GERMANY WON THE SOCCER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

Last night the German team won the Soccer World Championship Game against Argentina. It was a “nail biter” game. No goals throughout the entire game and the first set of 15 min overtime. Then, when all the players were exhausted, in the second 15 min of overtime, Mario Götze secured the winning goal and with that the title of World Champions. This is the fourth time in Soccer history that Germany won the Championship!

It was a sad day for Argentina. They played well, had great chances and showed a lot of effort but this is a game where only one team can win. Second and third place it really not that bad. If your team qualified to play in this competition in the first place – you got to be good.

Now Germany can go on with normal life. I was informed that all the German flags are not out because Germans are so patriotic but only in support of the German Soccer team. They will now be packed away again until the next World Championship in 2018 in Russia. Until then the flags will be replaced with flags of their favorite teams, their regional district or simply decorative flags. I guess that means that our American flag will be the only patriotic country flag proudly waving in the wind on this German Campground.

What is the latest from our new life? We truly enjoy retirement and the simplified lifestyle as long term campers. Our new home is so small that I keep wearing my reading glasses all the time – lol. But no, seriously, it is really cute. We still have a rather unpredictable weather pattern. A mixed bag of beautiful sunshine, storm, heavy rain, thunder storms and currently temperatures lower than desirable for mid of July. The 2000 predicted hours of sunshine on this island must be squeezed into the later part of summer. We do enjoy the fact that we have daylight often with the sun still shining until 9:30/10:00 pm to sit outside. It gets cold as soon as the sun disappears behind the trees.

Our new bikes arrived and are all assembled waiting for a stretch of nice weather to be taken for a ride. The internet is still a big problem. We are in constant contact with the provider but find customer service is terrible. No communication with the customer, no call back, no refund. It is so frustrating to sit and try to connect to the internet again and again. To get disconnected every few minutes or not to be able to connect in the first place. I guess we are rather spoiled with high speed internet connection and 4G service everywhere.

We have very nice neighbors in our little cul-de-sac. One had discovered a rather large wasp nest between his vent cover and the screen. That took some careful action to get it safely removed.  This couple only comes every two weeks for a few days. Others across the way stay all summer or for 3 weeks at a time. Behind our camper, past a wide ditch, we had a large area for tent campers. That usually was a bit rowdy on the weekends. Campground rules though are followed and everybody calms down around 11:00 pm. Now, much of that tent area has been turned into the boat storage area and the weekends are much quieter now.

We went to Burg auf Fehmarn a few times. We biked, walked and also tried the Bürgerbus. This bus runs 3 times a day and is operated by volunteer seniors. It’s just a simple tour bus and costs only €0.50 for people with Ostseekarte (a certain tourist discount card). In town we can shop for pretty much anything we need and, since we don’t need much, we can transport it back home in the baskets of our bikes or carry it to the bus stop.

Last week Wednesday we picked up our new grill. It’s a small 2 burner Broil Master. Noting fancy, nothing big for the two of us. It does have a side burner if needed. We already had a few small gatherings with new friends and everything cooked very well. Since I don’t have a cook stove in my kitchen yet I find it interesting to prepare dinner for a few people on a 2 burner electric stove. For just the two of us it is perfectly fine but for a group of friends one has to become a bit creative. It is possible though in combination of the electric cook top and the large toaster oven we have. End of the month we will be able to install our ceramic cook top and our oven. Another step toward permanent camping in style.

A car is still not one of our desires since we don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time and also, with a little bit of prior planning, public transportation is readily available.

We have spoken to several other camping enthusiasts that stayed at the campground through the winter and it doesn't sound too bad. It’s good to gather some information and pick the brains of people that have been here in winter. All of the people we talked to have/had canvas/heavy tent material camper extensions while ours is a hard shell with plexi glass windows and insulation material in the walls, floor and ceiling. We hear that it could be damp and clammy at night and in the morning. I assume that can be remedied by a steady supply of propane for the heaters. We shall see. I decided to look for a large carpet to keep floor temperatures comfortable and to prevent heat to escape through the floor. Heated mattress pad will also be a must have.

The individual beds in our camper will not work for us long term. They are too narrow. Strangely, they are wider on one side than on the other. It will be an early fall project to replace the bed design with a large sleeping platform, almost the size of a king size bed. Our “living room” space was originally the dinette part of the camper. Not comfortable to sit and watch TV for a few hours. It’s a square U-shaped set-up and it has to go. We are looking at an IKEA Manstad sleeper sofa. It has two seats on one side and a lounger on the other. It should fit in the space and we will still have some bed box storage space. Besides, it will look much nicer.