Quick update

This is just a quick update. Our Internet company screwed up when scheduling our activation...apparently Monday was a German holiday so no one showed up to hook us up. They are coming out Friday, though, so I'll have a nice long post then about the various "New Comers" classes & tours I've taken last week and this week as well as what Shanna & I have been up to!

For the time being, this is where I have to go for Internet access on my phone.



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Location:Römerstraße,Stuttgart,Germany

The new house so far

Our internet & phone service won't be set up until Monday, but for today I'm in the USO working on my resume.  I figured while I was here I'd provide an update since the last post.

We moved into the new house this past Saturday and were ecstatic to be out of the hotel.  After getting to the house, and letting the dogs explore & get comfortable, we put them in their crates and headed to the PX.  We had done a walk through and figured out the essentials we'd need to tide us over until mid June.  Things like sheets, pillows, trash cans, trash bags, etc..  After we loaded up there, we went to the Commissary.  I used to HATE Commissary runs as a kid, but now I was ecstatic.  Finally, after 5 weeks of eating out for breakfast, lunch & dinner, we were going to have home cooked meals.  One thing that's hard to find (as in, we haven't found one yet) in the Stuttgart area is good Mexican food, so needless to say that was on the top of our list for things to cook.

The loaner furniture wasn't going to arrive until Monday, but Shanna found out about loaner utensils, pots, pans, cups, & other kitchen items that we could pick up Saturday, so that's what we did.  Below is a picture of our first meal in the new house, using the box that our kitchen gear came in.  It might not have been the most comfortable setup, but it was home, and the food was great.

That night Shanna set up our air mattresses with our new sheets...it was better then sleeping on the floor, but we were counting down the hours until the loaner beds arrived.

Sunday was relatively uneventful.  Our washing machine is the smallest one I've ever seen, so you'd think it would wash clothes quickly...quite the opposite.  It's also the slowest washing machine I've ever used.  The first load I put in took an hour and 45 minutes.  Shanna discovered a "rapid" setting that shaves about 40 minutes off, but it still takes forever.  So Sunday Shanna washed clothes all day while I went to the PX to get things we hadn't thought of the day before.

Monday was a day off for Shanna, and it was a beautiful day.  The rail on the deck is the perfect height for the dogs to stand up and look over the city...below is a picture of Milo doing just that.

I know there are two readers who are going to love this next part...since it was such a nice day, and our yard hadn't been mowed in months, I cut the grass.  It took FOREVER.  The yard size isn't large, and going forward shouldn't take more then 10-15 minutes, but this first run took me 40 minutes.  I didn't think to take a "before" & "after" picture, but here is a pic of Milo in the grass before it was cut.

I don't have an "after" picture yet because the grass was so wet that I had to mulch it instead of bagging it, so it still doesn't look very good.  It's supposed to be beautiful this weekend (and dry too), so I'm going to run the lawn mower again & bag the grass this time.  I'll post the "after" picture next week when we have internet set up.  While I was cutting the grass, Shanna was busy scrubbing the moss that had built up over time on the stone steps that lead down from the back porch to the grass area. 

That evening I put together the new grill and we cooked out burgers!  Nothing beats grilling out on a warm evening in the summer...

Tuesday was an interesting day.  Shanna went back to work, and I went to the Stuttgart New Comer's orientation on base.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was really interesting.  The lady who ran it talked all about basic German history & culture, how to use public transportation, and went over basic phrases to use in stores, at restaurants, etc..  We learned numbers, common greetings, and various things about German's we might not know.  For example, she told us never to ask a German something we don't actually want to know the answer too.  In the U.S. it's common to greet some one with "How are you doing" and you get the typical "Good" response or something along those lines.  Germans will tell you EXACTLY how they are doing, in detail.  She also said once you move in to your house, it's custom to invite your neighbors over.  It doesn't have to be dinner, just something simple like tea & crackers, or something along those lines.  But she said when you do that, make sure you set a specific start time & end time.  If you invite them over at 4pm, they could easily still be there at midnight because Germans like to just sit & talk.

There's not much planned for today...the car is in the shop for an oil change, and if they finish early enough I'm heading downtown to apply for my International Driver's license.  There's no extra testing involved, all it is is a translation of our German license in a bunch of different languages.  It's only required if you want to drive in Austria, Greece, Spain, or the Middle East, but it's a good thing to have if you're pulled over in a country outside of Germany in a small town where the police officer might not speak German or English.

The next post should be next Monday when the internet is set up at home...I'll tell you all about the second part of the New Comer's orientation that happens tomorrow when we tour parts of the city.

In closing, I'll leave you with what the New Comer's orientation teacher left us with.  She advised us not to form opinions of Germans, Europeans, or people in general based on what we've heard or read, and instead to form opinions based on our own experience, for, to quote her, " as my English book as a little girl told us, all British people stop at 5pm exactly to drink tea, and all Americans are rich because they have an Uncle who owns an oil well in Texas".

Going Dark for Awhile

This will most likely be the last post for about a week.  Originally the company we are getting our internet through said they'd be out on May 17th, but now they've said the earliest they can come out is May 24th.  I'm going to look for hotspots near our house, and we might get lucky and have a neighbor with an open network for us to "borrow" for a week, but just in case, I'm typing this up now to let everyone know.  This will also likely mean no emails next week, so don't take it personally if I don't respond...I will as soon as we get our connection set up. :)  If it's time sensitive, email Shanna, she'll have internet access at work.

On a brighter note, tonight is our last night in the hotel!!  We are both really excited about finally being out of the hotel...as you can probably tell from the last few posts. :)  When I do get online next, whether it be next week at a hotspot, or the week after when our internet is set up, I'll put up pictures of the inside of the house.  At that point we'll have a few things there, like the loaner furniture, so it won't be totally bare.  And of course, next month, when our stuff arrives, I'll put up more pictures.  I'll also put up a post about the Stuttgart Newcomers tour we signed up for next week.  It's two days, and it lasts from 8am - 4pm, so it should be pretty informative. 

That's about it for now...if I can't get internet access at all next week, then I'll still type up blog entries and just save them on the computer until I can post them the following week.

Robin Hood

I saw the trailer for the new Robin Hood movie a few months back and have been excited for it ever since.  When Shanna & I went to see Iron Man this past weekend, we noticed that this theater was showing it on the upcoming Wednesday at 8pm.  Shanna had wanted to see it, and of course, I was super excited about it, so we reserved two tickets for that showing. 

Before the movie we went to our favorite (so far) German tavern in the area.  They make GREAT rotisserie chicken, which they occasionally pour beer over while slow turning it.  It's right next door to the theater, so it was the perfect place to grab dinner before walking over to the theater.  When we got to the theater it was a little crowded, but not too bad.

Now for the thoughts on the movie.  In a nutshell...wait for DVD.  It wasn't awful, and maybe my expectations were too high, but I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott (the director) and I've liked most movies with Russell Crowe in it, so I figured it had to be good.  Plus the trailer looked great.  When we walked out of the theater, I knew I wasn't impressed, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly why.  That's when Shanna got it exactly right...she said you just didn't care about the characters.  When things would happen to them, good or bad, you didn't feel anything.  The story itself wasn't bad, but there was no attachment to the characters.

It wouldn't be bad for a Friday night rental when you have nothing else better to do, but don't waste your money or time seeing it at the theaters.

Weekend Update

Not a whole lot going on this past weekend.  The weather was nice Saturday, but dreary on Sunday.  Friday afternoon when I was driving to pick Shanna up I heard something on AFN radio (Armed Forces Network) about a big yard sale going on Saturday at Patch Barracks (name of one of the bases nearby).  I didn't hear a time, and only caught a little bit at the tail end of the announcement, so we decided to just head over there Saturday morning & see if we could find it.  We drove all around, but no luck...plus the thrift shop on base is only open the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month, and this was the second, so no luck there either.  We eventually decided to head back to the hotel. 

On the way back we stopped at a beer store I'd seen while we were driving around.  It's become a pet project of mine to try and find a beer store that sells more then just German beer (ideally Belgian beers).  Most places have a few imports, but they are almost always Guinness and/or Corona.  Unfortunately this store was no different BUT it did have a few beers that looked really interesting that I hadn't seen before, pictured below.

Yes, the numbers represent the alcohol percentage.  I was intrigued, so I bought a bottle of each.  They were cheap by American Craft Beer standards, but expensive by German beer standards.  These were 33cl bottles for €4.75, where as a typical German beer is 50cl for around 75 cents.  The wheat beer, which came in at 13 percent ABV, was REALLY good.  The most flavor I'd tasted in a beer since we got here.  It had some floral hints to it with a smokey finish.  VERY good, and definitely one I'd like more of.  I'm not sure about the other one.  The taste was good (mostly smokey) but either I got a bad bottle, or it was made to be mostly flat.  I know some beers (most notably cask ales) are designed to be like that, but they typically aren't my favorite.  I'll give it one more shot to see if maybe I just got a bad batch. 

That night was a pretty relaxing one...we tried this great Indian food place near our hotel called Indian House.  I've had mixed experiences with Indian food before, so I was willing to give it a shot.  We ended up really liking the food, and definitely want to head back again.  When we got back to the hotel we opened a bottle of wine and watched the Disney movie, Up.  We both really liked it...Pixar movies rarely disappoint, and this was no exception.  We both highly recommend it.

Sunday was Mother's Day, but since we're six hours ahead, we couldn't call our Mom's that morning.  So instead we had a late breakfast at the buffet downstairs in the hotel restaurant, then later that afternoon we walked to the theater up the road to catch a double feature, Iron Man and Iron Man 2.  Neither of us had seen the first one, so we figured what better way then to watch them back to back.  The theater was different from what you'd see in the U.S.  The seats were more like love seats you'd find in a house, and running along the back of the seats (so facing you as you sat down in the row behind) was a ledge meant to act as a table.  You could put your snacks, drinks or...BEER.  That's right, they sold beer at the theater.  And it was pretty cheap too, not like the prices you'd normally expect in the U.S.  If a typical theater chain ever sold beer back home, I have no doubt it'd be over priced like all the other food/drinks.  But depending on the beer you wanted, they were €2 or €3.  As for the movies, they were pretty good as long as you realized you were in it for an action movie.  We both enjoyed them, and they were a great way to spend a lazy cloudy Sunday afternoon.

When we got back to the hotel we both called our Mom's to wish them Happy Mother's Day.  Shanna's family was going out to lunch, and my Dad was putting the finishing touches on some rib's he'd been marinating for the past 24 hours before throwing them on the grill.  Later that day my brother, Aunt, & Uncle were coming over.

That's it for the weekend..next weekend is the big one, when we move in to our new place.  We've already started coming up with a list of all the things we'll need to last us a month until our stuff comes, and we haven't even gotten to what food we need to get at the Commissary.  Just 5 more days and counting...

9 Days and counting

Just 9 more days until we are finally in our house.  We had to switch hotels again today.  We were in our first hotel until May 4th, but they were fully booked from the 4th to 6th, so we had to find another hotel.  I read some reviews, and found one that seemed decent enough, and it was 10 minutes from Shanna's office.  Turns out there's a reason it was a lot cheaper.  The area was fine, mostly residential, but the hotel was just a slight step above a Motel 6, and that's only because the breakfast was halfway decent instead of no breakfast like you'd get at a Motel 6.  After 2 days, we decided we'd had enough and booked the remainder of our stay prior to move in at the hotel we'd been at.  As soon as I walked back in to The Pullmen it felt like I was back home again...that is, until we are actually in our home. :)

Yesterday we went to the housing office to have them review the lease (they said it looked great) and to pick out the loaner furniture we wanted.  TV's weren't something they offered, so I'm leaving early to pick up Shanna today so I can swing by the TKS office in the PX to make sure we can get Internet access as soon as possible...after all, we have to keep up on our U.S. TV shows. :) 

And finally, my dumb Amerikaner moment yesterday.  I was walking the dogs, and this girl ran up to me saying something in German.  I'm not good at guessing ages, but if I had to guess, I'd say she was probably 9 or 10.  I told her I was sorry, but I didn't speak German.  She stopped, thought for a second, then said "Excuse me sir, what time is it"?  It was slow & thought out, but perfect English none the less.  I didn't know if she could understand responses as well as being able to speak, so I just showed her my watch, to which she replied "Thank you sir!" and ran off.  Here I am, 28, and can only speak English, while this 10 year old girl ran up speaking one language, realized I spoke English, and immediately starting speaking that to me.  Sigh.  I'll get there eventually, I trust Rosetta Stone. :)

Move in date

After weeks of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, we finally got the official word.  The house we really wanted to rent was ours and we could move in May 15th!  It's a 5 minute walk to downtown Stuttgart and is a 20 min walk to the center of the city.  They said it was part way up a mountain, but as you can see from the picture below of our street, it's more like a really big hill.

 The house is going to take a little getting used to, but that's only because things are just a little different in Europe.  For example, the oven is pretty small...it's only a little bigger then your average microwave.  That means we are definitely getting a grill. :)  I'm waiting to take pictures of inside the house because right now it's empty.  Our furniture won't arrive until mid June, so we're getting loaner furniture from the housing office on base.  Once that furniture is in I'll put up some pictures of the inside.

I did take some pictures of the view from our back deck though...while I tried to get angles to convey the view, pictures from a cell phone just don't do it justice.  I guess that means everyone reading this will have to come visit!!