Back in the DK

After 6 weeks we are finally home! We hadn't anticipated being gone quite that long, but while in Dallas, Michael was asked to stay a couple more weeks for work, so we did. I hadn't realized so many people didn't know that this was actually a business trip with a little play time added in.

Our time in Texas was so much fun. We saw a ton of our friends and families and so many of them stayed up WAY past their bedtimes with work or school the next day. We got to see all of our parents, Michaels entire mom's side of the family, a large amount of Michaels dad side of the family and about half of my family in El Paso. We got to visit with an array of friends including friends from TI Dallas, college, band camp and high school, friends from Denmark, friends moving to Denmark, and even Texas friends that have lived in Denmark!!

Everyone made us feel like rock stars as many changed, and worked around their schedules to be able to see us. I've even had a handful of people (including two of my blogging buddies) tell me that their moms called to tell them we were back in Texas! We got our own personal planners in some cities! When we were in Austin, Michael's aunt Kathy arranged our entire Saturday for us, which included one of my best friends from high school. While we were in El Paso, my brother Joe arranged several little get together for us including the bowling night, a big dinner at "Carlos and Mickey's" and a couple other little things. This took a ton of extra baggage off my back where I didn't have to worry about planning anything. So thanks Kathy and Joe!

I had forgotten how drastic Texas weather is. We saw snow, hail, floods, thunderstorms, tornado watches, sleet, dust storms, strong Lubbock winds and lay out in the sun 80 degree beautiful weather. I often miss the windy Lubbock weather but being in it again, I quickly changed my mind.

We unfortunately have spent enough money on gyms in the various cities to probably hold several memberships. The gym we used in El Paso, knew us by the end and stopped making us pay for a guest pass. The gym we used in Lubbock helped us in saving a little money by giving us a clip card for the gym. The gym we used in Dallas was one of our former gyms which was cool in that we actually got to see several old gym acquaintances!

As for money, OMG! Being paid in Danish Kroner and spending it in the US is incredible right now! Due to the current exchange rate, everything was SOOOO SOOOO cheap! There were a few times we were out to dinner looking at expensive items like steaks that cost 22 dollars thinking wow, that is a little more than we want to spend, but when we realized it was only 109 Danish Kroner we were AMAZED how feakin' cheap it was. 109 Danish Kroner for a big juicy Texas steak!?!?! That's insanity!! Waiter, bring us 2! We not only stocked up on toiletries and other odds and ends, but were able to bring back a decent amount new clothes(thank you sales at the outlet mall), shoes, books, and our two favorite purchases, which were a new camera and new MP3 player. Thank you weak American economy!!!

The last stop out of Dallas naturally was to Mary's Starbucks store in Euless next to the airport. We ate lunch and drank some coffee and said our goodbyes.

Hanging out at Starbucks with our Favorite Black Apron Barista

This trip was exactly what we were needing. A healthy dose of old familiar faces, places and more Mexican food than we can handle. I think we are set to make what is left of our time in Denmark even better now that we got the fuel to push us through to the end. As everyone knows, we love it here and love being here, but not having been to the states in almost 1 year was starting to wear on us. Our next trip home is being planned for early November. Thanks a hundred times to everyone that made time to see us, got a drink with us, went out to eat with us, cooked dinner for us, threw parties for us, played guitar hero with us, gave us a place to sleep and let us do laundry. :)

DL reaction

I RARELY get carded anymore. I'm fine with that as I'm happy to finally look older than 21. We took our Danish friend, Martin to the cheesecake factory Saturday night. Upon leaving I told Michael I looked like I was back in I was in college, mostly due to the way I was dressed. He wholeheartedly agreed and said, he enjoyed having a hot young looking wife on his arm. ;)

I did get carded after ordering a glass of wine. When I handed the little 20 year old waitress my drivers license she looked at it, her eyes got big and said, "WOW!" Then said it a second time along with, "I was not expecting that". I thought maybe she new the last name "Pate" or something and then I realized she was talking about my age. I said, "My age?" she said, "Yes, I SERIOUSLY was NOT expecting that! That is so cool". I've had people tell me I look younger than I am my whole life, but this was a whole new reaction on a completely new scale. As she walked away I couldn't figure out if I should be happy I can shock someone when they see 1979 or if she was saying, "My God your old...." I decided to stick with being happy.

Just a few more days in Dallas. We are SO tired and ready for our own bed again.

Texas Tour - Lubbock

Strangely, the 6 hour car ride to Lubbock felt incredibly LONG after the 10 hour drive from Dallas to El Paso. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because no matter which way you go, there is NOTHING between these two towns. We drove to Odessa and then North to Lubbock instead of taking the shortcut through New Mexico, because, well we just despise driving that way, so we haven't in a long long time.

We got stuck behind this truck at the Border Patrol Station coming out of El Paso.
It was time for "fun with camera"

Michael making sure he knows where we are going while I goof off.
YAY TEXAS
We felt home as the land turned into flat farmland.
Seriously people, Denmark is NOT flat...Lubobck IS flat.

Lubbock was fun and even busier than El Paso. One evening we drove out to the Lockny area to spend the night seriously in the middle of nowhere with Michaels cousin Derrick and his wife and baby. (Derrick was the best man in our wedding) . Michaeløs other cousin Kasey and her friend David came out too. We sat around, talked, drank good beer, watch the A&M/Kansas State game, and played some games. We hadn't seen any of them in about a year and a half and it was really great to have some time with them. Derrick has NEVER fed us a bad meal and that streak continues. He boiled a HUGE pot over a fire outside of crawdads, shrimp, corn and potatoes. YUM!!! Then in the morning, he went out and got a ton of stuff for fajitas.

Hagen, the baby is seriously one of the sweetest children I've ever met! But I might be a little biased as his last name is, "Pate". He has the giant Pate forehead and is ADORABLE. We had so much fun playing with him.

Cousins

Michaels mom and step dad came down from Amarillo and we got to have a lot of time with them along with Michaels aunt Karen, cousin Kailey and his uncle David. One of our favorite things about Lubbock is sitting around Nana's kitchen table with all the chairs filled up just talking and we did lots of that. We of course stopped by Tech and only had about 45 minutes there which was WAY too short!!

Carrye and me in my old second home -The Texas Tech Library.

We left Lubbock on Monday and started our 5 hour trek back to Dallas. This drive was fast and we returned in no time. Along the way we spotted this at a rest stop

Our Trusty Car

Once again, we are back in Dallas. I was suppose to leave Dallas on Tuesday. It's a long story, but in short we are still in Dallas until March 29th! We get back to Denmark on the 30th. When we FINALLY get back to Denmark we will have been gone 2 days short of 6 weeks!?!?!?!? DANG!

I'm actually starting to feel homesick.... *sigh*

Texas Tour - El Paso Take 2

Michael and I are not "road trip" people in the slightest way. Put me on a 14 hour plane flight to Tokyo and I have no problems. Put me in a car for 2 hours to get from Lubbock to Amarillo, and by the end of it, I'm about ready to start clawing my way out of the car. When we decided to drive ourselves around Texas rather than fly, I was a bit scared. Seriously, we both hate car trips. And if you know how gigantic Texas is, and know the locations we had to visit, you might be scared too. Michael kinda ditched me emotionally. He was for once, very excited about our "road trip" across Mighty Texas. I don't know why. Maybe because its been about 10 months since he last drove a car?

After our Austin venture our next step was to tackle the "BIG" Drive. Thats right Ladies and Gentleman, we were going to be CRAZY and drive from Dallas to El Paso. Dallas to El Paso? Yes, Dallas to El Paso. That's 10 long hours, squeezed in a car across Texas. In case you have ever wondered, yes, Dallas to El Paso is indeed a LONG drive! But, the insane thing was, this drive was actually GREAT and passed soooo fast. We got out of Dallas about 7:45am and arrived on my moms doorstep at about 5:30pm! The last hour and a half was a little long, but I think it was more the anticipation of being almost there than we wanted it to be over.

Long Haul Across Texas Scenery

My Texas Mountains starting to get bigger and bigger as we get closer to El Paso.

To be honest, I'm a bit blogged out right now from all the "travelogue-ing" I've been doing from Rome, Florence, Uzzano, Dallas and Austin. So my El Paso and Lubbock sections are going to be FAR from as detailed. Actually, by the time we got to Lubbock I barely took any pictures!

El Paso was spent catching up with family and a few friends. The few friends I got to see were kind enough to not even meet up with us till about 10pm and they all had work in the mornings. Those are good friends. I got some time with 3 of my 5 siblings, but sadly missed the other 2. I missed ALL of my nieces and nephews except for two of them.

Mi Familia

Me and my buddy Ian.

Back in 8th-11th grade he was one of my best friends in the whole world. I could count on this guy for ANYTHING and vise versa. He even took me to homecoming our Junior Year. In the past 11 years, my brother stole him from me and now, he is one of Joe's best friends in the whole world. I'm cool with that though. As long as he stays in Joe's life, he will stay in mine too.

There is a new bowling ally in El Paso close to Sunland Park Mall. On Tuesday there is a really cool special. You go, pay 10 dollars for bowling and they give you a 10 dollar gift card back to use at the bar!! SWEET! Free bowling and lots of pitchers of beer. So we went with some friends and Joe LATE at night, but they are so cool that they stayed up.

Joe checking how shiny Michaels head is.

Michael ready to bowl and showing off his big arm

Joe, Michael, Jeremy and Dlane
My OLD OLD friend Chris bowled with us too. Him, Joe and I have known each other since our "Western Hills" days!! (elementary school)

I requested lobster one night. So my sweet mom, made us lobster one night, and it was delicious.

Michael, Sharon and my mom ready to dig in

Our last night, we played Guitar Hero. It is just as cool as everyone says.

The weather in El Paso was a very welcome change from the snow we had in Dallas. It was HOT (70 something degrees) and SUNNY and BEAUTIFUL. It was exactly what I was hoping for from Texas. While most El Pasoeans would say it wasn't hot, just a little warm, to my Danish adjusted body, it was HOT. I wore tank tops, shorts, and skirts and loved every moment of it.

I've also updated the post below with captions to the few pictures on there. :)

Texas Tour - El Paso.... kind of

Oh my gosh. We've been having fun and in turn we have been SO busy!
I started to write this blog post, and uploaded a couple pictures. And now, I just learned that I'm about to leave. So, this is my blog post!
Enjoy these 5 pictures!

The weather in El Paso was BEAUTIFUL!
I was torn, I wanted to climb a tree but I had on a skirt....the tree won and I climbed it skirt and all!

Goofing around

This is Camille. She use to live "down the hill" from us while we were growing up. I hadn't seen her since we were somewhere between probably 4 and 8 years old.

Michael and Jeremy.
Jeremy is one of mine and Joe's dearest friends ever from high school.
Him and Michael are good buds too.

My sweet not so little nieces

Texas Tour - Dallas Part 2

Today is only Saturday and I have already forgotten what I did during the day on Wednesday! Perhaps it is because Wednesday night was so fun, the it made no room for any other Wednesday memories?

So, everyone that reads this SHOULD know "Kelli" by now. If not, you haven't been reading often enough! Kelli and I started as blog buddies, but our friendship has grown very quickly very fast. We chat often via blog, email and skype. It has been amazing for me to have a good friend, that is and will be experiencing a lot of things things that Michael and I have in our lives, in regards to moving not just overseas but to Denmark. While our situations are very different, they are also, actually very much the same.

We have meet in Denmark twice, and when we found out we were coming to Dallas, she was one of the first people to find out. Of course there was no doubt that we would HAVE to meet up, so we worked out a time and Wednesday night it was.

I was excited when she told me that we would get to meet her dear friend Shelly and her parents. I had obviously heard TONS about them all as they are all very important in her life.
When we arrived Michael and I were greeted with three hugs and a wagging tale and immediately felt comfortable.

We ate delicious food and all got to know each other talked alot about Denmark and all sat and listened to Kelli tell us about the different obstacles she is facing in regards to moving. Those things range from getting her lovable pets over to what in the world she is going to do when her "Jiff" supply runs out. Shelly, Michael and I tried to convince her that organic peanut butter with no sugar really is delicious, but she would have none of it! We gave her some to try in Denmark and while she ate it with a smile, it was clear it wasn't Jiff.

Kelli and our new friends
The white furrball is Albert.

Kelli and her parents

We love tall bald men

Michael and his new buddy Albert

Kelli and I "co-bloged" about this, so if you want to see all the sweet things Kelli had to say about us (she is WONDERFUL for our self esteem) you can see it here:
http://madsandkelli.blogspot.com/2008/03/min-venner-fra-danmark-kommer-til.html

Thursday the weather was awful. Again, not that we aren't use to the cold and the snow and the rain and the sleet, because, trust me, that is just "Thursday" in Denmark's, but we brought no warm clothes. We went to the gym in the evening and only had 30 minutes to work out because they were closing 3 hours early because of weather. REALLY PEOPLE?? It seriously wasn't bad down where the gym was but, that Texas in the snow for you. At least the gym was practically empty. In Denmark when the weather is bad, the gym is PACKED and when the weather is nice, it is EMPTY. Funny huh? After the gym we met Chintan and his wife Deepali. They are both graduates of Texas Tech. Chintan and Michael shared an office while Michael was finishing his Ph.D and Chinton was starting his. Him and his wife are both Electrical Engineers at TI. I can USUALLY hold my own in engineering conversations. I've heard the same stuff for about 10 years and can follow quite well, with other engineers, but not with these two. It was the first time in many many years where I was busy analyzing the ceiling during the conversation.

Texas Tech Electrical Engineering Alumni

Finally Friday came along. I spent most of the day hanging out a Mary's Starbuck's, reading the paper, drinking coffee and listened to her train a guy. Of course, she would occassionally come and chat with me too. While reading the paper I could hardly believe that this actually made it into the news. If you are familiar with the Danish bike culture this should make you laugh. If not, I will tell you that in Denmark, you don't stop riding your bike because of a little (or a lot) of snow, or rain, or wind, or cold.....you get the idea.

We ate lunch together and I did a little food shopping and went back to the hotel to get stuff ready to leave on Saturday morning for our long haul across Texas. Our last stop for Dallas was to Martins house. He is the newest Dane in the DTU/TTU exchange program. We along with Klaus went to hang out for a little bit and got to know each other a litle better. I love listening to all the different experiences each one of these guys has had in regards to the program.

Texas Tour - Dallas Take 1

We have a pretty good little schedule set up for us here in Dallas. We wake up between 5:30 and 6:00 and drive over to the TI gym. When we are done there we come back to the hotel, Michael takes a shower, we eat breakfast and I take him to work. Then my days start. I have been incredibly busy (until today) during the days. I've been shopping to stock up on stuff like cheap shaving cream, medicines, shampoo and other odds and ends. Mary took 2 days off this week so we could hang out and have some good 'ol fashioned best friend time. Michael finishes up work between 5:00-6:00 and everynight since we got here, we have had something going on and people to see! It's been a whole lot of fun!

Monday night (AKA. Snow Night) we saw Kelly and James. Kelly and Michael have known each other since they were little and graduated high school together. I've known Kelly since our freshman year at Tech. While we were living in Dallas we found her on "Myspace" and discovered she was living in Plano not to far from where we were living. Her and James were married shortly after we got back in touch. They are such a sweet and fun couple and we all get along great. We meet them for some drinks and lots of laughter.

Kelly and James

Mini Cooper Pirate Reunion
complete with hook, eye patch and parrot

Cold Outside

Tuesday Mary and I met at the Galleria for lunch and shopping, though the only thing either of us bought was makeup that was desperately needed. So maybe it was more for lunch and "window shopping" . We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe . I had been craving a greek salad and got one that completely satisfied that craving. It was delicious. For dessert Mary got a huge strawberry shortcake! We went into the little Art Gallery at the Galleria and saw some work by a guy named, "Robert Deyber". His stuff was amazing and hilarious at the same time. All of his work was paintings of play on words.

Mary and her strawberry shortcake

Another Cock and Bull Story

My Ass is on the Line

Screw Up

Mister Klaus is Dallas too and Tuesday we went to eat dinner with him. Klaus always seems to be in the same places as us. When we are in Lubbock, so is he, when we are in Dallas, so is he, when we are in Denmark, so is he. You get the idea! We went to a really cool place called, "Love and War in Texas" If you are going to be in Dallas, this is a place to check out. It was so sterotypical Texas and really made us happy to be there. The waiter was completely Texan and the atmosphere perfect. I had brisket, Michael had a steak and Klaus had roasted wild boar. I forgot how kick ass Texas food is. YUM! We got some Shiner Black's as well and were VERY surprised when they brought us out 3 glasses of Euro sized beers. Euro sized meaning the huge glasses you see people holding when they go to Germany. Thats right, we had liter beers for only 6 bucks!!

Texas flag with a dried yellow rose

Everything really is bigger in Texas!

Klaus showed his Texas colors by being the ONLY one of us to clear our plates!
Good Job Klaus!

Michael showed his European Colors by being the only one to finish his beer!

The weater is OK. I can walk around in short sleeves comfortably one minute, and the next it is FRRREEEEZING! I'm so not use to this. I don't think I miss Texas weather. I'll be surprised if I make it to the end of the trip without getting sick!!

Texas Tour - Arriving & Austin

When we got back to Denmark from Italy, Michael had a whole 11 hours from touchdown til he would be back in the air. We went right home and Michael went to work (at 5pm) to pick up some bills he needed me to pay the following day. I unpacked our bag and started repacking this time in two suitcases and different clothes. We did our laundry all at Myra's before we left knowing we didn't have much time at home. We got Michael ready to go and went to bed about 11pm. The alarm started buzzing again at 2:30am! YUCK! The taxi arrived at 4am and Michael was in the air again at 7am. I spent all day Wednesday getting everything ready for us to leave for 3.5 weeks. I left first thing in the morning the day after Michael.

Before boarding the aircraft we were told that we would be flying into headwinds and would have to make a stop in Goose Bay Canada to refuel. This place was up at the top of Northern Canada and when we landed there the pilot told us the outside temp was -8F/-22C. Burrr!!! It was beautiful looking and right on the coast, It seems like an amazing place to see in the summer.

Refueling in Goose Bay

Goose Bay from the Air

Since we arrived we have been busy busy busy and have been having a lot of fun. We have seen friends, family and even old gym acquaintances at the TI gym. We couldn't wait to see Mary and Jason so Friday it was dinner with the Partney's

Mary and Jason, being Mary and Jason

We didn't waste anytime to start traveling around Texas. Saturday we were off to Austin. Unfortunately we didn't have much time down there and could only squeeze in a few people. We went straight to Michael's aunt Kathy's house. We had some wine and cheese and played with her new doggie, Bucky. He was hands down, the shyest dog on the planet. The three of us went to go see one of my dearest friends, Sarah. Sarah and I have been bud's since 7th and I love her to death. Kathy and her have become pals too so it was easy to get to see both Kathy and Sarah on the same trip. Sarah has two dogs. One is Chaplin and he is OCD. He only turns left. It is the weirdest thing ever. The other is named Henry. We are in love with him. We have tried to steal him before, but were unsuccessful. On this trip, Michael was dubbed his Godfather. Sarah showed us her new house and gave us champagne before we picked up hers and Kathy's other halfs and went out to a really cool restaurant called, "The Oasis" on Lake Travis. The day was BEAUTIFUL! I had wished I had worn a skirt or shorts. Our view was lovely and the company wonderful.

Me and Bucky.
Why do dogs always look at me like I'm insane?

Kathy and Michael

Chaplin and Henry

I Love You Michael!!!

Family Picture

At the Oasis

We are so cute!

We left Austin in the evening and headed North to Hutto to visit and stay the night with Michaels dad and step mom. I was still pretty jet lagged so did my best to be good company for a little bit, but then crashed at 9:00. Sunday was spent catching up, eating, relaxing, napping, watching some tv and movies. It was FANTASTIC. We got out of there about 5 to start our drive back to Dallas. Without a doubt we needed (and wanted) MUCH more time in the Austin area, but we took what we could and enjoyed every moment!

Like Father Like Son

CHEESE

My In-Laws Love Me!