What a difference a year makes

A year ago we had just arrived in Munich and were frantically trying to get everything sorted out to become residents here. We had to register with the police a few days after arriving, and had to apply for our residence permits (like our visa) a few weeks after arriving. With our limited German skills, this was all very intimidating and difficult. Filling out paperwork and dealing with bureaucracy is pretty unpleasant in your own country, in your own language, so being here really magnified that discomfort.

Yesterday Dylan and I went in to Munich to try and get German drivers licenses. While still not our favorite sort of thing to do by any means, it is so much easier now than just one short year ago! We joked about how last year we would ask people if they spoke english, and they would respond with something like "no, but have a seat, my colleague will be right with you" (in German) and then we would leave dejected, because we had only understood the "No".  I'm not sure that scenario exactly ever happened, but it's not too far off from reality. I can't even tell you how many phone calls I just ended up hanging up on the person because they didn't speak English, and I just didn't have the German skills to communicate anything at all! Now we're able to do most of our communication in some version of German, and I make phone calls all the time. It's not that we're fluent in German by any means, but we know enough to be able to accomplish basic tasks, and that makes life so much easier!

We didn't complete the process of switching our licenses yesterday, because we first had to get an official translation of our Colorado licenses done, and that takes a couple days. But I was able to call the DMV-equivalent and make sure I know what all we need to bring with us, and with any luck we'll be able to complete the process of Monday.

A year of living here hasn't just made communicating easier either. James is in kindergarten now, which means we don't have to take two kids with us every time we do errands, and that honestly makes things a lot easier. David has gotten so used to riding the U-bahn (subway) with me to and from class, that he's hardly any trouble at all so long as he's well fed and rested! Actually he's pretty adorable pointing out the window while we're above ground and naming all the things he sees. "Cah", "bus", "chrain", "Shnow"! He also loves to read books and scribble on paper, so we can get through a half hour on the train without too much trouble at all.

We're also starting to make friends, which makes a huge difference with how settled we feel in general. We've made some good friends through church, and with some of our neighbors and people from James' kindergarten, so it doesn't feel nearly as lonely as it did when we first moved here. I still don't feel even close to as settled, and at home as I felt in Boulder, but it's a lot better than it was. And I guess we lived in Boulder for 7 years, and Colorado our whole lives to get to feeling that well settled! I can really see how God's hand has been on us this last year, and I'm really thankful for how far he has brought us!