Holy Moly

Wow. Where do I even begin? I guess I'll start with yesterday. It was a VERY eventful day to say the least. We woke up, went to pick up the car that we rented, got lost on the way home from the car rental place, almost died from killing the car a couple of times in the middle of traffic (note: I was not driving... the man killed the car). Once home, we strapped the mattress to the top of the car and filled it with all of our suitcases. Internet is bad right now, but once I get the chance, I will post pictures. We were quite the ridiculous sight to see. Anyway, we got lost on our way to Echzell (darn those German highways), and went about 25 km in the complete wrong direction! It was crazy. Once we finally got here, we were able to unpack, but had to hurry to get the car back to Frankfurt by 5:00. We left the rental place, and hopped on a train to the main train station in order to buy a ticket. We bought our tickets home and went to the platform to wait.

This is where the story gets interesting. We waited and waited, and finally our train came. Or so we thought... turns out it was the wrong train, and our train wasn't going to come. We hopped on a random train that stopped in the town where we needed to switch trains, and it was so packed that we barely had enough room to stand. In Friedberg we hopped off, ready to get on the Sbahn toward Nidda. We had just missed a train, and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one. No big deal, so we went up and sat on a bench. Then we found out that it was cancelled. Well, the next train didn't come for another 30 minutes. Guess what?! That train never showed up. By this time it was nearing 8:00, and the last train comes at 8:19. We sat down to wait for that one. Surprise, surprise, that train is cancelled as well. By this time, I was wanting to go give the Deutsche Bahn a piece of my mind! I mean, REALLY?!?!? All of the trains cancelled? Turns out the drivers had decided to go on strike. REAL nice.

We were STRANDED. We had no way to get home! Luckily, I was able to call the bishop's wife and explain the situation, and she came and picked us up! She is seriously the sweetest lady! We were able to get home safe, and all was well. We stayed up pretty late unpacking, rearranging, and building our awesome 39 EUR IKEA bed. Our landlord came down and helped us put together a SUPER comfy couch, and we finally got to go to sleep.

This morning, we were able to go with Sis. Uhlig to Aldi (see, she's AMAZING - Aldi is in another town, and she offered to take us with her on her weekly shopping trip). We got a bunch of stuff, and came home and cooked brats for lunch. We went and opened a bank account this afternoon, then our landlord offered to drive us to another town to help us set up internet! Oh my goodness! What in the world have we done to deserve all of this kindness? I am seriously amazed by how much people have helped us, how much they have done for us, and the fact that they ask absolutely nothing in return. I have thank you cards that I'm working on writing, but I have no way to express how deep my gratitude really is. I keep trying to think of ways that we can repay their kindness, and so far, nothing seems enough. It truly is amazing how things have fallen together perfectly. I don't think I'll ever forget any of these people, and I've known them for such a short time!

--M&A