Creme de la Creme

Just a quick note to brag about...

All of the dairy products here are really organic, unprocessed..and high in fat. Definition: they taste sooo good. Even pouring 1% over my cereal tastes like I am drinking coffee creamer. It was almost too sweet at first, but now I love it. And then just this weekend I unwrapped a stick of butter and almost couldn't believe how good it smelled! I even called Eric into the kitchen to share the scent. It was just normal-looking unsalted butter but it smelled almost exactly the way that fake butter smells at a movie theatre...mm mm mmmm. If I didn't know any better I would've grabbed a spoon and eaten the whole cube myself. Sounds gross....until you smell their butter!

Our (Empty & Undecorated) Home

I promise to post some decorated and colorful photos soon! It was in the weeee hours of the morning when I took these, so the outdoor shots look a little darker than usual.
Also, keep in mind that you kind of walk in a spiral as you head up each flight of stairs, each story has about 1-2 rooms...therefore, it was kind of hard to take photos that really show what our house is like. I did my best!! So for now, here is what our little Bavarian home looks like!

Above: Our very necessary Welcome-Gnome! Below: Eric bringing our suitcases to our front door.

Our entryway. The front door is behind us, the spare bathroom to our right, the kitchen to our left. The door you see is for a large storage closet, and the stairs are leading up to the living & dining rooms.

A peak into the kitchen, there is a large window to the left that looks out onto our front door area.

Further into the entryway, heading into the living room.

Our living room! It's actually pretty big.

View out our back door. We have a little porch and a small dirt/grass area. The back field is where our photos were taken in my last post.

Looking into the dining area of our living room (backdoor behind us).

The view out of our dining room window (more of that back field).

Looking back down the stairs from the living room. The entry way is allllll the way down there. The stairs on the left lead to the office.

Going up the stairs to the office. The laundry room is to the right, before the next flight of stairs.

A peak into our office. Actually the landlord called it the "baby's room"...uhhh, not quite yet.

Our office door. There are a few doors like this throughout our place, and I totally love them!

At the top of the first flight, office behind us, looking back down into the living room. The room you see at the top of the next flight is our master bedroom.

Our laundry room. It's so big and I love having it in a fairly central area of the house. Our last place had the washer and drier next to our dining room table...not very convenient.

Up the next flight of stairs looking down at the office (left) and laundry room (right). Our bedroom and bathroom are behind us.

The back wall of our bedroom. The wall to the right has closets, to the left will have our bed. Behind us is the door and to our left is our big bathroom.

Here's a better look at the closets. They are more like built-in armours and are in each bedroom.

We have such a pretty view from our bedroom. It looks out over the fields and forests from my previous post. See that big house back there? That's our landlord. Pretty huh?

Going up the next flight of stairs. You can see our bedroom at the bottom. The 1st spare room is behind us, and the 2nd spare room & bathroom is at the top of the next flight. Are you lost yet? Dizzy? Legs tired?

Our 1st spare room. I love the slanted ceilings! There is also a big closet like in our room.

Here's the view out of those windows. You can see almost all of Eschenbach. It was so exciting looking out of these windows for the first time.

The door to the room is another glass one...I love it! The stairs are leading to the next room & bathroom.

The 2nd spare bedroom. And Eric, talking to one of his brothers on the phone. He was trying to get away from me as I was photographing the house, but he got cornered when I caught up with him here. This bedroom is actually pretty big...and has that ceiling I love!

Another great view! This room has a spacious view of the field and woods behind our place. We feel so secluded--in a good way.

This is the closet in this bedroom, and a good look at how much storage space we will have.

A look at the tipity-top room down to the 1st spare room. The 3rd bathroom is to our right, directly outside the door to the 2nd spare room.

Looking down some of the stairs. 6 staircases in all!

Well, I hope you all love it...because we definitely do. I am anxious to post some photos now that our place is set up. It's super cozy and we feel really comfortable here. We can't wait to show it off to visitors!

We're Alive and Well

Well our Internet is FINALLY working...such a long & aggravating story on how/why it took forever. But it's up, which means I can finally continue bragging! Haha. So so much has happened since I last posted so I'll try to remember all the important parts.

We moved in on the 12th, just us and our suitcases until the Army brought us some loaner furniture. The Miranda's (remember how they've been helping us out?) really out-did themselves and brought us one of their TV's to use, sheets, pillows, blankets, and a microwave--even their car for a day! So nice! The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying our lovely town. We went to a pizzeria for dinner one night, and the döner place a couple more times too. Downtown is only about a 1o minute walk from our front door. We drank some great beer, and explored some of the local shops. We walked around the field behind our house (our backyard opens up to pure countryside with amazing views of the town) and played in the snow all by ourselves...so fun! This first photo is the side of our house!

From the field we can see the whole town of Eschenbach. There are 2 churches (can you find the steeple of one?) whose bells we can hear from our house! Our home is out of frame in the right-hand corner of the photo.

Above: Eric looking into the woods that are behind our house. There were animal prints everywhere and a little frozen stream. We can't wait to see this area once all the snow is gone! Below: Me trying to walk through the knee-deep snow. Our house is the last one on the right (we are one of the furthest houses out on that side of town.)

Here's a quick video I took on our walk (not super) but I like how Eric looks like a sasquatch..

Since we were together-in our empty home-on Valentine's day, we had to celebrate a little unconventionally. We went to the PX on the 13th, both sneakily picked out cards, and then bought each other a pair of shoes. On the 14th we opened our cards (surprise!!!!) and then walked into downtown, bought some delicious pastries and then to a flower shop where Eric bought me some lovely flowers. We then walked home and had a great day saying how lucky we were. Although it might not have been the most romantic V-day in the world, it was definitely our favorite so far. (Below: Downtown Eschenbach Valentine's morning)

Don't these pastries look great? Omigosh they were delicious!
Here we are! Thrilled to be in our Bavarian hometown!

On Monday, the 15th, Eric had the day off work and we got all of our household good delivered. It was nice having them move in all of our furniture-so hard to do with all of our stairs! The only problem was our 2 shipments got mixed up. We had sent a 1st (and smaller shipment) to get here early: our clothes, half our dishes, silverware, bedding, coffee maker etc. And then a 2nd (and bigggggg shipment) to get here a week later: all of our furniture, decorations, etc. But for some reason they came in opposite order so now our house is totally set up, but we have no extra clothes, and only about 4 plates (and all plastic silverware). So it's a little strange right now but our other boxes should be here sooner than later. (I'll post photos of our empty place in my next blog.)

I spent the rest of the week decorating, and redecorating. Luckily, the Miranda's helped us out even more: driving Eric to and from work every single day, and taking me grocery shopping more than once. So very generous! I plan on bringing them a thank-you note, flowers and cookies this week. I also had a lot of help from my new friend Christalin. She took the bus here from her base a couple times last week to help me hang things, clean, etc. It's been nice having another girl's opinion around here.

Eric and I also got a lot of information about school and financial assistance. He is starting his online classes very soon and has decided on Criminal Justice. He gets this all paid for, and the classes he's taken through the military count as college credits for him. He plans on finishing his BA while in the Army, then he can use his GI Bill to get his Master's when he is out. There are a lot of job opportunities for him with those degrees plus his military background: FBI, police, DEA, Homeland Security, etc etc. We also got information for my schooling, and found out I get quite a bit paid for as well. And there are countless more scholarships/grants I can apply for as a military spouse. I am super excited to get going on that. What's really nice is there is an option to actually take face-to-face classes here on base, as well as online courses.

Above & Below: Us enjoying some great beer at our new favorite restaurant!

All in all, our first week here went really well (except not having Internet!!) which brings us to this past weekend. Friday was a birthday party for a guy Eric works with, which was really fun, and then Eric and I went out for a little German dinner here in town. On Saturday the Miranda's picked us up at about 10am and drove us to the nearby town of Weiden. It was a 20 minute drive there and they showed us nearly everything that place had to offer. They brought us into furniture stores, clothing stores, hardware stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, grocery stores, everywhere! It was such a fun day, and we didn't get back til about 4pm that evening. Once we get our car we plan on visiting Weiden again soon. It was so nice to get a tour of the place-there were a lot of things we wouldn't have known about without the Miranda's help. Again, we owe them!

The past couple days haven't been too exciting. We have finally gotten to Skype a couple times, check our emails, etc. I took my driver's test yesterday, and passed--so now we are both ready to drive the roads of Bavaria! We get our car this week and are excited for the upcoming weekend! We are still having a great time here and feeling really at home in our new place.

Below: A few more photos of our new town.

Aren't the colors beautiful? They really love pastels here in Germany! The middle photo is the church closest to our house, and across the street from the little döner kebab shop.

More Exciting News!!

We have been crazy busy the past couple days, but I wanted to update you all on what we've been doing, and what the next few days hold.



Last weekend was super fun, probably one of our most eventful. Friday we hung out with our new friends and on Saturday we went back to Nuremberg...we're addicted to that place! It just has such a great vibe: street musicians, food stands, great shops-we love it. We ended up trying a döner kebab at the recommendation of our friends, and were not disappointed.



Döner stands are all over here but we just haven't had the guts to try it. Each place has a large lamb roast on a rotisserie that slowly turns in front of a big grill where everyone can see it. The chef shaves off little strips of the roast, pops them into a fresh roll and tops it with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and a delicious pink sauce (it tastes like a fry sauce or maybe even French dressing--either way it is sooo good!). The meat ends up tasting like something between roast beef and bacon--incredible!! Everything tastes and looks sooo fresh, and the serving is incredibly generous for only a couple Euros. It really hits the spot if you're craving a juicy cheese burger, but want something a little more German. Here's a photo of Eric with his döner--the picture doesn't do it justice!!




The other little food item we had to try was a crepe! There was a tiny booth set up where two women were hand-making giant thin crepes, and they looked so pretty that we couldn't resist. We each ended up getting one that had melted Nutella and sliced bananas inside. Healthy right? I want to recreate them every night! See how big they were? Mmm, they were so soft and warm too!

After our feast in Nuremberg we headed back home, which was easier said then done. We ended up getting off at the wrong stop, having to navigate most of the way back, and ended up just calling a cab for the last 30 minutes. While waiting for the taxi at the train station in Amberg (don't know how we got there!!) we sat in a little diner and had beer & pretzels, very German! We also spied on a bunch of high school-age kids who were getting a stern lecture from the Polizei...it's so hard to eavesdrop with the language barrier!!

Sunday ended up being probably one of my most favorite days here in Germany...and I'll tell you why: We got to see our future home!!!! And believe me, it has far exceeded our expectations! We found out that Sgt. Miranda (a man who works with Eric) lives only a couple houses down from us, so he offered to pick us up and give us tours: of his home (since it's identical to ours) and of our new home town, Eschenbach.

We couldn't believe how wonderful everything was. Our house is so cute, I'm already dying to decorate! It's technically 5 stories, but each level is only 1 or 2 rooms so it's probably closer to 3. But we have a cute little kitchen, 1.5 spare bathrooms, a big dining/living room, an office, a master bedroom with its own bathroom, 2 spare rooms and a laundry room. Plenty of space!! We have a feeling there are going to be some empty spots for awhile though. It's just lovely though. The staircases are open-back and have twisted wrought-iron hand railing, the views from the windows are amazing (the town of Eschenbach in the front, and forest in the back), we even have a little back porch area. Oh, and we are allowed to paint!! Gosh we were so excited! Eric and I just kept smiling hugely at each other as Sgt. Miranda and his wife gave us a tour.

Next they took us into downtown Eschenbach, and things really only got better from there. We are probably a 5-10 minute walk to the main downtown area, complete with restaurants, bars, shops, even a gelato shop! The Mirandas bought us a quick lunch at a döner stand just a few blocks from our house, and it was even better than in Nuremberg (complete with thick slices of feta cheese!). Eschenbach is over 800 years old, and everything is beautiful there. The steeples of the churches still way up past the treeline (we can see them from our front door) and the roads are cobblestone. We were in amazement realizing this was OUR home town!!

They then drove us to the other edge of town (5 minute drive) where there, waiting for us, was a beautiful lake (called Rußweiher Lake)! Even though it was still freezing out, there were people walking around everywhere. I guess the beach is packed in the summer, and you can swim and even rent boats! There is a small fee to use the park, but once in there you can buy beers, snacks, sunbathe etc...there is even a walking/biking path that circles the whole lake! It was unbelievably picturesque. We were just speechless. We have plans of biking down to that lake as often as we possibly can once the weather warms up. I can't even believe it's true! That day really boosted our spirits. We went home overjoyed that within days we could call that lovely place "home".

Just yesterday, Sgt. Miranda's wife came and picked us up and moved us to our new hotel (and last stop before we move into our place) which is over-looking that lake. Today we do the walk-through to inspect our place, and then on the 12th we move in! Eric has Friday through Monday off, so we can get a little settled, and then on the 15th we get all of our furniture & household goods delivered! Hooray!! I've missed our stuff so much and have been anxious to see it. Fresh clothes, pots, pans (finally cooked food!!!), sheets, pillows!! We will be ready to say goodbye to hotel living (it's been over 1 month!) and hello to our new home. The Army gives us loaner furniture (bed, couches, table, chairs, etc.) for the first few days so we aren't sleeping on the floor. We can even get dishes and whatnot for free if we want. So nice! Now all we'll need is our car (which gets here in 2 weeks) and we will be really living here in Bavaria!!!

Did I mention how excited we were?