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.