Another busy couple of weeks for the Shearers!! Since returning from our weekend trip to Paris, our days have been jam-packed. I started a new job within Deere as Internal Audit & Internal Controls Manager for our European units, and Jay took on responsibility for more European units. The kids have had a full schedule with both JV Rugby and Redwings Baseball for Ty, and Middle School soccer, Redwings softball, and horse riding lessons for Lily.

Ty’s 9th grade class spent a week in Dresden, Germany. The stayed in a hostel but spent one night in tents. The FIS school curriculum includes at least 2 outings for most grades. While not a traditional form of education like we are used to in the US, it teaches them many life skills and builds bonds that will help them throughout the school year (and beyond). Ty came home with several new friends. They hiked, cooked their own meal, went to the opera, and took a float trip down a river.
Lily played a great softball game for the U16 team. The team has a couple amazing pitchers, so Lily has not had an opportunity to be on the rubber. But one of the pitchers was not able to play so Lily had to step up. Despite being pretty rusty AND having both a knee and ankle injury, I’d say she did pretty dang good.
And she hit a BOMB.

So funny story. One Sunday Ty was with friends, Jay took Kaycee for a walk and Lily wasn’t hungry. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to enjoy some sunshine. I thought I would sit on the patio at the German restaurant and read my book, maybe sip on a beer. When I walked up to the restaurant, it was nearly full – apparently everyone else had the same thoughts I did about how to spend the lunch hour. There was one small table in the back corner, so I waved to the waiter and sat down at the table. One minute later a big German dude, probably about 55 years old, came up to me and started speaking in German. “Ich spreche English” I speak English. He pointed to the empty chair across the tiny table from me and said “Can I sit here?” Ummmmmmm. At this little table? With me? That feels a bit like invading my personal space, and I’m not really very comfortable with this, and I’m in shock a little bit, and oh man this is awkward. “suuuuuuuure????” So he sits down and makes himself comfortable. I had about 30 seconds to decide if I was going to be an extrovert or an introvert in that moment. I panicked, and went full-on introvert. Nose in book. Don’t make eye contact. The waiter asked for our order. I ordered a salad to go. He placed his order in German. About 10 minutes later the waiter brings out his appetizer – a bowl of soup. OK fine, I have to wait for him to eat his appetizer because we are sitting at the same table. But then, he slowly lifted the spoon to his mouth, and SLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. That was it. I couldn’t handle it. My salad, of course plated for dine-in, came to the table. I reminded the waiter that I wanted it to go, and followed the waiter out to the front of the restaurant to wait for it to be packaged for take-away. Perhaps I would have had a lovely conversation with the guy. I’m sure he had a fascinating life story and we could have become lifelong friends. But instead I panicked and bailed. What would you have done? 🙂

The week after Ty’s camp, it was Lily’s turn! She spent 4 days in Deudesfeld, Germany. Her experience was a little different. There was no hostel. She had to spend 3 nights sleeping in a tent. Unfortunately her sleeping bag zipper broke on night one so she was a little chilly, but she survived! She tried rock climbing (not her thing), they hiked, did archery, helped prepare meals. She came back happy as a lark. At both camps, electronics are forbidden, and I think the week of no screen time was amazing for them.
Look at that tough rugby player. 🙂 Ty made the JV team. They had their first rugby match against an international school in Zurich, Switzerland. At one point I took a screenshot of FindMy to see where my baby boy was. It’s crazy to think that he was in a foreign country without me. FIS has a host family arrangement with the schools in Zurich and Brussels, which helps save money on hotel costs. Ty and a teammate stayed with a family from Norway the night before the game. Such a cool experience. We will get to host student athletes, as well, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new people. Ty was pumped after the first match. Despite losing, he scored a try (I guess it is like a touchdown – I don’t know anything about rugby) and got several tackles. In the second match, someone stepped on his right hand. It doesn’t appear to have permanent damage, but he had a deep bruise, some swelling, and had to sit out the rest of the game. But he is having lots of fun learning a new sport!

In another uncomfortable German encounter (this couple of weeks has been full of them), I hit my “cultural dipper”. I mentioned I got a new job. Anytime I get a new job, there is a period of time when I am trying to figure out who’s who, what’s what, what is important, what isn’t, what I need to do, etc. It’s normal, but it’s stressful. So my anxiety has been a little elevated. After a particularly busy morning, I went to the Italian restaurant to quickly grab a salad for lunch. There was one lady in the restaurant sitting alone. I needed to talk to Jay about a few things, and since I had some time at lunch, I called him. While I was on the phone, this old German lady, and even older German lady, and an old German man sat at the table directly next to me. Approximately 3 minutes after sitting down, the old lady looked at me and said “Excuse me, you are being very rude.” Ummmmmmmmmm. OK……… I hung up the phone with Jay and scooted over a table to give me some physical space between her and I. I felt incredibly uncomfortable, and I was confused. Is it against some written or unwritten law that I cannot talk on the phone in a restaurant? So after stewing for a few minutes, I said “enschuldigung” excuse me and I asked her if I was being too loud or if the problem was that I simply talking on the phone. She said “we could feel your stress.” Um. OK. So what do I do with that? Am I not supposed to go to a restaurant if I am stressed? When I am stressed, I usually need to get my thoughts out of my head (usually to Jay) and then my stress levels decline. So I was still confused, and then I got angry, and despite all of my efforts to keep it in, tears started coming down my face. I quickly ate my meal. The waiter is one of our favorite people in town, and I knew he felt terrible for me. When I left the restaurant, I said, kind of loud but not screaming, “I hope you all have a nice, quite, stress-free day”. I went home and had a little cry-session. It’s a minor thing, but I think that after 9 months of these little jabs, I reached a breaking point. I am from the midwest, where “midwest nice” is a thing. There would have to be something really major happening for me to tell someone else to stop doing whatever they were doing (I’d be annoyed quietly). That isn’t the German way. If they don’t like something, or think that you aren’t following the rules, they will not hesitate to tell you what they think – even if there is really good reasons for why you are doing what you are doing. These cultural differences are what makes expat assignments so challenging, exhausting, and yet interesting at the same time.

We spent a Sunday afternoon at the Mannheim factory for an employee recognition event. We got to show the kids Jay’s office (my badge didn’t allow me to show them my office), went on a factory tour, “milked” a cow, did a sledgehammer carnival game, ate some pretzels, and drank some beer. It was a lovely day, and a special event for the employees and their families.

We found a new hike that started in Schmitten, Germany that was really cool! All along the way there were woodcarvings of gnomes. It was about 3.5 miles long (we only did half the trail) and the elevation was not too bad. It was a gorgeous day, and we all enjoyed the fresh air, scenery, and exercise.

We have a LOT of fun things coming up. Jess & Jason are arriving TOMORROW!!!!!! We are headed to Regensburg, Germany to watch Ty’s 19U team play in the German National Baseball Championships. Go Redwings!! Jess & Jason are going to Prague for a couple nights. Riley arrives on MONDAY!!!!! Jay is taking our guests to Oktoberfest in Munich next week. Then we are all going to Füssen, Germany the following weekend to watch Ty play in the U15 German National Baseball Championships. After that, we have a week in Kitzbühel, Austria for Fall Break. After dropping Jess & Jason off at the airport, we are taking Riley to Amsterdam. There should be some good blogs headed your way – stay tuned!!