Married To A German :)

[B&J 0]

I am from Waiblingen, about 20km east of Stuttgart.

It might still take me a while till I will go back. As I just arrived and apply for AOS we are pretty tight on money and who know when I will start working, etc. Which is sad as my sister will have her second baby in August and I would like to see it. But at least my Mom will come in September to visit, eventhough she doesn't speak any English. But as my husband knows German it will be ok for her. How long will you stay?

[jundp 191]

That's only about an hour from P's hometown.

We will stay 2 weeks, which is all the vacation he gets now A big change from German vacation days! Since my husband moved here last July, this will be a nice trip home to see family and friends. Plus much of his family will be meeting my kids for the first time, and we have other friends in Germany we can see too (*waves to Squirrel*).

It's hard to wait and to miss things like your neice or nephew being born. We've just decided that trips back are a priority and so we've made it like a 'bill' to set aside money for.

[Dr. ZoSo 0]

That's only about an hour from P's hometown.

We will stay 2 weeks, which is all the vacation he gets now A big change from German vacation days! Since my husband moved here last July, this will be a nice trip home to see family and friends. Plus much of his family will be meeting my kids for the first time, and we have other friends in Germany we can see too (*waves to Squirrel*).

It's hard to wait and to miss things like your neice or nephew being born. We've just decided that trips back are a priority and so we've made it like a 'bill' to set aside money for.

My wife's brother is having a baby with his wife in September. She will be flying back for that event. Her parents are paying for her to come home as we were just there last year and this year was their turn to come over here, but since the baby is coming.....

[Dr. ZoSo 0]

That's only about an hour from P's hometown.

We will stay 2 weeks, which is all the vacation he gets now A big change from German vacation days! Since my husband moved here last July, this will be a nice trip home to see family and friends. Plus much of his family will be meeting my kids for the first time, and we have other friends in Germany we can see too (*waves to Squirrel*).

It's hard to wait and to miss things like your neice or nephew being born. We've just decided that trips back are a priority and so we've made it like a 'bill' to set aside money for.

That's the best thing to do. Our last trip was sponsored by George W. with his stimulus check. Whenever i have to spend a large amount of $ on a bill or an emergency the thought of "oh we could use that to go to Europe" always crosses my mind.

[B&J 0]

That's what we do, too. We set up a savings account which will just be used for trips to see family. My dad lives in Thailand, my mom and sister in Germany....so there is a lot of money to save for.

And with the new technologies like Skype and Webcams you can at least see each other...

[Dr. ZoSo 0]

That's what we do, too. We set up a savings account which will just be used for trips to see family. My dad lives in Thailand, my mom and sister in Germany....so there is a lot of money to save for.

And with the new technologies like Skype and Webcams you can at least see each other...

We tried that at one point last year. I went out and bought this nice webcam to use on Skype and it turned out we only used it about 4 times. The ladies just dont find it as fun as my BIL and I do.

[Eveline 9]

OMG, I LOVE Skype. I'd go nuts if my computer broke down and I couldn't use skype. It is so convenient and it's great to see my parents/brother/grandparents etc. It kinda takes the guilt from not being able to be with my parents more often so that they can see our kids grow up. I just don't know what I did without Skype.

[jundp 191]

We don't use Skype anymore now that P's here. Huh. We should. I don't even know if his parents have a web cam. We should check on that.

I'm SO EXCITED now that we're down to less than 90 days until we leave. Except we haven't gotten my daughter's passport yet. I can't get it until her dad sends me a notarized form granting permission...grrrrrr!

[Aubrey 10]

We don't use Skype anymore now that P's here. Huh. We should. I don't even know if his parents have a web cam. We should check on that.

I'm SO EXCITED now that we're down to less than 90 days until we leave. Except we haven't gotten my daughter's passport yet. I can't get it until her dad sends me a notarized form granting permission...grrrrrr!

Yes, you definitely should! Andy is already making plans with his father for regular webchat sessions. Neither they nor us can afford the international calls, and having the webchats will definitely make everyone feel a little closer. He used Skype to call them every week during both visits to the U.S. just to call their home phone, since it was so inexpensive (.02 cents/minute U.S. -> Germany).

[B&J 0]

I agree, Skype is the best that could happen for people with international families. My Mom and my sister both use their webcam everytime we talk. I love it. Now I don't just see pictures of how my nephew gets older, but also I can hear him start talking, etc. It is fun and we love it.

I use it to call my grandma, too, on her home phone. It is so cheap....

[cassi9879 20]

We didn't use skype. We used Yahoo! and another one (forgetting the name at this moment).

[jundp 191]

Oh yeah....do you guys know about Peter Zahlt? www.peterzahlt.de If you register (for free) you can talk (for free) for 30 minutes. It rings the German landline first and they have to listen to about 15 seconds of advertisements and then the call is put through. P and I used that all the time when he was still living and we still use it to call his parents.

[B&J 0]

Oh yeah....do you guys know about Peter Zahlt? www.peterzahlt.de If you register (for free) you can talk (for free) for 30 minutes. It rings the German landline first and they have to listen to about 15 seconds of advertisements and then the call is put through. P and I used that all the time when he was still living and we still use it to call his parents.

Sounds pretty cool! Maybe I'll try that ones...

Isn't there anything annoying connected with that? Like tons of spam?

[jundp 191]

Oh yeah....do you guys know about Peter Zahlt? www.peterzahlt.de If you register (for free) you can talk (for free) for 30 minutes. It rings the German landline first and they have to listen to about 15 seconds of advertisements and then the call is put through. P and I used that all the time when he was still living and we still use it to call his parents.

Sounds pretty cool! Maybe I'll try that ones...

Isn't there anything annoying connected with that? Like tons of spam?

Not that we've ever noticed. Sometimes it takes a while to get through and every once in a blue moon a call gets dropped...but it's free so we never complained! The only caveat is you need to make sure your computer doesn't sleep or shut down because that will cut the call off.

[pedroh 21]

skype gives me a very good rate to Germany..