After spending a lot of time in the US and Canada, both on vacation and while living there during school exchanges and as an Au Pair I got used to a lot of food and drinks that I can't get over here. The years before the first Starbucks opened here in Germany were hard, I was so used to getting my Cafe Mocha fix every day. :)
I also loved Mac and Cheese and Mountain Dew and Pop Tarts and a certain brand of Cereal and a lot more and I was sooo sad that I couldn't get them here. So whenever we were in the US I would eat as much as possible and also buy as much stuff as possible to take home.
When we were visiting my friend Mara, before she and her husband moved to the US, we were able to shop for American Food on base and today we visited friends that we know because their son is in Jennys Kindergarten. He is in the US Army and they took us food shopping on base. I felt like a kid in a candy store and had to keep myself from buying EVERYTHING that I saw. We bought the most necessary things like Mountain Dew or Oreos and I also found some really cheap 8 inch round pans for baking, they were 2.99 $ ( which is about 2 Euros). I tried to find cheap 8 inch pans here and the only ones I found cost about 15 Euros so YAY for that!
It might sound weird but I LOVE american food, not everything and not every day but once in a while I need my fix because it reminds me of my time in the US and it is a change from the regular stuff. I also like a lot of recipes from the US and sometimes can't find ingredients here so I am thrilled that I can get my stuff from there once in a while when I need it (like Baking Soda or Pancake Mix).
And now I will enjoy my Diet Coke with Lime before going to bed and tomorrow morning I will have some Apple Cinnamon Pop Tarts for breakfast. YAY!!!
Irene
Sonntag, 31. Juli 2011
Samstag, 30. Juli 2011
Blogging
So yesterday I told a few people about my blog. I hadn't done it earlier because I didn't know if I would really feel the insipration to write more than one post and also thought it would be nicer if there are already at least a few posts to read.
I will tell you now why I started a blog. The idea had actually been in my head for a while, I just wasn't sure if there are really people out there who want to read what I write. I also had been discussing it with my hubby and he wasn't really happy about it (will get to that in a minute).
I started reading blogs a few years ago, If I remember it right it all started with the Livejournal of my friend Mara, I think that was back in 2005. We hadn't been in close contact for a while and I was glad I was able to read a bit about how she had been and keep up a bit with what is happening in her life. I also started reading blogs from Germans who had moved to the US to live and work there. I had started taking part in the Green Card Lottery I think in 2001 and so I followed a few blogs to see how the process would be in case I actually win myself (which unfortunately hasn't happened yet - booo). I clicked myself from blog to blog, found a few very interesting ones and kept reading. I never really interacted (by commenting) because even though it was interesting to read their stories I didn't know these people and kinda found it weird to comment on something a total stranger had written about their life.
After a while I started reading my "blog-friend" San's blog (check it out here). I liked the way she wrote, I found a few things that we both had in common and one day she requested that any new readers should come out and comment to introduce themselves, so I did. It was cool to interact with someone so far away (she is a German living in California). I really enjoy meeting new people, in real life and online, there are so many interesting life stories. From there on I actually interacted with some of the people whose blogs I was reading, and after a while I thought it would be nice to start writing about my life myself. I also signed up on facebook and found a few old friends from my time in Canada and the US. One of them also had a blog and I once more thought how cool a blog is to let people far away know about you, your life and family. I hadn't seen her for like 10 years and reading how she had been was great.
I spent a lot of time online to find old friends and get back in contact with them, I told my hubby about it and he wasn't really impressed. He is working in the IT Business and was concerned about my safety. One of the first things he said was something like: "yeah, and then you tell a lot about yourself and some creep reads it and they try to hack you account or find out were you live...blahblah" He clearly didn't like the idea because he was scared I would spill everything to people I don't actually know. Same with my facebook, he didn't like the fact that I was posting pics and info about were we live and stuff. especially when it included our kids and himself. He refused to sign up himself and also found it kinda creepy that I was checking out profiles from old classmates whom I hadn't seen for like 15 years. He didn't see the need in getting back in contact with friends from the past. (Lately he did sign up though but rarely is on facebook)
Over the years I noticed that I started sharing more and more on facebook, I am also a member of a board/forum of mommys whose kids were born around the time my oldest was born and we share stories and advice, which is very helpful and the ladys there have become my closest online friends. I interacted a lot more with people on their blogs and I cared a lot less about hubby and his negative attitude towards blogging. I got used to the fact that he would roll his eyes and shake his head whenever I would start a sentence with "guess what my blog-friend said..." or " I read on a blog somewhere..." I more and more found myself thinking after a long day how nice it would be to write down my feelings, or rant a bit or share my thoughts with someone else than my hubby who rarely really listens closely anymore (I don't mean that in a bad way, I just tend to talk A LOT and his attention span is rather short). ;)
The only thing keeping me from it was, that in my close surroundings (family and friends) no one is really blogging and only a few of them are on facebook. I didn't know if they would think I am weird for spilling my life to strangers online. But lately I found a lot of cool blogs, most of them food blogs with gorgeous pictures of wonderful cakes or cupcakes. As I have started baking (plus taking pictures to share what I baked). I thought it would be nice to share some of my creations online. I posted them on facebook and got a lot of positive feedback but wanted to post more and actually write a bit about baking/cooking/my life in general. So here we go now, I gave in to the voices in my head that told me it doesn't matter what others think, do what you want and what makes you happy.
So from now on you can read my stories about the crazy life with my hubby and my two kids, my thoughts about all kind of things that are on my mind lately, my baking adventures (including my dream to open my own little bake shop) and a lot more. I will probably fulfill my hubby's wish and not share a lot about the kids (especially pics) on here. I do that on facebook because there 90% of my friends are people I know personally. If you are a new reader (meaning no one I know personally or through blogging or facebook) send me a comment, introduce yourself and I might just share more via email if I like you.
Oh and feedback/advice is always appreciated because I am new to this and after reading blog for years now I understand how important it is to know that I am not only writing this for myself.
Irene
P.S. I still have to tell hubby I started this...right now I am still not sure if I will in the near future :)
I will tell you now why I started a blog. The idea had actually been in my head for a while, I just wasn't sure if there are really people out there who want to read what I write. I also had been discussing it with my hubby and he wasn't really happy about it (will get to that in a minute).
I started reading blogs a few years ago, If I remember it right it all started with the Livejournal of my friend Mara, I think that was back in 2005. We hadn't been in close contact for a while and I was glad I was able to read a bit about how she had been and keep up a bit with what is happening in her life. I also started reading blogs from Germans who had moved to the US to live and work there. I had started taking part in the Green Card Lottery I think in 2001 and so I followed a few blogs to see how the process would be in case I actually win myself (which unfortunately hasn't happened yet - booo). I clicked myself from blog to blog, found a few very interesting ones and kept reading. I never really interacted (by commenting) because even though it was interesting to read their stories I didn't know these people and kinda found it weird to comment on something a total stranger had written about their life.
After a while I started reading my "blog-friend" San's blog (check it out here). I liked the way she wrote, I found a few things that we both had in common and one day she requested that any new readers should come out and comment to introduce themselves, so I did. It was cool to interact with someone so far away (she is a German living in California). I really enjoy meeting new people, in real life and online, there are so many interesting life stories. From there on I actually interacted with some of the people whose blogs I was reading, and after a while I thought it would be nice to start writing about my life myself. I also signed up on facebook and found a few old friends from my time in Canada and the US. One of them also had a blog and I once more thought how cool a blog is to let people far away know about you, your life and family. I hadn't seen her for like 10 years and reading how she had been was great.
I spent a lot of time online to find old friends and get back in contact with them, I told my hubby about it and he wasn't really impressed. He is working in the IT Business and was concerned about my safety. One of the first things he said was something like: "yeah, and then you tell a lot about yourself and some creep reads it and they try to hack you account or find out were you live...blahblah" He clearly didn't like the idea because he was scared I would spill everything to people I don't actually know. Same with my facebook, he didn't like the fact that I was posting pics and info about were we live and stuff. especially when it included our kids and himself. He refused to sign up himself and also found it kinda creepy that I was checking out profiles from old classmates whom I hadn't seen for like 15 years. He didn't see the need in getting back in contact with friends from the past. (Lately he did sign up though but rarely is on facebook)
Over the years I noticed that I started sharing more and more on facebook, I am also a member of a board/forum of mommys whose kids were born around the time my oldest was born and we share stories and advice, which is very helpful and the ladys there have become my closest online friends. I interacted a lot more with people on their blogs and I cared a lot less about hubby and his negative attitude towards blogging. I got used to the fact that he would roll his eyes and shake his head whenever I would start a sentence with "guess what my blog-friend said..." or " I read on a blog somewhere..." I more and more found myself thinking after a long day how nice it would be to write down my feelings, or rant a bit or share my thoughts with someone else than my hubby who rarely really listens closely anymore (I don't mean that in a bad way, I just tend to talk A LOT and his attention span is rather short). ;)
The only thing keeping me from it was, that in my close surroundings (family and friends) no one is really blogging and only a few of them are on facebook. I didn't know if they would think I am weird for spilling my life to strangers online. But lately I found a lot of cool blogs, most of them food blogs with gorgeous pictures of wonderful cakes or cupcakes. As I have started baking (plus taking pictures to share what I baked). I thought it would be nice to share some of my creations online. I posted them on facebook and got a lot of positive feedback but wanted to post more and actually write a bit about baking/cooking/my life in general. So here we go now, I gave in to the voices in my head that told me it doesn't matter what others think, do what you want and what makes you happy.
So from now on you can read my stories about the crazy life with my hubby and my two kids, my thoughts about all kind of things that are on my mind lately, my baking adventures (including my dream to open my own little bake shop) and a lot more. I will probably fulfill my hubby's wish and not share a lot about the kids (especially pics) on here. I do that on facebook because there 90% of my friends are people I know personally. If you are a new reader (meaning no one I know personally or through blogging or facebook) send me a comment, introduce yourself and I might just share more via email if I like you.
Oh and feedback/advice is always appreciated because I am new to this and after reading blog for years now I understand how important it is to know that I am not only writing this for myself.
Irene
P.S. I still have to tell hubby I started this...right now I am still not sure if I will in the near future :)
Vacation pt. 3
Oh man, not enough that hubby is still sick and I not only have to cope with my kids but also with a grumpy hubby who is in a bad mood because his stomach hurts, but I also accidentally closed this tab after being halfway through with my post and wasn't able to restore it, So here we go again. Hubby is annoying me because even though I know stomach cramps can be a bitch I remember having them before and only hearing something along the lines of "hey, you have to try to keep up with the kids, I have to work and have an important meeting/paper to work on/deadline to meet, sorry can't help you", but as I don't have to work he is just staying in bed and leaving the kids to be my responsibility. *sigh* So instead of having a relaxed week with my hubby (who still had the days off) I had to take care of the kids by myself. Not fun!
So here is the last part of my vacation report:
Thursday we decided we would spend the day on the beach. We hadn't really been to the beach a lot even though we had booked a hotel close to the beach which was only seperated by a small (shopping) street and some beach bars. So why didn't we go there every day you might ask? Well, even though I might sound like a wimp, laying at the pool was just far more relaxing. And that's what I wanted this vacation to be, as relaxing as possible. Another reason was, that the sunbeds and umbrellas had to be paid on the beach while the ones by the hotel pool were free of charge. And also because spending my time on a crowded beach, with hot sand, salty water, high waves, yellling mothers, crying babys and looking at bulky, overweight and lobster-red tourists just wasn't my idea of relaxing. Only positive thing was the fact that you could hear the waves and feel the sand (which unfortunately was really hot around noon). so we spent the morning at the beach and went back to the hotel for lunch. The afternoon was spent by the pool again, or well close to the pool.
One really annoying thing about the pool was the fact that a lot of people would reserve the sunbeds in advance by putting their towels on them. They would seriously get up really early (like set their alarm to 6 am), plunge their towels on a sunbed right next to the pool, go back to bed, get up around 9:30 am to have breakfast and eventually come to the pool at 11 am. All the while taking away a sunbed from someone who would have needed that spot when he came to the pool at 9:15. We usually would get to the pool around 10 am and got the last sunbeds far away from the pool (well, about 30 meters), which was OK for me because they were in the shade of a tree and the guy who was serving drinks would also come around and ask if we wanted something. It would never cross my mind to get up before sunrise on my vacation to get a first row spot at the pool and that behaviour just annoyed hubby and me every. single. day!
Thursday evening we rented a car (a Suzuki Jeep with a fabric top to make it a convertible) so we would be able to start right after breakfast the next day to go to Rethymnon, one of the three big cities along the north coast of Crete and about a 90 min drive from our hotel. We took the car for a short drive to Chersonissos again to see how it feels to drive a convertible and it was OK. The next day we put gas in the car (it was almost empty), just enough to make it there and back and drove on the highway. Hubby accelerated to 70 km/h and the steering wheel started shaking, as did the whole car. We tried going slower and then faster and it got worse so we drove back to the rental company. They didn't want to reimburse us for the 30 Euros we paid for gas and therefore gave us a better car (a Fiat 500 Convertible), which wasn't really what I wanted because even though the gas was full we had to fill it up again before returning it which cost another 25 Euros. But the car was brandnew and way better than the Jeep.
We made it to Rethymnon in 1 hour and 15 min, parked the car and walked down to the harbour and along the street by the beach, had another Greek Salad in a small restaurant and walked around in the small streets. It was really hot so we didn't stay long, but the city is nice. On our way back we stopped along a few beaches but decided against swimming there because all of them were rather crowded. So we went back to the hotel to lay by the pool again. Unfortunately we also had to start packing. In the evening we took the car for a short ride again along the beach road before returning it and then we had booked a 5 Course Menu (one time was included per stay) at the hotels' rooftop restaurant. You had three different choices per course, eg. for starters we could choose from tomato soup, pumpkin soup or greek sour milk soup. Hubby had a steak for his main course (I had chicken) which was huge and grilled to medium-rare perfection. Everything was really nice and tasty. It was a great way to end our vacation.
The next morning we had breakfast and packed the rest because check-out time was 11 am. We put our luggage in the storage room and went to the pool. And guess what, even though it was already 11:30 am we found two sunbeds right by the pool which were still empty. YAY! We spent the day swimming, eating, drinking, sleeping by the pool and also went to the beach and along the street (I wanted to buy a ring with a mediterranean opal - very cool they switch colours from blue to sparkling green in the sun) right before the bus picked us up at 6:45 pm. We were at the airport around 7:30, checked in, strolled around and through the duty free (didn't buy anything though) and the plane started around 9:40 pm. We landed in Munich at 11:25 pm, got our luggage, took a shuttle to the parking lot and drove back home to Nürnberg. We were in bed at 2 am.
We woke up around 9:30 am, went out for breakfast and called my parents who said they would be here around 2 pm. Relaxed in front of the TV a little and then they came back.
And right then everything was back to "normal", no mercy, back to pure mayhem as soon as they entered the house... I have to say I really missed the kids and was happy to see them again but knew they would take away my relaxed feeling in no time.
Now we have been home for almost a week and with sick hubby and whiny kids it has been challenging to keep up a relaxed feeling. The weather has also been shitty, from 40 Celcius on Crete down to 18-21 Celcius with slight peaks around 25 Celcius once in a while. That is not a way I wanted to continue my vacation.
Anyways, now after retyping this it has gotten late, so I'll finish this now.
Good night,
Irene
So here is the last part of my vacation report:
Thursday we decided we would spend the day on the beach. We hadn't really been to the beach a lot even though we had booked a hotel close to the beach which was only seperated by a small (shopping) street and some beach bars. So why didn't we go there every day you might ask? Well, even though I might sound like a wimp, laying at the pool was just far more relaxing. And that's what I wanted this vacation to be, as relaxing as possible. Another reason was, that the sunbeds and umbrellas had to be paid on the beach while the ones by the hotel pool were free of charge. And also because spending my time on a crowded beach, with hot sand, salty water, high waves, yellling mothers, crying babys and looking at bulky, overweight and lobster-red tourists just wasn't my idea of relaxing. Only positive thing was the fact that you could hear the waves and feel the sand (which unfortunately was really hot around noon). so we spent the morning at the beach and went back to the hotel for lunch. The afternoon was spent by the pool again, or well close to the pool.
One really annoying thing about the pool was the fact that a lot of people would reserve the sunbeds in advance by putting their towels on them. They would seriously get up really early (like set their alarm to 6 am), plunge their towels on a sunbed right next to the pool, go back to bed, get up around 9:30 am to have breakfast and eventually come to the pool at 11 am. All the while taking away a sunbed from someone who would have needed that spot when he came to the pool at 9:15. We usually would get to the pool around 10 am and got the last sunbeds far away from the pool (well, about 30 meters), which was OK for me because they were in the shade of a tree and the guy who was serving drinks would also come around and ask if we wanted something. It would never cross my mind to get up before sunrise on my vacation to get a first row spot at the pool and that behaviour just annoyed hubby and me every. single. day!
Thursday evening we rented a car (a Suzuki Jeep with a fabric top to make it a convertible) so we would be able to start right after breakfast the next day to go to Rethymnon, one of the three big cities along the north coast of Crete and about a 90 min drive from our hotel. We took the car for a short drive to Chersonissos again to see how it feels to drive a convertible and it was OK. The next day we put gas in the car (it was almost empty), just enough to make it there and back and drove on the highway. Hubby accelerated to 70 km/h and the steering wheel started shaking, as did the whole car. We tried going slower and then faster and it got worse so we drove back to the rental company. They didn't want to reimburse us for the 30 Euros we paid for gas and therefore gave us a better car (a Fiat 500 Convertible), which wasn't really what I wanted because even though the gas was full we had to fill it up again before returning it which cost another 25 Euros. But the car was brandnew and way better than the Jeep.
We made it to Rethymnon in 1 hour and 15 min, parked the car and walked down to the harbour and along the street by the beach, had another Greek Salad in a small restaurant and walked around in the small streets. It was really hot so we didn't stay long, but the city is nice. On our way back we stopped along a few beaches but decided against swimming there because all of them were rather crowded. So we went back to the hotel to lay by the pool again. Unfortunately we also had to start packing. In the evening we took the car for a short ride again along the beach road before returning it and then we had booked a 5 Course Menu (one time was included per stay) at the hotels' rooftop restaurant. You had three different choices per course, eg. for starters we could choose from tomato soup, pumpkin soup or greek sour milk soup. Hubby had a steak for his main course (I had chicken) which was huge and grilled to medium-rare perfection. Everything was really nice and tasty. It was a great way to end our vacation.
The next morning we had breakfast and packed the rest because check-out time was 11 am. We put our luggage in the storage room and went to the pool. And guess what, even though it was already 11:30 am we found two sunbeds right by the pool which were still empty. YAY! We spent the day swimming, eating, drinking, sleeping by the pool and also went to the beach and along the street (I wanted to buy a ring with a mediterranean opal - very cool they switch colours from blue to sparkling green in the sun) right before the bus picked us up at 6:45 pm. We were at the airport around 7:30, checked in, strolled around and through the duty free (didn't buy anything though) and the plane started around 9:40 pm. We landed in Munich at 11:25 pm, got our luggage, took a shuttle to the parking lot and drove back home to Nürnberg. We were in bed at 2 am.
We woke up around 9:30 am, went out for breakfast and called my parents who said they would be here around 2 pm. Relaxed in front of the TV a little and then they came back.
And right then everything was back to "normal", no mercy, back to pure mayhem as soon as they entered the house... I have to say I really missed the kids and was happy to see them again but knew they would take away my relaxed feeling in no time.
Now we have been home for almost a week and with sick hubby and whiny kids it has been challenging to keep up a relaxed feeling. The weather has also been shitty, from 40 Celcius on Crete down to 18-21 Celcius with slight peaks around 25 Celcius once in a while. That is not a way I wanted to continue my vacation.
Anyways, now after retyping this it has gotten late, so I'll finish this now.
Good night,
Irene
Donnerstag, 28. Juli 2011
Vacation pt. 2
So Sunday morning we had to get up around 4:30 am, which is not a time I ever wanted to get up at on my vacation, but hubby really wanted to do this hike so I gave in and went with him. I didn't feel well, it was just way to early for my liking, I was hungry and tired. The Bus picked us up around 5 and I slept the first 2 1/2 hours while all the other people who also booked the trip were picked up from their hotels. We stopped at a small rest area to use bathrooms and buy some breakfast and arrived at the entry gate of the Samaria Gorge around 9:15 am. Our guide told us she would let us walk ahead and gave us about an hour headstart. She has been hiking through the Gorge almost every weekend and is pretty fast but also wanted to be the last one of your group so no one would be left behind.
We started around 9:30 and I regretted it after about 30 minutes, it was a steep descent over rocks and boulders and it was hot. Our guide told us there are rest areas about every 20 minutes who have little natural springs to drink and fill up your water bottles. Every 3 km there were big areas with toilets. The usual time to get through the Gorge (which is about 13 km long, plus an additional 4 km to walk down to the village/beach) is between 4 and 6 hours, fastest time ever to get through was 1 hour 49 minutes (! - we hadn't even arrived at the first big rest area after two hours).
It took us around 6 hours and the last hour or so was really hard. I didn't really look left or right, didn't take in any of the nature sights, I just walked, in the blazing heat, tired as hell, my feet hurt and I was sweating like never before. It was f***king hard, but in the end I am sooo proud I made it. My parents told me that they made me walk through it as a child, I was about 12 and according to my parents I liked it and took it pretty easy (no sore muscles or anything afterwards). This time I had sore muscles for the next three days, I had red blotches on my feet for the next few days (probably an allergic/overreaction to sunscreen + dirt + sun + swollen ankles), my back hurt and my right knee is still hurting once in a while.
At the end there is a small village on the coast, we ate some salad and went swimming in the ocean to relax our muscles. Around 6 pm we took a boat back to another village where our bus waited to pick us up and take us home (by boat is the only other way to get to that village, there are no streets, Cretes south coast is mostly cliffs and only a few beaches). We were back at the hotel around 11 pm and immediately crashed (after having some sandwiches that we had ordered to our room).
Monday morning walking was hard, my ankles were still covered in bright red blotches and I felt miserable. We spent the day by the pool relaxing and slept a lot too. We did the same thing on Tuesday, too. Just spending time relaxing by the pool, occasionally getting up to go eat something, had a lot of coffee frappe and cocktails (mostly wodka lemon) and swam in the pool a lot. In the evening we rented a scooter and drove to Chersonissos, which is the next bigger city, very touristy, lots of shops, clubs and bars and it was really crowded. we shopped a bit and bought some jewelery (I got two charms for my Pandora bracelet) and souvenirs, but it was way to loud and crowded for my liking. Lots of restaurants with people in front who wanted to convince you to eat there, they would constantly talk to you like: "Kalispera, you hungry, want to eat, very good food, come look at menu..." annoying!
The next day we took the scooter and drove across the eastern part of the island down to Agios Nikolaos, a cute little port town about 30 km from our hotel. On Crete there is a law that you have to wear a helmet when riding a scooter, motorbike or quad but most people only do that when driving on the "highway" which is more like a bigger two-lane street, speed limit is 70 km. On the beach roads or when cruising through tourist towns no one is wearing anything, sometimes you actually see girls just wearing a bikini and flipflops on their quads. It was nice and I felt like I was 20 again :). To get to Agios Nikolaos we mostly took some back roads, through the hills and small mountains, passing through small villages far away from any tourists. It was great, the air smelled like lavender and thyme and wood (like in a sauna), the view down to the coast was also great. We got to Agios Nikolaos around 11:30 am and the thermometer already showed 40 C (104 F). We walked around a bit looking for souvenirs and then drove off along the coast to find a nice spot to have lunch (Greek Salad again). Found a small bar along the road in Elounda, a small, not too crowded little village a few km north of Agios Nikolaos. Afterwards we drove back home, through the mountains and on the Main road and were back at the hotel in the afternoon. It was a nice trip but HOT, not even the wind was cooling you off because it was warm wind, even along the coast. Back at the hotel we found a place in the shade by the pool (I got a bit sunburned on my shoulders so I wanted shade) and enjoyed the rest of the (very hot) afternoon splashing in the pool and drinking cold drinks.
Irene
We started around 9:30 and I regretted it after about 30 minutes, it was a steep descent over rocks and boulders and it was hot. Our guide told us there are rest areas about every 20 minutes who have little natural springs to drink and fill up your water bottles. Every 3 km there were big areas with toilets. The usual time to get through the Gorge (which is about 13 km long, plus an additional 4 km to walk down to the village/beach) is between 4 and 6 hours, fastest time ever to get through was 1 hour 49 minutes (! - we hadn't even arrived at the first big rest area after two hours).
Samaria Gorge
It took us around 6 hours and the last hour or so was really hard. I didn't really look left or right, didn't take in any of the nature sights, I just walked, in the blazing heat, tired as hell, my feet hurt and I was sweating like never before. It was f***king hard, but in the end I am sooo proud I made it. My parents told me that they made me walk through it as a child, I was about 12 and according to my parents I liked it and took it pretty easy (no sore muscles or anything afterwards). This time I had sore muscles for the next three days, I had red blotches on my feet for the next few days (probably an allergic/overreaction to sunscreen + dirt + sun + swollen ankles), my back hurt and my right knee is still hurting once in a while.
At the end there is a small village on the coast, we ate some salad and went swimming in the ocean to relax our muscles. Around 6 pm we took a boat back to another village where our bus waited to pick us up and take us home (by boat is the only other way to get to that village, there are no streets, Cretes south coast is mostly cliffs and only a few beaches). We were back at the hotel around 11 pm and immediately crashed (after having some sandwiches that we had ordered to our room).
Monday morning walking was hard, my ankles were still covered in bright red blotches and I felt miserable. We spent the day by the pool relaxing and slept a lot too. We did the same thing on Tuesday, too. Just spending time relaxing by the pool, occasionally getting up to go eat something, had a lot of coffee frappe and cocktails (mostly wodka lemon) and swam in the pool a lot. In the evening we rented a scooter and drove to Chersonissos, which is the next bigger city, very touristy, lots of shops, clubs and bars and it was really crowded. we shopped a bit and bought some jewelery (I got two charms for my Pandora bracelet) and souvenirs, but it was way to loud and crowded for my liking. Lots of restaurants with people in front who wanted to convince you to eat there, they would constantly talk to you like: "Kalispera, you hungry, want to eat, very good food, come look at menu..." annoying!
The next day we took the scooter and drove across the eastern part of the island down to Agios Nikolaos, a cute little port town about 30 km from our hotel. On Crete there is a law that you have to wear a helmet when riding a scooter, motorbike or quad but most people only do that when driving on the "highway" which is more like a bigger two-lane street, speed limit is 70 km. On the beach roads or when cruising through tourist towns no one is wearing anything, sometimes you actually see girls just wearing a bikini and flipflops on their quads. It was nice and I felt like I was 20 again :). To get to Agios Nikolaos we mostly took some back roads, through the hills and small mountains, passing through small villages far away from any tourists. It was great, the air smelled like lavender and thyme and wood (like in a sauna), the view down to the coast was also great. We got to Agios Nikolaos around 11:30 am and the thermometer already showed 40 C (104 F). We walked around a bit looking for souvenirs and then drove off along the coast to find a nice spot to have lunch (Greek Salad again). Found a small bar along the road in Elounda, a small, not too crowded little village a few km north of Agios Nikolaos. Afterwards we drove back home, through the mountains and on the Main road and were back at the hotel in the afternoon. It was a nice trip but HOT, not even the wind was cooling you off because it was warm wind, even along the coast. Back at the hotel we found a place in the shade by the pool (I got a bit sunburned on my shoulders so I wanted shade) and enjoyed the rest of the (very hot) afternoon splashing in the pool and drinking cold drinks.
this is how I spent most of my days!
Well, I'll leave you with this picture and will continue later, have to pick up Fynn (my son) from the Kindergarten in a bit and then make lunch for my hubby who is in bed sick, looks like he caught some kind of stomach bug, he has not been feeling well for the last few days and I took him to see the doc this morning (men really turn into little kids when they are sick!).
Irene
Dienstag, 26. Juli 2011
Vacation
OK, the house is quiet, the TV is running in the background, I have some time to myself, so I guess I will start telling you about our wonderful vacation.
Tuesday I helped my Mom pack all the stuff my parents needed to go on the road trip with the kids into the RV, I packed all my stuff, decorated the cupcakes I baked for my daughters end-of-the-year-party at the Kindergarten and tried to do some basic cleaning/picking up so we wouldn't return to a messy house. After the Party we packed the kids into the RV and they drove off with my parents. It was a pretty quick thing so they wouldn't cry and it went over well.
A while later we packed all our stuff in the car and drove down to Munich, our flight was leaving VERY early the next morning so we decided to spend the night at my cousins place. We got there around 8:30 pm, wentout to dinner with my cousin and her boyfriend and went to bed around 11 pm. Had to get up at 3 am to be at the airport around 4 am. Our plane was leaving at 5:50.
We landed in Heraklion around 9:30 (Greece time is an hour later) and were at our hotel around 11 am. We were checked in pretty fast, changed into summer clothes and went to stroll along the beach. Later we went to lunch and afterwards spent th rest of the day lying at the pool drinking cocktails. Ahh, what a nice way to start 10 days of relaxing...
The next day we talked to the Lady from the Travel Agency who was our contact person for problems, question or to book trips. We booked a trip to Santorini and a hike through the Samaria Gorge. Th rest of the day was spent at the beach and the pool, eating and drinking iced coffee and cocktails. We had booked the Santorini trip for the next day so we went to bed kind early because we had to get up early (6 am) the next day.
Friday we got up early, the bus picked us up at 6:45 and we were on the boat (a huge Jet Boat) around 8 am. The trip took about 2 1/2 hours and was pretty uneventful. On Santorini we were picked up by a bus with a German Tour Guide and drove up to Oia (pronounced Ia), a cute little village on the northern tip of Santorini. It is known for his cute white houses with blue doors all over the world. Here is a picture:
We walked around for a while, took a million pictures, had a chocolate milkshake (the most expensive milkshake ever) and enjoyed the view. If you want to know more about Santorini google it or read about it on Wikipedia, it is pretty interesting.
Later we drove to Fira, the capital and walked around a lot more, had lunch in a small restaurant which was recommended by our tour guide and went window shopping. We bought some souvenirs for my parents and were taken back to the boat around 5:30 pm. The boat left around 6, we saw a nice sunset on the boat and were back at the hotel around 10 pm. The day was great, but very hot and sunny and I got a little sunburned on my face (despite the fact that I put on sunscreen). We had another cocktail by the pool and went to bed.
The next day was again spent by the pool with some nice frappe coffee and cocktails, reading, swimming, sleeping, relaxing and later on we walked down the street to do some souvenir shopping. We had to go to bed early again because for the trip to hike the Samaria Gorge we had to get up at 4:45 to be picked up at 5:05 am *yawn*
Ok, it's getting kinda late so I will continue this later...
Tuesday I helped my Mom pack all the stuff my parents needed to go on the road trip with the kids into the RV, I packed all my stuff, decorated the cupcakes I baked for my daughters end-of-the-year-party at the Kindergarten and tried to do some basic cleaning/picking up so we wouldn't return to a messy house. After the Party we packed the kids into the RV and they drove off with my parents. It was a pretty quick thing so they wouldn't cry and it went over well.
A while later we packed all our stuff in the car and drove down to Munich, our flight was leaving VERY early the next morning so we decided to spend the night at my cousins place. We got there around 8:30 pm, wentout to dinner with my cousin and her boyfriend and went to bed around 11 pm. Had to get up at 3 am to be at the airport around 4 am. Our plane was leaving at 5:50.
We landed in Heraklion around 9:30 (Greece time is an hour later) and were at our hotel around 11 am. We were checked in pretty fast, changed into summer clothes and went to stroll along the beach. Later we went to lunch and afterwards spent th rest of the day lying at the pool drinking cocktails. Ahh, what a nice way to start 10 days of relaxing...
The next day we talked to the Lady from the Travel Agency who was our contact person for problems, question or to book trips. We booked a trip to Santorini and a hike through the Samaria Gorge. Th rest of the day was spent at the beach and the pool, eating and drinking iced coffee and cocktails. We had booked the Santorini trip for the next day so we went to bed kind early because we had to get up early (6 am) the next day.
Friday we got up early, the bus picked us up at 6:45 and we were on the boat (a huge Jet Boat) around 8 am. The trip took about 2 1/2 hours and was pretty uneventful. On Santorini we were picked up by a bus with a German Tour Guide and drove up to Oia (pronounced Ia), a cute little village on the northern tip of Santorini. It is known for his cute white houses with blue doors all over the world. Here is a picture:
(c) http://www.traum-santorin.de
We walked around for a while, took a million pictures, had a chocolate milkshake (the most expensive milkshake ever) and enjoyed the view. If you want to know more about Santorini google it or read about it on Wikipedia, it is pretty interesting.
me on Santorini
Later we drove to Fira, the capital and walked around a lot more, had lunch in a small restaurant which was recommended by our tour guide and went window shopping. We bought some souvenirs for my parents and were taken back to the boat around 5:30 pm. The boat left around 6, we saw a nice sunset on the boat and were back at the hotel around 10 pm. The day was great, but very hot and sunny and I got a little sunburned on my face (despite the fact that I put on sunscreen). We had another cocktail by the pool and went to bed.
The next day was again spent by the pool with some nice frappe coffee and cocktails, reading, swimming, sleeping, relaxing and later on we walked down the street to do some souvenir shopping. We had to go to bed early again because for the trip to hike the Samaria Gorge we had to get up at 4:45 to be picked up at 5:05 am *yawn*
Ok, it's getting kinda late so I will continue this later...
Greek Salad
My and hubbys newest food love (comes naturally when you spend your vacation in Greece I guess) is Greek salad. Even hubby, who rarely eats salad and always prefers a medium rare steak over anything veggie really ate a lot of it. So I thought I would share a recipe with you. It is easy to make and tastes great, it's also something you can vary a lot, depending of the ingredients you have at home or like/dislike.
Greek Salad (basic ingredients):
3 ripe tomatoes - cut into wedges
1/2 cucumber - sliced into thin rounds or half moons
1/2 green bell pepper - sliced horizontally to make "flowers"
feta or goat cheese
now comes the individual part:
red onions - sliced into rings (most salads we ate in Greece had some on them)
olives
capers
green lettuce
add any of them if you like, I personally don't eat olives and capers. I also can't stand too many onions on my salad.
Arrange tomatoes, cucumber and bell peppers in a bowl, crumble or cut up cheese and add on top, spinkle with herbs like oregano or thyme. Add individual ingredients if you like. Serve with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. In Greece you get the salad without any dressing and oil/vinegar are in glass bottles on the table so you can choose how much you put on the salad.
Also serve some nice white bread (NOT toast, I mean Baguette or something similar) with it to soak up the remaining dressing when finished.
.
YUMYUM!! Enjoy!
Irene
Montag, 25. Juli 2011
Flying
Well, we are back home. Hubby and I came back Saturday night, our plane landed around 11:30 pm in Munich and we drove back to Nürnberg that night, I was in my bed around 2 am. Sunday the grandparents and the kids came back and tomorrow we are all back to normal, kids in kindergarten, me back to laundry and household duties and hubby back to working (even though he technically still has taken time off this week but his work phone already rang this morning)
While sitting on the plane during our mostly uneventful flight I was thinking about what I could write about next. The most obvious thing would be our vacation, but then when we were almost home, flying the last few minutes over Austria it started to be a little shaky and I was once again reminded why I usually hate flying, so I thought I would tell you a bit more about me and my - well I would say ambivalent - feelings about flying.
When I was younger I had no problem with flying, I don't remember how old I was when I first stepped on a plane but I remember it was a flight to see my uncle and it was with Lufthansa and I was allowed to see the cockpit and got a small pin to put on my jacket (I still have it) and some other souvenirs.
My parents really like travelling so we traveled to a lot of far away places during the summer holidays every year. Sometimes we would take the train or car but when I was 15 (I think) we traveled to the US for the first time so that was my first long-distance flight. I then flew again to Canada for my school exchange, and then to the US again with my parents and again and again for another school exchange and again to become an Au Pair in the US. Until then flying was no problem for me.
During my Au Pair Year my Grandmother turned 75 and I wanted to be there for her birthday (it was supposed to be a surprise) so I asked to take some of my vacation to fly home right after christmas (her birthday is Dec. 26th). I wanted to stay until the 30th to be back to spend New Years in NYC with friends, This time I would fly all by myself for the first time which wasn't a problem for me at all.
The cheapest flight route was via Iceland (with Iceland Air) from Baltimore via Reykjavik and Kopenhagen to Hamburg. It was an overnight flight but I didn't get much sleep because it was shaky and bumpy and plain horrible. The Reykjavik Airport is right on the coast, it was very windy, snowing, there were lost of icebergs in the water and the runway looked like a huge ice skating rink. I was sitting in a window seat (I actually had a whole row by myself, the plane was half empty) over the wings and it looked like my wing would crash on the ground first, the landing was more like sliding on an ice road. I was terrified. I also couldn't sleep on the trip to Kopenhagen and the last hour to Hamburg. I think the Stewardess probably hated me by the time we landed because I would call her everytime the plane started shaking to ask what is happening.
When I had to go back I had to be at the airport very early (around 7am), I was tired from partying with friends the night before, I was sad to leave my boyfriend again and I still remembered the horrible flight. My departure was delayed, and delayed again, and again. So after a while we asked what is wrong and were told there were some technical problems with the plane, it had been in Hamburg for 3 days and they had mechanics flown in from Iceland to find and fix everything. I was about to cancel my flight but my family convinced me to leave. During my stopover in Kopenhagen the plane was delayed again because apparently some more problems had shown up during the short flight from Hamburg. I called my parents and started crying and told them to come with the car to pick me up (which they refused and told me to step on the plane again).
Ever since then I start to get nervous as soon as there are slight turbulences, I react to the slightest change in noises on the plane (like the crunching sounds when the wheels are retracted), I hate take off and landing but not as much as bumps and anything out of the ordinary during the flight. And after 9/11 it was even worse, now I am not only scared of turbulence during flights but also get nervous when I am in a crowded boarding gate or I am irritated by people behaving strange on the plane. I once had some guy sitting next to me who was extremly nervous, sweating, fidgeting with his cell phone, calling someone, talking in a language I didn't understand and he got very angry when the Stewardess told him his carry on was to heavy for the overhead compartment and had to be stored in the back. It was on a flight from Chicago back home after visiting my friend Nina and I nearly left the plane, I was absolutely sure that guy was a terrorist.
My fear of flying is not so bad that I don't step on a plane, I love traveling way to much and I also love exploring new and far away places. I have friends and family who live far away, my favourite country is across an ocean, so I need to fly in order to get there. I just don't really enjoy it. It's like going to the dentist in order to have healthy teeth, something inevitable.
I hope some day it will get better, I know I have to pull myself together when we fly with the kids next time so I don't scare them and I hope that flight (wherever we will fly) will be as uneventful as the one on Saturday.
Irene
While sitting on the plane during our mostly uneventful flight I was thinking about what I could write about next. The most obvious thing would be our vacation, but then when we were almost home, flying the last few minutes over Austria it started to be a little shaky and I was once again reminded why I usually hate flying, so I thought I would tell you a bit more about me and my - well I would say ambivalent - feelings about flying.
When I was younger I had no problem with flying, I don't remember how old I was when I first stepped on a plane but I remember it was a flight to see my uncle and it was with Lufthansa and I was allowed to see the cockpit and got a small pin to put on my jacket (I still have it) and some other souvenirs.
My parents really like travelling so we traveled to a lot of far away places during the summer holidays every year. Sometimes we would take the train or car but when I was 15 (I think) we traveled to the US for the first time so that was my first long-distance flight. I then flew again to Canada for my school exchange, and then to the US again with my parents and again and again for another school exchange and again to become an Au Pair in the US. Until then flying was no problem for me.
During my Au Pair Year my Grandmother turned 75 and I wanted to be there for her birthday (it was supposed to be a surprise) so I asked to take some of my vacation to fly home right after christmas (her birthday is Dec. 26th). I wanted to stay until the 30th to be back to spend New Years in NYC with friends, This time I would fly all by myself for the first time which wasn't a problem for me at all.
The cheapest flight route was via Iceland (with Iceland Air) from Baltimore via Reykjavik and Kopenhagen to Hamburg. It was an overnight flight but I didn't get much sleep because it was shaky and bumpy and plain horrible. The Reykjavik Airport is right on the coast, it was very windy, snowing, there were lost of icebergs in the water and the runway looked like a huge ice skating rink. I was sitting in a window seat (I actually had a whole row by myself, the plane was half empty) over the wings and it looked like my wing would crash on the ground first, the landing was more like sliding on an ice road. I was terrified. I also couldn't sleep on the trip to Kopenhagen and the last hour to Hamburg. I think the Stewardess probably hated me by the time we landed because I would call her everytime the plane started shaking to ask what is happening.
When I had to go back I had to be at the airport very early (around 7am), I was tired from partying with friends the night before, I was sad to leave my boyfriend again and I still remembered the horrible flight. My departure was delayed, and delayed again, and again. So after a while we asked what is wrong and were told there were some technical problems with the plane, it had been in Hamburg for 3 days and they had mechanics flown in from Iceland to find and fix everything. I was about to cancel my flight but my family convinced me to leave. During my stopover in Kopenhagen the plane was delayed again because apparently some more problems had shown up during the short flight from Hamburg. I called my parents and started crying and told them to come with the car to pick me up (which they refused and told me to step on the plane again).
Ever since then I start to get nervous as soon as there are slight turbulences, I react to the slightest change in noises on the plane (like the crunching sounds when the wheels are retracted), I hate take off and landing but not as much as bumps and anything out of the ordinary during the flight. And after 9/11 it was even worse, now I am not only scared of turbulence during flights but also get nervous when I am in a crowded boarding gate or I am irritated by people behaving strange on the plane. I once had some guy sitting next to me who was extremly nervous, sweating, fidgeting with his cell phone, calling someone, talking in a language I didn't understand and he got very angry when the Stewardess told him his carry on was to heavy for the overhead compartment and had to be stored in the back. It was on a flight from Chicago back home after visiting my friend Nina and I nearly left the plane, I was absolutely sure that guy was a terrorist.
My fear of flying is not so bad that I don't step on a plane, I love traveling way to much and I also love exploring new and far away places. I have friends and family who live far away, my favourite country is across an ocean, so I need to fly in order to get there. I just don't really enjoy it. It's like going to the dentist in order to have healthy teeth, something inevitable.
I hope some day it will get better, I know I have to pull myself together when we fly with the kids next time so I don't scare them and I hope that flight (wherever we will fly) will be as uneventful as the one on Saturday.
Irene
Dienstag, 19. Juli 2011
Me
*note* this post is written while I sit poolside in a wonderful 5* Resort and Spa on Crete in Greece. We are enjoying our kids-free vacation and so far it has been great. great weather, food, drinks, pool, beach, lots of sunand relaxing :)
Ok, so I promised I would introduce myself. I will tell you a little about me even though I guess most of the people who will read this blog (at least for now) already know me, either only a little or maybe for a longer time already. But I guess if I keep up writing maybe after a while some "strangers" will get around to reading this and they might want to know who I am.
My name is Irene, I turned 30 a few years ago. I have a wonderful husband and two kids, who are mostly cute and wonderful but can turn into annoying little monsters once in a while. The older one is a girl and is 4 1/2 right now, the younger one is a boy who just turned 2. We live in Germany, right now our home is close to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) which is in the south, not to far away from Munich. We are both not originally from this part of the country, hubby was born in the former eastern part, close to Magdeburg and I am originally from Bremen, which is in the north, not to far away from the coast and close to Hamburg. We moved down south because of hubbys job and even though it was a bit of a change and took some time getting used to we now like living there. Unfortunately it is pretty far away from both grandparents but we do like to travel so driving up to see them is not really a big deal.
I lived in my hometown, together with my parents and two younger siblings until I was 19, only interrupted by a 3-months stay in Vancouver, Canada (I took part in a school exchange in 10th grade). After graduating High School I decided I didn't want to go to university right away, I wanted to travel and get out of my hometown for a while. So I worked as an Au Pair in the USA. I spent a year living close to Washington, DC and took care of three children. I learned a lot about myself back then, I met one of my best friends, I went to a lot of clubs and parties and I really enjoyed being away from home. I fell in love with the country and the language (which is one of the reasons this blog will be mostly in english - I might write it bilingual because my family doesn't speak good english, but when I decided to start blogging I immediately started writing in english) and I have tried hard ever since (more than 10 years now) to find a way to go back and live/work in the US.
After coming back I started university and decided to study Business Economics. I went to University in my hometown but didn't live with my parents (after being away for so long I needed my own space). About a year after starting university I met my future husband but it took another year before we started dating (long story - I'll save it for another post). He lived in Hannover, which is about an hour drive from my hometown. So we started a long-distance relationship, I would hop on the train as soon as my classes were over (he was working and couldn't come to see me as easily) and sometimes I would go straight to class from the train station because I spent the night at his place. Needless to say my studying suffered a bit. After about a year I decided I didn't want to commute all the time anymore, I had failed an important class and needed to change schools anyways, so I moved in with hubby and went to school closer to were we lived. We eventually moved to a bigger apartment and I finished school in 2006. I started looking for jobs and at the same time we tried to get pregnant. Well, getting pregnant was more successful than finding a job and so in January 2007 our daughter was born. When I was about 6 months pregnant we moved to Nürnberg because hubby had been promoted and gotten a better paid position. It wasn't easy being pregnant and pretty far away from my parents with no closer friends.
I found a job, working as a freelance counsellor/interviewer for an organisation who offers High School exchange Progams, Au Pair Programs and Work & Travel Programs. I was responsible for screening, interviewing and checking applications. I also went to job fairs and held presentations, I really liked it. Unfortunately over the years I started having problems/disagreements with one of my co-workers (who was unfortunately "above" me in the company hierarchy) so I had to quit by the end of last year. I also briefly worked at Starbucks but the shifts were horrible (timewise) and I didn't get to see my daughter much anymore so I quit.
In 2007 I got married to my wonderful husband (our daughter was about 6 months then) in a small courthouse in my hometown with only our families there. We decided to plan a huge church wedding for 2008 and so we got married "again" in a wonderful church close to hubbys hometown. Afterwards we left our daughter with my parents (she was 18 months) and went on our honeymoon to Singapore and Bali. About 9 months later our son was born ;)
As I have been only a housewife and mommy since the beginning of this year I tried to find something to do which I like and which gives me some perspective. I discovered that I really enjoy baking, not regular "baking a marble cake" baking but fancy baking, with buttercream and fondant and food coloring and everything. I have been fairly creative most of my life, I stiched and sewed, I design and crafts our christmas cards, I scrapbooked a bit (regular and digital). I started a lot of things but most of the time I found that it is very time-consuming and with two kids that's one thing I don't really have, at least not for myself or in long stretches like you need it when you do crafts. Hubby has to work a lot too and is not much of a help when it comes to babysitting because I want to spent some time by myself doing artsy or crafty stuff.
I am dreaming about opening my only little bake shop/catering shop to sell cakes/cookies/cupcakes but I am not sure if that will happen soon.
Well, hubby just asked if I would come and hop into the pool with him so I will finish this now.
Irene
Ok, so I promised I would introduce myself. I will tell you a little about me even though I guess most of the people who will read this blog (at least for now) already know me, either only a little or maybe for a longer time already. But I guess if I keep up writing maybe after a while some "strangers" will get around to reading this and they might want to know who I am.
My name is Irene, I turned 30 a few years ago. I have a wonderful husband and two kids, who are mostly cute and wonderful but can turn into annoying little monsters once in a while. The older one is a girl and is 4 1/2 right now, the younger one is a boy who just turned 2. We live in Germany, right now our home is close to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) which is in the south, not to far away from Munich. We are both not originally from this part of the country, hubby was born in the former eastern part, close to Magdeburg and I am originally from Bremen, which is in the north, not to far away from the coast and close to Hamburg. We moved down south because of hubbys job and even though it was a bit of a change and took some time getting used to we now like living there. Unfortunately it is pretty far away from both grandparents but we do like to travel so driving up to see them is not really a big deal.
I lived in my hometown, together with my parents and two younger siblings until I was 19, only interrupted by a 3-months stay in Vancouver, Canada (I took part in a school exchange in 10th grade). After graduating High School I decided I didn't want to go to university right away, I wanted to travel and get out of my hometown for a while. So I worked as an Au Pair in the USA. I spent a year living close to Washington, DC and took care of three children. I learned a lot about myself back then, I met one of my best friends, I went to a lot of clubs and parties and I really enjoyed being away from home. I fell in love with the country and the language (which is one of the reasons this blog will be mostly in english - I might write it bilingual because my family doesn't speak good english, but when I decided to start blogging I immediately started writing in english) and I have tried hard ever since (more than 10 years now) to find a way to go back and live/work in the US.
After coming back I started university and decided to study Business Economics. I went to University in my hometown but didn't live with my parents (after being away for so long I needed my own space). About a year after starting university I met my future husband but it took another year before we started dating (long story - I'll save it for another post). He lived in Hannover, which is about an hour drive from my hometown. So we started a long-distance relationship, I would hop on the train as soon as my classes were over (he was working and couldn't come to see me as easily) and sometimes I would go straight to class from the train station because I spent the night at his place. Needless to say my studying suffered a bit. After about a year I decided I didn't want to commute all the time anymore, I had failed an important class and needed to change schools anyways, so I moved in with hubby and went to school closer to were we lived. We eventually moved to a bigger apartment and I finished school in 2006. I started looking for jobs and at the same time we tried to get pregnant. Well, getting pregnant was more successful than finding a job and so in January 2007 our daughter was born. When I was about 6 months pregnant we moved to Nürnberg because hubby had been promoted and gotten a better paid position. It wasn't easy being pregnant and pretty far away from my parents with no closer friends.
I found a job, working as a freelance counsellor/interviewer for an organisation who offers High School exchange Progams, Au Pair Programs and Work & Travel Programs. I was responsible for screening, interviewing and checking applications. I also went to job fairs and held presentations, I really liked it. Unfortunately over the years I started having problems/disagreements with one of my co-workers (who was unfortunately "above" me in the company hierarchy) so I had to quit by the end of last year. I also briefly worked at Starbucks but the shifts were horrible (timewise) and I didn't get to see my daughter much anymore so I quit.
In 2007 I got married to my wonderful husband (our daughter was about 6 months then) in a small courthouse in my hometown with only our families there. We decided to plan a huge church wedding for 2008 and so we got married "again" in a wonderful church close to hubbys hometown. Afterwards we left our daughter with my parents (she was 18 months) and went on our honeymoon to Singapore and Bali. About 9 months later our son was born ;)
As I have been only a housewife and mommy since the beginning of this year I tried to find something to do which I like and which gives me some perspective. I discovered that I really enjoy baking, not regular "baking a marble cake" baking but fancy baking, with buttercream and fondant and food coloring and everything. I have been fairly creative most of my life, I stiched and sewed, I design and crafts our christmas cards, I scrapbooked a bit (regular and digital). I started a lot of things but most of the time I found that it is very time-consuming and with two kids that's one thing I don't really have, at least not for myself or in long stretches like you need it when you do crafts. Hubby has to work a lot too and is not much of a help when it comes to babysitting because I want to spent some time by myself doing artsy or crafty stuff.
I am dreaming about opening my only little bake shop/catering shop to sell cakes/cookies/cupcakes but I am not sure if that will happen soon.
Well, hubby just asked if I would come and hop into the pool with him so I will finish this now.
Irene
Dienstag, 12. Juli 2011
Packing
Crazy busy packing for our first vacation without kids. Just packed the kids into the RV and sent them off with the grandparents for 10 days of fun and we will leave soon to go to Munich to see my cousin and fly off to Crete, Greece tomorrow VERY early in the morning.
Introducing myself in a lengthy post will have to wait another little while...
Introducing myself in a lengthy post will have to wait another little while...
Sonntag, 10. Juli 2011
Welcome!
Well, Hello Blogging World!
Lets see how it works out between you and me. Hope I will get to blog regularly...life for sure has enough ups and downs to talk about, I am just not sure how much I will share with all the strangers out there..
Anyways, it's kinda late already, I will introduce myself tomorrow.
Lets see how it works out between you and me. Hope I will get to blog regularly...life for sure has enough ups and downs to talk about, I am just not sure how much I will share with all the strangers out there..
Anyways, it's kinda late already, I will introduce myself tomorrow.
Abonnieren
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