Our first two months in Deutschland!

Okay, I am going to give this blogging thing a try.  I think it would be fun to write about our experiences in a place where our family and friends can read about them (if they choose to!).  This first entry will be a little long since we have already been here two months.  After this, it's my intention to make more smaller posts.  Hope you enjoy!

After months of preparation and still not feeling prepared, my favorite father-in-law drove the girls, Sally (our cat) and me from Philly to BWI airport for our midnight departure on July 31st.  Greg was anxiously awaiting our arrival over the pond.  He left back in April while the girls and I stayed back in Newport to finish out the school year and visit family and friends in Florida before leaving.  I was a bit anxious as to how the girls would act while killing time before a midnight flight (their bedtime is normally 8:00pm), but they were actually great. Literally seconds after the wheels were pulled up on take-off, the scene looked like this.... 

Easiest bedtime ever!  Relief!  So, now I am thinking that the midnight take-off was a fabulous idea as this scene lasted for 5 1/2 hours!  Wish I could have gotten some sleep.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not excited about flying, so it was a long 7 hours for me.  The girls woke up in time to watch Toy Story 3 and then we were there!  Greg picked us up for our one hour drive to our new home just outside of Heidelberg.  So, this was my first experience on the German autobahn.  Needless to say, that it lived up to the hype!  Immediately, Beemers and Mercedes galore were whizzing by at easily 100+ mph.  Contrary to popular belief, there is a speed limit.  However, it is a "recommended" speed limit that most drivers blow off. I found myself thinking that I would rather be on the airplane (which has never happened before!).  Obviously, we survived the ride (minus a few years) and arrived at our new home that Greg found for us before we arrived.

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Our new home is a duplex.  We have the basement and the first two floors and a German woman and her two children have an apartment on the third floor.  Our neighbor, who you will probably hear a lot about, is named Silke and her kids are Sarah, 10, and Tom, 4.  They are fabulous!  My German guardian angels.  Silke has not spoken English since grade school and I don't speak any German (yet), so our conversations consist of a lot of hand gestures and frequent passing of the German/English dictionary back and forth.  She has said that she got some flowers from the butcher and she is always referring to her boyfriend as a "she".  But her English is 100 times better than my German, so it works!  She has been so welcoming and has even taken me to a few stores in town to look for curtains, a toaster, etc.  No Target in Germany, so this would not have been an easy process for me on my own!  The Exchange on base (or post as they call it over here) is very small.  Silke is also a fabulous cook and has invited us over for lunch (the big meal of the day over here) a couple of times and has brought us baked goods fresh out of her oven.  She also keeps us posted on the local events in the area.  A week or so after arriving, Silke invited us to come with her family (including boyfriend Stefan) to a festival in the nearby town, Speyer.

Leena and Taryn with Tom

The girls and I with Silke and Stefan (on left side of picture - Stefan was stuck holding Silke's purse!)

We have since discovered that Germans love a good fest (or possibly even a bad fest!).  There is a fest every weekend in some nearby town!  Here are some pics of a few fests that we have been to...

So basically, German fests are the equivalent to a city fair in the US.  Lots of food, rides for the kids, and music.  However, they are run a little differently than what we are used to in the States.  Each ride has it's own cashier where you pay about 3 Euros per person to ride any given ride (that's the equivalent of about $4.50 per person per ride!).  This is both good and bad.  Good - no long lines; Bad - expensive and trying to explain to the kids why they can only ride a few rides.  Actually, I need to correct myself, there are no lines at all.  When the ride ends, it is a literal free-for-all and everyone waiting to ride makes a mad dash for a seat.  It's a bit chaotic and we have learned that being patient and polite will not get you on the ride!  As a result, we have learned to be good Europeans and shove our way to the ride first.  As fun as it sounds, my acclimation to Germany has not been entirely without its struggles.  The language has been the toughest challenge to date thus far.  This may come as a shock to some of you... all Germans do NOT speak English (as I was misinformed before moving over here)!  And I seem to constantly run into the non-English speaking Germans.  I painfully regret not being more committed to my on-line German language courses before moving over here.  Not to mention that it's hard living as an illiterate.  In addition to not being able to read any signs, there is also paperwork from the local schools, etc that we can not read in order to fill them out.  There has been a lot of typing into Google translator!  So, Greg and I enrolled ourselves in a German language class two weeks ago.  We meet two times per week.  I pray that I am a fast learner!   

The girls are both enrolled in school and seem to be enjoying them so far.  Taryn is attending a local German kindergarten.  Both of her teachers do speak English, so that has made the transition easier for her and me.  However, once in the classroom, German is the only language spoken.  There are 3 other little American girls in Taryn's class and they have flocked together and formed their own support group.  I asked Taryn if she plays with any of the German kids and she replied "Uh, no.  They don't speak English".  So I guess this is how it will go until some of the language starts to sink in.  

  Taryn and Leena in Taryn's new classroom.  Leena got to attend school with Taryn the first week (for free!) until her school started.

Leena is attending 1st grade at the DOD school on base (or post - I will never get used to that!).  We actually tried sending her to the local German school, but it was just too stressful on her (and me!).  She lasted one day.  I felt it was just too much too soon with her.  Everyone seems to have a strong opinion on this subject one way or the other and in our case, it just wasn't a good fit at this time.  In Germany, the public school system begins with the first grade and the first day of first grade is a BIG deal over here.  It was interesting to experience it.  The first day of German first grade is held on a Saturday.  We believe this is done so that the entire family can attend - this includes aunts, uncles, grandparents, everyone!  The whole family starts the day at the local church where the children sit together in the front of the church (except for Leena who insisted on sitting with us).  Each child brings with them a Shuletute which is basically a large cardboard cone elaborately decorated by the parents who then fill them with goodies such as candy and small gifts.  I was told that the kids bring these to school so that when things are rough in school, they can look at their Shuletute and be reminded that it can be sweet too.  I tried to discretely take a picture of a parent holding their child's Shuletute.



Needless to say, Leena was the ONLY kid in the church without a Shuletute because no one bothered to inform us of this small detail.  Later, Silke said to me "don't they do that in America?" to which I replied "No, we kiss the kids and away they go!".  After the ceremony at the church, everyone walked over to the school where the second graders put on a skit for the first graders and their families.  From what I got out of it, it seemed really cute.  After the skit, the first graders went to their classrooms with their teachers while the family members hung out in a reception area and had refreshments.  Fortunately, the head master let me go back with Leena to her classroom because Leena was in tears.  So, I got to sit in the back of the classroom.  The kids were in the room for about an hour.  Leena started crying at one point which made me start crying.  What a mess we were!  I can't imagine what all the little 6 year olds thought about the grown-up in the back who was crying!  Anyway, long story short, Leena cried and cried afterward and begged not to go back.  Since we had only been in Germany 6 weeks at that point, I figured it was probably too much too soon and it would have been easier if we had been here longer and she had some time to get at least some of the language under her belt.  So, we are officially German first grade drop-outs and Leena could not be happier at the American school on post.  She has a great teacher and has already been learning a lot of great things.  By the way, after the first day of first grade, the German families host receptions at their homes for the remainder of the afternoon and into the evening! 

Leena's first day of American school

Greg is definitely in his element over here.  Germans are big believers of recycling and as a matter of fact, recycling is mandatory over here.  The kids especially enjoy the two different "flush" buttons on our toilet.  One for pee and one for the other.  As much as Germans take care of the planet, it is surprising to find that almost everyone over here smokes.  They smoke so much that they find it necessary to put a cigarette machine on every street!  Yes, walking through our town, we pass many cigarette machines randomly placed on the sidewalk.  Here is a picture of the girls posing in front of the nearest machine to our house - only 1/2 block away.  After I took the picture, Leena asked "why did you take a picture of me next to that machine?". 

We did not make it over to Oktoberfest in Munich this year.  However, we did survive an hour drive on the Autobahn to Stuttgart to attend the Beerfest there (Cannstatter) which is the second largest behind Munich's.  There we met up with some of Greg's old squadronmates from way back in the day.  Needless to say, the girls were a bit bored in the beer tent and managed to talk Greg into buying them some pony balloons for 9 Euros each ($13)!  Those of you who know Greg will appreciate the small miracle that this was!  

 Greg and I in the beer tent in Stuttgart

The girls proudly show off their pony balloons!