Hello February!

It’s kind of nice now that things have fallen into a pattern. Days are always cold, and sometimes the sun lights up these tree-filled skies so much that it’s like being home again. We’ve even gone out these past few weekends. The first weekend we got our car, we went to Ikea. It was super fun, but everything is still just as confusing as it is at home. We picked out some couches we liked and a table set for the kitchen, buying them in time! Even though we went to “just look”, we walked out with a mini outdoor table and chairs to match, a kitchen rug, a letter tray, and other miscellaneous kitchen tools that just looked cool. Next to Ikea was the most regal looking McDonald’s I’ve ever seen, and I’m still upset that I didn’t take a picture before we left! It’s only 20 minutes away, so next time I guess. 
The entire weekend of the 29th we were all soccer. On Saturday we went to the local team’s game in Wiesbaden. The stadium is down the street from where we live, so luckily we didn’t have to worry about parking. They lost that game, 3-1 and the away fans were ecstatic. They left in quite a fashion in the 30 degree weather as well: in a conga line, without shirts, chanting the whole way out. The game was energetic and fun to watch, but pretty cold. Matt loved the game so much he decided we should watch Mainz play the next day at their stadium for the first match of the season. That game was better all around minus weather and location. It was crazy how packed it was, and the cheering was insane. I’ve never seen so many fans (anywhere), that into their team. All over Europe it’s supposed to be like that, but my mind is blown. Mainz won 3-1 and the fans loved every minute! The weather was awful, and the arena was in the middle of a field so it was a fun mile walk to the car, in the dark, in the cold.  Besides the awfulness of my face and fingers feeling like they were going to fall off, Matt and I bought scarves of the home team at each game. 
The weekend following the soccer games we ventured out to see my first castle. Since Matt found all the details for the soccer games, it was up to me to find a castle, which sounds easy, but isn’t. They are everywhere, but driving to a specific one that you didn’t know the name of was difficult so Katie let me know where she and Jon went, and that’s where we found ourselves. Castle Auerbach was about 45 minutes away, but with Matt’s driving on a sunny day it took us a little over 30 minutes. We drove though a tiny German town to get to the castle, and it was very clean. At one point we passed some construction and saw something totally unimportant but awesome. There was construction going on in the area, and instead of having stop signs out, or a man flagging traffic, they had a mini stoplight! So cool and so German! Don’t make fun of me guys, if you were there you would have seen the awesomeness of it all!
Not much else to report yet. We still haven’t gotten our stuff from home which is a bummer. As I’m writing this, it’s beginning to snow out, which feel appropriate after all that sun we had (cold, but it was sunny).  Every week I can feel myself adjusting just one teensy bit more than the last, so that's good news. I still miss everyone at home, but I'm starting to call the apartment home too. Can people have two homes? Genuine homes? I still get intimidated to be out on the economy too much, not knowing German or common courtesy here has me feeling insecure about anything I say or do. Matt says that it's a part of traveling, sometimes you make mistakes, but as long as you try that's all that matters. My take is that I don't want to be judged anymore than I already am just for being American. Not that they dislike us here, but it's pretty blatant that I don't fit it. Still, I trudge ahead bracing myself to look like a fool countless times before I feel at ease all the time in public. Strange how the safety of iron gates and an entire housing community can make you feel like you never left...sometimes. Besides my Negative Nancy attitude about immersing myself, there are perks still to being here. The most important news obviously would have to be that we are getting our puppy this Friday! Yayy! A blog should come out in the next two weeks welcoming her to all of you! Until then, I hope all is well & let me know if there is anything else you would like to know about <3