When You Don't Have Your Parents Running your Life...

So we spent the day today holding hands and walking through the city...reconnecting after what has been months and in some ways even the past four years....of a time in our life where we had been very busy and consumed with life, our jobs, responsibilities and obligations.  The last four months or so in particular have been full of lots of financial and business decisions, practical decisions about our house, the move, our jobs, details about getting over to Germany etc.

And so today, we took the day just for ourselves....apart from the big to do list over here that includes visa, bank account, kitchen, closets, lights, customs, language and culture barriers etc.  We walked actually all day on and off and the total time amounted to about 10 hours out and about meandering the streets.  We had a quaint yet beautiful picnic lunch in one of the pretty parks, with lots of other Germans doing the same - they were enjoying the summer weather, playing tennis, riding bikes etc.  Tito and I just ate our baguettes and fresh cheese while laying down in the grass and watching the clouds go by above us.  We could have stayed for hours more but the rain clouds came in and so we had to high tail it out of there.

Later in the evening after we realized we had had no dinner we decided to find something.  We found a cute cafe with several vegan and vegetarian choices which is not easy to find in Germany.  We were going to eat there but decided to keep walking and stopped when we found the perfect place and then we ordered this.....and only this!  One for me and one for Tito!  And we felt like kids who were sneaking behind their parent's back....and we enjoyed it thoroughly!  We figured all the walking before and after somehow justified it.  (If it doesn't, please don't tell us because sometimes you need to just have fun, be spontaneous and not be so serious and calculated in all your moves!)

Welcome to Germany!

10 days ago my husband and I moved from Texas to Cologne, Germany.  Wait a minute.....I know you are thinking....I thought she was Canadian?!?!  Well yes I am...born and raised in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario to a dad of Hungarian ancestry and a mom of Irish ancestry.  From an early age I remember loving the idea of traveling and I was always creating adventures of faraway lands in my mind while I would play with my dolls or in the backyard.   It's not that I wasn't happy where I was....I absolutely loved my life and my home and family and friends but I guess you could say I have always had a wandering soul....quite happy and content in the present but ready and willing to explore different paths as well.

When I graduated from University with degrees from Laurier and Windsor I set my mind on the goal of traveling and seeing the world.  That I did, landing a job first as a Youth Counselor and then as a Youth Director on carnival cruise lines.  My parents were supportive of the adventurous job choice and on,y asked that I not meet someone from another country, fall in love and never return to Canada.  I agreed as I had just gotten out of a relationship and didn't want a guy in my life.

Oopsy daisy on that one!  I met my sweet Tito on my first day on the ship.  He was working as a jazz musician and it was pretty much love at first sight.  He is Puerto Rican ... Not anywhere close to Canada!  We were inseparable and spent that year having lots of fun and doing crazy silly stupid fun things!  In the process I transferred from the caribbean to the west Coast to sail out of California and he came and joined me and at that point I knew our relationship was more serious,

After leaving ship life we decided to move to Texas so he could pursue a degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas - Nationally recognized as one of the best jazz schools to attend.  We lived there for quite a while, did about a 6 month stint living in his native Puerto Rico and also living in Laredo, Houston, Michigan and most recently the DFW area again.



We are just now trying to get settled over here, working on getting our visa, trying very hard to open a bank account, setting up our new flat (we move in next week) and generally just finding our way around this new culture, country and absorbing it all.  We will be here for 3 years and I hope to document the fun, crazy, different, weird, wonderful experiences and challenges we encounter while here.

I wish I would have started this before leaving Texas for Germany because I feel like so much has already happened that is worthy of documentation but better late than never I guess!

For now, I must bid adieu and go on with my day and will leave you with a parting picture....a source of joy....a hope in the midst of any darkness or sadness I may feel one day if I get homesick....look what I found online that they have in Frankfurt:)

Those who know me well know I'm pretty much addicted to this place!  I told Tito if I ever get depressed about moving here he should pack me up in the car and head to Take me for some good ol Texas style Chipotle!