4 Months in Germany and a trip to Charlottenhöhle (Charlotte's Cave)
Unbelievable....August 1st will mark 4 months in Germany. Our language skills are (slowly) improving and we are continuing to learn and adapt to living in a different place. After the kids initial time at school Valerie hit a bit of a rough patch with having some anxiety about going. However, I'm happy to report that I think she has turned the corner and seems to be happy about going again. Over the summer months they spend a lot (probably the majority of their time there) playing outside if the weather is nice. They have a large "garten" as they call it with swings, sand, climbing areas, riding toys, all sorts of things. Sometimes they just bring out art supplies or games and do them outside in the shade with the kids.
One thing I am really enjoying about living here is being able to walk/bike everywhere local. There are bike lanes and sidewalks on nearly every street. Since we live close to the downtown area it is often easier to walk or bike than to drive and have to park. On a typical weekday I probably walk about 5-7 kilometers just in my normal activities taking the kids back and forth to school, getting a few groceries, etc. No need for a gym membership anymore! On another note I am not enjoying driving here. Manual cars are the norm here so that is what we got in order to be able to resell it easily before moving home. Well, my family never had a manual car when I was learning to drive so, I never learned. Jesse learned when he was 16 and owned a manual car for a long time, even since we've been married. I attempted to learn to drive his car once years ago and failed miserably and I never tried again. So here we are living in Germany, learning to drive and read signs in a new place, seems like a great time to learn to drive manual, right? Yea. No. I took 2 driving lessons with an instructor and have practiced maybe 10 times. I know is sounds silly because I'm an adult and sooooo many people can do this, but I am not enjoying this endeavor....yet. I keep telling myself it'll get better with practice, so I'll keep trying. Germans aren't the most patient drivers either.
We went on a recent adventure to Charlottenhöhle (Charlotte's Cave). It was first discovered in 1893 and is one of the longest accessible caves in southern Germany. It was pretty cool to see and the pictures definitely don't do it justice. The kids (mostly Ian) got a little bored on the German narrated tour. Luckily they had a nice outside play area and cafe that we enjoyed afterwards too, so it made for a great afternoon trip.
Here are a few pictures of our adventure:
One thing I am really enjoying about living here is being able to walk/bike everywhere local. There are bike lanes and sidewalks on nearly every street. Since we live close to the downtown area it is often easier to walk or bike than to drive and have to park. On a typical weekday I probably walk about 5-7 kilometers just in my normal activities taking the kids back and forth to school, getting a few groceries, etc. No need for a gym membership anymore! On another note I am not enjoying driving here. Manual cars are the norm here so that is what we got in order to be able to resell it easily before moving home. Well, my family never had a manual car when I was learning to drive so, I never learned. Jesse learned when he was 16 and owned a manual car for a long time, even since we've been married. I attempted to learn to drive his car once years ago and failed miserably and I never tried again. So here we are living in Germany, learning to drive and read signs in a new place, seems like a great time to learn to drive manual, right? Yea. No. I took 2 driving lessons with an instructor and have practiced maybe 10 times. I know is sounds silly because I'm an adult and sooooo many people can do this, but I am not enjoying this endeavor....yet. I keep telling myself it'll get better with practice, so I'll keep trying. Germans aren't the most patient drivers either.
We went on a recent adventure to Charlottenhöhle (Charlotte's Cave). It was first discovered in 1893 and is one of the longest accessible caves in southern Germany. It was pretty cool to see and the pictures definitely don't do it justice. The kids (mostly Ian) got a little bored on the German narrated tour. Luckily they had a nice outside play area and cafe that we enjoyed afterwards too, so it made for a great afternoon trip.
Here are a few pictures of our adventure:
Comments
Post a Comment