We are about two thirds of the way through our first Christmas break in Kandern, and friends — it’s been wonderful. This past semester felt like nonstop busyness, from the legitimate work required by our two jobs to the “extras” of life, such as sifting through the German paperwork we get in the mail, figuring out substitutes and translations when we try to use our American recipes, learning the rules of how and where to recycle anything you can possibly think of, and desperately attempting to squeeze in some new German vocabulary along the way. It’s been so long since I’ve lived overseas that I’d forgotten how much time and energy it takes to accomplish very simple tasks. Last week one of my recipes called for sour cream, and I immediately thought, “Oh no. I just figured out which one is heavy cream, and the last time I tried to buy sour cream I ended up with something that was like garlic cream cheese.” So I went to the grocery store and spent way more time in the dairy aisle than I ever would have in the States, and guess what? I found the sour cream!! At least, I’m 99% sure it’s sour cream. It’s the little victories, people. Honestly, this is a pretty fun adventure, at least on the days when I can maintain perspective and view things as learning experiences. There are, of course, those rare days when something as simple as baking soda makes me want to melt into a puddle of tears…but I think maybe we all have those days, even back in the States, right?
Our lives here have been very busy and fairly exhausting, so we are deeply grateful for the luxury of following a school calendar, i.e. having three weeks of no work. (Well, Keane doesn’t get all three weeks off, but it’s still been pretty awesome.) It’s given us a chance to stop, breathe, be still, to revel in the wonder that a year ago this was but a dream. Keane and I followed the advice of older, wiser, more experienced workers and got away from Kandern for the first week of our break. It was sooooo good to be in a new environment for a bit, and was also surprisingly sweet to want to come “home” after being away. We spent our very first Christmas away from all of our family, which was sort of sad, but it’s been so good to experience our community here during the holidays–a time when friends step in and become family. We’ve enjoyed some European traditions like raclette and fondue (in the States, those things felt like luxuries; here, they’re normal…so cool!), we’ve visited a couple of Christmas markets, and we’ve slept in a whole lot. And two days after Christmas, we woke up to THIS:
This is the Germany that I remember from my high school days, not the mild weather we’ve been having all fall. We’re loving the turn in the season, except for the fact that we’re now stranded in Kandern because we’re not sure what kind of tires are on our car, and it’s illegal to drive here in the winter without snow tires. We just found that out a couple weeks ago. Oops. The learning curve continues!
Hopefully you’ll see more blog posts soon. We love you and miss you. Yes, you. Thanks for sharing life with us!