Frankfurt

Today I resigned my chemist position at L'Oreal, giving them one month's notice. Now that our parents know and my employer knows, I can freely post that we are moving to Frankfurt, Germany in January. Dan's employer was bought by a German financial company (Deutsche Borse) last year. In September, two of his friends were transferred to the Frankfurt office, and now that the adoption is completed, Dan is going in January. This past week he was over there meeting with his new bosses and finding a place to live. We will be over there at least a year and won't be able to take much with us. Things that are definitely coming with include Dan, Barb, Gianna, and Bruno. Bruno needs to get microchipped and we all need to get our visas, but we are not leaving any of us behind. Notable things we will have to leave behind include our finch Peepers, Dan's mistress (AKA the plasma TV), all my plants, our furniture, cars...oh the list is getting long. We plan to rent out our house with a corporate housing broker here in central Jersey. The woman came to tour our house before Dan left for Germany and she thought it would be a good property for them to pick up. Hopefully we can sign it over when he gets back. As for the cars, they are both for sale. We're asking Blue Book price for our 2003 Jeep Liberty (~60k miles) and 2001 Honda Civic (~100,000 miles), if you know anyone that is looking for a car. Otherwise they go into storage with the rest of our crap.

Yes, this will be another big adjustment for Gianna. But it will be a much better situation overall. Dan commutes 1.5 hrs each way for his job in Manhattan each day. Working regular hours, he doesn't get to see her much. Now we will live a few minutes from his office. I plan to stay home with Gianna for a little while. We want to make sure she has a spot in the German childcare system before I accept a job offer. The University of Frankfurt is nearby, so maybe I can get a teaching or tutoring position there. There are also a lot of chemical companies in Frankfurt, so that's another option. I'm also thinking I will end this blog after Christmas and start a Germany blog. I will definitely post the new web address if/when it comes together!

Gianna has been a little sick this week...high fever tonight, but I was able to get it down. Hopefully she will be feeling OK tomorrow for her Red Robin lunch date with Ryan and Jada. Last night we made some Christmas cookies. Enjoy some pics!