The past month has been an adventure and very busy as we adjust to our new life here in Germany. I thought it would be fun to hit the highlights in a list of glass 1/2 full /1/2 empty so here goes....
Glass half empty--On the first day of school, the kids were dropped off at the wrong bus stop on a remote street without any other children. They were lost and a little scared.
Glass half full---A kind German woman and her daughter noticed our stranded children and they were kind enough to call us and bring the children home to us.
Glass half empty--We live in a very little village that is a little isolated from the other villages/cities unless you have a car.
Glass half full----We are surrounded by a lot of open space and wonderful walking trails and hills everywhere you look. We are beginning to take advantage of this.We also hear church bells ringing every 15 minutes. It is a lovely sound.
Glass half empty----As we settle in, it has been hard trying to establish friendships as there are not a lot of Americans in our village. It is also hard to go out on the town to do even the most basic errands because of the language barrier. Some days it is easy to feel a little isolated out here.
Glass half full--- We have some very nice neighbors who speak some English. Also, the circumstances that we find ourselves in will force us to learn some German. I also think that all of us have a newfound appreciation for what immigrants everywhere have to go through. At least we have the safety net of a large military community close by. We know that we will definitely try harder to befriend those who are new to our country once we are back in the U.S.A.
Glass half empty---My littlest one starts going to the German kindergarten next Monday. It is bittersweet and I am very sad that my little buddy isn't going to be with me during the day. I will miss her little firecracker personality.
Glass half full---My little social bug is lonely and I am excited for her to go and meet some children her age. I know she is going to love it. She will also be learning German so worst case scenario I can always use her as a translator :0) I will also now have some free time to try out some new hobbies that I have only been able to think about for the last several years.
Glass half empty--We only have 1 car. It is hard to juggle schedules.
Glass half full--At least there is an excellent public transportation system in place. Paul has been making good use of it, and my turn is just around the corner.
Glass half empty--We felt as if we should attend one of the German wards/churches. There have definitely been some struggles as we try to find a place to fit in and contribute.
Glass half full--We have been able to have some really good discussions of a spiritual nature with the kids as we fill in the gaps that they have missed at church. Not sure if those would have happened otherwise. We are also now giving a ride to an 89 year old sister who does not drive and lives in the next village over. If anyone were to watch us try to communicate, I know they would get a good laugh out of it. Also the people at church are very open and friendly--that helps a lot.
Well, that is our last 2 months in a nutshell--we truly do have a wonderful life!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday Fun
This is one of the most fun days I've ever had! First of all, we got our car. It beats having to wait out in the cold for the bus. We drove to one of the bases here called Panzer Kaserne. Panzer for short. The plan was to go bowling and then come home and just hang out. I was just glad to get out of our cramped hotel room. At the beginning of our first game, we met the family we went on a tour with two days earlier. They came to the alley for lunch after they did their laundry. They got talking so I had to bowl for Dad for the first half of the game. We did two games of bowling. Dad ended up beating by 20 points total. We saw our house afterwards. In the bowling alley parking lot, Ms. Brenda Hubner called us and asked if we wanted to go ice skating. Since we had nothing else planned we accepted the offer. We met with them a half-hour later. They had a girl my age and a girl Lindsay's age. We skated for another hour. Then we headed out to the hotel. We watched an okay-movie called a Wrinkle in Time. We went to bed exhausted. My ankle still hurts from the ice skates.
Andrew 8-)
Talia on some skates.
Mom pushing Talia around.
Andrew 8-)
Talia on some skates.
Mom pushing Talia around.
Lindsay
The stud 
The stud Monday, January 18, 2010
New in Germany
We have been in Germany for 2 weeks now. I can hardly believe it. The time has really flown by, but it also seems like we have been here much longer. It is amazing how much you can pack into one day! Mostly we have been busy with in-processing here into the base, finding housing, and trying to familiarize ourselves with the facilities that will be part of our routine in the near future (commissary, library, medical clinic, etc..). It has been good but we don't really feel as if we are in Germany yet, mostly owing to the fact the we have spent the majority of our time in "Little America". It will be nice when our car arrives and we have the freedom to wander around a bit more.
Last Saturday we had wanted to go into the city and wander around a bit, but the weather didn't cooperate with us--lots of wet snow and freezing temperatures. That might not have been such a big deal except that none of us were exactly outfitted for the weather. When you have to pack enough belongings to get you through a couple of months into a few suitcases, boots are a really low priority. I would do it differently now, but that is another story :0) This past Saturday the ground had dried up quite a bit and the kids now have hats, so we decided to venture out. We had no idea where we were going, but we picked up a U Bahn map, got on the nearest train and headed for the main terminal. We hopped off the train there and wandered around a bit until we hit the main plaza in the center of the city. It was beautiful! There is a huge shopping area there now, but also many old buildings and statues. There are buildings there that date back to the 1500's. We also met a nice little old German lady who was kind enough to spend 1/2 hour with us explaining some of the history behind the buildings and statues. Here are a few pictures of the area.
One thing we noticed is that German people are impervious to the cold. It was below freezing temperatures and there were people sitting outside on the little cafe tables eating ice cream. We have since heard that Germans do not believe in bad weather, just bad clothing. Something to think about for sure! We have also discovered that we are going to need much better walking shoes....we forsee a lot of walking in our future. Another wonderful thing we have discovered in Germany are the bakeries. We haven't had enough time to buy from a lot of them, but here is a sample of what they have to offer--
In other news, we have found a house in a little village called Neuweiler. It is definitely out in the country, but we are excited to have found this home and are are looking forward to leaving the hotel and moving in on or around Feb 15th. It will be good to get back into a routine.
Last Saturday we had wanted to go into the city and wander around a bit, but the weather didn't cooperate with us--lots of wet snow and freezing temperatures. That might not have been such a big deal except that none of us were exactly outfitted for the weather. When you have to pack enough belongings to get you through a couple of months into a few suitcases, boots are a really low priority. I would do it differently now, but that is another story :0) This past Saturday the ground had dried up quite a bit and the kids now have hats, so we decided to venture out. We had no idea where we were going, but we picked up a U Bahn map, got on the nearest train and headed for the main terminal. We hopped off the train there and wandered around a bit until we hit the main plaza in the center of the city. It was beautiful! There is a huge shopping area there now, but also many old buildings and statues. There are buildings there that date back to the 1500's. We also met a nice little old German lady who was kind enough to spend 1/2 hour with us explaining some of the history behind the buildings and statues. Here are a few pictures of the area.
One thing we noticed is that German people are impervious to the cold. It was below freezing temperatures and there were people sitting outside on the little cafe tables eating ice cream. We have since heard that Germans do not believe in bad weather, just bad clothing. Something to think about for sure! We have also discovered that we are going to need much better walking shoes....we forsee a lot of walking in our future. Another wonderful thing we have discovered in Germany are the bakeries. We haven't had enough time to buy from a lot of them, but here is a sample of what they have to offer--In other news, we have found a house in a little village called Neuweiler. It is definitely out in the country, but we are excited to have found this home and are are looking forward to leaving the hotel and moving in on or around Feb 15th. It will be good to get back into a routine.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Well. it has been a crazy few days! We landed in Germany on the 2nd of January in the early a.m. and were met by Paul's sponsor, Col. Nwafor. After having us drop off our luggage at the hotel that we will call home for the next couple of months, he gave us a very thorough tour of the various bases in the area. Amazingly, the kids actually did really well and we did not have any meltdowns. We got back to the hotel around 3 p.m and completely crashed for a few hours. We are still trying to adjust to the time change, but are definitely doing a lot better about sleeping and staying asleep than we were earlier in the week. I just hope that this jet lag passes soon for all of our sakes!
We have been busy in processing to the base, so we haven't had much of a chance to see Stuttgart. There are 4 different bases within close range of each other here, and each of them have different services that they offer. For example, one has the library, one has a medical clinic, etc.... The good thing is that there is an excellent bus system between the bases that makes it easy to get around. A very good thing since our car will not be here until the end of the month. Andrew is already eager to learn the base bus system on his own so he can go run errands for me (or so he says). He is a sweet boy, but I am sure I am going to have to remind him of this in a few months.
We are all doing well and defintely looking forward to our new adventures!
We have been busy in processing to the base, so we haven't had much of a chance to see Stuttgart. There are 4 different bases within close range of each other here, and each of them have different services that they offer. For example, one has the library, one has a medical clinic, etc.... The good thing is that there is an excellent bus system between the bases that makes it easy to get around. A very good thing since our car will not be here until the end of the month. Andrew is already eager to learn the base bus system on his own so he can go run errands for me (or so he says). He is a sweet boy, but I am sure I am going to have to remind him of this in a few months.
We are all doing well and defintely looking forward to our new adventures!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Changes
We have been living in a hotel for about a week now, and truthfully, we are all starting to feel a little bored and cooped up. There are only so many movies you can go see and so many meals you can go out for before the novelty wears off. It would be a little better if we had good friends in the area, but alas, they have all recently packed up and moved away. We are trying to appreciate this time for what it is though, knowing that in a week or two we will all be wishing we had just a moment to sit and relax.
It helps that we are semi-pros at this whole moving and starting over thing. We are definitely excited to meet all of our as yet unknown new friends and looking forward to new places to explore and new adventures to be had. By the same token, we have all been reflecting on this past year with a little melancholy. It has gone by so fast and we will miss this area and the wonderful people that we have met. I know that one thing I have learned this year is to enjoy the here and now. Time passes too quickly and there are so many little joys to be had in daily life.
It helps that we are semi-pros at this whole moving and starting over thing. We are definitely excited to meet all of our as yet unknown new friends and looking forward to new places to explore and new adventures to be had. By the same token, we have all been reflecting on this past year with a little melancholy. It has gone by so fast and we will miss this area and the wonderful people that we have met. I know that one thing I have learned this year is to enjoy the here and now. Time passes too quickly and there are so many little joys to be had in daily life.
Friday, March 20, 2009
"Is Grandpa Not Dead Anymore?"
Last week, Talia starts talking about Jake's Grandpa. Jake is the little boy she hung out with in MS. Jake's Grandpa (and Grandma) came out about three times while we were there and came to Disney World with us. With the time we spent with Jake's family, I can easily see why she would remember him.
Toward the end of last week, she starts asking us who her Grandpa is. We tell he is in Utah but it isn't quite sinking in. At church on Sunday, she points to several older men and asks us if they are her Grandpa. When the Bishop got up to conduct the services, she asked if he was her Grandpa. And so the rest of the day went just like that.
I called mom on Monday (I think) and told her the above story. We got a call from dad on Wednesday and he spoke with Talia. I was sitting there next to Talia to help with some translation issues. About three minutes into the phone conversation with Dad, Talia pulls the phone away from her face and whispers to me, "Is grandpa not dead anymore?" Good thing they will be out here in two weeks. The moral of the story is that if you haven't seen Talia in the past two years, you might be on the "dead" list...
Toward the end of last week, she starts asking us who her Grandpa is. We tell he is in Utah but it isn't quite sinking in. At church on Sunday, she points to several older men and asks us if they are her Grandpa. When the Bishop got up to conduct the services, she asked if he was her Grandpa. And so the rest of the day went just like that.
I called mom on Monday (I think) and told her the above story. We got a call from dad on Wednesday and he spoke with Talia. I was sitting there next to Talia to help with some translation issues. About three minutes into the phone conversation with Dad, Talia pulls the phone away from her face and whispers to me, "Is grandpa not dead anymore?" Good thing they will be out here in two weeks. The moral of the story is that if you haven't seen Talia in the past two years, you might be on the "dead" list...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
