A German Dinner

The last week of September Glenn and I were hanging out at the park just across from our apartment complex.  There was another mom there and when I heard her talking to her daughter, I knew she wasn't speaking English.  Her daughter and Glenn soon began 'playing' with each other and chasing around.  I saw the mom and really wanted to say something to her, so finally I said something about how kids play.  That sparked a conversation that went really well.  We talked a lot and I found out she had just moved into our apartment complex 3 weeks ago.  She was from Germany and hadn't made any friends here yet.  Paul soon joined us after work and he mentioned this German restaurant in nearby Leesburg that he wanted to try.  We asked if she would be interested in coming with us.  She said yes, and that she had been wanting a little piece of home.  So we set up a dinner date with her family for Friday September 28.  

So Friday evening they followed us to Doner Bistro.

I really hoped that this place would be authentic and that it would be good.  And we got both!

As soon as we walked up to it Melanie, our new German friend, mentioned that the music was German and was very typical of what they would be playing at a place like this in Germany.  

When we walked in and ordered, she began speaking to the lady who owned and operated the restaurant and found out that she and Melanie were from the same part of Germany!  It made me so happy to see her speaking her native tongue and having a good experience.

Paul was super excited to eat a doner.  He had only had them in Germany and from his remembrance, they were kind of small, so he ordered three for our family to share.  Well when they came out, he realized that they were a lot bigger here!  Melanie even noticed that it was "Americanized". : D

They were big and delicious!  It was hard not to get it all over our faces though!  But that just made it all the more fun.  Glenn and the little girl, Maya had fun drawing pictures, eating the food and playing around.  

Glenn took this picture of the inside of the restaurant.  We had our own little cove and spent a couple hours there.  It was nice to get to know this little family better.  We talked about so many things and realized that we had found really good friends.

And since then we have gotten together on many other occasions.  We are so happy to have friends in our apartment complex!  It really is so nice to just walk across the parking lot!