First Week of School

We made it through the first week. I even figured out how to make that left turn at the intersection that was giving me such trouble.

David and I realized that we need to get the kids signed up for sports activities and soon! SLO activities will fill in the gaps.

All in all, the kids have had a good week and they have all made friends. One of Micaela's friends is from Liederbach and even came knocking on our door one evening to see where we live. David and I gave each other a high-five over that later.

We have found the Armed Forces Network radio station "The Eagle" and it has become my main source of information. All day long, we get news updates, weather and traffic -- in English! The music they play is mostly Top 40, plus music from the 80s and 90s. I have lost track of current music in my old age and would have never thought I would find myself saying things like, "I really like that Justin Timberlake song," and "Let's download that Shakira song."

James' Birthday

Using our new navigation system, I make it to the mall without getting lost. This is huge. It's James' birthday and I need to get him just a few more things.

Picking the kids up after school is an accident waiting to happen. The lack of parking spots is a real problem, so you are allowed to park on the sidewalk. This makes walking to the school difficult as people are coming and going and have to share half of a sidewalk. Then the doors. This school's doors are making me crazy! There are heavy double doors everywhere, but they are made so that only one of the doors can open. You often need to wait to let someone through before you can go. This means that from the minute I get out of the car, with a toddler on my hip, I am doing the "No, you go first" and "Thank you for letting me go first" dance as I negotiate my way down the sidewalk and through the five sets of doors I need to pass through to get to the playground. I feel like one of those overly polite gophers in the Looney Tunes cartoons, "No, no, after you. I insist!" With kids running all around the parking lot, I'll be happy for us all to get through this school year with no accidents.

I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to deal with all the activities we need to sign the kids up for. There are sports programs and then Student Life Activities (SLOs). Micaela must sign up for a sport or an SLO afterschool every day. For James and Emilie, it's optional. Everyone is frantically signing up for the sports programs, but we haven't even gotten the list of SLO activities yet. How are we suppose to figure this all out until we have all the information? I ask questions, but feel that I'm being treated like an idiot. It's a case where I somehow should already know everything. I really like being led by the hand when I'm in a new situation and this is not how it is at the school.

James got a new skateboard that David picked up back in Atlanta and helmet for his birthday. There is a skatepark in Liederbach and James can't wait to try it out.

A day alone

Hooray for David! He bought a navigation system for the car. I think he knew it was important for my sanity. I just have to figure out exactly how far ahead 100 meters is and I'll be set.

Lufthansa arranged for David and me to attend a two-day "cultural training" program. Lucky for us, Lufthansa has an emergency day-care center for its employees and it is found right across the parking lot from the kids' school. So, we dropped the kids off and then crossed the parking lot and took Rebecca to "Fluggiland." Employees are allowed to use this day-care center up to 30 days a year. Rebecca had no problem going off to play and we needed to explain to the workers that she speaks kein Deutsch. Back in the car, we got a message that our training session was cancelled and would need to be rescheduled. So, we went right back into Fluggiland to get Rebecca. The lady in charge explained that she could not return the Euros we paid, so we might as well leave Rebecca for the day and see how she fares.

She didn't need to tell me twice. Excellent! A day with no children. A day all alone, all to myself. All alone. All alone with no phone, no computer and TV programs I couldn't understand. I took a nice long nap.

It turns out Rebecca had a fantastic time and wanted to show me all around the playground when I picked her up. She must be so bored with me at home.

James had a better day today and made a friend. This boy speaks six languages -- Spanish, Castilian, Dutch, English, Portuguese and is learning German. He has a Spanish mom, a Dutch father, and has lived in the U.S. and Brazil and now Germany. Amazing.

First Day of School

Yesterday was Micaela's first day of school and on the way there, she seemed nervous but excited. We got to the parking lot, she hoisted her backpack around her shoulders, and our eyes met. In that moment, with cars whipping by us and kids shouting at each other, my heart tightened. I felt like there was so much I wanted to say to her. "I'm so sorry we tore you away from all of your friends. I know you were so looking forward to going to the newly-built middle school in Georgia. I have heard you a few times in bed at night sobbing. You are being so brave and trying so hard to not make us worry about you." In the end, she gave me a quick hug, I said, "Have a great day, Micaela," and she replied, "Bye, Mom." And off she went.

I thought about her all day long as the rest of us tidied up, went to the park and the store. It was finally time to pick Micaela up and when we spotted her on the playground, she was chatting with a few other girls. That was a good sign. Micaela told us that her day went well and she was assigned a "mentor" -- another girl in her class who could show her around and help her out the first few weeks.

Today was the first day for James and Emilie. Before school, we gave Emilie her Schultüte. The first day of first grade is an extra special day for German children. They are presented with a Schultüte -- a large cone full of school supplies and treats. Emilie's had pencils, crayons, Gummi bears, barrettes and some little toys.

On our way we were slowed down at the train tracks just down the street from the school. The gates went down and we waited at least 5 minutes for the train to pass. Five minutes is a long time to wait if you're running a little behind. I knew from reading another American woman's blog about living in Germany that you need to shut off your engine while waiting. If you don't, there's a good chance someone will tap on your window and tell you to. I have heard that people have waited at that crossing for 20 minutes because 4 or 5 trains came in a row and the gates did not go up in between. And remember, getting caught at the train tracks is no excuse for being late!

The first graders went right away to the auditorium where there was a little ceremony. Flags from all around the world were marched across the stage, then children were called one by one up to the stage to join their teacher. When the entire class was present, the teacher led the kids off the stage and upstairs to their classrooms. Parents were not allowed to follow. When they called Emilie's name, she didn't hesitate. Up onto the stage, then off to her classroom.

At home with three of the four kids gone, I was feeling rather lonely and really missing our computer and phone. This would have been the perfect time to send an e-mail or catch up on the phone with friends. The house felt very quiet. I have been contenting myself with re-reading a few books I brought along -- Pride and Prejudice (for the 6th or 7th time) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (for the 2nd time).

Emilie had a good first day, James not so much. I think he was expecting to have a whole gang of friends on the first day, and it just didn't happen. Plus it didn't help that he went to the intermediate German class by mistake and sat through it in stunned silence. He's very quiet for the rest of the day and I'm starting to wonder if he isn't the one we should be watching out for. I was assuming that Micaela would be the one to have a difficult time just because she is a bit older and making friends can get harder as you get older. We'll all just need to be patient.

Coffee and Cake

David arrived home this morning from his trip back to Atlanta. Renovations on the house are going OK -- new carpet, paint inside and out, hardwood flooring, bathroom fixtures, landscaping. We didn't expect to need to replace the chimney, but we figured there would be a surprise here and there.

We couldn't wait to go through the food stash that David brought back. There were our favorite pancake and cookie mixes, Jif peanut butter and Kraft original macaroni and cheese. Our "nice" grocery store here has a few shelves of American products -- generic peanut butter and mac-n-cheese, Bisquick, Hershey's syrup, brownie mix, Newmann's salad dressing, Campbell's tomato soup -- but it's all very, very pricey. I just can't bring myself to pay $3.50 for a box of mac and cheese that doesn't even taste that good. It doesn't help that the dollar is the lowest it has ever been and still dropping. Everything keeps getting more and more expensive.

I took Guinness for a walk and we made our regular loop. We go past the chickens, playground and tennis courts, cross a bridge over the Liederbach and then make our way back by a soccer field and through some horse pastures. We have had horses being walked right down the street in front of our house several times.

We were invited by a colleague of David's for cake and coffee, a late afternoon tradition. This family moved last year from Atlanta to Frankfurt and their two children are also enrolled at the international school. The dad is German and the mom British, so we would get a well-rounded view of life here.

We received a lot of information about the school -- the sports program, required after-school activities, etc. -- as well as about adult German classes and life here in general. When they heard my horrors stories about getting lost every time I left the house, they offered me the use of their navigating system for the car. So, on the way home, we hooked it up, programed in our address and let the voice lead us home. This could be my salvation. David said he will look into getting us one.

Micaela and James both remarked that they were happy they already knew two kids from school.

Getting lost again

We still needed to get more school supplies and this time decided to try the mall Main-Taunus-Zentrum. It should have taken 10 minutes to get there, but we ran into the same problem of missing the right exit, taking wrong turns, being put on different highways and then spying that blasted telecommunications tower that kept getting closer instead of further away. I even managed to add going down a one-way street in the wrong direction to my repertoire. This time, I did let my emotions get the best of me, finally found a street to pull off to and cursed and cried. And cursed some more. Why was this so difficult? Micaela took a look around and rather hesitantly said, "Ummm, Mom? I think this is the same place where we pulled over yesterday and people helped us back to the highway." I glanced around and saw much to my relief that she was right. We had ended up at the exact same spot. Surely I could find my way back a second time.

We made it to the mall and because I felt so guilty about my behavior earlier, I decided to treat the kids to an early lunch at McDonald's. We got our order (the menu was very similar to the American one) and enjoyed the special treat, but I kept noticing an employee staring at us. We were the only people in that section so I was pretty sure it was us he was staring at. I felt a bit uncomfortable and didn't wish to linger any longer than we had to. I gathered up the trays and our trash and looked around for the trashcan. I couldn't find one. What were we supposed to do with all this? I did notice a tall box with slots where maybe you could place your tray. But what about the other stuff? I stood there with our trays feeling foolish as I looked all around. I finally decided to take the coward's way out and just leave. As we turned to go, the employee approached our table, took our trays and disappeared behind a door. My only guess is that employees sort through your trash and pull out recyclable items. The poor fellow was simply waiting for us to leave so he could do his job. So, we probably should have placed our tray loaded with trash into one of those slots. I'll know better next time.

Recycling is taken very seriously in Germany. To quote from the 20-page recycling booklet we received upon arriving in Germany, "Not only is recycling crucial for the future of our planet, but here in Germany, it is the law." Virtually all packaging, be it from the grocery store or any other place, is recyclable. And woe be to you if you do not sort your trash carefully. Rumor has it your trash bags may be inspected and if it is determined you are not following the recycling rules, you will be fined and the town could refuse to pick up your trash.

Open House

I took Guinness for a walk this morning and he did fairly well. He is nervous around other dogs and at one point four dogs surrounded him at once to check him out. Guinness stood there, but the hair on his back went up, prompting a woman to declare that he had "angst." I think she's right, but I'll probably have angst, too, every time I walk him as most dogs here are walked off leash. Guinness was approached several times by dogs whose owners were a little ways off. It's not the other dogs I'm worried about. Guinness can easily get riled if he feels threatened and he doesn't seem to like dogs with ears that stick straight up, like German Shepherd's. Most of the dogs we saw today were other labs, so no problem there. I've also seen many white golden retrievers like Oprah's dogs. I had never heard of them until recently, but they are quite trendy here.

Today was Open House at school and we just got word that ISF has a spot for James. Micaela has been placed in 6th and James in 3rd so they must have done OK on their tests. On the way, I needed to make a left turn and somehow ended up in a turn lane for oncoming traffic. I fully expected the driver who met me head on to shout and give me an angry gesture, and but instead he just cocked his head to the side and gave me a puzzled look. I quick turned right instead, but I have yet to figure out that intersection. I haven't been able to go left yet. I feel just like Chevy Chase in European Vacation, "I can't get left!" I'm expecting to make a wrong turn every time I leave home, but it is still so frustrating and dangerous!

On the way to school, we pass the Höchst industrial park which is a huge complex of dozens of chemical manufacturing plants. This complex was one my first views of the Frankfurt region as we drove away from the airport a week or so ago and gave me the false impression that the whole area was very industrial. As I look at the many smokestacks, I can only hope that the air the kids breathe on the school playground is OK.

The school was chaotic, which I expected. Had trouble finding a parking spot, lots of different languages being spoken, no one seemed to know where to go. We did manage to get to all the kids' classrooms and for the first time, they have male teachers. Emilie's and Micaela's teachers are British and James' is Canadian. We went back out to the playground where James took a big step and asked to join in a soccer game. Emilie, as always, just walked up to a few girls and started playing with them.

Driving in Germany

This morning we happen upon German Nickelodeon and the Dora the Explorer show. We were all curious to see what it would be like. Would Dora teach German children Spanish? Nein! She teaches them English! Rebecca loves Dora, but we could tell that she knew that something wasn't quite right. She lost interest pretty quickly.

David flies back to Atlanta today for a meeting and to check on the state of our house renovations. The kids and I are to be left to our own devices. This could be interesting.

The kids received their school supply lists, so off we went to a German equivalent of SuperWalmart -- Real. (Walmart failed here in Germany. I'm hoping Target may make a go of it.) Getting to Real is an adventure and after asking once for directions, we make it. One thing we noticed immediately was that there were two floors. You get your shopping cart and enter and see that food is on the first floor and everything else is upstairs. How to get upstairs, though, with a shopping cart? In the middle of the store is a slanting moving sidewalk and the wheels of your cart lock into place on the conveyor belt. Very smart, otherwise it would be difficult to hold your heavy cart in place.

We manage to find most of what the kids need, but I am struck by the lack of selection in this large store. Instead of 5 types of glue sticks, there are 2. Instead of 12 different boxes of crayons, there are 3. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but I'm wondering how this might play out in the future with other things we need.

Our most important purchase of the day? Stickers for our glass doors. Someone still manages to walk into one of the doors every day and that someone is usually little Rebecca. Her poor head can only take so much.

Getting home is a big revelation for me. Here, highways have number names, just like in the U.S., except the highways aren't given directional names, such as 66 North or 5 West. It's just "the 66" and "the 5." So, for example, you come up to the entrance ramp of a highway, and one sign will say "66 Frankfurt" and the other "66 Wiesbaden." That is, if you're lucky. I'm clear that Frankfurt is to the east and Wiesbaden is to the west. But some of the signs instead have one arrow for "66 Bad Soden" and another for "66 Steinbach" (I'm not familiar with either place) or better yet, there are places where "Liederbach" is indicated on the sign for the ramp going to the left and the ramp going to the right. Which way to go? I'm realizing that I have to learn the names of the cities around here pretty quick or I am never going to get where I need to go.

So, back to our ride home from Real. Which way is home? I keep taking what seems like wrong turns and every time I take a ramp to try to get off the highway and turn around, I am put onto another highway.

Thanks to the view of the tall telecommunications tower in Frankfurt, I can tell that no matter which way I turn, I am heading toward the tower, and thus, in the wrong direction. After more than 6 wrong turns and becoming completely disoriented, I finally take a ramp that allows me to pull onto a side street, shut off the engine and take a long, deep breath. Having the kids in the car with me is the only thing keeping me from bursting into frustrated tears. I take our apparently useless map and approach some people on the street for help. Hooray! I have happened upon very patient people who just happened to be heading toward the highway we needed, though they will eventually get on it in the opposite direction. It takes several twists and turns while following my new best friends till we come to the entrance ramp for the 66. One of my saviors actually leans his upper body out the car window to indicate which lane I should be in and with a very grateful wave, we're on our way home.

I am, though, admittedly spooked about driving around now. On the map, it looked like getting to Real and back should have been a piece of cake. This is all to be more complicated than I thought.

School Tour

We went back to the school today for Emilie to be tested. I should not have been surprised when she was placed in 1st grade (in the U.S. she would be entering kindergarten) as I had heard that German 1st grade is equivalent to our kindergarten. But I started thinking ahead and asking myself, "Well, what will happen when we move back? Would we drop her back a grade?" I'll try not to worry about that for now. We still have not heard for sure what grades Micaela and James will be in.

Then we got an official tour of the school. ISF teaches from kindergarten (our pre-K) to grade 13. Seventh grade and up is considered secondary and has its own section of the school, so Micaela should still be in the same part of the school with Emilie and James. There is a very nice pool and a good variety of non-academic activities such as music lessons, sports, art, etc. German and English classes are mandatory and the school is constantly testing the kids to be sure everyone is on track. The school is based on the British education system, so we'll have to wait and see how things differ from what we are familiar with.

There are over 50 countries represented at the school; 30% German, 18% Korean and 16% American. Outside of the language classes, all instruction is done in English (to the kids' relief).

One interesting note: We were told that getting caught at the train crossing down the street is no excuse for being late. I'm sure this will all start to mean something once school begins.

At home, David fiddles with the TV satellite and we now receive hundreds of European, African and Asian channels. From what I can see, the only English-speaking ones are CNN International and the British Sky-News channel. Figures.

Store Hours

This is a picture of our dining room with a wood burning stove. There are seats that run along it where you can sit to warm your....seat.

We went to IKEA today which is near Wiesbaden, (a U.S. army base and hospital is located there). The kids couldn't help but notice the Toys R Us right across the way. We saw several things at IKEA that we would like to get, but we need to wait till our container arrives with all our belongings. Our house feels very roomy right now, but that's because it is sparsely furnished. We're actually liking how much easier it is to keep tidy and are starting to dread having all our stuff here. Even though we got rid of a lot and put a lot into storage, we still probably brought too much.

The kids like the IKEA because they can go from floor to floor via slides rather than stairs. Plus we let them get hotdogs.

On the way home, we stopped by the mall so that I could get a cell phone number (it's not set up to call internationally, though) and we needed to shop for meals for today and tomorrow because stores are closed on Sundays.

Until 1996, the government mandated that stores close by 6:00 pm on weekdays, at 2:00pm on Saturdays and they were to be closed on Sundays, to ensure the reduction of working hours in Germany. You can imagine how hard that was on single people or families where both parents worked. I have heard horror stories about people needing to leave work early to go food shopping or about that one Thursday a month where stores were allowed to stay open till 8:00pm, it was a madhouse trying to get shopping done. Plus, you only keep a few day's worth of food in your kitchen at a time. In Germany, people don't "stock up" on food the way we do in the U.S. In fact, our American friend Dina told us that she went food shopping every day on her way from work.

The government has since relaxed the rules and the grocery stores around us are open until 8:00pm and one is even open until 10:00pm, but all are closed on Sundays. Fortunately, bakeries are sometimes open for a few hours Sunday morning so you can get fresh brötchen (rolls) for breakfast. In an emergency on a Sunday, you can get some milk and bread at a gas station, or some people even go to the airport grocery store which is allowed to stay open.

I was nervous about the whole food shopping thing before I came to Germany. You hear about the stores hours (which it turns out is not a problem) and then most Germans have small kitchen and tiny fridges, and even smaller freezers in those fridges. Our generous landlord, however, installed new large kitchen cabinets and a refrigerator the same size as our American one. Even with the storage space, I still go food shopping almost everyday, mostly because I can't come up with more than one meal idea a day. Plus, it's a nice walk by myself during quiet time. So far I have been pretty wimpy and have made familiar foods - hamburgers, shepherd's pie, pasta, frankfurters, etc. But I always have to be sure to shop for Sundays in advance.

The International School

Today is a big day. We drive the kids to the International School where they are to be tested for grade placement. There are definitely spots for Micaela and Emilie, but no spot yet for James. I'm working under the assumption that they will see the wisdom of making a spot become available as we will eventually have four kids enrolled there.

We have decided on this school, called ISF, because we were already familiar with it (our American friend's kids went there) and they stress learning German more than the other international school did.

It's my first time driving and I'm OK once we get going, but now that I'm behind the wheel, I realize that there are tons of traffic signs and I have absolutely no idea what they mean. I need to get to that driving school fast! We not taking the highway and make a few wrong turns, but arrive safely.

We need to go through a manned security gate to get into the school and while there, Micaela and James get tested in math and English. It turns out Emilie will need to come back another day.

David leaves to go to work and I take the little ones onto the playground. I meet another American mom there whose son is being tested as well. She has been here for several weeks and said that things are going OK. She's not overly enthusiastic, but she also has four kids and is still getting adjusted. Her son did not pass the school's math test on his first try -- and he was in honors math back home in the U.S. This was his second try, so now I am a bit nervous about how my own the kids will fare.

She tells me that she has "Slingbox"--where they kept their house in the U.S. and hooked their TV back home through the computer to their TV here. She can watch her American TV here, though it's at real time, which means The Office is on at 3:00am here. No, problem, though. She has Tivo so she just tapes everything and watches it later.

Back home, we go the the playground and a grandmother strikes up a conversation with me, but I feel a bit conspicuous. When I go to the park, once I open my mouth and English comes out, everyone stares at us.

We are getting more used to our house. Compared to most German homes, our kitchen is big and we have a full-sized fridge (much to my relief). Other homes I have been in have a fridge that is 2/3 the size of ours and then the freezer is 1/4 the size of the typical American one. You can probably fit 2 gallons of ice cream in there and that's it. On the other hand, the microwave oven and regular oven are much, much smaller and have no clocks nor timers. I use a little plastic timer if I'm baking.

Penny, our relocation agent, told me a funny story about how her family hosted some others for Thanksgiving, to show their German friends how we celebrate it. She got a big turkey ready for roasting, opened the door of the oven and then realized that it wouldn't fit! Her husband had to saw the handles off the roasting pan and it just barely fit.

We have a 1/2 bath on the first floor and a family room that is like a solarium -- lots of glass for me to clean. At night we lower the electric metal blinds and feel quite sheltered.

The kids have their own floor with a full bathroom and their bedrooms are much bigger than their old ones in Atlanta. Rebecca and Emilie share a room which frees up the smallest one as a playroom.

Go up a wooden spiral staircase and you're in the penthouse suite. We have our bedroom, a large bathroom, an office and then a dressing room where we will put shränke. The first few times I had to venture back down the spiral staircase, I got a little dizzy, plus you look down 1-1/2 stories. Poor Guinness, he's still not comfortable either. He sort of surfs down the stairs. All you hear is him slipping and sliding down.

The basement is divided into three small rooms and we hope to put our fußball table in one of them.

We have many rose bushes in our backyard along with three wooden barrels with lily pads and goldfish. We also have two little garden sheds to put bikes and landscaping materials. There is a great climbing tree with a swing for the kids as well.

At the Playground

Today is David's first day of work. My first day at home alone.

Some workers come to do some odd jobs around the house, like fix the dishwasher and put in new lights. They speak no English and I speak only a little German, but we manage OK.

Penny, our relocation agent stops by and I asked her to show me how the washer and dryer work. She oohed and aahed over the new front loading machines our landlord got for us and translated the settings for me. She reminded me, "And don't forget to empty the water reservoir out of the dryer when it finishes a load. " Excuse me? Empty a water container? In the dryer?

There are two dryer systems in Germany, one like the American system (a heater heats the water in the clothes and the water passes though an exhaust vent in the form of steam to the outside) and the other, like ours, where water is drawn into a large reservoir. It probably holds almost a gallon of water. That would come in handy for watering flowers during all our months of drought in Atlanta!

Our dog Guinness and one of the workers walk into one of the glass doors.

During quiet time, the kids obediently keep quiet inside and I walk to one of the three grocery stores located only 5 minutes away. As a going away gift, my friend Valerie gave me a Pride and Prejudice canvas tote bag. She knew from experience (she and her husband Jim lived in Germany for three years when they were first married) that I would need a shopping bag. Here you pay for plastic bags at the grocery store, so people bring their own canvas bags or even baskets. It's saves money and it's less wasteful, but, hey, I re-used every one of those little plastic bags from the supermarkets back home in the U.S. They were handy.

The kids like going to the park and always stop to say hi to the chickens along the way. The chickens come running to us in such a comical fashion. We never feed them, though, much to their disappointment and I'm waiting for one of my kids to pecked as they can get rather peeved at us.

The playground has the tallest slide I have ever seen and the kids carry sand in their shirts up to the top and pour it down the slide to make their descent even faster.

Graffiti is everywhere.

 Leg placement insures that Becca doesn't go flying across the park.

It also has a zipline which I have never seen in an American playground.

I'm brave and decide to try to cook wienerschnitzel. It's a bit overcooked, but OK for a first try.

David brings home a rental car for me to use -- a little tiny Ford Fiesta. Who cares how little it is, it's automatic!

But I need to learn stick eventually. David has tried teaching me a few times, but I'm nervous and jumpy and it's not going well. We also found that Germany does not recognize our Georgia driver's licenses, so we will need to submit to the notoriously difficult German driving tests within the next six months -- notoriously difficult even for Germans. We will need to take lessons at a driving school, so maybe they'll be able to teach me stick.

We use our new dishwasher for the first time. We use the little tablets of detergent and need to put rinsing agent and salt into little containers inside the dishwasher. The water here is so hard that you need to buy special salt for your dishwasher (they don't have water softeners). The only thing I notice is that when I go to empty the dishwasher, it smells a little funny. I told David that it reminds me of a not-so-clean beach. This is probably one of those things we won't notice in a few weeks (I hope).

Shopping and German TV

The town we live in is Liederbach, which means "song creek" and is named for the creek that runs along the path near our house. It is about 15 minutes from Frankfurt and 15 minutes from school. David is looking forward to a 15 or 20 minute commute to the airport as opposed to 1 to 1-1/2 hours each way in Atlanta.

Today our neighbor Frau Müller presented us with the traditional housewarming gift of salt and bread. The bread is a very large, very delicious round loaf of dark country bread.

We went to our local mall, which is an open air one, to do some shopping and were surprised to see dogs all over the place. Can you imagine seeing a woman at the cosmetics counter at Macy's picking out lipstick with her labrador retriever sitting calmly by her side?

I kept an eye out for the fashion trends. Women with very, very, very low-cut jeans with huge shiny belt buckles to draw your eye and lots of men in capris. It was warm, in the mid-80s, but I'm glad that I remembered that Europeans tend not to wear shorts in public. I wore my jeans and counted only two women in shorts. Otherwise, they were all in long pants, capris or skirts. Later on, a German woman would tell me that she doesn't even own a pair of shorts.

Our mall does have McDonald's, Häagen-Dazs, Starbucks and a Game Stop. There is also a movie theater and this week, every single movie playing is American or British, but dubbed in German. And I never knew that our cell phone provider, T-Mobile, is a German company.

When we got home, David walked into one of the glass doors.

After dinner, we gave the kids an assignment. They were to go to the park and say, "Hello" (Germans do say, "Hallo") to one person. They returned, very proud of themselves. They said hello to two children who turned out to be very friendly, but, alas, they were only visiting the area for the day. I think it did give our kids a bit of confidence, though.

The TV satellite fellow stopped by and hooked up our TV. We had fun flipping though the channels to see what we would recognize. We do have the option of paying extra and receiving some American English-speaking channels, but we'll see how we do with regular German channels for now. In any event, we still saw Spongebob, Caillou, Jimmy Neutron, etc. albeit in German. Spongebob is Spongebob Schwammkopf (Spongebob Spongehead), Patrick is Patrick, and Squidward is Thaddeus (???).

Getting Settled

Doors, doors, everywhere! Our house has a door going into every single room, into every single hallway. That means there is a door going up the entryway stairs to the first floor, a door going into the kitchen, a door going into the living room area, a door going from the top of the stairs into the kids' hallway, doors everywhere! Having so many doors means you only need to heat the area you're in and it's more economical.

It is a problem for us, however. You open the front door to enter our "foyer" area. Then up a set of stairs and there is a door that leads into the first floor area. That door is glass. There is another door that goes from the hallway into our living room. That door is glass. Do you see where I am going with this? James, Emilie and Rebecca have all walked headlong into one of the glass doors. They are heavy doors, it's shocking when it happens and it hurts! Plus, it is a little humiliating. We need to get some stickers for those doors. I have a feeling they won't be the last ones to bonk their heads.

After a breakfast of yogurt and cereal, the kids were off again to the park. James came back rather frustrated. "The kids all speak GERMAN!"

Penny, our relocation agent, stops by to see how we are getting along and promptly walks into one of the glass door. That's four people, and counting.

The most important thing we learned from Penny is the importance of "quiet hours." Everyday from 1:00 to 3:00 and all day Sunday is quiet time. No making loud noises. That means the kids can be outside, but they can't be yelling (at the park is OK). You shouldn't be running your vacuum cleaner nor your lawn mower. I'm glad she told us about that before we had to hear about it from one of our disgruntled neighbors!

We meet our neighbors, the Müllers who are our landlord's parents. Our landlord and his family lived in this house until they decided to move into the city this summer. The Müllers seem very nice and speak English. They miss having their grandchildren right next door and said that they are happy a family with children moved in. You can't wish for a better reception than that. There are not a lot of children in our neighborhood, so I was nervous about how we would be greeted.

I make our first meal and go out on a limb and make......... cheeseburgers. It's tricky as I don't have any of my kitchen supplies (we do have rented ones), no cook books, no internet to look up recipes and a good deal of the food at the supermarket is unfamiliar. I'm playing it safe for now.

Arriving in Frankfurt

We arrive to a rather deserted Frankfurt airport in the early morning hours, find our luggage and dog Guinness, and make our way to our new/used minivan, tired but excited. Imagine my shock when I settle down into the passenger seat and notice that the van is stick shift. I think a naughty expletive escaped my lips. So, along with needing to get settled in a new country, learn new driving rules and my way around, I would need to learn stick shift?

My first impression of the Frankfurt area is that it was very industrial. We pass by a good deal of factories and smokestacks, but then a second later, we see cornfields and cows grazing underneath power lines. We see walking/biking paths everywhere.

James comments on the amount of graffiti. It is everywhere and doesn't look to us like it is gang-related. We'll need to research this. Someone would later tell me that graffiti is an acceptable form of self-expression here. Hmmm...

We go first to our American friend Dina's empty apartment where the kids and I immediately fall asleep on the floor and David leaves to check on the rental furniture being moved into our house. We have a relocation service that has been taking care of a lot of the hassles of getting set up here.

For dinner, we go to an Italian restaurant for pizza and the kids have their first taste of spetzi - a mixture of Coke and Orange Fanta. The kids get ice cream cones for dessert and walking back to the apartment, an older woman speaks to James. When he doesn't answer her, she catches up to David and says, "I spoke to your son and he didn't answer me." David explains that we're American and James doesn't speak German. She replies, "Oh, I was just saying to him, 'You look like you're really enjoying your ice cream!' " She goes on to tell us how nice the Hessen region is, how important family is ("And look at you! With four children!") She wants to touch all the children and wishes us well. Hmmm, what's this about Germans in this area being unfriendly? Well, that was an excellent first impression.

We finally arrive at our new home in Liederbach, a small town located west of Frankfurt. From the outside, our house appears to be a small row home, but inside it is large. And we have our much longed-for basement!

The floors are all tile or wooden and with little furniture, there are strong echoes. We're having a hard time understanding each other at times.

The kids right away take off for our backyard...

...and then down the path that they know leads to a playground. In my jet-lagged state, I struggle to put five feather beds into their covers. In Germany, you have a mattress covered with a fitted sheet and then a feather bed (like a comforter) in a cover. That's it. No top sheet, no other blankets. There are lighter weight feather beds in the summer and heavier ones for the winter. Also, the pillows are squares. I must have been tired as the things I noted right away have to do with sleeping!

Rebecca, feeling uncomfortable in her new surroundings, screams for over two hours at bedtime. David has assured me that our concrete walls are very thick and the neighbors won't hear us. He'd better be right.

As things stand now, we have no dishwasher, no phone, no internet and no TV. Germans usually wait months to get phone and internet, but we should get ours in a few weeks. These are sure to be very long weeks.

Moving Day

The day we have been --dreading? --or --looking forward to? Our emotions are so mixed.

Our suitcases are packed for us to survive for five to six weeks. We are to live in our house with rental furniture until our cargo container with all our belongings arrives after crossing the Atlantic by ship.

Until the last minute, though, I was scurrying around deciding on last minute items to take and trying not to panic. Our good friends, the Aubers, thought to bring us lunch and we enjoyed munching on our sandwiches with them.

While waiting for the airport shuttle to arrive, the Aubers and our good friends and neighbors, the Honeys, stood with us. What a surreal moment that was when the shuttle finally came into view. The tears flowed and I think we were all in a state of shock. The Honeys even unfurled a goodbye banner they had made for us. What affected David and me the most was seeing our kids saying goodbye to their friends. We would have all been happy to stay in Atlanta forever (as long as all our friends did, too), and we felt so awful that our decision to move was going to tear our children away from their friends. We can only hope we made the right decision.

It was a quiet ride to the airport, but even that short trip could not end without a little drama. Our driver did not seem to know the airport very well and in spite of our protests, ended up letting us off at an island in between two streets. So there we were with four kids, 10 large bags and dog in a crate, with cars and buses whizzing by us, wondering how we were to get across the street to the departure area. We hoped this was not a foreshadowing of how the rest of the trip was going to go.

David was able to coax a skycab to cross the busy street to help us get to check-in. At that point, everything went well. We got to our gate and were struck by the large number of U.S. soldiers there. We boarded and the kids were thrilled with our business class accommodations. A flight attendant greeted us right away with comic books and German gummy bears (one of our favorites). The kids were able to watch movies on their own personal TV screens while they enjoyed their Häagen-Dazs ice cream and then recline almost totally horizontal for bed. The only thing James complained about was that the flight attendants were too attentive. He just wanted to watch his movie, thank you very much, but they kept bugging him to see if he needed anything.

Rebecca was very restless and would not settle down until she banged her head on the hard armrest and cried herself to sleep. I dozed, but my mind was going a mile a minute, and it seemed way too soon that we were descending into Frankfurt.