Wir Sind Gespannt! (We Are Excited!)

Well, among other things, our family moved to Dusseldorf, Germany! 

What? Why? Well...basically we've always wanted to live abroad, Berkley is a rockin' scientist, and he applied for and received a fellowship (the Humboldt Fellowship), and we decided it sounded like a fun adventure. 

So, after 9 months of preparation, we made it, and have spent a first, fantastic day in Dusseldorf. Here's a run-down of all that happened in the last couple of days:

We got to the Seattle airport 3+ hours early, giving us plenty of time to check our SEVEN pieces of luggage (two of which were car seats) and get through 

security. We were carrying two duffle bags and a roller carry-on (taking full advantage of what we could get for free) plus 2 back packs, a shoulder bag and...oh yeah...two kids in tow. We must have been quite the spectacle, but it wasn't bad at all. Our first flight (to Las Vegas) was a breeze. 


On our way to our next gate at the Las Vegas airport, we ran right into one of my rugby players from Illinois, a German girl on her way home, and she was on our flight :) Woo hoo! It was good to see her, and she helped out with the kids while we waited for our flight.



Just before getting on the plane, I went to a little shop to use up my last few American dollars on some tampons (don't ask). I got to the register, was counting out all of my change, and was 9 cents short. 
The man at the register re-counted the coins. 
A line was forming. 
Things were getting awkward. 
The man at the register verified that yes, I was 9 cents short.
Then, a loud, Eastern European man (with a strong accent) declared "I will pay the 9 cents..." 
But then he didn't have 9 cents. 
More awkwardness...
"I will pay the 9 cents...With my credit card..." he said. 
"..AND I will also buy this book (and he held up Donald Trump's new book - and he was serious). 
I thanked him, and everyone around us, including myself, got a good chuckle.

 The kids were great on our 11 hour, overnight flight. There were plenty of extra seats, which meant that the kids definitely got to sleep, and I did for just a bit as well (Berkley stayed awake the the whole trip, that crazy man). Juniper slept on the floor under the seat, and Bridger on Dad's lap.

Bridger also became good friends with the T.V. screen planted directly in front of his face, and, for the most part, we were fine with that.









 After the longest layover of our lives (9 hours!) in Frankfurt, we arrived safely in Dusseldorf at 11 pm local time, gathered our luggage and took a taxi to the house we will be staying in for the next month. Martina, our hostess, is very kind and even had put some food in the fridge for us. 

The kids went to bed super late, and slept until about 11 am. We spent the first 1/2 hour of the morning with the kids watching MacGyver in German...which was even better than in English. The rest of the day we used to unpack, walk to the store (Aldi!), and meet the girl that will be babysitting our kids while we take our language class.


Overall, we are feeling great. There's been a couple of rough nights with the kids, but we kind of expected that, and expect it will happen in the future as well. We have an awesome hostess, Martina, who is helping take care of us in a way that we never expected - she stocked food in the fridge for us the first night we were here, loaned us umbrellas, offered us rides, and is even helping us look for a place to rent. The people at church were kind and seemed genuinely excited to see us and grateful for our attempts to speak to them in German (many of them spoke English). As I walked down the hallways of the church, I felt surprisingly warm and at home, and out of nowhere, a voice came into my mind saying "You are going to love it here", and I believe that's true. 

We are grateful for all of the help we've received to get here - little reminders of love from home like some dried mangoes from Trader Joe's, a new Star Wars Lego kit, a bag full of Q-tips, slightly pink socks, oatmeal packets and more. 

This week, while Berkley is home (before he starts work) we're going to work on getting the essentials lined up - bus passes, housing, getting used to public transit, and staring our language courses. 

Wir sind gespannt! (We are excited!)