Jesus is the reason for the season....

Happy Christmas Day to everybody in the States -
to those of you who are in Germany: I hope you had a nice Christmas Eve with a ton of presents, blessings and good wishes!:)
I took the chance to update this between all the eating that has been going on here in my parent´s house for the last 2 days.....:) I´m doing good! I got nice presents - plus some more that are still to come from Dad and Ursel tomorrow - Andy and I went to church yesterday and this morning, we had nice dinner and a calm evening.
I like our tree as I´m the one who decorated - I even threw myself into the chaos of a christmas-eve-supermarket to get some chocolate to put on the tree....:) Andy and my family clearly are not in favour of lametta - well, I am and so I put it up!
Regine called and I got some nice christmas cards from Sarah and Herr Wolpert, which gave the day a good start.
Sandra had stopped by on the 23rd and gave me great Swedish candy as we both share the passion for the country and its cute language.
Andy gave me a book I had wished for, plus a calendar and a little bag. My parents gave me money, a book, a necklace and a book bag which I just love.
It´s so great we all give each other thoughtful presents - nobody was disappointed.
Now I´m waiting for what the day may bring - Merlina wanted to stop by, my Mom is preparing another great meal with red cabbage, yummy! Also, I have to pack up some things as Andy and I will be driving to my Dad´s tomorrow to - well, eat, I guess..:)
I´m thinking of all the Americans who have been woken up by their kids who can´t wait to see what Santa brought! 56 more days until I board the plane in Frankfurt!
Thanks to everybody for SMS, letters, cards, presents, calls and mails!
See you.

Pierced ears!

Merlina´s back! I went over to her house last night. It was so great to see her! We also went downtown to do some shopping this morning, Andy went with us. I got my ears pierced again! I had had it done a couple of years ago but the keep going away immediately once I take out the earrings...Now I have new ones and I like them! I also bought a light pink sweater that´s really cute. I met my former german teacher downtown and we had a nice little chat. Merlina and I were saying that somehow it feels like we just graduated from highschool even though it´s been 3 1/2 years now....Our city is so small that you always bump into someone you know while walking around. Merlina and I also took some pictures of ourselves while we stopped at a cafe to dring hot chocolate...our latest pictures are so old, we definitely need new ones. They are still on Andy´s camera, but they seem to be really good. I´ll try to put them on my homepage once I´m back in Berlin in January.
I also sent short messages to Sandra, we´ll meet tomorrow.....things are going very well here! The internet was broken for 2 days, apparently for no special reason because all of a sudden it´s back working! But now I know I´m really an internet-addict. I hate not being able to go online!
Andy´s spending a lot of time with my little brother René (11) who adores him. I´m so happy Andy gets along fine with my family and that he´s so comfortable here.
Nothing else is going on here..my sister spends a lot of time with her boyfriend, my oldest brother is still in school, my stepdad is working and I´m just doing nothing..I cleaned my room a little bit and now I´ll just watch TV, I guess.
I talked to Ines over the phone which was really nice. It´s always so weird to talk to the Berlin people while I´m here....:)
Bye for now!

Home is where your heart is!

Hey, just wanted to let you know that Andy and I made it home okay! It was a 9 hour drive but everything went really well and it feels so good to be home! My parents and siblings were very happy to see us! My brother Jonathan moved out last summer and so my Mom turned his bedroom into a guestroom which just looks sooo nice and the bed is perfect!:)
Also, she put up all these nice little christmas decorations and made thousands of cookies...:)
So I´m just hanging around here waiting for things to come....:)
Tomorrow I´ll do some more shopping for christmas cards and some black pants for myself....plus Merlina and Sandra will come home, too....:)
Lot´s of love!
Kathrin

Going down South.....

Almost ready for take off tomorrow..:) I´m really excited about going home...I´m even looking forward to the 10 hour drive ahead of us! I found out I got a spot in a group of interns in German for September..this is great because once this intershiop is done I have made a big step towards completing my programs´ requirements which is a good thing, of course! I also got a B+ on a paper in medieval history which is great as I´m not so good at this! Today Jule came over for breakfast with Sophie - this baby is such a joy, so lovely, it really kills me! I also got my first christmas present - a box with candy and candles....
After that I cleaned my apartment and took the subway to Andy´s. We went shopping for him to get some new clothes...we found really nice things, I can´t believe how sexy he is once he dresses up just a little!:)
Now we had pizza and I have to pack some things that are left but in general I´m ready to go! We´ll leave here around 9 tomorrow, hopefully we´ll make it to my parents for dinner!
I´ll keep you updated!

Christmas 2004

Hello everyone! Before it gets too late I want to take the chance to thank everybody for this past year with all its up´s and down´s!

~Andy: You are the most important person in my life. I can´t thank you enough for your patience and your generosity, I love you!
~Mom & Martin, Papa& Ursel, Jonathan, Henriette, Konstantin, René and Eva: You are my family and I could not wish for anything else. I love you very much!
~Dan & Pat, Justin, Kayla and Ryan: Just thinking of you and all the happy times makes me so happy. I feel so honoured to be a part of your extended, growing family. Thank you! See you all in February!
~ Linnie:We´re still here, hm? I feel like there´s nobody who´s come such a long way with me but you. I hope we´ll also make this work in the future. Thank you.
~Sandra: Though things haven´t always been easy between us in this past year, you´re still a big part of my life and I hope you´ll always be.
~Anja: Happy Birthday to you. I hope you´ll always stick with your dreams!
~Sarah, Kristin, Jenny and Annelie: German girls rock! I´m so happy we keep in touch! Being our own little AuPair-Family makes us really special! All the best for you and let´s see who comes next!
~Ines: How many happy times we shared. I just love talking to you about men and other stuff - you always cheer me up.
~Jule and baby Sophie: Even though we don´t see each other as much anymore: I still love you and I´m very proud of what you´re doing!:)
~Regine: This year has brought you as a new friend, I´m very thankful for you. You´re honest, friendly and you´re big heart tells me you´ll always be there to stick with me. Things haven´t always been easy for you this year, I hope the new year will bring you happier times.
~Julia. You´re a very special person, I´m so glad we met! Love you!
~Frauke: Happy new year to you. I hope you´ll achieve what you wish for! Hugs!
~Maddi: I hope the new year will bring you a bundle of joy with your baby girl!
~Sarah-Mee, Anja, Krissi, Kathrin, Daniel, Julia M., Julia R., Marina, Pamela, Mia and everybody I forgot: God´s blessings for a happy new year!

THANK YOU.

Stress week...

I can´t wait till next Saturday...actually, Thursday afternoon is fine, too. My presentation will be over by then, plus all the classes I have to give at highschool will be done, too. Right now I´m a little frustrated about that fact that all my weekends are taken by school work and I have a bad feeling just about sleeping in a little. During the week I´m so tiured that I postpone all important things on to the weekend and then it turns out to be so much to do! I have two classes to prepare today plus my part of the presentation. I had a meeting with Ines, Frauke and Florian yesterday to prepare everything but I still have my part to work through....
Thursday and Friday I was teaching - Thursday I had too much prepared which wasn´t a problem, on Friday I thought everything went fine but the teacher criticized me A LOT. And I have to tell you, it BOTHERS me just as much. Somehow I can´t fight the thought in my head that he tried to tell me that being a teacher is not my thing. I know he didn´t, or I guess he didn´t mean that. But still he was all negative and it was only my THIRD lesson ever. I´m there to learn. Of course, now I´m scared about teaching tomorrow and even more so on weekend as Mrs. Vorwald from my university will come to watch me teaching and grade me on it! Hey, I´m doing my best but nobody acknowledges that! I have a really bad feeling in my stomach...uff....
Besides that, I´m okay....I was working on Friday which is always nice and I really ned the money. Andy and I already have all the christmas presents, we just need to set aside some time to wrap them and everything...
Plans for next week are:
~get teaching and presentation done
~go and check wether I got a spot in next semesters internship in German literature and language
~iSt AuPair-Interview on Monday
~spend a nice evening with Regine on Wednesday
~last cell group meeting at Petra´s on Thursday
~hand in all books due in the different libraries
~meet my professor to see wether I passed medieval history class
~be at home for guys to come and check on my water/gas/heating numbers..whatever
~write christmas cards
~pack up things
~meet Jule and baby Sophie at my house on Friday

Also: Many kisses to Julia - I´m so sorry we couldn´t find any time to meet and talk! I wish you a very merry christmas and a happy new year. Let´s talk on the phone, okay?
~hugs~:)

Hope you are all well!
Love, Kathrin

Sentences you never thought you´d say...(for Regine)

Hey!
The teaching went well on Monday. Was a strange feeling, but good! Teacher said I was very self-confident and calm. Keep fingers crossed for things to come, please.
Had a nice evening with the girls at Maddi´s house on Monday. Frauke and Ines definitely had too much wine and were very funny...:) We were talking about strange sentences you never thought you´d say...Here´s my favorite one from FRIENDS: Chandler enters in a Santa costume while Ross, dressed as an Armadillo tries to get his son Ben excited about Hannukah. They start fighting because Chandler ruins everything for Ross and Monica says
"Ben, why don´t you open some more presents while Santa, the Armadillo and I will have a little talk in the kitchen. Wow, there´s a sentence I never thought I´d say."
It´s Andy´s favorite FRIENDS´episode.
Yesterday I went to the hairdresser...got a new "let´s try to look like Reese Witherspoon just ONE more time"-kind of haircut. I like it with more layers, not so boring all on one length....plus it was only 9 Euros.
Alos went to the movies with my friend Daniel to see "Bridget Jones". Was funny, nothing special though.
Today was sickness and migranes. Oh gosh, I felt so horrible, slightly better now. Will go to bed early. Can´t go to my cell group meeting which stinks. 10 more days until I´ll go home!

Christmas Time...

Hey everyone,
I hope you enjoy Christmas time. I´m very thankful that I actually LOVE Christmas Time this year, because I do things I like, I´ll buy my presents on Monday with Andy so there´s no stress in the last minute, I have an advent calendar, a christmas wreath (I learned this word from my friend Matt!) with candles and I eat lot´s of Christmas cookies.....
This week I spent a nice evening with my friend Heike. She slept over so we could go to a school that has both healthy and handicapped children very early the next morning...We visited the school with a class fromuniversity. I spent 2 hours in a first grade and the kids were so cute and so nice.....:) I really had fun and it was worth getting up so early!
Tuesday I went to Jule´s house to see her and baby Sophie. It was so nice to see both of them again..somehow we find time to get together much too seldom. Sophie is eating carrots now, smiling, giggling, just being a joy!
Wednesday was cell group meeting at Petra´s house. We did a meditation and I read one of my favorite children´s christmas stories to Petra and Lisett. It´s so funny, when we eat dinner at Petra´s, we usually just eat bread with cheese or lunch meat, nothing really fancy. But it´s always so good! Whenever you eat at someone else´s, it tastes so good!
Yesterday was our weekly meeting at the italian restaurant with Ines, Frauke and Maddy with her baby belly....) Nice as always. Next week we´ll celebrate Maddy´s birthday and I´ll get to see Regine again. Also, we have to prepare a presentation on the Austrian 19th century author Arthur Schnitzler that´s due on the 16th.
Tonight Andy and I´ll meet for dinner at the Indian restaurant with Ines and Marcus. I´m so looking forward to that! Tomorrow I´ll have an AuPair Interview and I have to prepare my classes for next week!
How are you all?
Wish you well!