Updates!

Yes I'll admit -- I've been a little neglectful lately, so sorry. Truth is, I've been so busy that I can barely keep up and I suspect that this will continue for at least the next year as the amount of projects that I have are... well... I don't even want to think about it. All I can say is thank goodness I love my line of work because if I hated it, I'd be having a nervous breakdown right about now. Fortunately, I love all of the projects that I'm involved in and feel very passionately about each one so it's the passion that is my fuel and motivates me to stay committed. I remember times in my life when I did not like what I was doing for work and how every moment felt like an hour. Ever have a job like that?

me in the mirror at bueckeburg castle.

How have you been? These days, I've been going to a lot of markets because they have so many winter markets outdoors and indoors that there is always something going on. They've set up a rather large market here on the main street where I do most of my errands so whenever I'm down there I'm caught up in a whirlwind of sights, sounds and smells... Roasted nuts, hot wine, gingerbread... and I love the puppet theater for the kids, the man who does them is so talented and to hear the laughter of the children as I approach is such medicine! In addition to these daily markets dotted around town, the twice weekly farmers' markets in my neighborhood are still hopping so I enjoy buying locally grown foods still -- even in the winter. Lately the Dutch have been bringing over lots of tulips -- I've been noticing them more and more in the flower shops and since they grow them in their massive greenhouses just over the border, you can enjoy what is the symbol of Springtime in the month of December. Amaryllis are all the rage, in addition to pine, neither of which you'll find in my home as I don't like red or pine green. I'm a rebel. So I opt for tulips and roses. :) And so with the markets, and the trips outside of Hannover to see the family, or visit a random castle, and my visits with my friend (we do a ladies lunch once weekly), and my visits with family and other friends (tomorrow I'm going by train up north to do some shopping), and this, and that... there is never a dull moment. I cannot believe I've been living here for 18 weeks already - over 4 months! I'm not homesick at all, I'm too busy to really think about missing anything yet. And I will be teaching an online class for 7 weeks from January - March so that will keep me occupied during what promises to be cold, wet, dark months... so I don't suspect I'll have a bad or depressing or homesick kind of winter. I'm happy, it's still as sweet as it was when I arrived just in different ways. A few additional updates... we're still looking actively for a new place to live (no leads), I'm still having fun times learning German (not in school yet though), and I'm still working on paperwork -- I have about ten more documents to have approved or appointments to make this month alone! ALSO Whoever romanticized moving to Europe is a heavy drinker on crack because let me tell ya, relocation over the pond is HARD WORK and takes A LOT of time and money. Rick Steves can harp on about romantic Vienna and charming Paris all he wants -- it's only charming and romantic while you're downing a bottle of fine wine while boating down some fancy river. When you move here, life is LIFE. It's all the same as it was before, just in a new environment with new people, challenges, good times and bad times. I was telling my husband just this morning that if he were not German and a lover of research, we'd be screwed here with all of this paperwork. It's not hard or anything it is just all in GERMAN. And if you don't speak it, you are screwed. There is SO MUCH to do when you leave your country for a new one. New laws, insurances, licenses, visas, language classes, medical & dental insurance, legal help (and insurance - yup, they offer that is Germany and it is divine), life insurance, business insurance, property insurance, retirement insurance, personal insurance (you break a vase in someone else's home), translation of documents, taxes (nightmare), I could go on and on and on... and all of this is in the language of your new country and if that is not English and you are not fluent in your new language (ME) then you better have a friend you can trust who is also very helpful, honest and intelligent or you will face a lot of frustration and even anger through the whole process of setting up your life in a new land. And to top it all off, even leases on apartments and bank accounts are completely different and laws on this are very different, and traffic laws are different so when you are driving you cannot think in terms of how you remember driving for 20 years, you have to take into account all of these new signs, some you cannot read, others that are super confusing... Every single day is a learning experience. And so if you do not like to learn then you will not like leaving behind your country for a new one. Fortunately I love to learn, I am married to a German, and I pretty much have it made because he loves to research things and has made this process very, very easy for us even with all of the appointments and paperwork. But if he were American like me, we'd both be standing now with our pants down because let me tell you, the joke would be on us. It's not easy. Once you move to Europe and aren't just vacationing (i.e. not thinking about your "real" life), you will realize the amount of work you will need to do to get set up so that you can start living a normal life. You better LOVE that new culture you have your eyes on! This is precisely why one must truly love research, learning and their new culture OR they need to be sponsored by a company who will do all of the hard stuff for them. :) Or marry someone from that country like I did. Then it's more or less business as usual. So! That's all the latest from me. I'm happy and busy and looking forward to the weekend! I have a lot of fun things planned... including time with our friends on Saturday evening in a nearby town, a visit to the opening of a design store opening party in my district, and on Saturday I need to have my husband shoot a vignette and a room in our apartment for Cosmopolitan magazine where I'll be featured in an article in their March issue. The press has been good to me lately... So how are you? :) Oh and before I go another funny story... I went to the photo studio yesterday to have my photo taken for my driver's license. It has to be a biometric photo and the place that issues your license does not take them like in the states. Anyway, this twentysomething guy comes out to the lobby and escorts me to room, closes the door, and it is very dim with only the makeup table and mirror illuminated. He looks at me, in a most serious voice speaking in English with a thick German accent... "Take off your clothes please." Huh? Take off your clothes please? Um you don't mean that, you mean my coat right? He smiled, then blushed, then said, um yes, your coats. It was totally cute. He kept blushing during the entire shoot. He then confessed to having an English speaking Canadian girlfriend. I asked him why then did he not know the difference between the word coat and clothes? He just smiled. Hmmm. Judging from all of the nude photographs all over the wall in his studio, I'm assuming this is just normal business speak to him. Hi, step into my room, take off your clothes. he he. This month I have so much on my plate, I doubt I'll be in the haus maus haus too often. Sorry. But I'm trying to stop by here once weekly to say hello and well, hopefully that's good for you my dear friends. How are you doing anyway? (image: holly becker for haus maus)