Parking, Underwear, and Christmas Markets

The first few weeks in Germany were filled with insane briefings.  Long, long, classes with randomly scattered pertinent information.   But, amidst this indescribable information rush, where was the stuff we really needed?  Just one tiny, hypothetical example:

Let's just say...hypothetically of course,  you go to a mall and park in the garage.  You're given a ticket upon entering.  Easy enough.  Skip ahead to leaving the garage.  You're at the exit, ready to pay..insert ticket and the machine just spits it out.  Meanwhile, still hypothetically speaking of course, there are cars lining up behind you waiting to insert their tickets.  I imagine if this happened to someone there would be extreme frustration at this point because you can't drive forward through the metal lever and you can't back up because there are 6 cars behind you...  What happens next?  If I had to guess I would say the wife would get out of the car and use hand signals to not so proficiently convey we are not going through this gate so the cars behind should all move.  So, what happened here?  Well, you don't pay at the gate.  You find a randomly placed and when I say placed, I actually mean hidden kiosk located in the dark garage.  You pay before you leave. What?!  How would you ever know this?!?  This is a common way for parking garages and other paid parking.  This could, hypothetically, ruin an entire day.
THIS is the stuff we need to know people!  Ok, so it wasn't hypothetical.  This happened to us.  It's been a month and I am just now composed enough to speak out.

Did you know that underwear is sold here just like a sweater or a pair or socks?  Table of watches followed by a sausage hut, a table of kids' toys and then...underwear.  Just lots of underwear for sale and people there browsing for their next potential undergarment.  It really is just another piece of clothing but could you imagine being at your local county fair and in between the elephant ear stand and the lemonade hut there is a Maidenform table?  It's a mild oddity I thought you guys would find interesting!

I visited two small Christmas Markets last weekend.  Most of the large ones do not begin until this weekend or next but I needed to make sure our Christmas was sent back to the States in time so I went to pick up a few things.  I particularly enjoyed the smaller, hometown market.  I love that that everything is pretty much homemade.  Soaps, wooden carvings, jewelry, scarves, baby things, cards, paintings, etc..  It's a different way to shop and I found it relaxing and lovely.

The larger markets I understand have live music, shows, lots of mulled wine and tons of vendors.  I can't wait!!  I have seen the pictures of these markets covered in snow and lit up with Christmas lights and it is absolutely magical.  Most towns and cities have their own Markets and there are many throughout Europe!  I have been researching to narrow down the ones I'd like to visit.  So far, I pick all of them.

I really want to take more pictures of things but I am also very self conscious about being so obvious when photoing things that are totally normal here!  Sometimes I just want to shout a disclaimer to the crowd that "Hey, I'm new here and you guys have some super cool stuff so I need to act like a tourist and snap pictures of everything... including your underwear tables!"  I can't say that in German so for now, I occasionally sneak a few pictures here and there.

At one of the indoor Christmas Markets

I found this particularly cool.  Vats of balsamics and oils- Different flavors and delicious!!!

 They offer tasting cups and fill your bottle and seal it right there!   

Local artist at one of the markets.  I loved this.  It really reminds me of Sarah M. and Hartley.

A field around our town

On this day I went for a wonderful walk with my new neighborhood friend and her sweet dog, Macy

And another..

A little stream in our town.  I love seeing the ducks!  

I have more I'll post later!  Mike's laptop battery is kaput and we are heading out in search of a new one today!  

Poop-tastic Stressors

Ohhh where to begin...  It's been a challenging few weeks.  It's been three months and we still have not been able to register Mike's car.  The Xenon headlight went out during shipment.  Without going into mega-boring detail, Germany has very strict vehicle laws- There is an inspection you must pass before you can receive your permanent plates and the car failed--months ago.  Violations are cause for arrest.    It's not like the States where you might receive a ticket or a condescending glance followed by a gentle nudge towards a repair shop.   There have been issues with finding this part and then actually getting it here and then, it wasn't the problem so we are waiting on our newest solution which we hope will solve the mystery of the failed Xenon headlight:  You know, the headlight that claims will "outlive your car".   What a crock. Black Magic is three years old.  Yes, Mike names all of his cars.  We were granted our final extension and have until December 16th to solve this or we will be forced to render the car inoperable and park it on base until it's repaired.

 And there's our baby, Dempsey-doodle.  He had what we thought might be a seizure (mild) about a month after we moved into the house and last week, he had a frightening episode on the side of the road during a walk.  He went down; eyes glazed, limbs tensed and he peed on himself.  Absolutely horrible.  Much worse than the first time!  This time it was very apparent these episodes were in fact, seizures.  Fortunately, Mike was with us on this walk so I was able to take Ali home while Mike stayed with him until he recovered and they wobbled home.   Dempsey has been officially diagnosed epileptic and is now on medication.  We have a wonderful English speaking vet office in our little town.  Finding a vet I like is not an easy task because it's never just about the vet. It's also about the staff, the knowledge, their compassion, and their procedures.   In Abilene, I went through four vets before I found Key City.  Love Dr. Matthews! (Yep, that's a proud plug)  I am relieved to find this great vet. We both are.  Bonus?  I walked there the other day.

Both of these situations have been huge, ongoing stressors lately.  I think we have Dempsey under control...Black Magic? Are you next?  Sure would be nice to get you legal ...