Brian's Birthday

We just got back from our first day of church.  We were told ahead of time that we should go to the branch, not the ward, because it's currently bigger, with more kids.  They meet from 1-4 (which is also good since I don't even know what time zone we think we are in.  I slept in till 10 this morning before waking up the kids).  After breakfast, I went online to look up the address for the building.  I had it in an email from L3 Troy, but COULDN"T find it.  It was completely driving me crazy.  I couldn't reach Matt to have him forward anything to me. . . .  I did have another email from Troy with a few phone numbers.  I cold called a Melanee Stewart and got her husband who gallantly offered to swing by our hotel and let us follow him.  That was the first in a long series of kindnesses.

They call the church building "The Villa"  because that's what it is/was.  It's very nice house that has been converted into a church.  It is in a nice residential area.  The Branch President has been here for 4 years, the Stewarts hold the record with 15!  We met the Allens' friends, the Ramptons, and I had to turn down an offer for dinner because Isaac has to be in the lobby of the hotel at 6 to be picked up for a Fireside.  It seems to be mostly Americans, but one of the 3 speakers was Australian.  Isaac's Sunday school teacher is from Moscow, Jessica's teacher is from Swaziland.  Makenna's teacher has a pretty accent too, but Makenna has "not a clue" where she is from.  Isaac's teacher is married to a Ukrainian and they now know about a certain sister missionary heading that way.  Makenna has a girl named Emily in her class.  There is also an Emily who is a sunbeam.  There are 4 young men, 3 of whom are deacons.  Isaac is from, um, take your pick (he said he is starting to hate that question)  one is from the Philippines, and the other is from western Australia.  The fourth is 14 and from Connecticut.  There are a lot more young women.  People were literally lining up to meet us and offer help.  We stayed an extra 45 minutes talking with people, and it wasn't just me.  Isaac was actually the last one to the car.  Everyone is all smiles and feeling very good.

Our first Sunday in Ingolstadt, I stayed with the girls in Primary.  In Sicily, the girls wanted me to walk with them to Primary, and later I ended up coming back to help.  Today after Sacrament Meeting, Isaac disappeared before I knew where he was supposed to go and the girls headed off with Sister Stewart while the executive secretary was getting our info.  All the moving this past year has made them more confident and brave.  Being new is no longer such a big deal.

Here we are in front of "The Villa".  I was taking a shot of the kids with my phone when Adam Rampton offered to take it  for me.  

I'm going to include a few other shots that may or may not be interesting.  We currently do all our grocery shopping at Carrefour.  It's a huge super store or hypermarket that is based out of France, I believe.  It's inside the Mall of the Emirates, which is very close.  I love the fruit and vegetable section.  It tells you where each thing is from.  There are several "local" selections with a UAE flag, but most come from elsewhere on the globe.  If you are a local-vore, looking around will give you ulcers.  Now that we live in the desert, and not the desert next door to CA, I'm very grateful that food can and does travel.  You could teach world geography walking up and down the aisles.  We are finding most of the things we are used to, but I'm compiling a short wish list for Brian and Hilary.  The food labels are most often in English and Arabic, but sometimes English is replaced with German or French.  There is one international aisle (as if the whole store isn't international enough).  There is a Russian section with authentic Russian stuff, and Japanese, and Thailand, and then there is Mexico. . .

It's less obvious in the picture, but most of the stuff is Old El Paso brand, which I don't think is from Mexico.  We don't mind though.  Hooray for tortillas! 

This seems out of order, but I took this right before we went swimming for a couple hours yesterday.  The pool is on the roof of the parking section of the hotel, level 8.  There is also a wonderful gym.  The girls are in the shadow of the rest of the hotel with its 41 floors.  We are on 10 and often take the stairs because we are impatient waiting for the elevators.  

Okay, these are things in our cupboards/fridge that struck me as amusing this morning.  Little signs that we aren't in Kansas anymore.  They are a little less interesting at this moment, but oh well, here they are anyway.

Orange and carrot nectar is surprisingly delicious.

I wasn't familiar with the brand "American Garden" before, but they are currently our only sources of syrup and peanut butter. 

I put this is large so you can see the words on the bottom.  "100% pure cow's milk".  What are the other choices?  Goat?  Sheep?  Camel?  

There are exactly two flavors of Campbell's:  Chicken and Celery.  That means the girls' favorite tuna casserole, Hawaiian Haystacks and Swedish Meatballs are all possible.