Laura Beth in Germany

For Fabian and I, celebrating 1 year of marriage consisted of a much-needed hiking trip in the Black Forest. We started at the lower end of the Wutach gorge last Saturday around noon, with coffee and sausages at this little kiosk with flower-stuffed boots: Our trail snaked through the gorge along the river, climbing and falling with each kilometer (but it was not nearly as strenuous as our typical hikes through the Alps).  After the first few hours, the gorge opened up to reveal something dear to my Missourian heart: bluffs! From there until the end of our hike, the landscape reminded me of a slightly larger-scale Meramec river. This felt appropriate for the occasion because, almost exactly a year ago, we were showing his German friends all around Meramec State Park.   The town of Donaueschingen (where we spent the night) is a sleepy place, mostly famous for the source of the Danube river. Our hotel was nice and offered a lovely breakfast. We then...

Today's post is an inspiration from the wonderful blog Searching Sophia's Pockets . Credit to Will O'Brien for the post about accepting and appreciating where you come from!  Where I’m From I am from the 64-pack of Crayola crayons, from Schlafly Hefeweizen and snap bracelets. I am from the wasp-filled air conditioning vents. I am from the dogwood tree, the Meramec River. I am from thrift store hunting and using too much tape on Christmas presents, from Lilian LaVerne and Ruby Savatha and Grandpa E. I am from the music on the front porch and sisters singing in hesitant harmony. From “the fourth commandment!” and everything happens for a reason. I am from praying the Rosary every Tuesday on brown, duck-taped kneelers, the diamond stained-glass windows leaking warm air. I'm from Kansas City and Cherokee-German-French-Italian , from corn soufflé and calico beans. From Pop Toe Wart Knee Bang and the Cardinals on TV, from Gomez Corn Mouthface Booboo, and my m...

Germany - Year 2, Month 7 They say homesickness comes in waves of threes. After three weeks on a tour bus cavorting through Europe at age 16, you start to miss home despite the amazing old buildings and beautiful people surrounding you. Three months into your exchange year, you wonder if you can really hold out for another seven months with a family that works so differently from your own and wonder just how much extra Spätzle weight will fit into your favorite bell-bottomed chinos. Today, day three of being cooped up in the house with a cold, I realize that year three is quickly approaching. That's a whole other ball game than weeks or months. That's way past crushes on your Spanish tour bus driver (who may have been gay) and longing for automatic cars and good Tex-Mex food. Strange thoughts are entering my head these days - I complain about taxes, chat on the phone with my mother-in-law, wonder about the future of my career and whether it will ever fulfill me. I see pe...

January and February have been tough. Trying to navigate my new job at the new school while prepping for our open house & learning to consult customers has admittedly been a lot to handle. Luckily I had Altweiberfasching ("old women Mardi Gras") to look forward to last Thursday! Simliar to Mardi Gras, Fasching springs from the Catholic tradition of partying hard before the 40 days of fasting before Easter. Different ways of celebrating have sprung up all over the world, the most famous versions internationally are those of Rio, New Orleans and in Venice. Everywhere you find this celebration, there are some similarities; parades and costumes are always involved! Here in the Swabian-Allemanian region, of course, the festival has its own flavor. There are various clubs here that prepare year-round just for Fasching. They dress up in ridiculous costumes and play big band music, or they dress in drag and perform embarassing choreography, or they dress...

How to write about my parents' October visit? Where to begin? What to include about 2 weeks of jam-packed wonderful visiting and exploring time? I think I'll let the following photos (and our facial expressions) speak for themselves. Here are only a few of the many highlights: The day of their arrival was celebrated with a cold beer, Maultaschen for lunch, and then a quick nap. Then we found our way up to this castle overlooking the Bottwar valley before heading to meet my host family from high school. Our next adventure was a trip to Eschbach, the town from which my father's ancestors came. The town's mascot is the donkey, and my goofy father and husband couldn't resist posing for this picure. I love it. Next, Fabian and I celebrated our wedding (again!) with all our German friends and family. In between dinner and dessert I snapped a photo with my "three moms." A more relaxing day on our itinerary included brunch with Margit and a wal...

This year we have had a collection of holidays all squished into one week. It began last Saturday at my colleague's Thanksgiving party in the Swabian forest. Then I went to a Christmas market on my business trip. Then on Friday we headed to Göttingen for our annual Thanksgiving, and after we ate, we went straight to another Christmas market! Here are the highlights in more detail: On Monday night I took a train directly after work up to Bad Soden. There my coworker and I spent 3 days in a sleepy hotel in a quiet area just north of Frankfurt, learning the complicated ways of our company's management system / database (which was developed in the early 1990s and definitely looks like it). Luckily, the program was written in English, so I had no issue understanding what things were. How to use it was the bigger problem. On the eve of our departure, my colleague and I hopped aboard a train and went to downtown Frankfurt to hang out at opening night of the 2014 Christmas Market. ...

For those who haven't yet heard the news - I just began a new job at Berlitz. Same company, different tasks. My title has changed from "freelance teacher" to "Sales Trainee", which is basically like an intensive internship that molds young career beginners into future leaders.  As of January, the plan is to move me to the new school in Heilbronn. Fabi is also studying and working in Heilbronn these days, so we're considering moving to a town a little closer that way. That would mean saying goodbye to our little hometown here. It's a bittersweet idea. The plus side would be independence, a shorter commute, and the chance to break out and start living life on our own! The downside is that we'd leave a beautiful place, be father away from family (though not that far) and probably have to pay more rent. Today we went for a walk and talked about some of these things, and enjoyed the foliage and warm weather!  Here are a few photos. ...