Shopping In Deutschland
Nothing too crazy going on this week. Just finding our rhythm and getting settled!
FMO comes tomorrow! So we will finally have wardrobes, an American-size fridge (although we have been doing pretty good with the European size one!), a washer and dryer and a bit more furniture to make our wait for our goods a bit more comfortable. Although from what I have seen of the loaner mattresses, we will continue to sleep on our air mattress. Think summer-camp-as-a-kid style mattress on a metal frame and you are probably picturing exactly what we will receive tomorrow.
Speaking of mattresses, we found a store in Landstuhl that sells American-size mattresses so we just bought one for our SECOND guest room (yay come visit everyone!!!). Now you may be wondering why we didn’t just zip to Ikea and purchase a European style mattress. Well the fun part about that is that they are totally different sizes/dimensions. So we would then have to purchase European size sheets, comforters, mattress cover etc. and would not be able to dress said bed years down the road unless we ordered them online from a European supplier… if such a beast exists. That said, there is a really good chance this mattress we just ordered is dreadfully cheap and uncomfortable and we will be trying to sell it before we leave anyways. Ha! The adventures we get to experience.
Shopping here is tricky. You just don’t know where to go, the GPS does not pick up things the same way, store fronts sometimes don’t look like stores (you don’t know if it’s a restaurant, barber shop, residence, café, furniture store, clothing store, bar etc just from looking at the exterior. It can be tricky.) AND to top it all off the brand names are of course all different so your idea of what is quality and what is not it totally out the window. Oh and try to shop on Amazon.de and your star rating is ALL you have to go off of because all the reviews are in German and as smart as Google is, it’s google translate feature only goes so far. So we are shooting in the dark! What fun.
Job update: still currently unemployed. The USO did not hire me for the position of Volunteer Coordinator, so I have now applied to Volunteer with the USO and I have also applied for another position- part time center manager! So fingers crossed! There are many reasons I am eager to work with the USO. First of all, their mission is to support active duty military and their families, which I would love to be able to do. The military gives us so much, but also sends us on crazy roller coaster rides and I would love the opportunity to serve those that serve our country. It is an American organization so no crazy German taxes to worry about, and you essentially get 6 weeks of vacation a year (accumulates monthly like Michael’s) so we would still have ample opportunity to travel while over here, which is obviously a priority- hello, we currently live in EUROPE! So anyhow, hoping if I annoy them enough, volunteer and apply for every position they will get the hint and hire me eventually! ;)
On that same note- I DO have a gig teaching dance and yoga in exchange for German language lessons and unlimited dance and yoga classes at Grace Dance Studio in Ramstein. I met the owner, Jenny, yesterday, took her ballet class and attended a German language lesson at her home! Most of her students are “base families” as we call ourselves here, but I am very excited for this opportunity to meet some wonderful people, both base-affiliated and within the community, and get moving a bit! I will be teaching 2 Jazz classes every Monday and a yoga class every other Thursday. Jenny has a wonderful thing going with her growing, but intimate studio and I am excited to be a part of it!
Okay, story time! Ryder Roo. Ohhh Ryder Roo. We are still waiting for the landlord to bring the fence guy to help us figure out the best way to finish fencing in the yard. It has a wall in the back and right side, and a lot of landscaping, a bit of a drop off and a half-wall on the left side, but there are holes. In the meantime, we have put up some make shift boundaries with the fencing pieces left behind by the previous owners. There are a few spots I am sure Ryder could get out of if he wanted to badly enough, but Michael is convinced that he won’t and is even trying to convince ME that we don’t need to pay to put up a fix and our make-shift arrangement will be a great permanent option. Sure. Ryder and I had been in the yard all day as I was playing in the dirt- weeding, planting herbs and lavender etc. Then Michael comes home and we are all relaxing in the sunny backyard when 2 German women walking their dogs round the corner to head up the path that goes beside and behind our yard (the long hiking/walking trail). Well Ryder looses it. He runs to the side yard (where our most exposed escape areas are) and I THINK I run over there fast enough to block him but he diverts and ends up jumping clear OVER The make shift fencing and bee lines to the dogs. Of course he is in full “defend the castle” mode so his hackles go up, he is barking and I believe his unthinkable escape routine startles both the ladies and their pups so much everyone is freaking out. I try to grab him once to no avail and am chasing him like a mad woman. (Meanwhile Michael watches from the backyard). Eventually I catch up to him and forgetting all German in the madness I apologize profusely in English- who knows if they understood. I am sure they were just shaking their heads and thinking “Poor stupid American chick who can’t control her insane dog”. Yep, about how I felt in that moment. I am the mom in the middle of Target with the toddler having a category 5 meltdown. Needless to say Ryder got a serious time-out session and I promptly added reinforcements to the fence to make it higher and (God-willing) impenetrable. He has been out since and has maintained his cool… but at least now Michael is on board with the whole “let’s actually pay to build a fence so our crazy-face dog doesn’t escape and scare the living daylights out of anyone else” situation.
All smiles before Roo's masterful leap to freedom
Soaking up that morning sunshine... at least he's cute
German grocery shopping update: I did it. It was slow going, overwhelming and scary but I did it! I came home with a small assortment of German goods including some TASTY bread, cheese, fruit, chips, veggies and a meat I selected purely off the fact that it looked good and out of the millions of meat options, most of which are of sausage origin which I am not crazy about, it came seasoned. I got home and tried to use the Google Translate App camera function to find out what it was, at which point it told me it was Turleneck v. belly pork. NOT HELPFUL. Upon more research and snooping I believe I purchased a rolled and seasoned pork shoulder. Still not 100% sure but the only way I could find to cook pork shoulder was for 4 hours in the oven. Needless to say at 7:30pm I was not about to cook this bad boy for 4 hours. SO- pesto paninis it was! We snagged a panini press in the bundle of 220 volt appliances I bought from another family moving back state-side and was excited to use it! Too bad the pesto I also bought in the German store contained eggplant. So strange. But it ended up being pretty tasty anyways! I would also like to note that their milk, or Milch, is amazing, but according to Michael the yogurt I bought was terrible. So- I think we can categorize my first German grocery shopping experience a success, even with a few blunders!
Entering Globus... the largest most crazy intimidating we-have-everything German store!
My German grocery store finds!!!
Yummy German bread, Brie & grapes as well as an apple from our apple tree!
This weekend we are off to another wine festival Friday night, then off to Colmar, France on Saturday with Krista & Chris! We still need to decide where we want to go Sunday- trying to make the most of the weekend time while we have it! Michael hits the flight line next week and the unpredictable schedule begins!
*Will add pictures soon! Forgot my charger cord to connect to computer and emailing them is not cooperating! Cheers to slow, unreliable wifi!
