Shoveling Snow

Ok there is a saying in Germany "he who shovels the first snow shall have the first clean sidewalk".

Seriously...these German's are outside shoveling their sidewalks before dawn! I can look down my street and see all the cleared sidewalks...then I look at mine, not so much.

So I decided I was going

to get up bright and early and clear my walk! Yes 7:30 I was out there! I beat all the German's! I showed them this was no lazy American! My sidewalks will be clear! Of course this is a two part process. First shovel the snow, then turn my shovel upside down to break the ice and scrape the sidewalk.

So after that is done it is onto my drive way, and then to the walk way to my front door. All cobble stone! So repeat process 1 and 2, then then add my super industrial strength broom to sweep off all the snow. I feel like I do not need to go to the gym after all this. It only takes me an hour to do all this process!

You would think shoveling would only have to be done once in the morning and that would be sufficient. But no, you have to go back out in the middle of the day when it starts to snow again! One upside to this is that if you did shovel in the morning all you need for the second round it your broom!

I wake up in the mornings and cannot figure out why my hands are stiff and sore. Its from holding onto that stupid broom!

So now as I look outside it has started to snow again! I am not going out a third time! You cannot make me!

SIDE NOTE....After I posted this my friend told me that by German law you have to have your side walk shoveled by 6:00 A.M. or the police can write you a ticket! I guess that is why the German's are up before dawn shoveling!

London

Well we finally got to take a trip someplace outside of Germany but that was still inside Europe. London! The land of the English, the spoken word, the words of choice, the only words I understand. I cannot tell you how excited I was to go to London....not just to see London, but to know that I would understand what I was reading and seeing! Oh and that they have "real" diet coke! Yes not the sweet Coca Light here in Germany. REAL DIET COKE!! My name is Kara and I am addicted to Diet Coke. Everyone now...HELLO KARA.

Anyway, got off the plane in London and what was the first thing that I bought....drum roll...yes Diet Coke! But really this trip was not all about Diet Coke.

We had about 2 1/2 days to try and fit in everything we could see in this city.

We started at Fridays, home of the free refills...yes of Diet Coke...but again this trip was not about DC! I have to abbreviate now since I am using the word DC too much!

Then is was the classic picture of the

Red Phone Booth

Then it was off to see which was was bigger...Big Ben, or MY Big Ben

And of course the House of Parliament

Then we were off to the Eye

Then it was off to Madame Tussaud's to end off the long day of walking!! The Queen did invite us over for tea the following day. That was very nice of her to open her house to us.

DAY 2 (boring you yet?)

Changing of the guard (Queen never let us in, she must have forgotten). We got to the palace right at 10 to see the horseman. But the actually changing of the guard was not going to take place for another 1 1/2 hours! So we grabbed a taxi and headed to Harrods, only to be denied access since they do not open until 11:30 on Sundays! Not that we could afford anything with the great US to Pound exchange! I have to give them a $1.61 just to get 1 pound. So that bottle of DC for 1 pound is really costing me $1.61...I guess that is not too bad.

Then it was off to the Tower of London. If any of you have watched the show the Tutors on HBO you will know some of the history of all the great beheadings that went on in this place. And f.y.i, the actor in the Tutors is way better looking than the real Henry the VIII.

Of course the Tower Bridge is right there also, so a quick picture of that.

Then it was off to see the Lion King. The kids really enjoyed that. Be warned it is a 2 hour and 45 min production. Make sure everyone uses the bathroom! Then we spent the rest of the night with our friends the Hamberlins that we knew from College. They have a 13 year old son and they are the same age as Ben and I. I can't even imagine having a 13 year old daughter right now. Of course if I did I would have a build in babysitter and I might be young enough to actually run around with my grand kids...but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Day 3

I swear we have done so much walking in the last 2 days that we are just dragging! Not to mention that it was cold, cold, bitter cold! So today we decide to hit Westminster Abbey. Let me tell you, there are a lot of big monuments, tombs, whatever you want to call them. Its just a mish mosh of dead people.

So after that exciting adventure it was off to Ripley's Believe it or Not. That is the one thing the kids really wanted to see. Why would anyone want to stick a drill in their nose? Who would think of that? Who wakes up and says, "you know I think I can drill holes in my nostril cavity!" Or the people who swallow swords? Strange bunch I tell ya.

So that was London in a nut shell! Lots of English and Diet Coke, what could be better in a vacation? Where to next?

Passed the stupid freaking test!!!!

That's right people I passed! January 6, 2010 will be a date to remember. My teacher woke me up at 9:30 Monday morning (was jet lagged from getting home from the states....not lazy) to tell me I was going to take the test Wed. So I said to myself "self...you are going to study at least an hour Mon and Tues for the test", and so I did. Now grant you there are 3000 test questions I have to study from and a 60 page manual. I tried to memorize the formulas, right before lefts and that you can drink and drive in Germany...its true.

Wednesday morning I go to the testing center with my kids, I am ready! I think. Sure I am. Yes I am! Told my teacher to make me a 2 week appointment just in case... ; ) So into the testing room I go with the other test takers, the instructor made some kind of joke or statement to me in front of the other...much younger students. He did not call me by name, its just that all the other students were staring at me smiling and laughing. I did not hear "drei" (for 3) so he was not telling them, "so this is your third time..do you think you will pass"? He knows I am the only one taking the test in English. Does he think that I can understand spoken German but cannot read it? Who knows. He tells me to go to seat neun, so I go. I skip all the instructions I think I know how to take the test by now.

My heart is beating hard, I can feel it on my chest. I answer all the questions fairly fast as I have seen many of them before so I know I am getting them right. But there were some I had not seen. I look in the upper right corner and the test tells you how much that question is worth. So on the formula question, it was worth 4 points. So I think, if I get this one wrong I only have 6 more points for 2 other questions. No pressure. There were 3 questions that I was unsure of, and then the last question of the test. I knew in my head that if I got this question, the last question wrong, I would fail the test again. So now my heartbeat is in my throat! The question was if you had car trouble on the autobahn what would you do. So the first two out of the three I knew. Pull over to the hard shoulder, put out a orange triangle at 100 m in front of your car, the last one was try to give hand signals to other cars to let them know you need help.

So I had to think would I signal to other that I need help? Or would I stand there and wait for someone to help me? Would I just use my cell phone and call someone? So I decided no waving of the arms.

So I hit FINISHED, then the next think that comes up on the screen is ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE FINISHED? Yes, I think so. So I click it again. I wait, I wait, and then the answer screen comes up. I got two wrong! One that I thought I would get wrong, but the other surprised me. The questions were worth 4 and 5 points! So that was 9 right there (got the formula question right..quite proud of myself on that one, thank you). I look at the top of the screen and it says Successful all in green! One more wrong and I would have been back in another 2 weeks! I get up from my seat and the instructor tells me good job (now he speaks English?..or maybe I am so happy I understand German)

I go out into the hallway were my teacher and kids are waiting and yell "YEA"!!! The parents of the "much younger students" all laugh at me, I don't care, I am giddy with excitement! I can now go home, relax, and not study for this test ever again! Of course now that I have passed it, all my new speeding tickets will go to my new license. CRAP!!