Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Friends with Benefits


This was the best christmas present via email i've ever recieved.
It was from Anja; her sister did a little design work on the cover!
You're the best, Anja!

I still have yet to see the movie that features me (and my host mom, Lynn!)
ps. i'm not actually in the movie, so i've been told.


this is why I blog so I can remember all my crazy fun experiences...

Monday, December 26, 2011

chilling on the couch

 It started snowing
 and then it kept snowing...
So obviously we had to make a couch out of the schnee.
 Hard at work!

Finished product.

Getting ready to watch some TV

Mom had hot chocolate waiting for us :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

schnee!

Today as I was taking pictures of vegetables in the grocery store my loving mother said, "If I were to ground you I would ground you from your camera."

No respect!

I mean, come on! This is definitely photo worthy!
Actually I wanted to prove to my Deutschlanders that we do have Rosenkohl in Amerika.
representing Schwarzwald!
I've been ruined by the real stuff, fake wurst just won't do.
There was a Deutsch section...
Speaking of Deutsch, this young man was born in Heidelberg, DE.
Must be why he is such a good cook!
Our neighbor, also from Deutschland (so many reminders of that great country) brought us a huge assortment of cookies. We wanted to try all of them so we did, natürlich! We would take a bite and then pass it- It worked well.
Schnee
aka snow
Had to take a break from shoveling to take some pictures.
Confession: I don't really like dogs (that's not a very popular opinion to have, but unfortuantely it's true). There are, however, a special few that have won my heart (Avie, Luna, yeah that's about it), but in general i'm not a huge fan.
Loving this guy isn't so hard as he's more like a stuffed animal than a dog.  
We snuck him into the store to do some Christmas shopping with us.
As we were checking out the cashier said, "Anything else in your basket?"
My mom said, "Just a dog."
Love that lady.
Speaking of my mom... She's selling my uncles old house.
She didn't know it was his until she saw these blueprints...
"GERDIN RESIDENCE" gave it away pretty quickly.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Basel, Düsseldorf, Chicago, Denver, Colorado Springs

My flight from Basel to Frankfurt was cancelled.
Those are my fellow flight-less friends- we had to pick up our luggage and get rerouted.
I was supposed to fly from Basel to Frankfurt to Denver, but I got an extra stop and 4 hours added to my trip. I still love traveling :)
I saw Seal in the Düsseldorf airport!

I've had better.


 I had to have one last Deutsch Radlar!
 leg room for my 8 hour flight!
 It was actually pretty good considering...
 I once was told that I could talk to anyone (or anything), even a wall.
So it's no surprise that I talked to my neighbor on the 8 hr trip from Düsseldorf to Chicago.
I'm not quite sure what Sally does, but whatever it is she charges $200/hr. I should have charged her because she spent a good amount of time talking about her recently failed relationship with Dom from Deutschland. She shared with me the meaning of life: "To love and be loved." Hmmmm, ironic.
As we were deboarding in Chicago she gave me this postcard.
"Rachel- Blessings on your path. You will light the world with your love! Always, Sally"
Wow, such kind words!
Back in the USA
I found another friend on the flight from Chicago to Denver. A 55 year old man who runs a very successful company in London. He was on his way to Boulder to see his daughter graduate from CU. He gave me his business card because he wants me to come to England so he can set me up with a rower from Henley-on-Thames. He also bought me almonds- score!
 Mattie picked me up!

good job on the house Matthew! 
A little miscommunication...   
 I've got one famous, HOTT Mama.
She's not going to be happy this is on the internet. Sorry mom! Suck it up!
Newest member of the family: Rooney the toy poodle
 
I snapped this picture and looked at it on my camera and thought, "What is my car doing here!?" Twin! Except mine is much cleaner.

last day in Deutschland

On my last day in Deutschland I took the train to Freiburg to 1. See the Christmas Markt 2. Hang out with some cool people (Svenja, Anne, Sinah)
 Svets picked me up from the bahnhof and took me to Badeparadies Schwarzwald in Titisee

Coolest place ever!

Then we met Anne at the Christmas Markt
That's chocolate!?
 dinner 
Freiburg won the award for: Rachel's favorite Christmas Markt
1. Freiburg
2. Frankurt
3. Offenburg
4. Strausburg
 Anne and Svens, my wunderbar hostesses

 I'm not often thirsty, because drinking is a very important part of life in DE.
I returned to my hotel in Kehl at 12AM, did some last minute packing, slept a little then left for the airport (Basel, Switzerland) at 4:30 AM 12/15.