waiting IS the hardest part

The rest of our house hunting time in Germany was great, and by the end of the week I was not ready to come back!  Everyone we met was so friendly, welcoming, interesting and unique!  Well everyone except for the one unfriendly cashier at REAL (the German version of Walmart) where I was buying some snacks.  Clearly this woman did not like her job and did not know the English word - "WEIGH" - since she was flinging my banana towards the end of the register...apparently her way of telling me to weigh the stupid banana!  Oh well, lesson learned!  Other than that it was really neat to walk through the different grocery and electronic stores to see the similarities and differences from what we are used to.  

I loved listening to conversations and was so happy when I could pick up what people were talking about even though I barely know any of the language.  I'm so excited to learn it though and even practiced every time we would dine or say hello or goodbye...Tschüss...my FAVE new German word that sounds like "chuse" lol!  By living there, I'm sure we'll be able to pick it up better than we can listening to German for Dummies on the ipod.

We ended up seeing more houses and apartments that we really liked.  We're still sorting through the housing process and have selected 3 detached houses, all of which are NOT in K'Town but are not far commutes for Dave to the office.

This is our 1st pick, where a military family currently lives.  We met them and were able to talk about the house, neighborhood, town, etc.  This is a great house with a big yard and garden and lots of room inside.  Plus it's right in Enkenbach-Alsenborn (population about 7,000) and we would not need to get a 2nd vehicle right away...just a nice German bike for moi!  Unfortunately the Mercedes does not come with the house (lol) it is owner's!



This is our 2nd pick, a cute little village house also in Enkenbach-Alsenborn that is currently getting a complete makeover inside.  This does not have the yard like the 1st but it does have a great large covered patio in the back and a big terrace that is accessed from two rooms upstairs.  It's also in walking distance from town so no need for an immediate 2nd car.  The owner lives right next door and does have a nice grass yard that we'd hopefully be able to utilize.



This is a view from our 3rd pick, the original house that I fell in love with in Imsbach.  Even though my gut told me this is the house I saw us in, reality made us prioritize otherwise.  This is nestled in the hills and it not really convenient for day to day living if I didn't have a car right away.  It is a very large house with 2 apartments but we'd only be interested in the top floor.  The view is AMAZING to say the least.  The yard and gardens are beautiful and there are hiking trails right out the back door.  It is a pretty steep climb up to the house so day to day biking to town would be rather, well, unrealistic!  The town is a bit small and would be a commute for Dave but it was just SO pretty!  Plus the next town down, Winnwieller, has a really cool looking Bischoff Brewery that we'll have to visit. 

***Just an FYI for visitors, the Rheinland-Pfalz area (that we'll be in) has about 47 breweries which is a fraction of the 100's that Germany has!!!

I will mention, our relo contact made an interesting point during my struggle with the size of the houses and some of the tiny apartments as I referred to them as.  He told us to make sure we pick a place that WE are comfortable in and not to think about having room for guests!  He said that from his experience, only a small % of those friends and family who say they will visit actually do!  Please help to prove him wrong haha!  (No pressure, I'll do my best to keep the blog updated frequently!)  We would love to have as many visitors as possible and I know tickets are pricey but now is an expensive time to be looking at prices.  Make sure to look at all times of the year and if you are serious about it...the sooner the better...you know how things work with us...need I say more?!

Now we're back in KC with no idea what to expect next!  We're excited to find out if we get our #1 house and start the transition.  Dave has quite a bit of travel lined up for the next few months and I will hopefully plan to be in Germany by July 1st.  For the time being, I'll sort through our house and see what will be going and staying since we have our neighborhood garage sale coming up...good timing!

I'll continue to update you as we know more information, it's really fun to do this blog.  Remember to become a follower so you'll be notified of all new posts.  

-Tschüss!!

Slideshow of random pictures from the 1st trip to Germany

Pictures from the first trip to Germany.

Q-Tips and Chocolate

Well here we are 3 days submerged into the German culture and again my range of emotions have been up and down like the Magnum XL200 in Cedar Point.  The flight in wasn't so bad, no one next to me, but still so anxious that sleep wasn't really going to happen in those 8 hours.  I met some great people on the plane who had good info and helpful hints for me!  What a relief though, to get through the airport and finally see Dave after wandering around like a lost child and asking for help at the information desk.

The ride from Frankfurt to K'Town was really beautiful.  I have to say that it looks like a mix of all of the different areas that we have lived!  Lots of green, trees, rolling hills, fields, plains, etc.  The best part so far is looking on from the Autobahn over the small villages with red rooftops and white walled buildings.  To me, that just looks very typical "German"!  We rolled into K'Town and took a quick look at Dave's office, and what a beautiful facility!  Right next to that is Burger King where I enjoyed my 1st German meal, a  chicken sandwich, pomme frites and coke light.  Mmmmmm, then for a 4 hour nap because tired Shawna = ugly Shawna.  Saturday night we enjoyed a nice dinner at the Hotel where I could finally sample the Wiener Schnitzel that my parents had talked about for so many years.  It was good!  All I kept thinking about was how similar it was to the typical "tenderloin" sandwich in IA, except that it wasn't a sandwich at all :)

Sunday was a beautiful and warm day.  We spent time driving around Kaiserslautern and looking in some different neighborhoods since we had no clue what type of housing we'd be looking at the next 2 days.  We walked around downtown and visited the Japanese Tea Gardens that we figured we'd probably go back to a time or two since it seems to be a tourist type thing to do in K'Town.  That night we met a co-worker who took us to a local country club for dinner.  It was great to have some people to talk to, learn a little more culture and try some more food! Pesto pasta is the same in Germany! haha

Monday morning we started our house hunting without an idea of what to expect.  We looked at about 5 different types of apartments in the city area and definitely were keeping an open mind since this is certainly not what we're used to!  We prioritized and ranked them according to our preferences but at the end of the day was I not only tired but a little discouraged and hoped that the next day's listings would be a little better!  That night we ventured back downtown and wandered into a quaint little German Pub where Dave had a local fave of brats and sauerkraut but I stayed with something a little more easy on the tummy of salad and soup!  It was the best tomato soup I've ever had.  I love ordering salad in Germany because you do not specify your dressing and you get whatever you get!  It's been great every time and from what we understand it is a bit of a creation for the chef to prepare for you, their specialty :)

Tuesday started off rainy but good.  It's typical April weather just like home!  We've had a bit of it all today, rain, hail, sun, wind, just like I said it's just like home.  We saw 3 houses/apartments today that were outside of the K'Town area and 1 more downtown.  We still have 3 more to go to today but all in all it is going very well and I think I kind of fell in love with a house today in a small village, up in the hills, next to the forest and trails, with the most beautiful view I've seen so far.  I'm not getting too excited though because we're not done.

So q-tips and chocolate you ask?  I'm proud to say that they are my 1st two German purchases made all by myself!  We were getting a tour through the grocery yesterday when I was reminded that I needed q-tips but didn't want to take the time to get them figuring we'd venture out later on.  Today during our break, after getting some lunch at an "American" diner we stopped at a local dm which turned out to be very much like a drug/convenient store.   I found the q-tips and figured I might as well get chocolate since it was right there, I paid my 1 euro .50 and even thanked the woman in German.  I'm so proud of myself.  

Time to tour, I can't wait to put up some pictures when I get back.  Some of the houses we've been in have really neat features! 

I wanna get to K-Town!

Dave just arrived this morning and now I cannot wait to get to Kaiserslautern!  He said it was a beautiful drive from Frankfurt in his rental...a Volvo SUV...I had to laugh.  I had visions of Edward from Twilight zooming through the mountainous region of Forks, Washington but really it was my husband zooming on the Autobahn towards the Black Forest!

I'm right behind him, leaving Friday for a Saturday morning arrival in Frankfurt.  After some rest I'm sure we'll have a blast exploring the areas around K-Town trying to find our perfect place to live while we're there.  There are so many question marks floating through my head about where we'll live, what it will be like, a house or apartment, who our neighbors will be, how far from the store or the gym, will we be??? Will we live in a city, a village, will we need 2 cars, will I ride a bike everywhere?

Instead of worrying and stressing about all of those things I'm going to go with an adventurous mind and see what looks fun and interesting!  I just want this to be one heck of an adventure so as long as we're there together I'm sure anything will be just fine. 

Whoa - when did I become so carefree?