Sunday, September 20, 2009
Eine Woch der Premieren
Yes, it's been a week of first for us. As I look back at the week it brings a smile to my face at some of the things that have happened. Paige and her little girlfriend Sydney Grau painted each others faces with lipstick. Let me set this up for everyone. I was busy making spaghetti for supper. Paige and her girlfriend were very quiet upstairs playing. I called up the stairs to let them know it was time to eat. They called down to let me know that they were scrubbing up..."don't worry momma it's not paint." These are words that will send a mom running every time. I ran up the stairs to find to little girls frantically scrubbing their purple/pink faces. I had to shut the door and find Dan, to let him know what was going on and get all the laughter out before I delt with the girls.
This leads to funny story number 2. I had to ask Dan to help finish the supper and throw in some bread. I was cleaning up the girls so they weren't purple faced for school. Asking them what they were thinking and letting them know they weren't in trouble if they learned a lesson. In the meantime Dan was yelling for help. When I got down to the kitchen he let me know "I can't read any of this...it's all in GERMAN"! I'm still laughing at this and it will probably be my favorite saying the whole time I'm here.
Saturday Angie Grau and myself thought we would do our first volksmarch. What is a volksmarch you might be asking? Well it's a hike or walk that cover about 6-12 miles. It usually goes through the woods or near historic or scenic areas. It was so much fun we all had in our hike. Instead of getting a t-shirt at the end, ready for this .......beerstein. At our second stop we took a little break where you could get a beer and a wurst (brat). We thought we would start a club and call it Sticks and Steins. We might make a shirt and put this on it..and beer will never hurt us. Who wants to join the club?
Today since Dan is in America, I thought I would take the kids for an adventure. We went to Bad Durkheim...one of the largest, most traditional fests in Germany, the festivals of festivals. It's over 150 years old. It had everything you could think of there to ride. This might tempt some of you for next year. 150 different wines in 50 different places. So you can drink wine at little stands or big halls or Scubkarchler- where the tables and benches are so smooth from all the people sitting there over the years. What fun we had. Next year adults only. The invitation is out. Hope all is well in your week until next Sunday, God bless.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Week At Home
I can't believe what a busy week we've had. As I sit here tonight it seems like forever since I typed my last blog. The kids started their first full week of school. I think we survived it okay. The school is a little different here. I know that a lot of the expat wives have told me about the lack of communication with the parents. They raise their kids to be very independent. So last week went something like this. They got told by a teacher that they were there too early and weren't allowed to be on the school propery yet. (Not their choice, as they get picked up by a bus that doesn't want to get stuck in a traffic jam.) Paige was told that she wasn't going to be allowed into school the next day if she didn't have a school ID or a parent with her. (We were never told about such a thing when we registered.) The final thing was a library card. Paige was so excited to be able to check out books. However, she had to check out books on her teachers card beacause she didn't have a library card. I had to fill out two library card sheets IN Deutche! Hello, we are the English class for a reason....we don't speak Deutche or French. Other than those few little hiccups we are looking forward to another week.
I've had my own adventures now that the kids are back in school. I started back to the gym regularly finding the gym closer to my house smaller and quieter. I decided that this was the week I found a hair dresser. I found a place to get my hair done in the Bizmarkplatz (a shopping area in Heidelberg). The name of the place was called Unisex. You decide by the name. It was like a moving piece of art. The people working were very....unique. Tons of tatoos and crazy colored hair. I took my chances because I was desperate and I think I like the place. It was interesting to watch as I was processing. My favorite thing was when a hairdresser stopped highlighting a clients hair to take a couple of drags off a cigarette from her friend outside. (Not happening in the US, very interesting.)
The rest of the week was busy having tea with the John Deere expat wives. Friday was a get together with all the expats for an evening of food and wine. Then comes Saturday.....cards with some friends. Euchre was the game last night. I am not a fan of cards. When asked by everyone if I had a good time, my response would have to be I need a xanex. It was really fun to get together with adults to laugh, eat, drink and play cards. We were also able to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Cyclones via slingbox at the party. They all enjoyed themselves so much it might happen again. Shoot,I'm going to need more practice.
Dan is off to The Netherlands this week until Wednesday then over to the US on Sunday. Now that the travel has begun I don't know that we will be traveling very much. However, Dan's mom and aunt are coming in late October with a full week of vacation planned...no destination or plans but Dan has commited to taking off.
Looking forward to another week here in Europe.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Lauterbrunnen, Murren and Schilthorn Switzerlalnd
Thursday, Dan decided I should pick somewhere for a trip this weekend. With the help of our friends, the Van Essen's, and Rick Steves' tour book, we were off to Switzerland. It was about a 3 hour drive. It wasn't bad at all. The kids watched movies for a while. When we hit the Switzerland boarder and could see the mountains, the only words out of our mouths were WOW. WOW! WOW!
We spent the afternoon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were flying by the seats of our pants for the most part. We had no hotel reservation. I found one after a few calls and we were golden. I also thought I would take charge and get some menus for us to order some food at the hotel restaurant. I was a little surprised when the waitress asked if I wanted soup with that. I was thinking to myself, how does she know what I want and to ask if I want that soup with it? Then As I quickly racked my brain for the very little Deutsche I know, I remembered back to McDonalds and menu means...Meal! 75 Swiss Franks (1 SF = ~$1 US) later we had a nice chicken, rice and potato lunch. It reminded me of my Grandma Hoeger's house. It smelled like it and it even had polka music playing in the background. I hope she doesn't get any ideas and start charging for her great meals.
Our next adventure was going to Trummelback Falls...A series of beautiful waterfalls. For only 11SF for adults and 4SF for children, we were off to the falls. We road a cable car half way up the inside of the mountain and we walked up the rest of the way. The falls were deafening at some points and the kids are quick to tell you they were very cold. We could see our breath. It took us about an hour to get through the falls. When we were done, we enjoyed pie and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. After unloading a few things from the new BMW. (Yes I am bragging a bit but, how many times in a girls life will she say brand new BMW), we were off to visit the little town and get some more to eat.
The next morning (Sunday), we had a small breakfast at what I would like to refer to as "Grandma's". (It was free). I was totally bummed out when there was no cinnamon rolls. Instead we were greeted by the normal cereal, fruit, and cold meat sandwiches. The morning activities took us to the Schilthorn (appx. 10,000 above sea level) by cable car up the side of the mountain. These spectacular views and revolving restaurant were made famous by a James Bond movie made in the 1960's. (Google - Schilthorn Switzerland). Dan and I had the "007 breakfast" at a mere 20SF per person. I only had a cup of hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to see snow. We spent a nice amount of the time up there. We made our way down to Murren, a automobile free resort town. This little town is filled with bakeries, cafes, souvenirs and lots of people with walking sticks. We had a nice lunch and about a 45 minute hike down to the next town. It was all we could get out of Paige. It was still amazing with the mountains on each side. We took a small train up to Murren again and the cable car back down to the valley. We shared many laughs and plenty of good memories. Although it was expensive it was well worth the money and we are looking forward to our next trip to Switzerland. I hope you can see the beauty we were able to experience first hand. God is an absolutely and amazing artist.
Leia Mais…
We spent the afternoon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were flying by the seats of our pants for the most part. We had no hotel reservation. I found one after a few calls and we were golden. I also thought I would take charge and get some menus for us to order some food at the hotel restaurant. I was a little surprised when the waitress asked if I wanted soup with that. I was thinking to myself, how does she know what I want and to ask if I want that soup with it? Then As I quickly racked my brain for the very little Deutsche I know, I remembered back to McDonalds and menu means...Meal! 75 Swiss Franks (1 SF = ~$1 US) later we had a nice chicken, rice and potato lunch. It reminded me of my Grandma Hoeger's house. It smelled like it and it even had polka music playing in the background. I hope she doesn't get any ideas and start charging for her great meals.
Our next adventure was going to Trummelback Falls...A series of beautiful waterfalls. For only 11SF for adults and 4SF for children, we were off to the falls. We road a cable car half way up the inside of the mountain and we walked up the rest of the way. The falls were deafening at some points and the kids are quick to tell you they were very cold. We could see our breath. It took us about an hour to get through the falls. When we were done, we enjoyed pie and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. After unloading a few things from the new BMW. (Yes I am bragging a bit but, how many times in a girls life will she say brand new BMW), we were off to visit the little town and get some more to eat.
The next morning (Sunday), we had a small breakfast at what I would like to refer to as "Grandma's". (It was free). I was totally bummed out when there was no cinnamon rolls. Instead we were greeted by the normal cereal, fruit, and cold meat sandwiches. The morning activities took us to the Schilthorn (appx. 10,000 above sea level) by cable car up the side of the mountain. These spectacular views and revolving restaurant were made famous by a James Bond movie made in the 1960's. (Google - Schilthorn Switzerland). Dan and I had the "007 breakfast" at a mere 20SF per person. I only had a cup of hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to see snow. We spent a nice amount of the time up there. We made our way down to Murren, a automobile free resort town. This little town is filled with bakeries, cafes, souvenirs and lots of people with walking sticks. We had a nice lunch and about a 45 minute hike down to the next town. It was all we could get out of Paige. It was still amazing with the mountains on each side. We took a small train up to Murren again and the cable car back down to the valley. We shared many laughs and plenty of good memories. Although it was expensive it was well worth the money and we are looking forward to our next trip to Switzerland. I hope you can see the beauty we were able to experience first hand. God is an absolutely and amazing artist.
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