Today, I was officially accepted into the MsC Strategic International Public Relations program at the University of Stirling. Beginning October 1, I will be attending part time and online, with a week-long orientation in Scotland in October. I’m excited to get some formal training in this field again. When I graduated from the UO, we used fax machines, e-mail was rare, social media did not exist, and it was always hard for me to remember that silly http:// thingie. I also hope having a Masters under my belt will open up more job opportunities in the UN. It seems to be a prerequisite above a certain pay scale. I can hear Rome calling now...
And on that note of good news, hello to you all again after a VERY long absence!
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| Klaus |
If I had to sum up the last four months in one word, I would say “TRAVEL”. We’ve barely had a moment to stand still. Jeff’s been back to Oregon, I’ve been back to California/New Mexico, we’ve been to France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, all over Germany, Austria, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Jeff has also been to the UK and back and forth to Italy for his work.
Some of this travel has been aided by our fantabulous new car, purchased in February. He’s a dark blue, two-door Audi A3 named Klaus. He has some serious get up and go and is just a tad snobby, but only because he’s so good. I’ve always wanted an Audi :) And now, with the new addition of our handy GPS unit, aka “Jeeves”, we arrive at our final destinations quicker and without a headache (usually).
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| Montenegro |
Allow me to make an aside here to comment on the road system in Germany. There are many things we love about the roads in Germany. Many have no speed limits. Rest stops are a quick steer off the freeway and include not just restrooms but gas stations, restaurants, and parks with walking trails. And, the restrooms have lots of handy extras for the man on the go, like the German “travel pussy”. I’m not kidding. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLxzGpcX9BE
What we do not like about the German road network however, is that in order to navigate without a GPS unit, as we did for several months, you have to know the minute geographic details of Germany. For example, if trying to get from Bonn to Munich via Frankfurt, you can’t just follow signs to Frankfurt and then to Munich. You have to first head towards the hamlet of Morfelden-Walldorf, then head towards the 2-person village of Rhineland Palatinate Mainz, before passing through Gross Gerau and then heading towards Frankfurt. This took some time to get used to. I remember getting on the I-5 just south of Eugene and seeing a sign for Los Angeles. Now THAT is pre-navigation.
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| Croatia |
The San Francisco trip was my first official business trip at the UN. When you travel on business for the UN, they call it going on “mission”. Kind of makes me feel like a Mormon. Or a spy. Or a Mormon Spy. My first mission was a great success, though the preparation nearly killed me. It’s a good thing I like traveling and event coordination because it looks like the success of my first mission will mean more mission assignments to come. At best I would be assigned to Washington D.C., Bangkok (x2), South Korea, Australia (Syndey and Melbourne), and Qatar. At worst, I would only be assigned two. By the end of 2012, I may well be sorry I planned that first mission so well...
Things with Jeff are, well, fantastic! He’s been busy as a bee with Copan, the company out of Italy he’s contracting with. He just finished a rather large video project for them which went very well. Much to my dismay, he has been traveling even more than me (which is just SO not fair). He drives down to Italy frequently, had a shoot in the UK, and was able to just “pop” over to Paris one day while I was working to visit family visiting. Have I mentioned we love living in Europe?
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| Bavaria |
Because we have been such traveling fools, when we do find ourselves with down time we take it seriously. On several occasions we've stayed in pajamas, not spoken to anyone, and not left the house all weekend. We recognize this is also, in part, due to some culture shocking. I always know when it has me in its grip because I crave white spaghetti, butter, salt, pepper and tons of parmesan cheese; I don’t want to talk to anyone; I get irritable and moody; and all I want to do is sleep and read.
It was somewhat similar in Japan but also different. In Japan, everything was just SO in-your-face different. But in Germany, everything is just similar enough to lull you into security... then BAM...people are rude, you get publicly chastised for not sorting your trash correctly, and you can’t find any of the %#@*ing ingredients you need to make a dish you’ve been craving. Ah living abroad.
Accordingly I will blame the travel and all-consuming sloth mentioned above for my lack of blog postings. I would love to detail each of the trips mentioned above, but then we would be here until October. I will give a HUGE e-hug to Shelly though for being our first friend to make it to our new home in Bonn. She broke in the guest bed, so the rest of you need to come visit already!
I will be in Eugene from August 20-30 and Jeff will be in Vegas/Paso Robles from October 10-15. We hope to see as many of you as possible on these trips and are both sorry we can’t make it to both places.
More soon from the McBrides,
Hillary
