Taking Care of Business

Helllloooo people!

Things are still going well down here in sunny Florida. Surprisingly enough, I have been staying pretty busy. No complaints though, I like being busy and the more things I have to do, the more I feel like I have an actual life. That is also less time to be sad about not being in Europe anymore. Moving right along.

In addition to being chauffeur to Germaine, I also started an internship at a local paper down here. It has four separate editions that are published monthly and it's called the Osprey Observer. I got an official name tag today and everything, so I mean business. I've only been in the office two days, but I have already been given assignments and have something due by Thursday. I am pretty excited about the whole thing because I'll get published and this will look awesome on my resume. Especially because otherwise I would have a big hole for these months and it never does anyone any good to have holes in the resume. However, I do need to find some paying work because today I spent $80 a the post office. I need some cash flow for real.

In other news, I also made some friends! Hooray friends! My aunt works at a high school and she introduced me to some of the younger teachers that work there and we had a grand ole time last Friday. The people I met were really nice and friendly and hopefully I didn't scare them away when I showed up to Happy Hour with Germaine in tow. I think it'll be ok though...she seemed to be a big hit, per usual.

So between cruising around in the Town Car (aka "the dream"), the internship and my cousins and their six kids, I have a pretty full schedule. On top of that, the weather is still pretty nice down here so I get some outside time in as well. And, the best part of all, I pretty much have my grandmother's villa all to myself, so I pretend it's mine and life is good. I love living by myself, even if it is in some one's house and with slightly outdated decor. I'll take what I can get.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with myself after this is all over, but I'm not feeling very motivated. I realllllyyyyy want to go somewhere else (out of the country) and try teaching again, but I have been lazy pants lately when it comes to that. Words of encouragement are helpful, so feel free to send some.

So that is my life. More to come, don't worry. I'm sure things will only get more exciting from here. Ciao friends :)

The Sunshine State

I'm sure everyone has just been dying to know what is going on with me. Yeah right. Now that I'm back in the states, things have once again gotten a little on the boring side. But you, my fabulously loyal reader, are still interested to hear about life and it's happenings, I just know it.

I spent about a week in Charleston, mainly sleeping and venturing out of the house every now and then. I drove around, ran some errands and tried to get my stuff in order. I didn't do a very good job, but I managed and got myself down to Florida with way to much stuff. Many thanks to my great friends and family that drove me and all my stuff around. But now I'm down here and the tables have turned. I am now the one driving and am pretty much a chauffeur for my Grandmother. I am not complaining, because I get to ride in total style in her Lincoln Town Car. I know, you're jealous. It actually drives really smooth and has a Sirius radio system, so basically I'm a baller. I've only been here a few days, but I have a couple job leads, have been helpful and am enjoying the fabulous weather. So far, so good. In fact, I'm heading to the pool after this to soak up some sun.


Ok, so that's my current life. I wanted to share this picture from my past life though, because I think it's hilarious. When I was in Greece, I was in a of secluded area and was not meeting any hot Greek gods like I had hoped for. I also wasn't really allowed to go anywhere to meet Greek gods and I was getting a little frustrated. So when my family told me we were going to go up to the tennis courts so Pana could take tennis lessons, I had extremely high hopes that the instructor was going to be beautiful. Now, no one had mentioned anything about him being good looking or young or available or anything, but I built it up in head and was going on some extreme wishful thinking. So we go up there and I'm all ready and hopeful and excited about having a summer fling with this Greek god and this is who it turns out to be:

And I don't know if you can really tell from the photo, but he is about 80 and has on some super thick glasses that are taped together in the middle. And even though he was apparently a looker in his day (I found out he has like, 9 kids from a few different women) and was still rockin on the tennis courts, he was a little too old for me and my summer romance dreams were shattered. So that was sad.

And that is the end of that story. Nothing else going on. More to come, I'm sure. Later dudes!

A List

Oh people. Here I am. Back at home. Watching 'America's Got Talent' with Ray and Mom, both loving and hating everything about being back in the USA. I know it's cheesy and cliche, but I seriously feel like I have a little hole in my heart. I know.

I know.

I'll move on. I'm trying to focus on the positive, so let's first recap the end of Europe and then we'll talk about the good things about being back home.

So, before the long journey back home began, we (Christin and I) were in Amsterdam for the weekend and we had a SUPER good time. Our hosts were extremely nice and gracious and really showed us a good time. We did a walking tour of the city, which was a little long. Not that I minded, but my foot was a little upset with me. It stopped whining later in the evening, after a bottle and a half of wine. Haha, it took wine to make the wHining stop. Jesus, am I really talking about my foot like it can talk and making bad puns? America makes me write bad. Stupid America.

Anyways, we also went to a club and it was AWESOME. They played really bad music and the floor was uncomfortably sticky. I was literally stuck to the floor. It hurt my foot to try and pry it off the ground, so I gave up and pretty much stayed in one place the entire night. Or morning rather because we got there around 2 and left around 5. AM. And we went to bed around 6:30. In the morning. Which was cracking me up just a few days later, when I went to bed at 9:30. At night. Oh, how quickly things change. We also went on a lovely boat tour and were serenaded by the greatest rendition of 'Hallelujah' I have ever heard. Seriously, it was fantastic. The next day, I was treated to bike tour by a local, so I felt super cool. Definitely cooler than the touristy goobers on Mike's Bikes. Or whatever. It was a little scary though, as I had to ride on the bike with my foot just dangling out there, for any passerby to hit or a car to rip off. Fortunately, that did not happen and it was a really nice day to end my visit to Amsterdam. It ended rather abruptly that evening so I can make it to the airport the next day, which is a different story that I don't feel like reliving. But I got to dance and I was SO happy.

SO, on to the positive things. Because being back in the US does have it's advantages. Let's do this list style. I'll try to get to 10:

1. I got lots of hugs. I love hugs. There are hugs in Europe, but they're a little on the weak side. They do more of that cheek kiss business, which I like, but hugs trump it for sure.

2. I get to DRIVE. And I LOVE driving. Ain't nothing better than windows down, music up.

3. The weather. It was getting a little chilly in Germany/The Netherlands but the weather here is fan-freakin-tastic. And that means I get to go to the beach. Which leads me to...

4. The beach! Love it. The Greek beach was awesome, but I missed sand between my toes.

5. I can make phone calls without worrying about my credit running out on me.

6. TV. This is a positive and a negative. I have a love/hate relationship with TV. I love it until I get sucked in, end up watching the SOAP network and am forced to watch the news...or the VMAs. Thank you Joe Wilson for making look SC look stupid AGAIN. And Kanye West. Vomit.

7. The pool. Went today, it was awesome. Until little kids showed up, then I had to peace out.

8. Nice, big, fluffy pillows. For whatever reason, all the pillows I encountered over there were TOTAL weaksauce. They were really sad.

9. Crispix and Chic-Fil-A. I missed them.

10. AIR CONDITIONING. Omg, love it.

So there you go. There are a lot of things I miss, no doubt. But let's think positive. I watched 'Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay' the other night and would like everyone else to do so as well. Not ONLY does it have my FAVORITE song EVER in it, but it also has them in Amsterdam at the end. Now, I don't know if I consider Amsterdam my Heaven on Earth, but it was definitely hella fun.

PA

My Pa died on Monday morning, surrounded by his family, in Florida and in peace, at 90 years young. After an excessive amount of phone calls, pleading, handing out credit card numbers, crying, train rides and extremely long and cold plane rides, I made it back for the funeral. It was also made possible by some extremely nice and patient people in the Netherlands and Germany and I am so extremely grateful to them. It was well worth all the effort to properly say goodbye to one of the most amazing people I have ever known and be surrounded by my family.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about Pa. Because, seriously, he was one awesome person. He was an award-winning painter, a writer, a traveler, a veteran, a gardener, a wine maker, a story teller, a generally nice person and overall, one fabulous grandfather. I really don’t even know how I can do him justice on a blog, but I know he read it to keep up with my travels and I want to honor him in my own little way, because I couldn’t be there to say goodbye to his face.Of course with death (especially a grandparent) comes the old clichés about how you wish you had more time with them, had talked to them more, said I love you more, and gotten a chance to properly say goodbye. It's weird for me to think about the 66 years Pa had before I was even around and how I didn't and won't ever really get to hear about all the amazing things he got to do and see. Luckily, though, he kept a record of his long and eventful life. I haven't gotten a chance to read everything, but he went to a lot of cool places and got to see and do a lot of really interesting and fun things. And, lucky for me, I did do a lot of listening while he was still here and got to spend a lot of quality time with him. I have so many great memories of times spent at my grandparents house and other visits with them. I'm going to try and share some, but they're all random and scattered, so bear with me.

He made his own wine in his basement, in the wine cellar and whenever he took me down there with him, it was my special duty to pull the string that turned on the light and he always made sure I performed it to my maximum potential. After our visit to the wine cellar, we would spend time in his greenhouse, watering the plants and making sure all was growing like it was supposed to. He also grew mint right outside the porch steps and when we would go pick it, he would talk to his friend Mr. Bee that lived in the plants. I was convinced that it was the same bee that lived there for at least four years and that Pa really was friends with him because he never got stung. And he had another friend, Moley, a stuffed mole who would crawl up his arm and had been with him around the world. My brother was completely convinced Moley was real and took him to show and tell in elementary school, positive Moley was just sleeping while on display. I remember him up in his beloved office, at first painting and going through his collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and then later, after he lost his sight, at his computer, with everything enlarged five times so he could read or look at things. And he was always so nicely dressed. He had a hat for every occasion and a suit to match. He was an extremely stylish man and would often out dress everyone he was with. He loved to drink a nice cold beer or a nice glass of wine and was always cracking jokes and making everyone laugh, even when he was sick or in pain. Being Irish, he loved St. Patrick's Day and knew how to celebrate it right.

Whenever I think about Pa, I always picture him laughing. Everytime his face materializes in my mind, there is always a smile on it and I can think of very few times in my entire life that I see Pa in a less than cheerful mood. Going to his funeral, reading his stories, listening to his friends and family and going through old pictures made me realize just want an awesome person he really was and how lucky I am to say he was MY Pa. And even though it makes me unbelievably sad that I couldn't be there with him when he passed, I have no doubt he knew how much I loved him and I that am the lucky one that inherited his traveling bug. I hope to keep making him proud with my travels and want to make it Egypt one day so I can understand his fascination with the country.

And just in case you needed proof of how awesome he was, let me tell you about his last wishes. It was his first choice to be buried completely naked, with only his Army dog tags on. But because he knew my grandma wouldn't go for that, he opted instead to be buried in his Guinness pajama pants and Carney's Pub t-shirt, with Moley in his hand. Seriously. Awesome. Apparently it was genetic.

I miss you Pa. I know you're looking down on us, laughing, drinking and living it up in your pjs.

Pray for Pa

P-A, PA.

Pa is my awesome grandpa and he is not doing so well at the moment. Prayers, finger crossings, thumbs in, sacrifices, whatever you do for people that need help is welcome. And a little extra for me too because I'm a sad, all the way over in Germany and not with the rest of the family in Florida.

Nice People Are Awesome

It's true. Nice people are 1000 times cooler than non-nice people. I have been doing some studies and it's proven.

Ok, sorry for being dumb. But, since I got to Germany, everyone has been SO nice to me! Maybe it's because I'm crippled, but seriously...I almost feel bad sometimes. I mean, what did I do to deserve this niceness? I really hope one day all of these nice people come to visit me in the US so I can return the favor. Maybe not all at one time, but I want them to all eventually get there.

Anyways, some quick stories about nice people. When I hung out with Sven and his friends in Wolfsburg, it was someones birthday so we went had a cookout and people played soccer. I, obviously, did not participate in the soccer, but had a lovely time watching. Anyways, every single person that came to the party came over and introduced themselves, made a little conversation and I even got a few hugs. I felt so special, these people didn't even know me! And everyone was very concerned about my foot, made sure I was comfortable and well fed. One guy even took it upon himself to hand feed me...that got a little awkward, but it was funny. We also went over to people's houses and I was again fed and warmly welcomed.

And Sven and his family have been beyond nice. I am so not fun and useless with the broken foot, but they are super patient and always trying to help. I feel kind of bad, actually, but they just keep on being nice.

My favorite though: last night we went to a bbq for Sven because he is leaving the company he has been working at. It was in a nearby park and everyone brought food and such. And again, everyone introduced themselves and expressed concern over my foot. The girls even included me in their bathroom trek even though I made the journey about 15 extra minutes than necessary. Anyways, I was talking to one guy about my Greek family and I told him how I had bought them Prosecco in Italy as a gift and that they told me we would drink it on my birthday. Of course, we didn't do that and I never got opened at all and I was joking about how I should have taken it back and brought it with me to Germany. Well, later, the guy leaves to buy more beer and he brought back a bottle of Prosecco! I mean, really, how special is that? And he even made a toast for my belated birthday. It was so great. After that it started raining and we continued to sit there (I was slightly confused as to why we didn't just leave, but whatev) and overall, had a lovely evening.

So those are my nice people stories. Sorry they are kind of boring, I just wanted to share. In other news, my foot is killing me and it's making me very angry. I'm trying to stay positive, but it's really annoying. Getting a brace and all that is a little more difficult here, but we are going to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully he'll have something to give me. What I really need is some Madame Pomfrey. If you know what I'm talking about, you're awesome.

The Book of Love

So I was going to make this post a little "book of love" by putting up my favorite pictures so far...things I love, basically. But then I got lazy and decided to just put up my most recent favorite. The above picture cracks me up because Sven is just so dang happy. We were at this tiny little club that played reggae music in Wolfsburg (where he lives) with a bunch of his friends and it was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. They were sooo into dancing and it was cracking me up! And it was good I was entertained because I had to just sit and watch because I still had the cast on. Speaking of, it came off today! Hooray! My leg was super gross, dry and hairy, but it is extremely happy to be free of its plaster confines. We are on the road to recovery and it feels good.

In other news, I have been doing a lot of internet surfing since I can't do a lot of walking, and came upon this amazing song I wanted to share with everyone:



The video is really stupid and I can't find it on iTunes, only as part of an album, but the song is SO good. It was on the finale of Scrubs. Another good one, "Even If It Breaks Your Heart," by Will Hoge. And, "I Know There's Something Going On," by Frida if you need an 80s fix.

And lastly, this is really funny:


I looked at other Panda videos (because I'm awesome) and decided that Pandas aren't real, they are all just people in Panda suits. Go look at some videos if you don't believe me.

So I'm in Berlin for a few days, then its back to Wolfsburg and Amsterdam this weekend. Not sure what happens after that, but we'll be in touch.

Ciao!