MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk

Home Exchange 2006

Well, Bob just drove off with the G family in our van to take them to the airport. We arrived home in Minneapolis at 5:30 pm, which according to our body clocks on German time, was more like 12:30 am. It was a long boring flight with a crying baby; we got to watch two somewhat entertaining films-- Ice Age 2 and Take the Lead, a movie starring Antonio Banderas playing a high school teacher who turns detention time into ballroom dance lessons for tough innercity kids. Not too bad, and it used up about 3 1/2 hours of a 8 hour flight.

Then the Gs picked up at the airport, and we had a fun night talking about our respective vacations and the differences between America and Europe. The kids played and we got some pizza. Then this morning, we had a small birthday cake because it was their daughter L's 8th birthday today. She opened some presents and we had cake for breakfast.

And now they are off, for their long day of flying--they go from Minneapolis to Detroit, then from there to Frankfurt, where T's father will pick them up for the 3 hour drive home. They will probably be home by 11 am on Saturday. They get to lose 7 hours this time, whereas we picked our up again on the way home.

Our last few days in Germany were pretty low key. We hung out at the house, relaxing after Leipzig, started cleaning the house and restocking their pantry. We were invited to lunch at the Burgermeister's house (K's mom and dad, and were joined by K's sister and BIL and two kids). They fixed us a traditional Bavarian meal, which was bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes, and some thick chunks of what seemed like bacon. It was the first time, believe it or not, that I'd been offered sauerkraut in Germany, and while I haven't cared for it much the few times I've had it at home, here it was "gut." They also had dessert-- ice cream with a splash of amaretto, cookies, coffee. They were all so friendly and kind, and we all had a lot of fun.

Bob ate his last pretzel (called breze) just as we were boarding the plane in Nurnberg. Of course you can't really get good, fresh, chewy pretzels like that here in America, unless there"s a street cart somewehere in New York City that has them.

It is odd being home after being gone for 5 weeks. At first, it was hard to remember where some stuff was, or how to turn on my computer! But it's all coming back to me. I'm trying to relearn the American keyboard, though-- my fingers still want to hit the wrong keys for z, y, ?, -, @, " All these keys and a few more are in different places on German keyboards, and my fingers had kinda gotten used to it.

All in all, our first time doing a home exchange was a great success, an experience that I highly recommend. We stayed in a great house in a small town in Germany for free, essentially ($80 for the Home-link website membership), we met a really wonderful and friendly family who stayed in our house, we got to meet neighbors and family members of theirs in Germany who were ever so kind to us, and we had an amazing vacation, getting to see some great cities in Europe. Our kids got to experience life outside the US and get a great education about life in many ways.

It was bittersweet leaving Neumarkt yesterday morning. We felt like we had lived there, even if just for a short time. We were getting to know the area and how things worked, and we enjoyed staying in their house so much. We were eager to go home, but sad to leave.

But now I'm going to go and look at my own house again. I want to let it sink in that I'm really home....

Posted by sapphire at September 1, 2006 09:43 AM