USA – Page 7 – Sannipanni

No Gas And No Bailout!

September 30, 2008 4 Comments

This article describes what has been going on in Charlotte for a while now. You see gas stations that don’t display any prices and have plastic bags over their pumps because they have run out of gas. Wow. Apparently this area relies on refineries in the Golf of Mexico and they are still super slow from the two hurricanes. I’ve had friends tell me they had to wait in line for 2 hours to get gas after finally spotting a station with gas. Luckily my car takes diesel and they’ve had that at most of the normal stations (you don’t get it everywhere during normal times to begin with). So I filled the car up last night for 3.29$ a gallon. Not too bad I guess but daham, SCARY! Oh and just for fun, it would take me 1.5 hours to get to work by bus (17 by car)if I ran out of gas. Not to mention the walk along a big road together with sketchy looking shady people. Let’s hope they can catch up with demand again soon!

This article here in German talks about the chaos that supposedly happened yesterday after the congress voted against that big bail out plan for the banks. Well, my internet was still working and it felt just like any other day. It seems like people here have gotten very used to hearing bad news and are just kind of lethargic. And this is Charlotte, the second biggest finance city in the US. Now what with Wachovia being bought up, I’m not sure how we’ll be affected but there was nothing like the drama written in the Spiegel. Actually I am kind of curious how so many European politicians were talking about how they were alright and not badly affected and bla. I mean when did we learn that the entire world’s economy was connected? Uhm like yesterday or what?!
So anyway, I wish the government would give my company a bit of money, too, and it’s kind of upsetting that bad decisions would be rewarded with this bail out plan but in the end we’ll all have to bite the bullet and do something to get the money flowing again. So stupid congress people, who cares about the election at this point?! Just do the right thing and do something. Arg! Yes I’m annoyed and we’ll see where this all leads to…

Family, Friends, Professional Life, Travel, USA

Back from The Summer Break

September 12, 2008 3 Comments

Ah yes so I have decided to call my absence from the blogging world my own personal summer break like any good TV show does. Sounds so much better than saying oh I was too busy and too lazy to write and read blogs. 😉
Alas, summer is officially over in this country after Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Seeing that it has been warm here for a loooong time, I never got a real summer feeling. Hmmm. :-/

Family Visit
So shortly after I came back from visiting my sister and Uti in Connecticut, Anke flew out here and we had a great day downloading her music *rolls eyes* and going to Luca’s pool. We then ordered pizza and ate it with skyline view on his balcony. Nice!
The next day we picked up our parents from the airport. Yay!!! It was über great to see them again after all these months! We enjoyed some lovely cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and then watched some olympics and sent the parents to bed early and hung out with Ash for a bit.
The next day they got to enjoy their birthday gift, which was a couples massage. They really enjoyed that so I can recommend that as a gift! I went running and then did my neighbor a favor and let Bacon out. He was definitely one of the sights to see for my family. Next up was a trip to my company where the parents took their time talking to all the Italians. It was quite funny. 🙂 We then went for a walk in Latta Plantation park. Loads of cicadas (yuk) and fire ants (yuk). Quick stop at Aldi to buy some German beer and then finally we had some sushi at Ru Sans and Gerd was too cute eating it with a fork. Hehe.
It was pouring on Wednesday so we decided to go to the museum. The Discovery Place has an exhibit about Pompeii. Very very interesting. Afterwards we hung out in the general exhibit halls and had a blast playing with the optical illusions. 😀 We cooked yummy chicken that night and watched more olympics.
Thursday we relaxed and then went to Target and then walked uptown to Alive after 5. Thankfully some kids tossed an energy drink at Anke as soon as we got there so we didn’t have to feel bad for her not being 21 yet and enjoyed a cool beer. After having some fun there we took the light rail back home and started cooking. My neighbor stopped by to give me his old TV and he and his friends hauled it up the stairs. He sent them home then and stayed to have a beer with my family, which was only mildy weird. (I mean hello?!)
Friday we drove to Charleston. Oh funny story, we stopped to get gas on the way and after filling up I went inside to wash my hands. The plan was to go to McDonalds and get a coffee but when I got back, my step-dad was gone. Says Mama “oh he just walked to the waffle house”. Uhm, ok. Sketchy area and he walks to the crappy waffle house… uhm ok. So we get in the car and try to go there only to pass a garage with cars with bullet holes. Oh-kay. Well we finally make it to the Waffle House and we have a coffee and share some waffles. Totally very American movie like. It was kind of cute how my parents were so carefree and didn’t think anything about wandering around the sketchy area. Ah yeah the sweet German life.
Well once we got to Charleston we headed straight to the beach on Isle of Palms and it was oh so nice. It was overcast but warm and the water was nice and warm too and we had a great time splashing in the waves and walking around the beach. Grabbed some Wendy’s for dinner and then more olympics and bed.
Saturday we walked around the city and Mama dragged us through the souvenir shops (not that we bought anything… ;-)). Weird weather. The sky was white and it was super humid. Charleston definitely is better to see in spring.
We got back to Charlotte in the evening and hosted a little dinner for some close friends. Bratwurst, broccoli, potatoes and sauce holondaise. How German can it get?! 😉 Super nice time and then the family had to start packing again. Hmpf! 🙁 Dropped them off at the airport Sunday morning and I was really sad. It was kind of nice to have a sister in the same country and I can’t wait to see them all again for Christmas (the latest… you never know).

Trade Show in Atlanta
The day after my parents left I left for a week in Atlanta with my company. We had the industry’s 2nd largest tradeshow world wide. I love the customer interaction, all the fantastic dinner food, and getting to know your co-workers on a less professional basis. We ate at really good places and I think I gained 2kg just from that. I have to say, my favorite was a Brazilian Steakhouse where they had a gorgeous salad bar and then bring you all you can eat meat. Yummy!!! As always my co-workers and boss made fun of me big time for eating so much. What can I say, I love food!
Went out with the company to an Irish pub and then tried to party a bit more at our hotel but the security people quickly put an end to that. Hmpf! Getting up at 6:30 though was always super hard and I was glad to go back home a day earlier than originally planned. It took me almost a week to recover from that week!! But, I heart them trade shows.

Other Stuff
– I’ve been doing Podrunner intervals to train for a 5km run and I actually ran 2 miles without stopping the other day (that is really good for me! ;-)). This week my legs are hurting quite a bit though. I’m thinking split-shin and am kind of taking a break. Ugh! I miss jogging and don’t want to lose what I have just built up!
– Had a nice labor day weekend with a spontaneous surprise visit from my NJ high school friend and her boyfriend and we partied it up with some of the Italians. Her boyfriend actually plays the fiddle and we had a little private concert in the middle of the night at my place. I guess that’s gonna be a once in a life time thing. Met a cute guy at the club with them and we danced and kissed the entire night like teenagers. It was kinda nice but no dates or anything like that.
– The friggin’ economy is annoying me like crazy and I will only work 4 days a week starting next week. Grrrrrrrrr! It sucks when your life depends on one job, meaning if they’d lay me off I’d have to go back to Germany. Starting next month I will be on my other visa (and my internship is over) so at least I could theoretically transfer the visa to another job if they are willing to file the paperwork but there’s almost nothing out there right now. Very frustrating. Can the recession be over, please?! Bring on the elections!
– This week one of my best friends from Germany is visiting. He had a business thing going on in Asheville and got to stay a bit longer to visit. Yay! We wanted to hike around in the mountains on Sunday and then drop him off in Asheville but the car had a flat tire so instead we hiked around hours at Wal*Mart. Soooo annoying! And their service was horrible, too!!!
Got to Asheville at 8 and then we walked around the city for a bit and enjoyed their hippie festival. Well I had to drive back to Charlotte and got back at midnight so I have been kind of exhausted but ok. Wednesday Jensi got back here and we watched Wanted in the one theater that still had it running. Last night after grocery shopping we watched football and the boys played video games at Ash’s place. I think tonight he wants to eat steak so my stupid hot neighbor gave a me a big explanation of all the good steak options in town but I think it will be Outback seeing that my budget is getting tighter. Well, and tomorrow he is already flying back to Germany. 🙁 So nice to have an old friend here.

Friends, USA

Update from The Busy Girl

August 4, 2008 7 Comments

Ok yes, it’s been a long time since I’ve written and I wish I had done it more frequently because I am starting to forget what I’ve been doing. Life here in Charlotte is just sooo busy. There are days on which I have sooo many things going on. Take Thursday two weeks ago for example. After work Birgit and I walked our 5km route, which usually takes us an hour. I went home and showered and then went uptown to Press, a wine bar, to meet with Luca and Ash and their co-worker whose birthday it was. I hung out there for a bit and had some yummy pita and hummus and then drove to M5 to meet the girls there for a drink. Yes. Busy. Well, that is an above average busy day even for me 😉 but I usually have at least one thing going on every single day here and whenever I don’t, I feel bored soooo easily. I don’t know how I lived in Germany!!

Some things I’ve been doing lately:
Was visiting my sister in Connecticut this weekend. I got to CLT airport and get in line for security and – wam! They close security right in front of us and lock down the entire airport. Of course we didn’t know what was going on but luckily after 45 minutes they opened it again. I already saw myself waiting there until late late late. Hung out at Anke’s for a bit and then took the bus to New Haven to visit Uti. We strolled around Yale University, went to IKEA, hung out on her awesome balcony (oh I so want one) and then went a Hibachi Grill. So much fun seeing the chef grill stuff right in front of you and flipping and throwing food. Saturday we saw Ute’s doc and then went to Starbucks and the mall where I left a lot of money. But, they didn’t charge any tax so in essence I saved 17$ compared to shopping in North Carolina. Ha! We also participated in some yummy consumer research and got 12$ for that. Nice!
Then my sis came and we all hung out some more on Ute’s balcony with some pizza from Pepe’s until we decided to join the group in Norwalk with Steffi. We left the husbands to themselves and their beers and had a lovely picnic at the beach and then yummy Thai food before returning to Anke’s place and falling into bed.
We played with the dogs on Sunday, took a stroll through Glastonbury with some java from *$$ (Starbucks, eh? ;-)), barely escaped a thunderstorm, went into Target and then I flew home again. Connecticut was really pretty and the houses in my sister’s town were cozy and cute and homely and didn’t all have that same annoying neighborhood look as a lot have here. But, I was glad to go back to Charlotte. Feels so much younger and less like family life (I don’t mean my sis, I mean it feels like it’s a place for families to live, not singles). Yay Queen City!

– Went running last Wednesday and fell over a wide, dark speed bump. I rolled over it like a stuntman pro though and didn’t land on my knees or hands. Got a fantastic bruise out of it; it’s huge and dark! Sadly no one stopped to see if I was ok but I guess I did wave that I was ok when they looked. Hmpf. So I got up and continued running. Of course I sucked but oh well. 😉 I still have quite a way to go before reaching my goal of running 5k without walking in between.

– I had a software class at the local community college for two days the other week. It was fun to be a student again and I learned a lot of cool things. Here’s to hoping that the company makes some money so I can go to Advanced Illustrator…

– My parents and my sister are coming in 6 and 7 days! I’m so excited!!! They’re gonna stay for a week and then I’m off to Atlanta for a trade show. Wish it was longer but oh well. :-/

Friends, Germany, USA

I Knew It Was A Bad Day When…

June 30, 2008 3 Comments

…the construction workers started some annoying noise at 8am on that Sunday. But you know, I didn’t mind much because I had gone to bed quite early the day before. So after enjoying the comfort of my warm sheets for a bit longer I actually got up, drank a glass of grapefruit juice (Rich got me hooked on that after our trip to Hilton Head Island), ate a cereal bar and put my running shoes on. Yeah, crazy me went running! Hello?! America is definitely doing strange things to me. Now, you have to know, I despise jogging. It’s not something I do. At the gym I use the elliptical. I avoid the treadmill. Anyway, after an hour on the elliptical on Friday and a 5km walk with Birgit on Saturday I suddenly felt like running to Starbucks, which is 2km away. Of course I didn’t actually jog all the way to Starbucks but I did run for a total of 1.3km!! Wow Sanna! The iced latte in my hand on the way back kind of prevented me from exerting any more such stupidity on the way back and of course today I am paying the price for 3 days of torture (aka exercise): my legs are sore!
So the day went on, I was now sitting on my front steps eating Greek yoghurt with fresh blueberries and a nectarine and was using my skype phone to talk to my littlest sister and my Mom. At some point I decide it is too hot to stay outside for more than 20 minutes and want to walk back indoors. Well. The door was locked! Bloody hell! Armed with nothing but a teaspoon, a bowl, a skype phone and a half dead tomato plant I try to lockpick it. No such luck. My stupid hot neighbor’s comment that I lived in Fort Knox comes to mind and I give up and try to locate a neighbor. Of course the only one who’s home is the guy that lives at the other end of the building. Wouldn’t normally matter but I was barefoot and the sidewalk was hot.
John was super sweet though. He had to leave but gave me a key to his place, put the soccer game on his nice TV for me, let me check my mails so that I could find some phone numbers (I have very few numbers in my skype phone) and told me to make myself at home. How nice?! Well, of course that day my boss/landlord had his cell phone in his car so he never picked up in the 4 hours that I tried calling him (he apologized about 5 times this morning).
At some point I got Ash’s number from facebook and he came an hour after I called him (walking back and forth to my place to get the skype phone in range). Apparently every cool American guy has a fancy lock picking set. Unfortunately Ash isn’t professionally lockpick trained though and my lock not quite so simple. He gave his scary looking friend a call and went to pick him up and the guy tried really hard, too. But, it didn’t work. I feel really secure now! I do live in Fort Knox! So the nice guys left me alone again because they had to work. Ash was so nice and let me keep his cell phone so that the locksmith could call me back after I called him.
That guy finally came and 2 minutes and 2 air bags and some fancy lockpicking device later he had my door open and I was 155$ poorer. It takes a pro to get into Fort Knox….

So, where I was going with that story is, as soon as I noticed I had locked myself out I knew Germany was going to lose. It just felt it. *sighs* Oh well. 72 – 80 – 96 – 2010?

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