Walks with Benson

I love taking walks in Germany for several reasons. Today is a beautiful day in Bavaria. The sun is shining (and has been for almost a week now!) and the temperatures are is slowly creeping up to t-shirt weather. So, on this very beautiful day, I thought I would share with you the reasons taking walks in this wonderful country are the best!

1. Well, it's BEAUTIFUL! Germans are known for keeping their houses and yards in order, and boy do they do an awesome job. There's no way you can keep up with the Germans. They are ALWAYS sweeping the street, shoveling the snow, and working in their gardens (yards). ALWAYS. You never see much trash on the ground, the countryside is so green, and the villages are all so "cute."

2. Germans LOVE dogs. You would think it's law here to have a dog. It seems like everyone has one and they take really good care of them. So, Benson always gets LOTS of love when going on walks. Also, if I ever wanted to stop in at a shop and I had Benson I could do so (most of the time). Germans take their dogs everywhere.

3. It's safe. I know there is crime everywhere, but Germany sure is on the low end of it. If I wanted to, I could take a walk at 11:00 p.m. and be perfectly safe. It's so peaceful at night, especially out here in the country. You could hear a pen drop.

4. The smells. Germans are good at several things. Two of those things is COOKING and BAKING. Every corner I turn it smells like heaven! Everything is so fresh here. The fruits, the veggies, and the BREAD. My oh my can Germans bake. There are three bakeries in our village, so no shortage there.

5. The trails. They are everywhere. Yesterday Benson and I found a trail near our house that led up to a church with a garden BEERgarden beside it. :)

6. Active people. Germans love to be outdoors and so there are always people riding bikes, walking, running, etc. One thing I have noticed is the activity level of their older adult population. Today I saw an older man, maybe in his early 80s, riding his bike from one village to the next. They are always out walking or doing something. There is also a man (in his late 70s, maybe?) I see almost everyday (regardless of weather) in his wheelchair using his legs to go up and down a hill within the village.

7. Clean, fresh air. The air here seems so much cleaner here. Germans also recycle EVERYTHING and they are protective of their environment, which makes for an excellent walk. You can just feel the freshness in the air. When we first came here, the cars we bought had to have a sticker on the front windsheild indicating if the car was "green enough" to drive through certain parts of the country. In protected areas within the country you can only drive through if you have a "green sticker." I can't imagine NOT recycling now. Every Thursday I take our recycling to the recycling center right outside our village. I would feel so wasteful now if I throw all of that away.

Needless to say, I love it. I love taking walks here and I feel so lucky to be able to do so! Benson loves it too!

Mountains, Marriage, Salt, and Castles

Wow. So much has happened since I last blogged! Brandon and I have had a couple of busy weeks!
On the March 9-11 weekend we headed down to Garmisch, Germany for a marriage retreat! It was wonderful and so beautiful. Garmisch is a cute Bavarian village at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. We had a wonderful time and I would have been just fine doing marriage retreat activities all weekend because I love marriage enrichment and believe it is so so important for marriages. We attended the retreat part on Friday evening and Saturday morning and then we had the rest of the weekend to ourselves. We headed up to the Zugspitze, (the highest mountain in Germany) ate, drank beer, and took lots of pictures. What a gorgeous view! Sunday morning we went skiing in the Alps and for the first time I did not fall! Last year when we went skiing all I did was fall, but this ski area had some great bunny slopes which made it easier for me. When Chelsea comes to visit this summer we already have plans to head back. Can't wait.
Here are some pics from the retreat. The last picture is a pic of a mountain named.....KRAMER!!!:

Before we had left for Garmisch, Brandon told me that he was taking me to an 800 year old castle for an overnight stay for our second anniversary!We left on Monday, stayed the night, and then came back on Tuesday after making another visit to my favorite German village, Rothenburg o.d.T. Romantic. It was so romantic and one of the neatest experiences I have had so far. On Monday evening while eating at the castle, we met a Canadian couple that was spending 6 months traveling all over the world. They had already gone to Bali and Austrialia and were now spending the remaining 6 weeks in Europe. Wow..no big deal, right? Can I please have their life after retirement?
Needless to say, we had a wonderful 2 year anniversary! I can't believe it has been two years already. And, what an amazing two years it has been. I love that man even more as each day passes.

The castle we stayed at!

Rothenburg o.d.T. LOVE this village.

Dinner at the castle.

Last weekend we headed to Salzburg, Austria! We had been there once already when my mom and sisters came to visit and had fallen in love with the city in the very short amount of time we where there. So, we decided to head back for a second trip! We were able to explore the city some more this time, including going up to the castle and going to the salt mines, which is what the city is known for. "Salz"= "Salt" in German. The salt mines were so much fun. We were given "miners clothes" to put on and headed down to the mines via train where we watched some videos about the history of salt mining in the area (Salzburg is really close to the Bavarian Alps so Austria and Germany share a lot of the region known for mining), and saw some super old tunnels. The Celtics orinally discovered the area, but it wasn't rediscovered until the middle ages. So neat. I think my favorite part was sliding down the miners slides. To go further into the mountain, miners would slide down. So. Much.Fun. Melis and Larry-this might be something we might want to look into while y'all are here. Salzburg is only 3 hours away!
Salzburg is one of our favorite European cities so far after Munich and Prague. We are so lucky to be close to all three of those.
For the next couple of months, I think we will hang low and save some money. We have a busy summer/rest of the year with so many people coming to visit. We might do some camping in Bavaria and/or Switzerland in April and May.Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Europe? I could live here for a long time.

Here's Salzburg!

About to go into the salt mines!

My birthday trip to the hospital and not to Spain

This week has been an interesting one to say the least. I woke up on Sunday morning with cramps, but I really just thought they where the normal ones I get every month. I mean, they were worse than they normally are and that was weird, but I didn't think too much of it. They were bearable.
Well, Tuesday evening comes and I hit the bed. I maybe sleep for a few hours and then the rest of the night I was up trying to get comfortable because the pain from my cramps at that point were horrible. No matter which way I turned I was hurting and not sleeping. I try taking some ibprofen, but then around 5:00 a.m. I wake up and throw up everything. I continued to stay in the bathroom for a while (with other issues). Well, after I get everything out of my system I try to go back to sleep, but I can't because the pain is really bad.
So, I spend the morning laying down because I was really weak, acky, had a horrible headache, fever, and in no way was I hungry. At that point, I decided to call the clinic on post (We only have clinics on post in Bavaria, so they can only do basic care. Back in Landstuhl, of course, there was the Army hospital that I could go to). I knew they would probably just send me home with stronger pain meds or give me some medical advice on how to feel better and that is what I was hoping for. When I called they didn't have any appointments, but said that I could come in as a "walk in" and see the assessment nurse. By the time I drive to post and get to the clinic, they have an open appointment for 3:30. I take it. I go back home and wait another painful 2 hours and then go to my appointment at 3. When I am finally seen by the triage medic first, she does my vitals, including my heart rate.... Which is 250 beats per minute. RESTING.....WHAT!!??? How is that possible? I have been doing absolutely nothing all day. With all my symptoms, the provider comes in and says she is calling an ambulance and sending me to the hospital. Mainly for my heart rate, but also because they can only run so many tests on me at the clinic to find out why I am having the pain. So, they call Brandon out of a meeting so he can go with me. After the German ambulance gets there and they strap me in, I am on my way to the Amberg hospital. Ha. My first time ever riding in an ambulance was in Germany. It was a good exprience, as good as an experience can be when you are hurting. I knew I was in good hands so I really wasn't worried. They were very helpful, constantly asking me if I was doing ok. They had an EKG going on me and an IV in me, so I felt taken care of.
After we get to the ER, they run all kinds of tests on me and finally determine that I have gastroenteritis (inflammation of the intestines). They needed to clean out my entire system and I couldn't eat for two days. Ok, I thought, I'm not hungry anyway. They also wanted to keep me for a couple of days just to make sure I didn't have appendicitis and would have to remove my appendix. The doc said the levels in my blood related to my digestive tract (don't ask me what it's called) where pretty high and they wanted to make sure they didn't get any higher. They gave me pain meds (by then it was 8:00) and I feel fast asleep. After that night, my body started feeling much better . My heart rate went down, which they think was from anxiety and the pain was not as bad.
So, Brandon and I pretty much knew that Spain was a no go this weekend. That sucks. We were really looking forward to going and definitely not looking forward to loosing all of that nonrefundable money that we did. Ahh. That hurt, but we knew that my health was more important and thanked God that it didn't happen in Spain.
Anyway, Brandon was so good at taking care of me and bringing me what I needed from home. We played Monopoly one night (I won for the second time in a row!). On my birthday he showed up with cupcakes he made from scratch and a sweet card. So thankful for him.
I had a good expereince during my hospital stay at the Amberg hospital. It was kind of neat looking out the windows and seeing buildings so old with so much history. I had my own room with a bathroom/shower and the nursing staff was constantly checking on me, asking me if I neeeded anything. Most of them spoke English, so that was helpful in case I needed anything. A "Host Nation Patient Liaison" from the clinic on post came in on a daily basis to check in with me and to make sure I had everything I needed and that all my questions were answered. She was was also able to translate for me in case I had questions. I was able to communicate pretty effectively for the most part because almost all of the nursing staff and docs spoke English. However, if I ever needed any motivation to learn German, this was it. There is only so much German I know and I would hate for anything as important as medical information get lost in translation!
They released me from the hospital Friday evening. It was nice to sleep in my own bed. They dogs were at the kennel for the weekend since they were going to be there anyway when we went to Spain.We visted Rege nsburg (Bavaria) on Saturday and walked around the town, ate lunch, and then headed back home in the evening. It was a nice day. There is so much history here. Everywhere you turn, there is something 2,000 years or older. It's pretty neat. Rengensburg is also a UNESCO World Hertiage Site because of it's historical buildings and bridges. The city's history goes back to AD 179 and it is the only German city who's old town remained intact during WWII. Pretty neat.

Here are the cupcakes Brandon made for me from scratch!




Regensburg

love day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with a lot of love and I hope that love comes from all directions and all people. I love this holiday, mostly because it gives me an excuse to have a little more chocolate and a little more wine tonight!

Brandon and I had an excellent weekend. On Friday we just kind of hung out around the house. The weekdays are usually very long for Brandon, so all he really wants to do is just relax, which is fine by me. As long as we are hanging out together, that's all that matters to me. I am still so in love with this man and I still am learning new things about him, which I love.

This is what he got me for Valentine's Day this year....love him.



Two bottles of wine, two yankees candles, two DVDs, two of my favorite chocolates,a wine lovers book, and two cookbooks!

But, my favorite gift of all is the card he gave me. I love cards. Words of affirmation is definitely my love language, so cards are definitely my favorite. Tonight we will just be having dinner at home and hanging out at the house.

Anyway, back to our weekend. On Saturday we went to a dinner theater on post that was put on by MWR. It was so much fun. The theater arts organization on post put on a play called, "Almost Maine." It was HILARIOUS! If you ever hear about it and have the chance to go see it, you should. We were laughing our heads off the entire evening. The dinner was also yummy, and so was the dessert. For dessert we had cheesecake, but it was the kind my mom always used to make and it reminded me so much of those memories (Mommy, do you know what cheesecake I am talking about?-I want that receipe!). It was delicious!

Oh and back track to Friday. Brandon regularly puts events together for the unit and the one he put together for Valentine's Day was so much fun. Some of the events put on are also fundraisers for the unit to pay for unit balls, going away gifts, welcoming gifts, etc (this is seperate from FRG fundraising). Anyway, this event was a fundraiser. People were encouraged to bring a sweet item or baked good for the "Sweets Auction." People brought some amazing sweets!! I couldn't make sopapilla cheesecake because I had forgotten an ingredient, but I ended up making the Oreo Balls for the auction that I talked about in my last post. Anyway, Brandon ended up doing the auction. It was a lot of fun, especially with people bidding back and forth with each other. The highest bid was $130 for chocolate covered strawberries! Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and an awesome idea for a fundraiser. As far as FRG fundraising goes, we are still getting the actual FRG set up, so it will be a while before we can start fundraising. The next unit get together is a marriage retreat in Garmish, Germany. The chaplans sponsor this event and only 30 couples are allowed (25 are fully paid for, meaning their lodging, meals, child care, etc. are paid). Brandon and I will be going to this event (unpaid), so I am pretty excited about that. I love marriage retreats, especially when they are in the Bavarian Alps! ;)

I also took a sewing class on Saturday morning. We made placemats, and I think mine turned out pretty good. Although, I for some reason have trouble sewing a straight line. I have always had this problem when making crafts...I can't seem to cut a straight line either! Anyway, I am getting better and I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable with the sewing machine. Pretty soon, I might try to move up to the beginners quilting class.

Benson's bacterial infection is better, but now his allergies are acting up. I had to take him to the on post vet today because his mouth was irritated, he was loosing hair around his eyes, one of his paws was red, and his infection wasn't exactly "cleared up." What is wrong with my baby!! Boo. I hate that he feels so uncomfortable. This dry/freezing weather is not helping the situation at all, not to mention all the salt on the ground. Not good for dog paws, people! I was even surprised when I was walking up to the vet today....they had SALT on their sidewalk. WHAT? Why on earth wouldn't you use gravel instead?? Anyway, I was sent home AGAIN with more medication, special shampoo, and doggie wipes. The wipes are for their feet for when they come in from being outside on the snow/salt.

Well, I better get going. I am way behind today. I still need to call the IRS to get some number for the FRG. Don't ask. Too many regulations. We will get there. We will get there. After that, I need to finish up around the house and start on dinner. Thursday we have a hail and farewell to go to at the German restaurant down the street. Should be fun.

Have a wonderful love-filled day!

At the dinner theater

Yup, it's winter

One of the things I am thankful for is the nice warm house that I live in. In the past two weeks, it has been unbelievably cold here. I am talking like below 0 degrees fahrenheit cold! I guess winter finally decided to make its way here. In November, December, and in the first part of January we had very little snow and it stayed above freezing (40s). All of a sudden in late January, early February we are hit with cold cold cold weather. Yikes! I have not wanted to leave the house, but we have so much going on right now that I had no choice!
I had to take Benson to the vet on Monday because of a bacterial infection under his left arm. Fifty euro later we came home with antibiotics and a week of no doggie daycare. Of course, Benson is fine and seems to not notice the large swollen bumps under his arm, but mom would really like if those nasty things went away. He and Sam are getting along wonderfully (except for when Benson steals Sam's bone). I love watching them play with each other.
Tomorrow we have another FRG steering committee meeting in the afternoon and on Friday we have HHC's Valentines Day potluck and sweets auction. I'm thinking I will make sopapilla cheesecake for the sweets auction and then maybe some oreo balls for the FRG table we will have set up. I got the receipe via Pinterest and they look so yummy. Can't wait to eat one. Saturday I have a sewing class, which I am really looking forward to. I can't wait to get to the "quilting level." Brandon has so many T-shirts from high school that I want to make into a T-shirt quilt.
Next week is also full. We aren't sure what we will be doing for Valentines Day yet, though. We will see! Also, Spain is on the horizon. Love love love Spain.
I am really looking forward to all of the people that will be coming to visit us this year...can't wait.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Brandon and I made some new German friends last Friday evening while eating at the Indian restaurant in the next village over. We sat next to a German family and ended up staying at the restaurant for 2-3 hours just talking and laughing with them. They practiced their English, while we practiced our German and they laughed (most of the time) at the way I could not pronounce some sounds. It was so much fun and we hope to get together with them for a BBQ when the temperature is warmer. The guy who runs/owns the place also sat down with us and we all had shots together while talking about where to visit when we go to India for one of our trips. Brandon and I are thinking of going next year (KARI RARING, we are coming your way). A friend of mine I went to grad school with and her husband will be stationed there soon, so we are SO EXCITED to go visit them and see India! :)

Ok, time to catch up on an episode of Parenthood (love that show) and then hit the hay.

Goodnight!

Praha, Czech Republic

So, way back in November when Brandon and I went to Praha, we had an amazing time. Praha ended up being one of our favorite cities so far. It's a beautiful city with a lot to do. It was quite chilly when we went, but it was still so much fun. I am excited to take people there when they come to visit.
It only takes 30 minutes to get to Czech from where we live. Before crossing the border, we had to stop to get a highway sticker. It costs 10-13 euro and is good for a week, I think. Anyway, you have to have one of these stickers on your car when driving in Czech if you are planning on using the highway. I guess it's their way of paying for their highways. Anyway, after stopping at the border to get the highway sticker we headed to Pilsen (Plzen), Czech Republic before arriving in Prague. I am so glad we did! The city is, of course, known for their Pilsner Urquell Brewery (one of the most famous beers in the world!). We stopped and ate at the restaurant on site and had our first meal in Czech. We would later learn that Czech food is very heavy. We were full for hours after eating each meal, but it was oh-so-amazing and worth it each time!

Here are some pictures from Pilsen






We found a great deal on an apartment in Praha (thank you Amie Satchell!)so when we arrived in the city we went to pick up our keys and found our way to the apartment. It was spacious. It had a bedroom, a kitchen, living room, and dining area. When we travel places Brandon and I like to find a local supermarket to see what local goodies we can get our hands on, so it's nice to have a kitchen!

After dinner, we decided to go on a "Praha at night/Ghost" tour. I was really excited about this and love this kind of thing because usually the tour guide tells you about some of the history of the city, along with some of the "ghost stories" told around Prague. Ummm....no. We weren't too happy with our tour and found it to be more entertaining to laugh at the faces of everyone walking by us because our tour guide was creepy halloween-ish looking. Anyway, even though the tour wasn't great, we did get to see some more of the city on our walk, which is a definite plus. PRAGUE IS BEAUTIFUL!

I can't tell you how excited I was and how proud I felt to be in that country. Because the Jasek and Kapavik side of my family is Czech, it was really neat visiting and learning about this country that half my family is from. One of the things I was looking forward to was trying the kolaches. We all (well, most of us) know that the Little Czech Bakery in West, Texas has the best kolaches in Central Texas, so I was SO excited to try the "real" thing. But even better than kolaches from West are the homemade kolaches my grandma makes. OH. MY. HEAVENS. They M-E-L-T in your mouth. :) Which remindes me, I need to get that receipe from her.

While in Praha, Brandon and I went on a beer tour (Czech is famous for their beers and they are oh-so-yummy). We throughly enjoyed the food and drink Praha had to offer. We also, of course, toured the castle and all of the other quarters in the city, including the Jewish Quarter.

Brandon and I also went to the Black Light Theatre and saw a show. It was very different and pretty neat. I have never been to a Black Light Theatre, so it was a new experience for me. We loved it.

We did a lot of eating, drinking, and touring the city. The buildings are beautiful and it's amazing how far the country has come since the end of Soviet rule. We went to a communist museum while we were there and it's unbelieveable how different it was just a little over twenty years ago. It was a very interesting museum. Some of the rooms were set up how they were during the era. There was a classroom set up with textbooks using Russia's Cyrillic Alphabet along with other materials. The pictures of Praha from that era are amazing to look at. It looks totally different. It really is neat to see how much more "alive" the city looks today.

On the last night we were there, we went to a jazz club and really enjoyed ourselves, but were sad we had to leave the next morning. We loved Praha and can't wait to go back! I will add some more pictures later. For some reason, the uploader thing isn't working right now.

Welcome Home Sam!

Wow! Lots of things going on. Before I talk about our Praha trip and things going on, I have someone to introduce to you!

This is Samson (Sam)! He is a horse. Not really, but he is huge! Benson seems so small compared to Sam!





He was welcomed into our family Wednesday evening within just a couple of hours of finding out about him. I am a part of "Dog Community Graf" on facebook (a community facebook page for the dog community that Brandon and I live in). Anyway, sometimes they post pictures of dogs that need forever homes because they were abandoned by their owners. German animal shelters won't even let Americans adopt anymore because most of their dogs/pets were/are abandoned by Americans. So sad. Anyway, Sam was found on post and brought to the MP (military police) station. After Dog Community Graf found out, they quickly put a post on the page to see if anyone would foster him until he found a forever home. This way the dog is less likely to go to the animal shelter. Anyway, I saw the post, called Brandon who was still at work and asked him what he thought. Well, as you can tell...he wanted Sam to come home with us. I told him that it was his decision since I picked Benson and he wanted a German Shepherd. We think he is a German Shepherd mix. He is 3-4 years old and weighs 94 pounds! He had a vet appointment Friday morning and received all of his shots (just in case) and a wellness check up. He came with no tags and no records. So so sad. He is very gentle and sweet. He will come up to you and lay his head on you or lick your face. Such a sweetheat. Him and Benson seem to be getting along well. Benson is just so playful and Sam ignores him most of the time. Kind of sad for Benson, because he always wants to play..but at least he as a buddy now.
I have been really impressed with how Benson has welcomed Sam into the family. He brings a ball/toy to Sam and sits in front of him, wanting to play or he will lay down on his side in a submissive position (which is good). His characteristics are almost human-like. He is such a sweet boy and I am so proud of him.
With all that being said, we will be starting doggie school with Sam and Benson next week. They are both so strong and need to be trained on a leash. I am super excited for them to meet Chica and Buckley in the future! Here are some pictures!

Brandon and Sam



Me and Sam



Brandon gave Benson the almost empty peanut butter jar. He tried every angle to get down to the very bottom after cleaning the upper half of the jar. :)