I love...

....knowing that you all are reading my blog! I've not only gotten comments, I've gotten emails, too. And that's just so heartening....since I can't connect with you in person, I love the feeling that you're still "virtually" connected to my life. Thanks!

Last week I had dinner with some very nice American women, including Tina, whom I've already mentioned. We went to this outdoor cafe and got to know each other. Nicole is from SC and she lives two streets away from me here in Feuerbach! That was a fun discovery!!

I've also connected via email with a pastor from Germany who will be working at C3 (and he and his wife will be living in my house until it sells or he comes back to Germany in January....let's hope it sells by then at the latest!). He gave me info on a couple more churches to check out and he's put me in contact with some people he knows here. It's such a good feeling, to start to connect with more people here. :o)

It's still raining here and I understand it's raining in Michigan, too. But, you have weather in the 70s and we have weather in the 50s....brrr! And I still don't think my heat is turned on (if I was 100% sure how my heat worked, then I'd probably know if it was turned on or not...). I wore an actual sweater to work today. It's August in Germany, but feels like March in Michigan! Hopefully September will be better!!

I figured out an interim solution to the drippy washing machine....I put a pot under the drip to collect the water and ran the machine anyways. So this was an interesting experience....I think it took about two hours to do one load of laundry! And it's a washing machine/dryer combo, but the clothes aren't completely dry...I think I need to set the drying cycle for longer. So there were clothes pretty much everywhere hanging to dry, because I hadn't purchased a drying rack since I have a dryer. You can probably guess what I bought today....yep, a drying rack! :o) But in the end, I'm happy that the clothes are clean!!!!!!

I also resolved the garment rack problem: Moved the dresser into my bedroom, thereby creating room in the guest bedroom for the garment rack. Completed assembly of said garment rack. Hung up winter coats (yea!!).
And my apartment's not pristine, but much more orderly than previously described. It's not 100%, but it's getting there!! A girl can only tackle so much at one time, right?

I decided that I'm going to teach you, my gentle Readers (I'm feeling very "Emily Post" at the moment) some German with each blog (except for those of you who are German and therefore don't need to learn any....you can skip this part). One of my favorite phrases is used at mealtime and I just find it so wonderfully "Germanesque" (which is probably not a word): "Lass es dir schmecken." Translation: "Let it taste good to you." I love how this phrase is formulated. What do we Americans say at mealtime? Not much, if anything, maybe "Enjoy!" At almost every meal here, someone wishes you a "Good appetite" and then everyone else says "Same to you." I just think it's so great that people take the time to share such good wishes with one another....try it sometime, it's fun!!

I'm going to bed now, but since you're probably eating dinner shortly - Lass es dir schmecken! And have a good week!