Whirlwind Week

Kelly: What time is it? What day is it? This week was definitely a whirlwind. Everything is time consuming. Yesterday, I spent most of the day trying to track down our household goods and researching places to live and then driving to various towns (with the help of our rented GPS). Old German towns are so charming but confusing. Some interesting differences from the US: driving on the curb is allowed, driving on the pedestrian walks is sometimes allowed, small cars really are necessary for navigating tight turns. We learned that the above sign means "Detour" and should be followed! No harm done.

We've chosen a few favorite towns including downtown Landstuhl, which is just a heart-pumping walk up a steep hill to the hospital. We also like a little village called Atzel, which is on top of the hill, across the road from the hospital. Unfortunately, we found zero prospectice rentals in each of those areas. We're going to check out the nearest big city, Kaiserslautern (K-town), today. We're meeting an "Immobilien" (German realtor) to check out one home on the outskirts of the city. The commute from K-town would be about 25 minutes and I could take a train if necessary.

We finished our day with a trip to the gym. I hadn't had a good workout since the end of September. Once we found the new and beautiful facility, we were impressed with the friendly staff and modern design. It is equipped with plenty of cardio equipment, an enormous weight room that I described as "intimidating" but that Matt termed "motivating," a racquetball court (Matt was happy about that), and a sauna (I was happy about that). Both Matt and I had a great workout and feel more like ourselves...amazing what adding a bit of normalcy will do for my mood!