85 days and counting DOWN!

My Jasmin will be here in 85 days. Hooray. She will be here for seven full weeks and it is going to be so awesome! I already booked our tickets for NYC. We will be leaving on Thursday, December 9th and will be coming back on Saturday, December 11th. I cannot wait to go with her, it is going to be sooo much fun! The first weekend she is going to be here we are also going to go to IKEA, because the man and I are moving at the end of October and I am sure we will need a thing or two for the new place. Hopefully Jasmin will not be too jetlagged, but if she is I will just give her coffee, coffee and more coffee. This week on Monday was Labor Day and we taught a one and a half hour long Zumba(R) Fitness class at Baylor Tom Landry. We had four instructors there and about 60 members in the class room. It was so much fun. Last night there was a tornado watch and they actually "evacuated" us into the ladies locker room for like 20 minutes as I got there. They said we could either leave or stay put. I stayed put because I was not about to be blown away in my little Beetle. Haha. It was all for safety reasons and it was good that way. We started class 15 minutes late, but still had a blast. I changed my schedule at work so that I do not have to drive there that often anymore and have a little more time at home. I am trying to work smarter, not harder. I am gonna save a little bit on gas too. Hehe he. This weekend we are meeting some of our old neighbors for dindin, that's going to be fun!


Results of Hermine's doing - flooded water blocking the street I usually take to get to work....

Y'all ready for the fall?

Jasmin was diagnosed with acute gastritis last Tuesday. That means she has some fluid in her stomach that refuses to go back where it belongs and that causes her pain. She refused to take some antibiotics before because a couple of years ago as she took some they messed up her intestines and that had to be fixed as well. She is doing a lot better now, but she was in the hospital for two days and they looked into her stomach through a tube that was put into her throat. Fun times. At least they did not have to do a colonoscopy, haha. This week at work was busy, plus I subbed two classes on Friday and Saturday because Amy was at the Convention in Orlando and Bob was on vacation. Saturday afternoon I went to the Aerobics Convention with Diane, but we were a little bit disappointed, there was not much going on. We thought that maybe we could buy some clothes or so for a bargain, but that was not the case. They did have a couple of new exercise classes on display though, some looked interesting enough, other did not, hehe he. After that I had to take a nap though, I was tired. Thursday night I had a hard time going to sleep, because my legs were hurting, like restless. Fun. Today is an awesome day because my Jassele booked her flight to come see me!!! YEAY!!! She will be here all of December till January 21st. It is going to be soooo much fun. She will be here in 96 days. That is below 100, whoop whoop. We are gonna go to NYC to go Christmas shopping, I just have to book the flight. My parents are the most awesomest parents ever, too. I talked to them today and they are actually giving us money to use for our NYC trip, so we do not even have to think about that and can really enjoy our mini-vacation, including shopping, some educational museum visit and of course Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building. This is gonna be so much fun!!!!

We almost survived the hottest month of the year!

All my non-Texan readers, August is the hottest month of the year in Texas. And this year has not been any different. We have had triple digits for several weeks now, with sporadic rain showers. This week at work has been another hard and long one. But keeping myself busy makes the week pass so fast that the weekends pop up faster and faster. Also, Jasmin plans on being here soon as well. If everything works out she will be here at the beginning of December till mid-January. YEAY!!! And then I am going to take her to NEW YORK CITY!! I am so excited! I can hardly wait. We have been planning on going Christmas shopping in NYC forever, so it will be so awesome to finally go. Right now she is not so feeling so well, and I mean I feel like we get closer every time we see each other, but this is ridiculous. She was telling me the other day how she felt like she was tired all the time and had no energy. And believe it or not, but before she was telling me about her not feeling well, I had not been either the couple of days prior. Isn't that insane? So, this connection between her and I gets stronger and stronger, though we could not be further apart from each other with her being in Turkey and me being here in Dallas, TX, USA. School is starting again here in Dallas next week, so that means this weekend is tax-free weekend in Texas. That also meant that people started going crazy beginning Friday morning at 12.01am. Tax-free weekend means (for some of yall who do not know) that certain items are exempt from the sales tax, like backpacks, sneakers, clothes, school supplies and so on, as long as they are under $100. Oh well, I am not going anywhere near a mall this weekend. I do not need anything in my closet other than cleaning it up and sorting some things out and I am really looking forward to seeing my Jassele in December and would rather treat her to some goodies then, and of course go to "H & M" in NY. Yeay! Guys, we really need one here. Seriously! Alright, it is the weekend, I have nothing to do other than the normal stuff, like laundry and prep for the next work-week. Maybe I'll go get my tire fixed this weekend, hehe he.....

Jassele, we will go see this one in NYC. I already walked by it the last time I was there!! ;-)

Soooo,....

Lately I have been thinking a lot of "What if... "s. I do not really know why, but I have. Like what if I had never gotten the Greencard? Would I still have found a way to come to Texas? What if not. What would I be doing right about now? What would the man do right about now? He really never had a choice or a say in this. I told him I had taken part in the Greencard Lottery and that I had to wait. Next thing I know I got it. I asked him if I could stay with him and he said yes. What if he had said no? Would I still be here, maybe in a different living situation, but would I still be here? What if we had never found each other again? Would I have gone through the whole thing without him and his support? Or would I have stayed in Germany, scared and discouraged? I really do not know. I cannot answer any one of those questions, at least not 100% honest. I really do not think I can. For all I know, I know I was scared. I was scared as I asked the man if I could stay with him, after all ,we were not even officially a couple again. I was scared about the future, still am sometimes. I was scared to lose him, friends, other relationships and contacts. I really do not know what I was thinking as I took the leap back in July 2007 as I signed up for the program. I probably was not thinking. I know I do not regret any of my decisions that I have made since then concerning my life over here in Dallas, TX, USA. I have some awesome co-workers at work. I do not really have too many friends, but I never did, anywhere. I do not go out much on the weekends, but I have always been more of the kind of person that stays home more than going out and party. I have so much more on my mind but that is meant for a whole nother post. ;-) Baby shower on 7-31-2010

Hmph....

Let's see... what has been going on? Work, sleep, work, eat. Really. Mostly in that order. Oh well, I get to relax on the weekends, since I try not to work then, but other than that I have been at work between 6am and 8am, depending on the day of the week and my clients and I have been at home between 8.30pm and 9.30pm. I do take a nice lunch break though with a much needed nap of about one and a half to two hours if I had to get up at 5am. But really, it is easier for me to get up at 5am than at 6am. And the bottom line really is, there is no big difference of the hour when you have to get up, getting up and out of bed is hard at any time of the day.
Other than that I miss my Jassele, and so does Cody. She tells me every day.....

Oh well, expect the unexpected ;-)

I should have bet some money on Aaron being here for July 4th or not. He said he would be fine, I said he won’t make it. He was scheduled to fly out of ATL on Sunday last week I think at 4.15pm, but his uncle dropped him off a little too late, at 3.50pm. So, that flight was gone. After that he could not get on another plane, because they were all full. He tried till 10pm local time and then I texted him “I told you so”, since I had been right. So, the doggy and I watched some fireworks on the good old couch and had some ice cream with it. Now, the man said he would make up for it if he misses the 4^th with us. We will see where or what that leads to this time. He finally made it back in the morning of the 5^th, but I could not go get him, because I was teaching my Zumba® Fitness class at 9am. He got a ride though. The week at work was busy, but I finished the case study with Satek for the BodyJuggling he teaches. Aaron came with me Saturday night to a Yoga Studio downtown to record the whole thing and interview me. He has been really supportive this weekend. Today I “taught” my Zumba® Fitness class at the Taste of Dallas. Unfortunately there had not been much advertising, so the turn-out was not so well. I still presented my new awesome new Zumbawear® skort in purple which I got in the mail on Saturday. Other than that, Cody is the same lazy doggy and we had a lot of rain this week. My Jassele has been very busy this week also, so I have barely been able to talk to her, boo :-(.

Nap time needs to be practiced more often!

It is almost July – unbelievable! This will be my second 4^th of July here in the States. Aaron is in ATL right. His family wants him to stay till after the 4^th, but I asked him to come back before. The problem is that he is flying stand-by and since I experienced the dilemma of trying to fly out of ATL on stand-by on a Sunday I do not see us spending the night of the 4^th together to watch some fireworks. I have been working a lot, since I was on vacation the first week of this month, but I also decided that I do not work weekends anymore, unless I absolutely have to, like subbing a Zumba® Fitness class or so, like last weekend. The weekend after July 4^th, my gym asked me if I was willing to teach a class at the Taste of Dallas and of course I said yes. I think it will be fun, plus it can possibly bring some business in the door, besides the fun it will be. I got a couple of new songs on my playlist, Shakira’s “Waka Waka” is one of them and that one is tons of fun. I had 37 members in my class last Thursday and the energy was just so great! Cody has been supporting the German soccer team with all she got, except for when they lost their second game. I did not know they were playing and saw the game on TV at 7am as I got to work. I had not put her jersey on, so that’s why they lost. Other than that she has been wearing it and since the States are out we do not have to make her choose which team she likes better, since Germany will not be playing the States. I have been working on my tan on the weekends and working out at the gym in the morning hours before it gets really hot there. I miss my Jassele a lot :-(.

The first week is always the worst :-(

I miss my Jassele. I miss my parents, too, but my sister more. I have been back home now since Monday and this week has been hard. Monday? Yes, Monday. I was supposed to get back on Sunday, but since everybody in Atlanta gets on a plane to Dallas on Sundays for whatever reasons they may have I did not make it on any of the ten or so flights on Sunday. I almost did not make it Monday, I was not even supposed to be on the plane that I was on, but I made it to Dallas at 3pm on Monday and my loved one picked me up. I just had to get my suitcase, since it had gotten to Dallas the night before and go home. I spent the night at Aaron’s aunt’s house in ATL and that was the upside of the delayed trip home. I finally met her. She had dindin waiting for me and the guest room was ready, so perfect. As I got home on Monday I was “attacked” by a very happy Cody who was REALLY happy to see me. She almost knocked me over as she greeted me. I went to work at 5pm till 8pm, went to the grocery store after work and then did the laundry. After that I went to sleep, yeay. I must say it is good to be back home, but I could have stayed longer with my sister in Turkey. For some reasons though, I guess, it is always too short when we see each other. I miss her so much, it is really bad this time. I have no idea when or where I am gonna see her again. She will be in Turkey till November of this year. I already looked at flights to see her again, but they are around $1600, and that is a lot! Plus the cost at the hotel I would have to pay. I do not know when it is gonna get better, but I know it has to. I know she misses me too, a lot and I really wished I could help her. I am really looking forward to the next time I am gonna see her and hope it is not gonna be too far away! Luv u sissy!

Vacation time is over :-(

Well, my vacation is almost over. Tomorrow I will be back on my way home to Dallas, Texas. Of course my brother and Nicole knew I was coming to the birthday/housewarming party, because my uncle Harald had slipped the information to them. He probably did not know it was supposed to be a surprise. Oh well. We had a very good time and the apartment is really nice. I got to see my Braunschweiger girls Anja and Katja and we went to an American Football game and the Braunschweiger Lions won, yeay. Sunday I slept till 12noon, which was awesome. My dad had breakfast ready and we basically were lazy all day. Ordered dindin in for the night and went to nap on the couch till 2am. My dad dropped my mom and I off at the airport, because our flight to Dalaman left at 4am. Three hour flight, easy. My mom and I could not really go to sleep on the plane, so we decided to nap on the beach later on, which I did EVERY SINGLE DAY during our stay in Turkey. After Jasmin and her co-worker Alex picked us up at the airport we went to have breakfast at the hotel and then went upstairs to put our bathing suits on. Straight to the beach. I fell asleep pretty quickly and Jasmin joined us for a little but, since she had to work on Monday, but was off the rest of our stay. The food at the hotel was awesome. Basically, you could get something to eat 24/7. Shakes, coffee, teas, juices, sodas, wine and beer as much as you could possibly drink and food…… well, the scale will tell that story, hehe he. We went to the beach every day. I took a dip in the ocean and in the pool. I worked out Jasmin and Mimi, who promised me they are gonna keep it up. I wrote them two training plans. Tuesday and Thursday night we went to the show. I enjoyed them very much. Monday night I had to go to bed very early, because I was exhausted. I slept in Jassel’s room three nights and in our hotel room two nights. The nights I spent with Jassele ended up a little bit later, but we enjoyed every single minute we had with each other. I even taught a Zumba® Fitness class to the staff and a couple of guests and it was a blast. There were a lot of male participants which I thought was awesome! We went to a basar, which was a little disappointing, but Jassele got a white belly dance scarf for a steal, so it was still worth it. I did not find what I had seen in Sarigerme at the basar, so we went back to Sarigerme on foot Friday night. We were told that Sarigerme was kind of expensive, but I got what I wanted, so everything is fine. On our way back the staff laundry car passed us and stopped. He gave us a ride. Jassele and I in the back and my mom in the passenger seat. That was so much fun. Jassele and I both wore purple dresses Friday night, so we had to be careful as we hopped out of the back of the mini truck. I am sad right now. I am sitting at the airport in Dalaman with my mom and I already miss my Jassele (no tears), but I do not know when I am gonna see her again. It sure did not seem as if we had not seen each other for nine months, but I sure miss her. We had tons of fun and her co-workers are awesome, I really enjoyed getting to know all of them, some of them more than others. It was a really good trip, and now I am ready to go back home. I would just have liked to pack my Jassele in my suitcase and take her with me. Luv u sissy and I am sorry for the tears, but I could not help it and now I feel a lot better! <3 style="font-size:100%;">

Neeeeeeew Yooooooork – Wait a minute…….

That’s not where I was supposed to go….. Germany was the final destination. Make that a capital WAS. Let’s go back. Thursday, May 27^th, 5am. My alarm rings because I have a client’s ass to kick at the gym before I go on my 10.20am flight from DFW to JFK. 6am, I am training my client, finishing up my payroll and heading home. Shower time. 8.15am, we are on the way to the airport. I am calling the family to say see you later and so on. 8.50amish.We are getting to the airport. There is an idiot who is keeping the entire line waiting. He talks to the Delta attendant for another serious 45 minutes during which I have to wait. I am already thinking I am going to miss my flight to JFK. Ok, my turn. My flight is delayed to 11.07am, so we are good. I check in and tell Aaron bye bye and go to my gate after getting the obligatory airport coffee. I am on the blue list, which means I need to be cleared, because I was on stand-by. 12pm, still waiting on the f***ing plane. I am the last one to be cleared because some people already left. I was number 13. Phew. Another hour of waiting on the plane, because it needed to be “balanced”, which we all know was another bullsh*t excuse for what they were really doing. My flight to FRA from JFK is supposed to leave at 5pm local time. We touch down in JFK at 5.05pm. Another flight attendant and I are running to the new gate. Her husband is actually the captain of the plane and he said to run. Out of breath at 5.25pmish we make it to the gate to see the doors closed. Plane just left, they did everything they could. Alright, of course Aaron had plan B ready. Booked me a room at the Sheraton in NYC and one of his aunt’s friends picked me up. BUT…. Wait a minute. What about my suitcase? I go to DELTA baggage claim to find out if I can get it. Nope, because it never made it to JFK. Since I was on stand-by, and the last one to get on the plane my suitcase was sent to Detroit and from there to FRA. My suitcase made it to FRA on Friday at 9.30am. I just made it about two hours ago now, on Saturday May 29^th, because I had to wait for 24 hours to hop on another flight from JFK to FRA. Oh sh*t, may be what some are thinking and I thought the same. Being stranded in NEW YORK CITY though for 24 hours is not really the worst thing in the world. The Sheraton hotel I stayed at is located on 53^rd and 7^th street in New York. So, like someone taught me very well, I made the best of the situation, but first I had to deal with booking agents who told me bullsh*t stories for about an hour or so. Orbitz told me I could change my flight from FRA to HAJ through Lufthansa after having been on the line with them for about 30 minutes. I call Lufthansa and that agent was really upset with the information that Orbitz had given me. He told me it was illegal for him to change my ticket, so I called Orbitz back. Another agent told me it would cost me $400 to change the flight so I said no. Plan A was getting to Frankfurt, acting like nothing happened and just going to Lufthansa and changing the flight. Plan B was the train. Plan C was my dad picking me up. Plan A worked. Yeay. I had to pay €50, but that’s ok. Back to Friday. I really did not sleep well at the hotel, so I got up around 8amish, talked to my parents who were obviously upset and assured them that everything was not as bad as it may seem. Took a shower after that and had some delicious breakfast right across the street from the hotel. (See pic.) After that I went on the hunt to find H&M, which I did. I was a little bit disappointed about the colors, but it is all good. I got some awesome steals and a shirt for my Jassele from NY. My ride was supposed to come get me at 2.30pm, but I decided to take the train to the airport, so I would not miss the flight again. In New York though everything was crazy. The streets are so crowded, and the chances are higher to catch someone that does not live there when you stop someone for a question than getting someone who does live there. Does that sentence make any sense at all? I am sorry. It is 10.25am FRA time and I did not get too much sleep. My flight is not leaving for another two-ish hours, so I figured I can pre-write. Well, at JFK I checked in, all by myself, since I did not have my suitcase and found my gate. Got the obligatory pre-flight coffee again and waited to be cleared. I ended up in business class, because someone knows how to make me happy. Seats were awesome. Very declineable, hehe he. I overslept dindin, but watched a movie after that. And one of the flight attendants woke me up for breakfast. Over all, so far everything worked out. My suitcase was ready and waiting for me in FRA and I am sitting at the gate. I will be in HAJ at 2pmish and then Sandy and Nicole’s house-warming party tonight. My German cell phone does not work, so ladies I am sorry. But please call the house for more information. More to follow soon!