Lis and Tyler in Germany

Today is the one month anniversary of our arrival. In that month, we read 8 books between us. We mastered the complicated recycling system, got aquanted with the two flush options on the toilet, and discovered 1.5% milk. We’ve also seen castles, a couple of big cities, a zoo and a cathedral. Our new family likes us and we like them, and we know each other well enough to be irritated by one another sometimes. My two favorite things about our home: two comforters on the bed (That’s the way they do it here. Each person gets his or her own small comforter.) and the electric teapot. It makes boiling water in 0.7 seconds flat. And today, Tyler got a job offer! At the bowling alley’s snack bar. Since they’re offering him about 2 bucks an hour, night and weekend shifts and no vacation, I think he’s going to pass and hope something better comes along.

(Do you know that song? We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We’re goin’ to the zoo, zoo, zoo.) What have we been up to the last 11 days? It’s been awhile since our last post, and it seems there should be something to report. We’ve been settling into life here, getting into a routine, and thinking about traveling. Hopefully the thinking will soon become doing. We’re anxious to get out and see some other countries.

A few tidbits from our daily life in Steinbach:

1. The other morning I got up to go to work and the town was covered in snow (and the seasons here are the same as the Northwest). I was running late and didn’t take the time to take a picture, but I should have.

2. Tyler and I went on our “daily” walk (and by daily I mean that we mean to do it daily, not that we actually do it daily) the other day and ended up at our local cafe (4-5 tables in a room off the corner store). We’ve walked past it many, many times and it’s never been open (their 12-2:30 lunch break (which is dumb to begin with, right? It’s a CAFE. Don’t they think their patrons might enjoy eating lunch there during lunchtime?) usually goes well past 3:00), so when we saw it actually open, we decided we needed to check it out. It was filled with smoke and old, retired men. It was clear these men were regulars, and that we were not. Armed with our dictionary, we took a table by the window, grabbed a menu and ordered some food. I know the word “fleisch”, which means meat, and I steer clear of it, as I am not interested in getting bunny fleisch, pig parts, blood, penis or spinal cord…any of which might be hidden in a wurst or a schnitzel.  Plus, when meat is referred to as “fleisch,” which is so similar to the word “flesh,” I just can’t seem to find the appeal.

3. We’ve both driven on the autoban, and lived to tell the tale.

4. We can drive to the grocery store, return the recyclable bottles to get the deposit back, use a euro to release a shopping cart (you have to put in a euro coin to use the shopping cart, and when you return it, you get your money back. We should do this. Every cart gets put back.), find the food we need, order buns at the bakery, check out and bag our groceries. Now, this may sound simple, but I assure you it is not. The first time we did the bottle return, the person working at the bank near the return station had to come show us how to use it. The first time we bought groceries, we paid for them and then went to bag them and realized they don’t provide bags. Tyler still has to order the buns because I’m too scared to try the German.

5. We went into Kaiserslautern on a Sunday, when everything is closed, and enjoyed sitting out at a cafe for a couple of hours. The weather was great, the beer was cheap and the people watching was fantastic.

6. And today, we took the kids to the zoo. My favorites were the flamingos and the monkeys. Oh, and the camel. We saw the coolest, oldest camel who looked very Egyptian. We had a great time, until it started snowing.

Today we went to Heidelberg, a nearby city with a famous castle, with Miriam, Ben and Nico. Before I tell about that, I just have to say that I have struck gold. The man I love just so happens to be FABULOUS with kids. I guess I always just assumed things would work out in that area, but have never had much of a chance to see Tyler with kids. The other day, Tyler was the horse, Ben was the farmer and the boxers from our laundry basket were the grass. I walked in when it was time for the horse to eat and Farmer Ben was ordering Tyler to eat his grass. Tyler was on his hands and knees munching on his boxers!

He reads to them, plays ball with them, cleans them up after a meal (hmm…no diapers have been changed yet), and loves chatting with them and getting involved. Anyway, it’s fun for us to all hang out together, whether it’s at the house, visiting the horses up the street or going on a day trip. Today was Heidelberg.

We walked through the pedestrian district (There seems to be one in most cities. It’s brilliant. It’s like an outdoor mall or shopping district with no cars) and went shopping in a couple of huge department stores for clothes for the kids. We took a quick look at the castle, and I still (I’m sure I will write this in every entry) cannot believe how old things are.

Tomorrow we will have hot rolls delivered to our door by Thomas, who goes to the baker on weekend mornings. We’ll probably have a slow start with books and hot bread in bed (no coffee, I’m afraid. I can’t seem to scare up a decent cup around here) and then perhaps find a place to go hang out for the day. Let us know what you all are up to. We’re starting to need some stories from home.

Last weekend we drove three hours with Miriam and Thomas (not in the clown car, I might add) to Koln (or, because “Koln” is so hard to pronounce, “Cologne”). We walked from our hostel to the pedestrian district and found a little cafe for lunch. Even though it was pouring down rain and freezing cold, I wanted a place we could sit and watch the people going by. We found a covered, half in/half out type place and Tyler, doubting my intelligence, dutifully indulged the wife. Not five minutes later, we notice several police vans. Then a curiously large number of police officers. Then it seems the armed officers with shields are barricading off the road and passersby shove into shops and cafes, including the one Tyler and I are sitting in. We get up from our seats and watch a huge group of people pass by, snap a few pictures and then, when the crowd clears, we work out through gestures and a few key words like “Iraq” from the waiter that it was a peace march. Amazing that even over here in Germany there is such a turnout for a peace demonstration.

Next we went to the famous Koln cathedral. A Roman temple stood where the cathedral stands now. The gate of the Roman city, from 50 A.D., is still standing in front of the cathedral. The cathedral construction began in 1248, including the construction of the tallest church spire in the world, and they worked on it for 100 years until they ran outof money and the construction was halted for 300years. In the 1800′s 700 workers completed it in “just” 38 years. These facts are amazing without having seen the cathedral, but seeing the cathedral, and seeing what an amazing architectural masterpieceit is, makes it absolutely unbelievable. Every nook and cranny is beautifully detailed. The cathedral houses the oldest surviving monumental crucifix, which was carved in 976. I still cannot believe that we were face to face with things that were touched by people THOUSANDS of years ago. And that these things are still standing and it pretty darn good condition.

We also went on a tour of a chocolate factory (I’m always up for a factory tour), stayed in our first hostel (in a room for four, which was a gamble), ordered Pork knuckle (which turned out to be this HUGE piece of pig…I’m not sure what part, but certainly not knuckle), and survived a storm that left hundreds of umbrellas broken and strewn about town. I’d say we packed a lot in to our little weekend away.

Today we went back to the Ramstein airbase (for the third time) to try to get Tyler a job at Taco Bell (or some other such place). The military is amazing. We’ve never been exposed to the military world, so we’re new at this. First of all, you never have to use a whole word. There is an acronym for everything. SOA, they are thorough. Tyler needed a passport, a valid, state-issued ID, a birth certificate and a social security card just to get permission to apply for a job. Our third lesson (which is one that I knew, but never really from first-hand experience) is that they are really serious about rules. Really. In fact, I probably shouldn’t post the story online incase they’re checking to see if we incriminate ourselves on our blog. But let’s just say that we broke an itty-bitty rule about shopping on the base and felt that armed guards were coming out of the woodwork to hunt us down. Tyler still doesn’t have a job and will return on Monday to turn in (in person) his third set of paperwork. Hopefully this leads to something good.

After the airbase, we went to France. And I forgot to mention how, exactly, we go to Ramstein or France or wherever it is that we go. We go with Miriam, Ben and Nico in their TINY Alfa Romeo, with “little” Lissy wedged between the car seats in the back seat. And when I say wedged, I mean it in the strictest sense of the word. If they made Lis-size shoehorns, I would use one. I can choose one shoulder to put back at a time and have to put my arms other arm up and over the back of one of the kids’ car seats. And we go fast. So, we went, in our little sardine-can racecar, to France to buy water. The family buys bottled water from France because it’s so much cheaper there. But since gas is expensive and it’s about a 45-minute drive, they want to make such trips worthwhile. We bought enough water to fill a small pool. We also bought some brie for a little over a Euro and it’s likely the best brie I’ve ever had. Next week, we may have a problem getting to and from in the Alfa Romeo.

Herr and Frau Stevens have officially arrived in Germany. Our flights were rather uneventful and smooth. We squeezed onto an earlier flight to Chicago and didn’t have seats together. Tyler got to be best friends with his seat-mate, a 7- or 8-year old little girl who played dolls with Tyler for most of the flight. From Chicago to Manchester we had a whole row to ourselves and enjoyed the impecable service from the Brits, including a hot towel service, delicious bread and cheese, a tiny glass bottle of oil and vinegar, and several tea courses. One tiny little flight from Manchester to Frankfurt and we were finally here! Four HUGE bags, One guitar, One backpack, One laptop and two tired travellers were met at the airport by Miriam, our host and my employer. We talked the whole hour and a half drive home, with no awkwardness or language barrier. I think this relationship is going to be a good one.

Our apartment is decked out with everything imaginable to make us feel at home, including framed pictures on the wall of us! There are some of our favorite foods, candles in our favorite scents, very cool furniture that, if we could fit it in our luggage, might “accidentally” find its way to Seattle. There is apparently an Ikea close by, and it seems as though Miriam bought out the store to furnish our darling little place.

We went with the family (Miriam and Thomas are the parents, Ben (3) and Nicolas “Nico” (1)) to the ruins of a castle, which was absolutely amazing. It is crazy to see a building that has been here since medieval times, and that was actually lived in and used as a refuge during war. We climbed around, played with sticks, “worked” on a wall building project of Ben’s which I didn’t quite understand and got to know our new friends. When Ben asked me to get him out of the car when we got home, I knew things were going to be good between us

Tyler and I, so far, have completely avoided any jet-lag. We’ve been enjoying lots of time with the family, as well as time to ourselves. We’ve taken a few walks through our new neighborhood and it wasn’t until we got home and uploaded the pictures today that we really felt like we were here…wow. We live in a tiny little town, but it’s not as in-the-middle-of-nowhere as I expected. It seems to be a farm-town, with horses, cows and barns and tons of cool old farm equipment. I think we landed ourselves a pretty good gig here. Everything is amazing.