Archive for January, 2010

I actually don’t know if I already told you that we are going to have a big wedding this August. Yes, we are already married, but we only did a civil ceremony in 2009 and will celebrate a big wedding this year. And even if we have a long eight months to go til the big day it already kills me. There is so much to decide and so much to fight for. After the Greencard win it was obvious to us, that we MUST have an American style wedding, but not everyone around here seems to understand.

The thing that worries me the most right now is my wedding dress. I’m having my first appointment to look at dresses next saturday. The problem here in Germany is: the dresses they sell are horribly posh. I am looking for a 50ies style wedding dress with tea-lengths and a huge petticoat underneath. I actually found a cool shop in California which sells vintage dresses which I love, but I won’t be able to check them out until May. I also found a wonderful Vera Wang dress, which I love but can’t afford – especially here in Germany.

The next problem is the ceremony itself. We would love to have a garden wedding with a justice of peace or something similar, but we don’t have this over here in Germany. You can only book a “free priest”, but those guys are not our style. My hubby’s choice would actually be an Elvis double, which would be way cooler than all of those priest-like guys you can book here.

Luckily some things are already (nearly) set up. We know the location for our wedding, already talked to a potential caterer (who does American food), I have my six bridesmaides, we have a DJ, a band, a photographer and we decided about the decorations. The only thing I still need to fight for with my husband is the rehearsal dinner I want, but this is a problem I can solve.

If anyone of you has some cool ideas for us or can help with any of our plans, please tell me. If all else fails, we will runaway and marry in Vegas – do it the real American way…

Image courtesy of www.unique-vintage.com

Since that Greencard win I try to soak in every single bit of information I can get about the US and everything regarding to it. That sometimes ends in me watching trashy American reality TV like “Keeping up with the Kardashians”. In the last epsiode one of the Kardashian sisters went shopping at Adidas with her stepfather.

Before you could see the logo of the store they only said the name and I was like “what the heck are they talking about”? Adidas is a german company, so I never thought about how it would be pronounced in english. And I actually wouldn’t have dreamed about the way it is pronounced in my wildest dreams! To be honest with you for us germans the way Adidas is pronounced in english sounds just ridiculous. I couldn’t stop laughing after I realized in which store the Kardashian guys were and even called my hubby to tell him about it. Since then it is like an insider joke between me and my friends. One of my girlfriends even said that she wouldn’t wear Adidas in the US, because of the funny name.

In this pre-emigration-stadium we are in right now, there is so much to learn and to realize. I for example thought it would be easier for Americans to spell my name than my husband’s name. But it turned out to be the other way round when we told the Starbuck’s staff in Florida what our names were. They spelled Janina Jemin and Flo simply Flo. I am expecting many funny situations like this to come in the future and till than say…

Take care
Jemin

Guess what happened very often in the last weeks: People keep on asking us, if it really is a good idea to move over to the US in the current situation. This kind of bothers me. Sure it might not be the best economic climate to move, but come on what about Germany?

We ended the year 2009 with about three and a half million unemployed people. I actually lost my job in 2009 and after about 100 unsuccessful applications decided to work as a freelancer. I had no other chance than taking that risk and I actually think that I have no other chance than taking the risk to start a new life in the US.

I often feel offended when people ask us, if we think living in the States will be easy. I never said I thought so. Far from it! I think we will have a horrible time while searching for jobs, a home, learning to cope with a new lifestyle, being away from our families and friends and especially with the new language. But for me all these problems will be worthwhile. If we don’t like living in California or won’t be able to make a living there, we simply will move back to Germany.

Don’t you think it would be more lightheaded to decline the Greencard and not even try what we both dreamed of our whole lifes? For me dreams are worth trying to live them. And if we someday move back to Germany I won’t take this as a defeat! I will take it as an experience! I want to live my dreams. Even if they might turn out to be a nightmare!