Not a slow week after all

What I thought was going to be an easy week, has turned into another busy week. However, I seem to have finally gotten a little ahead with grocery shopping as we did not have to go the grocery store on Monday for milk and juice. The weatherman intially said we were going to have rain showers all week and it has only rained one day, Thursday. All the other days have been pleasant partly cloudy summer days in the low 70s.

Tuesday, the girls and I spent at the dealerships. In the morning, we went to the Audi dealership and climbed all over the A3 Sportback. Lucky for me, there was a salesperson who spoke English. Initially, he asked me if I wanted diesel or benzine (gasoline),  how much horsepower, and then the list started of engineering performance questions. After the 4th question, I informed him I was looking for an A3 with air conditioning, cruise control, and I would drive about 15K km a year, plus I needed the transaction to occur  very soon. I think it caught him off guard a little bit since I was not interested in the technical aspect or the different interior packages of the vehicle. He did  find some possible vehicles. I collected lots of data and figures for Eric about the current inventory, plus future inventory. Since Aldi's was right next door, we did our shopping. To our surprise, it is Asian week. This means the entire center of the store is filled with all types of Asian food. Of course, we picked out some items based on the pictures and with the few food words I know in German about what the flavor should be (like chicken or just veggies).

After getting the groceries home, we went to the BMW dealership and climbed all over the 1 series 5 door. I liked it, but after collecting all of the data and figures on it, I do not think it is suitable for our family. It is just a little too small for weekend getaways in comparison to the A3. I never did drive either of them,  as I am more concerned about the size and being able to park it and making sure we all fit in it for holidays. We'll see what we end up with when Eric comes home to actually sit in both vehicles and see how he thinks we, along with our gear, will fit.

Friendship, fresh air, and a fine chocolate store!  Our Wednesday could not get any better. We spent the morning with the Wendel ladies downtown shopping at the market, relaxing outdoors at the cafe with an Apleshorle (apple juice mixed with bubbly water), and Melanie showing us where the gourmet chocolate shop was on a side street. Adeline and Emmie found lots of soccer themed chocolates from little soccer balls to 8" tall soccer players. Looking forward to sampling our selection on Friday when our teams play again.

Thursday, we woke up to a steady rain. Unfortunately, we had to go out as my bike's appointment was for today. It is a good thing the bike trailer is equipped with a rain shield for the girls as it kept them mostly dry. As for me, I did my best to take the side streets to the bike shop, but of course, there was that one car that had to drive so close to me and splash a puddle all over my legs. Germans and their lack of personal space- applies too while in cars -- that will be another blog I am sure. We made it to the bike store, then over to meet with another salesman who sells Volkswagens, and finally to the grocery store. We made it back home, a little wet, but we won't melt.

Tomorrow should be interesting as Adeline goes in for a doctor's visit to make sure she is okay to attend school and the Germany and USA games are on in the afternoon.

Opel Zoo

Sunday started off slow from all of the excitement on Saturday night, so we were just relaxing when the Wendel family invited us to the Opel Zoo. We packed some snacks and were on our way in their 2 cars. Once we arrived and got the strollers and kids all situated, we started our afternoon zoo visit.

Our first stop was the petting zoo. The goats were a little aggressive and this frightened Adeline, so she stayed out of the area. Eric managed to photograph one goat jumping up on Thorston (he is at least 6'2") while he and Hanna are trying to feed them a carrot. Melanie and Thorston were surprised by this as they commented how when they come late in the afternoon, the goats are very calm because they are full from everyone feeding them all day long. We did find a lamb born in April the girls enjoyed petting. From there, we walked over to the elephants. 

The zoo is in the Tanus Hills, so you walk around the zoo in a circle, starting downward and finishing the zoo walking up hill. The exhibits are free range exhibits, so we had to look closely for the animals. It was neat at the elephant exhibit because in the background you can see a small town with a castle up on the hill. As we walked around the various exhibits, it was interesting to see the different species we do not have in our zoos.

After we walked through the zoo, we took the girls to the play area. The area had bumper scooters/ cars,  a small swing device with 6 swings attached, playground area, large ball area for them to jump, and numerous other children's activities. Thorston said this was all here when he was a child as well. He also informed us that these motorized activities  were never attended either. This surprised Eric and I  as these were bumper cars and no official zoo person was there to oversee the activity. To them these activities were so fun, we think it may have been more fun than seeing the animals.  After putting in a Euro here and there in the various rides, it was time to head home to watch the German soccer match.

At home, the girls had a quick shower, and then we headed back to the Wendels for the FIFA World Cup game with Germany playing this time. We did not even have the game on and within the 1st couple of minutes we knew Germany scored from the sounds and cheers we could hear around us. The streets were absolutely silent with the game going on till there was a goal. An evening with excellent company accompanied with yummy German sweets and a solid win by Germany was a super way to end our weekend. 

I am looking forward to a not so busy week, although Eric would like me to try to get out and test drive a few cars. Yikes, I am not sure I am ready to drive over here yet.

FIFA World Cup Begins- Party time

With the start of the World Cup on Friday, Hofheim has been transformed. Every little cafe and restaurant has a flat screen showing the current game. In addition, some of them have even changed their hours to accommodate the game times to ensure patrons will come and/ or stay at their place. The Germans have suddenly become very patriotic as well, as everyone suddenly has a flag outside their balcony, on their car  or bike, and even on their baby strollers.

Saturday morning we spent preparing for the spontaneous USA soccer party we were going to  host. We put an invitation up at the front door of the house for our neighbors to stop by during the USA vs England game in the evening.  By preparing, this meant, Adeline and I went to the market to do our grocery shopping, while Emmie and Eric picked up his bike and then went to the drink market. Eric managed to get the drinks all in one load. Sounded like he did some excellent package engineering to get all of the beer, wine, and waters home. I was not able to see it, but heard about how he managed to get it all in the bike trailer with Emmie, plus some on top with the make shift box, and then strap the empty crate to the rear of it. Adeline picked out a few red and white flowers at the market to add to the patriotic theme we have planted on our terrace.

Since it was still early in the afternoon, Thorston took Eric to the mall to get my handy (cell phone) as he now has his 3 year visa to officially work here. He figured it would be a short trip since he already knew exactly what he wanted from the previous trip when they initially denied him one due to lack of long term visa. Us girls stayed home and straightened up the apartment for the evening festivities. After 1 hour, Eric returns home with no phone and comments they want to see more paperwork (paperwork that had to be provided to get his 3 year visa), so Eric fetches it and then returns to the store. Throughout the afternoon, neighbors informed me they would come over for a beer or 2 or after their little ones were in bed. This is exciting as we are going to have company for our party. The girls are getting excited about getting the apartment ready for the soccer party, although Emmie keeps naming every other sport besides soccer. It is now 6pm, dinnertime, and no Eric.   Eric texted me stating not to wait for him, to have dinner, and get ready as the game was at 8:30pm.

While dinner is cooking, the refrigerator and I have an intense conversation about how he is going to make room available for beverages for the party. After a few minutes, he gave in and I was able to stock the fridge with a few in the freezer to initially start the party. Finally, after 3 hours at the store, Eric appears with my new handy! Hurray, I now have a phone! In 1 hour,  I will be hosting a party for a bunch of strangers, so Eric quickly tells me how everything had to be done manually and even the customer service lady was getting mad at the main department for the nonsense they were asking for in order to issue him a phone. The guys did have some funny conversations throughout the afternoon and did find a Starbucks to manage the pain of the long wait.

With the atmosphere set with star shaped candles, little American flag on the snack table with Munchies, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, and a other goodies, we were ready for our USA party. One couple so kindly dropped off 2 quarts of fresh strawberries to us, and said they were sorry they could not make our party as they had other plans. Then slowly our neighbors started arriving. We ended up having 3 of the 5 other families over for the game.

The girls enjoyed getting to know Atisha. She is 12 and lives across the hall from us. We had her try some A&W Rootbeer. Her dad was initially concerned because he thought it contained alcohol. She and her mom liked it, but the others thought it was too sweet and some did not even try it because they could not get over the smell of it.  On the top level lives a couple with a 3 year named Zoe and she enjoyed playing with the kitchen set with Emmie when she warmed up to the group. What was supposed to be half hour or a beer or 2 as they informed me earlier in the day, ended up being a fun gathering. I learned some good points of interest in the area, too. Bonus part is it was a good soccer game that ended up in a tie.

As we are cleaning up, Eric comments how many beers we went through. He did not realize either that he had bought Becks in 0.5 L. He just bought a case at the drink market like before as he did not realize Becks was available in the larger beer bottles till he pulled one out to restock the fridge. Needless to say, we went through more beer than we thought we would, but then again, we did host a party in Germany!

Are we in Germany, Africa or Soccerland?

Monday morning was a trip to the bike store to drop off of Eric's bike. Lucky for me the man at the counter spoke a little English so I was able to drop Eric's bike off with no problem. Initially, he informed me they could not take his bike till next week since I did not have an appointment. I told him it was outside, and he mentioned it could be done by the end of the week. However, my bike cannot go in until end of next week to get a tune-up and have the brakes realigned as they are very busy since it is the start of summer and everyone here owns a bike. So it has been a week of walking for me.

My next stop was the grocery store.  In one weekend, it has become full of African (Afrikan) inspired  or soccer (Fussball) inspired food combinations as this upcoming weekend begins FIFA World Cup. In the picture you see African edition yogurt and the Fussball pudding  has little soccerball pieces to mix in the vanilla pudding. There is also soccer mustard jars, gift boxes with African flavored sauces and marinades, drinks, etc.. the list goes on and on. M&M's even made a special package of German team colored m&ms (black, red, yellow) for the FIFA games.   The girls found soup with the theme packaging --Safari Soup with African animal shaped noodles & Fussball Soup with soccer ball, soccer player and goal shaped noodles.

Throughout this week, the town store fronts and merchandise has also been inspired by FIFA. The marketing and advertising is just overwhelming. I thought Christmas was bad in the US, but between soccer, Africa and the German colors, it is unbelievable. Tuesday, Tchibo, a neat coffee and retail store, was carrying clothing made with African cotton and in African colors. The ladies were buying it up!

Wednesday was a beautiful day here which made my birthday even more enjoyable. We spent the morning at the market, the afternoon at the park, and the evening relaxing on the terrace. The girls had fun picking out different treats for us to eat all day long. We started with croissants filled with nutella (chocolate), then rhubarb and cherry crumble cake, and to top it off, black forest cake and a raspberry torte. Melanie and her girls also stopped by for evening treats. Surprise to me, Melanie brought a set of matches  as I was mentioning to her I did not have anything to light a candle with. Melanie also surprised me with  a little birthday cake and a Dr. Oetaker (famous German chef) baking book in English on how to make all of the various German desserts and treats we see in the bakeries and restaurants. I was delighted and am so thankful for her friendship.  I am very excited to start baking. I just need to get back home to get more of my baking pans I left behind.

This week, we also had a playdate with a nice family who we were put in contact through an acquaintance. Teresa, their 5 year old daughter, and Adeline were playing great together throughout the playground even though they could not speak to each other. Teresa was in awe as this was the 1st time she had heard her mom speak English.

Call me Mrs. Fix-it as I was able to go to the Baumarkt (Home Depot) on Thursday morning and get the various nuts and bolts that were missing from the bikes and wagons. The girls helped me put the pieces on their equipment, so they can use them now. We are just waiting for Eric to come home and tighten them with his super strength.

Emmie is starting to pick up little German phrases and is asking for pretzels now when we see them in the bakery, which means she is adapting quite well. Adeline is hesitant about speaking German, but will do it to get a treat or correct Emmie on her pronunciation.

As mentioned before, this weekend begins FIFA World Cup games. There are numerous ads about associated activities going on throughout the weekend and large viewing areas like in Stuttgart. We will keep you posted on how the 1st weekend went.

First of many summer days to come

Saturday morning, we awoke to bright sunshine. Our first destination was the market as Eric had not been to it yet. With the girls pushing their baby strollers and Eric pulling the wagon, we were on our way. We did our best to stay in the shade as the sun was already intense. After picking out our groceries and the girls getting apples and cherries this week, we stopped in the bakery. The bread loaf I picked out to be sliced was still warm so it could not be sliced. Bummer, we had to bring home warm fresh baked bread.

We spent the late afternoon celebrating Hanna's 2nd birthday. Melanie found a nearby bakery that makes cakes close to American style wedding cakes, so she had them make a small round one with a popular mouse character over here on the top. It was filled with raspberries and was delicious, right along with the assortment of cakes and tortes she had out to go with the birthday cake. Eric initially thought Melanie had purchased the dessert assortment from the bakery as they were all professional looking and tasty, until she informed him that she and her mother made them. I am looking forward to her and her mom teaching me how to make the yummy fruit tortes this next year.

Sunday was going to be another warm day, so we biked early to the nearby pool.  After hesitation and many loud "DADDY"s, Adeline liked riding on the co-pilot and being connected to Eric's bike. Emmie was strapped in the trailer with our towels and cooler. We learned the pool was closed last year and had just reopened. Good timing for us! The pool area was very nice with tiling, landscaping bricks, and grassy picnic areas around it. The pool bottom and waterslides were made of metal. It was a nice change from the concrete we are used to at pools. The girls enjoyed the kid's pool area, despite the water temperature being chilly. The hot sun must have offset it, as I had to bribe the  girls out occasionally with snacks because their lips were blue or they were shivering. Adeline thought she was Green Lantern with the one fountain she could go under for it appeared to her she was in the protective bubble shield. Adeline also liked going in the big pool with the waterslide and Emmie did not like the waterslide. Eric had to climb up the steps to get her down.  It too was a culture lesson for Adeline as she did not understand why some of the younger girls only had on bottoms and no tops. We ended up with one skinned knee, as Emmie started running after Adeline and I when we went to change back into our clothes for our bike ride home.

On the way home, which is all up hill, Eric's one shifter broke. Luckily he was in 2nd gear to go up the last big hill. Adeline and him made it back to the apartment, but it ended up being a tougher workout than planned. I took a little longer and then still could have used a pool to jump in to cool off when we made it back the apartment. I think it was the warmest day of the year so far with temps in the low 80's.

Sunday evening brought cool rain showers which meant Wii game night. We had a nice family evening before we start week 2 here which will now consist of taking Eric's bike to get repaired. He wrote me a note in German what needs to be done to his bike just in case.

Wilhelmstrasse Festival in Wiesbaden

Friday afternoon we started our bus trip to Wiesbaden for the Wilhemstrasse Street Festival.  The girls were excited to be traveling on the bus. We boarded the bus for our 40 minute trip to Wiesbaden. 10 minutes into it, everyone was asleep. It was a nice ride through the little towns and the fare payed for itself, as parking in Wiesbaden is expensive. With some guidance from Sarah, the bus dropped us off 2 blocks away from the street festival. The street festival is on the most exquisite  boulevard of the city where all of the expensive houses and stores are located, plus along the park and museum area.

We met up with Sarah within a few minutes and started our feast at the festival with fresh popped popcorn (requested by the girls). The girls initially chose honey flavored popcorn but they were out of it, so we went with the carmel flavor instead. Eric then found a beer stand, while Sarah and I enjoyed a glass of Applewein. We strolled down the boulevard, taking in the atmosphere. We came across street performer couple who were trying to make the children laugh, but the crowd did not find them amusing and their outfits were to be desired. "Only in Germany" will be my phrase for this as the lady was wearing a soccerball printed material bra on the outside of her low cut v -neck tanktop.  We continued on to the children's area where Adeline had a balloon man make her a cat balloon. This was a funny situation as we had Adeline tell the man in German "katze", but he spoke little German, and only English and Spanish, so at first he did not understand what Adeline had requested. The girls then went for a ride on the beautiful 2 story carrousel. 

We noticed as we were walking around, all of the stages they had set up had local dance studios performing on them. It is even more interesting that they all dance to American music. 

We continued our stroll through the craft area and around the park. It is here in the park where the beautiful fairies were discovered. We were all awestruck by their costumes. We did our best to get some pictures with them, but it was challenging since they were the main focus of this festival. The fairies paraded around the festival throughout the early evening. Each time the girls saw them, we stopped to watch them.  The later portion of the afternoon was spent sitting under the umbrella of one of the beverage vendors while the girls enjoyed watching everything going on.

After the girls indulged in a fresh crepe filled with nutella and pears (their choice), we continued on our festival feast. Eric and I got a Thuringer wurst with a fresh roll. The Thuringer wursts are known as the best brats grilled over a large grill. The girls found a vendor that made little sugar donuts which brought smiles to their faces.  Jorge met up with us and we continued enjoying the festival. We ventured to the ferris wheel for a family ride.  After the ride,  we sat in the park  listening to the stage music, with after dinner drinks of beer for the guys and tasty strawberry bowls for Sarah and I. We watched the strawberries by the large boxes being delivered when we initially arrived, so Sarah and I could not resist the glass full of strawberries with a wine and champagne combination poured over them.

The evening concluded with a long walk back to the bus station for our ride back to Hofheim and then our hike uphill home in the warm summer evening air.

Another German Holiday

Thursday was a relaxing day as it was a German holiday so everything is closed except the restaurants, plus I was recovering from the hill workout on Wednesday. We started the sunny warm morning with a walk to the park with the Wendel family. 

 My girlfriend, Sarah, also came to visit us for the day. Since she works for Opel, she had the day off, but her other half, Jorge, is in the service here and had to work. It was a pleasant "girls only" afternoon on our terrace.

Thursday evening, Eric returned home from a short commute from Sweden. I am looking forward to the summer weather and 3 day weekend  as Eric gets Friday off since he did not take Thursday off.

An interesting note on German holidays:  when the holiday is on a Tuesday or Thursday, they must take the adjoining Monday or Friday off as well, but when the holiday is on the weekend, they do not get a preceding Friday or following Monday off like in the US.  This was the last weekday holiday for the Germans, as all holidays from here till the end of the year fall on the weekend and they are not happy about it. Eric was bummed to discover this too, but he has lots of vacation time for us to enjoy our time together.