Ho hum.

Yep, we're still here.

I've noticed that I've only done about three blog posts this month, and they've all been pretty boring. How has the time gone by so fast? Obviously, we haven't been up to much this month. The weather has been raining off and on, so I haven't gone to the pool. Instead, I've been working on my Etsy shop, taking long walks, and cleaning my apartment. Not gonna lie, I actually like having a lot of time to myself. That doesn't mean that I don't miss my friends and family or don't mind some company. But I don't mind.

Anyway, Mark's work is going well. He's getting settle in and accomplishing more every day. This month we passed the midway point of our time over here. Did I mention that it has gone by fast? Oh! Last weekend I gave a talk in church, entirely auf Deutsch (in German). I wrote it and Mark translated it for me so I could just read it. What a sweets! I was really thankful though, because I was not nearly as nervous as I usually get when I give a talk. Seriously, that was such a surprise and a huge blessing. Mark gave a talk about a month ago and has to give another one this Sunday. Haha! All the benefits of being in a small ward, but we love it!

We're so excited though--we have a few travel plans for the next couple of months now that the cost of traveling over here is starting to go down. The second weekend in September, we're going to go see a friend in Monheim. Then at the beginning of October, my brother is coming over to stay for a month. We are going to see Hamburg, Kiel, Copenhagen, and Aarhus. We might even make it down to Switzerland a week or two later. We are both so excited, especially to see Denmark. I am excited to see where Mark served parts of his mission and to experience a different part of Germany. It'll be a good time!

Oh, and did I mention that the döner shop opens in four days? Mark says we are going to be the first people in line. I sure do miss that place. Tonight, we went out to eat with some of Mark's coworkers at a restaurant in Waiblingen. We ordered a pizza to share and guess what I found--yep, another hair. I'm batting two for two with the pizzas here in Waiblingen. And this was a completely different restaurant! What's the deal?! Someone get these people hair nets! It really is a shame though, because overall the pizzas weren't too bad.

So that's what has been going on with us. We love it here and we can't wait to go traveling! I thought I would leave you with a few pictures that I've taken on my walks around Waiblingen. Don't mind that they are from my photo app on my iPhone and not my normal camera. It's just more fun to take pictures that way.

There is a cemetery close to where we live, and it is gorgeous. Sounds weird, but it is. There are so many interesting headstones and it is lush and full of flowers. Walking in one is almost like walking in a lovely park with sculptures. :) So of course I had to take some pictures of a few of my favorites!

Isn't it gorgeous here?

Favorite foods: part one.

Oh, Germany. The land of all things scrumptious.

Although Germany does have a serious shortage of Mexican food compared to the U.S. (can't imagine why), I'm willing to forget and forgive. Hence, why I've come to love so many foods over here.

Today I'm only including four items, mostly because we bought them last time we went shopping so I thought I would add them to the blog. We can't buy everything we love at once! (Although I really want to.)

I'll admit, most of these are probably junk foods. Did I also mention that I'm working really hard on eating better? Yeah, I am.

Anyway, item nummer eins. (That's German for number one.)

Schoko Müsli. (Chocolate Müsli)

Oh, how I love müsli, the glorious concoction of raw oats with dried fruit, chocolate, or anything else that suits your fancy. I'm not usually a big fan of cooked oatmeal because it makes me queasy sometimes, so müsli is the perfect answer. This müsli that I love has raw oats, corn flakes, chocolate puffs, and chocolate flakes. Mmm!! Most grocery stores have a generic brand of this so the specific brand doesn't matter. I've tried a few and I love them all!

Fanta Mandarine Orange.

Oh dear. This one always gets me into big trouble because I am seriously trying not to drink sodas, but if Mark buys it, I can't resist. I first discovered my love for European Fanta when I first came over here five years ago. (The Fanta back home just doesn't taste the same.) We love the original orange flavor, but we love the mandarin flavor even more. It tastes like a freshly squeezed back of Cutie mandarins. Tasty, tasty.

Rotkohl.

When Mark first told me about rotkohl several years ago, I was skeptical. To enjoy the taste of it sounded like a bit of a stretch, even for someone who loves sauerkraut. Rotkohl, as I understand, is basically cooked red cabbage. I'm not sure if it is fermented. Sometimes apples are added--this jar that we bought is apfelrotkohl--so it has apples in it. It's an acquired taste at first, but it's really good with mashed potatoes and gravy or another favorite food of mine, knödel (to be introduced later).

Alpro Yogurt.

Germany should be dubbed the "Land of the Yogurt." I swear the yogurt section is one of the biggest sections in the store. So many types and kinds to chose from! So it's very fitting that there should be a soy yogurt, and a very good one at that. I discovered this brand in my local store right after we moved here, and I love it. This is blueberry, but the vanilla is really good, too. This is mostly a favorite of mine, because Mark prefers the dairy versions better. Oh well, I say he's missing out!

And there you have it. Four of our favorite foods over here. Next up: the best chocolate we've ever had, and....well....isn't that enough to get you to read the next favorite foods post? :)

Closed.

We had a crisis occur a few weeks ago. Yes, a crisis.

Our favorite döner shop, Pinar Kebap, has closed down for an entire month. An entire month, people!

Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal or you might think I'm overreacting, but for any of you who know Mark and his obsession for döners, this is pretty bad. But then again, maybe you've tried a döner yourself and understand where we are coming from here.

There it is, all closed up. Tear.

I usually am hesitant when someone boasts something like "World Famous!" or "Best Kebap in Town!" But I'm telling you, it really is the truth. Mark and I have spent hours walking around Waiblingen searching for another döner shop and have only found a gyro shop. Sadly, they just aren't the same as the beloved döners. Even in our excursions around Stuttgart and the many döner shops that we've tried there, we haven't found any that are the same as Pinar.

I am a huge fan of the vegetarian döners, which usually contain a medley of mixed vegetables. Pinar puts a variety of cabbages, tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots in theirs. Last week when we went to Stuttgart, there was cold, sauteed zucchini in mine. Blech. This isn't the first time it's happened and the zucchini tastes like an old sponge. But alas, I digress.

"We are closed from August 1st to August 29th. Good luck trying to find another decent döner within a 20-mile radius. And have fun dealing with your husband's döner withdrawals that last deep into the night, long after you've eaten dinner. Oh, and have a nice summer."

Okay, okay. That's not exactly what it says but that's pretty much how I interpreted it.

To be fair, they are probably taking their children on vacation because that's when the kids are out from school for the summer. In that case, I hope they have a good time. It's not many businesses that can afford to close down their shop for an entire month. They really are nice people...we just want them to come back sooner. :)

Right after we discovered that they were closed, I promptly sent my sister an email explaining what had happened. Hopefully she would understand the severity of the situation because she's been there. Her reply: "Oh no, Midge. It's going to be a long month!"

Long month, indeed. Pinar, we miss you!

Our apartment.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present....

Our apartment!

I know it has been long overdue, but frankly our apartment was a little disheveled for a while because there was still some stuff from the previous owner lingering around. So now that it's all out of the way, we have a nice clean apartment.

Our bed. Yes, we sleep on a mattress on the floor. We'll probably upgrade soon to a bed frame though, because some members from the ward gave us their old bed frame. It's just not set up yet.

See the federdeckes? Oh, how I love them and the fact that they really aren't made out of feathers, but are actually pretty affordable ones from IKEA.

This is our big bedroom/living room. The bed is back off to the left, and there are our couches!

Our dining room.

Nope, no chairs because the owner took them to his new apartment. We're thankful to still have a table though!

The kitchen.

The bathroom.

The shower. Notice the shelf just behind it--it's on rollers so you can pull it out! I love it.

Toilet and sink. The big panel above the toilet is actually the button you push to flush the toilet.

Well, there you have it! Small and simple, and we love it. I love having huge windows and tons of sun. I love the bright green and yellow walls. One thing you might notice: If you look closely at the kitchen pictures, you will notice that the window is open and there is no screen. Welcome to German windows. They are big and you can open them like doors. I love it because they let so much fresh air in. You would expect that lots of bugs get in too, that might be somewhat true. When it was really hot in July, a few big beetles flew in here. Yuck. But other than that, we just get a few flies and since the windows are open, they just fly right out again. So it's really nice, but I'm not sure you could get away with it back home. There seems to be a lot of bugs back in Utah.

A few more things we've had to get used to: A small fridge (it is in the cupboards under the sink, the cupboard door on the right), and two small water heaters that heat the water as it goes through instead of having one huge water heater that stores the water. I've learned that I can't stockpile fruits and veggies like I used to because there's just not room for them, so instead I just buy a few at a time. The water heater for the bathroom is a little temperamental and can go from scalding hot to freezing cold in seconds, but it's no biggie. Honestly, I love how Germans live simply and can get by with so little. Granted not all apartments are like ours, but it's impressive!

We are soooo grateful to have this place. It really is better than anything we could have expected, and it was cheaper than we expected too. We are so thankful to our neighbors for helping us get this place. We owe them so much!

A day in Stuttgart.

The weather today was sunny and mild (aka not sweltering hot) so we decided to go explore more of Stuttgart. Our first stop was the TV tower. The first in the world! (These pictures look really pixelated, so feel free to click on them to get a better view.)

Views from the top.

Downtown Stuttgart. It looks small, but I promise it isn't!

Waiblingen is off in that direction.

You might enjoy this video:

Now time for some arty pics!

Down on the ground again.

On the way back to the U-bahn.

On our way up to the TV tower, we spotted an awesome fountain along the road with an amazing view of Stuttgart, so we stopped by on the way back down to relax for a little while.

A little ice cream shop across the street.

This is what the full waterfall looks like. The water from it goes underneath the sitting area and down the hill. Pretty cool.

We went back to the main shopping area of the city and someone was handing out free Cokes! We heard of some baseball games happening in Stuttgart this weekend, so we went to investigate. Mark said they were the European Championships for baseball. We went out to the closest U-bahn stop by the stadium, but we were still quite a ways from it. So we figured that by the time it took to walk there, the game would have been more than half way over. We decided to scrap the idea. We were both bummed. We wanted to see some baseball in Europe!

After that, we went back to the center of the city to do some shopping and looking around. We saw some German rappers. Notice how the guy on the left looks like a slightly more muscular Dana Carvey. But the awesomeness was cut short by two girls who step in front of my camera at the end and one proceeds to do her hair. Shucks.

We decided to go back to Waiblingen to try some pizza at a restaurant down the street from our apartment. The pizza was good and really affordable, but I found a hair in mine. Ugh. Why do I always have bad luck with restaurants?

Overall though, it was an awesome day. It was so nice to be able to go look around and explore more of Stuttgart. The more I go back, the more I love that place.

What we miss about the U.S.

Yeah, I know. I'm risking sounding horribly bratty because of this, but it must be done. Some of you might think I'm crazy for missing some things while we're over in Europe of all places, but we do. And I have a list to prove it.

1. Guacamole/rice and beans/Cafe Rio/mexican food of any kind.

image

I never realized how much my diet regularly consisted of the aforementioned items until I moved over here and a) have only seen one Mexican restaurant, and that was in Switzerland. b) have not seen an avocado of any shape or form, or the glorious goop that is produced from one since I've been over here c) often catch myself dreaming of guacamole and that perfect combination of food items that is the Cafe Rio salad only to hear my stomach grumble shortly thereafter. Mark misses those pork burritos with the medium sauce and black beans. If you leave near a Cafe Rio, get thee to the restaurant and scarf down a salad for me, please.

By the way, Sue, if you are reading this: Tell Ryan I desperately miss that lovely guacamole of his. We need to eat some together ASAP when we get back. :)

2. Tom's toothpaste.

image

We switched to Tom's about a year ago because, as much as I loved my Colgate, I wanted to shy away from a company that tested on animals and used animal products (although I heard recently that Tom's sold out to Colgate--whatever. At least their toothpaste originally wasn't tested on animals and contain animal products). At first, it tasted different but I grew to really love it. Now that we're over here we've had to switch back to Colgate because of the lack of Tom's, and I really, really miss it. Colgate tastes much too chemical-y and silicone-y for me now. Really missing my Tom's. By the way, should you ever want to try it (and I think you should), I suggest this kind. The peppermint flavor is great, too.

3. Good deodorant.

image

This one is mostly Mark because I'm still getting by with my stick that I brought from back home.

I guess Germany doesn't allow for certain ingredients in their deodorant like the U.S. does so it apparently doesn't work as well. I think it might be aluminum because I know a lot of people are skeptical about it being in deodorant. It might also do with the fact that Europeans are a little skeptical of deodorant anyway, well at least the old people are. (If you are ever in Europe on a hot summer day, stay away from the old men as much as possible.)

In fact, when our downstairs neighbors heard that my parents were coming over from the states, she promptly put in a request for American deodorant for her husband because that's what works for him. And there you have it. A deodorant black market.

When Mark ran out of his Old Spice from back home, we went to the store to get some more. He left with an aerosol (more aerosol choices than sticks) can of Adidas deodorant. PHEW. It is nasty smelling. When he sprays it, it's almost like a skunk has been let loose in our apartment. I gag, and sometimes cough a little. Mark hates it, too, and complains that it really and truly doesn't work as well as the Old Spice from back home. So Old Spice, Mark misses you.

4. Fresh produce.

image

Oh my. I really love my farmer's market and Smith's Marketplace back in Logan. Good produce has been a bit of a challenge to find over here. It reminds me of shopping at the Montpelier Broulim's. Recent horror stories:

A few weeks ago, I bought a head of broccoli on Friday night. I check on it Sunday afternoon? Yellow and wilted. How does this happen in the span of one day?!

A recent trip to the grocery store yielded a withered bag of lettuce with a fly on the inside, a shriveled up pepper that almost looked like a prune, and oozing tomatoes. Gah!

Good, solid lettuce is really hard to find. I've been on the hunt for it since I've been here. I think the whole "we miss good produce" thing started about a month ago when I lamented to Mark about how much I missed having bagged spinach (he agreed). Then that avalanched into what it has become today. I asked my downstairs neighbor how she gets by with such produce and she said she buys a lot of frozen stuff. There is a farmer's market here, but the produce is expensive. Not something our wallets can handle for the time being, so frozen it is. I'm still on the hunt for the good stuff though. It's gotta be out there!

So there you have it, some things we miss from the U.S. I think it should be noted that when you move to another country, there are always going to be things you miss from back home that you wish you had, no matter how much you like it where you are. I know this is true, because I'm already building my list of things from Germany that I will deeply miss when I get back home. And it's going to be big.