Update on my Summer Livin'

Just an Update

Since we moved into our new house, it's been hard to keep up with my blog. We've been there for a couple weeks now and still do not have phone or internet. The only way we have internet is if we go to the library or bowling alley.. which isn't too often. So instead of updating my blog daily I though I would just let everyone know what I've been up to lately! 

The move into the house has been a little crazy. After what seemed like forever, our household goods finally arrived! The trucks here aren't as big as in the states, so they had to make three separate trips. Everything went pretty smoothly, until they movers took out dad's harley. There was a huge dent in the front fender & the windshield was broken off.. Sad day. At least it's all fixable. We've just got to find a harley shop here! It took us a few days to unpack all of our things, but by now it's looking like a home! (: 

Now we're just waiting on the phone & internet that's taking forever. :/

The neighborhood is nice & quiet, and our neighbors are really nice. On one side lives the mayor, and the other a police man, so we know we're safe. (: Bella loves the big yard, and we love the view! Sometimes we see deer right next to the woodline. (usually just little babies though, no 8points! LOL)

Other than the usual hanging out with the family and shopping, we've tried to start traveling a little bit. Here's just a little bit about the first trip we took(:

A few days ago, we planned on taking our first trip on the bullet train. We decided we would just go to the train station, pick a destination, and spend the day there. We went to the station, started plugging information into the little ticket machine, and realized we may have to take a different route..  We put in three different places, (one including Paris which I was super excited for.. lol sad day) but they were all over 100 euros for us to go.. Paris would cost over 500 euros! I don’t know if y’all know anything about the exchange rate, but $1 gets you about .78 euros. You can do the math..  They say the prices are so high because of all the kids out for summer & everyone visiting, there’s barely any room on the trains, so they hike the prices up.

Ok, ok.. you’re probably wondering.. what’s the big deal about a train ride? (I forgot to explain). These trains travel at about 300km per hour! (in other words.. super fast.. you can also do the math here if you’d like! LOL) The train can go from my town to Paris in less than 2 ½ hours! Maybe towards the end of the summer the prices won’t be so high..

SO instead of taking the train we decided to drive to a little town called Saarbrucken. Our neighbor told us it’s a real beautiful town & there’s a few things to do there. He was right. The town was so pretty. When we drove in, we saw that they were having an antiques flea market. We browsed for a couple hours, grabbed a bratwurst for lunch, and continued to walk around and look at everything. They were held on a street next to some shops and restaurants. After a while we stopped for coffee, and then ice cream. We kept seeing signs for a castle, so we headed out to find it. At first, we couldn’t find the castle. Some lady pointed us to a modern building and said that it used to be a castle but it was redone. It looked nothing like a castle, and we were about to just give up and go back home. Then, one man pointed us the right way. We walked into the building where the castle was and we talked to a woman. She explained that the only remaining parts of the castle were in the basement. They saved what they could of it. They made a museum of it, so people can see.. and they built on top of it. We bought our tickets and headed downstairs.. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

To walk upon the floors, and pass by walls that were build rock by rock by people wayyyy back when is just awesome. They had explanations of each room we walked through and explained what it was.  After you walked through the actual castle part, there were rooms with pictures and things to look at, like a real museum. Some of the things we saw were so cool & ancient. My favorite part of the tour was at the end. We walked into a room that mainly had pictures with descriptions next to them. Of course, dad and I didn’t even think we would enjoy this room because all of the writing was in German, and besides that.. we were tired. However, mom started to read some things to us & we realized it was all about hitler, the jews, and the war. We saw an actual uniform that the Jews used to have to wear. At the end of the room there was this small room, obviously part of the castle, made out of all stone. The walls were engraved with people’s names and whatnot, but there was plastic around it so that we couldn’t touch the walls to ruin them. A woman that worked there came over and started talking to my mom, and mom translated. That room was a dungeon for Jews. They would put up to thirty people in that room, including women, and their children. We learned that was the holding place for the Jews who were waiting to be sent to the concentration camps. They had a picture in the room of an old women walking through the same exhibit we were. It turns out that when she was 17 they captured her and she was actually held prisoner in that dungeon. I believe an American rescued her during the time of the war and she was released. She went back to her home country & for some reason (I don’t remember why), she was put into a concentration camp there and she later died.  Some of the things were just absolutely amazing. There was a list of people from around the area in which the castle is, that were killed in concentration camps. Isn’t it crazy to think something like that actually happened? I’m real interested in stuff like that. Mom and Dad said they’re going to take me to the Dakou concentration camp in Munich.. maybe by the end of summer I can go see Auschwitz in Austria.

Here are some pictures I took! 

This is the river near the flea market!

Another view of the river! (:

A weird bathroom.. lol you insert coins & the door opens up! haha

You can see the road where the flea market was(:

This is a tunnel in the castle.. all original! (and my parents walking through! lol)

This was just a spot where they used to shoot out of, and I guess a replica of a gun..
I can't really remember. 

These are rocks that they used to have to shape with a hammer for the walls. Also original.

The entrance to the dungeon. We couldn't go through. :( 

Just a stairway!

This was a picture of the castle after the war. The only remaining parts were underground. 

Creepy, but pieces of human skull found in the castle.

And lastly, what the castle used to look like. 

I also have some pictures of a letter from hitler, a jew uniform, and some other things but I can't get them to upload. :( Sorry guys! 

Hmmm.. what else? I’m thinking about taking a summer course online here. I found out Central Texas College offers courses for the soldiers here, and their families. Instead of just sitting around when I get bored, why not get some hours in? So we’ll see how that goes.

One of my best friends back home had her baby today! Welcome to the world Alexis Grace, & Congratualtions Sandra! I know you'll be an amazing mommy and your baby girl is beautiful! I can't wait to meet her & I hope she loves her pink tutu I got her.. ahha (: 

I really don't think I've really done much of anything else. It's hard to thing back to two weeks ago! LOL. 

I hope everyone back home is enjoying their summer as much as I am. It's tough to keep up while I'm internet-less! I'll be back on soon though! & thanks to everyone reading my blog!

I can’t believe I’ve already been here for like a month! Time sure is flying! 

I'll post again soon <3

Samantha Kay

Day Nineteen: Summer Livin'

Short & Sweet.

Day Nineteen:

Ok, mom and I finally gave in & ended up at the bowling alley to use their free wifi. (: haha.

(which is a beautiful thing!)

We checked our facebook & email. I could probably do without Facebook a while longer, but I'm in the process of getting registered for an online class or two while I'm here in Germany, so I need to make sure everything is running smoothly.

or is that just an excuse..?

hahaha

 We've started a new little tradition of watching private practice every morning at 10am & then we leave for the day. lol  We started off the day by going to a furniture store, then an entertainment store,  then the bowling alley for lunch and internet, the commissary, and lastly.. the bakery. 

When we got home mom and I unloaded the groceries, mom cleaned  bella and her cage, and then we sat down to play uno for a few hours.. lol. Dad had to leave town for work, so for dinner mom and I just made a couple bratwurst to eat while we played our game. 

By the time we finished our game, it was 10pm. Mom headed to bed, & I headed to take a bath & read before I went to sleep. (Another little tradition I've started hahah). 

That was it for the day!

Day Eighteen: Summer Livin'

The first day in the house! (:

Day Eighteen:

Today was a good day(: Who knew you could actually have a good day without tv & internet.. in a way, it’s sort of peaceful! Dad went back to work, and me and mom had the day to ourselves.

Here in Germany, on the windows you have these… blind type things, on the outside of the windows. Rouladen. At night, you press a button, and they all drop down & shut, so nobody can look in (or out) of the room. It’s a way to block the sun out & give you a little privacy. Basically they’re heavy duty blinds/shutters. ANYWAY. When you shut them & turn the lights off.. the room is pitch black.. which explains why at 10am this morning, I thought it was 6! LOL. I could’ve easily slept until 12! I love it! Haha.

So I got up at 10, went upstairs and talked to mom for a little bit & then got ready. Around 12 we took bella & went exploring around our new town. We walked all around the neighbor hood, down the road to the information center & then to the bakery. After we went to the bakery we walked down a few more streets & went to the “castle park” which was gorgeous. It’s a real pretty set up behind a castle here in trippstadt. There’s walking trails leading into the forest and there are benches, a fountain, and huge trees. I should’ve taken a picture.. After we walked around there for a short bit we headed back up the road to the house.

It’s been so cold the past few days.. it even rained a little yesterday. The weather was nice today, though. The wind was cold, but in the sun it felt so good! (: We sat outside in the backyard for a while playing with bella & enjoying our gorgeous view!

Mom & I ate what we got from the bakery, and played yahtzee for a while. After that I sort of just hung around while mom began cooking. When dad got home we had dinner ready.. ribs, fries, & peas. (: soooo good!

After dinner, mom and I played uno while dad got his things ready for work. He’s leaving town for a couple days. :(

Tomorrow, the satellite man is coming so we will finally have tv. (woo hoo, something more to do!) Then mom and I will run a few errands and go on base. Hopefully we’ll stop into the bowling alley, coffee shop, or library.. since they have wifi! Ahha.

I relaxed for a while by taking a hot bath in the amazing tub! Lol. It’s so deep & long so you can actually stretch out.. not like the puny American tubs! I read for a while and now I’m going to sleeeeep! (:

GOODNIGHT!

Day Seventeen: Summer Livin'

& the move begins!

Day Seventeen:

Talk about a crazy day. The big move! 

Let's seeee... I woke up at 7:52am.. the plan was for me to wake up at 8 to get ready to help mom and dad pack & move.. but mom came in a little early to get me up. It may not seem like a big difference.. but those eight minutes are a BIG deal, y'all! Dad was already bringing a load to the new house, while I got ready. Once I was ready, dad had already come back for another load. This time I went with him because we were expecting furniture people at the new house and somebody had to be there in order for them to deliver. On the way up to the house, we saw a furniture truck pass by & we could've sworn we missed our delivery.. however, as soon as we pulled up to the house.. so did the truck! (Thank god.. they had my bed! LOL)

We unloaded, and let the furniture guys set up everything they had. Dad left, and a couple minutes later mom showed up with another load! (: She left to go get the last load & to pick up lunch while I waited on dad. He showed up & then my uncle sent his workers from his waterbed company to drop off a waterbed we ordered, some storage cabinets, and a couch. 

It may not seem like it took that long, but by the time we were finished it was about 3pm. (The drive from the apartment to our house is about 30 minutes..) After we ate, we relaxed for a while & I took a nap in my new bed. 

Mom made pizza for dinner, which was super yummy. After our tummys were full, we were all ready for a hot shower & bed.. only, our water was cold.. 

the house is so high tech, apparently, the previous owners had something set to where the water heats up at night.. 

After playing with it for about 10 minutes, and waiting a couple hours, we had hot water! I took a bath in the amazing tub & read my book for a while! The bath tubs here are long & deep, not like the little tiny american ones! haha. After that I passed out & so did mom and dad! 

Boy were we tired! 

& thankful to be in the new house, finally! 

Day Sixteen: Summer Livin'

Hand over the keys & nobody gets hurt..

Day Sixteen:

Okay, maybe the title was a bit dramatic, but today was all about getting the keys to our new beautiful home & preparing to move in tomorrow! Mom & Dad bought a few things like fans, an AC, some satellites, and a couple other items that we'll need to hold us over until we get our household goods. (:

We went to the new house around four to do the inspection and get the keys(: I took a picture of the house for everyone to see.. it's not the best picture, and as always, pictures just don't do justice.. but here..

Beautiful(:
It has 3 stories, 6 bedrooms, 2 kitchens & living rooms,
3 balconies, the 2 garages you see, & a hugeee yard!

As you can kind of see in the picture, we were expecting bad weather. It was super cold today & windy, too! I wore sweat pants and a hoodie.. What happened to summer? It even sprinkled for a little while. Let's just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow while we're moving all of our things!

After we finally finished up at the house, we had dinner at a restaurant in the new little town. (: I also took a picture of my dinner.. LOL.

I had schnitzel in 3 different sauces, it was pretty good. (:
I couldn't finish it all, it was so much! & of course I gave all those
yucky mushrooms to mom! lol

The restaurant was pretty cool, it sat on a piece of land that had a little stream running through it.. the stream had huge trout that they raised.. to be cooked fresh! lol On the land they had goats.. it was so cute watching the little baby ones play with the others!

After we ate we drove back to the TLF apartment we're in now. It's only about a thirty minute drive or so. Once we got here we began packing and loading up the car for tomorrow. Dad will make a trip before me and mom wake up & after we rise from our beauty sleep we'll begin making some trips (along with my aunt's help) until all of our things are out of TLF & at the house.

Boy, i'll be glad when this move is over(:

Dad was worn out so he's already in bed, mom is in the shower, & i'm sitting down with my little puppy (who also seems to be worn out.. she lives such a tough life..) Tomorrow is going to be such a busy day.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is that we won't have internet for about two weeks, which means..

No iMessage, no Facebook, no blogging, no.. anything. :(

for TWO whole weeks..

this is gonna be tough for an addict, y'all! haha

I meannnn, everybody in my life that speaks english is about to disappear for a while! LOL.

My sister told me there's wifi at the bowling alley, library, & coffee shop.. Guess me & mom will be making a few trips to the base. (;

Anyway, just wanted to update you guys.

I guess my next post will be in about two weeks..

Pray for sooner. (;

SamanthaKay

Day Fifteen: Summer Livin'

Oma's! 

Day Fifteen:

Talk about a long day! 

We started off by running a few errands. We met up with a lady to buy some of her things before she goes back to the states, went on base, ran to the bank, got our phone stuff taken care of, went to my uncles waterbed company to pay him for the bed we're getting, and then went to my Oma's! (:

When we got there she had coffee and homemade cheesecake ready! lol. yummy! After we ate dad and I both fell asleep in the living room for about an hour, and when we woke up.. our early dinner was ready!

There were three types of salad, a regular salad, italian, and danish.. then there was chicken, brautwurst, and shish kabobs! It was all soooo good! Bella thought so, too.. the family here spoils her like crazy.. I think she likes german food better than american food.. lol. It's to the point where bella will stay super close by to anybody who doesn't speak english because she knows they'll feed her! ahhaha. 

After we ate we went upstairs to my aunts house & hung out with her and my uncle for a while. After a couple hours we realized it was already getting close to 9pm, so it was time to leave. The car ride seemed like it took forever.. even though we drive even faster here! lol.. weird.

We got home around 10:30 and we've just been relaxing (mainly checking our phones and facebooks.. and family feud for mom), for the past hour. 

Now it's time to wind down & hit the sack because tomorrow is going to be yet another long day. 

Yay for getting the keys to the houseeeee! :D 

This girl is tired.. i'm out!

(:

Days 13 & 14: Summer Livin'

Blurrr.

Day Thirteen:

I guess that was yesterday.

Dad went to work in the morning and then picked us up in the afternoon to go do some errands for the new house. We met our landlord.. the husband seemed kinda, well.. rude. We ran allll around town trying to take care of everything we needed to do (which took hours). We went to the new house, watched the former owners get their inspection done & our landlord showed us all the high-tech little tricks on the house.. (: We planned to get lunch after going to the bank, but since we had some little issues, lunch was skipped. At the end of the day we were starving! On the way home we stopped at the dohner place. Mom and Dad, of course, got dohners & I had chicken nuggets. haha 

yummmy! 

We came home and relaxed and I read for a while before bed. 

And that was about it. (:

Day Fourteen:

Another tiring daaaaay. 

Dad came home early after his motorcycle test to pick us up, we went on base to check out rosetta stone for dad at the library.. but it was closed & then we dropped dad back off at work. We picked bella up from the groomer (she really needed it, now she's all cute and cuddly lol). Mom and I went to town to look for a present for my Oma, and did some grocery shopping. The first store we went in was really cool. It had a bunch of plant stuff, but it had animals too.. I fell in love with the cute little bunny I saw. (:

Here's the little cutie. (:
I want her!

& Here's a couple pictures from the grocery store. (:

Germans love brautwurst & hot dogs. lol There was a whole aisle.
If you look at the top the hot dogs are in a can.. thought that was weird!

My mom used to make this a lot growing up.
soooo yummy.
Mainly took the picture for my brother haha.. it's his fave!

Found the German version of those pizza.. things. lol
For some reason, I can't remember what they're called..

Spices & whatnot. TONS.

Tomorrow we'll run a couple more errands and then go see my Oma to celebrate her birthday, which was on Thursday. Sunday we have our inspection for our house.. and monday.. we move in! woooo hoo.

We also got notice that our household goods, which is everything from our house, is here three weeks early! So we only have to be furniture-less for a couple days(:

When dad got off work, mom and he went to take care of our phone & internet stuff for the new house & went to go buy a couple things. For dinner we had some brautwurst.. & now we're just lounging around.. 

Time for bed.

Goodnight everyonee.. well, good afternoon to you guys! (:

This is just my little bellaroo sleeping(:
Thought it was cute enough to share lol!

Catch up with y'all tomorrow..

SamanthaKay