Back to basics

Potsdam, Germany

10:00pm

Freaking cold

I have used this blog to tell people what’s going on, when in the beginning I wanted to use this blog to say what’s on my mind…
Here I am sitting on my couch, watching yet one more romantic movie and wonder about what is important in life. What do you need to be happy? Money? Some person to spend the rest of your life with? The perfect job?
I think that in order to be happy, you need to start at your own door. When you look in the mirror every morning, do you see how beautiful you are? Are you able to see beyond the lines in your face, your bushy hair and crooked teeth? Because if you’re not, how do you expect someone else to accept you for whom you are.
Getting dressed is one more thing. If you want to look good, dress comfortable and yet exclusively, not for anyone else but for your own *zing*. If you feel attractive, others will be able to see that spring in your step, that little bit of sunshine in your eyes, despite the heavy rain.
Do not forget to look at other people. You probably have your plate full, but can one little smile hurt? No, it cannot. When you do it for the first time, it might feel funny, but the more often you simply smile at people, the easier it will be. And it will not just ease your worry lines, but brighten up somebody else’s day.
Go at your day not like you have to, but like you want to. There are so many people who don’t have a job, who are barely able to live and here we are complaining about no milk for our coffee or lousy service. A waitress is rude to you? Give her that extra smile, the one that says “I know you are having a really shi**y day and I understand.”
One last piece of advice for today: Be thankful for every little thing in your life.
So long,
Andrea

In Sickness and Health

Potsdam, Germany
09:00pm
Nice warm and sunny

Hi!

Okay,

I admit (once more) that I haven't blogged in awhile...

Well, I work and still do my sport.

At the moment I have a bad bronchitis (once again), but despite that am planning to drive to Hannover tomorrow (including all my meds in my luggage).

Patty will join me and if I am better, we'll drive to Jana's place in Saturday evening for it is lil' Laura's first Bday!!!

Harry Potter is coming out this weekend and I am very excited, though I fear that I will have to see it German first - argh - because Hannover will only show it in English from next week on. Life sucks :-).

Other than that ... oh, I bought a Scooter and I love it very much!! It's fun riding it, easier to find a parking spot and navigate in Rush hour.

Mel and two friends visited me for a weekend. She was staying in Austria for a couple of weeks to study art there. We had a power sightseeing weekend:
- pick up 7am Potsdam main station on Friday
- Hospital to get some meds for an eye infection
- Home for breakfast and a short nap
- off to Sansoussi for an extended tour of the castle and the gardens
- Leave the girls downtown to get lunch and home without me, because I needed to work - argh
- Home by 10:30pm, DVD laughs and bed
- Saturday morning get up at 5:30am, shower, breakfast with the girls and off to Berlin
- Victory statue, Reichstag, Brandenburger Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and lunch, Alexander Place and wall exhibit, Körperwelten exhibit, East Side Gallery
- Dinner and party date at Patty's
- Off home by 10:30pm, talk, bed
- up by 8am, off to the train station
- Bye girls!

It was so much fun and I so miss these girls!

That's all folks,

Nighty night

Italy here I am

Imperia, Italy
11:00pm
Warm with a light sea breeze

Ciao,

I am feeling very well. My vacation in Italy started and I am so enjoying myself. We, mom and her bf, took off on Friday and drove down to the Bodensee, where we stayed for 1 night at an old pension. After a filling breakfast we drove down to Imperia, Italy.

We are currently staying at Villa Giada, a holiday park, with cozy apartments, 2 pools and the beautiful view towards the Mediterranean Sea (except for the autostrada).

We spend the first day just relaxing at the pool and enjoying a walk down the coast line. Imperia has one of those very old Gelaterias, where the ice cream is handmade and heavenly!

On Monday we drove to Genova down the SP1, which is the road down the coast. Lovely scenery, fresh ocean air. We took a detour (unplanned) through the mountains, which I loved (small Italian villages and a lovely chapel in the middle of the small road), mom didn’t. Genova is a huge Italian city (35km along the Sea) and it took us a while to find the aquarium but when we did, whoa. It’s right at the Antique port.

Yesterday, the weather was awesome, lots of sun, light sea breeze. I spend some hours at the pool, napping under a big umbrella, catching up on my reading and cooling down from time to time.

I am currently sitting in a small Internet Café in Imperia with smells of Coffée and Italian banter as background noise.

Another 1 ½ weeks of rest and recreation, trip to Nizza, go to the market, more walking practice in the mountains and lots of naps.

Have a marvelous week,
Love,
Andrea

Work, Sports and Migrain

Potsdam, Germany
10:30pm
Nice Spring night

Hi folks,

Well, I am good. There's a lot of extra work at the moment, because of one 2 long term sick colleagues. One of them is not coming back and we'll get a new nurse (around May 15th), till then work, work, work.



The weather turned out to be awesome the last couple of days. Lots of sun and a nice spring wind! Spend most of my spare time outside.



Finally, I found a chandelier for my living room! Lamp and candle holder all in one! After some troubles installing it I finally am able to use it!


I am still doing my sports. Once a week Bodytransformer and now walking twice a week again. It's strenuous, but does wonders to me! Last week, I also bought new trainers - gosh I love those - I did spend some good money, but after keeping up with my walking for over 1 year I thought it was time.


Today I finally have a day off. After going to BT, I met with a colleague to go visit one of the long term sick ones. She is staying in a nice clinic about 20 min away from here. During the visit I started getting a mild headache and thought I'd managed, but it got worse. Stupid I had my pain killers at home. By the time I left my colleague at home, I felt sick and needed to pull over to stop. One thing don't ever do: take heavy migraine medication on an empty stomach (bought some at a pharmacy before we left for home)!!
I managed to get home, but it was pretty stupid of me to risk my health like that and others too. After 4 hours of sleep I am kinda better. Still have an aura, but late shift tomorrow and need to sleep now.

I send my love out to all of you!

Rea

Angels

Another Angel gone to heaven. We'll miss you, baby girl, but are glad that your fight is over.

Life in General

Potsdam, Germany

08:00pm

Cold

Hey,

Life in general is okay. Lots of work, especially know, that one of my colleagues has cancer and she's not able to work anymore. Let's call her E for now. E has been a nurse for decades. Most of my colleagues have gone through her school. For years she took care of her sick mother until she died. No husband, no kids and few friends. Her reputation had reached me even before I knew her - tough nurse, stern look, hard school. But let me tell you, she's one of those bark, but don't bite people. When you have gained your trust, by working hard and showing her that you love your work, she'll be kind in her own way, defend you and stand by you. She's been shutting us off for the last couple of month, though I always thought that she was afraid of the truth, of how ill she is. I am just hoping that she either has a second chance at life or be able to go in peace, as hard as it is to write this down. We all love her very much.

I've playing around with Picasa and like to share these with you... give me your thoughts.

There is more at my flickr page. Link is on the right side.

Love,

Rea

"Quiet is good, too quiet is boring."

Spring feelings and air

Potsdam, Germany
0830pm
Spring is in the air

Hellu,

I am back in Potsdam from a week long break.

Last weekend I was at Lea’s birthday party at Patty’s new apartment. Yep, he moved and got an apartment with his brother. I like the area he lives in – lots of world cuisine (Thai, Indian, Chinese, and Italian) and the “BIOriental” market is right around the corner. Yay!

Julia, a new colleague of mine from Hamburg, celebrated her “finally here”-party at the same night. Kai and I spend 2 hours at her new apartment – it’s fabulous! 4 rooms, high walls, a “to live in” bathroom!

The following Monday I was on my way to Jana in the Harz Mountains. The 3 days were spent talking, laughing, cuddling with baby Laura and just letting my soul ease. Here some pictures. Laura is now 7 month and a very lively toddler – the family will have to secure the house when she starts walking!

On Wednesday, we climbed the Hausberg. Despite me not having hiked for some time, there was snow and ice (partially melted) and Laura in the stroller to push up the mountain. Half way there we stopped and looked over the small town, listened to the first birds (singing of spring to come) and simply enjoyed being there.

Yesterday, I drove up to Hanover to visit a friend and patient of mine. He has CF and is waiting for a new lung transplant. We played some DS (Mario kart) and I accompanied him to some diagnostic. It makes me realize how precious our health is and how fortunate I am to have healthy lungs. Those who do believe in a God or higher being, please pray for him.

Afterwards I drove to Gifhorn to visit my great aunt Traute and her friend Gert. It was his birthday and we had a lovely evening. The guests were talkative and I enjoyed the company of some very smart and cultivated people.

Well, now I am back and facing a weekend of sports, work, English class and guess what – more work. But I really was able to finally breathe again.

Much love,

Rea

Not so bad after all

Hey,

just a quick note on my grabby day. First of all, I am still fine and no I am not suicidal, just having a bad hair day.

And it turns out that it wasn't all that bad, 'cause I ended up having dinner with a smart guy and pretty good company while watching 2 pretty awesome movies all tugged in on my couch.

Much Love,
Rea

P.S.: A shy person sometimes needs a nudge into the right direction.

Feeling Low

I am feeling pretty sad and kind depressed today. This was brought on by a song I listened to. It is so beautiful and it just struck me in the chest.

I am anxious to leave Germany. The day I finally leave will be one of the happiest days of my life. The people around me are depressing themselves, looking grim, looking hopeless and smiling at a complete stranger (which is what I usually do) makes them look at you like you’re a nut case.

I am also tired of being alone and terribly afraid of growing old all by myself without having felt real love. Yes, I have loved and been loved, though mostly by friends and family. There are days that this isn’t enough.

I miss having someone to meet with to talk English. Just chat, have a cup of coffee and listen to what is going on in their life. There are friends that live in Europe and that I can call on the phone, but you know it’s not the same. I want to hold Chris’s baby, dance with Eliza, share a joke with Sonya and Colleen over a homemade salad and watch Renu in action.

Its unsatisfying knowing that money is keeping me from doing that. Have you ever imagined what it would be to live without money? I know, that some people think that it would give all those lazy butts a reason to stay home and do nothing. But I think about unlimited traveling. About those people that crave an education so badly, but either can’t afford it or are not allowed one because of the color of their skin or maybe the way they look. And yes, prejudice is still going on nowadays. Sometimes stronger than ever. Sorry, back to topic. I would work. Because I love what I am doing. And I do know that there are millions of people thinking the same way. What a dream.

I wish on every shooting star that people’s dreams come true. That my dreams come true.


Rea

New Year's and Resolutions (or not)

Potsdam, Germany
08:30pm
Icy!

Heya.

It’s winter in Potsdam and I love it!! J

We have really cold days, though most with a lot of winter sun and it’s lovely going for walks.
When I returned from Mom and Dad’s my town was covered in snow.

What happened since Christmas?

I worked (no surprise there), though because my colleagues helped I was able to get off one night early. The next days were spent at Dad’s place with long visits with Mom.

It felt really good to be out there – fresh air, lots of quiet and peace. On my birthday I had plans to go to a spa, but it was too expensive and didn’t offer what I wanted. So instead, I spent the day at Mom’s, and we went to the movies in the evening. Australia is an amazing movie, not just for Hugh Jackman with no shirt and being wet, but for a great story and three awesome actors.

New Year’s eve, I stayed at Dad’s neighbors’, who have been friends with me for a long time. After preparing a small buffet, we ate and played activity.

By midnight we (my friends, Dad and his girlfriend Inge) gathered at the frozen lake and watched the fireworks.

Dad’s girlfriend has a dog, whose name is Pongo, he’s a Dalmatian half-breed. I so love this dog. Pongo is huge, but such a teddy bear.

After returning to Potsdam, I started learning for my NCLEX RN. It’s a lot of material to cover and I will need more than just the 4 weeks I planned. But I am keeping it up.

My Body transformer study is over. I didn’t lose weight, but lost girth (stomach and hip), yay! So I decided to keep it up for 1 year once a week.

Well, I guess that’s it for now.

Much love to all of you!

Andrea