Tubingen, Germany

Every time we have planned a little trip to Germany we have never been disappointed. Something about the culture there, and the prices :) seem more comfortable to us than switzerland. But I am sure part of that needs to be attributed to the fact that we just go there on vacation and have never tried living there. Whatever the reason we really like Germany.

Two weeks ago we had a three day weekend thanks to Pentecost Monday so we drove towards tubingen Germany. We were going to camp but the campground was full by the time we called. I think that was a blessing because we found a nice holiday apartment 35 min from tubingen and it even had a swimming pool. Plus the temps were 90+ that weekend and camping with Hannah would have been no fun! No one likes to sleep when they are sweating constantly!

                                                

We spent the mornings going on a hike and then we would swim while Hannah napped and then drove twice up to tubingen for the afternoon. Sadly because of the holiday most of the shops besides restaurants were closed. We decided we need to go back because there were a lot of very fun little shops. 

                             

Tubingen is a university town, with a very good theological school- Jurgen moltmann works there so John was excited to find the theological buildings on campus! Sadly he didn't bump into Jurgen. We miss iowa city and it's restaurants and culture so it was nice to spend some time in another college town and see and feel some of the same culture. We definitely would recommend tubingen to people wanting to visit a town in Germany.

                             

Changes

So last week was my last week working as a physical therapist at the hospital outpatient clinic in Stans. The last 4.5 months have been a good first working experience in Switzerland. Of course there were the bad days, like the first one when one of my first patients was upset that I was not swiss/was not impressed by my German skills and wanted a different therapist. I am surprised that I went back :) I must say that most of my patients were very nice people and didn't put up a fuss when I explained that I don't yet understand the Swiss German and would appreciate if they spoke high German to me. I am glad most people switched, well otherwise I wouldn't have known what their problem was. Speaking of German, I do go through long periods where I really get frustrated with German and wish I could do my job here in English. That is one of the first changes that needs to occur, my attitude towards learning German. I desire to feel positive and motivated again towards learning this language. But offen feel depressed hat even when my high German gets better, I still can't understand a bit of Swiss German! 

The other change that is happening is that I officially have a new job that I start tomorrow. It is in a town outside of Luzern called Littau. It is a private practice with 5 other therapists that almost all work part time. I am happy to be continuing to work 2 days a week, and this job is permanent unlike the temporary hospital job. The bummer is that I am back to driving to work, 25-30 min. I will really miss riding my bike to work. Hence the attitude change that needs to happen regarding driving to work! 

In other news, we are recovering from hand foot mouth virus. I was lucky and only caught cold symptoms from it, but check out John's hands. His feet look the same :( and it is really painful! We are thankfully on the mend and looking forward to a weekend of camping!