Laura Beth in Germany

I'm not singing this year, but was proud to help with the flyer design. Anyone in Germany is welcome - if you're in need of some Christmas-feeling. I'll save you a seat!

It's noon. I just made coffee with our inherited coffee machine, which is missing the actual pot. You have to stand there and trigger the mechanism with a ladle while the coffee drips into a glass bowl, but at least I've got coffee. Outside we have our first dustings of snow, above us, fickle grey clouds and strips of blue sky. Picture the New England Christmas paintings you find wrapped around popcorn tins during the holidays. I'm sitting in one.  My Thanksgiving decorations on the living room table. Last night I had a proud moment. My Monday night students had a substitute teacher last week so that I could attend Fabi's graduation ceremony. When I returned yesterday, only 2 of 8 students were present. They tried to explain their experience with the sub, and I assisted by teaching them the expression "I couldn't get a word in." So apparently they got stuck with an overbearing English teacher. After class, my star pupil/teacher's pet (whate...

On Monday evening Fabian celebrated his graduation from the Dual University of Baden-Wurttemberg (the DHBW). Margit and I left Kleinbottwar at 4:30pm, dressed to the nines, and arrived at the convention center near the airport an hour later for the champagne reception. We met Fabi (in his spiffy new bowtie) and his father there. I helped Fabi put on his cap and gown correctly. The business school of the DHBW celebrates graduation in the Anglo-American style, with pomp and circumstance and funny costumes. Not even the public universities in Germany do this, so it was a really special evening. After champagne and jazz music in the foyer, the 2,000+ guests made their way into the hall and took their seats. The celebration opened with dancing girls, acrobats, a muscle man balancing on stilts, and a 15-foot glowing puppet in the form of a man, who "ran" through the audience in pitch darkness, controlled by 5 real people. It "reached" the stage and threw its ar...

This past weekend marked my third visit to the city of Munich. I had gone before with the Brosi family during my exchange year, when I walked around the city and the English Garden, watched the famous Glockenspiel alongside many other international tourists, and got my first buzz at the legal age of 16. In the summer of 2011, I returned to Munich with Fabian to visit his cousin. That time, we took a guided city tour, visited the expansive national museum and ate Indian food to celebrate our 1-year dating anniversary. Our visit this time was more focused on the "festivities" Munich has to offer: food, shopping and the nightlife. We stayed in an affordable, centrally-located hostel with 8 of Fabian's friends from his track and field team. We ate giant pizzas in the Italian/Thai restaurant under our hostel on the first evening, then walked back upstairs and got dressed to go out dancing. Our first club was called "Pacha", which was conn...

I finished my pillow today! I successfully matched the leftover green upholstery sample at the furniture store in Union, Missouri to to green color of my couch over 4,000 miles away. It's not as pretty as I expected though, so when I move out I'll leave it here as part of the furnishings. With this post, I've also become one those young women with a blog who puts crafty things on it that nobody really cares about. Except maybe mom. (Love you, Mom! Thanks for the sewing skills!)

After a whirlwind three months full of wedding planning, a vacation in Missouri, the IFC reunion weekend, job-hunting, more international visitors, changing duties at work and changes in our families, Fabian and I are smack in the middle of Golden October again here in Kleinbottwar.  This past week we were pleased to host Jessica Kasström, one of my Webster friends who spent two Christmases with my family in Sullivan/STL. She was here for just about 6 days, and we did everything from touring the Ludwigsburg palace, to hiking up around the vineyards, to watching a soccer match "with the boys", to making chili a la Tami Eschbacher, to touring a dinosaur & fossil museum, to sitting on my couch drinking wine and eating luxurious European chocolates with 27 Dresses playing in the background. Nothing less than fabulous, right? Here are a few photos from our adventures!   In other news, Fabian has officially completed his Bachelor's t...

The following are a few shots of our second trip to the Alps last weekend with Fabian's mother and her friends Anja and Markus. The route this year was incredible! And yet again, I wonder where I got the strength to actually get my butt over those mountains. I think this will become an annual trip with Margit, for at least as long as we live in Germany.   Me and my love!   Alpine snow underneath my toes! This is the not-as-little-as-it-seems "hut" we slept in. And the shot that will probably scare my mother:   If you look down to the right, you can see just how steep it was! But if you look at my right hand, you can also see that there was a thick metal rope for us to hold onto at the thin spots. You can just barely start to see the valley and towns below in the background.   I really enjoy these hikes - they remind me of the Grand Canyon trip with Molly all those years ago! But man, can I still feel my calves and thighs.   Co...