We often feel like we are living in an alternate universe here. So many times things happen here and if these same things were to happen in Seattle we would react to them differently. Actually that is not true. All we do here is "react" to things we didn't know were going to happen or are currently happening. In Seattle we would prepare. Prepare may be too strong of a word, too. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is we had NO idea that the clocks were about to "fall back" on Saturday night/Sunday morning. We all went to bed a bit later than normal but all slept in until 8AM. It wasn't until partway through the day that I noticed that my phone clock didn't match with the microwave and wall clocks in the house. I asked Marty if he knew if the time "fell back." He didn't know either. We had to look it up. Which means we actually slept until 9AM (old time) In Seattle I would never, ever have not known this fact.
There was another huge storm here on Sunday. It was very windy. Marty and I went for a long walk without the kids. It rained, there were branches down everywhere but it didn't seem as bad as the hurricane from about a month ago. Apparently north central Germany was the focus of another huge storm. Public transportation was shut down in parts of the city and 5 people died because of this storm. I didn't even know it was a storm of this magnitude until a friend here in Berlin "checked in safe" from Storm Hewart. It is just crazy to feel like we are two educated people and feel so completely clueless to what is going on around us. We don't watch the news nor read it. Not that I could as it is all in German and who has time to watch the news but it is just strange to not know even just the basics.
The kids have the entire week off for "fall vacation" I didn't find out until late in the day today that tomorrow is a national holiday (Reformation Day) Normally, in Seattle, a national holiday like Verteran's day or Memorial Day wouldn't affect me if it weren't for the kids being out of school that day and the post offices being closed. I can't think of any other way those type of national holiday affect me in my personal life. It is completely different here in Berlin as every store is closed for these types of holidays. And the only stores that affect me really are the grocery stores. Sundays all the stores are closed and so we were a bit low on food but I wouldn't have bought enough for 2 days had Marty not sent me a message reminding me that all stores would be closed tomorrow. Again, I think of refugees or immigrants who appear not so smart because "how could they not know about x,y,and z" Well, we are here to tell you that when you move to a new country you just really don't know about these things because you are too busy and tired from just trying to figure out all the new systems and customs and language. #learningsomuch #changingeveryday
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