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Freitag, 15. Mai 2015
Das Abenteuer beginnt
durhamfamily, 13:03h
Today ends our 2nd week in Germany, and so much has happened. Our days have been jam-packed with laughter, tears, confusion, rain, shopping, hiking, joy, and utter exhaustion. It's hard to believe that the most difficult challenges are still ahead of us.
May 2 , 2015
We arrived in Stuttgart at 8:30 am as planned. The luggage was all accounted for, and entering the country was a breeze. We exited the terminal to find a driver already waiting for us to take us to Bosch in Schwäbisch Gmünd.
At Bosch, we encountered our first adventure... our temporary company car was a manual. Both Elizabeth and I being uncomfortable with driving stick, I bit the bullet and powered through. I thank my lucky stars my mother and sister took a few weeks to teach me stick shift 10 years ago. After several stalls and an infuriating 15 minutes of figuring out how to go into Reverse, we pulled up to our temporary apartment in Bargau. Have I mentioned that our cell phones were not working yet?
Anyway, on the apartment door was a note for us, "Kyle & Liz, Please call xxxxxx..." Long story short: we took a 20 minute drive back to Schwäbisch Gmünd, had a very awkward incident of borrowing a young man's cellphone (a young man who didn't speak English), and had a 30 minute drive into Bargau again (we got a little lost) before we could get into the apartment.
The apartment itself is small, but cozy. We are scheduled to stay there until May 22nd, after our permanent apartment becomes available. It had a few annoyances (only one copy of the key, no oven, no dishwasher), however, we were simply thankful to have a place to settle.
May 4, 2015
Work began for me on May 4th, so this is where Elizabeth and my stories will diverge. Work was quite stressful for a while. My boss and coworkers are great, so that's a big plus. Unfortunately, though, my boss is an extremely busy person, which makes scheduling time with her nearly impossible. Luckily, there were still some tasks from my old job that I could help with in the meantime to keep me busy. (I hope I didn't step on any toes... I just wanted to find some work to do!)
Right around this time we also hopped online and ordered as much furniture as humanly possible. We hadn't considered that furniture delivery would take 4 to 6 weeks! We were given an official date of delivery: June 5th. That leaves 2 weeks of living in an unfurnished apartment! It will be manageable, and only slightly annoying.
The main source of tension was the kitchen. Kitchens (cabinets, ovens, counters, fridges, etc) are often owned by tenants and taken with them wherever they move. Our permanent apartment will have 0 kitchen when we move in. We could not (and still cannot) order our kitchen yet because it requires very detailed measurements, which of course we won't have until we move in. Best case scenario, we will be kitchen-less until the end of June.
May 9, 2015
On Saturday morning we went on our first adventure to the outdoor market, which is held every Wednesday and Saturday in Schwäbisch Gmünd. It was an overwhelming amount of people, so we bought a jar of local honey and got the hell out of there.
Next we went bicycle shopping! I needed a bike to get to work my 2nd week because of a parking problem. The store owners helped us patiently despite our lack of German and their lack of English. Picking a bike was the easy part. Paying, however, was trickier than expected.
First, they tried to process our credit card (an extreme rarity in Germany, so our hopes weren't too high). Thirty minutes of technical difficulties later, we moved on to our Debit Card (more common in Germany). APPARENTLY, a week prior when we asked our bank to increase our spending limit, they neglected to inform us of any "in store" Debit Card spending limits. Needless to say, our Debit Card attempt was also a failure.
The only option remaining was cash... of which we had none. Ready to leave the store in shame, the owner handed us a receipt and the bike and told us to "Pay later". Because of their generosity and trust, I was able to get to work the following week without incident.
SO... that happened. Now everyone we know needs to go buy a bicycle from http://bikehouseheubach.de/. Do it now.
May 11, 2015
Biking to work was a lot of fun. It's a very relaxing 30 or 40 minutes with not a single uphill. Coming home, on the other hand, proved quite difficult! One hill in particular raises 270 ft over a half mile. It brings me back to the good old days of sprint repeats up Amsterdam Rd in Park Hills (170 ft increase in a half mile).
I want to be honest... I gave up and walked 1/3 of the way up that hill on my first attempt. It was a very humbling experience. But since then I have vanquished that hill several times!
May 14, 2015
German Holiday (Urlaub)! Holidays are very festive here. Everyone was outside with their families, enjoying their time together hiking in the wilderness, having picnics, and drinking. Music was playing all day and night. It was surreal.
This was also the day that Elizabeth stepped up to the challenge of driving the car! Of course she did splendidly. Thirty minutes on the road, she was already more skilled than me at driving.
Off and on there has been a lot of stress. We miss all of the people and our animals in America. And knowing that we'll be without furniture or a kitchen for a few weeks is frustrating. However, we know that we've done everything we can, and that all annoyances will only be temporary. Life is spectacular and it will only become even more so during our adventures in Deutschland.
May 2 , 2015
We arrived in Stuttgart at 8:30 am as planned. The luggage was all accounted for, and entering the country was a breeze. We exited the terminal to find a driver already waiting for us to take us to Bosch in Schwäbisch Gmünd.
At Bosch, we encountered our first adventure... our temporary company car was a manual. Both Elizabeth and I being uncomfortable with driving stick, I bit the bullet and powered through. I thank my lucky stars my mother and sister took a few weeks to teach me stick shift 10 years ago. After several stalls and an infuriating 15 minutes of figuring out how to go into Reverse, we pulled up to our temporary apartment in Bargau. Have I mentioned that our cell phones were not working yet?
Anyway, on the apartment door was a note for us, "Kyle & Liz, Please call xxxxxx..." Long story short: we took a 20 minute drive back to Schwäbisch Gmünd, had a very awkward incident of borrowing a young man's cellphone (a young man who didn't speak English), and had a 30 minute drive into Bargau again (we got a little lost) before we could get into the apartment.
The apartment itself is small, but cozy. We are scheduled to stay there until May 22nd, after our permanent apartment becomes available. It had a few annoyances (only one copy of the key, no oven, no dishwasher), however, we were simply thankful to have a place to settle.
May 4, 2015
Work began for me on May 4th, so this is where Elizabeth and my stories will diverge. Work was quite stressful for a while. My boss and coworkers are great, so that's a big plus. Unfortunately, though, my boss is an extremely busy person, which makes scheduling time with her nearly impossible. Luckily, there were still some tasks from my old job that I could help with in the meantime to keep me busy. (I hope I didn't step on any toes... I just wanted to find some work to do!)
Right around this time we also hopped online and ordered as much furniture as humanly possible. We hadn't considered that furniture delivery would take 4 to 6 weeks! We were given an official date of delivery: June 5th. That leaves 2 weeks of living in an unfurnished apartment! It will be manageable, and only slightly annoying.
The main source of tension was the kitchen. Kitchens (cabinets, ovens, counters, fridges, etc) are often owned by tenants and taken with them wherever they move. Our permanent apartment will have 0 kitchen when we move in. We could not (and still cannot) order our kitchen yet because it requires very detailed measurements, which of course we won't have until we move in. Best case scenario, we will be kitchen-less until the end of June.
May 9, 2015
On Saturday morning we went on our first adventure to the outdoor market, which is held every Wednesday and Saturday in Schwäbisch Gmünd. It was an overwhelming amount of people, so we bought a jar of local honey and got the hell out of there.
Next we went bicycle shopping! I needed a bike to get to work my 2nd week because of a parking problem. The store owners helped us patiently despite our lack of German and their lack of English. Picking a bike was the easy part. Paying, however, was trickier than expected.
First, they tried to process our credit card (an extreme rarity in Germany, so our hopes weren't too high). Thirty minutes of technical difficulties later, we moved on to our Debit Card (more common in Germany). APPARENTLY, a week prior when we asked our bank to increase our spending limit, they neglected to inform us of any "in store" Debit Card spending limits. Needless to say, our Debit Card attempt was also a failure.
The only option remaining was cash... of which we had none. Ready to leave the store in shame, the owner handed us a receipt and the bike and told us to "Pay later". Because of their generosity and trust, I was able to get to work the following week without incident.
SO... that happened. Now everyone we know needs to go buy a bicycle from http://bikehouseheubach.de/. Do it now.
May 11, 2015
Biking to work was a lot of fun. It's a very relaxing 30 or 40 minutes with not a single uphill. Coming home, on the other hand, proved quite difficult! One hill in particular raises 270 ft over a half mile. It brings me back to the good old days of sprint repeats up Amsterdam Rd in Park Hills (170 ft increase in a half mile).
I want to be honest... I gave up and walked 1/3 of the way up that hill on my first attempt. It was a very humbling experience. But since then I have vanquished that hill several times!
May 14, 2015
German Holiday (Urlaub)! Holidays are very festive here. Everyone was outside with their families, enjoying their time together hiking in the wilderness, having picnics, and drinking. Music was playing all day and night. It was surreal.
This was also the day that Elizabeth stepped up to the challenge of driving the car! Of course she did splendidly. Thirty minutes on the road, she was already more skilled than me at driving.
Off and on there has been a lot of stress. We miss all of the people and our animals in America. And knowing that we'll be without furniture or a kitchen for a few weeks is frustrating. However, we know that we've done everything we can, and that all annoyances will only be temporary. Life is spectacular and it will only become even more so during our adventures in Deutschland.
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