Two Missing Weeks

Here is the last photo of Abby in the hotel. She had a ball throwing these little stones all over the lobby. We know how to make a great exit!
Since we don’t have a reliable internet, I’ve been keeping some notes in my little book and waiting for a good time to get them on my blog. There will be a ton of pictures and videos coming in the next few weeks. This will have to do for now.

We finally moved into a house, which we absolutely love. Our landlord is amazing and takes fantastic care of us. He speaks fluent English, is a big family man – has six kids and totally dotes on Abby – and teaches theology at a local high school. He is so thoughtful and realizes that we need a little more help as we don’t have our families here to help with the moving process. In one week he has (or hired someone on his own dime to) to walk our dogs, given us rides, helped us acquire most everything we need for the house, built Abby a playhouse, sandbox and swing set, custom fenced in our carport to make the backyard safer, raised the fences so the dogs can’t escape, etc. Just yesterday I caught Abby and Mr. H in the backyard playing Ring Around the Rosie. He is seriously an angel.

Although some of the other houses were larger and more modern, Mr. H sold us on the history of this house. He personally walked us through and talked about the joyful things he did with his family here. From sleepovers in the playhouse outside to the secret loft where his wife and his hid for quiet time – he charmed us into the lease. He also went through the house and safety proofed it for us. After raising six kids here, he knew where all the problem spots were and just how to fix everything so that it was perfect.

We also love the forest that is a two minute walk from our house. It is full of biking and running trails. It’s so much fun to walk in and disappear from the city. Jeremy walks the dogs there every morning and Abby and I explore there most afternoons. Abby loves to see all the dogs out adventuring with their masters in the bush. Dogs here are so well trained that they rarely need leashes, so it’s a little unnerving hearing rustling in the woods ahead and having no idea if a German Shepherd or a poodle is going to come charging out. Either way, they are more likely to lick you to death than attack. We’ve always considered Gracie and Beth a part of our immediate family and they live almost better than we do. It’s nice to see we don’t seem so crazy in comparison to the German dog lovers we’ve met here.

A forest is a good place to pick your nose!

Abby just LOVES these turtles.

Sometimes we catch people suntanning (without their shirts) in these back fields. It's legal here and nobody but us seems to notice.

Even in the middle of the forest you can find graffiti.

The forest has two really fun playgrounds. Abby dominates this slide.

Our neighbors are super friendly and seriously fun. They include a retired police man, a dog trainer and a retired kindergarten district president. Most of them speak basic English and proudly brought over their contact information with matching family photos to welcome the Americans. The German culture has very strict social rules: you never call anyone by their first name, you never make noise (like mowing your lawn) on a Sunday or weekdays between 1-3, your kids and dogs are to be well behaved at all times, you must let your opinion be heard and don’t be afraid to offend, etc. Sometimes it’s nice to not be able to understand what people are saying to (or about) me….

The only two things that stink about houses in Germany: they don’t screen their windows (bugs everywhere!) and they don’t believe in air conditioning (seriously, stinking hot). I make it my daily goal to kill at least 10 bugs a day and we bought a ton of fans and temporary air conditioners for the first and second floors. Other than that, there’s really nothing to complain about.

It’s weird living so far north. The sun stays up until about 10:30 at night and comes back up sometime around 4 in the morning. I guess it makes up for how dark it will be all winter. Our house has some wicked awesome shades that block it out for the most part.

Moving day didn’t come without issues. First our queen-sized bed wouldn’t fit up the stairs so for the next five years it is going to sit in the storage room in the basement and we’ll be bunking out on military issue single beds pushed together. We were super happy to get a washer and dryer until the washer flipped over in the first load and smashed the front in. The washer sits on a platform about three feet off the ground and the man forgot to bolt it to the floor. The force of the fall ripped the water pipe right off the wall so we had to hurry to get the water shut off before the place flooded. We finally got a new one about a week later. We were thrilled to hear we weren’t going to have to replace the first one, which would have set us back about $1,500.

There is still a ton of work that the workers are doing to our yard and in the house. I’ll post pictures as soon as they get that finished and the million pieces of IKEA furniture in boxes around our house are finally put together.

It is incredibly expensive here -- $8 McDonalds combos, $17 for a tiny garbage can, $125 lunch at the Italian place near our house (they didn’t have prices on the menu and it didn’t look ritzy so we never thought to ask), over $100 to fill up our tiny rental car, a $800 doctor’s visit, etc.

The worst part is they don’t take credit cards at most places, even at places like IKEA. So when we went to do our first major shopping spree (for expensive things like leather couches, futons, beds, carpets, etc) we had to have enough cash to pay upfront. It’s a good thing Jeremy is an amazing saver or else we would be sitting and eating on the floor for the next five years. It would have been nice if someone had of told us this so we didn’t waste a whole day picking out furniture and hiring people to transport it and then finding out we didn’t have the cash to actually get what we ordered. Every time we transfer from our American savings to our German account there is a few days waiting period, which is a colossal hassle. It’s amazing to think there are countries that can live without credit. It’s super nerve racking to think we are in one of them.