Still American

Welp. We're baaaaack! We have been in Houston for about a month and a half. We have had a bit of culture shock. I'll just spill a bit of everything that's happened and is different. Ok, to start it off, what is not different (whoops) is Dave's job. Dave has still not been put on a project. It is rather unsettling. We yearn for the feeling of at least two-year-long permanence. Not happening yet. Sure it's great that we're together nearly 24/7 but we feel fairly lazy. It's hard to get involved with any kind of volunteer because we don't know what our schedule will be like....moving onto that I still don't have a job. I had an interview on Tuesday that seems promising. It's not exactly my dream job but they pay $13/hour. Not bad! And they're willing to work with my school schedule once I start in the fall. Assuming I get the job. Keeping the ol' fingers crossed! At the same time I'm almost hoping it doesn't work out so I can get a physical therapy secretary gig?? I dunno. Just trying to do what works!

Ok sorry. This is nothing new for a 'returning American'.
Things that get me. GROCERY SHOPPING. Wow I like it so much more now. The stores are so much bigger. They have everything I'm familiar with. And I still haven't kicked the feeling of 'not getting too much at once'. I don't get anxiety but I feel nervous filling up my grocery cart because it's like- crap how am I going to get this into my saddle bags on my bike. Then I realize I have a car instead of a bike and it's like PAAAAARTY! Get as much as we need because it's all going into the back of the car. And then getting to the grocery line. Not feeling like 'please don't talk to me too much or you'll know I don't speak a word of Dutch'. I love it!! I love (ok, not exactly) bumping into people now because I don't have to try and remember some other language, I just say 'sorry' like the way it slips out! Also. Having your groceries bagged is WONDERFUL! I hated how slow I was and feeling like I was holding everybody up because I wasn't a professional bagger. One thing that has sure stuck from Amsterdam is take your own freaking grocery bags! I can not believe how many bags we've got under our sink from the times we've simply forgotten our own bags. What a waste! It is insanity to me. Yeah I feel kinda hippy dippy taking my own bags but at the same time I feel better about the trip and not wasting bags.

Sidewalks. What the heck Houston. Well it was more of when we were living with Debbie in a suburb called Sugarland. But anyway, there were places where there just wasn't sidewalk! I was on a run a few times there and all of a sudden there wouldn't be sidewalk anymore and I'd end up running through watery mud. It is just not a very pedestrian friendly city. Or bike, I do wish I could ride my bike sometimes!!

Wind. I actually like wind now. I used to HATE wind. Especially on the ol' bike in the frigid sea 'breeze'. Today on my run it was windy and I loooooved it. It's kinda like within a certain amount of exposure it's good, ya know!? And the rain, I really like the rain here. And we never realized it until we got to Houston but it almost never thundered and lightninged in Amsterdam!  We love watching those storms :)

Healthcare. Ok, I'm a bit bitter on this one. Dave had cancer about 3.5 years ago and therefore he can't get health insurance here. What kind of crap is that???  For simply selfish reasons I hope the Obamacare goes fully in effect so Dave can be insured! Why should those who need it most not be able to get it? I mean it's not just that it's ridiculously expensive or anything, he straight up got denied. That is bullcrap. That was through trying to do our own plan, hopefully if Dave gets put on a project, things will be different?? I don't know if that's how insurance through jobs work, but I sure hope so. It just makes me nervous.

Well that was a ballsing long one. Don't blame you if you didn't read it all, but this one's for you Allie Beans.

LIFE UPDATE

Well pretty much if you read this blog you already know this, but I had to write about it anyway. We are MOVING!! To Houston, Texas. We are so excited. Life will be so much less expensive and I'll be able to work and we should be ok :) like really I'll illustrate it for you. Here we are getting a really good deal and paying €1100 per month for rent which is about 1470 USD. In Houston we should be able to find a decent apartment for about 700!! See the issue there? Plus Dave is paid in USD so every time he gets a pay check we have to pay to convert the money to euros and the dollar is weak sauce compared to the euro. That's just the financial side.

We should be able to go with my family to Cascade Lake during the summer, Thanksgiving at Dave's parents house and Nicaragua with my family for Christmas!! Sarah said she will do a road trip to Houston so I can finally meet Tessa and Michelle will most likely be three hours away in Dallas for the summer!! As you can see we are extremely excited. For now it's a bit stressful trying to cancel everything and getting someone else to rent our apartment. In about a month life should be great and we will be in the USA. God bless America!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ttDUGM-1mU

Runspiration

This is a quick 'gush'. For those of you I haven't already tried to convert....Rock My Run is awesome. I love downloading a ginormous compilation of running music (for free). Check it out. One song from the playlist was particularly FANTASTIC today. I require you to look it up. It just gets my adrenaline going and my run instantly seems awesome. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgyJY9yndv4

And the music video's pretty fun too.

Enjoy and get out there!!

Christmas

 

Hope you're ready for a big one.... Mostly consisting of pictures, but a lot of story time too :)

Christmas was a bit of a crazy day here in the Tensmeyer household. I wanted to be like my mom on Christmas morning so I invited the Elders over for breakfast (cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, the works) to be my children. After they left we opened our presents, so much fun doing that. The Tensmeyers are so awesome and gave me a sewing machine. I will post future projects of course. Becca gave  Dave and I matching running shirts and my parents gave me boots and Dave running shoes! Woot!






Then later a couple of the Elders came over to Skype. Then the sisters came over to eat dinner and Skype. Then the other Elders came over and Skyped! And I got to skype my own Elder Gifford in Denmark! We also Skyped the Tensmeyers and Giffords. It was a skyping party day. After we packed....for FRANCE!

The 26th started out in a whirlwind. Dave's alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to so we were an hour behind schedule leaving for our trip. It ended up fine and we picked up our lovely rental car and hit the road!

Liege, Belgium

 The excitement began when we hit Belgium and saw HILLS. It has been approx. six months since we've seen hills and how I love them! We were just snapping pictures left and right with excitement at seeing new places. We continued driving through Belgium and Luxemburg until we reached France! Our first night was spent in Nancy.

Excited Dave driving!

Earlier that day I started to notice I was getting an infection. I skyped my mom to ask her about it and she said to go to the doctor ASAP.
Nancy: What an adventure. The next day we decided to keep traveling until we got to a big town to find a doctor. At one of the castles my infection became worse and said I had to go to the doctor NOW or I was going to kill someone. So our search began. Thankfully we were in a rental car not a train or that would have been a nightmare. Eventually we found a GP and the system was just so interesting. So we entered the office and there was no receptionist. About 10 people were just sitting in a room. I didn't know what to do so I just sat there, following their example. Eventually the Dr. came in and whoever was there first went in with him. And then they left and the next person and then the next. After waiting about an hour it was my turn. The doctor didn't speak a whole lot of English, thankfully Dave speaks a LOT more French than I did. We were able to understand each other well enough and the doctor was so nice. Oh the doctor's room was different too. It was like a business office and we just sat in chairs on the other side of his desk. In the adjoining room he had a bed and all the 'normal' doctor stuff, so it wasn't too weird, but we never went in there, he never checked me out or anything. At the end he gave us a prescription and then we asked about paying, and he would not let us pay. Dave tried to insist but the doctor just wouldn't let us. It was the craziest thing!! Nicest guy in the world. We'll be sending him a fruit basket or something.

Street of my birthday! The French sure do love me

Future home???

Strasbourg: We woke up to a towed car. Adventure number 2! Dave took care of this one completely. The receptionist was the NICEST guy. He told Dave where he had to go, explained everything to him and then even lent him his bike! He was just a sweet heart to Dave. Really. Our trip really convinced me that the stereotype of French people is wrong. At least in the part of the country we were in. They were the most helpful and kind people. We were so blessed.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving through the Black Forest. It had to be one of my favorite parts. Part of it felt like I was back home in Utah driving the Alpine loop with Michelle. I love going on drives through the mountains, Love it!! The other part felt like we were Hansel and Gretel. It was just such a cool place.

Beginning of Black Forest

Driving through the wintry Black Forest

Awesome pavilion

Castle!!

Frankfurt!!!

My handsome dude