Updates

Happy Boxing Day! Today is Boxing Day, right? I'm not really even sure what Boxing Day is, but I think it's today. Anyway, I haven't been a very good blogger lately, and so much has happened since my last post. I know I promised a post about windows, and I'll get to that, but I'll focus on updates for today. Mainly two things:

1. I got the job! Most of my friends and family already know, but I accepted a teaching position at an American high school here in Germany. I will be a part-time teacher of drawing and humanities. And I'm more than a little bit terrified. Teaching high school is going to be a completely new experience for me, and I'm not at all sure what to expect. Thankfully, I have a bit of a grace period when I'll be shadowing the current drawing and humanities teachers until the new semester begins. Until that happens, I'm just going to do my best to take things slow and easy. I suppose that's all I can do.

2. Matt and I got to spend some much needed time with our families. This very unexpected, but very welcome two-week trip to Texas gave us both the chance to be with our loved ones at a great time of the year. I stayed with my parents and, although he had to work for most of the time, Matt was able to spend a few days at the back end of the trip with his family as well.
One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to see my grandmother, nephew, and brother and sister-in-law for a few days. It's amazing how fast my little nephew is growing!

He's already over a year old now, but it seems like he was just born!  Now he's running around stealing things out of kitchen cabinets. And he loves to knock down block towers. He's ridiculously adorable. One day with him just wasn't enough, but I'm so glad that I got to see him at all. I was worried that I wouldn't see him again until he was at least another year older. We spent the day building block towers, watching Rocco knock them down, and playing with his peek-a-boo bear toy. Too much cute to handle :)

At the end of our trip, my parents and I drove up to spend time with Matt and his parents all together. What a blessing it is that we both have families that are so completely wonderful in their own ways, but also get along so well with each other. And being with them all at once at this time of year was an incredible gift that I wouldn't trade for anything. It's funny, but returning to Germany was much harder this time than it was when we first traveled out here in July. Back then the whole thing seemed more like an exotic vacation. It seemed temporary somehow. I was still running on adrenaline from the wedding. We had three days after returning from our honeymoon before we left for Germany and we never had time to stop and think about what was happening or how we were leaving our families for such a long time. There was too much to do, too many other things that we had to focus on. But we didn't have any of that this time, and it made getting on the plane much more difficult.

However, Matt always knows the right thing to say to cheer me up. He said that although it's hard to leave them, we're very blessed that we have such loving families that we can always come home to and miss during the in-between times. So true.

Merry Christmas

Rachel

Things That Make Germany Awesome

Since I've been feeling a tad bit homesick lately, I've decided to focus on the positive and write a bit about the things that make living in Germany such a great experience in the hopes of balancing out the negative energy from my last entry. So here goes....

Things That Make Germany Awesome:

1. Matt is here
This is much better than than this time last year, when he was half a world--literally--away.

2. Flammkuchen
Of course, I would put something food-related as number 2. Flammkuchen is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. It's basically a flat bread pizza topped with creme fraiche, onion, and bacon. Fantastic!

image courtesy of Google images

3. Rolladen: The coolest windows ever.
You wish you had these windows! More on this to come. (Yes, I'm planning to write an entire blog entry on these things.)

4. Wine
We live in the German state of Rheinland-Pfalz, which produces the vast majority of Germany's wine. Now I'm not a wine expert, but I can say that German wine is generally sweeter than American wine, which is probably why I like it so much.

5. Castles (Die Schlösser)
Where else but in Germany can you drive down the road to your friendly neighborhood castle? There seem to be castles everywhere; some fully intact, some in ruins, all beautiful.

Burg Rheinstein

6. Old stuff
Our village was founded in 1300. That means it's old. There are houses around the corner from us that have probably been standing for over 200 years. Our house was built in 1997, so it's a baby compared to a lot of the other buildings around here. Every time I walk up the cobblestone street near our house I can't help but wonder how old the stones are and how many different people have walked there.

7. Four Seasons
I have never lived in a place that experiences all four seasons. In Texas and Louisiana there is summer, summer, summer, and fall. But here in Germany we seem to get summer, fall, winter, and spring. I love that. And getting to see leaves change colors in fall for the first time in life was really amazing. In a matters of weeks, or maybe even days, it's going to snow, and that will be a while new experience.

This isn't the greatest picture of the fall leaves, but I just loved this little group of yellow trees on the banks of the Rhein at the beginning of October.

8. Bakeries (Die Bäckereien)
German bakeries are great. I wish I knew more about what all the different treats are that they offer, but I don't. You just have to come visit us so we can take you to Bäckerei Schmitt, just around the corner from our house.

So that's going to be all for now. There are lots of things that I know I could add to this list, but just haven't experienced yet. For example, Christmas Markets. How could Christmas Markets not be awesome, right? But I haven't actually been to one, so writing about that will have to wait. I think that this list is something that will have to be expanded over time as I experience more of life in Germany.

Fingers Crossed!

Today I had planned, as I do every Wednesday morning, to go to kickboxing at 10:00. But by the time I got in the car at 9:30, my plans had completely changed. And instead of driving to kickboxing, I drove to a job interview.

I got a call around 8:30 from the principal of one of the American high schools, who wanted to see me at 10:00. I went, we chatted, and now I'm hoping and praying for the chance to teach art part time!

I'll keep you posted!

Rachel

Things I Miss About The States

Don't get me wrong, Germany is fantastic. But I think that a little homesickness just comes with the territory of living so far away from everyone and everything that you're used to. So I thought that I'd make a list of the things that I've been missing lately. Now, family and friends are what I miss the most. Hands-down. I didn't add family and friends to the list because you all are in an a class of your own. This list is for the silly, frivolous things that I didn't realize how much I relied on until I came here (family and friends are definitely not silly or frivolous!).

So here is my list--in no particular order--of the things that I miss the most about good ol' America....

1. Starbucks.
I don't really need to say anymore about this do I? But this is a blog, so I'm going to anyway.
Actually, one of the things that I miss most about Starbucks has nothing to do with their drinks or food. I miss just going there. A trip to Starbucks was always like a break in the day. It was a special treat, a way to slow down, relax, and enjoying something comforting. And my Starbucks in San Antonio (a special shout-out to the Quarry Village Starbucks, because they're wonderful) was extra-nice because as soon as I walked in the door, they knew who I was. Even if they didn't know my name, they knew that I was the Tall-Nonfat-Extra-Hot-Chai-Latte-Girl. Some of the baristas even knew that I preferred a slightly higher than usual chai-to-water ratio when making my drink. If that's not service, I don't know what is.

2. Low-Maintenance Household Appliances
Every time I use the washing machine, I have to turn on a water valve that supplies water to the machine. Then, when the wash cycle has finished, I have to turn the water valve off. Same with the dish washer. Our dryer is a condenser dryer, so that means that the water from the wet clothes condenses inside the machine and I have to dump out the excess water every so often or the machine gets angry at me. It also doesn't beep when its finished drying clothes, so I often forget that I'm using it and our clothes end up wrinkled. This, therefore, means that I actually have to iron, which I almost never did before. Then there are the adapters and transformers for electrical devices. If an appliance is dual-voltage, then all we have to do is use a simple adapter so that we can plug it into the European outlets. But if its not, we have to lug out one of the massive transformers. These things are pretty darn heavy. And the one that we keep in the kitchen likes to flip switches on the circuit breaker. So every time we want toast, we go through the same routine: plug the toaster into the transformer, plug the transformer into the wall, turn on the transformer (this is when all the lights go out in the kitchen), run downstairs, flip the switch on the circuit breaker, run back upstairs,  make toast.

3. No-fuss trash
Recycling isn't just encouraged here--it's the law. So is composting. This means that we have not one, not two, not three, but four different trash bins in our kitchen. One is for paper. One is for biodegradable stuff. One is "yellow sack" (this is for recyclables that aren't paper: plastics, aluminum cans, etc.). And one is for trash. We're also required to recycle glass, but we don't have a bin for that. We keep it on top of the fridge until we make a trip to the glass collection site. Trash is only picked up once every two weeks. And paper is only picked up once a month. The frustrating part is when you have something to throw away but you don't know where it belongs. Blue glass for example. They collect brown, clear, and green glass. But we bought a bottle of wine a few weeks ago that came in a blue bottle. So where does it go? We ended up tossing it in the green glass bin, because we figured that blue was closest to green, but we're still not sure if that was right. I miss only having two bins: trash and recycling. Life was so much simpler with only two bins.

4. Shopping malls
They do have malls here, and I guess you could consider the BX on base a mall, but I miss hitting up all of the usual stores: Macy's, Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Forever 21. And, oh boy, do I miss Target! And Hobby Lobby. And Borders. And Williams-Sonoma. And Bed Bath and Beyond.....

So now that I've read over this entry, I realize that this is just a bunch of complaints about really silly things. Writing this has left me feeling pessimistic, and I'm just not that kind of girl. So my next entry is going to called "Things That Make Germany Awesome" (because there are a lot of things I could say about that).

Rachel


**I'd like to make a late addition to this list....
5. Football
I miss watching games on the weekend!

The Beer Fridge

For as long as Matt and I have been in a relationship, his family has enjoyed teasing me about being an “alcoholic”. Because I drink “so much” at any given time (half a glass of wine, for example), I’ve eared a reputation as “the family alkie”. But now I finally have a point with which to defend myself: The Beer Fridge.

Our sweet little German kitchen has a built-in refrigerator that is about a quarter of the size of a standard American fridge. So Matt and I got an American-sized fridge on loan from the base that we will be able to keep for as long as we’re in Germany. But this presented us with a minor problem: what to do with the German fridge? For weeks it sat there, empty and lonely, just waiting for a purpose. Until two days ago.

Matt and I had just returned from a trip to Globus, which happens to sell an abundance of different types of beer. After getting everything else we needed, we had picked up a few bottles and headed home. This was when the idea popped into Matt’s head that the only proper use for the German fridge would be to officially designate it as The Beer Fridge. This would keep all the beer nice and cold and in its own special place, and better still, there was room enough in the fridge to keep the beer glasses chilled as well. Then I thought, if we’re going to put a bunch of bottles of beer in The Beer Fridge, why not also add the bottle of wine that Eugen had brought by that afternoon? To Matt, this idea was absolutely ridiculous, because apparently adding a bottle of wine would “compromise the integrity of The Beer Fridge” (Matt’s words, not mine). It was at this point that I just rolled my eyes and sighed, pretending to be totally exasperated. I was laughing on the inside, though. 


So now, as long as The Beer Fridge exists in our kitchen, no one can make fun of me. I'll just point to Matt and his Beer Fridge. 

Dinner with our Landlord and Adventures in German Laundry

Last Monday our landlord and his wife invited us to their house for dinner. Eugen and Gisela are a very nice German couple in their seventies. Eugen speaks English very well, although he seems to think he doesn't. Gisela however speaks almost no English, and Matt and I speak almost no German. This made for some very interesting conversation barriers, but we all seemed to manage pretty well.
They welcomed us to their home, which is in the same village as ours; It's just a short trek across a meadow. They greeted us, then after a deep breath, Gisela sweetly pronounced in English, "We heartily welcome you to Rodenbach!" She had been practicing the phrase just for us.
The dinner she made was fantastic: chicken in a thick, but not heavy, cream sauce; yellow rice with peppers and corn; and a delicious salad with lettuce and herbs from the garden in their backyard. But before all that...and during...and afterwards...there was wine. The Germans love their wine--and with good reason, because German wine is fantastic. The region of Germany that we live in is basically the Napa Valley of Germany, and there are wineries everywhere. Eugen and Gisela have offered to take us on a tour of several wineries and castles nearby. Matt and I are really looking forward to this.
After dinner, Eugen have us a tour of his home. His entire home---even the closets! It is a very lovely house with all kinds of wonderful little nooks and crannies, heated floors, and a wood-burning fireplace. There is an apartment upstairs which they rent out. Their laundry room is bigger than our kitchen and dining room combined and even has a sauna inside. And in the backyard there is a gartenhaus. These are very popular in Germany. Basically, they are pretty little decorative buildings that sit in the backyard like a shed. But they're not for storage. Eugen, for example, has outfitted his gartenhaus with a dining table and china cabinet. When the weather is nice and the grandkids are over, they eat in the gartenhaus and the children camp out there. After dinner we sat out in their beautiful backyard chatting and enjoying the cool German weather. It was a fantastic evening.

On an entirely different subject, cleaning our clothes has been an adventure in and of itself. The base has supplied us with a washer and dryer for the three years that we are here. They are German appliances, and since they are calibrated differently than American ones, using German detergent is recommended. So Matt and I ventured out to Globus, which is like a German version of a Super Target, only much bigger and much busier. Before you even get inside the main grocery section of Globus you will find a bakery, a restaurant, a key maker, a pharmacy, a beverage shop, and several clothing stores. Then beyond a small gate are the grocery, hardware, and housewares sections, a small book store, and more. It's overwhelming, but so much fun to peruse all the aisles and look at all the great German foods.
Anyway, Matt and I made our way to the aisle with the laundry products where we found what we were fairly certain was detergent. I put a few loads in the wash when we got home and thought that all was right with the world. But then I noticed that there was a small image on the back of the bottle of a feather inside a circle with the word "hypoallergenic" in German. The feather was what tipped me off. I did a little poking around online and verified that yes, that company only makes fabric softeners. Thank goodness that German fabric softener is not quite as potent as American softener because I might have ruined all of our clothes. Everything came out fine, and our clothes smell absolutely fantastic. But we're going to have to make another trip to Globus very soon. And this time we'll make sure we ask what we're buying before we leave.

Figuring out how to use the washer and dryer was a whole other beast. It's a German appliance, so obviously, all of the settings on the machine are written in German. The base did provide us with an English instruction manual, but the words on the machine are pictures in the manual. And they're not self-explanatory pictures either. For example, I have managed to figure out that one setting on the dryer says "Extra-dry" in German. In the manual, however, there is a picture of a closet. I really don't get it. I do have to say, however, that our washer and dryer work amazingly well. After using college dorm washers and dryers for the past several years, this is sheer luxury!

Rachel

Driving in Germany

Matt and I have recently acquired our German drivers' licenses. Before we arrived here, I figured that driving in Germany would probably be like driving in America, only faster. But I was wrong. It's very very different. First of all, there are about 168 different road signs that you might encounter on a drive, and not all of them are easy to interpret at first glance. And they're in German. Which is a problem when you don't know any German.

And then there's the autobahn. I'm still a little terrified of it, but autobahn driving is not as intense as I thought it was going to be. In most places, there are speed limits: the norm is usually 130 kilometers per hour, which is about 80 mph. But every once in a while, you come to a stretch of road with this sign posted:

...and all bets are off. People start flying past you at 170 kph or more. Even in the places where the limit is 130 kph, people are still usually driving at 140 or 150. And the fines for speeding here are drastically low compared to the states. The dealer who sold us our car (Yes, we bought a car! More on that in a moment) said that the fines are usually only about 25 euro. So people like to go fast. Right now I'm sticking to the two far right lanes. 

A few days ago we bought a new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. It's "tempest blue," shiny, sporty, and we can't wait to drive it! It needs to clear customs and be driven up here from a town a few hours south, so it's going to be a few days. But we're so excited! Pictures to come. 

Rachel

Just Call Me Narcolepsy Girl...

In the past 48 hours, I have fallen asleep everywhere it is possible for a person to fall asleep. I've fallen asleep so many times--including in public places surrounded by complete strangers--that I feel narcoleptic. Jet lag has been really unkind to me so far, but the good news is that Matt and I are here in Germany!
We arrived yesterday and are staying in a hotel until we can find a permanent home.
This place is beautiful. The temperature is in the high 60's, and it seems to rain a lot here, which Matt and I love. We're surrounded on all sides by lush green forests and hills. One of the first things I immediately noticed was the trees: there is actually more than one kind of tree here besides pine. Picture scenes from Disney's Beauty and the Beast: deep, thick forests, rolling hills, cute little villages. That's our new home. I love it here.
I'm going to conclude with a few pictures from our New Orleans honeymoon. Then I'm going to sleep. Again.

Rachel

Breakfast at Brennan's

Bananas Foster at Brennan's

Cafe Du Monde

The Blue Dog Gallery

The English Tea Room, Covington

Commander's Palace

The view from our hotel room

The First Wedding

I thought I would take a moment to tell the story of Matt's and my first wedding. Some Facebook photos of my mother and I getting married at the county courthouse have caused some confusion--and I can understand why!--so I thought I would set the record straight.

Matt and I have been legally married since February 28. Funny thing is, Matt was still overseas when the wedding took place. So my mother stood in for him.

Now, this is the point in my story when most people look at me with a confused expression on their face and ask, "but why?" Well, I'll tell you.

Matt and I knew that we would probably have our church wedding and reception this summer. But marrying into the military is never simple, and of course, lots of paperwork is involved. This paperwork happens to take several weeks, maybe months to process. For example: if Matt and I had gotten civilly married at the same time as our church marriage this summer, I would not have been listed on his orders detailing his change of station to Germany. This would mean that his orders would have to be revised to include me, but by the time that would have been accomplished Matt would have had to have already left for Germany. In other words, I would have had to wait behind for everything to process. Then there's the matter of my stuff. Matt and I would have had to pay out of pocket to ship all of my things and my car. That means "very expensive." All in all, getting married civilly ahead of time meant keeping things much less complicated. I was able to get listed on Matt's orders in time, all of my things were shipped along with his, and the car is on it's way across the pond as we speak.

The civil wedding itself was quite an experience. It was a wedding after all, so we decided to have some fun with it. Mom, Dad, and I got all gussied up and we ordered some beautiful flowers to make the occasion even more special. On a brisk Monday morning, the three of us trooped down to the county courthouse, bouquets in hand, to get married. First, we had to get the marriage license. This was the easy part. All we had to do was fork over $66 (cash only) and fill out some forms. But next came the hard part: finding a judge. The clerk who gave us the license said that we would have to "hunt down" a judge to perform the ceremony (her words, not mine). And hunt we did. Let me explain that the courthouse is two buildings connected by an underground tunnel. We had already gone through the tunnel once to get to the license office. Now, we had to go back through the tunnel to get to where the judges were. Back through the tunnel and up the elevator.

The three of us were quite a sight traipsing through the courthouse. My bouquet was quite a bit larger than Mom's, so it was probably clear to most that I was the bride. But the identity of the groom was definitely unclear to people who saw us. Looking back, I'm probably pretty sure that most people thought Dad, in his dapper suit with boutonniere, was the groom. Or that Mom was the second bride. Or that I was marrying myself. Anyway...

Upstairs, we tried one court room, but it was clear we were not in the right place. A kindly security officer saw that we were lost and came to our aid. After explaining the situation, he directed us to a Judge Tanner on another floor. Back up the elevator to Judge Tanner's office. Upon our arrival Judge Tanner's clerk informed us that the "judges fee" would be $45 (cash only) to perform the ceremony. Within moments, Judge Tanner entered the room and asked, "OK, so which one of you is Matthew?" Mom raised her hand. While this is going on, two security officers were standing outside, unsuccessfully trying to hide their snickering. "Excuse me," said Judge Tanner, "but I have to inform these guys that I am not in fact marrying you two ladies." She poked her head out the door and waved the two men away. Then the ceremony began. It was a basic ceremony with basic vows. When we got to the ring part and the Judge asked if we had rings to exchange, Mom offered up her David Yurmann ring as a substitute. So Mom and I exchanged "the ring" and were pronounced husband and wife. After tears and hugs and few snaps of the camera, it was down the elevator and back through the tunnel again. Now that the ceremony was over, we needed to get certified copies of the certificate ($8 each, and, yes, cash only).

This concluded all of the courthouse business, and it being my wedding day and all, I thought some cake was in order. So we went to Sugarbakers for a light lunch and some really yummy Italian cream cake. It was the perfect ending to Wedding Day Number One. But then I had to go to class later that afternoon...oh well.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(That's a high-pitched squeal, by the way...)
8 more days until the wedding!
I'm so exciiiiiited!
That is all.

Rachel

The word "Adventure"

I feel like I've used the word "adventure" more than any other in the past few months. Whenever I talk about everything that's been going on and will be going on, "adventure" is pretty much the only word that comes to mind because it's all so overwhelming. I really don't know how else to describe it, because it seems like it deserves an even grander word than "adventure". Besides, I'm just tired of saying "adventure". But that's really what it is, and I couldn't be more excited about this "adventure"! This "adventure" I'm talking about (see, now I can't stop putting that word in quotation marks because I'm so conspicuously aware of it), is my upcoming wedding (!!!) to the man of my dreams, and then our subsequent move across the pond to the much-lauded land of Germany. Everyone I've talked to--and I've talked to a lot of people about this lately--who has said they've been to or lived in Germany has loved it. And as if I wasn't already happy enough about the whole thing, hearing this makes me even happier, because Matt and I are lucky enough to have to opportunity to live there for the next three or four years! So that's what this whole blog is about: Matt and me, young twenty-something newlyweds living in Germany.

I'm so happy I could dance!

But there are a lot of things that will happen before Matt and I go to the Land of Beer and Bratwurst (I know that Germany has a lot of other wonderful things besides beer and bratwurst, but those are honestly the first two things that come to mind when I think of Germany). And the biggest thing that happens between now and then is our wedding (!!!). If you think I'm happy about Germany, well my happiness about getting married to Matt is indescribably grater than my Germany happiness! July 16th is W-Day (wedding!!!), and it's going to be perfect. Perfect because I'm marrying Matt.

Rachel