Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"Shin Bone Pain!!!"




Quote by Adam Ruebsam on Day Two of one of our many Mizzou ski trips. He spoke such wisdom, such truth. Not to be confused with the first day. No, the first day, this does not apply for there really is no pain as of yet. The first day skiing you slip right on into those ski boots without much problem. Buckle those things on up, make sure you can wiggle the toes. Good to go for a whole day of skiing. Take ‘em off that night, do a little soaking in the hot tub, feeling pretty good. But, you know even then what’s lurking right around the corner: Day Two Torture.

That second day as you awaken, you notice immediately that your thigh muscles feel like they’re gonna rip off the bone and your calves are so tight you have to walk on your toes. Yet somehow, you hobble over to the ski boots. There they are, looking like a Chinese torture device. Doom is right around the corner. But, alas, you know you have to do it anyway. You pick whichever leg you feel may be slightly less bruised than the other and slip in your foot. Instantly—wham—Shin Bone PAAAIIN!!!

Ah, the joys of skiing. Speaking of which, we spent this past weekend skiing in the Austrian Alps with Heidi and Maarten. And even though we’ve been home for a few days, not to mention took it quite easy, my shins are still a little bruised! Oh well, minor war wounds did not get in the way of a wonderful weekend. Maarten found us a ski-in/ski-out hotel in Kuhtai (means cow-something, but can’t seem to figure out what ‘tai’ means in German. Hope it’s not ‘chip’ or ‘patty’) just about 3 hours away from here. Yep, three hours away from skiing in the Alps—I love it here!!!!

Heidi and Maarten totally get how to vacation, as do most Europeans. We actually came back feeling rested and rejuvenated, not to mention well fed. I mean for starters, Heidi had brought along survival goodies for the car—complete with homemade carrot cake. (Swear she is the Dutch Martha Stewart.) So, instead of killing ourselves and attempting to conquer the entire mountain before lunch, we chilled out quite a bit and found ways to pamper ourselves, even on the slopes. We’d ski for a few hours, then stop and have coffee. Ski a little more—lunch break. Get back out there to work up towards another coffee break, then just have time for a few more runs before Apres Ski (a drink at the bar.) I heart Europeans. Not to mention that the hotel had four course dinners at night. Pretty sure calories in were far greater than calories burned. Whoops. Better luck next time.

We got back Sunday just in time to intercept Claire Happel from the train station. Think I’ve mentioned before, but Claire is a little sister of a good friend of mine, Katie, from both high school and college. She's been studying Harp in Prague for the last few months and had an audition Sunday in Munich. I talked her into hanging out with me for a few days afterwards. Now I have truly loved hanging out with all the Happel girls, and Claire is no exception. There just seemed like there was so much to catch up on with our Quincy roots as well as our quest for trying to acclimate into a new culture. But her visit was short, and I had to return her home yesterday. So, talked Heidi into going with me for a quick day trip into Prague. All in all, skiing in Austria, coffee in Prague--a good weekend, I'd say.

All Quiet on the Western, errr Eastern, Front

Hello cnn.com. Hi there, hotmail and even facebook. Oh Vonage phone, how I’ve missed you! After a very frustrating small scale war with our Internet (it’s been giving us the silent treatment for the last two weeks,) we’re back online. Had a very interesting (and seemingly lucrative) conversation Monday with Tcom, and think we’ve (read: they’ve) got the problem solved. Have no idea what said problem was, as my conversation with dear Helga the Internet Technician was mostly in German. But seeing as it’s working now, not gonna stop to ask any questions. What’s that saying about looking a gift horse in the mouth? Anyway, I’ve truly missed blogging and pretending like I’m having a conversation with all of you. (Even if it is rather one-sided.)

Monday, January 14, 2008

Rough Start

Was really planning to establish a great routine today. New Year. Good time to reinvent yourself. Good idea...right? Nope. Not gonna happen. For starters, got sidetracked last night and didn't even get into bed until almost one. So much for a good nite's rest. Sleep went as follows.

Hmm, 1am, not sleepy so much. Allrighty, let's try a book. (Time lapse: 20 min.) Okay-eyes are feeling a little droopy, let's close them. Flip off the light. Immediately, eyes wide awake. It's ok Heather, just focus on your breath for a while. In. Out. In. Out. (few minutes pass.) Humph, not working. Sheep--yeah sheep. Count 'Em. 1, 2, 3...87. Wow, that's really stupid. Onto something else--daydream of something--what about dance (which at this point brings on a little heartache.) Okay--subject change. What about counting your blessings? Okay. Good. Number One: my family--Oh, my family. I miss my family. Okay--cannot feel my arm. Is it there? Yep. Found it. Oh no, it's asleep...here it comes...here comes the pain. Pins and needles, pins and needles! (good two minutes of silent agony here.) Maybe if I just flip over--nope, can't move that way. Harry (the cat)--must you lay horizontally on the bed? (adjust, adjust.) Maybe if I shimmy over this way...nope, Tim--wow--you are an inferno right now. (finagle around to get leg outside the covers.)

I remember seeing the clock almost every half hour amidst my tosses and turns until I had wound myself so tightly into a cocoon that I had to peel myself out like an onion. Finally got up and went to the guest bed where there was no Tim and no Harry. Think I had just shut my eyes when the alarm went off. "Heather. Heather...where are you." So in comes Tim to lay down with me for a sec before he hops in the shower. Silence. Then breathing. zzzzzzzz. Both of us totally pass out. Didn't even feel Harry jump into bed with us and assume his position.

So as we were in the other bedroom, slept right on through the snooze button. Got up an hour late. How's that for routine?

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Change in Tempo

Before we left the states another Cat wife said to me that she didn’t think Tim and I would ever settle down. Settle down—what does this mean? For some reason, I think about this statement all the time. I can’t decide if it bothered me-that she was telling me to act my age, or if it was a good thing-that perhaps Tim and I were out living our lives to the fullest. Or maybe (and this is most likely) it was just one of those statements that force you to look at your life big picture instead of being stuck in the day-to-day. Regardless, I think she was pretty accurate.

When I think about our life in Peoria, it’s pretty obvious that we never really put down roots. We never bought a house—always choosing to rent. We left town nearly every weekend to travel or to see friends and family. A lot of our friends were having babies— we had cats. I was usually up way too late, sleeping in (we all know what time of the day I like to awaken), and usually eating something quick like Jimmy John’s (oh, yum—sorry got distracted.) I was still living in that limbo world between college and becoming a real person.

Well, things have changed. My personal tempo has come to a screeching halt. I noticed it today on this lazy Sunday. My big accomplishments today include, sleeping in, making some breakfast, glancing at some cartoons, and writing a little. On any given Sunday at home, we’d normally be driving home from God knows where, probably more tired than we were before the weekend, all the while choreographing in the car. (Um, I was choreographing, not Tim.) Just seems so comical to me that I had to move to Germany in order to slow down.

On the downside, it’s not just my tempo that’s had an upheaval. A lot of the things that defined me are no longer there to fall back on, which is something I’m still struggling with. Dance, theatre, teaching, even Yoga are kinda on hold right now. In fact, the image of treading water comes to mind. (Think they are all here somewhere, but this damn language thing gets in the way.) BUT…on the upswing, I think I may be becoming a normal person. I’m actually home at night to cook dinner with my husband. I get to read and write, not to mention explore this amazing city, and spend whole afternoons on Coffee and Kuchen with Laura and Heidi. I think I’m taking a lot more time to live each day, which is such a gift.

So, I sat down to read the paper today, which is what inspired this whole tangent. This is something that I haven’t ever done before. First of all, we didn’t even get the paper in Peoria, which further disconnected us from that community, and even if we did, we weren’t ever home to read it. In fact, I don’t really know how to “read” a paper. Do you just kinda skim through looking for words that interest you? Are you required to read each headline? “Sports section—pass, Politics—just a glance. Where are the comics?” Plus the thing is a completely awkward size and shape that you have to fold all over the place to make it accessible. And what’s with the black crap that gets all over your hands?

Anyway, the point is, I would never have made time to read the paper at home. And even though it was in German and I understood about, oh, about 20 percent of it, I felt connected to the people around me. Maybe I’ll like this slower tempo. Maybe it’s just more of a tango instead of a salsa. (Ummm…salsa.)

Chapters 3-12: Story in pictures

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Chapter 2: Double Axle


Dec 16th
Well, I was on my way to Peoria to work at The Company and spend some time with friends for a few days, but I got a little derailed when I hit a teeny-tiny little patch of ice on I55. Ice 1, Heather 0. Ended up backward in the ditch (as you'll notice that's a concrete ravine there) along side of about five other cars. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but well...my car had seen better days.
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So, after meeting some truly wonderful people that pulled off to make sure I was ok, I came across two characters (again, I can attract 'em) that had just flipped their car moments before my X-terra decided to try a double axle. Tell you what, these guys were about the shadiest shadsters to ever shade. Terrifying. Hmm, little frame of reference: I was way more scared being around these dudes than I was actually having the accident. They were definitely hiding stuff in their jackets, trying to dodge the state troopers. My internal red flags were going off again and again rather loudly. Actually, I think they may have been hitting me up for money at one point, but I pretended to be German and said I didn't have a bank account in the states. (Dear God, please forgive me for lying through my teeth.) Luckily, the tow truck arrived just at that time.
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After I'd been pulled out (which actually was pretty darn funny, because as I stood by the side of the road about six ginormous semis drove by and completely covered me head to toe with a salt/snow treatment) I found myself at a nearby Shell station where my friendly Tow truck driver had dropped me. He was also a little alarmed with these hooligans and thought this was the safest place he could leave me. Safe...not so much. Few minutes later, who walks in but my two terrifying friends. Within seconds, I found myself (still partly damp from my road-side spa) hunkering down behind a pyramid of Pepsi One fridge packs, praying that I would avoid detection. It worked. New Years Resolution Number 1: Make the switch from Coke to Pepsi.
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Now I honestly don't think there was anything these boys could do to me, but after a long and, oh, mildly stressful day, there is not much rational thought that was happening. About the time I'd had enough, I got a phone call that my brother was just a few minutes away. Big brother Tom to the rescue! Luckily, my car had decided to go off-roading just a few miles from where he works, so he was there in no time to save me. In all my years, I have never been so excited to see my brother!
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A couple hours later, my chariot arrived. Neighbor Mark from Peoria had taken off shortly after he had heard about my little ordeal to come get me. The day ended up pretty darn good despite my rough start. Mark made me laugh the whole way home (I highly recommend getting a daily dosage of Mark TV--laughter is the best medicine to take your mind off of hundreds of dollars of damage.) Then I finally got to the dance studio, oh, say about 5 hours late. It was just insane. These girls had been waiting for 3 months and 5 hours for me to return and they were emotionally spent. They were pressed up against the door looking for any sign of a car and when I came in, it was like Elvis just rose from the dead. There was screaming, crying, hugging--all sorts of craziness. Nothing like feeling like a rockstar for a few minutes to erase a bad day.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strangeland

Dec 13th--flying home sans Tim. (Guess some of us have to work.)

As I was situating myself on the plane…you know cramming my carry-on luggage overhead (which incidentally was WAY too big to be carry-on luggage, but I’d already checked two other pieces crammed full of gifts (and shoes) so it had to be) and stuffing my ipod and journal into the seat pocket in front of me, nestled along side of the safety manual and barf bag…when what to my wondering eyes did I appear, but a small Asian man coming down the aisle with what looked to be a lamp shade on his head.

With further notice, it wasn’t a lamp shade at all, but some sort of a hat. Huh. If memory serves, I believe it either was coated in fur, or feathers, or maybe pomped (for those of you Mizzou grads.) Or maybe it was a piƱata. Unsure. Anyway, I cannot describe it any better than a lampshade with a fat band of hot pink on the top, mustard yellow in the middle, and kelly green rounding out the bottom. So naturally, I was intrigued.

For those of you who don’t know me all that well, I have a knack for drawing in strange characters. Well, this particular day (although I was exceptionally tired) my tractor beam was functioning quite well and this poor gentlemen didn’t stand a chance. Of course, he was pulled in and destined to be my seatmate. He placed his satchel down on the seat next to me and we exchanged a kind “hello” and a quick smile. Then I tried not to stare as he took off his grey and black pinstripe blazer and placed his, err, headdress next to my overstuffed suitcase in the overhead compartment.

I was able in this brief moment to catch a quick glimpse of his entire attire. It was as follows: Black pants (nothing crazy there.) Black button up shirt that had geometric shapes with the same colors echoed in his, um, cone-shaped fedora. Then overtop of this, was a green fur vest. Nope…not doing it justice. Not just green, bright green. And by ‘fur’ I mean whatever that stuff is that covers teddy bears. Is it possible it was from a green polar bear? And actually, come to think of it, this vest didn’t have buttons and came up all the way to his tiny Adam’s Apple. So I did what any normal person would do, and took a quick moment to thank God for creative people.

Turns out, this man was fascinating. He was Chinese, but was going to visit his family in Manhattan. He worked in Munich in the fashion industry (go figure) and had lived in Germany, Milan, Paris, London and New York. After he told me this, I looked down and realized I was donned in classic ‘Dance Teacher’ attire (mostly black and the focus being on comfy, not cute.) Could tell he was contemplating turning me in to “What Not To Wear.” Anyway, through the rest of our conversation I learned he was fluent in Chinese, English, Italian, French and German, all the while applying at least six different creams to his face throughout the flight. (Highly recommend getting whatever it was he was applying because he head to be nearly 40 but looked not a day over 21.) My flight ended up being delightful. Had interesting conversation and my nose was filled with the light scent of Lancome.

Intro to 12 Blogs of Christmas

German Christmas Trivia:
  1. Which two reindeer on Santa’s sleigh have German names?
    a. Donner and Blitzen
    b. Harry and Sally
    c. Rudolph and Adolf

    Extra points if you guessed (b), but the correct answer is of course Donner and Blitzen. I was surprised to discover (during the weather chapter in my class) that Donner and Blitzen mean Thunder and Lightning. That’s just shocking! (laugh here.)
    ....................
  2. Who do German children send their Christmas Wish lists to?
    a. St. Nikolaus
    b. The Pope (he is from Regensburg)
    c. Kristkind (the Christ child)

    My guess is that most of you chose (a), which is gonna cost you. The correct answer is is (c) the Christ child. “Dear Baby Jesus, It’s me Heath. I’m wondering if this year instead of world peace (or salvation) I could get Guitar Hero 3.”


Anyway…Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Tim and I spent our vacation gypsying around (verb?) the Continental US in true Klaus fashion. I apologize for not keeping the blog updated, but there just wasn’t enough time to write. It was a little strange, ever since I’ve lived in Germany I’ve written something, whether it be journal or blog or nonsensical ramblings (mostly the latter) every single day. Writing is honestly one of two things that keeps my feet on the ground. (The other one being Tim.) I did write a little on the plane, but the moment I touched US soil, I did not write one single word. Ok not true, I did do my fair share of texting. But typing ‘I M 2 BZ 2 P’, although clever, is not exactly my most impressive work. But I’m back at it now. Thought I’d just write a few chapters from our journey to catch you all up to date. Never fear, can't imagine I'll actually write 12 chapters. Hope you enjoy. Miss you already.