#5

I just got back from spending the afternoon with Lucinda. I have been emailing with her for a few months now, but I just met her today for the first time. Right after we made our final decision to move here, I came across the website of the International Women's Group (IWG). It was created by about 8 women of different nationalities, whose husbands worked for adidas-solomon and has grown to a group of about 150 women from all over the world (currently living in Germany). The purpose of the group is to provide women social opportunities and support while they are living in Germany. Lucinda has lived in Germany for years, but just relocated from Munich to Erlangen last March. She lives in the apartment complex right across from my school and boy is she a character. She was so nice and welcoming right from the beginning. I think I posted on the IWG website that my husband and I were planning on moving to Erlangen and she immediately replied with an email welcoming us and providing us with lots of useful information (like how apartments don't usually come with kitchens, closets, or light fixtures). She told me that when I arrived in Germany, she would like to have me over for coffee.

It ended up being some sparkling raspberry soda and cookies instead of coffee, because she was preparing for a dinner party tonight and then is leaving on a holiday to Turkey tomorrow, but we were finally able to meet today. She was extremely generous in offering help and support with anything I need. She said she would give me the names of the great doctors that she has found and is willing to come over the day our container arrives so that we have a German speaker there to direct the movers. She is the treasurer of the IWG, so she helped me get signed up to be a part of it. There is a cocktail event for couples coming up in October, and they also offer a book club, and different gatherings for women of all kinds. She is also very crafty (a woman after my own heart) and she might teach me how to make a quilt. She showed me her husband's closet full of shirts she custom made for him (in a variety of super spunky quilting patterns I might add). She also made curtains out of pieces of several old tablecloths that were either her mother's or her grandmother's.

Lucinda is originally from Portland and she married a German man, so she speaks fluently in German. She referred to herself as a "domestic feminist" and said she really enjoys carrying on the traditions of what women have done historically so she takes a lot of pride in cooking meals and cleaning her home. She also showed me some furniture that she made and said she does basket weaving as well. She is a "Jane" of all trades.

It is nice to know that someone who is a complete stranger is so willing to help me (us) figure out our new life here. It was very nice to sit and chat with her and I know that she will be a great resource for me while we are living here.