My Goodness, My Guinness!

It’s been more than a month since our last update so I guess it’s time to get to work! We have—believe it or not—been pretty busy, so here goes…

Sam just got a new commander at the clinic last week and that has been keeping him pretty busy. The new commander, MAJ Wenzel, came over from the Ranger Regiment and so is, of course, pretty hard core and all gung-ho to change things around the clinic. I’m sure all the changes will be for the best and make for a better organization in the long run, but for right now the changeover process is keeping Sam extremely occupied. One good thing about the situation, though: MAJ Wenzel is a doctor and when Sam told him that he’s trying to get into medical school himself, MAJ Wenzel gave Sam a standing order to be out of the clinic no later than 1800 every night so that Sam could get home and study for the MCAT. I guess I can’t complain about that.

My reserve unit put me on “stop-loss” a few weeks ago and told me I was going to get mobilized to work at the Heidelberg hospital for 18-24 months so Sam and I were kind of stressing, but then I got a call saying the commander decided to keep me at the unit and put someone else (who volunteered) in my slot, so I was happy. It’s not that I don’t want to do my part but I wasn’t too excited about staying in Germany for up to a full year after Sam goes back to the states. But all’s well that ends well I guess, and this time things worked out on our favor. I am enjoying my new job, but while Sam’s job is hella busy, I wish mine were a little busier. I am working as a counselor at the Education Center and basically I counsel soldiers on their education options and benefits and help them decide what type of secondary education they want to pursue. Not the most challenging or fast-paced job in the world, but it’s nice to work with soldiers every day and to feel like I might be making a difference in their lives. I guess another benefit of the job is that I can study for my grad school exam—the GRE—during my down time. I am still planning on applying to the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, but I am also considering applying for the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program to keep my options open.

Although we’ve decided to tone down the travel a bit until after August so that we can concentrate on studying, we are still enjoying all the local fests, cuisine, and German beer that we can handle; supporting evidence to this fact is the German beer gut I have developed and can not get rid of no matter how much we go running! Sam and I are planning on running a marathon in Florence, Italy (our favorite city so far) at the end of November with some friends, though, so hopefully the training for that will—literally—whip my ass into shape!

But speaking of travel, we have had two big trips since I last wrote. First was our trip to Dublin, which was, of course, awesome. One of Sam’s friends from Seattle (who now lives in Dublin) invited us to her wedding there and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit. We took a four-day weekend, flew over, and were immersed in the culture from the minute we stepped out of the airport and into a cab. What I mean is the cabbie had such a thick Irish accent that we honestly couldn’t understand what he was saying! As we drove through the city which was all lit up and full of life, he seemed to be gesturing and describing the sights, but I wasn’t sure and I wondered if he was, in fact, speaking English. But Sam was just nodding and saying, “Ah” and “Mmm-hmm” so I decided to play along. Luckily the cabbie got us to the apartment we were renting for the weekend and we didn’t run into anyone with quite so strong of an accent after that. It was a charming introduction to the city, though, I have to admit. From there Sam’s friend, Kris, came by to pick us up and bring us out to a pub down in the historic pub section of Dublin, where the members of the wedding party were throwing back a few pints. We imbibed in a few ourselves, enjoyed some live music, and ended up staying out quite late. We did and saw a lot in our short time in Dublin so here are a few of the highlights: The wedding, of course, was awesome. It was a traditional Irish Catholic church wedding with a fantastic reception at this big old castle right outside of town. It was good fun (I think I had a little too much fun but that’s a story for another time) and it was great to be able to share Kris’s special day. We also got a chance to see Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (good flick), the Dublin Castle, St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Dublin Cathedral, the famous walking bridge, Charles Street, several pubs, and many other sights I won’t name here. Sam would be hurt, though, if I didn’t mention the other big attraction that we toured—the Old Guinness Factory. They’ve converted the original Guinness factory (it’s a huge place!) into a multimedia museum and it was quite a spectacle and quite an experience. We got to learn all about how Guinness was developed and how it’s made today, and at the end we each got a free Guinness up at the Gravity Bar overlooking the city of Dublin. Sam didn’t think I could drink the whole thing because—gasp!—I don’t really care for Guinness, but I proved him wrong and drank down every last drop. Funny side-note: As we were heading back down on the elevator after enjoying our tasty brews, one of the other passengers (an American) said to her friend, “I don’t think I’ve ever drank beer this early in the day!” to which one of the men in the elevator (most likely a native Dubliner) replied, “Welcome to Ireland!” It seemed a hard but vibrant city which Sam and I would love to visit again.

We were only home for three days before heading to the Mediterranean island of Malta with a group of Sam’s friends from his old armor battalion. Malta is actually a group of islands located between the coasts of Italy and Africa. The islands themselves seemed very dry and Arabesque (see pics) and the guys who’d been to Iraq said both the landscape and architecture reminded them eerily of Baghdad. This is understandable because many world powers have at one time inhabited Malta and claimed it as their own, and the Arabs are no different. The Mediterranean was an amazing deep blue and (although it was a wee bit cold) we enjoying swimming in several areas. We also did some cliff jumping and sun tanning, so both Sam and I were happy. The rock formations were breathtaking and we even got to take in a local festival. The friend who organized the trip, Brian, is actually Maltese and he and his family own some property there, so we had the added benefits of a free place to stay, someone who spoke the language, and who could take us to all the worthwhile sites--not to mention some stellar company. It was a relaxing trip and I think it was really nice for Sam to be able to spend some quality time with his long lost amigos.

I’m not sure but I think this edition of the blog is long enough, and if you actually took the time to read the whole thing in one sitting I am proud of you, because I took breaks writing it! Hopefully you enjoy this insight into our life here; we certainly enjoy any insight that we get into yours. That being said, please keep in touch and feel free to visit any time, because we’d love to have you! Please take care, stay safe, and we’ll talk to you soon.

Wishing you much Love and Happiness,
Jenna & Sam