Holiday ADD!

Pin It Now! Halloween is over. To me that means the holiday season has really started. Especially since we live in Germany and I have to consider shipping times. I have so many things going on and so many things I want to do! I literally have 8 windows up on my screen (good connection via my phone for once!!) with all the things I'm trying to do.

First I'm on amazon and qvc searching for Christmas gifts. Trying to be very cost effective and practical this year.

 and then....

I switch to buying outdoor Christmas decor. I want a pretty wreath for the front door and a garland and two little trees on each side of the door.

and then...

I go to my Target.com window hoping to find some shirts for little Wright and a winter coat for baby Wright.

And then....

I realize I still haven't found a place to stay in Rome for our trip this month. Hotels are expensive as heck and there are thousands to search through. I want to book an apt, but they are non refundable and I've heard we may get dumped with snow soon....so ugh I cant decide what to do.

and then...

 I go on fb to see what everyone is up. Cute costumes and fun parties from Halloween!

Then...

Im on people.com not at all surprised by Kim Kardashian or Jessica Simpson.

and then...

 I realize I need to start getting stuff together for the holiday party I'm doing for my husband's taekwondo students.

Then I spend most of my  time on pinterest getting even MORE distracted. 

AH! SOL! (scream out load. Im totally starting that as a new abb btw)

Anyone else completely obsessed with that site? It's the climax of all the things pretty.  I've always been a visual person. I used to do google image searches for ideas and would save inspiring images to my desktop. I LOVE how pinterst allows me to stay organized with ideas. It's overwhelming how creative people are and I want to do and see every craft I find. If you're on pinterest find me or let me know so I can find you! I've put together some boards for holiday party ideas and holiday crafts.

How does everyone else stay calm and focused during this nutty season??

Oh and please send me positive energy...will find out about internet in 2 weeks!

XOXOX

B

Hallo!

Pin It Now! Hallo blog world and world wide web and friends and strangers who read my blog.  I've been mia for the last month settling into our new life.  I've had internet (via my cell phone), but have just been so busy that blogging had to take a backseat for awhile.

So far, we are still very much in love with our new village.  Little Wright's Kindergarten is great and so adorable.  I've meet some sweet new people who lucky for me share a love for wine. And I've been exploring the surrounding areas and am so happy to have found a bio market (organic), Rewe, fabulous Greek restaurant and trails galore.   The weather has been gorgeous!  I have spring fever and though I'm super ecstatic for spring, I'm also super nervous.  We have a huge backyard and decent sized front yard and I've never done an ounce of yardwork in my life. Like, ever. In Germany, yardwork is no joke.  Lawns are always manicured and very well taken care of and so I'm a wee bit nervous.  I really don't even know where to start, but hopefully I can pull it together somehow.

Other than that things are goin' good.  It's my birthday this weekend.  We are going to Croatia next month (more on that later).  I'm back to crafting projects and also been working out and cooking.  Now that I'm blogging I finally feel settled.

Speaking of traveling to Croatia I wanted to share this video from Rick Steves.  Makes me realize that despite the challenges sometimes faced while living in a foreign country, it truely is a romantic life I'm living.  I cherish it and am so grateful to be able to experience so many different cultures.  It has changed me for sure.



Can't wait to catch up on blogs and see what everyone has been up to!

Life in the new village

Pin It Now! After more than 10 hours of driving, consumption of more calories than I care to admit and a week of very little sleep I think I'm starting to feel a bit more calm and settled.   I did have some, ok a lot, of anxiety about moving to a new town.  Especially since it's not even a town we now live in; it's a village of maybe 100 people.  I think the village is probably a 5 mile radius.  I'll have to confirm.  Though it is tiny, there are several villages within miles of us and other houses too, just more spread out.

I had anxiety about how far things would be and what I would do if there is an emergency.  Which btw I have decided take a CPR class (finally!)  I also was afraid of how people would treat us.  We are the only Americans in this place and not many people speak english.  So far we have gotten lots of curious stares, friendly waves and nothing but warm and sincere friendliness. 

My anxiety wore off after we realized we are actually only 12-15 minutes from a large biomarkt(natural/organic foods store) and all my favorite German stores for that matter.  We get the prettiness of the country, but are within reasonable distance to things without feeling completely isolated.  After unpacking most of our things today, it really and truely feels like home.  My most favorite part of the new house (besides the fact everything inside is all brand new and the big trees and the privacy) are the stunning views.  I have never lived anywhere where I could keep windows open all the time and not worry about who's peeking in.  Here's the view from one of our living room windows:

 

See....no one around.

The biggest con is a temporary con.  Apparently there is no internet out in the boonies until this summer.  We get good coverage on our cells, but there is only so much you can do on a cell phone.  We have wifi sticks too, so hopefully they satisfy my internet addiction. On the plus side hopefully this means I'll be more productive and spend more time learning my german. 

Here are some tidbits about our new area:

When driving into our village there is a hill with what appears to be bunkers from World WarII.  Though I'm no historian, I can only say they look just like the bunkers in Heidelberg. 

Very interesting to imagine what happened here if indeed they are from World War II.

There is a delicious bakery (as there seems to be in every single German city) that makes happy face doughtnuts.  Little Wright likes this bakery:

Jesus is everywhere.  On the corner of just about every street and at nearly every yield and stop sign is a cross with Jesus.  I am pretty certain this means there is a strong Catholic presence.  I honestly haven't had much experience or interaction with the Catholic faith, so it will be interesting to learn more.

I can't wait to learn and explore more.  Though we have lived in Germany going on two years, I never experienced culture shock.  In Heidelberg 90% of the people speak english, listen to American music and there are a lot of American and english speakers everywhere you go.  Heidelberg is also extremely diverse with a mixture of turks, indians, russians, muslims, christians, etc.  It's an international city and a melting pot of cultures. 

Now that we're in the country and in a place where english isn't spoken as often, I see how we will be forced a bit more into the culture.  Today we had our first real conversation in German!  We ordered lunch, the guy understood us, we understood him and not a single english word was spoken.  It's amazing how much we have actually picked up, but since we never really had to converse, we didn't.

Still have a long week ahead of us.  Staying in a hotel in Heidelberg the next 2 nights while Mr. Wright finishes up work here and then officially have our first night in the new house Friday.   Hope to share some new things soon :)

xoxo

B

Moving sucks!

Pin It Now! Moving to a new place is fun and exciting.  But the process to get to the new place sucks.  I'm pooped already and the movers haven't even come yet. 

We've been running around like crazy people getting new furniture and things for the house.  One place had the entire bedroom set, but no headboard.  So drove to another place and got the entire set, except they didn't have ANY boxsprings.  And then we made a stop at my favorite place in the world (NOT!) ikea.  Mr. Wright hates ikea more than anything.  And though I usually love shopping I actually am probably one of the rare weirdos who also can not stand that place.  I love a lot of their stuff, but shopping there sucks as much as moving.  You can't just go in and get what you want and be done with it.  There is such a long drawn out complicated process every time I go.  Except this last time I think we set an ikea world record.  In and out with a lot of stuff that we had to pull off the shelves ourselves in 1 hour and 20min!!  I was impressed.  My first ikea shopping experience involved 6 hours of agony, so this was amazing.  Anyway our living room is now full of boxes and furniture and the clutter is driving me insane.  Having things everywhere and not in their own place just makes me feel so out of control (not that I'm a crazy control freak or anything*ahem*...I just like things a very certain way).

Thankfully the movers do all the packing for us.  And I'm going to cave and have a cleaning company come because it will just make life easier.  So really and truely the move isn't that bad.  I'm just a whiney baby who would rather sit around and watch the Real Housewives of (insert every city here).

I should be doing useful stuff right now, but there's a new movie on itunes called Life as We Know It with Katherine Heigl whom I love to pieces.  That sounds much more relaxing and fun than doing laundry and stuff.

Until next time,

B

Mein Deustch ist nicht sehr gut

Pin It Now! So I've lived in Germany for a year and a half now.  I would say I know maybe 50 words.  Maybe more than that.  Rosetta stone taught me "Das auto ist rot" but really when will that ever help me?  And I can count to 11.  You know...really important stuff.

It's interesting how much I am able to pick up from mannerisms and body language though.  For example when I first went to the german grocery store, they would always ask a question after I would pay. 

After the first time they asked me a question I realized they were asking if I would like my receipt.  I couldn't even tell you what it sounded like or what the question was.  I just knew based on previous experience and body language they would ask if I would like my receipt to which I would always reply "nein".

After awhile I started to recognize the word for receipt which is "rechnung".

There was another  time when baby Wright was only 5 weeks old that some older lady had stopped me asking about the baby and all I picked up out the the sentence was Mädchen and Junge.  She was asking if he was a girl or a boy.(you can never tell with a newborn)  And then just based on her tone of voice and body language I could tell she was saying how tiny and cute he was.

Most people I know say german is the hardest langauge to learn.  I've also been told it's the closest to english.  I really think a lot of the words and sentences sound like english to me.  I've always been weird like that though.  Things most people get, I'm clueless. And then the things most people don't get, like german, I don't think is so difficult. 

The hard part about trying to learn and speak german where I live is that most people speak english.  Even when I try to speak german, like at a restaurant for example, the people just come back to me in english. 

There are many, many times when knowing german would have been highly beneficial to me.  But for the most part when I say "Mein deutsch ist nicht sehr gut" (my german is not very good) people will either respond in english or we will point and signal our way through conversation.  I haven't had any really rude encounters.  I've dealt with the occassional person who seems annoyed, but that is to be expected. All in all the people are far more friendly that I would have expected.  I know back home spanish speakers or people with a thick indian accent aren't treated so nicely.  Ever seen the fb page that says to like "I live in America I shouldn't have to press 1 to speak english"?

So glad it's not like that here.

But today was one of those days where I really wish I knew how to speak and understand more.  Two repair men came to my house and didn't speak any english at all. (duh I live in Germany!)  They were here to fix our heaters because it has been freezing.  (side note: We don't have central heating here.  We have radiators in each room.  I actually like that better.  Saves money to centralize the heat in the rooms you spend time in).  I knew a few words like "kaput" and "danke".  And that's how we communicated.  I pointed to the radiator and said "kaput".

They kept saying something to me in german even though I said I don't speak it and then would speak louder as if that would somehow magically make me understand.  Thank God for internet because I was able to have the guy type into google translate. 

And then tada!  I learned why the heat wasn't working.

So lesson of the day: I won't always have google translate with me.  Wifi doesn't work everywhere.  I should learn to speak the language of the country in which I live.

Snowy Days the German Way

Pin It Now!

It's been snowing since Thanksgiving Day.  Not a whole lot.  Maybe 2-3 inches at the most. But enough to add some extra charm and a sense of novelty to the holiday season.

Except for when it's enough to require the driveway and sidewalk be shoveled.

You see, here in Germany there are very specific and direct laws in regards to snow removal or Straßenreinigungssatzung (street cleaning statute).  Say that 1 time fast.

As soon as it starts to snow, you’re supposed to shovel and keep your walkways clear.  Especially between the hours of 7am and 8pm during the week.  Even if you are sick or out of town, you are responsible to have someone clear the snow for you. 

Most people oblige because if anyone falls on the snow or ice in front of your house, you can be sued and are liable.  Even as a renter.

Soooo since hubby had to be at work early this morning and since I was awake anyway and since I have a pound or two or five to lose, I decided to go ahead and shovel the sidewalk and driveway. 

I made a very specific point to start shoveling while it was still dark.  It’s kind of like parallel parking.  I know I suck at it and I’d prefer no one watch me make a fool of myself as I hack and scrape at the sidewalk. (It had been snowing since last Thursday and since we had not shoveled since today there was a nice thick layer of ice underneath the snow). 

It was sort of fun except my toes and fingers were frozen and I realized if this is to become my new responsibility I definitely need some new boots.  Preferably these beauties

[caption id="attachment_979" align="aligncenter" width="165" caption="Sorels Cate the Great"][/caption]

A friend introduced me to Sorels today and now I just can’t get these out of my head! Seriously.  I must get these.

So the lesson learned today was if we want to avoid a lawsuit I need these boots. 

Oh and also that I suck at shoveling.

Our driveway is on the bottom.  My neighbor’s is on the top.

 Hehe.   :)

xoxo

B

Things I miss about living in the U.S

Pin It Now! I love living in Germany.  I really, really do.  But I've lived in the U.S my entire life and there are things I miss.

What really made me miss home today was having to take baby Wright to the pediatrician.  I definitely miss the choice of health care providers.  The language barrier is a bit worrisome to me as well in the event anything drastic were to happen.  It's just a matter of being afraid of the unknown I 'spose.

I miss Target.  A lot.

I miss Chipotle and all its deliciousness.

Whole Foods.  There are bio markets here, but I've heard conflicting stories from people.  I've heard that organic is not certified here like it is U.S.D.A certified organic in the States.  From what people have told me, when buying bio (organic) in Germany sometimes you're just paying a premium price for basically the same thing.  There are so many different definitions of organic, natural, all natural, etc.   So I miss just knowing that the food I'm buying is truely organic and that the animals are treated humanely.  I could look into further though.

I miss having double sinks in my bathroom.

I miss having a walk-in closet.  The majority of houses in Germany don't come with closets.  You have to buy your own wardrobe.

I miss having a garage.

I miss not having to plug my vacuum or steam mop or kitchenaid into a transformer to make it work.

I miss shopping on Sunday.  Everything is closed on Sunday and I have to cram most errands into Saturday.  I'd prefer to split it between two days.

I miss using a debit card everywhere.  I'd say most places here take cash only or at least strongly prefer cash. 

I miss being able to communicate freely.  I still feel slightly insecure and modest when out in public.  It's much harder to ask simple questions.  I need to learn German.

I MISS MEXICAN FOOD!!!

I really really really really really really really really really really miss having a garbage disposal.

I miss pay at the pump gas stations.

I miss drive-thru Starbucks.

I miss Nordstroms.

I miss Craigslist so much.

I miss chinese food delivery.

I miss Pandora.  Can't listen here in Germany....phooey.

I'm sure I'm missing a few.  Though I miss soo many things, not having all of that in my life for over a year is something I've gotten used to.  I don't dwell on the things I miss.  I focus on my new life and have learned to adapt.  It has definitely made me think different about immigrants and foreign people in general.  lucky for me the people here are incredibly wonderful!

xoxo

B