Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Ok, so we're three months into this stint in Germany, and I can pretty confidently say that I am adjusting.  Well, I'm adjusting to living in a foreign country.  I can't say that I'm adjusting to a life so tied to a military base, but I'm working on it.  I've never actually had to have much to do with a base (as far as a social life, education, shopping, banking, and so on...).  I'm finding it difficult to rely so heavily on a group of people that seems to be pretty tightly knit.  I don't know how they got that, and I don't know how to break into the knit.  Parker and I have been to a few playgroups, and I've joined the MOMS Club.  I'm cautiously optimistic that those things and maybe a trip to bunco night will yield some friends...who aren't crazy, drama-filled, nut jobs.


Since we got here, I've taken a beginner's German class, managed to get us fed in a couple of restaurants (which was much easier in Luxembourg where I could speak French....rusty as mine may be.), navigated bakeries and butcher shops, learned to drive alongside the German people, and completely gotten over any feelings of "what if I look like an idiot?".  I gotta say, though, being here is not at all what I expected.  We live in Orenhofen, population somewhere near 1,100.  It doesn't look like a quaint little village with a marketplace and a town plaza.  It's a bunch of houses on top of a really big hill.  We have two bakeries, a butcher, and a pub.  That's about it.  It's not the European paradise I had hoped for.  It isn't bad.  It just isn't what I had expected.


Speaking of learning German (ya know...way up there at the beginning of the second paragraph)...I'm trying my darndest to learn.  If I were here going to school or working on the economy, I'd learn much more quickly.  I never hear people speak German, though.  I do most of our shopping on base, and I'm not sure how to make German friends.  There is a German/American Women's Club, but they are apparently inactive during the summer months.  Weird, I know.  Welcome to Germany.  Hopefully, by the end of these three years, I'll see significant improvements in my German.


I'm going to update the blog more frequently, so it won't be so scattered and pointless.  I'll try to update it when we do something cool or I have some kind of interesting European experience.  I'll leave you with this little tidbit about life in Deutschland:  The Autobahn is a lot like the Interstate system in the United States.  The common thought that "The Autobahn" has no speed limit is erroneous and misleading.  First, it leads many to believe that there is a singular road called "The Autobahn".  Second, autobahns all over Germany have sections that do have speed limits (usually anywhere between 80 kmph and 130 kmph).  Unless otherwise posted, there is actually no speed limit, which leads people to fly past you going easily over 200 kmph (about 125 mph).  The suggested speed when no speed limit is posted is 130 kmph (about 81 mph), but if there is no speed limit posted, you can go as fast as you darn well please.  However, if you are involved in an accident and it is determined that you were going over 130 kmph on the autobahn, you have to pay for at least 50% of any damages caused, which could include replacing a freakin' guardrail or giant road sign.  I imagine those suckers aren't cheap.


So, there it is, a bit of what's going on and some German trivia.  


Tschüss!