Kirschhausen & Heppenheim

Some more photos of where we will live....

This is Heppenheim - a bit larger town than Kirschhausen. It is about 2 miles from the house and it is where we will do our grocery shopping and such since Kirschhausen is almost entirely residential.

The pictures below are of the road to Kirschhausen from Heppenheim.

Our street in Kirschhausen

The view from our place

It looks like Steve will travel May 21st. He will get internet, phone, etc. set up so that I can go and be able to work when I get there. We haven't figured out yet exactly what we are taking and what we're leaving behind but I don't think we will be taking much. Could be fun starting from scratch - think of all the shopping we'll do!

Steve's brother sent us driving directions to get from Plano to Frankfurt so we don't get lost. Check out step 26. Gotta love Google Maps. I thought that was pretty hilarious.

We have orientation in Boston on Friday with Raytheon. I'm not exactly sure what's on the agenda for that but I'm assuming they will tell us everything we could possibly need to know for the next two years. I'm hopeful that I will come away confident and fully informed - there are still alot of unanswered questions......I should probably start a list.

Home Sweet Home

Here are photos of our new home in Kirschhausen. I have to say the nice thing about setting low expectations is that I was very pleasantly surprised by this little beauty. I had prepared myself for a possible matchbox of an apartment with not much to look at simply because I didn't know what to expect. Well, I am so excited about this place and find myself already fantasizing about where things will go and what the view will look like out that giant window in our living room.



This is the kitchen - yes that eerily vacant space with NO sink, appliances, cabinets......hello culture shock! We were both quite surprised to find that it is common practice for European apartments to come with a completely empty kitchen just waiting to be customized to your every whim. Ohhhhh.....so that's why IKEA sells complete kitchens........it all makes sense now. Who knew?! Fortunately, Steve used his wily negotiating skills to convince our landlord that he wanted to go ahead and extend his remodelling efforts right into building out our kitchen. He even asked us what kind of fridge we would like.

I'm told our nameplate apparently already has this spot claimed just for us - the new Reynolds family home for the next two years.

Looking up at our place from the garden

View from the living room balcony

One of the three tiny bedrooms - latest quandary - can we fit a queen bed in here? Oh, I hope we can.....

Don't get me wrong - I am very thankful just to have the extra bedrooms - it is definitely more space than I imagined we would have. Plenty of room for guests......start staking out airfare now!

Newly remodeled bathrooms - another bonus

The Adventure Begins

Well, here we are. I haven't really considered myself much of the blogging type up to this point. I have to admit I feel a little weird broadcasting our lives on the internet. We have reached a point though, where enough people are asking enough similar questions to warrant mass production. So we will do our best to keep you all posted on the latest developments - things seem to be constantly changing - at a speed with which it's hard even for us to keep up.

This last week has been particularly stressful. Just a few short weeks ago we were talking about how this move feels a little surreal and like it might not actually ever happen. This week we both seem to feel the giant weight of reality setting in. There is a never ending to-do list and time is getting shorter by the day.

Steve sold his baby just a little over a week ago and as of today we think the boat is as good as sold. I keep waiting for the mid-life crisis to set in at any time but so far he is handling these milestones quite well. I think it helps that he keeps repeating out loud that he can upgrade both when we return in a couple of years. I'm not sure who he's trying to convince.......himself or me?