By stroller, bike, wagon, or foot

Our first Saturday in the apartment was sunny and enjoyable. First thing in the morning, Adeline and I walked downtown to the market to get our fruits, veggies, meats, and treats for the weekend. Adeline enjoyed picking out the items from the various containers the farmers brought them in. She even got a little carrot when we were getting our vegetables. I was able to order up the special meat of the week, Putzenzopf (which is turkey breast in braids) from the refrigerated meat truck . Actually, I only knew it was some kind of marinated turkey I was ordering, but it looked like it would grill up good for dinner. Another man asked if it was a turkey breast and the lady behind the counter confirmed it. It was a relief for me taking it home for the family. After the stroller's basket and seat were full with lots of food, Adeline and I walked back home in the warm sunshine.

While we were gone, Alex, who is also our landlord and lives 2 flights above us, plus loves technology too, helped Eric to set up the satellite TV.  I am not sure who is more excited: the girls since we have TV now or Alex knowing we have a nice set-up for FIFA games to start in a few weeks. 

Once we got the TV system all set-up, Eric set out on his morning journey to the drink market with Emmie in the wagon.  After making some beverage selections, they returned with Emmie having a joy ride on top of the bottles. Eric commented he was happy the wagon was only so big as he does not think if he had more room he could have pulled any more bottles up the hill.

After relaxing and having lunch on our terrace, Adeline and Emmie helped clean up the flower beds and pull lots of weeds. We learned that we have two  kinds of strawberry plants, big strawberries and wild strawberries. This will be fun for the girls to watch them grow, pick, and then eat. 

Eric worked in the garage putting his bike together. Once completed, he hooked up the bike trailer and made a second trip to the drink market to finish getting the beverages. He came back with our  trailer loaded to the maximum with the crates strapped in and some burning thighs from pulling the trailer up the hill.

We finished the evening off with a delicious barbecued meal and a relaxing evening enjoying our new backyard.

Settling in

Friday started off wet and soggy. It was not a good day for transitioning out of the hotel into our apartment and for Eric to find his way to the Frankfurt office. After breakfast, I sat in the hotel lobby waiting for the heavy rain to lighten up, so we could walk back to the apartment. After about 10 minutes, a nice business man also staying at the hotel asked if we wanted a ride into town. I must have looked desperate with the 2 girls, stroller, and two large shoulder  bags full of clothes and toiletries. At first I declined, but he stated he had a large vehicle and it was no problem. We hopped in his SUV and buckled up for the 8 blocks to our apartment. I was so thankful for his ride when I saw the rain just pour down in buckets and it was only 9am. Once in the apartment, I received this text from Eric as he was on the train: Subject: My shoes and pants, completely soaked. Crappy start. 


After we unloaded from the hotel, we switched into our rain gear to head downtown for some errands. Searching for the rain gear took some time as I had to remember where I put all of it when I was quickly unpacking, but the girls loved putting on their new rain coats and boots.  I was happy to see the rain lighten up as we started our journey to town.  By the time we were walking back home, it had stopped raining.

The cool afternoon was great for unpacking the little boxes that were left and for the girls to catch up on their sleep with all of the excitement we have encountered so far. Eric came home that evening with his socks and shoes still damp from the morning, but he learned the office has a fun happy hour every Friday afternoon with champagne and a fussball table. 

Moving In

The Germans are prompt about keeping appointments, so at 8am our container arrived. Fortunately, there was no cars parked in front of the building next to us. As Eric met the driver, he informed Eric he could start unloading it. Eric just laughed and got on the phone with the moving company. In Germany, the worker only does the job he is paid to do and no other job. So the driver just drives the truck and we had to wait for the movers who were on their way to our apartment to start unloading. Eric also met our one set of neighbors (everybody informed us they are a little strange), by them  informing  him that the big truck could not park in our parking area directly in front of the garage. The container alone is 40 feet long and our driveway area is at maxium 20 feet long and 15 feet wide. Eric just kindly said the truck would not and had a  look of "Really, I cannot believe you just told me that?!"

When the movers finally arrived, the chaos began. I could not unload the boxes as quickly as they were bringing them in. Eric and I were trying as fast as we could to just empty the boxes to make room for more boxes in the apartment and in the garage area.

 Initially, the girls just played on the top bunk of their bunkbeds to stay out of the way, but then they wanted to help. Their help was greatly appreciated as they did a good job filling up the boxes with the wrapping. It took 4 hours to unload the container, and another 3 hours to put our furniture back together, plus empty all of the large boxes for them to haul away.

Right now everything has a place, but it is not in it's place. That will be my project for the next few days to come.

Hanging out in the Apartment

It is day 3 for us here in Germany, which is Wednesday. We are slowly adjusting to the time change with early to bed, but we are sleeping long hours as we are exhausted from the walking. At breakfast now, Emmie is requesting the salami and various cheeses, while Adeline is enjoying a croissant with jam or meat, along with their yogurt and fruit.

We had an early 8am appointment at Adeline's school. Initially, she was scared about going to her school as she thought we were going to leave her for the entire day. We informed her we were only going to visit and take a tour. We registered her for school and were given a  tour of the school. Both girls liked the fourth grade class that had newly hatched little chicks in the classroom. We were also informed Adeline will be the youngest in the school. She will be in a class with 14 students, so it should not be a problem.

Eric spent the afternoon in a nearby town trying to get me a cell phone with no luck. He came home frustrated because the store clerk and manager debated for over an hour about whether or not they would give him a contract because he did not have his 2 year visa with him, but he did have numerous other documents stating he was German resident and had a bank account with enough Euros to pay for it.

It started to rain in the afternoon as well, so the girls played with their toys we had packed in the one suitcase, while I continued to clean and started filling up the refrigerator and cupboards with food. As you can see, our fridge is not too big so it is going to be a challenge with food and drink.

Transitioning to the German culture

After making it through our first night  with a few awakenings due to the time change, we woke up to start our first full day in Hofheim. Upon arriving at the hotel breakfast buffet, Adeline loudly commented on the food selection with, "There is more than just sausage and bread here! Daddy told me that is all they eat." It was a good thing there was more than sausage and bread, as everyone was hungry. Eric and I enjoyed the variety of fresh rolls, cold cuts, and cheeses, while the girls consumed yogurt, fruit and cereal.

We then ventured to the store for our first of many grocery trips to start stocking the cupboards. Having no car yet and knowing we have to walk up hill, I am keeping each trip to 2 filled bags. After our first trip to the store, I was glad to only have two bags to fill as I became slightly overwhelmed in figuring out again the different names for food. Luckily there was a little bakery on the way out to get some fresh croissants and pretzels for lunch.

We spent our first day in the apartment cleaning and getting it ready for our container to arrive. Just before we left the USA, we found out the container was late coming off of the boat, so it missed the scheduled train from Hannover to Frankfurt for a Tuesday arrival.  The weekend train was booked, then it is was German holiday on Monday, so the container could not get on a train till Tuesday (today), so we will not get our stuff till Thursday when it will finally arrive by truck.

Our first priority at the apartment was the lawn as it was overgrown. Eric informed me of  how our electrical mower worked.  After watching Eric mow the lawn and laugh hysterically at him pushing what appears to be a kid's bubble mower, Adeline then asked if she could mow the lawn. We showed her how to work the lawn mower and now she has a new chore around the apartment.

It happened to be Wäldchestag Festival in Hofheim for the afternoon. It is a celebration of people taking walks in the area forests and then coming back to the city to celebrate. We walked down to the festival and listened to the live music while the girls played in the bounce house and rode on the little carousel. We  finished the evening off with some great festival food of bratwursts, waffles, ice cream and beer and apple wine to wash it down.

Our New Home

As our plane is landing safely in Frankfurt, Emmie shouts out, "We are in Florida!". Luckily, it brought a few smiles to other passengers after the 8 hour flight, but we quickly reminded her we were in Germany now.

After collecting our 5 carry on bags, 2 car seats, 1 stroller, and 6 checked bags, we loaded into a mini-van to head to our new home. The girls thought it was neat to ride backwards on the 20 minute ride from the airport. Although, once again on the commute, we had to remind Emmie we are not in Florida and there are no palm trees.

We unloaded our luggage curbside and proceeded into the apartment. Our apartment is on the 1st floor (street side) and there are 5 other families that live within the building. The bottom 2 windows in the picture are in our kitchen. We share a garage and have our own storage area that is directly at street level, which is why our apartment is not on the same level as the street and appears to be on the 2nd level. There is no elevator, but we only have to walk up 1 flight of stairs. It is 95 meters squared (about 1000 square feet). Adeline and Emmie ventured through the apartment, pointing out every detail out about it which we had informed them of, including where their new room was going to be. Emmie was also excited to find the elephant sprinkler in the garden when she peered out through the french doors.

Our new address is:
Altenhainer Strasse 15
65719 Hofheim
Germany

Our family room

 

Our kitchen

Our backyard