Winter?

The weather has gotten colder, dreary, and rainy. It makes it hard for me to get out of bed in the morning. Andrew on the other hand has to get up at 530, to get to the other base for PT. I haven't been doing too much, working out most days, running errands, and finishing all the paperwork to apply for jobs(22pages). The man who has been helping me in the Job Center, unfortunately is ill this week, Bronchitis. So, this means I applied for a job, I think I did it right?!?, the other people in the office weren't a lot of help. I have been told that jobs are hard to come by, unless I want to work at a fastfood place or the grocery store. Not sure if I am up for that idea yet. I think I will wait it out a little longer. I don't really want to work with high schoolers at minimum wage. I haven't found a job that really fits my experience, a couple jobs I'd like won't open for 3-6 months, when those individuals move away. I'm thinking about volunteering in the exceptional persons office. The man there seemed quite interested in my special needs respite etc experience, maybe my help there could lead to something more.
I stopped by the PX today, many things are 25% or 50% off with an additional 50% off. I found a pair of asics for $25, a tshirt for 3.75....even without a mall I can find good deals :). Many people were buying winter coats for their children and themselves, as well as, perfume and cologne. I also bought some christmas chocolate, to sample a few types. Thus far my favorite has been some Belgium chocolates we received for Christmas. They melt in your mouth. We will have to stock up on chocolate when we make it to Belgium.
Andrew and I are going to the movie Night at the Museum, tonight. Cheap entertainment! Tomorrow we hope to go to IKEA again to get a few more things for our apartment, cheap. Otherwise, just lay low. I'm hoping to sign up for a trip for one of the upcoming weekends. They offer trips all the time, kinda costly, but you dont have to worry about driving or figuring out the details of the trip. I think for our first real trip, that it would be a good way to go somewhere.

2007!

Happy New Year!!! We attempted to use our TomTom to reach a castle and a chocolate factory, but the instructions failed to say you needed to charge it before you tried to use it. We tried to use the map that was on the chocolate website, but since we didnt know the area, it did us no good. I swear every road here splits in a Y, 90 degree turns don't exist. We did however end up near the stores we went to previously in the week, by taking a back route there by chance. We checked out the store Real, which is like Super WalMart, with groceries, bikes, toys, tires etc. Bought a few odds and ends, and made it home without any trouble. Yesterday, we went to the movie We Are Marshall, made dinner, and went to our friends house for drinks and to try out a German tradition. You purchase a package with pewter shapes in it: heart, flowers, money bag, cork, four leaf clover. You place the shape on a metal spoon and heat it over a candle to melt the pewter. Next, you pour the hot pewter into a bowl of water. You take the cooled pewter out and try to determine what the shape is. Different shapes are defined on the package, the shape determines your fortune for the New Year. After we headed to a nearby church. We took a taxi, which wasn't worth what it cost 16.20 Euro, but we had no idea where we were going. If we had known, we would have driven. It was quite the experience, a lot of people were at the church which is on a hill. At midnight all around town people set off their own fireworks until they run out. Needless to say the sky was very lit up with all the amateur fireworks. They lasted about 30-40 minutes. The church bells rang also. Our friends had purchased a few, so we set some off. Unfortunately, the bag they had some of them in, was hit with sparks and started on fire. Ruining half of what they had, ruining the backpack, and causing quite the noise. Which really wasn't noticed because everyone around us were focused on their own fireworks, many not even caring if you were in the way. I was scared someone was going to burn me. I don't think they like to recognize safety here. After we had enough of the fireworks and loudness, we caught a cab home. Our friends continued on to a German friend's house to continue to celebrate. We were both ready for a little sleep. My mom was able to reach me around 130am, to wish us a Happy New Year. We finished off 4 phone cards for a total of 19 minutes. Call time is really cut down when you call internationally.