Life--Act 3: Life on the 5th floor--Part 1

It's been a while since I've written a post, but monumental changes have happened in our "empty nest" lives in the last 6 months, so it's time to start writing again. Since May, we have: (1) sold the home where we have lived and raised our family for the last 20 years (2) started building a brand new home (3) sorted through 20 years of accumulated stuff, giving much away and finding temporary refuge for the remainder of our stuff in a storage unit (and several friends' homes) as well as for ourselves in a friend's basement (4) helped my mom face a major health crisis and go through heart surgery (5) and (because apparently moving wasn't enough of a change) after 26 years of working for the same company, Joel interviewed for and accepted a new job with a company based in Munich, Germany (6) since we were "homeless" this fall anyway, we decided that the best way to start his new job would be to spend 6 weeks living in Munich so he can build new working relationships with people in person rather than from a home office in Colorado. So we are here until just before Thanksgiving and are grateful for all the circumstances that have come together to bring us to this point.

Observations made while living in Munich during my first week:

We live on the 5th floor of a Residence Inn. Our room would be considered large by European standards as we have a large desk, a sofa, lots of storage in the bathroom and closet and nightstand drawers, as well as a tiny kitchen (tiny=2 burners, a microwave, a small refrigerator, and a few dishes, pots & pans). We have a wall of windows that overlook a lovely courtyard shared by the apartment buildings behind us. The trees are all golden yellow and beautiful.
Dogs are everywhere--on the sidewalks, on the subway, running alongside their master’s bikes on leashes (I saw a tiny little dog doing an amazing job of this), in the stores shopping for clothes (well, their masters are shopping for clothes). Most of them are little dogs--I’ve only seen a few big dogs. Today I saw two feisty little dogs tell each other off in a barkfest on the 2nd floor of the C&A department store, right there among the winter coats.
There aren’t very many tourists this time of year except around the Marienplatz. Those that are here for the beer are obnoxious. The others are all charmed and delighted by what they see, so that is nice.
Our hotel is full of Arabs and Orientals, mingled with a few Americans, British, and other sundry Europeans. The Arab women are colorfully dressed with beautiful head scarves, and most wear lots of makeup and seem very attached to their iPhones and iPads.
People wear so much black here. Everything is black--coats (especially those), sweaters, shirts, scarves, pants, gloves…. I saw an elderly woman today wearing a lovely sky blue raincoat today and that seemed really daring.
Also, EVERY woman wears a scarf. And they really like big, fluffy scarves that they just wind around and around their necks. There are no fancy or creative ways of tying or wearing a scarf here. The bigger the better. Most colors, again, are really muted, conservative colors.
Most people don’t smile much on the streets or the subway. I did get an older man to smile at me today when I was smiling at his dog. Now I know why they think of Americans as so friendly.
Listening to an organ play in a church in Europe is a magical experience in acoustics.
I love how this city blends nature and buildings. Most apartment buildings are arranged around a courtyard, and if someone has a balcony, you can be sure there will be plants of some kind on it. Or else window boxes full of flowers.
Time flows differently here. I have no appointments, no schedule but what I choose, no lunch dates with friends, no jumping in a car to drive wherever I please or to go for a run in the mountains. I’m not sure I remember when time has been so completely my own, except when we first moved to Colorado Springs 26 years ago, before I had children and friends and any kind of established life there. It is a little disorienting. I feel like I’ve been here a month, but it’s only been a week. Yet the days go by so quickly too--before I know it, it’s 1:00 and then it’s bedtime. I am more awake at night because it’s daytime back home, and it’s hard to get moving in the mornings because my body clock says it’s still the middle of the night. I’ll probably finally be adjusted when it’s time to go home. :-)