My Golden Birthday

For my 23rd birthday on April 23rd :) a group of friends and I went to Sausalitos to celebrate. In Germany, it's tradition that the birthday guy/girl buy drinks for his/her guests. So, in true tradition, I bought a round of tequila shots for my friends! Sausalitos also lets the birthday person make a drink of their choice. I told the bartender I wanted to make something yummy with lots of Malibu...so that's just what I did :) marshmallow, gummy, and sparkler included!

The Birthday Crowd

The Bartender and I

Best Road Trip Ever!!!

April 17-20, 2008 Carrie and I drove around all of Southern France (1600km=960 miles on the brand new mini cooper!!). I was in 4 countries in one day - I flew from Germany to Spain then drove to Andorra then France - how cool!! We were amazingly lucky in that we never got lost and we saw all of the cities we wanted to see plus more!! We never thought we would be able to pull it off but everything fell together just right! We were even able to find cheap hotels when we were ready to sleep! and most importantly nothing happened to the rental car! Our trip included: Barcelona, Andorra, Carcassonne, Nimes, Arles, Marseille, Pont du Gard, Orange, Narbonne, Mirepoix, Bouziges, and a few other towns that we randomly stopped at for food/rest. The french country side was absolutely gorgeous and I'm sad that not a single one of my pictures comes close to capturing the experience of driving through the back country roads!! (Yeah, we didn't take the autobahn at all!! which meant no tolls and wonderful views!!). more pictures

Carcassonne, fortified city

Random shot taken between Carcassonne and Pont du Gard

Pont du Gard!!! one of my favorite touristy spots in the world!

Street in Arles

Berlin, Pig Feast and other random adventures

So time is flying by way too fast!!!! It's been a while since I posted a blog so there are many many pictures to share! Here are links to some pictures I posted on facebook:

Berlin

Pig Roast in Murnau (very Bavarian food)

Easter Market in Bad Tolz, Innsbruck, and a nice restaurant in Grainau with some coworkers

I don't have much time to journal so I'm just going to let the pictures and captions tell the story. Sorry.

Krakow, Poland

Tripp, Kari, and I went to Krakow last weekend for four days, three nights. It was freezing cold! It was about 16 degrees F, the wind was blowing, and it was snowing when our plane landed and snowing when we left on Monday. I don't think I've ever bundled up so much in my life - three pairs of stocks, running tights under my jeans, long sleeve shirt, wool sweater, vest, double-layered winter jacket, scarf, hat, gloves - it was COLD! Other than the weather Krakow was great! and really we couldn't complain about the weather - it just gave us an excuse to drink lots of hot chocolate.

Here are some pictures with minimal narration.

Day Trip to Munich

Not much to say here...just wanted to share a few pictures. I went into Munich for the day this past Sunday. One of my friends, Jenny, goes to church in Munich every Sunday afternoon so a couple of us rode in with her and she dropped us off in the city. We walked around most of the day - including the main Marienplatz and the Englischer Garten. Funny thing is that we got Donner wraps for lunch and ate them on a statue. The statue seemed familiar and sure enough it's the same statute that my Girl Scout troop took a group picture on when we first arrived in Munich 9 years ago! Crazy, huh!? Who would have thought I'd return to that same statue?! We also got to see the surfers surfing on the wave in the Gardens - very cool! Enjoy the pictures :)

Amy and I at her favorite statue in Marienplatz

Derek and I in the gardens

Surfers!

Amy and I in front of the surfers! Trying to not fall in!!

Trying to stay warm after lunch!

Close Up :)

Fasching and Linderhof Palace/Oberammergau

Life is Germany is awesome! The weather is absolutely gorgeous today! I'm sitting on my porch in a camping chair with my feet propped up while writing this blog. It's snowed some recently but then there have also been warmer days in between (like today). My job is going pretty well. I worked two doubles this past week because Alpine needed help with their Kid's World nights. So Thursday and Friday I worked in IT all day then played with kids for 4.5 hours. The first night we had a pirate theme so the employees dressed up like pirates - pirate tattoos, eye patches, hats, scarves, etc. It was a lot of fun. We even had a plank for the kids to walk as they entered the main room where dinner was served. There were 35 kids the first night and about 140 kids the second night! Talk about total chaos! I was in charge of the crafts the second night, which wasn't too bad. We had a drawing competition and they had to draw their favorite thing about Germany. The good thing about working the craft section was that a bunch of kids made me pictures :) Dinner time was craziness with 140 kids needing water, ketchup, more fries, etc. and there were a few injuries...a busted lip, broken/bleeding fingernail, and a few timeouts.

Art work from the kids - yay for fridge decorations :)

Beautiful sunrise one morning! I walked out on our porch in my PJs to soak it up! :)

Same sunrise - gorgeous!

Fresh Snow!!

YAY for SNOW!! :-D

Fasching (Mardi Gras celebration) ended last week. There was a series of events leading up to Ash Wednesday. There was a big Fasching Party at Zumrassen (a pub with a large beer hall which was cleared for dancing that night), then hut-to-hut where people night sled, ski, or snowboard from each hut to hut on the mountain. I was going to sled down the mountain on hut-to-hut but ended up working all day. There were several injuries from the night - two of our employees got stitches! ouch and there were quite a few bruises the next day. It's more dangerous for sledders so I might wait til I can either ski or snowboard down! There will definitely be opportunities where it's just sledders! maybe a little safer...

Terri and I aka Zoro and Cat!

Mouse (Sabrina), Venice girl (Kari), and Zoro (Me)

I went on a group tour through the hotel the other weekend. The amazing thing is that all tours are free to employees!!! We went to Linderhof Palace and then to the town of Oberammergau. Linderhof Palace is one of King Ludwig II's castles. It was much smaller than I was expecting. It is the smallest of his three castles and the only one he got to see completely finished.

The front of the Palace

The side of the Palace

Swans! They capture four swans each year to put in the pond at the palace but apparently they never stay longer than a month. They had been there for one week when we were there!

The Passion Play is held in Oberammergau every ten years - the next one will be in 2010. It's an adorable little town. All the houses have paintings on the facade telling different stories. My favorite were the two orphanages we passed when going into town - one had the Hansel and Gretel story painted on the side, the other had the Little Red Riding Hood story painted on the side.

Building where the Passion Play is held!

Painted House in Oberammergau

Orphanage with Hansel and Gretel story painted on the outside!

Driving, Employee Party, Innsbruck

So much has happened since my last post! I got my USAREUR (US Army/Europe) Driver's License on the 16th and was driving a company vehicle (GOV) on the 17th. Mind you that almost all vehicles in Europe are manual - so I learned real fast and actually did pretty well. I had driven manual once before in a parking lot... My job in the IT department is going really well. It's overwhelming at times because there's so much to do and learn but I'm starting to get the hang of some things and will mostly be working the help desk - helping both customers and employees with all of their computer troubles.

On Sunday, 20th, I went to a SC Riessersee ice hockey game! They won! After every goal the crowd grabbed this big flag that went from one end of the bleachers to the other and passed it up into the crowd so by the time the top of the flag reached the top row of fans the SC Riessersee flag was spread out above our heads! At the end of the game the team came out and took a bow. Then, after they had gone into the locker room one of the fans began to lead cheers and next thing we knew the players came back out again and sat on the ice while we praised them. Then, they got on their hands and knees and formed a choo choo train and slid around on the ice. After this the coach came out and we praised him/sang to him. This went on for about 30 minutes! It was very entertaining.

Kari, Misty, Erin, and I at the game!

The flag being passed up into the crowd after a goal!

The players being praised!

Choo Choo Train Video

Me with a Garmisch Cow!

This past Monday, 21st, we had the annual employee appreciation party. There was great Bavarian food made by the cute chefs that work in the restaurant at the Hausberg (ski lodge). My coworker, Tyler, won Employee of the Year. This means he won a free trip for two to our sister resort in Disneyworld, $1000 spending money, an extended employee contract, and some other bonuses!

Roommate and I! She's amazing!

The IT Department! and the Employee of the Year!

On Friday, 25th, I took a half day at work and went to the Hausberg to learn how to snowboard! My roommate forgot she had an award's banquet for her ski-week class so another instructor and friend, Sabrina, taught myself and Darkel (a Deutch who works in the Garmisch House - restaurant at the top of the mountain) how to snowboard. After an hour I was turning, doing 360s, and having fun! It was a blast and I will definitely be taking some more free lessons!

Yesterday, Saturday 26th, I decided I needed to get out of Garmisch so I took a day trip down to Innsbruck, Austria. It was very relaxing to get away for the day and walk around a new town. I hiked up the town tower to see great views of the town from up above. I ate wienerschnitzel for the first time - I can't say I'm hooked...it was ok but nothing fabulous! I had been talking to one of the locals and it was about lunch time and she told me that the Piano Bar had the best wienerschnitzel in town so I decided to give it a try. There's not much to the town so I just enjoyed the day walking around taking in the beautiful scenery.

Golden Roof

The town from up above

German Printer

Hey everyone!! Things are absolutely great here in Germany!! My job is going pretty well - I'm working in the IT department and today I managed to install a printer/scan/fax/copy machine in German by myself!! This included manually configuring the IP address and many other settings in German! One of my coworkers, Scott, and I looked at some of the German words and settings on the machine yesterday and then I worked from memory today by myself. It's a different experience than I had planned on - I was expecting to work 20 hours/week and be broke but also have lots of time to travel. Instead I am working 40 hours/week Monday - Friday and my pay includes an adjustment for COLA (Cost of Living Allowance). I think it'll work out because most full-time employees have a little more money so they just fly around Europe instead of taking the train, which allows for more time to spend at your final destination. The two guys I work with, Tyler and Scott, are great which also makes the day go by faster and they've been great about teaching me the ropes!

I went exploring this past weekend. On Saturday my roommate and I walked to the next town over, Partenkirchen, and did some shopping at the Euro store and just walked around for most of the day. Then, on Sunday, I hiked up the mountain behind our employee lodging - saw a war memorial, drank some gluehwein (warm, spiced wine), and saw great view of Garmisch!! I have lots of pictures so I'll post a few of my favs on here.

Take Care!! Hope everyone is doing well! :)

The beginning of the path! It was very icy in many spots!

War Memorial mid hike

Gorgeous View of Garmisch from up above

Gorgeous View along my hike!

Cute old couple walking along the path

Restaurant towards the end of my hike where I drank gluehwein

I'm here!!

Well, I arrived safely in Munich Monday morning (the 7th) and have been having a blast so far! There are 461 employees at the Edelweiss - some are German contractors but most are Americans. About 180 employees live in the housing provided (called The Abrams). There are a lot of employees from the west (Montana, Colorado, Texas). So far I have only met one girl from VA - Fairfax.

There are eleven new employees in my orientation class. Over the past three days of orientation we've filled out a lot of paper work, taken a tour of the Resort, met the General Manager, received our ID cards, and shopped on base at the commissary and PX.

My roommate is amazing!!! Her name is Terri - she is from Montana, she's been here for about 6 months and she is a snowboard instructor. (Picture - my roommate and I my first night in Germany at Peaches, a local Italian restaurant - it was 3 euro pizza night and three were a lot of Edelweiss employees there for me to meet)

It's really cold here - especially compared to Newport News! There is snow and ice on the ground. Last night I bundled up in long underwear, jeans, thick socks, a long-sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, winter jacket, gloves, and a hat and was still a little chilly walking to/from dinner. There's a lot of black ice on the roads as well and we have to do a lot of walking to get anywhere (usually minimum of 15-20 minutes).

There's a lot more to do here than I was expecting. The city of Garmisch is adorable. It's about a 15 minute walk from the staff housing building to the heart of the city. There are a ton of restaurants and small shops. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to explore but I am planning on finding my way around town this weekend.

I start my first day of work tomorrow - I will be working in the IT department providing support to all of the Resort's employees and guests. I will keep you updated on how the job goes.

Below are some pictures of my apartment , our balcony, and the view from our room!! Amazing, huh?!

Mine and Terri's Room

Our room again - my bed is the one on the right

Our balcony - I couldn't figure out how to flip the picture on here...

View from our balcony!!

View from the commisary

Leaving for Germany

Hi! Thanks for checking out my Germany Blog. I'm hoping this blog will give you some insight into my experiences in Germany. So far, all I know is that I'm leaving January 6th and will be an employee under the Resort Hotel Attendant Program at Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, an Armed Forces Recreation Center. I do not find out my job assignment until I arrive in Germany. This is a 13 month job assignment so I will be returning to the states approximately February 2009.