Do you ever get the feeling that life is speeding by so fast that you can't keep up! The last couple of weeks have flown by and we haven't even travelled anywhere else in Europe. Boring, I know but instead of traveling we have been super busy with everyday, run of the mill life. In fact this is the first down time I've had lately to even write a blog post, mainly because my husband is passed out on the couch after having his wisdom teeth pulled, I am on the other couch with the snoring big dog and our new puppy addition is busy chewing on another one of my shoes... More info on the little terror later. Luckily with J out of commission for a few days I now have time to relax.
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| My first German Fish |
A couple of weeks ago Justin and I headed up to the Outdoor Recreation Center on the Army post in order to figure out what we needed to do to get fishing licenses. Well it is a whole heck of a lot harder than heading up to the nearest Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops and paying the $10 (I don't remember the exact price but it is something like that). First we had to take a German Fish Conservation class, then take a 60 question test over german fishing laws and specific conservation techniques next we had to register with a Rod and Gun club and then finally head down to town hall with an application and passport size photo in order to get an official German fishing license. Quite the ordeal but I have to admit the license is pretty legitimate and according to the club the license is actually good for everywhere else in Europe. Well this was just the beginning of J's new found LOVE (obsession) with fishing. He has always been a fisherman but now he has discovered the joy of fly fishing and fly tying. We even took a class together on how to tie flies... So on his next day off we loaded up all of new fishing gear and heading out to Lake Bolstolsee which was about 30 minutes away. Of course the weather was terrible, windy, cold, cloudy and I am convinced that Riley scared away all of our fish. We spent 6 hours out there fishing in the terrible weather and I only caught one decent sized european perch! Oh well hopefully next time we will have better luck.
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| Justin's wooly bugger fly |
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| German horse show! |
A few days later J reluctantly agreed to accompany me down the road to his first english horse show. I'm pretty sure this was to make up for the unsuccessful fishing trip but it didn't matter because we both had a lot of fun. I have been emailing back in forth with an english speaking dressage trainer about taking lessons at a nearby stable and it just so happened that they were hosting their biannual jumping/dressage show. It was such an experience! Everyone was super laid back, they had food stands set up and of course a beer stand. Germans seriously love their beer, although I'm sure it was for all of the poor dads that had sacrificed yet another Saturday to play groom for their little girls. (Yes Dad, I can now sort of sympathize with you for playing groom for all those years of showing, rodeos and polocrosse tournaments... next time you come to one of my events I promise a full cooler of beer.) We mainly watched the jumping because lets face it, jumping is WAY more interesting than dressage. All of the announcing was in German but we could pretty much figure out what was going on and I will be starting lessons later on in June when the trainer gets back from vacation as well as jumping lessons a few weeks later. I am super excited!
The next big news for me is that I finally got my German drivers license! It did take me two tries but I nailed it the second time so whenever you guys visit you can feel safe in knowing that I rocked my test... the second time. Ha! In my defense I didn't study the first time, which was silly because you have to know all of the german street signs and German is a really hard language to learn. Also I may have fallen asleep during the driving class... But rest assured my driving skills are fantastic, I even drove on the autobahn a couple of days ago!
Also ya'll will all be glad to know that I passed my background checks and I am officially a Red Cross Volunteer. I will be starting work in the Army Medical Center right after I finish orientation next week. I am not sure where they are placing me yet but I am crossing my fingers for the behavioral center or the TBI (traumatic brain injury) center, I am looking into getting my masters in psychology once we are back in the States. Until then I am helping out with the blood drive and getting CPR certified!
The last update is about our new little vizsla puppy, Layla. We picked her up a couple of days ago and she is an absolute mess but in a good way. She is precious! She can make it all the way up four flights of stairs and has learned how to walk on a leash in just 3 days. We are still working on potty training and she is chewing on everything but overall she is very smart and learns quickly. She is definitely the cutest little 10 week old puppy!
Well I guess I better get back to taking care of J, wisdom teeth surgery is never fun and he looks so miserable with his swollen cheeks! Lots of Love and we are looking forward to my little sister and moms arrival in less than two weeks!!
