Life Abroad

Goodness. A lot has happened. But not much is new. Work Softball Work Sleep Softball. I am liking my job, my co workers are great and it is very interesting being in an American community in Germany. The military people are an interesting breed. Many want nothing to do with the German community and stay sheltered on base. Its like a whole new world.
In the time since my last post the European Championship Soccer Tournament has come and gone. Germany came in second! It was awesome... there were huge celebrations after each victory, and the streets were packed with fans and honking cars.
The team has been playing well. We still have one loss for the entire season. We have one more season game to play at the end of this month, and we are guaranteed first place in the Southern league, and will begin playoffs in early August. As a team we are looking towards the better competition that awaits us.
My July 4th was spent at the baseball field working a game between the German and French National Teams. It was a good game, and Germany won.
We then went out on the town and had a ... well ... fun but not-so-memorable night
July 6 is when I celebrated July 4th. We went to the German American Festival held annually on the American Base and we had spareribs, hot wings, American soda and beer, and watched fire works while listening to live country all night long. We even got free cowboy hats! It was a fun little taste of home.
The next day, after recovering from line dancing, Pikake, Mona and I went into Swetzingen for the day to see the castle and its garden. We must have been there for a few hours, the garden was huge! We spent the day lost in our imaginations inside the garden.



And afterwards we went and looked at scary local modern art

That is the most exciting stuff that has happened recently. Aug 4th I am hoping to return home for 2 weeks to be with the family and am really looking forward to it. When I return, it will be focus on the Cup and Championship, and enjoying my last month in Germany.
Thanks for stopping by
Take care...

June has arrived quickly here in Germany. As I mentioned in the last post, we now have another American playing out here, her name is Pikake and she is originally from Hawaii. We get along great, and I have been busy "showing her the ropes." In her first week we took a nice trip to Hiedelberg with some of the team where we hiked to a Castle, and had ice cream and a drink in the quaint village below. Hiedelberg is a stunning place, alleged to be the place where Mark Twain gained the inspiration for "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Heidelberg is only a twenty minute drive from Mannheim, where I live.


Other than that Pikake and I spent her first couple of weeks roaming the city on our bikes.

I banned myself from drinking alcohol for 4 weeks, (reduced from 5 due to good behavior) and last Saturday I celebrated making it! We were also celebrating having the entire team back together for the season (only one left to return, and one whos knocked up) so we had a barbecue on the field.
Another update: I have a job! Its retail, working at a garden, furniture and toy store on base, but I should stay busy now
Every game we have played since my last post we have won, with little trouble. I am looking forward to two big games against Haar tomorrow, the first of June.
And I have Madonna concert tickets to see her on my birthday in Germany! Fate, I tell you!
Thats the most of it, I guess. Thanks for staying updated....

Oh, and the weather has been amazingly beautiful, except the past 2 days have been really stormy...
Until next time...

Greetings! Well, so far in Germany, not too much has happened, and while I promised to keep this entertaining, I've had a high demand for an update. So I apologize for the lack of excitement, but such is life. As of May 16th I have been here for one month. The time has passed surprisingly quick, and summer is well on its way and the weather is gorgeous.
So update on life:
I am currently job hunting on American military bases in the area. This sounds exciting, but as military spouses and kids have priority for jobs, I have been subject to apply at Taco Bell, among other such quality jobs. However, I have my fingers crossed for a few better opportunities. I hope to have a job by my next post. You see, not only will this provide me with some extra cash flow (being a professional softball player in Germany is not too lucrative ) it will also give me a way to fill my day. We practice nights, 3 times a week, and play on the weekends, but that leaves me with plenty of down time during the days...filling these hours would be an added benefit to the job. Today, the other American on our softball team arrives. She is a utility player/hitter with speed, and it will be nice to have someone from home to hang out with.
Softball:

We have played 7 games thus far, and lost one. We tend to be a fairly dominant team, last year we won every game until post season. So this one loss was a bit shocking, but motivating. The following is a link to the most recent update on the team, however it is in German, so may not be useful:
http://www.tornados.de/modules/news/article.php?storyid=260
and some pictures from the games are at this link (these are for the whole club, so all teams are represented) :
http://picasaweb.google.de/rbeuchert
Next weekend we will have most of our players back, and be ready to start preparing for the European Cup, which is the biggest tournament of the year for us. We will be competing against all of the best teams in Europe. This takes place in early September...
Things I'm looking forward to this summer:
-Getting a job
-Traveling to Prague
-Hoping to travel to Barcelona
-The Madonna concert comes to Germany
-The European Cup
-Any other fun things that come up...
So stay posted... “May the dreams of your past be the reality of your future”

I have been in Germany for a week now. I have decided, since abroad, the easiest way to share my life and times is with a blog. I will try to keep it entertaining and semi up to date.
This is my third year here, and each year I come back I feel like nothing has changed. Mannheim is a beautiful, friendly city.

The team is a bunch of fun German girls, except for one other American who lives here and is preggers, although this year we will have one other American along for the journey. Our first official season games were Sunday near Munich. We lost the first game, and won the second. On last Sunday we played a pokal game, which is a smaller, less competitive league we are also in. We won 16-0 and only played 4 innings. It was boring, but about as exciting as I was ready for after arriving just that weekend.

While here I am also helping Coach the 2nd team, and am trying to find a job... so it should be a busy summer (I hope).
Just a note about my past and possible future, for those who don’t know:
After graduating San Francisco State in 2006 with a degree in Liberal Studies, I left to Germany to play softball for the first time. I loved it. I returned last year for another successful season, where we were German Champions for the second year in a row and went to the European Cup, where we did well enough to get invited to compete again this year in Prague. So this is my third and final season in Mannheim. I love it, and have gotten to travel a bit in my time in Europe.
In October of 2007 I departed Germany, and after a brief stop at home, I left to Perth, Australia for my first season there. It was not only successful on the softball front, I loved it! The country, the people, the atmosphere, it was a great experience. I was there until mid March of this year. I saw a very small bit of Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, but spent most of my time in Perth, playing for the Morley Eagles and the WA State team. In my time there I faced all of the girls up for the Olympic selection for 08. It was amazing. I plan on returning in October, if everything goes as planned, for one more season.
So that’s the background story...
My journey is well underway, I now invite you to check up on it