BIKING

Steve and I put our bikes together on Saturday morning.  Thanks to John doing a great packaging job, they came through the move in great shape.  My bell is the only thing isn't working but I have a spare someplace.  It is still a bit cold for riding since we are still accustomed to riding in southern California.  The temperatures have been in the low 30's.  But on Sunday night it rained and on Monday it warmed up to between 35 and 40 degrees.  I did want to take my bike into a shop to tighten the pedals, get a tune up and buy some panniers or a basket.  There is a bike shop in the next town.  So I bundled up and rode over to find it.  I eventually found it off of an alley but there was a sign as shown below.

At the bike store

Dear customers

Of 28 January to 2 February

is my business because

renovations

closed

We apologize for any inconvenience

Your round Ums wheel team

So I will return to the bike store next week if the weather is good and get things taken care of.  I think I'll see if there are things I can buy at the bike store to help with cold hands and feet.  Those are the things that got cold on this short ride.  The temperature around the lake was around 35 degrees I think, maybe colder.  I had on my knee length bike pants with thermal crew pants over them, two pair of knee sox, one pair of short sox, a under shirt, my PV Bike Chick jersey and arm warmers, a down vest, a yellow knit scarf for my ears, and my rain parka, glove liners and bike gloves.   The next day it warmed up to 45 degrees and all the snow is melted but it is really windy.  I enjoyed getting on my bike.  It has been since September that I last was able to ride it.  It was then packed for the long trip over here.

My bike and the lake by our apartment in the background

I asked  a elderly couple walking by to take my picture.

Me and my bike on the other side of the lake, self timer photo.  The lake is still frozen.

More Snow - no trams
Last night it was raining.  In the morning it was snowing.  Something to do with this kind of weather made all the trams in the area stop running.  Even out of the city from Heidelberg.  No trams.  The snow wasn't very deep so it must have been something to do with the lines freezing.  Steve was able to contact a friend from church who has a car and was able to drive them into work.    I needed to get to class in the afternoon.   I found a special bus was running instead of our tram 7 but it wasn't on a schedule.  I waited about 45 minutes for it along with about 40 other people.  I was smart in that I got on the opposite side of the bus route going on the outbound route so it was pretty empty and was able to get a seat.  The bus only had about 3 stops before returning to the same bus stop that had those 40 people waiting and all had to cram on board.  I had a seat for about 1/2 hour before I gave it to a elderly lady with 2 walking canes that had just come on.   She gave it back later when she got off.  My ride that usually takes 20 minutes on the tram took over an hour because of all the additional stops.  It was really crowded.   But I made it to class about an hour late.  Some of the students didn't make it in.

I thought the snow was pretty on the trees and bushes.

From our apartment window

GERMAN LANGUAGE CLASS
I am taking a beginning German Intensive Language course Monday through Friday from 2pm to 5:15pm.  I started Jan 15.  I missed the first day.  The class is 5 weeks long.  I was hoping it would start out with simple things like the A.B,C's and 1, 2, 3...  but it is more along the lines of "OK. Lets have a conversation."  The instructor only speaks in German.  I am pretty lost a lot of the time.  But I will get better and learn fast I hope.  The people in the class are interesting.  There are about 26 students.  I am the only American.  So far I have found out that we have people from these countries: Korea, Spain, Philippines, Poland, Montenegro, India, Iraq, Romania, Syria, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, and Thailand.  Pretty good melting pot I think.

I have homework everyday.

Here are books we have to help me learn German.  I bought some elementary school books last year and was translating them.

My books and notebook.  The "Schritte plus" is the text for the class.

I have had a week of class so far and feel like I may be getting a bit overwhelmed.   I dreamt last night that I was talking in German but didn't know all the words so I made them up.  People didn't understand me but I kept talking anyway.  Sort of like what happens to me in the elevator when people talk to me in German.  I don't know what they are saying but they tell me about it anyway.

Me dreaming in German

Abendakadamie - This is the building where I take classes.  Abend means evening.

Back to Germany after a visit to the U.S.  We had a great trip and visit with most of our relatives and friends.  The weather in Idaho Falls was the coldest.  California had great weather.  Here in Germany it is mostly grey with temps in the low 30's, some snow but not much stays on the ground.  We walked around the lakes.  There are more swans now.  We counted 12 swans today.

Robin - photo taken by our neighbor

I just love these wood ducks.  There was only one.  I hope there is a mate for it so we can see more in the spring.

STEVE'S NEW GRAND BABY
Aimilee had her baby Dec 16th.  Gemma Paige.  So sweet.  We are so thankful for our family.  How wonderful life is.  We are so excited to get to see her.

HEIDELBERG
We took the tram to Heidelberg on Dec 15 to do a little more Christmas shopping and see the Christmas Market.  The Christmas markets are different in each area.  Well, some things are consistent between them but there are local craftsmen and artisans that have their things to sell.  I like the hand made things the best.  They are a little pricey but hey, things like that take time to make so I would rather buy something made in Germany than made in China.  Next year we plan to be in Germany or another local country for Christmas and go see some other towns Christmas activities.  We thought the rain may keep some of the crowds down but it was crowded anyway.

It was VERY crowded as you can see.

You can see the Castle up on the hill in the background.

Along with things to sell, there are local entertainers.  This guy is a magician, I thought he was pretty good.

We had dinner here.  This restaurant has been here for about 400 years.  The food and service where very good.

We saw this set up from a window while waking down the street.  At least there is ONE company that is doing well enough to put on a very fancy Christmas party.

OUR STUFF FROM CALIFORNIA ARRIVES
DEC. 14, 2012, Friday
It has been so long since we packed things up we couldn't remember what we had packed to ship here and what we chose to put into storage.  So this was like a early Christmas present in more ways than one for us. This is just in time to find things to pack up for our trip back to the U.S. for Christmas.  We leave Tuesday Dec. 18th on the train to Frankfurt.  Then the next morning catch the flight to Los Angeles.  The next morning we fly to Montana.

This one is my sewing machine.  It will have to wait until next year to be used.

There where 46 items total.  We didn't unpack the bikes and backpacks.  They will have to wait until next year too.

I brought the window cat shelf.  I put it up for Muffin.  She does like it although since I put her there for the picture, she is frowning, she likes to do things by herself, not to be PUT someplace so I can take a picture.

I had to be creative and add a cardboard 2x4 to the shelf brackets to make the shelf level.   Hey, be inventive, it works!

You PUT me here to take a picture.

MAKING SOUP
On cold days like this, soup is a good meal.  Like my apron?  Be inventive, it works.

CHRISTMAS MARKET
I went into town again to the Christmas market.  Steve and I also met the Bishop near there and he showed us a fantastic chocolate shop where the guy makes all of his own chocolate.  Someone might be getting some for christmas.

This isn't the chocolate shop that we bought from today, this is one of the vendors in the Christmas Market.  This is in all the Christmas Markets around here.  It all looks like tools but it is chocolate, at least that is what they tell me.

I was cold so I had a cup of hot Kinderpunch.

CHURCH CHRISTMAS PARTY
We had a nice get together at the Church on Saturday.  The kids did some cute skits, they did very well.  In Germany, St. Nicolas visits the kids on December 6th and gives them a gift.  St. Nicolas showed up at the party to hand out gift bags to the kids.   I think the kids also put their shoes outside the door that night and someone puts candy in their shoes.  On Christmas Eve the kids will get a gift from Jesus and on Christmas morning I think they get something from family.

The two missionaries helped the kids with the skit.

Elders Kuttler and Sleeman both from Texas.

Day-Jee Broo and one of the primary teachers.

Elder Sleeman, possibly thinking about all those cookies that he wants to eat on the table.

Genevieve Kempermann - one of my many friends.  She just gave me a brand new pair of boots.  My stuff from California has not arrived and the boots are so much better than my tennis shoes.

SNOW - December 8, 2012

This was yesterday while it is snowing.  Taken from our kitchen window.  Large snow flakes.

 It isn't snowing today but it is cold.  We walked around the lakes to get some fresh air.

The large blue beach ball on legs is ME with 5 layers of clothes on and still cold. I'm feeding the birds bread crumbs.

The swan is pretty slow and doesn't get much, the little ducks and gulls are fast and usually grab it.

This Canadian Goose ate out of my hand.

This is on the crop side of the lake.

Such a Nice smile on such a Nice person.

The radio control beach is empty now because the lake is partially frozen.

This is the radio control dock. 

Standing on ice.

This is where the kids slide down the little hills on their sleds.

These two dogs had fun playing with each other in the snow.

A lot of the kids use these wooden sleds with the metal rails.  They will all be tired out at the end of the day.

The group of Canadian Geese.

Schwan

Notice the gull standing on top of the Mallard duck