Vacation Spots

The broken record continues to play. Another week, still no jobs, handball continues to improve, the Broncos still haven’t lost and every day is a little colder. That said, in eight days our freedom in Germany as tourists ends and we become fugitives, which I’m strangely okay with. Jen is actually meeting with somebody soon I believe to sign a contract that will allow her to stay in the country. The company she has been working for on Fridays has picked many more jobs and since she is so good at cleaning, mowing and weeding, they have asked her to take on more of a workload. At least this is what we believe is happening, the communication between everybody involved is always varies so we have to piece together everything like a puzzle. Needless to say, we are thrilled that one of us should be able to get a Visa that will allow us to stay, however it is a little bitter sweet because those of you who know Jen know she aspires to be more than a great apartment complex cleaner. Regardless, it appears I am not needed anywhere in the workforce in our area and that I will be going back to school, which for those of you who know me, you know I am unbelievably excited to have the chance to take multiple naps (attend classes) every day again. The sacrifices we make for things we are not even good at. Really blows the mind sometimes.

Question for our readers: Anybody ever planned/dreamed/thought of taking a vacation to say Poland, or Kenya, or Andorra? Neither had Jen or I, until we moved to Germany and have been BOMBARDED by these rather awful, rather comical commercials. For example, Haigi, the once great soccer player (I only know this because of our family friends, the Malones, thanks) tries to convince people to visit his home country (which I can’t honestly remember right now, Romania, I think). Another showcases a duet singing a song written about the country, and while the singers are good, the song is horrible and so is the commercial (Andorra, I beeeeeeeeeeeelieeeeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvve). I will be honest though, some of these are actually working. I would love to open a bank account in Africa, I wanna see the Middle East up close and personal and I would love to get lost in an Eastern Bloc country. I would especially like to say I have been to Georgia the country and Georgia the state. Sign me up!

So, we went shopping today, usually not a big day for us because we can only afford the same cheap stuff every week, but today we decided to splurge. Tomorrow night will be Mexican night and we are so excited, the fixings (chips, salsa, guac, fajitas) only cost us like 15 Euros, or around $500 US dollars but we figured it was finally time to treat ourselves. Point of the last 4 sentences, if you like Mexican food and you are planning on moving to Europe, eat Mexican everyday before you leave. Even refried beans (Jen won’t let me eat them, the apartment is too small) cost almost 4 Euros for a can, I thought that’s what really poor people ate, obviously not in Europe. While we’re on the food topic, when fruits, etc go out of season, they go out of season. We found one store in our town (out of 4) that still carries melons and cantaloupes and since we need fruit in our diets and we love them, thought it was okay to spend 3 Euros on one. 3 weeks ago they were 99 cents. If I die of scurvy in Germany, you now know why. Talking about food has made me hungry.

I started writing this blog during Jen’s practice tonight. I was not able to finish it before it ended and afterwards we had a meeting with Jen’s coach. Here is the new and updated information I gathered from the discussion: Jen and I are both going to be going to an intense, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day German school. It is the only way we can stay in the country and until we pass a German literacy test we will most likely not be able to work a full time job. What this means is we are now accepting donations to help us pay for our wedding next summer and we will continue to eat potatoes and eggs (both cheap here). It also means Jen doesn’t have to become a full time cleaner but that we will both, most likely, start doing it part time so we can eat. And we will be hopefully be speaking fluent German by Christmas. It also means you read the first paragraph for no reason, sorry to waste your time but I had already wrote it and I didn’t feel like erasing all my hard work. Please forgive me.

Jen and I both played this past Saturday. My team lost by 2, 24-22, we played stellar defense, just had a little trouble putting the ball in the back of the net. Our starting circle player was on a mini-vaca so I got a lot of playing time, scored 3 goals but we didn’t win so that point is moot. Jen’s team had a colossal collapse and lost by 2 as well. They were up 10 goals with 10 minutes to go, for those of you not familiar with the sport, that’s comparable to being up 20 with 5 minutes to go in basketball or 2 touchdowns with 2 minutes to go in football. Like unheard of to lose a game like that. The coach put in the second team with 9 minutes to go, hoping to get them some good experience and playing time. Only that didn’t work out so well. By the time the first team was able to get back in it was tied, however, they promptly received two 2-minute violations. Jen scored with a minute and half left to put them ahead and they had a seven meter to go up with under a minute left but they missed it and the other team capitalized in transition and than once more to win by two. Pretty ugly game. Jen had 3 total goals as well. I have this weekend off and Jen has a non-league cup game on Sunday. I am excited to be able to finally watch a live game of hers.

So, it is now Wednesday, Jen made me go to bed last night before I could finish the blog. I have been a little tiny bit sick, a frog in my throat if you will and Jen is making me get my sleep. We woke up early this morning and visited the school we will be attending. We start tomorrow morning. Should be a blast. Regardless, it is a golden opportunity to learn a new language quickly and the right way. Which brings me to my next topic, the German school system. From what we can gather, at the ripe ole age of 10 or 11, kids are forced to make decisions that will directly affect the rest of their lives. Let me explain further, after 4th grade, there are 4 options for kids to choose from. 4 levels, if you will of schooling for the next 9 years of their lives. The top kids go to Gymnasium, get the best schooling and have the opportunity to go to college or do other great things with their lives when finished. The next 2 options get worse in terms of education and opportunity but still give kids a chance to have an okay career that will support a family. However, the last school, from what we have been told, almost guarantees the kid will have a “shit job” when they grow up. Can you imagine making that decision at 11 years old? Maybe you had a few rough years of school and hated it and at 11 you decided to take the easy route at the time and go to the lowest school. Maybe you were a trouble maker and you were relegated to the lowest school at 10 years old, unbelievable. This blew Jen and I’s minds when we heard how the system worked. Now, you can move up and down between the levels during your schooling but the system still made us sigh with disbelief the first time we discussed it. Those are my rants and raves for the past week.

It is now Wednesday night here and I am about to cook up some fierce tasty Tex-Mex. So long. Stay fly.