1 Week Down and I'm Still Alive!

So I'm starting my first real week working with kids. Last week was more of a training observation week and now we're floats in different rooms. I am at 2 centers, both in Landstuhl, one is a CDC (Child Development Center) where we work with kids who are 6 months up to before and after school with kindergartners. I'm at the CDC from 9am to 1pm then I take a lunch break until 2pm. At 2 I get to head on over to SAS (School Age Services) until 6pm. I'm enjoying it right now, just not all the hand washing. We wash our hands literally every hour and even sometimes in between there. Pretty much my hands are raw.

To update you on everything going on here... I'm living in the soldiers living area with 10 other girls. 9 of the girls are interns like myself and then we have a PC (Project Coordinator), she's the big man on campus :) We are living on a base called Miesau and there is nothing there. We are currently waiting to have our internet installed there... which will take 1-3 weeks. I'm hoping for closer to the 1 week. Once I get it I will let everyone know! That way I can blog more and also Skype with people. Speaking of blogging I have decided that I will blog once a week, and it'll be every Monday that you can expect a new post. That way I can fill you in on everything we did over the weekend!

This first weekend was pretty fun. We got to try to navigate the buses and the trains in Germany. Thank goodness I finally ignored the "leaders" of our group. The "leaders" like to be leaders, but to be honest aren't very good at it. They didn't really know what they were doing and where they were going. So another girl and I kind of took charge and asked a tourist booth for a ton of information. That was a life saver! It made everyone's trip more enjoyable because we were able to actually figure out where to go.

We visited downtown Kaiserslaughtern (or K-town) Friday night and then Saturday we took a day trip to Heidelberg. That was amazing! We visited the Heidelberg Castle and it was all very affordable. I've never seen a castle before and I've now decided that I want to live in one... although I might require mine to be a little more modern. Like with heat! It was a pretty chilly day to be out, but very fun. We ate out Saturday night and had some great German food! We were even entertained by one of the soldiers Sunday night. He's an amazing guitar player and singer... granted I don't have much to compare him to, but that's not the point. :)

I'm going to turn my computer over for now so that another person can hop on facebook, but here are a few pictures to enjoy of my trip so far!

This is a picture from inside the castle.

This is a picture of a huge wine barrel. I know it doesn't look that big right now... but we would walk over it. We had to get steps to walk up above it. This was the largest wine barrel to ever be filled in the world if that means anything to you.

Well by for now! :)

3 Days To Go!

Hello ALL! I am starting this blog just before I leave the states so that I can send everyone the link to it!

I'll update you on a little of what is going on for me:

I leave this Sunday the 17th from Cedar Rapids. I have a 4:15pm flight to Chicago, 2 hour layover there, and then I'm off to Germany starting at 7:30pm. Thank goodness I have an overnight flight! That way I can hopefully sleep on the plane. I don't know if you all know this about me, but I hate driving over bridges with water under them... I'm kinda worried about the whole flying over an ocean thing! I'll be alright though I think.

I'll land in Germany at 11:00am their time, 4am our time. Yes they are 7 hours ahead of us, so that might make talking to people who have jobs and lives difficult. :P Once in Germany I have Monday to "recover" from jet lag and start orientation Tuesday. I don't actually work with any kids until the following week.

Currently, being the control freak I am, I have packed my checked luggage and thank goodness Dad has a scale! The first time I packed one of them it would have been too heavy and that would not have been a fun thing to fix in the airport. I'm already going to be crazy there, but at least my luggage is cute. It's giraffe pint! I got them for Christmas and I LOVE them.

Friday I'll be heading on over to Ames, hanging out with friends and getting a brand new camera! Still not sure what I'm going to get, but Jamie will help me pick it out and it'll be fun. Then I'll get to recheck my packing Saturday night and Sunday morning :P If there's something you think I'll forget, you always forget, or something that is a necessity let me know! I don't want to forget to pack it.

Last but not least for this starter post. Once I get over there I have no idea what the Internet connection is going to be like- if it's within a mile or even maybe 2 my rear end is walking there quite a few days to get on and talk to home. I have a Skype and you should get one too! Look me up and then we can talk on there- skype will be my lifesaver. Also I will have to get a phone and will welcome calls at any time. It'll cost you international fees unfortunately, but I will have one. Keep in tune for the cell number!

~~~~~~~End with a clever sign off~~~~~~~

(also to come later...)