High-Five for being Stateside!

Here it is the end of June and we've been back for almost 6 weeks. I can't believe it! Time has flown by. The first month was a whirlwind. We had a hellacious adventure from Germany... read: 7 hour bus ride, flight delays then an 8 hour flight, a 3 hour customs/baggage ordeal in Baltimore, and it didn't end there. The silver lining in all of that craziness was my parents graciously picking up us from the airport in Baltimore. The BWI airport had some of the rudest employees who were incredibly unhelpful when we were having issues with getting Zeke's giant sized airline crate through customs. I was shaking I was so angry. It was such a relief to see my parents' smiling faces on the other side of the airport. :) We stayed the night in VA and then drove down to South Carolina the next day. Zeke did amazing through all of this. He's such a trooper and a great traveler! My little giant Army pup. :)

The next two weeks were filled with visiting family, finding a rental in GA, and making a bunch of adult purchases like a new car, washer and dryer, and new mattress. We were also able to celebrate my brother's college graduation and attend my SIL's high school graduation. The first week of June we moved into our rental in GA and slowly there after our other car and all of our other belongings arrived. We are finally settled and are so glad to be back. There are so many things I miss about Germany, but I am definitely enjoying the perks and convenience of American life. Zeke is adjusting fairly well to the GA heat. We are cautious and only walk him in the early morning and at night. He surprisingly loves to go outside and just lay in the grass to sunbath. I think he really enjoys having a fenced in yard. RC starts school this week so we have yet to determine the pace and lifestyle we will have for the next six months. Regardless we are happy to be together and so much closer to family and friends.

Views from Fortress Hohensalzburg

Salzburg, Austria

This post is long overdue considering my parents were visiting over a month ago, but better late than never? Since they had yet to travel Europe by train we decided to use the Deutsch Bahn to travel down to Salzburg, Austria. Tricky, right? You can actually use Germany's rail system in Austria AND we were able to use the regional Bayern pass to get down there. Bonus savings! 

The weather was much more mild than we were all expecting and we got lucky when the forecasted rain for our trip never showed up! We explored the Old Town where we were able to see St. Peter's Abbey then ventured to Hohensalzburg Castle for some amazing views of the city- but that's for another post.  We also walked to the Mirabell Palace. The pictures we took in the Mirabell Gardens with the Hohensalzburg in the background were some of my favorite pictures from the trip. 

Salzburg had a few surprises for us as well. Near the Salzburg Residence the city set up an ice skating rink where my mom spent the evening skating away. How neat to say you went ice skating in Austria. My dad also found a really unique restaurant on TripAdvisor that was outside of the city center and "tourist area". Family owned and operated 'Pasta e Vino' is a small, crowded Italian restaurant with no menu! At 'Pasta e Vino' your waiter tells you verbally what you main course options are based on what is made fresh that day. The menu constantly changes, but I'm sure it is all delicious! Our options that night were a spinach & salmon lasagna and a tomato & bacon spaghetti. It was a really unique experience and a nice change of pace from Austrian and German food.

Block Leave Trip 2013

Well block leave is officially over and I've finally gotten around to uploading pictures and recapping our trip. The stars perfectly aligned when my brother's wedding date and the start of RC's block leave happened to fall within 2 days of each other. We were able to fly back in time to be there for the rehearsal dinner and wedding. It was a beautiful weekend. These two are surrounded by a lot of love! I'm so glad to have Brittany as part of the family and I love how happy she makes my brother. Aren't they a beautiful couple? :) 

Since we were coming back to the States for my brother's wedding we decided to extended our stay. When you're going to battle with jet lag you might as well stay a couple weeks. We decided to go on a 7 day cruise with Royal Caribbean. It was sort of like a second honeymoon for us. :) Our ship was the Freedom of the Seas and our ports were Labadee, Haiti; Falmouth, Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico. 

Labadee, Haiti

Labadee is a private island off the coast of Haiti that Royal Caribbean owns. Do you get to truly experience Haiti? Definitely not, but it is tailored to absolutely be the most relaxing day. Beach chairs in the shade of palm trees, floating mats for the crystal clear waters, food catered on-site, and drinks galore. 

That night on the ship was also formal night. We didn't originally plan on going to the formal night (lack of room in suitcases for formal wear), but we managed to scrounge up some clothes that look appropriate enough and off we went. :) Handsome hubby + Amazing food = Great night.  

Falmouth, Jamaica
Our excursion in Jamaica was a private beach party about 40 minutes from port. Usually when you first get off the ship there's about a mile or two of just stores & shopping. Most ports do not have direct access to the beach. Hence our reason for purchasing a private beach party instead of taking a cab to try and find a local beach. We had a great time at the private beach. We got off the bus early enough to have the perfect set up- two chairs & an umbrella just a couple feet from the water. No one in front of us, just crystal clear water. We lounged. We read. We ate. We drank. We goofed off & did some handstands. All in all another great day.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman

This was our last port where we got off the ship. We decided to be a little more adventurous and chose Royal Caribbean's Cheeseburger Reef Kayak & Snorkel excursion. It was a blast! We were the perfect kayaking team and won the spontaneous race that broke out with the other kayakers. The snorkeling part was made even better by the power snorkels that we were given. The self-propelled snorkels pulled us along and made it much easier to cover more ground. Around Cheeseburger Reef there were tons of fish. Since they were so used to people feeding them over the years the fish were never scared away. Not far from Cheeseburger Reef was the Wreck of the Cali. The legend goes that the Cali was taken closer to shore because it was starting to collect water. Apparently it was full of rice and as the ship collected water the rice expanded and the eventually exploded & sunk the ship. Who knows if the story is true, but the wreckage is located in fairly shadow waters so it was pretty easy to see. 

Can you blame me?

Can you blame me for being home seeing these cuties on the regular rather than living alone in Germany?

Not to mention that the temperature has never dropped below 40, there's no show on the ground, and South Carolina's even had a couple days where the temperature reached the 80s! Home sweet home.

2012 Recap in a Christmas Letter

Since this blog serves as a scrapbook of sorts I thought it would be fun to include our Christmas letter from this year. It actually recaps our year quite well.  I hope you can pick up on the sarcastic undertones. RC and I wrote it together, but he should get most of the credit. I love his sense of humor. Both the letter and Christmas card were his ideas and it was fun for us to collaborate on both even though we were miles apart!

Dear family & friends,

I hope that this holiday letter finds you well. Since we no longer reside in the Charleston area we thought it would be appropriate to provide a quick synopsis of the past year. Overall 2012 was quite uneventful for the Leigh family. In April Ross went to school to learn how to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. He jumped not once, but five times. I guess it's a good thing he's not scared of heights. In May, we traveled approximately 4,453 miles or 7,167 kilometers to the Land of Schnitzel and Fascism. It was only a 9 hour flight. Ross did not jump out of this airplane only because he spent most of the flight sprawled out over two seats while Emma sat on the floor of the aircraft. We saw castles, paintings, libraries, mountains and a bunch of old buildings. We learned that Germany has one of the strongest economy in the EU and Germans as a whole are pretty OCD about everything. It’s been interesting exploring this country, but honestly you can genuinely sum up most of Germany in two words ‘SECOND BEST’.  

Emma got a job as a teller at Community Bank after an extremely long job hunt of four days. Her resume and people skills were weak; however, since most of the other Army wives were going back to the states in preparation for their husband's deployment the manager at the bank reluctantly gave Emma the job.  In June, the Army decided that life in Germany wasn't exciting enough and sent Ross to Afghanistan. Ross spent the first half of his deployment on an extremely large COP with a booming population of 25 soldiers. Emma spent the summer months drinking her sadness away. She could not bare the thought that Ross would be home in the spring and she would not have the house to herself anymore.

When Emma was not morning the return of her husband she was out traveling with a few close friends she had known for a very long time. Most of her traveling companions she had known at least 5 days. Ross became a Platoon Leader in September. His Platoon consists of 20 of the finest soldiers in all of Afghanistan. He will remain the platoon leader throughout the remainder of the deployment and for at least six months once he redeploys. (Unless he gets fired of course.) Ross has learned a lot since becoming a Platoon Leader. He learned that you should never place someone's mattress in the snow and to never, under any circumstance, refer to your boss as "your sidekick." 

In late October, Mrs. Dianna decided that Emma's drinking problem had become serious and she needed an intervention. Seven days later, Emma and Dianna were in Poland for Emma's rehab, which consisted of driving from Germany to Poland just to purchase pottery. During Ross’ deployment Emma also perfected two German phrases every American Army wife needs to know; "How much?" and "Do you speak English?” .

Despite her severe emotional bonding to H&M, pommes, and radlers (a delicious concoction of beer and lemonade), Emma decided to move back to Charleston, South Carolina for the rest of the deployment. She is now taking reservations for hour increments of quality time with Germany’s favorite red head.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

                        Love,

Ross and Emma 

Merry Christmas from the Leighs

Is it weird that...

the most normal part of my Thanksgiving was watching Clemson lose to SC?

This was an unusual Thanksgiving. I'm not complaining in the least bit. I was surrounded by good people here in Germany and I'm blessed to have great relationships with family & friends in the States. So really there was love all around. It was just different this year. Not having RC around was the worst part and knowing he's stuck in "the sandbox" and can't really embrace/experience the holidays hurts my heart. Fortunately they had a fairly traditional Thanksgiving meal and were able to have some free time to have a ping-pong tournament.

So with a quick recap let's compare the difference between Thanksgiving in the States vs Germany...

TYPICAL THANKSGIVING:
THANKSGIVING DAY:
Start the day with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, spend time with family, meet up with extended family, football in the background all day long, enjoy a deep fried turkey and all the southern fixin's ;). Then nap after eating a ridiculous amount of pumpkin & pecan pie.

BLACK FRIDAY:
Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, hunt for the PERFECT Christmas tree, decorate said Christmas tree, play Christmas music since its AFTER Thanksgiving and the appropriate time to do so.

PALMETTO BOWL:
Surround yourself with family & friends .... even if they're Carolina fans, experience every range of emotion (and for the last 4 years at least) pout because your team lost, practice extreme self-control and do not engage in the idiotic comments on Facebook.

Black Friday-- Christmas tree shopping circa 2011

THANKSGIVING IN GERMANY SANS HUSBAND:
THANKSGIVING DAY:
Drive to a friend's house 40 min away, watch old hockey games??? (yah, I know), eat, try gluhwein (forget spiked eggnog! I'll take gluhwein as my holiday drink), wait the appropriate time to get behind the wheel, drive to another friend's house 30 min away, notice that there are babies and little ones EVERYWHERE, have your first taste of pumpkin pie, finally some football in the background, talk to your husband for maybe 10 min on the phone, know how blessed you are to have him in your life. Then round of the day with a quick Skype session with the family.

BLACK FRIDAY:
Sleep in, realize that the PX has nothing remotely worth getting up for, come to terms with the fact that you will not have a Christmas tree this year, nor will you decorate for Christmas (highlight: because YOU'RE GOING HOME), jealousy sets in... your family is eating hashbrowns & pancakes at Cracker Barrel- you had granola cereal for breakfast. Watch Fringe for the majority of your day :)

PALMETTO BOWL:
Stay up until kick off at 1 am, Skype with brother & SIL during the entire game (BEST part), feel less crazy when yelling at the tv because you're watching "with" someone, experience every range of emotion, pout because your team lost AGAIN, practice extreme self-control and do not engage in the idiotic comments on Facebook. Go to bed because it's 5 o'clock in the morning.

Mom's Visit: Poland

Poland! Our Poland trip ended up being quite an adventure. One of the first things I heard about once moving to Germany was the Polish pottery and how you HAD to visit the town of Boleslawiec to visit the many, many pottery shops or skelps. I'm talking there are some seriously obsessed women out there.

We decided to make a two day trip out of it although many people do it in one. Personally I don't find driving 9+ hours in one day enjoyable so we opted to stay in the 75 euro a night Palac Brunow. And boy am I glad we did. You can find pictures of the palace below. An absolutely beautiful "hotel", spacious rooms by European standards, and an amazing meal for dinner AND breakfast as well. All for just over $100 I might add.

I'll be honest after driving through Boleslawiec and around Poland for close to 2 hours Palac Brunow was a sight for sore eyes. Overall there were many run down or unkept buildings. Maybe from the influence of the Soviets who had ruled for so long? It may not have helped that it was a very dark and dreary day. So while the town of Boleslawiec nor the area we drove through was very appealing to the eyes the pottery most definitely wise. I definitely understand why people make it in a day trip. There really isn't much to see beyond the pottery. I may be spoiled by the charm of Germany.

Oh, and I should also mentioned that we woke up the next morning to snow! Snow in October! What am I getting myself into? I do not belong in the snow, but nonetheless we thankfully had a snow scraper in the car and battled through 4+ hours of snow and ice to make it safe and sound back home.

Mom's Visit: Bamberg, Germany

Day three of Mom's visit was spent in Bamberg. Another town within an hour radius of "home". This was my first time to Bamberg and I so enjoyed it! The weather had dropped a bit and I must admit I preferred keeping my hands in my pockets rather than taking pictures. So unfortunately there are only a couple Instragram shots of the town. 

These day trips with my mom have made me realize how much more I prefer exploring the city on a weekday. Less weekend hustle and bustle.  We walked aimlessly for the most part, but used the awesome 'blue dot' on the Google maps iPhone app to hit a few key sights. All in all a great trip exploring another picturesque German town. 

Mom's Visit: A Day Trip to Rothenburg

I seriously can not get enough of this city. I think this is the 3rd time I've visited and it still has not gotten old! While Mom was still adjusting to the new time zone we decided to stay close and just make day trips the first few days of her visit. The first of which was Rothenburg. We leisurely strolled the town, did a little shopping, and had a delicious lunch.

Live with Intention

Even when I'm in a strange place. Even when family is far away.

Even when friends seem even further. Even when my husband is deployed.

Even when my job isn't ideal. Even when I feel like my life is on hold.

I must remember...

Friday's Letters

I've decided I'm going to measure this deployment in terms of 'weeks. Looking at the number of days is just far too overwhelming and it would take forever to countdown to a month. So 'weeks' it is! And what better way to celebrate crossing off another week than by linking up with Ashley for 'Friday's Letters'.

-  -  -  -  -  - 

DEAR FRIDAY, you took a little too long to get here. Let's work on that and try & make it a little quicker next week. DEAR HUSBAND, knowing that you are in better living conditions than we expected makes me so happy, but no worries that does not mean fewer care packages! DEAR FAMILY, with all of this Skype time I think I've gotten to "see" and talk to you more than when we were in Georgia. I LOVE IT! DEAR FRIENDS, Your support and words of encouragement mean so much. I was so overwhelmed to hear from all of you and knowing we are in your hearts and minds is a blessing! RC and I are so grateful. DEAR GERMANY, invest in air conditioners. Sure 80+ degree weather is nothing after living in Charleston, SC, but not having AC is a whole 'nother story! Blah.
DEAR MOMAX, you are so similar to IKEA and only 15 minutes down the road... I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship. DEAR HUSBAND, you're cute and I miss you. That is all. :)

That One Time My Parent's Came to Visit 'Ausfahrt'

Yup, so, I am one lucky girl! After being in Germany for only a little over a month I got to see my parents! Talk about helping with being homesick. My parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary [wahoo! how awesome is that?!] earlier this month. So they planned a two week trip of a lifetime to Europe. They stayed mostly in England and visited beautiful placed like Bath, London, and Salisbury. Once RC and I found out we were moving to Germany, my parents altered their plans a little bit and made a pit stop in Deutschland. We had two full days together and had such a good time!

Now onto the title of the post... the lengthy explanation will probably take away from the humor, BUT when you're in a foreign country and especially ones that don't speak English road signs can be a little tricky. 1. they don't look like signs in the States, and 2. the obvious one, they aren't in English. So distinguishing between directional signs (one way, exit, etc.) and city signs (Wipfeld, Niedernhausen, etc.) can be a little challenging. 

Case in point: AUSFAHRT 

Looks like it would be one of those crazy sounding German towns, right? Wrong, it means exit!

And apparently its a mistake a lot of people make. So I was blabbing to my parents about how wonderful ACS is, how helpful SNAPS was, and about another newcomers class they offered titled "Ausfahrt is Not a Town: Living and Driving in Germany". Then I noticed the silence [which is uncommon] and the blank stares. Then the hysterical laughing. Apparently my parents had been making potty jokes [I think you can see what "aus" and "fahrt" would break down to?] about this "stinky town" their entire drive down from Frankfurt. :)

Back to their visit...

The first day I just showed them around the city we are living in and then we went to the Volksfest. 

On the second day we went to two somewhat neighboring cities Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Wurzburg. 

ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER

Rottenburg ob der Tauber quickly became one of my favorite cities. Granted we haven't seen THAT much of Germany, but it just has the cutest feel to it. Rottenburg is a walled city that has been able to preserve much of its medieval history which makes it popular for tourists, producers of major movies like Harry Potter, and [back in the day] Nazi ideologists who revered it as a quintessential German home town. 

Fun little story about Rothenburg: (thanks Wikipedia)

During WWII the Assistant Secretary of War ordered American troops to take over the city WITHOUT artillery because he knew the historical importance of the city. [Later he was named the 'Honorable Protectorate of Rothenburg.] On the other end, the German military commander defied Hitler's orders of "fighting to the end" and relinquished the city to the Americans. Essentially saving the city from further destruction. I just found this so interesting that two sides were willing to compromise to save a historical town. Anyway.

So if you're ever in the area, and by area I mean Germany, you should definitely check out Rothenburg. It's a neat tourist town that isn't overly "touristy". I'm already planning on going back to do some Christmas shopping. They have the cutest stores that AREN'T filled with crappy tourist trinkets that are made in China.

 Also, read Rick Steves' review on Rothenburg here.  He describes it perfectly. 

WURZBURG: FESTUNG MARIENBURG

I already blabbed about Wurzburg in this post if you want to read more about the city. Because we only had one day to cram in BOTH Rothenburg and Wurzburg we were only able to see the Marienburg Fortress and ran out of time to see the residence. I really enjoyed seeing the fortress for the second time because our visit was during the week. So it was much less crowded than when RC and I went. 

TSCHUSS! 

Volksfest

This past Friday the volksfest came to town. Most major towns in Germany have a certain time of the year, every year, when the volksfest comes. I didn't have a clear idea of what it was going to be like and when we first walked in I was like "oh this is just like the Coastal Carolina fair at home", kind of disappointed.  It has the typical rides like a ferris wheel, swings, and the scrambler, but then I realized that's where the similarities ended. The food, oh my goodness, THE FOOD! Although it's nice to have a deep-fried Twinkie and Oreo back home, I think I'll take a German pretzel the size of my face any day of the week! 

RC and I went the opening night and enjoyed liters of Festbier, pretzels, white chocolate covered strawberries, and gelato. Then just a few days later my parents came to town and we went again! There were so many different kinds of food that I think we could eat there again the next couple nights, and I wouldn't complain. :) I should also note there was still a lot of traditional German flair! People wore lederhosen and dirndls. There was a huge tent with rows and rows of tables. Inside they had a German band (that played Sweet Home Alabama WHILE wearing lederhosen. Don't get me started! I'm still not used to their obsession with American music.), restaurant style food, and a pole in the middle of the tent where if you climb to the top and ring the bell you drink for free all night.

Flashback Friday

This is a picture of my brother and I with our two cousins at Disney World. 

By the Fall of 2011, all of us will have been enrolled at THE true university of South Carolina.... 

CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

I guess it's become quite of a family tradition. 

We are full of bulldogs, tigers, & cougars and by the grace of God no 'cocks!

... Can you guess which one I am? :)

Holiday Traditions

I absolutely love traditions and my cousin is definitely more obsessed than I. So on my Dad's side of the family we have a number of traditions that sticks around. Here are a couple:

• My cousin has dubbed it Christmas Tree Morning. Everyone gathers at Cracker Barrel the morning after Thanksgiving. After we chow down on some good ol' Southern breakfast complete with grits and biscuits, we start Christmas tree shopping. (My goodness I'm really craving some biscuits now!) I have a pretty vocal family and when all of us gather together to do anything it's too much fun. Also, there's a constant battle over the size of the tree, and when the kids win there's always strategic maneuvering on how to get it into the house. 
• Christmas morning my family opens present at our house. We open each present one and at a time. I love it because there's no rushing around ripping through presents and you get to watch the genuine excitement on the face of the person who's opening the present. Once all of the presents are opened we head over to my grandparents' house. Everyone (my dad has 4 brothers and a sister) meets for breakfast and brings a dish. Let me tell you, there is some good food in that kitchen! Presents come after we eat, and all in all its one of my favorite traditions. My grandparents don't have a large house, but I absolutely love being crammed into their living room with at least 5 of us (grandkids) sitting on the coach together and wrapping paper covering the floor. Although half of us grandkids are "adults" now, Christmas morning hasn't changed one bit and I love that!

I'm anxious and excited about the traditions RC and I will start together. We have no idea where we will be next Christmas or if we will be able to get home. Although I'm anxious that these family traditions I mentioned may not be apart of my Christmas next year, I'm excited that RC and I will be starting our own. It's a little bittersweet, but we've already promised each other than we will be making a big deal out of Christmas. Even though we won't have children that's no reason to lighten the Christmas festivities. I don't have many of my old pictures on my Mac yet, but here's a picture of RC and I in our Tacky Christmas sweaters! :)