Bricks of milk and juice

Maybe its a subtle nod to the creators of Tetris, but Europeans like to package, sell, and then store milk and juice in lined cardboard boxes, or bricks as we like to call them. Each brick holds a liter of liquid. Our fridge is very small like most fridges here, so optimizing space is a priority. During these cold months, we store our extra beverage bricks out on our balcony in a cooler. It's like having a fridge–and sometimes freezer–the size of the great outdoors.

Our holiday in England

Our visit to England over Christmas included a late flight, a hair-raising subway, bus, and train ride, a day in Canterbury and Dover, the Queen's television address, much Earl Grey tea, and loads of family fun. Here is Amy posing in front of Canterbury cathedral with my brother, Rick and family. Before opening gifts, we were treated to traditional Christmas pudding: a delicious fruitcake which has Brandy poured over the top and then lit for all of two seconds to give it a slight crisp. It is then served with warm cream sauce. Here is the unsuspecting pudding just before ignition.

Christmas in town by night

Every Thursday in December, the streets of town come alive with crowds of merrymakers sipping hot drinks. To take the edge off the cold, they set up logs that have been split down the middle and lit. The chimney effect is quite powerful and the logs burn for hours. In the main square in town, called the Blumenplatz, or Flower Plaza, they light additional fires. And for one Euro, they hand you a long wooden staff wrapped with bread dough at one end. Like roasting hot dogs back home, you bake the bread over the hot coals, nibbling the golden brown portions while sipping your cider. Quite the festive evening!

Christmas in town by day

The streets are decorated with wreaths and Christmas trees and lights like many towns during the month of December. The 15-foot tree in front of our building, laden with red bows and ribbons, falls down in the wind every few days. Though it is chilly, there is a fervor in the air as people rush from shop to shop gathering gifts. Business booms, especially at the Post Office. There are times listed on every storefront window when business doesn't boom, and the fervor dies down to a low hum. Everything closes for 2 hours for lunch! At least the ATM is open 24 hours.

Where two streams meet

Our apartment is situated at the convergence of two streams. One flows in from the north and the other from the northeast, joining forces as one river on its way to the Rhein. One morning around 3 we were up sipping Sleepytime tea in hopes of getting back to sleep. From our kitchen we could see the north stream bubbling along at a pretty good clip. Recent rains had swollen it. We were reminded of the fact that the waters flow even at night. Maybe that fact should be obvious to most, but it made us think, "Wow that's a lot of water." It also shows us how God is at work all the time, even when we are normally sleeping.

O Tannenbaum

What a perfect season to arrive in a new place. We get to celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, in a land that is rich in Christian history. The last two boxes we opened from our move across the sea were our Christmas decorations. This time of year, lights and ornaments awaken those warm fuzzies we all feel–a sense of belonging and home. Since we are just temporary sojourners here on Earth, we have a tree that travels with us. Yes it is fake, but we still get the satisfaction of vacuuming up its fake needles.

All's well that ends well

We love Europeans and how they, from time to time, creatively use English. Here is our finalist for "Best European Product Name." Yes, it is toilet paper.

10 Years and Counting!

Can't believe it's been 10 years since we said "I do!" We didn't have much time to plan for the big day (it's not like we've been busy doing other things!), so we decided to take the day and go castle-hunting. We made our way to Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle which overlooks a small French village. Castle exploring in December is a chilly endeavor. So we stopped for a yummy hot chocolate on the way back to Germany.

A quick walk to work

Just to give you an idea of what our commute will be like once the barn/office has been completed, Amy is up in our apartment (middle balcony) and the barn is just below the yellow arrow (There's blue tarp on the roof). It's about a block away! We're thankful that our gas consumption will be lower because the price for gas right now the equivalent of $7.52/gallon (Yikes!).

By the way, you can click on these pictures and they'll get bigger.

STUFF!

Our container arrived, and with it, all our stuff! Everything went very smoothly – no rain, no injuries, no badly damaged furniture – thanks be to God!! Once we got it all in, the next question was, "Wow! What are we going to do with all this stuff?!" Our favorite part of the entire day was getting to sleep in our very own LARGE bed that night... blissful!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving evening with some of our new missions family. We had all the trimmings, including sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie! It was fun to get to know more of the folks with whom we will be working.

We did discover that you can't find pecans or marshmallows in Germany. And Amy was in charge of making the sweet potatoes. We found a sweet potato casserole on the web that didn't call for marshmallows and replaced the pecans with almonds. Turned out pretty good!

Setting up house

As we wait for our shipping container to come, we have spent time finding appliances that we need that are 220 volt (washer/dryer, microwave, CD player, telephone, etc.) as well as purchasing and assembling wardrobes (they call them shranks here -- pronounced 'shrahnks'). It is unusual for European housing to have closets and so it is normal to buy something to hang your clothes in.

The barn

Just across the street from our new place is a massive barn built in 1884. It is currently being renovated into office space. Our office is on the third level, where the roof line intersects with the floor. Large dormers are being built up and out from the slanted tiles so we can stand and not crawl around in our new cubicle. Out the future windows will be an impressive view of the surrounding hills. The barn should be completed by next fall.

Too cold for ice cream!

Sara took us to Riquewier with her son, Josh, and his friend, Parker. Josh and Parker decided they wanted ice cream as a snack... As you can tell, it might have been a little too cold for ice cream that day!

We've been getting used to what feels like colder temperatures here (when you compare them to Denver's dry cold!). Since we've been here, it's been in the high 30s to high 40s during the day with clouds and rain – Chilly!

Riquewier

We visited a little town called Riquewier on All Saints Day, a holiday celebrated on November 1. Everything is closed down in Germany and France except for touristy things, so we spent the day exploring a little. Riquewier is on the Wine Route just west of the German border in France. It was good to go to a place where we could understand the language!

Schlingen in the rain

Schlingen is several km west of us toward France. You get there on a road that winds through patches of the Black Forest. Most days the journey is overcast and dreary, and some days it is wet and drizzly. You have to be careful of the giant semis weaving their way through the tiny streets. It's a glorious feeling.

A new chapter begins

Welcome to EuroBatts! We are setting up shop at the crossroads of 3 European countries. This is our place above the flower shop. We look forward to learning the language and getting to know our neighbors. Everything is close. Post office, grocery store, bank, Chinese restaurant, and of course the florist, are all within walking distance.