Arrival in Munich

Greeting from Munich! Let me give a little update. We arrived yesterday morning (Saturday) at our apartment. Our flight was from Atlanta to Toronto to Munich via Air Canada. Melody did outstanding the whole way. In fact, she did so well on the long flight that several passengers remarked on her mild manners (the flight was 8 hours through the night, she slept for 7). All I can say is that the sleeping meds we gave her worked! Melody seems to be treating this whole process as one grand adventure. There is a German family at the Collegium with three kids, and they seem quite fond of Melody. She is hearing a flurry of Deutsch. As a family we all seem to be adjusting quickly to the time change, having each slept peacefully through our first night.

Although we spent the month of July leading up to our move with family, we miss everyone already. We are eagerly anticipating their visits, which will be over Christmas and next summer, Lord willing.

Yesterday, our first day here, was such a blur. HJ and I barely slept on the flight. Then when we got here there were so many people to meet, not to mention trying to settle into the house. HJ has done a wonderful job already making it feel like home: fresh picked flowers, decorations from home, everything unpacked. Then yesterday evening the students welcomed us to dinner, serving us a traditional bayerisch meal called Spätzel–delicious! And to my delight, everyone was eager to speak German rather than English. Several complemented me on my German, which is always encouraging, especially since I still feel very insecure and have many weaknesses in the language. But I was encouraged that each student felt comfortable conversing in German with me, and none felt the need to compensate by speaking English. I spoke more German yesterday–in one day–than any other day of my life, and loved it! Unfortunately, however, since none seemed keen on speaking English Hannah Joy felt a little out-of-place.

Our apartment is in the historic Freimann borough in Northern Munich. I am so eager to learn what kind of history surrounds this area. All the houses are so old and regal looking, with immaculate gardens. Each seems to have a story of its own to tell. This morning Melody and I were walking around the block and met an elderly women walking her dog. She stopped (probably since Melody was barking at her dog) and we enjoyed a warm conversation. I asked her about the church bells ringing in the distance. She informed me that when the wind blows east you can hear the church bells from that direction, but when the wind is westward you hear a different set of bells. Below I’ll leave you with some pictures of the Collegium, the Lutheran housing community in which we are living.

Our apartment is on the second floor of this building: it consists of three small rooms, including a study/bedroom, a kitchen/living room, and another bedroom. Already it is beginning to feel like home. You might notice that several of the windows are open; that is because it is in the 70′s during the day here and 50′s at night.

Across from our apartment are these buildings. The big white one contains dorms for about 50 single students. The cafeteria is located in the brown building on the right, along with the library containing 27,000 theological books, offices, and a social room.

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