November 28, 2007

• We got our first snow of the season the other day. Two quick snow showers that melted as quick as the flakes hit the ground.  It did stick on the top of the hills for a bit but all the low lying areas melted right away.  It was very sudden and quite pretty and it caused every person on the autobahn to immediately lose their ability to drive, so it took Bear 30 minutes longer to get home than normal.   I guess its the same phenomena that happens in the South when it’s going to snow. There is some sort of silent signal sent out that compels everyone within a 50 mile radius to descend on the local grocery store and buy milk and bread.  As if snow aliens were coming to town specifically to get every last loaf of bread and every last gallon of milk in the south and you have to beat them to the store.  It’s amazing to see, and it’s as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning.  I know exactly why it happens and there really is a good reason. The South unlike the Midwest and Northeast is not equipped for long bouts of bad roads.  The road departments know they’re doing a terrific job if they can just keep the main highways cleared, keeping the secondary roads cleared is a bonus and you can just forget about dirt roads.  So if you knew all this and the weatherman was predicting 2 inches of snow then you have gotten your signal to make a mad dash to the grocery store. 

  Here in Germany though I’m a little puzzled about the traffic the other day.  The roads were wet, not snowy and even if the snow had stuck, with typical german efficiency it would have been cleared or salted before you could say “Bob’s your uncle”.  Not to mention normally these people laugh right thru a tiny snow shower like we had and ask if you plan on going hiking or want to play a game of football. (soccer)  I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.  Because even though this will be our 4th Winter here, every year we have spent it in a different state so I’m a little leery of how they do things up here.  {(Wow, it’s hard to believe that this Fall marks the start of our fourth year here, dang, time sure flies.)  In the meantime I get more and more thrilled with our apartment. (flat to you Aussies right?)   We are on the first floor.  This means that there is an apartment below us on the ground floor and one above on the second.  We also have a duplex connected to the back of the building which protects the East side of the house. This all means that we are literally sandwiched in and the apartment is SO insulated by all this that we haven’t even had to turn the heat on yet.  We’ll see how it all pans out in late January but I vividly remember two Winters ago in Bavaria when I had the heat on in October, by my calculations this puts me ahead of the game already. 

  We have a Christmas party that all the guys from work have planned.  It’s at a local restaurant in Maintz called Sausalito’s.  I don’t particalarily care for the food there, it’s bad TexMex, but the younger crowd thinks its just wonderful. German-TexMex? Yeah, right!  Last time we met a group there they drank over 2 dozen Red Bull and vodkas at 7€ a pop plus all the beer and then they whine to Bear about how they aren’t making enough money, lol.  Umm, maybe you shouldn’t go to Sausalito’s every friday and Saturday night.  But hey, they’re young and its all fun so what the heck.  I know we plan on getting gussied up and having a great Christmas party, I just need to remember to take my camera.  I might get a worthy blackmail shot! 

  Hope you have a happy hump day!

  EDIT and update:

  I just had the best phone call ever with Allison, she’s going to come over from Ireland in late December. Hopefully her Irish honey will get to come also. What great news, can you tell that I’m one happy mama???!!!

  • 12:19 pm
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