crazy days (4)

We tried to stay awake last night to follow the presidential election on TV. There was really a big intrest in the outcoming and there was full life coverage on german TV. But the first results were expected around 3:00 at night......
Anyways we are so excited that Obama won and are kind of proud about it. Congratulations.

crazy days (3)

Paula and Lucy had been so sad that there would be no Halloween for them this year. It is traditionally not celebrated in Switzerland. So after being already invited to a Thanksgiving dinner (we were right a way recognized at the english speaking playgroup where Paula and Lucy as attend writing and reading classes as american english) I did not hesitate to ask for some hints where I could go trick or treat. Even though the Mom who invited us for Thanksgiving does not life in Bern she mailed me next day with information about some trick or treating in a smaller town close by. I am really happy to experience some american way of life here. But I must admit on Friday night I was really sad that I could not hang out with you guys!

crazy days (2)

The girls did not have much time to play outside because we had to hurry to our new apartment. Our container arrived at 9:00 am. I still can't believe this whole international shipping thing went so smooth. We just found our beautiful apartment in time. It has three bedrooms and is brand new refurbished with new bathroom and kitchen. It has high ceilings with stucco on them. There even is a small park with a playground right in front of the house. Our lease official starts on the 15th of November but we were able to put our furniture in on room and I hope I can start within the next days to open boxes.

crazy days (1)

We had our first snow! It started snowing Wednesday night and you can imagine how exited the girls were when they woke up next morning.

night impressions

These pics are from our kids free days in Bern when we were able to go out.
But now we we back to staying at home. Torsten enjoys to watch the coverage of the german soccer league on TV. It is kind of a thing all men do in Germany. As it is two hours long I have some time to blog some.
We already enjoy the benifits of beeing close to home. Next weekend friends (kind of funny they are German and so far we only have met twice in the States) invited us to a Party in Zuerich (about an hour away) and the grandmas are coming to babysit for the night. I will also go to visit my sister in Munich as she had her baby, a boy named Anton.

family day

On the weekend we went to the mountains for the first time. We are so impressed with the public transportation that we decided to do the whole trip without the car. So we first had to catch a train from Bern to Thun (which is half an hour away and lays on a beatiful lake) then took a bus to Beatenbucht. The women at the ticket counter even broadcasted the bus driver to wait for us. So we arrived in no time at the bottom of the Niederhorn. To get up to 2000m we first took a mountain railway and then a gondola. We had a great time enjoying the view of one of the famoust mountains in Switzerland: Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau.
There were a lot of paragliders and it is amazing how easy the lift up in the sky. The way down was as much fun. We did some hiking and some riding on the trottis......





After a nice dinner in Thun the final blast was that when we catched the train back to Bern there was a play area in the train with a slide and gungle gym.
Now we are already planning what to do next weekend.

tailgating

Our last tailgating in Athens, its blackout and man those fans are disciplined everyone is wearing black....I have the four girls with me this is kasey lucy Evelyn-vivan paula

movers are here

the movers are in the house...this makes it final now...no more sleeping in 407 Greenwood Dr...thanks to our friends Dawn, David and Heidi and Michael we still have a place to stay and we are very grateful for that...on Saturday is Gameday in Athens, for all the ignorant Europeans. The Bulldogs are playing Alabama and ESPN is in town, we are expecting about 120 thousand fans...yes this is non professional Collage Football.....go DAWGS....

four days to go....

Stress is building...

I guess it is getting close, stress is building up. So far we have been handling this very well, especially the girls are doing great. Kim and I had lunch at Cali'N Titos our favorite cuban restaurant in town, I will miss the fish tacos and the outside seating. Especially in November. And at last I got my Cali 'N Titos T-shirt.....which reminds me I still need to get the Terrapin shirts...oh how I will miss the american microbrews....yes beer is actually exceptional here...by now there are about 1400 microbreweries in the US and one of the best ones in Athens, Terrapin really rocks ...did a tour the other day..(-;...anyhow yet another night writing grant and looking forward to Europe...I was listening to some religious radio station (they are always so funny) on my way back to work tonight and could barely make it out of the car because I had to laugh so hard.  It was this ultra conservative preacher talking about how evolution is the single biggest scam without any scientific evidence and that of course creationism is the only way to explain life...this country is doomed....Europe we are coming...

6 days to go...

4 more days at the UGA

This was the beginning of my last week at UGA. Kim and I walked the Kids to school and then I went to work. It was an o.k. day but it is hard to motivate and I feel sometimes bad because I am not really productive any more yet I am still in Steves lab and he pays me...I do my best and try not to waste too much time. Dinner was at Justins and Rachels tonight, yummy.... Lucy and Paula were a little crazy but actually quite well behaved for a late evening dinner. I am so tired today and might not make it long tonight. Kim got rid of all our yard sale stuff today, all that is left now will either go with us on the plane or into the container. I just realize how good Lucy and Paula can read already. It is quite amazing to see that they can take a book and start reading in it...

7 more days

Blog from our iPod

the sunday after...

After the yard sale we decided to go to the lake for some swimming, maybe our last time at Sandy Creek Park. The weather was perfect Lucy and Paula enjoyed playing in the water and Kim and I simply lay in the sand and watched the two having a good time...Sunday we went to a little cafe were we met friends and had a long breakfast. Torsten is now back in the lab and KLP are celebrating Evans 3rd or 4th ? birthday....

8 days to go...

yard sale , everything has to go....

These are our brownie girls

believe it or not we sold the trampoline....

it is a perfect day for a yard sale 25C and sunny...

this was at 7:30 am quite a few people already....

oh I am so tired after selling all the brownies...

our big day, the yard sale....see for yourself. Paula Lucy and their friends Vivian and Kacy selling brownies, they probably make just as much as we do... everybody is having a great time. We actually do sell most of our stuff it is amazing..one mans trash is another mans gold..Yesterday we had a great potluck dinner with most of our friends here some stuff already sold there...and two days ago I had the honor to go out with the neighborhood board we did a brewery tour and ended up drinking quite a few beer...well it was a lot of fun and I will miss those guys...anyhow the date is getting ever closer and now the house is definitively empty no more chairs no more patio table microwave etc...

I must compliment Kim she did a great job in advertizing and organizing all this, it has been a great success so far...its 12 noon now and we might sell stuff till about 3 pm then we go to the lake for some swimming....

9 days to go....

oho Kim is now unstoppable..she sells the stuff we don't want to move like hot cakes...most of our house looks like aeh..empty...I hope we will still have chairs to sit on by the weekend...we might have to go to waffle house for breakfast next week...(-;

But I must say it feels good and if I could only get my grant moving as quickly as Kim cleans out the house I would be a very happy man...Lucy is much better today and hand in hand Lucy and Paula walked to school today and could not stop talking on the way...they are happy campers it seems...

Thanks Thilo we are also looking forward to seeing you guys very soon...

12 days and counting

ein paar bilder

The river in Bern, the Aare....and yes you can swim around Bern...

The Bundeshaus....

here some pictures of our future home...the city of Bern in Switzerland...see you soon for skiing...

up date

Fuer alle die es noch nicht wissen, wir kehren nach fast exact 5 Jahren nach Europa zurueck. Fuer amerikanische Distanzverhaeltnisse sind wir ganz in der Naehe, naemlich in Bern, Schweiz. Es bleibt mal wieder spannend fuer uns, mal sehen was uns die schweizer Kultur ausser Schnee und Schokolade bringen wird. Wir freuen uns auf jedem Fall wieder die Moeglichkeit zu haben unkompliziert fuer ein Woe jemanden besuchen zu koennen. Wir werden versuchen eine Wohnung mit Gaestezimmer zu finden und freuen uns schon auf Besuch von Euch. Bis bald Kim

Unser erster blog

Noch 13 Tage dann geht es zurueck nach Europa genauer nach Bern in die Schweiz, ich glaube so langsam ist die volle Nervositaet zu spueren. Lucy hat sich gleich mal mit einer Ohrenentzuendung ins Bett verabschiedet. Paula hat heute morgen auf dem Weg zur Schule geplappert wie ein Wasserfall...naja ist ja auch keinem zu verdenken...die ersten Moebel sind schon verkauft, gestern hat jemand unsere alte Wickelkomode mitgenommen...Am Freitag und Samstag machen wir dann unseren Yardsale...Ich bin voellig damit beschaeftigt meinen ersten Grant fuer Bern fertig zu bekommen und dann sind da ja noch unzaehlige Kleinigkeiten die erledigt werden muessen...