So while we were in the middle of a car problem this week (we wound up getting a new battery), things got worse when we encountered a computer crisis.  Yes, my computer got infected...  It was a spyware program (still not sure how I got it) that really messed things up.  It took about three days, but I finally got things fixed.  In the process, I learned how to start my computer in safe mode and restore my settings to a previous date.  I also updated to the Windows Service Pack 2 and got all appropriate updates.  I have a tendency to X the little boxes that pop up on my taskbar about updates available, but never again will I do that!  I also got Norton Anti-Virus (they have a $20 back-to-school rebate right now) and it got rid of the nasty stuff on my computer.

Anyway, that's what I spent my weekend doing.  Fun, huh?  Well, actually that was just Sunday.  On Saturday Andy and I went on a day trip with another couple to the Elsass (Alsace) region of France - it's right on the border of France and Germany.  It has gone back and forth between the French and Germans for centuries, and you can actually get around speaking German there, although the signs are all in French.  It is a famous wine region, where they make Riesling and Gewurztraminer as their specialties.  These are both white wines.  Anyway, we came back with several bottles of wine! 

And we had a fabulous time with our friends!  They are a couple from our small group who have been married about 5 years and don't have children, so we hang out fairly often.  About 90% of the families here are older and with children, so it's a big deal whenever we find another "younger" couple in the pre-children stage!  Actually another newlywed couple has been talking with us about starting a "young married" fellowship group from our chapel service.  We're talking about getting together in a couple weeks.  I'm excited about it!

Right, so just to be clear, I'm not working right now, which means I'm not going back to school.  But my old school district (where my mom also teaches) is going back to school today...  I know, very early!  Last summer everyone got a very short summer as they transitioned from the old "day after Labor Day until mid June" schedule, to the now more popular "start in August and get out before Memorial Day" schedule.

Anyway, in keeping with old traditions, I had an unnerving dream about school last night.  Both as a student and as a teacher, I used to always have dreams that were not necessarily nightmares, but dreams where I'm unprepared, etc. on the night before school started.  So last night I dreamed that I was back teaching at my old school (only I had never left) but over the summer they had done these extreme renovations, as part of which they had spread out the school over a whole plot of land, like a college campus.  And my fellow chemistry teacher (and best teacher bud) had been moved to a different building, which was separated by a huge valley from where I was teaching.  So in order to get to her room I would have to walk down a steep hill and then back up on the other side.  It used to be that our rooms were connected through our shared chemical storeroom, and we would pop over into each other's classrooms all the time.  So this was very upsetting in my dream...

Isn't it funny how your brain digs things up that don't even apply to you anymore?  The weirdest part is that I very rarely remember my dreams.  Maybe once a month do I remember a dream...

There is certainly a part of me that misses teaching and interacting with the kids.  And that part of me will be glad next year when we get back to a "normal" life somewhere in the continental U.S.  (exact location TBD) and I can go back to my profession.  But I must admit that that is a small part of me compared to the part that enjoys living in Germany and being a full-time housewife/hostess/tour guide.  It will be nice to get back to my calling as a teacher eventually, but for now I am thoroughly enjoying my sabbatical.  (That's what I call it!)  :)

So back in December we got our internet connection set up in our house, although it took some coaching from Wayne and other people to get it to work right.  Plus, we were navigating the router software in German, the vocabulary for which wasn't necessarily part of my German education...  Anyway, we did get the internet to work, but the wireless never worked.  Our computers could detect the wireless network, but couldn't log on to it.

Well, eight months later, I finally figured it out!!!  I won't go through all the details, but it has caused a lot of frustration, and finally we got it to work.  So I am now writing this from a recliner in our living room :)  This is the life...  Let me tell you, this accomplishment made my MONTH!

So what have we been up to?  Hmmm...  Where to start...

We have been doing lots of traveling.  The highlight so far was a week-long trip to Scotland at the end of June to celebrate our first anniversary!  It was absolutely beautiful, and probably one of my favorite places I've ever been to - especially the Scottish highlands.  Andy was like a little boy, climbing hills, exploring creeks and old stone bridges, interesting-looking rocks, etc.  They have an "open property" law there that says basically you can go wherever you want - there's not really trespassing out in the country.  So we would pull the car over along the side of the road where there was a scenic point, and just take off walking.  We spent hours and hours each day just tromping over the land - it was great!  Lots of grass, hills, lakes, and sheep :)

We actually had our first visitor from the U.S. back before that trip in June - Heidi was in Germany because her sister is marrying a German guy in November, and they were meeting his family.  So she came and stayed with us a couple days during that time!  It was great to have her here, and to have conversations late into the night, just like we used to do when we lived together during grad school.  The only difference was that we used to always wind up sitting on the floor then, but since all the floors in our house are hard (wood, tile, laminate), we sat on the couch this time :)

Then in July our house was full!  (And we loved it!)  My parents and my sister came our for two weeks at the beginning of July.  It was my parents' first time traveling outside the U.S., so it was a very big deal.  They did great, and they loved it!  It was so nice to hang out the five of us, and my parents really enjoyed the extended time with Andy.  Since he was in Japan the whole time we were dating/engaged, they only rarely got to see him when he was home on leave, and that was always just for short trips.  But these two weeks were full of lots of just family bonding time as we did some traveling around Germany, France, and Switzerland.

During the time my family was here, we actually had more company for one night!  Angela and Roman were touring Germany and Poland, visiting family, and they made a special detour to come visit us!  We were so glad to get to see them.  The only bummer was that Andy basically missed their whole visit, since he had to work that night.

With all the happenings in Lebanon and Israel, his office has been working long hours.  One of the things they helped plan was evacuating American citizens out of Lebanon, so they went to having their office manned 24/7 during that operation.  Unfortunately he got stuck with the night shift - 6 pm to 7 am for seven nights in a row.  One of those nights was when Ang and Roman were here, so he missed out on visiting with them.

So while Andy was working nights (and thus sleeping days) I had to find something quiet to do during the day, and I wound up really getting into scrapbooking!  It is something I have been wanting to do for a while, but I've found it very intimidating.  It's just such a huge undertaking.  So after a year of putting it off, I finally dove in.  And now I'm hooked.  Kelly gave me a scrapbook as a wedding gift, in which she did all the paper scrapbooking, minus the pictures and words.  So basically I just had to put in the pictures and write about them.  That was a great introduction.  I'm still working on completing that, but I've also started doing my own pages now.  I'm working on a wedding scrapbook now.

It's been so much fun going back through all the boatloads of pictures we have from last summer.  It was fun getting married, but to be honest, I am very happy to be past that point now and just enjoying marriage!  It was a lot of work and stress.

The first year of marriage has been wonderful...  I do miss teaching and being close to family and friends, but to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't trade in what I have now, being married to the man I love and living in Germany.  A lot of people told us that the first few years of marriage are the most difficult.  I don't know if we're just weird or what, but this year hasn't been hard at all.  I think the challenges will come later for us as we transition back to life in the States and "settling down" eventually.  But yes, being married is just as wonderful as we expected it to be :)

OK, well in my Hausfrau responsibilities, a big one is cooking supper, which I need to go get to now!  But when Ang was here, I promised her that I would start blogging again, and I want to keep that promise.  I love reading what you all write, and I want to share, too...