Glückliches Halloween!

Today was a great day! In fact this was a great week!! I volunteered at the school Mon-Thurs and it was awesome. Friday I didn't go in so I could prepare for Matt to come home. I had the house spotless and even made him Mexican Casserole and chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately though he and the guys got on the wrong train so they were kicked off in a small town- had to take the train back- and then get on the right train! But he got in at 7pm so not too late. We had a great night!

Today I woke up and went to the Children's Christmas Play Practice (here forth called CCPP) and there were alot of kids out. It turns out 2 of my boys from school are in the CCPP though! I think they like seeing Mrs. Barr in flipflops, jeans, and a hoodie lol and I met their moms (but already knew one from PWOC!) After practice the Barretos and us went to Bamberg. I found a pair of black boots for 24euros! And a white hat I've been wanting but unwilling to spend $20 on! I got it for 4euros.
Then we walked to the farmers market and bought what we think are Idaho potatoes for only 1.50euros! Oh and we also got roasted chestnuts just to try them- that was so fun. Now when we sing "roasted chestnuts on an open fire, jack frost nipping at your nose" we really know what it feels like! It got COLD while in Bamberg!! Lucky for me I had put on real shoes and Matt's jacket. The chestnuts weren't bad. The first one was weird but then we developed the taste for them. We'll try making our own one day and adding some salt to them! Oh and fyi they look like little brains hahaha.
After the farmer's market we stopped in C&A for the Barretos but Matt also found a nice sweater for only 9euros so he got a treat too.
Next it was off to Real aka Walmart! We had a mission to only spend 50euros on Christmas items. Mission accomplished! We got 59euros worth of stuff but got 10euros back with our VAT form. We are definitely going back next paycheck though..had our eyes on the penguin cookie jar, gold/silver decorated wreath, and the Santa on a crescent moon light up thing! OMG Mary I found the PERFECT gifts for the boys while in Bamberg- I'll tell ya next time we're on the phone (just in case they read this).

Well I'm watching Meet Me in St. Louis and waiting on Matt to get home from school. We're going to have a drink and watch "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Matt brought up an excellent point...why haven't they done a real life movie of Charlie Brown? They've turned so many cartoons into real movies like The Grinch, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Scoobie Doo...just something to ponder lol

Oh and for those of you wondering, no Germans don't really celebrate Halloween. A few more "Americanized" people do but we've only seen 2 houses decorated. Crazy! Although we did see 3 trick or treaters when we pulled up (one wearing a Spiderella costume that I once wore...crazy). They are more into All Saints Day. While in Bamber we saw two kids dressed up as Jesus.- or one Jesus and another a saint? And tomorrow at the catholic service I heard the kids are dressing up as their favorite saints. Apparently today is the day Martin Luther nailed the 99thesis to the church doors so that's what the Germans celebrate. So it didn't really feel like Halloween for us- though they had a kids carnival on post. Boo for not having kids! Poor Elvis..we already had him wearing BOTH of his costumes today! A bumblebee and a hotdog. If anyone sees cheap dog costumes in small or extra small get one for Elvis!!

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Time flew by!

Wow the last two days have FLOWN by!! More proof that I'll be better when I have a full time job! Yesterday I volunteered in the class that I will be student teaching in next semester and it was great. I really like the teacher and according to her I have a very calm demeanor and the kids responded great to me. She even told the principal that :-) I left the class at 12:30 and worked on my background check again, but she still found more things wrong with it lol. After that I went and got my fingerprints done. Then I went home to walk Elvis and take a breather lol. BUT in the middle of my breather I remembered I had forgotten to go by Matt's school and tell them he'd be absent and get his syllabus and lab sheet for him. Thankfully I got there before they closed. After that I went to Jen's where I had a wonderful dinner with her and we just hung out with the baby- who wasn't in the best form for once- and talked and watched Grey's.

Today I went to the school again until 12:30 then I met up with 5 other wives for lunch. It was SO GOOD to hang out with other wives and just chat. About everything. It was such strange grouping lol. We had 2 enlisted wives (myself and another), 4 officer wives, 1 was a doctor and the other a nurse, 1 a former teacher, only 1 had kids (shocking!), the other works at the daycare, everyone has their degree, the age range was 22-34, and 4 of us were in the same unit- 3 in the same company! I loved it!! It will definitely have to be a reoccurring event lol. The food was excellent and not expensive and the service FAST! Especially for a restaurant in Germany lol. After the lunch I went back to the school for a faculty meeting. It was funny because they were going over how make their objectives with higher thinking verbs like in Bloom's and we did that SO MUCH at UTT- especially in Dr. Packer's curriculum class! My mentor teacher was shocked to hear that and actually asked to see my school stuff because they've never done this at their school! However I was not impressed with this meeting because some women were very rude and talked the whole time. Ugh! It's amazing that teacher's complain about students who do this in their class but they don't practice what they preach! After the meeting I had another short breather at home and then went to church to volunteer for the children's Christmas play. It was the first practice and it was a little chaotic but I think it will be very cute.

I've been so busy I haven't had time to miss Matt- except at night. He's doing good. He likes the class and he's got a couple of friends there for different reasons so he's hanging with the guys.
Tomorrow is PWOC and then I'm going to school for the afternoon and then Jen and I will be hanging out again!
Hope the rest of you are having as good as week as I am!

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This will be a long week!

Saturday Matt and I went to Bamberg. He had been to the PX there and I toured it with my SNAPS group but he hadn't seen the sights. We parked at the train station and walked the same route that my SNAPs class did. Thankfully I have a good visual memory and there are city maps every where! I showed him the market square where a farmer's market was going on. Ohhh we wish we had Euros!! Everything looked SO fresh and yummy! There was even a cart selling roasted chestnuts :-) We even looked in a few stores including a music store and an awesome shoe store! I'm going back there and getting myself some scrunchy black boots for only 19euros!Whoop! Matt was really impressed with St. Jakob's. He asked "Why do catholics have such big churches??" LoL he'll really like the church in Frankfurt when we go! Now THAT's a cathedral! He wasn't as impressed with the crypt like I was but he did think the Pope's body/sarcophagus from the 1500s was pretty cool!

After the tour around Bamberg which only took us 2 hours we started to head home. On the way out though we saw the Real store which used to be Walmart. Apparently all the Walmarts in Germany were bought out by Metro (Real). I guess Germans didn't like the American ways of working (no dating superior employees) and the customers didn't like other people bagging their things! Weird! Anyways Real was just like Walmart (minus baggers lol) except it didn't have an outdoor section for Matt...however it did have a HUGE bike and rollerblade section lol. But just like a true Walmart you could buy produce/meat AND tires in ONE store!! :-) Yes we were so excited. We went down every aisle hehehe

Today we went to church and while pulling up at exactly 9am we were wondering if church had been cancelled because no cars were there. When we got out of the car another man from church rolled down his car window and asked "Did you forget to set your clocks back too?" DANG!!! Today was Germany's daylight savings time. Whoops! So we killed an hour grabbing breakfast. After church Matt got packed up and I took him to the train station. He's going to Vilseck for the week for a HazMat class. No bueno :-( He's only been gone 3 hours and I've already cleaned the house spotless. Just waiting on the clothes to dry and then all the laundry will be done as well! I already miss him...

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Busy Day!

Wow so today FLEW by but that's because I was SO busy! This morning I went to PWOC and it was so much fun chatting with all the girls. I'm going to miss them next semester! Maybe I can convince them to attend the Monday night PWOC as well...

As soon as that wrapped up I went straight to the school and did my background check. At first the secretaries were saying I had to wait until one but I made it clear I wasn't leaving so they finally sent me to the library where the aide helped me with the computer. Man she wasn't kidding when she said I'd be gray headed before I was through! Even having that packet filled out it still took an hour and a half! And in the end I didn't even have to do it right then! Ugh she said I had 14 days but she just needed it before I actually started. Oh and the whole needing 10 years of addresses- even after telling her that I was 12 ten years ago- psssh I only needed 10 years OR until I was 16yrs old!! Dang that's annoying. But she highlighted the things I missed like dates, etc and I'll go back the day before I start to fix it. I also have to have my fingerprints scanned and printed.

When I left the school I went straight across the street to the commissary and bought the ingredients to make my friend Melissa dinner. She just had a baby a week ago so we've all taken turns cooking her dinner. Then I went home and cooked her dinner as well as started cooking my pumpkin spice muffins. I got the dinner done and one batch of muffins then I had to take the food over to her house and rush to Ledward for our FRG meeting. After a very brief FRG meeting, Jen and I ran to the commissary again while waiting on Matt to get off.

After all this I finally got to come home. And make us dinner and the remaining 3 dozen muffins. And clean the kitchen. Whooo I'm enjoying sitting here :-) Friday I am babysitting a 4 yr old girl for the afternoon and on Monday I'm going to volunteer in the classroom I am going to be student teaching in! I figure I'll volunteer there every day until I begin subbing and when I'm not subbing. The more the kids get to know me now I figure the more comfortable they'll be with me student teaching.

Speaking of student teaching I've confirmed with my supervisor, gotten registered for my content test the first week of December, and had UTT send me the supervisor handbook/rubrics. WhooooO!

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Happily Tired

Baby just left. We had a busy day full of blocks and reading and playing outside. And lots of poopy diapers lol. I'm happily exhausted and I still have to clean up all the "toys" (hahaha at my house his toys are my cooking utensils and trash like boxes and empty juice jugs. oh and my exercise ball- he doesn't seem to mind). Barreto is out of the hospital and goes back tomorrow morning to get a biopsy and the results of his stomach and allergy tests. They are also going to test their home to see if there's any toxins there.

I want to go somewhere this weekend!! Playing outside with the baby for an hour in actual SUNSHINE made me want to be out of this house even more! The last week its been cold and overcast. I don't mind the cold but would like the sun to make an appearance every now and then! Today it was so foggy I couldn't see out my windows at home- scary since our backyard drops off into a straight down hill lol. We're going to drive over to Bamberg and Rothenburg since Matt's never seen either (except the PX in Bamberg) and sight see. Maybe we'll pack a lunch since the euro rate is so bad...

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Words of Affirmation

You know its so amazing to be told that you helped someone- even when you thought you didn't! In the book I'm reading- "First Days of School"- he said years from now the students you thought you didn't reach will come back and tell you that you impacted their lives. It's so true and I'm not even a teacher yet!

In the last couple of days I've gotten 2 random posts on Facebook thanking me for helping them. One was a woman who I took Intermediate Math with freshman year that I "tutored" with the help of another girl. She said if it wasn't me and the other girl that she wouldn't have passed math that year. And then a guy I had as a freshman the first time I was a Freshman Mentor just thanked me for helping him his freshman year getting acquainted with the school and everything. It just feels so good!

For too long I was friends with such negative people and constantly being surrounded by people like that makes YOU be like that too. In fact one girl in particular once told me I was mean! I've NEVER been called mean! Matt also told me not too long after I started living with this girl that I was becoming more mean like her. Now THAT hurt. But when she told me that I called my BFF Adri who reassured me that I was one of the "nicer" girls in our group in high school lol. I think being told that by this person and then remembering Matt's words led to my slowly backing away from her- and not quick enough! Ever since we quit speaking (her choice, I wanted to remain acquainted but after a few things she said and did that could never happen) I have noticed such a change in my life. I met other people that I used to not speak too because they weren't "cool" enough for this girl and ended up making such GREAT friends!! I regret not spending all of my college life with these new friends but it was a learning experience. The other day Adri reminded me that I've always been such a positive person and to remain that way through this time in Germany. It's true- before and after this girl I was and am a positive person. It's amazing how carried away you can get without even knowing it!

I guess the lesson of this blog is always choose your friends wisely and remember to surround yourself with the type of people you aspire to be. And to always be helpful and nice- you never know who's life you're touching!

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I Want a BABY!

Ok so Jen called me at about 4 and told me Barreto was having another allergic reaction and that if it got worse she wondered if I'd take the baby. Not 10 minutes later she called and asked for the ambulance phone number and to ask me to come for the baby. I guess the rash spread quickly and he was having other symptoms I won't disclose so it was bad. Anyways I got to hang out at her house with the baby for about 30 minutes then I took him to pick up Matt for dinner. In the car he was so cute, he was bobbing his head to Trace Atkins =-) We got Matt and then went to Conn to get Matt burger king but they had closed earlier so we tried Popeyes but they had just closed so we were forced to go back to Ledward. Matt got practice taking the baby in and out of a car seat as well as feeding one in public. Oh and changing a poopy diaper in the seat of a car lol. The baby and I came back and he played for an hour or so with Bedtime Elmo in the background (I've gotta get that kid some Barney!) and then about 8 I put in Lilo and Stitch and he snuggled up with me and watched it for an HOUR before getting fussy! He drank a bottle but was still awake so I took him in the bedroom where it was dark and cold and rocked him. 6 minutes of playing with my hair and he was passed out. Jen picked him up at about 10...I almost cried when he left! Was hoping to have a snuggle buddy for the night. After he left I just watched the rest of the new Gossip Girl episodes- so good! Now I'm gonna go read some more of "First Days of School" by Harry Wong. I can't wait to start teaching!!!

Barreto has to stay the night in the hospital and here in Germany people can't stay the night with you without paying a $50 euro "hotel" fee- crazy right?!?! Hopefully he'll see the doctor and get this figured out! I know Jen is very frustrated because it's hard to understand the German doctors plus not having her family there with her so please keep them all in your prayers.

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Digital Scrapbooking

Thanks Amanda for your help ;-)

I made these to practice with Photoshop and to possibly use as the header on the blog. Tell me what you think!

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God speaks in many ways- even Blogs!

Wow so I just read through this incredible, inspiring, and heart wrenching blog.

www.bandssullivan.blogger.com

PLEASE read it- start from the very beginning.

Synopsis: 29yr old air force wife is diagnosed with breast cancer while they are stationed in Japan. Removed tumor in Hawaii and then moved home early from Japan to San Antonio to do chemo. After finding out she had cancer she also discovered she was pregnant. There are ups and downs during the pregnancy but the ending is just....the baby was blessedly born 3 weeks early and after 1 week in the NICU was able to go home. The family of 3 spent the "happiest days of our lives" the next 2 days and then the mother began having seizures due to post partum angiopathy (?). Sadly she died 4 days later.

Where's the inspiring part in this?? Just read the blog.

This family truly lives through the Lord. They are doing exactly what PWOC is preaching in our bible studies in Philippians 4:8 to "honor what is true, etc" Throughout all this horrible HORRIBLE stuff they continue to thank God and praise Him!! If only we could all be so wonderful...

This hits really close to home for me. This couple is military, stationed far from home, childless (at time of prognosis), started a blog in Korea, etc. This weekend with raging homesickness on our minds Matt and I joked about what could we do to get sent home before our 3 years is up. We heartlessly laughed that even if one of us got cancer the Army would keep us here. How horrible are we? Pretty dang horrible. Thank God that MY God is a forgiving one. Sara and Brady LOVED being in Japan (and were in Korea before that) and they "lived life to the fullest" while there. They were DEVASTATED that they had to be sent home 18 months early.

Well I'm sorry family and friends back home but I am now officially feeling blessed to be here with my husband- and for the fact that both of us are so healthy. I am publicly pledging here and now to ALWAYS praise God- even during the horrible. I don't think ANY story has hit me so hard. Is this what being "Saved" means?....

PS. Thanks Mom for pushing me to read this ;-)

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Help!

I want a pretty header like Amanda or Amber's blogs!! How do you make those? Anyone? See thewilliamsbabies (except I think she's changing it...) or ambergallegos to see what I'm talking about! My blog is SO boring!

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Friends Make Me Happy :-)

I FINALLY heard from Adri today!! I've called her a couple of times last couple of weeks AND facebooked her a bunch and she said she'd been trying to call me as well. Ah silly internet. Sadly we were disconnected and I couldn't call her back BOO but we had a good talk none the less. I also got a myspace message from Monica saying she'd call me this weekend. That was another friend that was MIA.

Last couple of weeks I've been VERY homesick. So has Matt. That's all we talk about at home is "home" aka Texas. It's especially hard when you hear about people you love going through hard times back home and you just want to be there with them for whatever they need. It feels like if we were stationed anywhere in the states then I could just fly wherever I'm needed and be there but alas I can't from here. (Yes, I said "alas." You know you liked it.)

What's even more frustrating is that the Army doesn't even NEED Matt here! Here's my logic: in Ft. Hood Matt worked on vehicles EVERY day. There was no one else but soldiers working there. Here in Germany Matt has worked on vehicles twice BARELY. They have contracted civilians doing his job. So in reality the Army is paying TWO people for the same job. How is that practical?? If they sent us back to Ft Hood that would be one less person here they're paying for (including COLA, etc)! Come on!!! I should run the Army... it's SO obvious that men run it.
But today Matt and I vowed to give it to God and to quit talking about it at home. It only makes the homesickness worse and it doesn't help anything. Just breeds more negativity. So yeah.

Good news: we got our passports in! Bad news: I can't get a hold of Lily and plane ticket prices go up every day! They've already gone up $27 in one day!! By tomorrow it may be to ridiculous for now....*sigh* I don't know. Guess it's in Lily's hands lol. Silly girl- who doesn't check facebook daily??

Other good news: found people from UTT on blogger. Now it'll feel like I'm still there with them at UTT gossiping in the offices hehehe ;-) Miss you guys!

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4 Day Weekend

So the four day weekend started off GREAT! We went to the Wildpark which is like a free zoo but more like a nature conservancy- you walk through it and its all winding paths with no maps or anything. There are biergartens and different themed playgrounds scattered through out. We had a lot of fun with the hogs (WildSchwiens) and we were 2 inches from a huge moose! That's why its cooler than a normal zoo- its free and you get much closer to the animals! But its not as cool as a zoo because it had some weird animals on display. Deer, hogs, steer, and a moose but also bunnies, chickens, turkeys, and guinea pigs. Why?? I guess those are rare in Germany? Well the bunnies aren't- you see those every where here!

That night we went to the bowling alley. I have a feeling we're going to become pretty good bowlers by the time we leave this country. Matt BARELY beat me 2 of the 3 games and then the last time he pulverized me. BUT in my defense I couldn't find a small enough ball for me so my fingers/arm were very tired.

Saturday was a rainy day so we stayed home and watched movies all day. Then Matt had his last class for this term! He's free until the 26th...and then we lose our weekends again. I think this weekend I want to go to the Air Force base in Ramstein where they built an american mall complete with a Chili's!!!

Sunday we went to church although I was tempted to stay in bed because my throat hurt so bad. But we went and it was a really good service. Afterwards we went to the library where Matt loaded up on TV seasons...guess he's tired of Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, and Girls Next Door that I watch ;-) So we went to separate rooms and watched tv lol.

Yesterday started off blah but it changed to sunny. However I felt even worse so except for cleaning my room I stayed in bed. Matt bbqed for us last night though. More tv alllllllll day. Poor Matt was stir crazy but didn't want to go anywhere without me.

Today Matt has CQ BLAH so I'm chilling at home with Elvis. Right now I'm watching Star Wars 5 (not impressed- I like the new ones). I'll upload some pix/video of Wildpark- the rest will be on Facebook. By the way Nana there is a Facebook for Dummies book ;-)

That's how I like to see deer- alive and breathing! I warned them to stay away from my family if they wanted their heads to stay on their bodies ;-)

We watched this mean hog for EVER! Any time a another pig got near that fence on the other side this hog went nuts wanting to get through. He would even knock the smaller hogs out of the way and run right over them!

The video starts with hogs fighting then we got the hogs to bite Matt's boot again...the ending is the better part of the video. They were so cute!!

Der Mutton aka sheep. Baaaaaa!!

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Terrorist Email?

So I just got this message from the FRG saying "Be Alert" followed by an email I guess sent by Terrorists to the German's or American's in Germany? Not sure, just emailed the FRG to ask about it. The email is freaky though:


ALCON,
The below message was received by the Bavarian News Office. It warns thepublic of a possible upcoming attack in Germany. Please make sure allsoldiers and Family Members are made aware of the threat and to stayvigilant.
To the infidel nation of germany:
We grant you for the third time and specify the timing of the promised dayin the name of allah the most merciful the most gracious to muslims ingermany and outside of germany we say: Peace be upon you, and allah merciesand blessings too. For the infidel crusader nation of germany we say: Before the elections,shaykh osama bin laden (may allah protect him) and brother abu talhaaddressed you by: Peace be upon those who follow guidance.
After the elections we say to you: Death be upon you!! Death be upon thosewho want war!!
Lots of you germans saw the tv on the black days which passed upon: "london,madrid, new york and washington"..
The black tuesday of new york and washington; which the entire world stillremembers. The black tuesday of madrid; which everyone still remembers.And the black thursday of london; which everyone still remembers.
Surely, these arrogant nations were not warned about the attacks or itsexact days, contrariwise to you as we gave you the choice, and you choseblood, corps and destruction. We specified for you the time period, and thisis a gift your brothers in madrid and london will envy you for.
But, we will bestow another gift upon you for the third time, and we willspecify the date for you!!
We originally planned to give you the choice to choose it yourself, but wethen decided to choose it for you , carefully.. And precisely.!.
Well .. How about sunday? A beautiful day, and a holiday for you as ofothers who follow your religion!? After we chose thursday for london, tuesday for new york, Washington andmadrid, we are choosing sunday for you! Is it going to be a beautiful day!!?
Sunday ../10/2009
or
sunday ../10/2009
or
sunday ../10/2009
sorry, we will not grant you for a fourth time and tell you when. Surely, wehave decided it!!
One thing left .., the city to be attacked??
Is berlin going to wear the colors of new york?? Or will it be other citiesthat will have this honor? Like .. : Bonn .. , frankfurt .. , hamburg... ,or it might just be [--------------------]
angela merkel ... , surely you had the toast of victory..
We promise you .. , you will drink it over and over , but this time, it willhave a different taste and color!! This time the glass will be filled withthe blood of your people who elected you and chose war!!! Oh, by the way ,, we heard that you **** well .. And you frequently do ..
Sunday is a good day to practice such hobby, isn't it?
How about making your dish that day: A shoulder.. Or a head of a germancitizen?
Our date is on ************
to our supporters (al-ansar) : This is your day, do not hesitate, post it ongerman forums, send it by email, do not waste your time translating it, theyhave between them some of those who speak our language and who willtranslate it for their masters...
The end.*.*mou10ra11bitt18oun25*

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Job Update and Germany Videos

Job Update: So I filled out my paperwork to sub BUT it could be up to another 2 weeks before I can start. I have to wait for my paperwork to get to the district office and for them to mail me back a letter with my start date. In the mean time I have to go back to the school and do a 10 year background check. Supposedly it takes 3-4 HOURS to complete on the computer! And they want exact dates of employment, supervisor names/numbers/addresses AND all that for references for the times I was unemployed. BAH! Good news: Subs make $99 a day for a full day and $49.50 for a half day of work. She said she has subs working 4-5 times a week so that's good news! So now its just time to wait....and wait....and wait....

Beer Tent @ Oktoberfest 2009

Residence Palace in Wurzburg Summer 2009

Rothenburg ob der Tauber Market Square Summer 2009

Goodbye Video at the airport

On the plane to Germany

My First Train Ride (to Wurzburg) Summer 2009

I have a few less "entertaining" videos I'll post later. Except I really want this chapel video to post but it won't!! GRRR

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Oktoberfest is SO overrated

Ok so prepare for some ranting. We were told you have to get to Oktoberfest by 8 or 9am if you want to get into a tent. So we decided to take the train with the Barreto's because it was only 30euros for all of us ($15 a couple). The train was supposed to be in Munich by 8:39am according to online schedule. That's the ONLY REASON we agreed to take a train that left at 5:26AM!!! But instead the train didn't get there until 9:45am. We could of driven and left at 8 and gotten there the same time OR taken a later train. By the way- don't take the train to Oktoberfest if you have kids. ALL rules go out the window. We describe it as a Frat party on Wheels. Seriously- these teenagers bring mini-kegs on the train and plastic cups and just pass out the beer- at 5 in the MORNING!! They had music playing and were smoking- right in front of No Smoking signs by the way. Groups of these people (all decked out in there German Traditional Attire I might add) are seriously polishing off Capt. Morgan's Spiced Rum and cokes at 8am. CRAZY!!! These people are bred to drink hard. We were joking that Americans might as well hook ourselves up to Alcohol IVs to catch up! Guys would jump off the train at every stop to pee right there on the platform. Once I counted 7 guys lined up peeing on a fence (this is not illegal in Germany by the way- you see it on the side of the rode all the time). And the last part of the trip from Nurnberg to Munich- the longest part, 2 hours- the guys didn't even have seats they had to stand the whole way. Bah! Well we brushed it off oh well you live you learn. So we get to Munich train station and the lines are like hundreds deep for the women's bathroom (oh to be a man) so after finding a different one we were on our way. We walked over to Oktoberfest and looked around and were like- ok its a big carnival. Seriously as far as rides/booths go, the Houston Rodeo is just as good (except for one big roller coaster). What's cool is the 16 different beer tents that are way elaborate (see facebook for a few pix- video to come!) and well we knew we wouldn't find a seat getting there so late but oh well right? We'll buy some beer and walk around. EHHH Wrong!!! Now we saw why people were getting so drunk on the train. You can't buy BEER at OKTOBERFEST- except in those tents!!! And you can't walk out of them with the beer. There's no walking around OKTOBERFEST with BEER?!?!?! Are you getting how shocked we were??? Jen and I sent the guys into one tent to stand and drink a beer just to say they had beer at Oktoberfest. We did walk around 2 tents- one pretty tame because it was all reservations only and the other was CRAZY- THAT'S the REAL Oktoberfest *sigh*. After that we walked around and ate the amazing German fest. food. Kartofel Puffers with Tsatski sauce = YUM!!! Matt had his meter long bratdog and corn on the cob and pommes fritas and we split some weird thing. It was like a whole wheat pita with cream cheese, bacon bits, and chives on it. Pretty good! I never did go and get my shokobanane (chocolate covered banana on a stick!) =-) We bought an Oktoberfest mug and rode one ride then left. The train ride back- O.M.G. It took FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! For some reason the ride from Munich to Nurnberg (which was 2 hrs the opposite way) took like 3 hours. Then we had to catch a ride to Bamberg THEN Schweinfurt. We were on the train from 2:30-7:11pm. Tired and exhausted we went to an Italian restaurant that tasted yummy but tore up my tummy alllll night. And apparently they must have cooked Barreto's calzone next to some fish or something because he went to the hospital at 1am covered in hives. This morning at 8am Jen called and asked for me to come sit with the baby and if she could borrow my car to be with him. DUH! So the baby and I with Elmo chilled this morning. He's out and fine now but they don't really know what caused the reaction.

So that's my first Oktoberfest story. Sorry to disappoint- we were pretty disappointed as well.

Good news though- principal emailed me this morning to say she approved my application and we're just waiting on the background check and then I can start. I thought background checks take like a few weeks but hopefully not!!!!

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Prayer Request

Ok I know all you TX people are still sleeping but I've gotta get this out! So after weeks of waiting to hear back about substituting and one follow up email later I finally called the school. The secretary said she remembered me and no the principal had yet to review my application but she would remind her and call me back this afternoon!!!!!!!! PLEASE REMEMBER THIS TIME TO CALL ME!!!!!! She also asked how long I'd been in Schweinfurt and when she heard it was only a few months she was so like "Oh that's great!!." I also asked about volunteering and she said they would email all the teachers letting them know I was available but then she said "But we'll discuss that when you come in."

Please pray for this!!!

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