Life Lately.....

It's been a while since I've actually sat down and had the opportunity to reflect on our life in Deutschland. With all the travel we've been doing over the past few months, our lives have been pretty chaotic at best and it's so nice to be back in Frankfurt for the majority of the month before hopping on a plane again.

We've both commenced German lessons, which has been pretty daunting. In the German language (and in day to day dealings with Germans), everything tends to be very black or white, there's no grey and I'm having a hard time getting my head around it. I suppose you can look at it in either one of two ways, we over complicate matters with using an unnecessary amount of many polite words while asking a question or Germans are very straight to the point! Anyway, 4 hours down, 96 hours to go! Arghhhhhhhh! 

It was our first weekend back in Frankfurt last week and it was well spent! The Frankfurt Main Festival was on by the river over the weekend, which meant the street had been blocked off to traffic to allow a mini 'carnival' to be set up. They had bumper cars, a ferris wheel and plenty of other rides you would expect to find at the Royal Show, minus the ticket price and including plenty of food and wine/beer stalls. Along the river bank, mini cocktail bars were set up with deck chairs and music. In the Römer, which is a small platz with traditional German buildings, they had a stage and more wine and beer stalls. The atmosphere was really fun  and the weather was gorgeous, so Chris and I spent Friday evening down there, playing on the bumper cars, eating flammkuchen and crepes and drinking a little more than we probably should of!

On Saturday, we had a BBQ Grill at a friends place out in a little town by the name of Florstadt. The grounds in which she lives in were once owned by a Duke & Duchess, so as you can imagine, the property and grounds are amazing. We had a lovely time (minus a few BIG mosquito bites!) and I was really happy that Chris was around (not on a plane to India) and able to meet some of the other girls husbands/significant others. Finally, on Sunday, we spent the morning supporting our friend Mauricio in a sprint triathlon in the city which was lots of fun. It was great to be able to watch a short distance triathlon for a change!!!!!! I think Chris is pretty excited that he may have converted a friend into the triathlon fold. We also caught up with friends Leah and Aaron and their SUPER adorable little boy Luca (who are moving back to America next month, BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THAT!), on Sunday arvo back down at the Main Fest. So life is pretty good right now and we are feeling very settled. 

The weekend got me thinking about how we have uprooted our lives for the 2nd time in not so many years. When we moved to Melbourne, the making friends thing was never really an issue for me. With so many people from Perth living there, it was like having a safety net because there was always friends moving there or acquaintances from Perth that became friends in Melbourne. This adventure has made me realise I am extremely grateful for the situation we have been put in here, where we have actively had to go out and make friends through expat groups, etc. Unintentionally, I think sometimes in life you tend to stick to what you know or who you know. I haven't had to do this since I lived in London 10 years ago, so it's good to push those boundaries and be able to put myself out there and remind myself that I can do this and that it's so important to build and nuture these friendships as you definitely get out what you put in.

Chris has his final half ironman for the season on Sunday in Wiesbaden. We have a bit of a support crew coming and I'm really grateful for that. Coincidentally, it's the Wiesbaden wine festival on Sunday and I'm really grateful for that too! hehe. We have a couple more quiet weeks in store before we take off to Croatia for 12 days. We are flying into Dubrovnik and visiting Korcula and Hvar before flying out of Split. It's really just an opportunity to spend some time by the beach and for Chris to do some diving, we can't wait!