The Good Bad and Ugly

I'm happy that it's May. This means spring is here and there are leaves on the trees again. It means flip flops, short sleeved shirts, and ice tea. And maybe I can finally put away the winter coats. It's been 7 months that we have been living here and I thought I'd reflect on that.

• The Good: The kids can speak German, and I am also learning, very slowly, but learning. Couldn't be happier with putting them in school here, I hope that they look back on this time with fond memories. It's amazing to see Europe. It's not like we have travelled that much, but it is so beautiful and amazing to see. We love the village we live in and the slower pace of life. The kids can walk down to the corner store alone, or the park and I don't worry about them. Our house is awesome, and I have my sewing room. It's pretty great, especially considering our old house.


• The Bad: Our family is so far away. I obviously knew this would be an issue, but it's still hard. We miss them at birthday's holidays and just seeing them on a regular basis. Miss the option to fly down for a quick weekend. Plus it's so hard to plan tips here because of every ones different schedule and the price of a flight. Having to convert dollars into Euro, it's hard to explain all the whys on this one, but if you live here you know what I'm taking about.


• The Ugly: The trash is annoying. I do like to recycle, but sometimes I just want to throw something away without thinking so much about it. The language. We are learning, but it's hard. Can't read a menu. Can't ask for directions. Can't talk to someone as they are passing by. Can't ask someone who fell if they are ok. WOW that's not so fun. And car sickness. I don't think there is a straight road in all of Germany. At lease we haven't found them. Which means car sick kids and barf bags ready.