Last Weekend...

What an excellent way to spend our last weekend in Germany! We went for a bike ride to Lake Constance with our friends Zoran and Beba. Today the weather was gorgeous... warm, sunny! We met up around noon and biked for almost 4 hours. There was a wind out of the south so we could see the Alps very clearly. Incredible!!

My body is aching since this is the first time we have been on the bikes this year, but it was well worth it.

We are truly going to miss living in Germany. The experience has been wonderful and we are so grateful to have had this opportunity. Thank you to all of the friends that we have met here. We love you and will miss you very much!

The movers are coming tomorrow so this is our last entry in the Germany blog... look out Cleveland, here we come!!

An Afternoon in the Black Forest

On Sunday we went to the Black Forest with our friends Erin and Tim. We went for a small hike next to a waterfall and also bought ourselves a cuckoo clock!

3 more working days, 11 more days total... still cannot believe it. Guess it will feel real when the movers arrive on Monday.

16 more days...

16 more days in Germany. The car is sold, the movers are on their way...is this for real? we are really going to miss being here

Dachau

I have known the name Dachau for a very long time, and as we walked through the gates on Tuesday morning I wondered how my grandfather felt when his army infantry arrived there nearly 63 years ago. I wondered what he would think of me being there. I hope somehow he understands the need to pay respect to the survivors of Dachau, those who lost their lives, and the US army infantries which liberated Dachau.

The cruelty, the pain, the suffering which people imprisoned there were exposed to was horrific. Thank god this was stopped, thank god there was an end, god bless all of those who lost their lives in such a cruel and senseless manner. We were filled with sorrow and disbelief which words cannot properly describe.

Vacation time..

I had a few vacation days to use before we leave so Adam and I decided to go to Munich for the weekend. We had a very nice time sampling the local cuisine and Bavarian brew..

Easter Celebration with Erin

Erin came over to celebrate Easter with us this year. We had so much fun dying easter eggs. Erin brought over a big chocolate bunny so we melted it down for fondue. Delicious!

Happy Easter!
Love
Jodie

The snow has arrived!

After a mild winter, the snow and cold weather has finally arrived. We woke up to several inches of snow on Good Friday.

Here's what happened to the tulips... yikes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Love
Jodie and Adam

An Ode to Selling the Car

We are moving soon, which everyone knows well
But getting ready to sell the car has been a bit of hell.

New tires, tune ups, and parts I can't name
Have led to expenses that are a big shame.

So when do we sell, what do we do?
The answer came with a piece of cat poo.

There on the hood sat a little cat turd,
I looked over at Adam but didn't say a word.

"I cannot believe this. It must be a sign"...
Can't wait til we finally get to sign on the line

We must say goodbye to a car that was good,
now that we found a fresh cat turd sitting on the hood.

The end.

What a great birthday!

Thank you for all of my birthday wishes! I have had a fantastic day! We woke up this morning to see the 1st real snow of the year. It was amazing! It only got better from there with wonderful birthday wishes from all over the world. Thank you for making my day so special!

Love
Jodie

Hiking through the vineyards

Today was another beautiful day of warm weather. It was almost 70F which is almost unheard of at this time of year. We took advantage of the warm weather and went for a hike through some local vineyards. It was an incredible day.


Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~Albert Einstein

Hiking near Hilzingen

Today was a beautiful day.. clear blue skies, warmer weather.. so we decided to go for a hike and a picnic. Although you can't tell in the pictures because of some distant clouds, we could see the outline of the Swiss, Austrian, and French Alps. Amazing!!
Here are some pictures from the hike (as always, click on pictures for larger view):

Go Giants!

We are excited that we will be able to watch the Super Bowl, but unfortunately it does not come on until midnight. GO GIANTS!

Singen Carnival Parade

Today Adam and I went to the Carnival Parade in Singen. There are a lot of local carnival clubs and music clubs that put on the parade. The carnival clubs are a lot of fun during the parade... they "kidnap" people and put them in carts full of confetti, bop you in the head with balloons made of pig bladders, tickle you with feathers, and throw candy for the children (plus lots of other fun and trickery). Overall it is a great parade!!

Love
Jodie and Adam

The Hemdglonker Parade

On Thursday night we met up with our friend Erin for the Hemdglonker parade in Konstanz. This is the parade where you wear a white nightshirt (or any other carnival costumes) and join in the parade in the streets. We had a great time!

Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Our friend Erin

Its Carnival Time!!

Carnival (Fasnacht) starts tomorrow in our region. At 5am our local villagers will try to wake everyone up with parade music, etc. Then tomorrow evening everyone dresses up in white nightshirts for the Schmotziger Donnerstag (dirty/greasy/fat Thursday) parade, and anyone can join in on the parade. Saturday and Sunday are more parades with local Fasnacht clubs wearing traditional costumes.

It is an incredibly fun time of year, and we are so happy to be here for it. Here is a link from Wikipedia with more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht

Wishing you a happy Carnival season!
Jodie and Adam

Here are some of our pictures from last year:

December

Its been over a month since the last time I wrote in our blog. December was an incredibly difficult month for us. My cousin Jackie and Grandma Do both passed away. It has been a very tough time for us, but we will find a way to get through.

I hope to add more posts soon, and wish all of you a happy new year. Remember to always cherish the precious time you have with your friends and family.

Love
Jodie and Adam

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Germany this year with Mike, Tim, and Erin. This is a picture of Tim's Thanksgiving dinner plate...
Lot's of laughs and fun playing games. We didn't manage to see the parade online, but Mom and Dad went this year and said it was fantastic. Also in Germany we watch the other kind of football on Thanksgiving :)
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Love
Jodie

Skiing in Soelden, Austria

Mike is here visiting us for Thanksgiving. We went to Austria to go skiing yesterday and today. We had a fantastic time and the view was amazing! The guys had a lot of fun out at the bars, but were able to manage skiing after only a few hours of sleep... We went all of the way to the top of the mountain and went down the glacier, and then skied all the way back down to the bottom. It was so much fun. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Love
Jodie