Germany: 10/21/2015

This morning I slept in until around 9:30 and decided to grab the house key and go for a morning walk.  I discovered a little more of the town, and headed home to cook breakfast.  The children are at school and the parents are at work so I have the house to myself.  This is GREAT except for the fact that I can’t seem to unlock the front door.  At this point I can’t figure out if it is me or the door.  Frustrated, I walk some more and return to try again.  I finally make it inside, not sure how, and make eggs and toast with coffee, black I might add. The bread here is ten times better than any bread back home by the way. 

After breakfast I decide to go to the park by my house for a run.  

   
The weather is about 50-55 degrees so it is perfect running weather.  I ran a few miles around the lake and through the beautiful park only to arrive home and discover I STILL can’t open the door!!  This is when I decide to really go exploring and venture through basically the entire village of Gluel. 

I find a gorgeous church, a grocery store, and many cafe’s, gelato shops, and businesses. 

   
   
After about 2 hours of walking I head home in hopes of eating lunch before picking up Lennart from school.  Still no luck getting in that dang door so I hang out in the back garden until I walk to get him.  The plan was to go get gelato on our way home, but the money was inside the house. 

By the time I got him and returned home, Paula was home and let us in as well as showed me how to properly open the stubborn door.  I am now able to open it about 1 out of every 5 tries, so progress is being made.  

We finally or our gelato, which other than the real deal I had in Italy, was the best I have ever had.  Dark chocolate gelato for around €0,85 or $1 a cone…can’t beat that!!  

Paula has two friends over after school so I helped them study for their English vocab test they have on Friday.  One of them was a very good English speaker and it was nice to be able to almost fully communicate with someone. 

Once Monika returned home from work and grocery shopping we headed to the “mall” to look around and allow me to get some cash and bus passes.  When 7:00 hit so did my hangriness.  I typically never forget to eat, but today with all the chaos of being locked out I realized I had only had breakfast and ice cream all day.  I needed food and I needed it ASAP!  Here’s the thing though…Germans don’t really eat much of a dinner, and they don’t eat much meat at all.  That could be a challenge, I love me some chicken. Lunch is their main meal.  On the first night we had some bread with proscuitto and a little cheese, tea, and some sliced tomato with what I believed to be plain yogurt, still not sure.  

A typical German dinner looks similar to this or on occasion may contain a hot soup.  My stomach was praying for soup tonight and it must’ve been my lucky day because that is exactly what was going to be prepared.  Monika made a pumpkin and potato soup, something I have actually been wanting to try for a while, and it was accompanied by some amazing bread, of course, and some cucumber.  It was all very delicious and I ate way too fast, something my empty stomach did not like.  

Hopefully tomorrow goes a little smoother.  I can’t wait until Sunday.  I heard about an English speaking Baptist Church in Cologne that I plan on attending and hopefully meeting some other American/English speakers that can help me out on this journey.  I believe meeting people will be key to a successful experience here in Germany.