Crazy Dog Lady

Well, there's not too much to report today. Gerard went to work this morning and we were supposed to try viewing the hospital when he got home. Unfortunately, again, they were too busy to see us so we'll have to try again tomorrow. I'll also need to secure a midwife soon. Their midwives come to your home to check on you for up to a month after the baby is born. They help make sure that your nursing is coming along well, and will weigh the baby and check him out at each visit. This is another cool thing here that you'd never see in the States. After kicking you out of the hospital, you're left on your own to learn all about how to take care of a newborn. If you want a lactation consultant in the U.S., you'll have to hire one. The best part... these midwife visits are all supposed to be covered by insurance. See... there... I said something nice about Germany. :-)

In the late afternoon we drove to Eching (a town very close to Neufahrn) that has several large warehouse stores. We thought we ought to know what some of items these stores carry since we'll have to outfit our new house with some things we weren't able to bring due to compatibility issues. This is where the IKEA is, as well as a few other large stores (most of them IKEA-esque). We did discover one store that was a bit different than all the rest, OBI. OBI is much like a Home Depot, but with a few other perks. It has the typical Home Depot stuff like hardware supplies, paint, lighting, bathroom/kitchen fixtures, and some garden supplies. However, it also has a small craft and hobby section and a fairly large assortment of pet supplies, including fish, reptiles, and rodents such as mice, rats, chinchillas, and rabbits. Gerrit had a blast starting at the aquariums. He kept running between each pointing excitedly to the "Fish, Fish."
After dinner, we took a walk around the neighborhood with our dogs. Along the way, we stopped at a playground. Gerrit really enjoyed the slide and this funny little rocky teeter-totter type contraption. He went a bit crazy on the thing and we were a bit scared that he might fling himself off. This is one thing I remember from every trip I've had to Germany in the past- the playground toys are super cool... zip lines, trampoline type things, etc. All sorts of things that you'd never see on American playgrounds because some poor child might get hurt and sue the park.
On our walk, we also ran into the Crazy Dog Lady (yes, I've named her). This is the neighbor I mentioned in an earlier post who complained about our dogs, and who likely sent the police to the house last night. The one whose dog also barks throughout the day. The irony here is that when she saw us, her dog went crazy barking at our dogs. Meanwhile, our dogs were perfectly silent. I wish I had caught that on video. Maybe we'll set up a web cam to record throughout the day and see just how much our dogs bark as compared to her dog. :-)