The Big Move

Growing up in south-central Kansas, I seriously never imagined that God would take me away from my hometown.  I dreamed of getting married, buying a house in the same town I'd always lived, and raising kids in the same small-town atmosphere that I loved. Obviously, God had other plans, because just a year after getting married, Tyler got hired with Boeing, and we found ourselves on a plane headed for Seattle. After settling there and making it our home for years, I felt like we had it made, and, okay, God knew what He was doing after all. ;) Then came the news that Tyler's job was moving, and we would have to choose between relocating to Oklahoma City or taking an international assignment near Munich, Germany. It was a scary decision, but we chose Germany. Another change and more stretching out of my comfort zone...WAY out of my comfort zone. 

The process was fairly seamless as we neared the actual move. Boeing flew us over for a week to house hunt (I got to fly first class for the first time in my life!), which is when we found our wonderful rental house! We are living in a small village of 7000 people, a 17 minute drive to Manching which is where Tyler works (a wonderful change from his hour-plus commute in Seattle). Our house is in a very nice neighborhood with a lot of really friendly people. Our next-door neighbors speak great English, and we've really enjoyed getting to know them over coffee and cake. Our landlords have also been exceptional and always ask if things are okay at the house or if we need anything. Almost everyone seems to understand enough English that we can get our point across, and we can understand enough German to figure out the gist of what they're saying. :)

We had a little extra time on our house hunting visit so we decided to venture into Munich for an afternoon. We took the train (a mostly-fun experience, except we didn't realize we handed the conductor our receipt instead of our ticket and it took a bit of confusing dialog and lots of hand motions to figure out what was wrong). We saw the main square of Munich that day and the main pedestrian/shopping area. We also explored some of Ingolstadt on the house hunting trip. It's a city close to Manching where we stayed during the trip. It stands along the Danube River and is a cute place.

One of my take-away thoughts from this trip was how much eating is done differently in Germany (and Europe) than at home. Our first night's dinner started with me in tears, and they did not abate the entire time I was eating my pasta. I'm blaming most of that on stress and jet lag, but the dining etiquette is very different here ;) There are very few fast food places (only McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Subway are available here), and they are mostly found along the autobahn at rest stops, not in towns. Dining out here means walking into your chosen restaurant, checking the table for a "reserved" sign and if there isn't one, seating yourself. Your waitress will bring the menus and right away ask what you want to drink. Beer is cheaper than water here...yes, you pay for water, even tap! But nobody really drinks tap water in restaurants, just "still" or, more popularly, "sparkling" bottled water. After she returns with your drink, you  order your food (sometimes pointing is necessary when the language barrier is rearing it's ugly head). 

Some of the local flavors in our region are pork schnitzel (breaded and fried pork steak), schweinehaxen (crispy roasted pig leg), kase spatzle (homemade egg noodles with cheese), knödel (flavorless rubbery potato/pasta dumpling/ball), and apple strudel (yum!). White asparagus also makes Germans lose their minds in the springtime.  EVERYTHING is spargel. All. The. Spargel. But I digress. Once you get your food, your server leaves you alone to finish your meal without interruption (usually not even checking if your food is tasting okay!). After you have finished, she will return to ask if you want to order dessert. At this point, you can say yes, and she will bring you some [hopefully] yummy goodness. You can also say no, but then you need to make sure you also ask for the bill RIGHT AWAY or you'll be stuck sitting at your table for a long time waiting to catch a glimpse of her again to try to ask for the bill. Germans work on the assumption that once you sit down at a table, that table is yours for the rest of the night. They never rush you or push you to leave, very unlike America where they bring the bill with your food and clear your plates before you've finished eating it. Germany's practice is certainly nice while you're eating, but when you're ready to leave, it can be a real pain sometimes. ;) Tips are not totally necessary in Germany, but we usually round up a few Euros anyway (no more than 10%). You always pay your waitress directly, and very few places accept credit cards, so make sure to bring cash. 

German food is definitely the most popular cuisine here, with Italian a very close second. There is nary a "real" Mexican restaurant to be found (Ingolstadt has 3 "Mexican" restaurants, but only one of them is kinda-sorta-passably-Mexican). Breakfast is another point docked from Germany...the closest pancake place is an hour away! The typical German breakfast consists of a roll or hearty slice of seeded bread with cheeses and thinly-sliced meats and tomatoes. They also really love soft- and hard-boiled eggs. I guess the pancake demand just isn't there. Dessert is also hit or miss here. They have sooo many cakes in the bakeries that LOOK so delicious, but when you actually try them, they aren't sweet and aren't flavorful. But they sure do look pretty :) Speaking of cake, for Germans the afternoon coffee and cake break is very popular. It seems almost everyone takes time out of their day to enjoy a latte macchiato or cappuccino with their chosen baked good. It's a nice idea, but coffee that late in the afternoon usually keeps me up too late that night :) I really do love the mindset of taking time to enjoy the day though. During the summers, cafes have outdoor tables that will be full of people enjoying their afternoon coffee and cake and chatting or just people-watching. It's a fun way to engage in the local culture. :)

Back up and running

As most of you know, we moved to Germany for Tyler's job last year. Since then, we've been to so many places and seen so many cool things! I've documented it to some extent on Facebook, but the other day, a friend asked for some recommendations regarding a place we'd been already, and it was so fun to look back through what we'd done and seen and experienced. It was nice to be able to remember what was good and what was bad. I decided I really needed to start blogging again to record for myself all those thoughts and ideas about each trip before I forget them. I really should have been doing this from the start, I suppose, but better late than never. My plan is start from the beginning (moving over here), and work my way forwards. Look for some new posts (with lots of pictures!) soon! I'm excited to document our adventures, if only to have them to look back on later for myself. :) In the mean time, here's proof that we're still kickin' it old school. ;)

Pickles

Upon closer inspection, what I thought were zucchini in my bountiful basket, were actually cucumbers. What am I going to do with 4 cucumbers??!  I decided to make pickles.  They're just refrigerator pickles and I have to wait to find out how they taste, but at least they look pretty :) 

Testimony

I had to give (ahem, had the priviledge of giving) my testimony to our small group this week.  Thought I'd post the written copy here for fun.  Enjoy :)

Like everyone, I have a past filled with sin.  Before I became a Christian, I hit the bottle pretty heavily, I could frequently be found in the arms of another woman’s husband, and I was behind bars more times than I can count.  Then, when I was almost five, God saved me.  J  Truth be told, the bottle was filled with milk, the other woman’s husband was my dad, and the bars I was behind were on my crib. 

I was raised in a home where both of my parents were Christians, both sets of grandparents were Christians, and many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were Christians.  Going to church was normal for me.  I attended AWANA and one Wednesday night, my mom was making dinner while helping me learn my verses for that week.  We had a breakfast bar area and I was up on a tall bar stool watching her work and reciting what I would need to be able to tell my leader later that evening.  The verse for that week was Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  My mom was pretty good about trying to explain the verses to help us understand what we were saying, not just repeating random words and phrases to earn patches and snacks.  She explained that EVERYBODY has done wrong things including me: whether it was not sharing my toys, not obeying mom and dad, or prying my little brother’s fingers off of the piano bench while he was learning to stand on his own.  J  She said that God is perfect and He can only be around perfect things.  Because of my sin, I couldn’t be with God if things were left alone.  I thought about that and started crying.  I told her I wanted to be with God.  She came around the counter and told me that God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live a perfect life, to die instead of me for the wrong things I’ve done, and to become alive again three days later.  If I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, I would be saved.  I told her that I did believe and she prayed with me.   While I may have been too young to fully understand everything about the Gospel at that time, I truly believe I was saved that night. 

God continued growing me over the years as I went through private Christian school, and attended AWANA, Sunday school and church.  I was baptized by my dad in 5^th grade.   I never really went through a rebellious stage, even in high school.  That lent itself quite nicely to the development of the “older brother” attitude that Craig Loftus spoke of last week.  I rarely showed it outwardly, but inside I was usually happy when my classmates got caught doing something wrong and were punished.  I was really good at following the rules, and thought they were getting what they deserved for straying outside the boundaries.  I was not gracious towards them, and God convicted me of that years later- enough that I emailed several classmates to apologize. 

More recently, God has been showing me some areas where my expectations of Him have been wrong.  He has shown me that I was viewing all of my rule-following as checkmarks to getting the blessings I thought I deserved for making the right choices.  It has been difficult to adjust my thinking to the fact that living life as the Bible commands does not automatically mean we will get everything we want.  I am learning that God’s plan is not always my own, but whatever He gives or doesn’t give, is for my good and His glory. 

            So to wrap up, I may not be able to look back at a sordid background and complete 180 degree turn that some people can see in their lives, but I am certain that I am a follower of Christ, and that God is working in my life to teach me how to live more like Jesus.

 

Bountiful Baskets

I ordered from Bountiful Baskets for the first time this week. Only $15 for all these yummy-looking fruits and veggies!  Pretty good deal if you ask me :)

All for nothing...

I spent the better part of two days prepping, cleaning, and staining our back deck. It looked great! Then it rained.  Now it looks not-so-great.  Hopefully one more coat will fix it, once the rain stops - which may not be until May!  Lesson learned...don't take chances with fickle fall Western Washington weather!

A little craziness

Well, our life has changed a bit in the last month!  And quite suddenly, at that.  We got a call from Tyler's boss that he may be needed for a short-term work assignment near our hometown.  After some debating, we said sure.  We got the call Saturday, got final confirmation Monday, and we left on Tuesday.  Those were some hectic days!  We brought our cat with us (her first time flying).  Now we're here for 90 days and really enjoying time with family and old friends.  We also bought a car so when we return home, we'll be driving across half of the US! :)  My days have filled with catching up with people, cleaning my parents' house (we're staying with them for the 3 months!), and making dinner most nights.  It's been so fun to hang out with my parents and sisters on a regular basis and see family I don't normally get to see.  We've also been able to visit Tyler's parents a couple of times which has been great.  A very unexpected turn of events for our summer, but it's been wonderful!