Another Schweinfurt Adventure

     We had a pretty slow week so we decided to go downtown yesterday and do some shopping. Curtains were a priority on the list, as the whole neighborhood is still witness to our every move. We didn't find any curtains and then we were sidetracked by food and sweets. I love the downtown area ... it is busy with people, but not crazy. The main stores they have are H&M and TJ Maxx (which they call TK Maxx). There are also a lot of boutique type stores, little shops, and tons of cafes and restaurants.
When it came time to eat we, of course, made a stop at the Doner shop ... which was amazing, but I was determined to try some kind of schnitzel/sausage type creation. We headed to the market where Vic picked up this little guy ...

     It was pretty good, but I don't know if we would go back for another. I also got a skewer of different kinds of fruit covered in chocolate ... which was so good, but I looked like a 2nd grader eating it with chocolate all over my face and hair. At the Doner shop, Vic forced this drink upon me ...

     It is carbonated apple juice and I don't suggest it.

     Following  the Doner/schnitzel smorgasbord we decided we needed a break - Vic wanted a beer and I just needed to sit my pregnant-self down. We stumbled across this little gem ... the entrance way is where the Roth Bier sign is ...

       When you walk in the entrance there was a long hallway with a trash closet and a bathroom ... and this tricky door (below) with no signs or anything. We were skeptical about walking in ... I thought we should knock first, but Vic burst through the door before we could weigh our entrance options.

     What we stumbled into look like a grandmother's kitchen. There were like 12 seats in the restaurant. The whole place went quiet and everyone stared at us like we were crazy. The guy who was running the place was really nice, but spoke no English. We managed to get a beer and Coke out of him. People were eating some amazing looking things in there, so we may have to go back now that we know the drill.
     Back to the shopping, we picked up a couple things to start Baby E's stylish European wardrobe. I've decided that he will probably be the best dressed kid on this Army base ... possibly all of Germany. Say what you will about the dinosaur raincoat, but it's my favorite ... he just needs some red rain boots to complete the look. By the way ... a raincoat is a must-have if you are planning to visit.

      The H&M here has kids clothes and they are too f'ing cute ... we could have spent all day and tons of money on hilarious stuff like this ...

      Speaking of Baby E ... he's getting huge and so am I. As soon as we get our car on January 3rd, I'll be ready for him to make his big arrival. As you can see, our house is still empty and I don't think there is any hope for our furniture before February ... I blame the ever efficient Fort Gordon transportation staff for this.

     What we do have is Eli's bassinet/Pack and Play ... which Vic put together with ease. I hate that we won't have the nursery set-up until after he is born - as all of his furniture is floating on the Atlantic Ocean right now - but we have enough stuff to get by.

We got presents in the mail this week from my Mimi and Papa and some candy from Mimi Sue ... so it is starting to feel a little like Christmas around here! We're taking two trips next week so hopefully we'll have some exciting pictures on the next post. Our phone and internet should be up on Wednesday. If the service is not turned on like they promised, you can guarantee that I will march into the office in a pregnant rage and flip over someone's desk! Hopefully that doesn't happen and we'll be able to call everyone on Wednesday or Thursday!!

First German Doctor Appointment

First of all, poor Vic left the house at 4am dressed like this. He had to race home for the appointment and now he's back at work until who knows when. He was definitely a good sport today!

The whole doctor experience went really well, but it is so different from in the states. They are very thorough and privacy is really low on their priority list. One weird thing to me was that the nurse had me in her office and was asking me about my medical history - then all of a sudden just pulled out some needles and took my blood. No gloves, no sterile environment ... just right there at her little desk. Then I got these crazy belts strapped to me and laid around for about 30 minutes (this is when Vic took a nap). Then the fun stuff started. I won't go into details, because I'm sure nobody is interested ... but they don't do sheets, gowns, curtains,etc. As a girl who really likes my privacy ... this was probably the craziest thing. The doctor seems really nice and speaks English fairly well. She told us everything looks good!!

I wish I could turn these pictures the right way, but this site is in German so I have no clue how to do that. Turn your head to the right to see Baby Elliott!! This one he is making a face like he ate something sour!!

This one would have been a good shot, but he has the umbilical cord in front of his face. The doctor mentioned several times how big his head was, so that makes me a little nervous! She also did a close-up 3D shot of his crotch and said, 'there's his balls' ... so we definitely still have a boy! All-in-all it was a good experience and I'm happy with the doctor and the hospital

After we left the hospital we took the bus home. This is the bus station - kind of weird because it's really modern, but in the middle of this old German city. We got there a little early for our connecting bus, so of course we had to eat a Doner.

Vic took me to his favorite Doner spot. You can see the big pieces of mystery meat that they slice from. So good!

I'm writing this all really fast before the bus comes, so excuse any spelling and grammar errors!!

First Trip Off-Post!

We HAD Internet and phone for a couple hours on Thanksgiving, but when we came home from dinner it was off and they can't fix it until Monday :( I hope it's not a sign of things to come with this service, but we'll see!! Once the phone is fixed, we'll have free calls to the states!!
Thanksgiving was fun - we went over to Vic's sponsor's house (who lives a couple buildings down) with a few other families and they had a TON of food. I brought chicken dip and stuffing ... the chicken dip was a huge hit, but I can't say the same for the stuffing.
The next night we took the bus into downtown Schweinfurt with the Logan's (John was at AIT with Vic and now they live across the street). They opened the Christmas Market downtown and it was really pretty. We weren't really prepared for how cold it was going to be, so we're going to head back next weekend during the day.

Huge building in the square. I'm not sure what it is, and I was too cold to find out. There is supposed to be a really good restaurant attached - so we'll have to check that out soon.

 

 Live sheep in the middle of the square.

 Statue in the square ... again, I'll find out what this is all about when it's warmer.

Full view of the Christmas Market. These things are huge in Germany and each town has their own. Schweinfurt has a really small one, but we're hoping to get to a couple of the bigger ones before the season is over.

One of the stranger things in Germany is that almost all vehicles are Mercedes or BMWs ... taxis, semi-trucks, dump trucks, buses, etc.

McDonald's!!

This is called a Doner and it's amazing!! It's Turkish and I'm not even sure what is inside, but I could probably eat one everyday. You can get them at little cafes downtown and they are only 3 euro.

This is the only coat I have that still zips! 

German dollar store. Everything is one Euro!!

Vic is done with in-processing and starts his first full week of work tomorrow. I'm going to try to stay busy with baby classes and getting registered with everything. We are loving it here!!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Schweinfurt!! We set-up our phone and internet this morning!! We would love to call friends and family, but it's 3am in the states :) If you get a call from a weird number, make sure you answer!! We also got our first shipment of stuff! It wasn't a lot, but at least we have towels, dishes, bedding, and some of the baby's stuff.

Yesterday I ventured out on my own while Vic was at meetings. I even took the bus by myself! I ran errands and then met Vic for a Thanksgiving lunch with his unit. I was able to meet a lot of people and stuff my face with food.

The house is still empty, but I thought I would post some pics of the weird/cool stuff ...

The toilets in Germany are super weird. There are two buttons on top ... one for a 'small' flush and the other for a 'big' flush. Haha ... I'll let you figure out what those are for.

This is the heated towel rack in the bathroom is my favorite!

Full wall of wardrobe closets in our bedroom ... I thought this would be a pain in the ass, but there is actually tons of storage. There is another half wall of these and we have plenty of space for all of our clothes and shoes. These are also in the bathroom and living room. 

German light switches ... weird.

The outside of our place. I love being on the first floor. Our main priority for next week is to get some curtains ... I'm pretty sure the neighbors have got to know us a little too well over the past few days.

Love our kitchen ... it's not huge, but there is a ton of storage. To the left is the fridge and even more storage and a pantry.

German socket vs. American socket ... see below for our first mishap ...

Vic is trying to blame me for this, but I assure you that he is the one who told me to do it :) We don't have american outlets in the bedroom, and I wanted to plug in a heating pad. Vic told me he had bought an adapter ... which I warned against using, but he assured me it would be fine. Well I plugged it in and it exploded ... and blew the fuse in the bedroom. Needless to say the heating pad is shot ... and we learned a good lesson!!!

Vic was issued all of his gear yesterday ... this picture doesn't do justice for how much stuff is actually there. Good thing we have tons of storage ... and hopefully he never has to use any of it! You can see our loaner furniture and tv in the background. Speaking of tv ... we get about 6 American channels and they show the weirdest stuff. It is also really behind ... we watched Sunday Night Football on Monday and Monday Night Football on Tuesday! There also aren't any commericials ... it is all military PSA's, which are really lame.

Vic's favorite German beer. They give it to you in this huge crate, and then you bring the bottles back to get a deposit back. It's really strong beer!!

That's about it until our furniture gets here!! We are hoping to go downtown this weekend to the Christmas Market ... we'll take some pictures of the city!

First Days in Schweinfurt

     I made it! This website is in German, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right ... but we'll see! I arrived yesterday at 3:30 am (America time) and 9:30 here. The flight went really well ... I had an aisle seat and then two seats between myself and the other guy sharing my row. I watched a couple movies and managed to sleep for a few hours. Lola did great on the flight ... she only barked a couple of times when people would try to talk to me. Roscoe did not have as pleasurable of an experience. During the ticketing process in Atlanta he was crying and howling like crazy ... I did not even know he was capable of such noises. The lady didn't even check his paperwork, I'm sure this was in an effort to get him away from her as soon as possible. When I picked him up in Germany he was covered in poop and crying even louder than he was in Atlanta. Vic met me shortly after I got my luggage and we let him out of the cage and he was allowed to walk through the airport on a leash ... and he was much happier.The drive from Frankfurt to Schweinfurt was really pretty and I was able to see a couple castles from the Autobahn!
     Once we got into Schweinfurt, Vic took me to the apartment so I could get changed and drop off the dogs. The place is really nice!! The outside is a little questionable, but the inside is much better than what we had at Fort Gordon. The kitchen has newer appliances and tons of storage ... it's just missing a garbage disposal - apparently the Germans are not big on that. The bathroom is my favorite part ... the shower is really cool, and we have a heated towel rack! Our bedroom is nice, but a lot smaller than what we're used too. There isn't a closet, but instead these full wall wardrobe things. They are nice, but it makes it hard to put our furniture in the room ... thank goodness we have a storage unit! We haven't met our neighbors yet, but the building seems quiet so far!
     After we dropped the dogs off, Vic taught me how to use the bus and we ran a couple errands. The base is weird and it will definitely take me awhile to learn my way around. It's kind of divided into two bases, so you have to take the bus between each side. It is pretty though ... very WWIIish ... if that's even a thing?
     We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving 4-day weekend so we can relax and get the house set-up. Our first small shipment (pots&pans, clothes, bedding, towels, baby stuff, etc) should get here on Thursday, but we're not expecting our house-hold goods for 2-3 months!! In the meantime we have loaner furniture and Vic's sponsor (who turned out to be amazing) even let us borrow a tv!
     We're are doing well ... baby included!! We're going today to get my first doctor appointment set-up. I'll post pictures of the house and base in the next couple days!!
    

It's Happening!!

I decided to start a blog to document our time in Germany! I thought this was the easiest way to share with family and friends, without tons of e-mails and expensive phone calls. I also wanted to avoid being 'that girl' on Facebook with a million updates and pictures. I will try to keep this thing updated, and hopfully we will do enough exciting things that you will actually want to read it!