Spring has sprung!

A couple weeks ago, I took my son, B on a walk. Mike was gone, so I had the babysitter over to help me with the kids.  Something I’ve started doing is taking each kid on a walk around the block before they go to bed, while the babysitter watches the other three. It’s been the best to have that one-on-one time with them. 

It was around sunset and the trees were whistling with birds. Buds were breaking through the branches everywhere we looked and the air felt electric. “Do you hear that sound?” I asked my son. “That’s the sound of Spring coming.” Sure enough, ever since then, the weather has turned warmer and sunnier each day. And the air smells more and more like fresh Spring blooms that are exploding through the city.

I think the arrival of Spring definitely has to do with it, but for a combination of reasons, the last few weeks have been so good and I’ve just been feeling super grateful and full of joy.

Also, I’m really in love with Germany. 

There was a shift in my perspective a couple months ago when instead of feeling constant anxiety, I began feeling peace and appreciation for our new home. Germany, and Europe in general, is just an amazing, magical, beautiful, history-rich place. We feel so grateful to be able to live here!

I remember feeling this way a long time ago. 17 years ago, to be exact. 

I was 14 years old and got the chance of a lifetime with my older sister to visit our military brother, who was stationed in Landstuhl, Germany, for a whole summer. I felt like I had won the lottery. Never in a million years did I think I would have gotten to do something like that. But I did, and it was one of the best experiences of my life up to that point.  I remember arriving and being in awe of this beautiful, enchanting place called Germany. Outside my window, I saw the Landstuhl castle up on the hill every day. I wandered through the woods below the castle often, discovering old stone ruins crumbling in the overgrown ivy.  My sister and I went on walks and runs through the town that was twisted and draped in all colors of flowers and vines. There was an Italian ice cream shop on the corner by our house and tons of Turkish restaurants with delicious sandwiches called Doner Kebabs. As we traveled around Europe we passed deep, dark forests, beautiful villages, endless hills greener than I’d ever seen, and stunning castles high on mountain cliffs. It was so amazing! I’d never seen things like that before. I remember thinking over and over again things like, “I definitely want to live here again,” “ I could bring my future family here someday,” and “Wouldn’t it be amazing if I could live in Germany again!” 

Sometimes I still can’t believe that here I am, living in Germany again. 

Age and situation definitely change perspective on things. My experience as a young teenager who came here with her sister on a summer vacation was a whole different experience than being a mom living here for two years, trying to settle four young kids in while my husband travels half the time. But after six months, I’m adjusting to our new routine,  all that initially stress is finally clearing up my view, and I’m remembering the enchanting side of Germany again.

Also, I'm eating lots of Doner Kebabs and Italian ice cream. 

Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely some really hard aspects of this lifestyle (at least, they're hard for me).  For example, while Mike was on a trip a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t contact him at all for 4 days. Of course during that time, my son has a terrible fall while we were on our way out the door from his school. It looked like he could have broken his nose and he was screaming uncontrollably about the pain. I had to take him to the hospital but I had the other three kids and it felt pretty impossible with the whole crew (especially since the hurt son was beside himself). Thankfully, a great friend came to the rescue. I called her on the way to her house asking for ice and ibuprofen. When we arrived, she was right there to take the other kids while I helped my son, called the doctor, and subsequently made an ER visit. (By the way, he ended up calming down after ibuprofen and felt much better after visiting the doc). 

So it’s hard when Mike is gone because if bad stuff happens, I initially feel like, “Shoot. Now what?” There isn’t that automatic backup. But it’s always worked out because we have awesome friends, are a part of a great church, and have a list of babysitters. 

While the lows here have been pretty low, the highs have been really high. We’ve seen the hand of God in our lives too many times to count. He has taught our family important lessons and helped us to improve in so many needed ways. I can say that I'm truly grateful for the stretching and growing that we’ve experienced here, because it continues to make us stronger. While I still fight off anxieties here and there, at this point, I’m happy to report that Mike and I are really enjoying living here. Yay Germany! 

Some of the best moments from the last two months: 

 -We actually decided to take a trip to my one-time home of Landstuhl, as it’s only an hour and a half away. We found the old house I stayed in. I saw that little window where I used to look out on the castle up on the hill. I saw the town square I used to walk all around with my sister. We drove up to the forest underneath the castle, where I used to wander through all the time. It was kind of emotional going back. So many influential memories that will stick with me forever.

-I started running again and it’s been so good for my soul. That sounds dramatic, but really, it helps my mental/spiritual health so much (physical health is just an added bonus). I’ve ran in the beautiful cemetery near our house, other times just around the neighborhood. Some days, I go solo, others, with a friend, or even one of the boys. A couple weeks ago, I took my son, B, on a run on the most beautiful day. He rode his scooter and anytime he got tired, he’d say “Operation push B!” and then he would put both feet up on his scooter while I pushed his back and kept running alongside him. It was so fun! We ended up running 3 miles this way. Wind blew petals off the blossoming trees as we ran. We passed a goose farm. We stopped at a park and climbed all over the playground and swung on the swings. We laughed a whole lot. It was just the best.  

-I’ve been going on lots of one-on-one walks with my kids. Many times we take a quick trip to the local park where we’ve played on the playground or thrown the frisbee around in the field. We’ve taking trips to the local market where we pick up German bread, cheese, sausages, chocolate, and ice cream. A lot of times, we’ve just walked around the neighborhood, hand-in-hand, pointing out what we see: flower pots, bird houses, lanterns, paper stars in the windows, trees swaying in the wind, pretty-colored houses, funky yard decorations (because there’s a lot of that here), restaurants, etc. 

When I took my son A to the park the other day, we ran races with each other down a dirt trail we mapped out by drawing lines in the dirt. It was so fun watching him giggle as I tried to beat him to the finish line. Each race he made sure he didn’t run too far ahead of me so we could run side by side and laugh together. I just love these sweet moments. It was equally enjoyable just hearing what funny things he thinks about in our conversation on the way home. 

The other night, I took my sweet and hilarious daughter R out.  I just followed her around the neighborhood while she took turns crouching in random places saying “shhh, be quiet as a mouse” and then continued on. She also enjoyed riding on my shoulders where she could point out all the pretty flowers in people’s yards (and also smack my head when she got excited about something). Individualized time with our kids has created the best memories here and I feel so much more bonded to each of them when I make time for it. 

- While the boys were in school the other day, Mike and I took the girls on an adventure through the city. We walked all over town, ate at a local bakery, shopped at some local stores, explored a really cool park (German parks are so unique and fun), got caught in the rain, and ran all the way home before we got soaked. It was great!  

-A couple weekends ago, we got a babysitter in the middle of a Saturday. While the girls slept and the boys watched a movie, Mike and I went out on a bike date. We biked to the edge of the city along grassy fields, kleingartens, clumps of trees, and the graffitied highway on the edge of town. We made our way back to the city where we ate Italian ice cream, weaved through new neighborhoods, stopped at an Italian restaurant, and ate lunch on the patio, enjoying the sunshine. 

-While Mike’s been away on his many travels (Washington DC, China, Israel, Milan, and more), I’ve made a goal to discover as many new parks around the city as possible with the kids. I’ve just been pulling out the google map, looking for green space and putting it into the GPS. As a result, we’ve discovered the coolest parks. One was an old airport, turned serene nature park, with wide trails for bike riding, miles of green fields, and a river filled with muskrats and swans. Another was a park in the woods, with an awesome zipline, creek, and really cool playground. Another was a nature preserve that overlooks the city and rolling hills (when I looked that one up, the address took me to a random shooting range, but after asking someone who spoke English, he pointed me in the right direction and I eventually found it). Another was a different park that overlooked the city that had a café, empty swimming pool to play in (during the summer, we can wade in it apparently) and vineyards. It’s been really fun to discover different parts of the city.

-On one of those park visits, the boys saw a dad playing soccer with his son. Before I could stop them, they ran over and asked to play. The dad was SO nice and taught them soccer for almost an hour. I kept telling the boys to come back to the playground, but the dad insisted they were okay to stay. I’ve had similar experiences in other park visits as well, and I’ve noticed an attitude that a  lot of parents here are so open to playing with and helping kids who aren’t their own. I really admire that openness and kindness. 

-Getting out with friends has been so nice. We’ve taken walks around different parts of the city, gone out to eat, had some fun park dates with kids, and exercised together. When Mike’s gone, a couple times I’ve just had my babysitter stay after the kids went to sleep and have a girl’s night out. I think every mom needs that occasional girl time, it’s another thing that’s really important for our mom souls.

A few pictures from the last couple months’ local adventures:

I think the key to settling into any new place is getting of the house, making friends, and exploring the community in any way possible (even if it’s just taking a walk or shopping at the local markets).  So now that we are venturing out more, I think we’re all feeling more comfortable and happy here, more like we belong, and less like scared outsiders.

Of course another reason to love living here is the opportunities to travel to so many amazing places, all within driving distance. And now that the weather is warming up, it’s travel season!

We just got back from a trip to Paris last weekend.  We chose only a few things to do while we were there and spent just one and a half days in the city, but keeping it simple ended up making it one of our best family vacations yet. 

Our first morning there, we visited the Palace of Versailles – the palace and gardens built to be the most impressive in the world by King Louis XIV. This gold-plated palace was just jaw-dropping. Every room inside was so over-the-top ornate and beautiful, with lavish artwork on the ceilings, shimmering chandeliers, and detailed sculptures. Wow. You could really imagine what it may have been like (or at least looked like) to be royal. Then there were the gardens. Holy moly. It was ridiculous how huge, how detailed, how extravagant it all was – acres and acres of beautifully designed landscapes made of hedges, fountains, trees, ponds, and a labyrinth of paths. Every corner we turned, another over-the-top surprise was unveiled. A new stunning sculpture, an amazing fountain, a dancing water show. The gardens went on and on. There’s no way we could have explored the whole thing (someday), but what we saw was so beautiful, it felt like a dream.

On the way out, we stopped at a delicious French restaurant on the grounds and had Italian ice cream for dessert. It was parfait.

After Versailles, we drove to the Notre Dame cathedral downtown. Instead of waiting in the long line with kids, we decided to walk around the outside. While hanging out on a bench by a sculpture right in front of the cathedral, a really nice French guy saw our kids playing with the pigeons and pulled out some bird food. What happened next was one of the most magical parts of the whole trip. This really nice gentlemen taught the kids how to feed the birds by holding up the food away from their faces. Pigeons started flocking to the kids, landing on their hands and heads and flapping all over. The kids loved every second of it. They were in heaven, laughing their heads off and jumping around excited. It was so fun to watch how much joy it brought them to feed the pigeons.

After that, we walked around the cathedral, enjoyed the beautiful Spring flowers, played at a little park, bought some souvenirs, and picked up some fresh-made crepes (I got chestnut cream and it was delicious) before heading back to the hotel. 

After getting the kids settled for bed, I got ready to leave. I was headed for my tour of the Paris catacombs that night. There was only time for one of us to go, and Mike insisted it should be me, since he will return to Paris for his job (he’s already gone there once) and have another chance to go. I thought that was really nice of him !  So the story of the catacombs is this : The cemeteries were overflowing to the point of unsanitary conditions in the 1700s partially due to the Black Death and just overcrowding of Paris. So, they ended up using an old Limestone mine deep underneath the city - deeper than modern-day metros, and filled it with about 2 million corpses from these cemeteries around the city. You can take a tour down there and just walk among the bones. Apparently, the mines go for miles and miles in intricate labyrinths, some of it still undiscovered by the modern world. It was such a neat experience to go. I was thinking it might be scary, but actually, all I felt was peace and respect. Like, wow, what a sacred place. Thanks for letting me see that, sweetheart Mike!

The next morning, we hung out at the Eiffel tower for half the day. I took the boys to the top. While we were up there, we called Daddy to see where he was. It was so fun to see his itty bitty arm waving from below. He also said he could see my itty bitty arm waving from on top. That was fun.

Afterwards, Mike wanted to rent Byrd scooters and ride around the Champ de Mars park beneath the Eiffel Tower. What an excellent plan. So we took turns with the kids, just laughing and "woo hoo" ing our way all over. It was the funnest thing. I love those scooters. Haha.  

On our way out of the city, Mike took us on a little driving tour, pointing out things he enjoyed when he was last there for work.  Everywhere we drove, everywhere we looked, was a work of art. Beautiful churches, buildings, bridges. The architecture of Paris is…well, you know.

Wonderful day, wonderful trip, wonderful family time. 

Side note: We also stopped at this crazy little bathroom. It was so futuristic, I had to take a picture. This thing disinfects and then dries itself in between each use. The downside? It takes forever to clean and it only admits one person at a time. Also, you don't want to enter unkowingly during the cleaning cycle - you might start to go before you realize the door is opening and all the other people waiting in line can now see you unzipping your pants (which is what happened to a guy in front of me). More than one person got in line to use it before deciding it was too intimidating and left.

There was only one tragedy of our Paris visit: seeing the news yesterday of how the Notre Dame Cathedral burned down. Unbelievable. I’m so grateful we got to see it just one week before it was damaged. Crazy... 

Starting to Settle In

A couple days ago as I drove my kids to school, I had a realization that I was assimilating into German society quite nicely. A group of rowdy high school boys ran across the street in front of me after my light had turned green and as I passed them, I stared them down, shook my head, and wagged a finger. They may have all laughed at me, but afterward, I was like, “My Germany-integration-transformation is nearly complete. Muahahaha!” 

The last month has been wunderbar! We got to travel to Frieburg, Germany where we rode in the world’s first enclosed gondola and saw some beautiful, snowy views of the mountains. We visited Strausbourg France that has a gorgeous cathedral and an island in the middle of the city where beautiful buildings line the canal.  Mike’s parents visited a few weeks ago and we enjoyed a nice visit with them, including taking them on a trip to Heidelburg Castle way up on the hill overlooking the city. It was so neat being able to take a guided tour through the ancient corridors and hallways.  A few weeks ago, I saw a picture of a gorgeous castle on Facebook. I looked it up and it turns out it was only 36 miles away from us, WHAT? So we went there this weekend and walked around the grounds. We’ve also been taking the kids to various parks and little trips around town. It’s been really fun!

Mike has of course been continually traveling for work including to Bahrain, Senegal, Spain, Romania –the list goes on and on (he gets to travel everywhere and sees some pretty amazing stuff!) He’s made it his life mission to bring me chocolate from every European country and beyond. Whenever he brings it home, I’m like, “Will you quit bringing me so much chocolate? I can’t eat all of this!” And then when it’s gone in week, I’m like, “Go bring me some more chocolate stat!” So that’s been fun. 

I’m so grateful I’ve been able to hold the fort down while he’s been gone. Can I just say? I never thought I would willingly take a job where Mike would travel all the time. Never, ever. My entire married life, I’ve sworn against it, saying I simply did not ever want to live that way, I could not do it, I would hate it, etc. etc. Well, then this job came around. I cried when I heard about it because I knew it was an amazing opportunity that we'd be foolish to pass up and I knew Mike would be gone all the time, and especially, I knew that it was time for me to face my dread of him being gone all the time. It took so much faith for me to accept such a job. At the time, I was completely unaware of what country we’d end up living in and I was so unsure of how much support I’d have, and how having the baby would be, and just how everything would turn out. I was extremely anxious at the thought of being left alone in an unknown country for a big portion of the time, with a new baby + three kids. There were so many unknowns and so, so many worries. 

Well, now here we are in Germany. My worst fear of Mike being gone all the time has come to pass.  I’m doing what I thought I never could, all the time. And honestly, it’s not nearly as gloomy as I thought it would be. That's a miracle to me. I’m not saying it’s easy, because it’s not, but God has helped me in so many ways. Asking for help has been key.  I believe it's so important to ask for help when you need it. In my case, I’ve been hiring a couple teenage girls from my church to help me on the nights Mike is gone. It's the best and so helpful! I’ve also got some wonderful friends to hang out with when I’m feeling lonely. And of course, I've got the chocolate stash, too.

For the most part, things have panned out really well, and every one of my worry-filled questions has been answered. We still have some interesting trials we are trying to navigate through, but I am learning to rely on God probably more than ever before and He has been with me every step of the way.  I honestly couldn’t have made this move without His assurance, guidance, and peace. And He continues to help us learn some amazing lessons. 

Now for a couple funny stories that could only happen here:

Story #1: The Wrong Freiburg

Once upon a time in Germany, we wanted to join our congregation on a “temple trip” they were taking. (FYI: a temple is a place for church members to worship God and review gospel teachings – so like church but extra special and reverent).  So anyway, we were way excited because it had been almost a year since we’d been able to go (we haven’t lived “close” to a temple in about 3 years).

So Mike looked it up and got the hotels all booked and we were good to go. After driving 3 hours, we stayed the night in the hotel. In the morning, Mike started getting ready-he was going to go to the temple first while I watched the kids, then I was going to go. Well, he starts looking up some stuff online and was like, “Um, Debbie? We have a problem.” 

“WHAT.”

“We went to the wrong Freiburg.”

“There’s TWO Freiburgs??”

“I guess so.”

“UGH.”

“Well, at least we can have a fun vacation this weekend.” 

THE END. 

Story #2: Trapped in the Parking Garage

Once upon a time in Germany, our son had a doctor appointment downtown. I plugged the address into the van’s GPS and headed over with said son and my baby. As I was nearing my destination, I spotted a parking garage on the same street as the doctor’s address - Hooray! I drove to the entrance and pushed the button on the box thing (whatever that box thing is actually called) to open the entrance gate and a little red coin popped out (This was the first time I’d ever seen said coin – usually it’s a ticket). Upon parking, I picked up my baby in her car seat, and corralled my son to the nearest exit. The exit ended up being a locked door. I scanned the large parking lot for any other exits. Clear on the opposite side- which was in the opposite direction of the street where the doctor’s office was- were some elevators. 

We got to the elevators, went down, and popped out into some sort of shopping square that looked nothing like the street where the doctor’s office was. It started to snow so we took cover under a business sign. I took out my phone to use google maps, entered the address, and yelled at my son to “get back here!” as he continually tried to wander away. 

With google maps leading the way, we wandered through a few stores and found our way back to the doctor street. Whew! After the appointment and before returning to the van, I asked the secretary at the desk about the red coin. She said, “there’s a box that you put the coin in to pay.”  I kind of already figured that, but I never saw a box in the parking garage. 

Anyway, after making it back to the parking garage carrying that heavy car seat and coaxing my son along, I still didn’t see any box anywhere. I had looked along the way, I had looked all over the garage, and I had looked by the elevators. Nothing, nothing, nothing! Meanwhile, the baby was crying and I discovered that I hadn’t brought a diaper for her, because that’s what I do – I forget crap all the time. So my stress level was rising and I’m like “How do I get out of here!” So instead of dragging everyone anywhere else, I thought I’d risk it and see if I could just pay at the exit gate. (We learned from previous experiences NEVER to pay at the exit gate, but I was desperate). 

So I drove down the narrow, windy little road to the exit gate. I unrolled my window and studied the box. I looked and looked and looked some more. But there was no place I could see to put the red coin. Only a place to put a ticket. Gah! So before anyone showed up behind me, I backed my van up the windy road part-way and parked it in some sort of service vehicle space. Nearby were some glass doors. Inside I saw more ticket booths – eureka! So leaving my kids in the locked car, I dashed inside, looked over the ticket booth, still perplexed as to where to put this blasted red coin. So I asked the first man I saw: “Sprechan Sie Englisch?” and he showed me the slot where it went, which had been invisible to me the moment before. 

I quickly inserted the coin, paid the fee, grabbed the ticket, ran back outside to my crying kids, backed up, inserted, the ticket, exited out the raised gate, and got the heck out of there!

THE END.  

Story #3: Wrong turn with a Random Consulate Employee in the Creepy Consulate Basement

Once upon a time in Germany, it was my very first day of German Language Class at the consulate. Hooray! I had arrived early and was waiting in the classroom with my baby sleeping peacefully in her car seat.  A few minutes later, a man appeared and told me my class was actually in a different location. He told me to go up the stairs, to the end of the hall, down another set of stairs, to the basement. 

I went up the stairs, to the end of the hall and saw several staircases. I picked one, but it didn’t go to the basement. So I went back up and tried another one with the same result. So I went back up and popped my head into an office. “Can you tell me where room DB 13 is? My German language class is there.  I know it’s in the basement but I can’t find the staircase.” A woman behind a desk told me, “it’s in a dreary place that’s hard to find” and assigned another guy in the room to walk me there. She explained that it was past the consular section down some stairs. He looked very uncertain, as if he’d tried finding basement rooms in the consulate before, and it had never gone well. However, the man was really kind and agreed. Seeing how heavy the car seat I was carrying appeared, he also offered to carry it for me. I accepted gratefully and followed him.  

First, we turned a few corners and went down a few hallways. Then we went down an elevator. Then we met a locked door that required a special security code, which neither of us had (He was looking more and more doubtful of where we were headed by the second).  Next, he called the phone into the secure room and got someone to open the door. “We’re looking for DB 13?” He said. We were escorted through the room to another door on the other side. Through there was a hallway that said “D wing.” There were plenty of doors in the hallway but none of them DB 13. There was, however, a staircase leading down. 

At this point, the man was sweating slightly and breathing heavily. He was also starting to say a few German curse words under his breath. “You’d think it would be easier to find,” he said. I offered to give him a break for a second (that car seat really is a pain to carry around), but with a smile, he insisted he was fine.  “How about you go check if it’s down there,” he said laughing. 

Yes, “good idea,” I agreed. 

I ran down the stairs and through a door. It opened into a dark and dingy basement hallway. There were doors and rooms but the whole place was empty and dark (P.S. I could see why the consulate hairdresser told me the basement was haunted) At the end of the hallway was yet another door, but I didn’t dare venture too far away. Instead I ran back upstairs to give the man the report. We decided it was worth a try to see what was through the door. So back downstairs we went, through the dark hallway, to the mysterious door. That’s when things got a little crazy. 

Through the door, we were met with a dark room filled with low-hanging air vents. There were also doors. We read aloud their numbers as we passed them, “DB 10…DB 11…DB 12!” But then there were no more doors.  Gah! There had to be a DB 13 somewhere around here! So we were like “Maybe past all these air vents, it’ll connect to the right hallway?” 

So here we are. I’m following this poor random guy who got selected to escort me to the most impossible room to find in the consulate basement. We are both crouched in half now, inching our way underneath these crazy air vents. The guy is still holding my sleeping baby through this dark, creepy dungeon. Meanwhile, I’m following him laughing my head off and repeating, “WHAT is happening.” We reached the other end which turned out to be more pipes and air vents…and more German swear words.  By the way, I kept wondering, “Are we even supposed to be here??” 

So then, we both crouched back through the vent cave. Now both of us were laughing.  When we came out the other side, I was thinking, “this would make a fun blog story” so I was like, “Okay, I’m going to take a picture of this, because this is just too hilarious.”

And the guy was like, “Okay, have your baby be in the picture.”

And I was like, “Okay.”

And we just kept laughing because it was all so random and not what either of us bargained for when the lady behind the desk was like, “It’s in a dreary place that’s hard to find.”

So anyway, after that, we went back up the stairs, and found someone else to ask. Thankfully she agreed to escort us to the right room. I told the man that he was off the hook and I could take it from here, but he said, “no way, now I NEED to know where that room is.” 

So we turned down more hallways, went down more staircases, and even though I was about 15 minutes late to class, at least I had finally found DB 13. I thanked the man for his help, to which he replied, “I think I’ll take the rest of the day off.”

THE END.