It's official, we have a home!

Today we signed a lease for our townhouse/flat in downtown Wiesbaden! Our tentative move in date October 15th, so now all we need to do is arrange our First Shipment of things to be delivered, temporary furniture to hold us over until our Household Goods Shipment shows up, get some utilities going, and hook up an internet and/or cable service. We are so. close.

Tonight after we meet our immobilien (realtor) we're going to see Looper at the movie theatre on base and guess how much tickets are?! 5 DOLLARS, not Euros, but some big green!! It's funny how much I'm looking forward to go see a movie in English among other Americans, when back home we rarely even thought of going to the theatre. Now that we're uncomfortable and unsure if we'll be clearly understood about 90% of the time, the promise of an evening among the comforts of fellow English speaking goons is (embarrassingly) thrilling.

Back to our lease signing today though. Let us break down the European way of doing this. First off, the leases here are open-ended. Many families rent forever so when they sign a lease they are basically saying, "This is where we are going to live, where we will raise our family, almost forever." Once we get word of moving we just need to give 90 days notice and we're out. Pretty cool. The not cool part: Security deposits here are 2-3 months of rent, plus the first month's rent prior to move-in, add to that a two month rent commission charge for the realtor, as well as a 19% value-added-tax (with loads of paperwork and office appointments US Government employees are exempt from this tax, thankfully). So to sum it up: people need about 6 months worth of rent to get the keys. Sheesh! No wonder they live in the same place for so long!

Once all is said and done (and paid for) it will be well worth every ounce of trouble though. God really dropped an awesome blessing of property on our lap, at least that's what it seems like right now. Our flat is more like a townhouse with two stories, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a fully furnished kitchen (in Europe most kitchens have no cabinets, countertops, sinks, refrigerators, etc when you move in), and even an Autumn-sized yard in the back! We are less than 1 kilometer (we've been trying to convert our thinking to metrics and Euros, not miles and dollars) to the center of the city/bustling marketplace, an enourmous park for exercising, and a major Bahnhof (train station) to accomodate all of our travelling desires! We feel insanely blessed and if you are reading this you are more than welcome to come visit us here and share in our blessings as well :)

Random piece of news: Autumn is adjusting to the life of a city dog better than we ever hoped. She's become great on the leash within large groups of people, sits under our table/chairs (mostly) quietly while we eat outside of restaurants, and doesn't even get riled up when other dogs pass her by in the Stadtmitte (city center).

Now that the big news is out of the way, time for some small bits of 

Germ-Info:

There are lots of smokers here in Europe, more than I've seen in one place since I was in high school hanging out at the local, wanna-be-punk-rockers venues in Chicago.

It is also quieter here, in general. People in the streets aren't as loud/talkative as Americans; this was definitely a huge surprise based on Jason's German grandma, Aunt, and mom. There isn't as much small talk, please&thank you's, general acknowledgement of others. It's a rare thing to even hear a car horn around here.

Oh! We have yet to pay to use a public restroom! This was a big concern for Michelle, who drinks a borderline unhealthy amount of water, and anticipated spending her life savings on toilet use upon moving here.

Speaking of beverage consumption, beer is not served warm here. It's still cold, not frosty, but cold. Ice never shows up in drinks at restaurants, no matter what the beverage, but it's kind of nice to not worry about anything being watered-down halfway through.

We talked about how going out to eat here is a real event. Waiters are paid by the hour so they are in no hurry to turn over a table, dependent on tips to make any money. Did we mention though that to even get the bill you might have to hunt your server down, as well as tell them how much to run your card for/ how much you'll be paying in Euros (so they give you the correct change back). It's customary to simply round up to the closest Euro, not add any significant amount for tipping. Most Americans don't know that though, so we're always very warmly welcomed when waiters discover out native tongue.

From dinner to dessert. Oh my goodness, do people love their gelato in Europe! It's nuts how many gelato stores there are on a single street sometimes, how long the lines are no matter the temperature (given, we've only been here three weeks) or the time of day. People eat gelato at little bistro tables, walking their dogs, even while riding bikes!
-    We saw a woman pedaling frantically while licking a cone the other day and Jason commented that I have found my people: efficiently loving dessert while still pursuing an active-lifestyle.

Even though Europe is small and densely populated, there are still tons of natural forest and huge, gorgeous trees everywhere!

Random and awesome nod to the Midwest: France grows corn too. We saw it on our way to Strasbourg last weekend.



All right friends, that's all for now. Love you all! Let's talk soon.