Honey, I Broke the Car...

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been on a blogging hiatus, due to the fact that it's been quite hectic around here.  Well, that doesn't even begin to explain what has been going on here. 

For the most part, things have been great!  Our friends and Brian's coworkers from the U.S., Matt and Maciej, have officially moved here.  They arrived on Saturday... Matt is here for about 6 months and Maciej is here for a two-year assignment, similar to what Brian and I are doing.  So, we've been spending time with them recently... It's nice to have friends from back home around. :)  

Brian's company is also hosting it's 100 year celebration this week, so there are quite a few people from the U.S. here.  We've enjoyed being able to spend some time with fellow Americans.  One of Brian's coworkers brought his wife along, so she and I have been doing some sightseeing around here... It's been quite fun! :)  

The English speaking theater group, that I became a member of, is having its spring performance this week and next, and I'm helping backstage with hair and makeup.  And in the meantime, Brian and I are preparing to leave for our almost month long vacation to Italy and Croatia... We're scheduled to leave next Saturday (May 16th).  Needless to say, we've been keeping very busy.  But, we've also been enjoying our time spent with friends!! :)

Well, somewhere in between all of that, I managed to get myself into quite a BIG mess!  Rose (the American who is in town with her husband this week) and I went to Meersburg for the day.  We did quite a bit of sightseeing, strolled through the town and did some shopping, visited the Birnau Church, and then took a trip through the Old Castle.  We capped off our day with a stop at the Alte Bank Cafe, where they serve the greatest coffee in Germany (or at least that's my opinion! :)).  Overall, we had a great day!   

As Rose and I headed out of Meersburg to go back to Friedrichshafen, I realized that my fuel guage was on empty and that I wouldn't be able to make it back to Friedrichshafen if I didn't stop to fill up.  Well, I was quite nervous about stopping at the gas station being that I have never fueled up the car here, and I wasn't sure what to look for.  I called Brian and he explained what I had to do, but I was still leery about the whole situation.   

Well, I pulled into the gas station.  I looked for the pump which Brian had described to me.  Once I found it, I did exactly what he told me to do.  After putting about 3/4 of a tank in, I went inside and paid.  As I walked out of the station and got back into the car, I was feeling quite proud of myself. :)  Let's just say, that feeling didn't last too long after that...

Rose and I started chatting away as I pulled out of the station.  I noticed that the car was jumping slightly, but I thought that I was doing something wrong in regards to using the clutch and shifting (you all know how much I love driving a stick shift... Just an FYI, that's meant to be a very sarcastic statement! :)).  I continued driving and exited onto the the highway towards Friedrichshafen.  Meanwhile, the car was still jumpy and driving funny.  I asked Rose (who is knowledgable about driving stick shifts), but she wasn't quite sure what was going on either.  At that point, I was getting quite worried!

Well,  I continued driving. I was driving uphill, so I stepped on the gas a bit, and it made the car shudder and continue to jump... Once we got to the top of the hill, and started heading down, the car completely shut off and began coasting down the hill... Uh oh!!  And, for those of you that know me and how much I dislike driving stick shifts, I'm sure you can imagine what I started to do next... I began to panic!! :)  Thankfully Rose was with me and she told me to simply calm down and pull off to the side of the road.  Once we were safely parked on the side of the road, I took a few deep breaths and calmed myself down.  Rose and I then decided that we should see if the car would start up again.  We turned the key, the engine started up, and then died... ugh!!  Neither of us knew what was wrong.  I asked Rose if it could possibly have been the fuel.... And that's when we put two and two together and realized what I had done... 

Brian had told me to put diesel fuel in the car, and he told me basically what the pump would be set up like.  Well, when I pulled into the station, I thought I had pulled up to a diesel tank, but apparently I hadn't... Yep, that's right... I pumped gasoline into our car that runs on a diesel engine!!  NOT GOOD!!  Once Rose and I realized what had happened, we knew that this was a very bad situation!  

We immediately reached for our phones to call someone.  And, being in Germany, we weren't quite sure who we should call.  Let me just say, that it's not a good feeling, when your car breaks down on the side of the road, in a country where you don't speak their language!!  Now, this is where the story gets even more interesting... I pulled my phone out to call Brian, and it was completely dead... Yikes!  Meaning that I had no access to any of the phone numbers in it.  Luckily for us, Rose had Brian's number in her phone... Well, she tried calling it but it wouldn't go through.... Go figure.  We then tried to figure out who else we could call, considering that I didn't know anyone's number as they were all locked in my phone... Lovely!  Thankfully, Rose had Matt's number in her phone.  We called him to see if he could help... And boy, did he ever help us! :)  Being that he doesn't have a car here yet, he called our friend, Cornelius, and asked him if he would drive out the help us, which he willingly agreed to do.  In the meantime, Matt was trying to call Brian, but couldn't get through being that Brian was at soccer... Great!  So, Matt and Cornelius ended up coming out to help us...  And, I'm so very grateful to them!! :)

Cornelius is from Germany, so he knew exactly what to do.  We checked the car again, and realized that there was no way for us to drive the car considering that the engine was completely dead  (Go figure... considering I put gasoline into a diesel run vehicle... Let's just say, that at that point, I felt like a complete moron!!).  After many phone calls, Cornelius was finally able to get through to the car dealer and they informed him that they would send out a tow truck.  After getting that figured out, we tried to get ahold of Brian again...  Let's just say, that when we finally did get ahold of him, he wasn't very happy with me! :)  I'm still kind of thankful that he wasn't able to come out to the "scene of the crime"...  Matt and Cornelius were very relaxed about the whole situation (which was very helpful, considering I was already a huge basketcase!).  Whereas, if Brian were there, I'm pretty sure that he would not have been that calm and understanding! :)  

For the next hour, Matt, Cornelius, Rose, and I stood outside in the rain waiting for the tow truck.  One bright spot about the whole situation, was that we were able to watch the sunset over the mountains, and then we saw Switzerland begin to light up as the darkness settled in... That was pretty cool! :)  After about an hour, the tow truck arrived and took the car to the dealership in Ravensburg.  We were informed that they weren't sure of the extent of the damage, but it could range from being very minimal to very extensive.  If it wasn't too bad, all they would have to do is flush out the system, but if it had gotten into the engine, it could have damaged the engine, which would result in quite a pricey repair... Oh boy!   After hearing that, I was to the point of shaking... I was fearful that I had really damaged the engine... All I could say at that point was, "I can't believe I broke the car!"  

Cornelius then drove me back to the apartment.  Brian was there, and he was not a very happy camper.  And, to top his evening off, he had also managed to pull his hamstring at soccer... Not good.  At that point, all we could do was sit and wait to see what the damage was...  

After waiting for what seemed like years, we received a phone call yesterday afternoon saying that we could pick up the car... Yay!  Apparently, all they had to do was flush the system... I hadn't damaged the engine too badly after all... whew! :)  How happy was I?!  

Let's just say, that it was definitely quite a learning experience for me.  At this point, I'm still too nervous to drive the car, so I'm quite content riding my bike and taking public transportation for the time being. :)  Brian has informed me that he's going to give me a few lessons about driving (i.e. how to pump gas correctly, etc.) before I take off with the car again... Nice!  All I know is that I'm VERY thankful that everything worked out!!  

On that note, I'm heading into town... by bike that is! :)  Have a great Thursday!  Here's a few pics of the day that Rose and I spent in Meersburg... prior to our car dilemma.  Enjoy!

I know that you've already seen pictures of the inside of this church, but these are my attempts at getting creative... When taking the pictures inside the church of Birnau (and keep in mind, it's not allowed to take pictures inside of the church... :)),  I was able to pull out all of the reddish colors in the paintings... I liked the look of them, so I'd thought I'd share them with you. :)

A ceiling mural...

The organ pipes..

The church of Birnau...

A hotel/cafe in Meersburg...

Downtown Meersburg...

Downtown Meersburg... It's such a quaint little village.  So cute! :)

I was getting creative with the camera... :)

Rose and I outside of the Old Castle...