8.31.2011

"George"......is that you?

Sorry for the absence, August was a busy month for us here in Germany. I had a three week vacation from language school so I tried to squeeze in as many little events as possible. I did a couple projects at home that I will put in the blog soon, we had some baseball games as usual, a few lunch guests, and the best part: our first family vacation to Lake Como, Italy (also known as George Clooney's summer home).


Lake Como is about a four hour drive from us that winds through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and every tunnel ever built....not really but kind of! I think we spent more time in tunnels than in the open air. It was my first experience with the The St. Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland. It is the third longest road tunnel in the world stretching 16.4 kilometers or in American terms, 10.5 miles. It took a long 25 minutes to drive through, but we made it to the other side safely. Praise God!

Imagine 25 minutes of nothing but this....glad that is over!

After a stressful drive through every tunnel and some of the smallest Italien roads I have ever seen, we reached our destination: Domaso, Italy. It is a small town in the north west corner of Lake Como and is the capital for Wind Surfing. We stayed in a camping site along the lake and rented a small bungalow for three nights. It turned out to be pretty nice and just enough room for us. 

Looks just like George's House, right?!?

The best part was that it was close to the water and who can beat that view?


In the afternoon we were able to rent a small power boat to ride around the lake and take in the sights. This was by far Stephen's favorite part of the trip...can you tell by the look on his face? 



It was a lot of fun riding with the wind in your face and soaking in the sunshine. I thought for sure this would be our chance to see you know who....George! 



Every big boat we saw we presumed George was probably on it; and I think we saw about 15 houses he "probably lives in!!" To no avail we did not see him while on the boat but we did enjoy the ride.

But don't worry, all hope was not lost for finding George....we took a day trip to another popular city on the lake, Bellagio. We opted for a ferry ride rather than risking our lives on the tiny Italian roads and safely arrived after an hour and a half. The ferry was fun to sit and look at all the port cities....we even saw what was probably "Goerge's Grandma's house".....I mean there was an old lady on the balcony, it had to be her right?

We walked around the streets and ate some pizza for lunch...we didn't want to be too full when George invited us to his villa for hors d'oeuvres


And yet even though we saved room, George did not call us! So we settled for a ferry ride home and a relaxing afternoon on the beach.


And to finish the night we played cards and kept all the over 65 crowd up laughing in our tiny bungalow. It was better than hanging out with George any day!


When we got home I was messing around on the computer and saw this:

The recently single actor (George) hosted a group of friends – including pals Cindy Crawford, her husband Rande Gerber, as well as his The Ides of March costars Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood – at his Lake Como, Italy, villa over the weekend. 

Hahahah!! It should have been us! Hope you all had a nice summer break!

8.07.2011

Cultural Differences 002: Holidays

You may not know this being an American and all....I was pretty surprised myself to find it out, but Americans take the least amount of vacation days a year. 

When I first came to Germany I was always confused because about twice a month in the summer there was a federal holiday.....which us Americans (Stephen, Rob, Alex, and I) never took. People were constantly off from work and they never knew the reason.....they would say, "it is some religious holiday I think." I started to wonder if they were making up these holidays. Not to mention that Germans are also required to receive a minimum of 6 weeks....let me say that again...a MINIMUM of 6 weeks vacation a year! I know...shocking!

In America I would say it is normal to get 2 weeks vacation a year and if you have been with the company for a while up to 4 weeks, but no one actually uses all their vacation....am I right? I can't imagine a couple taking off 3 weeks at a time to travel around leave their job behind. Here in Germany if you do not take at least 3 weeks at one time you are not getting a real break. It is common for families to take off the entire month of August and many factories even shut down for months at a time. 

Here is a list of the Federal Holidays and they really take all of these:


Versus the American Federal Hoildays:  (although your business is free to make you work)




















Alright, I just wanted to give you another cultural differences and let you know that August is not a good time to travel in Europe...be ready to fight the Germans for a hotel room!

8.01.2011

Parking Lot Party!

July 6th was an important day here in Neuenburg...Claudine turned 26! She usually is against any kind of celebration but we talked her into a party this year and had a nice dinner in the "parking lot"! She wanted her grandmother to be able to attend so the only place that was big enough without stairs was the gravel parking lot in all it's beauty!

I made guacamole dip upon Claudine's request and must say it has become quite the hit here in Germany! I use a recipe from the Eastwood Cookbook (thank you Amylynne Blake) and just sub in whatever we have left in the refrigerator. It is a simple recipe that calls for avocado, onion, lime juice, sour cream, salsa, garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and worcestershire sauce. Does anyone have a different recipe for guacamole dip?

Opening presents!

Andrea and Steffi

Janos!

yours truly...not sure why Stephen looks half asleep!?
Well there you have it...the parking lot party! Happy Birthday Claudine and thanks for having us!