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!!