I think our family is quite a sight here in Germany. We have yet to meet a German family larger than four. And Germans stare. At least these Southern Germans stare. It’s not considered rude I guess. So our family of six gets stared at EVERYWHERE we go. It’s a bit unnerving. I’m never sure if we are doing something “wrong” or they are just amazed at our family size or if they never see families with kids of all ages together or what. I’ve just started smiling and waving at the onlookers and then they usually turn away. But you still have this sense that you are part of the circus or something.
When we first arrived, the rental car they gave us was a Mercedes Van that seats nine but it was very out of place in a world of hatch backs and smart cars. It BARELY fit in the below-ground parking garage at the hotel and it was quite difficult for Cory to maneuver it. Thus, we switched to a 7 passenger VW van. The vast majority of cars here are manual stick shifts so both our vans were as well. Cory has managed to kill the vans several times already amidst shifting. I wasn’t even brave enough to get behind the wheel for the first several weeks. I didn’t want to drive the huge Mercedes Van on the little, narrow, windy roads and I didn’t want to drive before I understood some of the major rules of the road. After studying for my German/American military driving examination, then I was willing to drive.
And the mention of windy roads makes me remember that motion-sickness-prone-children (i.e. my girls) and German roads don’t go together very well. We’ve had many instances of “Mom, Dad I don’t feel very good.” And even one emergency stop and consequent emergency laundry episode thus far. (I will leave the details to the imagination of the reader) We’ve learned to always carry plastic sacks in the automobile and to pull off more quickly, and that one can never have enough chewable Dramamine on hand. I need to ask my Mom (a nurse) if there is any potential problem with “too much Dramamine.”
3 comments:
I thought I had outgrown motion sickness, but I was constantly nauseous in the car when we visited Germany. (I think it could have also had to do with being six months pregnant. My midwife thought maybe my blood sugar never recovered from the long flight.)
Ginger is my secret weapon for car sickness. And it's actually kind of a treat if you forgo the capsules and chew the crystallized kind coated in sugar. ;)
(I know. I still haven't told you about our trip to Germany. Would you believe I never even blogged about it? Maybe I still need to do that...)
It was probably a toxic combination of you being pregnant, the curvy roads and fast German cars.
I might have to try Ginger with the girls on the next road trip. All 3 of mine get car sick though they do seem to be outgrowing it with age (as I did).
And it only took my 3 years to blog about our adventure so I won't bug you about posting it anytime soon. Though it would be fun to hear where you went and what you did and such. :)
I have some really great pictures that I would love to share, but I'm going to have to talk to our friends to refresh my memory on a couple of the towns! I think I remember most of them, though. Corey took us to some fantastic places.
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