puppy love and flip flops

So our delightful dog has decided she's a hider. She takes things, and hides them. Normally it's not a problem because her idea of "hiding" it putting something behind a table, where we can all see it anyway. However, she has this rawhide bone that she is somehow very good at hiding. Last time when we finally found it, it was in my roommate's bed under the sheets. Well, she hid her bone again and we still haven't found it...and it's been three days.

In other news, we were on the news. We were walking to the dog park when this car pulled up next to us and asked if they could interview us about our flip flops. We were like, "Well, we're from California, so we're not sure we can really say anything..." And she says, "perfect!"

So we go, OK. And all of a sudden she gets really dramatic and says "Did you know that your flip flops carry 18,000 microbes? How does that make you feel?" We're like, wait, you were cute and perky two seconds ago and now you're using scare tactics. WTF. We answered her questions as if she was a silly girl (the desk at work where you eat is dirty, the money you touch is really dirty and you touch it with your hands and not your feet). In other words, is this really what you care about? Then they turn the camera off and she's all cute again, "I know, it's so funny. I mean, I wear these heels on the metro all the time." So we kind of smiled, walked on and forgot about it.

The next day, we get a text saying, "saw you with your dog and roommate on tv this morning. Very cute." This cannot seriously be our claim to fame...

Puppy

Everyone meet Lucile!

I'd give you better pictures but she doesn't really like to stand still and I hate using the flash too much with her. All in all, she seems to be a good dog. We'll have to train her to sit and walk properly (she prefers to pull the leash and then suddenly stop) but otherwise, it seems to be working out.

Other than that, I got three internship offers from different departments within the same organization. I REALLY want to do it, but they require you to work full time and I'm not sure I want to do that while I'm in school. At the same time, they're REALLY good internships and I wouldn't be able to afford to live here without being paid after I graduate. I have to decide by tomorrow and I've been talking with fellow interns to get their thoughts on the issue:
One says yes, the other says no.

Guess it's up to me to decide.

Washington DC Updates

Just to catch everyone up, I came back from Germany two and a half weeks ago and now I've settled into my home for the next two years in DC. I'm living with a high school friend and starting graduate school in less than a month.

We've been planning on adopting a dog and yesterday we got a visit from a potential pup named Lucile:
She's a 1.5 year old beagle and simply adorable. So, if our testing period with her goes well next week, we'll be welcoming a new addition to the apartment family! This program we're working through is really great because you get to meet the animals and then you can choose to foster the animal for a week or two to decide if he/she will work with you and your living situation. And, if you decide to adopt but then something doesn't work out later, the organization will take the dog back again.

It's really sad, though, a lot of people have been bringing dogs back that they had adopted before - even years before - because they've been losing their jobs or homes and can't take care of the dogs anymore. So this organization and others like it have been really overwhelmed in the past couple of months.

Apparently there are a ton of beagles and hounds up for a adoption in the DC/VA areas because people buy them for hunting purposes and then if they aren't good hunting dogs, the people just let them go in the wild or drop them off at an animal shelter. Crazy.

And in other news, there are tiny little mites in the grass outside our apartment that had been biting my roommate on her legs. I had been fine because I always wear jean pants. My roommate had been walking by in skirts because she wears skirts to work. We had thought maybe she had an allergic reaction because her bites were so large and insane. But then yesterday they finally got to me, too. The buggers are really mean! My bite swelled up like crazy and itches. I found it when I woke up this morning and it's been driving me mad.

Flowers!

For those of you who have followed me in the past, you know that flowers are my all-time favorite thing to photograph. I find them so fascinating and cool. Here are some from a botanic garden outside of Hamburg (I'm sorry I don't have the name). I apologize for the size of the post, I haven't been able to figure out how to hide the pictures under a link.

Hamburg Hafen

In Hamburg they are creating a new Hafen City (Harbor City), that is intended to be the newest hip hangout. They're converting an area of the new harbor to a bunch of excessively expensive, modern condos with chic restaurants and cafes on the bottom levels. It's not done yet, though, so the scenery is littered with construction materials and cranes. Nonetheless, the night we went two of the restaurants were closed to the public due to wedding receptions, which implies that the area is already taking off as a social center.

Inaugural Post

Hi and welcome to my new blog! I've just switched over and I'm already thrilled with the difference. For one thing, posting pictures is ten times easier. I'll be posting here from now on, so you can delete the other website address - unless you like going through the old archives. I debating whether I want to post my old entries here, but I think I've decided against it. It's too much work.

ALSO, if you ever want to see photos in their original size, you just click on them and a new window pops up (I think!).
In honor of the economic crisis Germany is rebuilding every single road they can find. In addition to multiple delays and a rise in car accidents, it makes me angry because I hate driving and all of a sudden the beautiful open autobahns have turned into an imitation Los Angeles. One construction company seems to have understood the problem and decided to provide some moral support.

Every so often along this 10 km stretch of construction, there are these signs. They started in red, but I couldn't get my camera out in time.

Then red, yellow, green, until geschafft!
You made it!

The construction company definitely gets kudos for a creative response to a very frustrating issue. Afterall, it's the thought that counts, right?