Yes, yes. This is quite a long overdue blogpost. With all this "new" I haven't found much time to sit and put together a little something to share.
From the moment I landed in Stuttgart, Germany back in July, I've been putting myself to work. The first project was to job hunt. By mid-August, I had a teaching job. Phew! I am totally not one who can be what they call a "housewife". Besides the fact that I'd go insanely stir-crazy, I'm sure those of you reading this know me well enough to know that much of the time, I have a large amount of energy. If it is not released through a job demanding that high energy...I'd most definitely explode. Get it?
Not to mention that teaching is one of my favorite things to do....
Anyway, I teach at a tiny international christian school here in Stuttgart. I only have 6 students. Just 6! Sounds like a breeze doesn't it? Here's the catch: 6 students....in 3 different grades. So I teach 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, all in one class. Basically I'm living Little House on the Prairie international style over here. Let me tell you...my organizational skills have skyrocketed through the roof with this one. My energy is definitely put to use here.
Heidelberg is right around the corner from us. One of our first adventures was a day trip to explore Heidelberg.
Here is a view of the castle from way down below in town.
So then we took the hike WAY up the hill to explore the castle grounds:
And THIS is the largest wine barrel in the whole entire world. There is a dance floor on the top!
We climbed all the way to the top of this cathedral (see..didn't I say earlier the thing about always climbing in Europe....).
It took about 15 minutes of continuous spiral incline.
From the moment I landed in Stuttgart, Germany back in July, I've been putting myself to work. The first project was to job hunt. By mid-August, I had a teaching job. Phew! I am totally not one who can be what they call a "housewife". Besides the fact that I'd go insanely stir-crazy, I'm sure those of you reading this know me well enough to know that much of the time, I have a large amount of energy. If it is not released through a job demanding that high energy...I'd most definitely explode. Get it?
Not to mention that teaching is one of my favorite things to do....
Anyway, I teach at a tiny international christian school here in Stuttgart. I only have 6 students. Just 6! Sounds like a breeze doesn't it? Here's the catch: 6 students....in 3 different grades. So I teach 3rd, 4th and 5th grade, all in one class. Basically I'm living Little House on the Prairie international style over here. Let me tell you...my organizational skills have skyrocketed through the roof with this one. My energy is definitely put to use here.
So we live in Stuttgart, Germany, which is in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, in the southwestern part of the country. We are a hop, skip, and jump away from Switzerland and France (which we have not been to... yet). Enough about the surrounding countries...there is SO much to see near and far from us right here in Germany.
Heidelberg is right around the corner from us. One of our first adventures was a day trip to explore Heidelberg.
So then we took the hike WAY up the hill to explore the castle grounds:
..one thing about Europe...there is a lot of climbing. If you want to explore...you will be climbing something.
....and, we made it to the top!
Here is one of the favorite photos...like the tower just completely fell...
There are SO many sites to see within driving distance from us. Once our car finally shipped to us in September, so many options opened up! So the weekend that we got our car, we drove about an hour away to the Hohenzollern Castle:
...and there are many many more castles to see on our list!
Everything was put on hold in early October, when my very much loved and adored Pap passed away. Greg and I flew to Pennsylvania so I could spend the week with my family. My Pap was the life of every party, everyone knew Pap. Greg only met him one time (well, in person...I'm sure a few times over Skype), but I talk about my Pap so much that it's like Greg knew him too. All of my best stories are about my Pap.
The last time that I saw Pap was in July right before I moved to Germany. I was able to go to the beach for a few days with him. He will never be replaced as my #1 karaoke partner. We loved singing together. Especially at the beach and on Christmas! I'm so happy that we could have one last karaoke session on a summer evening at the beach...where we sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"....which for some reason Pap thought was my favorite song ever! We always sang that one. ...and a slew of others.
Summer 2011...Pap watched me skydive at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina!
Christmas 2012
Summer 2009
Spring 2008
Christmas 2010
College graduation, May 2012
....maybe somewhere around 1996?
Summer 2014
Trust me, this isn't the end of Pap. He is a legend, and will be talked about and remembered fondly for the rest of my life. Though he is gone and I am so sad that I will not see him when I am home in the states...I cannot help but to think how incredibly lucky I am to have had such a funny, smart, stylish, entertaining, talented, charismatic, and loving Pap pap. He was just the best.
You only get one life. I want to see and do as much I can in mine! So upon our return to Stuttgart, we, the Hargraves', decided it was time to book our first honeymoon. First because I am certain to go on many while we live in Germany for these three years.
We chose to go to Cologne, Germany for a weekend. Cologne is known to have been a major city during the Roman Empire, and in fact still has original Roman roads that are still in the place they have always been! The other "big" thing in Cologne is the cathedral. It is the fourth tallest cathedral in the world, but the number 1 tallest Roman Catholic cathedral in the world.
So enjoy some miscellaneous photos from our weekend in Cologne:
We climbed all the way to the top of this cathedral (see..didn't I say earlier the thing about always climbing in Europe....).
It took about 15 minutes of continuous spiral incline.
On Saturday night, we went on a dinner cruise down the Rhein River. I think the cathedral looks so beautiful at night!
These super shades belonged to my Pap. He loved to buy cheap sunglasses at any and every thrift store around....leaving him with quite a collection. I like to think that these sunglasses give me thrifty superpowers when I wear them. :p
So, "how is married life", you ask? Well, it is the same as single life, but now I live with a grown up dishes-creatin', nerd-show-watchin', cooked-meals-needin', dirty-clothes-in-the-corner-throwin' child! :p
JUST KIDDING GREGGINGTON! I LOVE YOU!
But really, we both have our quarks, which makes life fun!
I know zilch about anything technological compared to Greg.
And Greg knows zilch when it comes to things as simple as...colors.
But thats what the other one is there for right? To fill in all the blanks for you!
We were trying to decide what curtains to use in our living when we first moved here.
I said "How about we do a maroon!"
Greg: "...yeah maybe. Or how about a dark red!"
see.....zilch about colors.
Now this instance I'm telling you next, happened about an hour ago:
Greg: (on some computer game that suddenly started to run realllllly slow): "What the heck!? Why is my ping so low!?!
(...note: ping has something to do with how fast your computer runs, and if a lot people are using the same internet then it is going to run slower.)
Greg: "Gina, are you like downloading something big right now?!"
Gina: Nope, I don't know, my computer just got really slow too."
Greg: "Ugh, seriously....the ping is up to 1000 now!
Gina: Yeah, I don't know. All I'm doing is uploading pictures to my blog".
..............piercing stare ensued.
Apparently according to Greg, uploading is the same as downloading, and my pictures were what made the ping thing so low.
so see....zilch about technology.
That's all I have for now! Greg and I are taking German lessons these days, so maybe next time I'll post all in German! (yeah when pigs fly....)
Anyway, goodnight and thanks for reading!
-Gina
