On top of the world.

They even make a giant like Sam look small. 

Ya don't see that in North Dakota! 

Beat up but still smiling! 

Skiing the gorge on our favorite run. 

Majestic view. 

Jenna showing off a fresh wound. 

Gotta love the Jeep! 

Our Amazing Alpine Adventure

Yes, it’s about time for another lengthy email update on our life and adventures in Germany. It occurred to me that while I put a lot of time and effort into writing these updates, not everyone I send them to may have the time or the inclination to read them in their entirety or—let’s face it—at all. So now we are giving our friends, families, and loved ones a chance to check it out on your own. We’ve created this website as an easy link for you to check up on us any time you’d like. You can also post responses (or clever comments, or jealous remarks) for everyone to read, and view our pics without having to download them off emails onto your own computer which can sometimes be a slow process. So hopefully it works out well for all involved; definitely give us some feedback and let us know what you think about the site! That being said, here goes…

We hope that you all had a good MLK weekend, because ours was awesome! It was a four-day weekend for the army which gave Sam a much-needed break after being in the field for training the entire week prior. We hung out at our place Thursday night and Friday, then took off at 4am on Saturday morning for the five hour drive to our weekend destination—the Bavarian Alps. Growing up in North Dakota I didn’t get much exposure to actual mountains—or much variation in landscape at all, for that matter—so the Alps blew me away. Their sheer size and beauty redefined the meaning to the word “majestic” in my vocabulary, because that’s what they truly were. In addition to the amazing scenery, we had great weather as well. It hasn’t been too sunny around here this winter, but all three days we were in the Alps (southern Germany, aka Bavaria) the sun was shining and the temps were perfect for skiing, which was our main objective.

Turns out skiing—at least for this girl—was easier said than done, at least the first day. Sure, I knew I hadn’t skied for 10 years, but I figured I’d break myself in slowly and it wouldn’t be a problem. The trouble was, there’s no “breaking oneself in” in the Alps; that is, the “easy” practice/warm-up run there was about as steep as anything I’d encountered skiing the huge mounts of Minnesota back in my 9th grade year. So let me say it was interesting and physically painful and—I’ll admit it—severely frustrating for a perfectionist like myself to relearn how to ski, but it was definitely worth it in the end. As for Sam, he was worried about being rusty since it had been a number of years since he’d skied as well, but it didn’t seem to take him too long to get comfortable on the slopes and he was amazingly supportive to me throughout all the falls, tears, and generally bad attitude that made up most of my first day on the mountain. By the end of the day we were both a little sore and tired (me more so than Sam, I think) but we were both feeling better about our stellar skiing abilities and having a lot of fun.

I should mention that another thing that made this Alpine excursion fun was the company—and no, I’m not just talking about Sam! We had actually planned to meet up with a couple of his buddies down there the first morning, which we did, but we also spotted two more of his good friends—from our great view off a ski-lift—on the afternoon of the first day. So by the time we all linked up we had quite a posse—four skiers and two snowboarders—which made it even more fun. That night after we got settled into our awesome authentic German hotel and doped up on hot showers and Aleve, we all met up for dinner and the ultimate cure for aching muscles—beer! We ate some yummy Chinese food and hit up a local bar and had a good time, but we turned in relatively early since we had big plans to get up and hit the slopes early again the next day.

I was so beat by the time we got back to our room that night that I fell asleep with my clothes on; I can’t remember the last time I slept that hard and it felt great. But when I woke up I was so damn stiff it hurt to blink and for a while I was questioning whether I would even physically be able to ski that day. Sam basically said only I knew what I was capable of, and I knew that I wanted to spend time with him while I could, so I decided to give it a try, which was a painful but worthwhile choice. After the initial thinking I was going to die from pain/crash into a tree because I was too sore to turn/torrents of complaints to Sam about how much my shins hurt from the ski boots, eventually my muscles warmed up (or went numb) as Sam predicted they would, and I was able to relax and have a ton of fun. And I found that by taking it slow to avoid more falls and injuries really helped me up there; I was skiing way better and barely falling at all and was able to soak up and enjoy more of the scenery because I wasn’t so concerned about wiping out. In turn, Sam was able to enjoy himself more and had a lot of fun trying some jumps and being a little more daring than he was on day one.

We had a favorite run that took us way up to the top of the mountain and we spent a lot of time there. At the top, they had a building with restrooms and food, etc, and we made a pact to stop and get either a beer or some delicious Gluwein (warm, spiced red wine) each time we made it back up. This allowed us to rest a little bit between runs but it also led us to discover that if we went up on the roof balcony of the building, we had a spectacular view of the Alps all around us, as well as of skiers and paragliders below us. So stopping for a drink turned out to be a really nice treat after all, and we scored some awesome pics too!

Alas, it wasn’t all fun and games and there were some questionable moments up there on the mountain. All of us wanted to max out our skiing time so we were some of the last people up on the slopes that second afternoon. In deciding which route to ski back down to the lodge, we happened to pick a couple trails that were—unbeknownst to us and not very well marked so—closed. As you can guess, managing these un-groomed trails was interesting for a novice skier like me. At one point we were navigating a “cat trail”—a winding trail that isn’t that steep but that is extremely narrow—and I slipped on a patch of ice and went careening right over the edge, which was a pretty steep (but snow covered) cliff. Luckily I didn’t slide very far down and one of Sam’s friends was close by to grab my hand while Sam quickly ditched his skis and hauled himself over the edge to help me up. So potential disaster number one was averted, and we moved on to potential disaster number two.

By the time we stopped at the next break in the trails, it was getting dark and the only other skiers out there were the ski patrol. We regrouped and picked a trail and off we went, only to find that the trail that had looked so promising on the map was in fact a closed trail and was almost sheer ice all the way down. Needless to say I was wiping out and losing my skis every couple meters, which normally wouldn’t be a problem but which sucked here for a couple of reasons: Number one, the said ice was hard and it hurt like hell every time I went down. Number two, the icy/steep combination meant it was nearly impossible to get my skis back on after losing them, and after a couple slow tries Sam finally told the other guys to go ahead back to the lodge. Then the going got worse. On wipeout number twenty-seven (or maybe it was seven, but it sure felt like twenty-seven) I lost a ski and it went sliding out of sight down the mountain and into the dark. So my only option—because the hill was seriously too steep and icy to walk down—was to slide down on my ass and keep an eye out for the missing ski. This worked for a couple meters until the % grade won over the girl and I began sliding uncontrollably down the side of the mountain. I eventually regained control and stopped sliding ironically close to lost ski number one, but not before I lost my other ski. Luckliy Sam was there to save the day, or at least to make a valiant effort. He skied over to where I was, took off his skis, sent me to slide on over to pick up missing ski number one, and took off on a hike up the sheer ice face in his ski boots to retrieve missing ski number two, which we could see peaking down at us from about twenty feet uphill.

You have to close your eyes and picture this, because it’s pretty damn funny in retrospect. It wasn’t funny at all, though, when we were up there…Kind of perilous and frustrating there alone in the dark as I was trying to inch my way over to the first ski while being terrified that I would lose control and start sliding again, and every time Sam would get within reaching distance of the other ski he would lose his fragile footing and come sliding down the ice again. Just when I was about to call it a night and make camp up there, a German man came skiing up out of nowhere and helped recover my skis. (Note: Whoever said Germans are rude was wrong, because all of them we have encountered have been great, especially this guy.) Just when we had things under control, the infamous ski patrol showed up and instructed me just to “slide on my butt” (think of this in a German accent) down to where it was less steep and I could put my skis on. This I did—carefully, because I was still freaked about my previous slide down the mountain—and got back into my skis. Just as the ski patrol was leaving—that’s right, to let us ski the rest of the way down alone on a closed trail in the dark—one of Sam’s friends came huffing up the mountain, lugging his snowboard behind, just to make sure we were ok. How cool is that? That is the kind of friends Sam has made over here—guys who will do anything (like hike up an icy mountain in the dark without being asked) for you. So we made it the rest of the way down and turned in our gear, and that was the end of our skiing adventure. We went out for another awesome dinner and drinks that night, and also caught some of the NFL playoffs on TV, then headed to bed for another night of solid sleep during which I may or may not have had nightmares about sliding down a mountain, off a cliff, and into an endless, icy abyss. Luckily I was too tired to remember.

There is one more thing I have to say about this trip, and that is thanks again to Sam for being so amazingly positive and patient all the time. I know I can be a real baby and a complainer and even slightly negative at times—and I proved it on this trip—but no matter what, he didn’t let it faze him. Looking back I could almost kick my own ass, and yet he remained so supportive the entire time. You’re the best, baby!

We made it back home on Monday and then Sammer was off to work again bright and early Tuesday morning. He is handing over the platoon to the “new guy” this week and will supposedly start his new job at the clinic next week, so that should be an interesting change. Sam also got promoted to 1st lieutenant last week and I was invited to the ceremony to help pin him with his new rank, so that was pretty special. As for me, I am getting some positive feedback from Central Texas College (which has campuses over here) where I applied for a job, so I may be employed yet! We’ll keep you updated on that and any other interesting developments over here on our side of the world.

We love and miss all of you so please take care and stay in touch, and the invitation still stands for you come visit any time you’d like! Also please do let us know what you think of the site and feel free to pass the link on to anyone you think might be interested. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Jenna

Together in Paris at the Champs Elyses as the hour strikes and the New Year begins!

Happy New Year!!!

Hello! I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying the new year. Sam and I have finally settled back into our life in Germany after all our holiday travels. It was great to see everyone and do everything that we did, but at the same time we got pretty run down and it’s nice to be home after all that running around.

We took off from Germany to see the Trnka family in Fargo on December 20th. The airports were all crazy with holiday travel of course, but we managed to make it into the Minneapolis airport without too much trouble except for some lost baggage, which thankfully (as it contained all my clothes and our Christmas gifts for everyone!) found its way to us the next day. We were fortunate enough to make the drive from Minneapolis to Fargo in near-blizzard conditions, which resulted in the normally 3 ½ hour trip taking five hours. We finally reached our destination around midnight safe and sound, and Sam and I enjoyed a quick and busy couple days in Fargo with my family. It was so awesome to see them even though it sucked to only be home for three days and it made me more homesick than ever—just when I was almost getting used to being away from them! As always there is never enough time to do all you want to do or see everyone you want to see, but I did manage to catch up with a couple friends and drink Luna coffee every day so that was good. Other highlights included dinner with my “favorite” aunt, Cathy, and my grandparents on both sides, cookie decorating with my mom and sisters, and of course our traditional “family” Christmas on the 23rd, which was celebrated by going out for a wonderful dinner at Monte’s and then singing carols on the way home to gift opening. We were spoiled with gifts again this year, but I the greatest gift for me was definitely being able to spend Christmas with my entire family and to have Sam there was well.

After opening gifts on the 23rd, Sam hopped into bed for a quick power nap while I packed our bags, because it was off to the airport again at 1:00 am to catch our covert flight to Seattle where we were headed to surprise the Holmes family (Sam had told them all he couldn’t get leave and would be spending Christmas in Eurpoe). We arrived in Seattle and got our funny little rental car (a Toyota Matrix hatchback which we ended up really liking) without mishap and drove to JJ and Stormey’s house in Tacoma. It was still pretty early when we knocked on the door and got JJ out of bed; I think he was still half asleep when he answered the door, because all he did was look at Sam and me and say, “Good one.” Pretty funny. That was the first of many fun surprises for Sam’s family. Next we got to surprise Rob and Diane when they showed up at JJ’s; Rob’s response was something to the effect of, “You asshole!” (He meant it in a good way, I think.) Sam’s parents were next; Sam and I hid in the bedroom and then popped out to say hello. Jim and Elizabeth were both speechless for a second, but if I’m not mistaken I’d say they were as happy and excited to see us as we were to see them. We also got to surprise Delphine and James and Terry over the phone on Christmas day, and Sam’s grandparents and extended family when we showed up at his grandparents’ house for Christmas dinner. I think it was a pretty good holiday gift for everyone, especially Sam and me.

We were lucky enough to hang out with Sam’s family for a couple days and we even managed to make it out towards Spokane to spend time with Del and her family, but once again it didn’t seem nearly long enough and we did miss getting to see Terry by a day (sad!). It was hard to leave our country and families behind, but it had to be done, and so we headed back overseas once again on the 28th. We got home to Echzell the next day, worn down from the travel and weary from the nine hour time change, but Sam trooped off to work for half a day (on the 30th ) and I did laundry and got us packed up again before we took off to our next destination—Paris!

We did the drive to Paris in a little over six hours, which isn’t too bad, and arrived at our hotel around 11:00 pm. Let me mention something about the drive…I know we all complain about how bad the gas prices are in the states, but to fill your tank in Europe it costs about 70 Euro, which is equal to about a hundred dollars. As if the price of gas wasn’t outrageous enough, in France they have tolls on all the highways—expensive and frequent tolls—and I think we figured out that it cost us another 70 Euro in tolls just one way! So yes, it was an expensive drive, but I guess it was worth it to get to Paris for New Years, and Sam is happy that the Jeep has another city under its belt. Anyway, by this time we were pretty damn tired and worn down and hadn’t had a good, full night’s sleep in almost two weeks. The idea was to get up early the next day and go check out Paris, but we ended up sleeping most of the day. We did make it our of our room and down to the hotel restaurant for lunch, so we weren’t totally lazy, and we needed to catch up on our sleep or there was no way we’d have been able to go out for a night on the town that evening—New Years Eve.

We got showered up and down to the hotel bar around 9:00 pm, where we waited for a shuttle to take us the nearby airport, from which we’d take the metro (subway) into downtown Paris. The metro was freakin’ CRAZY! I have never been anywhere that was so packed. I’m sure it’s because it was late on New Years Eve and because the metro was offering free rides, but holy cow were there a lot of people cramming into those subway cars. Seriously, people were getting shut in the doors and Sam and I were jammed in so tight that I swear I could’ve picked my feet up off the floor and just been held up in place by the bodies squishing up around me. There were some tense moments as people competed to shove each other in an effort to get on or off at different stops, but it was all good-natured (slightly inebriated) fun and—except for the infamous European B.O. we had to endure—we made it took our destination safely.

If I thought the metro itself was packed, then I don’t know how describe what it was like trying to get out of the station (which is underground) up onto the street. It was even more crowded and the crowd was even more rowdy; it was pretty much total chaos. When exiting the subway, the crowd has to go up stairs to the street; these stairs created a bottleneck as the crowd trying to get up and out was larger than the number of people that could actually fit on the stairs at one time. We were at a (mashed, noisy) standstill down there when I think someone must’ve realized what time it was—about 11:15—because a loud cheer went up from somewhere near the back of the crowd and all of the sudden the whole huge mass of people began to push forward toward the stairs. I don’t know how, but I just held onto Sam for dear life and we made it up the stairs and miraculously ended up (unscathed)on the street—which was very spacious and uncrowded and presented no apparent reason for causing the mayhem below. I don’t know if that description did it justice; maybe you had to be there. Maybe it’s sufficient to tell you what Sam said about the whole ordeal—“It was definitely an experience.”

Anyway, we were where we wanted to be—on the beautiful Champs Elysees—and we made our way to where the action was, near the famous Farris wheel where the avenue ends. There were thousands of people, young and old and from all around the world assembled there to bring in the New Year; we didn’t have to wait long. Soon after we established our spot, the clock struck midnight and the Farris wheel lit up with “2005” and an enormous fireworks show started. I will never forget sharing that New Year’s kiss with the man I love, there in Paris under the fireworks, with so many people making merry around us. I think we both realized how lucky we were and just how much we have to be thankful for.

After the fireworks show ended, we headed off with another military couple we’d met back at the hotel to find a place that served drinks and—just as important—food, as none of us had eaten anything since lunch. The first place we ended up served drinks only; Sam and I each had one beer and one glass of Champagne, and I think our bill was 50 Euro. We’d heard that Paris was an expensive city, but sixty dollars for four drinks seemed a little excessive and we promptly headed off to the next spot which—thankfully—was still serving food. Here we all drank a couple beers—once we got mugs that were honestly as big as our heads—and Sam had a sandwich and fries, and I ordered a cheese platter. Not that it’s really interesting to hear what we ate, but I just find it astounding that the aforementioned meal cost us about a hundred dollars. I mean, really! Anyway, we stayed at that bar until they kicked us out at about 3:30 am (had to get our money’s worth, you know) and then we headed out to find a metro station that was open so we could go home to bed. I think it must’ve been partly because Paris can be a confusing city and partly because there weren’t many metro stations open at that hour (ok and maybe partly because we were slightly tipsy) but we didn’t end up getting back to our hotel until 6:30 am. In a valiant effort we set the alarm for 11:00 am, determined to get out and see the city by day, but—alas—we were content to sleep the day away again. We almost felt guilty, but then we realized we were on vacation and we should do what we wanted to do—which was sleep and be lazy and watch movies and order omelets to our room—so that’s what we did, and it was lovely.

Don’t worry—we did get up early the next day and head out to take on the town. We saw and did a ton of awesome things including touring Notre Dame, visiting the Eiffel Tower, going to the top of the Arc de Triumph, walking along the Seine river, stopping at a stand to eat some delicious crepes, and seeing the outside of the Louvre—the line to get in was seriously over a mile long. After that we rested our feet at the movies—we saw National Treasure (in English)—and had dinner and ice cream before heading back to the hotel for the night. It was a great day, and the next day—January 3rd, our last day of vacation—we packed our bags and were on the road once again, this time back to our home in Echzell.
Whew!

And so it’s back to the grind…Sam is back to work and has been busy training his replacement as he (Sam) will be starting his new job at the clinic in a couple weeks. As for me, I will keep applying for jobs and hope that I find something soon. My military paperwork has finally arrived and I will be swearing in with the reserves tomorrow, so I should begin drills with my new unit this month. Other than that not much has changed…our place is coming along nicely and Sam and I both continue to really enjoy it, the weather is still cool but definitely tolerable, Germany is still beautiful, and I’m still crazy happy to be over here sharing life with Sam. We’re contemplating Prague, Czech Republic for the MLK weekend coming up, but to even think of traveling again right now makes me want to take a nap.

We miss all of you so much and really do want as many people to come visit us as possible, so please give it some serious thought and let us know! Other than that please take care and stay in touch. Hope to hear from you soon!

Love,

Sam & Jenna