Our First Week and a Few Days in Germany

What a crazy and wonderful time we have had here in Germany! The weather is AMAZING! No air conditioning and you are not hot. The sun shines everyday too! So perfect! There are occasional showers, but they only last for a few minutes. 

The food has been delicious. Breads, pastries, chocolate, fresh fruits, and doners are everywhere and super yummy. Instead of fast food places on every corner, you have bakeries and little restaurants. Doners is a wrap or sandwich with meat, salad, and sauce. We all love them. 

We are currently staying in a town house. It is crazy what it costs the military to house us here temporarily. I think it is about $3,000 for 10 days. It is nice and we are comfortable here. We are looking for the perfect home and have not found it yet. We go back and forth between country and city. Of course this is all within a few miles of each other.  We will find the perfect house, but the location will be terrible, or great location but terrible layout of the home. You have to be here to see it to understand this. Really, homes are so awkward inside. Rooms don't have closets because that costs extra by the government in taxes  when building. Many homes open right onto the street... which we can't do with little children. But the towns are so cute and picturesque. I love them! Most shops close from 12-2PM and close by 8 at night. Nothing is open Sundays. Everything is just a little slower here. 

This is our temporary home. Notice the rolladens. Every window has them here in Germany. Kind of strange, kind of neat. When they are completely closed, your house is so dark, even in the day. It is like a garage door on every window. They are used as a security measure as well.

This is the neighbors home. Sorry the picture has garbage cans. It was garbage day. That brings me to another interesting topic. Everything here is recycled! ALL plastic, no matter what. ALL paper. ALL aluminum. ALL glass. ALL food waste and yard clippings or weeds. There are no garbage disposals. You throw your left overs in a certain garbage can. And then 2 groups go out once a week. The next week the other ones. What doesn't fit into a category should be very little. That is what is expected. I see a lot of good in this, but it makes you work a little more. No dumping everything in the garbage or down the sink. Every little plastic wrapping or wrapper is recycled too.

The middle cabinet is the fridge. There is a small space in there for the freezer spot (a shoe box size basically). The fridge is so small it makes you go to the store frequently, leading to fresher food. The military gives us Americans a large fridge when we get our home. I guess they don't expect us to shop daily for our food-thank goodness and kind of funny. They also give us American washing machine and dryers. I am not sure why on this one. The kids went around labeling everything in German. That is what the post-it notes are in the picture. We hope to learn the language sooner than later.

Here are the best kids. They are putting up with a lot. It is hard having nearly nothing to do and no friends to play with each day. They are having way too much computer and TV time. At least that will end soon.  Steve and I are constantly searching for rentals and going to see them. The kids get dragged around with us. Or Steve has to go do inprocessing and we are left home car-less. It will get better soon. We take lots of walks too. Steve's car arrives this week and hopefully our van shortly there after.  And hopefully we find a home soon! Our air shipment should be here in a week or two- I hope! The kids bikes are in that. Most of our house goods will not be here until the middle of September. We are trying to be patient through all this. It is a pain. 

Right by our house there is a field and you can pick your own flowers. They are super inexpensive and so pretty. We did this with the kids one day.

A stalk was about .50 cents. So pretty. The kids all picked a flower to take home.

We found a path near our home that had tons and tons of blackberries. The kids took bowls and picked away. Here they are having blackberries on their ice cream.

We went to the Landstuhl Carnival and it was not impressive. It was tiny and the people there were weirdos. Teenagers were smoking and all pierced and tattooed up. Some moms were smoking right around there kids. Yes I heard there was lots of smoking here and it is true. Smoking everywhere, regardless of where you are or who you are around. We left after a few rides and that was doing everything there too. Like I said, super small carnival. 

Something funny about the carnival was the lack of concern for safety. No gates keeping you away from the ride while it was going. Wouldn't happen in America. 

We have been shopping at Aldi's mostly. The corporation that owns Trader Joe's also owns Aldi's so I knew I would instantly be in love with that store. It is kind of strange buying food when you can't read everything on the label. We have been pretty successful. I am learning a few German phrases from being in the store. The clerks say "Morgen" for "Good Morning". "Danke" for "Thanks". "Hallo" for "Hello". "Tschuess" for "Bye". Tachuess is pronounced like choos. Interesting right. They say "Tschau" for "Bye" too. This is pronounced like chow. We have been to the commissary as well. Thank goodness for food from home!

Most Germans around here speak English very well.  When I ask them how they learned English, they say a little from going to school, but mostly from their friends that were Americans when they were little and playing with American kids. Although we are in Germany it feels a little like America because there is such a big military presence right here. When you go on base you can eat at the Maccaroni Grill or Chili's and pay with dollars. You almost forget you are in Germany!

This little guy has been so good. I just love him to pieces. Through all this I am feeling so blessed. Landon is not a fussy baby. He is almost 7 weeks old now. Heavenly Father continues to bless us abundantly and I feel so grateful.