Moving on Up

     For the past year, I have questioned and been questioned about what I would do after graduation. Not that this is unusual. I'm very aware of my friends and classmates back home who had the same feelings of uncertainty. However, with a degree in "elementary education" you rarely look much farther than the school building. I began the job search back in September and noticed a position at an international school about an hour from us. It was the "perfect" teaching position, spanning from January to the end of July- and basically the only english speaking teaching position in the region. I quickly assembled everything needed to apply and waited patiently for a highly important rec letter that arrived the week before the position was to begin. It was a tad frustrating, knowing that this position was available up until the final weeks, however after praying over something fervently, there is never  a doubt in my mind that His plan will reign. Although nannying had never crossed my mind, it did a few days after I found out that the teaching position was no longer an option. And a week later I had a job with a wonderful family! They are friendly parents who studied for a time in America and therefore have a desire for their children to speak English fluently. They have three boys, ages 10, 9, and 5. The oldest two speak English very well and the youngest has a very impressive sense of the language for his age but has not been speaking it much until my arrival. The motivation of all three of the boys to learn has been inspiring for me. This past summer the older two attended a camp in New England and are eager to return with the little one next summer, so whenever we have an issue with speaking English, I remind them of this, since their English skills are essential at camp :) Though I am primarily with them to teach, it has been much different than a teaching position. They are very active children so every lesson needs to be unique and involve plenty of movement. I enjoy this because I see my hours there not only as my job but also my exercise time :) In addition, behavior management is a completely new ball game when you are in the home of the students. So there have been some minor challenges but all in all I am loving nannying for such sweet kids and look forward to it each day! This job is so much better for my schedule than the teaching position would have been and will span for the remainder of our stay in Germany. God is good!

     At the beginning of January, I was holding out some false hope that we might depart in August, but the final verdict seems to be December. Simeon will take several exams this summer, begin his internship by the end of summer and when it is completed, after 6 months, we will call an end to this experience of a lifetime. I honestly have grown to feel good about this decision and know that more time here will be beneficial in numerous ways. We have been digging deep lately to discover how we can most effectively glorify God with our today, as well as our tomorrow. Struggling with what it means to live radically and to make our lives count for His kingdom has been a daily process. We acknowledge that this can look like many different things but we don't want to settle. We are still confident about doing a few months of foreign missions before returning to the States, so this means (if we do not feel a call to long term foreign missions during that time) we will be home "for good" in April-ish of 2014. We are quite aware that our plans never seem to be the ones that "win out" and usually are not the most profitable to our lives or His glory anyways. So.. this is just a general outline of our plan for the coming year, for those who are sitting on the edge of their seats to receive it (our grandparents). Hehe.

      Because of this decision to stay longer, we have chosen to invest in a new apartment that will be closer (within walking distance) of my job, rather than the 30 minute drive I am making now. It is a city of about 280,000 people, of which 10,000 are U.S. citizens associated with the Army base there. The city has a few more activities than we have been accustomed to in our quiet Rhein village... including (but not limited to) multiple parks, a ropes course, a cinema that plays english movies once a week, numerous yummy restaurants (compared to ONE that we have in Bingen-literally), our english-speaking church, and the pedestrian zone with all of the shops (including 2 Starbucks, groceries, H&M, and Zara..not to mention several boutiques) all within a 5 minute walk. Needless to say, there is quite a bit to look forward to. But we will certainly miss the open views of vineyards, castles, rolling hills, green grass, and the beautiful twisting Rhein that we so adore in the summer.. and even more the lack of people here, in particular the lack of english-speaking people here. I am not an attention seeking expat.. but I do enjoy being a bit of an outsider and being able to carry on conversations that are not 100% understood in public. However, after handing over the issue of moving to someone who could handle it slightly more than us, the decision was made and we are trusting, rather than mulling over what we will miss. Not to mention that our current apartment has truly become my only home here. Okay, okay, we're trusting :)

     We have signed on an apartment and have begun moving in but will stretch out our stay here for a few weeks before officially moving. It was not an easy process to find the new apartment. My mom likes to think it would have made for a very entertaining episode of "International House Hunters", and i'm not sure that I disagree.  The main quality we were looking for was close proximity to my job so that I can bike there. This is essential because when Simeon starts his internship in a few months he will need the car to likely drive 30 minutes or more each way. Another factor we considered was parking. With it being a city, parking is hard to find and always a ridiculous price per month to be able to park in a parking deck. Having a basement space for storage was also on the list and is fairly common as European apartments rarely include a closet. As in, not even a utility closet for washer/dryer or air conditioning since those are also not common. So everything must be stored in wardrobes, cabinets, and drawers. Since we can't fit our car's summer tires in drawers, a basement storage unit seemed appropriate. We preferred an apartment with at least 700 square feet, as our current apartment is 590 and we don't have much breathing room.  The final element on our wish list was for an apartment that came with a kitchen.  Most people here buy a pre-built set of cabinets and bring them as they move. Therefore, the majority of kitchens come empty. Not only are kitchen materials expensive but it also involves a lot of hard work, as most stores don't deliver for a halfway reasonable price. Soooo an apartment with kitchen cabinets would be nice and one with kitchen appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, sink, and oven) was a huge bonus!

Our first apartment visit consisted of a space that was a completely different space than the one in the photos online. I don't mean a similar unit or one that had been remodeled.. it was a completely different space. It included such stunning features as green 80's carpet and a 50's kitchen- and I don't mean a cool, vintage 50's kitchen.. I'm talking bold yellow, orange cabinets with sickly green backsplash and tiled floor. The reward of being on the fifth floor was views of disintegrating roof-tops that hardly made me feel as though I were in one of Germany's most wealthy cities. Despite all of this, I was actually considering it for the decent size and the "good location". Good thing Simeon disagreed, because that sneaky man upstairs had a little more entertaining to do and something much better down the road.

Our second visit was a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood, however it was a bit small and the kitchen did not include a dishwasher or refrigerator, and there was no place to connect a washing machine. Also, the views out 3 of the 4 rooms were of a neighbor's green house/ kitchen thats open roof lingered directly below our windows. After viewing the apartment, the renter brought us down to the final selling point- the basement. The moment the door opened and we walked down the stairs I could hear the horror "eek, eeek, eeeek" music chime in. It was completely unfinished, ceilings too low for Simeon to stand, and our "storage unit" had a mismatched plywood door, which reminded me of an animal stall when cracked open to reveal the spooky, dripping 5 by 5 foot space where we would leave our bikes and other extras. But wait, there's more! He takes us to the "wash room" where there are several washers and dryers scattered around the eerie room. I'm hearing him say "you'll have to carry your laundry down here but you can use these machines without paying." I was thinking, well darn.. that'll be a hassle but at least we won't have to buy machines. Well on second thought maybe it's not worth it to have to come down to this incredibly terrifying space and sit for 2 hours. Meanwhile, I'm saying to the renter "Ah, nice. That's really great." (and sporting a huge grin). When in reality what he had said was "If you decide to buy a washing machine, this is where you can plug it up to do your laundry." When Simeon told me this in the car, as if it was still an option to live there, my grin immediately faded.. "So, what you're saying is that not only would we have to go to the unfinished, smelly basement to do our laundry, where there is a good chance of one of us being murdered..but we also have to buy a washer and/or dryer to then leave down there? No thank you."

We visited two more apartments within the pedestrian zone but decided as quintessential European as it would be to reside there for 10 months, the parking situation would just be absurd and moving would be even crazier ...(walking our couches several blocks through the city?!? seriously?). Besides, you can't even ride your bike in the pedestrian zone.. not worth it.
So, our final visit was to a building built in 1900 on a beautiful street about a mile from work. The layout threw us off a little at first because all of the rooms come off of an extremely long, narrow hallway, so it feels smaller than it is. However the square footage is incredibly more than our current apartment. It features high ceilings, wood floors, and a kitchen (including appliances and a washing machine!! but no dryer :( which forces me to be european and actually hang our clothes, ugh). The biggest benefit is that we will no longer be in an underground space as we are now.. so we can actually look at the sky (well, the clouds) without straining our necks. We're moving on up!!

*As a side note, I do realize there are much worse living conditions than the ones described above, and I would have been fine with any of those circumstances.. although I would not have paid the hefty price tag for them.. so we would have probably just stayed in Bingen if we did not find the apartment we found. But anyways, my point was not to gripe, rather share the ins and outs of european life with my "readers" :)  Hope you enjoyed!