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New in Stuttgart. Anywhere new and moving always includes some challenges in the beginning. Even (or especially) moving back to Germany.

– Driving within speed limit (never seen more speed cameras than along the B14 and I just love racing my little go kart).
– Not eating pretzels (they follow me. Everywhere. And around the clock. And they are so delicious, cannot help it.).
– Not to fall asleep before 6pm (first weeks are always exhausting).
– Using a German keyboard (y and z mixed up, all of a sudden there’s ü’s and ä’s again…).
– Remembering that almost everything is closed on Sundays…
– Remembering where I parked my car (at work as well as in Stuttgart; yesterday I couldn’t remember and felt like an idiot…searching and walking… and finally successfully finding it).
– Driving in, around and especially through Stuttgart: how can you limit your speed to 80km/h when you are allowed 120km/h? And why do drivers from Heilbronn or in a Mercedes think that especially the third lane belongs only to them? And those smartphone addicted people who seem to have forgotten that they sit in a car… and then the traffic light is green…. and they don’t move… and it turns red again… arghhhhhh! And yes, I’m still missing Mr Xu. Truly regretting to not have offered him a job… but I’m proudly adapting his driving style… Is this already the culture shock kicking in? I am hopeful, we are moving out of the city center soon…
– Returning bottles to get the deposit back (not sure if there’s anything more annoying, focusing on tap water and looking forward to Scott’s self-brewed beer…).
– Recycling (we decided to delay our start to August…).
– Commuting on Thursday’s – Thursday is the new Friday (Friday is home office day for most Stuttgarter).

Dear Stuttgart city, maybe you have to make a decision if you want to be a proud city of 2 OEMs (and people love driving their cars) or you want to be a green city (and then you can continue closing more and more lanes). For my part I’m counting days and cannot wait to leave you already after only 4 weeks… driving here is not fun. When I compare you to a 27mio citizen (and car owners) city… the way you control & monitor your traffic is really bad and not state of the art.

I believe Stuggi is a wonderful city and much to explore… for sure we’ll be back for the weekends but either on a motorbike or using public transportation, as you wish.

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It’s summer and I am in Stuggi (I learnt that nickname today). I met my first people who are local. Born in Stuttgart. In love with Stuttgart. Stuttgart summer time is party time. This weekend: perfect weather. Open-airs. Festivals. Stadtfest. Many choices. We have been to all parties 🙂
Hamburger Fischmarkt: very delicious.

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International Summer Festival of Cultures: from Argentina to Ghana, from the Netherlands to Kairo. Multiculti as its best. It was wonderful.

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Young artists.

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“Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache” – translated in many languages.

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Bohnenviertelfest (Bean Quarter Festival) in the little streets in the center of Stuttgart. That was my favorite: good music, good drinks, good company, great party.

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And the best: summer just started! Many more festivals to come, looking forward to it.

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Wow! What a weekend back home. A wedding. A birthday party. And seeing family. Some of them I haven’t seen in a year or even longer. Wonderful!

Frankonia is home. My home. My brothers home. And beautiful. And that’s where he got married (and partied for the last 3 days…).

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Wearing my wedding pearls.

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We started the celebrations at a (rainy) vineyard.

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I haven’t had Frankonian wine in a long time…

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It was wonderful. And tasty.

And the (second) best part: we are now able to buy a box (or two) of my new favorite wine and take it back to Stuttgart 🙂 Yes!

The big celebration of love continued on top of Wuerzburg.

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The bride & her godchild in partner look.

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Best dressed men: the groom & my husband.

The groom’s suit was tailored in “tailor-town” in Shanghai.

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And a quick trip to Bali for some relaxing time.

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It’s wonderful to be back home, surrounded by people we love.

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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.

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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.

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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 🙂 ).

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Sunbathing girl:

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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…).

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And the best part of being back: Meeting wonderful friends.

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A little trip to neighbor city Karlsruhe: friends are really close now.

And knowing again what we eat…

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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.

Our second visit in a Stuttgarter beer garden including some very helpful tips for newcomers (like us) to Schwabia (of course only in German, I mean Schwabian language):

So, es hat Sie also in die Schwäbische Diaspora verschlagen?

Verzweifeln Sie nicht, ein faszinierender Landstrich wartet darauf von Ihnen entdeckt (und vielleicht sogar geschätzt) zu werden, vorausgesetzt, Sie befolgen einige wichtige Regeln im Umgang mit den einheimischen Ureinwohnern.

Schon die Wegsuche bei der Anreise (“Wo wellat Sie denn no, hä?”) zeigt sich, der typische Schwabe ist auf der Straße nur schwer auf den ersten Blick zu erkennen. Ist doch so mancher ‘Schwabe’ in Antalya, Bali oder Belgrad geboren und hat das vermeintliche Hochdeutsch ‘beim Daimler am Band’ gelernt. “Do fahret se am beschta glei do nuff, ond no do nieber ond dann inks in dui Gass nei, do isch’s” heisst ganz einfach “Sie fahren am besten hier den Berg hinauf, dann in die gezeigte Richtung und biegen anschliessend nach links in die gesuchte Strasse ein”.

Sollten Sie ein Haus gekauft oder gemietet haben und Handwerker benoetigen, warne ich vor der sprichwoertlichen schwaebischen Zuverlaessigkeit, “isch halt aellas nemme des”, jedoch wird Sie der eine oder andere pragmaische Vorschlag ueberraschen: “Do ganget mir mit ra schwera Walz ganz leicht drueber”.

Maekeln Sie nicht zu sehr an den Preisen rum und frangen Sie nicht “Warum ist denn das so teuer?”, weil die Antwort in etwa “Weil i no nemme so viel d’ra verdiena taet.!” lauten wird.

The food was delicious!

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Schwaebisch fuer Anfaenger (food as well as language).

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It’s Monday. It’s hot. It’s the first work day.

The colleagues are super nice and we are a very international team with colleagues from Franconia, USA, Japan, Iran and Kazakhstan.

The plant is amazing: table soccer, massage, hairdresser, climbing, fitness club, fresh fruits and coffee/water for free… that’s my new work campus. Wow! I’m impressed. And it feels a bit like being a student again (well, maybe more like a google world, I didn’t have such a luxurious student life…) 🙂

And the plant is surrounded by vineyards. And a castle. First after work beer with colleagues:

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I’m sure many more of such “meetings” will follow 🙂
That view…! Oh and by the way you can find the plant at the horizon… I think it’s a good idea to see work from a certain distance with wine in between for the beginning…

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Last grocery shopping in the south of France. Filling up the car with lots of delicious goodies before starting our return road trip: back to Germany via the Provence and Switzerland.

A little village at the Cote d’Azur: 7:30am the locals go for a swim and we for a beach walk.

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38C degrees in Avignon. It’s summer. And hot. Best invention: Cafés have parasols with misting water.

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The Provence: smelling beautifully. Lavender everywhere. Purple gold.

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The view from a spectacular hilltop village (and lots of Chinese tourists…).

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Aurevoir, France! See you soon again… it’s not so far anymore. Lucky us.

…from the Provence… to Switzerland.

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Swiss bliss on 1150m altitude. Overlooking the Geneva Lake and surrounded by the Alps. Pure nature including many wow moments how steep a street can go up… nice ride on the motorbike.

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Relaxed, sun kissed, smiling, the car smelling like lavender and packed with French beer, cheese, wine, foie gras, Spanish ham & our heads filled up with many happy memories…

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We are now on the way home (unfortunately). Ready to start our new life in Germany.

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We arrived. Arrived in the southwest of France, nestled in the Midi- Pyrenees, one of the least populated and unspoilt regions of France: little villages, the smell of roses, saucisson and locally made cheeses, fresh baguette & croissants from the local corner shop, windy roads, cypress trees, in the middle of the Pyrenees, the blue sea, snow on top of the mountains, hiking up to old chateaus, creperies… Charming. Beautiful. Delicious.

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Favorite spot:

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Shopping local products: we cannot get enough.

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Cite de Carcassonne:

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Charmingly French:

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Meeting family.

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And friends.

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Hiking up Chateau Montségur.

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That view from top…

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The south-east costs famous for art & anchovies. Collioure – a small town in the south of France with a Catalan vibe.

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Those views… spectacular.

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It needs a French friend to show us the best cheese in the world and a picnic:

The south of France means natural beauty, stunning landscape, superb local cuisine.

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And those desserts… now I know what I have missed in China.
We have eaten a lot. And enjoyed every bit. Croustade aux Pommes – a specially of the Ariège. Creme cathare a la feve de tonka – Creme brûlée – something like burnt cold custard but 100x better. Foie Gras… And than you need a siesta from 2-5pm. French southern life – we could get used to that.

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Michelin or not… we love eating here…

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It feels good to be back in Europe.

Ariege life. Everything a little more relaxed.

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Bon Voyage! We have been looking forward to this trip since quite some time. After storing our many suitcases (from Shanghai) at a friends house, we were ready to go. New motorbike, new car and dog on board. We haven’t been in the south of France for 8 years… and we haven’t been driving a car or motorbike in 3 years… (after the first 1500km I think we got enough practice and are back on track – so far no falling off or crashing…).

The start on our first day in the morning in Germany was a little rough: battery of new motorbike flat… but the new mini (our new car) helped with a jump start after purchasing the right equipment (and the following mornings as well…). While we fixed the battery my hubby’s Chinese smart phone broke (not sure if that was due to wrong handling or bad quality…).

Anyhow, at some point we were on the road and on the way to beautiful France.

Shanghai was nice and young (Pudong, the area where we lived is about 15 years old…) and everything was new. Europe is the opposite and France is historic & beautiful. Those stone houses decorated with beautiful flowers… I’m in love. We missed Europe and are very happy to be back.

We traveled for 3 days towards our final destination: the south of France. On the way we stayed in little villages and towns. So beautiful. And only French speakers (No German. No English. No Chinese. No Spanish… well, obviously.). We are quite good and survive with basic words (my husband mixing a bit of French with Spanish (which seems fine in the south)… and (I thought) I had ordered 1 Cappuccino and got 3…). I love the language – it sounds like love.

Our first overnight stop: the area of Comte, producing one of the best cheeses.

France on a plate:

Aperitif (…Ou plutot d’un aperitif local…)…

Entre…

Plat…

Chariot de fromages locaux…

Dessert…

Soooo French. Soooo good.

The best time of the day: breakfast and dinner. Choosing the food & drinks from the menu was already a wonderful challenge (correct translation and to make a choice without ordering the whole menu). And later eating it… pure joy. So delicious! We feel like surrounded by many Paul Pairet. Bon Appetit!

Next to food we enjoyed the ride with many photo gorgeous stops along the way. France is so charming.

Little beautiful villages.

Is there anything better than baguette with cheese (and of course a glass of red wine…)?

Or a pana chocolate…

We love it… and all of that and more for the next 3 weeks… life is superb!

Arrived. Arrived in Germany. In Schwabia. In the “Laendle”, how the Germans call it. Well, physically arrived. Not mentally yet. And all we see: Porsche & Daimler cars. Welcome to Stuttgart!

We arrived and summer has started – sunshine, 32C degrees and blue sky. All of that in repeat mode for the last 8 days. It’s wonderful! I don’t remember seeing so much blue and green in the last 3 years. It’s a feast for our eyes.

8 years abroad… quite a long time. We are experts for USA and China, not so much in Germany. We had and have to search a lot of things online… No surprise we found a few odd things in our first few days back in Germany:

⁃ you have to pay (1€) to use a baggage trolley in the airport. At least EC card payment is accepted. Where’s our driver Mr Xu, greeting us with a big smile and carrying all our suitcases? Missing him already.

⁃ The traffic lights are set up in a funny way: too close to see.

⁃ You need 50cent or 1€ to pull a grocery trolley in a supermarket… alternatively you try to not shop too much or keep groceries balanced on 2 arms.

⁃ We enter a Café or restaurant and we wait. And wait. Waiting to be seated… Until we notice that in Germany you find yourself a seat… and then we waited again: for the waiter to bring the bill… no screaming for the waiter like in China…

⁃ we have to drive again. And try to follow German rules… Well, hubby got already flashed… No calling Mr Xu to be picked up. Mr Xu, where are you? We miss you…

⁃ Recycling: it’s very complicated. In the last 8 years we had one! bin. Now we find 4: blue, brown, black & green. And have no glue what goes in which bin… WTF! We need a training (after a friendly reminder for “wrong” recycling from the airbnb landlord).

⁃ Bed duvets: 1 bed, 2 people, 2 separate duvets. One for hubby. One for me. We haven’t had that in 8 years.

⁃ A Chinese restaurant. So far nothing wrong. The name: Mr Xü. The funny part: Germany spelling Xu with “ü” for correct pronunciation. And it’s our drivers name. PS: we did not go inside, we are afraid of “germanized” Chinese food.

⁃ The airplane is about to land in Budapest and nobody is getting up to open baggage racks to be the first out – no Chinese guys on board.

But don’t worry there’s a lot of things we love 🙂

⁃ our first grocery shopping experience: we can read again (it’s all in German). We understand what’s inside the products. We find local products. We are impressed by the huge choice and affordable price for veggies and cheese… loving it.

⁃ The potatoes and I have the same name 😉

⁃ First dinner (and many more in the last few days): white asparagus with a local beef steak (happy cows from in and around Stuttgart).

⁃ Sitting in a beautiful garden, breathing fresh air and all we can see: green everywhere. What a panorama.

The street definitely deserves its name:

⁃ My favorite lettuce is already available: Feldsalat

⁃ showering with good quality water

⁃ Spontaneous BBQing with family & friends:

⁃ The dog loves to be outdoors (she tried already twice to run away…).

We were quite busy in the first days: we successfully registered ourselves, our dog has a new vet, a dog sitter and an European passport (ready for France). We finally purchased a car (more difficult than expected, emission control in Stuttgart…) and a motorbike. And our future town where we’ll life has a beautiful old castle.

We arrived in another new part of the world. It will take a while. It feels like another assignment abroad. And we have to figure out things first: where to buy, where to eat, etc. but we have time. And it’s fun. And thanks to the internet the integration goes fine.

Beside all the organizational things, it feels like being on holiday. We visited already quite a few beer gardens. And met already some family members, friends from around Stuttgart and around the world: Mexico. Stuttgart – der Nabel der Welt.

I also finished my handover to my Chinese successor with a trip to beautiful Budapest.

My laptop went back to China and I flew back to Stuttgart. 3 weeks vacation, the best time between the end of one assignment and the start of a new one.

Thanks to our amazing airbnb the first few days were not as shocking as expected 🙂 We are very much looking forward to move into our farmhouse.

We are off to the South of France: with the new car, the new motorbike and our dog Charlie – a Road Trip 🙂

Bon voyage!