Roads of Germany

I never thought I'd be in my late-twenties, having to take a driver's test again. Yet, this morning, I found myself doing just that. Basically we have to get a military driver's license that allows us to drive here in Germany. The test was 100 questions long. My husband got his license about two weeks ago, but I kept procrastinating because I get horrible test anxiety, yet I'm usually one of the first done. My husband told me what building it was in, and I allowed myself 30 minutes to walk there. It was suppose to begin at 7:45, so I figured I'd be done by 8:30.

I arrive, and find out that I'm in the wrong building. So with 5 minutes to spare, I made a dash for three buildings away and a flight of stairs. Didn't help my anxiety one bit. Only to find out check-in is at 7:45 and the doors shut at 8. Only, they don't begin the test then. They begin a 35 minute video that basically goes over all the questions I studied. Again, having to wait another 35 minutes did not help my anxiety. Everyone said all the questions for the exam are in the back of the book, so I barely paid attention to the video. (Seriously, a video about driving at 8am? How is one suppose to stay awake??)

Test gets passed out and I begin, feeling pretty confident because I knew all the questions in the book. However, there were some other questions in it! Ones like the punishment of driving with a .86 blood alcohol level. That was gone over in the video, but I didn't catch the punishment because well, I won't ever be in that position. So I was really beginning to freak out as I made several guesses on these types of questions.

Then I stood to go turn my test in and realized, I was the first done. Ugh, I hate that feeling. But I have learned that when I go back and 'check' my answers I tend to not know what my first instinct was and change answers, resulting in more wrong answers. I turned it in and she began to grade it. I noticed I had many wrong and got scared. You must get at least an 85% to pass. I got... an 85%. I said I'll take it, and went to get my license and pay the small fee. No one else walked out before I left. The best part... (small brag because I NEVER do better), it took my husband twice to pass heehee. That did give me a small boost in confidence, even if it was an 85.

So I returned home, very late, making my husband late for work, and begged him to let me rent the car for just one more day, and set out with all three kids driving. Now, keep in mind, we have been in Germany 22 days and I have not driven that entire time. Also, since my husband came home, he drove almost everywhere. So, it's been about two months since I've driven. I will be honest, I was a wee-bit nervous. But it was fine. I even took the many roundabouts with complete ease.

I will say driving in Germany is a bit overwhelming. There are a LOT of signs (I think 168!), and I would not feel comfortable driving here without having studied for the test. Also, did you know the "autobahn" that everyone thinks is so awesome and has no speedlimit is not just one road? Autobahn means freeway. It's just like our highway system in the US. And it does have speedlimits. There are times when there is no posted speedlimit, but at those times, it is recommended to not exceed 130 kilometers (80 miles) and if you get in an accident when doing more, you could be charged, even if it wasn't your fault.

We first went the the base exchange. I'll be honest, not a huge fan of that place. Civilians think it's awesome, but they don't know the truth. Yes, there's no tax, but the government thinks we need the most expensive brands of everything- Nike, Addias, Coach, Vera Bradley, etc. It's EXPENSIVE! And there are vendors from around Germany, but they completely jack up the prices when selling in the BX. You can get a bottle of wine from a vendor there for $14... off base? $3. And the "less expensive" clothes they have are horrible quality.

Which is why we were stopping by there. I bought Abigayle two outfits the second day here, so 20 days ago. They have been washed AT MOST, three times and are very faded and shrunk so much she can't wear them anymore. So, I took them back. The lady at customer service wasn't happy that I didn't have tags or receipt, but I still got most of my money back. (One was on clearance already and since I didn't have a receipt, they couldn't give me the full amount, but $18 instead of $24 is still better than nothing. And yes, I paid $24 for an outfit for Abby because her winter stuff hadn't arrived at the PO yet! That's how expensive it is!)

Then I'd been really wanting to check out a store called "Toom" off base, so the kids and I did. Picture Ace Hardware tries to go Home Depot. Not as big as Home Depot, but a lot of the same stuff, just less selection. I was looking for crafting purposes, and I think they will meet my needs in the future :) There are a few other gardenmarkts that I want to check out as well.

Then we went next door to a place called "Kauflands". I had no clue what it was, so went in hehee. It's basically like a small walmart maybe? Groceries and household goods, mixed together. We bought some grapes, a calculator (I need one so bad without a cell phone and trying to convert Euro to dollars all the time!!), and two Kauflands frozen pizzas for lunch. I wanted to explore more, but I had children complaining they were soooo sleepy and hungry. So, we came home. Abby fell asleep on the way home and did not wake up. The other two didn't want pizza, but wanted PBJ and PB and bananas for lunch. Then they went to bed, and were asleep within 10 minutes of going to sleep.

So I'm taking this quiet time to eat my pizza and I have a small craft project to do when I'm finished eating. And today is a very special day, because my eldest turned FOUR today!! How has that happened already? Wow! Happy Birthday son! :)

Differences, differences

When you picture "Germany" you probably picture beer and brats, castles, and leiderhosen (Ha, I don't even know how to spell that!) But Germany is so much more! Yesterday I attended a Spouses Orientation (to Germany) classes, and learned so much valuable information! Some I thought I'd share, because it gives more ideas of what it's like over here.

Germans are HUGE on recycling. It's very precise. There's a bin for plastic/cardboard (uncontaminated so no pizza boxes), and one for bio waste, like yard clippings, coffee grounds, peels, egg shells, etc. Then there's a yellow bin for "light fraction"- plastic and medal. There is not a bin for glass, but usually each village has a neighborhood area for glass, divided in to green, brown and clear. Also, you can't have a trashcan with a bag sticking out of the top. Usually they will not pick it up for you, and if you have extra bags at the bottom, they definitely won't. However, you can purchase red bags for when you have parties, like Christmas or Thanksgiving, and therefore have extra trash. Those they will take. It's very complex, but probably very good.

Germany is comparable to the size of Montana. However, Germany has 81.8 million people in that small area! So, that is why everything is small, like close together parking spaces, small cars, tall and narrow homes, etc.

There are 11 German holidays, which my husband should get off in addition to all of the American holidays. The first of these is next week, Oct. 3, which is German Reunification Day, which celebrates the reunification of East and West Germany.

In Germany, there is no air conditioning. It's not needed. However, what is needed is "venting" your house every day. Your windows can open two different ways. One is tilted backwards, so there is about a 4 inch gap at the top, and the bottom is still connected. The other way is for the window to open up all the way. To do that, it opens in to your house, instead of out or up. Every day, you should open all the windows for about 5-10 minutes, as this helps to keep out mold. Also, the windows are very thick and well insulated.

Germans never introduce themselves with their first name. In fact, they answer their phone just by saying their last name, without saying hello. In America, you will meet Sally on Tuesday, then walking with your husband on Thursday run in to her again, and say to your husband "Oh, have you met my friend Sally?" In Germany, that is not acceptable. She is not your friend, she is your acquaintance. And she is still Frau Smith. In fact, you can run in to each other several times, and start to get to know each other, and still, Frau Smith. Eventually, you may invite her over for coffee. At that point, whomever is the oldest will say "Oh, by the way, my name is Sally." At that point, you may use first names, and are considered friends. In other words, they value the word "friend" very much, and are much more formal than we are.

Speaking of going over for coffee.... when going to a German's house, it is very important to be on time. Even 5 minutes late is considered rude. And a gift for the hostess is appropriate. However, red roses (sign of romance) and white lillies (used at funerals) are not appropriate. Unlike in America, where you may be concerned about bringing wine because they have religious convictions about it, you won't find that in Germany. Even if you bring alcohol to a dry home, the person won't be offended in the least. Also, Germans are very straight-forward and honest. We were told the sooner we get use to it, the better. They don't beat around the bush. And they don't mean it rudely. It's just like "You suck because your dog pooped in my yard. Clean it up." If you say "Oh, I'm so sorry. You're right. I'll clean it up right now," they will be completely fine with you and there won't be any weird feelings.

When going out to eat, apparently one should dress more formal, nice pants and shoes, not shorts and flip flops. Also, tip is included in your bill. However, it is nice to include a little bit more, like 1 or 2 Euro is all. It's also nice to tip your hair dresser, mechanic, and even movers. Again, about 2-5 Euro if they did a great job.

Anyway, that's just a tidbit of what I learned yesterday. Hopefully in the coming days I can share more of the very interesting information!

Weekend fun

The weekend is over for us here in Germany. With that said, it was a busy weekend. We had a rental car still, so we decided to head over to Heidelberg, to see the Heidelberg Castle and other fun things in that area. After driving over an hour, we arrived to find huge crowds. When I say huge crowds, I mean at least 4 parking garages were full, people sitting outside waiting for a car to go in, 100s of bikes in the bike parking area, people walking and riding all around us. Picture Disney World the week of Christmas... yeah. That's what Heidelberg Castle was like yesterday.

With that said though, here's a tidbit of Germany info. There are signs that say P12, P14, etc for parking garages. The signs then have an electric number underneath them, and it says how many spots are left in the specific garage. It also tells you several streets before the garage, so you don't even try if there are no spots. Very nice and helpful.

So we decided to head over to Ikea, since we passed it on our way to Heidelberg. We bought a few things, a rug for Z, a Christmas gift for A, two rolling boxes for Z and H, and a few other odds and ends. We were told they don't take credit/debt cards, so I was watching to make sure I had enough Euro. However, they do take cards. We got lots of ideas and inspiration walking around. (Also got lots of ideas and inspiration recently from www.ikeahackers.net- warning- addictive!!!)

We came home and had some leftovers for dinner, Jon ran to the grocery store with H, and Z and I cleaned up. Then we went to look at a table I found on our local "craigslist" (Not really craigslist, but same idea as it). It was an Ikea table with 2 leaves, oak, sits at least 10 with both leaves in, and 6 chairs. The chairs are pretty gross because they have white cushions on them. However, I saw them and though "I could EASILY reupholster those!" and so, we bought this great table and chairs for $100. I can't wait until we get in to our place in less than two weeks and that will be my first project! Now, just to find the right fabric... (And try to decide what's best... probably a busy pattern, but what main color?? Decisions, decisions!)

Today, I woke up to realize it was 7:45 and we had to leave for church in an hour. We rushed and made it with plenty of time to spare to mass at 9. I hate that there is only a 9am or 5pm service, and the 5pm is not a mass we would like to attend. However, we really like the priest, so that is very helpful. Thankfully, unlike last week when H exclaimed during the quiet part of mass that she had to poop, today was much better. H actually practiced whispering, which we praised her for greatly. Z was also pretty good. A was ok, aside from trying to beg to nurse because she was just so sleepy.

After mass, we had planned to go to a festival, but we weren't really in the mood. Instead, we came home and I made lunch, Whole grain burritos with bacon, egg, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and cheese, with oranges and apples on the side and cold milk to drink. As we were eating, I felt really proud that this was such a healthy meal, providing food from each food group. Oh, and I say cold milk because our refridgerator was dying when we moved in to the hotel and we did not realize it. We were drinking barely cold milk for a while, and got a new fridge on Thursday. Now our milk is nice and cold and we have been drinking so much lately because it tastes so great now.

Then the girls took a nap, and Z, my husband and I, all three decided to try to make homemade English muffins. They were DELICIOUS!!!! And soooo worth it. We actually used 1/2 regular flour and 1/2 whole wheat as well. Then, for dinner, we took them and made English muffin pizzas. Very simple ones, but sauce, cheese and sausage. These were seriously the best EM Pizzas I've ever had!

After dinner, we decided to call a few people in the states. Since we are 6 hours ahead of my family, and 7 from my husband's, it can be difficult trying to get in touch with them, especially because my husband's family works during the week and can't talk during our awake time. It was nice chatting with all of them for a few.

So, that was our busy weekend. I, of course, have lots of things to share still about the differences in Germany, but this post is long enough. I need to get to bed, since it's almost 11 and I have an all day class to go to tomorrow. I'm sure the class will provide me with many more things to share tomorrow, if I get a chance to post them tomorrow. Goodnight :)

Place to live

I am filled with mixed emotions at the moment. We have been in a desperate search for housing. Nothing has turned up that we felt was suitable, and if it was, it got taken by someone else. This morning, on our way out the door to a base appointment, and with 3 more houses to look at, we got a house that we had a place to live on base. However, we learned it was stairwell (an apartment) when we had been planning on a townhome.

We decided to go check it out. Overall, it's not BAD. It's definitely not what we had pictured, but it's doable, at least for a year. It is also a 4 bedroom. We aren't able to move in until October 5, because that's when the military has stuff for us to borrow. However, that marks 8 weeks since we shipped our stuff, so maybe our stuff will be there to move in the same day. THAT would be awesome and a blessing.

Another blessing we discovered, and a complete God thing... When we were in the airport before leaving the states, we met another young, Catholic couple who's son is the same age as ours. We hit it off really well, and, like us, they got the year jump on housing due to a deployment the husband just finished. We've bumped in to them several times around base already. They sent me a message the other day they got base housing... We're in the same building, just across the halls from each other, with a floor difference in between! This is such a blessing to both our families and I am praising God.

If I am to be honest, I'm not extremely happy. In fact, I'm pretty disappointed that we're in an apartment for a year, but I'm trying to remember that after this past year, we're together, in our very own place, in a new country to explore. And we are very blessed to have our new friends right across the hall. And we will be good financially, in that we won't have to buy another vehicle, pay lots on gas, nor pay insurance on another car. This will allow us to save a good amount and finish getting out of debt. This will all be a blessing. I'm just trying to remember the blessings aspect of all of it.

Housing and more

We were told that because of my husband's year away, we would be the top of the waiting list for base housing. We were also told that in the mean time, we still needed to actively look for housing off base, but since we were at the top, don't sign any contracts. So we weren't really looking to be honest.

On Thursday, we learned that the "top" of the list was #8 (out of 70-something!) so it's possible we may still have some wait time until one is available. So we had to begin investigating off base housing. Jon passed his driver license test on Thursday, so Friday we rented a car and set off to look at two houses. One we liked, but felt it was too "old" for our children, and not safe for them. The other we loved so much and really considered taking it. It would have given us the potential for SIX bedrooms (room for each child, plus office and guest room). However, it was 30 minutes away. That's a lot of gas when paying European gases, plus far from the base to be involved in anything. Therefore we turned it down and we are looking at FOUR houses tomorrow that are closer.

Today we went 'exploring' as the kids call it, driving around the area, mostly to the big city near by. It was cool driving through the city, but it was also very overwhelming, since we did not understand most of what we saw. We went in to a market called "Penny Markt" which Jon said is similar to an Aldi's. We bought some diaper wipes (I remembered I keep forgetting to grab them), a small loaf of bread (Nothing to write home about), and some meat. I thought it was chicken and Jon agreed. We got home to learn that "poten" is TURKEY. Chicken is in fact "Huhn". We'll remember that one, I'm sure. When we came home, we looked around some American websites to find some restaurants recommended by others, and hope to go to one tomorrow.

I forgot to mention a few other things that are different here. For example, they don't sell gallons of milk! They only sell 1/2 gallon cardboard containers. Tons of fun to drag 3 of those home to last two days. I'd be nice to cut back on the amount of milk we drink, but I dont see that happening.

We can't watch most American shows. The military network kind of picks whatever's on tv in America, and sends it over to us. The other night I was watching a show and it said "Coming up next....<>" I got all excited, then next, it flipped over to Conan. And another night I was watching a movie, and it just ended in the middle during a commercial. Kind of frustrating, but it's ok.

We found the base library and the kids were very excited to get some new books (They've been reading the same 10 for the past 10 days) Jon and I were also excited to find a whole rack of new movies that we didn't have to pay to rent. ;-)

Another interesting thing is in Germany, the tip is always automatically included in restaurants. You can tip more, but it's not necessary. It's a good thing to know before visiting your first restaurant. Taxes are very high here, I think it's 19%. Thankfully we can be exempt on really high priced items if we use a special form.

Anyway, kids are in bed, the hotel is mostly clean, I'm going to go spend the evening watching "Something Borrowed" (My pic of movie night! ;-)) with the hubby. It's so nice to have these type of evenings back.

One Week in Germany

We have now been a week in Germany and wow, there's so much to share. I have been so incredibly busy so there's been no time to blog. However, I'm making the time to do a quick post since so many have asked how it is going.

We arrived last Tuesday after a 6 hour flight. It actually was not a bad flight. We gave the kids some meds and they slept almost the whole way. Abby struggled and cried a bit but finally gave in. When we landed, the kids and I rushed to the bathroom. In Germany, the toilets sit higher off the ground, which makes it hard for little kids. Also, there's not a handle to flush, but a button in the wall you push. The toilet is connect directly to the wall, no tank or anything like that shows. Kind of cool.

We got assigned our hotel room in temporary lodging and our friends and Jon's sponsor loaded all of us and our 15+ bags into their 3 cars and took us to the hotel room. The room is really nice. A full kitchen with dishes, some pots and pans, full fridge, washer and dryer, two rooms, one of which has 2 twin beds. It's really nice. Upon arriving, we learned there is no a/c here. We haven't really needed it thankfully. It's been a crazy roller coaster of weather, one day in the 70's, one in the 50's.

There are a lot of things different here. For example, the tub is higher, so the kids need help getting in. The shower hose is in the middle of the shower instead of on one end. The washing machine is SUPER small, so I'm literally constantly doing laundry. There are quiet times here, like on Sunday afternoons. Also, you can't do lawn work or wash your car on Sundays.

On Friday evening, our friends who have been stationed here for 2 years took us to a local German restaurant and festival. We all tried various forms of schnitzel and it was delicious. Then we walked around the festival, the girls got some wine with fruit in it, the kids all rode some fair type rides, the kids got ice cream and adults shares some nutella crapes. In the distance above the town with the festival, you could see a castle. We were/are so thankful for our friends who were willing to drive there and back twice to give us a ride.

On Saturday, the large park on base had a family day with bouncy houses, games, etc. We met our friends there and had a good time, playing on the playground afterwards.

On Sunday, we were going to go to mass on base, but there are only 2 masses, 9am and 5pm. We woke up at 7:30am and could not fathom waking the kids up when they were still trying to adjust to the time changes. Plus Jon and I were feeling a little sick, so we didn't go. I had already made plans to go with our friend in the evening to a free concert. The USO (Thank you USO!!!) put on a FREE Trace Adkins concert for Sept. 11. We went, standing for several hours, and had a blast. I also decided to have a beer and actually liked it, for a beer! It was an Eichbaum. Maybe I'll be able to enjoy some beers while here, since that's the drink of choice in Germany. ;-)

We have been blessed in that our hotel is equal distance to everything really. We have walked and walked and walked. We've walked to the commissary, the post office, playgrounds, appointments, the library, Jon's office, and so much more. Thankfully we ended up checking our small stroller on the plane, so that's been helpful. However, the older two kids were having a really hard time keeping up and walking so much, so we bought a red wagon for them the other day. It has made walks soooo much easier.

We are apparently number 1 or 2 to get a house, so we have to keep checking back to see if one is available yet. In the mean time, I dont mind being in the hotel because we have all we need here, where we wont with a house until our stuff arrives.

That is about every going on right now. We are loving it, enjoying being together just the 5 of us in our own little space. Jon is loving getting to cook again. Thank you for thinking of us and asking about us. Auf Wiedersehen

Jon's cooking again-homemade bread, yum!

We took the kids to see their first movie in a theater on our second day here- Cars 2.

This is how we roll now :) They LOVE it.