Job Search

In just over two weeks I will be back in the USA and starting to adjust to new life. Part of that new life will require getting a job though which I'm not looking forward to. I mean I'm excited about having a normal job again but I don't like the searching process. I'm trying to find a normal 9-5 job and yet the idea of sitting at a desk all day answering phones isn't that pleasing to me. But then again maybe I'm still at that point in my life when I have to just take random jobs to pay the bills and get through school and then I can get on with what I like. Seems an odd way to do it though.

I've decided I'm going to get an associates degree in photography from SLCC and then see where that takes me afterwords. There are quite a few job possibilities with a degree in photography but I think I would rather go into the free lance, artistic side of it. I suppose that means I would need a regular job as well to earn enough money to support myself.

If anyone has leads or ideas as to available jobs it would be greatly appreciated if you let me know.

What's the number for 911?

Well wouldn't you know it after all that complaining I did about last week and getting in trouble, the very next day I have to call an ambulence. I was also reminded that I would not do well working in an emergency room at a hospital. So here's the low down of what happened Thursday.

Around 11 am (time is key in this) Dagmar came up to my room and started crying. She said that her right side was going kind of numb and she couldn't use her right arm at all really, that she felt like she had no control over anything anymore, she was freezing cold but couldn't start a fire, she was stressed, she hates that she has MS and a few other things I couldn't really understand because she was crying. I finally got a word in edge wise and told her to go downstairs, lay down and I would take care of things the rest of the day. In other words do the job I'm here to do instead of her not letting me help. (I could probably try harder, but couldn't we all?) So we went downstairs and I started a fire for her and got lunch ready for when the kids got home.

A little after 12 the kids got home and we had lunch. Majlie didn't have any homework so she helped Mimi (without fighting - wahoo!) I checked on Dagmar a few times but she took some sleeping medicine so she was out most of the time. Basically I just kept the fire going so that she would stay warm.

At 2 I took Majlie to a friends house so they could work on something for school and then play when they finished and when I came back in the door Dagmar was calling for Mimi so I grabbed her and we both went in. Turns out she needed to go to the bathroom but couldn't get up. I got the wheelchair and Mimi and I helped Dagmar in there and then (I'll spare the details) helped her in the bathroom. We got her back to the couch and took her temperature which was at 38,77°C which is getting pretty high, normal is about 37°C. It wasn't the most accurate of readings either since we could only do it under her arm not in the mouth since they stick it in the other end if you know what I mean. She was also starting to have trouble speaking, her mind wasn't all quite there so I called up the missionaries and luckily they had time to come over at 3 pm and give her a blessing. Mimi called a family friend who is like another grandma for the kids and she also came over. I called Dirk at work but he was in a meeting so his secretary had to pull him out and I asked what we should do. He made a few calls to some doctors and finally we decided she needed to go to the hospital.

At this point I'm not exactly sure what time it was but we called 911 (which here is 112) and told them we needed an ambulence. It must have been around 3:30 that they came and by then Dagmar was completely out of it. It was like the movies when people are really sick, mumbling, saying weird stuff, making weird noises. If I wasn't so nervous I probably would have laughed. One of the things she kept saying though was that she didn't want to go to the hospital because she would die there. Any way, the EMTs came in and asked us a few questions, tried to get Dagmar to wake up (which Mimi laughed at because they shook not so gently and loudly said, "Frau Schumaier, open your eyes!") which she didn't really, her eyes would open for a few seconds and then close again. They brought in the gurney (which one of the elders and I joked with Mimi about, having a bed on wheels) and loaded her up and put her in the ambulence. They took a look at the medicines that she has just to make sure before they took her away and then by about quarter to 4 everyone was gone and it was just Mimi and I.

Dagmar stayed in the hospital over night under constant supervision. Dirk left from work early and came home, which being a Thursday afternoon took about 3 hours. He told me later that night after he got back from the hospital that Dagmar's fever was almost 41°C which is basically the point where you could die.

It's just amazing how quickly some things happen. In 3 hours she went from walking the stairs to hardly being able to even sit up, then an hour after that couldn't even talk.

She's doing alright now. They released her from the hospital Friday and she was home before the kids got back from school. There's no fever any more (which apparently was caused by her wisdom teeth which I didn't know could happen) but she's still really wobbly when she walks, even more so that usual. She can't go more than just a few steps without holding on to something so we have her walker out so she doesn't have to depend on the walls holding her up. Basically this means that the next week and a half I finally have stuff to do. I've only been waiting for that for the past 11 months.

Almost finished

Well I certainly didn't post as much on here as I thought I would. Apparently I had a short blogging phase that ended about the same time I started this one up. I doubt anyone even looks at it any more. Oh well. I just wanted to write a quick note and say that my time is almost up in Germany and then it will be back to the good ol' US of A! It is so exciting! The time has been great here and I've met some pretty cool people and learned a lot but a year is a long time. I've certainly gained a new respect for missionaries that are gone 18-24 months. 12 months is enough for me. Thank you all for your support during my time here. I couldn't have done it without you.

I got mail!

I got a nice envelope in the mail today covered with Star Wars stamps which I thought would be the most exciting thing about the envelope because nothing really exciting usually comes in envelopes that aren't padded. I took a little while to study the stamps; C3PO, Luke Skywalker, Chewie and Han Solo, the Millenium Falcon, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Yoda, a lightsaber battle, and Boba Fett (I don't know if I spelled all those right but I don't want to take the time to look it all up) before I actually opened the envelope to see what was inside. I pulled out a stack of papers, still not knowing what it was because the first page was handwriting I didn't recognize with some scribbles. I skipped to the bottom of the paper without reading it and realized it was from my cousin and her daughter, who is 3 or 4 I think, had added her part (the scribbles were N's because here name starts with N). I scanned the rest of the pages, looking at the names only and was happy to see I was the recipient of letters from the family Christmas party. I went straight to my room and read through all of them. It was so good to hear from everyone. I was sad that I didn't get to go but Germany is still a good place to be. Less than two months though until I can say that I live in Utah again. Apparently I just can't stay away from the place, this will be the second time in two years that I've moved back, the first being when I decided school in Idaho wasn't for me. The moving gene inherited from my dad is in me, but it keeps pulling me back home. Maybe this means I should just tell people I'm from Utah from now on. Nah, I'll stick with my usual answer, the US.

Hamburg

I went to Hamburg a few weekends ago to stay with my friend and have a little Thanksgiving feast. The next day we roamed the streets of Hamburg for a little while and came across this little park. The first draw was a slide, but then it ended up getting better by the second. I even wrestled an alligator!






And then because it was so much fun Janae gave it a whirl as well.









There was a cool pirate ship wreck so Nichole and Janae climbed aboard to find some treasure.








There may not have been treasure but at least now we know if we ever find a real pirate ship that still floats, Janae is going to be the captain.





And since we're girls of course you can't see the front of a ship and not think of Titanic so here Nichole is playing the part of Rose and Janae is playing the role of Jack. And scene!





Next in our discoveries were a few small houses. Nichole and I wedged ourselves into one of them. I know that Hamburg is a big city and they want to fit as many apartments as possible in here, but really this is a little too much... Or should I say too little.







I'm not really sure why but Nichole felt the need to try and climb out above the door. Good thing it didn't quite work and she got a little stuck.

I tried to be cool and slide out real quick but that didn't really work to well either.

Check it out! It's Snoopy! We decided it was small enough and it's basically the shape of a dog house so why not.


Our adventure then took us to the Christmas Market in the town square by the City Hall. This picture took 3 minutes to take (at least) because we had gotten there just after the train had driven by so we had to wait for it to go all the way around and come back. Let me tell you, it was a long row of booths. And because the train took so long to come I got bored and frustrated and made this face.

All the Christmas lights at the market.

The Three Amigos. Janae, Maren, Nichole

The coolest Burger King in the world! It's freaking sweet!



I'm super stretchy!

We found our own little castle. They had some kid toys just out on the street so of course I had to play.

I'm supposed to be ripping down the castle because I'm a giant.

Tired

I know I shouldn't be complaining because there are a lot people that have it worse off (aka people with babies) but I'm super tired. This morning I went to wake one of the girls up at 6:20 to get ready for school and she told me she didn't have to go until 9:30. Now it shouldn't be that big of a deal but I don't have to wake up the other kid until around 7 so that means I lost an hour of sleep because once I wake up and walk on that cold tile downstairs I have the hardest time getting back to sleep. Not fun. Any way, I was doing alright until around 12 and I fell asleep for half an hour or so and since then I've been pooped. I'm ready for today to be done with.

First Snow

Sunday morning I woke up to my window covered in a thin layer of snow. As I looked outside my other window I saw the big fluffy flakes falling through the light of the street lamp next to our driveway. It was the first winter wonderland of the season. Too bad the snow didn't really stick to the ground and since it was about 6:30 in the morning and I only had 15 minutes left to get ready I didn't have a chance to go play in it. Some day though it will snow again and hopefully next time I will be able to go for a walk in the snow. That's one of my favorite things to do, walk down a quiet street as the snow falls silently and sticking to the ground enough for it to crunch under my feet. Catching snowflakes on on my tongue is one of my favorite games. What can I say? I'm still a kid at heart.