Apartment update and other tidbits

Hello, Its been  a few days as we have been extremely busy.  I am not even sure where I left off but I'll do my best.   We looked at 4 apartments Thurs- Sat.  The first apartment was my favorite just by the online pictures.  We applied to look at 14 apartments but since we were from so far away I think it scared many and they just were not interested in us.  So we only had 4 to start.  Out of the 4 the first 2 were our favorites.  In a perfect world, if we had more time and  more interest we would have really liked to see more.  As you can seen from my last email, beggars can't be choosers in Germany.  The last two apartments were very far away from Kevin's work and he wanted to leave the 30 minute commute behind when we left CO.  Also, we just didn't get the right feeling from either of them.  One was on the first floor facing a busy road and very run down.  The other, was just all wrong and I'll leave it at that.  It was nice, but it wouldn't have worked for us.   The two we did like.  Were actually the first 2 we saw. The first one is not to far from the hotel, 10 min walk.  It was residential and Kevin would have preferred a more city like atmosphere but I was ok with it.  It was a 9 min bus ride to his school/work and a 25-30 min walk to town.  There are restaurants, a butcher, 2 bakeries', and Ice cream shop, clothing shops, and our bank with in a short walk.  The grocery store would be the same as the one we shop at now and it was a little further.  If we get bikes that would be the best way to go or just a long walk up the hill each way.  The second apartment was very nice , very big, and we loved the landlord.  She was English speaking ( german native)   but it was her dad's apartment and he apparently passed away.  She was emotional about that as it had only been a year.  She is such a sweet kind person and we hope to be friends with her.  She is going to meet up with us at the end of the week and introduce us to some locals.  The negatives for this apartment were that it was like living in a high rise in the US and lacked character, it was 30 min to Kevin's school/work, it was at least 30 min from town.  We could walk to the zoo but the nearest shopping grocery and all was a huge mall.  So it lacked the experience we hoped to get.  On top of that we only saw senior citizens walking in and out of the building.  Honestly, if it were closer to town or his school we would have been sold. Its not often you get a landlord like that.  Sunday, we had a nice day.  I had a wonderful mother's day.  We went to brunch, thank goodness the rain stopped just in time for lunch.  We went to this wonderful place in the town square.  We started outside but when Kevin took Ivy in to the bathroom the wind picked up I did my best to catch his beer glass, my wine glass, Ivy's hat and crackers.  The server asked me if I wanted to move inside ( not in English but I figured out what she was asking) and we went inside and had a lovely lunch.  So Monday we finally opened an account at a bank.  Today was the big day, we signed a lease on an apartment.  Drum roll please!!! If you tried to guess it was apartment 4.   Just kidding it was the first one.   After much discussion we chose that one.  Honestly, its very nice just more then we need or were planning on.  With the  lack of interest in showing us apartments it was what we feel is the best.  It has a living room, dining area, kitchen , 2 downstairs bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths.and a balcony.  Up these steep stairs there is a hobby room (which we will use as a study and for extra storage etc) and another bedroom.   When certain guests come we will go up the stairs and give up our bed.  We have a keller ( or cellar storage space and a place to put a washing machine). We misunderstood and thought there was a washer in the basement, but  Germans don't like to share much. So there are 2 washers down there but they are not communal . We have an empty space for a washer if we want one.  Kevin has a friend from the University who helped translate the lease for us today.  He said you can find really cheap washers in the classifieds that are practically brand new.  Also the kitchen has a dishwasher that is ours if we want it but when we leave we either have to get rid of it or give it to the next tenants.   As for the move date. They told us today we could move in on the 20th.  It sounds great but we have to figure out if we can get things like internet and such set up by then and if we can go to Ikea and at least get a futon to sleep on until our bed arrives. The futon would likely go up to the extra bedroom.    So I will let you know what we decide when we figure it out.  It would be nice to have bought furniture and be some what settled before Kevin gets to work. Although I emailed today to figure out where our stuff is and it hasn't yet made port in Los Angeles yet. So who knows when we will get that.  Probably July.  Makes me wonder why we shipped kitchen items and so forth. Now we have to wait for them.  In Ivy crazy news today.  There was an itty bity bug crawling along the wall today and she was so excited about it.  She was so excited she had to show dada. The next thing we noticed was she bent down to apparently kiss the bug and we tried to stop her but we were too late.  Never saw the bug after and to this moment are still thinking or wondering if she swallowed him up which is very likely.  Seems like Saarbrucken is giving us great Ivy stories. Well its getting late and I am very tired and this ended up being a book.  I will update you as soon as I can on what is going on here.  Talk to you all soon!!!!

Well, I still am not able to post any pictures as this time.  You may just have to wait until we have a new apartment and are all moved in and set up with internet. If I get time in the next few days I will take my tablet out with me and try to get a better signal.  I am finding it hard to find wifi here , even in busy areas, without a password.  In other news things that have been happening with us.  We are registered and in the process of setting up a bank account, as well as apartment hunting. I had no idea it would be difficult to find an apartment. We saw a really nice one today and are looking at 2 tomorrow and 1 on Saturday.  The hard part is that its not just you looking at the place. When we were at the apartment today in a time span of 1 hour there were two other couples looking at it . Who knows how many others were there today. How it works is, you fill out a form and the landlord decides who he best sees fit for the apartment.  I hope one of the 4 places finds us fit or we are going to have to do a lot of apartment searching.  We did really like the place we looked at today.  We were told by a gentleman who has been helping us , to go ahead and tell each place we are interested. That way we get our form and interest in. If we find and get a better place we can just tell them we changed our mind.  So we will see how it goes over the next few days.  In Ivy news, she is enjoying her daily outings and loves all the new sights.  The other afternoon on our walk back to the apartment, Ivy got crapped on by a pigeon.  Poor girl didn't know what hit her.  luckily it just hit the top of her head and not her face as she was snacking on a cracker at the time.  I didn't have my camera on hand or I would have taken  a pic.   The weather is nice here.  Its the rainy season so one day may be sunny and 2 may be rainy but we are enjoying the mild temps and the rain. We really didn't see much rain in CO so its a nice change. Ask me again after I have been living here for a while to see if I still feel the same about the rain.  I really am sad I can't post pics.  I really do hope to get it all worked out in the future.  We are slowly getting through the language barrier.  I should be studying right now instead of posting but I can work twice as hard tomorrow.  I may make some note cards tonight.  The food is delish.  I love the dumplings.  I need to find out how to make them or for now a sauce to make for them.  You can buy the dough and just make them into dumpling balls .  We currently don't have an oven so something like that would be easy I would think.  For now we have been indulging in brats(wurst), pasta, meats(Fleisch), cheese(käse) , bread (brot), and pickles.  The cheese is fabulous and the chocolate (schokolade) , wine(wien), and beer(bier) is delectable as well.  The problem is the wine and beer its so cheap here.  I think we will have to have 1 glass a night.  Not sure that is a problem, but we do enjoy it right now.  Ok well its getting late and I either need to read or make note cards.  I am not going to learn the language surfing the web.  Guten Abend  ( Good night)!!!

Having Issues downloading pics

Well we have been here for 4 days now. Sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I created this long post about our temporary apartment , however our connection here is awful.  So it crashes every time I try to upload my pictures.  I will have to try at a starbucks or something to see if I can get a better wifi.  Its frustrating because I want to share these things with you and it seems to be an obstacle and I apologize.  I just worry by the time this works this will be old news an we will be on to something else and you will miss out.  For those of you on facebook I have posted some pictures there.  It seems to be slow but able to process and blogger can't even do a spell check without crashing.  I hope to work out these kinks over the next few days or find a place I can get a good signal and free wifi.  I know of 1 starbucks in town and I assume they have what I need there.  We haven't been to starbucks as there are many local places that offer better cheaper coffee. I am starting to learn a few sentences in German.  I am trying to get Kevin more into speaking the language. We are also teaching Ivy some words.  She can say "no" in German "nein"  and thank you "danke" . So that is a start.  We are eating lots of gelato, cheese, bread, deli meats.  Its funny in the states Ivy loved fruit, only ate a few types of cheese, didn't like much meat, and didn't really like bread.  Here she eats and scarfs down all but the fruit.  She isn't much into the fruit.  She is enjoying our daily outings and is starting to get back to sleeping through the night.  The jet lag affected her so bad.  She woke up the first few nights and wanted to play for 2-3 hours.  She was sleeping in until 10 am so that was a plus I guess  She seems to be waking up at 6 am for a diaper change and bottle and going back to bed until 8.  We wonder what is going through her mind.   I think she really enjoys this place.  I am sure the language confuses her.  She has had a few children come up to her and talk to her, but its just jibberish to her.  All in all we have had a great time so far.  Tomorrow we need to get down to business and get registered, and start the apartment search.  Kevin has some work to do this week to get ready for his job, so Ivy and I will venture out on our own a few times.  The weather has been gorgeous the past few days.  I am not sure when the rainy season ends.  The first 3 days that is all it did but now it seems to be slowing down.  Well, I hope to find a wifi spot tomorrow and download pics of the apartment we are staying in at the Weller hotel.  I hope you all are doing well. Talk with you soon!!!
 

Guten Tag from Saarbrücken Germany

Hi everyone,  Well we made it to Germany in one piece.  I will have to say that was a very long trip and we were all exhausted.  Ivy did wonderful and we are blessed that she is a great traveler.  We got all our stuff through 2 airplanes and on a train.  Wouldn't you know we left the pack-n -play on the train. Thankfully the hotel had one.  Today the 1st was a holiday so everything was closed.  We hope to hear that they have the pack n play but I am sure that is unlikely.  Which means we have to buy a new one.  Our first night here we were exhausted.  We got to our apartment, then we were off to dinner.  The lady at the front desk told us that we should go to the grocery store since Wednesday was a holiday. So we were thankful and went to dinner then were planning to go to the store.   Dinner was lovely, but Ivy was too tired so we scarfed our food and headed to the store. The lady didn't tell us that the store closed at 8. Seems like everything closes at 8 which is fine.  However, we had no milk for Ivy and nothing was open.  We went to bed and shockingly even Ivy slept until 9:45.  I actually woke her up since we were told continental breakfast was until 10. We got there and they did not have breakfast.  So we decided to walk to the grocery store just to make sure it wasn't open. Thankfully there was a bread shop open next to the grocery store. They gave us milche (milk) and we got some tasty treats.  We went back and slept for 2 more hours then ventured off into the city. We had a great first day even though it was short.   We took Ivy to the park and walk along the river and ate some delicious dumplings for dinner followed by Gelato for dessert. I need to charge my battery on my new camera which I will do in the morning. If I can get my self together I will start posting pics tomorrow or Friday.  I will try to update as much as possible. Its late so I am off to bed. 

Packing Packing and more Packing

Well I can't believe we have less then a week before we move.  We are in really great shape to be honest.  So far we have the guest room empty, our room empty except our bed, the guest bathroom empty, our bathroom 90% empty, our closet is just clothes we need for a month (the rest is being shipped), and some repacking in the front room.  Upstairs should be finished by tomorrow. I am excited about that. We will will do the last minute stuff downstairs tomorrow night and try to finish up Thursday.  Tomorrow they are coming to stretch the carpets.  Friday they are cleaning the carpets.  Sunday the movers come and Monday we fly out of here.  This is a really short non exciting post but since I am on lack of sleep and its 10 I thought I would make it short.  We have been so busy , but I promise once I get to Germany the posts will get more exciting with pics and all.  Good night!!!

out of town

Just wanted to let you know that we are back east and have been since Sunday. I will be back to posting next week. We are having a great time visiting with friends and family. In news we have our flights booked to Germany and are getting closer to our move date. I will update you next week.

Easter

Well this year Easter was much bigger for Ivy then last year.  She still doesn't understand much of it but she had a great weekend.  We started the weekend off with an Easter egg hunt at the community center and she met the Easter bunny on Saturday.  For those of you who know her well, know she loves animals live or stuffed.  She was excited to see the Easter bunny but not so much to sit on his lap.  She was terrified.  I have posted the best pics that we could get under the circumstances.  There was so much going on.  Below are pics of her at her first Easter egg hunt as well as pics of her with the Easter bunny!!!



Ivy finding an Easter egg

 Daddy and Ivy with the Easter bunny                                         The Eggs Ivy found  

 Mommy and Ivy with Easter bunny

After this event we went to the park came home and we stripped Ivy down and put her in a disposable diaper to dye eggs for the first time. It was challenging and fun but I must say she had more dye on her then the eggs I think.

Sunday was her first time in church.  They do a family service and assure the parents squirming noisy children are ok for this service. Ivy enjoyed the music and she loved the children's service.  Here are some pics of her dressed up in her Easter dress. 



It was a very nice day and to end the beautiful Easter Sunday we had grilled steak and artichokes out on the deck.  It was Ivy's first time having artichokes and she loved them here is a video.

It was a great weekend and it was so much fun seeing Ivy enjoying her Easter weekend.  I am sure as the years go on it will even be more enjoyable.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!!