Atherton Family Notes

Sandi and I have said (jokingly) that we were going to try out as many different aspects of living in Germany as possible while we are here, from trying new foods to having a baby to staying in the hospital to speeding tickets to… Well, today, we have added “minor car accident” to the list.

First of all, no one was hurt. It happened while I was driving home tonight. Right as I was coming into Niedereschach, a guy in a fancy (two-month-old!) Mercedes pulled out of a side street without looking. He was coming from my left and turning to go the same direction as I was. I think his view was blocked by a car that had just turned the other direction, and he was in too much of a hurry to double check.

Fortunately, there was very little damage to either car, as I was able to swerve enough so that his front right bumper only clipped my rear left wheel well. All I felt was the rear of the car buck a little bit.

It sure did scare the heck out of me though.

I understood enough German and he spoke English well enough that we were able to fill out an accident report, and he signed a statement saying that it was all his fault.

Clearly, it could have been much worse. If he had been a split-second earlier or I hadn’t swerved at all, there would have been much more damage and possibly injury. Also, the accident happened inside town, so I wasn’t going that fast anyway.

On the other hand, the accident might have been avoided all together if my first thought had been to swerve immediately… instead, it was, “I can’t believe that guy is pulling out into traffic. What the %#$# is he thinking?” In that instant, it was like I assumed he would realize his mistake and slam on the brakes.

But he didn’t.

Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting, as I will get to have the new experience of dealing with my German insurance company. What fun.

Technorati Tags: baby, driving, expat, fender bender, germany, hospital, ken, niedereschach, sandi

Local Tags: baby, driving, expat, fender bender, germany, hospital, ken, niedereschach, sandi

 Format this post for printing

Today marks one year since we left Indianapolis for our big adventure here in Europe. We are actually more than halfway through, though because my contract here ends on March 31st.

It’s been a good year, and Sandi and I are already thinking that there will be some things we will miss when we move back home next year.

For example:
• Traveling. It’s really amazing to live here because Europe is much more dense than the US. We can take short trips on Saturday, and still easily visit 4 countries. We’re only 5 hours from Paris, and only 8 from Venice. There’s so much history here, and it’s so visible.
• 6 weeks of vacation per year. The main reason we’ve been able to do a lot of this traveling is because I can take a lot of time off from work. Plus, there are a bunch of holidays in spring and summer too.
• Schupfnudeln. This is a kind of potato noodle made in Germany that is shaped kind of like playdoh that the kids have rolled out… Thick in the middle and pointy on the ends. They can be served alone as a side dish, but at many of the festivals we have been to, they are served mixed with Sauerkraut and little bits of ham.
• Eating at an outdoor cafe in a picturesque downtown where the kids can run around without fear of traffic. Obviously, there are places you can do this in the states too, but here, it’s everywhere.
• The weather. As much as we’ve complained about it, the weather here has been very nice. It’s really nice to live in an area where air conditioning isn’t really needed (except during that one freak week last year when the weather from Southern Italy took a detour through the Black Forest!)
• Kindergeld. It’s really nice that the German government returns some of your tax money so that you can raise your kids.
• Bread, bread and more bread. There are a huge variety of interesting breads that can be purchased freshly baked… and they are very cheap!
• The autobahn. When the autobahn is working well (mostly outside of large cities), there’s nothing like it. Even in our little car, we regularly drive 135MPH.

On the other hand, there are some things we won’t miss:

• Opening hours. Most stores, businesses and government offices have really short business hours. The Germans passed a law this year that will allow some stores to stay open until 8PM on Saturday (they currently have to close at 4). Sandi and I can hardly wait for that… It will seem like such freedom. The government offices are the worst, though. Most of them are only open to the public from 9-12, 4 days a week. It makes you have to adjust your schedule to them. It’s not very service oriented.
• Small parking spaces. Even though cars are typically much smaller here than in the US, the parking spaces are not smaller by a proportional amount… They are a lot smaller than that!

Umm, well, I guess there is not that much that we don’t like. A lot of the things that bothered us at first like recycling and learning to shop are no longer problems, so that list is getting pretty short.
It helps, of course, that we have been able to talk to and videoconference with our families back home. Because we are able to talk to someone back home almost everyday, it doesn’t seem like we are that far away.

All in all, it’s been a fun year. I hope the coming year is as interesting.

Technorati Tags: anniversary, autobahn, black forest, expat, festival, germany, holiday, indiana, indianapolis, italy, ken, kindergeld, opening hours, paris, park, sandi, summer, vacation, venice, video

Local Tags: anniversary, autobahn, black forest, expat, festival, germany, holiday, indiana, indianapolis, italy, ken, kindergeld, opening hours, paris, park, sandi, summer, vacation, venice, video

 Format this post for printing