Today marks 2 weeks here in Germany and over 6 weeks of being Nomads. We are very thankful for this rare and exciting adventure but there are some comical lessons we have learned here are the top 10.....
10) You can never pack enough in your carry on luggage! I packed 2 spare outfits for Samuel in my bag and went through them both only an hour into our flight. He was sick:( Poor little man was throwing up all over the place- in a huge and completely packed plane- it was not pretty nor did it smell pleasant! When we got on the plane he was fine and out of nowhere there it was- all over him, the seat, the blanket and me! And then after we cleaned that up and thought he would be a bit better- round 2 hit! Eventually he fell asleep and made it the rest of the flight. He never made a complaint about it or had any other symptoms- he was a trooper!
9) American's need space! Here refrigerators are tiny, beds are too, and driving our van on these roads is kinda like driving a semi!
8) "Not weird, just different" has been an ongoing discussion with the chickens. They have done well trying new/different things. We couldn't figure out the light switch for a couple of days! The toilet flusher is huge and according to Sam very fun to play with! Milk in glass bottles, teeny tiny ice cream cones, and schnitzel are all new things we love! No AC, restaurants not open for lunch and no screens on the windows are all things we are adjusting to:) lol
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| Not Texas hot- but still to hotttt |
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| light switch-tricky lil thing! |
7) Turns out sleep is important! We went through a rough transition to the new time zone. Each chicken took a night of not sleeping. The first week I spent begging kids to stay away during the day- keeping them busy with this and that. Each night we would keep them up late and prayed they sleep through till morning. Of course Sam's stomach bug got passed around and the heat made sleeping even more difficult. The zombie days and restless nights are a thing of the past - thank goodness!
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| good night- please sleep tight! |
6) Phones are a pain! AT&T is no friend of mine- unlocking phones is a simple matter that they complicate beyond measure. Make sure you start this process well in advance!!! The German phone companies are much nicer. (holding this grudge-can't seem to move past the horrible customer service I received!)
5) The autobahn really isn't that cool. All you ever here about this place is that you can drive super fast- but tbt there are usually posted speed limits and going 130 km is the same as driving 80mph. No big deal folks- sorry to disappoint.
4) Technology is amazing! We live in such a different time then that of the Army wife moving here all alone with her children in the past. We have Hulu to keep us entertained, we have the internet to keep us informed, we have Skype to keep us in touch. In a lot of ways living here now is easier and more convenient- my hat is off to the Army wife of days gone by!
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| watching a movie on a phone- who would have thought!? |
3) Getting your diver's license now is an even bigger deal! Sweeter than 16!!!! lol Having a car made us so much more productive and we finally got to see this beautiful country!
2) You never no what you'll find to do when you are carless, clueless and exhausted! I did things the past 2 weeks I'm not proud of- no one will put these in any parenting advice column- but it was sheer survival and unless you've been here you can't judge LOL. We did trips to the park we stayed there even after they all begged to go back to the hotel, pinecone fights (yep throwing things at each other and I encouraged it!), long walks to the commissary, movies on the TV, cell phones and computer all at the same time, covered the bath tub with shaving cream and threw the chickens in, trips to do the laundry became a treat, school work was something they begged for and had to become rationed to make it last, squeezing Sam into a much smaller sized diaper (thanks to furlough and no car)....I could go on and on!
1) There is no place like home! Home is where ever we are together! Home currently is our tiny hotel suite- I'd dare to say it smaller than my college dorm. But we have made memories here. We have laughed here. We have had sick kids here. We have made sippy cups here. We have lost gizzys here. We have had time outs here. We have had family movie night here. We have colored and painted here. We have been together here!!!!
It hasn't all been funny in the moment but looking back I can't help but laugh!
