The "Adventure" begins!

Well, we are here. We have officially started our "adventure." Almost everyone who heard we were moving to Germany said something about it being a "Big Adventure". I think that was their nice way of saying we are pretty crazy to do something so Out-There, but good luck anyway.

We arrived in Berlin around noon (Berlin time) on Saturday after nearly 24 hours of plane travel. The kids did surprisingly well. The best leg of the trip was actually the longest. We had an eight-hour flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. Luke amazed me with his ability to sleep in the weirdest, sitting-up positions, and the other three kids loved having their own movie screens to watch the movies of their choice. I barely noticed any of the kids during that ride. It took four flights to get us from Salt Lake City to Berlin, which was a lot of running around, hurry-or-we'll-miss-the-airplane connections. We made it though, with no delays or misses. I learned something valuable, too - when traveling from the U.S. to Berlin, go through Amsterdam. It is much more sensible/traveler-friendly airport than Frankfurt.

The only glich was that when we arrived in Berlin, the airline didn't have Brad's golf clubs. Those of you who know Brad realize that this is akin to Brad losing one of his children. So a bit of panic ensued as Brad rushed around the Berlin airport with the rest of us, and our 16 pieces of luggage, trailing behind in a zombie-like state. The clubs were not recovered, but Brad has daily contact with the airline, so hopefully they'll turn up soon.

We took a taxi from the airport to our house (Thank you Brad for finding a taxi big enough for all of us to fit in one - I'd been having nightmares of having to ride a taxi by myself and not being able to communicate with the driver where our house was!) and I finally got to see the house that will be our home for the next three years. My first impression...it's big and really messy. The movers unpacked almost all of the boxes, but didn't really put anything away. So, I have huge piles of STUFF to go through and organize. I was really overwhelmed Saturday night as I tried to wrap my sleep-deprived mind around where to put things. This house is great, but it isn't like an American house. The closets and storage aren't where I would expect them, so it doesn't immediately make sense where to put things. Now that I've been here a few days, I have a better sense of where things should go, but it's still weird.

To keep things concise, here are 10 things I've learned about the house:

1. Lots of hard floors. Mostly wood, some tile, even less carpet. And the carpet has no pad under it. After a day of walking around barefoot, my feet and legs just ache.

2. It smells funny - like a museum or old house. I hope Our Smell will start to permeate soon (and I hope Our Smell is better!).

3. I so wish it had a garbage disposal!!!!

4. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having our own fenced-in yard. It feels very private and sanctuary-like in the middle of big, scary, German-speaking Berlin.

5. Haven't totally figured out the oven, microwave, or dishwasher. All controls are in German and the temperature is Celcius, so I'm not really sure if the dishes are washed or my food is cooked. Haven't even looked at the washer and dryer yet. I'm sure they will freak me out tomorrow.

6. Could spend thousands of dollars (sorry, Euros!) at IKEA buying furniture to fill up all these big rooms. Did my old furniture shrink?

7. Now that I've figured out the Wood Blinds That Roll Down Over My Windows On The Outside, I think they are brilliant. They block the sun almost completely (we appreciate this as we try to combat jet-lag), and I will never have to dust them. Lovely!

8. Too many mirrors. Closets, random walls, even the entire back of my bedroom door have giant mirrors. Not only does this mean much Windex in my future, but it also scares me when I walk into an empty room, unwittingly catch my reflection in the corner of my eye, and think there is a robber in my house. I don't need this stress.

9. There are five toilets in the house, and none of them have the same flushing mechanism. The upside is that Luke finds this fascinating, so he has a renewed interest in using the potty. They are also all low enough for him to pee standing up. This is major for Luke.

10. The rose bushes on the side of the driveway have got to go. The driveway is very narrow, with a rock wall running along the driver's side. Some idiot planted rose bushes along the rock wall, so it is impossible to get into the car without snagging something (clothing, skin) on the thorny branches. Our landlady has an unhealthy (in my opinion) attachment to roses, so I don't know if we will be able to convince her to let us remove them. But I think these particular bushes are evil.

(These are all just initial impressions, and I'm sure they'll change and expand as I get more used to living here. I will post pictures once I have all the piles put away.)

On Sunday, we roused ourselves from jet-lagged unconsciousness in order to attend sacrament meeting in our new ward. It was nice because many of the people we met back in January when Brad and I visited remembered us and greeted us very warmly. One family was kind enough to invite us to their home that night for popcorn and ice cream, their family's Sunday night tradition (a delightful combination, I must add). The mom, Susanna, is the sister of my friend Eva from the Clarkston ward. They are American, living in Berlin because Susanna's husband James works for the foreign service. Susanna told me that she has a tradition with her visiting teachers (also both American) that every month they go to the Sony Center to see a chick flick for their "visit". The Sony Center is a big theater in the middle of Berlin that shows American movies in English. Susanna and her VT's sound like my kind of people.

Today was pretty low-key. The cable guy came and installed our internet service (much rejoicing!!), then Brad and I spent way too much time and money at IKEA buying closets and light fixtures. It's weird - in Germany, tenants must supply their own light fixtures, and the bedrooms rarely have built-in closets. It will be good to get the lights in. I'm tired of wandering around a dark house. And the closets will help with the pile-organizing. A bright spot at IKEA was when a clerk spoke to me in English. It gets old having Brad do all the talking while I stand there with a glazed, I-have-no-idea-what-everyone-is-saying look on my face. When the IKEA guy realized I didn't speak German and started talking to me in English, I nearly kissed him on the lips. I almost felt like a person again.

Well, my microwave clock is telling me it is 0:59, which means it is now 12:59 a.m. here in Berlin (they don't even tell time the same way here!), so I'd better call it a day. The sad thing is that Jessica, Pepper, and Adam are all still awake, too, because they all slept until noon today. An eight-hour time difference is hard to get used to...

Heck, EVERYTHING is hard to get used to...