I can't believe I've only been here exactly a week.  I feel like its been much longer.  I'm still struggling with jet lag, but after realizing its only been a week, I don't feel so bad for my lethargy.  

We are finalizing the lease for our new home.  Its not like anything I envisioned for us, but I feel confident that its a good fit and I'm happy with it.  

The development is brand new and our unit is a town home.  It's in a small town on the outskirts of Wiesbaden.  Instead of looking like a quaint little German home though, it looks like it belongs somewhere in Destin, FL with its bright white and orange stucco exterior.  It completely stands out compared to the neighborhood around it!  We looked at close to 10 rental properties though before making this decision and its pros outweigh its cons by far.  

Construction won't be complete until mid-August to beginning of September though, so pictures will have to wait.

We made our first trip to Ikea this afternoon as well, and I'm here to tell you that it looks the same as every other Ikea!  

We'll have to get a couple things for our new house.  Closets aren't standard here.  Only one of the apartments we looked at had a closet.  So we will need to buy some storage for clothes and some other minor items.  

I'm excited to move in and start making it our own. I've been looking up lots of gardening ideas.  Our backyard is super tiny, and the fence separating us from the neighbors has no privacy.  I want to make it a little more homey and private with plants, so I've been looking up what plants are easy to grow, maintain, and that will flourish here.  It'll been a fun project.  Hopefully its not too late in the season to be trying to establish things!

This website is kind of cool.  Anyone in the design industry has surely run into issues in selecting exact colors online and for most of us, access to a Pantone deck or a properly calibrated monitor is a dream not a reality. 

This website lets you select color schemes and gives you the exact code for them, helping you communicate the exact color you're looking for.  Just click on the screen when you find the color you like and click away until you find them all. Then you can either jot down the codes or do a screenshot.  Cool?

We had a quiet weekend, mostly just making up for the busy week we had and trying to break our streak of eating out at least a little.  After the farmer's market Saturday we didn't do much and Sunday I did laundry and we just went for a walk in the evening.  

Real exciting, right?  Here are some pictures from our walk.  There's a ton of countryside here, as you can see.  Today we had some time to kill before an appointment, so we walked through what we thought was a turnip field, but I don't really know.  Its been cooler the past two days, which I'm thankful for.  

We did more house hunting in the surrounding towns of Wiesbaden yesterday (we think we may have found our new home, but more on that later), went to dinner last night at an awesome Thai restaurant, and strolled around the casino (see below) area.  

The weather yesterday evening was beautiful - like mid 70's with a breeze.  Today however, its almost 100.  I think this is really bizarre weather for Germany.  We went down to the Farmer's Market which is in the middle of downtown Wiesbaden and shopped for our lunch (tomato, mozzerella, basil & a baguette - yes please!) and then headed back to the A/C of our hotel.  

Here are some pics from yesterday and this morning.

Jason and I have been immersed in searching for a home since I arrived.  We've explored a little, but I'm still getting over the jet lag, so my exploring is limited.

We've looked at 3 places the past two days, but driven by a bunch more.  We have 5 places scheduled for tomorrow, which is a lot.  One of the homes we looked at today was almost perfect.  Its small, but nowhere near as small as some European apartments.  Its dog appropriate, has 2 awesome outdoor spaces, a really modern kitchen that opens to a huge living room, AND it has two showers - I've discovered that baths are more normal than showers....weird.  BUT, its in the middle of bustling downtown and I'm just not sure if that's what we're looking for.   Leisurely strolls, walking the dog, going on a jog, and parking are all less than ideal.  But do you deal with that to have a hip swanky apartment?  I don't know.  There's so much beautiful countryside, that I feel like we should be by some of that.  Its hard to say with only being here 2 days. We're torn because we want to look at more places before making a decision, but also risk losing the place with the longer we doddle.  

So, we'll see what tomorrow brings and maybe we can get some more viewings scheduled over the weekend or the beginning of next week and then be able to make a more informed decision.  Wish us luck!  

On another note, we found a drink market - or a Getrankemarkt, which was a little bit of an adventure.  Jason found his fill of Alt Bier and I won out in the brain challenge of how you get a cart.  The carts are chained together and in order to unhook one you have to deposit a euro (which you get back at the end).  However with chains and holes and no english explaination or visual diagram, I struggled for a bit.  But I won out in the end :)  Plus look how cheap wine is!?

Also, I'm trying really hard to get braver about using German.  My knowledge is so limited and I don't have the confidence to just throw stuff out there.  I panic and forget I know anything and just smile and look at Jason panicked.  I've asked someone Wo ist die Toilette? and I've said Danke and Hallo A LOT, and I've said Zwei and then pointed at strawberries.  Baby steps :)

Tip is adjusting to the move in his own way.  He's made friends with my makeup bag for the time being.

Some snap shots from my first afternoon in Germany.

I'm here!

It feel like I've been talking about moving to Germany for years now (slight exaggeration, I know).  It still hasn't hit me that that day is finally here!

Tip (the cat) and I had quite the travel experience yesterday, to put it pleasantly.  It was a very long, very rough day on the both of us.  We made it safe and sound, so no legit complaining, especially after I heard about the other flight incident yesterday.  I will say though, that it was probably one of the worst travel days I've ever had and I'm so thankful that its behind me!

We arrived in the afternoon and I got to see a little bit of the countryside as we drove into town.  Wiesbaden is in a wine region, so there's lots of beautiful vistas looking out over vineyards (I plan to explore this more thoroughly later!) and lots of green, lush trees/foliage everywhere.  We got settled into the hotel and walked down to the pedestrian area of downtown.  Its very European with the ornate buildings, stone streets, bikes, & parks everywhere.  I took some pictures, but will have to share later after I get the wireless internet info from Jason and can hook up my own computer (I'm on his at the moment).

I'm definitely suffering from some jet-lag.  I only slept an hour on the overnight flight, but managed to stay up until 9:30 pm local time yesterday.  I slept until 5am this morning, which is still a very early wake up for me but not terribly off schedule from normal waking hours.  I feel pretty rough from traveling though, almost like I have a hang over.  Hopefully that passes sooner rather than later...

So, more to come, but I'm here!  We're going to check out some houses today and do some more exploring.  

My time in Ohio has been very surreal.  What I had originally thought would be a quiet 3 weeks, seems to have ended up quite the opposite (I don't know why this continues to surprise me - what's the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome...)

My time has been filled with seeing friends and family, on both happy and sad terms.  My Grandpa went in for surgery the Monday after I arrived and after a week of ups and downs, he called it quits.  His memorial is on Wednesday here in Ohio.

Overall its been a roller coaster of emotions.  I've enjoyed my time here and will miss those that I never seem to be able to spend enough time with, but I'm ready to move on and join Jason in Germany.  

One more week!