Merry Happy

The move was a success! Three German movers arrived at our new apartment 15 minutes early (has that EVER happened in the US??) opened all of our boxes, assembled our furniture, shook out our rug (are ya kiddin' me?) and were out the door 4 hours later. Granted, we spent the next 36 hours unpacking, organizing and buying apartment necessities, but we were still very impressed. The view below is not anything close to a "finished product" but it's a start. Definitely a huge step up from the temporary apartment we've been living in!

Speaking of apartment necessities, Rich spent several hours practicing his electrical skills by putting up our light fixtures which, at times, went smooth and at other times…not so much. But, he got it done! A side note to all of you planning to visit us over the next two years-if you notice a hole or wire hanging out of any light fixtures, it's best not to mention it.

Once we're "photo-shoot ready" we'll add some more pictures, but until then you'll have to be satisfied with the view from our back balcony. The landlord did some recent yard work which has left our yard looking a little bare, but we should have more grass in a couple more weeks. We're looking forward to grilling on our bbq and eating dinner on our balcony this Fall!Other "stuff" going on…...

We had a slight set back with Makayla's driving. For those Harry Potter fans, we like to refer to last Tuesday as the drive "Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named". Without going into great detail, the majority of Bonn's commuters probably arrived home for dinner 20 minutes late. However, redemption was made on Sunday afternoon when Makayla got behind the wheel in a community park's parking lot and mastered first gear on 45 degree incline. We're learning to celebrate the small milestones so lookout Bonn!

We've had a few challenges over the last several weeks enrolling in our language lessons. The ironic part is that we have to enroll online via a German website. As a result, we have each enrolled and cancelled ourselves in this process. We are happy to say, however, that we will be starting our German lessons in September!

Lastly, for those of you who have emailed us regarding our last post, we are still employed at Telekom. Apparently, there was a recent reorganization within the company so every employee received one of those letters confirming your position and salary. Very good news for us although we're a little bummed we weren't promoted in the process.

Go Bucks!

Moving Day Delay!

The Temers have spent the last 36 hours moving into their new home! While we have tons to report, we're too tired to do the reporting justice. So, hang tight and we'll be sure to provide an update in the next few days. Ciao!

Just a routine week in Bonn

Looking South (upriver) on the Rhine

After watching Seattle weather reports in envy for the last couple of weeks, the sun has finally returned to Bonn. Rich took full advantage of the weather and went out riding this morning (without getting lost!). The picture above was taken while returning across the bridge to our apartment. It was a great way to start the day!

First chore of the weekend was Makayla's third driving lesson. Yes, we all know she's a pretty good driver (well....) but our car is a manual, and driving a stick is all new for her. I'm happy to report that we've seen great progress since lesson #1! Yesterday we ventured outside the block surrounding our apartment, found 4th gear, and practiced reversing out of parking spaces. All in all, we survived. We did stall a couple of times, and when the cars were piling up behind us Makayla did break out in quite a sweat (Pam, did you teach her those words???) Later today we're going to have lesson #4: driving on country roads, navigating round-abouts, and avoiding cyclists. Wish us luck!

Also on Saturday, in preparation for moving into our apartment this Friday, we took a trip to Ikea and another home store named Porta to buy some light fixtures. As mentioned previously, "unfurnished" really means unfurnished here...we'll be in the dark if we don't have some lights attached by Friday night! Ikea is as good a deal here as it is at home, so we're doing some furnishing on the cheap, like an outdoor furniture set for 99euro! Granted, we may have to invest in some cushions and duct tape...but still.

Big news: we made our last trip to the laundromat this week. We had a brief run in with Makayla's friend, the homeless crazy lady (who suprisingly speaks great English!) that she met on her first solo trip. No more buying bottles of water to break 20's into coins, and trying to time dinner so that we're back in time to secure a dryer.. Good riddance! (But we will be returning to that 'hood for the kebabs and pizza, yum). Oh, as a farewell, the local meter maid left us a 10 euro ticket that, after translating at work the next day, we found out it was for parking in a handicap spot. Uhh...there wasn't a sign!!!

We received letters this week from Telekom Human Resources, written in German of course. The only words we could make out were our titles, the word "Reorganization", and a person in HR to contact with questions. We're not exactly sure what this means, but we might be home permanently by the holidays...or promoted. Pam, I'm not sure which you're rooting for but just keep your comments to yourself!

That's it for now. Hopefully by next weekend we'll be blogging from the comfort of our living room. Tchuss.

The Bicycle Capital of the World: Amsterdam

Prior to this visit, we thought that Xenia, Ohio, was the Bicycle Capital of the World. It says it on their water tower, so it has to be true, right? Turns out they might be telling a bit of a stretcher back in Ohio, cuz we've seen the real bike capital, and it's in the Netherlands. Wiki tells us that there are about 750,000 residents in the city, and roughly 900,000 bicycles! One of many reasons Rich loved this city!

The architecture is amazing. The streets are narrow, the houses narrow (taxes used to be based on the width of the building), and the houses in many cases appear to be leaning on each other for support. We saw them at all kinds of odd angles..but no one seems worried!





This trip was a reminder of one reason why we chose to spend two years in Europe. The city was beautiful, full of parks, friendly people, lots of history, and it was just a 3 hour drive from home!

Oh, and of course the food was amazing too! You don't hear much about Dutch food, but we discovered one of their true specialties: pancakes. We heard about the Pancake Bakery from Katherine, and also read about it online, so we HAD to find it. It was a tough decision what to order...the age old question of sweet or savory had Rich mired in indecision, until the helpful waitress suggested her favorite: bacon & cheese. Which, she said, is even better with maple syrup. She wasn't kidding!

Other highlights from the weekend included a wander through the infamous red light district, a boat tour of the canals, a somber tour of Anne Frank's House. When we opted out of a 2 hour wait for entrance to the Van Gogh Museum we had the good luck of stumbling across a local artist that we loved named Mark Raven. We ended up buying one of his pieces, which portrayed a bicycle in Amsterdam.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Do you speak English? Words we use on a daily basis while trying to navigate through our new lives. We were in luck this week, we had our first visitor from the US of A! Our friend, James, took a detour from his three city European trip, and spent the day roaming around Bonn with us. It was great to see a friendly face when we met him at, of course, Starbucks. We showed off our future apartment as well as our our soon to be neighborhood full of pubs and ice cream shops.

Out in front of our new pad.

Right before meeting James, we had our first appointment with our OB. She came into the room greeting us in German, and after we pointed to ourselves and said, "English", she commented back, "Well, this is going to be a lot easier then!" We liked her right away....in spite of her NY accent and East Coast manners. Just kidding all you East Coasters out there.

Other happenings this week: Makayla started work and we were given a temporary company car. She was offered a Ford van, but graciously declined opting for the BMW. Unfortunately, that backfired because it ended up in the auto shop less than 24 hours later. The good news is we have our wheels back and are gearing up for a trip to Amsterdam this weekend. We ended our work week filling our bellies with fajitas and enchiladas while watching all the other Americans sitting around us do the same thing. We stumbled upon this restaurant while walking around the city with James, and made sure to remember its location as we have been searching for a Mexican restaurant since we got here!

Celebrating One Amazing Year!!!

Time has flown by! It's hard to believe that just one year ago we tied the knot with friends & family in Mexico, and now we're pregnant and living in Germany!

So what did we do? We rented an "economy" BMW and spent the weekend in Luxembourg (just a 2 hour drive from Bonn). Makayla got to dust off her French and help us navigate the narrow streets and hip restaurants of Luxembourg City.






Rich is very happy to have wheels! Especially German wheels! BMW 116d, have you heard of it? Us neither. But it was a fun 6-speed manual to take onto the Autobahn!

It also gave Makayla a chance to start learning how to drive a manual. Chances are good that our company car will be manual, and she'll be taking it to client meetings!! She's not happy....






The view of the Grund and the old city from the top floor bar of our hotel. It's really a beautiful little city, but expensive!













For you Ohioans, you may recognize the Chi Chi's sign behind Makayla. It's a bit further away, but if you get the craving, you know where to go!

Our "Awesome" Temporary Diggs

Where to begin on all the fabulous amenities of our temporary housing.... Should we discuss how the bed comes with a single musty pillow and sheet, or the fact the kitchen is stocked with 2 glasses and little else? Or maybe it's the Southwest/Navajo motif of the clearly second hand sofa and almost matching chair?
Electricity also seems to be an issue...in the two weeks we've been living here we've managed to burn out a total of 5 light bulbs. Oh, and the Germans have added an extra safety feature to the wiring: when the bulb burns out the breaker blows.

The kitchen isn't actually that bad. When you see how small it is you can understand why they only provide 2 glasses, 4 plates, and a knife. Really, not much else would fit!

The good news is that we've been over to the apartment we're moving into on September 1 and we love it. We have just 4 more weeks in temporary housing, and then our furniture should arrive from the States and we'll move into our home.




........................................... One Year Newlywed Intermission ...........................................