We received our temporary furniture and can't wait to get our own things. I can, however, appreciate having a chair to sit upon and a table to eat on, since we went a week without one. Our next-door neighbor has really taken care of us. She let us use one of their cars for the first weekend, stocked our kitchen before we arrived, had blow up beds ready and a roast in the crockpot on arrival. I can't wait to pay it forward to another person that is moving here in the future.
My notes on Germany and how sometimes it can be a little strange and some new fun ways to learn German. (Please note these are mostly household things : ))
1. No disposal - WHY WHY WHY - we have to put all of our compost food items in a bin to recycle. We also have mandatory plastic, paper recycling and are given a tiny trash can for other things that don't fit into the other categories. I am all for a greener planet, but I just want to throw something away without having to decipher what can to put it in ...
2. No air conditioning - we have had some hot days and that is probably enough said. The buildings are incredibly energy efficient and stay relatively cool if you keep the metal shades closed during the day. We also have four desk fans going in the house. There aren't any screens on the windows, but the metal shades are fabulous; you can black out any room in the house if you want to. Yeah!!! for good nap times. I will send post pictures soon.
3. No ceiling fans - just seems like a good thing if you live without air conditioning : ) We have asked the owner if we buy them would he install them. I only found really ugly brass/white ones at the BX, but we are going to look out in some German stores and find some fans : )
4. Washer/Dryers - as stated above we got a new set and they are so slow. I just want to wash and dry my clothes in a reasonable amount of time. We had to get a condenser dryer so it limits what we can do. ... I will be so thankful in a few years to have the biggest and most efficient washer/dryer that is on the market. Don't give me jewelry; just appliances that really work.
5. Three small refrigerators - we now are the proud users of three small refrigerators. I am not complaining, but it just seems really crazy. The built in fridge is the size of a dorm fridge in college, without the freezer. One was left in the in basement from the former tenants, and the Army gave us another one to use. Eventually I will have a system as to what will go in which fridge.
6. To say "see ya later" in German you say "tschuss" which sounds like "juice". It sounds a little funny hearing Hadley say "bye [pause] juice" to everyone. She is so friendly and has already met some new friends. We walked down to the local grocery store and I decided to learn one new word a day and we found out that strawberry is erdbarre in German. I'm not sure if that is spelled right, but that is how you say it. The German woman who told me was so very nice. I took the children around to all the things with strawberries in them and we practiced saying it.
7. I am looking forward to going to the German preschool next week sometime to see if Hadley and Cooper will have a spot in the fall. The idea is to help them learn German as soon as possible. I am going to sign up for language classes through the USO soon; that is as soon as our van arrives. I will keep you posted.
Well, I will post some pictures soon of our new place and the childrens' crazy antics :)
1 comment:
I am so glad to hear you all about your adventures! It sounds like things are a bit different, but manageable. Of course, you could make them that way. We can't wait to see pictures! Love you all...
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