The Hiding Place

Last night I finished reading the" The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom. If you are looking for an extremely inspiring and moving read, I would highly recommend this book! Corrie and her family hid Jews in their home in Holland during the war, and were turned into the German police by a fellow dutchmen. After being taken away to prison camps...it was only Corrie and her sister Betsie who remained of their family. They were put through pure torture from camp to camp, fought through disease, fleas and filthy living conditions... yet, they always thanked God for everything, even the fleas that infested their cot! Their amazing faith to God really opened my eyes to realize how grateful I am to live the life I am living right now. It taught me that no matter how hard life may seem at times, God is always with you through it all. Though Betsie passed away, Corrie survived the holocaust and spent the remainder of her life traveling the world to share their amazing story of faith and love. Corrie passed away on her birthday at the age of 91. How I wish I could have seen her speak and tell her what an amazing person she was! Maybe I will bump into her in heaven one day =)

Trip to Spain, visit to Morocco!

About a week and a half ago, Dan and I packed our bags and took off for Sunny ( and outrageously windy!!) Spain. We flew into Jerez, then made our way down to Rota, which is on the Atlantic ocean in the south western tip. There is a navel station in Rota, so it was nice to have access to the base commissary to relieve us of paying in euro for a few meals (man, that gets to be expensive after awhile!). The next morning, we drove in our little Panda ( manufactured by Fiat- pretty much the official car of Spain) down the coast to Tarifa ( the very southern most tip of Spain). Tarifa is known for their wind, kite and surfing in general...they have over 50 kite schools on the main stretch! notice earlier how i said extremely windy-- i could have sworn there was going to be a hurricane when we were there! It was so windy, that even the wind surfers wouldn't go out! So this kind of put a bummer on a few of our plans, since we wanted to ride horses along the beach, and dan wanted to wind surf so bad.. but that can be saved for another time. We stayed in a beach front bungalow- that was super fun, because our room opened up to the ocean- so pretty! Finally, on the last day of our trip, the winds subsided and we were able to go forth with the much anticipated part of the trip--a day in Tanger, Morocco! We took a ferry, which advertised it only took 35 minutes, but it was more like an hour and 35 minutes...not even close..way to false advertise!! While boarding the boat, we met a family who was also stationed in Ramstein, so we ran around morocco the whole day together. The culture was for sure one to see! There were over a million people set along the coastline, it didn't seem possible! We drive through palaces, then to went into complete poverty in less then 10 minutes time. There is no happy medium in Morocco- it's either you are filthy rich, or dirt poor. After riding on a super sketchy camel in a parking lot- we spent the remainder of the day in the "old city" which consisted of run down buildings, and back markets. Our guide weaved us in and out of alley ways, and through peoples way of life. We followed him like little dogs, who wouldn't dare to stray away! At the end of the day, we were followed back to our van by street beggar children who took the last of the money we had left in our wallets. All in all, it was an awesome adventure, and yet another great story to tell!
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Poetry

I just wanted to share some poems that I have written in the recent months. The first one is entitled " 22", I wrote it the night before I turned 23 because I had a realization that 22 still seems young. Before you know it, 23 turns into 30...and so on and so forth. Then we refer back to 22 as the good days, and how quick those days flew by. But I am living them right now, so I'm trying to take advantage!
The second one is entitled " Viva Europa". I wrote this while I was at a cafe one morning, while enjoying my yummy pastry with no remorse.
Just thought that I would share, enjoy!

22

We are living the days we will one day refer back to
These are the good days,
These are the good times
No ties, no baggage
Nothing to hold us back.
We define the definition of freedom
We dream of the mysteries that tomorrow holds,
We attempt to construct our path in life.
One day we will look back,
And wonder why we didn’t live for today
Why we didn’t live it up just little bit more
In the good old days.
But we can’t change what we don’t know,
So we just keep on dreaming.
*************************************
Viva Europa

When living in Europe
Eat up
…and don’t feel guilty
Drink up
…because beer is cheaper than water
But most of all
Live it up
Take too many vacations,
And spend money you don’t have…
You’ll end up thanking yourself later.

Dinner with the Washetko's

In January, I started taking German classe through the University of Maryland on base. I was so excited to finally start learning the language, after letting 8 months go by without getting in any type of a class. Another reason to add to my excitement came when I found out who would be teaching the class...his name is Dr. Igor Washetko, and he is a prodigy to me. He speaks 7 different languages, and has lived the most interesting life! He was born in the Ukraine, but when the Soviet Union took over, his mother gathered up her family and they fled to Austria. After the German's took control of Austria during the the war, they were excepted by Venezuela as refugees. ( Venezuela was one of the 7 countries accepting refugees at the time.) Jobs soon became scarce, so they knew a contact in California who would sponsor them to come to the US. The sponsor happened to be a student of his grandfather's from 60 years prior, but they were somehow able to get back in contact! Here, there, and everywhere later... he has lived in Germany for about 40 years with his wonderful wife, Dolores. Oh, and last night Dan and I had them over for some Yum-oh chicken ( recipe to come) and some homemade lemon meringue pie that Dolores made. It was a great evening filled with stories of great adventures. They even brought over their super adorable oversized poodles with them! Finals are this week, then I have German 112 to look forward to two weeks later! So thankful that Dr. is teaching it, and sacrificing being able to go skiing!

ta ta for now!

Ash

The Traveling Art Class begins!

Last night I had my first "Ladies Night {In}" art class! This is something I have been wanting to do for so long, and with the help of Teri Grey ( my first hostess with the mostess =) I was finally able to make it happen! I traveled to her house with all of my supplies packed up in my car, and we had our art class right out of her living room! Our project was to decoupage recycled wine bottles, and turn them into either an awesome center piece or conversation piece. There were six ladies total who all live in the same village, so it was very nice to gather with old and new friends. The completed projects turned out awesome! It was so fun to see the different variations of what everyone came up with, even though they all had the same materials to choose from. Thanks again for a great time ladies, enjoy your creations!

The set up: pre-project time!

workin' hard

The finished project!!



-Ashlie

Garmisch or Bust!

This weekend, myself and 3 of my former co-workers from the Aquatic Center took a totally awesome trip to Southern Germany and Austria to go snowboarding! We left at 6am on Friday, and made it just in time to catch a half day on the mountain. It was called the Zugspitz, and I believe it is one of the highest mountains in Germany at 2900m( about 10,000 ft.) The Southern part of Germany is also known as Bavaria, here they have a few different regional differences from where we live. The popular greeting is "Gruss Gott, which means "Praise God", however, the phrase possesses no religious ties today. The buildings and houses have elaborate paintings of hunting scenes, kings and saints which are truly amazing to see. After boarding we went to a really cozy restaurant and got a taste of some traditional Bavarian cuisine. I had a chicken cordon bleu ( ok, so I was traditional at all) but my friend Ashley got wild boar, and other game in a mushroom sauce. She is very brave, but it must have been fantastic because she cleared her plate! The next day we packed up and drove to Lermoos, Austria to catch our second day of boarding...and what a day it was! Clear skies and warm(er) weather made for the perfect day on the slopes! There were some slopes that were more of a rough terrain, but they were so fun to ride! After getting lost in translation, my friend Sharee and I ended up on the toboggan trail, and got some snarkey looks from the parents who's kids were sledding. Whoops! We got a late start to our trip home...because we didn't want to leave! Can't wait to head back in the Spring with different attire =) Bis Spater! ( see you later!)

The OMG omelette

Today when I came home from my German class, my stomach was rumbling like a stampede of wild boars. I'm sorry, that was a terrible comparison, but it's the closest description I could give you. So, I found what I had in my fridge and came up with the OMG omelette, because I literally said "oH my gosh" when I took the first bite. Luckily for you, I am going to share my secret recipe because I feel that I need to Spread the love.

To make the OMG omelette:

1 whole egg
2 egg whites
5 cubes of smoked Italian provolone cheese ( cut into even smaller pieces)
2 leaves of fresh basil, chopped up
3 pieces of lunch meat ( I had rotisserie chicken)
2 green olives cut up into slices
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine egg, cheese, basil, meat, salt and pepper into a bowl. Whisk together a few times. Cook on stove top for a few minutes until the sides look cooked. Place olives on top, and broil in the oven until the top is a bubbly and crispy.

Enjoy!


-Ash