Shelby's Life and Whatnot

Kevin's Blog

Well I'm not sure I like the idea of Kevin having a blog. Today he beat me to the punch by blogging what we did last night and this morning before I got a chance to. So I've decided to write my own version. You can read his version here.

So last night we decided to go out to dinner for the first time since arriving in Germany. Yesterday was the 1 week anniversary of Scout and my arrival. We ate at Valentino's, a restaurant downstairs in our building. The waiter was very nice and picked up pretty quickly that we (or at least I) did not speak German. Perhaps it was the mangled German I attempted when I ordered, or the fact that we were the only people in the restaurant and were having a conversation in English. Anyway the waiter then spoke to us in English.

I had some pasta with shrimp, or as they say in Germany, shrimps. Actually he asked me if I wanted shrimps or scampi. I wasn't sure what the difference was but I thought it might be that the scampi is sauteed while the shrimp(s) were like the peel and eat kind you find at cocktail parties. I ordered the scampi and was very glad I did. They were some of the most flavorful shrimp(s) I've ever had.

After my food arrived he asked, "Would you like a [German word] for your pasta?" It was a word I didn't recognize and Kevin didn't seem to know either, so I said "what?" "A [German word]" he repeated. Then he apologized for his English and ran off to get the object. I couldn't believe it! I mean hello, I'm in your country! As he was gone it occurred to me that he was probably talking about a spoon to eat the pasta with, and when he returned I was right. "How you say this?" he asked. "A spoon." "Spoon, ah, yes." After dinner we had the cheese plate for dessert. I'm never one to pass up a cheese plate. This thing was twice the size of my head. There was enough cheese to make up a lunch. It was awesome. There was a cheese that looked, felt, and tasted just like butter. You know, it actually may have been butter. Anyway, it was really good.

More below...

This morning we headed to some government office to register me. Apparently everyone living in Germany needs to register their address with the government. I found the process to be extremely intimidating. Kevin was fine with it, but I was freaking out. The guy was both helpful and brusque--a very odd combination. There was some major confusion about my name. My name on my passport, which I got pre-wedding, is Shelby Lynn Rosiak. In the back of the passport it has an ammendment stating that my name is now Shelby Lynn Rosiak Hogan. According to the US government, I legally have two middle names, so it's Shelby Lynn Rosiak Hogan. Well the guy was very confused about this and there was extended discussion going on between him and Kevin that I didn't follow, but it ended up that now the Germans think my first name is Shelby Lynn, middle Rosiak, and surname Hogan.

I guess it hardly matters, but I was totally stressed out about it. I'm not sure what I was afraid of--that they would deny my application and send me home or something, but the whole transaction made me very nervous and I kept asking Kevin "is there a problem?" Anyway, it turned out to be fine and I got my official stamped piece of paper that says that I live at Valentinskamp 40 with Kevin. I guess I'm supposed to carry that around with me. It's actually kind of convenient I think in case something happens to me, they know where I'm staying and who my husband is.