Survival Techniques....

Picture from Sushi-ya website

Some of my "survival" techniques to overcoming the challenges of living in another country:
    Technique 1- Make new friends before you unpack.
     Technique 2- Try all of the wonderful food and the raved about restaurants.

The past two weeks I have been doing much of both 1 and 2.  We have been very fortunate to find so many friends here in Stuttgart that will remain that way no matter where we live.  However, it is good and bad that Stuttgart has SO many incredible restaurants serving fare from all around the world.  Good because I am surviving this adventure very easily, bad because I have to fit in my jeans often with an added layer underneath called longjohns.  (my jeans don't like John so well ) 

Technique 3.- Arrange for a babysitter so you can work on Techniques 1 and 2. 

Which is exactly what I did this week when the temps were around 8 degrees, Jason is away in warm South Africa and it is too cold for the kids to play outside and are climbing the  walls instead of trees.  

After layering, bundling, wrapping, and panicking for the walk to the train station on the ice covered sidewalks in the FREEZING air, (have I ever mentioned the weather here is much different than Alabama) I met Elizabeth in the third car on the 6:43 train.  (She and I have mastered how to time the trains so that our families don't miss a single minute together.)  Tonight we were venturing out (minus any of our normal partners in crime) to try out "5" and "Sushi-Ya".

     It is easy for me to keep my friend Elizabeth laughing.  All I have to do is get bit by a horse at the circus, speak some bad German or bundle up for the freezing weather and her Connecticut self can't seem to stop laughing.  "When there are 'mishaps' you might as well laugh instead of pout"--- this is a characteristic that I have found in most of my good friends in the U.S. and now, around the world.  (Did I mention that my friends are on the top of the list for things I am thankful for in life?!?!)  THAT is what my survival technique number 1 is all about...when you have friends to laugh with you (and occasionally at you) during the trials of living in another country, or the trials you find in life, it makes it that much more fun. 

First stop to fun, "5" where the crowd serves as eye-candy, drinks are liquid sugar and the little complimentary hors d'oeuvres they continuously bring around and say, "Probieren?" are just plain candy.
5 website 

Then on to some very good Sushi at Feinkost Böhm's "Sushi-Ya".  I don't know why the two of us thought we could eat the whole ocean in one night, but we tried!  If you are in Stuttgart, like fresh sushi and don't mind waiting for a table (they don't take reservations) head to city center and try it out!