Learning German

Okay- so today marks the day that I will begin a full attempt at learning German. I decided I'll try to learn 10 words a day for 5 days a week for the next five weeks. Then I should know 250 new German words and an additional goal is to really try to use those words in speaking with someone. Also- it will be okay to speak all English but those words. Also- in the next four weeks I want to make a list of all the words I already know so that I can make flash cards for the words I need to know.

The nice thing is that many German words are the same as English. My first set of words are Der Koerper (the body), Gefuehle (feelings), haus Woerter (house words), and Alltaegliche Ausdruecke (general Expressions).

I also found a nice website to help me learn German. I've included an image: http://www.languageguide.org/im/body/de/

Daniel is coming to visit

So- I'm not sure what to do with my brother. The first trip we ever went on was to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming, followed by a very high mountain hike, followed by a trip down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (where it was 112 degrees in the shade), followed by giving him 50$, a hotel room and a night to himself in Las Vegas. :) And I think at that time he was just barely 18. I'm a really wonderful sister- I know. ;)

Anyway, then last time he visited me we went to Switzerland and did a kletter steig and also hiked to the top of a very tall mountain (Schilthorn-- where a 1970's James Bond movie was filmed).

Now I'm thinking of taking him to a european city or to Slovania. :) He doesn't know that yet- but he'll do whatever I tell him to- its great. :)

Okay- lets see if I can dig out a photograph of Danny and me.

Mountains are where my heart is..

I'm not sure why mountains feel like home, but they do. The number of times I've hiked up the side of a mountain probably only reaches the number of years I've been on this planet. However, I really treasure each of the steps I've made towards the summit of a cowering mountain. This easter weekend I travelled down towards Oberstdorf to a small town called Steibis. I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and I feel like I really couldn't be happier. I'm exhausted now and am going to go to sleep- but first I wanted to post a photograph of me. In the photo I felt really silly and definitely felt like life couldn't be better. I also crashed into a ball into the snow after the photo was captured which helped in making me laugh! :)

What a wonderful weekend. More photos from this trip will be posted at some point- I'm sure of that. I hope everyone in my family had a wonderful Easter. I can't wait for Danny to come to Europe and I'm really looking forward to seeing Holly, Terry and maybe even Brett in Europe in the coming weeks. I feel really lucky!

Spring and Summer

This is definitely the best time of the entire year! I am loving it. This weekend I'll go to the mountains- and also I'm having dinner tonight with some friends to celebrate Easter. Tomorrow night I'll sing Karaoke with a few people from the office. That will be nice.

Right now I should be working on writing a grant, or one of my papers but instead I'm writing here in my blog. I feel like I can't get much done today. I worked for an hour or two on the grant earlier today and then met with a bunch of people- but I think i should just call it a day and get out in the sun for a bit.

Yeah- yesterday I met Jo's family (at least some of them) and that was really nice. I was a bit nervous since I speak so little German- but you can really tell when people are warm, happy and nice and I think I only made them a little nervous- which is really the worst thing about not speaking a language. I really hate making other people feel uncomfortable. ;) I'm definitely motivated to learn German now -and I feel like I understand more and more, which is really awesome. :)

I also got an awesome package from my mom with some candies from when I was a kid. Admittedly they are way too sweet for me now to eat more than a few of them- but my office mates also had some of them today. She is so sweet to send a package all the way to Germany.

This reminds me I have to do something.. be back in a minute... Okay.. flowers purchased. :)

I miss all my friends in Salt Lake City and sometimes I wish I could just jump into a worm hole and find myself in the foothills near downtown Salt Lake. I also miss Margarita, Miriah, Cory, Oscar, Dave and last but not least my siblings in PA. However- Danny is coming to germany once again- and I'm pretty excited! Okay- peace out for now. oh right- a photograph.. lets see if i can dig up a funny one.. Ok- there is a blast from the past. Me from 2005 in the Panolab with super long hair and a goofy setup on my head.

Block Praktikum 2009

So- this past week I learned a bit more about what it would be like to teach. First- I realize that I really like to teach- especially if it involves being nice to students. Second- I realized that it is a tremendous amount of work.

Anyway- I don't have much to say except for that it is late at night- I can't get to sleep and I have to wake up early tomorrow morning and hear some students give a presentation on the work we did last week together.

I have a photo of how sleepy I am these days. I'm looking forward to some beer and pretzels tomorrow after we are done. It has been four years since I was in Germany for the first time. So much can happen in four years- it is really crazy. Life is good in general- but my mom is right- i still go where the wind takes me.

New beginnings..

Life is pretty good for me these days. I applied for a bunch of jobs and surprisingly when I came back from Christmas I was already a lot happier here in Germany than the months proceeding my five week trip home.

I'm so excited again because my baby brother Daniel is visiting me again in late April/Early May. Then Holly and her family come to Paris in late June. :) It will be so much fun. For easter I'm going to the mountains with my boyfriend and at the moment I really have the feeling that life couldn't be better. The springtime is awesome, I like my job and most importantly I really feel loved lately.. and well that last one is quite priceless.

I miss my family- so I guess on that front I could be closer to them- but as I wrote above a few of them are coming over to me and I'm sure I'll be home soon enough- maybe even for a job.. who knows. Life is quite interesting and keeps surprising you- and boys and girls- I think I like that the most about life.. even if I do complain sometimes when the surprises aren't pleasant.

No photographs today.