Live from Mannheim...it's M&M!

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I just wanted to post a blog about what everything is like just living here. First of all, we weren't able to get off-post housing. They've started a new policy here that everyone "regardless of rank or circumstance" must live on post as long as they can accommodate your housing needs (i.e. number of bedrooms). Since we don't have kids we qualify for a 2 bedroom and they had plenty of those 😞 So, we're on post. We're living in the back of the neighborhood and there are 6 apartments (yes, apartments) in our building. We picked the 3rd floor...our side of the stairwell is all 2 bedroom apartments but the other side is all 3 and 4 bedrooms so they all have kids. Living upstairs eliminates the amount of traffic that goes screaming past your door and also now we don't have to hear any upstairs neighbors walking around 😊

The apartment is pretty big. I've put the floor plan in here so you can see. The unmarked room across from the living room is the dining room. Housing was all gutted a few years ago so everything is pretty new. The best part is the kitchen...it's huge! Also, for those of you who know what little counter surfers the dogs can be, the counters here are higher than the ones in our house in Tennessee so they can't really reach. It's really nice. The floors are all hardwood, except the kitchen and bathroom which are linoleum. We don't need to turn on the heat since the weather is getting so warm but I believe the heat comes through the floor. I'm not sure though. We don't have central air. It never used to get hot enough in Germany to justify it but things are getting a lot warmer due to global warming and everything and the summers here can be pretty intense now, apparently. They sell a ton of different air conditioning units in the PX and on the economy though so it shouldn't be too bad.

The boys are settling in well. We've started training them to walk with Gentle Leaders. They go over their noses and around the backs of their heads like a horse harness. It keeps them from pulling as much and it really seems to be working. Copper has adjusted a lot more quickly than Opie...Opie's more stubborn and fights it. They're very happy having our stuff in the apartment. The first day the furniture came I couldn't get them off of it to go outside! It's also very entertaining to watch them chase each other on the hardwood lol.

Everyone that we've met here so far has been really friendly. All of the Germans speak at least a little bit of English, which makes getting around easier until we learn the language. Some of them are very fluent. Gunther, the front desk attendant at temporary housing, spoke 7 languages! It's just easier here with all of the countries being so small and close to each other. I'll be happy learning German and maybe brushing up on my French! I guess there are a lot of Turks in Germany and they tend to mess with Americans a lot but all of the instances I've heard of have happened in bars and we don't do the bar thing.

In-processing here takes a full 3 weeks so Matt just finished. He's spent a couple of days actually at work at the end of this past week and is learning all of the many rules about flying in Europe. Flying across country borders isn't quite as easy as flying across state borders and you need permission every time you go into another country. It's a lot to take in at first but he'll get it quick enough. I've been applying for jobs but so far no luck. The available jobs here are pretty limited so I just have to be patient.

Well, that's about it! I've posted additional Heidelberg pictures on our photo album site under "Europe Travels". The link is http://mnmhull.myphotoalbum.com. Our next trips will be to Rothenberg and Ladenberg. Ladenberg is supposed to have Roman ruins and is only about 20 minutes from here. Rothenberg is a walled medievel city and we're both really looking forward to both trips. We also have plans to go to Neuschwanstein, which is the castle that they modeled Disney's Magic Kingdom after. The pictures are incredible and we can't wait to see it in person! I'll post pictures and everything for every trip so all of you can travel Europe with us 😊

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Photos

Apartment Building
I actually pulled this picture from the web but it's exactly what our building looks like, minus the flowers around the tree.

Floor Plan
This is the floor plan for our apartment. The unlabeled room across from the living room is the dining room.