Crazy Fun Friends

So out of the blue I get this call from Nathan (Tuebingen) this morning, saying he's back in the country, in KC, and wants to meet up. The last time I spoke with Nathan was just over seven months ago, when I rang him up randomly and he was packing to leave for New Zealand the next morning. He said, "you want to come along? You can still catch a flight." I politely declined. He said he was going to travel the world for the next seven months and would end it in Germany.

Sure enough, after New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, etc. he settled back in Tuebingen, got accepted in the MBA program in Reutlingen, and just got an apartment there and is leaving to head back on Saturday. And I think I live a crazy and exciting life at times, but life is never boring when Nathan's around.

The first pic is of Nathan and I (sorry Nathan, you're much better looking in person, that pic just doesn't do you justice!) and the next one is of my new room, but at night so it's less enticing.

Meegan, I will blog more, sorry, my life hasn't been that crazy lately. Ok, wait, that's a lie. Mom was in the hospital twice, my eye is blurry and I'm moving to Germany. So my life is pretty far from boring. Maybe I need a little less excitement?

Monica and I are learning some boy moves for salsa and that is cool. You may ask, but Kate, aren't you a girl? Why would you learn the boy parts? Because when you can dance and you dance with males who need a bit of help, they often ask you for moves. After which you look at them like they are crazy b/c, hello, you are the girl!!! But nevertheless, we are learning. A friend of ours is a really good dancer and makes learning it easy. Hopefully he will teach us more.

Work is good. I like my job. Except when I can't see. lol.

I like Dad's blog recently. The new posts about A-stan are highly interesting. I definitely want to read The Kite Runner.

Hope you all are well. : )

This weekend I met up with Sam and Michelle for breakfast. Michelle brought along little Ruby, and Sam is really starting to show!

I also included one funny pic of Mario and Monica dancing.

The eye is doing a bit better, it's just slow going.

: )

A Place to Call Home

I'll make this short since I'm not supposed to be on the computer much. I got the apartment I really like, (thank you Dad!) and am very excited about it. I think the roommate will be good as well. She seems orderly and nice and has a full bathroom, washing machine, internet and balcony! Very luxurious for a student.

Hope you all are well, thanks for commenting. My head was really sore last night from the eyes trying to see, it is better this morning, and I will spend a good deal of the day resting (I promised the parents). So I'm off for now.

: )

Did I Say Back to Work....?

I went back to the doc today b/c my vision got really blurry and he said to take another day off of work b/c I was straining my eye and it was slowing down the healing process. I feel like riding the short bus......lol. : )

On the upside, I think I have found a lovely apartment, way better than student housing! Yay!

Back to Work

Today it was back to work. I only did a half day at Ward (which was good b/c my eyes were giving me a headache by then!) and I got to tutor, which is always delightful.

I have exciting news. Dad will be in Hamburg October 31st through November 11th!!!!!! Yay! I can't wait! And he got the Jamaica dates approved, too, so we should be lying on sandy beaches come late February. That also means I will get a few weeks off back at home since break falls right in there. Perfect, no?

The student housing apartment seems iffy, but I don't see that much of a good choice at the moment.

Doctor appointment tomorrow to see where the right eye is and if they can take out the contact. Ever sleep with contacts in? You know how you wake up and it's all dry and painful? lol. At least it's not boring. : )

I can't believe how little time I have left here! I think Monica and I are going to make Sept. 29th substitute Turkey Day. A quiet little celebratory gathering.

Glad to hear Megan and the family and Travis are doing better!

: )

Oh! And my research project was officially approved by the Human Subjects Committee Lawrence!! Juhu! hee hee. : P

Apartment

I've been offered an apartment with the Student Services here:

http://www.studierendenwerk-hamburg.de/wohnen/haus.php?hausid=71&&mid=12&&sprache=english

No worries, it's in English. What do you think? Hmmmm. It's not the most appealing, but I think I've come to the point where beggars can't be chosers. Plus, it appears to be in the center of town.

Blurriness

My eye was ok on Friday, not too painful. It was a bit rough yesterday, and today I woke up and the vision was waaaaaaaay bad (I only thought I was blurry before!!! I can't make much out right now. Everything is a bit fat blur with the right eye. And my night vision is significantly worse. Luckily, if I close the right eye the left one is still great.)

Monica made some yummy chili last night and Mario brought over some of his delicious Haitian rice that he refuses to give us the recipe to. I've been resting most of the weekend. Right now the Chief's game is on and Monica is, of course, watching it. She's been a great babysitter this weekend! Thanks Mon!

Monica has informed me I should explain my definition of "blurry". With both eyes, I have 20/25 vision. With my right eye I can see big objects just fine, but when it comes to reading things like the computer or see something more than two feet away that's small, it's difficult. It's not like I cannot see out of that eye, it's that my vision is not perfect (and I'm used to perfect vision when I had glasses). So I am not blind in that eye or anything that serious, it's just a struggle to read and work on the computer, and after having eye surgery it would be saddening to go back to glasses because of one eye. That is the problem. Hope I didn't scare anyone with my lack of a good explanation. And thank you Monica for making me be more precise. : )

Ok, so how come Dad's blogsite has become way cooler and more interactive than mine? It's like a blackboard discussion (what we use for my classes). And it's quite enjoyable.

Meegan, what happened to your camera and why didn't you tell me? You just bought it!!!!

Surgery went ok. After they got me in the room and on the table the doc said he wanted to take another look, so we went back into his exam room and he said things didn't add up. So he looked again, and said the growth was on the outside of the eye, not the inside, which is very rare. Therefore they changed procedures and instead of opening the eye back up, he scraped off a part of the outside of the eye and said it would grow back. It was all wrinkly/wavy and should be smooth, and that is why I couldn't see well out of it. He put a contact bandaid on it and gave me prescription drops and pills, and I have a seven a.m. post-op tomorrow. Yikes.

However, he said it will take a few weeks to know if my eye is ok and if the vision is right. So right now I'm even more blurry in the right eye. I am hoping this works!

AND, Monica bought her plane ticket to visit me over Christmas. She arrives on December 20th and leaves on January 1st. I am so glad she is coming to visit me, she will get to see Germany at a lovely, if not freezing, time.

All right. So I'm going in for surgery this morning and will let you all know how it goes in a day or so. Just depends on when I can see well enough again to get on the computer. I'm hoping to be much better by the end of the weekend. Thanks for being so supportive. It means a lot to me. Your support and the Valium. hee hee.

Megan, I want to see pics! And call me sometime. Maybe tonight or this weekend?

Mathias, nein, ich habe leider keine Wohnung gefunden. Ich suche ein Zimmer in einem WG, aber bis jetzt gibt's einfach nicht. Ist ein bisschen schwer, wenn das von hier versucht. Aber ich versuche weiter und ich glaube, ich werde entlich 'was finden, oder? : )

Dad put some more pics up on his blog so check those out.

I'll write later!

: )

Perspective

http://users.gazinter.net/melan/Warn/Warnenu.htm

Oh the stories

Hey Kate, no, I honestly do not make this stuff up just to amuse you and others. Trust me, I am not amused by the eye surgery.

Things are good. Work is very not bad for an 8-5. Um, yeah, I'm boring. That's about it.

Oh, the weather changed. It's like Fall. I like it.

: )

Because one eye surgery just isn't fun enough...

Well there fellow readers. I went to the eye doctor today and he had not so happy news. It appears that I got to be in the lucky 5% of patients that when the flap closes, some cells get in and start to build a layer on the eye. Now usually, they do this on the edge and it's not such a big deal. Mine, however, darn over-achieving cells that they are, have grown right in the center of my eye. Hence the problems reading, seeing, etc.

So I asked the good doctor, how does one fix this? Does it require surgery? To which he replied, "No. Yes. " Um, ok. Turns out the correct answer is Yes. Because trust me, just one time of having your eyes opened up while you are conscious is simply not fun enough! This time though, he will open the flap, clean off/out the eye, and then reseal, placing a contact over it. And the super fun bonus part? This procedure is painful! Boy howdy. I can hardly wait. I'm scheduled for next Friday.

Ok, enough sarcasm. He also said that once this has happened, I have a higher chance for it to happen again. So please keep me in your prayers that this takes care of it and I don't need to go back again. It's a little unsettling.

As far as Germany goes, still no housing.

But things are good other than that! I hope everyone is doing well.

It was Monica's brother's birthday, so we headed over to her dad's for some yummy grilling and good company. Friday night some of Monica's friends were in town, so we did dinner, and then the boys went shopping with us! It was interesting to say the least. I believe we left the store smelling of several types of cheap perfume. Ew.


The other pics are from Morton, where we have ballroom on Sundays.

Pics from the last few days