Long time gone (June 2016-June 2019)

 Wow, so it's time to revive this!

At my last blog I had taken our last group of Eugene students to the UK and Ireland.  Hard to believe that was four years ago!

So here's where we are since then:

In April of 2016, we lost our beloved dog Jimmy, who had been my constant companion for over 12 years.  In May, we adopted a border collie named Mischka.  A week later, our greyhound Trotsky died.  All the while I was dealing with a particularly rough situation at work.  We ended our time in the Eugene 4J school district with my leading an exchange program, GAPP, to St. Wendel via Iceland.  We enjoyed the 2016 Euros public viewing in Iceland, their national holiday, nights with no darkness, and then 3 weeks in beautiful Saarland, Germany.  I drove up to Glückstadt to leave some stuff there, flew home with empty bags, only to pack them with more stuff for our move to Hamburg two weeks later.

Our move with a dog and a cat included driving to Seattle to stay with friends, a flight to Frankfurt, and driving with a drugged up pair of pets to Glückstadt, where we stayed with my Oma until we moved into our place.  Just a few weeks after we arrived, my Grandma, Lois Gregory, passed away in August of 2016.  I got to FaceTime her one last time.  As I was getting ready to travel back to the US for the funeral and Gus was starting his new job, my sister in Denmark went into the hospital.  She gave birth prematurely to my nephew, and my mom literally went from her own mother's funeral to the airport to travel to Denmark.  I flew back to Germany, and my mom flew back to the US and promptly ended up in the hospital herself.  Crikey, that was a stressful summer.  I took several trips to Denmark that fall to help my sister and her family out while they were in the hospital.

But the first year in Hamburg was fabulous--lots of great new friends, time with Oma, and travel.  We headed to Florida to visit the in laws in October (flights 12 and 13 across the Atlantic for 2016), spent Christmas with family here in Germany, and then took a February trip to Brussels, Bruges, and Ghent.  We recommend the Beer and Chocolate tour.  That April, everyone came over from the US to celebrate Oma's 90th birthday.  In May we visited the Keukenhof tulips in the Netherlands.  I did a 6 week maternity cover for the 5th grade class at ISH and helped with their big play.

The summer of 2017 saw my 20th high school reunion and had me back in Peachtree City for a few days.  I also started a partial lease on a horse named Crisbo.  We helped with the G20 riot cleanup, attended SchlagerMove, welcomed new friends to Hamburg, went to Matjeswoche in Glückstadt (where I had my first helicopter ride and Mischka ate cake with Oma), and had the first Birthday Not Birthday beach party. In September we visited our friend Anna in London.

By October, Crisbo had sold and I had a new lease on a horse named Caletto.  We also drove down to Trier, where we met up with my partner teacher from St. Wendel, and Castle Eltz.  From there we hit Mainz, drove up the Rhine to the Lorelei and on to Koblenz and Köln before heading to Essen and the board game convention and a meet up with my friend Jens.  I also started the maternity cover primary German teaching job.

Oma's health began to decline, and Christmas was spent enjoying those final days with her and hoping my dad would make it in time to see her before she passed.  She died at the start of January, 2018.

In February we headed to Denmark for a weekend with colleagues at a beach house, and in March I got my riding badge, my Reitabzeichen 5.  This is a story unto itself!  March saw us headed to Hawaii, a 28 hour journey and an 11 hour time difference, for our cousin Matt's wedding.  We made the most of that time, and we were able to add a few days in Eugene on the way home.  It was great to see my students, on the verge of graduating, one last time.

I accepted a job at a new school, International School Campus, during that spring, so then it was time to horse shop!  Kira, a 2011 Trakehner mare, joined our family at the start of June 2018.  Day trips to Schwerin, Glückstadt, and so on remained on the agenda.  Gus went to language camp, while my niece Faith came to visit me.  We had girls' week together in the area, and while we were disappointed with the 2018 World Cup, we enjoyed watching the English fans.  I also took her to Bergen Belsen.  We spent a week with my mom, sister, and her family on the Danish coast at Hvide Sande.  Then my father in law came, and we headed to Copenhagen and Stockholm in one of the more intense European heat waves.

I started my new job, which I instantly loved.  In October we headed to Malta, where we met up with my mother in law, for an epic exploration of the islands.  SUPER fun.  Christmas 2018 was spent in the US--Georgia and Florida.  In January we joined a group of my colleagues for an impromptu and fun visit to Lisbon for the weekend.  In March it was off to Coventry, UK, for a training for work, and in April we returned to Florida to enjoy the wedding of dear friends.  In May I headed to Maine for the wedding of my cousin Chris, and in June I led the 10th graders to Athens on their class trip.  That brings us to the summer of 2019 and beyond, which will get us caught up, but which deserve posts of their own.

Travel:

2016:  US home, UK, Italy, Iceland, Germany, move to Germany, US, Denmark (often)

2017:  Belgium, Netherlands, US, UK, Rhine (Germany)

2018:  Denmark, Hawaii, Denmark, Sweden, Malta, US

2019 first half: Portugal, Denmark, UK, US, US, Greece