A Stanger in a Deutschland: Reflections at Six-Months

Did I mention I'm publishing SIX books in 2016, and am currently in the midst of writing them all? Thus: poor, neglected blog.

Since we've been here in Germany almost seven months, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on how things are going.

Overall, I honestly can say, with Tony the Tiger-like enthusiasm: they're GRRRRRRREAT!

The travel, man, the travel. In case you live under a rock and haven't seen all my social media blasts, all this happened:

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Istanbul, Turkey

Olympia, Greece

Venice, Italy

So yeah, all those places happened since we've been here, plus: Paris, Amsterdam, London, Austria, and Switzerland. Not to mention, I saw a Shakespeare play (Merchant of Venice) performed outdoors at a real, live CASTLE one evening. It was definitely a quintessential "Hey, we live in Europe" moment.

Y'all, we live in EUROPE.

When people told us we should take advantage of travel and opportunities while we were here, we took them at their word. 

Of course, it hasn't all been easy. Kevin's job is significantly harder, or at least the learning curve has been. The hours are longer. The traffic is THE PITS. But he's surviving.

I've pretty much given up on learning German because Mark Twain had it right...

Okay, I haven't given up, but IT'S SO HARD. (Es tut mir leid. Mein Deutsch ist nicht sehr gut. Still, people. Still nicht sehr gut.)

Another difficulty has been the weather: it's been one of the hottest summers anyone can remember. Everyone says we'll be glad to think of this nice warm weather when winter rolls around again and it's so cold.

But right now, it's been in the upper-90s multiple days in a row. AND THERE IS NO AIR CONDITIONING. So basically this:

But except for sleeping with ice packs, the good far outweighs the bad, for sure. We continue to love the adventure, even when we can't watch America Ninja Warrior because it's not on Hulu. 

We play, we fight, we eat, we live. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's exciting, sometimes some old German guy is yelling at you outside your car because you accidentally blocked the bike lane while waiting for a red-light to turn. To which you just shrug. 

Basically, this place has just become home.  And what a beautiful place home is: