Boys, Work, & Life

source: iwastesomuchtime.com

Let's talk about feelings right now. I remember a few years ago, I was talking to my friend Greg, and he made the comment that all girls are crazy. Being in my state of denial and haughtiness, I thought, "yeah, right, i am so sane and normal". Now, age and clarity have settled into my life and I realize, he's so right. lol. por ejemplo, i have met this guy who makes me super nervous, and this causes me to act really weird because my nervousness overrules my ability to seem any kind of cool. I say weird things and my face turns red. Lindsay thinks it's adorable I have a crush on someone. Me? No. I dont like him. Why? because he doesn't like me. #girllogic

Let's start with an amusing anecdote. Anecdote, not antidote. Because one will help you if you are dying of a crazy disease, and the other would not. I was talking my friend Petra and she was asking me if there were any boys I liked. I said something along the lines of "no, boys suck" and she asked, "are you sure you even like boys?" lol. I said "oh, i like boys." that's the problem. I just know what I do and don't want. Mix that with the phrase "he's just not that into you" and you get my life.
Boy Rant: Complete

So one time someone asked me, why dont you write about what you do at work more? and I thought, 'why do you want to hear about what I do at work? #boring' But I will tell you. I normally enjoy what I do at work. Our company is divided into two sections. In one of the sections you have the president of that section and his VPs. I work with the VP of Manufacturing. He tells me what he wants, and I make it happen. I like what I do. I like making things happen. However, I hate when he asks me to do impossible things, because he doesn't realize they are impossible, so I end up trying super hard to make it happen only for it to never work. I almost made myself cry the other week because I thought he would be upset that I could make something happen he wanted to happen, be he was like "okay" and moved on. Now he wants me to do something in SAP that everyone is telling me I cannot do, and he's like."....mmmmm, i think you can". So I shall continue on my quest to make the impossible happen so I can create a graph about it and send it to him. He loves graphs, data, and powerpoint presentations. He's awesome, and challenges me, which I like. If I didn't respect him as much as I do, I would probably not try as hard as I do. But he's legit, and knows what he's talking about. It's cool. 

Another work story: last week, I was put on a the a materials management team for our Petroleum facilities. Oh man. This team is awesome. I met up with them a little late because we were all stuck in traffic, but it was at a different one of our Houston locations, so I go to be out of the office for the day. It's a team of four men. One of the guys described the group quite well, "We laugh a lot, because if we didn't, we would die of boredom". Let me just say, I laughed a lot that day. We had a good productive meeting, and one of the guys at that facility was our host, and he was intense. He asked if we wanted anything and I said a water. He said they didn't have cold bottled water, and I was like, "ok, nevermind" but he went and got some water bottles, and stuck them in the freezer and brought one out when it was cold for me. It make me feel super awkward, and all the guys laughed about it. 

source: iwastesomuchtime.com

I may or may not have caused a minor Cold War with me and this lady who is a total arch nemesis. Luckily I defused the bomb with the best defense mechanism...playing dumb. It worked. She's still a total arch nemesis, but now I don't get scared when i see here because I know it's not just directed at me, but to everyone. Also, I had to keep my own anger at bay when my xenophobic co-worker said a racist comment and thought I was joking when I told her it was racist and that I took personal offense to the comment. The cold shoulder lasted the rest of the week, but had to end because I gave a lesson at FHE about how everyone can get angry but disciples of Christ forgive and are loving. I made the promise, I would try to let it go, so I am.
Work Rant: Complete

So work bestie Charles, grew up as an expat. he was told me that he received kidnapping training when he was little. He got a phone number he could call from anywhere in the world and was told they would have someone there within 24 hours of the phone call. I said that wasn't very impressive, because they could have you moved within 24 hours. However, the guy told him that the first rule to being kidnapped, is to not get kidnapped. (i know, right?). The guy said to kill as many of them as possible, because the worst that can happen is them killing you which is probably better than then holding your for ransom, torturing you, and cutting off body parts to send to your family for proof that you're alive. This convo happened because I told Charles about when I was out with David, I asked him if he was going to sell me me into the sex-slave trade and he looked at me and said, "depends how much they offer". #germanhumor

Now what to say about the past few weeks since I've posted. Well, being older has is perks. As in one perk I can think of: I can now rent a car without paying extra for being underage. Please note: pretty much only america has this dumb tax. #embarrassing. Since my birthday I have:

• decided I'm want to hang out with little Ron Weasley forever, because, let's face it, he's adorable. 
• hung out with Alison, who I haven't seen in forever. She's moved back to H-town, and in celebration, we made dirt pudding, texted Chad a picture, and watched a movie. Just like old times. Love it. 
• had a Spanish Saturday, where Laura was dying the whole day and slept in the car while we were in downtown. Christina, Teri Jo, and I ate tapas, and even though they had papas bravas on the menu, it was a sham. So sad. Papas bravas are my fav tapas. Then we went to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Spain art they brought from El Prado. Oh El Prado. Oh Spain! Te echo de menos. 
• had a dentist appointment. My dentist is cool.
• been a super lazy bum and have done a lot of nothing. 
• seen Cirque du Soleil with Saryah. It was magical. I loved it, and I'm pretty sure that I looked like a dork just staring in awe of the cool stuff. It really made me appreciate the wonderful gift we were given from God to come to earth and get a body. So cool. Another fun part was that we ran into Sam and his brother Oliver, who were also out and about as siblings. #siblingpower
• become lucky enough to get an invite to David's house for dinner with the sisters. Laura got one too and we got to experience David's great cooking. I'm impressed. Way to go. We had such a fun time together. Then Laura and I headed to the Chili Cook-Off together.
• seen a chili eating contest and a pie eating contest at the chili cook-off. Never have seen one of those before. The chili contest was painful to watch, especially since I had spicy thai food earlier that week and was dying from the mild curry. 

The best part of my post-birthday life, is that I pulled Walk-To-Remember wish. I witnessed a miracle. It was one of those miracles that have nothing to do with you, but have everything to do with someone else. But I was blessed enough to be a part of it. I am so grateful. When I wrote it in my journal, I remembered one of the reasons I write a blog; when I hand-write things, it takes forever because i write with so much detail that my hand cramps and it's insane. I won't write much more about it on my blog because I don't want to trivialize the experience, but it strengthened my testimony that God knows His children and loves every single one of them, whether they are aware of it or not. Plus, I was able to give a talk in church, which always makes me happy. Pretty much, it had been a great Sunday, that ended with Stevie & Sonja coming over with their kids and us having lots of fun. I guess that's why I was having such a rough past two weeks. it's always right before the really good that Satan tries to derail us with really bad.

"Fear not; only believe. This is a time to make resolutions that will be binding upon you. This is a season to set standards that will hold you to the right course and make you happy now and in the years that follow." -Gordon B. Hinckley,  “Fear Not; Only Believe,” New Era, Jan 2000, 4

P.S. There is a really real possibility that they are going to start production on a Veronica Mars movie this summer. #dreamsdocometrue

PPS. I read this great article on International Women's Day about women in the workplace and them balancing work and family. It was written by a successful business woman and mother, and I loved it. It really spoke to me.

PPPS. Lindsay sent this one to me. It made me realize how much I have appreciated the de-cluttered life of living out of two suitcases. I did it on a mission and I'm doing it again my first year of employment. It's funny because whenever I go home, I realize how much stuff I have and how I haven't missed most of it or even thought of it. It makes getting rid of stuff much easier. But be warned, I may be transitioning into a more minimalist mentality, but that doesn't mean that I'm not planning on going shopping this weekend to buy some new clothes.  ;)

Köln Time

Work was very productive Friday (24 Aug) as we only have a handful of days left of work, so I was feeling the pressure to get my last project done so I can start on a presentation I have to give to upper management about what I've been working on these past few months in Germany. But with a little miracle, I was able to finish my project in time for me to catch the train to the central station so I could head off into the sunset to Köln to spend the weekend with Marijn & Lukas. I know we just hung out in the Netherlands, but let me just say, I love these guys. There is so much love and sillyness between us, and they always take care of me, so I never have to worry about a thing.

Anyways. I got to Köln a little late due to the train...plus, I wasn't able to do any work as I was planning, because when I had my computer out on the train, my mind was blank. So i just listened to my iPod till I got there. As soon as I got off the train, my first thought was "dang, we didn't decided where we were going to meet", so I started walking and luckily I looked down the stairs and saw them immediately. YAY! It took us a while to get out because somebody was having problems figuring out where the exit was and ignoring where the crowd was going. lolz.

Lukas, me, and Marijn. How can you not love them with faces like these?

Marijn got to Köln earlier that day but we all me up so Lukas could take us home. He had prepared dinner for us, but kicked me & Marijn out of the kitchen to finish cooking so it would be a surprise. It was! It was soooo good. He made yummy food, and even though it wasn't a bake, it was great :) We cleaned up, and i must say, Lukas has a sweet flat. it's very nicely decorate. They decided to tell me that Marijn didn't want to do anything super touristy on Saturday since he's already been to Köln, so they decided we should go to the zoo. I love the zoo. and I love the fact that Lukas found a theme song for our  trip to the zoo!

So we relaxed for a bit before going out for the night. It was so fun to be able to speak in Spanglish again. (spanglish is my favorite language!)There were a couple of places to go and when they asked where i wanted to go, my response was "ME-XI-COOOO!!!!" So we went to a Mexican place as it started to lightly drizzle. We sat under a tree only to decide to move under the patio, which was a brilliant idea. Because shortly after, it started to POUR and become super windy. It was there that I learned "Sour Makes Funny" as Germans say. because I had a very bitter lime drink. after all the rain subsided, we went to a Russian place, where I got a nice nonalcoholic cocktail called...THE COMMUNIST YOUTH!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! As much as I'm not a big fan of communism, the name is wicked brilliant! We stayed out until I started to get super ridiculous from being so tired and almost falling asleep.

So this is a sign at the zoo. Is it just me,
or do you see this and think that a big bird
is going to steal  baby?

Saturday morning started off beautifully to a impromptu dance party thanks to a forever classic S Club 7 song I always had stuck in my head back in Spain, Bring it All Back. It was awesome! Lukas made us a yummy late breakfast and we went off for the day. We went up the KölnTriangle Observation deck for a beautiful 360-degree view of the city, without having to climb tons of stairs. (elevators are a blessing). We then walked across Hohenzollernbrücke railway bridge, where people put locks on the bridge as symbols of love. It's a beautiful site :) And we even found that someone put one up for me and lukas. and marijn found out that his girlfriend has cheated on him twice ;) lolz. We then headed to the zoo and loved seeing all the animals and i loved that they have a raccoon in the Köln Zoo. A RACCOON! Brilliant! Also, we found out that an hour and a half before we got to the zoo, a tiger had killed a zoo worker and had was shot during it's daring escape. What are the odds? We had a lovely day at the zoo and went to a brewery so we could try some raw meat. Mettbrötchen; it's a German thing where you eat raw meat on bread. It didn't kill me. YAY! Then we got Marijn fed with a kebab while we sat along the Rhine River, people watching and singing songs. Then we had to say goodbye. It was soooooo sad. Hopefully it won't be another 3 years before we get to hang out. I'm already trying promising him super cool things when he comes to visit in Texas, like BBQ! Yum Yum. As we said goodbye to him at the train station, Lukas and I stayed till it left and made funny signals through the windows. we waved handkerchiefs in farewell and the train pulled out and we declared our love for Marijn in the most dramatic way possible :) Then the real party began. JUST KIDDING! We went down the shopping street, and in one store the new Adidas type store, there was a cardigan and i was saying it was for girls and lukas thought it was for boys and we were arguing until a worker informed us it was for boys. i pity the boy that is seen in that cardigan. We went to a resturant next to St. Anton's church called...Stanton. haha. it's combined! get it? it was nice until I was so full I couldnt eat anymore. Lukas told me I had to finish all my plate or there would be bad weather the next day. I didn't believe in his superstition. (btw. it rained and was super windy the next day, aka, sunday). We went to a beach bar on top of the roof of a parking garage afterwards, where there was a gorgeous view of the city at night. I loved it. and the Cologne Cathedral looked wonderful. It was cold though, so we walked a bit before heading in for the night.

 Sunday morning was another great breakfast after sleeping in much later. I also got to look at the pictures to the book of the most random facts about Köln. It explained why there is a giant upside-down ice cream cone on the top of a random building, and explained about the statue of a man poo-ing on the side of a building 4 stories high. It was pretty epic. So we took of to do all the sightseeing we weren't allowed to do with Marijn. We had a jolly-good day as we were singing throughout the day and enjoying ourselves. One thing I discovered was people are just very chatty with Lukas. We would be at a site, and just randomly start talking to Lukas. Por ejemplo, at the Tünnes and Schäl statues, we were taking a pic and then some random couple started talking to us and led us to a Carnival memorial. Then we were looking at a flood memorial and some guy started telling us about how Neil Armstrong died. Sad. Except Lukas is so clever, he found out this morning. We went to the Köln Cathedral, but there was a service going on then and throughout the afternoon.
We went to a great pastry place for a snack and it was sooo pretty! And the guy behind the counter spoke spanish, so I could understand him and chat with him. There was a point during our pastry time that he asked me in Spanish if everything was alright and I responded in german. haha. then i realized what i did and responded in Spanish. We then wandered to see the Circus in the Park, but i guess because of the weather, it was cancelled. it was pretty windy. So we played on the bench swing for a bit and then went on a walk in the park where there was a tall stump that had been cut. Lukas joked that I should climb in and then made me do it! I had to literally climb on his shoulders. I was so scared I would be blown off and it only got worse as Lukas climbed up too. So we were about 8 feet in the air on a tree stump with about a 1-foot diameter. I don't know how we fit. I thought I was going to fall off. Lukas helped me down, and i'm pretty sure it took about 5 minutes after for my heart rate to get back to normal. We walked to the Kölner Seilbahn (Cable Car for Cologne), which is the safest mode of transportation in Köln. And went over the Rhine River and down to the Rheinpark to see the pacifier tree, where people put a baby's pacifier on there when the child is done with it. It was kinda awesome. Our time was coming to a close, and we went to get my luggage and Lukas and Lukas lost it as we were eating. It was good we weren't in an airport where my left luggage would have been destroyed. Luckily, it was all good. Some guy at the train station thought we were lost and offered to help until he realized that Lukas was German. Lolz. The cars of the train were confuzzled, so I was nervous I wouldn't find my spot, but I sat down and looked out the window to see Lukas acting super sad over my leaving and dramatically saying goodbye. I love my friends. I think the saddest part was when Lukas told me,  "I'm going to miss having someone to sing with" ich auch, lukas. ich auch.  

The train ride back was pretty uneventful. I read one of the books I bought at the Stansted Aiport in London on sale. #win. It is a murder mystery. the first one i've ever read. I don't think i'm made for murder mysteries. i'm pretty sure i already know who did it, and so all the little details are what i need to know, but it takes forever! i guess the story isn't moving quickly enough, but i'm trying not to finish it so i can have an english book to read on the plane back to america on thursday. 

My Date with 4 Guys

Let's start with a story...

The first time we ever hung out, Jan 2009...we got a little lost on trying to
find the restaurant that the guys wanted to go to for dinner

Once upon a time, there was a girl who made a crazy decision to go live and study in Madrid, Spain for 5 months without really knowing Spanish or knowing anyone in Spain. After a week or two, she still didn't have any friends to hang out with, as most of the Americans studying abroad just went out and got drunk every night. She was feeling lonely and was praying to find some friends. (Now I'm not saying what happened next is a miracle or anything, but this was definitely an answer to my prayers, and it changed my life for the better)One day on the train back home, she saw a group of 4 guys and 2 girls that she'd seen before at school but never talked to. She gathered all her courage to introduce herself to the group of people. She spoke to the girls first and the girls introduced her to the 4 guys: Marijn, Jelmer, Jarno, & Lukas. The guys even invited her to go to dinner that night! Without giving it a second thought, she agreed to meet up with them that night, so she met the 4 strangers later in during the night in the Plaza del Sol, by the bear, (it wasn't till later that someone suggested that might have been a not so smart idea) and began a journey of friendship which took her on epic adventures to far off places.

More than 3 years later, we had a nice little reunion.

The past week started in England, which was great because my stash of English cookies was depleted. I was working there from Tuesday till Thursday on vendor selection. It was pretty interesting, and I just love working with the English. They are a lot more chatty than the Germans. lol. During the lunch break on Thursday, I stocked up on my English cookies and the firsts reaction after someone saw my big back of goodies..."Are you going on a diet?" haha. They're too funny.

Top of the Dom Tower

I flew back to Munich on Friday morning. I had no food in my fridge because I knew I was going to be in England this week and Frankfurt the next, so I didn't do any grocery shopping. That meant, I had to go find something. I went down the street for some bakery bread and a piece of fruit. Let's just say that Germans like to follow the rules a lot. But I'm a big rule-breaking American. So there was a group of us stopped at a corner and there were NO CARS, but everyone was stopped waiting for the walking man to turn green.  Now I'm not one to encourage rebel-rousing behavior, but I crossed the street. To be honest, I knew the Germans wouldn't like it, but I didn't realize how mad they would be. As I made it to the other side of the road, the light turned green, so I moved back so the bikers could cross, and this little old man gave me a mean glare and started yelling at me in German and he biked past me. I wasn't sure what he said, but everyone around me was staring at me, and the little boy across the street on a bike was looking at me and dying laughing. I went back home a little sad.

Kayaking in the canals of Utrecht

Anyways, I went back to the airport later Friday night to fly to Amersterdam where Jelmer and Marijn were waiting for me on the other side of the gate to take me to Utrecht. YAY! It was awesome cuz we went to get drinks as we waited for our train, and for our drinks, we got orange juice! because they know I don't drink :) Later, we were waiting at the Utrecht train station to change trains, and the Olympic Opening Ceremony was being broadcasted on a big screen for all to see. I was entranced. It was a little weird, and I didnt understand the dancing through the decades part that I saw...I was a little confused at what I was watching to be honest. When we got to the apartment, we turned the tv back on and the countries had just started to be introduced. Marijn was amused and my comments about Canada. As if it's even a country. (joke). I fell asleep around the M's. I remember being woken up for the USA, and saying "Go USA" but I dont remember seeing them or anything. Marijn said I said that and just passed out again. I was tired. lol.

It started raining while we were kayaking. I wish I could say
that I got wet from the rain, but I ended up splashing myself
with water as I a lot, and there was a moment where we
were splashing each other for a bit. 

I was able to steal Jarno's room for the weekend. When we got up, Marijn made us some breakfast. Lucky us. We chilled and waited for Lukas to show up...I was so excited that I was making myself all nervous. lol. Lukas arrived and we headed into Utrecht. We went to the Flower Market and got my mom some tulip bulbs for her garden (hopefully dad won't kill them with weed killer this time). There was an intense gothic festival by the Dom Tower, which was a little disturbing to be honest...but super funnny. We all couldn't help but stare. We went to the Dom Tower and walked up all those stairs. It was exhausting. But it was SOOOO FUN! Jarno lost his keys, as he was arriving from vacation from Italy, so Marijn had to go home to let him in. So we had to wait for him to get back befor KAYAKING! Can I just say, it's a little sad going kayaking with a bunch of guys when you have only a fraction of their upper body strength? It was funny. Lukas, Marijn, and I had our own Olympic race. I totally won. TEAM USA! It was epic. But it's only because they were disqualified for breaking the rules and pulling on each others kayaks. It was epic. It was a great night of fun. Jarno was able to join us for dinner (I think he should have gotten the waitress' number) and drinks after.

When we were back at the house, Marijn was calculating my chances of finding someone to marry and helping me understand how small my chances are :/ lol. Since I want to marry a Mormon, there are only about 14.5 million of us out of about 6 billion humans. Then you have to take a fraction of that to only get the single age-appropriate guys. Then you have to take and even smaller fraction of that for people i'll actually meet and interact with during my life. Good luck for me. "May the odds ever be in your favor", right?  Also, in Utrecht, it was pretty crazy with their terrace seating, you don't face each other, you face the plaza, which is great for people watching :)

Saturday started with a hearty breakfast after waiting for everyone to wake up. Supposedly Marijn was awake earlier but Lukas and I didn't see or hear him. I'm skeptical. lol. So we watched some more Olympics, which is always fun when there are 3 different nationalities. Jelmer left the night before because he had a football game to go to. Jarno stayed behind because he had work to do, so Marijn, Lukas, and I ventured into Amsterdam together. Now, I haven't been to Amesterdam since I was 16 and I was sick when we went, so I remember looking for a store with medicine, and that it was super touristy, crowded, and dirty. Lukily Marijn took us to the nicer parts of Amsterdam, like the parks and nice areas. He was kind enough to avoid the Red Light District for me too. lol. But we didn't go anywhere without first getting snacks! my love language =  food. :)

We saw awesome things. We ate yummy sweets. At one point, Lukas was saying, "I've never seen that part of the city." and "I really like that part of the city." I was looking around trying to figure out which part of the city he was talking about and then we figured out, he was mixing up the words "this" and "that". It was awesome, especially since Lukas' English is better than mine most of the time. When it was lunch time, we got some bagel sandwiches, and while we were waiting, Lukas and I were sharing a coloring book to color a bee. (just an example of how cool Lukas is) it was awesome. Also, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I forgot how Lukas likes to sing-along with the music in your head too! We used to burst out and sing songs all the time in Spain! Also, when we were walking around, Marijn remembers how much I hate PDA, so he would say "don't look" but of course, i would look so see what I wasn't supposed to look at. lol. it was kinda hysterical.  We sat in the park and ate and were so ridiculously silly. Plus, Lukas played our Spain song in the park! Shake It by Metro Station, which we would always listen to in Retiro and when we were travelling.  I can't even explain how much fun I had this weekend and how relaxing it was to see them.

I feel ridiculously lucky to have these friends in my life. We haven't seen each other for over 3 years, but being together was flawless and effortless. Seriously, I'm so grateful for them and their friendship. It doesn't matter how often we talk, but they're awesome and great friends. Plus, they help me live a little, like making me eat crazy Dutch food, aka french fries and mayo. I ate it, for realz. It was also relaxing to be around people who have known me longer than 2 months too. Because they already know my crazy habits. It was a little sad having to say goodbye, but we're already planning our next world adventure. I suggested Greece, because I super want to go.