Gotta love it!

As Delynn and I complete a little over three months of living in Weil a. R. it has given us pause to reflect on the incredible number of changes we have experienced. With this wholesale change of every aspect of what we called our life, it seems like it has been much longer than just three months. As I have said before, we are blessed beyond words and we first thank God for allowing us to make this move. But as with all change, it is not all smiley faces and without some tears. We do feel like this is home and don't see ourselves living anywhere else or doing anything else - at least for this time in our life together. We look forward to seeing how God leads.

It is hard to explain the feeling of being here. There are times walking down the Hauptstraße in Weil and seeing our apartment building in the distance, looking into the eyes of a student during an "Aha!" moment or riding the tram across the Rhein to church when we think: "we could live here forever" This is life! You gotta love it.

We continue to run into those small differences that make our life here interesting. Some of them we think - why don't we have this (or do this) back in the states? Other times we think: Okay, that's just the way it is here and we drive forward with a prayer and a smile.

One example: do you know the kleenex we have in the states is wimpy! In Germany, blowing one's nose with gusto is not frowned upon and I think in some ways encouraged... When we bought our first box of kleenex some time ago, we discovered after returning home that it way 4-ply thick! not the flimsy 2-ply stuff found in the states - and one can even find 5-ply tissue. Delynn, who in her daintiness does not need 4 sheets, took to peeling apart the kleenex and used only 2 layers at a time. But Michael loved being able to blow my nose without shredding the tissue all over the place. And no, blowing my nose does not actually attract geese, it just sounds like it... The next time we went shopping, we got two boxes: the regular 2-ply for Delynn and the hefty 4-ply for Michael. We are at peace.


Another example is the cheese. First, if you are at all squeamish about cheese, please skip this section - I'm thinking specifically of you cousin Donna. Interestingly enough, cheese is one of the few items that is, on the whole, less expensive here than in the States. I know that most of you have read our entry about a month ago (5 Sept) on cheese. Well, last week, we bought some Roquefort cheese - this is the blue cheese that comes from a particular region of France. In fact, only cheese aged in specific caves in France can have the name Roquefort. When we opened the package, we could see that unlike all cheese produced in the states, this cheese was still alive! I took a picture below just in case you have never seen blue cheese up close and personal. We were overwhelmed with the multiple layers of flavor: tangy, tart, sweet, salty. It is truly wonderful - if you like blue cheese that is.

Ummm. Served best at room temperature...

And sorry Dad, but I can't ship it back to the States...

More cheese: I can't believe we did this, but Delynn and I actually bought a fondue pot. Yes, I know it is soooo 70's retro but it is also very traditionally Swiss. In the fall, when the weather is crisp and cool, the Swiss turn to fondue and Raclette. Raclette is melted cheese on toast topped with various yummy things which is served at most of the festivals in this area of Germany and Switzerland. Fondue, and I mean real fondue, is not from any package but is instead made from melting Emmenthal and Gruyère cheeses into a heavy ceramic or cast iron pot. Neither Delynn or I know anything about fondue, so we were risking nearly a pound of cheese on our little experiment (luckily cheese is one of the few items that is less expensive than in the states). At first, we thought we would just try it ourselves before inviting others over to try, but in the end we had Aubrey and Amy-Jo (two teachers from RIA) over to take part in our little food experiment (we had them sign a waiver first...). We cubed up the baguette, laid out the traditional condiments: baby gherkin pickles, olives and little pickled onions as well as some non-traditional items: fresh mushrooms, par-cooked carrots, apples and pears we picked up at the farmer's market. As the cheese was slowly added to the pot, I was at first concerned that it would be too clumpy, then too thin, then too thick but in the end, it came out great! We had a such fun together telling stories, chewing over world issues and sharing our lives as we dipped and twirled each morsel.

Just a fun moment. Last month, we celebrated Allison's birthday while we were without Internet (with much crying and gnashing of teeth...) Anywho, it was a sort of dress up party - we were all supposed to dress up as a super-hero. As you can imagine, we didn't bring a lot of costumes in our luggage with us, so we made due with what we had around the house. We thought you would enjoy a picture of Geek-boy and Tartan-girl! - our super-hero alter egos. Luckily, Delynn brought a lot of scarves with her and I found the funky glasses in the toy section of a department store and yes, that is duct tape on the bridge of the glasses. (Thank you Jerry and Rhonda for sending the roll of duct tape - it added that authentic geek touch). I could only wear the glasses for short periods of time because I couldn't see nearly anything!

"Auf Wiedersehen" from Tartan-Girl and Geek-Boy