September 20, 2008

Welcome to Germany!

Ok so here we are in Germany, and have been for about a month now. I know I have been really bad lately with keeping in touch and answering emails and I apologize because we are super busy. Things should start to quiet down this coming week. We have a new baby (BMW) and a house that we can move into Friday. Our other car arrived yesterday and we finally have working cell phones. We are officially licensed to drive in Europe but are still getting lost. GPS is our new best friend, but it's moody and takes us wherever it feels like most of the time. There are about 100 different ways to get from point A to point B but I just want to learn one. There are a million spiders in our front doorway and about a billion on our street. Needless to say, I will be stocking up on raid because I HATE spiders! I get the shivers just writing about it. It's very green here and it always smells like poop. There are farms everywhere and in fact, we are going to live in an old farmhouse. We have already met some wonderful people and they have helped us out to no end, especially because almost nobody in Germany speaks English. We have had some interesting conversations with our hands and hopeless faces. It has been an interesting adjustment and we've mostly just been tired but things are looking better every day. Jim is going to Munich next week for the real Octoberfest and we are both going to one on base tonight. I am so jealous but I'm ready to go for next year. I'm sorry I don't have many pictures yet, just the one of our new baby, the front of our house, and some of the kids playing.


The house is really great. It doesn't look like much from the outside but inside is completely redone. The entire downstairs is modern and has a huge living room, a dining room that is separate so we won't be watching TV and eating anymore, and an office and a kitchen with an enormous pantry off of it and a laundry room. Outside the laundry room is the garage and it opens up to a large large large courtyard complete with cobblestones. The people who live there now are leaving their stone BBQ and hopefully their patio furniture. They have lots of plants outside and it has given me many ideas for what I want to do out there. There is also a barn off the courtyard where we can store some stuff. It is perfect for the kids to play out there. They can't escape and I don't have a lawn to mow! Hopefully less spiders too. Next to our long driveway there is a horse pasture. Rhiannon is crazy about horses. Upstairs is the older part of the house. Part of it was rebuilt after the war. It has four bedrooms, three of which are very big, and we have two full bathrooms. There is also an attic for more storage if we need it. The best part for me is the wine cellar. It was a bunker during the war and now I will make my spirits down there. Hope not to encounter any... Ok so I will post some more pictures once we get moved in and I need to go for now and get ready for my first Octoberfest. It's also my first time using a completely random babysitter so wish me luck! Oh, one more thing. Rhiannon loves school. She wants to do homework every night. It was a good thing to get her in so early. She fits right in without any trouble. She'll be riding the bus from our new house and I am still nervous about that. Talk to you all later. Tschüs (choos) Almost forgot. Our new phone number should be working Friday. It's 617-307-1277.