Saturday August 6
First and foremost, we are connected to the world again hip-hip-hooray! We have had a week of summer, it's really been beautiful and hopefully it will last throughout the month and even into September would be great since we have a wedding and Oktoberfest to go to! I never made it to the pool this week; it was just so crowded every time I went by I would have been lucky to find a small piece of grassy knoll to lay a towel on! Hopefully it will still be open after school is in session again :). I did manage to get good walks in everyday, even in the rain, and each time it's like a new adventure although I'm sure the locals would disagree. It's not just a normal stroll through the neighborhood, there are so many trails and woods and the houses are all just so different that it's still pretty cool to me. I bet I will feel like its "normal" soon enough :).
First and foremost, we are connected to the world again hip-hip-hooray! We have had a week of summer, it's really been beautiful and hopefully it will last throughout the month and even into September would be great since we have a wedding and Oktoberfest to go to! I never made it to the pool this week; it was just so crowded every time I went by I would have been lucky to find a small piece of grassy knoll to lay a towel on! Hopefully it will still be open after school is in session again :). I did manage to get good walks in everyday, even in the rain, and each time it's like a new adventure although I'm sure the locals would disagree. It's not just a normal stroll through the neighborhood, there are so many trails and woods and the houses are all just so different that it's still pretty cool to me. I bet I will feel like its "normal" soon enough :).
Things are definitely starting to become easier, more familiar so that I'm not actually carrying my German-English dictionary everywhere I go! I have a good translation app on the iPad that is helpful and I usually listen to my German for Dummies when mowing :) I'd like to start using Rosetta Stone soon and then we'll be taking a class in September which I think will be most beneficial. I seriously want to be able to understand WHAT people are saying to me but from what we've learned, we are in an area where they speak terrible slang! Oh goody, that should make things easier! It does help that Bonnie knows some German and she'll teach me words when we're walking or at a restaurant. It's just that I have to remember what she told me, I'm such a terrible listener.
Monday August 8
I'm so glad everyone is enjoying reading the blog and getting a laugh or two! I thought I'd keep up with doing the journals and then combining them into the blog on a weekly basis. That is as long as I have things to write about :). I did have a bit of an adventure last week, Bonnie took me to the Sembach Base to visit the Commissary, yeah! It's a much smaller base, previously occupied by the Air Force until the Army took it over but it was fun. There is a little Thrift Shop that we stocked up on a whole bunch of books (that we'll share reading) and there were a whole bunch of European small appliances that people have donated before heading back to the states which is good to know in case my mixer or food processor from the US craps out me. It was fun to go to the Commissary to get some "goods" that I didn't have here. Cheerios, Coffee-Mate, Tostitos, turkey burgers, but for the most part I can get everything else we need in the stores here. It's just nice to have some of the things we are used to, you know?
Wednesday night we went to a place we had been to when we here house hunting, The Quack, where they have really good Flammküchen. We love that! I was able to get a mega load of weeds pulled in the yard on Thursday. Friday was "bio" garbage day so I made sure to get them in the bin so they didn't sit there for another 2 weeks. Friday night we went to Pizzeria de Franco with Bonnie and Jeff. It's a good Italian place just a few minute walk away. We had a good time with them and got some good travel advice as they had lived in Deutschland for 5 years, a few years ago.
I'm so glad everyone is enjoying reading the blog and getting a laugh or two! I thought I'd keep up with doing the journals and then combining them into the blog on a weekly basis. That is as long as I have things to write about :). I did have a bit of an adventure last week, Bonnie took me to the Sembach Base to visit the Commissary, yeah! It's a much smaller base, previously occupied by the Air Force until the Army took it over but it was fun. There is a little Thrift Shop that we stocked up on a whole bunch of books (that we'll share reading) and there were a whole bunch of European small appliances that people have donated before heading back to the states which is good to know in case my mixer or food processor from the US craps out me. It was fun to go to the Commissary to get some "goods" that I didn't have here. Cheerios, Coffee-Mate, Tostitos, turkey burgers, but for the most part I can get everything else we need in the stores here. It's just nice to have some of the things we are used to, you know?
Wednesday night we went to a place we had been to when we here house hunting, The Quack, where they have really good Flammküchen. We love that! I was able to get a mega load of weeds pulled in the yard on Thursday. Friday was "bio" garbage day so I made sure to get them in the bin so they didn't sit there for another 2 weeks. Friday night we went to Pizzeria de Franco with Bonnie and Jeff. It's a good Italian place just a few minute walk away. We had a good time with them and got some good travel advice as they had lived in Deutschland for 5 years, a few years ago.
Saturday we headed to Mannheim to have lunch with our friend Seth. We ate outside at a lovely French restaurant that sits on a large circle surrounding the water tower.
It was beautiful, and the day was beautiful too. After lunch we headed to IKEA to browse for some shelving/organization for the house. We didn't end up with any but did get a lamp, hamper, a few rugs and a milkshake :) IKEA is such a huge overwhelming store! I have never been but if I didn't already have too many accents for our house I would certainly love going there....frequently!
Saturday night was a bit rainy so we stayed in and I cooked up mini-rostbrotwurst and sauerkraut and I think they turned out pretty good! Since we finished Band of Brothers, we then watched the commentary from the actual veterans and then watched disc one over again! We loved it!
Sunday was another low key day, hanging around the house, and we took another great ride on our bikes. I say great now but at the time I thought I might keel over and die...the stupid hills are deceiving! You don't realize that you are steadily climbing...ever.so.slowly....up these trails. It's fun though, we were on a trail that lead to Frankenstein that was 7,5 k away but it was mostly uphill and we had enough for the time being - the ride back down was fun though! We decided to walk up to the Bahnhof in Enkenbach and try a new place for dinner.
It was still pretty nice out so we sat in the biergarten and ended up being the only customers the whole time! The owner was nice, spoke a little English and even brought us out a little treat after our meal. His daughter had just brought him an all natural bottle of what tasted like a cherry liqueur from Romania and he was nice enough to share with us! Getting a shot of schnapps or liqueur after dinner is pretty common here. We had a nice peaceful stroll back home and walked by a house blaring Ghetto Superstar from the windows, all we could do is laugh!
Our first month has been a good one here. It's time to prioritize our travels and really start the research now that we are online. Now it's time to mow before the anticipated rain comes our way. Back to jeans and sweatshirts this week, it's going to be a cool one!
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