Goo Goo Eyes

Last year at this time, I was working for Edo and Elsa as a bartender at Casa Motte Bolleberg. It all started during a walk about, Terry and I discovered a restaurant about a half a kilometer from our house. Before you know it, we were going there on Sunday afternoons, rain or rain as it was that winter.....we dubbed it our "date night" aka "goo goo eye night" If for some reason we didn't go, the next time we went we were quizzed, through the one waitress who spoke English......"what happened to you". Over winter our friendship grew, I was asked and accepted to teach English to Fatima, the daughter of Edo and Elsa.......naturally, we becamc fast friends! One of the funnier Fatima stories : Terry often calls me chica, one day Fatima said to me "come on chicken, lets go......." we really learned a lot from each other!

And so........time marches on, like it tends to and before you know it, summer rolls around.....the Europeans have a serious view of vacation-and since many of the people who worked at the restaurant are family.......they tend to take vacation together......and ZO Casa Motte Bolleberg was short handed, hence Liz to the rescue.

Oh what fun! TALK about culture, I was totally immersed, nights flew by, mostly I tended bar, I could read the drink tickets as they printed and I made a handy little cheat sheet to mix/pour the most popular German drinks.........I even managed to make a few new American friends thru the whole experience.......IF There was an American who came in, the staff would come to me all excited......shnell Liz..........cume se here bitte.... I made a little cheat sheet to learn the most popular German/Dutch drinks other than just your basic beer or wine.

Radler/Alster: Pils beer und sprite

Apfel Shule/Snei Wiess: Apple Juice und Water (w/CO2 or mit gaz)

Diesel: Cola und Fanta

Pils Shus: Malt und Pils

Alt Shus: Diebles und Malt

I forget what cola and pils is called, I hope Julie will comment, and Julie, honey, I know the spelling isn't right, sorry about that!

As most of my blog followers know, Fatima became a good friend, we spent a lot of time together. She and my sister Chris's daughter Emily are close in age they became pen pals! It was a sad day when she and her family were asked/forced to give up their tenure running the restaurant I could have included them in the Poof Blog, eh? They moved to Dortmond, about two hours away. I do get updates from my little friend, I hope on visting her in the near future.

love and miss you all

POOF!

.....Poof ! They're gone. And just who are "THEY"?

The Milne's: John, LaVonne and their son Sean. They left Germany headed for Luke AFB in Arizona. I did tell them......"see ya for some future Seattle Mariners spring training!"

......Poof







The Long's: Jim and Connie. A fine farewell as they head out to the Pacific Northwest for a vacation and then look out Hawaii here they come..........

I tip my hat to the best sponosors EVER! Lots of good memories to go with these friends!







.... AND POOF!




Mr. Terry



WHAT! Yes duty called, Terry is off for a 60+/- day rotation in the whole scheme of "war on terror".....not exactly sure how much I can or should write about his current "mission" so I will just say, see you in September be safe!

Summertime here is busy, lots of folks coming and going, I heard the other day that there were 200 new families transitioning into this area......a record number both coming and going. Time to make new friends and remember the "old" before you know it will be our time to
poof!




love and miss you all

Expectations

My Mother likes to remind me that our expectations get us into trouble, have I mentioned my Mother is a very wise woman?

I decided to go to Alabama and watch Terry graduate from the Senior NCO Academy. I had no luck with the whole "space-availiable" scenerio this time around. I had grand plans of flying out earlier and going to Charleston, SC to spend time with friends, including Patty who was flying in from Minnesota to also attend the graduation. We were going to frolic in Folly Beach, SC the place where land ends and fun begins! THAT plan didn't work , it was easier to take the guess work out and fly commercial. I found great airfare non-stop from Duesseldorf to Atlanta. Patty said no problem she flew into Atlanta and met me there, we rented a car and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Montgomery (remind me Patty why do I not have a single picture of us together?)

It was wonderful to see Terry, I realized I hadn't seen him in over 2 months, and like my good friend Becca, says ......"how can I miss you if you don't go away? " Terry's Mom and Dad also drove in from Georgia , it was a regular reunion in the South. We were all so proud of Terry, the ceremony was very impressive, the comradery between Terry and his classmates is something he will always carry with him, the class dubbed themselves the JAB Nation, named so for their charismatic instructor. Congratulations to all the members of Flight 3 Class 09 C!

Terry and I thought a nice "romantic get-a-way" was in order, I suggested Helen, Georgia. It is an Alpine Village tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains famous for it's Bavarian atmosphere, I remember going to an Octoberfest there many years ago. After spending the night at his folks house, we dropped Patty at the airport and headed North to our destination on the banks of the Chatahoochee River. I had packed candles and even tucked in an open bottle of red wine so I didn't have to worry about a cork screw. Our hotel promised a private balcony on the river and the reservationist even mentioned a fireplace, sounded just perfect.......NOT EVEN CLOSE! We should have read the reviews, and why we didn't is still a mystery, what a horrible place. Our black lab Rufus would not have put his front paw in this place (he was quite paticular about where he'd stay) We arrived after 6 pm so we had already been charged for the room. The place smelled, it was dirty, the A/C was loud to the point of annoying, the curtains were falling off the rods and were being held open by the chairs! And of course it was pouring down rain! AND the bottle of red wine had spilled all over our luggage. At this point what can you do but laugh, so much for my expectations!

Oh yeah, the room included "breakfast" and I couldn't believe my eyes when I

saw celephane wrapped honey buns layed out! Thank goodness there was also ceral and yogurt, but that was about it! I know Lee and Nelly used to vacation in Helen , please tell me where did you stay???!

We did salvage the trip with a hike to Anna Ruby falls in the Unicoi State Park , otherwise.............

love and miss you all