I just got the results back from my 3rd MRI. The short story is that the blood in my brain is gone (well not all of it just the stuff that’s not supposed to be there). I started climbing again/working out after the last 4 weeks of head injuries and being sick. It felt really good to get out of the house and exercise.
On a different note school ended last week! I ended up with a 4.0 and am now officialy a Junior! At this rate I might graduate sometime before 2020..
Last weekend I took Erin on a date to dinner and the Blue Man Group. If you have never been you should really check them out. It was the first time I had been to a “show” in the city and it was really odd, weird, cool, loud, interesting, creative, and totally worth it.
After dinner we went to this Austrialian grill that served Kanga (or kangaroo). They also served the largest cheese burger I have ever seen. It was the size of a regular plate and had a ½ pound of cheese on it or if you live in Berlin its more like a ¼ Kilo.
Two weeks ago Erin and I visited my cousin and his family and I must say that I have a really really cool cousin. I am not saying this to take away from how cool you think your cousins are, I am just saying this because my cousin gets to fly around in jets and blow stuff up for a living. Before I get to far into this Blogg I should clarify a couple of things; technically he is my second cousin; and currently he is taking a break from flying the A-10 Warthog so that he can “fly a desk”. I am told that everyone that plans on being in the Air force for 20 years ends up taking time out of what they normally do to “fly a desk”. Currently the “desk he is flying” makes him the assistant to the Major in charge of the US Air Force for all of Europe (yes all of Europe) and is stationed at Raimstein Air Force base about an hour south of Frankfurt Germany.
Eric has been married to his awesome wife Shannon for the past 5 years. In those 5 years they have been lucky enough to have two amazing kids. Both kids are amazing little people that have fantastic personalities that I am sure will take them as far as their parents have gone. It was a pleasure to get to know them and I hope to hang out with the whole family soon.
Erin and I have gotten used to going to our local German grocery store, walking, riding bikes, taking a train, not having a car, not understanding what most people are saying, not seeing Americans, not speaking English all the time, not having mountains in our back yard; we have done a pretty good job at getting used to all of it. Then we took this trip; I think we have done a great job at getting used to the difference from Germany and the states. That’s why this weekend was so interesting, because Eric picked us up in a GMC Yukon (a big SUV). This small thing might not seam like much to the average SUV driving American, but to us it was the largest vehicle by far we have seen in 4 months. Berliners just don’t have big cars; they really like the smart cars and other small cars that look like you could pick up. It was nice to be in a car with a cattle guard (it made me feel like running into something). We got to their house (also something we don’t see much in Berlin) and right away noticed some major differences in how they live. I think the biggest thing for us was the bed in the guest bedroom. Now most German beds are really just two thin mattresses pushed together. This joining creates a very noticeable “crack” in our bed. Erin has spent many nights smashed uncomfortably into the “crack” in our bed. Eric’s bed was a full fledged 12 inch thick pillow top American mattress that the very sight of had me saying the pledge of allegiance. Needless to say we slept well. The next noticeable difference was found when we looked into the fridge. It had American food in it, Betty Crocker, Coke, Land O Lakes cheese, Dryers ice cream; it was like we took a little vacation back to the States for the weekend. Erin and I felt a little silly walking around the grocery store on the base giddy because we could get simple things like American sticky buns, Montreal Steak seasoning, and real brownies. I am sure my cousin was thinking “what’s wrong with these two” but we really just don’t have certain things over here and its amazing how much seeing them can take you back to the States.
Erins mom Gayle has done a great job making us feel like we are not missing Christmas by sending us packages from Santa that we have put under a palm tree that we have decorated. Yesterday I went out to get some Christmas lights, tinsel, and fake snow so that we can make this house look a little more like Christmas. I threw the tinsel on our palm tree where the presents are, sprayed some fake snow on the windows, and plugged in the white lights. The white lights blow out in 5 seconds; just like in the states.
The next couple of weeks are very busy; we have some friends that we met in Brugge coming over to visit us on Monday, my Mom gets into town on Thursday, Erin fly’s to Whales on the 26th and then we go to Poland on the 2nd of January.
After dinner we went to this Austrialian grill that served Kanga (or kangaroo). They also served the largest cheese burger I have ever seen. It was the size of a regular plate and had a ½ pound of cheese on it or if you live in Berlin its more like a ¼ Kilo.
Two weeks ago Erin and I visited my cousin and his family and I must say that I have a really really cool cousin. I am not saying this to take away from how cool you think your cousins are, I am just saying this because my cousin gets to fly around in jets and blow stuff up for a living. Before I get to far into this Blogg I should clarify a couple of things; technically he is my second cousin; and currently he is taking a break from flying the A-10 Warthog so that he can “fly a desk”. I am told that everyone that plans on being in the Air force for 20 years ends up taking time out of what they normally do to “fly a desk”. Currently the “desk he is flying” makes him the assistant to the Major in charge of the US Air Force for all of Europe (yes all of Europe) and is stationed at Raimstein Air Force base about an hour south of Frankfurt Germany.
Eric has been married to his awesome wife Shannon for the past 5 years. In those 5 years they have been lucky enough to have two amazing kids. Both kids are amazing little people that have fantastic personalities that I am sure will take them as far as their parents have gone. It was a pleasure to get to know them and I hope to hang out with the whole family soon.
Erin and I have gotten used to going to our local German grocery store, walking, riding bikes, taking a train, not having a car, not understanding what most people are saying, not seeing Americans, not speaking English all the time, not having mountains in our back yard; we have done a pretty good job at getting used to all of it. Then we took this trip; I think we have done a great job at getting used to the difference from Germany and the states. That’s why this weekend was so interesting, because Eric picked us up in a GMC Yukon (a big SUV). This small thing might not seam like much to the average SUV driving American, but to us it was the largest vehicle by far we have seen in 4 months. Berliners just don’t have big cars; they really like the smart cars and other small cars that look like you could pick up. It was nice to be in a car with a cattle guard (it made me feel like running into something). We got to their house (also something we don’t see much in Berlin) and right away noticed some major differences in how they live. I think the biggest thing for us was the bed in the guest bedroom. Now most German beds are really just two thin mattresses pushed together. This joining creates a very noticeable “crack” in our bed. Erin has spent many nights smashed uncomfortably into the “crack” in our bed. Eric’s bed was a full fledged 12 inch thick pillow top American mattress that the very sight of had me saying the pledge of allegiance. Needless to say we slept well. The next noticeable difference was found when we looked into the fridge. It had American food in it, Betty Crocker, Coke, Land O Lakes cheese, Dryers ice cream; it was like we took a little vacation back to the States for the weekend. Erin and I felt a little silly walking around the grocery store on the base giddy because we could get simple things like American sticky buns, Montreal Steak seasoning, and real brownies. I am sure my cousin was thinking “what’s wrong with these two” but we really just don’t have certain things over here and its amazing how much seeing them can take you back to the States.
Erins mom Gayle has done a great job making us feel like we are not missing Christmas by sending us packages from Santa that we have put under a palm tree that we have decorated. Yesterday I went out to get some Christmas lights, tinsel, and fake snow so that we can make this house look a little more like Christmas. I threw the tinsel on our palm tree where the presents are, sprayed some fake snow on the windows, and plugged in the white lights. The white lights blow out in 5 seconds; just like in the states.
The next couple of weeks are very busy; we have some friends that we met in Brugge coming over to visit us on Monday, my Mom gets into town on Thursday, Erin fly’s to Whales on the 26th and then we go to Poland on the 2nd of January.
3 comments:
Hi Patrick;
It's your great Aunt Jeannie, your dad's favorite aunt. Eric and Shannon filled me in on your visit and what a great time you guys all had. Such a small world. We spent last Christmas in Germany and had a great time. Glad to hear that your mom is heading over this week. She'll have a great visit. Here is my email address.
pilotmom1@verizon.net please email yours. And, hey, quite skiing off mountains will ya! All the best!
PS
I never blogged before so I didn't know how to sign up...so you can see I am anonymous
You write very well.
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