Schule (School)

This was one inner-city school we saw with a fun playground. Germans were actually the minority at this school, since there are so many immigrants from around the world. Turks seemed to have the biggest families (with 2-3 kids).

Before visiting, we thought we'd want our kids to attend German schools so they could learn the language better, etc. This was confirmed when we found out the price of international schools--$20,000 per child per year. Kindergarten is like our preschool here, not mandatory. So, we're waiting to hear back on the price of that (at a German school) since it'd be nice for Macy to get to go.

There's a "cage" around this soccer play place to keep the ball in.

It's hard to see, but there are some boys playing cards up there.

hallo

The first little town we stayed in claimed to be the hometown of the 1st telephone, so they had some fun old ones there. We thought our girls would get a kick out of the pink pay phones, and we called them once from the phone in the red booth.

Signs of Spring

The climate is similar to where we live now, only a bit milder. So, in Feb, we were already spotting some signs of spring.

This is a gumball machine outside of a gelateria. It was still a bit chilly for ice-cream, but I'm sure we'll try some when we get there this summer and most likely don't have AC.

Fun Signs

We thought these signs were pretty cute. Myles did a great job driving our rental car while I attempted to read the maps and navigate. It was pretty funny the first time he exited off the autoban, and I said, "Don't get off here. We're not going to Ausfahrt!" (Ausfahrt means exit).

We learned that you have to know your geography because the signs never tell you where you are, only where you're going toward. We also realized that you have to stop sooner than you're used to at intersections because the stoplights are directly above you, not above or across the intersection.

Sometimes, there were signs like Yield signs or stop signs connected to stoplights, which seemed confusing. Maybe they're used as back-ups if the power goes out? We never did figure out what the sign on the bottom meant.

Our most common question while driving was, "Is this a one-way?!" Many streets are so narrow that you think they should be a one way, but they are often not.

Cars in Germany

This is a place where Smart cars really are smart! Gas runs about $10 a gallon, and parking spaces are hard to come by. Too bad a fam. of 5 can't quite squeeze in. (We'll be walking, biking, or riding public transportation).

We thought it was pretty funny to see this bumper sticker.

The streets are so narrow, that it isn't uncommon for people to park like this, half-way on the curb.

On the right is a car elevator. Yeah, like the kind on those old Fisher Price Little People car garages. They enable 2 cars to park in the same place, one above the other. Since we're not so accustomed to this, they gave us the "lady's spot" on the left.

Back to Deutschland--the Castle

Thanks to Myles, our pics. are restored, and I can return to our Germany tour.

Enjoy!

We saw the outside, but decided to wait to tour the inside until we had the girls/other visitors with us. It's amazing to take in the view and imagine life during the time of the castles!

We enjoyed a pretty hike on the way down to the castle from our hotel all to ourselves. Non-tourist season definitely has some perks!

Our camera isn't very good at taking pics. far away, but the castle is on the left, and our hotel is on the very top at the right. We had an adventurous hike back up in the rain and the dark!

On the bridge

The bird is real. Myles liked how the statue looks like it's looking up at it, annoyed.

The castle's in the background. I'm standing on a very famous bridge in Heidelberg that has been re-built lots of times. (People liked to destroy it during times of war).

The other day, Myles told the girls the story about his dad throwing his bike off a bridge like this one at the end of his mission in Germany because he was so sick and tired of it! We'll have to look up his mission journal, and visit the actual bridge. His mom and dad are looking forward to visiting us after completing their present mission in Panama. We hope to meet some of the people his dad met as a young missionary in Germany.

The Old City

"The Old City" is one of the few places that was not bombed out during WWII. It's charming with cobblestone streets, fun shops, and friendly people.

I love the couple walking together.

Old Doors in the Old City

bikes

We wanted to show our girls some kids riding bikes.

Running bikes seem to be very popular there, like this wooden one on the left. They're bikes withouth pedals used to teach kids balance instead of using training wheels.

A lot of people ride bikes to the grocery store, etc, hence, the baskets.

Fun Faces

This served as a helpful landmark.

This was the door of a kindergarten.

Fun Doors

You Know You're getting old when...

You're better friends with the bride and groom's parents than the bride and groom.

You wake up (for no apparent reason) in the wee hours of the morning, only to finally fall back asleep and dream that you're taking a nap.

You realize that those drops at the eye doc. aren't your worst fear anymore.

What's made you feel old lately?

Germany Journal

Since I won't be able to post any more pics. for awhile (see post below), I thought I'd share from what I wrote on our trip. I tried to note things for the girls to help prepare them for the move.

2/4/11

Dear Robyn, Carly, and Macy,

Since I wanted to tell you all about our trip, I figured I'd write to you. Right now, it is 11 AM in Germany, but it is the middle of the night for you! You would NOT believe how big this airplane is. (Daddy told me it has to be big enough to carry enough gasoline to get us over the ocean). There are 2 aisles with 2 seats, 4 seats, and then 2 more across. We are in row 52 and are not all the way in the back. They have 5 bathrooms downstairs. I was brave and ordered my drinks in German. They had to ask me to repeat, and I told them I was practicing. I love just listening to the people speaking German. I can recognize the words I learned on the CDs from the library.

While we were waiting in the Denver Airport, we met a really nice woman from OK who taught international writing classes, and was on her way to visit her grandkids in Africa. I love meeting new people and seeing new places.

While I was in the bathroom in the airport, I heard water and then a woman using bad language. I thought her cellphone had fallen in the toilet. It turns out there was no counter, so she set her purse in a sink, which triggered the automatic faucet, and her purse started filling up with water! She was very upset about it. I tried to help her feel better.

2/5/11

Dear Girls,

We'll have to remember to take you to a really cool McDonald's spaceship in Terminal 2D of the Frankfurt Airport.

Yesterday, Dad and I called you from a payphone in a red telephone booth. It was so good to hear your voices. It was 4PM here, and you were just getting ready for school there.

We took a walk around this little town called Friedricksdorf. The houses are so cute! There is some graffiti, but other than that, everything is super clean and well kept. Each house/business is a little bit different and has character. For example, the store where they sell eyeglasses has a big pair of eyeglasses for the door handles, and the shoe store has...yep, you guessed it, a wooden shoe for the handle. Later, I saw pretzel handles on a bakery door.

The most crowded shop was a bakery. The cakes in the window looked very pretty and really good. They had marzipan in the shape of monkeys and elephants. A nice mom talked to us for a minute. We commented on her little boy's bike. It was a running bike, like some of your friends have, Macy, except that it was wooden.

Many things look a little bit different, but most is the same--moms, dads, and grandparents out for walks with strollers, people buying groceries (we bought little breads, a creamy cheese, and salami), and kids walking home from school with backpacks.

We also got to walk to one of our temples, which was neat. There is a church building where 2 wards (congregations) meet on the same grounds, too, along with a really cute house and some apartments.

Someone knocked on our hotel door, along with others @ 8:30AM. We were surprised since we didn't ask for a wake-up call. Oh, well. It's helping us stay on the right schedule (since we're jet lagged)... We found out later that a group of Italian boys were staying in several rooms by us, and it was accidental.

2/7/11

Yesterday, we went to church. We arrived just in time for the German service in Heidelberg. A nice older couple, the Rosas (I learned that people introduce themselves with their last names), greeted us, told us all about the area, and even translated the service for us. The woman speaks 4 languages--German, English, French, and Spanish. This is not uncommon here, as the boarders of the different countries are all so close.

I was really inspired by the people's stories during the meeting. They testified of Heavenly Father knowing and helping each of them individually, which is what I feel like we need while we're here looking for a place to live, etc.

Then, we stayed and met Megan (Melissa's sis) and her 4 kids. It'll be fun for you to meet them. They go to the English-speaking military congregation. I met Jessica, whose mom works by us, and Jaros y Sandra, a really nice couple from Peru.

During Gospel Doctrine, we discussed the story in the Bible about leaving everything and dropping our nets. In Relief Society, we talked about emulating the Savior. I enjoyed hearing the Primary kids singing the same songs you sing when I was walking through the hallway.

It's nice to feel at home at church where ever it may be. Megan invited us (and her friend Jayma and her kids) for lunch at her place. She is very friendly, outgoing, and positive like Melissa. We had chili, chips and salsa, and brownies. We brought some fun wafer chocolate cookies with musical instruments etched in them to share.

Everything is bigger and smaller than I'd expected. How is this possible? Well, the city is big, but everything in it (like the cars, parking places, washing machines, you name it) are tiny. We are staying downtown Mannheim for Daddy's Conference. Parking is hard to come by (and the 30,000 students are on break right now). In many places, people park on the sidewalk or half-way on the sidewalk since the streets are so narrow. When we first arrived at our hotel, we went down into its very narrow parking garage, only to discover that the gate was closed. We had no idea how we could ever get out of there! Daddy went and talked to them, and they opened the gate. In the teeny tiny garage, many of the spaces have elevators so that 2 cars can park in each spot. (Kind of like the Fisher Price garage).

We are realizing that having a car is very expensive ($10 gallon for gas, taxes, parking fees, etc) and not very convenient. So, we'll look for a place to live by a train stop.

Despite the big-city-ness, there are many green fields on the sides of the autoban between citites.

Robyn, Carly, and Macy,

We went to 2 grocery stores, where we learned that you must bring your own bag or basket. We also learned that you should bring change for a deposit in order to use a cart. We tried some really good cheese and yogurt. We also bought what we thought was squirt cheese to put on some crackers, but found out that it was mustard! (It looks like a tube of toothpaste). We bought some fresh bread and sausages, which we boiled in our hotel room, and put the mustard on. Dad and I were laughing in the grocery store because one little girl wanted to push the cart just like you, and was having a little trouble steering. I guess this childhood need is universal. They have many kinds of juice, treats, cheeses, and breads that are fun to try here.

Many people smoke here. It's sad to see, especially for the young people. They have vending machines just for cigarettes. Some of the packages say, "These will cause a slow and painful death."

At church, we got to hear 3 young men speak who talked about how much joining the church has changed their lives. They said it has given them much hope.

2/14/11

Dear girls,

Today is Valentine's Day. I'm glad to be on our way home to you. I love you!

Germany ended up being more like The States and less like the stereotypical Germany (with cuckoo clocks, etc) than I thought it would be. The downtown areas of the big cities with the big department stores reminded me of Chicago.

The people were friendly. Everyone we met was happy and helpful. Sometimes, people spoke English to us, and other times they let us struggle with the little bit of German that we know. This happened one time with a friendly woman in the immigration office who smiled a lot. Daddy thought he was asking her for a map of the city, and later we realized he was asking her for a briefcase! No wonder she was smiling. I'm sure she thought we were funny.

I think it's better to try the language and make mistakes than not to try. This is the only way to learn and get better. Yesterday, we attended a different German ward in Mannheim. A missionary who'd been there for 6 months could hardly say anything. This worried me, but Dad said his companion was also from the US, and they spoke English with each other. It takes a lot more effort to speak the language, but the more we practice, the easier it'll get, and the more people we'll be able to interact with.

There will be many fun things to explore and discover together!

Ich liebe dich!

Mutti

Any Suggestions?

So, I had all my pictures named, cropped, red-eyed and ready to go when my computer crashed! Arrggh!

We are looking to buy a new laptop very soon, and I'm interested in your suggestions. What kind do you have? What do you like and/or not like about it? What have you heard? Any other advice?

Danke.