Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Cars! Dh gets a company car, although right now it's a tiny loaner that's a tight fit for our family of 5. They're ordering him a nice new Volvo XC-90, which is a plush SUV with seats for 7, which we can't wait to get. I say ordering, because you can't walk into a car dealer in Germany, pick out a new car, sign your contracts, pay your money, and drive it home. You pick it out, option by option, and they build it specifically for you - over two months time.

And I mean option by option. Not just things like automatic transmission (which is rare), or CD players or a navigation system (basically a must here for us). I'm talking - do you want air conditioning? Do you want hooks to hang your dry cleaning on? Do you want cup holders? If so, how many? (In German cars, these are more rare and so small as to be practically useless.) Every little thing must be ordered individually. So, since it takes about 2 months for them to build the car, and since the "car guy" at dh's work is on a 3-week vacation, so he won't get it ordered until at least the end of September - we won't get it until nearly Christmas. But, at least we have a car to use in the meantime.

So, we started looking for a car for me even before we moved, but got serious about it within the past 3 weeks. I checked out every car we passed on the street and spent hours on a used car website, which is very good by the way and in English. Dh talked at length with people he works with, got suggestions and even went to see a couple of cars. At first, I was thinking small station wagon or mini-van. But, since dh's car will seat 7, we can use it when we have visitors or for family car trips. Besides, the company pays dh's gas - a huge benefit here where the cost of gas is 2-3 times what it is in the States.

So, I changed my thoughts and started looking at small hatchbacks. I don't like sedans, as I'm always hauling stuff for something or other and I don't like being limited by a trunk. I wanted 4 doors and seats for 5, so there's room for the girls and I and maybe even a friend. I will have to drive to their school once a week to coach Destination Imagination teams and volunteer at the library. On those days, Illl probably bring the girls home w/me. I could take the train, (and will this week), but it takes over an hour and I'll always have lots of stuff to haul with me.

Well, I narrowed it down to VW Golf's and a few other small hatchbacks, and we found a Golf in our price range last Saturday. We couldn't take it for a test drive, as they had no plates to put on it due to some car show, and we couldn't buy it, because someone had a reservation on it until Monday. In Germany, you can make a reservation to test drive a car and take it for several days when you do. Anyway, on Monday the dealer called and said the reservation was lifted and the car was mine. I took two trains and a bus to the dealership on Wednesday to fill out the paperwork - taking dh's & my passports, our registration documents, our visas, dh's paystub, our bank info. and a ton of other stuff w/me. I was hoping to take the test drive for however many days it was going to take to process everything and drive the car home that night. Still, however, they had no dealer plates, so it was back to the train station for me.

I got a call last night that the financing went through, so I have to go back on Monday - two trains and a bus again - to take the paperwork dh had to sign and his passport, which they'll keep overnight. Tuesday, they'll get the license plates, clean the car, inspect it and call me to come get it. Of course, I'm off on a day trip all day Tuesday with the American Women's Club, but I hope I'll get back before 6 p.m. (and can get someone to drop me in the general vicinity of the dealership) so I can drive the car home on Tuesday. Of course, then I'll need to go buy my navigation system - one that speaks English - or I'll never be able to drive any further than the mall or the school. :)

While looking at cars constantly these last 3 weeks, I noticed something fairly significant, in my eyes, anyway. Germans don't have bumper stickers. There are no window stickers, ribbon magnets, or any other propoganda for their political views, home businesses, kids honor roll status or college affiliations. They don't seem to feel compelled to drive around town in a moving billboard the way so many Americans do. I have a discreet little window sticker for my alma mater on my car back in the states, but I don't think I'll be adding one to my new little VW Golf. By the way, in German, VW is pronounced "fou-vay."

As for planes, well, this weekend we're flying to London for my birthday. We're taking Ryan Air, the relatively new, very low-cost airline. The downside is that carry-on luggage is very small (16 in x 13 in x 6 in) and we'll be charged for any checked luggage. We decided to check one bag, with everyone's toothpaste, dd#2's contact solution, and other toiletries. Since we're flying into London, we can't bring anything like that in our checked bag. Hopefully we won't have any trouble bringing on our Epi-Pens, since 2 of my dds and I have serious food allergies.

We're leaving at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, from a "Frankfurt" airport actually located in Hahn - 1 1/2 hours away. So, we'll be leaving the house at about 3 a.m.! We'll have one very long day of sightseeing, spend the night at Baden-Powell House, the hostel in central London owned and operated by the Boy Scouts & Girl Guides. And then, after our included breakfast on Sunday morning, we'll head out to London's Stansted airport - also a ways out of the city - and fly home about 12:30 p.m. So, it's mostly one long day and one night in London, but it'll be a fun day and a great way to celebrate my birthday.

One of the main reasons we decided to pick up our lives and our children and move from Illinois to Germany was the opportunity to travel Europe and see many different countries and cultures. Although we can't afford either the time or the money to do all the traveling we'd like to do, nor go on the posh scale the girls would like most, we're going to fit in as many little trips and inexpensive travels as possible. The fact that we can go to London for the weekend makes it definitely worth doing, at least once. :)

One Month in Frankfurt...

Well, it was a month ago today that we landed in Frankfurt and moved into our new home. We're still missing a few things, most notably TVs in both the family room and the girls' alcove, as well as my wardrobe - which is here but not yet built - and my car. But, all-in-all, I'd definitely say we're getting settled. I'm anxious to get the TV in the family room, as well as a rug, as we don't spend any time there as a family yet and I want us to get into that habit together. It's hard for us to gather around a laptop to watch a movie together. But, hopefully soon.

Meanwhile, I think we're all getting adjusted to living in Germany. We're making changes in our routines, in our selves, slowly but surely. I think it's a bit like water flowing over rocks- the changes occur, but so slowly you really don't notice them. After three years in Europe, we'll definitely be different people, but probably won't see how big the difference is.

There are a few things I've gotten used to already, even after only a month. For one, I always remember to empty the water out of my dryer after each load, just like the lint. Certainly something I never had to do in IL. It's become second nature to take empty bags with me when I head out to the store, nearly every day. I have a tiny bag in my purse that unfolds and can hold quite a bit, if I've forgotten any other bags, but I really ever do anymore. At first, it seemed really strange to see people walking through the mall with a box of milk or loaf of bread in their hands, no bag, but I've come to see that as normal, since it is here. Although I have to say, the dh thought it was strange to push the grocery store shopping cart all the way through the mall to our car in the underground garage last weekend. Just having a grocery store in the mall would be strange in IL, but it's really quite convenient.

It's not startling now when the metal shades on our first floor windows automatically roll down at 8 p.m. every evening, nor do I have trouble remember to close the shades that aren't automatic. I'm even good at keeping the front door locked all the time. The kids are getting used to needing to unlock the door when they get home from school, although as often as not, they ring the bell for me to let them in.

I think the kids are used to the different taste of the milk here, as opposed to skim milk in the US, but I can't say I like the 1 liter boxes. I used to buy 5 gallons at a time in the US, since we drink a lot of milk. Without a car, I have trouble keeping up with the amount of milk we drink versus how much I can carry in a single day. Fortunately, we bought a couple of cases last weekend and can do the same every weekend until I get my own car.

I'm comfortable using the U-Bahn (subway) system overall, although I still get somewhat lost changing trains to a different line, given the poor state of my German. I should be back in classes within the next week or two and am really looking forward to it. I needed to take a lot more German before getting here - what I've learned so far is woefully inadequate for day-to-day living.

There are definitely some things we're not used to yet as well. Sharp cheddar cheese doesn't seem to exist, although I finally found mild. So far, we also haven't found salted sunflower seeds, in the shell, which dd#1 loves. And no granola bars, which is a favorite of all 3 girls for snacks. I used to use a lot of bleach in cleaning and laundry, especially Clorox clean-up, but bleach is hard to come by here - they don't like the environmental ramifications of too many chemicals. It's hard to work around the store schedules - if the girls or the dh is needed for shopping, it has to be done on Saturday. Stores close between 6 and 8 p.m. during the week and don't open at all on Sundays. But, nothing too big, just minor adjustments so far.

Fortunately, things are going well at school and for dh at work. I'm looking forward to getting into the activities of the American Women's Club more regularly, so I can start meeting some English-speaking women. We are going swimming this weekend with another American family from the school - their 6th grade daughter is one of dd#3's new friends - so that will be nice. Plus, the other 2 girls are involved in social activities this weekend, so they are definitely getting settled in. Again, it's a slow process, but I definitely think we're moving in the right direction.

The first week of school...

Well, the first week of school is over and I'd say it's been pretty successful. After tears on day 1, it could only get better and it definitely did.

As expected, the biggest concern has been dd#1 and getting her schedule right so that she can finish high school on track. The new school, ISF, wasn't particularly forthcoming with information on what courses were available to her and there seemed to be little input on our parts as to what she'd be taking. This was a big change for us, given that her old high school had a course selection book similar to one from a junior college and she pretty much had her last 2 years planned out. So, when she got her schedule on Monday and saw that she had no time for lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays, no time for the much-touted SLO (student life organization) activities, and at least 6 periods a week of Chemistry, even though she took it at her high school last year and got a 100% on the final exam, it was not a big hit.

Fortunately, over the course of the week, she seemed to come to the conclusion that chemistry isn't going to be too bad, as she will be covering some things she hasn't already done and, besides, she really does like chemistry. She has the same teacher for biology, which she took as a freshman, but says this class is going to cover very different topics. So, if they get that lunch issue worked out, her schedule won't be half-bad.

The only issue w/dd#2's schedule was that she was put in intensive math based on the results of her placement test. Given that she's always been in the gifted math class, and getting straight A's, this was a concern for us all. However, we told the teacher, department head, and secondary school advisor she wanted to move up and on Friday she did. Mostly, the whole thing was a combination of terminology differences and testing after a summer of no math thinking. :) Also, they had placed her in beginners Spanish, when she's already had 6 years of it. But, when I mentioned this, they immediately moved her to intermediate Spanish.

DD#3 likes her schedule and seems very happy so far. Everybody has made some friends, which is a very good thing. They all tried out/signed up for sports, so we should find out this week who's taking lessons and who's on the team and when. They're going to have more homework than before, so maybe it's a good think the sports will take up less time as well.

The school is very small, only 34 students in grade 11, as opposed to the 650 in dd#1's class back in Illinois. It'll be a big adjustment for us all to get used to things on a much more intimate basis, but I also think it'll be a bonus in many ways, as the school is willing to do what's necessary to help every student succeed.

The bus failed to show up at all on Wednesday morning, so I had to take the girls by taxi to school and they arrived about 2 hours late. But, the bus company is paying for the taxi (70 Euro, round trip) and has apparently straightened out the problem. Hopefully nothing like that will happen again. They've been very good about adding a late bus to cover when the girls get done w/sports.

All-in-all, I think the girls had a successful week. I'm sort of spinning my wheels, partly because the activities of the Women's Club I joined haven't begun yet, nor has my German class, and partly because I'm sick, again. Also, the bus/taxi fiasco on Wednesday caused me to miss my hair appointment. However, I was able to get the recycling picked up, get a package delivered that was nearly a month overdue, and get a leaky faucet fixed. I also found a grocery store at the local mall that carries Oreos and a lot of the items we picked up in France. And I found a store on the Zeil downtown that has cheddar and grated Parmesan cheeses.

On next week's schedule is buying my car, buying a new vacuum, getting my language class scheduled, paid for, and begun, and getting organized for the Destination Imagination teams I'm going to be coaching at the school. Meanwhile, I've been watching a lot of US television, on DVD, on my computer. Oh yeah, buying our TVs is on this week's list as well.

After nearly a month in Germany, I can say we've made a lot of progress. We still have some key things to accomplish in order to get our household running more smoothly for everyone, but we're in pretty good shape and having some fun. The weekend trip to Strasbourg was a big hit and the girls definitely want to go back there as well as plan some more weekend trips. I'm also researching options for their week-long vacation in October. We have family planning to visit in early October and during spring break in April, as well as friends of dd#1 coming for their Thanksgiving break in November and possibly during the second half of Christmas break as well as their spring break in March. And dh's former boss just announced that he's coming to Germany in late-September and will stop in to visit - as well as delivering any US goods we want to "order" from him beforehand. :)

So, all-in-all, I'd say we're doing well. We're off to the Frankfurt Newcomers Festival today, hopefully to get a lot more information about what's around us and maybe meet some more people. That's still on the top of the hit parade for me - meeting women and couples to socialize with. I can only watch so much MASH and Moonlighting before going bonkers! :)