My laptop adventure... and some other pictures

First off, these are just some random pictures I took.
Ever seen Jungle Book? This is Kaa the snake made into a Caa Wash (that was the actual name of the car wash)
Jamie, oh-so-serious, playing with her toys
Natalie and Jamie
Natalie, as well as much of Germany, do not have dryers so this is how our clothes dry.

The Opera House
Pretty green trees and bushes.

Ok, so the following set of pictures was from my "laptop adventure". Which unfortunately ended in my laptop being sent back to my house in NM. So this is the story... Last weekend my laptop was supposed to be delivered to me. Monday AND Tuesday I sat at home and did nothing waiting for it to get here. Well when it didn´t come Tuesday I had Natalie call DHL for me and they informed her that they were delivering my package to customs in Hannover. This surprised me because the package had already gone into customs in Frankfurt so why should it be there again. Well Natalie called her mom to tell her about it and her mom said that it is probably there because I have to pay for it, like an import tax or something. She also said I should get a note in the mail saying it is at the customs office. So I was so frustrated because I just wanted to get it. The next morning I went out to check the mail and I had gotten a note from the postal service. My package was at customs and I needed to pick it up. So that afternoon with some directions from Natalie I set off on my adventure. LONG story short, after TWO days of taking 2 subways and walking what seemed like miles and miles, I didn´t have my laptop. I had to pay 19% tax which was bout 140 US dollars which is then about 87 euro. The first day when the guy told me that I ran (not literally) back to the subway to go get the rest of my money exchanged. I thought I would be getting 76 euros back and then I had about 12 so I could pay for it. Once I got to the exchange place I only got 70 euros, so I knew I wouldn´t have enough to pay for it. I was super bummed. I talked with my mom and she reminded me that it was a gift and did that make a difference. So I called and the same guy I talked to earlier at the office told me if it was a gift the tax was 13.5% which was about 62 euro, so I wasn´t as upset because I had that much. The next morning I set out again, riding two subways and walking FOREVER to get there and when I got there he told me he was mistaken and it was still 19%. Well, I was all out and around then. I was NOT going to pay the 19% after he told me it was 13.5% on the phone. Apparently, if the gift is over 375 US dollars then the tax is still 19%. So I talked with his boss, who informed me that I can´t depend on someone who works there to give me the right information. I was so upset, I asked her how was I to know that the 19% was correct then if I couldn´t depend on just word of the mouth. I guess I would have to write a letter to the main customs office of Germany to get the correct information. I was getting nowhere with this lady so I asked to talk with someone above her. A few minutes later the original guy who screwed everything up took me to an office where I met another boss who didn´t speak english very well. After a few minutes of talking with him I was so upset that I just got up, said thank you... (for nothing <-- that was in my head not out loud), and slammed the door. I then went into the main office and just told the guy to send it back because I was NOT going to pay 19% when he told me it 13.5% and I told him he better package it good. So like I said before after TWO days of taking 2 subways and walking what seemed like miles and miles(which very well could have been), I didn´t have my laptop. Hopefully my laptop gets home safely. But I took some pictures along the way. These two pictures reminded me of the movie Schindler´s List. This may be morbid and I am sorry but the tower thing looks like the place they burned the bodies and black ash came out of the top.

These are some tanks I took a picture of for my dad. He works with these back home.

They have pretty snails here, not just ugly gray ones.

Well since I didn´t get my laptop I will for sure be going home before the next term begins for school because doing school on a german laptop is way too difficult. Luckily I had a pretty lenient computer teacher because he gave me A´s in both of my classes from last term, even though I am not too sure I deserved them.

Nothing exciting

I´m sorry if you were hoping for a good read because you aren´t going to get one. Besides a kind of stressful but nothing to write about doctors appointment a week ago there has been NOTHING to write about. I´ve been inside the house for the last two days waiting for my laptop. They came yesterday but they rang the neighbors doorbell I guess because there was no ring here. And today they haven´t come at all and it has me rather upset. I don´t know where my laptop is, whether they are going to try to deliver it tonight or if they are sending it back. It´s all super frustrating. But thanks for letting me vent.

My dream has come true!!

Ok, so since Natalie told me 4 weeks ago that they have wild hedgehogs here I´ve wanted to see one. Well last night I did! Last night was also a very pretty moon here, probably everywhere else too. So I took some pictures.

Sunset.

This reminded me of Albuquerque, so I took a picture.

More energy windmills. I am fascinated by them.

The moon peeking up from behind the trees

Very dark picture of the moon.

Peek-a-boo

I couldn´t figure my camera out but I think this is still a pretty cool picture.

Sunset

If you look really close you can see the hedgehog. He´s eating corn.

A nice walk

So I walked to Natalie´s parents house today for dinner. It´s a long walk but when you walk like I do and just take your time it´s actually very nice. Right behind where Natalie lives is just a big open meadow and they have a gravel walking area between trees. So I walk that way. Today I took some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!
This is the meadow. There were elderly people flying kites. That´s what those little dots are.The gravel walkway. It looks like this the whole way.A different meadow. That´s a huge windmill, energy thing.

Pretty boring week but some random pictures

Well this week has been pretty boring, we haven´t done anything worth mentioning. BUT I will mention that jamie, who is two months as of yesterday, is getting teeth. Well we don´t know that for sure but she is drooling A LOT and the doctor said it´s not impossible for her to be getting teeth now. Crazy huh?

Well here are two pictures. Remember captions are below the pictures.

This is Kimmy. She sleeps ALL THE TIME!Part 1: A picture taken in secret because I just couldn´t pass it up. You can´t really tell what this baby has in her mouth. Look at the next picture.Part 2: Oh yes, yes that is a pack of cigarettes she has in her mouth. Such a nice toy.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

So as all of you know today is my birthday. I have been kind of sad because I wasn´t home and I wouldn´t be able to spend my birthday with all of my family and friends... but guess what?? Well you are going to have to keep reading to find out. So last night at midnight Natalie walked into the living room with a little cake and Pooh candles.

24!!! WHAT?? Man, I´m old.

It was so sweet! So we ate a little of the cake and went to sleep. I slept ALL night without blowing my nose or waking up because of a runny nose!! I couldn´t believe it! Obviously washing my sheets worked. At least I hope it did. Oh AND to make the night more exciting I found out that the cord to Natalie´s laptop fits in my DVD machine and so I watched a movie!! So anyway, back to my birthday. I woke up around 1030 got up for a little while then Natalie and the baby took a nap so I did too. It was real rainy this morning so it was just a nap day. So I got up from a nap and Natalie´s mom came over to pick up Jamie. She told me she was coming to pick me up at 3 and for me to be ready... WOOHOO! I was excited. So I took a shower and got ready. She came over at about 345 and we drove to her house, which is only about 3 minutes from Natalie´s apartment. So I was expecting Natalie and MAYBE her brother there... so I walked and was super surprised when a few more people were there, Natalie´s friends. This is the group. L to R: Anne, Natalie holding Jamie, Caro, Dirtje, ME, and Christos (not sure about the spelling on that one.)

This was Jamie when I came in.Caro, the grillmaster (Christos), and Natalie´s mom. So we had dinner, which consisted of sausage, turkey, chicken, veggie sausage, and green bell peppers on the grill and salad. Mmm, tasty. This is the table before we ate. Little bags of gummi bears and smarties (m&m type chocolates) Sorry this picture is sideways, I can´t figure out how to turn it cuz everything is in GERMAN!! Anyway, this just shows how little the gummi bears were. So cute!After we ate we played a fun game, where we all were a person and we had to try and guess who we were. I was James Dean, which I couldn´t guess cuz I don´t really know him that well. Notice our party hats with yellow post its. Caro and Christos are engaged and after dinner he held Jamie. He rocked her to sleep, it was so cute. He wanted to hold her a lot and wasn´t afraid, like a lot of men are, of tiny babies. Natalie´s mom even made a chocolate cake out of SCRATCH for me!! It was such a fun night. I got a bottle of wine, a night at an ice hockey game, and a pillow! (I´ve been wanting to buy one) So even though I wasn´t sure what to expect today, it was totally above my expectations. Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes and if by chance one of the party goers from tonight read this, thanks for celebrating my birthday with me!
This is a beautiful view from Natalie´s parents house. I tried to get a close up but my camera ran out of batteries. So maybe some other time.

The many adventures of having cats...

So this morning I was woken up by loud bird noises from outside. Soon after that I heard Natalie yelling at the cats to get outside. So I got out of bed and went to see what had happened. WARNING, some graphic descriptions: I don´t think I´ve mentioned it but the other day Natalie said she found something on the floor with blood around it. She came to the conclusion it was just one piece of a mouse, like the kidney or something. Her cat had eaten the whole mouse except for that tiny part. GROSS! So back to this morning. I opened my door and Natalie was down on the floor wiping up bird feathers. Her cat had brought a BIRD into the house. And it was alive still and under the couch. It was about 845 and Jamie had a doctors appointment at 930. So the bird came out from under the couch and, unfortunately, I had forgotten to close my door so the bird went into my room. I must have tried to get outside through the window because it was on the windowsill, and there was bird poop all over the curtain. Natalie put gloves on and caught it, which was exciting because I was freaked out. She decided to take it to the vet because she loves animals and didn´t want it to die or stay hurt. So she put it in an animal carrier. I thought about taking a picture but I didn´t have time because everything went so quickly. So what ended up happening is we took the bird to the vet and then went to the drs appointment, then went back to the vet. Natalie came out with the carrier, I stayed in the car with the sleeping baby. She told me they have to put the bird down because it has such deep wound under it´s wings. Poor bird.
Now in other news, I am having problems with sneezing and my nose running. I thought maybe it was the down pillow I was using but I stopped using that two nights ago and it´s still happening. It kept me up half the night last night, so I am pretty tired. It only happens for the first couple hours after I get up from bed. Usually it goes away after I take a shower in the morning... so I don´t know what it is. I am going to wash my sheets, blanket, and pillow case, maybe it was from the cat who laid on my bed. I´m hoping because I can´t stand it anymore.

My new purchase

We went to the mall this morning while natalies mom had the baby and I bought a bag. I also bought a notebook to write in. Then this afternoon I went to the post office and then bought some snacks. Boring, but I just wanted to show you my new purchase:

I usually don´t like to buy things with flip flops because I can´t wear them with my toes and all, but this bag was only 2 euros and 45 euro cents. SUPER CHEAP.

Pretty much a waste of my time...

So, many of you probably read the title and thought, what?what is a waste of her time? well it was my afternoon. I am trying to get schoolwork done and so I went into the city on a search for internet cafes that have microsoft programs. I went to at least 8 and NONE of them did... grr. So I decided I am just going to make do with what I got. One good thing did come out of it though, I bought a book to read! Woohoo!!

More pictures and a video

More pictures! Reading Dr. Seuss, she actually listened until I sat down
Jamie likes to sleep there, so I make myself comfortable

Loni in a box

Outside of Natalie´s apartment, those are windows, that can be doors too. You have to go into the building and then you see her front door.

Kitchen, that´s Loni at the top of the cat thing
Living room
The hallway from the front door, bathroom at the end, left is the living room, right is Natalies room
My room, that´s my bed at the bottom right
My "closet"

Unfortunately the video didn´t upload, so you can´t see the rain. Sorry. It´s a good video though because I caught Natalie singing.