Alles Gute!

Dear friends and family from home… if a guy ever had a reason to be REALLY far away from home on his birthday but still feel the LOVE from everyone at home, it is me. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. For the past few days, getting mail has been rather fun. You are all so thoughtful. I am truly blessed with such friends and family.

You all rock!

Tomorrow, I travel to Kitzingen were I will rendezvous with some of the other Cincinnati ICP students before we travel up to Berlin for the weekend. That’s right… I’m heading up to that other big city in Germany! It should be a great time and a good way to spend an extended weekend here in Germany. Ascension Thursday (Christi Himmelfahrt) is a national holiday in Germany, so nobody works! That will make up for me not getting Monday off for Memorial Day. Ha!

The past week and a half have been rather low-key and consisted of mostly relaxing, reading, running, and random events (yes… I like alliteration). Work on the other hand was a bit more… hectic. One of the department’s main test-stand leaders was out sick all week and another leader was finishing up his internship. That basically left me to look after two test stands throughout the week, and I felt a little pulled down by the weight. If I thought I was a good multi-tasker, this was a great test. Imagine just learning how to run a modal analysis test (for you non engineer types, let’s call it underwater basket weaving) and now you have three different supervisors telling you in German that the deadlines are tomorrow… the end of the week… NOW! Wow. A bit of an overload… BUT, life goes on and no harm done. I didn’t blow anything up, so all is good! This week will be a little less stressful since it is short and my fellow test-stand leader/supervisor is no longer sick.

The week itself was rather nice. The weather has been great for the most part, and I was able to enjoy it a bit on Wednesday as I went out grilling with some friends. I must also mention that Tuesday about made my week, because I discovered that Germans DO eat chili over here! Thank God! But unfortunately they have no idea what oyster crackers are... and they don’t cover their chili with a ton of shredded cheese. I know… a bit disheartening. Through the weekendend, I ran mostly errands and got to know a few of the parishioners in the area a bit better. I really do love how welcoming everyone in this community is.

Skyline... I miss you...

Finally, I’ll add here that my younger brother graduated this weekend. I couldn’t be home for the festivities, which was a downer, but I am very proud of him. Make sure you send him some congratulations if you haven’t already!

So… thanks again for the birthday wishes everyone! And happy Memorial Day and Ascension Thursday!

Peace,

Corey