We are having a great time on our European Adventure. This e-mail is lengthy but funny. You might want to print it off and read it when you have a few minutes. I'm sure as our stay contiues the e-mails will get a bit shorter and less often, but for now, everything is so different and we're experiencing some funny things. Please e-mail me some time. Just found out that our stuff has still not airshipped from the US so I don't have much to do so I'd love to hear from you. If you have AOL Instant Messenger, let me know your screen name. I'd love to chat.
Love,
Deidre
Week 2
Our first weekend in Bavaria was a lot of fun. Our new friend and neighbor, Kate, took us to Daucau where there is a great grocery store. It was quite large and I was able to find many more things, though in German.
The weather is cold and there are some small snow flurries from time to time, but nothing that amounts to anything. Tree tops are frozen and it is pretty but much different than when things ice up in Dallas. Currently it is 25 Celcius with light snow grains. Even though it is quite cold, it is very bearable. . .so far anyway.
One of the interesting things about Germans is that they see things in black and white, there are no shades of gray. They are major rule followers, which doesn’t sound like a big deal until you have the misfortune of having broken one of their rules, which results in a German scolding. So far, I have received two.
The first scolding I received was when we had to take the airport rental car back to the airport. Robin had me drive our car from TI and he drove the airport rental car – this was my first experience driving alone on the autobahn. When we arrived at the place to return the car, Robin pulled over and got out of his car and told me to park. No sooner had Robin left, than this nice German business man pulled in front on my car, got out, and told me (in English since he realized immediately I didn’t speak German) that I could not park there. He told me why but I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. I told him my husband told me wait there for him and he proceeded to tell me that I couldn’t do that and I needed to! park in one of the over 400 parking spaces available. Yeah, right! Then he said “Welcome!” and left. Needless to say I was a bit startled and didn’t know exactly where to go. Fortunately, I was able to drive around a small circle and arrived back where Robin had stranded me in time for me to shake my finger at him and tell him not to ever leave me like that again!
On Saturday afternoon, Sam went to a birthday party with his new friend and neighbor, Zach. Then Zach’s mom, her other 2 boys, and Robin, Joe and I took the train to Munich, specifically Marienplatz, home of the Glokenspiel and a Christkindlmarkt. We emerged from the subway tunnel and we saw incredible structures. The Marienplatz is the heart of the city of Munich. In the Middle Ages, the square used to be a market place as well as the place where tournaments and festivities took place. At 11, 12 and 17 o'clock each day, visitors can watch the famous Glockenspiel or carillon, which is basically a very magnificent tower. The figures perform the Schläffertanz or cooper's dance, which was originally performed in 1517 at the Marienplatz to commemorate the end of the plague. On top of the dancers, figur! es hold a tournament, which was originally held in 1568 at the wedding of Wilhelm II and Renata von Lothringen in 1568. The Glockenspiel has existed since 1903, but a music tape has replaced the original clocks.
The area was extremely crowded since it is the holidays so we moved out of the Marienplatz and went to a German restaurant for dinner right in front of the Munich Opera House. We had our first experience sitting at a table with people we didn’t know. It appeared to be moms and their daughters and they looked as if they might be dressed to go the Opera House after their early dinner. The food was awesome. We shared wiennerschnitzel with Joe and he had pomme frittes (fries) as well as a great salad and Robin had soup. It was so delicious and fun, as I’m sure the German ladies were making fun of us stupid Americans.
We also enjoyed our first glass of gluwein (glu vine) which is a warm sweet holiday wine. It was delicious. Apparently in the warm months Germans drink beer and beer can be found everywhere. When the winter months arrive, gluwein is the drink of choice. You don’t receive paper or Styrofoam cups, glasses or anything plastic here. You receive everything in real dishes, cups, etc and pay a small deposit. When you finish your gluwein or streudel, you return the dishes and receive your deposit back. Many people, particularly tourists, collect the cups from the Gluwein. After we collected 3! on Sunday, Robin and I decided that might not be the thing for us to collect – too much Gluwein and we might not be able to make the right train back to our town!!!!
After dinner we moved back through the Marienplatz looking for the crepe vendor to get the boys a crepe for dessert but the crepe man was closing up. Another interesting thing about Germans, they are known for their precision timing. If they say they open at noon, then they open at noon, and not one second sooner or later and if they say they close at 8, then they close at 8 even if you are in line at 7:45!!!! So don’t be late!
On Sunday we took the subway back to Munich to attend Peace United Methodist Church which is an English speaking church. I was ready early and the boys were ready, but we had to wait on Robin. He wanted to make sure I knew how to work the washer and dryer – don’t know why that couldn’t wait until after church! Anyway, we first had to walk to the train station from our house – about 10-15 minutes – then we have to figure out how to buy our tickets – not an easy task when you don’t understand the system fully. We arrived at the train station just in time to MISS the train b/c we couldn’t get our tickets fast enough so we had to wait another 20 minutes for the next train. Once we arrived in Munich we then had to figure out how exactly to get to the church on foot. Robin took us in circles a few times before finally figuring out the right direction. We were late to church!!! Must have been the fact that he had to show me how to wash and dry clothes, or maybe it was that he kept getting us lost when walking. . .it was funny, and just another thing to add to our adventure.
It wasn’t such a bad thing to be a little late to church as it happened to be the children’s Christmas program – it was cute, but you know . .seen one. . .seen them all, unless of course, your own children are in it. The church had a lunch in their fellowship hall afterwards that we went to. The church definitely is English speaking, but that means English speaking people from all over the world. The thing that touched me the most was to realize that even though we are more than 4,000 miles from home, we sat in the church and said the Lord’s Prayer with other people from all over the world. It was our Lord that we had in common and it was a beautiful thing.
After being at church for a while we headed back to Marienplatz to take a better look and show Sam. It was truly amazing. Sam was scared of the gargoyles! We had to force him to get close enough to one so we could take a picture. Then we saw Santa Claus and in my very limited German I asked Santa if we could take a photo with the boys. Santa told me that I could speak in English because he is international! How cool was that! Sure hope my photo turns out well.
My neighbor’s husband, Doug, is back from the US and he has been taking me to different grocery stores and today we went to another part of Munich. His wife, Kate, is an expat here with Microsoft. Well, Doug made a mistake today . . . he took me to a great department store – much like a Nordstrom’s or a really nice Dillards. I didn’t torture him – we looked around a little bit and then went to another grocery store with a small section of US items. How about Campbell soup for almost $3 a can or a Duncan Hines cake mix for $4!!!!! When I come back in March, I will be bringing home an empty suitcase to fill with these type items. ! Maybe I can sell them on German Ebay!!!!!
The boys love their school. Sam finds out today if he made the basketball team. He is a little afraid that he will make it. . .which translates into, “Mom, the kids are really bad at basketball.” Considering that Sam isn’t really great at basketball at home, apparently he looks awesome here!!!! We had to tell him not to say things like he hopes he doesn’t make it, because there will be a lot of kids who want to make it who are worse than he is. Anyway, he’ll have fun.
Next Monday, the boys have their first training with the SV Lohoff soccer club. The President of the club speaks English and has set it up, however, he can’t be at the practices this time to help with translating .. .the coaches don’t speak English. We’ll get it all figured out though.
We are really enjoying our adventure. If you have AOL instant messenger or can get it, please do. Remember it is free, and it’s a great and very easy way to keep it touch instantly. We let the boys stay up late on the weekends so they can catch their friends, but I can be caught almost everyday. . .just add 7 hours to your clock and that will the time here in Germany.
posted by stuckinthemiddle @ 8:26 AM
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