Adventures Elsewhere - Berlin

Last month, Newel and I went on a really, really, REALLY great trip to Europe.  When we were there, we took A LOT of photos (1302 to be exact) and I kept a journal (really just notes I wrote on the backs of hotel reservations and maps/directions to places we were going in case the GPS wasn't working).  My next few posts will be about the vacation which will really just be pictures and notes I took.  Hope y'all enjoy. :)

We first landed in Frankfurt, had a short layover, then flew to Berlin.  Here we are in the Frankfurt Airport about 9:30 AM their time, 2:30AM our time. Can you tell how tired we were? :)

At the airport, I kept thinking, this is the first step I've take in Europe, this is the first toilet I've used in Europe, etc.  I just wanted to take everything in, and I couldn't believe we were finally there.  I had my first European breakfast sandwich and it was incredible.  Maybe I was just really hungry but everything about it was perfect.  The freshly baked bread, the cheese, the meat, tomato and cucumber; so YUM.  Okay, enough about the food.  I think I'll write a separate post about the food.  Then I won't get distracted from what we actually did which was way more interesting.

Once we got to Berlin, we rented a car and drove to our hotel which was close to everything we wanted to see.  Newel did a really great job with researching the location of all the hotels we booked so we didn't have to do much driving/parking around the city.  Anyway, the first thing we did was walk over to the Reichstag - a historical building that housed the Imperial Diet of the German Empire from 1894-1933.

Then we went to the Brandenburg Gate which is a former city gate turned Neoclassical triumphal arch and probably Berlin's most famous landmark.

Then we walked through the Tiergarten which I would compare to Central Park in Manhattan.  It was a really big and beautiful park filled with green trees, people walking, running, riding bikes, and/or hanging out with friends/family.  No people are in this picture but look how pretty it is!

Then we climbed to the top of the Siegessäule which is the Berlin Victory Column commemorating the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War.  At the top, you get a really amazing view of all of Berlin.

From the top looking down the street.

After doing all of this, and having not rested from the flight, we were so beat and headed back to our hotel to sleep.  The next morning we went to the Berlin Wall Memorial which ended up being one of our favorite parts of Berlin.  It was really cool to see parts of the old wall and to think about what it meant for/how it affected the German people.  The Berlin Wall ran just along a street right through the city, separating friends and family, dividing the country from 1961 to 1989.

Bernauer Straße 

What I want to remember: 

1) How excited I was to be there

2) My first European breakfast (more on that in the food post)

3) Appreciating what people went through being divided by the Wall

Rain

I know in my last post, I was kind of griping about the weird winter weather Alabama experienced, but I have been meaning to write about something I've loved about the weather here too.  The rain.

I love it.  It rains a lot here.  It's raining right now actually.  Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up and I hear it raining and I feel so peaceful.  There's not a care I have that I can think of.  I just lay there and feel completely safe and loved and happy.  I don't know how that happens by just hearing it rain outside.  Maybe that's how life sounded when I was in my mom's womb before being born and I probably felt safe there so that's why I feel safe when I hear the rain now.  I don't know.  I'm thinking crazy. :)

Anyway, the rain is wonderful.  It's peaceful and makes me think of God.  I really do love it.  Life in the South is good.

P.S.  General Conference was this weekend and it was amazing and uplifting, and I feel a bit more ready to take this life on again.  If you didn't get to see it or want to see it again, watch it here.

Bad Snow, Good Snow, Cold Day, Warm Day

Alabama has been so confused lately.  Most of you are probably aware of the crazy weather the South has experienced in the last couple months.  Now it's not so crazy and people are wondering why I'm just now writing about it, but I thought I would share anyway.

The main thing was the Snowpocalypse or Snowmaggedon or whatever other name you wanna call it that we had at the end of January.  It was PURE CRAZINESS.  I don't even want to go over the details because I'll have to semi re-live it, but I have to document this to some extent so here it goes.

On Monday, January 27th, the forecast said Birmingham would receive a light "dusting" of snow.  Usually, when there's a chance of snow, they close the schools and businesses (or at least have late-starts where they don't start/open until 11ish) and all the bread, eggs, and milk disappear off store shelves.  But this time, the weather forecasters were certain that the snow would be minimal, that it wouldn't stick, and that we could and should carry on with our days as usual.

On the morning of Tuesday, January 28th, I checked the weather forecast again before going to work to see if it had changed, but the "dusting" prediction remained.  So I drove to work and started seeing the preschoolers.  Then it started to snow, and the preschoolers were excited and it was a cute, magical moment because we don't get snow here and kids (& adults) love it when it happens!  Then it kept snowing and we noticed it was sticking. Soon after that we hear Jefferson County Schools were closing and informing parents to come pick up their children so Glenwood Preschool Program did the same.  I got a little excited because this meant I'd probably get to leave work early , make a yummy, warm meal and then snuggle up & watch a movie with Newel.

Once preschool parents were picking up students, I went up to Allan Cott School to work with the residential students since I knew they wouldn't be going anywhere.  When I got up to the school, the director said I didn't need to worry about seeing them for speech therapy because they were trying to get residential staff to come to work early and get the students to their houses.  I was thinking, "YAY!  Now, I only need to write progress notes for the preschoolers and then I can probably go home."

All the while, it's still snowing and sticking, and a long line of cars started to build up to get out of Glenwood.  I figured I'd wait until there was not a line and the traffic out on the main roads died down.

But it never died down, and people that left Glenwood as soon as it started snowing came back because the roads were impassable.  My heart sunk into my stomach when I found this out because I realized I'd be sleeping at work.  I thought, "SLEEPING at work?!  NOOOOOOOOOOO. I can't sleep at work.  No."

Yes.  I got stuck at work and slept there, but I was lucky to get stuck at Glenwood.  Since they have residential programs for children, adolescents and adults, they had extra food, blankets, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  I was also able to find a couch to sleep on.  And once I found out Newel got home safely (after spending 7+ hours in traffic), I was able to sleep.  I had a dream that night that the snow was melting and my supervisor, two of my coworkers, and I were walking out of Glenwood and heading home.  Oh, what a wonderful dream!

The next day, Wednesday, January 29th, the snow had stopped but the roads were iced over and the roads still impassable and it wasn't looking like anything was going to melt because temperatures were below freezing.  It looked like we'd have to stay another night.  But what about my dream?!

I tried to do work, but couldn't focus.  I just wanted to go home and be with Newel.  After lunch, some people decided to leave work and brave the icy roads.  They didn't come back and rumors were that they were getting home.  So my supervisor and 1 of my coworkers and I left in my supervisor's SUV and made it to the freeway.  My supervisor dropped me off the main road that was close to our apartment and I walked the rest of the way.  After leaving for work 30+ hours before, I finally made it home!  It felt so good to be with Newel and just give him a big hug.

The next day, it was impossible to get to work so I stayed home and took some pictures.  Here they are:

Our mailbox.

When we were still so happy to be together again.

The apartments behind ours.

Now looking at these pictures, it doesn't look so crazy.  But it was.  And everyone that experienced it has their own story.  I think we all learned a little something from it.  Being better prepared, having gratitude for all we do have, Alabama doesn't know how to forecast the weather, etc. :)

LOVE

Happy Half-Birthday to me.  Who cares about half-birthdays, right?  Wrong. :)  I don't do anything special, but I just like to recognize.  One year, when Newel and I were engaged, he made me dinner and bought me some German chocolate cake.  I think he was still trying to impress me, and it worked.

So this is not related to our happenings in the South, but I think this video is great.  Well, I think this man is from England and there's a Birmingham, England so kind of related?  Still not related.  If you haven't seen it, you should watch it, and if you've seen it before you should watch it again.  It touches my heart every time.

I remember seeing this when it first came out and it made me happy, and then I watched it again yesterday and it made me happy again.  I know what this man says is true.  Our Savior never gives up on us, and we should never give up on other people.  I think in some ways I'm the injured bird and need some rescuing and that's where Christ comes in, and then in other ways I know other people that are injured birds and I can help them by introducing them to Christ.  What a beautiful message His Gospel brings.  For more information on what I believe and love, go here.

More Heap Fam in Bham

Last month, my brother and his wife came to visit us in Birmingham.  Well, the primary reason was for Andrew to interview with UAB's MHA program, but staying with us and experiencing some of Alabama was a major plus.  Here is what we did:

Sorry, if you don't care for the details, but this is for me to remember and for my family (mostly Mom) to enjoy. :)

We picked them up from the airport late Thursday night, and stayed up and talked a little bit before we had to crash so Newel could go to work and Andrew could go with him to get to his interview.  Stacy and I got to sleep in (because I took the day off :) ).  We woke up and went for a walk in my favorite park but kind of froze because it was really cold that day - more on how this whole winter has been fa-reezing in a future post.  We went to Hobby Lobby to get some stuff to make my mom a birthday present and then we went to lunch at McAlister's.  Then we went home and showered and Andrew and Newel got home from interview/work and they taught us how to play the card game Finny (sp?).  For dinner, we went to Mugshots and ate really good hamburgers.  I can always eat at Mugshots - that's why I'm so happy in our picture below. :)

Then we went home and played Kinect Sports and Dance Central 3 and watched a BYU volleyball game where our other brother was caught acting like our dad. :)

 On Saturday, we went to lunch at Niki's West to eat some pure, Southern, home-style food.  Super good.  I even remember exactly what I ordered and it's a month later. :)  Then we went to Sloss Furnaces to check out the old boilers, railways, and creepy haunted tunnels.
 

Next we went to Kelly Ingram Park and gave Andrew and Stacy a condensed Civil Rights walking tour, trying to recall all we learned from previous tours and visits to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Then we went to Walmart. :)  We had to get some groceries for dinner and print off some pictures for my mom's present.  Andrew and Stacy made us Lasagna Soup and homemade pretzels.

On Sunday, Newel and I made breakfast, and since we had late church, we watched the rest of Count of Monte Cristo and then Pride and Prejudice which Andrew was really excited about.  Church was great, and then we came home, ate dinner, played more games and stayed up as late as we could before having to accept the fact that Andrew and Stacy had to go home the next day.

Monday morning came, we got up, exercised, went to Edgar's for breakfast and then I took them to the airport.  I was sad.  Being with family is one of the best things in the world.  Especially with Andrew and Stacy.  I miss them and I'm thinking about how much I miss them and all my family and Newel's family even more as I write this.  Life is so good.

It had been a little over a year since we had seen each other, but now it won't be that long since our other brother got engaged.  Hooray!  Looks like we'll get to reunite with all my family again soon.

Seriously?

I don't know if I've written about this before, but it is really hard to understand Southerners sometimes.  If you look up information about the Southern American accent on Wikipedia (check it out here), you'll see what I'm talking about.  Wikipedia even puts a disclaimer that the article is unclear and causes confusion to readers.  It's because the general public can't figure out what the people down here are saying!  Well, at least I can't.  I never thought I'd have a language barrier with my own native language, but I do.  Not all the time, but sometimes.  Seriously?  Yes.  Here are two stories to illustrate my dilemma.

1. The first time we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, we talked to the security guard and he started talking to us for a long time, probably 10-15 minutes (typical length of time one might talk to a total stranger in the South), and all I understood of what he said was to put the Bible on Newel.  What?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  I think he was saying if Newel was getting out of hand (which he does a lot :) ), then I need to have him read the Bible and remember what God wants him to do.  Maybe?  Who knows.  I really had no idea what else he said.  Neither did Newel.

2. Yesterday, I got a phone call from the billing department at my doctor's office saying I needed to pay my medical bill for my last visit.  I paid it over a month ago and saw it go through on my online banking and asked what they wanted me to do.  The lady said to email her the check copy and they would look into it.  She gave me her email and then spelled it out for me and I couldn't understand the letters.  Yes, the letters!  From our very own alphabet!  I thought she said her name, then @tennethills.com.  I confirmed what I wrote down and she said that was correct.  I sent the email, and then I got a delivery failed notice.  It was after hours at this point, so I went as far as to look up her name on Google and put pieces of information together to figure out her email was her name @tenetHEALTH.com.  What the heck?  First of all, her E's sounded like N's so I doubled the N's and I got 'hills' from 'health'?!  Again, my native language, people.  Wow.

I think I'm more shaming myself than the Southerners and their accent.  It's not their fault I can't understand them.  You'd think after being here for a year and a half, I'd catch on, but not yet.  I bet once I finally speak fluent Southern American English, we'll leave.  Love life.

2013 Wrap Up

Wow, 2013 is almost over.  The last part of the year has flown by.  There were things I wanted to share about our experiences here including crazy Alabama football fans and their heartache over losing to Auburn, our Thanksgiving weekend in Atlanta (photo below), and other random Southern things I find entertaining, but the end of this year got away from me and I didn't make the time to write about any of it.

Anyway, 2013 has been good to us.  We've had our ups and our downs, our laughs and our cries (well, my cries), and we've now had a year and a half living in Alabama.  We've been able to go to different places and see family and friends, and we are one year older and I think wiser.  I'm grateful for all our experiences and for our Savior, for His birth and His perfect example of how to live, love, and serve.  I'm grateful for what He did for each of us and that we'll be able to be with Him again.

We look forward to what 2014 has in store.  We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!