Life In General

I have had a lot of questions about our living situation, my social situation, my birthday, and more, and just thought it would be a good idea to update people on life in general. 

So first, my (mid-January-belated) birthday update: Success?? Absolutely. I couldn't have felt more loved. It was absolutely splendid. I kind of just expected to spend the day with my little family and I was totally fine with that. I enjoyed a pleasant day with the kids, and even went to the local library for the first time. Berkley had made the ever-delicious, butter-and-chocolate-filled-so-unhealthy-for-you-we-only-make-it-once-a-year-for-my-birthday cake, and had told me to be home by 4 pm. I was walking home from the library with the kids, and as I approached our little house I saw a dear friend I made at church out in the driveway! She had stopped by quickly with delicious little treats from a bakery, and flower bulbs for me to plant and grow. I don't even know how she knew it was my birthday! It was a small gift that spoke volumes of her kind and giving heart. It was so sweet. 

I thought that was the surprise that Berkley had set up for me at 4 o'clock, but I was wrong! Shortly after getting inside another kind, new friend from the ward came over with her three little kids (1, 3 and 5) and THEN the twin 7 yr old neighbors showed up bringing a friend (so, 7, 7, and 7) and then there were Bridger and Juni (1 and 3). So our house was pretty much filled with small, extremely excited little children singing me happy birthday and giving me chocolate. It. Was. Awesomelycute. Seriously - it made me so happy - they were all just so happy it was someone's birthday, kind of like Christmas is more fun when there's little kids around to freak out about it, ya know?

The Birthday crew, mostly focused on delicious cake

The Caaaake...almost gone, of course.

On top of that, Berkley disappeared for a minute and THEN - out of nowhere, Berkley brought the computer around the corner, and on it were some of the people I love most in the world who had all Skyped in at the same time to sing me happy birthday. It was so sweet - so thoughtful, really, and made me just want to cry. I felt so loved. People from Idaho, Berkley's parents in France, a friend in Seattle, a friend from Brazil...it was just so sweet.
So yes - birthday was a success.

Success #2: WE FOUND A PLACE TO  LIVE and have signed a lease!! And we will be moving in...at the end of March. 

Finding an apartment has been an adventure in an of itself. No joke. We got on the task right away when we moved here. We searched for apartment listings online and when we found anything that seemed like it would work, we would email the people right away. We sent probably 20 emails (no exaggeration) and we literally heard back from 4 people...3 of which were just telling us their apartment was already rented. Fortunately, our heaven-sent hostess, Martina, offered to make some phone calls for us, and we were finally able to track down some apartments to go look at. 

After visiting the first two apartments, something became very clear to us: 
In Germany, When someone leaves their apartment they LITERALLY take everything with them. I am not even kidding - like, there is no kitchen. At all. They take out all of the appliances, disassemble the cupboards and counter tops, and leave the walls compleeeetely bare.  I mean, they even take the light fixtures with them so there's freakin' wires sticking out of the ceiling. When you move in, you have to bring a flashlight to the bathroom with you. We even talked to one family who's apartment DIDN'T EVEN HAVE FLOORING IN IT (well, that was in The Netherlands, but still!). 

So why...WHY does this make any sense at all??! I guess it just all goes along with the German ethos that you buy things that you absolutely love and you keep them with you forever. Even the kitchen sink. 

So needless to say, since we're only planning on being here for a few years, and we came with nothing, and we don't plan on bringing our light fixtures home with us when we go back to the states, we were hoping to find an apartment where the people moving out would be willing to leave some of the stuff behind for us, or at least sell it to us, right? And we found a great place.  It's a smaller, but not too small, 2 bedroom apartment. The living room has a door on it so it could double as a guest room. The people that are moving out are moving to Austria, and - can you believe it - want to sell their current kitchen to us! Yay! And...ANNNND...the kitchen has a dishwasher (what?!). And a fridge that's taller than Bridger. And more than 4 cupboards. Huge improvement from our current kitchen:

Our current kitchen. Can you find three cupboards? Extra points if you find the 4th! And yes, that is the fridge on the far right under the counter, and that manly man on the left? Making a delicious dinner (with Bridger's help). The bessst.

The family that lives at the apartment now is actually pretty awesome - they've been so kind, even invited us over to dinner another night, and are going to leave some of their furniture behind for us as well. Yes!

On top of that, we have a view of the distant Rhine River from our living room window with easy access to a path that runs along it. Between our building and The Rhine lie several acres of greenhouses used to grow flowers. Not bad, right? Also, the apartment is just a 5 minute walk from a train line that can take us right to the city center and will also cut our travel time to church from about 55 minutes to about 40 minutes. Woo hoo! 

So yes - we are excited. I am grateful, however, for the time we will get to stay in the little house we are currently in. It's a cool little house - the only one that stayed up after the neighborhood was leveled post WWII. Martina said that the only reason it wasn't knocked down as well was because a disabled veteran lived here.  It's smaller, and sits in the back yard of the larger house in front where Martina lives, but it has a beautiful garden, nice yard, and a couple of sweet 7 yr old twins (our neighbors) that show up and play with Bridger at random. Tonight they came over and played and we made "American Cookies", which they were quite excited about. We love them, and as excited as we are, it will be hard to move!  Here is a little video of Berkley and the kids playing in the living room:

So, all in all, things are coming along. We're still waiting to hear back from a Kindergarten (preschool) for Bridger, which he won't be able to start until August. We're also still in the process of figuring out the best, most comfortable form of travel for the family. The train/bus system here is amazing,  but even so we are still walking a LOT to get to and from bus stops and walking a lot around town when we aren't on a train or bus. We have one umbrella stroller, which Bridger rides in when he's not walking, and I carry Juni in the Mei Tai. When it's raining (and it rains a lot), we lovingly cover the umbrella stroller with some second hand plastic that we cut off of our car seats after we got home from the airport. I then hold an umbrella over Juni and I, and do my best not to run into people as I steer the stroller with one, exhausted arm. Pretty chic, right? We get some pretty funny looks :)

And my social life? Friends? They're coming. It will take time, as I know. People have been so kind and open and helpful - more so than we ever could have asked for - but friendship is more than just finding nice people. True friendship is built on giving and receiving, where you give because you love, and you receive because you are loved, and in doing both you feel loved by your friend. And the best of friends give and take without even realizing it - they just love each other and enjoy each other, giving and taking in the process. It's not just kindness, it's sincerity. It's not just fun, it's joy. It's not just happiness, but empathy. It's a beautiful thing, and something that takes time and often work - and that's okay! I can be patient. I just hope that Bridger can be too...

...Right now, we are his best friends, which means we're closer as a family and really enjoying each other. But I've gotta be honest - Bridger needs friends that are 4 yrs old, like him, and I, surprise surprise, am not 4 years old. I try, but sometimes I tire of being the best 4 year old I can be. Sometimes I just don't want to play "chickens" or "Shaun the Sheep". Sometimes I just want to sit at the playground and watch. Sometimes Bridger's jokes aren't funny to me, and I know they would be to another 4 year old, and I know he misses that. We've hung out with other kids, but with the language barrier he's sometimes left out of the action (which is so not his thing - he's usually in the middle of it all!) and he stands on the edge of the scene just jumping up and down saying the only thing he's comfortable saying in German which is "Ich heisse Bridger!" (my name is Bridger) over and over again. It's pretty...heartbreaking. He's settling in, and learning German drop by drop, but sometimes, when I am trying to immerse him in as much German as I can,  and I am speaking simply to him, he just looks at me and says, in the sweetest way "Okay Mom, you can speak English now." But he's resilient. And he's doing well. He's taken to making his sister laugh, which makes him laugh in return, and often starts a conversation with me by saying "Mom, do you know what I love about you?". 

Love that kid.

And while we're at it, here's Juni:

She couldn't be more fun. Love her too. 

Berkley is also doing well. He's just kinda getting things set up and getting settled in at work, like he always does when he arrives at a new lab. It too will take time, but he's patient and persistent, and excited about his work. People in his lab are still getting to know him and understand his humor, which I am sure they'll enjoy soon enough.

But yes - time, time, time. That is what we're really waiting for, but we plan to make the most of the time at hand while we're at it. We recently went to a giant "Castle Church" in Cologne, visited The Netherlands, and are currently enjoying the Carnival celebrations here in Dusseldorf this weekend (don't worry - I plan to share all about these in upcoming posts). And for now? We're good. We're happy. We have each other, and we're happy. Life is good.