohnungsgesellschaft arbeiten und konnte somit sagen, dass eine von denen fuer das Paket unterschrieben hatte. Ich ging also heute zum Clubhaus, wo sich das Vermietungsbuero befindet. Der FedEx Typ war echt mal eine faule Socke! Da stellte sich doch heraus, dass der das Paket nicht zu meiner Wohnung brachte, sonders es gleich auf Anhieb im Buero abgegeben hatte. Das Ende vom Lied war also, dass schwangere Ich das Paket aus dem Buero zu meinem Auto hieven musste, es irgendwie ins kleine Auto stopfte und dann heute nach der Arbeit zu meiner Wohnung im 3. Stock hinauf schleppte.

Natuerlich bin ich ueber die ersten Baby Sachen momentan sehr erfreut und so musste ich sofort mit dem Aufbau des Kinderwagens beginnen. Zum Glueck stellte es sich als nicht allzu schwierig heraus. Voila, der Wagen ist fertig zum losduesen!!! Da es ein Reise-System ist, gehoeren dazu auch Autokindersitz und die Basis fuer den Autositz, so dass Baby nun zumindest schon einmal sicher im Auto reisen kann und ich sie auf Ausfluege mitnehmen kann. Wer weiss, vielleicht gehts ja Weihnachten auf den 1. Roadtrip... wenn sie denn puenktlich ist! :)

Helpful Furballs

2010-09-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's us! Since Mommy is working so hard every day and also trying to grow "our" Baby E, we thought we would help out a little bit. While watching the green gecko that lives outside of our apartment on the wall, we noticed a big brown truck stopping in front of the house. A guy with a brown uniform then carried up some boxes and we heard him drop them off in front of our door. Man, we were curious!!! Unfortunately, we couldn't see or sniff anything through the door, so we had to wait a couple of more hours until Mommy came back home. She finally did and brought the boxes inside where we started inspecting them right away. While she dropped down on the couch, we were able to open one side of a box and climbed in. Was a little dark in there and everything smelled so new. Mommy was afraid we would break something, so she got up to see what we were doing and what was in the boxes. We already knew! :) Lots of useful things for when Baby E gets here. We are very excited already, as we can hear what the little one is doing, when we snuggle up to Mommy's belly. We know she will be a very nice sister, because she never kicks us when we snuggle or run across Mommy's stomach. Now excuse us, we have some more work to do and gotta tear up these boxes!!! Good night world!!!
Smokey & Diamond

Ja, wir sind's! Da unsere Mutti immer soviel arbeitet und nebenbei auch noch "unser" Baby E gedeihen laesst, haben wir uns gedacht, dass wir mal ein wenig mit anpacken. Als wir heute so auf dem Fensterbrett sassen und dem gruenen Gecko zuschauten, der vor unserem Apartment an der Wand lebt, sahen wir einen grossen, braunen LKW vor dem Haus parken. Ein Mann in brauner Kleidung brachte dann ein paar Kisten nach oben und wir hoerten, dass er sie vor unserer Tuer absetzte. Was waren wir neugierig!!! Leider konnten wir durch die Tuer hindurch nichts sehen oder riechen, also mussten wir noch ein paar Stunden warten, bis Mutti wieder von der Arbeit heim kam. Das tat sie dann auch endlich und brachte die Kisten in die Wohnung, wo wir diese auch gleich naeher untersuchten. Waehrend sie auf die Couch plumpste, gelang es uns eine Seite einer Box zu oeffnen und hinein zu kriechen. Es war ein wenig dunkel und alles roch so neu. Mutti war besorgt, dass wir etwas kaputt machen wuerden, also kam sie um zu sehen was wir so treiben und zu gucken, was in den Kisten ist. Wir wussten es schon!!! :) Ganz viele nuetzliche Sachen fuer die Ankunft von Baby E. Wir sind schon ganz aufgeregt, da wir hoeren koennen, was die Kleine macht, wenn wir uns an Mutti's Bauch kuscheln. Wir wissen schon jetzt, dass sie eine liebe Schwester wird, da sie nie nach uns tritt wenn wir kuscheln oder quer ueber Mutti's Kugel trampeln. Und nun entschuldigt uns! Wir wollen noch ein wenig weiter helfen und die Kisten muessen noch zerlegt werden. Gute Nacht in die weite Welt!!!
Smokey & Diamond

Random Picture of 2010

2010-09-07T19:00:00.001-07:00

Tanja, Chad (best man at Tanja's wedding) and me (4 months pregnant) at the end of June 2010 at Wet Willies @ Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood during a small day/night getaway which included chilling by and inside the Hard Rock Hotel pool, eating out, some gambling and some nightlife fun with major dance action at Murphy's Law (Irish Pub). Was a great day/night out!!!

Different SoFlo Summer

2010-09-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

This year's summer has been somewhat different from the usual summer in South Florida. We didn't get a lot of the daily 3-4 PM showers, but therefore had some pretty intense downpours in the evenings. Just as I'm writing this, it is pouring again outside.

While being at work yesterday, when my shift turned from a scheduled "off at 5 PM" to "Jenny, would you be able to stay longer?????" (ending with a 11 1/4h work shift on Labor Day...), it started raining again and it even brought a small power outage with it. It is quite some fun to have a power outage in a 50.000 sft. restaurant/entertainment establishment, as this means all computers for the waitstaff, kitchen staff and all the arcade games that are powered, go off and have to be rebooted, while guests are anxiously waiting to get the game play and eating and drinking back on.

While the systems were down, I headed to the front of the building to have a look at the rain and the traffic passing by on I-95 and to my surprise, the parking lot was already flooded. Well, considering that we are in a swamp land, I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the quick flooding anymore. However it is still interesting to see how big the egos of a lot of South Floridians are.... Driving a Toyota Corolla, but pretending to be in a F-250 super truck, they of course can't wait until the flooding goes back a little. No, they have to drive through the partially over 2-feet deep water and then look completely amazed when the engine stops. Happened yesterday right when I was watching the parking lot and I've seen it numerous times at my main intersection to work as well when it gets flooded. People just HAVE to drive through!!! And then they get stuck and can't get out of the car as it is surrounded by water. More brains please!

Here are my quick snapshots which give an idea of how much water came down within a couple of minutes. More rain followed, making the flooding more severe. Luckily I had parked (unconsciously) in a spot that was a little elevated, so my tires only ended up being in the water by about 4 inches.

Dieser Sommer verlaeuft bislang etwas anders als der "normale" Sommer in Florida. Wir haben relativ wenige der typisch taeglichen 15-16 Uhr Regenguesse gesehen, dafuer hatten wir aber viele starke Regenguesse an den Abenden. Wo ich das hier gerade schreibe, kommt es schon wieder wie aus Eimern von oben herunter.

Waehrend ich gestern auf Arbeit war und sich meine Schicht vom geplanten "bis 17 Uhr" auf "Jenny, kannst du nicht laenger bleiben?????" aenderte (und ich somit 11 1/4h am Labor Day arbeiten war), fing es wieder an zu giessen und dieses Gewitter brachte sogar einen kleinen Stromausfall mit sich. Es macht schon Spass, einen Stromausfall in einer etwa 4.650 qm grossen Restaurant/Unterhaltungseinrichtung zu haben, da dies bedeutet, dass saemtliche Kellner und Kuechencomputer genauso wie die Arkaden-Spiele ausfallen und neu gestartet werden muessen, waehrend zich Gaeste ungeduldig darauf warten, weiter speisen, trinken und spielen zu koennen.

Waehrend die Computer alle aus waren, ging ich zum Eingang unseres Gebaeudes und schaute mir durch die Fensterfront den Regen und den vorbei rauschenden Verkehr auf der I-95 an und zu meiner Ueberraschung stand der Parkplatz bereits unter Wasser. Nun, da wir hier im Sumpfland leben, sollte mit das schnelle Ueberfluten hier nicht mehr so sehr ueberraschen. Vielmehr erstaunt mich nach wie vor, was fuer grosse Egos viele Suedfloridianer haben. Fahren einen Toyota Corolla, aber tun so, als saessen sie in einem F-250 super Truck und koennen natuerlich nicht abwarten, bis das Wasser wieder etwas zurueck geht. Nein, sie muessen unbedingt durch, durch das teils ueber 60cm tiefe Wasser und sind dann ganz verdutzt, wenn der Motor aufgibt. Passierte gestern direkt waehrend ich durch die Fensterfront schaute und ich erlebte das nun auch schon unzaehlige Male an meiner Hauptkreuzung auf dem Weg zur Arbeit, wenn diese ueberflutet ist. Die Leute MUESSEN da einfach durchfahren!!! Fluten den Motor und sitzen dann fest im Wasser und kommen nicht aus ihren Autos raus, weil sie ja vom Wasser umgeben sind. Mehr Gehirn bitte!

Oben sehr ihr ein paar schnelle Schnappschuesse was euch zeigt, wie viel Wasser schon nach ein paar Minuten gefallen war. Mehr Regen folgte, was die Ueberflutung des Parkplatzes noch ausweitete. Zum Glueck hatte ich (unbewusst) auf einem leicht erhobenen Platz geparkt, so dass meine Reifen nur ca. 10cm im Wasser standen.

Labor Day!

2010-09-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

The day of the working population - a state holiday in all 50 U.S. States...

...and who has to work??? Yes, ME!!!

As with a lot of other holidays here in the USA, the day loses part of its significance as holiday, as more and more businesses decide to stay open. For example our local Publix (grocery store) will be open regular Monday hours. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I understand that in this still difficult economic times, every possible day has to be used to generate revenue, but on the other hand these days stood for something higher back in the days and it is sad to see that we lose these treasures.

Only comfort: I know I will not be the only one working!

To everyone over here that is off: Enjoy the extended weekend with your families and some relaxation!

Der Tag der arbeitenden Bevoelkerung - in allen 50 US-Staaten ein Feiertag...

...und wer muss arbeiten??? Ja klar: ICH!!!

Wie mit vielen anderen Feiertagen auch, verliert der Labor Day als Feiertag allmaehlich an Bedeutung da mehr und mehr Geschaefte beschliessen offen zu bleiben. So hat unser oertlicher Supermarkt Publix morgen zum Beispiel so geoeffnet, wie an jedem anderen Montag auch. Ich sehe die mit gemischten Gefuehlen. Auf der einen Seite verstehe ich, dass in der weiterhin schlechten wirtschaftlichen Lage jeder moegliche Tag zur Erzielung von Umsatz genutzt werden muss, aber auf der anderen Seite stand dieser Tag einmal fuer etwas Hoeheres und es ist schade zu sehen, wie wir das aus den Augen verlieren.

Der einzige Trost: Ich weiss, dass ich nicht die Einzige bin, die arbeiten wird!

An alle hier drueben, die morgen frei haben: Geniesst das verlaengerte Wochenende mit euren Familien und erholt euch ein wenig!

The Appearance of the Bump

2010-09-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Only 97 days until Baby E is supposed to say hello to the world and still she is hiding inside of me instead of pushing out and letting everyone know her mommy is pregnant and didn't just have a couple of doughnuts too many!

Well, with 26 weeks and 1 day gestation, I finally went shopping for some maternity work pants today, as so far, due to the lack of bump, I was still wearing all of my pre-pregnancy clothes. While trying some pants on, I was also messing around with some random shirts I had picked out when strolling through the aisles.... and hey, all of a sudden I noticed that in that one outfit, (and by pulling the shirt back) a mini bump was visible! Of course I had to take a picture as proof! :)

Apologies for the randomness of this picture inside of a changing room, but moments like that need to be captured :)

Das Erscheinen der Kugel

Nur noch 97 Tage bis Baby E der Welt "Hallo" sagen soll, aber nach wie vor versteckt sie sich in mir, anstelle sich herauszudruecken um der Welt schon jetzt mitzuteilen, dass Mami schwanger ist und nicht nur ein paar Donuts zuviel gefuttert hat!

Nun war ich heute mit 26 Wochen und 1 Tag Schwangerschaft endlich mal shoppen um mir Umstandshosen fuer die Arbeit zu besorgen. Bislang war ja die Kugel nicht vorhanden, so dass ich weiterhin meine Vor-Schwangerschaftskleidung tragen konnte. Waehrend ich ein paar Hosen anprobierte, hantierte ich gleichzeitig mit ein paar Shirts rum, die ich so beim Laufen durch die Gaenge eingesackt hatte.... und hey, bei einem Outfit (und nach hinten ziehen des Shirts) wurde eine Mini-Kugel sichtbar! Natuerlich musste ich davon ein Beweisfoto machen!

Entschuldigt die Wahllosigkeit des Bildes innerhalb der Umkleide, aber solche Momente muessen festgehalten werden! :)

"People that hate cats, will come back as mice in their next life!"

2010-09-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

My 2 Love Birds! Watching me closely when I came home with groceries today.

They've divided chores up equally between them. Diamond will keep me company snuggled up next to me whenever I'm on the couch and she will also talk to me, whereas Smokey is my nighttime kisser and my playful kitty when it comes to hide & seek. I don't know how they ended up being like that. All I can say is, I love them and if it wouldn't have been for them, I'm sure one worry or the other would have been a lot worse. Going to bed, knowing that 1 minute after the lights go out, Smokey will just show up next to my head and kiss me goodnight and purr for a minute and then disappear back into the dark, is purely amazing. That's what I love about cats. They just know what's up with their human and act accordingly!

Love my babies 1 + 2 :)

Untold stories No. 1 - Why search engines should be your No.1 friend when single

2010-08-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

To lighten this blog a little again, after such serious posts, I thought I'd tell you one of these stories, I haven't told yet.

We already use search engines like Google and Bing in our everyday lives, but do you, as a single individual make use of them in your dating life yet?

I can tell you that it has proved to be very helpful for me last year. Very quickly after arriving in South Florida I noticed that a lot of people down here are very pretentious and that is something you obviously also encounter when going on dates or meeting people in bars etc. In the end you might find yourself in the position where you no longer know what of what you're told you can believe and what not. Well, lucky ones we are, living in such an industrialized world with smart phones and search engines!!! :)

Being a little tech savvy and having worked in the field of SEO (search engine optimization) before, I might have an edge, as I know how to use search engines for my advantage, but let me tell you one thing, here in the USA you all have one advantage in comparison to Germany for example. Everybody who has been arrested for whatever reason over here, will one way or the other, turn up on the internet, as the sheriff departments post mugshots, names and reasons for arrest daily online, whereas in Germany that information is kept from the general public. So at least, if you have a full name, age and face, you can make sure that the person you are talking to has not just been released on bond for a maybe not so small crime, simply by googling that person.

Here's what I came across:

1. While out with friends one Saturday, I met this guy and his friends in a bar in Hollywood and we started having a great conversation. He seemed to be very nice, was attractive, smart and a great conversationalist. We talked for hours and were the last ones left in the bar after my and his friends had said goodbye. At 5 AM in the morning we parted and I even had jokingly said that I usually google people to what he responded it wouldn't be a problem if I did that with his name. The following day we texted a little back and forth and made plans to meet up again. On Monday then I was bored and while surfing the net, I thought about putting his name into Google. I did and what was I happy about that! Only three posts down on the first page of search results was an entry from the Lee County Sheriff's department, which is the county around Fort Myers on the Gulf Coast. The guy had told me that he works there quite a bit, so I knew right away that entry must be about him and clicked on it. I admit I was slightly caught by surprise. I stared at a mugshot which was clearly of the guy I had just met and looked at the charges. I couldn't believe it! The Friday before the Saturday we had met, that "nice" guy had been arrested with 14 other people in a prostitution sting in Fort Myers. He had spend the night in jail and was then released on bond at lunch time on Saturday after which he had traveled back to Hollywood and met up with his friends and ran into me at that bar. Prostitution is illegal in Florida, but apparently this guy had been caught when driving around town looking for a prostitute. He had then approached an officer posing to be a prostitute and became lewd and aggressive when he found out he had been set up. Too bad!!! Needless to say, I never texted nor met up with that guy again!

2. On another night out, we met some guys from up North. One of them showed interest in me and we had a good time getting to know each other. He told me he was single. However, I had caught a glimpse at his phone display which showed a picture of a little girl that he had not mentioned in his stories and that I didn't ask about. Thanks to the smart phones however, you can now google stuff from wherever you are and somehow that evening I decided to start a quick search online on that guy when in line for the bathroom. Funny thing is, I only knew his first name (which was quite random), age, where he was approximately from and his profession, but with the right keywords I had a quick match in no time. Amazing! Come to find out, he was married and had a two year old daughter. Thanks to his company, posting profiles on their top sales people, for that information. Friend and I left the bar after that. Somehow I have a little something against traveling business men now. Are they all cheaters!? Possibly not, but why not ask Google first!? ;)

Call me crazy, but this is how I roll! :) Investigative nature! Unfortunately, doesn't always work.

Single pregnant immigrant without health insurance in the USA.

2010-08-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sounds scary!??? It sure is... BUT ONLY, if you're me and you base your decisions on the bigger picture.

Now before anyone thinks I'm stupid for deciding to start a family in the first place, knowing that I would probably have no health insurance covering maternity: We both were well aware of that and before the "We" picture collapsed, everything in regards to that was talked about and a plan established. Only problem: "We" is no longer existent, which makes it more complicated.

I believe it may be quite interesting for the 0.0001% of legal immigrants that will ever be in the same shoes to find out how the whole "pregnant - no insurance" thing works over here.

Looking at the market of individual health insurance, pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition, so once you are pregnant, chances of getting a health insurance plan are veeeeery low. Even if looking for health insurance in that market BEFORE getting pregnant will prove challenging, as there's a lot of fine print and maternity is usually not covered. If you want it covered you start out paying a lot more each month, as pregnancy/maternity is quite expensive for an insurance provider. Just the plain natural labor and delivery without complications and interference in a US hospital bed is likely to cost $10.000,-. Caesarean sections will of course be more and every drug you need will push the bill higher.

Best situation to be in: Get great health insurance from your employer and your life will be much easier. In an employer based health plan, pregnancy can not be labeled a pre-existing condition as there's some legal protection going back to the 70's for that. But not everybody is that lucky!

So let's be the one not having insurance coverage like me. What are the options?

The answer is simple. Not many!

Option 1: You're very fortunate and qualify for federal Medicaid support.
Problems: Medicaid for pregnant women is income based and even if you qualify due to your income... You have to be a US-citizen or a permanent resident of the USA for at least 5 years to qualify, although in some sources it says as greencard holder being pregnant you are exempt from the 5-year bar. All I know is, I was denied :(

Option 2: Pay cash!!! Whoop! As cash is still loved by doctors and hospitals, you will be able to negotiate and get better rates than an insurance provider. You may "only" pay 50% for example of what an insurance would be charged. However, that would still be a lot if you don't belong to the rich and famous.

I was "lucky" enough to have noticed a highway billboard in my first months over here that advertised for a birth center. It is an alternative to hospital care and usually the cheaper option. In my case I found a birth center run by an OB/GYN and a midwife (vs. others where there are only midwifes) and although I'm still having to pay for my care in cash, the package including prenatal care, labor and delivery and postnatal care, will "only" cost me around $4.200,-, IF everything goes without complications. In addition to that, I'm looking at a completely natural birth. Drugs for pain relief? No such option!

May sound scary for many again, but since my birth center has an OB/GYN licensed to operate in the local hospitals, I'm on the safer side. In case of complications he will deliver my baby out of a hospital without additional charge. I would only have extra costs for taking up room and equipment in the hospital then, but that is where Emergency Medicaid for pregnant women could kick in and that is something I would be eligible for.

Now as I ended up on my own, I'm paying everything by myself, which is tough. Quite obvious if you don't make the super big bucks and all of a sudden find yourself with a $740.- extra bill each month on top of your regular bills. But what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger! :)

By the way, there would be an option 3, as some of you may question how illegal aliens get their pregnancy health care. Yes, I could just go to the hospital and demand prenatal care which they couldn't deny me. My problem with that: Within the last 18 months I established quite a nice credit score. Getting care from a hospital and just not paying my bills (like a lot of uninsured citizens and legal as well as illegal aliens do) does therefore not work for me. I rather work my pregnant butt off and pay cash for my medical care, than ruining my credit by not paying those hospital bills and having debt collectors chasing me. I may need my good credit for something once baby girl gets here.

Well, long enough post about that topic! Cross your fingers for me as there is still a lot to figure out in regards to my near future.

Life is a roller coaster...

2010-08-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Nobody ever said life is easy. I mean, yes, some people are more fortunate than others and get to live the good life all the way. Others however get the roller coaster ride of life. That includes me. I've been a little quiet here lately, as my life has once again turned away from "normal". I guess normal would just be too boring. :)

What happened!?

Well, I want to keep this short: In June, I found out several things that made me end the relationship with Andrew. It was best for my personal well-being, but it wasn't a smooth break-up, so things have been rather rocky since.

I am therefore looking towards single motherhood and I'm currently living the crazy life of a single, pregnant immigrant, which brings it's very own stories with it. More in the next posts.

Niemand hat jemals behauptet, dass das Leben einfach ist. Ich meine klar gibt es Leute, die sich gluecklicher als andere schaetzen koennen und nur auf der Sonnenseite leben. Andere dagegen bekommen die Achterbahnfahrt. Dazu gehoere ich. Ich war in letzter Zeit ziemlich ruhig hier, da sich mein Leben einmal mehr vom "Normalen" abwendete. Normal waere wohl einfach zu langweilig. :)

Was ist passiert!?

Ich will es kurz fassen: Im Juni fand ich einige Sachen heraus, die mich meine Beziehung zu Andrew beenden liessen. Fuer mein Wohlergehen war es das Beste, allerdings war das Ende nicht sehr schoen, so dass es seither ein wenig holperig zugeht.

Ich gehe nun demnach auf das Single-Mutter Dasein zu und lebe momentan als alleinstehende, schwangere Immigrantin, was seine ganz eigenen Geschichten mit sich bringt. Dazu mehr in weiteren Eintraegen.

Feeling American

2010-07-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

There are many things that Americans do differently than Germans or other nationalities and many of them make foreigners shake their heads, let them sigh and say "These crazy Americans!", but there are also some very nice differences (at least I think so).

Today I can say, I feel like a real American. Why!?

I set up my first online registry!!! Whoop! A baby registry to be exact. Americans create registries mainly for weddings or for the arrival of a baby. It's a wish list of items and you basically put everything on there that you think you will need or maybe never need but still like to own and that you'd like people to give to you as a present. As events like weddings and births usually bring gifts with them, these registries are quite a great invention, because they let the person who wants to get you something see, what you would really like. It also prevents friends and relatives from getting the same gifts, as the registry shows what items have been purchased already and which ones have not been. There are in-store registries and online registries.

As I thought maybe some of my European friends and family would like to get baby a small something as well, I set up my registry on Amazon.com, as it is quite international and they usually have compatible prices. You just put my name in and wooosh, should see my list. Now I just have to get somebody "over there" to try out if it is really accessible...

Ha, I'm getting slightly excited! :)

Es gibt viele Dinge, die die Amis anders machen als die Deutschen oder andere Nationalitaeten und etliche davon lassen so manch anderen den Kopf schuetteln und sagen "Die verrueckten Amis!", aber es gibt auch sehr nette Unterschiede (zumindest denke ich so).

Heute kann ich sagen, dass ich mich wirklich Amerikanisch fuehle! Warum!?

Ich habe meine erste Online Registry erstellt. Eine Baby Registry um genau zu sein. Amis erstellen sogenannte "Registries" hauptsaechlich anlaessig einer Hochzeit oder Geburt. Es handelt sich dabei um Wunschlisten mit Gegenstaenden, die man benoetigt, oder vielleicht auch nicht benoetigt, aber trotzdem gerne besitzen moechte und die man gerne als Geschenk erhalten wuerde. Da Ereignisse wie Hochzeiten und Geburten ja ueblicherweise einige Geschenke mit sich bringen, sind diese "Registries" eine gute Erfindung, da sie der Person, die einem etwas schenken moechte, aufzeigen, was man wirklich mag. Es verhindert gleichzeitig, dass einem Freunde und Verwandte vielleicht das selbe schenken, da die Liste immer auf aktuellem Stand ist und dem Stoebernden verraet, welche Dinge denn schon von anderen verschenkt werden oder welche noch "schenkbar" sind. Es gibt uebrigens Laden- und Online Registries. Fuer die einen geht man ins Geschaeft und laesst sich dort die Liste zeigen, fuer die andere Variante kann man bequem zu Hause am Computer sitzen.

Da ich mir so dachte, dass vielleicht auch der ein oder andere meiner europaeischen Freunde Baby gerne etwas kleines schenken wuerde, habe ich meine Registry auf Amazon.com erstellt, da diese Seite ja ziemlich international ist und gewoehnlich wettbewerbsfaehige Preise hat. Man muss nur meinen Namen eingeben und schwupps, sollte die Liste erscheinen. Nun muss ich nur noch jemanden auf der anderen Seite des Ozeans testen lassen, ob das denn auch alles einfach anklickbar ist...

Hach, ich bin schon ein leicht wenig aufgeregt. :)

By the way....

2010-07-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

according to my 17 week scan, baby is a GIIIIIRL!!! :)
In one hour I'm officially celebrating half time. 20 weeks will be over!

Ach uebrigens,

laut meinem 17 Wochen Ultraschall, ist Baby ein MAAAEEEDCHEN!!! :)
In einer Stunde feiere ich dann auch offiziell Halbzeit. 20 Wochen sind dann um!

My Bonnie is over the Ocean... sing

2010-07-23T19:37:00.001-07:00

The first Tropical Depression, later announced to be the Tropical Storm Bonnie, hit South Florida in the early morning hours of this Friday 07/23... and all I have to say is: Geeeez, was that lame!!!

I had actually thought I might see some stronger winds for once, but nothing... a little breeze and a little bit of rain. I've seen more rain in every other thunderstorm down here that was not named a tropical storm. Bonnie was gone very quickly and is now in the Gulf of Mexico while we already had sunshine again in the afternoon.

The only dangerous thing that came even before Bonnie made landfall this morning were strong rip currents along the shoreline on Thursday and as we all know, people just can't/won't listen. If I hear there is a storm brewing over the Bahamas, I definitely DO NOT jump into the Atlantic Ocean, no matter how nice the waves may be. The Bahamas are not that far away and I always believe it may have effects on the behavior of "my" home waters and indeed it did. Rescue crews had to pull 110 people from the waters in Miami Beach, 18 in Hollywood and 128 in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday alone.

Die erste Tropical Depression des Jahres, spaeter zum tropischen Sturm Bonnie ernannt, "fegte" heute in den fruehen Morgenstunden ueber Suedflorida hinweg. Und alles was ich dazu zu sagen habe, ist: Gott, war das laaaaahm!!!

Ich hatte eigentlich damit gerechnet endlich einmal ein ordentlicheres Stuermchen zu sehen, aber nix... eine leichte Briese und ein wenig Regen, das wars! Da hab ich ja schon einiges mehr an Regen von normalen Gewittern hier gesehen, die nicht zum tropischen Sturm gemacht wurden. Bonnie war dann auch sehr schnell wieder verschwunden und befindet sich nun im Golf von Mexiko, waehrend wir am Nachmittag bereits wieder Sonnenschein hatten.

Das einzig Gefaehrliche was bereits auftrat bevor Bonnie auf Land traf, waren Rippstroemungen entlang der Kueste am Donnerstag und wie wir alle wissen, koennen/wollen viele Leute einfach nicht hoeren. Wenn ich hoere, dass ueber den Bahamas ein Sturm braut, springe ich gewiss nicht in den Atlantik, auch wenn die Wellen noch so schoen zu sein scheinen. Die Bahamas sind nicht weit entfernt und so denke ich immer, das was auch immer sich dort zusammen braut, auch Auswirkungen auf "meine" Heimatgewaesser haben kann und natuerlich hatte es das auch. Rettungskraefte mussten in Miami Beach 110, in Hollywood 18 und in Fort Lauderdale 128 Menschen aus dem Wasser ziehen

Baby's 1. Photoshooting

2010-06-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Baby made it's first appearance on the screen today. It is 14 weeks and 5 days old and measured perfectly. First it didn't like the ultrasound device pushing down on it too much and tried to shield its head with its hands, but later on it turned around and started kicking after it. Was a lot of fun to watch, but due to all the kicking, it didn't reveal yet what it is. There was always one or the other leg in the way :)

I hope you don't need a description of the scan. To your left the big round thing is the head and it has its right arm and hand in front of it. Looks like the sandman came by and it's rubbing its eye!

Baby ist heute das 1. Mal auf dem Bildschirm erschienen. Es ist nun 14 Wochen und 5 Tage alt und die Messungen waren prefekt fuer sein Alter. Zuerst fand es es gar nicht komisch, dass da ein Ultraschall-Geraet in seine Richtung drueckte und versuchte sich mit den Armen und Haenden davor zu schuetzen. Spaeter dann aber drehte es sich um und trat mit den Fuesschen nach der Beule. Das hat sehr viel Spass gemacht da zu zu gucken, allerdings verheimlichte es durch all das Treten was es denn ist. Da war immer das eine oder andere Bein im Weg. :)

Ich hoffe ihr braucht fuer das Bild keine Beschreibung. Links das runde Ding ist der Kopf und davor haelt es sich den rechten Arm und die rechte Hand! Als wenn der Sandmann vorbei kam und es sich die Augen reibt.

Weekend Greetings

2010-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Squishy face Clifford found his permanent home last weekend. He was adopted by a very nice couple from Miami who had met him at a dog festival and had fallen in love with him. Saying Goodbye was a little tough, but I'm very happy for him and Cliff is such a gentle soul, he was very happy to see these two people and especially excited about riding in a car again. He just loves it! Andrew asked me this week to foster another dog, but I denied it. My cats are pretty happy about having the place to themselves again and this new Bully would be pretty big. He weighs in at 91 lbs where the usual Bully weighs 53 lbs and according to his description he might have a couple of rough edges. Since bulldogs are so incredibly hard headed, I momentarily don't want to be in a position having to restrain this heavy fella! Maybe a smaller one will come along soon. If that's the case, I probably won't say No!

Faltengesicht Clifford hat am letzten Wochenende sein permanentes Zuhause gefunden. Er wurde von einem sehr netten Paar in Miami adoptiert, die ihn auf einem Hundefest kennenlernten und sich in ihn verliebten. Der Abschied fiel schwer, aber es freut mich sehr fuer ihn und Cliff ist eh so ein genuegsames Kerlchen, der freute sich, als er die beiden sah und besonders auch uebers Auto fahren. Das macht er ja am liebsten! Andrew wollte dann die Woche schon den naechsten Bully zur Pflege aufnehmen. Das habe ich aber erstmal abgelehnt. Meine Katzen freuen sich wieder ueber die "sturmfreie" Bude und der neue Bully ist ziemlich gross, wiegt fast 42 kg waehrend das Normalgewicht fuer Bullys bei 24 kg liegt und laut Beschreibung hat der auch so einige Kanten. Da Bullys so wahnsinnig dickkoepfig sind, moechte ich den schweren Kerl momentan nicht baendigen muessen. Vielleicht wird uns ja bald wieder ein kleinerer angeboten. Da sag ich dann auch nicht Nein!

Cliff chillaxing and Cliff up-side-down enjoying his belly scratch!

Since I look slightly pale for Floridian circumstances, due to all the sleeping, I'm gonna lay down by the pool in a minute. As I'm not having a bump yet (other than my regular bump *smile*), I took a quick picture last night after work. I bought this dress in England in Spring 2008 and to be honest, it never really fit. Now I dug it out of my "winter- & other clothes" luggage and... Surprise! Can't hurt to have such a "Before" picture for the motivation afterward.

Well, the sun is shining, the pool ready for me! I'm wishing you all a great weekend!

Da ich durch das viele Schlafen schon ganz blass ausschaue fuer floridianische Verhaeltnisse, werd ich mich dann jetzt auch mal an den Pool begeben. Da ich noch kein Baeuchlein habe (ausser mein normales Baeuchlein *grins*), hab' ich gestern Abend nach der Arbeit noch fix ein Bild gemacht. Das Kleid hab ich im Fruehjahr 2008 in England gekauft und ehrlich gesagt, hat es nie wirklich gepasst. Nun hab ich das mal aus meinem "Winter- und andere Klamotten"-Koffer gekramt und siehe da... Ueberaschung! :) Das kann ja mal nicht schaden so ein Vorher-Bild fuer den Ansporn hinterher zu haben.

Also die Sonne lacht, der Pool ruft! Ein schoenes Wochenende in die weite Welt!

Remember the O and 0 problem!?

2010-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

As I wrote in a post in April, my parents had big problems entering the USA after filling the ESTA forms out "wrongly". Their mistake was to mix up the letter O with the number 0 as the difference between these two was not visible when comparing them to each other in the German passport.

Now even the German website Spiegel.de reports this problem.

Here's the link: Die Nullen aus dem Innenministerium

Wie ich bereits in einem Eintrag im April schrieb, hatten meine Eltern erhebliche Probleme bei der USA Einreise, nachdem sie die ESTA Formulare "falsch" ausfuellten. Ihr Fehler war den Buchstaben O mit der Nummer 0 zu verwechseln, da im Deutschen Reisepass keinerlei Unterschied zwischen den beiden festzustellen ist.

Nun berichtet sogar die Deutsche Webseite Spiegel.de darueber.

Hier der Link: Die Nullen aus dem Innenministerium

And before I forget...

2010-06-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was very proud last week that 3 years after my wedding and the day that I thought I looked one of my best, I weighed exactly the same as I did on that day, despite living in the USA for 15 months already. Whooooooop!!! :) Haha, only women may understand....

Bevor ich's vergesse, letzte Woche war ich seeeehr stolz darauf, dass ich 3 Jahre nach meiner Hochzeit und dem Tag an dem ich fand, dass ich am besten aussah, genau das selbe auf die Waage brachte wie eben an diesem Tag, obwohl ich schon seit 15 Monaten in den USA wohne. Juhuuuu!!! :) Haha, das koennen wahrscheinlich nur Frauen verstehen...

Hurricane Season No. 2... and revealing the big news ;)

2010-06-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by. Today is already 1. June again, which means it's the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. This will be my 2nd season and while we didn't see any storms last year, this year we might not be as lucky. Changes are taking place in the Atlantic and since I'm no scientist, I won't go into detail and leave the explanations up to the experts, but it has something to do with the weakening of the El Nino phenomenon. The water of the Atlantic is therefore heating up in many parts which helps major storm systems to form more easily... if I understood that correctly ;)

Well, I'll knock on all the wood around that we have another great season like last year, but a lot of "native" South Floridians believe that it's about time for another hurricane to hit, especially when looking at the recent developments with natural disasters... earthquakes everywhere, a tropical storm hitting Guatemala and other regions down South pretty hard this past weekend etc.

Besides that, I still don't have much to tell, as I wasn't doing a lot other than sleeping and working... which does have a reason! :) We're not only adding furry friends to the family, but also a little human being, that, if everything goes well, will join us at the beginning of December. 1st trimester is completed and since it was planned, the only surprise will be, what it will be - boy or girl! :)

With that in mind, I do admit that I believe that my days in South East Florida are counted. While it is great to live here as single, raising children down here is nothing I can picture right now. That has a lot of reasons: too many fake people that are all about money and connections, too much violence and crime, too much air pollution, preschool teachers that hardly speak English and me not being able (or wanting) to pay for the "elite private white schools", housing prices and salary levels that don't match etc.

I don't know yet where the road will lead us, but I'm excited for it.

Greetings to all my friends and family!!! Picture taken today - a lil tired but happy!

Die Zeit verfliegt mal wieder. Heute ist der 1. Juni und damit einmal mehr offizieller Start der Atlantischen Hurrikan Saison. Das wird nun bereits meine 2. Saison und waehrend wir letztes Jahr keinen grossen Sturm gesehen haben, koennten wir dieses Jahr nicht soviel Glueck haben. Es gibt Veraenderungen im Atlantik und da ich kein Wissenschaftler bin, lasse ich die genauen Erklaerungen mal lieber den Experten, aber soweit ich das richtig verstehe, hat es mit der Abschwaechung des El Nino Phaenomens zu tun, was den Atlantik nun in einigen Bereichen aufheizen laesst und das wiederum beguenstigt das Entstehen groesserer Sturmgebiete.

Nun, ich klopfe auf alles vorhandene Holz um mich rum, dass wir so eine entspannte Saison wie letztes Jahr haben, aber viele "Einheimische" Sued-Floridas meinen, dass es langsam wieder an der Zeit ist, dass uns ein schwerer Hurrikan trifft, besonders wenn man sich die Naturkatastrophen der letzten Monate anschaut - Erdbeben ueberall und nun auch schon ein grosser tropischer Sturm der Guatemala und andere Laender im Sueden am Wochenende stark getroffen hat etc.

Ansonsten habe ich auch weiterhin nicht viel zu berichten, denn ausser Schlafen und Arbeiten mache ich kaum etwas... das hat aber auch seinen Grund! Wir vergroessern die Familie nicht nur um Fellknaeuel, sondern nun auch durch ein kleines menschliches Wesen, dass, wenn alles gut geht, Anfang Dezember zu uns stossen wird!!! :) Das 1. Trimester ist bereits ueberstanden und da es geplant war, wird die einzige Ueberraschung sein, was es denn genau wird :).

Damit im Hinterkopf, gebe ich zu, dass ich denke, dass meine Tage hier in Sued-Ost-Florida gezaehlt sind. Waehrend es sich hier als Single gut leben laesst, kann ich mir momentan nicht vorstellen, hier Kinder grosszuziehen. Das hat etliche Gruende: zu viele "falsche" Leute, die nur auf Geld und Kontakte aus sind, zu viel Kriminalitaet und Gewalt, zuviel Verschmutzung in der Luft, Vorschullehrer die kaum Englisch sprechen und mein fehlendes Geld (bzw. Wille) fuer "Weisse Elite Privatschulen" zu bezahlen, hohe Mietpreise und schwache Lohnlevel die sich nicht vereinbaren usw.

Ich weiss noch nicht, wo der Weg uns hinfuehren wird, aber ich bin gespannt!

Gruesse an alle meine Freunde und Familie. Obiges Bild ist von heute. Ein wenig muede, aber gluecklich!

He's back!

2010-05-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's not your screen that's blurry or anything... Cliff (remember, the bully!!!?) is back with us, his foster parents. After he got adopted from somebody in Naples last weekend, they didn't even keep him a day and drove him back to the rescue. Apparently they had two older pugs that didn't like cute Clifford too much. Well, go figure! You bring a new dog into an established bond between other dogs and people and you think that doesn't take some more adjustment (and work from your side) than just a day??? Some people are soooo stupid! Sorry!

Anyhow, he has it great here with us and we'll keep it that way until the rescue finds someone for him that really cares. You couldn't ask for a greater dog. He's good with cats, other dogs, small children, loves to ride around in the car, gives high fives and didn't have any of the usual English Bulldogs problems yet (requiring eyelid-lifting, skin treatment, respiratory surgery etc.). We had our first family outing (Andrew, Cliff and I) to Toss Up Salads today and he was great!

Besides the dog, there's not much happening! SoFlo is getting hot again, we're both working and Smokey has his crazy moments while Diamond loves to lay around in the sun ALL day!!! Smokey discovered that there are some geckos living on the roof and the outside walls of the house and so he sits on the window sill all day nagging about them while they crawl by and he can't get to them. Very funny to watch!

Me and Cliff today!

Ja, ihr habt nicht etwa was aufm Bildschirm.... Cliff (der Bully) ist zurueck in unserer Wohnung und bei uns, seinen Pflegeeltern. Nachdem er letztes Wochenende von jemandem in Naples adoptiert wurde, behielten die ihn nicht einmal einen Tag und brachten ihn zurueck zur Hilfsorganisation nach Fort Lauderdale. Die haben wohl zwei aeltere Moepse, die den suessen Clifford nicht so mochten. Naja, ist ja auch ziemlich viel verlangt, dass ein neuer Hund mit Sack und Pack in eine bestehende Gemeinschaft aus Hunden & Menschen einzieht und es nicht ein wenig Eingewoehnung und Arbeit von Seiten der Menschen bedarf. Manche Leute sind echt ein wenig verpeilt!!! 'Tschuldigung!

Egal, ihm geht es gut hier bei uns und wir werden das eben so lange aufrecht erhalten, bis er von jemandem adoptiert wird, der es wirklich gut mit ihm meint. Man koennte sich echt keinen besseren Hund wuenschen. Er ist gut im Umgang mit Katzen, anderen Hunden, kleinen Kindern, liebt es im Auto rum zu fahren, schlaegt gerne ein mit seiner Pfote und hatte bislang keine der typschischen Englische Bulldoggen Probleme (Augenlid-Straffung, Hautbehandlung, Operation der Atemwege etc.). Heute hatten wir unseren ersten Familienausflug. Andrew, Cliff und ich fuhren zu Toss Up Salads und er benahm sich sehr gut!

Neben dem Hund ist momentan nicht viel los. Suedflorida wird wieder heiss, wir beide arbeiten und Smokey hat seine auf-(oder durch-)gedrehten Momente waehrend Diamond am liebsten den lieben, langen Tag in der Sonne liegt. Smokey hat jetzt entdeckt, dass da Geckos aufm Dach und an den Aussenwaenden des Hauses wohnen und nun sitzt er stundenlang auf dem Fensterbrett und meckert die an, waehrend die vorbei krabbeln und er nicht zu ihnen kommt. Macht seeeehr viel Spass, da zuzuschauen!!! :)

Adding to the family...

2010-04-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

At least temporarily! :) Andrew loves English Bulldogs and last weekend there was a dog adoption event in a park in Plantation, a city close by. Since in the USA, there is a rescue for every breed of dog, cat, whatsoever, there is of course one for English Bulldogs. Down here it is called Adopt-A-Bull. Since they don't work out of a shelter, they always need foster parents for their dogs... so guess what!? Yes.... we came home as foster parents of Clifford, an approx. 3 year old Bully, that is kinda ugly, but that is, what makes him totally cute!!! Due to the cost of adopting one, that is currently out of the picture. So fostering is a very good option to still have a dog around.

While Andrew is in Orlando with his mum that came down here from Alaska for a conference this week, I'm taking care of the Bully by myself and we're having lots of fun. Today Andrew got a call from the rescue that Clifford is going to be adopted this weekend by someone in Naples. YAY for that, a permanent home, but boooo for us. We'll surely miss him... but maybe we'll get a new foster bully.

Zuwachs fuer die Familie... Zumindest temporaer! :)
Andrew liebt Englische Bulldoggen und letztes Wochenende gab es hier ein Hunde-Adoptions Event in einem Park in Plantation, einer naheliegenden Stadt. Da es in den USA fuer jede denkbare Hunde-, Katzen- und Kleintier-Rasse eine eigene Hilfsorganisation gibt, ist natuerlich auch eine nur fuer Englische Bulldoggen da. Hier unten nennt sie sich Adopt-A-Bull. Da diese Organisation nicht aus einem Tierheim heraus arbeitet, braucht sie immer Pflegefamilien fuer ihre Hunde... also ratet mal!? Na klar... wir kamen also als Pflegeeltern von Clifford nach Hause, einem ca. 3-jaehrigen Bully, der ein wenig haesslich ist, was ihn aber schon wieder voll suess macht :)!!! Durch die hohen Adoptionskosten fuer einen Bully kommt eine Adoption momentan nicht fuer uns in Frage. Somit ist es toll die Option zur Pflegefamilie zu haben.

Waehrend Andrew gerade mit seiner Mutter, die aus Alaska fuer eine Konferenz angereist ist, in Orlando ist, passe ich alleine auf Clifford auf und habe eine Menge Spass. Vorhin hat Andrew einen Anruf bekommen, dass Clifford am Wochenende adoptiert wird und in sein neues Zuhause nach Naples zieht. Juhuuu fuer sein staendiges Zuhause, aber buhuuu fuer uns. Wir werden ihn sicher vermissen, aber wer weiss, vielleicht kriegen wir ja einen neuen Pflege-Bully! :)

Here is the womanizer!

My friend Tanja, the "slobber-guard-blanket" and Clifford :)

Awwwwwww! Love me, love me, I'm soooo adorable!

1. Visitors

2010-04-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

With a delay of one day my parents made it over to the States on 10. April. But why a delay? Well, long story short... a very small mistake on their ESTA forms cost them lots of money. While in their German passport the number 0 (zero) and the letter O look exactly the same (yes, I even looked at it and it was no difference), the computer system printed them differently and so the airline wouldn't take them on-board. They tried to solve the mistake as quickly as possible with help of some airport Berlin-Tegel personnel, but didn't make it back in time before the counter was announced to be closed by a supervisor... Actually they made it back in time, because the counter guy and a guy at the security check were still there and had waited on them, but this supervisor ruled differently. :(

Well, eventually they made it over to the USA and we had a good time. Went down to Key West one day and up to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center on another day and then their short visit was already over. At least the one to Florida. When they arrived in NYC on Friday last week, their flight was canceled due to the ash cloud from Iceland. They finally made it home on Tuesday, after a flight to Barcelona, a bus ride to Karlsruhe and a train ride to Berlin. I'm glad they made it back safely!!!

1. Besuch: Mit einem Tag Verspaetung kamen meine Eltern am 10. April in den Staaten an. Aber warum Verspaetung? Nun ja, ein sehr kleiner Fehler auf dem ESTA Formular wurde zu einem sehr teuren. Waehrend in dem deutschen Pass meiner Eltern die Nummer 0 (Null) genauso ausschaut wie der Buchstabe O (ja, ich hab's mir angeschaut und da ist KEIN Unterschied), druckte das Computersystem die unterschiedlich ab und so nahm die Fluglinie meine Eltern nicht mit an Bord. Mithilfe von Personal des Flughafen Berlin-Tegels versuchten sie den Fehler so schnell wie moeglich zu beheben, schafften es aber nicht mehr rechtzeitig zurueck an den Schalter, bevor dieser von einer Schichtleiterin geschlossen wurde... Nun eigentlich schafften sie es noch rechtzeitig, denn der Mann hinter dem Schalter und ein weiterer bei der Sicherheitskontrolle hatten noch extra auf sie gewartet, aber die "gute" Frau entschied anders. :(

Nun, letztendlich schafften sie es in die USA und wir hatten eine gute Zeit. An einem Tag fuhren wir nach Key West, an einem anderen nach Cape Canaveral und ins Kennedy Space Center. Dann war der kurze Aufenthalt meiner Eltern auch schnell vorueber. Zumindest der in Florida. Als sie am Freitag in NYC eintrafen, wurde ihr Flug aufgrund der Aschewolke aus Island gestrichen. Am Dienstag trafen sie dann nach einem Flug nach Barcelona, Busreise nach Karlsruhe und Zugreise nach Berlin endlich zu Hause ein. Ich bin froh, dass sie wieder heil da sind!!!

Here some impression from the Key West trip.

Pierre's @ Islamorada. Should be familiar from the Full Moon Halloween Party. I LOVE THIS SPOT!!!

Morada Bay @ Islamorada, next to Pierre's.

Ernest Hemingway House, Key West

There's a big cat sanctuary at the Hemingway House.

Beautiful property with lots of different plants.

Key West Beach

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

I guess it's alright to still say that on Easter Monday! :))

Everything here in SoFlo is going great, like always. I'm back in a job in the same industry that I had just left, but work less hours than before and it's a corporate environment, so I will actually get health insurance in like 2 more weeks. It is very hard to get around the hospitality industry down here, since it is just everywhere and the money is not bad. I'm still looking around for something else, but I'm not in a hurry. Right now I just prefer the server job over a $10-12/hour office job. Some of you may have heard of Dave&Buster's before. That's my new employer. I've been there almost a month now, have 140 colleagues, it's one exit from my apartment and I really like it. The strange thing is, that I'm somehow reaaally good in this job. :) At Toss Up Salads customers would always tell me that I'm one of the best servers they have met in their lives and at D&B the managers have also already told me that they wish there would be more of my sort. Very nice!

Besides working I'm enjoying the great SoFlo weather again. At the beach or the pool - my tan is coming back!

This Friday my parents will finally come to visit me for a week. After it was impossible for my friend Henry to fly over here for XMAS due to problems with his health insurance who didn't let him fly, this will be my first visitors from Germany. I would really like to welcome some more friends down here... but yeah... I know the difficulties, especially the monetary ones.

Here is a picture from yesterday, Easter Sunday. We had come back from church and lunch and since I had to work in the evening I wanted to rest a little on the couch. Well, someone thought it was very comfy to lay on my back. His front paws were hanging down, but he didn't move for 15 minutes... Nice heating pad for my back, Smokey! :)

Pictures from Vegas... 3 months later! :)

2010-03-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

They've been requested, so I decided to finally post a few pictures from my 2009 XMAS trip to Vegas. Since I wasn't really a tourist, but a guest of Andrew's family, I didn't do a lot of the typical tourist things. We drove down towards the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam on one day, but it was so jammed, that the driver (Andrew's dad) decided to not sit in it for over an hour to get to the Dam and so we went to Lake Mead instead. The impacts of temperature changes in the last couple of years become very obvious there. The water level has dropped by about 36 meters and the lake is at only 43% of its capacity. There is a so called "bathtub ring" on the mountains surrounding the lake, showing were the water was once up to. Quite impressive!

In addition to that we of course went to a couple of casinos, had a XMAS family time and Andrew took me to the Venetian hotel were we went on a gondola ride. That was very nice!

Es wurde nach ihnen gefragt und so entschied ich mich, doch endlich mal ein paar Bilder von meinem 2009 Weihnachtstrip nach Vegas zu veroeffentlichen. Da ich nicht wirklich ein Tourist war, aber ein Gast von Andrew's Familie, habe ich nicht wirklich viele typische Touristensachen unternommen. An einem Tag fuhren wir runter zum Hoover Staudamm und dem Grand Canyon, aber der Verkehr staute sich arg und so entschied sich der Fahrer (Andrew's Vater) umzukehren und stattdessen an den Lake Mead zu fahren. Die Einfluesse des Temperaturanstiegs der letzten Jahre werden dort sehr deutlich. Der Wasserpegel ist um die 36 Meter gesunken und der See ist nur bei 43% seiner Kapazitaet. Dort ist auch ein sogenannter "Badewannenring" entlang der Berge sichtbar, durch den ersichtlich wird, wo das Wasser eins stand. Sehr beeindruckend!!!

Wir waren natuerlich auch in einigen Casinos, haben Weihnachten gefeiert und Andrew ging mit mir auf ein Date ins Venetian Hotel, wo wir auch mit einer Gondel fuhren. Sehr nett! Besonders der Gesang unsere Gondoliers...

Slot machines at the airport./ Auf dem Flughafen.

A house in Las Vegas./ Ein Haus in Las Vegas.

Me and Tank - the family's boxer,Me in the Venetian.Inside the Venetian.The Strip.Inside the M - Hotel.
Entrance to Lake Mead. The ranger in the car was a dummy./ Einfahrt zum Lake Mead. Der Parkranger im Auto war ein Dummy - also unecht.
"Golddiggers" at Lake Mead. As of a statement of Feb. 2010 by a ranger, anyone caught with a metal detector can be fined up to $5000,- and sentenced to up to 5 yrs in prison./"Goldsucher" am Lake Mead. Nach Auskunft eines Rangers vom Feb. 2010 kann jeder der dort mit einem Metaldetektor erwischt wird mit einer $5000,- Strafe belangt werden oder fuer bis zu 5 Jahre ins Gefaengnis wandern.
The bathtub ring is quite visible./ Der Badewannenring ist sichtbar.

My furry friends are the best!!!

2010-03-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

When I come home, I open the door. Both cats come running towards me... I'm standing there enjoying their excitement, not saying anything. Then I say "Hiiii!"to them and both reply simultaneously with a "Meeeooow!" and affection! SOOOO GREAT! I love them!

Wenn ich nach Hause komme, oeffne ich die Tuer. Beide Katzen kommen auf mich zugerannt... Ich stehe da und erfreue mich an ihrer Aufregung und bin still. Dann lass ich ein warmes "Hiiii!" erklingen und beide erwidern gleichzeitig mit einem "Miiiiiaaau!" und ganz viel Zugeneigung! SOOO SCHOEN! Ich liebe die Zwei!

2 x 3 macht 4 - Time for the US Census

2010-03-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

On 1. April 2010, 10 years will have passed since the last US Census - the counting of the population in the USA - and it'll be time to count again. The Census is important to determine how many people live in a community and what races form that population. Government money for education, infrastructure, the integration of immigrants (especially those of Hispanic origin), etc. is distributed using these numbers, so if only 30% of people in a community send back their forms instead of the average 72%, numbers will certainly be off and that community will miss out on government money. The Census was established to count everybody living permanently in the USA - legal or illegal, doesn't matter.

We just received the form, filled it out in 2 minutes and put it back in the mail. I'll now be officially counted as part of the US population! I like it!!! :)

Am 1. April 2010 ist es 10 Jahre her, dass die Bevoelkerung der USA gezaehlt wurde und es ist daher an der Zeit erneut zu zaehlen. Die Volkszaehlung ist wichtig um herauszufinden, wieviele Menschen in einer Gemeinde leben und aus welchen Rassen sie besteht. Staatsgelder fuer das Schulwesen, die Infrastruktur, die Integration von Einwanderern (besonders der hispanischer Herkunft) etc. werden anhand dieser Zaehlung verteilt. Senden also nur 30% der Einwohner einer Gemeinde anstelle der durchschnittlich 72% das Formular zurueck, werden die Nummern definitiv von der Realitaet abweichen und die Gemeinde wird weniger staatliche Gelder zugeteilt bekommen. Der Zensus findet statt um jeden zu zaehlen, der dauerhaft in den USA wohnt - legal oder illegal spielt dabei keine Rolle.

Wir haben unser Zensus Formular gerade erhalten. In 2 Minuten war es ausgefuellt und nun ist es bereits in der Post auf dem Weg zurueck. Ich werde damit nun also offiziell als Teil der US-Bevoelkerung gezaehlt. Das gefaellt mir!!! :)

SoFlo welcomes two more GC winners!

2010-03-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

Jennie and Thomas, two greencard winners from Germany that I've met during the TAD-GC winner meeting in Miami last May, are moving over to the States in 2 days!

I know you guys are probably reaaaaally busy right now, wrapping things up in Germany, but I still want to use this opportunity to wish you good luck with everything, a hassle free trip and the beginning of a wonderful adventure. The temperatures are finally rising a little and the weekend is expected to be one for the beach, so pack your swim wear and sun lotion within easy reach! ;)

Welcome back to crazy SoFlo!

The family is growing!

2010-03-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

Since Smokey is an indoor cat and very active, I decided that he needed a playmate to not get bored. I met with a woman Sunday morning who gave me a "private tour" of all the cats at the local PetSmart in Hollywood. The organization who adopts out of this store is a "No-Kill" organization, which is great, as many/most shelters in the USA put pets down if they haven't been adopted in a set amount of time. This organization also requires home visits WITH the pet that is up for adoption to make sure it is a match.

I decided on two cats that liked me, to come on a home visit and was very excited to see Smokey's reaction, as there was no history about him ever being with other cats. Well, what can I say, we brought the ladies in, released them and he LOVED them. No hissing, but kissing. As one of the ladies was more interested in him than the other one, I decided to keep it. The second one was younger and just brought into the shelter, whereas the other one had been there for a while, had been on several house visits and never found a home, so it was about time for her!

Well, tell you something about pretending... that kitty was good! As soon as the lady from the organization left, she fled underneath the bed and stayed there for the last 2 days. Didn't come out to eat, nothing. I worked a lot with her to make her feel more secure and apparently something changed tonight. I woke up at 5 AM, because both of the cats were on top of the bed playing with my feet... GREAT (or not)! :) I think they are definitely going to have fun together.

And now... here she is:

Diamond

Da Smokey eine "Haus"-Katze und sehr aktiv ist, entschied ich, dass er eine Spielgefaehrtin braucht um sich nicht zu langweilen. Am Sonntag traf ich mich also mit einer Frau fuer eine "Privat-Fuehrung" durch das Katzenhaus des oertlichen PetSmart in Hollywood (ein Haustier-Supermarkt). Die Organisation die sich um diese Katzen dort kuemmert ist eine "No-Kill" Institution, d.h. anders als in vielen anderen Tierheimen in den USA, werden hier die Katzen nicht nach einer festgelegten Zeit getoetet, wenn sie nicht adoptiert wurden. Gleichzeitig setzt diese Organisation einen Hausbesuch MIT dem zu adoptierendem Tier voraus, um zu sehen, ob das auch wirklich passt.

Ich entschied mich fuer 2 Katzen, die auf einen Hausbesuch kommen sollten und war schon gespannt auf Smokey's Reaktion, da es keine Informationen darueber gab, ob er jemals in direktem Kontakt mit anderen Katzen war. Nun, was soll ich sagen, wir brachten die zwei Damen in die Wohnung, liessen sie aus ihren Transportkoerben und Smokey LIEBTE sie! Kein Fauchen, aber Kuessen. Da eine der Damen mehr Interesse an ihm zeigte, entschied ich mich sie zu behalten. Die zweite war noch ziemlich jung und gerade erst ins Heim gekommen, waehrend die andere dort schon laenger war und auch schon auf etlichen Hausbesuchen war, ohne adoptiert zu werden. Also war es laengst an der Zeit fuer ein gutes Zuhause.

Nun, hier was zum Thema "so tun, als ob" - Die Katze war gut! Kaum war die Mitarbeiterin der Organisation verschwunden, verschwand auch die Katze... naemlich unters Bett. Und dort blieb sie dann auch die letzten 2 Tage, ohne jemals hervorzukommen. Weder zum Essen noch fuer irgendetwas anderes. Ich versuchte viel mit ihr zu arbeiten (soweit das mit einer Katze unterm Bett geht) um ihr Sicherheit zu geben. Scheinbar hat das geholfen, denn heute morgen wachte ich um 5 Uhr auf, weil BEIDE Katzen auf dem Bett sassen und mit meinen Fuessen spielten. SUPER (oder auch nicht)!!! :) Die beiden werden auf jeden Fall Spass miteinander haben!

Wir sind nun also stolze Besitzer von Smokey und Diamond! :)

Duck Fest Derby Fort Lauderdale 2010

2010-02-27T16:39:00.001-08:00

Today was the big Duck Race in Fort Lauderdale. 20.000 rubber ducks were dumped into the New River to compete for the Grand Prize of $5.000,- and other prizes. The event was held for a good cause - to benefit the charity "Kids in Distress", who cares for abused and neglected children down here in South Florida. For a donation of $5,- people could "adopt" a duck that would take part in the race. Andrew and I had both adopted a "quack pack", 5 ducks each and went down to Fort Lauderdale to watch the event. It was a lot of fun, especially for children due to all the stations like face painting, "duck toss", hula hoop and a little farm zoo, but even we grown ups had fun.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't very stable, so before the first ducks could cross the finish line, people were told to leave the outside event area, due to a storm with lightening approaching, which of course isn't too great around water. The winners will be announced on the event website on Monday. Maybe we were lucky!

Heute fand das grosse Enten-Rennen in Fort Lauderdale statt. 20.000 Quietsche-Entchen wurden in den New River gekippt um dort um ein Preisgeld von $5.000,- und andere Preise zu kaempfen. Die Veranstaltung fand fuer eine gute Sache statt, naemlich "Kids in Distress", eine Organisation die sich um vernachlaessigte und missbrauchte Kinder hier in Suedflorida kuemmert. Fuer eine Spende von $5,- konnte man eine Ente "adoptieren", die an dem Rennen teilnahm. Andrew und ich adoptierten jeweils ein "Quack Pack", was jeweils 5 Entchen entsprach und fuhren nach Fort Lauderdale um uns das Ganze anzuschauen. Es hat viel Spass gemacht, vorallem war dort viele Staende fuer Kinder, wie Schminken, Entenweitwurf, Hula Hoop oder ein kleiner Bauernhof-Zoo, aber auch wir Erwachsenen kamen auf unsere Kosten.

Leider war das Wetter nicht besonders stabil und so wurden wir aufgefordert, die Veranstaltungsstaette noch vor Zieleinlauf der ersten Ente zu verlassen, weil sich ein Gewitter schnell naeherte, was natuerlich direkt in der Umgebung von Wasser nicht besonders gut ist. Die Gewinner werden am Montag auf der Event Webseite bekannt gegeben. Vielleicht hatten wir ja Glueck und sind dabei!

The race course./ Die Rennstrecke.

Hard working volunteers getting the ducks ready.

The leading group./ Die fuehrende Truppe.

Rubber ducky, you're the one - you make race time so much fun!

The finish line.

The storm approaching.

One year down... four to go!

2010-02-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

21.02.2010 or 02/21/2010... One year has passed since I moved or immigrated to Southern Florida. To celebrate this event, I decided that I wanted to go to the place where I started my journey... South Beach, Miami. I only spent 3 days in a hostel there last year and didn't even set food on the beach of South Beach and due to being so busy throughout the year, I also never did after settling down, so it was about time.

Andrew and I got into the car, started the day at IHop and spent a wonderful afternoon walking through the streets of SoBe. We were lucky and had a quite sunny and warm day, which has become a rarity lately due to the Global Cooling events around the world, that did not spare South Florida. ;) We finished the day with Asian food and going to the movies to see Shutter Island with Leo DiCaprio... "Interesting" movie!

Definitely had a great day and can finally say that I've really been to South Beach!!!

21.02.2010 oder wie die Amis es schreiben wuerden, 02/21/2010... Ein Jahr ist seit meinem Umzug nach Suedflorida vergangen. Um dieses Ereignis zu feiern, entschied ich, dass ich an den Platz zurueckkehren wollte, an dem ich mein Abenteuer startete: South Beach, Miami. Ich habe dort letztes Jahr meine ersten 3 Tage in einer Jugendherberge verbracht, setzte aber nie einen Fuss auf den Strand von South Beach und auch nachdem ich sesshaft wurde, schaffte ich es nicht, weil ich ja immer so beschaeftigt war. Es war also laengst an der Zeit!

Andrew und ich setzten uns also ins Auto, starteten den Tag bei IHop und verbrachten dann einen wunderschoenen Nachmittag indem wir durch die Strassen von SoBe schlenderten. Wir hatten Glueck und es war ein recht sonniger und warmer Tag, was ja aufgrund der Global Cooling Ereignisse weltweit, von der auch Suedflorida nicht verschont blieb, auch hier eine Seltenheit geworden ist. Den Tag beendeten wir mit Asiatischem Essen und einem Kinobesuch um Shutter Island, der neue Film mit Leo DiCaprio anzugucken... "Interessanter" Film!

Wir hatten einen super schoenen Tag und ich kann endlich sagen, dass ich so richtig in South Beach war!!!

PS: Die englische Bulldogge mit der franzoesischen Bulldogge waren der HAMMER!!! SOOOO SUESS!!! TOO CUTE!!!

Tax Return 2010 - My 1st one in the States

2010-02-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

A must for every greencard holder is filing the annual tax return in the USA. I thought it would be a lot more complicated and a lot more paper war, but granted, I'm pretty young, don't own real estate, a business or whatsoever and that makes things a lot easier!

I received my W2, which is the income form from one's employer(s), in Mid-January and I wanted to get "it" out of the way as quick as possible. Through various TV and internet ads, I knew which companies are out there to do the return for me or help with advice, but since I didn't have much to declare or deduct, I decided to go through the IRS website and use a free tax return online service. I ended up doing mine with Turbo Tax. It took me about 15 minutes to go through everything, it was free and the website told me right away how high my return is going to be and when I would receive it from the IRS.

2 weeks later my 1st American tax refund was deposited into my account. Yeeehaw!

Kitty Cat :-)

2010-02-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday it was time for my kitty to come home!!!

So here he is... the 3rd member of our household: SMOKEY

He is a lot smaller than I had figured from seeing him crouched together in his cage, but the cutest cat ever! We share the same birthday. He was born on Nov. 9th, 2008, so on my 23rd birthday. He's been adopted once before from the shelter, but the people brought him back after 3 months. I don't know why, but he surely has a great home now!

He's possibly the most affectionate cat I ever had. He always follows us around, cuddles up to us, purrs all the time etc.. Yesterday he discovered his cat-bed (and actually slept in it) and also that sleeping on top of OUR bed is possible. The days before, he always slept underneath our bed. Well, I can already see that he likes it on top A LOT better!

Smokey is also regaining the regular cat behavior. The first couple of days he was pretty calm in the mornings.... oh well, that changed quickly! This morning he came running in the bedroom and jumped straight up on top of the bed and of course, on top of me. And then he jumped and he jumped and he jumped.... All you cat owners know how that goes, don't you!? :)

I guess the thing he loves the most right now is us not having a lot of furniture (although we finally got a dinner table & chairs & a TV yesterday). It just gives him soooo much room to play and run around like a crazy something.

Anyhow, very lovable pet!

Superbowl in Miami & 1st week in Hollywood

2010-02-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

We just came back from a great Superbowl party in Fort Lauderdale with about 20 great Americans that we didn't know before. My German friend Tanja and her American husband Ben took us with them and we had a blast.... and waaaaay too much food!!! :)

The team that we were for won! GOOOO SAINTS! I actually looked forward to the Superbowl since everybody had told me about the commercials the big companies create especially for this event, but I have to say that only a few of them were actually good. Some were just really dumb!

We've also been a week in our new apartment today. This place is freakin' awesome!!! I made a good choice. After sleeping in the floor for two nights we also got a bed... king size and European... from IKEA... That's all the furniture we've got so far though which still leaves a lot of space in this place. Oh yes, and I got a plant!!! I picked a Jasmin, as I love it when it blooms.

AND: Andrew and I drove to the animal shelter in Pompano Beach today and I adopted a cat! It was heartbreaking to see these kitties in the small cages they were in and all of them started meowing and purring and tried to get our attention, but in the end we had to decide on one. I took the adoption card from a cage with a completely black male cat in it and when I took it off the door, he wanted to play with my fingers. Very cute one, a little quieter than some of the others though.

The bad thing is that MY cat has to sleep in the shelter for another 3 nights. :( My adoption went through, I had to pay a deposit, but they basically will get him "ready" by Wednesday. Probably some final check ups and bureaucracy. I'm sooo looking forward to get him out of there and have an addition to our small German/American family :)

So far, the new year is still going great. I'll post some pictures soon!

Now good night! New work week ahead!

12 hours...

2010-01-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

... and we'll get the keys!!! Waaaaah!!! :)))

1st month rent free is the best thing... plus the vaulted ceilings of course... and the roman bath tub and and and... :)

As you can tell, I am very excited to finally have my own 4 walls again after 20 months without them. It is the best present I can give myself for my 1 year anniversary in the States which will be approaching in 3 weeks. And it gets even better when I have somebody moving in with me that I care about a lot.

Today we started looking around for things (furniture and other stuff) and went to IKEA. I am one of the few people that hates that place, BUT still we got some things from there, like a proper duvet with changeable covers, kitchen utensils and we will definitely get our bed from there as well and IT IS NOT going to have a box spring. Ha! :)

I was able to find somebody cover half of my shift at work tomorrow, so I'll get out after lunch. My plan for after: Cross the street and enter the local Home Depot to buy a PLANT! If anybody knows the movie "The Professional" (Leon der Profi) - that is me! I need to have a plant around me. Something else that is alive apart from some human beings. I had one when I was working for Lidl in Germany and traveled from hotel to hotel with it, but had to abandon it in the last hotel when I got fired. I know that it sounds crazy, but I always hoped that somebody took care of my plant after. ;) Anyways, I didn't have a real plant around for a year now, so I'm all happy to get one.

Going to the apartment afterwards and starting the move. I have 21 days left in my old place, but we plan on spending the night in the new place tomorrow already and I have nothing holding me back to move out as fast as possible.

It's going to be fun!!!

By the way, I love the pictures from you guys up in Northern Germany with all that snooooow!!! :)

Time for change...

2010-01-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

... but for nothing else!

Oh, shame on me for not posting for sooo long. I started writing about my Europe trip offline one day, but it got longer and longer and then turbulences came along the way which made me focus on other things and also my late evenings that used to be free time, were all of a sudden filled... ;)

So, 1st: The big Taaaadaaaaa...

Jenny's got a boyfriend! Real American originally from Reno, Nevada, in SoFlo for 2 years already. To the surprise of many he is my age (24) and 2 inches shorter. Hahaha! But such a cutie :). His name is Andrew by the way.

He's the best thing that happened to me in a long time. I got flowers sent to my workplace for example and on a bad day he just came by the restaurant with a huge teddy bear on the passenger seat of his car which was holding chocolate... Last Saturday he then showed up all dressed up in black with a white tie (sooo handsome!) and rose coloured roses in his hands. My customers started clapping! :)

Now from all you Americans... let's hear a big AAAAAWWWWW!!! ;)

The 2nd big Tadaaaaa...

Andrew and I are moving together! Yes, that's quite quick, but so cool! My roommate gave me some trouble after Andrew spent the night over here once. He wanted to forbid me any more overnight visits and gave me huge drama. Andrew is the 1st person I ever brought to this place since I live here, I pay a good amount of rent and my roommate's girlfriend sleeps over a lot, but I shouldn't do the same!??? That's some big BS right there. Anyways, it added up to the other things that I was getting tired off and I looked at apartments, found MINE yesterday and signed the Lease today. Yeeeehaw!

I'll be getting the keys on Monday and since we met in Hollywood, FL, we are going to move to Hollywood, FL - which is like right around the corner from where I live now. Gated community overlooking a golf course. It's a pretty spacious 2/1 with high-higher-highest ceilings. I'm sooo excited to have my - our own place over here in the USA!

And more information: Work has been a mess! One Up and Down since returning from the XMAS vacation, which made me question where I stand. I don't want to get into detail, but it's been CRAZY. We still love each other though! Anyhow, now that I'm not living my life over here so lonely anymore, I work too many (or too stupid) hours and it's time for a change of my job situation. My last day at Toss Up will be the 13th of next month and I'll volunteer for them at an event on the 14th again and then I'm outta there! Let's see where the road takes me. I'm very optimistic about this change!

Well, I hope that explains where I've been for the last couple of weeks. I'm still alive and well. Next month I'll be busy moving in, so no worries if it takes longer again until you hear from me.

Thanks to all you guys that still read my blog!!! :)

The Queen is back from Vegas!

2009-12-29T07:36:00.000-08:00

And once again I returned back home. My flight arrived today at 7 AM in Miami. I then picked up my friend from Fort Lauderdale airport (we both flew out of Las Vegas at 11:30 PM last night but with different destinations) and now I'm in my bed at home fixing to get some sleep. The two hours on the plane were just not enough.... I promise you'll get an update about what happened in the last couple of weeks soon. I'm still OFF work til 01/04/10!

Me somewhere in Vegas!

Und mal wieder bin ich zurueck zu Haus. Mein Flieger landete heute morgen um 7 Uhr in Miami. Anschliessend bin ich zum Flughafen in Fort Lauderdale gefahren meinen Freund abholen. Wir sind beide gestern Nacht um 23:30 Uhr in Las Vegas losgeflogen, nur eben mit unterschiedlichen Zielflughaefen (ich flug Non-Stop, er via Atlanta). Nun bin ich in meinem Bett und werde mir erstmal ein wenig Schlaf goennen. Die 2 Stunden im Flugzeug waren einfach nicht genug... Ich schwoere, dass ich euch ganz bald ein Update ueber die Ereignisse der letzten Wochen gebe. Ich hab ja noch bis 4. Januar 2010 URLAUB! :)

Back Home

2009-12-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

Short Update: I just arrived back home in SoFlo.

All I can say to this trip: It was the most exhausting, most eventful and most successful trip I've ever been on in my whole life! Just WOW!

I'll post details later. All bad that could've happened, happened, and so did all good. The good outweight the bad in the end and all that matters is...

I'm FREE in the land of the FREE now and very very very happy! Congrats even came from the immigrations officer at the airport in Miami. :)

By the way, as if I haven't traveled enough in the last 4 weeks...

I'M FLYING TO LAS VEGAS IN 4 DAYS!!!!!!! :)

More about that later on as well.

Oh boy, my life...... Gotta love it!!!!!

Life is sooo good!

2009-12-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Did you know!? I live in the currently warmest spot in the whole United States of America! To celebrate that I should do a little dance at the beach tomorrow morning, don't you think!? ;)

And more news:
On the 5th of December I'm going to be the longest away from Germany that I have ever been. During my exchange year 02/03 I didn't set foot on German ground for 286 days. This Saturday I will beat it with 287 days. I will not reach 300 days though, because...

I'm going to Germany!!!

My airplane departs on 13th of December, because my presence in a German court is required on the 17th. Although I'm happy to see my family and although this trip will mean I will enter 2010 as a FREE & very happy woman, I'm not really looking forward to it, because I'm looking at freezing my butt off and who would enjoy that!??? Honestly, it will be a challenge to be back in this cold weather, but hey, I guess some Gluehwein will help me out!

I'll fly a not so typical route this trip. Into Berlin, out of Frankfurt going to London, spending 2 days in England and flying straight back from London to Miami. I thought since I'll be over there anyways, why not do some shopping!? I love shopping in England and maybe I'll get to see some of my friends from when I lived over there.

I love my boss for letting me take off so unexpectedly. Although my brain is demanding a change in jobs quite frequently as it would like to be used more, my customers that tell me how much they love me and how great I am and the fact that I've got all holidays off and will get 1 1/2 weeks for XMAS and this extra week right before XMAS, although working in the hospitality industry where this is quite uncommon, make me want to keep it!

To get a little XMAS feeling and get ready for the German XMAS markets, I already had some Spekulatius in Curacao (yes, they had all the lovely European candy there!) and I'm now being forced to listen to XMAS music 9h a day at work!

Jingle bells, jingle bells........

Wusstest du schon!? Ich wohne in der momentan am waermsten Gegend der gesamten Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika! Um das zu feiern sollte ich morgen frueh an den Strand und einen Tanz auffuehren, meinst du nicht!??? ;)

Und mehr Neuigkeiten:
Am 5. Dezember ist der Tag an dem ich mich jemals am laengsten ausserhalb Deutschlands aufgehalten haben werde. Waehrend meines Austauschjahres 02/03 betrat ich fuer 286 Tage keinen deutschen Boden. Am Samstag werden es nun 287 Tage sein. Die 300 Tage werde ich allerdings nicht erreichen, denn...

Ich fliege nach Deutschland!!!

Mein Flieger geht am 13. Dezember rueber, da meine Anwesenheit vor einem deutschen Gericht am 17. verlangt wird. Obwohl ich gluecklich bin, meine Familie wiederzusehen und diese Reise bedeutet, dass ich ins Jahr 2010 als FREIE und sehr glueckliche Frau starten werde, sehe ich diesem Trip nicht wirklich entgegen, dass es bedeutet, dass ich mir den Hintern abfrieren werde und wer mag das schon!??? Ganz ehrlich!? Es wird eine Herausforderung in dieses kalte Wetter zu reisen, aber hey, ein ordentlicher Gluehwein wird mir da schon aushelfen!

Ich werde eine etwas ungewoehnlich Route fliegen. Hinzu nach Berlin, dann von Frankfurt aus nach London, wo ich 2 Tage verbringen werde und dann von London aus direkt nach Miami zurueck. Ich dachte mir, wenn ich schon mal da drueben bin, dann kann ich auch gleich noch nach England zum Shoppen. Ich liebe Shopping in England und vielleicht sehe ich ja auch einige meiner Freunde wieder, die ich noch von meinem Studienaufenthalt dort habe.

Ich liebe meine Chefin dafuer, dass sie mich so super kurzfristig hat freinehmen lassen! Obwohl mein Gehirn des Oefteren einen Fassadenwechsel im Job einfordert weil es gerne ein wenig mehr genutzt werden wuerde, lassen mich meine Kunden die mich lieben und sooo toll finden und die Tatsache, dass ich alle Feiertage frei hatte und 1 1/2 Wochen ueber Weihnachten und nun auch noch die extra Woche vor Weihnachten frei bekomme (trotz Arbeit im Gastgewerbe), meinen Job behalten wollen!

Um ein wenig in Weihnachtslaune zu kommen und um fuer die deutschen Weihnachtsmaerkte gewappnet zu sein, habe ich mir auf Curacao schon ein paar Spekulatius gegoennt. Jaa, die hatten dort all die wunderbaren europaeischen Suesswaren. Gleichzeitig werde ich nun auf Arbeit taeglich gezwungen 9h Weihnachtsmusik anzuhoeren!!!

Jingle bells, jingle bells......

Another paradise discovered.

2009-12-01T00:59:00.000-08:00

Curacao was amazing! Beautiful scenery. Beautiful weather.

My hotel room included the best bed I've ever slept in on the American continental side of the world. It was quite tough to leave it every day! I cruised the island in my island "car" - a Suzuki Alto. I nicknamed it "Jimmy the Go Kart". After driving daily for 9 months on at least 5-lane highways, the bumpy single lane island roads were pretty scary in the beginning, but I adapted quickly to the interesting rollercoaster ride roads the island has to offer. Lots of fun when driving a Suzuki Alto and even more fun to find MY car, when it seems like the whole island drives the same. The local people not as happy as I pictured them for the Southern Caribbean. I smiled more!!! The local businesses equipped with way to many employees - all lots of time for chit-chatting with each other. Profitability!? The local language - Papiamentu. Interesting to listen to. Sounds like Afrikaans-Chinese with a note of Spanish blended in Dutch and English... ;)
500 pictures taken. Felt like cliff diving several times. It took a lot not to.
Met: 16 Canadian military fellas on the island for some training, a very attractive (not to say HOT!!!) US firefighter and his friends working on Curacao for a year, several crabs - from sandish yellow to black, 2 iguanas whom I distracted from eating fruit and about 5.000 lizards all in the area of the Hato Caves.
Was able to pay everywhere in USD, but am now proud owner of some Netherlands Antillean guilder (or florin), which means I'll be back, definitely, especially when I get my diver's license one day. This vacation's read: Peter G. Peterson - "The education of an American Dreamer". It's a very good biography.

Now, back in the States where I had to submit all my 10 fingerprints and a picture again upon entry - the officer with a smirk in response to my possibly slightly annoyed face: "only a couple more times until your citizenship!" Yes. Indeed! Can't wait! Only 4 years and 2 1/2 more months and estimated 120 fingerprints.

Curacao war traumhaft. Wunderschoene Landschaft. Wunderschoenes Wetter.
Mein Hotelzimmer beinhaltete das beste Bett in dem ich je innerhalb der amerikanischen Kontinente geschlafen habe. Es war ziemlich schwer, das jeden Tag zu verlassen! Die Insel durchfuhr ich in meinem Insel"auto", einem Suzuki Alto. Ich gab ihm den Sitznamen "Jimmy das Go Kart". Nachdem ich taeglich fuer 9 Monate auf einem mindestens 5-spurigen Highway unterwegs war, veraengstigten mich die kleinen, huckeligen, einspurigen Inselstrassen anfangs ein wenig, aber ich gewoehnte mich schnell an die interessanten Achterbahnstrassen, die die Insel zu bieten hat. Macht sehr viel Spass wenn man einen Suzuki Alto faehrt. Noch mehr Spass macht es MEINEN Wagen zu finden, wenn es scheint als faehrt die ganze Insel den selben Wagen. Die einheimische Bevoelkerung nicht so gut drauf wie ich mir das fuer die Suedkaribik vorgestellt habe. Ich habe definitiv mehr gelaechelt!!! In den oertlichen Geschaeften viel zu viele Angestellte. Die hatten massig Zeit fuer Gruppengeplauder. Profitabel ist das nicht gerade. Die Landessprache: Papiamentu. Sehr interessant! Hoert sich an wie Afrikaans-Chinesisch mit einem Schuss Spanisch gewuerzt mit Englisch und Niederlaendisch... ;)
500 Bilder geschossen. Fuehlte mich etliche Male nach Klippen-Springen. Musste mich arg zurueck halten. Getroffen habe ich: 16 Kanadische Militaertypen zum Training auf der Insel, einen sehr attraktiven (um nicht zu sagen HEISSEN!!!) amerikanischen Feuerwehrmann und seine Freunde, die fuer 1 Jahr auf Curacao arbeiten, etliche Krabben - von sandgelb bis schwarz gefaerbt, 2 Iguanas die ich vom Fruechteessen abhielt und geschaetzte 5.000 Eidechsen alleine im Bereich der Hato Hoehlen.
Ich konnte ueberall in USD bezahlen, bin nun aber stolzer Besitzer ein paar Niederlaendischer-Antillen-Gulden (Florin), was bedeutet, dass ich zurueck komme, definitiv, besonders wenn ich mal irgendwann meinen Tauchschein mache. Meine Urlaubslektuere: Peter G. Peterson - "Die Bildung eines Amerikanischen Traeumers". Sehr gute Biographie eines Mannes der es weit gebracht hat.

Nun wieder in den Staaten wo ich zur Einreise mal wieder meine 10 Fingerabdruecke und ein Foto abgeben durfte. Der Beamte hatte ein ziemliches Grinsen im Gesicht als Antwort auf meinen leicht genervten Gesichtsausdruck zu diesem Prozedere und meinte "nur noch ein paar mal bis zu deiner Staatsbuergerschaft." Ja. Genau! Ich kann's nicht erwarten! Nur noch 4 Jahre 2 1/2 Monate und geschaetzte 120 Fingerabdruecke.

Me, happy in Curacao and RELAXED RELAXED RELAXED!

Turkey Time...

2009-11-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

... but not for me!!!

It is VACATIOOOON!

Tomorrow afternoon I'm flying out of Miami to Curacao. Boss gave me also off tomorrow, so I'll be without my Toss Up family for 5 days - the longest we'll ever be apart since it all started. That feels a little weird since we are a lovely team, but I'm so ready for a good, peaceful Jenny-time. My first real vacation since July 2008 when I was on Gran Canary.

I had some awesome weekends lately, met very, very interesting people, so I'm really hoping this short trip will add to this highlife. Other than that I've got some quite unexpected news from Germany last week, which may mean that I'll be headed over there in 3 weeks... See, I told you... unexpected! :)

Anyways, world get ready for me, because I am!

9 months in the USA!!!
Let's get some Caribbean atmosphere in here... and yes, I'm dancing right now. With my laptop in my hands. And smiling... what else!?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU! Have great times with friends, family or while traveling. Be safe and all of you in the States: think of me when you rush into the stores on Black Friday (or buy me something... ;) )

Peace out!

15. November

2009-11-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

Tanja, a German girl that I met through Meetup and I have spent last Sunday and today with bride's and bridesmaid's dress shopping. She's getting married in July up in Maine and we found her a gorgeous dress (and beautiful dresses for the bridesmaids too!). Of course I can't post a picture, top secret! After the exhausting shopping part, we had us some great Starbucks coffee out in the sun today.

I leaned back, bright sun in my face, blue sky and palm trees around me and thought:

Wow, today is the 15th of November, but it sure feels like the 15th of July!

Sending some sunny greetings to everyone who needs them in cold or rainy parts of the world! :)

Tanja, ein deutsches Maedel was ich ueber Meetup kennenlernte, und ich haben letzten und diesen Sonntag mit Brautkleid- und Brautjungfernkleider Shoppen verbracht. Sie wird im Juli in Maine heiraten und wir haben ihr ein wunderschoenes Kleid gefunden (den Brautjungfern auch!). Natuerlich kann ich kein Bild posten, ist ja alles streng geheim! Nach dem anstrengenden Shopping Teil haben wir dann einen guten Starbucks Kaffee in der Sonne genossen.

Ich lehnte mich zurueck, die Sonne strahlte ins Gesicht, Palmen und blauer Himmel um mich herum und dachte:

Wow, heute ist der 15. November, aber es fuehlt sich an wie der 15.Juli!

Ich sende ein paar sonnige Gruesse an euch alle in kalten oder regnerischen Gegenden der Welt! :)

24th Birthday

2009-11-14T23:12:00.000-08:00

YES! Only 359 more days until I can finally rent a car in the USA without paying the additional fee for drivers younger than 25 (which ended up costing me an extra $250,- when immigrating before I bought my car over here)!!! And it all became possible because I turned 24 on Monday. Whoop! I'm soooo looking forward to next year's birthday and the car that I'll be renting that day. Come on, you already knew that I was crazy, so don't shake your head like that!!! I totally don't mind turning older if it's for the financial benefit.

But how was this year's birthday? Well, it was the second one I celebrated in the States. When I turned 17 I lived in Alabama as an exchange student and went bowling. Seven years later I at least had a beer to cheer to the new year & gained wisdom! Since my boss spent the weekend in Vegas, there was no way I could've taken the day off, so I ended up working until 9 PM. My roommate had invited me to dinner earlier that day and so I had hopes that we could have us a good time. Well, I wasn't thinking about his girlfriend who apparently decided she couldn't let him go out on his own, which I can't really blame her for, as we would've probably ended up in a strip club somewhere ;). So she came along and we just went for a quick meal and beer. That was pretty much my birthday. My colleague Joanna had surprised me with a nice Fossil watch earlier that day and that was pretty much my only gift. Somehow that girl can mind read. Just two days earlier when going out in a black dress, I was thinking about putting on my watch, which has a light blue background. It did not really fit the outfit and I was thinking about getting a watch with a black background. Well, guess!? Yes, the one from Joanna has one! :)

My birthday also marked a very important date in history. 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down! Sunday night I watched footage of it and reports on the internet and a couple of tears left my eyes, because without the events that happened that day, I, born and raised in East Germany, would not be where I am today! I am very thankful for my parents that used the newly gained freedom to travel and who gave me the opportunity to visit 20 countries so far. What a great day!

On Tuesday my boss returned from Vegas and I got a huuuuuuuge cake! Wow, huuuuuge, I'm telling you, and DELICIOUS! I ended up sharing it with colleagues and customers, gave a big chunk to my boss/nanny and daughter, another big chunk to Joanna and family and still have a big rest sitting in my freezer.

Did I ever mention what great customers I have in my job!? Well, there's some not so great ones as well, but let's not talk about them. Anyways, one girl, that I don't even know the name of, gave me an extra birthday tip and another customer, Ingrid, a Swedish lady, was so cute to drop off a whole gift bag two days later with some Lindt pralines, a card and two decorative items that will definitely find a place in my new apartment! I love to see how some people care!

To sum it up, the cake, the tip, the gift:

Thanks to all the Bday wishes from around the world and my 1st mail to my blog-mail!

JAWOLL! Nur noch 359 Tage bis ich endlich ein Auto in den USA mieten kann, ohne den U25-Fahrer Aufschlag bezahlen zu muessen (was mich bei meiner Auswanderung extra $250,- kostete, bevor ich mir mein Auto kaufte)!!! Und das wird moeglich, da ich Montag endlich 24 wurde. Juhu! Ich freue mich schon sehr auf den naechsten Geburtstag und das Auto, was ich mir dann mieten werde. Ach komm, du wusstest doch schon vorher, dass ich verrueckt bin, also hoer auf mit dem Kopf zu schuetteln! ;) Ich finde das ja ueberhaupt nicht schlimm zu altern, besonders nicht, wenn es von finanziellem Vorteil ist.

Aber wie war mein Geburtstag? Nun, es war der Zweite, den ich in den USA feierte. Meinen 17. verbrachte ich als Austauschschueler in Alabama und ging Bowlen. Zum 24. hatte ich dann wenigstens ein Bier und konnte auf das neue Lebensjahr und die gewonnene Weisheit anstossen! Da meine Chefin das Wochenende in Vegas verbrachte, war es mir unmoeglich den Tag freizunehmen. Also arbeitete ich bis 21 Uhr. Mein Mitbewohner hatte mich am Vormittag aufs Abendessen eingeladen und so hatte ich wenigstens die Hoffnung, dass wir noch einen drauf machen wuerden. Leider hatte ich die Rechnung ohne seine Freundin gemacht, die ihn irgendwie nicht alleine weggehen liess. Das kann ich sogar ein wenig nachvollziehen, waeren wir doch womoeglich in einem Stripclub oder sonstwo gelandet ;). Also kam sie mit und wir haben nur schnell was gegessen und getrunken. Das war so ziemlich mein Geburtstag. Meine Kollegin Joanna hatte mich am Tag mit einer Uhr von Fossil ueberrascht. Das war auch so ziemlich mein einziges Geschenk. Das Maedel kann uebrigens Gedanken lesen. Zwei Tage vorher wollte ich meine Uhr zu einem schwarzen Kleid anlegen, bemerkte aber, dass das hellblaue Ziffernblatt nicht wirklich zum Outfit passte und ueberlegte mir, eine Uhr mit schwarzem Ziffernblatt zuzulegen. Ja nun ratet mal!? Die von Joanna hat ein solches!

Mein Geburtstag war gleichzeitig der Jahrestag eines wichtigen historischen Ereignisses. Vor 20 Jahren ist die Berliner Mauer gefallen. Sonntagnacht sah ich mir Berichte und Filme darueber im Internet an und musste doch die ein oder andere Traene (vor Freude) verdruecken. Ohne die Ereignisse dieses Tages waere ich heute nicht, wo ich jetzt bin. Ich bin meinen Eltern sehr dankbar, dass sie die damals neu gewonnene Freiheit zum Reisen nutzten und mir so die Moeglichkeit gaben bis heute 20 Laender zu besuchen. Was fuer ein toller Tag!

Am Dienstag dann kam Chefin aus Vegas zurueck und ich bekam einen rieeeeesigen Kuchen. Wow, rieeeeeeeeeesig sag ich euch und LECKER! Ich teilte ihn mit Kollegen, Kunden, gab ein riesen Stueck meiner Chefin, ihrer Haushaelterin und Tochter, ein weiteres Joanna und Familie und hab trotzdem noch ein riesen Stueck in meinem Gefrierschrank.

Hab ich eigentlich jemals erwaehnt, was fuer tolle Kunden ich in meinem Job habe!? Nun, einige sind auch nicht so toll, aber die lassen wir mal aussen vor. Jedenfalls gab mir ein Maedel, deren Namen ich nicht einmal weiss, ein extra Geburtstagstrinkgeld und Ingrid, eine schwedische Frau, brachte zwei Tage spaeter eine grosse Geschenktuete vorbei mit Lindt Pralinen und zwei Dekogeschenken, die in der neuen Wohnung auf jeden Fall ihren Platz finden werden.

Um's kurz zu machen, oben 3 Bilder des Tages.

Vielen Dank fuer die vielen Glueckwuensche aus aller Welt und die 1. Mail an meine Blog-Mail. :)

100. Post / 100. Blogeintrag

2009-11-14T23:06:00.000-08:00

Strolling through downtown Hollywood last Saturday after the sportsbar, I discovered this:

Als ich letzten Samstag nach der Sportbar durch Hollywood flanierte, entdeckte ich folgendes:

Kinder Riegel for $9.95, Kinder Chocolate for $7.95. Guess some Europeans really, really miss their extra portion of milk!

Kinder Riegel fuer $9.95, Kinder Schokolade fuer $7.95. Scheint so, als ob einige Europaer ihre extra Portion Milch seeeeehr arg vermissen wuerden!

Rambling...

2009-11-07T19:52:00.000-08:00

I just brought a pilot to the airport... Isn't it usually them bringing us to some place!??? Only 18 more days until I'll be up in the air again! Curacao for 4 days (yes, i finally extended the stay). Marriott Resort and peace of mind, here I come!

By the way, this blog finally has it's own e-mail address:

happyinusa@hotmail.com

Ask me the questions you always wanted to ask. Comment, complain, whatever! :) Mails from tall grown single guys are especially welcome... Haha! ;)

Did I ever mention that I love American sportsbars? The atmosphere is not comparable to the ones in Germany. I'm just sitting in one, Whisky Tango, in Hollywood, FL. Watching guys cage fight and the best moments of today's football games. Since I worked and cruised around with the pilot, I missed it all! Alabama won though!!! That's all that matters.

Anyways, mail me & a wonderful weekend to you world out there!

Dieser Blog hat nun auch seine eigene E-Mail Adresse:

happyinusa@hotmail.com

Fragt mich, was ihr mich schon immer fragen wolltet, kommentiert (ohne, dass die ganze Welt es lesen kann ;) ), beschwert euch (z.B. dass ich manchmal zu faul bin bilingual zu bloggen...) oder was auch immer! Eine Antwort ist moeglich, aber ohne Gewaehr! ;)

WHOOP YANKEES!!!

2009-11-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

The Yankees, US pro-baseball team based in the Bronx, NYC, just won their 27th World Series Championship against the Phillies!!!

While I was cruising home from work - both teams tied at that point - this beautiful song came on... and while Rostock, Germany has seen the 1st snow today, I rolled down the car windows, let the 24 °C breeze blow through my hair and sang along!

Whatever my life will bring along in the future, this time right now, living my dream, will be what I will always look back at... with amazement and pure joy!

To the Yankees & their win!

Die Yankees, amerikanisches professionelles Baseball Team mit Sitz in der Bronx, NYC, haben gerade ihren 27. World Series Championship Titel gegen die Phillies gewonnen.

Als ich im Auto von der Arbeit nach Hause cruiste, beide Teams zu dem Zeitpunkt im Gleichstand, kam dieser tolle Song im Radio... und waehrend in Rostock, Deutschland heute der 1. Schnee fuer diesen Winter fiel, kurbelte ich die Fenster hinunter, liess mir den 24 °C warmen Wind durch die Haare wehen und sang lauthals mit.

Was auch immer mein Leben in der Zukunft fuer mich bereit halten wird, die Zeit die ich hier gerade verbringe, das Leben meines Traumes, wird das sein, worauf ich immer zurueck blicken werde... mit grossen Augen und purer Freude!

Good night world!

What a great weekend!

2009-11-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

Alright, here we go!

The weekend started Friday (as for normal people). After work I decided to dress up and go out despite having to work on Saturday. I was wearing a cute blue dress and one of my new pairs of boots and chose to go to Blue Martini in Fort Lauderdale, a great place I hadn't been to in several months. This was one of my going-out-by-myself-thingys and it's not that bad. I don't have to talk and can soak in the atmosphere, go home when I want to go home etc... Entering the bar, I quickly noticed: That place was packed. I looked around and it was almost as if I heard the bells ring from heaven: At least 50 guys in that place taller than me!!! WHOOP!!! :) What a smile that brought to my face! Yes, I had forgotten: This weekend was boatshow weekend in Fort Lauderdale, which meant a lot of tall European, Canadian and Northern US guys (or shall I say men!?) flooded the city. Great!!! When I finally got a seat at a bar, I was joined by two yachtbrokers from Seattle and Vancouver Island. Had nice talks and later nice dancing with the Canadian guy. When we were dancing, I caught the glimpse of another bar and saw two people I knew. It was Tim & Ashley, friends of Matt's with whom I had gone to the O.A.R. concert at the end of August. We talked for a little bit and they asked me if I would not want to join them for Halloween. What they were talking about was quite interesting, but I told them I had to work Saturday and didn't know if I would make it. Ashley gave me her number (I already had Tim's through facebook) and we said goodbye and I was back with my Canadian guy... haha!

I ended up getting 4 hours of sleep and then Hell's Kitchen was back at the restaurant. I was two employees short (didn't show up to work) when we got slammed. Well, I'm used to handling insanity now, so I did the best I could with my employees that were there and the customers thought I did a great job as almost everybody "over"tipped (more than the 20% that it usually averages in our place). After the rush, I decided to close the restaurant earlier and so I was out by 6 PM. I went home, texted Ashley to hear about their Halloween option again, took a 5 minute nap and got ready...

All I knew was that I was driving down to Islamorada!!! That's one of the Florida Keys and the one and only time I've been there so far was Easter Sunday which was in April... I didn't know what to expect or what we would be doing down there, I only knew that I was pumped to go. With my German leadfoot I got down there in 1h 40min, even before Tim & Ashley, who had left an hour earlier than me, but had stopped on the way in Homestead at their hotel.

They told me to meet them at a place called Pierre's. I'm very glad the Keys just have one main road. That makes places easy to find. Well, I met them and was told that we would go for dinner first. While I had waited I had already heard some music play outside and saw interesting lights, but couldn't really guess anything else, as I was in the parking lot. As we entered Pierre's restaurant, it looked like a fine dining place and it was. We were seated upstairs on the balcony, overlooking a white sand beach area and the Gulf Bay. A Jamaican band was playing, there were bonfires and lots of Halloween party people. I then heard that this was a Full Moon Party, regularly held at this place, but by coincidence this time it was combined with Halloween. Ashley used to work as a bartender 5 min away from there for several years and it's one of her most favorite spots. I can't blame her!!!

We ordered... I started with Pierre's Oyster Rockefeller... My 2nd oyster experience after New Year's 2002 in Rome with my parents. This time in a baked form and VERY VERY VERY TASTY!!!!

My entree was the Australian Lamb Loin with Herb Spaetzle (a little homecountry reminder). This was sooo good as well!

In between our courses a wonderful, beautiful, amazing fireworks went off!

After that the Full Moon Dance Round 1 started.

Different shots from the time at Pierre's & Morada Bay.

Modern Vampire Tim

My boat's by the tower, and my bark's on the bay,
and both must be gone at the dawn of the day.

Preparing Vampire's victim

Tiki Bar

Another round of Full Moon Dance

The pirate is in the Keys... return of the tourist feeling!

Off to Hog Heaven. More drinks, more dance, more fun! And due to time change an extra hour to party!

I headed home at 3:30AM new time and of course I don't drink and drive. I had a couple of drinks at the beginning of the night, but they were all gone by the time we left. Tiredness would've been my greater enemy, but the drive was just fine and I was safe in bed by 5:30AM.

I then perfectioned this weekend with a beach session today. Just plain laying in the sun, listening to chillout music, watching sailboats drive by...

I would say: THE BEST WEEKEND SINCE BEING IN THE STATES!!! :) Islamorada, Pierre's, Morada Bay and Full Moon Parties will definitely see me again!

A Pirate Goodbye! See you next Halloween in 364 days.

PS: Did I mention that I was so excited for my first trick-or-treat on US ground that I had bought 4 bags of candy!? And guess what!??? Not a single person/kid knocked on the door between my arrival from work and departure to the Keys... :(

Halloween Part 2!

2009-11-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

I can't tell you what a great weekend I'm having! WOW! This is what I call life!!!

Here is your sneak preview of last nights Halloween Party spot... I'll let you think for a little bit where & what this is. Off to the beach now. Report with more pics and video footage later! Stay tuned.

Teri's Halloween Bash 2009

2009-10-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Halloween came early this year... which is good, because it gives me two weekends to party! :)

Halloween war dieses Jahr zeitig dran... was gut ist! So kann ich 2 Wochenenden feiern! :)

This weekend started with Teri's private party on her ranch in the town of Southwest Ranches (yes, that's really the town's name), Florida. Teri, for you who don't happen to know, is my boss since March 2009. She's the owner of the restaurant I work in, a real estate broker and overall a luxury loving, cool, Miami Cuban girl/lady. She loves to party, in Vegas or at home, so she sets up an annual Halloween Bash for example which this year I was invited to.

Dieses Wochenende startete die Feierei mit Teri's Privatparty auf ihrer Ranch in der Stadt Southwest Ranches (ja, das ist wirklich der Stadtname), Florida. Teri, fuer euch die das noch nicht wissen, ist seit Maerz 2009 meine Chefin. Sie ist die Eigentuemerin des Restaurants in dem ich arbeite, gleichzeitig eine Immobilienmaklerin und im Ganzen eine Luxus-liebende, ziemlich coole Miami-Kubanerin. Sie liebt es zu feiern, ob in Vegas oder bei sich zu Hause und so schmeisst sie z.B. jaehrlich eine Halloween Party, auf die ich dieses Jahr eingeladen war.

Missing some accessories for my outfit, after 9h at work yesterday, I rushed to Party City 20 minutes before they were closing. I got what I needed and rushed home. Getting out of work at 7 pm and the party starting at 8 pm wasn't in my favor, but who gets to a party early anyways!?

Da mir noch etwas Zubehoer fuer mein Outfit fehlte, sauste ich nach 9h auf Arbeit gestern Abend 20 Minuten vor Ladenschluss zu Party City (Partyzubehoer-Laden). Ich bekam, was ich brauchte und sauste nach Hause. Um 19 Uhr von der Arbeit zu kommen, mit einer Party die um 20 Uhr startet, war nicht wirklich zu meinen Gunsten, aber wer geht auch schon zeitig auf 'ne Party!?

In the apartment I tried to rush things as well. Shower, back in my room getting the pieces for my outfit, back in the bathroom to put makeup on... and that's when it happened: I never have a wet floor in the bathroom, somehow though, last night I did! So I stepped into a puddle of water, slipped and crashed into the bathroom cabinet, my left food first. Pain struck! I was in the floor for about 5 minutes but told myself I needed to get over it. The halloween party was awaiting me and I was not going to miss that! I applied my makeup, put my outfit on, stepped into my 4" highheels boots and left to pick up my coworker Emil.

Im Apartmentt wollte ich dann auch alles schnell erledigen. Duschen, zurueck in mein Zimmer die Teile meines Outfits zusammen suchen, zurueck ins Badezimmer zum Schminken... und da passierte es: Ich habe nie einen nassen Boden im Bad, gestern schon! So trat ich in eine kleine Pfuetze, rutschte aus und knallte mit meinem linken Fuss zuerst in den Badezimmerschrank. Schmerz! Ich lag fuer ca. 5 Minuten auf dem Boden, aber sagte mir, dass ich da drueber weg kommen muss. Immerhin erwartete mich eine Halloween Party!!! Also rauf mit der Schminke, Kostuem an, rein in die 10cm Absatz-Stiefel und auf ging's meinen Kollegen Emil abholen.

We arrived at the ranch, where valet parking took the car. A golfcart took us to the barn. On the way - at quite a high speed, I thought I would fall off in a second - ghosts and zombies jumped at the cart from behind palm trees. Spooky! Arriving at the barn, 1st thing to notice: The decoration was brilliant!

Wir erreichten die Ranch, wo Valet-Parken mein Auto uebernahm. Ein Golfcart brachte uns zur Scheune. Auf dem Weg - ziemlich rasant, ich dachte ich falle jeden Moment aus dem Fahrzeug - sprangen uns Zombies und Geister aus den Palmen an. Gruselig! Ankunft an der Scheune, das erste was man bemerkte: Coole Deko!

So was the crowd, the food and the drinks... It was amazing! I met a lot of the restaurants customers finally in a different outfit than the waitress uniform and was complimented a lot. Well, of course I stood out with my height, but kinky American Halloween outfits just look better with heels and just because I'm tall doesn't mean I'm going to miss out on it.

So war auch die Menge, das Essen und die Getraenke... einfach super! Ich traf etliche Kunden des Restaurants mal endlich in einem anderen Outfit als der Kellnerkleidung und bekam nette Komplimente. Nun ja, natuerlich stach ich ja mit meiner Groesse auch wieder raus aus der Menge, aber die unzuechtigen amerikanischen Kostueme sehen nun einmal mit Highheels besser aus und nur weil ich groesser bin, verzichte ich da doch nicht drauf!

Now, let's have the pictures speak:/ Nun lassen wir mal die Bilder sprechen:

At the gate/ Am Eingang

The golfcarts driven by Zombies/ Die Golfwagen von Zombies gefuehrt

My new boyfriend! So low maintenance and never talks back!/ Mein neuer Freund. So pflegeleicht und gibt keine Widerworte.

Part of decoration of the outside lounge area/ Teil der Dekoration der Lounge im Freien
Me, Tyler - my youngest coworker - aka Cheerleader and his friend Justin

The hostess & host - King & Queen/ Die Gastgeber

The coolest Toss Up crew members - Joanna, my boss Teri & me/ Die coolsten Toss Up Angestellten - Joanna, meine Chefin Teri & ich
My coworker Emil & Joanna's boyfriend/ Mein Kollege Emil & Joanna's Freund
Our baby boy Tyler got lucky with a cute one!/ Unser Juengster, Tyler, hatte Glueck und hat sich ein huebsches Fraeulein geangelt!
Andrea, Alvaro, Joanna, me & Emil
The dead got some company! / Ja, auch Schnapsleichen gabs!
Teri & Frankie or Mr. Death - best friends for life!

Btw: Mr. Death consistently begged me to go home with him infront of everybody. Only problem, I've known him for the last 7 months AND he has a fine dancer girlfriend of 7 years relationship and I live to the standard: What you don't want anybody to do to yourself, you don't do to others! Correct!? Wish others would think like that sometimes.... (my next entry about American Dating soon follows...)

Uebrigens: Herr Tod bettelte bestaendig vor allen anderen, dass ich mit ihm nach Hause komme. Das einzige Problem, ich kenne ihn seit 7 Monaten UND er hat eine elegante Freundin (Taenzerin) seit 7 Jahren und ich lebe nach dem Standard: Was du nicht willst das man dir tu, das fueg auch keinem andern zu! Richtig!? Wuenschte, manch anderer wuerde sich auch daran orientieren... (mein naechster Eintrag ueber Amerikanisches Dating folgt uebrigens bald...)

Well, I escaped Mr. Death right into the arms of the valet boy... which I rejected as well! HA! :)
At home I took off the boots and saw the toe... yes, typical bruising pattern, fractured! Nice and blue and hurting. I lived 23 years and 349 days without breaking a bone! There's a 1st time for everything, so here we go and I believe I take a fractured middle toe over any other fracture!

Nun, ich entkam Herrn Tod, geriet allerdings direkt in die Haende des Valet-Parken Jungen, dem ich ebenfalls 'ne Abfuhr gab. HA! :) Zu Hause dann zog ich die Stiefel aus und sah meinen Zeh... ja, typischer Bluterguss, gebrochen! Nett und blau und schmerzend. Ich habe 23 Jahre und 349 Tage ohne einen Knochenbruch ueberlebt! Irgendwann ist immer das 1. Mal und ich wuerde sagen, ich ziehe den Bruch des mittleren Zehs jedem anderen Knochenbruch vor!

And despite the pain: I had the greatest Halloween Party of my life!!!!!!!!

Und trotz Schmerz: Ich hatte die tollste Halloween Party meines Lebens!!!!!!!

The game is on!!!

2009-10-25T01:07:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Party No. 1 for this year just finished. It was a BLAST! More pictures and report tomorrow. I'm off to bed! By the way... I managed to fracture my middle toe right before the party and still lasted 6h on 4 inch heels. Ouch! But whoop whoop for the party!!!

Boss, me & the club! Chefin, ich und die Keule... ;)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Die Party Nr. 1 fuer dieses Jahr ist gerade zu Ende gegangen. Es war ein echtes Vergnuegen. Mehr Bilder und Bericht morgen! Ich geh jetzt ins Bett! Ach ja... ich habe es uebrigens geschafft mir noch vor der Feier den mittleren Zeh zu brechen und dann hab ich trotzdem noch 6h auf 10cm Heels ausgehalten. Autsch!

Greetings from your daughter!

2009-10-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

For my parents/ Fuer meine Eltern. Einen ganz lieben Gruss aus der Ferne! Wie ihr seht, ist alles schick! ;) Das war ich am Samstag Abend vorm Ausgehen!

Ice, Ice, Baby...

2009-10-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

It's 4:30 AM and I mean it by saying Ice, Ice, Baby!!!

Geez, I know you guys hate me for the beach pictures, the palm trees and the sun fun, but whoever send this coldfront down my way: TAKE IT BACK!!! ;)

I did not remember what 59.5 F (16 C) felt like after not having this temperature around since moving over here and I don't like it too much. Luckily it won't stay that long, but I kinda understand now what the cashier meant with preparing for winter... 16 C down here feels a little like it. At least I had reason to show off my new boots adding to a new dress when I went out tonight :)

And I save money: Less gas and less usage of electricity since the AC stays turned off. So yes, I can even see this positive!

Good Night!

btw.: Of course it's only that cold at night! During the day we will still hit the 75 F.

Es ist 4:30 Uhr morgens und ich meine es, wenn ich Ice, Ice, Baby sage!!!

Meine Guete, ich weiss, dass ihr mich hasst, fuer die Strandbilder, die Palmen und den Spass in der Sonne, aber wer auch immer diese Kaltfront in meine Richtung geschickt hat: Nimm sie zurueck!!!

Ich wusste nicht mehr, wie sich 16 C so anfuehlen, nachdem mir in diesem Temperaturbereich hier seit meiner Ankunft nichts begegnet ist, und ich finde es nicht besonders toll. Gluecklicherweise bleibt es nicht lange so kuehl, aber ich verstehe jetzt, was die Kassiererin mit dem Vorbereiten auf den Winter meinte... 16 C hier unten fuehlen sich ein wenig danach an. Wenigstens gab es mir einen Grund heute Nacht meine neuen Stiefel in Kombination mit einem neuen Kleid auszufuehren :)

Und: Ich spare Geld... weniger Benzinverbrauch und weniger Stromverbrauch, da keine Klimaanlage laeuft. Ich kann das also auch positiv sehen!

Gute Nacht!

PS: Natuerlich ist es nur in der Nacht so kalt. Tagsueber erreichen wir weiterhin 25 C.

Heels, Baby!

2009-10-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

I'm going to admit a (for some people very strange) habit that I'm having, today. Ever since separating from my still-to-be-husband, I did not stop celebrating the anniversaries that came with the marriage, because in my case the date and occasion that happened on that day have a very special meaning. Without it, I would now not be living in the States and since I love living in the States, of course I have reason to celebrate, right!?

Since anniversaries usually mean spending money on another person and I didn't have to do this anymore, I decided last year to just pamper myself for the money that I would have spent. So last year my wedding anniversary and XMAS gift combined ended up in a retreat for me and my best bud to a great SPA hotel (Yachthafenresidenz Hohe Duene, Rostock, Germany). I love being in luxurious hotels and had an awesome time, although it was only a 15 hour get-away due to my demanding job.

Anyways, this year another 9th of October (my 3 yr wedding anniversary) came up and with it time to pamper myself. Slightly delayed I treated myself to it today...

And this is this year's "gift" :)

OH I LOVE THE STATES!!! Since I'm a tall grown girl at 5'11", I have slightly bigger feet as well, size 11, but over here, that is NO problem! After work, I spent some time at DSW Shoe Warehouse today, where they have designer shoes 20-30% cheaper than in the usual department stores. I felt like I was in heaven. What used to be a nightmare in Germany, with regular women's sizes only up to size 10, is Jenny's paradise over here!

As you see, I was quite successful. The cashier asked me if I was preparing for winter!!!!! HELLO!??? What winter??? I'm in SoFlo Baby, but a girl can never have enough shoes, right!? And yes, I actually needed a pair of boots for my halloween pirate outfit! My boss is throwing a huge party at her ranch next weekend with over 300 guests... :) Plus, I had to leave a lot of my shoes behind when I left Germany with two suitcases and I felt like I was running out of shoes...

Only girls will understand this!!! ;)
Anyways, although separated for over 16 months now, this self pampering at anniversaries thing is quite lovely! Wonder if I'll still be legally married at next year's date!?

Ich gebe heute eine (fuer manche Leute sehr komische) Eigenart von mir zu. Seitdem ich von meinem Noch-Mann getrennt bin, habe ich nicht aufgehoert, die Jubilaeen zu feiern, die mit dieser Heirat einhergingen, da in meinem Fall das Datum und die dazugehoerige Feierlichkeit eine besondere Bedeutung haben. Ohne sie wuerde ich heute nicht in den USA leben und da ich es liebe in den USA zu leben, muss das doch natuerlich gefeiert werden, nicht wahr!?

Da Jubilaeen ja normalerweise bedeuten, dass man Geld fuer das Verwoehnen einer anderen Person ausgibt und ich das nun ja nicht mehr machen "muss", beschloss ich letztes Jahr mich an diesen Daten doch einfach selbst zu verwoehnen. Letztes Jahr war mein Geschenk an mich von Hochzeitstag und Weihnachten kombiniert ein Abstecher in ein super tolles Wellnesshotel (Yachthafenresident Hohe Duene, Rostock, Deutschland) mit meinem guten Freund. Ich liebe es mich in schoenen Hotels aufzuhalten und hatte eine wunderbare Zeit, auch wenn es aufgrund meines sehr zeiteinnehmenden Jobs nur ein kurzer 15-Stunden Ausflug war.

Jedenfalls kam ja dieses Jahr der 9.Oktober (mein 3. Hochzeitstag) wieder auf mich zu und mit ihm die Zeit mich ausser der Reihe zu verwoehnen... Mit etwas Verspaetung tat ich das heute.

OH ICH LIEBE DIE STAATEN!!! Da ich mit 1.80m ja ein grosses Maedel bin, habe ich auch etwas groessere Fuesse, Groesse 43, aber hier ist das KEIN Problem! Nach der Arbeit fuhr ich heute ins DSW Shoe Warehouse, wo es Designer-Schuhe 20-30% unter dem normalen Verkaufspreis der Kaufhaeuser gibt. Ich habe mich wie im Himmel gefuehlt. Was in Deutschland ein Albtraum war, wo es in den normalen Laeden hoechstens bin Groesse 42 ging, ist hier Jenny's Paradis!

Wie ihr sehr, war ich ziemlich erfolgreich. Die Kassiererin fragte mich, ob ich mich auf den Winter vorbereite!!!! HALLO!??? Welcher Winter??? Ich bin in SoFlo, Schaetzchen, aber eine Frau kann doch nie zuviele Schuhe haben, gell!? ;) Und ja, ich brauchte tatsaechlich ein Paar Stiefel fuer mein Piraten-Halloween Kostuem. Naechstes Wochenende schmeisst Chefin eine grosse Party auf ihrer Ranch mit ueber 300 Gaesten... :) Und ausserdem musste ich ja viele meiner Schuhe in Deutschland zurueck lassen, wo ich doch nur mit 2 Koffern rueber bin und so hatte ich langsam das Gefuehl als gingen mir die Schuhe aus....

Hach, das koennen nur Frauen verstehen!!! ;)
Wie auch immer, auch nach 16 Monaten Trennung ist dieses Selbst-Verwoehnungsding echt super! Frag mich, ob ich am naechsten Jubilaeum immer noch offiziell verheiratet sein werde!?

I DID IT! :)

2009-10-15T07:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on 10/14/2009 I ran the first outdoor 5K in my life! I hit the road after 9h at work and ran the distance in 32min 15sec. Who would've thought 2 months ago that this would be possible!?

Next goal: One armed push ups!!! :) I guess that's going to take me a little longer than 2 months...

Anyways, my motivation for workouts is this...pics below! Can't believe it's already mid-October and it started snowing in the Northern States!!! The weather here is starting to be so awesome! I was out Saturday night and in an open bar at Fort Lauderdale Beach with about 83 degrees outside temperature and a wonderful breeze from the ocean... STILL LOVING LIFE HERE!!!

This view should be familiar ;) Just another time a couple of months later...

Hollywood Beach around 8:30 in the morning.

Ocean soooo smooth...

Ideal for all kinds of workouts... and for relaxing of course!

Gestern , am 14.10.2009 bin ich also meinen ersten 5KM Lauf in meinem Leben im Freien gelaufen. Nach 9h Arbeit lief ich die Distanz in 32min 15 sec. Wer haette vor 2 Monaten gedacht, dass das moeglich sei!?

Naechstes Ziel: Ein-Armige Liegestuetze!!! :) Da brauch ich wohl aber etwas laenger fuer als 2 Monate...

Jedenfalls ist meine Motivation fuers Training auf den obigen Bildern zu sehen. Ich kann nicht glauben, dass es schon Mitte Oktober ist und es in den noerdlichen USA bereits schneit! Das Wetter hier wird immer traumhafter! Samstag Nacht war ich unterwegs, u.a. in einer offenen Bar am Fort Lauderdale Beach. 28 Grad Aussentemperatur und eine wunderbare Brise die vom Ozean durch die Palmen wehte... hach, ICH LIEBE ES HIER NOCH IMMER!!! :)

Housing... why not at the beach!?

2009-10-13T07:45:00.001-07:00

Deutsche Version folgt! Bitte gedulden, muss zur Arbeit :)

Looks like I'm a little busy, since you hardly hear from me. It is mainly due to me being on a 7days/week workout schedule, so every day in my spare time I'm hitting the gym, beach, road... I finally got myself into AM workouts. Never thought that this would be possible, but I'm really getting myself out of bed every morning for this purpose! Makes me proud :) I've also done a lot of progress in my 5K (3.1 miles) training. Saturday I ran 2.7 miles outdoors. If I would have known up to where the 3.1 miles go, I would've run them. Now I know, so I'll run them probably by tomorrow and achieve my goal!

I had a couple of people asking me why I'm now considering moving into my own place. Well, lots of reasons... 1st of all, I have lived by myself before. Never completely alone due to boyfriend, husband, housemates in England etc., but I had my name in a lease agreement and it felt like the 4 walls were my home. Here I feel like I'm in Javier's home. I don't get to move as freely as I would want to. My bathroom, laundry, kitchen, living room are all outside of my room, so whenever I need something, I have to make sure I'm properly dressed. That is starting to get on my nerves.

Also, ever since Javier started his Master program, he works a lot from home. So he's always there which in the ends also means that my utility bill goes up as we split costs in half but I don't need an AC running during the day when I'm at work... He also has a girlfriend now, which doesn't really bother me, if it wouldn't be for the fact that we, in the beginning, had agreed to always ask the other roomie if some guests could come over, but that was not done. A couple of weeks ago I come home from work, quite exhausted, open the door of the apartment and there sits a girl I'd never seen before! She also sleeps over a couple of nights a week and since they get up earlier in the morning than me and talk to each other and we all know that US walls are kinda thin, I get woken up sometimes... I guess you get the point, it's not about the girl, I guess she's quite lovely, but I want MY OWN 4 WALLS where only I determine what to do and what not :)

Plus, I'm having big thoughts about getting me a furry friend! Here in the apartment I find myself talking to a lizard that I named Willy and that has been around for quite some time now... It wouldn't be as bizarre if Willy would be a cat, correct!? ;)

By the way, I finally made a picture from where I live now:

Oh yes and here another reason for moving: Although the apartment complex is pretty nice, the neighborhood is just not the best and I had to experience scenes like that twice in the last couple of weeks and I don't like it too much when 8 cop cars, 2 sheriffs and a SWAT truck arrive and 6 people are arrested....

Well, the apartment hunt is on! Wish me luck!

Workout, Work and Vacation...

2009-09-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

After my biking accident and my boss always being worried that I'll be shot or run over when training outside, 1 1/2 weeks ago I decided to join a gym again. I'm now a member of Ballys Fitness with a month to month contract and I can use all 300 locations in the USA which is great as one is close to my apartment and another one close to my work. Being all thrilled about it, I started working out every day and very, very exciting for me: On Thursday shortly past 10 PM, after 10 hours at work, I RAN MY FIRST 5K indoors in my entire life!!!!!!! Although rowing for years, I never ran more than 3K and this was a challenge for me. With 34:32 minutes I didn't even do that bad for my first time and after finishing I almost screamed out of excitement, but I didn't want the other people in there to think I'm crazy... so I kept it to myself. :) I'm now getting ready for my first outdoor 5K! I can sooo do it!!!!

Nach meinem Fahrradunfall und meiner Chefin, die sich staendig sorgte, dass ich erschossen oder ueberfahren werde wenn ich draussen trainiere, habe ich mich vor 1 1/2 Wochen entschieden wieder ein Fitnessstudio zu besuchen. Ich bin nun Mitglied bei Ballys Fitness mit einem monatlichen Vertrag und ich kann alle 300 Studios in den USA besuchen, was ganz gut ist, weil eins dicht bei meinem Apartment ist und ein weiteres in der Naehe meiner Arbeit.

Absolut begeistert darueber, startete ich jeden Tag zu trainieren und ganz, ganz aufregend fuer mich: Am Donnerstag, kurz nach 22 Uhr, nach 10h auf Arbeit, lief ich meinen ERSTEN 5km LAUF in meinem gesamten Leben (wenn auch indoors)!!!!! Obwohl ich jahrelang ruderte, musste ich nie mehr als 3km rennen und so war das eine Herausforderung fuer mich. Mit 34:32 Minuten lief ich fuer meinen ersten 5km Lauf auch gar nicht sooo schlecht und am Schluss wollte ich am liebsten meine Freude herausschreien, aber ich behielts dann doch fuer mich. Immerhin sollten die anderen Leute ja nicht denken, dass ich voellig durchgeknallt bin. :) Nun bereite ich mich auf meinen ersten 5km im Freien vor! Und ich werde ihn ja sooo beschreiten!!! Jawohl!

Work: I'm still with Toss Up Salads and just had my 6 months anniversary there 2 weeks ago (now in the States for 7 months/ 1 week). My boss starts leaving us by ourselves now. Thursday was the first weekday that she did not come to work and she repeated that today and we are showing that we can swim by ourselves. We also changed to fall opening hours which means for me: I'm now off on Sundays!!! After 4 months of working 7 days a week, my 1st Sunday off yesterday was great! Went to the beach, shopping (bought a nice Ralph Lauren evening dress) and working out. :)

Arbeit: Ich arbeite immer noch bei Toss Up Salads und hatte vor 2 Wochen bereits mein 6monatiges Jubilaeum dort (in den Staaten nun seit 7Monaten/1Woche). Meine Chefin faengt nun an uns alleine zu lassen. Donnerstag war der erste Wochentag an dem sie nicht zur Arbeit kam und heute wiederholte sie das und wir zeigen, dass wir auch alleine schwimmen koennen. Ausserdem haben wir unsere Oeffnungszeiten fuer den Herbst geaendert. Fuer mich bedeutet es, dass ich nun Sonntags frei habe!!! Nach 4 Monaten jeden Tag arbeiten war mein 1. freier Sonntag gestern super! Ich war am Strand, shoppen (hab ein schoenes Ralph Lauren Abendkleid erstanden) und trainieren. :)

Vacation: Due to being closed on Sundays now, I'll be able to extend my Curacao vacation to 4 days. Wish me luck that it's possible without spending too much extra money. I'm still very excited about traveling over there!

I also don't have to worry about my week off for XMAS anymore! After checking a lot of destinations and not being able to decide, I don't have to anymore! Henry, a good friend from Germany, will visit me!!! Yay!!! We are going to have so much fun!

This is us two cuties last year at his sister's wedding!

Urlaub: Da wir ja nun Sonntags geschlossen haben, kann ich meinen Curacao Urlaub auf 4 Tage verlaengern (habe also komplett Thanksgiving frei). Drueckt mir die Daumen, dass es moeglich ist ohne zuviel extra Geld auszugeben. Ich bin immer noch sehr gespannt auf diese Reise!

Ausserdem muss ich mich nicht mehr um meine freie Weihnachtswoche sorgen. Nachdem ich mir viele Ziele anschaute und mich nicht entscheiden konnte, muss ich das auch nicht mehr! Henry, ein guter Freund aus Deutschland, kommt mich besuchen! JUHUUU! Wir werden viel Spass haben. Oben ein Foto von uns Huebschen auf der Hochzeit seiner Schwester letztes Jahr.

And last but not least.... I'm planning to move into my own place by 1st December!!!!!!!!

Und zum guten Schluss... Ich plane zum 1. Dezember in meine "eigenen" 4 Waende einzuziehen!!!!!!!!!

Of Paolo Nutini, flying wheels and flying Jennys...

2009-09-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

On 31. August I went to the concert I had waited to go to for sooo long. My favorite Scotsman Paolo Nutini was playing at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. As I had a spare ticket, I took my buddy Chris who had never heard of this artist and he had to experience me being all excited which he had never seen before either! I didn't know how many people in the USA would even know Paolo, so I was amazed that the show was sold out (and a couple days later he even played on the Ellen DeGeneres show). I expected a girly crowd, but oh my... I forgot that Wilton Manors is around the corner... Wilton Manors has a vibrant gay community. I've never told you about going out there with a gay guy I had met in my first community in Dania Beach. It was sooo much fun! I was almost the only girl and the boys in the bars and clubs just loooved me! It was also great to spend an evening without being hit on... ;) Anyways, back to the concert: Instead of girls, like I had expected, there where A LOT of guys attending the concert. Fun to see! :) The concert was great even with Paolo being completely drunk. He's a great artist and I hope growing up, he'll overcome those slips!

This is a video from the concert that I took:

Am 31. August ging ich zu dem Konzert auf das ich sooo lange gewartet hatte. Mein Lieblingsschotte Paolo Nutini spielte im Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. Da ich ein extra Ticket hatte, nahm ich meinen Kumpel Chris mit, der noch nie von ihm gehoert hatte und der das Vergnuegen hatte, mich voellig aufgeregt zu erleben. Das hatte er naemlich vorher auch noch nicht. Ich wusste nicht, wieviele Leute in den USA Paolo ueberhaupt kennen, umso erstaunter war ich, dass das Konzert ausverkauft war und er ein paar Tage spaeter sogar in der Ellen DeGeneres Show auftrat. Ich erwartete eine Maedchenmenge... aber nein nein, da hatte ich doch vergessen, dass Wilton Manors gleich um die Ecke ist! Wilton Manors hat eine lebhafte Homosexuellen Gemeinde. Ich hab euch ja nie erzaehlt, dass ich dort mal mit einem Homo-Mann den ich in meiner ersten Gemeinde in Dania Beach kennengelernt hatte, ausging. Es war sooo lustig! Ich war fast das einzige Maedel und die Jungs liebten mich in den Bars und Clubs in die wir gingen. Waren alle suuuper suess zu mir und es war mal schoen einen Abend zu verbringen ohne Anmachsprueche ueber sich ergehen lassen zu muessen....;) Zurueck zum Konzert: Anstatt meiner erwarteten Maedelmenge, waren also eine Menge Maenner auf dem Konzert. Lustig! Das Konzert war super, auch wenn Paolo voellig betrunken war. Er ist ein grossartiger Kuenstler und ich hoffe, dass er, je aelter er wird, diese Fehler hinter sich laesst.

Oben ein Video, was ich vor Ort aufnahm!

Flying Wheels: Yes, you gotta watch out when on the highway! I'm driving to work one day. Infront of me several big trucks. All of a sudden I smell something funny... and in the next second A HUGE trucktire from the garbage truck infront of me is jumping across the highway!!! Aaaaah! Luckily I was able to slow down and let the tire bounce into the ditch where it made a big splash. I always see a lot of blown tires on the streets, but never had I seen a WHOLE tire fall off before... Wow!

Fliegende Reifen: Ja, auf der Autobahn muss man schon Acht geben! Ich fahre einen Tag zur Arbeit. Vor mir etliche grosse LKWs. Ploetzlich rieche ich etwas komisches... und bevor ich mich versehe, springt ein RIESIGER REIFEN von dem Muellabfuhr-LKW vor mir ueber den Highway!!! Aaaah! Gluecklicherweise konnte ich abbremsen und liess den Reifen in den Graben springen, wo er einen grossen Wasserspritzer ausloeste. Ich sehe ja staendig geplatzte Reifen auf den Strassen, aber noch nie habe ich vorher gesehen, dass EIN GANZER REIFEN abfiel... Wow!

Flying Jennys: Yeah, not only tires can fly... I was out on my bike two weeks ago exercising. As I know how Americans drive I try to be extra careful. My pedestrian light at an intersection was green, but I still turned around to see that there was really no one coming. Well... I started crossing and out of nowhere comes a car flying around the curve (as in the USA you are always allowed to turn right when you have a red light for going straight.) Trying to avoid being hit by the car I braked sharply. Problem was: it had rained before and the road was still wet. So when breaking, my tires slipped quite nicely and I flew all over the bike and kissed the road. OUCH! Guess what!? The car just took off and no one else cared to stop or roll down the windows to ask if I was okay.... So I picked up myself and my bike, checked that no bone was broken and made the 20min way back to my apartment where I pulled the concrete out of my wounds... :) Was hurting pretty bad for several days and about half of the over 20 bruises that I had are still visible today after over two weeks. I try to be even more cautious now! They just can't drive cars over here!

Fliegende Jennys: Ja, nicht nur Reifen koennen fliegen... Ich war vor 2 Wochen auf meinem Fahrrad unterwegs zum Sport treiben. Da ich ja weiss, wie Amis so Auto fahren, fahre ich schon besonders vorsichtig. Meine Fussgaenger/Radweg Ampel an einer Kreuzung war gruen. Ich drehte mich trotzdem um, um zu sehen, dass da auch wirklich keiner kommt. Also will ich die Strasse ueberqueren und ausm Nichts kommt ploetzlich ein Auto gesaust und fliegt um die Kurve (da man hier immer rechts abbiegen darf, auch wenn die Geradeaus-Ampel rot zeigt). Um einen Zusammenstoss mit dem Auto zu vermeiden, bremste ich stark. Es gab da nur ein Problem: Vorher hatte es geregnet und die Strasse war noch nass. So rutschten meine Reifen schoen weg und ich flog seitlich/geradeaus/und allgemein ueber mein Rad und knutschte den Strassenbelag. AUA! Ja und nun ratet mal??? Das Auto sauste natuerlich davon und auch sonst scherrte sich keiner und stoppte oder liess wenigstens das Fenster runter um zu fragen ob alles okay sei... Also sammelte ich mich und mein Fahrrad von der Strasse ein, pruefte, dass kein Knochen gebrochen war und machte mich auf den 20min Rueckweg zu meinem Apartment wo ich dann den Asphalt aus meinen Wunden zog... :) Hatte ziemliche Schmerzen fuer ein paar Tage und etwa die Haelfte der ueber 20 blauen Flecken ist heute nach ueber 2 Wochen immer noch sichtbar. Ja, ich versuche nun noch wachsamer zu sein! Die koennen hier einfach nicht Auto fahren!!!

I'm baaaack! ;)

2009-09-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, almost a whole month has past since my last entry. Shame on me, as I see that a lot of you checked what was going on but couldn't read a thing. Well, I'm trying my best to let you know what happend in those weeks.

Wow, fast ein ganzer Monat ist seit meinem letzten Eintrag vergangen. Schande auf mein Haupt, da ich sehe, dass etliche von euch nachgeschaut haben was los ist, aber nix zum Lesen vorfanden. Nun, ich werde mein Bestes versuchen euch ueber die letzten Wochen zu informieren.

Lesson 2 on meeting celebrities & more...

2009-08-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

When a celebrity is dining in your restaurant, two words are key: PERFECTION & PROTECTION!

Yes, even if it means that me 5'11" girl protects a former wrestler that is 6'4" from a crowd of 20 kids.... I did prove my bouncer eligibility today, which means I'm able to work doors now! Any job offers? I'm damn good!!! ;)

So, yes, Mr. Dwayne Johnson has been back twice more since my initial post. He didn't come in yesterday, but today (which brings his visits this week to 4 of 7 days) and as I'm in charge of the restaurant on the weekends, I had to make sure everything is perfect for him and I did. I small talked (he wanted to know where I'm from...), I made sure I would wrap his humongous wrap order as it takes skill to do it and no one besides me and the boss are able to and then....

I saw a dad and three kids walking up to the restaurant. Across the street from our place is a chocolate factory and on Sunday's they always do birthday parties. I sensed very quickly why this guy came over. Somebody must have given them a hint. He opened the door and just stood there with the kids and looked into Dwayne's direction. Luckily for me, he left right after, but I was warned. I told all the employees to rush to the door if they would see anybody else walking up to us from over there.

15 minutes later, I saw some kids approaching the restaurant with more kids with papers in their hands running behind them and since I was closest to the door I build myself up and positioned myself. They made it 2 feet into the restaurant and right there I drew the invisible line... ;) I didn't even let them walk up to the register. My colleague sold them the cokes they wanted over the counter closest to the door and I just stood there, determined to fight and to protect the privacy of my customer!!! Lol! I didn't want to be completely mean, so I let them have a glance at Dwayne, but that was it. I told them that there'll be no autographs given and that he would like to enjoy his lunch. I must have made quite an impression, because they didn't question what I said and left.

A little later Dwayne and his companion left the restaurant and it showed how big the impression I made must have been on those kids. Celebrating their birthday outside across the street, none of them or their parents dared to walk across the street again and approach him. So he had a pretty stressfree lunch! After that, I was all stressed though! I noticed the days before that he doesn't like to be bothered, but then, when you actually hinder someone from approaching him, you don't know if you're doing the right thing, if the one's you hinder will get mad, if he will all of a sudden decide it's okay etc.... I admit I got pretty pumped, but I believe he appreciated my actions as he didn't interrupt his lunch and just continued talking.

Now of course I hope that one day, a picture will be my reward!!! He's an amazing guy!

Wenn ein Star zum Essen in dein Restaurant kommt, sind zwei Woerter von groesster Bedeutung: PERFEKTION und SCHUTZ!

Ja, auch wenn das bedeutet, dass ich 1.80m Maedel einen 1.96m grossen ehemaligen Wrestler vor einer aus 20 Kindern bestehenden Kinderschar beschuetze.... Ich habe meine Tuersteher Qualitaeten heute unter Beweis gestellt, was bedeutet, dass ich nun in der Lage bin an Tueren zu arbeiten. Irgendwelche Jobangebote??? Ich bin verdammt gut!!! ;)

Also, ja, Dwayne Johnson kam weitere zwei Male in unser Restaurant. Gestern hat er ausgelassen, aber heute war er wieder da (was seine Besuche diese Woche auf 4 von 7 Tagen bringt) und da ich am Wochenende das Restaurant schmeisse, war ich auch dafuer zustaendig, dass alles perfekt verlaeuft. Also small talkte ich mit ihm (er wollte u.a. wissen, woher ich bin), stellte sicher, dass ich seinen bestellten riesigen Wrap rollen wuerde, denn fuer diese Groesse Wrap braucht man eine gewisse Fingerfertigkeit und nur die Chefin und ich sind bislang in der Lage diese Bestellungen gut aussehen zu lassen und dann...

Sah ich einen Mann mit drei Kindern auf das Restaurant zukommen. Uns gegenueber liegt eine Schokoladenfabrik und die veranstalten Sonntags immer Geburtstagsfeiern fuer Kinder. Schnell ahnte ich, worauf sie aus waren. Irgendwer hatte ihnen wohl einen Tipp gegeben. Sie oeffneten die Tuer, standen dort und schauten in Dwayne's Richtung. Dann gingen sie gluecklicherweise wieder, aber ich war alarmiert. Ich teilte sofort allen Mitarbeitern mit, sich schleunigst zur Tuer zu bewegen, falls sie irgendjemand anderes von dort drueben auf uns zukommen sehen wuerden.

15 Minuten spaeter sehe ich einige Kinder auf unsere Tuer zukommen, gefolgt von weiteren, rennenden Kindern mit Papier in den Haenden. Ich war am dichtesten an der Tuer, also positionierte ich mich und baute mich auf. Sie traten einen halben Meter ins Restaurant hinein und dort zog ich die unsichtbare Linie. .. ;) Ich liess sie nicht einmal zur Kasse heran um ihre Colas zu kaufen, sondern mein Kollege kassierte sie gleich ueber den Tresen an der Tuer ab. Ich stand also da, entschlossen zu kaempfen und die Privatspaehre meines Kunden zu beschuetzen. Lach! Ich wollte aber auch nicht ganz herzlos sein, also liess ich sie wenigstens einen Blick auf Dwayne erhaschen. Ich liess sie wissen, dass es keine Autogramme geben wuerde und dass er sein Mittagessen geniessen wolle. Ich muss einen standhaften Eindruck hinterlassen haben, denn niemand hinterfragte mich und sie verliessen das Restaurant.

Ein wenig spaeter gingen Dwayne und seine Begleitung nach draussen und da wurde sichtbar, WAS fuer einen Eindruck ich hinterlassen haben musste. Nicht eines der Kinder oder der anwesenden Eltern (um die 50 Personen) die dort einen Geburtstag im Freien feierten, wagte es, die Strasse zu queren und ihn anzusprechen. Damit hatte er also ein schoenes, stressfreies Mittagessen! Ich dagegen war komplett gestresst nach dieser Aktion! Ich hatte ja die Tage zuvor bemerkt, dass er es nicht unbedingt mag, angesprochen zu werden, aber dann, wenn du erstmals Leute davon abhaelst sich ihm anzunaehern, weisst du nicht, ob du das Richtige tust... werden die Leute die du abhaelst boese, entscheidet er sich ploetzlich, dass es kein Problem ist etc.... Ich gebe zu, ich war ziemlich aufgeregt, aber ich glaube er war meiner Aktion dankbar, da er sein Mittag nicht unterbrach und sich auch weiterhin unterhielt.

Nun hoffe ich natuerlich erst recht, dass eines Tages ein Bild meine Belohnung sein wird!

In addition to the Dwayne action, I had some fun last night and something not so funny as well. First of all, the fun part! I was invited to a concert by a friend. It took place in Pompano Beach and I'd never heard of the performers before. Main act was O.A.R. (of a Revolution). Warm Up act was Brett Dennen and believe it or not, THIS WAS MY FIRST CONCERT AFTER 1997 AND THE BACKSTREET BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great. Music mix between Jack Johnson (warm up) and Reggae, Ska, Rock as main act. We danced a lot and it was humid as hell as it had just rained, but I enjoyed being out with some new people. Tomorrow (Monday), it's then time for Paolo Nutini (you know, my favorite Scotsman) and his concert in Fort Lauderdale.

Here last nights pics:

Neben den Dwayne Abenteuern, hatte ich auch weiteren Spass und auch weniger Spass. Erstmal zum Spass! Ein Bekannter hatte mich gestern auf ein Konzert in Pompano Beach eingeladen. Von den Kuenstlern hatte ich noch nie vorher gehoert. Main Act waren O.A.R. (of a Revolution) und zum Aufwaermen gab es Brett Dennen und glaubt es oder nicht, dass war MEIN ERSTES KONZERT SEIT 1997 UND DEN BACKSTREET BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Es war toll! Ein Mix aus Jack Johson zum warm werden und Reggae, Ska, Rock als Hauptgang. Wir tanzten viel und es war super luftfeucht, da es grad zuvor geregnet hatte, aber ich genoss es in vollen Zuegen mal mit ein paar neuen Leuten unterwegs zu sein. Morgen (Montag) ist es dann ja endlich Zeit fuer Paolo Nutini (ihr wisst, mein Lieblingsschotte) und sein Konzert in Fort Lauderdale.

Hier ein Bilder von letzter Nacht:

And now the not so funny part: I never really check my tires on my car, but I tell you, you better do that! Luckily for me, somehow when coming out of the restaurant yesterday, I looked at my tires and I realized that the passenger site's back tire was awfully flat. I came closer and found a "nice" nail, that was sticking in it. There was still air left, so I made it home and asked my friend to pick me up for the concert. Turned out to be lucky again, as he is prepared for such cases and had some "Fix a Flat" in his car that he gave me. This morning I then put that stuff in my almost flat tire and it helped. I was able to drive to work and after work, on a Sunday, I went to the body shop and let them put a new tire on. My first experience with a auto parts store and body shop in the USA and it was pretty good. Tire was quickly changed, but I hated to have to spend money on it! Oh well... At least it did not blow up on me on the highway!!!

Und nun zum nicht so lustigen Teil: Ich kontrolliere wirklich selten meine Autoraeder, aber ich sag euch, ihr solltet das besser tun! Gluecklicherweise, aus welchem Grund auch immer, schaute ich mir gestern beim Verlassen des Restaurants meine Raeder an und entdeckte, dass der Hinterreifen der Passierseite verdaechtigt platt aussah. Ich kam naeher und bemerkte, dass ein "netter" Nagel darin steckte. Es war noch Luft drinnen, so dass ich es nach Hause schaffte und ich fragte meinen Bekannten ob er mich fuers Konzert abholen koenne. Das stellte sich wieder zu meinem Glueck heraus, da er etliche Flaschen "Fix a Flat" an Bord hatte und mir diese ueberliess. So konnte ich heute morgen dieses Zeug in meinen Reifen pumpen und kam wenigstens zur Arbeit. Nach der Arbeit, auf einen Sonntag, fuhr ich dann in die Autowerkstatt und liess meinem Auto einen neuen Reifen verpassen. Das war also meine erste Autowerkstatt Erfahrung in den USA und sie war ziemlich gut. Der Reifen war schnell gewechselt. Ich fand es nur etwas bloed, dass ich dafuer Geld ausgeben musste! Nun gut... zum Glueck explodierte mir der Reifen nicht auf dem Highway!

ABC... and C won! :)

2009-08-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao... the 3 islands of the Lesser Antilles, two of them part of the Netherlands Antilles are located in the Caribbean, close to the Venezuelan coast and since I LOVE small get-away trips, I'm going to spend my two Thanksgiving days that I'm off at the end of November on the island of Curacao! I'm sooooooo excited! Isn't it great to live so close to the Caribbean??? A direct flight from Miami brings me to the island in 3 hours. I just booked and will go to bed now, dreaming of the blue sea and great underwater world... ;) Good night!

Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao... die drei Inseln der Kleinen Antillen, zwei von ihnen Teil der Niederlaendischen Antillen befinden sich in der Karibik unweit der venezulanischen Kueste und da ich kleine Get-Away Ausfluege LIEBE, werde ich meine zwei freien Thanksgiving Tage Ende November auf der Insel Curacao verbringen! Ich freue mich ja schon so! Ist es nicht toll so dicht an der Karibik zu wohnen??? Ein Direktflug bringt mich innerhalb von 3h von Miami auf die Insel. Ich habe gerade gebucht und gehe jetzt ins Bett vom blauen Meer und der tollen Unterwasserwelt traeumen... ;) Gute Nacht!

FREAK OUT! Lesson 1 on meeting celebrities...

2009-08-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Laid back as I am and unknowing as I am as well, I unconsciously handled an interesting situation in the restaurant yesterday perfectly!!!

Some guy walks in with a lady and an older lady. They stand at the register, a little lost. My boss comes up to me "Jenny, can you go and greet them!?" So I do... walk up to them, smile at them, greet them, seat them. The lady thanks me for taking care of them. The guy gets up to go to the restroom, almost bumps into me... I notice: Wow, what a nice, tall grown guy!

Walking back to my server station, I notice something is not quite right! Everybody tries to hide excitement. Hmmmm...
My 2nd server asks me, quietly, but while freaking out: "Do you know who that is???????"
I'm like: "Do I know who who is!?"
Him: "That guy on table 3."
Me: "Well, who is HEEE???"
Him: "That's THE ROCK!"
Me: "Who's THE ROCK!?"
Him: "Dwayne Johnson!!!"

Me: "Never heard of...!"

Him: "You don't know him??? It's THE ROCK, the wrestler, the actor, the guy from The Mummy movie..."

Me: "Oh, really!? Hmm... okay!"

So I go and take care of them, knowing that I'm waiting on some great celebrity, treating them like everybody else, because at that moment I still didn't really know who he was . Meanwhile, boss in the kitchen is telling everyone "...if I catch you staring at him, you're soooo gonna get in trouble." So everybody tosses salads and makes food like normally. Inside, everybody was just freaking out though!

Well, everyone of them liked their food, I hand him the bill, he pulls out his black Amex (the Centurion Card), gives me a great smile and ends up leaving a nice tip. After leaving the restaurant, it seems like everybody else is breathing again! Except for me... I'm still as laid back as I was before....

Later at night, I come home, I google and.... I see pictures of him and I realize: WOW, I was serving THE ROCK! Yes, of course I know who he is. Yes, of course I watched him in wrestling when I was young and yes of course I've seen the movies he played in... Standing infront of me, with his sunglasses on and not giving me "his look", I just didn't recognize him... sooorry! Lol!

Guess what!? He was back today with his family!!! Seems to like our food and us, since we didn't bother him. Two customers that tried to get a picture with him where told NO! But... as he'll come back, I may one day get a picture as proof! Wow, that's so South Floridian adventures!!! :)

Resume: He is veeery nice, has perfectly white teeth and the most beautiful smile! Him and his family were all very respectful and I'm glad I didn't realize who he was, so that I treated him just like everybody else, because in the end, they are like everybody else. They were just a little bit more fortunate than others... ;)

PS: Of course my boss noticed right away who was standing in her restaurant when she asked me to go and greet them yesterday. She just prayed and hoped I wouldn't know that guy and man, was she right!!! ;) Of all the people working there, I was the only one not going crazy, because I have this issue... I can never name song titles, movie titles, actors... If you then play it to me or show me pictures, I'll always be like... AAAAAH! Same as yesterday... haha!

So gelassen wie ich bin und auch unwissend wie ich bin, habe ich gestern eine interessante Situation im Restaurant unbewusst perfekt gehandhabt!!!

Ein Typ kommt in Begleitung einer Frau und einer aelteren Frau ins Restaurant. Etwas verloren stehen sie an unserer 2. Kasse. Meine Chefin kommt zu mir: "Jenny, kannst du die bitte gruessen!?" Klar! Also geh ich zu ihnen, laechle sie an, begruesse sie und zeige ihnen, wo sie sitzen koennen. Die Dame bedankt sich dafuer, dass ich mich ihnen angenommen habe. Der Typ steht auf und auf dem Weg zum WC rennt er mich fast ueber den Haufen. In dem Moment denke ich nur: Wow, was fuer ein schoen gross gewachsener Mann!

Als ich zu meiner Kellnerstation zurueckkehre, bemerke ich, dass irgendwas nicht ganz richtig ist. Alle scheinen ein wenig Aufregung zu verbergen, was nicht ganz gelingt... hmmmmm!
Mein 2. Kellner fragt mich leise, waehrend er die Fassung verliert: "Weisst du wer DAS ist?????"
Ich so: " Weiss ich wer wer ist???"
Er: "Der Mann an Tisch 3".
Ich: "Na, wer ist denn DAS???"
Er: "THE ROCK!!!"
Ich: "Wer ist THE ROCK???"
Er: "Dwayne Johnson!!!!!!"
Ich: "Nie von gehoert!"
Er: "Du kennst den nicht???? Das ist THE ROCK, der Wrestler, der Schauspieler, der Typ aus "Die Mummie kehrt zurueck" und anderen Filmen..."
Ich: "Oh, echt!? Hmmm... okay!""

Also kehre ich zu meiner Arbeit zurueck, wissend, dass ich anscheinend eine beruehmte Persoenlichkeit bewirte, aber da ich immer noch nicht so recht wusste, wer das denn nun eigentlich ist, behandelte ich ihn wie jeden anderen auch. Inzwischen machte meine Chefin allen in der Kueche klar: "Wenn ich einen von euch erwische, wie ihr ihn anstarrt, dann gibt's Aerger!" Also, ruehrten alle fein ihre Salate oder bereiteten andere Speisen zu, wie immer! Innerlich flippten sie allerdings alle aus! :)

Nun, alle an dem Tisch mochten ihr Essen, ich gab Dwayne also die Rechnung, er zueckt seine schwarze Amex, grinst mich breit an und hinterlaesst ein super Trinkgeld. Nachdem sie das Restaurant verlassen haben, ist es, als wuerden alle anderen wieder atmen! Nur ich bin immer noch ganz gelassen.

Spaeter am Abend, als ich nach Hause kam, tippe ich doch dann endlich mal den Namen in Google ein... Ich sehe Bilder und ich realisiere: WOW, ich habe THE ROCK bekellnert! JA, natuerlich weiss ich wer das ist. Natuerlich habe ich ihn als Kind im Fernsehen im Wrestling gesehen (Hulk Hogan kenn ich ja schliesslich auch...) und JA, natuerlich habe ich "Die Mumie kehrt zurueck" und "Scorpion King" gesehen. Als er aber so vor mir stand, mit seiner Sonnenbrille auf und ohne mir "seinen Gesichtsausdruck" zu geben, hab ich ihn einfach nicht erkannt! ;) Entschuldigt!!!

Und nun ratet mal!? Er war heute doch tatsaechlich wieder mit seiner Familie zum Mittag da und ich konnte ihn wieder bewirten und tat das immer noch so gelassen wie gestern. Anscheinend moegen sie unser Essen und unseren Service, denn wir haben ihn ja in Ruhe gelassen. Zwei Kunden, die hysterisch um ein Foto baten, bekamen nur ein knappes "Nein" zu hoeren. Nun, ich denke, dass er zu einem regelmaessigen Kunden wird und so werde ich wohl auch irgendwann mal ein Bild mit ihm als Beweis erlangen. Wow! Das sind doch mal Sued-Floridianische Abenteuer...

Fazit dieser Begegnung: Dwayne Johnson ist ein sehr netter Mann, hat perfekt weisse Zaehne und ein wahnsinnig schoenes Laecheln. Er und seine Familie sind sehr respektvoll und ich bin froh, dass ich nicht erkannte, wer er ist und ihn so wie jeden anderen auch behandelte, denn am Ende, sind sie wie jeder andere auch, sie hatten einfach nur ein wenig mehr Glueck als andere!

PS: Natuerlich wusste meine Chefin sofort wer da in ihrem Laden steht als sie mich fragte, ob ich die begruessen koennte. Sie betete und hoffte nur, dass ich nicht wissen wuerde, wer das ist und mensch, lag sie damit richtig. Von allen die dort arbeiten, war ich die einzige, die nicht komplett ausflippte... denn ich hab da so nen Problem... ich bin nie in der Lage Songtitel oder Filmtitel zu benennen, geschweige denn die Stars und Sternchen... wenn man mir dann etwas vorspielt oder Bilder zeigt, kommt immer das grosse AAAAAH! So wie gestern... haha!

6 Months USA!

2009-08-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, on Friday it was already this time of month again: I celebrated my half year anniversary over here. The resume of the past 6 months: I'm living a good life, I was able to save a bunch of money while still trying to pay of my student loans and I identified the negative sides of South Florida which have mainly to do with the people that live here (a separate blog entry about it will follow), so I'm living my life around it.

What I have been up to lately: After owning a 4-wheel-vehicle, I'm also now a proud owner of a 2-wheel vehicle (non-motorized) ;)! I went on several 2 hours biking tours already and I especially loooove cycling along Ocean Drive in Hollywood at night. After not owning a bike for years, I'm finally back building up my cardio... and I need to, because...

I'm signed up for my first 5K run ever in my life!!!!!!! =)

At the end of October the Toss Up crew will run one. I started, having 10 weeks of preparation and after not running for 2 years and never running this distance, I'm challenged but determined to run this thing as a whole without walking. Back in the days, I used to run 3K's in training for my rowing, but that's been years ago and I felt it pretty much when trying to go on my first run 1 1/2 weeks ago. No stamina at all! Of course the humidity is something to handle as well. When back in the apartment, I look like I just spent 30 minutes in a steam sauna, but it sure feels good in some ways! So now I'm running and cycling and getting better at both again. Whoop!

Am Freitag war es also wieder diese Zeit im Monat: Diesmal konnte ich mein 6-monatiges in den Staaten feiern. Fazit der letzten 6 Monate: Ich lebe gut, konnte (fuer meine Verhaeltnisse) gute Ersparnisse anhaeufen, waehrend ich nach wie vor meine Studienkredite abzahle und habe die negativen Seiten Sued-Floridas identifiziert, die hauptsaechlich mit den Leuten die hier wohnen zu tun haben (separater Blog-Eintrag dazu folgt), also lebe ich mein Leben einfach drumherum.

Was ich in letzter Zeit so getrieben habe: Nachdem ich ja bereits ein 4-raediges Gefaehrt besitze, bin ich nun auch stolzer Besitzer eines 2-Rades (nicht motorisiert) ;) ! Ich bin bereits auf einige 2 stuendige Fahrradtouren gegangen und lieeeebe es besonders nachts am Ocean Drive in Hollywood entlang zu duesen. Nachdem ich fuer etliche Jahre kein Fahrrad besitze, bin ich nun zurueck und baue an meiner Ausdauer... und die werde ich brauchen, denn...

Ich bin fuer meinen ersten 5 km-Lauf in meinem Leben angemeldet!!!!!!

Ende Oktober nehmen wir als Toss Up Crew an einem Lauf teil. Ich habe mit dem Training begonnen und habe insgesamt eine 10-woechige Vorbereitungszeit und nachdem ich seit 2 Jahren gar nicht gelaufen bin und noch nie ueber diese Distanz, ist es fuer mich eine Herausforderung, aber ich habe meine Ziele und werde diesen Lauf zumindest komplett durchlaufen. Frueher lief ich 3km staendig waehrend meines Rudertrainings, aber der grosse Laeufer war ich noch nie und das ist ja nun auch schon eine ganze Weile her. Dementsprechend habe ich mich auch vor 1 1/2 Wochen bei meinem ersten Lauf gefuehlt: Keine Ausdauer mehr da!!! Die Luftfeuchtigkeit macht einem da natuerlich auch ein wenig zu schaffen. Wenn ich zurueck ins Apartment komme, schaue ich aus als haette ich 30min in einer Dampfsauna verbracht, aber es fuehlt sich schon gut an! Nun laufe und Fahrrad fahre ich also und werde mit beidem schon besser von Tag zu Tag. Juhu!!!