A Search for an Identity

We might have a new name for the blog, we may not.  I can’t decide.  At the moment, it’s titled “The Gale Gazette.”  I don’t love it…but I needed to change it.

I also spent some time looking for new blog templates.  I’m tired of what I have.  Recently, I deleted the background so that we are back to white.  I simply couldn’t decide on a new design and layout so I finally gave up.  Please bear with me while the blog facelift is put on pause.

Finally, I started to change the “About Me” blurb on the left side bar.  After deleting what was there, I completely drew a blank on an update.

It’s like I have exhausted all decision making capability in moving home and picking a new house and now I’m all tapped out. 

Perhaps when my frontal lobe returns from some R&R, I can finish the blog changes.

1 Month Home Already.

As of today, we’ve been back in the US for one whole month.  Carter said yesterday, “I’m glad to be back in Michigan.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Here are a few observations/comments about being back:

• I actually miss driving a manual transmission.  Yes, Ben has one, but I don’t get much of an opportunity to drive it.  I still find my left foot reaching for the clutch sometimes when I’m driving my car.
• Sometimes German words come out when I’m not expecting them.  For instance, I’ll say “bitte” instead of “please” at the end of a request or when I’m ordering food. 
• I miss sparkling water.  I never imagined that I would actually like  sparkling water but now I crave it.  Of course I can buy it here or order it at restaurants, but I feel so ridiculous asking for it here.
• Now that we are home in Michigan, I have absolutely zero desire to travel.  Can I just stay home forever now?  I think this feeling will pass,  but for the moment, I’m really content to just stay home every weekend.
• I’m continually surprised by strangers talking to me on the elevator or other random places.  In Germany, rarely is there small talk between strangers…and if it ever happened with me, I won’t have understood anyway.  But now that I’m back, I’m constantly talking to strangers in elevators, in line at the check out, etc.
• I need to learn how to tune people out again.  It’s really easy to tune out people who aren’t speaking your native language.  But, being home, I feel like I’m experiencing sensory overload when I’m at the grocery store or other public place.  There are just so many people speaking English.
• Bob the Builder is really annoying in American English.  I prefer the German and the British versions.
• I love Target and Kohl’s.  They are proof that discount stores don’t have to be totally junky.  I do not miss the discount stores in Germany.
• In fact, I don’t miss any kind of shopping in Germany.  The stores here are nicer, the prices are better, the selection is better, the hours are better.
• I really miss my “Saure Pommes.”  This is sour gummy candy shaped like french fries that I could buy in the coffee shop at work. 
• I really, really, really miss the coffee machines we had at work in Germany.  AND, it was only €0.48 for a cappuccino or latte.

That’s enough for one day.  To summarize:

I am happy I’m home.  I miss Germany.

Soundtrack of My Life

I'm having a reminiscing sort of day (if that even makes sense).  Actually, ever since we moved home last month, I have been having random memories surface.  They are being triggered by songs on the radio.  There were really only 2 radio stations that we listened to in Cologne and so there was a limited selection of music...a lot of it being British pop (Spice Girls, anyone?).  Anyhow, since being home, I have heard so many songs that I haven't heard in YEARS.  And, like most people, music triggers memories for me. 

I heard a Tragically Hip song this morning which reminded me of the many, many, MANY! afternoons/evenings I wasted at the Rio Bravo in Dearborn in 1998.  Josh the Bartender was a big Tragically Hip fan and I shamelessly flirted with him.  Got me free Labatt Blue Light.  My friend Cheryl and I were such regulars there that Josh would have our beers waiting for us when we came in after work.  How sad is that?!  And I thought that was the coolest thing back then.  Free beer from a cute bartender….what more could a 23 year old girl ask for?

I heard another song (Hey Ya! from Outkast) that reminded me of the year I lived in Kansas City (for the second time) to work on the at-the-time all new Ford 150.  It was 2003, Ben and I were engaged and both working in KC.  We had a white convertible Mustang as our company car.  That song brought me right back to riding shotgun in the Mustang, with my hair blowing out of control, likely on our way to work on the weekend...back in the days when we were paid overtime.  The perfect thing for saving up for our honeymoon.

If I had to pick a song that reminds me of that first year we were living in Germany, it would have to be Big Girl by Mika.  It’s really quite a terrible song (read paragraph at the start referencing British pop music) but I will always think of Cologne when I hear it.

Those are just a few examples.  There are hundreds more.  Do certain songs bring back vivid memories when you hear them?  Which songs make up the soundtrack of your life?  Please share!

I Need Your Help!

I am a terrible person.  My friend Cheryl asked me to do a favor for her niece a couple of months ago.  She forwarded to me a letter from her niece which explains how she and her 4th grade classroom are collecting postcards from all around the country and the world.  There were three things I needed to do:

1. complete a journal entry in her Travelog Journal about the city in which I live
2. send a postcard from my city to her at her school address
3. send the travelog journal to a friend or relative who lives in a different region of the US or another country

Easy peasy, right?  Well, I just got my box of work stuff from Germany delivered to me here in my new office in Michigan.  I opened the box and what’s there on top? 

The Travelog letter. 

THE TRAVELOG LETTER!! 

I never sent it!  I am such a schmuck.  I guess I procrastinated for so long that I just got so wrapped up in the packing and moving home that I totally forgot to mail it.  D@$%! 

Here’s where I need your help.  I am going to forward on the travelog as originally planned but I need to do something to make up for all the lost time that it was packed up in a box. 

Can you, my lovely readers, my friends and family, send a postcard from wherever you are to the following address:

Carolyn W / Ms. Hooten

Westfield Elementary

901 W. Main Street

Robins, IA 52328

On the postcard can you please include the following:

• city, state, country where you live
• short description of the climate
• neat facts about your town or state

I suppose if you just wanted to send a letter instead (saving yourself the step of going out a buying a postcard), that would work, too.

Thanks in advance for helping me redeem myself.  I’m feeling pretty much like dog poo right now for letting down a 4th grader.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2010. 

Are you feeling as overwhelmed and behind as I am? 

Not only is today the start of a new year, it’s a new decade.  I feel like I should have done a better job of wrapping up 2009 and putting it behind me.  And how can I do that when I haven’t even blogged about our last few trips in Europe before we moved home? I haven’t blogged about the move, Christmas, or the fact that we already bought a car and a house.

OK, deep breath.  Life will go on even if my blog has been neglected and I’m woefully behind.  *sigh* I don’t like being behind.

In case you are wondering:  NO, I have not made any New Year’s resolutions.  I think that we have enough going on this year that I don’t need to add anything else to my list of things to do.  In store for 2010:

• closing on our new house (Jan 26th, I think)
• home improvement projects
• moving into new home
• getting used to our new “normal”
• new jobs (sort of…essentially the same job, but new place)
  • This includes the launch of the all new *GLOBAL* Ford Focus this fall
• rekindling old friendships that have been on hold while we’ve been gone
• traveling (just in the good ol’ US of A)
• entertaining family and friends in our new home (please come visit us…a trip to SE Michigan is much, much cheaper than a flight to Germany)
• Carter will start Kindergarten in the fall (geez…makes me feel old)
• and I’m sure there’s so much more that I can’t even fathom right now

Another thing on my list of things to do requires some reader input.  I need a new name for this blog.  The blog address (URL) will stay the same but the header needs to go. “The Gale Family in Deutschland” doesn’t seem to fit anymore.   Got any ideas?  If so, email me or leave a comment.  I would love something catchy but not too cutesy.

In other news, we have been living in my parent’s basement for the last 3 weeks.  They packed up the car and left for Florida this morning and so we are moving into their room now.  As nice as the Aerobed inflatable mattress is, it will be sooo nice to sleep in a real bed tonight.  Even though we close on our new home in a little over 3 weeks, we’ll likely be staying at my parent’s house through most of February.  We don’t want to move until all the painting and work is done on the new place.  (Ha!  I say that now but we’ll see if I can stick to it when the time comes)

OK, I’m off to unpack some more and you should be off to do your homework (see paragraph above re: new blog name for me).

Carla