Week 100: 100 Weeks???

I can’t believe we’ve reached another milestone; 100 weeks here?! We are in a little bit of a transitional time where we need to start thinking about whether or not we will extend our stay in Germany. I’ve caught myself thinking of home, or Maryland, more and more often. We still love it here, but the feeling that we’re on a vacation is long gone. So, we’re not sure what the future looks like at this point.

In honor of 100 weeks, here are some things I am particularly missing these days, besides our loved ones:

1. Walmart: for easy, cheap shopping

2. Going to the doctor and having the insurance automatically billed. I’ve had to fill out a few too many forms, I miss the automation and not having to pay cash up front.

3. Having to mow grass. So weird, I hated this chore in Maryland but now that our yard is so tiny, I miss the space and having a garden.

4. Having a big washer and dryer; we have to keep those things running constantly to keep up with laundry. And by dryer, I don’t mean a dehumidifier, which is what they have here. And, I miss not having all our clothes eventually turn a shade of bluish-gray from the washer (still don’t know why this happens). And so many more laundry related things.

5. American toilets. They are different here, just look it up.

Of course, Week 100 was short and quiet. We didn’t get back from Amsterdam until late Tuesday. School and work went on as usual.

Saturday, Brooklyn had another double header, this time at home.

After the games, we went to the Metzingen outlets. They are about 30 minutes from our house but we’ve never been before. I expected outlets, similar to America, in a center somewhere on the outskirts of town. What we found, is that the town of Metzingen literally removed the entire city center from its town, made it pedestrian only, and replaced it with outlets. You could tell some of the buildings were original, but had definitely been modernized. It’s probably the biggest outlets I have been too, it just kept going and going. But, we didn’t find anything that was really a “great” deal. They did have a L’Osteria there, my favorite pizza restaurant, so we had a good dinner.

Sunday, Brooklyn and I went on a treetop walk with Girl Scouts. This was actually our second time as we went as a family shortly after we moved in 2021. It was pouring rain and in the 40s this time. There are times when I want to be “more German” and be outside more, despite the weather. But, there weren’t even many Germans there; it was a ghost town. I was thoroughly frozen by the end of the it, but the girls didn’t see to notice it.