We're In!

Well, we are finally in our new rental. We still have many boxes to unload and sort through, but we're slowly plodding our way through them. It's a daunting task...checking off each box or item from a main inventory sheet of about 350 items, making sure we received it; checking for damage; recording damage, which may include photographing; and then trying to find a place in our home for each and every item.

Here's one of the moving trucks that delivered our stuff. Interesting that it says "Christ" on it, isn't it? It's with a short "i" sound, though, and has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, I believe a few of the movers were Muslim:

Here's one of the trucks with its side opened revealing several crates with our household goods in them:

Prying open the crate:

Opening up the crate with our boxes packed inside:

Another truck with more of our crates inside:

There was yet another truck behind this one with more of our stuff. I think there were about 11 crates in all.

We haven't done a move like this in a long time. This time, though, when we saw all our goods in these several crates, it kind of hit us just how much stuff we still owned. We thought we had been doing so well by purging most of those things we didn't want or need before we left. We had a yard sale, we sold items on the Internet, we consigned stuff, and other items we just donated or gave away - it was quite a bit of stuff. But when we saw all our worldly good piled together in three trucks, it seemed like we still owned too much stuff. We knew we had some more purging to do.

Here are some of the movers on lunch break sitting amongst a bunch of packing paper that had been wrapped around our items:

Here are a few photos of the unpacking and organizing task that was before us:

Our "wall of books" as we call it:

Sarah tackling the kitchen stuff:

Every time we move, we have to look at all our stuff again. We have to evaluate each item as we unpack it and ask ourselves if we really need it. We really thought we were on our way to living more minimally this time with all the stuff we got rid of, but we are seeing that we have a very long way to go still. I don't know if we'll ever be minimalists in the true sense, but we know we definitely want to get rid of more of our stuff and be surrounded by less clutter ... which means less stuff to move, to find a place for, to take up space, to clean, to maintain, to fix, etc.

So, as we unpack our boxes, we hope to purge even more of our possessions, paring them down to the necessities. This will not be an easy task, but moving definitely provides a great opportunity to do this.

We are grateful to be in our new place, though. We are grateful, also, for the many prayers that brought us here and God's unfailing faithfulness in all things.

~ Janet

A Quick Trip to England

I had the opportunity last week to take a trip to England on business. The two things that were so noteworthy were that the flight from Germany to London (Stanstead) took less than two hours, and that my lodging accommodations were in the converted stables of a 12th century Gilbertine Monastery in beautiful Bedfordshire.

I spent a day and a half in England before coming back to Germany. While it was certainly short in duration it will certainly have a lasting impression on me.

Here is the outside view of the building. The brick addition is from 1740.

 

Here is a view of the front foyer. The architectural elements are throughout the building.

A glimpse of the stables where I stayed.

(These photos are not mine...credit lies elsewhere...teaches me to bring a camera in the future!)

~Andrew~

A Day In Stuttgart

This Saturday we took a trip into the city of Stuttgart. It was our first time using public transportation. There was the annual Sommerfest (summer festival) going with a variety of food, drink, music & entertainment as well as the weekly Stuttgart Market where you can find fresh fruit, vegetable, & flowers along with home-canned goods.

Here we are trying to figure out how to buy tickets for one of the railway systems called the S-Bahn. The S-Bahn is an abbreviation for the German word Stadtschnellbahn, which means "city rapid railway." We are grateful they had an English translation for buying tickets.

This is what our tickets looked like:

Here is one signs that was at the train area:

Advertising of cigarettes is not too uncommon to see, so I guess it's still allowed in Germany, at least on billboards. Here is a sign across from us at the train station:

These trains move FAST. And you had better be right there at the the door when it comes, too, because it's here for like a minute and then takes off again...very promptly. Here what the S-Bahn looks like:

I'm not sure if the train is normally very crowded on Saturdays, but it was a "full house" when we traveled on it, with many people standing:

We arrived in Stuttgart underground on the train. From there, we had to figure out how to get to some of the places we wanted to go to:

We first came into a "pedestrian only" area where there were lots of shops, restaurants & people walking about:

 
Lots of seating was available outside the many restaurants (Sarah & Andrew are there on the left):

Some dining was more elegant than others:

Here is an area we found very pleasant with a shady tree & cascading window boxes:

The architecture we saw in Stuttgart was quite interesting. Here old meets new:

More neat architecture in Stuttgart's Stadtmitte (city center):

Even the fountain was a piece of architectural art:

The Stuttgart Market:

For lunch we ate fish with potato salad. It was okay. Sorta tasted like school cafeteria food:

Dessert was better...a crepe filled with Nutella (a chocolate & hazelnut spread):

Here's the crepe stand:

There were also some street performers:

 

Some were odd, like this man in a skirt:

Reminds me off a guy we saw in Unity, Maine, at a fair. Guess red is a popular color around the globe for skirt-wearing men with beards:

This person was really odd...kinda creepy, actually...not sure what he was trying to be, but he moved like a robot & made squeaking sounds like a rubber ducky:

A children's ride where you manually push to get it going & then it continues to rocks back & forth until it runs out of momentum...looks like fun for die Kinder (the children)!:

Here is an interesting, space-aged-looking Toilette (toilet). You put money into the "machine" and a door opens. Then you get inside, push a button and the door closes and locks behind you. You do your business, then push a button to unlock and open the door. When you leave and the door is closed, you can hear water jets spurting about inside washing down the whole bathroom area. It's a "self-cleaning" toilet. We didn't use this one, but Andrew relayed the story of when he had to use one once:

Here is the panel in which you insert the coins for the toilet:

This is ein Geldautomat (an ATM machine):

I'm glad we took the train into Stuttgart. We didn't have to worry about parking on this busy day in the city. Here is a meter maid (don't know what they're called in German) checking cars for parking violations:

All in all it was a nice day, but we were glad to get back to the hotel after a long day in the city. We still have more to learn about public transportation as well as about the German culture, but we are slowly learning and adjusting to the new area where God has planted us for a few years.


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Sorry to those folks who have been sending comments from when we began blogging. We're still new to blogging & didn't realize that these comments were there. I think we're getting the hang of it now. Your comments are now posted.

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Here's a little sneak preview of an upcoming post on clothing styles in Germany:

~ Janet

Vehicles In Germany

The cars here in Germany are pretty neat. Many are small & some are so small they almost look like toys. They also have several car brands here that are different than in America, though you'll still see a few common brands seen in America scattered here & there, too.

Here is the rental car that we've been using since we arrive here - a Chevrolet Spark:

Front view:

 

My favorite small car her is the cute little Smart Car manufactured by Daimler, AG, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. There are tons of these cars here:

You get to really see the size of the Smart when someone is standing next to it:

Sarah fell in love with this car that we saw in the parking lot - an old Fiat 500 in powder blue:

Such a cute car:

The Mini, made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC):

Another Mini...I wish I knew the style & year of all these cars:

Love the little British flag on the side of this Mini:

A Mercedes taxi...not too unusual to see, as Mercedes is a popular brand of car here:

A very sportliches Auto (sporty car) - Mercedes:

And another style in black:

 

Audi is another popular brand here. Here is an Audi TT:

 

You will also find many VW's around here. This German auto maker has its world headquarters located in Wolfsburg, Germany, where there is also a Volkswagen AutoMuseum (VW car museum). Volkswagen means "people's car" in German.

Here is a VW Fahrschule (driving school) car:

VW also owns Porsche. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, Germany, which is part of Stuttgart. There is also a Porsche museum, too.

Here is a cool Porsche Panamera:

We occasionally see Peugots, which are a French brand of cars:

 

The Citroën is another French car which is very often seen here:

 

Here's another one used for advertising:

 

A Dacia Duster, developed by the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia, now a subsidiary of the French car maker Renault:

 

 The Twingo is another car built by Renault:

We see lots of Opels, too. This is a German automobile company headquartered out of Rüsselsheim, Germany:

A Fiat Panda. Fiat is an Italian auto manufacturer:

Here's a neat looking old motorcycle. We think it may be called a Simpson:

 

And a groovy looking camper for sale. Hey, we could have fun touring Europe with this (smile):

 

But, we settled for a brand car that is very common around here and not too expensive - a 1999 BMW 323i:

BMW is a German manufacturing company. Bayerische Motoren Werke (in English: Bavarian Motor Works) is headquartered in Munich, Germany.

Here is the back of the BMW that we purchased:

 

We are still waiting for the arrival of our Honda Odyssey that is being shipped over for us, which is supposed to arrive no later than August 18th. So, this car will come in handy while we wait. It will become Andrew's commuting car when the Honda arrives. 

Happy motoring.

~ Janet