A Group of Characters!

Big Alex and the Hungarian rubik's cube

champion János "Goose" Daróczi.

The new Italian/Swiss/German player "Andreas" and his dazed and confused companion.

Andreas and our German/French pitcher Luc.

Alex "Maverick" Aucoin.

It should be a fun summer, especially when the rest of the crew arrives.

Back to Deutschland!

Well life has been a little crazy the past year. As you know if you ever read this blog last summer I worked in Neuenburg Germany for six months. It was a wonderful trip that left me wondering what was in store for the rest of my life. I am still not sure what will come, but for now I am enjoying the ride. I am again back on German soil for the next five months and am excited about the summer ahead. I will once again be working in the office and playing on the softball team, but as a second year bonus I will also be playing on the Neuenburg Tennis Team! I am sure it will add to the chaos, but what is better than being exhausted for the call of the kingdom.

So there is a brief update on the coming months. I am going to try to keep you better informed this year, but as I am sure most of you know life can take over sometimes.

I thought it might be nice for you to see the new apartment I am living in this year. In May I will be joined by two other girl interns Heather and Nathalie, but for now it is just me. This year I am living about 3 miles away from Neuenburg in it's sister city Mullheim. It will not be quite as convenient, but it is so nice it outweighs the distance. The first picture is when you walk in the front door there is a hallway.

If you turn directly to the left you will enter the kitchen. It is a lovely little room with wonderful natural light and every utensil/appliance you could ever want.

If you look down out of the window you will see this river that runs

alongside the apartment. It is like hearing a sound machine all day long.

(Hillary you won't even have to bring yours if you visit!)

If you look out to the left of the apartment you will see this view.

If you continue to the left from the kitchen you will walk into the bathroom area. It has a lot of storage space and the water pressure is perfect. Above the shower there is also a heater that keeps you extra toasty in the shower. What more could a girl ask for.

This picture is hanging in the bathroom and reminds me of

a blanket my Grandma Joyce made me as a girl.

It brings back a nice feeling of home.

From the main hallway if you continue forward and turn left you come to my bedroom. It is really big and comfortable. This is my bed and a huge window that overlooks a cute shop on the street below.

My room also has a couch that will turn into a bed when the other girls get to Germany. There is a second bedroom across the hall that one of them can stay in as well. The family that lives in the building as well are so sweet, they put flowers and Easter candy as a welcome package.

This year I also have a place to hang clothes and an iron.

I hope this will make for a less rumpled look throughout the summer.

Now if you turn to the right off the main hallway you will come into the dining room. It is also really spacious and comfortable. The flowers are not doing so hot, but they were pretty while they lasted.

The lady who lived there before loves games, so there are a lot of fun board games that I cannot wait to play.

This is a Goehring family favorite and I already told Stephen I was going to

have to show him how it is done. I don't think he actually likes numbers games which is perfect for me. Maybe I will actually beat him at something.

If you walk through the dining room you come to family room.

It is very homey feeling and has interesting pictures of the

grandma's family all over it.

This is Stephen's new favorite chair. It is comfortable but it also kind of reminds me of my dad's dentist office.

Off the family room there is a balcony that is the perfect size.

I have not gotten the furniture ready yet,

but I will definitely have to do some reading out there this summer.

The view from the balcony of the river.

So as you can see the apartment is wonderful. I am very thankful for the accommodations and look forward to Heather and Nathalie getting to Germany in May. I will do my best to keep blogging. Thanks for everyone's support and prayers. Tuesday I have softball for the first time so I look forward to that as well as church on Sunday.