#flashback - June 1, 2011 - The misadventures begin

June 1st was the date I decided to push things forward, in terms of moving to Germany.

The idea had actually  been there for a while now. I was waiting out my contract doing customer service at a large electronics firm near Sacramento, in the midst of a 6 month lease on a studio apartment in the Midtown area (there's a huge back story about how I ended up temporarily single, but I'll save that for another time).  Husband went over first, and everything had fallen into place for him once he got there: he accepted a position in Munich just one month after touching down in Berlin; found a long lost uncle, who also happened to be his godfather, who navigated him through the perils of German bureaucracy, helped get him an apartment just off an S-bahn line about 35 km north of Munich, and helped reintroduce him to his relatives in the area.

Meanwhile, back in the US. the expectation was that I would finish out my lease, finish out my contract, sell my car, and be prepared enough to go over and start my new life.

Then my husband sent me an email in late May, saying in effect:

"I can't live without you.  You mean everything to me.  I miss you so much.  The job market here is wonderful! You really should consider coming over sooner. It's going to be fabulous!"

There was, of course, a lot more to it than that, but you get the idea.  He didn't want to wait for me to finish out my contracts before coming over.

Frankly, neither did I.

A few transatlantic phone calls later (thanks, Google Voice!), and I was convinced that I can just pretty much up and leave.   Someone was waiting for me with open arms, endless amounts of support, and with a willingness to start again and be together again.  I had nothing holding me back here.  Why not?

Except that, going through my papers, I'm dumbstruck by the fact that I can't find my car title!

Not only that, I realize that the car title STILL had my lender's name on it as the owner, despite me paying off my car loan years ago.

Time to make some trips, dammit!  But it would have to wait until my bills were paid.  Just a few days.  Really.

TBC...

Bayern, bishes! Booyah! actuallyIdontreallylikefootball itscalledsoccerinanotherlife

Currently watching Peter Kay Tony Christie on German television. You wish you had my life. :p

Dear internet, I must take leave of you today before my head explodes. Have a good one. :)

Hmmm....leftovers or pizza....hmmm....

Clip: How to avoid looking like an idiot on Twitter (and elsewhere)

I follow, and have followed for a long time, a lot of Silicon Valley tech types. Most of them are, frankly, normal people who just happen to post interesting content and, consequently, have a lot of followers. Others are whom I would call "gurus" (although I'm sure they would balk at the term being applied to them - hero worship is such tricky business, no?). I'll be posting what I come across from these folks on other socnets that I frequent on here, from time to time, so I'll start off with this helpful little missive from Guy Kawasaki.

How to look avoid looking clueless on Twitter (or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter)

Generally, if you’re wondering if you’re about to do something clueless, just don’t do it. This is because people might not know that you’re clueless, but if you do these things, you’ll remove all doubt. However, the last rule, and the most important, is this: Don’t be afraid to break these rules. Like I said, there is no right and wrong on Twitter. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t.

"I found love on a two-way street...and lost it on a lonely highway" randomsonglyrics thingsthatpoppedintomyhead

There's something about getting lost in Munich...but somehow, you still make it back SOMEWHERE...

Discovery...

First, let it be known that I came from a family of atheists   As a newborn, my parents had me baptized in the Serbian Orthodox religion (it would have been Russian Orthodox, had they - or rather, my Dad - not had a run in with the priest running the local parish) merely as a formality.  Participation in said church, purposefully nominal as it was, was planned strictly to make entry into their new found land easier via whatever connections they could easily muster (or that my rather mercurial father could not easily render asunder - but that's a story for another time).  In truth, they couldn't have cared less about church, religion, etc.  In fact, my father enjoyed regaling his neighbors and friends with his opinion regarding God's lack of existence, and would invite unsuspecting Mormon and Jehovah Witness parishoners into his home, where he and they would gleefully (well, on his end) spend hours debating the existence of God.

This did not, however, stop my parents from paying to send me to a Lutheran grammar school, a (for a few months) multi-denominational Christian high school, and a Catholic liberal arts college.  I tried to go the atheist route, myself.  But once I declared this point of view, WAY too many things started going wrong in my life.  I re-professed a belief in God around 1993, and then things started to turn around.  Love life exploded, job opportunities became better, and all sorts of other minutae that made my life so much better.

My faith has wavered a bit now and then.  I also dabbled in other beliefs, such as Wicca.  There's a place and time for alternative ideas, and, frankly, it suited me for a bit.  Coincidences that protected me during that time were reverted to my, again, rather nominal practice of that faith.

But in the middle of last year, it seemed to stop working for me.  I'm guessing I had stopped my daily candle lighting and goddess worship to a point where whatever spirits had been around me for a bit just couldn't be bothered anymore.

In any case, I turned into a wreck.  A wreck with no faith in anything.   Not even myself.

In the past few months, my husband has stated he wanted to give the Catholic religion another try.  Fine.  So we went to a local church last night to try out one of the services. The inside was as ornate as any house of worship I have entered in the Bavarian area. But I immediately felt a warmth in there that I hadn't experienced in any church.  Anywhere.  The service was all in German, but emotionally, I felt it speaking to me.  It was so overwhelming at times that I almost burst into tears.  At the end of the service, we lined up along with the other couples to have our union blessed.  I was at a point where I insisted on it.  When it was our turn, my husband explained to the ever-smiling priest that I did not know German.  He was ok with this and blessed us anyway.

I went away feeling that something had changed.  That things were going to be different with me, but that they would also be ok.  That at the end of two very hard years, and a particularly trying last few months in someplace I still barely knew, there would be a light, after all.  Both in my life, and with my love.

You can call it whatever you'd like.  I'd like to call it discovery.

Onward and Upward...

Mornings, Falling into Housewifery and Flashbacks

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life..."

Yeah, fine.  I work very hard on reminding myself of this as I look forward to yet another week of trying to force through job prospects that may or may not work out.  Much of my experience, so far, being the latter.

But, I will save the rant about the job search for another time.  It's Saturday. I'm in a good mood.  

My Saturday mornings these days consist of getting up before my husband does.  Today, I strummed my guitar for a bit, went and perused my fave social sites for a bit, watched the fog seep slowly over the farm that comprises the back yard of our apartment complex.  I made coffee for myself and Earl Grey for my husband.  I then set him up with breakfast: Two wieners, some grapes and tomatoes.  On a paper plate.  Because that's what he likes.

I didn't used to do this.  But yet, here I am.  I clean house and serve everyone. I've become a housewife. I'm in a small, Bavarian town. I don't know the language.  I can't get a job in the large nearby city that purportedly has the best job market in Europe, at least not easily. So, I'm at home, whiling away my days sending out resumes, cleaning up the place, going for bike rides, and, frankly, until I got some ideas about how to fix this, cried about my current lot in life on one of my social networks.

I didn't see myself doing this at age 46.  Of course, I didn't see myself heading a huge corporation either, but I had different plans for my life. I wanted to be an independent, working woman, successful at doing wonderful creative things with others.  Writing. Acting.  Singing.  

And then I got married.  16.5 years ago.  Then my husband wanted to leave San Francisco and live in an RV.  I dropped everything and went along.  At the time, I was able to find work easily (temporary work, but work nonetheless), and eventually, at one of our locations, we ended up buying a house and I was able to switch careers and get into something that I really enjoyed doing: technical support and training.

Three years later, trough a whole set of circumstances that I won't get into here, we ended up in Sacramento, where, after about 7 months of trying, I ended up with a job at a large electronics firm doing customer service.  It was a contract position, and did not pay well, but with the economy being what it is, and the fact that it was literally handed to me, I took it and hoped against hope it would turn into something resembling a career for me. 

Earlier this year, my husband wanted to move to Germany. He went first. Eventually, as I've done many times before, I dropped everything, and went along.

I'm currently arguing with myself as to whether I was saved or damned at that last instance. Right now, I live in a nice apartment. In a small Bavarian town. With no job. Where I appear to be  the only American that shops at the local stores. Where communication with the locals is as easy as the proverbial camel through the eye of a needle.

But everyone smiles and says "Gross Gott". Even the children. That's nice.

With all this unexpected free time, I can look back and reflect at all these decisions that I either made, or that I allowed to have been made for me, over the last several months, and even over the last few years. At this point, I'm now finding that this blog was started to see if I can finally find something that can be done for me in terms of further adaptability, .  Catharsis, if you will.

Oh, sure, I've blogged many times before.  It just feels different, this time.  But then again, it always feels different with each new blog setup. Here's looking toward new things.

Another thing I will be doing is providing "flashbacks".  These will be posts of things that happened in the past year that have led to my current situation.  Should make you laugh.  Hopefully not cry.

Onward and upward...

Just a few more things

I'll also try to be as helpful as I can with any info I come across.  Certainly there are more experienced expat bloggers out there, but, again, this is my experience.

Please also note that I've been on the internet a very...long...time.  I pretty much know every trick in the book in terms of spamming techniques, trolling, et. al. Hell, I would even say I tried a few of those myself  But word to the wise.  Don't go there.

Again, thank you for your patronage. As of tomorrow, the games shall begin.

Formal Introductions Unnecessary

Hello world!

Yes, I know.  A horrid way to start off a blog, but whatevs.

Anyway, this is my first post on my new blog.  This blog will strictly be about my experiences adjusting and adapting (sometimes badly) to a new life in a new country.  In this case, the country is Germany.  Easy, right?

Uh...no.

I came to Germany in July to be with my husband.  He came to this country in March, was able to secure a job in Munich, one month later.  A week afterward, with the help of his uncle, he was able to obtain a nice apartment about 20 miles 35 kilometers north of the city, the location of which being supremely located right across the street from the S-bahn station.

Once he was settled, he insisted that I join him.

I was in the middle of a one-year contract at an electronics firm, and was finishing up a six-month lease on my apartment.  I broke both of those, and so much more, to be with him.

This blog will be detailing flashbacks as to what happened during that time, what happened next, as well as be an ongoing record of my exploits as to how I'm getting on here, after learning my lessons.

I would not take this blog as one where helpful advice is being dispensed.  I can tell you that it can be seen as a step-by-step guide as to what NOT to do when moving to a new country. After all, I'm learning, and laughing along with all of you after the fact.  I also have opinions on a lot of things, which may come out from time to time.  So if you are squeamish about anyone with a big mouth, I'd suggest you stop reading right now.  I may also get a little "real" about things, so be prepared for some horrific scenes of emotional duress to come your way when reading future blog posts.

So, with all that...

This is my journey.  Thanks for joining me, and I hope you enjoy the ride.