Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!!!!!

Christmas is in a month!!! Yeay!!!??? I am not sure yet whether to be happy about it or not. I do not know yet how I feel about it. Jasmin moved to Switzerland this past weekend and my brother and Nicole are gonna go to Mexico after Christmas. Aaron said we could go for a couple of days but I am not sure if I can take off work. I would love to go though. I finally managed to get my driver license. Yeay!!! I did not even have to take a test, BUT they took my European license from me. Well, I had to “give it up” in order to receive my American driver license. And all of that for $24, haha. I was really surprised. And it was my first positive experience with the DPS, all the other times before they had been really rude! This week is Thanksgiving week, that means everything else is messed up. My Zumba® Fitness classes have been cancelled, well most of them, because of the holiday and I usually have a lot of clients on Thursday, so I have had to rearrange their sessions a little bit. I am really excited about the Zumba® Convention in August 2010, but Jasmin told me today that she might not be able to go after all. It will be peak season at her job at that time and normally nobody gets to take a vacation at that time. BUMMER. But there is nothing really we can do about it. But here is my dilemma. Should I go anyway? We said we were gonna go together, but if she cannot take off work…. What am I gonna do?? Oh, my business idea at my job got approved that Monday two weeks ago and I started putting out flyers and all that for a six-week-session of Zumba® toning at the gym. Unfortunately a lot of people do not seem interested, which is really upsetting, since it is such a great program. I will teach it anyway. So far I am gonna have six people signed up and a couple of others said they are interested as well, but they have not made it back to the gym yet. Maybe after the first six-week-session word will spread more and the ones that took the class are gonna spread the word how awesome the program is. We will see. Turkey Day on Thursday!!!!

Oh, dear Christmas chocolates.....

Hey there, November! So I heard it is cold in Germany. We had 80 degrees Fahrenheit the other day . I went to Central Market on Wednesday and that place is stocked with Adventskalendern (for $ 11!!!!), Zimtsterne, Lebkuchen,…. Everything a German in Texas would love! And it is all in German, 100%. Nothing on the package is in English, so I am really wondering how they are gonna sell all of that stuff since nobody knows what it really is, except for the picture on the box….. I still watch my German soap on-line every day and it bugs the hell out of me that they put commercials before the real show starts. Every time I see a Giotto or a Kinder Maxi King commercial on there that is exactly what I want. And we don’t have those here. I found Ferrero Rochers, for like triple the price, but nothing else. This German in Texas misses her German Christmas chocolates and sure would not mind if someone sent her some…. But then again those efforts are not appreciated by the American customs, because last time my family sent us a package with food in there (for Easter, with Schmunzelhasen), they (customs) threw it away! Grrrr….. Well, my audition on Thursday went really well. I already got an email from the area group exercise coordinator on Friday morning saying that I mastered the audition and today another area group exercise coordinator from the same gym chain sent me an email asking if I could teach any or all of three classes she offered me. Unfortunately I had to turn down two, because they just do not work out with the other Zumba® Fitness classes I teach during the week. We will see. Still gotta go to the gym and talk to one of the guys and fill out the new hire package. I never got to take my license this past week, but am definitely planning on getting it done this month. It just has not worked out yet. Today, I am really tired, my body is tired and so is my brain. Aaron asked me to run an errand for him, we will see if I can get my butt off the couch for that. Tomorrow, my GM is gonna let me know if my new business idea for the gym is getting approved or not. I really hope so, it would be great! Since we do not have a bath tub anymore I gave Cody a shower yesterday. That was different, but it worked out well. I got a little bit wet, but that’s okay. I did not think I would get out of it completely dry and I planned on taking a shower after her anyway, lol. Other than that, tomorrow starts a brand-new week and I am gonna try to get as much as possible done!!

It is done!!!

Finally. I just got done with Aaron’s side of the closet. The last two things to unpack are two suitcases packed with books and DVDs. So, I am gonna have to wait, because there is nothing I can put it on. Oh, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I dressed up as a Zumba® Fairy at work on Thursday and Cody was a pumpkin. Other than that…. No party, no trick or treating, nothing scary. Aaron is in Austin and my auntie is sick. But that is ok, I am tired anyway. Tonight we are changing clocks, so my American readers, do not forget to turn them back one hour before you go to sleep, so in the morning you will know what time it really is. ;-) I got my new Zumbawear® this week too and it is soooo cute. The little earrings are super-awesome and everything else is, too. Aaron sent Jasmin’s package today, so she’ll have her package on Tuesday, but my mom has to give it to her and she won’t see her till Friday. So Miss Jasmin has to be a little more patient this week. I put a little surprise in there for her too. Wednesday we went to the “So you think you can dance”-tour. We got tickets at the door and they were surprisingly good. I enjoyed it so much and the show made me miss dancing. I am gonna go every time they come to Dallas now, I do not care with whom! Hopefully Jasmin will be here one of those times! That would be awesome!! The last three days we have been moving and I even got up early today to go to bootcamp, finally! I did my laundry and baked some banana bread and Isis and Lee came by. Josh and Rona got their share as well, I hope they liked it ;-). Two more months till the year ends, wow. Next week I plan on finally getting my driver license, it only depends on my schedule, whenever I have enough time. But I need to get it. I have lived here almost nine months now, have been driving since April, but never got my license. It is ok for a year as long as I have my visa and my European license on me, but after one year I have to have it! Jasmin is gonna move to Switzerland in three weeks. Time passed faster than I thought. She is sooooo excited. Hopefully I can visit her at one of the resorts she is gonna work at. That would be cool! And she is all geared up now too. New Zumbawear® on the way and literature for the long drive, too!!! Cody and I are gonna cuddle now and then it is off to bed in a little bit ;-).

I've got a feeling.....

….that this week is gonna be a really good one!!! Let’s look at this past week first though. On Wednesday Aaron surprised me with a car!!! A friend of ours goes to car auctions and got a VW Beetle for us there! Aaron is the best. He got everything else done for it on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He got the inspection done, the registration or whatever and got me a toll tag and put the license plates on there. He is the best!!! Saturday morning he left for a little bit and then before he went to work he asked me to follow him somewhere really quick. Well, he ended up saying we will take his car and as I grabbed my keys I noticed my car key was gone. We went to Best Buy to get my car because he had dropped it off, since he felt “like the sound system was, it sounded weird”. Oh well, ok. So I get in there and what is there?? A brand-new radio with CD-player (since the radio in the car did not have one), connection for an I-Pod and a USB thing so I can actually put my USB-stick in there and listen to music. But wait, the best thing is: It changed display colors to all colors of the rainbow. We had looked at radios the other day and I said it would be cool to have a Zumba ® green radio, since I planned on decorating my car with Zumba® stuff in green. And that is what he got. I took the weekend off work, because I needed the break. So yesterday I got a car wash, went to the mall to take care of Jasmin’s surprise and was disappointed. The airbrush store in the mall moved out. Bummer. Oh well, we’ll just get it done when she comes in town next. I still have the other surprise for her! Hehe he. OK, so then last night I decorated the car and put Cody in it. Gotta make a video of it. She likes my car. How could she not?

So, tomorrow is gonna be an awesome day. Jasmin sent me a package which is tracked this time and is supposed to get here tomorrow. YEAY. And she said she put two (!), not one, but TWO, surprises in there!!! Also, the new clothes on the Zumba ® website are gonna be launched, so that means someone’s credit card is gonna burn…. Then, on Wednesday we are going to the “So you think you can dance”-tour in McKinney. YEAY!!! It is gonna be soooooo cool! On Thursday our moving progress starts. We have three to four days to move from this apartment to the new one. I am excited and really looking forward to the week, though I miss my family!!!

80 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny :D - 50 degrees Fahrenheit and rain :(

Yup, that is how it goes here in Texas – one day it is nice outside and the next one you wake up to rain, rain and more rain. Or you get that change within one day. Nice in the morning, rainy in the afternoon. But that’s ok, I already knew that before I moved here. Anyway, other than that let’s see what else is new. Aaron and I are moving to a smaller apartment at the beginning of next month, so if anyone needs the new address text or email me please. We found a car for me and are fixing to buy it, pictures will follow as soon as we pick it up. Work is going great, I have managed to have a nice lunch break every day now and not have sessions all spread out through the day now, so that is great. Zumba ® Fitness is going awesome as well. I have another audition coming up on November, 5^th, details will follow as soon as I get the job. Cody’s Halloween costume is gonna be super-awesome, picture here will follow also! Last week I had a really bad week. It rained here constantly and nothing was going how I wanted it. I missed my family and friends in Germany a lot, but my support team here really helped me get through it. Even Cody came to give me a hug :D. Also, I was really sad that I cannot make it to my sister's good-bye-party, but as it turns out she had to cancel it anyway, due to some more travelling for the new job before the official start. I REALLY hope she is gonna like my surprise. ;-) I am hoping to be able to go see my family soon again, but probably not this year anymore. Other than that, I am living my normal life here at my American home in Dallas, TX, USA. (By the way, in the video, at the very end, you can see the ring Aaron got me!)

Really? - Really!!!

Urgh, I hate this foggy soup. This morning as I went downtown to teach my class at Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center I could not even see like 15 feet. All the tall buildings were covered in fog! FOG!!!! URGH!!! I also realized though that I am really here, like REALLY!! I have a job, I have a great second family and I have a great man by my side. BUT… I miss my German family and friends. I hate this season of the year so much, because it makes me so sad. This weather is so depressive. I just want to stay home and cuddle up under a blanket and sleep all day. Alright, that was the negative side of this post, now…… We are looking for my very first car – EVER! It is going to be a VW (of course, gotta support my peeps) Beetle. We have found some, but have not decided yet. We have looked at some and sat in a couple and they are soooo cute. The first thing I am gonna do when I get it is get some things to girlify it, hehe he. And then I am gonna put Cody in there and see what she says. ;-) That’s gonna be so much fun!