Odds and Ends...

Happy Friday! I'm very much looking forward to the weekend, as I'm sure everyone else is. :) Brian and I are thinking that we may try to figure out the train schedule and take a trip to Ravensburg, which is a few towns over. I guess it's a good place for younger people to visit, so it should be fun. I've heard that it's the shopping mecca of this area, so I'm definitely up for a visit! :)

I did my first load of laundry here just yesterday... It's a little different from doing laundry in the U.S. to say the least. It takes 2 hours for one load to go through the wash cycle... The Germans seem to think that this is energy efficient. It may be energy efficient; however, it is so not time efficient!! For me, the strangest part about doing laundry here is that they do not have dryers. Instead, they have "drying rooms", which are huge rooms with clotheslines in them and everyone in the apartment complex can hang their clothes in there. Feels a little weird for me, so I'm content just drying my clothes on the drying rack out on our balcony. I took a picture so you could see for yourselves... Definitely something I'll have to get used to. :)

Speaking of things to get used to around here... I'm having difficulty mastering what side of the sidewalk I should be walking on... sounds kind of goofy I know! :) They divide the sidewalks here into a walking lane and a biking lane, but they don't designate which one is walking and which one is biking...Nothing like making life more difficult for "out of towners". :) So far, I've attempted to follow what the rest of the locals are doing, so whenever someone else is walking on the sidewalk, I stay on the same side they are on... However, even though I'm trying to do the same thing all the locals are doing, I've still managed to almost get taken out by half a dozen bikers! I've chalked it up to the fact that they must know I'm not from the area, so they're just testing me! :) I'm hoping to be able to get this mastered quickly though... It's not so much fun having to jump out of the path of bikers on a regular basis! :)

Well, I have to cut this short... I'm off to meet someone for coffee... She's the girl I was telling you about in yesterday's blog. I get to speak English with someone!! YAY!! I hope you all have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend! I'm very envious of you all... I was thinking about it earlier and this is the weekend I always head up north to spend time with my family. :( Even though I won't be there this year, I'll be thinking of you all! :) Oh, and wish Brian and I luck... we're going to open our German bank account this afternoon and then we're calling to get the internet/phone line installed... So, maybe next week I'll be able to get online from the comfort of my own apartment... One can only hope! :) I'll talk to you soon! Miss you much!!

Making progress... slowly, but surely...

Hey all! Today has been quite a day already... I met Brian for lunch at MTU and for all of you that know about "Brian's Schedule" for me, if you had a chance to eat in his cafeteria, you would wonder why on earth he would rather have me make lunch for him... The cafeteria is HUGE and the food is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.... :)

After lunch, Brian sent me on a mission to figure out how to open a German bank account and to also look for cell phone packages for us... Let's just say that I wasn't overly thrilled about my mission, being that I don't speak German and I have no idea how to communicate with anyone. Let's just say, since I've been here, I've done my best to avoid social situations (outside of ordering food at restaurants) where I may have to speak to people ... Yes, me, the chatterbox, has tried to avoid talking... Sounds crazy doesn't it?! :) Either way, as nervous as I was to talk to people, I was determined to get the needed information...

The first stop was the bank. I walked in and they immediately asked me something in German and I panicked and the only thing I could say was "I'm English"... I could tell I was off to a great start already! :) The poor girl kind of looked at me puzzled and then after I regained my composure, I asked her if anyone there spoke English. She then pointed to this guy that she had been talking to and said that he did. Apparantly he spoke English, but not so well. As soon as I told him that I was there to find out how to open a bank account, he told me "No English" and walked out... Great! At that point, the girl walked me across the bank to another teller and said something in German and then the other woman greeted me in English.... I was feeling much better about the whole situation at that point. :) After my meeting with the woman, I ended up finding out that to open a German bank account, all you needed was a passport. That was good to find out. The only reason we actually have to open a German bank account is because the cable, phone, internet, and virtually every other company requires bank account information. They actually have a strange set up around here... in order to pay bills, you actually have to give the company your bank account information and they take the money directly out of your account.... strange! Apparantly it's set up so that they can't withdraw money or see account balances, but it still is a little strange... So, as of tomorrow, Brian and I are going to open a bank account here, which means that we're one step closer to getting internet access in the apartment and phones... yay!!

As for my phone shopping... it went very similar to my experience at the bank... Quite a bit of fumbling around at first, and then after I found English speaking salespeople (which I'm very thankful for) things got somewhat easier. I also managed to find a pretty decent cell phone package, which includes an iphone... pretty sweet! :) However, before I signed up for anything, I thought it best to wait for Brian to come with me... He's a little better at deciphering all of the German lingo than I am... I can see me getting stuck with some ridiculously expensive cell phone contract or something! :)

Brian also found a girl for me to get in touch with today... She's the girlfriend of one of his coworkers and apparantly she teaches English... Brian told me that she's looking forward to meeting someone who speaks English so that she can practice... Sounds good to me! :) We may meet for coffee tomorrow or something... either way, I'm just happy to have someone to talk to while Brian's at work... :)

This language barrier has taken it's toll on me... As you all know, I love to talk and I love meeting people and it's been very difficult to do here... I have to say that it seems weird that you can be surrounded by so many people and still feel so lonely! :( I'm actually starting to look forward to our German classes so that I can try to learn how to communicate. :)

Well, I have to run... I'm checking out another gym today... That's another reason we're getting a German bank account... you have to have one in order to join a gym. And I have to say that I'm definately in need of a gym membership... I've gone way too long without a good workout and I can definately tell!!

I've attached a few pictures of downtown Friedrichshafen to the end of this blog. Brian and I walked downtown to the lake last night and I took a few pictures. I have to say that it is nice living on the lake... the sunsets are really pretty. :) I'll write more soon! I miss you all very much!!


That's me on top of the "observatory"...
Downtown Friedrichshafen
Downtown at sunset...

Mickey D's - Gotta Love It! :)

Hey all! So, we're slowly starting to adjust to life in Germany... Brian is doing much better at it than I am to say the least... We found out that we start our German language classes in about two weeks, so that will be good... Until then I can continue fumbling my way around, I guess...

For those of you that don't know, I finally have some type of internet access... Being that we don't have internet access in our apartment yet, I found that the closest T-Mobile Hotspot (i.e. internet access) is at the local McDonald's... go figure! :) So, now in order for me to feel like I still am connected to the outside world, I walk the 30 minutes to the local McDonald's and sit in the corner and surf the internet for hours. Their McDonalds here are actually nicer than those in the U.S. They actually have a little section off to the side of the restaurant that is called McCafe and it's like a little version of a coffee shop... yay! :) So, I basically sit in the corner here and watch the world go by... :) I've actually learned alot about the culture by just sitting here and observing... Teenagers here are pretty much the same as teenagers in the U.S. - obnoxious! But, it's funny how they all dress in U.S. name brand clothes and listen to music from the U.S. I've seen alot of couples come in and out of this place, and I have to say that people here are actually more "touchy-feely" here than in the U.S. I actually watched 2 couples about my age making out in the booths.... EEEW.... that's just not cool!!

We're hoping that we'll be able to get internet hooked up rather soon in the apartment... We also are in the process of trying to find phones that we can use to make international calls... It's interesting trying to figure out phone packages when it's all in German... :) Well, I'm off to run my errands. I have to walk the 30 minutes back to the apartment, drop off my computer, pick up our grocery bags (yep, you guessed it, they use the cloth bags here to get groceries), walk 30 minutes to the local grocery store, and then hike back with all of my groceries... Oh, the fun just never ends! Needless to say, I don't go crazy with buying groceries here... It's not like in the States where you stock up on things when they're on sale... Here, you buy only what you need, or in my case, what I can walk with for 30 minutes! :)

Hope all is well for you! I miss you all very much!!

Hiking in the Swiss Alps

On Sunday, we drove into Switzerland and hiked through the Swiss Alps. Or at least, Brian told me before we left that we were "hiking".... In reality, we climbed up Mt. Santis on Sunday. It turned out to be quite an adventure!! During our hike, we found that people around here LOVE to hike! In fact, in various spots throughout the mountainside, there are restaurants/shops for the hikers to stop and rest... nice!! Unlike Colorado, where there is virtually no one else on the mountain but you, this is like luxury climbing here! :)

The hike up was pretty intense... however, it was gorgeous scenery!! The one thing about the hike that shocked me the most was the fact that we were literally hiking with cows and goats! You know how Switzerland is known for their chocolate, well we went hiking with the cows that provide the milk for that chocolate! :) There were literally cows wandering all throughout the mountains.... it was quite a sight to see! At first, I was a bit unsure as to whether or not they were friendly; however, you know me, the animal lover, I decided that I wanted to pet a cow... and I did! After that, I befriended every cow that came across our path... and I've got the photos to prove it! :) About half way through our hike, we stopped at one of the "huts" (i.e. restaurants) for a bite to eat, where I enjoyed some food that was popular to that area... potato pancakes with cheese... yum!! But, word of advice, not something you want to eat when you still have 2 hours of mountain climbing ahead of you! :)

During our stop for food, we came across another little chapel and a few cottages where some "locals" lived and farmed. At one of the cottages, and man was selling goat cheese and goat milk.... So, us being the brave foreigners that we are, decided to go into the man's cottage to purchase some cheese.... I've attached a picture so you can see what it looks like in there.... (We were so excited about our cheese purchase at the time; however, once we got it home and it sat in the fridge for a day, we weren't so thrilled about our purchase.... Boy, did it stink! After a taste of the cheese, we decided that it wasn't such a great purchase after all, between the taste and the smell, we thought the best thing to do would be to toss it! :))

After our lunch, we proceeded to climb for another two hours to the top of Mt. Santis. Once we got to the top, I was surprised to see so many people, being that I didn't think that that many hikers had passed us! That's when I realized that the other side of the mountain had a cable car that took people up to the top of the mountain.... lovely! So, I hiked for 4 hours up one side, while other people rode cable cars to the top!! Nice!! We didn't stay at the top for long, because we realized that we still had to hike down.... Why we didn't take the cable car down is still beyond me????

So, as I said before, the hike up was intense.... but, we definately weren't prepared for the hike down! We chose to take a different route down the mountain.... this one was supposed to take less time. Not so much!! The hike down took us down boulders, loose stone and scree, at one point they had cables to hold onto so that you wouldn't fall down the mountain, we scrambled over rocks, went bouldering along the side of the mountain, etc.... Needless to say, it was quite a hairy climb down the mountain! And the route that was supposed to be shorter, ended up taking us longer... fun, fun! All in all, the hike ended up taking about 12 hours. After that hike, I told Brian that I get to plan the next outing.... most likely we'll be laying on a tropical beach drinking margaritas! :)

Looking back, it was quite an eventful day, but I have to say that it was an unforgettable experience! How often can you say that you went hiking in the Swiss Alps?! :) We definately plan on going back into the mountains a few more times during our stay here, but for now, I'm content looking at the pictures of our adventure! :)


That's us on our "hairy" climb down the mountain!!
I made some new friends during our climb!! :)

That's me petting the cows! :)
Brian and I at the top of Mt. Santis

Taking a rest on our way up to the top.... Isn't the scenery gorgeous??
Buying our "stinky" cheese... :)

Welcome to our new home...

Hey everyone!! We arrived safely in Friedrichschafen on Wednesday, August 20th. After our 8 hour flight to Amsterdam, 2 hour flight to Zurich, 1 hour train ride to Rotterdam, Switzerland, the 45-minute ferry ride to Friedrichschafen, and the 10 minute cab ride to our new place (talk about planes, trains, and automobiles!! :)), we arrived at our new apartment.

The apartment isn't too bad... definately smaller than the 3 bedroom house we left behind in Livonia! However, the interior design of the apartment is something to be desired! Yikes!! The German gentleman that rents the apartment out definately needs help with his decorating skills. In the bedroom, we have blue, yellow, and white checkered curtains, with a hot pink/orange checkered bedspread and a bed that isn't made of wood, but of yellow and blue flowered fabric.... And the dining room/living room has an orange sofa with yellow,orange, and red checkered curtains. The table is covered in a floraly table cloth with chair covers that look like they've been around since the early seventies... lovely! And then there are the pictures.... the pictures are randomly hung throughout the apartment with no rhyme or reason... And the pictures are just works of art...pictures of big diesel engines and the men who designed the engines.... I mean, it's art at it's finest! :) And our favorite decorative addition is the wooden man with wings that is hanging from the ceiling and when you pull down on him he begins to bounce up and down and he appears to "fly". Brian and I actually think we'll keep him around for a bit just for entertainment. :) Oh, and the kitchen... I almost forgot about the kitchen... It's so small, that in order to get into the refrigerator, you have to shut the door to the kitchen, in order to open the refrigerator door... how cozy! Our view from the balcony isn't too bad... it overlooks the children's play area.... However, I find it rather odd, that instead of putting sand into the sandbox, they put gravel in them... I mean, doesn't every parent want their child to be able to play in a gravel pit?! :)

Well, enough rambling about the apartment... If you're curious about the looks of the apartment, I've attached some photos so that you can see for yourself just how "homey" the place is... :)



The tiny kitchen... but, at least it has a dishwasher!! :)
The kitchen door literally has to be closed in order for us to open the refrigerator door... :)
The view from our balcony...

This is our study/dining room/living room....
This is our flying man... He provides us with alot of entertainment at the moment! :)
This is our itty, bitty bathroom.... Doesn't it make you want to start singing "Under the Sea" just by looking at it?? :)
And the bedroom... Don't you just love the blue/white/yellow curtains, with the hot pink/orange bedspread??

Our table and chairs.... looking like they're straight out of the 70's....

Another shot of our living room/dining room... Isn't it cozy?? :)

Other than that, Brian and I are just trying to settle into our routine... We don't have cable or internet in the apartment yet, so we're looking for ways to occupy our time... The other night, we managed to entertain ourselves by tossing a bouncy ball back and forth to each other for about a half an hour... woohoo!! Good times! :)

Well, I have to run up to Media Markt (the German version of Best Buy)... We forgot our ipod charger at home, so I'm now on a mission to try to find one... Wish me luck, considering I don't speak German and I don't really know what to look for... Should be fun! :) Miss you all very much!!!