Germany: Getting There and Our First Week!

We've officially been in Germany for well over a week! Wait, how is that even possible?!? It feels like we just landed, groggy-eyed and sleep deprived. Call me crazy, but a part of me wasn't ready to leave for Germany because all I could think was "as soon as we touch down, the clock starts! We have to get in as much as we can while we're here!" Then the sane, rational part of me that knows we have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves, explore and experience everything won out. Besides, there's a fine line between getting in as much as we can and burning ourselves out -- and that's a line I'm not willing to cross with a toddler.

Anyway...

After leaving Cleveland we had an overnight stay in Chicago the day before our big flights and wouldn't you know, there was a Hofbräuhaus within walking distance from our hotel! I may or may not have heard angels singing when we found this out. Fast forward 30 minutes later and we were eating some yummy German food, drinking Hofbräuhaus beer and listening to an alpine horn playing at the table next to us.

It was too loud for Ellie.
 

After a quick flight from Chicago to Newark, we excitedly boarded our flight to Stuttgart... and waited over an hour while the pilots filled some paperwork out. Something unimportant about a mechanical issue (haha). I did have this lovely view from my window.

A pretty nice send-off from the States if you ask me. Aside from our initial delay, the flight was thankfully uneventful (except for the poor boy in front of us who got sick 30 minutes before we landed... ugh). Going into it and based on our previous nighttime flying experiences, I was very worried about Ellie getting any sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight but she surprised both Brian and I by sleeping about four hours which is great considering the length of our flight! We took one of the airline-provided blankets and made a little canopy to block out any light which seemed to help. As for us, Brian slept maybe 45 minutes. I didn't sleep a wink, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Coincidentally, we shared our big day of flying with another military family also moving to Stuttgart. I met Johann and his wife Laurel before our flight from Chicago to Newark as well as their two children, one of whom is just a year older than Ellie. Johann attended the same class in Norfolk with Brian so they already knew each other and I think will be working in the same building. Laurel and I have become fast friends in the last week and a half.

We were met at Stuttgart airport by Brian's sponsor, a great guy who helped us get all our luggage and brought us to his house to hang out with his wife and son for the morning since check-in at the hotel wasn't until later that afternoon. Ellie had a blast running around with their six-year-old and crashed hard at nap time in an incredibly bright room with lots of background noise. We made it through that afternoon somehow but by the end of the day we were drifting around the room like a couple of zombies before finally crashing for a solid night's sleep.

The rest of our first week was spent unpacking in our hotel room, getting to know the surrounding area, checking our mailbox and most importantly, adjusting to our new time zone. As I write this, it's safe to say we're all adjusted although two nights after our arrival Ellie was up for two hours which wouldn't have been so awful if it hadn't been right as Brian and I were ready to go to bed. I thought I was going to lose my mind. However (fingers crossed), that was our only incident and Ellie is back to her normal sleeping schedule. Yay! 

Ellie and I explored the base on one of our first few mornings and picked up some groceries at our very tiny commissary -- I was so pleased to see German produce stocked there!

They were heavenly. Ellie approved.
 

Friday evening we went to dinner with Johann, Laurel and their children to a biergarten within walking distance to our hotel. Aside from being a little buggy, the food was delicious and the beer even better.

As our first weekend in Germany drew closer, I felt myself getting extremely antsy. I hadn't been off base since we checked in (with the exception of our biergarten dinner) and was just itching to get out and explore our new hometown. Further complicating matters -- the fact that our car still hadn't, actually hasn't, arrived yet although we were told when dropping it off in Virginia that it should be here no later than September 6th. Lucky for us, our sponsors arranged to take us sightseeing in downtown Stuttgart!

First family photo in Germany -- the Schlossplatz!

Downtown Stuttgart was everything I had hoped and dreamed it would be: little markets all over the place, historic buildings and delicious food everywhere you looked.

I couldn't resist and bought some blueberries to snack on. Someone was shoving them in by the handful.

Ellie didn't know which direction to face because there was so much to see.

With all the big changes in her young life, Ellie has done really well through it all although we've been dealing with a lot of screaming and some misbehaving in the last week. I figure she's feeling the same way we do about living in a small hotel room that seems to get smaller every day. It's frustrating and exhausting but I keep telling myself it's all normal. It doesn't make it any less frustrating or exhausting but it helps me retain a shred more sanity.

Our house hunt is in full swing right now and although we have seen a few possibilities, for various reasons they just haven't quite fit our family. It's a difficult line to walk -- we don't want to jump the gun but we also don't want to pass up a gem either. Having a car will make our search much easier as right now we're relying on public transportation. While great and relatively reliable, it involves a 40-minute walk to get to the S-Bahn station. All that time adds up and is not always conducive to a toddler's schedule or patience level. Still, we're remaining positive that we'll find the perfect place (or close-to-perfect place) sooner than we think!