So for the past 3 or 4 days, I have been having chest pains that came and went. We just chalked it up to needing to make an appointment when I got back to Germany.
Last night, we were at the terminal about to head back home and I wasn't feeling good. My chest was hurting and I was dizzy/nauseous. I threw up and the paramedics were called. My BP was high so I was advised not to fly and got taken to the ER.
After running every single possible test on me, the doctor told me that everything came back good except for my EKG which is "abnormal" so I was admitted for the night. It's still not great today, so I will be here for at least one more day. I won't be able to fly until I am cleared by a cardiologist to do so.
Will post more when I know something. Very grateful that this hospital has free wifi.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
all the small things
Tomorrow, TLS and I are going to try to fly out of there to Baltimore and make our way North to Philadelphia for my cousin's wedding. Right now, I should be packing, but as usual, nothing will actually go into my suitcase until the 11th hour. Of course, it's all in neat little piles ready to go.
While everyone always imagines that you miss the big things (friends, family, etc.) about being back home, sometimes it's really the small, every-day minutae that really make you homesick. Here are the things I'm looking forward to about being back Stateside.
Plastic- credit cards are not as common in Germany as they are in America. As in, everyone has them, but most places don't take them. The processing fees are just too high overseas. We've been to plenty of nice restaurants where you can only pay in cash. Even if your bill is like 100€. Considering I used to routinely charge $0.50 refills at Starbucks and hate having cash on me, this took a lot of getting used to!
Ice- as I learned the hard way over at Homburg Hospital, frozen water is an American delicacy. I kid you not. There was not a single ice cube to be found in the entire building. When you go out to dinner, unless the place really caters to Americans, they will not give you ice in your drink.
Sunday- have I mentioned that the entire country pretty much shuts down on Sunday? I'm really looking forward to just going into a store on a Sunday. I might be really crazy and even pay with a credit card!
Reasonable Drink Prices- for soft drinks here, the prices are insane! The glasses are teeny tiny and a large beer will end up being 0,50-2€ cheaper than a soda. And don't even think about such a crazy thing as free refills.
Delivery- when I lived by myself, I hardly ever cooked. I hate cooking for one. 95+% of the time I did delivery. Since I haven't been doing great and can't stand for long periods lately, cooking has not been an option for me. For the past month, we have lived off takeout and meals that my friends have prepared for us. (Y'all can guess how much weight we've gained from that!) I don't know if it's because we live in a small town as opposed to living in NYC, but there aren't a lot of choices for delivery in the area. (Two pizza places and a Chinese place. But who's counting?) The majority of places do takeaway. And of course, the delivery places don't take credit. Naturally. One day, I'm just looking forward to being able to get sushi delivered to our hotel or my mom's house and pay by credit.
Starbucks- I grew up in Manhattan, the land of one Starbucks directly across the street from another Starbucks. Here, the closest one is about 25 minutes away. For us, it's become a treat rather than a 10x a day occurrence. (Yea, I earned that gold card a little too quickly.) Plus, the drink prices are more number-wise here than they are in the States and the prices are in Euro. (Think $4.50 for an iced tea.) And no such thing as a $0.50 refill. But at least they put ice in your drink!
no VAT- sales tax is essentially 19% here. On everything that isn't food. This adds up fast.
not looking like an idiot in stores and restaurants- I only know "supermarket German"- words I learned by reading labels in the supermarket. It will be nice to converse without having to say sprechen zie Englisch? in a questionable accent.
mani/pedis- the first thing I do when I land, and the last thing I do before I fly out is always to get a mani/pedi in the States. After trying out around 4 or 5 salons, I still cannot find one that does as good a job as an American place. And the prices here are crazy expensive. Around 40-60€ for a basic mani/pedi. I hate the euro.
While everyone always imagines that you miss the big things (friends, family, etc.) about being back home, sometimes it's really the small, every-day minutae that really make you homesick. Here are the things I'm looking forward to about being back Stateside.
Plastic- credit cards are not as common in Germany as they are in America. As in, everyone has them, but most places don't take them. The processing fees are just too high overseas. We've been to plenty of nice restaurants where you can only pay in cash. Even if your bill is like 100€. Considering I used to routinely charge $0.50 refills at Starbucks and hate having cash on me, this took a lot of getting used to!
Ice- as I learned the hard way over at Homburg Hospital, frozen water is an American delicacy. I kid you not. There was not a single ice cube to be found in the entire building. When you go out to dinner, unless the place really caters to Americans, they will not give you ice in your drink.
Sunday- have I mentioned that the entire country pretty much shuts down on Sunday? I'm really looking forward to just going into a store on a Sunday. I might be really crazy and even pay with a credit card!
Reasonable Drink Prices- for soft drinks here, the prices are insane! The glasses are teeny tiny and a large beer will end up being 0,50-2€ cheaper than a soda. And don't even think about such a crazy thing as free refills.
Delivery- when I lived by myself, I hardly ever cooked. I hate cooking for one. 95+% of the time I did delivery. Since I haven't been doing great and can't stand for long periods lately, cooking has not been an option for me. For the past month, we have lived off takeout and meals that my friends have prepared for us. (Y'all can guess how much weight we've gained from that!) I don't know if it's because we live in a small town as opposed to living in NYC, but there aren't a lot of choices for delivery in the area. (Two pizza places and a Chinese place. But who's counting?) The majority of places do takeaway. And of course, the delivery places don't take credit. Naturally. One day, I'm just looking forward to being able to get sushi delivered to our hotel or my mom's house and pay by credit.
Starbucks- I grew up in Manhattan, the land of one Starbucks directly across the street from another Starbucks. Here, the closest one is about 25 minutes away. For us, it's become a treat rather than a 10x a day occurrence. (Yea, I earned that gold card a little too quickly.) Plus, the drink prices are more number-wise here than they are in the States and the prices are in Euro. (Think $4.50 for an iced tea.) And no such thing as a $0.50 refill. But at least they put ice in your drink!
no VAT- sales tax is essentially 19% here. On everything that isn't food. This adds up fast.
not looking like an idiot in stores and restaurants- I only know "supermarket German"- words I learned by reading labels in the supermarket. It will be nice to converse without having to say sprechen zie Englisch? in a questionable accent.
mani/pedis- the first thing I do when I land, and the last thing I do before I fly out is always to get a mani/pedi in the States. After trying out around 4 or 5 salons, I still cannot find one that does as good a job as an American place. And the prices here are crazy expensive. Around 40-60€ for a basic mani/pedi. I hate the euro.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A Case of the Blahs
Been feeling incredibly blah'ish and horrible lately. Sometimes you just need a gripe/vent session so here goes.
*I am still very frustrated that I need a cane to get around and it has impaired a lot of things for me. Festival season has started up in Germany and the wine festival that we were looking forward to all year long was this past weekend. It was really hard for me to realize that we could not go this year. The majority of my friends went and it was really hard for me seeing all of their Facebook posts about it. This weekend is another major wine festival and guess who will not be going?
*I ordered a dress about a month ago from Nordstrom to wear to my cousin's wedding hoping that it would fit. The dress is still not here. Nordstrom had to file it as lost and refund me the money. I won't be in NYC before the wedding so I can't have a dress shipped there. This means that as soon as we land in the States, we pretty much have to go shopping.
*Out of all the items I ordered from the Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale, so far I had only received the tablecloth. I was hoping to bring all the clothes to the States with me. After getting an email from customer service saying that my beautiful Murfee had been returned, I called them. Apparently all of my other items had been showing as delivered. Two weeks ago. To South Carolina. Huh?
*In general, the APO has not been my friend as of late. I'm still waiting on a lot of packages that were ordered/mailed a while ago including a sign from Etsy that we were looking forward to!
*I still can't make it down the stairs without help, so I spend most of my days upstairs in bed. My food choices have been pretty limited to non-perishables and after eating them for so long, I am starting to really resent granola bars. TLS bought me an electric kettle to keep upstairs and I was so thankful to be able to make instant oatmeal for breakfast today!
*My hives have returned with a vengeance. It seems like I am covered in them. Unfortunately, I can't take antihistamines with the meds I'm on for my nerve pain, so I am just one hot itchy mess now.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
*I am still very frustrated that I need a cane to get around and it has impaired a lot of things for me. Festival season has started up in Germany and the wine festival that we were looking forward to all year long was this past weekend. It was really hard for me to realize that we could not go this year. The majority of my friends went and it was really hard for me seeing all of their Facebook posts about it. This weekend is another major wine festival and guess who will not be going?
*I ordered a dress about a month ago from Nordstrom to wear to my cousin's wedding hoping that it would fit. The dress is still not here. Nordstrom had to file it as lost and refund me the money. I won't be in NYC before the wedding so I can't have a dress shipped there. This means that as soon as we land in the States, we pretty much have to go shopping.
*Out of all the items I ordered from the Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale, so far I had only received the tablecloth. I was hoping to bring all the clothes to the States with me. After getting an email from customer service saying that my beautiful Murfee had been returned, I called them. Apparently all of my other items had been showing as delivered. Two weeks ago. To South Carolina. Huh?
*In general, the APO has not been my friend as of late. I'm still waiting on a lot of packages that were ordered/mailed a while ago including a sign from Etsy that we were looking forward to!
*I still can't make it down the stairs without help, so I spend most of my days upstairs in bed. My food choices have been pretty limited to non-perishables and after eating them for so long, I am starting to really resent granola bars. TLS bought me an electric kettle to keep upstairs and I was so thankful to be able to make instant oatmeal for breakfast today!
*My hives have returned with a vengeance. It seems like I am covered in them. Unfortunately, I can't take antihistamines with the meds I'm on for my nerve pain, so I am just one hot itchy mess now.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, September 4, 2011
giveaway winners
Congratulations to the three winners of this giveaway. I had my husband draw them and they are:
1. LadybugLyss
2.
3.
Congratulations ladies! Email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com with your mailing addresses and the two coozies that you want and I will pass them along to Lauren at Anchored Style.
1. LadybugLyss
2.
Congratulations ladies! Email me at whaleflipflops {@} gmail {.} com with your mailing addresses and the two coozies that you want and I will pass them along to Lauren at Anchored Style.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Rabbit Rabbit
Happy September y'all!
Hope you are all enjoying your first day of September.
Things I am looking forward to this month:
*My younger cousin is getting married this month!
*Heading back to the States! I miss so many things big and small, like my friends and family, and shopping in Target!
*Finally getting to try out a Trenta cup!
*Getting a Pumpkin Spice Latte! (They return today which means that I can get some when I'm in the States.)
*Just being able to go to a Starbucks without it being a big deal. They aren't as big here in Germany and the closest one to us is about a 30 minute drive from us, so going to one is a huge treat!
*Trying out my first Space A flight
*Trader Joe's
*Laduree Macarons- it finally opened in NYC and I cannot wait to go there for some chestnut and caramel macarons! I am a huge fan of one of Laduree's salads, so I'm really hoping that the NYC location does sit down food too and not just teas and pastries.
*Rosh Hashana- I'm already starting to plan my menu!
*Trace Adkins is coming to do a concert on base here on 9/11! You bet we will be there with bells on!
And something I'm NOT looking forward to:
*One of my favorite wine festivals- Bernkastel is this weekend. I have literally been looking forward to it for a whole year. I was so excited about it and we made plans to meet up with a German friend and her boyfriend there. Unfortunately, the festival requires a lot of walking, does not have a lot of seating, and is generally not cane/gimp friendly, and I can't even drink at the moment, so we have to sit this one out this year. I am so incredibly upset about that.
 |
| Aren't these just the cutest things? As always, all rabbit pictures are courtesy of Daily Bunny. |
Hope you are all enjoying your first day of September.
Things I am looking forward to this month:
*My younger cousin is getting married this month!
*Heading back to the States! I miss so many things big and small, like my friends and family, and shopping in Target!
*Finally getting to try out a Trenta cup!
*Getting a Pumpkin Spice Latte! (They return today which means that I can get some when I'm in the States.)
*Just being able to go to a Starbucks without it being a big deal. They aren't as big here in Germany and the closest one to us is about a 30 minute drive from us, so going to one is a huge treat!
*Trying out my first Space A flight
*Trader Joe's
*Laduree Macarons- it finally opened in NYC and I cannot wait to go there for some chestnut and caramel macarons! I am a huge fan of one of Laduree's salads, so I'm really hoping that the NYC location does sit down food too and not just teas and pastries.
*Rosh Hashana- I'm already starting to plan my menu!
*Trace Adkins is coming to do a concert on base here on 9/11! You bet we will be there with bells on!
And something I'm NOT looking forward to:
*One of my favorite wine festivals- Bernkastel is this weekend. I have literally been looking forward to it for a whole year. I was so excited about it and we made plans to meet up with a German friend and her boyfriend there. Unfortunately, the festival requires a lot of walking, does not have a lot of seating, and is generally not cane/gimp friendly, and I can't even drink at the moment, so we have to sit this one out this year. I am so incredibly upset about that.
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