We arrived. Again. And hopefully the last time before the final settlement (soon). This time in Stuttgart. Stuttgart East. And the sun has been smiling since. The sky couldn’t be more blue. It’s summer. It’s hot. It’s wonderful.
We will spend our first 4 weeks (if our container will ever get released by German customs…) in an apartment on top of Stuttgart.
It’s a beautiful old building, top floor / 5th floor with a wonderful terrace.
Well… no A/C or elevator (first impression: there seems a lot of stairs everywhere in Stuttgart). Also neighbor houses are much closer than in Shanghai (you see things you don’t what to see 😉 ). Daily searches for parking spots included (still missing Mr. Xu!). Normal for Stuttgarter. New for us. No complains because of our daily evening sessions on top of Stuttgart. Sunset & Aperol Spritz included. And those sunsets…
We chose the apartment in the center of Stuttgart on purpose. Living in the city before moving to the “countryside” (already looking forward to the future garden & BBQ). And including the side effect of getting fit climbing the stairs frequently up and down.
So far I have not met a “real” Schwabian but other foreigners (from Frankonia, Berlin and Italy…). Yeah! We are not the only ones…
It’s funny and weird (I know) but I’m still surprised how many people speak German here. I know we are in Germany but for the last 8 years I didn’t hear many German speakers while walking around… so I’m catching myself being surprised and then remember that I’m back in Germany. Haha.
Supermarkets are open 7am till midnight 6 days a week! Wow! I’m impressed. The future alternative will be a supermarket delivering online shopping directly to my parked car at work – I love it!
Where else could you get ice-cream called “Schwarzwälder Kirsch” – only in Schwabia (it’s worth walking down the stairs to get an ice-cream from the shop around the corner 🙂 ).
Sunbathing girl:
Watching Tatort on Sunday night at 20:15 for real 90 minutes (not like 3 hours due to loading purpose and slow internet in Shanghai) – awesome 🙂
There’s pretzels around the clock, butter included 🙂
I had my first Maultaschen since we are back (sorry, but still not going to be my favorite…).
And the best part of being back: Meeting wonderful friends.
A little trip to neighbor city Karlsruhe: friends are really close now.
And knowing again what we eat…
So far we are enjoying our new Schwabian life! We love the fresh air (no more cough since arrival), the blue sky and found some really nice restaurants. I already hate the driving (2.5 hours return at the moment, Shanghai traffic was somehow smarter organized) and truly miss Mr. Xu. Nevertheless (after all road works on the motorway are successfully passed) I love driving fast and singing songs wrong and loud – pure freedom (how much I missed that!). And I am able to find in and out of Stuttgart without navigation. Yes!
I am still not used to have cash ready in my pocket for paying (and some Shanghai colleagues had to help me out in the canteen…) but I am carrying my smart phone with me (which is not so necessary anymore after all). I keep talking English to people and don’t notice it. It’s quite international here, especially in the office.
It’s really nice to be able to talk to family & friends in the evening time – no more timezone to be considered.
On top of Stuttgart. For now.
Stuttgart547 