You Know You're Stationed in Germany When...

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Living in Germany is a truly unique experience. Richard and I have been living here for over a year and a half now. I thought it would be fun to put together a list that talks about some of the things we experience over here. I've heard of all of these and experienced all but 1 or 2 myself. Some of these are annoying, shocking, funny or just plain different from what we're used to. But, it's all in good fun and part of the joy and experience of living overseas.

Life is all about making memories and having a good time together and part of my reason for making this list is to have it to look back on later. If you live or have lived in Germany I'm sure you can relate to many of these items on the list. Enjoy!

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You know you're living in Germany when...

- You ask for water at a restaurant and it's carbonated. Eww.

- It costs more to call your neighbor than it does to call your family back in America.

- Most houses don't have A/C.

- You've discovered the joys of the shelf in your toilet. (If you live here, you know what I mean)

- You've fried one (or more) of your electronics. RIP flatiron.

- You have gotten lost (even with a GPS) trying to get to a friends house. I swear I don't know how anybody gets around this country without a GPS.

- You have to pay to use a shopping cart.

- You see children as young as 4 walking home along, and crossing, busy streets after preschool.

- Your house doesn't have any closets. You have to buy or rent wardrobes.

- You've bought a flight to Paris for less than it takes to fill your car with gas.

- If it's sunny outside you go out right then because if you go change your clothes, chances are the sunshine will be replaced with rain and you'll have missed out.

- You have lugged 25 pound transformers up and down your stairs just to use an American appliance in your kitchen.

- You've been trapped in a store if you didn't buy anything because of the Do Not Enter doors at the registers and entrances.

- You discover a sex shop next to a children's store.

- People scowl at you if you try to give a friendly wave.

- You can be driving 100 mph on the autobahn and people are still flying around you fast enough to make your car shake.

- People bring their dogs into nice restaurants.

- You've been warned not to do yard work on a Sunday or you will be reported to the Polezei.

- Light switches for your bathroom are on the outside. (This is especially fun if you have little ones and company comes over!)

- You never get ice in your drink.

- You have to bring your own bags and bag your own groceries at the store.

- Leaving a tip at a restaurant can be seen as rude.

- The refrigerator in your kitchen is about the size of the one in your old college dorm room.

- German M&M's don't taste the same as American ones. Neither does Diet Coke.

- You can't stand the taste of watery American beer now and only want European beer.

- You've cooked a big Thanksgiving meal in your tiny German oven - one dish at a time.

- You've have to pay to use a public restroom.

- You've had friends say to you "If people aren't rude, it's not Germany"

- You live next door to a horse, cow, chicken, duck or camel, in a town.

- When you say "Sprechen zie English" every single person says "a little" but then carries on a conversation fluently.

- You've gotten stuck behind a 90 year old riding a bicycle on the road, more than once.

- You've bought fresh delicious German pretzels out of a vending machine at the grocery store for practically pocket change.

- At first you hated them but know you've come to love your rolladens (metal window shades) when you find out the sun rises at 5 am in the summer in Germany. Every house everywhere should have those!

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Have anything to add? 
If you live here, or have lived here, I'd love to hear your memories. Things you miss or DON'T miss let me know!!

**Photo is one I took looking down on our village at sunset.

Tips for Traveling with a Toddler.

We've arrived in Florida. I would be saying "sunny Florida" but actually it's been cloudy and rainy the whole time I've been here so far. We arrived mid-day on Wednesday and we're still trying to adjust to the 6 hour time difference but it's a little better today.

I'm wrote this post a few days before we actually fly from Germany to Florida. We've traveled with Ariana before but long trips always make me more nervous. A 10 hour flight is a lot to ask of a busy body toddler. I'm not usually one to tell people what to do but in case you are curious, here are some tips and tricks that work for me and my little one for long trips.

In her bag:

+ Books (We thrifted a few new ones last week especially for this trip so they'll be brand new. Cost $1)

+ Coloring book and crayons. (We had a travel size coloring book and small notebook we've been 

                         saving. Plus a small box of crayons and possible color wonder markers and paper will 

                         be going too)

+ Mini magnet doodle board (for drawing guessing games and so we don't use all our paper)

+ Movie (and headphones. I'm taking my laptop she can watch it on. It's a 10 hour flight, I'm gonna  

                           need an hour or 2 of not having to entertain her.)

+ Small toys (little ponies and dinosaurs are our go to travel/restaurant toys lots of imagination there!

                           Also fast food kids meals toys are great, preferably ones they haven't played with yet)

+ Small container or pencil box (this can be held on their lap for their small toys so they can stand them 

                           up and play without them flying/falling off.)

+ View master (old school! yep thrifted, cost $2 with about 50 slides! Hopefully we will have a window 

                          seat and she'll have lots of entertainment here!)

+ Stuffed toy (a buddy/pillow)

+ Lollipops (for taking off and landing for helping them swallow and keeping their ears popped)

Not pictured:

extra clothes - you never know when they might have an accident

wipes and alcohol rub - cause kids and airplanes can all be gross at times

juice and snack - nothing with too much sugar

TIPS -- Thinking outside the box

-- a great tip I love is having a few toys and goodies that are new for the trip and wrapping them up in tissue paper. Let the kids unwrap them one by one and every hour, half hour, etc they get a new present. That worked great with her on our last long flight.

-- after you've read and re-read the books, find other uses for them like "I spy" : Can you find something red? Where is the kitty? How many cars are on this page? This also works great with adult magazines and travel magazines they have for free on flights. Magazines can be used for kids to circle letters they know: Can you find all the "t"'s on this page?

-- Hold off. Keep them entertained by the people coming on the plane, the flight attendant's little show of the exits and safety stuff, watching the bags being loaded, other airplanes, and taking off  for as long as possible before you break out the toys and books. You don't want to be half through your bag before you've even left the ground!

-- Potty breaks often! Little kids can't sit still too long, we know that. So make potty breaks often just so they can stretch their legs a little.

-- Small puzzles and compact games are great for kids. Be sure to check the dollar section at Target or the dollar store for small goodies for the trip. Unfortunately for me, we don't have either so I'm working with things I already have at home or could find.

-- If you kids like to sing (and you're not on an airplane) don't forget the kids music! Sing along songs are great for travel!

-- Learn sign language. Print out a sheet of photos of sign language for each letter. Have the kids see if they can make all the letters. This is a great one for older kids because they can spell to each other without parents hearing them! :)

-- I spy game. Make up a game for the kids to play on the airplane. I spy a cloud. I spy a river. I spy a pool. I spy someone sleeping haha! Either make a check list, photo list or ask kids as you find each object if they can spy what you spy! I took one of her books and scanned pages into the computer. Then I cropped images (a flower, hat, bird) from each page and created a I spy game she could find the picture on each page of the book. We didn't get around to it on the way there, but we'll definately use it on the way back!

UPDATE: Ariana was amazing awesome on our flight. She didn't have any meltdowns and even the guy beside us (who I'm sure was thinking "oh great" when we sat down talked about how great she was and what a great traveler she seemed to be. The first hour we stayed busy by watching the activities outside the window, taking off, watching the stewardesses, watching the clouds and watching the safety video they showed. The viewmaster was a hit, like I knew it would be and we did a lot of coloring. I actually had found her a mini puzzle but we never needed it. We read books, colored, watched an airplane movie, ate lunch, read some books, watched a cartoon, took potty/walk around breaks, and played with her little ponies. Before we knew it we only had 1 hour left and I was starting to breathe a sigh of relief! Once we landed, customs was a breeze and we collected our luggage and there were lots of hugs from Grammy and Aunt Sarah! We're hoping we can go to the beach today in the afternoon if the sun decided to peek out.

I hope these tips help some of you out in your summer vacations. Happy travels!!

xo's

Cat