Archive for December, 2009

As you may know by now for us the Greencard win was like a dream come true. Even before we knew each other we both always dreamed about living in the US one day and now it is a doubled pleasure that we will be able to live this dream together. Til now everyone we told about the Greencard was happy for us and most people were jealous, too.

I always kind of waited for someone to react differently, because there always are people that swim against the current. But when it actually happened I wasn’t really prepared. Last week my husband got an email from a girl he used to work with a few years ago. She asked him how he was doing and what he has been up to in the past months. He told her that we got married, about work and about the Greencard he won. A bad decision! The only thing that girl replied was: “You are an idiot! How can one be so dump to move to the US.”

Even if this happened one week ago, I am still not sure what I would say to that girl if I met her. I think this email was so unbelievably rude. No one should judge another person’s plans or dreams like she did. Tastes differ – isn’t that what our parents teach us our whole lifes long? I for example don’t get why people move to Asia, but I would never judge someone for doing it.

As hard as it is, I know that this won’t be the last negative reaction we will get while moving on with this whole emigration process. But as they always say the first cut is the deepest…

This week I worked at the finale of german casting show Popstars and saw Rihanna during rehearsal. When I went into the catering room to get myself a coffee I met one of Rihanna’s advisors who was asking a waiter to heat up an instant meal for Rihanna. I took a quick look and recognized the package as an american one, which Rihanna must have brought with her for that occasion. I immediately started to wonder, if I would do the same thing and noticed that I actually will be in her position very soon. No, I am not dreaming about a career as a popstar. I mean the being away from home thing.

The daughter of one of my parent’s friends moved to the US some weeks ago and when I saw her parents the last time they told me about the several packages with groceries they had to sent to her, yet. The next time I went to the grocery store I automatically took every item I put in the cart through a quick check in my mind. Will I get something similar to this in the US? That was all I could think about. And I already found some things that I actually will be missing! I know everyone says that, but I will miss our bread. To avoid that I will be starting to learn how to bake it myself very soon. So this item can be crossed off the list I have to write for my mom.

Another thing I worried about for the last months are my cosmetics. I was really afraid of not being able to buy my favourite hair colour, but I even found better ones in Florida. And not only better hair colours, but so much stuff I always wanted to buy. I could have bought a thousand things in Florida, but I told myself not to, because this will be my home someday where I can buy and try out every single item I like.

I can’t write a list with things I will miss right now. But I am actually really curious about what things I will be missing and which I won’t even care about any more. Remind me to write this list in about two years! And perhaps by this time I will also be able to write you a list with american things I couldn’t live without anymore.

I have never been the person who buys a tourist guide before every holiday and decide on which places I want to visit before I actually step into an airplane. I am not a typical tourist at all I guess, because I am not interested in old buildings, museums or most of the typical sight seeing places. When we went to Florida this year all I had in mind was to decide on wether I could imagine myself to live in America or not. I took close looks at furniture, grocerys and cars instead of the Keys or Miami itself.

I decided to behave different on our next trip to the US and actually see parts of California which I really want to visit. Every time I see something on TV or in a magazine that wouldn’t mess with our route, I make a note to myself. For example I will definitely visit Desperate Housewive’s Wisteria Lane in the Universal Studios, Newport Beach which I know from The O.C. or my aunt and uncle in Utah.

This week we again went to the sneak preview in one of Cologne’s biggest theatres and saw the movie Zombieland. It plays in many different parts of America, but there was one place that kind of melt my heart: A leisure park named Pacific Playland. My brother and me are the biggest rollercoaster fans ever and always wanted to do a road trip to the best rollercoasters in the whole US. After the movie I begged my husband to take me to Pacific Playland next year and imagined myself riding the cool rollercoasters I had seen in the movie.

On the next morning I googled the park to see wether it is near the places we will be staying at in California next year or not. But there were no hits for that park. I did a little research and found out that Pacific Playland actually doesn’t exist and that the scenes were shot at an amusement park in Oregon. I was actually kind of sad to not get to visit that place and realized that it perhaps is a better idea to rather stick to tourist guides than to movies. But I guess I am not exactly in the state of starting to live my new life but still kind of dreaming that dream!