Frohe Weihnachten!!!

Frohe Weihnachten to all my friends in Cloppenburg.

I miss you all everyday. I still sit and think about

all the fun times I had in Cloppenburg and how much I miss the city, people and Germany. I sit and wish I was still able to play soccer. I wish I could just RUN right now. But with a torn knee that is difficult. I miss the smell of FROZEN grass ;) just kidding....I just like grass....not frozen grass! ha! The good news is: I got HEALTH INSURANCE finally ... this is such a big deal! :)

Jeff keeps telling me about his time in Cloppenburg and how great it is at Christmas time. I wish I was able to see it....maybe Christmas 2012 will be possible for me to visit :) I would LOVE that. I want to take this time to point out how grateful I was for the people I met in Cloppenburg....Nadine and Hotte, Coach Tanja, my wonderful teammates, the Schafers Hotel family and workers, BVC Zebra, BVC Fans and of course Lui!!! I miss you all very much and especially more around the holidays when you want to

be close to your family and friends. That is what all of you felt like to me....FAMILY!

Here is an update of the things happening in my life:

-I got Health Insurance - so now I can get healthy and start training or playing soccer for fun again!

-I got my logo made for my company ... www.soccerwithkat.com oder www.kickitwithkat.com

-I am putting together a big camp and hoping to fly out some BVC Frauen Players to help be coaches at the camp in California for a week.

-I'm moving to Virginia from January 25th-May 20th

-I'm going to be the Head Varsity Coach at Walsingham Academy

-I am hoping and planning a trip to Cloppenburg in April :)

There is a little update on what is happening in my life. I look online each week to see how the BVC Frauen team does in their games. It was looking good for a while and now it seems to have lost some matches. I'm sure after a nice winter break, the team will come back refreshed and ready to reclaim their position at the top of the table. I have faith in this team. It has been a strong one thus far in the season!

Once again...I will not be posting until after the holidays....so I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and gets to spend it with the people they care about the most.

Merry Christmas!

<3 Kat

Moving ... for a little bit!!

Hallo!

I am moving to Williamsburg, VA from January until May! I will be living with my boyfriend Jeff and also got a head coaching job at a school out there. It will be nice to be able to maintain my residence in California as well as my soccerwithkat.com and still get a significant amount of time to spend with my boyfriend.

It's looking as though Easter break I will be heading to Cloppenburg for a visit! I hope to see as many people as I can when I get out there!

I miss everyone lots.

Kat

FOREVER!!!

Well "Hallo" my friends in Germany. I am not sure if anyone even reads this anymore. Probably not since I've been so horrible at keeping it updated.

Updates:

I've been really busy with www.soccerwithkat.com since I got home from Germany.
I have been flying back and forth to Virginia to visit with Jeff Dominguez (my boyfriend/former BVC player as well)
I started my Rosetta Stone online German Language courses. I want to be able to speak German fluent when I return to visit. I'm hoping to get back to Cloppenburg for a visit within this year.
I don't have any other job right now and I'm searching everyday for one because it is very expensive in California and I have no health insurance without a job :(
I hurt my knee and haven't been able to do much training.

I MISS everyone in Cloppenburg so much. I have been missing my friends, family and 2nd home so much lately. Especially since I started my German courses. Hopefully soon I will be writing most of my updates in Deutsch!

MISS EVERYONE and if anyone ever feels like writing to me... I would LOVE to hear from you!

:)

Kat

Update

It has been a while since I last wrote.

The visit with Hotte and Nadine was amazing. I had so much fun and it was exciting for them to get to see California, my hometown and meet lots of my family and friends. I hope they had as good of a time as I did :)

I have been coaching everyday all day. I am loving coaching all the time. Things are about to slow down a bit and my coaching will only be in the evenings. The kids went back to school this week.

I also met someone when I was in Germany and continued to keep in touch with him and well...we've started dating ;) He played for the BVC club before I was there, but he was out with kids for a Euro Soccer Trip. He lives in Virginia, but was out and met my family this past weekend. Great time :)

I am hoping and thinking I will be getting back to Cloppenburg in March for a visit :) I can't wait to come back and see everyone.

Miss you all so much!

My 1st German visitors!!!

I'm so excited because as I type Hotte and Nadine are flying and on their way to spend the next 2 weeks visiting America for the first time.

For those of you who don't know who Hotte and Nadine are...let me fill you in. They are GREAT friends of mine and were so incredibly kind, thoughtful, fun and friendly when I was living in Cloppenburg.

Hotte is the goalkeeper/assistant coach for BV Cloppenburg and I had many good laughs with him at practices....many times he hit me really hard with a ball as I was walking away....needless to say, I tried to get him back as well.

Nadine is Hottes' lovely girlfriend. She became such a close friend just as Hotte did. Not only did I become friends with the both of them, but their families as well.

Just when I was really missing Germany....specifically Cloppenburg, they come to visit. I am so excited to show them around my hometown and surrounding areas of California.

Be on the lookout for some amazing photos.

I am hoping I will be able to get my trip to Germany planned. I have two potential times...December or March/April sometime. I would like to come so I can cheer on my former teammates as well as all the newcomers to the BVC family.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the World Cup games...(frustrating loss for the US against Sweden....ugh!)

-Kat :)

Missing my 2nd home!

Today has been a rainy day here in my hometown. It made me think of Cloppenburg haha! Even though I hear right now the weather is lovely in Germany, the weather today made me miss my 2nd home so much....
Luckily tomorrow will be sunny and hopefully my nostalgic mood will have lifted.

I just got back in to town after a nice week long vacation in Mexico...below are some photos of the trip I took with my family...I had so much fun relaxing on the beach and drinking Margaritas ;)
That is pretty much all that is going on right now...I just got back from the trip and then went right back to coaching/training the teams. I am currently working with 5 different teams. The ages range from 9yrs old to 16yrs old and they are all girls teams so far.

I have started taking a Zumba class on Wednesdays for fun! It is a Salsa dance workout class...HAHAHA! :)

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying watching the Women's World Cup...I know I am...I wish I was there in Germany to go to all the games :)

Miss everyone lots!

KAT

Update!

Not sure if anyone is following this blog still....but I figured I would put an update on here...

I will not be returning to Cloppenburg to play soccer (it was the most difficult decision I have had to make and sometimes I still wonder if it is the right one) ...in fact I wont be playing soccer anymore I don't think....I have been thinking about potentially retiring from my soccer career.

I have thoughts everyday about Cloppenburg and all the amazing people I met there and I get sad....I really do. I miss it terribly. I still slip up and say things in German to people around town here in Roseville, CA. It is funny...they look at me so weird!
I also put a basket on the back of my bike....it is not so common to ride bikes to stores or have a basket on the back of your bike...at least not in my hometown....so I am trying to bring little pieces of Germany to people here :) I love Germany so much it is hard not to.
Since I have been home I have been able to visit with most all of my family, enjoy some lovely warm weather and go to Lake Tahoe....just a beautiful place to visit.

I was thinking about keeping this updated with how things are going with me here and also I plan on following the BVC damen next season...I will write about it....but only if people let me know if that would be something of interest....otherwise I wont keep posting on here...
I thought it would be fun and a way I can keep in touch with people....I truly miss everyone and the town so much.

I am hoping to get to back over to visit for a 3 week trip in April or March and see everyone and watch some games of the team!

Hope all is well in Germany and everyone is healthy and happy! :)

Miss you all lots!

KAT

Tschuss Deutschland!!!

Today is my last day in Germany...tomorrow morning I head to the airport very early in the morning to begin my long day of travel back to my home in the US.

I don't know at this moment if I can truly express the way I feel...I have such mixed emotions and I believe it will be easier for me to write my "Thank Yous" to people once I am home and less emotional. I've already cried a couple times today saying goodbye to people.

I am not certain on my return to BVC, but that will be officially decided by ME in the next week or two.

I wish everyone the best and I will be writing again soon,...once I pull it together :) Ha!

- KAT

BLESSED!!!!!!

Last night and today I celebrated my 28th Birthday here in Germany. I have to say that it was more than I could have ever imagined. I have truly met people here that will be lifelong friends of mine. Whether or not I play in Cloppenburg is undecided as of right now, but I truly believe if I weren't able to return to play next season, I would have friends for life here.
I had the best birthday and I just want to thank those special people who were a part of it ... I had friends share drinks, cake, tractors, pigs, car rides, hugs and laughter with me...I also received so many wonderful text (sms) messages and facebook messages. I am truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. I am the luckiest girl ever!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR MAKING MY BIRTHDAY SO MEMORABLE!!!

I only have 12 days left here in Cloppenburg. I am so excited to see my family, but I am experiencing so many mixed feelings...I will miss everyone here in Clp terribly.

-Kat

Below are some photos from a great 28th Birthday!











Yes! I drove a tractor and held a pig....1st time for everything! :) Why not in Germany!!!

BVC Damen stay in the league!!

CONGRATS to the BVC women's team!!! I'm so proud of my teammates for their hardwork and friendship...I want to thank the support of the community of Cloppenburg and the fans for welcoming and supporting me here. Thanks to the BVC club members, coaches and everyone that helps run the club. I have truly never been a part of such a great team and community of soccer fans! My time here in Germany has been the most amazing 4 months of my life and I would never trade it for anything.
I leave in 17 days ... I feel so excited to go home and see my family and dog....but I truly feel like I'm leaving my 2nd home and family (the people I've met here have truly become family to me).


- Kat