the S U N was out

  

Oh, blue skies. We woke up this morning to sunshine- something we haven't seen much of here! It's gone now, but felt so nice while it lasted. We still have a bit of snow on the ground, but it's quite cloudy and dark most days. Sunset has been somewhere around 4:30, but by 4:00 it already feels darker. Sunrise is around 8:00am, or even later. Feels a lot like Alaska, I just hope the summers follow suite with long days.

Here's a look at the front and back sides of the house we're living in. We still feel grateful that we were able to find a place close enough to base that would allow us to have {so many kids} and a dog. It's a modest house. An older, remodeled house- nothing special. Our rent alone {not including utilities} is close to $2000 USD per month. While this is pretty normal for this area, it seems like a lot for what you get {or don't get}- especially after all the extras we had in Kansas. We actually do want to move on base- something we never thought we'd say, but the wait list is 12 -18 months long. Maybe something will open up sooner than later- we'll have to wait and see... We're hoping it's a good week... should get our van, our household goods and Internet set up all this week. Plus, the boys are back in school {not so exciting for them}.

A little wildlife.. for Grandpa Mike to check out!
** click on photos to enlarge them for a closer look **

happy { n e w } year

Happy New Year! It was quite the party around here last night with Coleman and Lady taking center stage dancing! We ate quick finger foods that could simply be thrown in the oven on the right temperature, of course. Coleman and Caden were both so excited to be able to stay up as late as they wanted. Caden's still sick, so he was out early. They're used to the crazy parents who put them to bed at 7:00.

The big boys have no problem sleeping in but, both little guys still get up early regardless of what time they go to bed. Since they refuse to sleep in, we put them down early. This last two weeks, they've been up between 5:00 and 6:00 EVERY day... Why? Why don't my kids sleep- I don't get it? We watched Christmas Carol-Coleman almost made it- about 11:45 he was out. Maybe next year he'll make it!

Today, I'll be working on resolutions and goals for this new year...  starting with a new {positive} outlook on this adventure.

Day or Night?

 We finally decided to take the little guys in to the doctor. Both have fought snotty noses and horrible coughs this month. With the holidays, Germany is about half way shut down- they love their holidays. The clinic on base was understaffed, so we were sent off base for their doctor's appointment. Practically every day we experience a new "first"... this doctor was no different. We were told to show up at the office between 2:30 and 3:00- in order to have less of a wait. We showed up a little before 2:30 only to see that their lunch break is from 12:00 - 2:30. The whole office closes down for lunch or their mid-day break. Kinda nice- for them. A reminder of the slower pace they move at in this country. We were second in line behind an older lady and still waited almost an hour just to see the doctor. Once it was our turn, we were taken in to the doctor's actual office. Kind of strange to sit down in front of his desk to talk. His English was ok, but he had his receptionist there to help translate. He was dressed in solid white which for some reason looked funny to us. He had on white jeans, a white v-neck sweater with white shirt underneath with white socks and slip-on {white, of course} shoes kind of like Crocs. No suit and tie here with the white doctor coat. Once he was ready to examine the boys, he took them one at a time to his little exam room just off his office- almost like a little closet. He said both have bronchitus, but Caden is definitely worse- so he started him on antibiotics. We let him know the coughing at night {all night} is horrible and asked for something. He asked what we had been giving them and to our surprise he had never heard of Nyquil. He explained he'd be giving them two cough syrups and what the doses were for each- one for the night, one for the day. Between his broken English and my little bit of German, I understood exactly what he was prescribing and even understood the quantities. If only I had written it down! Once we received them from the pharmacy, there were no instructions attached or dosage amounts! We couldn't even tell which was day or night... Jim's guess was the orange would be daytime? Good guess, we hope! In reading both labels- I get they're both for kids... still didn't get the whole translation. No teaspoons either... it's all in ml. Hopefully, we're close.

Not a bad experience, just a reminder to me that living here, there are going to be so many experiences not just in Germany but interacting with the German people. Re-learning the German language remains on my list of important things to do. We've heard over and over to really enjoy our stay here, we need to get out and take advantage of the things to see and do in Germany and Europe as a whole. To me, this means understanding their customs and language if only enough to get by. Even if you stay on base all the time and never get out on the economy there is still quite a bit of interaction with the Germans. Most civilian jobs on base are filled with Germans. With anyone, understanding along with being understood are huge- having a language barrier is frustrating to say the least- I better get to work! 

our master BATHROOM

I'm having a little trouble with our Master bathroom. It's super small- I can deal with that. You can use the toilet and wash your hands without even getting up- might be convenient some day. The issue I'm having is the same issue I'm having with this entire house- there's NO storage. I don't understand why the don't have any built-in storage in these houses- absolutely none. You've already seen our kitchen, or kitchenette (which is how I now refer to it) as my friend Teresa pointed out. Very few cupboards. In the bedrooms there are no closets- that's just the European way. They use wardrobes instead. The base loaned us seven of them- they're really not that large, but definitely helpful. We moved this one to our entry way to help a little with the coats and snowpants that end up everywhere. I'll deal with the bedrooms and kitchen when we actually have things to have to organize and put away.

In the meantime, this bathroom is driving me crazy- everything is just way too close to the toilet. There is a ledge to place items but, you drop anything and it's likely to land kerplunk in the bowl- totally grosses me out. I really don't like much to do with the toilet at all- even having to reach over it to get something is a struggle for me. Our last master bathroom had the ideal set up- the toilet was in it's own little room completely isolated with its own door. I loved it the minute I saw it. I don't think I've always been such a germaphobe but having 4 little boys has changed my perspective on the area around the toilet. It's just not a clean place- it doesn't matter how much bleach I use. Here, I'll just have to adjust since it's all within reaching distance- the sink, toilet and shower. I did find a bathroom cabinet on a used garage sale site here for $10 and splurged for it. Not a normal cabinet- it's made to slip right under the sink. It's a start.   

The box in on the ledge was actually left over from mandarin oranges we bought. We finished eating them and I was trying to figure out how to throw the box away. I took the netting off and put that in our yellow bag, then took the staples out- I've figured out metal. The wood- not so sure and it's not on my cheat sheet. So, it's a handy-dandy organizer for the time being. Oh, I've got a lot to learn.

patience? tolerance? resourcefulness?

I'm trying to figure out what lesson I'm supposed to be learning. Patience, perhaps? When we left Kansas, we were told our household goods were supposed to be delivered no later than December 23rd. I knew that was close to Christmas, but being optimistic tried to believe our shipment might arrive even a couple days early and we'd be settled before the holdiays. We then found out that our no later than date was changed to December 29th- almost a week later.  I had come to accept this as unhappy as I was about it - it's really out of our control. This morning, we received the following email:

Dear MSG JAMES DICKEY,

We received your Household goods shipment. Shipment reference number: KKFA0037175
Our offering date is: 29DEC2010
Please call us to set up an appointment for delivery of this shipment, also we need your *address with zip-code and contact phone number *
*/_The offering on your shipment has to be answered within 3 hours. _/*
*/_Otherwise another delivery date might have to be scheduled._/*
If offer date is not convenient, call us as soon as possible when residence becomes available. This is very important for planning your requested delivery date and our availability within a reasonable time frame.
Office hours 08.00 -- 17.00 Monday thru Friday , except on local holidays.
Regards
Doris Gospodarek

Tomorrow? Really? Jim's at the doctor since he's been fighting a horrible bronchitus/head stuff for two weeks so, I have no phone to call back. I ran to a neighbor's to borrow their phone only to find out it's turned off. So, I email back immediately (10 minutes after her initial email was sent)

Ms. Gospodarek,
YES, please, please, please... tomorrow is wonderful  will fit in with our schedule. ANY TIME At your earliest convenience will work.  We're here ALL day available. Our address is: 5d Hauptstrasse, Oberstaufenbach.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,thank you, thank you, thank you,
Sheila Dickey

I really tried not to sound too overly excited. But, come on... two months living out of suitcases and on horrible borrowed beds is long enough, right? My excitement didn't last too long. This reply an hour later popped my bubble:

Dear MSG JAMES DICKEY,

hereby we confirm your delivery for 04JAN2011
to
HAUPTSTRASSE 5 D
66879 OBERSTAUFENBACH
0170-6046434
regards
Doris Gospodarek

What the heck? January 4th, I don't think so- that's another whole week. She said December 29th and I followed her rules replying within the three hour window. Something must be wrong, so I emailed back as nicely as I could.

We responded within 10 minutes of your initial email that the 29Dec (offering date) would be perfect. Could we please schedule our delivery for the 29Dec-as it was offered to us. We will be available the entire day at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,
Sheila Dickey

Nope- this was my response an hour later:

Mr. & Mrs. Dickey,

We are sorry to inform you that 2 of our drivers have called in sick for the rest of the week. Therefore, we are unable to delivery your shipment on the day initially offered.
Please accept our apologies along with our new offering date of 04 January 2011.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding regarding this matter.
Francis P. Potts

Seriously? Who's allowed to call in sick for the rest of the week and get away with it. It's only Tuesday. Again, nothing we can do about it. Guess January 4th is the date.

dang T O O T H

This silly tooth has been hanging by a string for a couple days. For some reason, loosing teeth is a major deal for Coleman. He just doesn't like it- at all. He's taken a lot of grief for it, especially from two big brothers who love to tease. Ty told him he wasn't going to talk to him until he pulled it out. That lasted all of about two minutes. He offered him an apple a bit later- nice brother. After his shower tonight, I threatened to tackle him and pull it out. Actually, I gave him the option of me or his daddy. Of course, he didn't want either. Bad mom, I know. I was just tired of hearing about it and really didn't want him to swallow it while sleeping tonight. So, I went in to take it- barely tapping it with the paper towel and it fell out without him even knowing. He was still screaming- mostly from being mad at me and a bit scared. Geez... what drama. Thank goodness I have boys- not sure I could have handled any girl drama! His daddy says he's going to be put into wrestling whether he likes it or not. He will be toughened up. On the other hand, Caden can't wait for his first tooth to loosen up. He's ready to yank it out already. Oh... such variety we have in this household!

Here's my much happier little guy who now looks like he's lost three teeth on top. Maybe there's enough space up there that he won't need braces... oh, we can hope!

L I V I N G room

This is our living room- an absolute wreck. As with everything else, this move has been all about adapting to this new stage of our new life. Living in this rental house is helping me plan our dream house with a couple things we really like {rolladens, toilets off the floor...} and even more that we absolutely don't like {I'm trying not to focus on this... }. I love having separate living and family rooms- something we'll definitely eventually have again. While I've never been able to achieve an immaculate house, it's nice to have a living room that stays somewhat tidy and presentable. I've decided the immaculate house {in my mind} won't happen until my kids are grown- I'm finally ok with that. Life is moving too fast, I know I need to enjoy them while they're here- messes and all. I really also enjoy not having a tv in the living room. Another thing I'll just have to wait until we move to another house to enjoy. In this houes- this is it, one big happy living area. Right now, we're using temporary furniture from the housing office and a borrowed tv. We love watching movies (or tv) with the big boys once the little guys are in bed.  Before moving, we would pile up on our bed or on the floor in our room. In our hotel, somehow we squished together on our double bed with speakers hooked up to the laptop for a movie each night. Here- with all laminate wood floors, it's super cold, so we take the nice vinyl blue cushions off the couch and chairs to make a "nice" pad on the floor. It's uncomfortable at best, but temporary, right? I keep telling myself this.

Yesterday (Christmas morning), after getting up early with the boys we were all relaxing on the floor watching a movie. About 9:00am, our landlords showed up to wish us a merry Christmas. Imagine their surprise when Jim invited them in and they looked at the wreck of a living room- way worse than this photo. Again, they speak no English. She got about half way down the stairs and asked me (in German)... "Wow- the whole family... Is everyone healthy?" I know they've never seen so many kids in one house, and possibly never this much of a mess. I tried to explain we were all just sleeping. I think they'll be quite surprised to see when we have our real stuff we can actually make a house look nice even with having so many kids. They have one, maybe two kids over here so four kids is a shock to Germans! I really need to work on my German... it's hard not being able to explain myself! When we told the boys how surprised she was to see so many kids- Justin said, "Didn't they know we have 4 boys?" Without missing a beat Jim said, "Nope, we had to lie and say just two kids in order to get a contract on this house." Ahhh... so much fun.

On a positive... here's a deer we spotted in back of our house this morning. Caden thought it was a little guy, but Jim's pretty sure they're just all a bit smaller here. Any size, they're pretty cool to see running through the woods. There's a nice creek running through with big tall trees. I'm sure it's going to be beautiful once Spring arrives and things start turning green...  

merry CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas! We really hope Skype will work this weekend so we can see and talk to our family! Yesterday, we decided to go for a quick drive. It had just started snowing, so we didn't want to go far, but enough to get out of the house. The boys didn't want to go so Jim and I went alone- we didn't complain! We drove about 15 minutes to a town called Kusel. I love hearing the church bells ring when I open our windows. I haven't figured out exactly what times, but they're beautiful when I catch them. Definitely sound and look like a scene a scene straight out of a movie. This first one is the church just around the corner from us. It's definitely on the smaller side as far as the churches around here go. I think the 2009 population of Oberstaufenbach was 258, so it's quite small- blink as you drive through and you'll miss it! They're all old, historic and beautiful.

This last photo is a typical view driving down a narrow road in a normal town. Lots of colors on the buildings and old, old, old! Very cool actually!

the HELP

Before receiving orders that we had to move, I spent a lot of time thinking and praying for help to achieve a simpler, less busy life. I've been trying to prioritize a little better to reach a balance between work (our vinyl business that has kept me insanely busy the last three years) and play. I know how to work hard when I have to, but much prefer to play with my family. I've been striving to get back to more of the play. When I envisioned simple and calmer, this isn't {at all} what I had in mind. I can't think of a Christmas season {ever} that I've had so much time on my hands. I'm the mom who loves making Christmas cookies and candies then taking them to our neighbors. I bought a cookie tray a few weeks ago and had to return it because it was too big to fit in our oven. It wasn't even the big one- kind of the middle size one and it still doesn't fit. We miss our neighbors terribly. I love looking at lights and listening to Christmas music. I wish I had kept my Josh Groban Christmas CD {my very, very favorite} out- if only I had known there's a reason it's called the slow boat. As I mentioned before, there aren't so many lights here- at least in our neck of the woods. I usually love my kids home for Christmas break and having their friends over. Not so fun yet this break- we all miss our friends as well and are realizing even more how important our good friends are to us.

We're going to try to make it to a Christmas market tomorrow- they're the big thing around Germany. If we had our van, I'm sure we would have already gone. We don't all fit in our car which makes it a little rough to go anywhere- especially with slick roads. The slow boat could just get here any day now... still our household is expected NLT 1/10 and our van NLT 1/4. We'll see.

As a result of this free time, I've relied heavily on our library and have tried to spend my free time catching up on some reading. I love reading, it's just one of those things I haven't made the time for these last few years. I just finished The Help. Wonderful book about African American maids working in white households in the early 1960's. I had a hard time putting it down and highly recommend it. It's a quick read, easy to get in to from the start. A reminder to me that things are in my life aren't too bad. I'm thinking of going back and reading all the classics I skipped over all the way through high school {{with cliff notes}} and missed out on. I'm open for any and all reading suggestions...

rot, wrote... same thing?!

Such a sweet note from our little Coleman waiting for us last night! He's still in that "sounding it out" stage of writing. You know- rot, wrote- same thing, right? Yes, we know all of our boys (BIG & little) picked up a little Kansan talk! Not sure why the b is backward on his "by Coleman"... but, we still got the message. Oh, the sweet things that get us through the day to day. I love my kids.
** can't get this photo to rotate for ANYTHING right now... going to have to stay sideways, sorry!

no S E R V I C E still

At a glance, looks like Caden is talking on our house phone. Not so! It actually rings when someone is at the door ringing the bell. There's a phone on the main level and the lower level and ringers on the front and side doors outside. You can talk to the outside party without ever opening the door. Of course, the boys love this- especially since every time they go outside, they have to knock (or call) in order to have the door opened to get back in. Very annoying on both sides of the door- getting locked out, and having to open it every two minutes for little guys who can't make up their mind to stay in or out! About our house phone. I'm not even sure I want one now after paying our phone bill at the hotel. Phone service is (like everything else over here) very expensive. We applied for one (around Nov 25th) and were told we'd know within a couple days if we could even get Internet service. There are only so many available ports for Internet in our village. Even if the previous tenants had Internet service doesn't mean it's available for us. Anyhow, after waiting over two weeks we found out yes, we are eligible for service and they will be out on January 4 to hook it up. January 4th, are you serious? This was last week, so it took them over two weeks just to look up if we could get it and another three weeks to hook it up. Wow- so behind the times. In getting Internet, we are getting a home phone number- only because it's part of their cheapest package. I think if someone calls to our home phone from a land line it's $1.25 a minute to talk. Maybe only 20 cents a minute if someone calls from a cell phone. I think it might be for emergency use only- might be having to tell any friends I meet to just Skype me...  everyone has Skype, right?

On the other side- Germans consider being late very, very rude. If they say dinner is at 5:00, be ready to eat at 5:00. We've heard this over and over. Early is actually on time. But, if you're waiting for any type of service- forget it, you're on their time and they're in no hurry. To hook up our service on the 4th is an all-day appointment between the hours of 0800 - 1600 hrs- nice.  With one company having a monopoly of 95% of Internet service in our area- we have no other choice. In the meantime, thank goodness our neighbors (Americans) are still letting us link in to their wireless connection from our house.

winter W O N D E R L A N D

As much as I've referred to snow in the last few weeks, you would think I've either never seen snow or I absolutely love the white stuff. In fact, neither is true. I think I've had enough snow to last my entire life and definitely prefer temperatures in the 90's and 100's. I don't ski and failed miserably at my attempt(s) years ago to snowboard. Once the cold hits, no matter how many layers I'm wearing, I seem to always freeze up like a popcycle- numb from the toes on up. That being stated, I'm trying to figure out myself why I'm so fascinated with it right now. It snowed all weekend, then last night rain was falling melting it away. This morning out of now where it's dumping more snow. Huge {{beautiful}} snowflakes. It looks like a picture-perfect winter wonderland. As crazy as Germans are about Christmas, we just haven't seen that many lights outside. We're guessing it's because of the high cost of electricity- it probably isn't too practical. That's just a guess. Without lights, the snow definitely has made it feel more like the holidays.

Justin compared it to cotton. The other three just run for their coats and boots to head out and play. Well, Caden prefers to shovel (of course) the others play. Ladybug runs her crazy circles outside, then is ready to be inside where it's warm. We heard the other day that this winter is supposed to be colder with more snow than this area has seen in a thousand years. Maybe our transition would have been easier if we had moved in the Spring. Nothing like a big, cold... Welcome to Germany!
A couple laws we found out about dogs from the newcomers orientation...
** If you leave your dog in the car {even with the windows cracked} and the police see- they can break open your car, let your dog run free and leave you a ticket. Nice.
** If you leave your dog home and it is heard barking for more than 30 minutes... the police can and will break in to your house, let your dog run free and leave you a ticket. Maybe this is why Germans take their dogs everywhere.

yet even M O R E snow

It's still snowing... just crazy to me for some reason. It was quite peaceful watching through the windows today in the warmth of this house, as bare and sterile as it feels. Big flakes, slowly falling- so much like Alaska. Ty spent most of the day outside. Jim even contributed helping him finish off his snowman- it's huge, pretty cool. Ty then moved on to his snow fort that Coleman had fun playing in as well. Quite entertaining and drains a bit of energy at the same time- great for little boys and big boys.
On a side note, we went to our first social event last night- Jim's Christmas party. I could have been just fine skipping this one since I have NO clothes, the BX had NOTHING I could wear and I can't figure out German sizes or stores yet. Yes, their sizes are all different, too. According to my little handy guide- a size 8 1/2 shoe is like a 38 1/2 over here. A size 34 bra is actually a 75!? Pretty sure when I'm ready for new bras, I'll have to just have to just guess and order online, or let the little German ladies figure it out for me over here. For kids, a size 6 is 116 and size 8 is 128. Yes, a little more than I can deal with or remember right now. Thank goodness a friend (my only friend over here thus far) saved me and dressed me... thanks, Laura! It was at a pretty cool soccer arena about 30 minutes from here in a real city- Kaiserslautern. Jim has already been there and pointed out the hardware store to me- looks like Lowes, so I was excited! We actually laughed most of the evening with some really great people- something we weren't expecting but both REALLY needed. It was a buffet with amazing food. Our first taste of this German cuisine and it was actually wonderful.

I tried to order a tap water from the server who let me know they don't have it. Yeah, right. Most of the time (we've heard), they won't give it to you since they don't make any money. The water here is really crisp and wonderful, not sure why they don't drink it. Seems it would be the "conservative" way of Germany to drink their own water- I'm sure it's straight from the Alps. To avoid getting mineral (carbonated) water, I guess you're supposed to order either with gas or without gas. Even ordering it "without gas" I got the bubbily, minerally stuff. Not too bad though. To make Jim's night... we had just met a lady at our table. After just a quick "Hello, my name is Sheila..." She said, "I'm trying to figure out where you're from. Your accent sounds like something from Arkansas..." Seriously? To think when we moved to Kansas, we used to laugh at our friends sounding a little like hicks... did three quick years change my no-accent Alaska voice? Jim thinks this is so funny, especially since she didn't say a word to him about his speaking and he's the one from KENTUCKY! Go figure! Everything else about Kansas grew on me, why not the accent too?

more S N O W

It's another SNOW day here, so the boys started their Christmas break a day early. Three snow days in two weeks... wow! I'm not big on snow {{or winter}}, but it is providing a little entertainment and stress relief for the boys. Justin and Caden were shoveling this morning and I'm sure Ty and Coleman are headed out soon to work on a snow sculpture of some type.

I finally took (and passed) my driver's license test this week, so I can actually DRIVE! It definitely wasn't without a little stress and studying! Jim took his in KS before we left so he could drive as soon as we arrived. He knew how tough it was and helped me study- it's because of him that I passed the first time. It's pretty normal to have to take it more than once, in fact I think more than half in the room with me had to re-take it. It was a 100 question test which wouldn't normally be too tough except it's Germany- the driving over here is completely different. With very few traffic lights, it's all about who has the right of way and getting used to the round-a-bouts. Now, if our van would get here... we could actually go somewhere all together as a family!

A few other interesting things straight out of the study guide...
** "Inconvenience" is to make more noise than necessary including letting the engine idle for more than 30 seconds (doesn't matter if it's cold)
** Curves- Drivers must slow down well before entering the curve and accelerate at the end (don't think they ever slow down AT ALL)
** If you run out of gas on the Autobahn, you may be fined. (Germans seem to have NO tolerance for stupidity... I do like this)
** Good Samaritan Law applies- if you don't stop at an accident to help, you will be punished by imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or by a fine. Supposedly, police set up mock accidents to test this out.
** If you're in an accident in the winter and don't have proper tires on your vehicle, another fine. Makes sense.
** All vehicles are required to have warning triangles in them in case you break down. They check this before you can even register your car.