Relaxation Day Results

I had my relaxation day earlier this week.  So what  does that have to do with Germany?

Blah, blah, blah, my day off doing nothing was just okay.  I went to Hobby Lobby and Tuesday Morning to browse around, painted my fingernails, met with the financial aid lady for Robbie's college,  then I watched a movie called "Extraordinary Measures" about Pompe's Disease.  I know someone who has something similar and they asked me to watch the movie starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Frasier. It was very good! 

I kept thinking about cleaning or organizing something all day long.  I went to bed that night feeling like I wasted the day and did not actually feel rested.  In the end, I decided that it is really worth it to be doing something.  Productivity is good when I want to be productive and when I don't then that's okay too. 

The financial aid meeting was fine.  My thoughts about the student loan process were verified in that it's pretty much like FAFSA on steroids with all the stuff we have to do now then wait until this semester is over with before we can actually complete anything.  And I hate loose ends. 

So why the map?  Well if you look at the southwest corner there is a placed called the Moselle Valley and a city called Saarbrucken.  Somewhere in between those places is a village called Elschbach.........and........I'm going there next summer (2015).  The motherland.  I've always thought that eventually I'd get to travel to somewhere in Europe but really thought more about going to England or Italy but my good friend from work asked me to go with her next year.  Her son lives there with his wife and their 3 youngsters as they work for the Dept. of Defense as teachers on the military base in that area.  They have been living overseas for probably 7 years with the first few years in Japan at a base there and put in to transfer to Germany about 4 years ago so now live there.  They own a very nice home in Elschbach and my friend goes over to spend time with them every other summer.

I've known Cecilia and her family for many years and her mom was also one of our co-workers before she moved to the Cincinnati area. She's about 14 years older than me but we get along great as she has the same political views, etc. that I do.  We always room together when we have to go out of town to conferences and we email and talk on the phone often and have lunch whenever I have to go in to the office.  I'm so very excited that she asked me to go along with her as I've seen photos she's taken from her visits and the area where her family lives is just beautiful.  There are vineyards there, castles, river cruises, etc.  I'll pay my plane fare, food, activities, etc. but our stay is obviously free. 

I have a whole year of other exciting things to do but you know how I LOVE to travel so it's really going to be a treat to take this trip with my friend.  Amy's going international!!