1. Stopped traffic on the Autobahn, every other road is under construction.

2. Everything is closed on Sunday, and you can’t even do any work around the house especially if it is loud like mowing the lawn.

3. Dogs have go to daycare or something to that effect because German law states pets cannot be left alone more than 5 hours. Instead you must put them in the care of a stranger and hope they are treated well.

4. Everything takes forever! There’s no such thing as expedient service.

5. People refuse to speak English even though you can tell they understand you.

6. People are just polite enough not to be called rude to their faces but rude enough to make you feel like you want turn around and slap a bitch.

7. USD to Euro rate makes you poor.

8. Nothing open past 8pm, especially on weekends.

9. Dogs can’t be dogs, they’re not free to bark freely without the fear of being taken away. Whoever said Germans love dogs lied.

10. Smoking is permitted almost everywhere. I saw pregnant teens smoking at the outdoor cafe of the hospital.

11. No right on red.

12. Many major stores and restaurants only accept cash. C’mon take a step into the 21st century it’s called credit and debit cards!

13. Deodorant optional.

14. A full mailbox of junkmail every other day. I bet we kill 1 oak tree every month on the amount of shit stuffed in our mailbox.

15. Non-reflective road paint + no street lights = super fucking dark roads

Don’t get me wrong there’s some stuff I love about Germany… The food is amazing and the opportunity to travel is wonderful but how much food and travelling can you do to?

Well I finally got around to posting the photos from our recent trips. In February, on Valentine’s Day we went to the Wilhelma Zoo in downtown Stuttgart. We didn’t really plan on doing much for V-day so on a whim we went to the zoo. It was cold almost snowy day but we went anyway. As expected not all the animals were out and about, regardless we still saw quite a few beauties like the tiger, peacocks, polar bears, and penguins. The baby penguins were the cutest, I don’t know if I have any photos of them posted because they were hidden in the little caves so none of the shots I took came out nicely.

On the first day of spring we went to Legoland, Germany to enjoy the start of warm weather. It was the first opening day for the year. It was smaller than I expected but it was nice. I loved the mini world; cities like Munich, Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, and more were there. They also had Neuschwanstein Castle, which was a nice preview because it was our next trip.

Our most recent trip was to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles in Bavaria on an USO tour to see the castle that inspired Walt Disney for Cinderella’s castle. I’ve been there about 10 years ago. I must say the tour changed quite a bit; no photos inside!?! The first time I went there I brought a 35mm camera with black and white film (yeah, stupid I know) so I was hoping to get new pictures. Anyway, I posted a few cool shots from outside; although the photographs do not come close to the beauty of the place. It was so surreal. Everywhere you turn is so picturesque, absolute breathtaking beauty. A fairytale scene in real life. The lake alone was captivating, the water was so clear I wanted to drink it, the Alps in the backdrop just completed the dream. We plan on returning in the Fall to see the change of colors.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about something fun other than school projects. The January term ended last week with a week and a half break, so here’s to catching up…

On February 13, 2009, Stephen and I went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. We got up fairly early to catch the SBahn which dropped us off almost at the doorstep of the museum. As you can see from the photos the building is quite huge, from the outside it didn’t look as big as it did walking through it inside. I think there are 6 floors. You begin the tour by getting on the elevator that takes you all the way to the top and you work your way down the spiral design of the building moving through time represented by the cars. I took over 400 photos, of course too many to post online… that would be a bit boring to look through so I posted 82. I tried to take photos of all the cars but there were just too many, plus I skipped the cars from the 1980s and early 1990s because they were god-awfully ugly! Very Back to the Future-istic. I took us about 7 hours to walk through the entire museum, which turned into a dealership toward the end. It was nice to see the brand new cars.

click the image to see the photo album

Since this Christmas was the most un-Christmas Christmases of all we decided to treat ourselves with a trip to Sensapolis. A huge indoor amusement park packed with kiddie fun. It has a spaceship, a castle, a jungle, a pirate ship, a rock climbing wall, a restaurant, a mini version of the Discovery Museum in Los Angeles. The place is packed with slides, I didn’t go down any of them because #1, I’m fat so I’ll go down much faster and these things are like dead drops! You actually lift off your ass as soon as you start sliding. #2, I was afraid. The photos I took couldn’t fully describe the place because there’s so much to do and frankly we were having too much fun to concentrate on taking photos. My favorites were the science experiment sections they had all these cool stuff like the pyramid bubble, the facial expression camera, and so much more. The sad thing is that my boobs are so big that the camera thought it was another person (you’ll see the photo)! It’s really time for me to starve myself for a few months.

Here are some photos from our adventure….

The Stuttgart Christmas Market was so awesome we decided to visit the one in Augsburg. According to ChristmasMarkets.com, Augsburg hosts one of the seven major Christmas markets in Germany and since it is only less than two hours away we decided to drive out there yesterday afternoon.

The road trip alone was lots of fun, the sights we saw on the way there were very nice. The further up we went the more snow covered the ground. There were towns in deep valleys that look like Christmas villages Nay used to build back in Baguio. I tried to take a photo, but it didn’t come out quite as clear but you can see that it is beautiful.

We arrived Augsburg at the perfect time, the sun was setting and it made the sky look royal blue as you can see in the earlier photos. Then minutes later the sky turned pitch black and the streets were lit by Christmas spirit. Augsburg’s Christmas Market was not as impressive as we thought, being in Stuttgart the night before raised our expectations on Augsburg. The only thing that Augsburg had more to offer was the Angel performance, unfortunately we were too far to see the show and take photos of the Angels. Nevertheless, it was still a fun trip we got Glühwein of course and had some yummy street food!

Next weekend we’re going to Heidelberg again to experience the Christmas Market there. Love, love, love Christmas! Click here to view the photos.

I am most thankful for Tay’s continued strength and will to live. Although he has been in the hospital for three months he still fights for his life. I am thankful to those who care for him, they have made his hospital room as warm as it could be. The doctors and nurses take good care of him and seem genuinely caring of him, not just because it’s their job. I am thankful for Mama’s upcoming US citizenship, something we’ve all been waiting for forever. I am thankful for my husband, the best in the world, he makes me so happy. I am thankful for the health our our kids Alex, Gabby, Kookiis, and Vandy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today we had a yummy Thanksgiving meal prepared by Stephen. We had the traditional turkey, corn on the cob, biscuits, stuffing, and gravy. After a huge meal we headed downtown Stuttgart to shop at the Christmas Market. It was lovely, all the shops were scattered throughout the Schlossplatz and the shopping areas. There are so many stores, it seemed like they sold everything! There were even a couple stores that sold all brushes! Brushes!? I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the brush stores, it was so weird to see a store sell nothing but various types of brushes. The kids did most of the shopping, Gabby bought Christmas gifts and Alex bought stuff for himself. I got a scarf, mittens, and a hat from H&M and Stephen bought me Christmas ornaments. We also enjoyed some Glühwein and chocolates.

I love being back in Germany, and the holidays are my favorite because it’s like they celebrate Christmas for an entire month! Hopefully this weekend we hit a couple other markets like in Heidelberg or some other town.

Of course I have pictures to share with you, click here.

Today is the 26th of November, a day I’ve been waiting for all month, not because it’s the day before Thanksgiving but today is the start of the Christmas Market in Stuttgart. German Christmas Markets begin sometime in November and last through Christmas Eve. Tonight we are going to the Christmas Market here in Stuttgart, and for the long weekend I think we will be driving to other towns like Heidelberg to visit other markets. I love Christmas! It’s such a great way to end the year and being in Germany for the holidays is such a great opportunity because it’s like they celebrate Christmas for an entire month! I can’t wait to drink some Glühwein (German Mulled Wine) and shop for Christmas decorations, food, and gifts! Pictures to follow… until then here’s a video about the German Markets.

On the first of August we moved in to our new home in Gärtringen; town 20 minutes from Stuttgart. We were very lucky to find this place, it was the workings of the best sponsor we’ve ever had. Sonya, our awesome sponsor was very helpful and very sponsor-y from the airport until we moved out of the hotel she was with us through every step of the way. She found this house on her own time, looking through listings and discussion boards. She even called in and made arrangements for us to see the house before anyone else. She even took us out here on a Saturday, and then when we decided to move in she came with us on a Wednesday night at 8pm to do the move-in inspection. We couldn’t ask for a better sponsor. We have yet to repay her for all her efforts in getting us settled in. I’m going to start with making her some of my Adobo Fried Rice.

Of course you know me, I had to take pictures of the house so we can have a before and after shots. The house is part of a four home row house; I’m thinking row house is townhouse here. It has 3 floors, 4 including the basement; two and a half bath; 4 bedrooms, not including the 2 extra rooms in the basement. The basement also has a large laundry/utility room, it is large enough to hold 3 oil tanks (I think in the photo show I said propane, but Steve said its just oil), American washer and dryer, water heating system, and still has room to move around; unfortunately the laundry/utility room smells like a propane factory. The first floor has floor to ceiling windows which makes it look bigger, it will fit our living room and dining room furniture perfectly. I wish we could have brought our Money Tree because there is a perfect spot for it here. The kitchen is small but surprisingly has more counter and cabinet space.

Moving on upstairs, the second and third floors each have two bedrooms and a bathroom. Steve and I are taking the second floor, primarily because the bigger bathroom is there and also because the ceiling on the third floor is A-framed. Were thinking the kids are going to share a room because one room is extremely huge and the other extremely small. The bigger room is where they sleep and the other room is a playroom and closet. It would be better to have separate rooms but it would be really unfair to the one stuck with the small room.

Below are photos of the house so you can see our empty house. We’re all impatiently waiting for our household goods to get here. FMO furniture is just ugly and nasty, the couch smells! It’s not home until we’re completely moved in.

Sorry, Doris, no transitions and music yet.

So cool! Since I’ve discovered Google Translate I’ve been surfing the web like crazy! It automatically translates any website. Today, I was searching for dog obedience schools in our neighborhood. I found one that is a few blocks from our house, Hundesportverein Gärtringen. Of course, the website is all in German… no problem, all I had to do was copy and paste the URL to Google Translate and like magic its all in English (see here).

Any way, the best part of this is that I was able to send an email to the school in German! Check it out! Of course, if you want to know what I said Google Translate it.

Bieten Sie auch Schulungen für Englisch sprechende Hundebesitzer? Wir haben zwei erwachsene Hunde, ein Yorkshire-Terrier und ein Zwergschnauzer-Mix. Ich würde schätzen, eine Antwort per E-Mail. Wir leben in Blücherstraße, Gärtringen. Können wir stoppen, indem mit unseren Hunden zu sehen, die hundeschule?

Ich entschuldige mich, wenn mein Deutsch Grammatik ist nicht korrekt. Ich benutze einen Übersetzer.  Ich freue mich auf Ihre Antwort. Sie können auch rufen Sie mich an 0170#######, aber ich spreche kein Deutsch, ich spreche Englisch.

Danke,
Meldeine Sipes

I don’t know what I’d do without the Internet! I hope they respond and I hope we are able to get the pups enrolled.

Yesterday we decided to go to the BX/PX at Panzerkaserne. That really isn’t much of an adventure right? Wrong, not if you do it the Sipes’ way! I wanted to get from the hotel to Panzerkaserne using public transportation instead of taking the base shuttle from Kelley. It seemed easy enough. Psyche! We got on the U3 toward Vaihingen Bahnhof to get on the S1 to Böblingen. When we got to the Vaihingen Bahnhof we missed the S1 by a minute, we saw it leave! So the next train wasn’t coming for another 30 minutes! It was ok, I had to get a snack anyway.

So 30 minutes is up and the train came. We got on and a few minutes later we get to Böblingen to get on the 721 bus, which of course… doesn’t come for yeah… another 30 minutes. So we sit there patiently. Curious that the bus sign has Panzerkaserne in parenthesis. Whatever, we just shrugged that off. Ok, 30 minutes done the bus arrives, we get on, we’re on our way to the BX/PX. It was a nice ride through Böblingen, we got to see many shops and restaurants we’d like to visit, then we see a familiar intersection… our stop must be comming up next. Nope, it stops at a nice hospital, drives by a really nice pool/spa, ah there’s frog road the bus stop is on that road. The funny thing is that we’re starting to see the same places we were just at! Shit! We’re back at the bus station! Turns out the reason Panzerkaserne was in parenthesis was because the bus doesn’t go to there on weekends… we find this out as we’re getting off where we got on asking the bus driver about Panzerkaserne. Argh!!

Ok, now we decide to get back on the S1 to go back one stop to get off at Goldberg. We decided to do this because we remembered from last week that we could get on a  bus from Goldberg to Panzerkaserne. Guess what?! Yep, another 30 minutes before the S1 arrives so we can ride it for less than 5 minutes. 30 minutes up, S1 arrives, we get on for a couple minutes, get off at Goldberg to get on the bus. We climb up the hill to the bus stop and realize the buses there don’t run on Sundays! Fuck! So we go back down the hill to catch the S1 again. Walking down we decided we should just return to Möringen; where the hotel is so we can walk to Kelley to catch the base shuttle.

You must be catching on… yeah we get down the hill to catch the S1… and wait another 30 minutes! WTF! Well, we had to wait we were stuck there was nothing else we could do. We get to Vaihingen and finally catch a break… only a 9 minute wait. We get on ride for 30 minutes, a little more or less, and get off a stop after the hotel, walk to Kelley to catch the shuttle.

If you’ve been doing the math we left at 12pm and got to Kelley around 3:40. Steve thought the shuttle comes every 47 minutes past the hour. Nope, it was 05 after the hour… how appropriate… another 30 some minutes. Finally we get on the shuttle which took 2 hours to get to Panzerkaserne. 

Oh by the way… we had to go to the BX/PX for nail clippers.