Oh The Places You'll Go

Another day, another Uncle (Russia Day 2)

2011-10-01T11:21:00.006+02:00

So, day 2 in Russia has come to an end. I discovered today just how many 'uncles' my friend Ira has... Every time we needed a ride anywhere she would call one and they would come and pick us up. Of course none of these guys are really her Uncle. I think that maybe every Azerbaijani man over 40 is probably an uncle.

Ira with a couple more "Uncles"

A ride with Ira and yet another "Uncle"

I had a lot of fun today around Elektrostal, just shopping talking and walking, and of course hanging out with uncles - many of whom have made me promise to dance with them at the wedding. I also found out that at the Henna party before the wedding, I will be painting the Henna on one of the bride's hands...That's a lot of pressure right? Henna isn't exactly the most forgiving or removable thing, especially the day before the wedding.

Also, I found out that one custom is for the bride's family (which will include me in this case) are responsible for presenting the bride and groom with big platters of fruits and sweets, which they will carry in during the wedding party. I'm planning to fill mine with some American specialities (cupcakes and cookies), which none of them have even heard of before so that should be interesting.

Tomorrow I'm off to help Ira decorate her new apartment. I think we have to tie lots of red ribbons on everything because in their culture it symbolizes a new married couple.

Back to the Motherland

2011-09-30T10:19:00.005+02:00

I find it really funny that yesterday I left the Fatherland and flew to the Motherland...Where do I come from??? Uncle Sam or Big Brother I guess. Never thought about it before, but I wonder if every country has some kind of family/relative nickname.

Anyway, a little about my trip...

Things I forgot (momentarily) about Russia - how dirty the bathrooms are, how angry some people can sound when giving directions or talking to strangers, the crazy driving (this is a positive for me - some people like the rides at the fair; I like Russian driving), the way every city looks like some kind of giant lego construction, the warm hospitality and welcoming from 'family', the way every man you walk by in the airport walks up to you and whispers "taxi? Taxi Madame" if they think you are from a different country, and that I can't drink tap water.

Things I remembered about Russia - The smell (I guess after 4 years as home I will never forget it - not bad, not good, just Russia), The way to my old apartment (across from Johan and Judy's apartment where am staying this time - Thanks guys!), the way that Russian women dress as if they are walking out of a fasion magazine, and 24 hours supermarkets.

Things that surprised me - Being met at the airport by my friend in a Lexus SUV - nice - very nice, being greeted with flowers, electronic immigration forms, a smile from the passport control woman, and last but not least - the fact that I am in Russia right now.

I am still surprised that I am here. Two weeks ago my friend Ira called o say that she was getting married - in two weeks. I wasn't really sure that I would be able to get everything in order (visa, plane tickets, time off), but somehow it all worked out and here I am. Still surprised to be here. So, that's all for now... Keep reading, as there will be more to come this week, and hopefully wedding pictures!

Carjacked....again

2011-09-26T09:32:00.005+02:00

Okay, well clearly I wasn't carjacked in the sense that someone stole my car, but this strange thing happened to me today that has happened once before. I'm not sure if it's a common thing around here, or if I just have really strange "luck". I am sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen in the US, or at least not the US I remember...Ahhh, it's been so long.

So, I was driving home from my morning class at about 9am (also about the same time the previous incident occurred.) I was stopped at a stoplight when all of the sudden my passenger door opens. I woman leaned in and asked if I would mind giving her a ride downtown. "Ummm, sure, ok." I answered (except in German). I definitely felt more prepared and less shocked as this was my second German carjacking. So, she got in and I gave her a ride downtown. Of course we chatted, about work and how she was running late, and my work, and how the weather was nice, and how she thought I looked like a safe person to catch a ride with (no comments on my driving please ;))

That was about it. Completely uneventful. Just like the last time it happened about 6 months ago when I helped a woman who was late for her driving test. You would think that in driver's ed she would have learned not to open a strangers car door uninvited...Of course they have stricter gun laws here, so maybe your worst consequence would be getting driven to a German beer festival or being yelled at in German (which can be scary and always reminds me of some world war two movie - am I allowed to write that?)
Anyway, that's all I had to say about that.
The End

"A Little" daily life in photos

2011-09-12T20:33:00.006+02:00

From http://lizandkarl.blogspot.com

This is what Karl means when he says he is going to make "a little" pesto...

Okay maybe he didn't say "a little" but he didn't indicate in any way that he was making a gallon. (Also notice he bought "a little" Parmesan to go with it.

And this is what I mean when I say I organized my office and needed to recycle "a few" pieces of paper.

You probably can't tell how deep this pile of paper is, but it's no small amount.

And just for fun, a little neighbor and her friend who came upstairs to make cookies with me one day. Although they couldn't quite understand why we were making Christmas cookies in summer. (Apparently Germans can only make sugar cookies at Christmas...we'll teach them otherwise.)

Invoice Day - or what it's like to be a freelance teacher

2011-09-02T11:51:00.005+02:00

So many of you back home have no idea what I do in Germany aside from "something to do with English". So I decided now would be a good time to give you the low down.

I am a freelance teacher, which means that I am contracted by different English companies to go into normal companies to teach business English or conversation. (Confusing right? for example the company "Perfekt Englisch" hires me to go into "Hans and Franz Accounting" to give company courses.) I also have some companies who have contracted me directly or through my website, and some private students. Mostly it's all business English, but sometimes I have the occasional high school student or kid. Oh, and I also work in English testing as an examiner, where I give 15 minute speaking tests for a few hours, 2 or more times a month.
At the moment, I am contracted by 11 different companies (of which many send me out to multiple other companies)...This means two different things.

1. My schedule is like a big puzzle that only I can put together. With each of these different companies booking 90-180 minutes courses in different locations on different days and for different durations, this puzzle is definitely a headache. (Skip the rest of this paragraph if you want to avoid your own headache.) So, I offer availability to company A "I can teach a class from 9-12 on Mondays starting in October", and then company B calls and asks if I can take a course on Mondays from 7:30-9:00...I'm still waiting to find out about company A and might have to wait for another week or two. Company B needs to start the class soon, so they need to know tomorrow. So I either have to gamble and assume I'll get the 4 hour class with company A, or I accept the work that will happen now from company B and hope that I'll be able to shift the course from company A by 30 minutes so I'll have time to get from A to B. Now add in companies C-K and their different schedules, and you might have an idea about how crazy the whole process is. I might work anywhere from 20-60 hours a week depending on which classes are starting and ending and how many hours my private students have booked. Thankfully I've been around 40-50 every week for the last few months.

2. I have to type up 11 different invoices, 11 different ways, with 11 different kinds of additional documents every month. This part is just pure hassle. Every company has it's own form, and it's own attendance sheet. Some require signatures from each student each week, and some require copies of lesson plans, then some others (my favorites) require that I send copies of the material I used with the class. Then just to make it a little more fun some of the companies need the invoices by e-mail, some by post, and one of my favorites (My boss swears all is on the up and up) requires me to bring in my invoice personally where I am paid with a large wad of cash. Interesting, right?

So, today is invoice day...Which means that I am adding up hours, making copies, scans, stuffing a few envelopes and arranging one meeting to get that wad of cash. Fun, right? Exactly! Which is why I'm procrastinating and writing this blog post instead. I should also say, please don't take this as a big complaint post - I'm just trying to give a little insight. I am very happy with my work, and very blessed to have so much!

A year and a half later - probably time for a post

2011-08-28T18:25:00.003+02:00

So, it's been a year and a half since I posted any kind of updates...I guess Facebook and its easy to type 1 line status updates distracted me from any lengthier updates. Will I keep it up this time or not? Only time will tell.

So, a big update...

Life in Bavaria
It's been 2 years now since we moved to Rosenheim. We are quite settled here, to the point of seeing people we know around town every time we go out. We've found a really nice church where we've been attending for 1 and a half years now. The pastor and his wife are Scottish, but the preaching is most often in German. It has been really great to connect with people there and feel like part of a church family. I have been singing on the worship team and really enjoying that. Also it's been really great for my German.

We also had our three year wedding anniversary this year. Time goes by so quickly, and it's hard to believe it's been three years, while at the same time it seems like forever. Karl and I are doing great, and he even still buys me flowers sometimes, despite the fact that we officially aren't newlyweds anymore. ;)

We are still living in our cozy top floor apartment not too far from downtown. We really love it here, and last summer we enjoyed planting a garden. This summer we haven't had time for gardening but are enjoying the few volunteer herbs that returned and we have been grilling quite a bit.

Work

Karl finished his apprenticeship as a chef this summer and had decided to stay on at the restaurant for awhile longer. He has developed into a pretty amazing cook, and even won second place (and a large embarrassing trophy) in a city wide competition for apprentices. Right now he is working on the meat station, and can definitely cook a mean steak!

I am still working as a freelance English teacher, and have definitely found a niche here. I have enough regular work, and even have to turn down jobs on a pretty regular basis because of my busy schedule. It's nice to have work, and feel settled in it. I am mostly teaching business English in companies and have been working all around the area and in Munich for 2 or 3 days a week.

Future Plans?

Good question...For now, I don't think we have any concrete answers to that one. We are planning on staying her for the next 2 or 3 years, and then we will see what happens. We would both like to end up in the US eventually, but haven't made any plans as to when exactly that will happen.

I can say that we are finally coming back for a visit this winter 2011. I will most likely come back just before Christmas, and Karl will join me in January after he works through the new year holidays. Poor Karl (but yay for me!)

OK, any questions??? Let me know if you are still reading this by leaving a comment or something so I can decide if I should keep posting or let it go. Love and miss you all!

Liz

New Website

2010-03-21T16:00:00.003+01:00

Just finished my new website! Check it out, and if you can add a link to it on your own page so I will show up in Google Search. Enjoy, and thanks! Wish me luck!
Liz
www.englishinrosenheim.com

Better Late than Never

2009-08-09T23:29:00.007+02:00

Well, it's been 2 1/2 months, so I suppose I should post again even if no one is reading...Maybe some day I will get better at this... So here are our updates...

We moved to Rosenheim (SouthEast of Munich in southern Germany and about 8 hours from where we were living.) in the middle of July. (I will post pics soon hopefully or you can just look on Facebook.)

We are all settled in now, and Karl has started his apprenticeship to become a chef. He is loving it, which is great because he is working his butt of 5 days a week and about 14 hours a day. Craziness! In the meantime I had a really good interview and should get quite a few teaching hours around the end of the month. I am working on my website for private and business lessons which I also hope to have up by the end of the month.

We love it here! Our apartment is really nice, and so are our landlords! Their 5 yr. old daughter visits our apartment often and as she only speaks German, is giving me a lot of practice. I'm having fun biking everywhere as Karl takes the Karl to work almost everyday.

Okay, that's it for now! Above are a couple pics of the mountains near where Karl is working!

It's official!

2009-05-30T19:53:00.002+02:00

After 10 months, I am finally Elizabeth Seume (in my passport). The driver's license and Social Security and tax stuff was all easy, but we never had time to change my passport. So this month we finally sent it off, so that in Germany, and for taxes here, I can officially be a Seume. Now all my students will have to call me Frau Seume (really they will probably just keep calling me Liz :-))

Residenz Heinz Winkler

2009-05-25T13:00:00.004+02:00

Here's a video I found about the place where Karl is going to start working in August! You can see the town and restaurant a little, and get to see the chef - Heinz Winkler! Check it out!

Apartment Hunting

2009-05-18T22:16:00.006+02:00

So, last week we took a couple days off to drive down to Rosenheim (about 50kilometers South East of Munich). We are moving there mid-July so that Karl can begin his internship at Residenz Heinz Winkler in Aschau im Chiemgau. We looked at about 15 apartments in 2 days and ended up choosing the one in the house where we were staying with friends of Karl's parents. They are a really nice couple with a very talkative 5 year old girl (who is very excited about teaching me some German and never even hesitated to take a breath while she was talking to me the whole time, even though she could tell sometimes I couldn't understand what she was talking about.) She also taught me how to play "Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst" (the German version of "I spy"). Anyway, they have an apartment that they are refurbishing in the top storey of their house. Pictures below!!!

Here is their house... Our apartment is the roof floor with the windows sticking out, which also has a sleeping loft inside (the windows for it are on the other side of the building.)

Here is the entry to our floor...As you can tell it's all a work in progress.

This is the bathroom...Bathtub and sink on the left - with a special niche for champagne next to the bathtub (or so the owner told us) and the toilet will be where the chair is.

This is where the kitchen will be, on the right when you walk into the apartment. The whole apartment is open plan, so there aren't really any walls on the whole main floor, which makes it really light and open. Eventually it will have an oak parquet floor.

This is the view straight ahead when you walk in. This will be the living room area.

This is the view if you are standing in the living room and looking at the entry way. In the background you can see where we will probably have our office space (around the corner). You can also see a ladder on the right, which is where the staircase up to the loft will go.

This is the corner we will use for an office (this picture makes it look a little smaller than it is because I took it from up high. )

Here is the sleeping loft, where we will have our bedroom.

We are really excited about the apartment, and the people who own/live in the house are really great! Hope you will all come visit us once we move in!

P.S. A couple of really cool things about the house...They have solar panels on the roof to heat up the water and save energy, and all the heating is done with a wood pellet stove which is very efficient and makes our heating really super cheap!

Now it's Istanbul not Constantinople

2009-04-19T22:16:00.007+02:00

Pictures from Istanbul (pics from Damascus coming soon!)

Eating lunch on the docks. Yummy fish cooked right there!

Blue Mosque

Mosque by the water

Grand Bazaar

Turkish Delight

Smelling the wonderful tea

Spice Market

More Spice Market

Choosing my birthday present :-)

Bazaar lamps

Grand Bazaar

Hagia Sophia

Archway into the palace grounds

Haggia Sophia

Spargel season!

2009-04-19T10:22:00.006+02:00

Well on a small cultural note, it is the beginning of Spargel season here (also known as white asparagus). So we are biking with Karl's family about half an hour to a restaurant where we will try some of the first crop of the season. (Very German - biking to the restaurant and eating white asparagus.) White asparagus is grown in mounds of dirt underground and then dug up, which is why it is white instead of green. There are lots of different ways to make it, but I've usually had it here with Hollandaise sauce. That's all for now!

P.S. Back from our trip now (20k by bike round trip), and the asparagus was yummy! I had mine with schnitzel!

Countdown

2009-04-17T11:06:00.035+02:00

So, on the occasion of starting a new blog, and realizing on our return from Syria yesterday that I have visited 30 countries, I thought I would give you a little photo countdown of where I have been! Enjoy! (These are all pics I took, except for a few where I am in the picture)

#30 Syria
(Long stairway up to a monastary - Ma'loula - April 2009)

#29 Turkey
(Istanbul Bazaar - April 2009)

#28 Sweden
(Svartbäcksstugan - November 2008)

#27 Luxembourg
(Luxembourg - August 2008)
#26 Monaco
(August 2008)
#25 Lichtenstein
(August 2008)
#24 Switzerland
(Zurich - August 2008)
#23 France
(Paris - August 2008)

#22 Belgium
(no photo :-( Think I lost them all)

#21 England
(London - March 2008)
#20 Czech Republic
(Prague - March 2008)

#19 Denmark
(Copenhagen - February 2008)
#18 Netherlands
(Amsterdam - December 2007)

#17 Poland
(Gdansk - April 2007)

#16 Lithuania
(April 2007)

#15 Latvia
(Riga - April 2007)

#14 Spain
(Madrid - March 2007)

#13 Morocco
(Casablanca - December 2006)

#12 Ukraine
(Uzhgorod - August 2006)

#11 Hungary
(Budapest - August 2006)

#10 Germany
(Munich - August 2006)

#9 Austria
(Salzburg - July 2006)

#8 Italy
(Venice -July 2006)

#7 Finland
(Helsinki - March 2006)

#6 Belarus
(Minsk - December 2005)

#5 Estonia
(Tallinn - November 2005)

#4 Russia
(Moscow, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral - October 2002)
#3 Mexico
(no photo available

#2 Canada
(no photo available - I guess we were still using regular film back then)

#1 USA
(My beautiful Washington coast)

Welcome

2009-04-17T11:03:00.001+02:00

So, it's been awhile since I have been actively blogging. I've been wanting to start up a new blog, and haven't really had time until today. So, welcome to the new blog! I hope to keep you up to date on what's happening in our lives along with giving you many photos and stories of our interesting cross-cultural experiences. Thanks for reading! Liz