alo world...

its been a while since an update. today it is rainy and cold. i just woke up about an hour ago--around 11---the latest since i first got here.

so this week was a rough week--i would say the roughest since i have been here. not for obvious reasons, but for reasons beyond my control. i had issues with courtnie all week because she wasnt listening, but it was more than that. i had my first real bout with homesickness. i was having weird dreams involving my old friends and just having a real hard time coming to terms with it all. its hard not only FEELING disconnected from the whole world, but actually BEING disconnected and not being able to come to terms or find validation in the loving look of an old friend or family member. but its over now and i have survived. my positive attitude just kind of slipped away for a second, but i think it has recovered. i can see the end of the tunnel now--i will be back "home" before you know it.

today was a good day---a day of many firsts. we went to the farmers market this morning in K-town and ate some amazing produce and saw my first ever horse meat. Yes, they had a stand at the farmers market that sold fresh horse meat--pretty much the sickest and saddest thing ever. Especially b/c we were headed to Caitlin's Horse Camp right after that.

I went to my first ever H & M Department store and LOVED it. Had so much fun watching Jen pick out 300 dollars worth of clothes for the girls. I swear, within minutes she had 20 different outfits picked out--it was like speed shopping!

After the shopping we took Caitlin to her camp and it was AWESOME! She will be away for the whole week, which is sad because she is secretly my favorite. The place was so cool---there were 32 girls at the camp. They all moved in today and they are ALL german. Luckiliy Caitlin is there with a friend that can translate for her b/c she speaks both english and german. Its basically a huge house filled with horse paraphanalia and they spend the whole time learning how to care for horses and ride. I snuck back into the barn after making Caitlin's bed and had such an interesting little adventure...

Some of the older girls that helped run the camp were in the barn and were taking the horses out to get brushed etc. The horses that werent being pampered were just out grazing or sleeping and were just so peaceful--and there were like 50 of these horses!! So I was sitting there watching them--totally admiring how gorgeous they are--when i look right in front of me and happen to notice the rather enlarged sex anatomy on the male horse that was just "hangin out" in the corral. Well, before I know it, it hops on top of the female horse right next to it and they start mating. It was AMAZING! They got into it too...like the male horse was full on humping...pretty crazy!!!! I called Jen over and she was cracking up. The best part was trying to explain it to the girls. Courtnie asked, "how can you tell the difference between boy and girl horses?" Jen just died and I had to take the answer. I simply said, "Well, boy and girl horses look different. You just have to look closely." Jen and I looked at eachother and cracked up!!! Caitlin was going to be learning a whole lot more at this camp than Jen had her signed up for!!! HAhaha!

After the camp we took Courtnie to her friend Bailey's house to spend the night. She was so excited (and so were Jen and I because it meant we had a full 24 hrs. without her around!). So now all we had was one kid...one kid that went over to Mr. Pat's house for the night. Ahhh....relief.

Jen and I went to a Pampered Chef party. I must say, it was HILARIOUS. I swear, I feel like I have mastered acting like I am 40 yrs old. We sat around and talked about kitchen appliances--all of which Jen had and I had used. I talked my little ear off and won all kinds of prizes...it was AWESOME! We also talked about diets and pregnancy and annoying husbands--so classic. I felt like I was in a play or something and I was just acting it up. Ya'll would've died to hear me. Anyway, I bought a few small things and then we were on our way. We picked up Camerin from Mr. Pat's and went home for a LONG and peaceful night!

Today is a lazy day. I think I will go for a run and then just put on some loungy clothes. Mr. Pat--a friend of the fam (who is basically an extended part of the fam)-- is coming over to cook for us tonight. His birthday was a few days ago and his tradition is to take all of his friends out to dinner one night (which we did on thursday) and then to make dinner for his friends another night. Its really cool too because he went to culinary school and used to be a chef so he's got his shit together. He's impressed with how much I know though. Like he and I will be talking in cooking terms and Jen will just sit there cracking up. Anyway, yeah. Im really looking forward to what he has to make us.

Momma, I am going to call you tonight so hopefully ya'll are home. I'll probably try around 9 pm our time---which is noon your time. I could call earlier, but i dont know when we're eating dinner. Thanks for the mid-week encouragement...you're the best.

alright...back to my relaxing day. hope you are all doing well and enjoying this last month of summer.

auf wiedersehen,
beth o.