Sleepless in Seattle

I got to go play with Kathryn over the weekend and it's made me miss being back at Purdue and playing on campus.

For those of you who have never been to Seattle, I highly recommend it. Kathryn and I were the ultimate tourists starting bright and early Saturday morning and not stopping until she dropped me off on Monday morning at the airport. I'd like to say that we saw Seattle from land, air and sea.
On land, we walked everywhere! Starting from her cute little apartment (which I'm quite jealous of) all the way downtown to where they have the most Victorian buildings in a square of about 20 blocks. We also saw everything in between. We went to the fish market where they let me hold a crab!!
We drank tea at the original starbucks, and I was even talked into buying jam from some cute vendor guy. We ate the world's best mac and cheese, saw a statue of a Russian dictator, saw a troll under a bridge and ate Pho!Needless to say that when we finally fell into bed at night it didn't take long for us to pass out! And I got to see the U of Washington campus which is absolutely beautiful and while I will always love Purdue, it would have been nice to have amazingly huge buildings of beautiful architecture and a football statium looking out over a lake. We also did one of those bus/boat tours when the bus actually drives right into the water and turns into a boat!!


That was when I decided I wanted to live in a floating house on Lake Union. Our driver was a little quirky but that just made it all the more interesting!

Now, we didn't actually fly over Seattle to see it by air (well, I guess I did to get there but that's beside the point) but we did go the top of Smith Tower which is a really tall building downtown that actually has a caged in deck on the 35th floor that you can walk out onto. We happened to choose the windiest day ever to do this so it did feel like we were flying! And I'm pretty sure if we had a fear of heights before that adventure, we conquered it that day! And we found out that people actually live in the point of the Smith tower and that's when I decided to live there (notice a trend?)!!

Other random things: we met a guy who was trying to find himself by getting people's e-mail addresses to send them a website link that didn't exist yet. If you just read that sentence and said "huh?" then you're pretty much in the same boat G-spach and I were in. We just smiled and backed out of the cheese shop he found us in (but not before I gave him my old purdue e-mail address b/c who am I to judge someone's way of finding themselves?). We also are pretty sure we saw some ballet dancers and what could only be there bodyguard. We followed them around for awhile…on purpose or on accident we're pretty sure we're on the bodyguard's hit list.

The theme of the weekend though I'd have to say was car trouble!! It all started when Kathryn picked me up at the airport and in the 30 seconds it took me to get into her car, a cop knocked on the window to tell her that the tags on her car had expired. Well it was her roommates car and I can only describe the inside of it as Colleen, Goody and my room senior year at it's worst multiplied by 50. So Kathryn kindly thanked him for the information and tried to end the conversation right there but unfortunately he wanted to see licence and registration and all that other stuff. Thankfully the seattle police were on an off night and since they were taking to long, he let us off with a warning.

Later in the weekend, we rented a flex car (which is actually a great concept where you can rent cars that are parked around the city for a few hours or days at a time). Unfortunately, there was a slight mix up and we ended up at the wrong car. Then when we got that sorted out, we did out adventure and came back to find that someone was parked in the spot we're supposed to leave the car in! So we let them a "friendly reminder" as the flex car company calls it which pretty much says "listen up bitchass, we're towing your car b/c you were such an idiot. Maybe you'll know better in the future."

When I got back to Detroit on Monday night I got to my car and got in only to find that the driver's side door wouldn't latch shut. Now, I live 2 hours from the Detroit airport and as strong as I like to think my arms are, they aren't strong enough to hold the door closed while steering with my other arm for that long. So I drove to the closest decent sized town looking for someplace open 24 hours. I finally found a walgreens and of couse they were closed but a lady outside of it had an elastic thing in her truck that she gave to me and came to help me fix my car. Of course as soon as that happened, the door decided to latch making me look like a huge idiot or possibly some person who was actually hoping to rob a walgreens while carryng around her laptop that she was too afraid to leave in the car. Ugh, what a night!!

But now I'm back in Midland and enjoying a few nights in my own bed until Friday when I pack up and leave for Houston! I figure if Dow gives me 5 free flights to Texas a year, I might as well use them when it's bitter cold in Michigan and I know Nat loves visitors!!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!! I love you all!!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I'm getting ready to embark upon a tour of the western hemisphere and I thought I'd send out a little note before I leave.

This weekend I'm off to the great state of Washington to visit Miss Kathryn Gramelspacher. I can only imagine our weekend will be full of Starbucks and Pho which are the only two things that I know exist there. Rumor has it that KG is living in the top of the space needle and one can only imagine the view. It will be a treat!

Next weekend I'm off to the giant state of Texas!! I'll be visitng the new Laskowski family and Ryan and I will officially duel it out for the love of Natalie. Rumor has it he's a little jealous of my facebook status and the fact that my phone number has been memorized. I can't say I blame him but let's face it, I met Nat first.

After that I'm off to Mexico--Corporate Style. In other words, I'm not going to be near the coast, I'm not going to be drinking an abundance of cerverzas or taking any siestas. But I'm sure it will still be an adventure. I've heard that the people are not as friendly when you can't speak Spanish so I'm doing my best to at least LOOK Mexican by leaving my hair curly, and hoping for the best.

My trip home from Mexico is going to route me through Kansas City, Kansas where I'll be attending a wedding that one might say I invited myself to. I'm sure it will be a great time because Ben and Nat and Ryan and Bill Kercher and Blake (who you might remember from the Laskowski wedding of '07) will also be in attendance. I have never been to a wedding that wasn't a grand time so I can't see this one being any different!

Finally, I'll round off my tour with a trip to Brazil where I will be equipped with a bodyguard and will be working with two other Brazilians. I might even attempt a side trip to Rio b/c it's one of the only 2 places that have impressed my dad (the other being Hong Kong if anyone is curious). Regardless, it's another trip to another country where I don't speak the language which I can only hope will provide you guys with entertaining e-mails at the very least.

After that, I think i'm scheduled to spend May and June in the beautiful state of Michigan which actually isn't bad b/c summer is the only reason I agreed to live in this state. So, if anyone wants to come visit, that'd be the time to do it!! There is no saying where I'll be starting in July (except that I will be in Turkey but that's for a personal vacation).

I hope that everyone is having a good day!!

I miss you all!!

Just a quick one

So, during my time in Germany, I've had the chance to read a few books. I thought I'd pass them on.

1. Eat Pray Love --I think i've recommended this before but now i've actually read it and it's good. It's just a nice story but don't read if except a huge turning point and a lot of plot. it's just a story of this lady's life.

2. P.S. I love you--this is a cute book that looks long but i finished quite quickly. And it's being made into a movie. It's about a girl whose husband died and left her a list of things to do. I liked it.

3. Nineteen Minutes--I'm reading this one right now and it's SO good. It's by Jodi Picoult which I know some of you know from My Sister's Keeper (which is also really good). It's also a long one but I think it's worth it.

Ok, that's all. I like to think we're all benefitting from my travels.

My life is a TV show

Well Guten Morgen once again! I'm now in my final week of my stay in Germany and as much fun as I've been having, I'm ready to head back to the U.S. It's amazing how much you start missing things like not being forced to go out to eat and actually being able to pick out an outfit from more then just what's in your suitcase. Not to mention being able to watch something other then music television.

This weekend we went to Stasbourg (which is in France) where more then once I accidentally said "Danke" instead of "Merci" b/c I forgot that we had switched sides. Luckily people know what they both mean. In Strasbourg we just walked around and enjoyed the sites. There was a Christmas market there too so we went exploring through that. There is a famous cathedral there as well so we decided to climb up the 329 steps to get to the top so we could take pictures from there. That was probably a mistake since my legs are still sore!


Before I left for Stasbourg, I had breakfast in the hotel. Every weekday morning when I go down for breakfast I notice that they have all these bottles of champagne sitting out as an option for a drink for breakfast. I always pass on this option since I'm not sure how much my co-workers would apprecate it. However, Saturday was my day off so I decided to indulge. Apparently it's not champagne, it's something called sekt which is similar but prepared slightly differently. Regardless, I enjoyed having a mimosa with breakfast.

Today our reviewer has arrived. He is in charge of reviewing our work for the second time. Up until today I'd only heard his voice over the phone and I knew he sounded familiar but I just couldn't place it. When he arrived today, I was like "Oooooh, he's Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond". He seriously looks JUST like him. He's even tall! And I'm not sure if I mentioned before that my first level reviewer looks just like Billy Crystal. I'm pretty sure you have to resemble someone famous to be in auditing. I wonder who they think I look like!

Satuday night we went to a fellow Dow employees birthday party. Once thing that I have noticed here time and time again is that the sweets here are made with about half as much sugar as they use in the U.S. The homemade cake at this party looked good enough but upon taking a small bite (as I am weary of all desserts here) my suspicions were confirmed--not enough sugar. And it was dry. So I did what anyone in my situation would do...i waited until everyone else finished and then offered to throw the plates away along with my uneaten piece of cake. Other then that, the birthday party was quite enjoyable and I'm glad I got to go.

Well, seeing as I only have 3 days left in Germany, I must get back to work!

Happy Monday!!

Managing to stay out of jail

Guten Morgen all!

I figure now that I've been here over a week, I should start picking up the language. However, I managed to make it through the whole weekend without any issues. I took the weekend to enjoy daylight in Baden-Baden. I woke up, went swimming (indoors of course), forced myself into the sauna for as long as I could stand it (about 6 minutes) and then set out for the day. I walked around going where ever the wind blew me. I found a big hill with some stairs on it so I climbed up to the top and took some pictures.

Then as I was walking down, I came upon a large house and took some pictures of that as well. It was only as I was leaving that I saw a sign that I deciphered to mean "No Trespassing". Thankfully no one saw me and I quickly made my way back to the hill.


So, I've noticed that some of the people here tend to pronounce the "S" sound as "SH" so at times I have to try very hard not to laugh when I go to restaurant and they ask me if I would like to "shit here or shit outside". But let's be realistic, I have yet to keep a straight face.

I've managed to make one friend here in Germany. He's a Turkish man who is something along the lines of a manager at the hotel. He saw my name on the guest list and started talking to me one day while I was in the lobby. He also gave me the best present you can get in Germany--2 cold bottles of Evian water. I'd gotten so desperate for non-mineral water that I'd started filling up a cup from the tap and putting it in the fridge for a couple hours.

However, i'm rationing my water and unfortunately it only stays cold for so long. The mini bar is stocked and really small so the bottles don't even fit in there. So, being the daughter of an engineer I figured out that the area between the two doors leading to my balcony (the vestibule if you will) stays rather cool so I put my water in there an VOILA! Instant refridgeration! Sometimes, I amaze myself.

I've become a regular attendant of the christmas market. I usually make my way over there a few times a week and treat myself to some Gluhwein which is this delicious spiced hot wine. Then I walk around sipping my wine looking at homemade candles, soap, and chocolate. It's amazing how I never get tired of it. We're actually planning on going to a bigger Christmas market this weekend and I'm actually even looking forward to it!

I found out yesterday that Air France is going on strike on the 20th which happens to be the same day I'm scheduled to fly home...on Air France. I'm hoping they make one of those great movies about me trying to make it home in time for Christmas. I can't think of one that hasn't been a huge blockbuster hit.


I miss you all!

Ongoing Adventures

Well it's day 6 and things have begun to shape up in Germany. First of all, I now have a driver. His name is Rolf. He speaks English but the more we speak, the more I confirm that his English is not as good as he thinks it is. For instance, he told me he's going to New York for Christmas and I asked "Have you ever been to New York before?" he replied "Yes, 2 and a half years." After a few more questions on my part I realized that me meant "2 and a half years...ago". Oh what a difference those 3 little letters make. But he make the road trips fun. He does know his "tour guide" English so every day he points out something new for me to see like the old train station in Baden-Baden that is now the entrance to Opera House or the good spa to go to. And opens the door for me and plays funny music in the car. I want to keep him.

Next, I found out that my hotel has a complimentary breakfast. Previously I had known they had breakfast but I didn't know it was free. Now this is the greatest breakfast ever. They have a bunch of types of bread (that I never try b/c I don't really like bread), every type of jam/jelly you could want, Nutella (the smartest person in the world invented spreadable chocolate), smoked salmon, cut up fruit, a bunch of different cereals, all different flavors of yogurt, fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice, and an assortment of cut up meats that seem a little out of place at breakfast but look nice. Plus they have scrambled eggs and 4 additional ways of eating a pig that I choose not to walk by.

The other night I got thirsty so I woke up and opened up the bottle of water in my room. Now I already despise room temperature water, so imagine my face when I discovered I was drinking lukewarm mineral water!! Apparently "flat" water as it is called, is not as common as mineral water. They even offer mineral water with a medium amount of bubbles in case you don't like it as foamy. So I spent the next day conducting an experiment to see if I let mineral water go flat, it tastes like good water. It doesn't taste exactly like good water...but it's better then mineral water.


I find it very amusing how many different languages I am greeted in around here. Of course, the German staff greets me in German. But then the guests greet me in either their native tongue or the language they think I'll understand (I haven't decided yet). Sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in Arabic, occasionally in English. Never in Turkish. But I usually just go along with it. Might I add that the guests of this hotel range from the age of 40-85 and are predominantly male.

I asked the front desk about my issues with my straightener and he suggested trying a different plug in the room to confirm that it was indeed a problem with the plug and not my appliance. So I tried it...and cofirmed that me with straight hair is not something the people in Germany are going to be able to experience.

Tonight my co-worker and I are going to dinner at a tapas restaurant and she's going to show me around the Christmas festival. I'm quite excited to have a companion.

So that's the most recent update. Most of my days are consumed with working so I don't have time to stir up trouble. But my swimsuit is scheduled to arrive today so hopefully I'll have some fun spa experiences to share next week!

I miss you all!!

Poor Little American Girl

Hello everyone!

Well it's Day 2 in Germany and this whole trip is off to an interesting start. For those of you who may not know, I'm in Germany until the 20th of December working on an audit. I arrived yesterday in Stasbourg (which is actually in France) and met my cab driver. Once we established that I was indeed the person she was there to pick up she asked me "Do you speak French?" Nope. Then "Do you speak German?" Nope. So we put my stuff in the car and settled in for a nice silent 45 min road trip to Baden-Baden, Germany where I'm staying. The ride was accented by her occasionally pointing out the window and saying things like "village" and "city".

I arrived at my hotel which is actually a spa and it's in the downtown area so that's fun. I went into my room and started exploring. First thing I noticed--there is not actually a shower curtain. In it's place there is a piece of glass that goes about a quarter of a way across the front of the tub and since it's clear it offers about as much privacy as a high school girls locker room. But privacy won't really be an issue since they limited me having any guests by giving me a twin bed. Did anyone know those were even an option at hotels?

I soon discovered that i couldn't use my calling card from my hotel room so I ventured off into the streets to find a pay phone. For some reason I had the hardest time finding one and when I finally stumbled across one i realized i'd already walked by 1--3times (I had backtracked a couple times b/c I was told it would be "right there"). After I talked to my parents I ventured into the Christmas Festival area that is currently going on in Baden-Baden. I thought maybe it would be a good place to find something to eat. And I'm sure it would be--if you ate sausages. So after realizing that the majority of the things for sale were candles and sausages, i ventured back towards the mainstream restaurants.

I founds a cute little bistro that even offered me a English menu. I'm currently recovering from a case of food poisoning and was told to "ease myself back into eating" so I figured I would just order an appetizer. 6 of the 7 appetizers were --go figure--SAUSAGE!! And the 7th--snails. So I settled for good old pasta instead. Something else that i've noticed is on the menu alot to is "rump roast" and while I think that's from a cow, i won't be eating that while i'm here either.

After dinner I walked around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel. After a few minutes flipping between 90s songs on some music channel and German rap on German MTV, I decided that it's perfectly acceptable to go to bed at 6pm after a long plane ride and went to sleep.

This morning I got up, took my shower trying to keep as much water in the tub as possible, and then set about getting ready for my first day of work. First thing I did was plug in my straightener. Now, i'm not a complete idiot so I did bring a converter but the hotel plug has the option of what voltage you want so i just switched it to 115 (b/c it 120 wasn't an option) and turned it on. 5 seconds later...it turned off. So then I tried to use my converter...same deal. So I figured, we didn't always have straighteners, I can totally just blow dry my hair straight like I did back in the day (like the Amish). So 30 minutes later once I'd lost the feeling in my arms from holding them above my head for so long I looked in the mirror at my somewhat straight and unavoidably "volumized" hair, fished out a hair tie, and secured my hair into a ponytail.

And now I'm at work. You have to order your food every day using this menu system which is conveniently written in german. I ordered the first thing i saw that didn't have meat in it and i'm hoping its good so i can just get it every time.


Please don't misunderstand this e-mail. I'm having a good time here! I still have yet to find the gym in hotel and I somehow forgot to pack a swimsuit so I'm sure there are many more adventures on the way. Imagine if I had a rental car!

I miss you all!