Globus, Döner, and Jungle Jam

 One of the things we had to do the first week we were here, was to going to one of the big supermarkets. Iris said, Globus was kinda of like our Walmart. Which it is with food and other household items as well as clothing and games and things. However, this store was MASSIVE! The first thing I noticed was the biggest rotating door I have ever seen. It was made for people with carts obviously, but without carts it would fit at least 15 people comfortably.  The first floor was all groceries and upstairs was everything else. The first place we stopped was the chocolate aisles. Yes I said aisles! There are three aisles dedicated almost exclusively to Chocolate! We had to pick of a couple of bars. We found what I think is the best chocolate bar ever. It is in celebration of Milka's 111th birthday. It is milk chocolate with pop rocks on the inside. It is the funnest piece of chocolate ever. There were other kinds as well that we have tried: Caramel, one with extra air to make it "fluffier" (not the biggest fan of that one), white chocolate, strawberry, and Chris tried one with Oreo bits (one of his favorites). There are lots more for us to try so I will keep you updated on which ones are the best. 

Back to Globus.... Besides having a gigantic rotating door, it has an escalator for carts. A grocery store with two levels is new to me in itself, but how you get up and down was cool too. I didn't get any good footage of the escalator,so you will all have to suffice with the really crappy picture I was able to get off the camera. It was really weird to stand on the escalator. I kept feeling like I was going to fall backwards while we were riding up, and when we went down I didn't want to think about trying to keep a heavy cart from reaching the bottom before you. Upstairs they had some costumes for Fasching, and I had to take a picture of one of the displays. The poor mannequin needs a bit of help don't you thing?

Besides the cool technical things I saw in the store, what amazed me was the amount of selection there was. The meat counter ran the entire length of the store just about and all of it was fresh. The are lots of different fruit and vegetables we don't see all the time in the States as well. But when it came to the caned and boxed foods, you know those items most of our grocery stores are filled with, there was practically nothing. They don't have hamburger helper, or frozen dinners. Everything gets to be prepared by hand. I like that I am forced to cook, but at the same time when I am not thinking about what I want to eat next, and all the sudden I am hungry, I miss being able to just make something really quick.  But I am learning some new tricks and recipes. I will be good to get used to cooking again. 

Other things I am going to have to get used to is that the milk is not fresh. Everything else is, but the milk has been processed to have a longer shelf life, and doesn't need to be stored in the fridge until after it has been opened. I guess that it a particularly good thing, otherwise the tiny fridge we have would be full of milk to keep the amount of milk we go through good until we can go to the store again. It is packaged in liter containers, and that lasts... oh... about a day or two is all. I have already gotten used to drinking sparkling water. I am not at the point yet where I will drink it plain, but I will mix it with different syrups or juice. It is to the point where I think I am going to have to buy a Soda Stream when I get home, so I can continue to make drinks like Apfelschorle. I think that is my favorite drink so far. It is apple juice and sparkling water. It makes it into a kind of apple soda. Messo-mix is another drink that I like, but didn't think I would at first. It is a combination of cola and Fanta. A little different at first but good. 

 That night after we went to Globus we went out to dinner. Of course the day you go to the grocery store is usually the day you decided to go out to eat. :p
We had Döner Kebabs. They are kinda like a Gyro, but different. The one I had was made with pork and it was on a plate with Fries. I had it with a yogurt sauce. The veggies on it are cabbage and lettuce, with tomatoes onions and peperoncinis. It was supper delicious. I had so much food that I couldn't eat it all, and the so I had my leftovers for breakfast the next morning. And let me tell you it was good the second day. That is how you know you have good food right? I have been wanting to go back since, but I need to be careful about how much money I use the first part of the trip to make sure I have enough to travel on.  

After dinner we played a game called Jungle Jam. It was really fun and it was nice I was able to understand when the instructions were being read. It is little times when I can understand that I do a little celebration in my head. I think "Yippie, I am understanding German." But then again there are those times when I hear German and I don't understand. Then I think "Oh crap, I really don't know anything." I am sure the longer I am here the more times I will be celebrating and the less I will be saying oh crap :)

Castle ruins!!!!

And on the Second Day...

Here, finally, is the video from day two. I did it a little differently this time, and so it took me a little longer than I anticipated. Let me know what you think about it. I will be working hard to get the other videos up sooner than this one came. I don't know if I will continue to do a day by day post or not, but I will be sure to give you lots of footage of what is going on here.

And so it begins....

What is there to say about my first couple, well really one day of my adventure. So much has happen that I am afraid this is going to be a rather long post, even with the video telling some of the story. I will do what I can to keep from rambling on and on and on and on and on. Ok, sorry about that I just couldn't help it.

Tuesday morning I woke up super early and did a load of laundry: the sheets from my bed and towel I used that morning. I made sure everything was packed, and ended up repacking a couple of my bags, at least half way. My mom came around 9 and we were out the door to the airport. The flight didn't leave until 1130, but they said we should be at the airport a couple of hours before hand. When I got to the ticket counter, I got my boarding passes and checked my bags. Meanwhile Chris was getting his boarding passes printed and bags ready to be checked, and got a couple more pieces of paper (cards) than I did. One of them was just a receipt but another was and important customs paper we had to turn in in San Francisco.  We asked the guy at the counter why Chris got more than I did and if I needed the others, and he said yes, my kiosk had ran out of cards. He was able to get me the other papers, and he told me there is a really good river tour on the Rhine in Frankfurt I should check out it if I could. I think I will; it sounds like a lot of fun.

After getting our boarding passes and saying goodbye to our families, we made our way through security. Neither of us were marked as terrorist or suspicious characters, thank goodness. I called my mom to say a final goodbye and we made our way to our gate. We hung out there for a little while. Chris called his parents and wrote a quick blog post and I filled our water bottles, took a couple pictures of us, and did a little bit of filming. By that time we were able to board the tiny plane to San Francisco. The plane was so small there was only one stewardess, and no business or first class. Just your basic commuter plane. Which I think made the next plane feel so much bigger.

By the time we got up in the air it was about time to come back down. We had made it to California. We only had an hour and a half layover, but we had to move to the international terminal so we were hurrying our way around the airport. We weren't too worried about missing the plane, but we wanted to make sure we were there in plenty of time so maybe we could get something to eat as well. We had looked at a map the day before and thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I had forgotten how big airports have to be. I think we walked for a solid 15 minutes! (We went from the F gates to the very end of Terminal G.) We had to go up stairs to the international terminal and then back downstairs to our gate. We bought ourselves some $10 sandwiches, thinking our dinner wouldn't be served for a while, and called our parents for the last time for a while and boarded the plane.

What the Aurora Borealis is supposed to look like on film, under:
What it looks like on the film we have...

The plane to Frankfurt was huge! We entered halfway through First Class and then made our way back to row 42, and that was only half way through economy. Chris and I were the only ones in our row on our side, so we were able to spread out a bit. That was nice, especially when it came to trying to sleep. Although we found out later most of the seats in the back were completely open so we could have laid down completely.  We were served our dinner right away, and so we wasted our money on our tiny $10 sandwiches. The flight was mostly uneventful, a few patches of turbulence.  We flew up into Canada, over Greenland, and England, then into Germany. For most of the flight if we looked out the window we could see the Aurora Borealis. We tried to get it on film, but well you can see the attmept to the right.... In the "morning" we were severed breakfast. Mine, because I asked for a gluten free meal was, well I don't know what to call it other than disgusting. I was served rice, under cooked rice, with a curry sauce, peas and some yellow square chunks. Oh and it was cold. I took one bite and said, "no thank you". Chris was kind enough to give me the yogurt out of his breakfast pack. :)



When we got into Frankfurt we found our way easily to where we needed to go. At customs we were asked it we had a visa, which we don't. That kinda freaked me out a bit, because we were told we wouldn't need one. We don't, but we need to make sure we apply for a residency permit before our 90 day entrance stamp expires. We met Iris and Ben as we came out of the baggage claim area and made our way home.

We stopped at a couple of stores along the way. We were still speaking English, so people kept looking at us, the same way we would look at people speaking French or German in the states. Chris and I were so tired we didn't notice a lot of things we began to notice later. I will talk about them in the next couple of days. This post is getting super long, so I don't want to take the time now. When we got home we took a nap. By the time we got up it was time for dinner. We had thin pancakes with salad rolled inside. It sounds weird, but it is really good. Chris got sick, so it was really just Ben and I. Iris has to go to work while Chris and I were napping. After dinner we hung out for a bit and then off to bed. I was happy to go to bed, because it has been a long couple of days. At least it felt like a couple of days because it was morning in Germany when we landed, despite the fact it was morning when we left Boise only 12 hours ago to us.

More will be coming of my first few days here in Germany. and more videos as well. Right now I am still in a bit of overload mode, so once I get a little more settled I should be able to get my blogs going on a regular basis.

If it isn’t one thing it is another…

This past week has been an emotional one. One Wednesday I went to Idaho Falls to see my Dad for a week.  The timing, although I was worried about it, turned out to be perfect. One of my little sisters, Abby, was baptized on Saturday and I was able to see some family members I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise. My Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Jana were able to come up from Utah. It was so great to spend some time with them.

While I was in Idaho Falls, I took a trip down to Blackfoot to see my mom’s Dad, Pa, and I met one of my cousins for lunch. I don’t get to see Pa very often and we were only able to have a short visit, but I was super happy to talk to him and see him. He is getting a little bit on the old side—he turns 81 this year I believe.  His wife, my Grammie died almost two years ago and ever since he hasn’t had the best outlook on life. Saying goodbye this time had extra weight, because although I believe he still has a few years left, there is always that fear he won’t be there next time. 

On Monday one of my cousins returned home from his mission in Seattle Washington. It was the first time I had seen him in over two years. It was good to see his smile, and to get a hug. I was going to go back down to Blackfoot on Tuesday to spend some time with him and his family, but earlier on Monday I had come down with a head cold. Just what I needed the week before I fly out.  It wasn’t really bad on Monday, and I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. But when I woke up on Tuesday, I was dizzy. So dizzy, I had to be careful when I got up. I saw black spots, and nearly pass out. I got myself set up at the kitchen table with a big cup of water and Hulu, and sat there for most of the day. I finally ate something around 2. (I didn’t have an appetite before.) After drinking about of gallon of water I started to feel better –around 3. I am really glad that I began to drink water so early. It would have been disastrous if I ended up passed out, and needed to go to the hospital for an IV.  Despite being too sick to go and see more family on Tuesday, I am pretty sure staying home avoided a bigger problem.

It seems as if everything that hasn’t gone “according to plan” has turned out alright or even better. My cold is lessening and I am pretty sure I will be over it before the plane ride. I just hope the timing isn’t where Chris will get sick before we go, or even worse on the plane. I don’t think I will share, but you never know.

 

Other things have happened this week that have helped create the emotional roller coaster I have been riding. This blog post is already getting to be a bit on the long side so I will only talk about two. I told you all before about the issue I had with my Fulbright scholarship application. I forgot to put my resume in the original packet. I planned on sending them a letter with the resume asking for their pardon, but before I did—I kept forgetting to go to the post office—I got a letter saying they received my application and to await news of appointment (well possible appointment) in April. I thought, “I am glad I didn’t send that other letter off. I must have gotten the resume in the packet and I was just being paranoid.” A couple of days later I got another email saying something to the effect of, “upon closer inspection your resume was missing”. Instead of saying that I am no longer eligible, they just asked me to email them my resume! I am so glad that I am still a candidate for the scholarship. Now all I have to do is wait patiently for April to arrive before I will know what I will be doing this fall.

While I was in Blackfoot I found out the Student Wohnheim (dorm) on campus had to close displacing 280 students or about. I was worried I how that would affect my housing, but Wednesday got an email with my placement. I will be living in Waldhaus. It is between the University and the city, so I think it will be a good location. I was also informed in that email I need to transfer 760 Euros to secure my room. (Roughly $ 988)That is a combination of the first month’s rent, and security deposits. The problem, however, is my student loan money isn’t distributed to the University until the 18^th at the very earliest, and where that is a Saturday it will probably be closer to the1st before I get what is left. I spent the last of my money going to Blackfoot, except the couple hundred dollars I have for the first few weeks in Germany. So needless to say I don’t have the money to pay the deposit before the deadline. I have sent an email to the housing department explaining the situation and asking if there is anything I can do to keep my room, without the deposit on the 12^th. With the closure of the one Wohnheim, I don’t know if they will be able to be flexible for me. If not, I am sure I will be able to figure something else out. At least I am keeping faith that things will all work out for the best. And not getting my own apartment may turn out to be better than I had planned, but we will see. Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

PARTIES!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Saturday Chris and I had our going away parties. His was in the afternoon, and mine was later that night. It was really great to see friends and have an opportunity to say good bye to them a little more formally. I am afraid I wasn't the best hostess, and I didn't have the opportunity to get around to all the tables to talk with everyone like I wanted to. I hope everyone had a good time anyways, and you all know that I love you all and will miss you terribly. Only 9 more days!!!!!!!!! :D

What a day

Today was nice and busy. I spent the day in the car with two toddlers and a 12 year old. On my way to my Dad's I was able to spend some time with my nieces and nephew taking them to a family friend's house for the week. Next Wednesday I will get to take them back home as well. I am really grateful for the time I was and will be able to spend with them. One of the hardest things about leaving is moving so far away from them. We had some fun guessing what we were going to see on the road. We would say, "I want to see a green semi." The first person to see the named thing (a green semi or whatever) gets to pick the next thing we will look for.  Lots of laughter and a few tears, but traveling with children without tears would be too good to be true.

I had my going away party on Saturday, and I have a good amount of footage. I am excited to start working on editing it and getting another video up finally.  Hopefully that will be coming in the next day or two.

Super short post today, but I wanted to get something up, letting you know that a video is coming. Oh two weeks from today, exactly and I will be on German soil :D Ya, you could say that I am excited. LOL, understatement!