Laura Beth in Germany

My German professor from Webster recently wrote me and said, "Laura, it's so nice to see you living your dream in Germany!" Other loved ones have had similar sentiments since August, but it's funny - the longer I'm here, the more I think life is just life. You go to work like a normal person, you buy groceries like a normal person. Once you get used to the culture, things aren't a magical fairytale (which anyone who grew up on Disney movies imagines when they think of Europe, the Land of Princesses). Being a foreigner tends to attract other foreigners, which is a comfort and an advantage. If you find someone from the States, you automatically have things in common, like 1) you both moved to a new culture either for the boyfriend/girlfriend or for the adventure of it, 2) you've both been burned by German honesty when you were just trying to be polite, 3) you both know how ridiculous it is trying to get anything done at the foreigner's office, etc. Eve...

Just a few shots from our skiing trip in Allgäu - the "pre-Alp" region of Swabia. Considering my only previous experience was at Hidden Valley in Wildwood, it was pretty impressive to ride the red gondola up above the cloud cover, into the sunshine, and ski at the tip top of these mountains.     The day began with breakfast at our hotel. Then we met up with the rest of the family (Margit's brother and sister) and headed up to the Ski area. Fabian's aunt Gisela gave me a personalized crash course in skiing, which was really helpful and entertaining. Unfortunately, on my 2nd big practice slope, the fog ascended and covered the direction signs, and we accidentally found ourselves on an intermediate course. The first 100 meters were okay, but then I had to take the skiis off and just walk/slide down on my butt - the fog had turned everything to ice and even the patrons were having a hard time. But after that, I recovered and went back to the ...

The first week of the year was unexpectedly busy! As Germans began trickling back into their offices, many seemed to realize, "Hey! It's 2013. Maybe I should learn English!" And the demand for teachers has risen - not only at Berlitz. On January 2, I had an interview in Stuttgart with a nice, frizzy woman at Educom, a company that was founded in 2006 by ex-Berlitzers. The methods are very similar, and they were in desperate need of someone to cover the Northern Stuttgart area (BINGO!), so she contacted me and asked if I'd be interested. The interview went well, and I got the job, so I am officially employed by to English schools now.Yay for freelancing! Secondly, a family friend asked if I'd like to do a translation of their product line brochure for 2013. Absoultely! Money is money, and marketing in English is easy for me, yeah? Well, in the next week I have to figure out how to cleverly & eloquently describe about 20 different professional cleaning pro...

Happy New Year from Germany! Fabian and I hosted in his parents' "hobby room" - the finished basement. We ate Raclette (this wonderful contraption where you can melt cheese over various foods that you place in an individual little pan) and drank Feuerzangenbowle. Our theme for the evening was Black & White, Silver & Gold . I wore a silver dress that we found among Fabi's grandma's old stuff, which I took in on the sides. It fit me just right! We spent much of the evening eating, then moved on to playing Activity - kind of a mixture between Pictionary, Charades, and Taboo. Girls vs. boys. Each time one team got a point, the other drank their Feuerzangenbowle. Hehe.   Katja (front row, middle - our decoration master general and overall lifesaver of the evening) made 4-leaf clovers for us, on which we wrote our wishes for 2013. Then at midnight, we tied the clovers to medium-sized rockets, scaled the hill behind our house, and shot the wishes into obli...