Life on the Hill

Hallo! Spring is here and in full bloom! We are finally experiencing warmer weather, beautiful flowers and unfortunately POLLEN (really the only downside of spring).  I’m so happy to be online again and up and running with the blog. I made the blog private because people from all over the world were accessing and that gave me the willies knowing that strangers were looking at pictures of baby! If you have family and friends that I forget to invite to the blog, please send me their email and I will invite them.

We have lots to update. Let’s start with “Moving Day” which was Thursday, March 24^th. We arrive at our house…I’m driving our 4 Runner, Rocky’s driving his rental car, and the big moving truck behind us. Mind you our house sits on the turning point of a 21% and 14% grade hill…meaning very steep and hard to maneuver traffic, especially big cars! We get out of the car and the first words out of Rocky’s mouth are, “What were we thinking, this house is to far out and the hill is too steep!?” I almost fell over. I said, “Really babe, I’ve been telling you this all along!” We both just laughed it off and moved ahead with the day.  The German movers were very efficient and it only took them about 3 hours for them to unload everything and assemble furniture. The rest of the weekend we unpacked, tried to clean and purchased items for our house.

Daily tasks that normally should take simply minutes take hours. For example, for each of our American appliances we need converters. No biggie we thought….we learned quickly that it is a biggie because each appliance is a different watt requiring different voltage converters. And if you get the converter wrong on the first try you blow out the appliance AND short-circuit the outlet. We almost lost all of our food in our refrigerator trying to vacuum. We didn’t blow up our Dyson vacuum but when we do vacuum we have to turn it on, then go all the way to our basement to flip the switch because the converter short sockets the electoral outlet, so then once the switch is flipped then we can turn the vacuum on again and it will work. This all translates to HIGHLY ANNOYING! J

We blew up our coffee maker and microwave in this learning process. Thankfully we got it right with our TV and that made it.

Patience is the key word everyday.

Our trip to Ikea that Saturday was made easier by a friend warning us you can only pay in Euro’s there. We picked out our closets but didn’t actually purchase them that day because you have to find each piece to the closet separately and gather it all by your self with no help. Oh and it’s all in German so that really makes it tricky. Rocky went back on Monday because believe it or not even Ikea shuts down on Sunday.

We took our first walk to the bakery down our hill that weekend and realized will have an ass of steal by walking everyday! Total bonus to living on a hill! :)

I found our scale and discovered I lost about 20lbs since we moved and Savannah weighs 19lbs! I attribute culture shock to my weight loss.

Rocky put together my closet and Savannah’s closet. Amazing that he figured this out with no help! Very proud of him!

Savannah was really happy to sleep in her own crib. But I found myself unable to sleep because she was so far away, all the way in the other room! J In the hotel she was at the foot of our bed and most nights she would end up in our bed.

After the weekend we talked and decided this house is beautiful, the neighborhood is lovely and the view is spectacular with the fresh air….however it’s too far from Rocky’s office and Wiesbaden. You may be saying, “well why did you chose this house?!” Well that answer is simple, we had about one month to choose a home and during that month we were adjusting to the time change while juggling illnesses, learning how to live in Germany speak their language and find out where we want to live. There is nothing anyone could have told us to do to prepare for the adjustment. Looking back on the last two months I didn’t realize how major that adjustment was. Anywho, so based on the few things we knew, we ended up in this house on the hill.

We chose this house because the view is to die for, the air is the fresh as can be and we have plenty of space for Savannah and Lilly to play inside with a yard outside. Our landlord is also the nicest man in Germany! The only downside we saw at the time was the hill and the 25-minute distance to Rocky’s work and Wiesbaden.

We’ve been in the house about two weeks and I’m starting to really enjoy it. The hill is fantastic exercise. Savannah and Lilly and I go on about 2-3 walks a day. In the morning we walk up the hills and in the afternoon we walk down the hill to the park where there is also a farm with lots of animals. Rocky is carpooling to work with his buddy who lives about 5 minutes down the hill. I’ve become fast friends with his wife, Tia, we have so much in common it’s like we were separated a birth! Hehe, really even our birthdays are only one week apart. They have two boys, 4 and 2 so Savannah already has friends. Tia has shown me around town and made everything less scary. I’m so grateful for her!

We’re still thinking about moving to a garden style flat in Wiesbaden. The location we like is directly on the Kurpark, a beautiful park in downtown Wiesbaden. Earlier in the week we found a newly renovated building from 1890 where the ground level flat is for rent. You can view it here. Google translator will translate the entire website if you want to read about how grand it is! :) The owner of the building has three kids so they are building a small play ground right in that yard that over looks the park. The place is STUNNING! Incredible location too, right off the walking path on the Kurpark. It's Living in Wiesbaden would put Rocky only 10 minutes from work and we’d be within walking to distance to everything including the base. We’ve heard winters are really bad living up here in the Taunus Mountains so living in Wiesbaden would be easier. People have told us to not have concerns about living on this hill in the winter but I can’t stand the thought of being stuck inside for weeks!

My fabulous new friend Tia told me everyone is depressed in the winter so wives and their children go on holiday together where it is sunny because the husbands can’t get away from work. Love this idea!!! We’re planning our trip now and it’s only April! ;)

There are many pros and cons to living here vs. Wiesbaden. As the days go by and I get more comfortable here, I want to stay but seeing the beautiful flat in Wiesbaden really makes me think that is were we should live because of the proximity to everything.

Any advice from anyone is welcome; please email with words of wisdom! :)

Today, Savannah and I ventured out into Konigstien, just the two of us. Konigstien is about 4 km, or 3 miles up the street from our house. It’s known as a town for the affluent. Beautiful architecture, great shops, and many many restaurants. I found one shop that had gorgeous rugs, I went in to see what a Bio (organic) rug would cost….my friends, a bio rug from this shop will run you about 9,000 Euros! I almost fell over! There is no way I could ever convince Rocky to get this rug, not even if we could afford it! The clothing shops were surprisingly way more reasonable though, even more reasonable than the shops in Wiesbaden. When I say reasonable I mean like boutique prices in the U.S. Most Wiesbaden shops are like Rodeo drive prices! Rocky bought me a super cute summer jacket from a shop in Konigstien for my birthday. I love and feel so fashionable in it! J Everyone has summer jackets because there is still a chill in the air during this time of year.

Savannah and I bought some delicious treats at the Italian market of salami and spreads, and then we got some fresh whole wheat bread to make little sandwiches for dinner. Well it looked like whole wheat with sunflower seeds. Whenever I order something I really don’t fully understand what they are telling me. Everything I order is truly an experiment. Most of the time everything is quiet tasty.

Savannah is now 10 months old! She can give kisses and hugs on demand, only for me though, she doesn’t hand them out to Rocky just yet! J She is a super fast crawler and can stand for long periods of time. Her and Lilly are total BFF’s, they play together and it’s the funniest thing. I got a video to explain. She’s very social and gets really excited when she sees other babies and dogs, her little legs start kicking and she starts squealing! Sooooo cute! :)

The weather here is really nice, temps in the 60-70s daily with cloudy days far and few in between. There is a chill up on the hill but the freshness of the air make it worth it.

I uploaded some pictures and videos from the weekend. Hope you enjoy. Now that I have updated you on the past two weeks, my posts won’t be like novels! J We love and miss you all!

Oh and remember, if anyone has advice on living a little farther out of town vs. living right in town while being in a foreign country please email us! 

P.s Check the video tab later today to see the videos. I'm uploading them now but it's taking a while!

XOXOXO