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!!

If I drank I would be an alcoholic after these driving tests!

Pissed! Pissed! Can I use a stronger word? Yes I could, but crap, suck, freaking A, bite me, all seem to be doing pretty good right now. Go in for my 2nd round of taking the German Driving test today. I go in confident knowing that I am going to pass. I even have the celebratory Diet Coke in the fridge waiting for my glorious return home.

9:30 I start the test. First question is one of those number ones..skip, next 8 question no problem, skip one more, keep going you are doing great. Oh another stupid question, skip. Ok now I have done all the question I know for sure. So I am left with two 4 point question and 2 3 point question. So basically if I get both 4's wrong I fail. That is when the stress hit!

The question was "what is dangerous about this road". Well I see two cars on a cobble stone road with railroad tracks. Neither car is on the tracks in fact they are on either side coming towards me and going away from me. But one of the answers is "it is dangerous to drive on the tracks". So of course I over think it and say "no one is on the tracks, they are safely away from the tracks driving, so why would it be dangerous if no one drives on the tracks". But guess again, so I got that one wrong. The other was about the pedestrian Zebra crossing. Yes I know I have to stop in time not to scare the pedestrians, (that is a answer) and another one was have breaks locked. So I say to myself "when I am sitting at a zebra crossing, my breaks are locked, my car is not moving, so this must be right". No it is not! So now that is 8!

This was the other one

A class B driver's license allows you to drive a powered vehicle not more than 3.5 tones of permissible weight. You are allowed to carry a trailer not more than 750 kg (in addition 4250 kg for the combination). You are also allowed to carry trailers with a permissible mass not exceeding the empty mass of the vehicle in front.

Three questions all worded that way and I had to figure out the right one. Whatever! 3 points wrong!

Last one Which one is the Braking-distant rule of thumb

Speed in km/h

------------------ X 3

10

Speed in km/h X Speed in km/h

------------------ ------------------

10 10

Speed in km/h X 3 + Speed in km/h X Speed in km/h

------------------ ------------------ ------------------

10 10 10

Answer is the 2nd one in case you want to know. The first is Speed and stopping distance rule of thumb. The last is Stopping distance from the moment you realize the need to break. OH there is a cow, I am going 130 km/h do I have enough time to stop before I make hamburger all over the road. And then yes I am responsible for any soil or mess I cause to the road, so I would have to clean it up.

I know all the rules...except for the crazy tow axial permissible mass crap. Give me the damn license!! (yes I had to look up the spelling for damn and stupid)

I told Ben I am not taking it again! This is why people figure out ways to cheat on tests! Is there someway I can take a picture of the computer with my iPhone send it to someone, have them look up the answer in my book and send me back the answer? hmmm

Since my fail proof method of getting a AZ license while I was in the states for Christmas was foiled! I guess other people have tried doing that in the 45 states that do not have to take the German drivers license! You have to take the stupied test with the license that you came into the country with.

There is not enough diet coke in my house to drown out my sorrows! If you have not guessed yet, yes I failed. I knew when the instructor of the class and my driving instructor looked at their computer and both winced and sucked in air at the same time looking at their screen and then at me. Now I have to make muffins and crap for a Christmas market bake sale for my kids school tomorrow. There will be no Jolly Christmas music going on at this house. Maybe Bart Simpson will become my new hero in life. He has stayed in the same grade for over 10 years, why can't I!

Christmas Markets

Christmas markets start here on November 24. The markets have local craftsmen set up stands and sell their goods. You can find candy, food, wine all filling up the air with their intoxicating scents. The markets are in small towns, villages, and cities. I will keep adding the ones I visit to this post.

For history on the markets you can go to http://www.germany-christmas-market.org.uk/

On the 24 I took the kids to the opening night of Wiesbaden's market. They had performers in the sky, singers and fireworks.

November 26

We headed down to Rudesheim for their Christmas market. The town has set up the market through narrow streets which have been decorated with St. Nicholas and Christmas trees. We went here with my quality friends Jen, Bob and kids, and Trishia with her boys.

Bob of course was Bob....

Rudesheim is know to have the largest Nativity Set in Europe. You do have to pay .50 euro to take a picture. So make sure it is a good one!

A Little Hot Chocolate

A Little Bit of Santa Clause

December 4th

Ok this is the last Christmas Market. They all seem to start to look the same after awhile. The Mainz Christmas Market has a eleven metre (36') high Christmas pyramid from the Ore Mountains in eastern Germany. It stands directly at the center of Höfchen square. This was our last market of the season. I think I have had enough kinder wine, hot chocolate and brauts to last me until next year.

Naked Spa Day

Well I set off today for the great Naked Unknown. In my head I am thinking that everyone is going to be walking around naked, checking in naked, getting a drink naked, going into the sauna naked. So I had a 45 min drive to think about the naked unknown!!!

I get to the door and 8 other people are waiting outside for the doors to open at 10 AM. I check out my soon to be naked company and see that I am at least 20 years younger than these people. Good start. I stand in line at the end to see what they all do to check in. Most of them have big duffel bags....was I suppose to bring things? So when I see that some are renting towels and robes, I think...thank goodness!

I get up to check in and they say "oh you must be Kara Foulk", yes I am the one with all the appointments today. They tell me to go to the top floor to the change rooms and that my first apt is at 11:10. So I go up the stairs and I see 10 different changing rooms. No signs saying men to the right, women to the left, just dressing rooms. Now imagine what saloon doors look like, that is what the doors to the changing rooms look like. I can pass a room and see who is there changing since you can see from the shoulders up and knees down. First room is a couple, then another couple, then more men...so I keep passing the rooms until I find one to myself. Not ready for undressing in front of people yet.

I stick on my robe and head downstairs to the information desk. They tell me my first appointment is at 11:10 so I should enjoy the next hour exploring the rooms. So I head off to the sauna area. Already my German Naked counterparts are laying down basking in all their glory in almost every room. So I keep looking until I find a room where I can be by myself, work my way slowly into naked groups. I disrobe and go in naked. I can do this, no worries. Then the door opens, oh just some woman. She brings in her towel and lays down for the long haul. After 5 min I am done with that sauna, too hot. I head back out and go into the roman sauna which is a little bit cooler. I join the other 2 men and 2 ladies already laying down, feet up, and relaxing. As I go from room to room all the Germans have brought their own towels to sit on. In the brochure no one was sitting on towels, am I suppose to be sitting on a towel? Of course would I want to sit on this seat if some old naked hairy man was sitting here before me without a towel? So I go to get a towel to save the poor German's from sitting on my butt sweat.

Most of the people their were older couples in the morning, but as the day got later ladies would come with their girlfriends, and younger couples appeared. But for now its just me and myself for an hour, all alone, with all these naked people. Now I know we have all seen a naked man before, but to be surrounded by so many naked men...so many different shapes and sizes, all to be just hanging out, bobbing up and down in the whirl pool, swinging as they walk, it was a little to much. Especially when I had no one to talk about it with! So after an hour of my German bonding I went for my massage.

The massage was easy enough. Walk in, get naked, get on a table face down, have the lady roll up a little towel and put it on your crack. Yea that is totally covering me up. Then it is time to roll over. Again, roll over naked and then she puts a little towel on your privates. As soon as the oil comes on, the towel comes off the boobs. So as I am getting all lubed up someone knocks on the door to give my masseuse a message. Oh sure come on in, chat, take up a chair, I am just naked!

So off to lunch where I can wear a robe, thank you.

Now it is time for the facial. The lady greets me and tells me in German that she does not speak any English. I tell her in English, no problem and just point to my face hands and feet. We are good!

So I walk into the room and take off my robe. I sit in the chair, yes naked, she starts to put the chair down like a dentist and then puts a towel on me. Now normally when I get a facial, they are relaxing. I little probing, but for the most part relaxing.

This facial was from HELL! I wanted to get up and run out! But I remembered that I was naked so not a good idea...maybe that is why we are naked. hmmm

So she washes my face and then gets out the scary bright light with the huge magnifying glass. My eyes are closed since if I had opened them I am sure I would have been blinded for life. I can hear her pulling open wrappers and metal objects falling onto a table. First she starts to pluck the eyebrows (did not ask for that, must have needed it). Then she starts to go for the clogged pores. I swear to you I have not felt this much pain since I was in labour! She is pushing so hard I swear she is going to put a hole into my skin. Just as I thought the pain could not get any worse I would hear her grab a different instrument and start to what sounded like clip and pick...was she digging, cutting, what was she doing! She was cleaning pores that I swear I did not have. She started on the forehead and then when down one side of my face. I kept thinking "go to my happy place, go to my happy place.....find my happy place, where the hell is my happy place! I don't have a happy place"! So after she gets to my chin I have started Lamaze breathing...hehehe whooooo, hehehe whooooo. She starts to laugh and takes the light off my face for a second. I am sweating up a storm from the pain. So after my 10 second break she starts on the other side. Now I am laughing to myself because I am thinking "I am so writing about this in my blog, should I write in the 3rd person, write out the sound effects"?When she was finally done I swear my face was swollen and hot! I thought this must what it feels like to have botox. I swear I did not have one wrinkle when she was finished because my face was swollen! She put cold ice on my face to calm it down. Did that sound like fun? No, no, no. In case you were wondering.

So she leaves me laying down and starts to work on my hands and feet. I guess and mani/pedi at this place means we shape your nails, push down your cuticles, buff the nails and put lotion on you.

I miss my $35.00 mani/pedi at Sandy nails in CT!!

Now in 3rd person, I say to myself "self I am done with all this great relaxing and I am going to cool off in the nice salt pool". Now the place is packed. People are everywhere. This is definitely something you want to do with your spouse or a friend. Us Americans just do not know how to relax, or maybe its just me. People are just laying on lounge chairs reading books, newspapers, sleeping, or just chatting. I can lay out to relax if I know I am getting something in return...like a suntan. I can read a book....if I know I get to go to sleep after the next chapter. I do not know how they do it, just relax.

So I think I have had enough German relaxation for awhile. Now for some good American relaxing, put my feet up, open a can of diet coke and watch a TV show! What can be better than that!

www.baederhaus.de

bring a robe, towel, sandals and leave your modesty at the door. ; )

Stupid, freaking, dumb German driving test!

There are 11 states that do not have a reciprocity agreement between that state and Germany. CT is one of them. Do they not think such a small state has cars? That we do not leave our states for long drives? That we do not know what a stop sign looks like?

This test, the lovely German written test is impossible! I have a 62 page translated book to memorize and a CD ROM with flash cards and practice tests to try and learn all the signs and rules for Gemany! Do these signs look like something we would ever need to know in the states? Come on! How many signs can you have for "no parking" and "where to park" I guess about 10 for Germany.

I took the practice exam about 6 times and kept failing! There are 30 questions. Each question in worth 2, 3, 4 or 5 points. So if you get two questions wrong that are worth 5 points you fail the exam. There is a big section on the effects of hashish. Do German's smoke a lot of hashish? A section on "The risk of being human" talking about keeping your feelings in check if you get angry on the road. How not to get distracted.

Or my favorite is Empty mass of the car + 75 kg/ 2 = permissible towed load

WHAT???

So anyway, I go in today to take my test that I have studied for. Completely stressing out. I have been told it takes people 4 times to pass, but I have talked to people that pass on the first try. So me and 10 other teenagers go into a room of computers to take the test. We can all see our drivers licenses on the teachers desk for him to hand out when we pass the test.

So we all start. One by one the kids get up from their desk, grab their jackets and exit out the door. None of them are taking there license. None of them are passing. So when I am one of the last ones in the room I realize that no one has passed the test! So I press "Mark Test" and the computer tells me

FAILED!!

So the teacher comes up to me and says "sorry too many wrong", really? Is that what the failed in the big red letters mean? So now I have to take the stupied, freaking, dumb German driving test again in another 2 weeks! I have one year to pass it! Lets see if I can do it.