There’s a coffeeshop chain we have here called Tchibo (pronounced Chee-bo) and Travis and I have become somewhat addicted to it. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we still do not drink coffee, but Tchibo has so much more than coffee!

For some reason, when they built their coffeeshop strategy they decided that the shops should have more than just coffee. As you can see from the link above, coffee is kind of an afterthought. There’s also dishes and workout clothes and pillows and vegetable gloves!

I’m sure you are asking yourself, “What the heck are vegetable gloves?” I too was an unknowing disbeliever until yesterday when I tried out my Tchibo pair on some unsuspecting potatoes. You see, vegetable gloves are kind of like steel wool for your hands. They’re horribly uncomfortable, but great for cleaning vegetables. And also supremely fashionable.

(Notice Milli wanted to be in the picture, too.)

(Also notice that the gloves say “vegetables” on them, to clear up any confusion about their purpose. But, since they’re German, they should actually say “Gemüse.” Which leads me to wonder if the Germans aren’t buying these because they don’t know what “vegetables” are.)

Kickoff was at 12:30 a.m. here, which was a bit late for us old folks. But we hooked up the SlingBox on my laptop, and pulled it into bed.

It wasn’t long before another interested party joined our little Super Bowl gala.

We stayed awake for awhile, one happy family watching the game. I made it three possessions in, Travis made it all the way to the half time show, and Milli? She ran around yelling “Go SAINTS!” until the final ticks.

Last night we went on a bike ride with a mission: to buy cat food. The place we buy our cat food just happens to be at a hardware store. There is no PetSmart here, nor Wal-Mart, and we don’t even know the German word for “vet.” So Milli’s diet cat food comes from the hardware store, since we haven’t found anything like it at the grocery store or elsewhere.

Now, it’s only about two miles to the hardware store, but unfortunately about 1.5 miles of that is a hill. And it just so happens that at the top of that hill, called Sachsenhausen Mountain by Frankfurters, is where our house is. So we had no choice but to pedal up. (Or take the bus, which I’ve done before.)

(But only once!)

(But that’s because we’ve only ever attempted the hill once before. And I said “Hey, look, a bus stop.”)

So this was my first attempt at the FULL hill. I’d gone to the grocery store before, about 3/4 of the way down the hill, and it was hard coming home, especially with the added weight of groceries. But this time I had it easy - Travis carried the 10 pounds of cat food. But the ride was still hard! I was all the way down to 1st gear and wishing I could drop it lower. I’m proud to say we made it to the top, alive and in one piece.

Next time, I’m taking the bus.

So, this is July in Frankfurt. Temperatures in the low to mid-30s. (That’s 90s for you non-metric systemers.) Humidity to rival Texas. It’s 8 a.m. and my arms are sweating themselves to my desk. And today, when it hits 34, is supposed to be the hottest day yet.

I’m still not used to that temperature thing. When my colleague said “It’s going to be 34-degrees today,” I just grinned and nodded. 34. That must be hot. I think it was “only” 32 yesterday. And when I think of 32-degrees, I can’t help but think of snowmen and January days. I wonder if when we return to the States we’ll hear the temperature as being 90 and automatically convert that back and say “Ah, yes, 31. Got it.”

Office life would be much improved with an air conditioner. I wonder how much productivity they lose because of the people wandering around saying “It’s so hot” repeatedly. Luckily, our house seems to stay pretty well-regulated; it definitely gets warm, but it’s nothing like the heat that gets trapped in the office. Sleeping in the lower level helps us to get a decent night’s sleep, so we’re lucky there.

Last night we had a thunderstorm to beat all thunderstorms. It brought back memories of when I was young (young enough to still be scared by thunderstorms and old enough that I shouldn’t have been), when I would go sleep on the bathroom floor during the loud boomers where it was dark and quiet. Last night, Milli was slinking around, hiding under the bed, and I realized I couldn’t blame her. This bright light and loud noise stuff is all new to her, as she didn’t even live one summer in Iowa. I tried to coax her up on the bed to comfort her, but she wasn’t having any of that. Instead, I should have shut her in the nice, dark bathroom until it passed.

The thing I covet most.

The reason why Erin and I got married.

The one possession that I’ve waited 4 weeks to get.

The blanket of all blankets!

…and now I MUST share it with this… this furry little creature.

This may be the last time you ever see Milli.

“Hey, look - I made it outside!”

I should have known it was going to be a bad day.

Mama was up early - earlier than usual - and working on her computer. Boxes and suitcases were all over. But considering that we’ve been living with suitcases and boxes out for the past month, I didn’t think much of it. So I just watched when Papa got up and they started loading the boxes into the car. Then they disappeared for awhile.

When they came back, I was sitting on the futon in the sun napping. They started petting me and talking to me, and I was so groggy from my nap I didn’t realize something suspicious was going on. Suddenly, Papa pried open my mouth and Mama plopped a dropper-full of liquid in my mouth. It was gross, but I couldn’t get it out.

They left me alone for awhile and I got really sleepy. I crawled under the bed where it was dark but a few minutes went by and Papa was pulling me out and putting me in a box.

It was all downhill from there.

I cried for a few minutes but I was so darn sleepy that it didn’t seem worth the effort. Then we got to this big building and my box was perched precariously on top of a rolling suitcase and I kept sliding off. I think Mama and Papa might have uttered some bad words, but I was too scared to pay attention. We went into a larger area and Papa took me out of my box to walk me through a gate thing while my box got checked for explosives. I was pettrified. I tried to hang on to Papa but before I could claw him to death I was getting dropped back in the box and zipped up. Although I hate that box, it felt much safer than being out in that big giant tent-like thingy. (Here’s a pic of me in my box so you can see exactly how small it really was!)

Next stop was something I heard Mama call a “train.” The only reason why I remembered this is because she said today I would ride on my first train and my first plane. I don’t know what either of those are, but the train was dark and not so bad, so I was hoping the plane would be calm as well.

When we got off the train we went to an area where there were tons of people and noise. I was still scared, but Mama and Papa petted me some and that kept me calm. Before long we were up again and getting on to the plane (which, for the record, is NOTHING like a train). I wasn’t too happy to get stuck under the seat in front of Mama, and my box got squished down to half of its normal size. I couldn’t even stand up anymore. But luckily, I was too tired to care.

After awhile, I had a feeling like my stomach was sinking and the rest of me was going up in the air. It was the weirdest thing. Soon, Mama pulled me out from under the seat and I was able to stand up again. I paced and turned around as much as I could. The plane was noisy and busy and carts and people kept going by. It was also very hot.

Eventually it got quiet, but every time Mama moved I felt her move my box, and every time I moved, she felt it as well. Neither of us slept. I think she and Papa were worried about me, and I was worried about me too. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I was exhausted but unable to sleep. We were on the plane for a very, very long time.

Finally, we got off the stupid plane. By this time, my drugs had worn off and I was letting Mama and Papa know how I felt about this whole ordeal. They thought I was cute. I wasn’t TRYING to be cute.

We got in a car that took us to a house. The house was just like a lot of other houses I’ve lived in. It had a bathroom for me and my food, so there’s nothing else I needed. I adjusted pretty quickly but am still exploring a little more every day. So far, I like the big windows and abundant sunlight, and maybe soon I will venture out onto the patio.

Maybe.