Our house is warm now.
We had some events last week. In total we had about 30 guests in our new home. We think it went pretty well and everyone had a good time here (even the little ones) and liked our house. Last wednesday we hosted the German Stammtisch. There were approx. 20 guests and a lot of Beer, Brezn, Leberwurst, Kartoffelsalat and even a Milka and Rittersport Chocolate. :-) We rendered our Bavarian Shrine and ended up with 4 German couples (no kids) on our coach. On Saturday we had our official house warming party. We invited over 30 people (most of them Marcos coworker) but Seattle people are very busy at the weekend we learned. Only 13 guests came, including my english teacher Tracy + husband, Jon from the University-German-Stammtisch, Ann & Brian (hosts of a Super Bowl Party on Sunday). We played a DVD Game and had fun. At 11 pm we were alone again. Party time is over here at 10/10.30 pm.
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I bought your light combo at drive-through yesterday. I opened the bag and saw that the soup cup had spilled. I put it out of the bag but the cup was so hot I couldn't hold it. I appalled and dropped it over my lap. This soup was so hot it burned my leg. I screamed in the passenger seat to stop but unfortunaly we were on the bridge. I had to grease it next to the seat. It was really a mess. I'm really disappointed by this experience. Cleaning our car with a burned finger and lap wasn't fun.
Here comes Daves Boardgame report from Sunday (yesterday):
Hello everyone! Well, we had a good, lively session last night with six members in all. Two members got sick at the last moment and had to cancel and Robert also remained at home for personal reasons. So, let's get started.... On the left and around the table, we have Don, a new member Darren, Christine, Marco, Andy and I fill in the gap. On the photo is just another view of the same fine folks as we're about to play a card game called 'Set' which, sadly, everyone else found easy to play and I was left floundering around like a fish out of water. Just thinking about it gives me a headache..... We had started out the night with three players - myself, Andy and Darren playing a series of the game 'Obsession' followed by the game of King Oil. The game was evenly matched for most of the game but Darren got hit by fire and some greed by Andy and myself and went down in flames. After that, Andy went after me with a vengeance and I was forced to concede defeat. Don showed up and introduced 'Kill Dr. Lucky' to the group and I could be wrong, but I believe Don won this game. By this time everyone had arrived and we moved on to 'Keythedral' Pro Ludo. Of the games we played, I think we all enjoyed playing this game, which is similar to 'Settlers of Catan', and I believe the team of Marco & Christine won that game. You know how it is - two heads are better than one! We decided to move to a lighter game and played 'Set' and then the infamous 'Flash 10'. Here, I'll take a moment to make Marco & Christine cringe and just say '45 minutes!' ha ha. If you don't ask, we won't be forced to tell this story. We finished out the night by playing 'Acquire'. (Did you read that, Julia? You missed out!) I admit that Don and I have played this game many times but others of the group had not and had a hard time grasping the financial aspects of the game which took their enthusiasm down a notch, but didn't prevent them from doing quite well in the game. I thought I was losing throughout the game but I won, I won, I won! Call Guinness Book! I hope you all had a fun night and a safe drive home. Come back again, y'hear? David Nun endlich ist unser Container mit jeder Menge Möbel und Umzugskisten mit Kleidung, Besteck, Unterhaltungsmedien plus passende Elektronik (PS2 und so) bei uns in der Findlay Street eingetroffen.
Die Sachen waren von 4. November ab unterwegs - lagen dann wohl irgendwo im Norden noch 2 Wochen auf einem Containerschiff, dass erst voll beladen werden musste bevor es auslaufen konnte. Dann war unser Container lange, lange auf den Meeren dieser Welt unterwegs. Unser Relocation-Manager, der extra zur Sichtung im Oktober zu uns in die Dachauer kam, sprach von 4-6 Wochen. Wir sind deshalb von einer Lieferung um den 6.12. ausgegangen. Also geplant war das die Sachen eigentlich vor mir hier eintreffen sollten. Ich bin dann früher geflogen, aber Mitte Dezember kam leider nichts an. Am 18.11. bekamen wir folgende Nachricht: Your surface shipment is estimated to arrive Port of Seattle on Dec 19. We will confirm arrival once become available. Vor Weihnachten kam dann die Info das das Schiff nicht in Seattle anlegen könnte, weil der Hafen voll sei. Man würde deshalb Oakland ansteuern. Email am 21.12. We would like to update on the status of your surface shipment. The steamship line has advised your container is scheduled to depart on rail from Oakland today at noon time. It will arrive port of Seattle over the weekend. We will advise again on Monday with the arrival confirmation. Dann haben wir von Weihnachten bis Neujahr lange nichts gehört und auf Nachfragen erfahren, dass unsere Ansprechpartnerin bei der Transportfirma nicht mehr bei der Firma wäre. Dann kam eine Mail das unser Container leider einen Schaden erlitten hätte. Bild folgt. Der Container ist an einer kurzen Seite etwas eingedellt. Naja, da muss schon irgendwas mit ordentlicher Wucht draufgeknallt sein, aber warten wirs ab. Nach Neujahr (d.h. geschlagenen 8 Wochen ohne Komfort) wurden wir doch etwas ungeduldig und schickten fast täglich Anfragen, wie es nun mit der Lieferung aussehe. Am 4.1. klang es so als ob es in den nächsten Tagen klappen sollte. Mail am 5.1. I've just checked with my delivery agent for delivery dates. If we have no complications picking up from the railstation tomorrow, Pacific Movers (delivery agent) can deliver it on Friday. Aber es kam auch nichts am Freitag. Der Container sei doch noch nicht in Seattle, weshalb man ihn auch nicht von der Bahnstation abholen könne. Irgendwie logisch. Aber auch komisch, weil die Sachen seit 25.12. eigentlich weiter verfrachtet werden sollten. Mail vom 10.1. The container is finally in Seattle, it arrived over the weekend. I've a trucker going to the rail to p/u today, and I've prebooked the delivery for you tomorrow. Assuming no other "surprises" at the rail station, I will confirm all before the end of today. Aber leider bekamen wir am Montag keine Confirmation mehr. Wir haben dann auf den Anruf Dienstagmorgen gewartet, ob nun doch was kommt oder nicht. Der erste Anruf gegen 8.30 Uhr hatte eher unklaren Wortlaut und man wolle einen Fahrer zur Bahnstation schicken und gucken. Gegen 10 Uhr kam dann der Anruf, ob wir auch mit einer Lieferung am Mittwoch einverstanden wären. Marco meinte dann heute, also Dienstag, wäre uns schon lieber, weil das ja nun so ausgemacht war, aber dann meinte sie - heute ginge auf keinen Fall. Aber Mittwoch. Mittwochmorgen gegen 8 Uhr waren wir dann schon sehr gespannt, ob wir doch noch weitere Nächte auf unserem Gästebett im Keller verbringen müssten, aber dann hatten wir wirklich unseren blauen, eingedellten Container vor der Tür stehen - und zwei freundliche Umzugshelfer, die unsere Möbel und unzählige Kisten in unser Häuschen karrten. Gut, die Füsse vom Sofa wurden nicht gleich gefunden, weil sie etwas ungünstig mit in den Schlafzimmer-Karton verpackt wurden. Aber wir hatten bisher keinerlei Bruch (nach 3/4 ausgepackten Kartons) - auch keine Dellen in den Schränken, die genau an der Stelle im Container standen. Es schien den Umzugsmännern wie ein Wunder. Naja, ein IKEA Billy weniger wäre jetzt auch zu vertrösten gewesen. IKEA ist übrigens auch ein super Tipp, wenn man vor hat öfter auf der Welt hin und her zu ziehen. Wir haben bei IKEA einfach neue Leuchtelemente für unsere BILLYs gekauft, die es hier natürlich auch bei IKEA gibt. Die Europäischen gehen wegen der Spannung der Glühbirnen leider nicht. Wir könnten, wenn wir noch was bräuchten auch jederzeit unsere Schränke erweitern und alles sieht trotzdem gleich aus. Schon sehr praktisch. Die Sachen passen auch alle ganz fabelhaft in die Zimmer hier und es sieht schon gleich ganz anders und sehr gemütlich aus. Hurra - das Warten hat ein Ende! Today it had snow. For the first time since I'm here.
The thermostat in our fridge was broken. All things in the freezer were melted. The repair guy came and fixed it. But then our food in the fridge got frozen, too. So he came one more time to fix it again. Now after two weeks we can use our fridge again. We used this good news for an expanded shopping tour at safeway. :-) Yesterday we recycled our Christmas tree at the Recycle Center. Approximately 100 Christmas trees were thrown in this den. The saison is over. Definitely. We visited Dave for another Saturday playing board games. We played Carcasonne which is pretty nice, strategy and a little luck needed just as we like it. We had to leave early to join another party. Andrea, our landlady, invited us to her 12Night-Party with a lot of people and kids. We, and another couple, were the only one who didn't brought kids. It was really noisy and stressy for me, as I am not used to hear kids screaming an evening long. But it was ok after a while and with plenty of very good food and chats as substitution. Also, we met the pre-owners from our house. They lived here for 10 years and didn't want to move out, but they needed a bigger place to raise two boys. I met Paul, a neighbour, who told me about his ex-patriot time in Russia and his Euro-Trip in a mobile home in 1994 with his wife and his 1 year old daughter. They didn't know shops are closed on Sunday in Europe and the only food they got when they arrived were olives in garlic from a Greek restaurant. The diapers were unbelievable for one week. But we don't want to imagine this, do we? So more news? Our furniture didn't arrive on Friday as planned. We sent them on Nov 4th from Germany and expected it to arrive on Dec 4 th. Now we have Jan 9 th and no furniture, but about 5 announcements. We don't believe in further dates anymore until we see our container in front of our house. Some good news. I got an email from a company. Maybe they will hire me. Maybe not. But it's another opportunity and I would like to try and get an interview there. Wish me luck. 7 more weeks left til departure. I told my Mom about my improvements in English. She laughed a lot and said I should write it down. So I will... like Mom told me.
I come along very good. I can understand most of the conversations around me and with a little patience people can understand me too. But sometimes the differences in language and cuture are significant. On my first 3 days in Seattle I observed some situations I couldn't remember as a difference from US journeys before. At the Supermarket: 1. Paper or plastic? This question came at the cashier. Very fast and hard to understand. I thought, maybe the payment? If cash or creditcard. Marco just said 'fine'. Maybe he don't know also. Oh, now I know. It's the bag material if you like paper or plastic bags. In Germany you have to pay for your plastic bags (0,10-0,40 Euro), you have to put it on the counter your own if you like some and paper bags are not common. 2. Debit or credit? This question came at cashier too. If you like to pay with your creditcard on a credit or debit base. In Germany we have other cards (Maestro) for our Bankaccounts and payment by debit. If we take the creditcard it's always on 'credit'. You wouldn't be asked. If you stand in front of the cashier you will have cash, a Maestro or a Creditcard in your hand. No question than. 3. Clubcards and 2 for 1 Every supermarket chain will keep you as a customer. They will give you a lot of discount if you have one of their clubcards. Sometimes you have to pay the double price without this clubcard. It's really a big deal. But I can't imagine people will go to only one store because of their clubcards. Now we have every clubcard from every store and get every discount, rebate and special offer. All shops distribute their leaflets in our mailbox. No difference. In Germany the chains started 2 or 3 years ago with giving out shop independent clubcards (payback, happydigits, the 2 bestknown cards) which allows you to buy in some stores. You get special offers and points for your shopping. With these bonus points you can get award, points for other systems like Miles & More or gift certificate for a store. 4. Parking Every supermarket provide a big parking spot. The place for each car is drawed on the ground and the are very big. A lot of pickups and SUVs are around. And everyone is very careful and slow. The parking spaces are much smaller. You cruise around and the biggest cars are VW busses, vans or Mercedes. No pickups. On New Eve We had a big and beautiful firework on the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. People at this party were standing in the street and toasting at midnight with champagne. But no neighbours, no other people were in the street. In Germany everyone is allowed to start a firework and a lot of people do. All people are in the street for toasting and partying. We also like to do Bleigiessen - lead fortunetelling. On Christmas In the US the best way to buy a Christmas tree is to buy one on Charity Sales for schools or a volunteer organisations. The trees are smaller and cutted in shape. You put it in your livingroom 2 or 3 weeks to Christmas. To decorate it use ornaments (balls or stars or snowflakes) and lights. Or you can buy a decorated and 'ready-to-stand' plastic tree. 20 percent of all houses have christmas decoration outside in the frontyard or on the house. The gifts for relatives and friends were placed under the Christmas tree some days before. If children in the house, the night before Christmas day (25.) the gifts are much more if Santa comes down the chimney at night. On the morning everyone gets gifts. In Germany we buy a tree on special sales areas, mostly next to shopping centres or supermarkets. Its a regular sale organized by polish or eastern people. The trees are 6 feet and higher and bought only a few days earlier to Christmas Evening (24.). Parents hide the tree and on Christmas afternoon (24.) children are send somewhere (Grandparents, cinema, church service,...). Parents are decorate the tree with ornaments, often selfmade, stars out of straw or paper and with candles. One the evening a bell rings, all enter the livingroom together singing Christmas Carols and the Christkind brought the tree and gifts. Housing 1. Kitchen and appliances In the US all homes to rent provide a kitchen, fridge, washer, dryer, maybe dishwasher and plenty of storage. In Germany you can rent a home which provides this, but it's not always this. I think 50/50 chance to get it. Otherwise you have to bring your own kitchen and household appliances. 2. Paying rent In the US you have to bring a check to your landlord end of the month to pay your rent. In Germany you will give a Einzugsermächtigung. Your landlord can do a debit advice your bank account. |
AuthorOptimistic, curious, human bee. CategoriesArchives
October 2023
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