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Old friends and colleagues…

The weather was nicer today, though still pretty chilly.  We took the dogs for a walk before we did our shopping.  Zane especially enjoyed himself, though it was pretty messy going thanks to the soggy ground and occasional ice patches.  On the way back, we ran into a very pleasant German couple who seemed to enjoy our hounds.  I got to tell the husband that I can’t speak German.  Still working on it, though, and making progress in understanding at least.

Well, it was another typical Sunday in Germany and we’re still in our usual rut over having lunch at The Auld Rogue.  Indeed, we did go there today after stopping at Panzer for two top ups for our phones, a new pie plate, and a bigger mixing bowl.  Somehow, I neglected to pack a pie plate, even though I know we have at least one in storage.  We also didn’t pack any decent sized mixing bowls and I have a hankering to make a blackout cake for my husband.  When I do, I’ll have to take a photo of it.  It’s a thing of beauty.  Bill will no doubt take some to work, too, since there’s no way the two of us can eat the whole thing before it goes stale.

On our way into AAFES, Bill caught sight of a familiar face.  It turned out to belong to a guy Bill worked with at the Pentagon from 2001-03.  He and his wife attended our wedding in Lexington, Virginia, and we bought them gifts for their adorable infant daughter who is now about 11 years old.  Their son, a toddler when we last saw them, must be an early teen now.  Bill traded business cards with his old friend and I expect we might hang out once or twice.  It was nice to see them again.  You never know who you’ll run into when you’re affiliated with the military.

We de-Christmased our house and, I’m hoping, tomorrow we’ll be able to start planning a quick getaway for MLK weekend so I can write about something other than life in Germany.  I am more than ready to travel so I can write more on my travel blog.

No pictures today…  but you can bet there will be more soon.

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Our big Virginia trip, part five– old friends!

I was really looking forward to Saturday because I had a “date” with two old college friends.  In 1994, I graduated from what is now Longwood University (in our day, it was Longwood College).  I hadn’t seen my friends Donna and Joann since those days in Farmville, though Facebook had kept us in touch somewhat.

Donna, Joann, and I were all English majors.  Joann was Donna’s “big sister” in their sorority.  I was Donna’s big sister in our honorary music fraternity.  Donna was one of the first people I met freshman year, back in 1990.  If I recall correctly, we met while waiting in line to shop at the bookstore.  There was no Amazon.com back in the those days.  Donna was later my suite mate during our sophomore year.

I met Joann in a British lit class.  We both had Dr. Massie Stinson, one of my favorite Longwood profs.  In his very soft, southern drawl, he taught us about romantic British literature as we read The Mayor of Casterbridge and works by Tennyson, Keats, and Shelley.  I didn’t know it back then, but Joann is from Lexington, Virginia, which is very close to where both of my parents grew up.  It’s also where Bill and I got married.

So we made a date at Macado’s for noon on Saturday.  Macado’s also has a location in Farmville, as all Longwood students know.  In our day, it was pretty much the only game in town for a fun bite to eat.  I’m sure that’s changed by now.  I actually had a long standing grudge against Macado’s for many years, but I figured it would be fitting to go there last weekend.

Donna came with her husband and adorable 11 year old daughter in tow.  I could see Donna’s husband was relieved that I brought Bill with me so he’d have a guy to talk to.  Joann is single.  Our party of six was lively as we enjoyed sandwiches and I ordered what used to be my favorite thing to eat when I was in college, macaroni and cheese.  It wasn’t quite as good as I remembered it, though it was pretty close.

Old Longwood friends!

 

Mac and cheese…  Mine is better.

 

While we were hanging out, I had the opportunity to confront Donna’s daughter, whom I’d heard had unofficially dubbed me “the cusser”.  Apparently, I swear too much on Facebook.  When I asked her about it, she blushed bright red… almost enough to match her bright red hair!  It was super cute!  I was impressed by how well behaved she was, hanging out with all the adults who were temporarily regressing back to their early 20s.

After lunch, we walked around Lexington and visited Celtic Tides, an Irish store that I’ve given a lot of business over the years.  I bought a plaque for my office that reminds me of my Celtic boozy genes.  We went to another store called Pumpkinseeds, which is where I bought two pairs of earrings I don’t really need.  For some reason, if I like something and in comes in different colors, I have to buy two.  Must be my Gemini “twin” thing.

Obviously, I had something important to say…

We finally ended up in a small park where the town Christmas tree was all lit.  One of my cousin’s wives found us there and reminded me that my Aunt Nancy was celebrating her 80th birthday in the form of a cocktail party.  I had forgotten all about it…  Actually, no one ever gave me the details and I wasn’t sure where she lived.  But as it was getting dark, we decided to part ways after a very fun five hour visit.

A shot of the movie theater in Lexington.

We stopped by the homeplace to see if anyone was around.  No one was, so we ate our leftovers from Macado’s and then went back to the inn for our last night there.  I decided to turn in early, since I knew Sunday and Monday were going to be big travel days.

I hope it won’t be another 20 years before I see these two ladies again.  But since I doubt my family will ever totally leave Rockbridge County, I’m sure we can work out another reunion sooner rather than later.

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Back to the Neuer Ochsen…

Note: The Neuer Ochsen has long been closed since this post was written.

Bill and I dined at the Neuer Ochsen again this weekend because an old Peace Corps friend of mine, Erik, is in town and wanted to get together.  Neuer Ochsen is in Vaihingen, where there are plenty of restaurants and I knew several would be open today.

As it turned out, Erik was running late and he didn’t have a cell phone.  We also weren’t so clear on where we were going to meet, so we both ended up waiting in the wrong areas for each other.  But then I got the bright idea to check the restaurant and there he was.

We had a very good lunch… indeed, I had the same thing I had last weekend and so did Bill and Erik.  We talked and laughed for about two hours.  I hadn’t seen Erik in 17 years– he was starting his Peace Corps assignment in Armenia and I was finishing mine.  Now that he works for the government, he’s here on business.  The funny thing is, he and my husband will be hanging out this week thanks to their work.

I think it’s funny when my past intersects with Bill’s present.  It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

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Pizza tonight…

Bill has a long lost buddy from high school who lives in San Antonio and he has asked us to meet him and his wife at a restaurant called Dough.  Bill met his friend last week for lunch and it was the first time they had seen each other in about 30 years.  Naturally, I have not yet met this guy, but I have chatted with him a bit on Facebook.  In fact, he chats more with me than he does Bill.

Bill’s friend has a wife who works for Novica.com, which is my favorite place to blow money, except SeaDream, of course.  Apparently, San Antonio has a very small Novica office staffed with a couple of people and she happens to work there.  My house is full of Novica stuff and I have many scarves and pieces of jewelry from that site.  I bet our houses could rival each other with all the Novica stuff there…

Novica is a site run by National Geographic that offers cool art, furniture, jewelry, gifts and such from artisans in India, Mexico, Central America, West Africa, Bali and Indonesia, Brazil, and the Andes.  The goods are mostly handmade.  I have loved most of what I’ve bought there and have actually bought so much that I am considered an “ambassador”.  That means I get half price shipping and certain incentives to buy more.  Every quarter, I get credits based on how much I buy, plus they send me codes  around my birthday so I can load up.  It’s a sweet deal.

I will try to get some photos for a new post.  I don’t have any travels in the works for the near future, so I may be reviewing a few San Antonio area restaurants for the time being.  Hey… San Antonio is a tourist destination, right?  It was for me until a few weeks ago, anyway.

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Old friends…

One very cool thing about today is that we have Facebook.  Granted, Facebook can lead to a lot of problems for a lot of people, particularly those who don’t use their privacy settings.  It can also lead to hurt feelings.  I resisted joining Facebook for a long time, until an old friend talked me into it.  Oddly enough, she seems to have dropped off Facebook.

Anyway, the other day, I looked up a guy I knew in Armenia who had been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Russia, back when Russia still needed some help.  He later got a job in Armenia while I was there and we ended up becoming friends.  I taught business English at his place of business and he also rented an apartment from an Armenian friend of mine whom I met while singing in a choir.

His former landlady is probably one of the best piano players I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing live.  We used to get together on Saturdays.  She’d practice her English and we’d practice music.  She was a neat lady, though a bit on the eccentric side.  My friend who rented her apartment told me horror stories of cleaning it up.

I sent this guy a friend request and he remembered me!  I always worry that someone either won’t remember me or will think I’m too annoying to be friends with.  But anyway, he’s a good guy… still lives abroad and has had some very interesting assignments as an expat.  Twenty years ago, I wanted to be back in the States, but now I realize that I envy people who can live abroad.

One of the reasons I like living abroad is that you often end up meeting people you would never meet otherwise.  When you are a minority, you end up running into people who are like you… perhaps people you would not meet if you both lived in your homeland.  Sometimes that’s a bad thing, of course.  You can run into assholes you might wish you’d never laid eyes on.  But sometimes you end up meeting folks who are very intelligent, talented, and interesting.  Of course, you might also meet other expats from other countries, too.  I bumped into folks from all over the world when I lived abroad.

Once you’ve done that and survived it, you kind of crave it again… or at least I do.  I miss being out of the country, even though it can be a pain in the butt to live somewhere else.  I remember being sad when my husband told me we were moving to Germany because I realized it would be a logistical pain.  But once we got there and got settled, I really loved being abroad and didn’t look forward to leaving.  Living abroad is a challenge… and it can lead to great bonding experiences with other people.

I hope we get to do it again someday…

I met this gentleman in Armenia in 1995.  We were near Lake Sevan and he was kind enough to let me photograph him.
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