Waiting for the Perfect Man

Jack

Satzvey Castle

Mom and Linda

Crepes!

My "costume"

Fütbol

Just a quick bit...last night a team from the German fütbol league stayed at our hotel. This included a huge bus and lots of red warm-up suits, and, I might add, some quite attractive athletes. I have no idea which league, but I looked up the logo and it was the FCA Durmstadt team, and they can't seem to pull out more wins than losses, unfortunately. Best wishes to them! : )

Tonight we are off to a haunted castle of sorts with some other families. It should be an adventure at the very least! I'll try to take lots of pictures. Soon I really want to dedicate a post to the amazing people we've met in our 6 weeks here, Germans and Americans alike. It never ceases to amaze me how creative Jesus is and how beautiful His stamp is on His creations! Much love and more to come...

Writing is the Hardest Part!

Cars and Marzipan

Yesterday, I watched from my window as this girl decided two parallel parking spots could definitely be three. She was aiming for the middle, and I've got to give her props for staying far away from the Beamer, but I couldn't see it happening. Her last shimmy she knocked the front car--like it rolled a foot forward. I leaned forward to see if anyone else saw her little bump, but I was the only one. Eventually she got out, took a quick look, checked out the surroundings, and walked off. !! Crazy. When the Beamer guy came back, he skillfully maneuvered out with what had to be an inch to give from the front bumper. Insane. With my parallel parking skills, it's a good thing we don't have a car.


Also. Today for the first time since I was 8 I tried marzipan. I've been convinced I hate it for 16 years, but it turns out I don't!
Don't get me wrong, I'll take chocolate or nougat over marzipan any day. It all started at this German restaurant on an island called Puerto Galera in the Philippines. We were out there for a vaca when we lived in Subic Bay, and I saw these adorable cookies that looked just like fruit, painted and everything. I was expecting sugar cookie, but got marzipan instead and swore off of the stuff. Until today. Here's to retrying a bad first-time experience...

A Day in the Life

This is Cocoa, a sweet, sweet puppy. She belongs to another Fedex couple here who are from Dallas. We are all sitting down in the lobby for dinner/drinks/ice cream(in my case) just like we always do. It's a nice sense of community that I will miss once we move out of the Pullman Hotel.

So this is a glimpse to our nightly routine on most days : )

Dom Tower

New Bike!

Oh Hey...

Sweet Bathroom Stall

Hey, check out this image I made using Diptic.

Sent from my iPhone

This bathroom stall was amazing. When the door was locked, you couldn't see through it. When it was unlocked, you could totally see through the door.

I Got a Bike!

It is green with a basket in front. Pictures to follow shortly...

We went to a used bike market this morning early, and it was FREEZING outside. Probably in the 30s. But it has a bell and a generator to make the light shine at night...just 3 gears, and a front wheel hand brake with a back wheel brake with the pedals. I might be a hazard getting used to riding again, but it is such fun!

Bastian's

This is one of the best places we've eaten, and it is just around the corner! Somehow we haven't eaten there til now. The bakery, kitchen and coffee is delicious and the atmosphere cozy. It will definitely be a place to revisit when any of you come to town...

Prussia land

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin

So Mom and I visited Berlin this past weekend! It is a four hour train ride on the ICE train, and we met our friend Regina there. The rain and fog put a bit of a damper on things, but we still walked and walked and walked. We saw part of the Berlin wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the Halocaust Monument, the Victory statue and Potsdam!

Potsdam was a bit of a mistake, as it is an old royal city outside of Berlin, and we meant to get on the train to Potsdamer Platz in the middle of Berlin, but it was beautiful. I believe there are 3 palaces and 1 castle, but it being Monday, all but the Neues Palace were closed. Frederick the Great (?) built it and lots of other royals lived there only part of the year, like a guest palace. One of my favorite things about it was we had to wear these ridiculous slipper things over our shoes so as not to scuff the floors. We thought they wanted a free shining of the wood and marble...you had to slide along or they'd fall off. There is a huge and gorgeous area in Potsdam called Sanssouci Park, or I heard a German call them Frederick's Woods. It's massive and stunning...another place to return and visit.

This picture is the tower in Alexanderplatz, which is supposed to have a magnificent view of the city...obviously when not shrouded in fog like Monday.

Dolores, the Cali-Mex restaurant was also near Alexanderplatz in Berlin. It was glorious, even though I felt sick for forcing all of my quesadilla down later that night. When will I learn...

Longing for a Taste of America? Thank You, Dolores

A Day In Heidelburg

A wonderful new friend Regina asked me to go to Heidelburg with her this week!
After a long train ride, we went to the castle and took a rather long hike to the top of the hill. Here are the pictures!

Info

Okay, so I've been posting pictures, but I feel like I ought to be writing more. So here's the low down on Germany thus far:

1. Church bells ring ALL the time. Almost all the time.
2. I ordered an unknown dish at a restaurant tonight and got a hamburger covered with cooked vegetables. Go figure.
3. I don't know if it's the food, or new culture or what, but I have CRAZY dreams here.
4. We walk around a mile or more every day...hoping it'll be good for the thighs.
5. It looks like we'll be in the hotel for one more month, so I continue to look like a slob and I don't think there's any way to correctly repack my suitcase to fit it all.
6. It's been unseasonably warm so I should have brought fewer man-shirts and more shorts. But just bc we walk everywhere and work up a sweat...otherwise perfect temp.
7. One of the real estate agents we met with thought I was 15.
8. I keep seeing these really great moments for a photo, were I a photographer and were it okay to get very close to strangers.
9. Today at the Domplatz there were really buff guys doing the limbo with the stick on fire, like a foot from the ground.
10. It was a great afternoon with some much needed alone time in the city
11. There are dogs everywhere...in restaurants, in stores...and they are SO well-behaved, even with no leash!

That's all the statements I can think of offhand. It was a great day. Mom and Dad went down to the airport and to our new place in Poppelsdorf to check out the public transportation back to the airport. I sat at Starbucks writing and listening to music and people watching(boy, is it a great place to people watch by the main train station) as long as I could before rushing to a bathroom and loosing my table outside. Then I wandered up the stairs to the benches right under the Dom and sat a bit before snagging some Ben and Jerry's on the way home. Home being the Pullman...
For the first time since we've arrived I pulled out my guitar and played around for a few hours. It was glorious.

I do smell a little bit from my day out in the sun, so I'm off to shower before bed. Love!

That's A Mouse

There are a few running around here...we might not be back.

The Makings of a Great Afternoon