Adwoa und Ama

Our air shipment arrived last Thursday. There were no visible problems with any of the boxes. We opened a couple boxes for some essentials. Above you can see E sitting with Blue looking at all of her books and toys. The rest we left closed so that the contents wouldn’t be contaminated with the dust created from the plumbing and electrical work. I think E is happy to get some of her other old favorite books back. (Don’t worry N, Blue enjoyed the plane ride and E is taking good care of him.)

You can see the kitchen is getting closer, but it is still not done. It is not for a lack of trying though. The concentration has been on the plumbing in the bathrooms and installing all the light fixtures. I still think it is not very efficient to remove and replace all light fixtures. Selling or renting a house is just taken very literally here. The lights look great. I think they give the rooms even more charm. We’ve been given Monday evening as an estimate of when we can move in, but I think it is optimistic. We’re pretty happy with the results so far. The house looks really good. We think it will be a great home for E and her new sister.

I haven’t written much about the Rosengarden where we are currently staying. I think its about as comfortable as we can get and still be living in a hotel. It has a 3 star rating on the front door ( I don’t know who created the scale though.) The ladies who work in the restaurant and front desk have been incredibly nice to E. They make a big fuss over her. If we don’t move into the house soon, E may start to expect all women to give her cookies. Each morning we go down for breakfast. There is a buffet style. E typically has some combination of yogurt, cereal and sausage links (aka meat balls). The coffee is nice and strong. There is a kids table where E plays. There is coloring and blocks. E’s favorite toys though are the rocks in the pot of the indoor tree next to the table. She takes rocks out, puts them back, takes them out, does not put them back … she tries as many variations on the rock theme as she can.

Last weekend we went for a walk in the ‘fasanerie’. I don’t know how it is spelled. It is a group of walking/hiking/jogging trails on the outskirts of town. It crosses a mixture of farms and forest in the surrounding rolling hills. I think this will become a popular weekend activity for the family.

I hope everyone is doing well. We’ll be in better contact after we move in and have the DSL modem. I’m posting this one from work and need to get back to Liz and E. Hopefully E was able to take a nap.

Hey, All–
We received our air shipment today so we’re ready to “camp out” as soon as the house is finished. Progress is coming on the house– looks like they’ll finish Monday, however. So we won’t really be able to move in until at least Monday evening (kitchen and bathrooms won’t be ready). However, we will be able to be in the house over the weekend a bit– maybe even get our computer set up. The phone company came today but we still need to buy appropriate phones that can connect to the system and they need to deliver our modem, so still no Internet (or phone calls) at home. Soon, we hope…..

Speaking of phones… for those of you who think you might want to call us on the telephone every now and again, here’s the best rate to Germany I’ve been able to find… http://www.iscard.com/rates/home.asp
It’s 9 cents/ minute. We got an IS Card when we went to New Zealand because they are cheap rates calling from abroad to the States. But the rates the other way seem to be really good, too. The only catch– it’s a prepaid phone card. So you would sign up on the IS website and put like $25 or so on your account. Each time you place a call, after you’ve dialed the number, it tells you how many minutes you have left. That’s handy. If you get to the end of your prepaid phone minutes, you go back online to the IS site and “recharge” your account by authorizing them to charge your credit card again. You can choose the amount. Anyway… it’s a thought. Perhaps your phone companies have special plans that would give you discounted rates to Germany, as well. Usually you can add these plans to your service for like $4 a month or something. That is easier because you don’t have to dial all the numbers you would have to for the phone card (1-800 number, then your phone card number, then our phone number), but it would likely be more expensive.

ANYWAY… one of these days we’ll get Skype (or something similar) figured out, and we can talk over the Internet for free. But in case you want to call us out of the blue, without planning in advance, the phone card might be a good option….

Otherwise… all is well. I went for a daytrip to Mannheim on Tuesday for meetings and Michael went on Wednesday to Kassel, so we’re already getting “out and about” for work. E has been in a very good mood the last couple of days and was an angel yesterday.

Today people are celebrating Carnival/ Mardi Gras/ Fasching… I always thought it was on a Tuesday… Anyway– all the men who wore ties to work (and lots do here, on a regular basis)– are having their ties chopped off. Good to know. Kind of reminds me of when Shawn Marie and I were in Poland for Easter during a break from Up with People and Easter Monday is a celebration called Smigus Dingus. Out of the blue, people started chasing us to throw water on us! Good to know these slightly dangerous customs before you come to a new place, no??? Anyway– now we know. If you’re visiting us next year on Carnival, we won’t let you wear a tie.

Take care, all– we’re thinking of you!

We spent some of the weekend looking for cars. We need to find a family size car and a small commuter. At this point we are down to a minivan or a station wagon for the family size car. Each has its good points. If one wasn’t available, we’d take the other. We’ll probably decide this week. The choice for the commuter depends on what we pick for the family car.

E discovered slides last week while we were waiting for our JD ID photos to get processed in a store nearby. Since then she will enthusiastically point out any in the vicinity ..”Sllid, sssllide, …”. We went for a walk around town on Sunday morning and found the same slide. The above photo is of Liz helping E down. She will walk around to the stairs a few times, but eventually gets lazy and tries to walk up the slide. Below is a picture of E in one of the plazas downtown. Another family was there kicking around a soccer ball. The city really shuts down on Sunday. A lot of people go out for walks. The stores are closed but the restaurants are open. Sunday night we found a loud restaurant (great for E because she can also be loud) downtown that made crepes. They made other dinner items too, but not until 6. It will be a nice place to go in the summer, especially, because it has nice outdoor seating. It is only 12 minutes’ walk from the house.

E fought napping all weekend. Here is a picture of her protesting Sunday afternoon. The current procedure is for her to stand up and throw her pacifiers out of the crib. (She has 2 in case she loses one in the night) Then she yells ‘Uh Oh ..Uh Oh ..Uh Oh ..Uh Oh …..’ until someone comes to pick it up and give it back to her. If you don’t come within 3-4 minutes, she starts to wail. In a hotel, it’s not acceptable. In a few days in her house, I think the Bipsi (the word she made up for her pacifier) throwing will be reduced. Once mom and dad no longer retrieve them, it won’t be as much fun anymore.

The air shipment has arrived in Frankfurt and we’re just waiting for it to clear customs. We stopped by the house Friday night and a little more progress had been made on the kitchen and shranks. The phone and DSL will be hooked up this week too. (We’ve been posting from work.) Not too long now. Hopefully we’ll be able to try the web cam/phones next weekend.