You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

Yesterday was the big moving day. I met Matt back at his apartment after my breakfast with Kalle. We headed out with my bags and made our way to the Hauptbahnhof. Since Matt was kind enough to take off work to help me, he basically only had time to drop me off and leave. I got to the bus stop around 13:35. At 13:45, it started raining. My bus was supposed to come at 14:00. It unfortunately didn't actually arrive until about 15:00. So yes, I stood in the rain for nearly and hour and a half. My bags were soaking wet by the end, as was I. The bus ride was about 3.5 hours. I was too nervous to read or be productive, so I mostly listened to music, looked out the window, and took a few catnaps. I had been to Nürnberg last year for a music festival so I began to recognize the area when we got close. I even saw my host family through the window as the bus pulled up.

I can't remember the last time I was as nervous as I was when I got off the bus. I walked towards my host family and it was a few steps before they noticed me. They were all holding signs that said "<3 - lich Willkommen Farrah!" (It just means "Welcome, Farrah!") The word for heart in German is "Herz" and the word "herzlich" can mean "warm," "cordial,"  "affectionate," etc. They had replaced the "herz" in "herzlich" with a drawn heart. How adorable is that!? We were all smiles. Both my host parents hugged me and I gave the boys a high five. We chatted a little about the late bus, my host dad and I grabbed my bags, and then we were off. We headed straight back to the house. They had decorated their door, staircase, and my bedroom door with balloons and welcome signs. They also had a beautiful bouquet of yellow flowers waiting for me in my room, and of course some artwork by the boys next to the flowers. I was shown to my room. My older host kid, we'll call him "One," is four years old, also wanted to show me his room and immediately wanted to begin playing. For future reference, I'll call the younger one "Two."

The welcome signs and balloons on the front door.

My flowers and handicrafts.

Before dinner I gave them all their presents. I gave my host mom a koa wood bracelet from Hawaii, my host dad a Green Bay Packers beer bottle koozie, One and Two got three books and two small toys. I also gave the family two Marshallese handicrafts, one turtle and one star, plus postcards of Huntsville. My host parents wanted to grill outside for dinner, but it was raining when we got home. They ordered pizza instead. After dinner while we were still sitting at the table, the boys became interested in the books I brought. They both came and sat on my lap and I read a Curious George book to them. Once dinner was over, I helped a bit to get the kids ready for bed. I mostly just stood there and watched what they do. My host parents and I had a couple of glasses of wine once the kids were in bed. We talked about an assortment of things, including what kinds of errands we needed to run the next day and what exactly I would and wouldn't be doing the next day. Eventually we got it all sorted and they went to bed. I then spent two hours getting all my things unpacked. My room is bigger than I was expecting (really the whole house is bigger than I thought it might be) and I had no problems fitting everything in. I even have some space left!

Here's my room!

My bedroom door.

The view of my room, standing from my door.

A little table with a television mounted above it.

Standing in front of the windows, my bookshelf and wardrobe.

Today was incredibly busy. I was awake at 6:15 (after getting into bed at 1), showered, and then began the morning routine. The boys were up around 7. They had to get dressed, eat, brush their teeth, put their shoes on, and then were out the door. Even though my host parents work for the same company, they work in different locations and therefore drive separately to work. I did a good amount of standing around in the morning too, but was able to help with shoes and brushing teeth. I'm sure I'll have the routine down pat soon. I left with my host mom and the kids to drop them off at their school. They both attend bilingual school during the day. When we got to the school, my host mom showed me the ropes of exactly what to do and also introduced me to some of the workers. Since I'll be picking up or dropping off the kids alone some days, they need to know who I am. The whole process was quite easy. Once the kids were at school, my host mom and I went into town to run some necessary errands. We went to the Bürgeramt to register me as living here, then to the foreigners office to fill out a form to extend my visa, next was the train station where we got a year-long public transport ticket for me, and last was Aldi where we purchased a German sim card for my phone. The sim card was too big and we had to go through the whole mess of calling to get a smaller one sent.

After all of that was done, we had about two hours until we had to pick up the kids from school. My host mom ended up skipping work today. Picking up the kids was quicker than dropping them off. When One saw me at his school, he ran over to me and gave me a huge hug with a huge smile on his face. We stopped for ice cream on the way home. I played with the kids for a few hours before dinner and for a little bit after. Two went to sleep first, and then One asked for me to come in and say goodnight to him once he was in bed. I think it's safe to say he likes me. I mostly speak English to them. Two doesn't talk at all yet. One talks all the time in German and I'm already learning from him. When he doesn't answer me or when he doesn't understand what I said, I repeat myself in German. When I switch to German, he always asks me why I don't speak more German. A few times today I made him say something in English before I did what he wanted. He doesn't like speaking English but he'll do it.

Tomorrow I have to go to the bank and open an account. Other than that, I have no plans aside from the typical morning and evening routines. Oh, they also want me to drive here. I'll have to get a drivers license so that I can pick up/drop off the kids at school. Both of their cars are manuals and driving rules are different here, so we'll see how that goes.

Everything is off to a fantastic start! I'm excited about the coming year.