Official

I spent a better part of this weekend over the worry over whether or not I would be granted a visa to live and work here. Had the answer been no I would have to leave after July 23rd. I am relieved to report, however, that after two days of running around and just a 50 Euro fee I am all official. It is much easier to get a visa here than in the US. No mailing paperwork all over the country or paying thousands of dollars. In fact you can go to your local Foreign Office, which just happens to be a 5 minute walk from my doorstep, and with the appropriate paperwork have a visa in your hands in an hour or less. What a relief.

Creative Play

After my last post I had a chat with Karen who was like, WHAT?!? Apparently I sort of left it hanging, being unclear about what exactly I am excited about doing with my life. So I can just say this, after three months of no steady work I was ready for a week at Jump In. The regularity of a week schedule was refreshing, the challenge of coming up with something for each day was exciting. Mostly the week was a reminder that I want whatever I am doing to be creative and playful. After sitting around for three months I have become less than that so the week was a little kick in the butt to get in gear. Do I have any specific plans? No. But I at least now feel inspired to do something and I want that something to be creatively fun.

With that said Ryan and I finished a little creative project last night that was totally fun and it looks something like this:

Jump In!

Friday marked the end of week one for Jump In summer camp. I only had five children which could have been a disaster but ended up being perfect for me. It was a more relaxed version of what is to come and I got to break myself in for the coming weeks. A lot of my time recently has been spent sitting around and it was refreshing to spend the week in creative play. It also woke me up to what I want to be doing with my life and how I want to spend my time here. It isn't enough to just move to another city and I feel excited about the prospect of doing something different.

A Song for You: Lessons Learned

While still living is Salt Lake I never had a chance to see this band and they even played with Daniel Johnston at Kilby Court a few weeks before I left. Damn! Then I bought their album a few weeks ago and I am kicking myself. The Band of Annuals is Alt Country but I get the sense that you need not be a fan of this genre to fully enjoy and appreciate the music. The album is solid, beginning to end.

BOA Site
BOA Blog
BOA MySpace

Oh lord, won't ya send me....

Okay, essentially Send is just the state fair without the livestock. A good old fashioned carnival. Cheap rides, cotton candy.... Ryan and I went for a bit this evening and mostly just walked and observed. Not, of course, without a bag full of roasted almonds, delicious! There were many rides that were American themed that I had to giggle at. My favorite being "Highway 1" complete with illustrations of movie stars, palm trees, convertibles, and (ahem) Mount Rushmore. But hell, they sure tried. And I am sure that there is some replica or something of Mount Rushmore in California, somewhere. So that counts, right? A few of my other favorite things included all the pretzel and wurst booths. The fully portable beer gardens were impressive, a few even complete with astro turf rolled out beneath, white picket fence, and flower boxes for a full experience of drinking in Bavaria. Then of course were the housewares booths: vacuums, one for silver polisher, and the best of all.....the portable plant shop. It seemed strange to me to be selling giant houseplants at a carnival. Lately have been on the hunt for a large quantity of dried lavender and have gone into every store imaginable to find it to no avail. But tonight the carnival delivered. I fell upon a spice and herbs booth and lucked out. I can't wait to get baking some lovely lemon-lavender treats.....yum. I would say all in all Send was a success. Maybe I will return tomorrow to actually hop on a ride. We'll see. More photos here.

On another note.....Germany has made it to the finals in the Euro Cup this year and play tomorrow against Spain. I am so excited. My brother used to play football (soccer) and I always loved watching, but haven't really watched for a long time. Not only am I rediscovering my interest in the sport, I am in a place where it is a frenzy. This tournament has been insane. In fact I am, at the moment, getting ready to settle down to go to bed and a party is just beginning. People are already chanting and cheering, singing "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. It has nothing to do with football, it's just something catchy they can grab on to. I was given a gift of German flag makeup so I just may even go that route. The only thing I have ever gotten excited enough over to paint my face was Ute Gymnastics and, hello, they are the Red Rocks. Who wouldn't paint their face for them?!? Sorry, where was I? Football? Oh yeah. The madness will, for one more day, continue. Unless of course Germany wins, then the madness will continue until the World Cup....

My German Education

My thought on the matter....if I need to learn this language I am going to have a fun, creative, and delicious time doing so. My gift to myself this afternoon was a relaxing time spent in the bookstore walking away with two informative books sure to fill some time and will indeed feed the creative bug I can't get rid of. Now I just have to understand it...

after I drew a breath or two

I realize I have fallen off the blogosphere and am now back, I think. I have certainly settled into routine here and have had nothing I have deemed worthy to post. Day to day to day. I do start working with the summer camp on monday and I feel excited to have something to take up my time. While I have been working the hours are short, it will be nice to have my time taken up by something. The lounging around is starting to get boring.

I learned this week that I cannot get a visa unless I have health insurance. This is something I haven't had since 2004 so I think it is probably a good thing that I am forced to get it. It isn't cheap, but still less expensive than in the US....unless I do that silly thing in my head where I convert what I am spending in Euros to dollars. But that just gives me a headache and I get sick and that is just no fun. It's rather amusing seeing what is expensive and what is not. Some examples, approximated in US dollars for all ya'll:

*Bath towel (cheapest): $24.00
*Six pack beer (expensive): $ 6.30
*Peanut butter (6 oz.): $ 5.44
*One gallon regular: $10.80
*Loaf of best bread: $ 1.50

More examples to come soon.

shift

B: Wow. You made such a lovely bag.
M: But you make the best pictures, no? And you have so nice eyes. Green is my favorite color.

What a difference a month makes.

Who's Cup?

I found this plain cup and saucer at Nanu Nana and a porcelain paint pen at Idee. After drawing my flowers, allowing it to dry, and setting it in the oven I have my very own personalized and dishwasher safe coffee cup. I like it. So much I made another with a bird on a twig.

Holla!

Recently two things happened. One, Shannan wrote to me and asked what she was going to do about her birthday if I wasn't there to make her favorite Pumpkin-Orange Jewel Cake (see above). And, yes, it is so good it deserves to be spelled with caps. Then I got a message from Karen that I really should post that picture of the cake I made for Shannan because it looks oh so yummy and I thought, "Yes, it is yummy. But what reason could I possibly have for posting that picture right now?" But you want to know what happened next? Like the next day? Trust me, you want to know because it was magical. Really. Ryan was there, he can back it up. Maya happened.

Maya and her husband Dion have been living in Münster for five years and are now making a move to Philidelphia, meaning they are going through the same purge process I did just a few months ago. And Maya, do you know what she likes? To bake. And she understands what it is like to be an American in Germany who likes to bake but can't find things like measuring cups, spatulas, vanilla extract, cocoa powder....and pumpkin. And she actually brought all these things with her back from a visit to the US and oh so kindly passed them off to me. I don't know if I can adequately express the excitement I felt (and still feel) over the stash. I came home and carefully laid out my loot to admire it. To organize it. When it was over we swapped favorite pumpkin cake recipes (that's where the photo comes in). It's unfortunate she is leaving because I think she is someone who I could have really hung out with.

In addition to all my kitchen stuff I also scored a desk and chairs, so no more bending over typing on a bookshelf, and something to hang my clothes in! I feel like I am actually moved in now. It is lovely. On our last visit yesterday to pick up the furniture Maya bestowed upon me the greatest gift of all. As she opened up the freezer and pulled it out there were no words necessary, I knew what it was and my whole body was buzzing. My eyes lit up and I giddily glanced at Ryan asking, "Do you know what that is?" After a nervous looking glance returned to me I whispered, "Chicken broth!"

Wonder

Occasionally I wonder if I was really ready for this adventure.

Other times I think that it was me actually coming that made me ready.