A day of driving.......

Autobahn Road Sign for: No Speed Limit

Good Evening.  Well, I think I may finally sleep well tonight…we are officially unpacked and it is so cold here, that we all had to wear jeans and sweatshirts today.  Thus, it feels like our house actually has air conditioning!!

So this morning, I was feeling a tad overwhelmed re: never driving in a foreign country before and soon, I will need to be going to various play groups, meetings (MOPS), a bible study in Mannheim, appointments, errands, etc. with the girls and I did not want to be nervous when transporting the girls.  Thus, I spent the afternoon cruising around the countryside.  While “cruising around” I did a little shopping, so that again, when I am doing shopping with the girls I know what to expect.  For some examples, 1) I must always have 1 Euro with me to “rent” a shopping cart and 2) NOBODY and NO STORE bags your items, thus, they will fall on the ground if you do not bag them and/or put them back in your cart, 3) you must ALWAYS pay for your shopping bags, thus, I will now carry a bundle with me in the car.  Overall, it went well….though it is a very strange feeling to be surrounded by people and have NO IDEA what they are saying!  I am sure it is, “what in the world is that American girl doing??””-LOL

Then this evening, we visited our first shopping mall in Germany.  We needed to visit Toys R’ Us so that Matt can install the last of four child safety-gates tomorrow.  Matt drove us there and I drove us home on the Autobahn.  It is a CRAZY feeling being passed, as if your car is standing still, when going 140 Kilometers (75 MPH)!!  Though, it is ILLEGAL to talk on your cell phone, text on your cell phone and eat while on the road.  The Germans drive fast, but they also take it very seriously.  I already told Elle and Britta that when Mommy is driving in Germany, I cannot get their sippy cups, get them snacks, change the music, etc. that they will have to wait until I pull over. 

Then when we got home, we made dinner and then watched “Beauty and the Beast.” Elle was very excited that we could have movie night in Germany, just like we did in Cedar Falls!  It took Matt HOURS to hack the programming, so that our German DVD player was able to play American DVDs…but, Daddy did it and made his girls very happy!!

On a frustrating note, I am almost 90% sure that I have some pretty bad nail fungus for the first time in my life.  I had a manicure, before leaving the States, and to my dismay when I took off my nail polish last night I had nail fungus on 7 out of my 10 fingers!!  I visited an Apotheke (a.k.a. Pharmacy) today, and they recommended that I see a Doctor this week.  So, needless to say, it looks like I am going to be the first one in our family to visit the Doctor!  I am keeping it all in perspective, but it is very frustrating and not what I needed right now (though, is there ever a “good” time for nail fungus?!??).

On a positive note, every single moving box is unpacked!!  So tomorrow, we just have the last child safety-gates and some pictures….then, we are done getting settled (at least into our home).  And, we plan to attend a “4^th of July” festival in a nearby village.  They of course do not celebrate the 4^th, but we are told often have a lot of festivals this weekend due to their being so many American Tourists over here this time of year.  Our friend explained the festival similar to an American Fair; the girls should love it!  It is going to be so weird for Matt to go into the office on the 4th of July; it will be the first time ever in his professional life!!  Well, good night my dear family and friends……sleep dreams.