Hallo aus Deutschland

As I write this I'm sitting in the living room of the apartment that will be our home for the next two months. I moved in this afternoon and now I'm just waiting for Nicole and Lily to join me later this week. Until then it will be a busy few days as I have late meetings with the US and I need to make it to the store to get a few things to prep for the ladies' arrival. This sounds easy if you're in the US, but as the stores close early here and have limited/unexpected selection of items, it may be a challenge. Most stores close at 6PM and are completely closed Sundays. And where I'd usually go to any old grocery store for diapers, the couple of grocery stores I've been in so far here don't seem to have any. Even the selection of fruits and veggies is about 10% of what you'd find in a typical American store. Oh well, I guess I'll just ask a colleague at work tomorrow and get it figured out. Folks at the office have really been helpful so far with every random question I have, and there are lots.

Even with the differences here there are plenty of comforts from home too. At the moment I'm watching an NFL game on ESPN America (we have better TV in this apartment than we subscribe to at home!). And I was able to watch yesterday's Michigan game as well, so sports-wise I'm content.

It's definitely been a unique week, as this is by far the longest I've been on my own since Lily arrived. I've had some fun, meeting up with old friends for a nice evening and checking out Oktoberfest this afternoon. But it was also pretty lonely without Nicole and Lily around after work. I won't claim to miss having a human alarm clock in the next room though. After waking up really early for a couple of days due to jet lag I decided to sleep as long as I could a few days ago, and somehow didn't wake up until after 10. I don't know how many years it's been since I slept in until 10, but it's been a long time. I've been over the jet lag for a few days now, but as I was going through it I was thinking about how Lily will adjust. We've heard a wide range of stories from friends about this, from the kids who adjust just like adults over a few days to the kids who are completely flipped (sleep all day, awake all night) for over a week. Really hoping that Lily doesn't have too hard of a time.

Before I go I have to give my impression of Oktoberfest, where I spent a couple of hours this afternoon. I had no idea what it would be like, even with the descriptions of folks who had been. The only thing I knew to expect was that it would be very crowded. And it was. The subway was packed for the last few stops, and when we got to the subway station it took about 5 minutes to get from the train to the escalators due to the crowd. And on the other side of the platform they were stuffing a train and tons of folks were waiting for the next one. Wow, tons of people. My overall impression is that Oktoberfest is like a huge American county fair with lots of food stands and midway games and rides, plus about a dozen huge beer halls (several thousand people in each). I heard these referred to as tents, but they are really semi-permanent buildings completely packed with people. It seemed that all the tables required a reservation, and they were all full. Each hall had a band playing, and lots of the people at the tables were standing on the benches singing and dancing. I was unfortunately alone, as my schedule today didn't align with the people from work I knew were going. In retrospect I think it would be a really fun thing to do with a big group of friends and a table reservation in one of the halls. Of course I had a big liter stein of helles bier, and I soaked in the atmosphere in the Hacker hall. But it would have been a lot more fun with at least one partner in crime.

Before this turns into a novel I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from the week.

Our apartment is in the pale yellow building on the left.

A view overlooking Oktoberfest. This area was less busy than most, and this shows about 1/20th of the overall fest.

St. John's Cathedral, about a 5 minute walk from our apartment.