May 22nd, 2016
The process of things moving from “foreign” to “familiar” is fascinating to me. A tourist bus passed by me in our village last night. As people looked out their windows, I wondered how they saw me. Though I’m still a foreigner, I’m also a resident and this village is now my familiar…slowly becoming home. A few days ago, May 17th to be exact, we marked our sixth month of living here in Germany. Its hard to believe we have been here half a year already!
Here’s a glimpse into village life this past week…
Monday was a German holiday which affects public transportation. To help alleviate the hassle for Hubby, he drove the car to work and we took advantage of E’s bus pass to get him back and forth to school. Here’s S walking home from the school bus stop early in the morning.
The boys and I got a scoop of ice cream from our favorite coffee shop as an after school treat one warm afternoon. The ice cream is made in-house and is quite DELICIOUS! We also enjoy seeing the family that runs the place.
E had his first soccer practice with his team this past Wednesday. The soccer fields are on the outskirts of our village. We are really proud of our boy for stepping out of his comfort zone to be the “new kid” on a team with a German speaking coach and mostly German speaking kids. Thankfully, one or two of the kids speak English and help translate for E when the coach needs to explain something. Otherwise, he has to watch, experience and learn. This team has been playing together since last September and they are GOOD! I can see why the Germans won the last World Cup…its in their DNA. We saw one of the check out ladies at the grocery store on the sidelines. It looks like her son might play on the team as well. We are starting to connect faces in and out of context.
In keeping with our once-a-week tradition of eating out at the same restaurant in our village, we went after soccer on Wednesday evening. The owner now knows our names, what we typically order and gives the boys treats as we leave. We practice our limited German with him.
On Thursday, I invited the woman I met at soccer last week over for lunch. Her name is Amy. She brought her two younger boys (almost 5 and 2 yrs) with her. I also invited my other friend, Amy, and her son (almost 3 years old) so they could all meet. They both lived in Korea before moving to Germany. It was fun to connect people in our village and spend the afternoon together. I didn’t take pictures…too busy chatting!
We returned to the soccer fields on Friday evening. E’s team practices twice a week and S’s team practices on Fridays. Soccer Amy came with her boys and we enjoyed chatting with her as they played together. E is on the same team as her seven year old son and S and her middle son play on the same team. What a treat! Here is S with his new buddy in the background. He is VERY excited about his friendship! We are too. =)
Saturday was in the 70’s so we ventured over to our village pool to check it out. The water was shockingly cold but the boys and Hubby still got in. I watched from the warmth of my pool chair!
The train station is less than ten minutes from our house. There is a bridge that goes over the track allowing us to cross over to the other side. Last night, I walked to one of the local grocery stores. It was a beautiful evening to take a stroll. Here’s the view looking down from the bridge on both sides.
I also passed this phone booth as I was walking home. I wonder if anyone actually uses it?
Adi, our crazy cat, has found a new spot to hang out…our gutters! If she finds one of the upstairs windows open, she walks out onto the lower roof of our kitchen and watches the birds from her high perch. She still likes to curl up in the sink too!
This evening, our new friends from soccer invited us over for a barbecue. All the boys played together while the adults connected. We are really excited about these new friendships! They are not sure how long they will be here but we hope to take full advantage of the time our paths cross. (No pictures…maybe next time.)
I like the quaintness of village life. Community is slowly forming and we are relishing it. Yay!!!
