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

A Fantastic Weekend with Sean and Elizabeth

Konstanz, Germany

Black Forest (Triburg), Germany

Strausbourgh, France

Strausbourgh, France

We had a wonderful weekend! Our friends Sean and Elizabeth came to visit us from the UK. Sean and Adam have been friends for many years, but this was our first time meeting his wife Elizabeth. It was a real pleasure. She is a total sweetheart!
We went to Konstanz for dinner on Friday night. Then on Saturday we headed to the Black Forest for some sightseeing and shopping. The snow was beautiful in Triberg! After that we went to Strausbourgh, France. Overall it was a great weekend!

Just a few more days until Mike comes to visit us! We are so excited! It is supposed to snow a lot while he is here. In fact, the snow already started tonight!

I'm finally home!!

I am finally back in Germany after 10 weeks! Adam picked me up at the airport in Zurich early this morning. The flight was OK, but we had turbulence for about 4-5 hours so I had a hard time sleeping. When we got back to the house I saw this picture from Tropical Storm Noel. No question about where the turbulence was coming from!! Needless to say I am back home safe and sound. Sooo happy to see Adam! Tomorrow we hope to visit with Erin and Tim. Can't wait to see those crazy kids!
Love
Jodie

The heart of rock and roll is still beatin'... in Cleveland

I am now working in Cleveland and on Sunday I went downtown and visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was great! I saw rock memorabilia from Fats Domino to Kurt Cobain. Some of the exhibits include:
Michael Jacksons white glove and the red & black leather jacket from Beat It
Madonnas cone bustiere
Jerry Garcia's guitars
Jim Morrison's report cards
Jimmi Hendrix childhood drawings
Sid Vicious outfit
Lots of stuff from the Stones, Beatles, Elvis.. and lots more!
It was a lot of fun. Plus the weather was really nice so after I took a little walk along Lake Erie.
Overall the project is going well, but I am ready to go home and see Adam.. less than 2 weeks now!
Love from Cleveland, Ohio,
Jodie


"It's only Rock and Roll but I like it."
~Rolling Stones