Gasthaus Möwe

 my new home

 one of the sponsors of SC Sand owns this hotel so we may be living here for a while

 my dining room and my kitchen is to the right

(i've not been in the kitchen, which is probably for the best...)

so high-tech!

without the room key the electricity doesn't work

 

much bigger than the last haus

  hi mom! it's a-ok ; )

 i finally took my clothes out of my bag!

next task... find a washing machine

 if i were a 281cm instead of 181cm this bed arrangement would be great

 

exit

skype

i love skype, especially because i get to talk to this kid.



The (real) Black Forest

mineralwasser ohne Kohlensaure

("still" water, i'm getting sick of the bubbly mineral water)

AND apples from a local orchard

 the apples were so good we had to stop for some more!

i might have taken 100 pictures on our drive... everything was just so picturesque! 

 Nicole, the co-trainers wife took us for out for an adventureous day. She's a great: tour guide/hostess/English speaker/German teacher/driver; just an all around great person!

                                     ^              ^

i live somewhere between those ^

 people paraglide from here!sign me up!

SO BEAUTIFUL.

we stopped at a restaurant (good thing i'm playing 5 times/week because the food around here is so delicious!) then we went to Nicole and Carsten's (co-trainer) lake house. i jumped in the lake, of course, and i was the only one, again, no surprise there. it was so cold i couldn't breathe, but i got over it after a while. came back to the hotel and shortly after left for training.

having such a great time! : )

hope everything is spelled correctly; i hit the spell check and almost all the words were highlighted... my internet is converting to deutsch.

kork, deutschland

Hotel Ochsen (Oxen)

9/26-9/28
moving to the Hotel Moewe tonight 9/28
 (don't ask me how to pronouce this! Moewe means Seagull)

Good news...

my electronics did not blow up; my converter works!!

 

i taught her that!

Legit. Go Gabrielle!

(ps. DEFINITELY did NOT teach her that)

goodbye

I moved 12 times before 8th grade, saying goodbye should be easy for me, right?

It's not.

 I think I can suck it up for a few more years though...

HELLO Germany! 

"shocking news"

I am still in the United States, Colorado Springs to be precise. Am I happy about that? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count (I love it when my mom says that). I was supposed to leave September 12, but a week later i'm still here. I would like to say that I am a patient person, but i'm so unbelievably anxious to go play, it's not even funny! I do have to remember that all last week I ran around like crazy trying to get everything together; I would have been completely unprepared to leave on the initial departure date!

From Olaf:
9/14: "It's just the work permit, the residence permit depends on the work permit and the playing permit depends on the residence permit. It's a mess"
9/19: "Shocking news… out of a sudden they have almost all permits. Expect to fly in a week from today."

Although i've been frustrated that I am not there yet, I have gotten to do some pretty neat things in the mean time:

 got to see Hannah play a couple extra times (she was even nice enough to score a few sicknash goals)

 got to spend some time with LIVVEEEEEE from JBU, we walked around the Broadmoor

 quarter car wash... nuff said

 helped dad paint the frame to his car

it's all in your perspective

I woke up this morning to this beautiful sight!

I tried my best to capture the greatness of the city covered in clouds, but there was no chance I could do scene justice.

Life can be cloudy and dark, but if you look from a different perspective, it might be be sunny and bright.

  

hannah's rose garden

 you might be taller than me (only by a couple inches!), better at soccer than me (eh, debatable!), funnier than me (highly unlikely!)... BUT you'll never be older than me!!!! muahhahhahahah, gotcha there Hannah! so proud of you sister!

[the lettering is straight... she is the one who is crooked!]

HAPPY

15th

BIRTHDAY

all packed!

Ok..... haven't packed at all, but I have everything I need!

The latest word from Olaf: "The authorities haven't moved yet... He [the club's GM] hopes everything gets settled by the week."

Hopefully they will get everything figured out really soon; high altitude training is great, but i'm ready to be in Germany!!



bicycle bicycle bicycle

i want to ride my bicycle!

 "triple puncture protection"

no hands! no gears! no rear breakes!

minus the guardrail this is a beautiful picture.

brilliant

HAPPY

At 24 i'm just as happy now as I was back then; happier acutally!

life is beautiful

::Vega4::

Life is beautiful

We love until we die

When you run into my arms,

We steal a perfect moment.

Let the monsters see you smile,

Let them see you smiling.

Do I hold you too tightly?

When will the hurt kick in?

Life is beautiful, but it's complicated.

We barely make it.

We don't need to understand,

There are miracles, miracles.

Yeah, life is beautiful.

Our hearts, they beat and break.

When you run away from harm,

Will you run back into my arms,

Like you did when you were young?

Will you come back to me?

I will hold you tightly

When the hurting kicks in.

Life is beautiful, but it's complicated,

we barely make it.

We don't need to understand,

There are miracles, miracles.

Stand where you are.

We let all these moments pass us by.

It's amazing where I'm standing,

There's a lot that we can give.

This is ours just for a moment.

There's a lot that we can give. 

hurry. go listen to this song.

photo by: Matthew Gerdin

(just because it doesn't feel right to not include a picture)

Mercier TT

The German countryside has a lot to live up to...

because my bicycle rides in COS are spectacular.

Sometimes I wonder how badly it would hurt to get rammed by a deer...
Probably not as much as climbing a 500 ft hill with no gears!

Proud of my newly manicured nails.
(which are ruined now, but they were nice for 24 hours!)

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

NEIN
(that's the only German word I know)

 Willstatt, Germany

SC SAND Regionalliga

I've been told to pack warm clothes... Good thing Colorado is imitating the weather there so I'll be prepared.

Supposed to be leaving September 12, 2011. I signed a contract to play for 6 months (Sept-Nov 2011 & Feb-June 2012).

To say I am excited is a bit of an understatement...