It Snowed!

I just woke up to find out it snowed over night!!!  It is so beautiful!  I took some pictures of my backyard and posted them in my gallery.   I haven’t seen snow in maybe 10 years.  I checked the weather and it doesn’t show any snow again.  I’m so excited I got to see it before I left! 

The Berlin pictures are posted now also.  I had some troubles with my pictures being dark, so a lot didn’t turn out.  Holland has some others on her camera she is going to send me when she gets back home. 

My father’s brother Eric is here from Spain for Christmas.  I haven’t seen him since 1998.  He is going to come by tomorrow for coffee.  He is a real spiritual guy and always has some interesting insights into things.  I can’t wait to see him! 

Berlin

We had a great time in Berlin, but DAMN it was FREEZING!!!  I don’t think I’ve been colder before.  The very first interesting thing that happened was on the train going there.  At the first stop after we crossed the border into Germany four police officers got on the train and talked to a few people and searched their things. They were looking for drugs and picked people based on how they looked!!!!  It was wild – so discriminating!!  I kept thinking how this would be a HUGE deal in America.  A guy did end up getting taken off the train in handcuffs.  The first night we met up with my sister Melanie and Hugo, her best friend for dinner.  They had been all over the city, so circled places for us to go on a map.  Then the rest of the time we tried to go to all the places they told us to go, by foot and by underground train.  We did very well – well let me say Holland did very well of not getting us lost.  She was kind of the map girl and figured out if we were going the right direction or not. (Side note to Holland:  Not sure if I really thanked you for this girl, so thank you so much for doing great with the map!!!) Those underground train tunnels go on forever and then you are not sure if you need to be on the right or the left of the platform depending on the direction.  Hardly anyone spoke English. That part was kind of a pain. Oh yeah and I have to tell you the TV had only one English station – CNN World News. They had English shows on, but with the language changed to Germany.  (In the Netherlands there are many stations that have English language shows on every hour of the day.)  Another interesting thing happen one morning looking for breakfast, this crazy guy started talking to us telling us where to go to eat.  Then he decided to walk us there speaking in loud Germany the whole time – we had no clue what he was saying. (Actually, Holland knows some Germany so that helped at times as well.)  We ended up leaving the place he took us and finding another place to eat. One awesome thing they had there was STARBUCKS!!!  For some reason the Netherlands only has a Starbucks at the Amsterdam Airport.  They won’t let them in the country for some reason.  Anyway, we sat in Starbucks for a little awhile each day having coffee and people watching.  The piece of The Wall was very, very interesting.  They had all this information you could walk along and read.  I think that was my favorite part actually – seeing the history there live and in person.  We stayed right by Checkpoint Charlie, it was the perfect location.  Overall, it was a great trip and it was awesome seeing Holland again!  It was like I saw her the day before and that the 4 years of not seeing each other was gone.  I’ll post the pictures in the next couple if days. 

Getting ready to go

I leave for Berlin on Saturday morning and get back Wednesday night.  It’s going to be a really fun trip!   My sister is also going to Berlin (she stole my idea), her and her friend left today.  They are driving; it takes 7 hours by car.  My friend Holland and I are going to meet up with them on Saturday night and go out to dinner and maybe dancing.  We are taking the train.  This is my first trip by train.  I wonder if I will get motion sickness?  When I sit in the back seat of a car sometimes I feel a little dizzy. 

When I get back I only have 4 days until I fly back to Arizona.  I have been packing all of my stuff this week.  I am only bringing back my clothes and laptop.  My aunt is storing several boxes of stuff for me that I have bought and some stuff I brought.  Since I will be back in 3 months there is no point in bringing it to Arizona.  I’m going to be back in America before I know it.  I’m really curious to see how I’m going to feel being there.  Will I really miss it here or will I like being in America more?  I will continue to post on here once I am home, so I will let you know. 

Man every door is closing!

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT              

Vacancy No.
07-ADM-164-RE
 

Vacancy Title
Administrative Assistant (G-5) 
  
The Hague, 10 December 2007

Dear Ms. Richey,

Thank you for your interest in working with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

We regret to inform you however, that after careful review and evaluation of the candidates, another candidate whose background and experience best matched the posts requirements has been selected.

Please be assured that all of your qualifications and experience were given due consideration.

With best regards,

Human Resources Section

A Business Idea

My father came by and had coffee with me yesterday.  He came up with a great business idea…  I travel touring company!  I would run it has an American helping other Americans when they come over here.  And he has some long time Dutch friends that live in California that could guide Dutch people around there.  He said that he could totally help me with it since he knows all the good places to go here.  He was saying we could set up different touring packages based on how long they were staying and what their interests are.  We could even arrange hotels and pick them up from the airport.   I think it is a perfect idea and something I would totally enjoy!  We would need  a really good website with lots of pictures of Holland.  He has been all over the country and has picture of all the good spots already.  He was saying I could have an About Us page where we could tell our story.  Which most of you know is a very interesting one – which I think would get us customers as well.   What I really like about the idea is it is something we could do together and other family members could get involved.  I would be able to run it out of my house – I would just need an office.  There wouldn’t be a lot of overhead just in advertising.  I was thinking we could make a flyer to put in hotels here too.  And of course this is something I can start working on from Arizona – the website is going to be the key.  I think this might be the idea I have been looking for! 

Going back to Arizona

I am going to be flying back to Arizona on Christmas Eve.  The guy that I have been dating is not ready to have me move in with him in January.  It’s just too soon – I can’t blame him it is really fast and we don’t know each other well enough.  That would have been a way for me to stay here legally.  After December 26th I am considered illegal and could be deported if I get caught.  Plus once I am illegal the government is not willing to approve any legal way for my to stay so all my options go out the window.   I can come back in 3 months and be legal again for another 3 months.  I would like a real shot at living here.  I like it here and believe I can have a good life here.  My condo has not sold yet, so my plan is to come back and stay in my condo and hope to get it sold in the next 3 months.  While I am home I am going to look for some products to sell here.  I met a guy that is an importer and is willing to help me get a business all set up.  That is really my only option to live here legally and that is to start a business.  So when I come back in 3 months I will be already to start a business and can start the process when I arrive.  That will let me live here legally for a year and I have to reapply each year.   Now that I have lived here I know more of what to expect and came come back more prepared.  I know what is missing too, so I think I can find some great products to sell here.  My father is going to keep my car at his house so it will be here when I come back.  I’m looking foward to being in a warmer climate for the harsh winter here and when I came back it will be spring time.  I will kind of be like a snowbird from Europe!
 

My Condo, Dutch & Tea

A woman looked at my condo yesterday and really liked it.  She wants to look at a few more today and then decide.   I am paying so many bills from Arizona that would all go away if my condo sold.  Having to pay for life there and here without any income is rough.  My condo has been on the market since the end of April.  Please keep my condo and it selling in your thoughts and prayers – I really need it to sell ASAP!  Dank u wel (thank you very much in Dutch)!  My Dutch lessons ended this week for the holidays.  It is a very hard language to learn.  I can read it much better then I can speak it.  Half the sounds for letters here are totally different then we pronounce them.  Like the letter B is pronouced “bay,” I is pronounced like a “y” from the word very and the letter E is pronounced like the “a” in the word alien.  Everyone here keeps telling me I must learn Dutch that my life would be so much better if I learned Dutch.  I have to agree.  Like last night I went to a Sinterklaas party at my step-sisters house.  We sang a bunch of songs and bag of gifts showed up at the door it was really cute.  Anyway, of course everyone there was Dutch so all spoke Dutch except me.  Most spoke English as well, but when they spoke to each other they all spoke in Dutch.  I knew some of the words they were saying but not enough to keep up.  Therefore, many times I was sitting there alone with no one to talk to or there was a big discussion going on and I could not participate.  So I must agree that my life experience here would be so much better if I could speak and understand the Dutch language.  I am going to work harder at learning it and practice more then I have been the last 2 months.  I have gotten into drinking green tea since I moved here.  I was never a tea drinker, but have met a lot of people who are and talk about how green tea makes them feel so good.  I’ve been trying a bunch of different brands to find the one I really like.  I’m drinking a new one as I type this – Twinings Green Tea & Apple.  It’s pretty good.