Grafenwohr and family

I'm in Grafenwohr at the moment, eating lunch (a döner) in my transit motor pool (TMP) vehicle with the windows down, enjoying the sunshine.

The feel is different here than in Wiesbaden, which of course it should be. Graf is a small town in the country in Bavaria. Although they probably often feel overwhelmed by Americans here, the people are friendlier and more patient than in Wiesbaden. I actually have it on good authority that Wiesbadeners are rude, something the Germans refer to as "high nose", or something like that. I get no sense of that here in Grafenwohr.

The day is beautiful. My three reliable friends are not here, and I'm on travel without my family, so I'm feeling a little bit melancholy and a lot bit anti-social. I have ten minutes until lunch ends, and I'm going to stay away from my building until the very last minute. As I was sitting in the parking lot, a man asked me if I was enjoying the sunshine. Then he called us all, including himself, troglodytes. That feels especially true today. I should be out hiking!

The feel in Grafenwohr is also different from the feel on site in Israel. It's not just the country culture, either. Since we're not traveling to a different country, there seems to be less flexibility and a higher expectation for productivity. I understand that, and can certainly live with it.

But honestly, on a day like this, I should really be out hiking!

...It's the next day, now. I got to come home a day early, and that's a fabulous thing. But I was so blessed this trip, because I made a new friend, and she lives in Wiesbaden! Woo hoo!

Some people I know don't really like coming out to Graf, but I see goodness in it. It's slow and peaceful here. And this week, I had some good Chinese food from the restaurant called The Chinese. No kidding. I actually avoided it for almost a year because of its name. I had a McDonald's burger that actually looked like the picture on the menu. And I got to eat at Restaurant Böhm with my new friend. It's probably the best restaurant in Grafenwohr.

I'm glad to be home, though. This is already the last weekend with Pat and Jesse. How could that time have gone so fast?! We've certainly enjoyed having them here and will be so sad to see them leave. It makes me glad that this job is temporary and that I know its end date. It was hard enough saying goodbye to Jeanette. I didn't hang out with them all very much because I was trying to make sure that David got to maximize his time with them. They got to see a few things. I know one thing. They will surely be missed.

Giant burger at Restaurant Böhm

My mental state as I'm traveling

Saturday, 6 January: I have a lot of travel this month, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Tomorrow I am heading to Bavaria for four nights. I've been there often enough now to know what to expect. What I like about it is that it's very low key, with somewhat set hours for work, and not stressful. Even driving there is getting less and less stressful. I will come back on Thursday.

On Saturday, I am heading to Israel again. I don't think I'm going to get a chance to go sightseeing for a whole day. We have a lot of work to do. I will still get to go to Jaffa and Tel Aviv in the evenings. And my hotel is the same one on the beach, so it will still be quite lovely. I don't think the sun has been out in Germany for about four weeks, so I am going to soak it up as much as possible while I'm in Israel. I'll be coming back on Friday the 19th.

Needless to say, all of this traveling is going to have me away from home starting tomorrow.

Sunday, 7 January:... And it's tomorrow. I've decided not to publish this until after I get back. I don't want to tell the bad guys where I'm going and whatnot.

But here I am in the hotel. I stay at a family run place called Hotel Rattunde. It's cute. I like their breakfast. I'm in a newly remodeled (or maybe expanded?) room and it's nice. I'm watching The Departed on tv. In English. Do you remember that movie? Not one I would recommend for my mom, but I liked it well enough.

Let the fun begin. I hope it goes well. I'm missing the family already. I hope they do all right while I'm gone. I know they will, but boy is it going to be a hard couple of weeks for them.

Tuesday, 9 January: ... Isn't it ironic what I wrote above about this trip to Bavaria being relatively low stress? Can you imagine how stressed I was when I realized I lost my wallet?! (If you didn't read that one, read it here.) I actually was getting queasy! I was near tears! Ugh. I hope the rest of the week/month/year is better! (I'm hopeful.)

Friday, 12 January: ... So yesterday on my drive home, about 40 minutes away from Grafenwohr, I saw that my colleague had sent me an email telling me that he found my i.d. card. What the heck is wrong with me?! Forty minute round-trip again, because I can't go to Israel without it. What was wrong with me was that I was trying to get out of there in time to drop the government car off yesterday. Obviously, I didn't make it. You can't imagine what a hassle it is! Seriously, I'm sure I'll vent about that someday.

Anyhow, I dropped it off this morning, and am now riding the bus home for about an hour and 15 minutes. Sound like a waste of time on my one day off for about 13 days? Well, it's better than hauling Dave and the kids along with the rigmarole of turning that stupid car in. Next time I'm getting a rental car.

I might get a cultural day in Israel again, after all. Not Jerusalem probably; too many of the old city gates are off limits right now. But maybe the Dead Sea and Masada. ?? God willing.

Ooh ooh! Because of the bus ride with a changeover, I was able to get some of the best falafel in Wiesbaden. David will be happy.

Saturday, 13 January: I got to the airport way too early. The gate for security isn't even open yet. Last time, I couldn't believe how long it took me to get to my gate.

Doing this made me think of the trip over here with the family. I'm still in shock about how hard that was. But instead of really thinking about that, I was dwelling on the difference between coming here and going home. Going home will be lovely.

Don't get me wrong, I am so excited for this year and all that it has to offer our family. God willing, this year we will see the tulip festival and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Paris, Denmark and the North Sea, Tuscany, Venice, Vienna, a small town in Austria I flew over and would like to visit, Strasbourg, Barcelona, and more of Germany. That's very exciting!!! But it's also exhausting, and this work travel, although also exciting, is exhausting too. So coming home will be, like I said, lovely. Peaceful. Coming home just to the house will be like coming home to a good friend. Not to mention, I will be coming home to good friends, many of whom I dearly miss!!

I'm surprised how much I miss my home. I knew I loved it from the first day we saw pictures of it on line. I never stopped appreciating it for the three years we lived there. But being away has made me fall in love with it again. And the household goods move, as badly as it went, has made me appreciate what I had in my home and how well I had it set up. I'm happy to report that we have had some progress on that front. An inspector came and looked at our damaged goods and took pictures. They will repair some things and replace others. I'm slightly optimistic that it will be closed out to my satisfaction, except for the timeframe, of course. It has been five months since I've moved. Four months since I submitted my claim. They're supposed to have two. But as long as it's resolved sufficiently, I'll be happy. I'll wait as long as it takes.

I'm starting to feel stress about Alex's surgery. I shouldn't feel stress about it. I'm a Christian and I trust God, right? But I'm a human, too. So keep me in prayer about that, okay? I normally don't get stressed, so when I do, stressing out is stressful. That makes sense, right?

...I just made it through the gate. It was equally difficult to say goodbye to Lilly and David this morning. I almost teared up. I know how brief my absence is, but still. But now that I am through the gate, I am getting so excited to leave this gray. I'm really looking forward to some sunshine. I hope I can get my fill to tide me over until March.

Sunday, January 13: It rained all day today. Bummer.

Wednesday, January 17: It's been cold and rainy here in Israel. The people who have been here often have said they've never seen it like this. I've had one day of sun. It's been disappointing, but even one day was good. And tomorrow, I might be going back to Jerusalem. I hope so. I'm excited. I've been working 11-hour days since Sunday, so I'm looking forward to having part of the day off, and seeing what I see. I'll be with a big group, so I don't really know yet. But it's going to be a good day, God willing. And then home on Friday. Yes!! Can't wait for that, either.

Also, I saw a spur-winged lapwing today. Never saw that before!!

Friday, January 19: On the plane in Tel Aviv. Layover in Warsaw but not long enough to take advantage of it. Plane is a little bit late, but I'll be okay for my connection.

I met a girl just now, from L.A., living in Israel, and on a sort of scholarship program to help her decide if she wants to live here. What a great opportunity for her! I wonder what she will do.

I can't wait to go home. I miss David and the kids so much. So so much! I got to go to Jerusalem yesterday again and it was wonderful. We had been considering going to the Dead Sea, but it is winter here and has been colder and rainy. It was clear and beautiful in Jerusalem yesterday. I will blog about that later.

I think I will be back in 4 weeks. Please pray that we are able to bring David over when I come back and that I can get some time off while he's here. Sightseeing in Israel together would be such a blessing to me!

...Well, I just flew from Tel Aviv to Warsaw. I sat beside a nice Russian man who spoke only Russian and Polish. He was teaching me some words in Russian. Did you know that babushka means butterfly in Russian? If I understood him correctly, of course. But I think I did.

Getting ready to board for Frankfurt. Can't wait to be home!

Bavaria and LEGOLAND!

The Bavarian Alps

Last week was quite the week for us!

From Sunday through Wednesday, I went again to Grafenwoehr for work. I got to hang out with my two new girlfriends, again, and it was great to see them. We took a little hike around a lake right at sunset. It was very pretty.

Then on Friday, the family headed to Garmisch-Partenkirken for two nights. We actually were able to get out the door at noon and had a pretty decent drive there. We stopped at McDonald's on the way in and had a quick lunch. We usually don't buy the kids happy meals, but sometimes on vacation we do, and we did this time.

We checked in to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort at about 7:00 p.m., I think. It was just enough time to have dinner and get the kids to sleep for the upcoming big day. Edelweiss was pretty impressive for me, with one exception. We tasted two of the restaurants there, and they were far below my expectations. We stayed in a junior suite, and although it didn't have a bedroom, it was spacious enough for the six of us. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is eligible to use it, especially for big and / or young families. They have a swimming pool and a hot tub. Both are absolutely fantastic.

We had such a big day on Saturday! We took the kids on a hike to some castle ruins (Werdenfels Castle). I was happy to be able to use the stroller all the way to the castle, and then let Lilly out to walk around. The kids loved the ruins, although Livvy didn't handle the hike very well. She just isn't a hiker, I think. <Sad face.> Maybe that will change with time. She is the smallest one of all of us and is doing the same amount of walking as the rest of us. After the hike, we walked around Garmisch, which is absolutely adorable, and got the kids some ice cream and then ate dinner (yes, in that order). Our dinner was incredible. They have a drink here called a Radler that David and I think is fantastic. Who knew beer and lemonade would go so well together? Also, I should have taken a picture, but David ordered hot wings, and he got three full-sized drumsticks with wing sauce on them. Okay, so maybe Germany doesn't do hot wings, but the meals were delicious, both for the adults and kids. I would highly recommend Bungalow 7. The service was also great. Sometimes restaurants don't like us and our little kids, but this one knew exactly how to handle...er...treat us.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and took the kids to the pool. I remembered the suitcase, and hence the swimsuits! Oh wait, I forgot my swimsuit this time. So I bought some clothes to wear in the pool. I can wear them again, but how annoying! Patty! The pool was great, with a little kids section that had them fully entertained for the hour we were there. Even Lilly really got into it.

Of course, after all of that, the kids were wiped out! So we took them to bed and fought with Griffin a little bit not to wake people up when he has to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. He is on this kick that he is too scared to go by himself, so he's always waking Alex or Livvy up to walk with him, even when it's only ten feet away.

We tried to get the room for one more night, but they were actually overbooked, and couldn't accommodate us any more. So yesterday, we checked out. We debated what to do, but I guess when it comes time to leave, I'm more interested in getting on the road and getting that part done than prolonging the departure. So we checked out of the hotel without eating breakfast and took off. Edelweiss was very good to us. I'm already thinking we will go back, but I hesitate because why would we see something we've already seen?! (There was so much more to see. One could easily spend a week there and not get bored.)

The kids asked for McDonald's for lunch, and of course we stopped there again. Happy meals again. And then we headed home again for the long haul. Except that the McDonald's happy meals had 50% off coupons for Legoland, and we were going to be only 12 minutes away from it. Who wouldn't stop under those circumstances?! We stopped. Thank God for those coupons. I don't think I would have even entertained the idea of stopping without them. With them, it cost us 103 Euros to get in. But that's the way it is with a family of six (even though Lilly was free).

At first, Livvy cried her eyes out because she was too short to ride the roller coaster. They all have this penchant for drama where they say things like, "I'm never going to get to ride again ever in my whole life." Are they teenagers already?! But once I convinced them that they could ride rides, they had fun. We also got to watch a 4D Lego movie, and happily Lilly was good and quiet the whole time. It was a fun time. I took Alex on the roller coaster and he LOVED it. He even talked about it this morning. "Remember when we went on the roller coaster together?" Ah, yes. That was yesterday.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Uhh, should I air our dirty laundry? David and I fought a little bit because at our very late dinner (after Legoland last night), he slammed the door in my face twice while I was carrying Lilly (who is heavy and requires both of my hands). Not according to him, of course. According to him, he neglectfully let the door shut as I was walking through it. Twice. He was getting impatient because the kids were misbehaving. I'm waiting for him to understand how difficult a weekend like the one we just did is for the kids. All in all, they did very well. And David DID have a good time. We did the castle hike by his choice (and a good choice it was). I don't, and I think I can safely say that David doesn't, let that kind of thing ruin the day. Anyhow, right now David is planning to take any kids that want to go to the store with him. There's a good chance that at least two will want to go, so that will be nice for all of us. (But maybe not David, depending on how the kids behave! It's a known risk, right?)

We had a good time and made good memories. I know we'll have to temper our trip to Italy (in May), but I'm already planning it out that way. I think that next month, we are hoping to visit Trier, Germany. I'm excited to see some Roman ruins. It's closer, too, so it should be an easier trip. We are blessed indeed.

I know not everyone is feeling that way right now, and I want you to know that if I know about it, I'm praying for you. If I don't know about it but I know you, I am praying that God is working His will in your life, and I hope that you can find peace in the midst of your storm.

The Alexanders (minus 1) at Castle Werdenfels

Castle Werdenfels

Aww, brothers

Aw, Mom! The sun! Of course, by the time I switched them around, Livvy was done with the pictures.  Makes me laugh.

Lilly won't remember the castle, but now I have proof

Fountain in Garmisch

Also in Garmisch

Legoland photocollage

Russweiher Lake