Schellweiler - My Germany Home Away From Home
When we got here to Germany in December 2013 we thought we would never find a place to call home. As we called potential places to live we received no answers on the other end, left endless voice mails (mind you we spoke no German at all), and everyone was off on Christmas holiday. If you are familiar with Germany you will know that could mean they do not return until the first week of January. We needed a home much sooner than this date, at least one established.
This led us to calling a realtor. We gave him our criteria, mostly it needed to accommodate our two small dogs. Not a large yard but some sort of yard they were allowed to use as Toby loves to hang out outside. They both love the bask in the sunshine and play fetch in the warm weather. Mind you we didn't realize that the sun would not be often and that the rain and dreary weather would become familiar. LOL
Only two houses were shown to us. The first in a larger town with many Americans, we were not looking for this type of environment. Even though pubs and shops would have been near by, it would not give us a true immersion into the culture. It also would not allow us to park our vehicle close to the house, three blocks away, and the dogs could fit through the fence onto a very busy main road. No thanks. The realtor said, well I have one more to show you. Just being finished with building, it's a little bit further away but I think it will be just right. So we drove out to the sight that evening and at first because the roads were so dark I thought wow, where the hell is this guy taking us to?
We left the autobahn on a road to Kusel, Germany only 15 minutes after leaving the area in which my husband would work, okay not so bad. Two kilometers later and a few turns, we pulled into the driveway of a spectacular home. Brand new, light up in all the darkness. The landlords were working on it into the night trying to get it ready. So it was great to meet them the first time we looked at the house.
We fell in love with the house. Jason jumped on it right away. He said he would take it. The landlords gave us nice warm fuzzies, you really can't beat that. We hadn't even seen the village yet, it was so dark there wasn't much to see at night besides a few street lights. We knew it was small, we knew there were only about 500 people and that the closest shops would be 3-5km's away and there would be no pubs. Okay we can make do without that stuff. The landlords agreed to install a fence for the fur babies, wow, that is wonderful news. Perfect sized yard. Big house but we would have plenty of guests.
We did not move in until three weeks later. This would begin one of the best chapters of our lives in a place that I think could only come from a story book, in a village where everyone knows everyone, people help each other out, and they welcomed us from the first moment we moved into our home.
At first people told us, "oh the Germans are not so friendly, they come across mean or they stay away from Americans." Uhm, not the case here in my village. No one was unfriendly to us. They said hello, we all tried our best at communicating with language barriers or using translators when someone nearby spoke both languages.
Our neighbors, aside from the landlords and their parents, were the first people we befriended in the village. They are a shy couple at first, afraid to speak English in fear of getting it wrong. That was okay because we spoke only like two words in German at the time, so I think their vast knowledge of English surpassed our knowledge of German. If anything we were a little embarrassed we could not speak their language. I knew from the first time meeting them, just seeing them, that we would be great friends. Again, warm fuzzies. Plus you can just tell they are really good people. They are Sabrina and Holger, they became our best friends, like family. Absolutely love them and will miss the hell out of them and their son Jannick. Watching their son grow over the last three years has truly been a blessing.
We then met our other great friends Volker, Corinna, and Pauline. Volker and our landlords father came to our door on Fasching and asked us to come to a parade. They thought they would like to have us along. We understood that we would be watching a parade. So I grabbed my camera and off we went to St. Wendel to the Fasching parade of 2014. Little did we know that we were in the parade as part of our village. HAHA, one of the best experiences ever. It was great fun. We got to meet a lot of our village that day, young to old. It was quite amazing. Volker and Corinna and their family really have become like family to us and our little dogs just love them. Along with many other people in the village that have become great friends through the years.
As the months went on we got to know so many people. They welcomed us, they greeted us at events. We were invited to all the functions that went on in our village. We truly have had such a great time here and have met some really beautiful people. We will miss this place. We will miss the people, we will miss all the village parties, events, and good times, we will miss the Foosball games, and we will miss the beauty of this village. It's not often you can walk up a hillside with your dogs and see a castle on one side and look over to the sun setting on your village on the other. Even though these hills have kicked my ass over the years, they have been worth every climb.
I went on a mission this past year of 2016 to photograph Schellweiler in it's four seasons. I wanted to capture it from one of the favorite spots I liked to walk up to and just look out over the valley and take in all the beauty that is my home, Schellweiler. This place will forever be part of home for me. When I think back to my time here it will be some of my fondest memories. I hope to return here over the years and be able to visit and say hi to our friends. Watch them as their families grow, they get married, or the children grow into young adults and carry on with lives of their own. Thank you for being so hospitable to us, thank you for making this place home for us, it truly has meant the world. Even though the time has seemed brief, it's gone too fast, you are in our hearts forever. So without any more going on and on, here are my photos of our village:
It is with heavy hearts we leave Germany this December. Please know we will carry you with us.
Crystal, Jason, Toby, and Layla
When we got here to Germany in December 2013 we thought we would never find a place to call home. As we called potential places to live we received no answers on the other end, left endless voice mails (mind you we spoke no German at all), and everyone was off on Christmas holiday. If you are familiar with Germany you will know that could mean they do not return until the first week of January. We needed a home much sooner than this date, at least one established.
This led us to calling a realtor. We gave him our criteria, mostly it needed to accommodate our two small dogs. Not a large yard but some sort of yard they were allowed to use as Toby loves to hang out outside. They both love the bask in the sunshine and play fetch in the warm weather. Mind you we didn't realize that the sun would not be often and that the rain and dreary weather would become familiar. LOL
Only two houses were shown to us. The first in a larger town with many Americans, we were not looking for this type of environment. Even though pubs and shops would have been near by, it would not give us a true immersion into the culture. It also would not allow us to park our vehicle close to the house, three blocks away, and the dogs could fit through the fence onto a very busy main road. No thanks. The realtor said, well I have one more to show you. Just being finished with building, it's a little bit further away but I think it will be just right. So we drove out to the sight that evening and at first because the roads were so dark I thought wow, where the hell is this guy taking us to?
We left the autobahn on a road to Kusel, Germany only 15 minutes after leaving the area in which my husband would work, okay not so bad. Two kilometers later and a few turns, we pulled into the driveway of a spectacular home. Brand new, light up in all the darkness. The landlords were working on it into the night trying to get it ready. So it was great to meet them the first time we looked at the house.
We fell in love with the house. Jason jumped on it right away. He said he would take it. The landlords gave us nice warm fuzzies, you really can't beat that. We hadn't even seen the village yet, it was so dark there wasn't much to see at night besides a few street lights. We knew it was small, we knew there were only about 500 people and that the closest shops would be 3-5km's away and there would be no pubs. Okay we can make do without that stuff. The landlords agreed to install a fence for the fur babies, wow, that is wonderful news. Perfect sized yard. Big house but we would have plenty of guests.
We did not move in until three weeks later. This would begin one of the best chapters of our lives in a place that I think could only come from a story book, in a village where everyone knows everyone, people help each other out, and they welcomed us from the first moment we moved into our home.
At first people told us, "oh the Germans are not so friendly, they come across mean or they stay away from Americans." Uhm, not the case here in my village. No one was unfriendly to us. They said hello, we all tried our best at communicating with language barriers or using translators when someone nearby spoke both languages.
Our neighbors, aside from the landlords and their parents, were the first people we befriended in the village. They are a shy couple at first, afraid to speak English in fear of getting it wrong. That was okay because we spoke only like two words in German at the time, so I think their vast knowledge of English surpassed our knowledge of German. If anything we were a little embarrassed we could not speak their language. I knew from the first time meeting them, just seeing them, that we would be great friends. Again, warm fuzzies. Plus you can just tell they are really good people. They are Sabrina and Holger, they became our best friends, like family. Absolutely love them and will miss the hell out of them and their son Jannick. Watching their son grow over the last three years has truly been a blessing.
We then met our other great friends Volker, Corinna, and Pauline. Volker and our landlords father came to our door on Fasching and asked us to come to a parade. They thought they would like to have us along. We understood that we would be watching a parade. So I grabbed my camera and off we went to St. Wendel to the Fasching parade of 2014. Little did we know that we were in the parade as part of our village. HAHA, one of the best experiences ever. It was great fun. We got to meet a lot of our village that day, young to old. It was quite amazing. Volker and Corinna and their family really have become like family to us and our little dogs just love them. Along with many other people in the village that have become great friends through the years.
As the months went on we got to know so many people. They welcomed us, they greeted us at events. We were invited to all the functions that went on in our village. We truly have had such a great time here and have met some really beautiful people. We will miss this place. We will miss the people, we will miss all the village parties, events, and good times, we will miss the Foosball games, and we will miss the beauty of this village. It's not often you can walk up a hillside with your dogs and see a castle on one side and look over to the sun setting on your village on the other. Even though these hills have kicked my ass over the years, they have been worth every climb.
I went on a mission this past year of 2016 to photograph Schellweiler in it's four seasons. I wanted to capture it from one of the favorite spots I liked to walk up to and just look out over the valley and take in all the beauty that is my home, Schellweiler. This place will forever be part of home for me. When I think back to my time here it will be some of my fondest memories. I hope to return here over the years and be able to visit and say hi to our friends. Watch them as their families grow, they get married, or the children grow into young adults and carry on with lives of their own. Thank you for being so hospitable to us, thank you for making this place home for us, it truly has meant the world. Even though the time has seemed brief, it's gone too fast, you are in our hearts forever. So without any more going on and on, here are my photos of our village:
Winter 2016
Spring 2016
Summer 2016
Fall 2016
It is with heavy hearts we leave Germany this December. Please know we will carry you with us.
Crystal, Jason, Toby, and Layla
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