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Sonntag, 19. Juli 2015
New Buddies
durhamfamily, 13:49h
Hello again from the marvelous Deutschland.
Elizabeth and I had some firsts this week. On Thursday, I had dinner with 6 other Americans from work. My old CEO, Pierre, was in town and arranged for us all to meet at his favorite Italian restaurant. The other people already knew each other (all engineers from Michigan), so it was likely a lot more beneficial for me than it was for them. Pierre intends to plan 2 or 3 of these outings per year. It will be fun to meet the new expats in the future and be able to help them out.
Of course, everyone has heard the news about our temporary kitchen that came this week. It is better than our previous setup, so we can't complain too much. The only silly part is that they clearly brought the wrong kind - with the sink on the right instead of on the left - so the temp kitchen is very awkward. Let's hope they're smarter than this when it comes time to install our actual kitchen (in October). I'm not holding my breath.
(ignore the dirty dishes)
Friday night, Elizabeth and I ate at a restaurant called Südbahnhof. It was recommended to us back in March, but it wasn't open at the time. Elizabeth ate Käsespätzle for the very first time and I had the Gnocchi. Käsespätzle is essentially grownup mac & cheese, in case anyone was wondering. Südbahnhof has a cute little Biergarten that sits on the edge of the woods on a bike path. I can see ourselves going back... especially to try their desserts.
After dinner, we strolled to Cafe Eishorn for ice cream. I'm very pleased by the German ice cream cones that cost 1 €. As we were heading back to the apartment, an American coworker (from Thursday night) got back to us, and so we met him at Paulaner Wirsthaus for a beer. It is very comforting to hang out with Americans. It's just so easy! Certainly, it's easy to talk to many German people as well... but when all conversations are in English you feel like they are constantly doing you a favor. A room of 10 Germans all speaking in English is undeniably catering to the dumb American. They are very nice about it, but I've never enjoyed that level of attention. I'm more of a background character.
Yesterday I went for my 2nd official long run since I've been in Germany. Running is much slower this year than it was a few years ago. However, I've officially decided that, speed or not, I need to get into marathon shape! This is the most amazing running opportunity I'll ever have in my life. Over the next 2 years I'll be able to "cheaply" run in any European marathon I choose. I mean... it's not like I'll fly BACK to Europe in the future just for a marathon. Added benefit: random races will encourage Elizabeth and I to take more weekend trips!
In other news, Elizabeth and I assembled our wardrobe! We were growing very tired of hanging our clothes in the TV room. The best part is that the wardrobe has a full-length mirror, which we haven't had since we've been here.
Lastly, here's a picture of the bike room in the new parking garage at work. It's an unlocked room, and the bikes are mostly unlocked. I'm not sure anything like this could exist in America.
Alright, I think the rain has stopped for now, which means it's time for Elizabeth and I to wander the trails! She wants me to take her to an old fort today (maybe 3 miles away). Maybe she'll take a few pictures for everybody.
Unit next week!
Elizabeth and I had some firsts this week. On Thursday, I had dinner with 6 other Americans from work. My old CEO, Pierre, was in town and arranged for us all to meet at his favorite Italian restaurant. The other people already knew each other (all engineers from Michigan), so it was likely a lot more beneficial for me than it was for them. Pierre intends to plan 2 or 3 of these outings per year. It will be fun to meet the new expats in the future and be able to help them out.
Of course, everyone has heard the news about our temporary kitchen that came this week. It is better than our previous setup, so we can't complain too much. The only silly part is that they clearly brought the wrong kind - with the sink on the right instead of on the left - so the temp kitchen is very awkward. Let's hope they're smarter than this when it comes time to install our actual kitchen (in October). I'm not holding my breath.
(ignore the dirty dishes)
Friday night, Elizabeth and I ate at a restaurant called Südbahnhof. It was recommended to us back in March, but it wasn't open at the time. Elizabeth ate Käsespätzle for the very first time and I had the Gnocchi. Käsespätzle is essentially grownup mac & cheese, in case anyone was wondering. Südbahnhof has a cute little Biergarten that sits on the edge of the woods on a bike path. I can see ourselves going back... especially to try their desserts.
After dinner, we strolled to Cafe Eishorn for ice cream. I'm very pleased by the German ice cream cones that cost 1 €. As we were heading back to the apartment, an American coworker (from Thursday night) got back to us, and so we met him at Paulaner Wirsthaus for a beer. It is very comforting to hang out with Americans. It's just so easy! Certainly, it's easy to talk to many German people as well... but when all conversations are in English you feel like they are constantly doing you a favor. A room of 10 Germans all speaking in English is undeniably catering to the dumb American. They are very nice about it, but I've never enjoyed that level of attention. I'm more of a background character.
Yesterday I went for my 2nd official long run since I've been in Germany. Running is much slower this year than it was a few years ago. However, I've officially decided that, speed or not, I need to get into marathon shape! This is the most amazing running opportunity I'll ever have in my life. Over the next 2 years I'll be able to "cheaply" run in any European marathon I choose. I mean... it's not like I'll fly BACK to Europe in the future just for a marathon. Added benefit: random races will encourage Elizabeth and I to take more weekend trips!
In other news, Elizabeth and I assembled our wardrobe! We were growing very tired of hanging our clothes in the TV room. The best part is that the wardrobe has a full-length mirror, which we haven't had since we've been here.
Lastly, here's a picture of the bike room in the new parking garage at work. It's an unlocked room, and the bikes are mostly unlocked. I'm not sure anything like this could exist in America.
Alright, I think the rain has stopped for now, which means it's time for Elizabeth and I to wander the trails! She wants me to take her to an old fort today (maybe 3 miles away). Maybe she'll take a few pictures for everybody.
Unit next week!
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Mittwoch, 15. Juli 2015
Good News and Bad News
durhamfamily, 15:03h
Hi all,
We got our Visas today! It will feel so great not to have to carry around our huge passports all the time (which I was supposed to do, but never did).
Our second to last piece of furniture is coming tomorrow and the last one comes next week. It will feel really good to have all of our furniture put together. And to have a place to put our clothes and television.
Our German is coming along very well. I can read most billboards and road signs and hold simple conversations with random people--people on the telephone, when ordering food, etc. It's easier to understand someone speaking rather than for me piece words together. And as long as the cashiers at Aldi and Kaufland say only one word at a time, I can respond in a half-way intelligent manner. And of course, Kyle's German is coming along much quicker than mine. He's pretty smart.
Now... for the bad news. Yesterday, our dear friend Nadja* drove me to Möbel Rieger to check on our kitchen and act as The Hammer/Interpreter. We were informed that not only had Rieger not placed our order in May when they were supposed to, they had to charge us €400 extra in order to make modifications to our countertops. After talking the price down to "only" €122 more than the original cost, we asked how much longer it's going to take for our kitchen to be installed. TWELVE WEEKS. I almost started crying right there. To soften the blow, the manager arranged for us to have a temporary kitchen set up in our apartment. His over-animated reaction to the temp. kitchen being available as early as this Thursday made me want to hit him in the face. Near the end of the conversation, he offered to give me a 15% discount off of anything in the store that wasn't already on sale. I wanted to laugh at him and pull out my best Amy Poehler impression (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmEoKXgBvSI&t=0m53s).
The temp. kitchen has no oven and we're going to have an extra refrigerator for a while (which is the funniest thing of all to me), but it's much, much better than nothing. Other than casseroles, pizzas, and brownies, we don't use the oven very much. And we should get out new kitchen before Thanksgiving. We hope.
More happy news to come from us soon!
Much love,
Liz
*Nadja is my hero and we'd be totally screwed without her and her husband
We got our Visas today! It will feel so great not to have to carry around our huge passports all the time (which I was supposed to do, but never did).
Our second to last piece of furniture is coming tomorrow and the last one comes next week. It will feel really good to have all of our furniture put together. And to have a place to put our clothes and television.
Our German is coming along very well. I can read most billboards and road signs and hold simple conversations with random people--people on the telephone, when ordering food, etc. It's easier to understand someone speaking rather than for me piece words together. And as long as the cashiers at Aldi and Kaufland say only one word at a time, I can respond in a half-way intelligent manner. And of course, Kyle's German is coming along much quicker than mine. He's pretty smart.
Now... for the bad news. Yesterday, our dear friend Nadja* drove me to Möbel Rieger to check on our kitchen and act as The Hammer/Interpreter. We were informed that not only had Rieger not placed our order in May when they were supposed to, they had to charge us €400 extra in order to make modifications to our countertops. After talking the price down to "only" €122 more than the original cost, we asked how much longer it's going to take for our kitchen to be installed. TWELVE WEEKS. I almost started crying right there. To soften the blow, the manager arranged for us to have a temporary kitchen set up in our apartment. His over-animated reaction to the temp. kitchen being available as early as this Thursday made me want to hit him in the face. Near the end of the conversation, he offered to give me a 15% discount off of anything in the store that wasn't already on sale. I wanted to laugh at him and pull out my best Amy Poehler impression (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmEoKXgBvSI&t=0m53s).
The temp. kitchen has no oven and we're going to have an extra refrigerator for a while (which is the funniest thing of all to me), but it's much, much better than nothing. Other than casseroles, pizzas, and brownies, we don't use the oven very much. And we should get out new kitchen before Thanksgiving. We hope.
More happy news to come from us soon!
Much love,
Liz
*Nadja is my hero and we'd be totally screwed without her and her husband
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Sonntag, 12. Juli 2015
Paulaner, Gripes and Webcams
durhamfamily, 22:31h
This was a great week! On Friday, Elizabeth and I went to dinner with the Seegers. The Seegers are German and they lived in Florence KY when I started work at ZFLS. Stefan is a large reason why I've been successful at work. We spent the evening discussing the advantages and difficulties involved in living abroad. Hanging out with them makes everything normal... just for a little while.
It was the first time Elizabeth has eaten at Paulaner Wirtshaus. Paulaner serves typical Bavarian food - so lots of meats and gravies and breads. We sat outside in the Marktplatz... which means that you can see it in the Schwäbisch Gmünd website!:
http://www.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/353-Webcam_Schwaebisch_Gmuend_Marktplatz_I.html
We were at the end, in front of the 3rd building on the left. And guess what I just discovered! You can see where we live on a different webcam:
http://www.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/3601-Webcam_Schwaebisch_Gmuend_Tunnel_Ost.html
Do you see the tower with a clock on it in the middle of the picture? That's exactly where we live! Pretty neat, right? (You might need to be patient and wait for the camera to pan all of the way to the left)
Back to the story: after dinner we enjoyed some enormous bowls spaghetti ice cream (vanilla with strawberry sauce and whipped cream). It was very good, but I think I'll stick with regular ice cream. Even though I always regret my flavor decision, I like being able to pick my flavors.
Afterwards, they came back to our apartment and took ALL of our cardboard for us! Over the past month, buying all new furniture, we had collected a serious amount of cardboard. We are unbelievably fortunate to have the Seegers here to take care of us.
In order to not give anyone the wrong impression, I'll spend the remainder of this blog talking about the negative experiences that we've had so far in Germany. You've already heard our complaints about not speaking the language... but it really does come up constantly. And every time you fail to communicate with someone, it makes you feel increasingly more inept.
Have we described the window situation? We talked about how there is no air conditioning here, and that opening the windows is the best that we can do to cool off the apartment. The windows are very large, but did we mention that none of them have screens? The result: the windows are constantly open and there are more flies and gnats in the apartment than I could possibly describe. For example though, yesterday morning I killed at least 30 gnats before I stopped counting. And let's not kid ourselves, it's only a matter of time before pigeons start coming in. They sit on our windowsill, eerily gazing into our TV room.
We hate not being able to see the people back home. We can schedule occasional chats... but there are so many people to consider that it's just paralyzing. This blog is the best solution I've come up with to that problem.
Every few days I go on a frustrated search, trying to find something I would swear we brought with us. I can search for it in this apartment... but of course I cannot search in the last apartment, the hotel, the apartment before that, the rented car, or our house in KY. The constant state of thinking you lost something without being able to verify anything is downright maddening.
There are countless normal things that I don't know how to do. I would really like to run here in Germany, but I don't know how to find (or get to) races. My hair is growing out of control, but I don't know where I'm supposed to go or how I'm supposed to describe what I want from them. The washers and dryers are comically tiny, and they take 2 - 4 times longer than American styles. It is light outside from 5 AM until 10 PM (it sounds kind of nice, but you never sleep). And buying beer requires me to carry a crate of 20 (0.5 Liter) bottles half a mile down the road.
That's all I have for today!
Until next week.
It was the first time Elizabeth has eaten at Paulaner Wirtshaus. Paulaner serves typical Bavarian food - so lots of meats and gravies and breads. We sat outside in the Marktplatz... which means that you can see it in the Schwäbisch Gmünd website!:
http://www.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/353-Webcam_Schwaebisch_Gmuend_Marktplatz_I.html
We were at the end, in front of the 3rd building on the left. And guess what I just discovered! You can see where we live on a different webcam:
http://www.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/3601-Webcam_Schwaebisch_Gmuend_Tunnel_Ost.html
Do you see the tower with a clock on it in the middle of the picture? That's exactly where we live! Pretty neat, right? (You might need to be patient and wait for the camera to pan all of the way to the left)
Back to the story: after dinner we enjoyed some enormous bowls spaghetti ice cream (vanilla with strawberry sauce and whipped cream). It was very good, but I think I'll stick with regular ice cream. Even though I always regret my flavor decision, I like being able to pick my flavors.
Afterwards, they came back to our apartment and took ALL of our cardboard for us! Over the past month, buying all new furniture, we had collected a serious amount of cardboard. We are unbelievably fortunate to have the Seegers here to take care of us.
In order to not give anyone the wrong impression, I'll spend the remainder of this blog talking about the negative experiences that we've had so far in Germany. You've already heard our complaints about not speaking the language... but it really does come up constantly. And every time you fail to communicate with someone, it makes you feel increasingly more inept.
Have we described the window situation? We talked about how there is no air conditioning here, and that opening the windows is the best that we can do to cool off the apartment. The windows are very large, but did we mention that none of them have screens? The result: the windows are constantly open and there are more flies and gnats in the apartment than I could possibly describe. For example though, yesterday morning I killed at least 30 gnats before I stopped counting. And let's not kid ourselves, it's only a matter of time before pigeons start coming in. They sit on our windowsill, eerily gazing into our TV room.
We hate not being able to see the people back home. We can schedule occasional chats... but there are so many people to consider that it's just paralyzing. This blog is the best solution I've come up with to that problem.
Every few days I go on a frustrated search, trying to find something I would swear we brought with us. I can search for it in this apartment... but of course I cannot search in the last apartment, the hotel, the apartment before that, the rented car, or our house in KY. The constant state of thinking you lost something without being able to verify anything is downright maddening.
There are countless normal things that I don't know how to do. I would really like to run here in Germany, but I don't know how to find (or get to) races. My hair is growing out of control, but I don't know where I'm supposed to go or how I'm supposed to describe what I want from them. The washers and dryers are comically tiny, and they take 2 - 4 times longer than American styles. It is light outside from 5 AM until 10 PM (it sounds kind of nice, but you never sleep). And buying beer requires me to carry a crate of 20 (0.5 Liter) bottles half a mile down the road.
That's all I have for today!
Until next week.
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