Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

I woke up this morning (Saturday) before 6 AM suddenly remembering "Our internet is being cut off today!"  I nearly jumped out of bed and ran to the computer.  I needed to write.  (and post).  Our computer will be packed up on Monday, so losing these two things brings me right back to where I was in those early days in Celle, except not quite.  I still have my iPhone.  But that brings up the age gap--I just don't see myself blogging from my iPhone.  But who knows.  The need to post our progress might just drive me to it.  Usually, however, it is better if I put a little bit of distance between the actual events and the blog post--it's more fun for you to read. This week has been quite an emotional roller coaster, not so much the nostalgic kind, but the kind of emotion that comes when everything seems to be going wrong.  Most of the problems have to do with leaving this house and getting to the next one.  But we have a lot of good ...

Lately I’ve written a lot about how much I will miss it here and how nostalgic I am, but there are several areas in which we really have not adjusted.  Once we knew when we were returning to the U.S., in a way we ended our arriving and learning phase and began our leaving phase .  True, I’m still learning here--such as if you buy a day ticket for the tram you only need to buy it for one zone, but if you buy a monthly card it must be for 2 zones.  Go figure.  Sorry to all the visitors I have overcharged! Mail Most of the mail we get is junk mail, with a few letters and cards from home.  But from time to time we important mail.  And that makes my stomach hurt.  The ones from the utility companies are the worst.  Just yesterday we got one from the energy company and my husband and I studied it for a a good 15 minutes.  We couldn’t tell if we owed money or if they owed us money.  And we couldn’t tell if they were going to take it ou...

Germany: at least we've got the map puzzle I had to pick up a couple of things at the grocery store yesterday, but rather than just getting the salami and fleishwurst for sandwiches, it seemed like everything was calling my name.  On one hand I’m trying to use up everything in my house so I’m not wasteful, but on the other hand I see this as the last time I can buy Bifis, Ritter chocolate, so many kinds of Milka bars, coffee from Panama Kaffee, Faber-Castell pencils that come in a multitude of sizes and colors, shoes for me . . . And I really must make sure I’ve tasted everything the bakery has to offer.     We’re down to the three week mark.  I sort of wish I could just skip to May 25th or so, but on the other hand I’m not ready to leave.  I was walking in town a few days ago, going the street remembering my first impressions.  I thought fondly of early events that at the time seemed traumatic but now make me nostalgic.  “Oh, there’s the pl...