Daily life

Well it didn't take us too long to get into a routine here and start sprouting some roots.  Rick and I are both enrolled in school so there is a lot of homework happening in this house.  I am continuing my respite work with the two little boys I mentioned before.  They are both making some big improvements and I am so happy to be involved in helping them.  I have been working more hours for both families which is nice.  I get more money and get to be a little bit busier.  Right around New Year's they started a Lose to Win competition here on the base.  Last month I was working on my diet and nutrition.  This month my goal was to work on my cardio, this morning Rick and I went on a run at 5:30.  Crazy?  I think yes!

Last weekend, we went to the spring bazaar.  They have this on the base.  I think there was at least 70 vendors there.  Rick and I purchased some knobs for a night table that we painted, a bottle of wine with some spicy salami, and a candle holder that used to be used for sugar molds.  Good finds!

The weather has been very nice here.  Sunday Rick and I went on a walk through the vineyards.  We are lucky to live in such a beautiful area!

A walk through the vineyard!

Munich

A couple of weeks ago we went to Munich to celebrate Rick's 28th birthday.   Rick is a huge history buff and especially WWII.  We are in the perfect place for him, so we took advantage.  We visited the Dachau concentration camp, Hofbrauhaus, and went on a walking tour of Hitler and the Third Reich.  I will try and explain the experience and post some pictures.

When walking into Dachau there is a small sign in the metal gate which translates to, "work will make you free."  Very similar to Auschwitz.  As soon as you walk through the gate you are on the roll call grounds.  Roll call was held every day.  Role call could take hours because every prisoner had to be accounted for.  Many mornings prisoners had to bring the deceased to roll call; this concentration camp was affected with Typhus and they could not keep up with the deceased.  Dachau was originally constructed to hold only 6,000 people.  Before liberation there were over 60,000 people and at liberation there were 31,000 people. There are a group of nuns that currently live on Dachau.  They were the Carmelitan which lead the lives of hermits.  They came to Europe in the 16th century; the donor of this church was a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp.

The entrance

The church on the grounds

Today you will find many monuments and tributes on the grounds; they are beautiful tributes.  The hardest and most emotional part of the camp was the crematorium.  Outside of the crematorium were mass graves.  There was a walkway outside of the crematorium that were lined with mass graves as well as the execution sites.  We were able to enter the crematorium and see the incinerators as well as walk into the gas chamber.  This building was very emotional and had very few dry eyes.  As I said before the camp was stricken by Typhus and the Nazis could not keep up with the bodies.  The gas chamber was not used like in other camps, but it was used at least once to let Hitler know that it was working.  The Germans actually changed their word Bathhaus due to the negative experience many had with the concentration camps.

The crematorium 

The bathhaus/ gas chamber

During our walking tour we were able to see the headquarters of the Nazi party, a local cafe that Hitler would visit, the guest house that Mussolini would stay in when visiting, art museums, bier houses that Hitler would address his initial speeches.  I had no idea that the start of the Nazi party was in Munich.

Hitler's office was located above this balcony.  

Nazi headquarters

We did get to do some fun things while in Munich.  We visited the Hofbrauhaus where Rick celebrated his birthday with a liter of Dunkel bier (dark beer).  We got to eat at an Indian restaurant, and a German restaurant where we ate knuckle.  The kunckle was a pork dish that they roast for hours.  It was delicious.  We hope to make it up to Munich again and enjoy more of the history of this great town!

A Miller Update

I can't fall asleep again so I have decided that I should update our blog instead of tossing and turning.

We haven't taken any trips since Ulm.  We have been working around the house and we have even painted some furniture.  I am starting to get cabin fever and it's Rick's 28th birthday on Saturday so we are off to explore again.  I think we are heading to Dachau Concentration Camp and Munich.  This was the first of the WWII concentration camps.  I think that this will be really hard for me, emotionally, but I think it's such an important part of history.  Munich should be a nice little break from all the sadness and seriousness of the concentration camp.

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to the Porsche Museum down the street.  It was a neat museum but we did notice that they did not include anything from the Nazi era.  Please note that I am not the huge history buff; Rick is so I report these things as straight regurgitation.  Anyways Porsche created tanks for the Nazis and the Volkswagen even started because of Hitler.  He wanted a car that could be created for the people.  "Volks" means folks/ people.  The "v" in German is pronounced with an "f" sound.  They also have the volksfest, people's fest- big party.  It was pretty interesting to hear some of the history from Rick.  It does pay to have a history buff in the house.

Look at me in my new car!  Ha!  

Rick got really excited when he saw this car.  "I had a car like this once."  "What are you talking about Rick?"  "Well, I had that car just as a Hot Wheel."  "Ha!!!"  

Well I start my master's tomorrow.  Eek!  I can't believe I am going back to college already.  I'm sure that this time around will be a lot different than the first time around.  I doubt that I will be partaking in Thirsty Thursdays!  ;  )  Wish me luck.  

I have been doing some respite care for two wonderful boys.  I am really enjoying my time with them and I am seeing a lot of progress with each of them.  It's neat to be able to work with them in a 1-on-1 setting.  This week I will be checking on my sub application, again.  I finished watching Waiting for Superman this week and it re-charged my batteries a little bit.  Hopefully I get nice assignments!

A day trip to Ulm...

Rick and I have decided that in leu of gifts for holidays we will go on a trip so we went to Ulm today for Valentine's Day.  This city is where Einstein was born.  He only spent a few years here and then he and his family moved to Munich.  We will have to go back to this town to see the bread museum, and enjoy the water that runs throughout the town.  Today though we decided to climb up the cathedral stairs (around 726 of them).  This was a great idea in theory, but it was brutal.  I enjoyed the free cardio but I have always had motion sickness and this just made my whole equilibrium crazy.  We just kept going round and round and round and it just felt like I was going to get sick, miss a step, and at one point I thought I was going to pass out.  It was really strange.... lesson learned though... I cannot climb up stairs in a tight circle!  

We wanted to find Einstein's house but the man we asked said there was no such plaque (his house was bombed during WWII).  I think there is and I am on a mission to find it.  We were also told that there was an Einstein museum but no sign of that either.  There was a beautiful river that ran through this small town.  They say that it is like Venice; we will have to go back when the weather gets warmer and enjoy more of this area.  

I loved these houses but if you look closely you will see that some of the houses are not standing up straight!

Okay ready here it is...

Last but not least look at this beautiful cathedral!

I am a Tanta (Aunt)!

My sister had her baby on February 11, 2011.  We are all so excited!  His name is Hudson James.  I wish I could be there to hold him, but I realize that can't happen right now.  Sometimes it can be hard to know that life moves on without you there.  I don't know what I would do without iChat and Skype- very grateful for technology.  

Getting cozy!

Rick and I have been very busy the last couple of weeks.  We received our household goods on Tuesday so we spent all last week unpacking boxes and getting the house set up.  Sunday we were able to hang up all the photos.  This weekend we were going to hang around Stuttgart and see what we can find, but instead we are driving up to Ramstein which is one of the bigger bases here.  It's about 2.5 to 3 hours away.  We need to get a new couch and they have more options so we are off to see what we can find for the house.  Thanks to our movers we need to buy a new desk for Rick, shower caddy, and large vase.  Thanks to all the rumors about living in a small place we need to buy a new couch and a couple of chairs for the living room.  We are hoping to buy some nice chairs out on the economy but figure we really want a nice big stuffed American couch to be lazy on!  :  )

This week I was able to turn in my substitute teaching application and I am also applying to do some respite care.  Respite care is a way for me to go in and give a break to a primary care giver of a child or adult who has a disability such as autism in their home.  I am pretty excited about these two opportunities.  It will allow us some extra travel money and it's a great way to get my name out there.

This week or early next week we are hoping to purchase a new car.  We are looking at buying a stick shift which means I am forcing myself to learn how to drive a stick.  I hope that Rick can handle my tantrums; I get really frustrated when I can't do things correctly.  Little bit of a perfectionist.  

Other than that life is starting to settle in nicely.  We are really enjoying Germany!  Hopefully we get our own internet today and our phone then life will seem to really fall into place!  Have a wonderful weekend.  I will make sure to post pictures of our travel this weekend!

Rubble Hill

After going to the farmer's market we drove over to Rubble Hill.  Rubble Hill is  a park off one of the main freeways here in Stuttgart.  From the street it looks like nothing.  It looks like just a walking trail, but it is much more than that.  This hill was actually created by the people here in Stuttgart after WWII.  Stuttgart was a city that was attacked pretty badly.  It was and is a large industrial city therefore during the war it was devastated.  The people of Stuttgart were left with a lot of rubble.  They decided to scoop it all together and create this hill.  They then poured dirt on top of the rubble and planted trees.  As you are walking up it's hard to imagine what you are actually walking on, but when you get to the top you can see that you are walking on history, ruins, buildings, statues, etc.  It was pretty amazing.  When you get to the top you can also see a panoramic view of the city.  Here are some pictures of this hidden secret.  I am so glad that yesterday was a sunny, clear day (very uncommon here) so that we could enjoy this beauty!