Erkaeltung II

Yep, still have it. I've been through almost a whole box of tissues over the weekend, and have had two bloody noses because all of the runny nose stuff has made my nose so dry. I'm on the second one right now.

Another story: This weekend is daylight savings time! "Fall-back, Spring-forward," as we would say it. NOT IN GERMANY! Here it's "Fall-forward, Spring back!" So we set our clocks like Americans. Gabi called us last night to remind us so we "didn't come an hour early", and so we would be happy that we would get "an extra hour of sleep." We didn't catch those BIG, OBVIOUS hints, and still set our clocks like Americans. We slept in, woke up exhausted (but Graydon was happy that his team that we stayed up late to listen about won), and barely missed the train that would get us to church on time. And we waited half an hour, and it's COLD here. And right before we got on the train, we realized the clock said 6:56, and not 7:56.

So we didn't come to church one hour early. We came two hours early.

Then we came back home. And I was cold. And we tried to get under blankets, and I still felt cold under the blankets. And I stayed home from church today. Graydon went for both of us.

I will have to e-mail my Hall family for those tips on dealing with colds.

On Friday we went to eat dinner at our friend Markus's house. He reminds me of one of mom's friends. He also reminds me of mom. Tell me if this is not a mom thing: After dinner, he pulls Graydon into the back and massages all of his back muscles because Graydon's too tense. And Graydon didn't even scream from pain! (I guess that isn't like mom. :) Love you, mom!) Markus is a body therapist.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before this he made us DE-LICIOUS dinner! First we had pumpkin soup and cabbage-pie, then salad and cheesy noodles. Then we had ice cream sundays! Wow. We were stuffed. It was amazing.

So after, he dropped us off at the train station. It was about 12:30. The last train, we come to find, left at 12:16. So we called Markus back and he dropped us off at home. Patrick McGaffin, a guy that served in Graydon's mission and is now studying abroad in Stuttgart, was with us. He lived pretty far away from where we were, so he just crashed on our couch. It was cool. Then he and Graydon talked half of Saturday away about their missions. It was cool to hear, and I think it was good for both of them. :D

I think that's really all for now. Know we love you all!

Erkaeltung

Erkaeltung=Cold. I think we are both out our second one. That's why I'm awake at 1:22. I should do homework for my online class, but it's late! And I don't want to! Thus, a quick note to drop by, letting everyone know we're still alive!

Loves!

We Have Internet!

Yeah! Everyone, I expect a big applause! The Technician came yesterday, and I thought he would set the whole thing up, but he just plugged things in and made sure the right lights were flashing. Graydon and I had to actually set the thing up. And all of our instruction manuals were in German. But we did it! We now have a phone that is working, as well as internet that is working, as well as two pre-paid cell phones. :) Happy face.

Classes started a while back for Graydon, and are starting just this week for me. He is lucky and has just one language class that is five days a week, three hours per day. Maybe that isn't so lucky. :) I have five classes, one chemistry class in English and 4 German classes in German. Three of the classes are above my speaking level, so we will see if I can get by with them. I actually have no choice, I have to have at least 12 SWS credits to keep my scholarship here, even though only 6 of the credits are on my level. They don't cater much to kids who aren't already 100% fluent in the language, let's just say that. 

1 SWS credit: Study Hours/ week. One SWS = 45 min class/per week. 1 SWS = 1.5 ECTS credits, which is, I believe, what we run on in the states. At least that's what my packet told me!

Well, I will post pictures now, so this is short, but oh, well. We will be able to write more often now, anyways! Loves!

Still waiting for stuff....

Hello, our friends and family! Just letting you know how grateful we are for all the e-mails, facebook messages, and posts on the blog. A quick update:

We still don't have phone or internet at home. About a week and a half ago, we signed a two year contract for a landline and internet. 25 Euro/month, plus a 50 Euro cancellation fee. Not too shabby--especially because we will be able to have DSL 6000, free calls to any landline in Germany, AND free calls to the US! We've already received the two introductory letters and the modem from the company, and we have an 'appointment' on the 21st, where the guy will come and finish setting everything else up. So, after the 21st we will have everything! Another plus--fall break in Utah! So Graydon and I don't have any homework due until right around the 21st! Yeah! Such a happy thing.

Right now we have two other sources of internet: First, we sometimes can go up to our wonderful neighbor upstairs, Thomas, and he will let us use his computer. Many times, however, he is not home, so we had to find another source. It is Coffee Fellows at the Hauptbahnhof in Stuttgart. We buy a bagel or two, and the wireless is free! So we try to make it here every morning, and sometimes at night.

We also were offered a pre-paid phone yesterday to borrow. We have been giving people the phone number so they can call us--there are not any minutes on the phone right now, but at least people have a way to get in contact with US! 

What else, what else, what else. We are hopefully going to buy pillows today. The couch hasn't come yet, or the table or chairs, because it has been so hard to get in touch with us crazies. We are supposed to be going to a ballet tonight, but haven't been able to get in contact with Dieter and Gabi. Hopefully they can call sometime today, before the ballet. Dieter loves to go to those things and be cultured, as well as culture all his friends. And I love them already! Stuttgart is VERY well known for their ballet, so it will be great! We just don't know what we will wear.

We will try and post pictures as soon as we can, thought it might be sometime after the 21st. We love you all!