Pastoriushaus.....Our first night and day in NEVER NEVER LAND....**

Guten Morgan BLOG!

Herlich willkommen im Pastoriushaus translation: Heartfelt Welcome to Pastoriushaus. The Pastoria House is actually located in Bad Windsheim, pronounced Bad Vindshime.

The Pastoriushaus (pronounced as I am told Pastoria House) is where LEGS and I are staying until we can find proper housing.  

Franz Daniel Pastorius (1651-1720)

Franz Daniel Pastorius was born in 1651 in Sommerhausen, Germany. He went on to study at several colleges but eventually earned his Doctor of Law from the University of Nuremberg. Pastorius lived and practiced law in the town of Bad Windsheim, where his father, Melchior, was mayor for 28 years. 

Pastorius was a member of a religious sect called the Pietists. Together with his fellow Pietists, they planned to create a settlement in Pennsylvania as a religious haven. He met with William Penn and soon converted to Penn’s Quakerism. In 1683, the Frankfurt Land Company and a group of merchants from Krefeld, Germany commissioned Pastorius to form a settlement in America. They purchased 15,000 acres in Pennsylvania that soon became Germantown.

Pastorius led the group of Mennonite and Quaker settlers, and became Germantown’s principal leader and lawmaker, as well as a dedicated member of the Society of Friends. Pastorius opposed slavery, had it banned in Germantown, and in 1688 wrote and published the first anti-slavery protest in America.

An avid gardener, writer, and poet, he often wrote about the pleasures of gardening and beekeeping. He left 43 volumes of manuscripts after his death in 1720. Pastorius was truly a founding father of the Pennsylvania and the future United States. 

What's interesting about this is my 'Aunt Grace' lives in Redding Pennsylvania and we have had many conversations in which Germantown and the Amish/Mennonites have been mentioned.

About the Pastorius Haus:

 

In 1668 the City of Windsheim appointed the Praying Sisters, a group of women living in chastity and voluntarily poor, a house on the Pastorius Haus property. In 1710 a new structure, the present day Pastorius Haus was built. It would be known for centuries as the Bethaus, the prayer house.  With the help of donations and alms, the Praying Sisters did charitable work, cared for the poor, and nursed the sick. After the Praying Sisters, the house continued on to be known as the Bethaus but had a variety of functions until its eventual fall into ruins. 

 

(this one is for you kitty Kat!)

In 1984, the non-profit organization, Pastorius Home Association, Inc., acquired the house and after an over $1 Million renovation project opened its doors to guests in 1986.

The home is now operated as an American-German cultural center and bed and breakfast.

 

Since we have been here this is what we have learned:

The water is bad so you can't drink it.  It has a high amount of calcium in it, so it builds up on your teeth and your hair, if you drink it you are susceptible to kidney stones. So we have bottled water that comes in crates, which you obviously return and recycle.

 

Also, the living/housing situation is a little tricky.  If we want to get what we want then we will have to be VERY aggressive in finding the house ourselves.  

 

The reports so far have been we are only authorized a two bedroom place, you can be threatened with the revocation of your TLA- which is the money the ARMY is willing to pay for you to stay in the B&B, and the housing people can be very aggressive, unfriendly and insensitive to your desires.  

 

Right now we are scheduled to look at a few places tomorrow, one thing that saves us is the ability to live out in town and having a dog gives us more options further away from the base. 

Since learning this and being checked in to a very small room here at the B&B with our gigantic over-sized bags I had to sit down and give myself a counseling.  LEGS had left to get us dinner, I was sick and extremely tired, I did not cry, but I told myself that I was going to have to really let go of the material things I am so attached to.  If we do not get lucky enough to find a place big enough to accommodate the things we will have to sell them or possibly give them away.

I feel much more positive and optimistic after getting to sleep and feeling better.  So I am very much looking forward to being creative with the things we have and the space we get.

 

I heard the FRG here (Family Readiness Group) is pretty positive and amazing, I guess the leader of the FRG is VERY excited to meet me....I feel excited and happy about this but also nervous and apprehensive.

 

The B&B we are staying in is really small, but incredibly romantic, I cannot wait to feel better!!! Hint...Hint.... 

 

 

The shower is so small its like showering in a telephone booth, it occurred to me today that this may be the reason Europeans go Au Natural and do not shave.......

This is what I see out my window:

Random Thoughts and Observations:

I heard a European emergency vehicle out the window today, it sounds just like they day in the movies, all I could think of was The Bourne Identity.

The food has been delicious here. I had a salami sandwich on a kaiser roll, first of the roll is the best tasting bread I have ever had and the salami- well- I can't even believe we call the salami in the states salami.

I wish I was feeling a little better than I do, because first impressions are everything and I do not feel like myself. I am very lucky to have an amazing sponsor who happily dropped me off some 'supplies' today:

The comb my Mema got me for Christmas one year was the first casualty of the move. :( :(

 

 

 

I am upset at myself for not taking more pictures at the airport but I felt so lousy I couldn't even fathom it. But I managed a few of the airport and getting here so here they are:

This is documentation of us being treated like cattle.....I did not picture people because I did not want to embarrass them as well......

 

I think its cute they put a skirt on the girl!

Karmella was perfectly fine- VOLUNTARILY- climbing into her container AFTER the airplane ride, and so long as it was left open......maybe she has claustrophobia?

 

Last week I sent off my first pair of baby booties to a friend from high school who just had her fist baby. Even though they came out a little lop-sided I am very proud of them and think they are adorable. I knitted the cuff part onto the bootie part. You can find the booties at Micheal's, when picking out yarn read the directions, it said for beginner knitters, but I found it to be a little complicated, I suspect because I am a perfectionist, but remember even mine came out lop-sided.

Over & Out......

Just the first night and day in NEVER NEVER LAND for an unlikely military wife.....**