Oct 24 - The "Rebel"

Happy Thursday friends! Almost the weekend for me - I think we're going to eat at the Greek restaurant downstairs tomorrow night - so I have something to look forward to!! Rylee has never had Greek food (she tried Lebanese for the first time last night), so hopefully she will like it.

Flat Tony did double duty again today. Mom and Rylee took him up to the Berliner Dom...he sure does like climbing all 270 steps of that. :) Rylee took a picture of him with the skyline of Berlin...look at the number of cranes in the background! I can't even imagine how much bigger this city is going to get, and it's more than 3 million people now!

I hadn't had a Flat-Tony-worthy moment today (which is like most workdays)...until I got to the Templehof train station! I had two minutes until the train arrived, and for whatever reason, I happened to look up and see this advertisement on the train station wall. For those that don't know - Unflat Tony was a Roncalli High School Rebel, so it like him stopping in to say "hello" to me!

We hope everyone's Thursday ends on a high note!! TGIF is just around the corner.

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Oct 23 - the Wizard of Oz

Happy mid-week!! Flat Tony was two places at once today - he was a busy fellow!!

First Flat Tony went to work with me. When I was getting ready this morning...I was able to, comfortably, put my belt on the last notch. The GOOD last notch, not the bad last notch!! Sooooooo, in celebration, I let Flat Tony have a sausage croissant for breakfast! I am a really generous Mrs. Unflat Tony. :)

Interesting item from work today - I saw another extremely interesting fashion statement. Visualize this. A heavy, older man with thinning hair around the sides (bald on top), who stands about my height (maybe 5'8"). He's wearing a long sleeved button down shirt, with a sweater over it...I'm okay with the fashion statement so far. But then he had on dress slacks...that were rolled up to the mid calf, on BOTH legs! If it was just one leg, maybe I could think he was burned by a motorcycle tailpipe, or something equally manly. But that would be a big NO. It was exactly like how girls wore their sweatpants in the 80's. I'm not sure who let him leave the house dressed like that, but they definiately didn't love him. Yikes.

Second Flat Tony went touring with mom and Rylee. My favorite photo of their day is Unflat Tony with a live statue - who oddly looks like the Wicked Witch of the West from my aunt's FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME, the Wizard of Oz. Except this witch didn't need any stinkin' flying monkeys - she had a sword! Now that is the kind of wicked witch I aspire to be!!

After all of that excitement, I'm ready to settle in for the night. I hope you all enjoyed your Hump Day, we're on the downhill slide.

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Oct 22 - Tuesday

Okay folks...I had to go back into the office today, so mom and Rylee were on their own. First things first - they rode the train to and from their adventure, without me, and lived to tell the story!! I don't even think they are as worried about it now - which is good, because I just picked up their 7-day-pass at the train station this morning.

Then, funny enough, my mom made a friend for me. I, of course, haven't met my new friend yet - but as things go, she lives two blocks from me, is also 40, and is from Montana! Praise Jesus, I have hope for hearing some English. :) Maybe we'll meet her for dinner before mom leaves, since those two are already friends. Of course the second friend they made was an older Pakistani man who informed them that he left Pakistan (as he's pointing at the young girl with him) because the children were being **slashing his throat motion**. Nothing like welcome to Germany!

Flat Tony's adventure today was with mom and Rylee, going back to the Berlin Wall. Rylee posed him for his photo op, and the she got one of her own, so I'm including both. I then came home to home-made chicken noodle soup...visitors earn another point! I know that Unflat Tony will cook when he's here...Dad, you're going to have to think up something good! :)

I hope this finds you all well.

Good-night and God-Bless,

from Berlin

Oct 21 - Monday (Woolworths)

After work today I took Mom and Rylee on a little walk around the neighborhood. They had already been out to the grocery store and the mall. Being sweet to me, they bought me a new hairdryer and a season of Bones (more English TV!!).

First we went to a new park, where mom and Rylee kindly posed with Flat Tony. We had to explain to Rylee that the pretty ducks were actually boys, not girls - because the girls have to do all the work and protect the roost, and the boys are just trying to attract girls.

Then we found a Woolworths! From what I can see, Germany really likes cancelled American TV shows (Desperate Housewives, ER, Greys Anatomy) and Woolworths - which has been gone since I was a little girl (and I'm ANCIENT). :) But THIS Woolworths was VERY different than the ones I remember. I'm not sure how many of you went there when you were little...but I'm pretty sure that the items Flat Tony is posing with were NOT at the checkout!

Then we came home and I made the gang some tacos and now we're relaxing with a DVD of "Rylee's TV shows" that grandma made. We hope this finds you all well.

Good night, and God Bless,
from Berlin

Oct 20 - First Day Back

Well folks, I'm back in Germany...luckily, not alone (at least for the first 11 days). I had hoped it wouldn't be as hard leaving Indy the second time - but I was not that lucky. :( Luckily, I ran into a long lost pal at the airport, and Champs makes a great Bloody Mary!

I also had a really nice week at home with Unflat Tony - and the Fishers Tigers pulled off another big win to become 2013 Co-Conference Champions. If I have to miss the rest of the season, then I'm hoping they make it all the way to State!

Mom and Rylee flew over from Chicago and we met at the airport this morning. I took them on a bus tour today - but I think by the end of the tour we were all ready to fall asleep. Thank goodness we found a Subway on our way home - and they had Rylee's favorite sandwich - it's tough for a teen to leave her momma for a week, so comfort food was on order for her!

One of my three new Flat Tony's made an appearance today!! He mugged a little with Rylee, and then did a little pose with the Charlottenburg Palace near the President's residence. He's going to go back to Potsdam this weekend - and I'll see if I can find something new and exciting for him to do sometime this week. Otherwise, maybe I'll branch out the first weekend of November and either take him to the Baltic Coast, or Dresden.

Sorry this post isn't as fun as the others...but I don't know if I could be any more tired than I am right this moment! I will be working from the apartment tomorrow, so at least I don't have to get up at 6!

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin

Oct 12 - Home!!!

Okay...getting home wasn't as easy as I would have hoped! Currently, I am not a fan of Newark or United.

Instead of getting into Indy at 6pm, as I had hoped (prayed)...my flight was cancelled and I was able to get the last seat on a flight to Louisville. It was supposed to take off at 4:30 and land at 6:38...but after 3 delays - thank God it wasn't cancelled too - we landed at 9:38. I was home about 12:30 this morning. Of course...to add fun to the mix, my bag is lost in the shuffle somewhere - but I don't even care right now...I'm HOME!

Flat Tony got some fun last night though (as you know, he had a pretty slow week)...but he met some TV personalities last night. As I was waiting at the luggage carousal (sp?) I noticed a good old boy next to me that looked familiar. I went and told my dad who I thought it was (my awesome folks drove to kingdom come to get me)...and as he doesn't watch Animal Planet, he wasn't much help. I'll just attach the pics without saying who they are...but I can tell you that they were both AWESOME! And much more well-spoken than I would have imagined just watching the TV show. We had some "Live Action"!

Happy football Saturday!!
From Indianapolis!

Oct 8 - AJ and the Bus

Hello folks!! Happy Tuesday - only 2 1/2 more days til I'll be heading home for the week!! WooooHoooo.

We'll start off today with telling everyone who doesn't know - that it's AJ's 18th birthday today!! I met him when he was still a grade-schooler...time goes fast, and so much changes (whether you're ready for the changes, or not)! This time next year he will be in college and starting towards all of those "grown up" dreams...so if you get a chance, please tell him Happy Birthday!!

Now, my "learning experience" for the day. I left work at 4:30 because I had to get home to meet the immigration guy who did all of my Visa work. He was bringing back my passport so that I could get on the plane on Friday - so I wasn't missing that appointment. :) Well, I got on the 4:30 bus to head to the train. We're driving the way we always do...and all of the sudden...we go right past the train station! Now, I'm not sure if I'm on the "wrong" bus or not...but as far as I know...only one bus comes onto the Rolls-Royce campus (I will have to check on that tomorrow). So, I quickly ask the girl behind me...and she told me that, on the earlier bus (I typically leave at 5:30) you have to hit a "stop" button above your head, if you want the driver to stop somewhere! Luckily, she had just hit it for her stop...and we were still on the same road...so I just got off at her stop and walked back to the train station (it was about a 7 minute walk -- got me an extra 1000 steps on my counter)! I was early enough...I think the train comes at 4:54 or 4:59...that I made it back across the tracks before the train got there!! Shew! Flat Tony's pic is at the train stop...it's sort of an "ey yi yi" look!

All ended well, and I have my passport back in hand!

Good-night and God-bless,

from Berlin