Been a long time

Hi everyone,

I've been sort of M.I.A. for almost 5 months now- Here's a rundown of what I've been up to since July:

I spent my first two weeks at home without a job. So, I did a lot of sitting at home depressed and trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself... I drove myself a little crazy.

Then I went out to Seattle for 2 weeks to visit my good friend Jeremy (some of you met him when he came to visit me in Cottbus). We went backpacking and to a 3-day outdoor concert in Portland, Oregon. We also explored Portland a bit, because at that time I planned on moving there. I have since changed my mind-- to be explained shortly...

Once I got back, as many of you did, I heard about what happened to Juliane Kraus. Though I didn't get to know Juliane as well as I did some others last year, the news of her passing away was really difficult for me to cope with. She was one of the first people to go out of her way to greet me and talk to me when I first arrived. She was very cool, and very talented, and much too young. My heart especially goes out to all of you who were close to her.

It was around this same time that I started working... a ton- generally between 50 and 60 hours a week. Since August, I've been working part-time at a garden center in my hometown where I have worked off and on since I was 16, and full-time for General Electric (GE) Money as a customer service representative.

I hate working for GE. It is a huge corporation where no one really knows anyone, and all I do is sit at a desk for 8 hours and pick up the phone over and over. No one who calls me is happy. I get yelled at a lot. Then I'm supposed to sell this product at the end of the call that I think is a rip-off. The building has almost no windows. Luckily, yesterday, I quit that job.

I quit, because I just recently got a job for a local company called Boston Stoker. They are a Dayton-based chain of coffee/cigar shops. Starting December 3rd I will be a barista/manager trainee, and I couldn't be more excited.

Also, I've recently begun dating my best friend. His name is Dan.

So, because of Dan and this new job that I think I'll love, and my family and other friends, I've decided against running off to Oregon. I'm very happy with this decision.

I know I'm not doing things that obviously seem to be related to my background, but I'm hoping to use what I've learned in more indirect ways- Maybe I'll get to speak German with people from the German company that Boston Stoker deals with. I'll use my teaching methods later on when I'm training new employees at work. Who knows what else.

Although I've settled in here, I do miss a lot of people. I miss teaching. And I miss hearing German. I wish I could just come visit for a couple of weeks and teach classes and live with my roommate again. With my new job, I will be working closer to 40 hours a week, and I hope to use my new-found free time in part to get back in touch with a number of you reading this- so watch for email and snail mail and the like. And please feel free to drop me a line any time. Take care, and check my blog for updates about once a month or so.

Later!

Meghan

P.S.- My pictures are from my trip to Washington and a Halloween party I went to- the guys in the costumes are Dan (as Rastafarian Frankenstein) and Mick (as an American Gladiator, which is a t.v. show we all watched as kids)... I don't actually know the other guy, but he had the best costume there.

Also, Thanksgiving is this week- so for anyone who would like to celebrate here's a link for the recipe for my favorite dish for the holiday- you'll have to make some adjustments to make it over there, but it's definitely worth a try-

Green Bean Casserole:
http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeId=24099