“Hallo! Wie geht es Ihnen?” aka "Hello! How are you?" We hope everyone is doing well! We are ready to come home and visit! Looks like the end of July is going to work out! YAY! Exact details to come when we book the flight.

We are doing much better as far as adjusting. We’re figuring out food. I am on day 7 of no microwave, all should be proud!! We're not starving either! Hehehe! I realized when we went to Brazil - I made it without a microwave because others cooked for us! It does really humble oneself knowing how attached we are to silly things such as microwaves, toasters etc. Oh and air conditioning - we have none. I about had a heart attack when I heard we weren't. But thus far we have been just fine. We keep all of our windows wide open! Bugs come in, but I figured out a good cooking recipe to use them in. JUST KIDDING!

We have a kindergarten and park right next to us, so we hear the sounds of children playing all day long. We also hear the souls of the dead people from the graveyard right next to it. Hehehehe! Is that not weird, a kindergarten by a graveyard. When I take photos you will see why I call it spooky. Ronnie is trying to get me to go through it at night. If you don’t hear from me again, you know why.

We finally found a gate for the stairs and installed it. Thank goodness cause the first day Alexis climbed half way up without us noticing (yes, yes, we had poor communication – we learned our lesson) she scared us half to death. I still can’t believe she went up that high – angels were sure watching over her.

Yesterday, Alexis and I went out and about discovering. I met this quite eccentric woman with an 8 yr old and 7 month old. We started chatting because I loved this red elf hat her baby was wearing, and she replied that she made it. She spoke English, but was from Munich, and now lives in NY and was visiting. Here is her website and the “Elf” hat: http://www.funkycitybaby.com . She was in her late 30’s, rotted teeth, pink dreaded hair all pulled up into 2 buns. She gave her 8 year old a sip of her beer. Needless to say, she was very interesting.

Jennifer, you’d understand this baby thing…I was out with Alexis and well – had to use the toilette – I discovered everyone’s toilettes are way downstairs in the basement. It took me 2 hours to find a place I could go into with a stroller. Still once I got to the bathroom I had to leave the stroller outside of the stall. Sheesh! I would hate to be disabled in this area! I about was after holding it for 2 hours! J

I got brave the other night and decided to take on a load of laundry in the dungeon. I put the money in the machine and did the settings as I was shown, pressed start and nothing happened. But it did manage to lock my clothes in there. Alexis was screaming her head off the whole time I was down there (who could blame her, it’s scary and stinky down there), so I had to leave after awhile of trying to figure it out. Our laundry was down there all day; I was not sure what to do. Ronnie came home that night and freed our laundry – you had to press down two buttons at the same time. He also, could not figure out how to get it washing. The next day our relocation manager came to help. It was because I put in a $1 Euro coin in and not two 50 cent Euro coins in. DOH! In one load I was able to fit 6 pairs of Alexis’s little socks and 4 bottom twin size sheets – then it was full. UGH!

We are keeping our spirits up and have a good laugh about things every day – it is truly an adventure. That’s all for now – we are taking it easy and attempting to do out 10 loads of laundry in the dungeon. Oh and of course, find a microwave! I am sure we will have a story about carrying a microwave for 30 mins down the streets of Munich. “Tschüs!” aka “Bye!” – love Us3