We have a house! Actually, we have a contract for an apartment. But now that we have the contract, I feel comfortable disclosing all the details.
It's the upstairs of a house. The nice middle aged German man who owns the house is a carpenter type who, our housing lady, explained, does "wood ceilings, wood floors and the like." He lives downstairs, so if anything goes wrong, he is there. He also speaks very little English.
(I need to learn more German! The ability to tell him what color my hair is will not be very helpful. Not that I anticipate anyway.)
Our place is 140 square meters. Which is the equivalent of 1500 sq. ft! It's positively enormous by European standards. And it's actually a bit bigger than our house in Rock Island. It's listed as 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 water closet, 1 spare room, 1 balcony. The "water closet" is actually a second bathroom, with a shower bigger than the main bathroom. But it's located outside the main entrance of the apartment.
OK, how to describe...
So, you walk in the front door of the house, to encounter a staircase and another door which leads to the main level apartment. One way goes down to the basement, one way heads upstairs to our apartment. When you walk up to our apartment, the door to the right is the entryway, while a door straight ahead is the "water closet".
The rest of the apartment is fairly standard for Germany. Except, of course, for it's positively enormous size. The kitchen is "built in", which is a good thing. Apparently, in Europe, a kitchen can just be a room to put kitchen stuff like cabinets, ranges, and dishwashers. Our place has them. Complete with a European sized refrigerator. Which, is about half the size of an American fridge. Also, complying with German housing standards......
we have no closets.
Now. To help Americans transition into European living, housing gives you things. We get 3 wardrobes, a larger fridge, and a washer/dryer. (we were concerned with this, but were informed that the hookups are in the bathroom. We are getting euro washer/dryers as the washers don't require a hot water hook up, and the dryers dry by condensation, which, apparently, is lower maintenance.)
We signed an indefinite contract starting 1 August! (Indefinite unless we want to move out with a 3 month notice, or until we PCS and then we have to give 30 days with PCS orders.) Hopefully, my car will arrive by then as well. And until we get our household goods, which are not scheduled to arrive until mid - late August due to all the diversions John went through, housing will also lend us dressers, a couch, 2 easy chairs, a double bed (boo), 2 nightstands, and a dining room set. Then we go to ACS (Army Community Service) and we can choose pots and pans and other kitchen essentials to help until we get our things.
Exciting stuff!
Did I mention how lovely this place is? Large, with windows EVERYWHERE so it has lots of light...very much unlike the Rock Island house. The landlord is fixing things up for us in the meantime. He is repainting, and fixing a few decor issues the last tenant left behind, as well as replacing all the bathroom fixtures in the master bath to make them updated and way better looking. It has great views of the neighboring houses, and slightly overlooks the town.
Oh, the town! We are in a town called Ammerthal (I think!), just outside of Amberg, about 20 km S of Vilseck. It's about a 30 minute drive.
We also got out German cell phones today! It is pretty much for in-the-country use only, and we still plan on getting a stateside number through Vonage soon.
Now, all we really need is another car. We are looking at SUV/Crossover type vehicles like the Volvo XC 90 or even a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The BMWs are a bit pricier than we want to pay, but are looking at those as well.
Actually, I would also love real food. Living out of a hotel has gotten quite old, quite fast. Our meals choices include Charley's subs, Subway, Burger King, Anthony's Pizza, Popeye's chicken, or this sad Tex Mex place on post called "Tumbleweeds." Of course, there is also anything we can store/make in our hotel room, like convenience soups, cereal, or sandwiches.
I'm telling you know, if Panera and/or Chipotle opened up here, they would make a mint. There is need for more variety of fresher tasting food.
OK, I'm off to figure out my new phone....which was an adventure in itself trying to figure out if we wanted a German contract or a prepaid phone. We settled on prepaid phone with internet options, as German phone contracts are almost iron clad, impossible to get out of, and automatically renew if you don't cancel at the end of two years.
Good times. Pictures soon!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Library fears
I have a confession to make.
I have been afraid of libraries since my senior year in high school.
It's not a pathological fear, or even very reasonable. And I will explain why.
My senior year English class rocked. I had Mr. Stough, who was and remains one of my all time favorite teachers. One project he set forth was to pick a topic from a list he passed around and write a 10 page paper on this topic. This project was completely optional, but it would set your grade back one letter grade if you opted out of it. If you have a B in the class, and you do well, you could get an A. If you do poorly, you will keep your B. If you don't turn it in, you drop to a C.
He introduced this project at the beginning of the semester and said it was not due until the end. At the beginning of the semester, I was all pumped to get things done! I picked a topic off of the list, and set out to prepare. I believe my topic was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was something I didn't know much about, even in legend form, and wanted to know more about. And set out to our local library and checked out two books on the topic.
And then my senior year really started.
And I put things off.
And I put things off even more.
I never. even. cracked. either. book.
And then I just decided to take the grade cut. I walked back to talk to Mr. Stough, who calculated my grade. It was excellent. An A. Taking off points for not turning in the paper, I still had an A. BUT, the deal was that I had to accept a lower grade, so he bumped me to a B. I still liked him though. He was efficient, funny and fair.
ANYWAY, I finally, sheepishly, and under the cover of darkness, returned the books I had checked out via the book drop.
For I had never bothered to recheck them out. I just kept them. I was terrified of the late fees.
And ever since then, I felt a sincere anxiety when going into my local library, afraid they would recognize me, throw me against the wall, and shake me upside down until all of my money shook loose to the floor. They would then inform me that I owed $700 more in compounded late fees.
This, of course, never happened. I would occasionally scurry in and out to pick up some tax forms, somehow feeling successful in "getting away with it". They hadn't caught me yet.
I felt OK with my university libraries. They, obviously, didn't know the scoundrel I was and issued me license to use their facility whilst enrolled in school.
But the local libraries throughout the Denver Metro Area...they all talked to each other. My palms sweat whenever I walk in, daring to use public computers or meet with a community group, but never daring to check out another book or resource, hesitant to talk to a librarian in case my picture was on a "Most Wanted" poster behind the desk. I'm convinced I'm still in their system, $10,000 of compounded late fees later.
However, I never did receive a statement.
Anyway, the Army has a network of libraries throughout Germany. Oh My, how far library technology has come! We can check out our own books using the simple computer! After visiting the library here on post, and successfully creating an account, I checked out a book. And my fear diminished.
However, I do have a new last name. Maybe a new alias is all I need to start enjoying the simple pleasures of a library once more.
I have been afraid of libraries since my senior year in high school.
It's not a pathological fear, or even very reasonable. And I will explain why.
My senior year English class rocked. I had Mr. Stough, who was and remains one of my all time favorite teachers. One project he set forth was to pick a topic from a list he passed around and write a 10 page paper on this topic. This project was completely optional, but it would set your grade back one letter grade if you opted out of it. If you have a B in the class, and you do well, you could get an A. If you do poorly, you will keep your B. If you don't turn it in, you drop to a C.
He introduced this project at the beginning of the semester and said it was not due until the end. At the beginning of the semester, I was all pumped to get things done! I picked a topic off of the list, and set out to prepare. I believe my topic was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was something I didn't know much about, even in legend form, and wanted to know more about. And set out to our local library and checked out two books on the topic.
And then my senior year really started.
And I put things off.
And I put things off even more.
I never. even. cracked. either. book.
And then I just decided to take the grade cut. I walked back to talk to Mr. Stough, who calculated my grade. It was excellent. An A. Taking off points for not turning in the paper, I still had an A. BUT, the deal was that I had to accept a lower grade, so he bumped me to a B. I still liked him though. He was efficient, funny and fair.
ANYWAY, I finally, sheepishly, and under the cover of darkness, returned the books I had checked out via the book drop.
For I had never bothered to recheck them out. I just kept them. I was terrified of the late fees.
And ever since then, I felt a sincere anxiety when going into my local library, afraid they would recognize me, throw me against the wall, and shake me upside down until all of my money shook loose to the floor. They would then inform me that I owed $700 more in compounded late fees.
This, of course, never happened. I would occasionally scurry in and out to pick up some tax forms, somehow feeling successful in "getting away with it". They hadn't caught me yet.
I felt OK with my university libraries. They, obviously, didn't know the scoundrel I was and issued me license to use their facility whilst enrolled in school.
But the local libraries throughout the Denver Metro Area...they all talked to each other. My palms sweat whenever I walk in, daring to use public computers or meet with a community group, but never daring to check out another book or resource, hesitant to talk to a librarian in case my picture was on a "Most Wanted" poster behind the desk. I'm convinced I'm still in their system, $10,000 of compounded late fees later.
However, I never did receive a statement.
Anyway, the Army has a network of libraries throughout Germany. Oh My, how far library technology has come! We can check out our own books using the simple computer! After visiting the library here on post, and successfully creating an account, I checked out a book. And my fear diminished.
However, I do have a new last name. Maybe a new alias is all I need to start enjoying the simple pleasures of a library once more.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Dorm life
Suddenly, it feels like we have been here for months. I keep reminding myself it's really only been 4 days.
And I kind of feel like I did when I moved into the dorms way back in my freshman year at CU.
We live in a small room.
We walk everywhere - especially for food.
We have a mini fridge and microwave and have small meals in the room. About once per day.
There are young punks everywhere.
There is a huge sense of community.
The scheduled orientation....
So yeah, a bit like college.
Except....
My roommate and I share a bed instead of bunks.
We can have pets!
Soldiers run by our window in the morning chanting cadence.
About 80% of people who walk by us in uniform salute my husband.
We are old farts compared to the young punks. (Man, I cannot BELIEVE how young some of these soldiers look! Then I remind myself they are trained in weapons and heavy artillery and it blows my mind.)
Speaking of weapons and artillery...we can often hear gunfire from the shooting ranges and training ground. That, too, is a bit different from my freshman year at CU.
The emergency sirens are European, and every time the MP or an ambulance drives by with the sirens on, I'm reminded of an action movie that takes place in Europe like "The Bourne Identity" or "The DaVinci Code".
I was bummed yesterday when I learned our "headstart" program was cancelled. It was a cool program to teach us German customs, conversational language and other integrating nuggets of info. It has been cancelled due to lack of funds. Bummer dude.
However, we did get some good info today. Housing is just impossible right now. There are so few places to rent, and no availability for houses on post. I was starting to think we might be in this hotel room for an awfully long time. When we stopped by housing today, they said they have a place for us! Because we have no children, we have a few more options outside the school bus routes that families with kids do not like...as they would have to drive their kidlets to school and back everyday. It's a 30 min drive.
The landlord was not available today, but we hope to see the place tomorrow. Our housing rep is going to drive us down there! It's an apartment house type of place. The landlord lives downstairs, we would live upstairs. It's about 1500 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, full kitchen. And he will accept a cat. The downside is, it's a bit far, but to find housing so fast is almost unheard of, so if there are no major issues with the place, and we can work out other details, I think we should have a lease soon.
The "other details" include:
If we move in sooner than later, we will need a car. Our car shouldn't be here until 1 Aug. Can we rent one on John's International Driver's Permit? (this should be a yes, but will be critical as John needs a way to get to work)
Will we be able to get loaner furniture as our household goods (HHG) are not scheduled to be here until mid August? (thanks to all the diversions.)
Can we sign a lease starting 1 Aug? (more helpful as we could stay in the hotel until then.)
If we have to sign a lease for an earlier time, can we still stay in the hotel until 1 Aug? (not sure about this...I'm pretty sure once we have a lease, they're going to want their hotel room back as the hotel is at max capacity.)
John just walked in with more good news! There is a fest on Thursday! Apparently put on by the squadron. Also, John had joined a Calvary squadron. This means they wear stetsons and spurs on Fridays.
He is just off to get fitted for his stetson.
I'm super excited to see him wearing it.
And I kind of feel like I did when I moved into the dorms way back in my freshman year at CU.
We live in a small room.
We walk everywhere - especially for food.
We have a mini fridge and microwave and have small meals in the room. About once per day.
There are young punks everywhere.
There is a huge sense of community.
The scheduled orientation....
So yeah, a bit like college.
Except....
My roommate and I share a bed instead of bunks.
We can have pets!
Soldiers run by our window in the morning chanting cadence.
About 80% of people who walk by us in uniform salute my husband.
We are old farts compared to the young punks. (Man, I cannot BELIEVE how young some of these soldiers look! Then I remind myself they are trained in weapons and heavy artillery and it blows my mind.)
Speaking of weapons and artillery...we can often hear gunfire from the shooting ranges and training ground. That, too, is a bit different from my freshman year at CU.
The emergency sirens are European, and every time the MP or an ambulance drives by with the sirens on, I'm reminded of an action movie that takes place in Europe like "The Bourne Identity" or "The DaVinci Code".
I was bummed yesterday when I learned our "headstart" program was cancelled. It was a cool program to teach us German customs, conversational language and other integrating nuggets of info. It has been cancelled due to lack of funds. Bummer dude.
However, we did get some good info today. Housing is just impossible right now. There are so few places to rent, and no availability for houses on post. I was starting to think we might be in this hotel room for an awfully long time. When we stopped by housing today, they said they have a place for us! Because we have no children, we have a few more options outside the school bus routes that families with kids do not like...as they would have to drive their kidlets to school and back everyday. It's a 30 min drive.
The landlord was not available today, but we hope to see the place tomorrow. Our housing rep is going to drive us down there! It's an apartment house type of place. The landlord lives downstairs, we would live upstairs. It's about 1500 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, full kitchen. And he will accept a cat. The downside is, it's a bit far, but to find housing so fast is almost unheard of, so if there are no major issues with the place, and we can work out other details, I think we should have a lease soon.
The "other details" include:
If we move in sooner than later, we will need a car. Our car shouldn't be here until 1 Aug. Can we rent one on John's International Driver's Permit? (this should be a yes, but will be critical as John needs a way to get to work)
Will we be able to get loaner furniture as our household goods (HHG) are not scheduled to be here until mid August? (thanks to all the diversions.)
Can we sign a lease starting 1 Aug? (more helpful as we could stay in the hotel until then.)
If we have to sign a lease for an earlier time, can we still stay in the hotel until 1 Aug? (not sure about this...I'm pretty sure once we have a lease, they're going to want their hotel room back as the hotel is at max capacity.)
John just walked in with more good news! There is a fest on Thursday! Apparently put on by the squadron. Also, John had joined a Calvary squadron. This means they wear stetsons and spurs on Fridays.
He is just off to get fitted for his stetson.
I'm super excited to see him wearing it.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Discombobulated
I'm just a little discombobulated at the moment. Jet lag will get ya.
I thought I had it nipped, but then we slept until 11 am without blinking an eye...after being up from 2-5 am, of course.
So, in an effort to not fall asleep this afternoon, I'll do a quick bulleted post then go for a walk.
First, quickly, blogger is wanting to spell check my entire post with German words.
That won't be very helpful in the future.
-we have been redirected to Vilseck! Apparently, they figured out that John was more senior to another dude, and they switched him to Heidelberg. I believe we actually met him at the airport. He thought he was going to Vilseck, but hadn't checked his AKO account in 2 weeks. Considering this happened 10 days ago, it was missed. Funny - John was checking his AKO every morning as early as possible to be able to be in the know with all the updates.
Being notified 8 days before we flew that we were being diverted - again - was adventurous. We still need to contact the transportation office to let them know to re-redirect our HHG and car back to Vilseck/Graf area. We didn't get amended orders until we landed in Frankfurt.
-the flight was good. We didn't get upgraded, but we were near the front of the plane. Well, the front of economy class. Near the door. We also had to pay baggage fees. (we will get reimbursed since we were flying on orders.) However, Lufthansa provides wine with dinner. Free wine! We each had three glasses. Now that I have been freaking parched for 2 days, I'm not sure it was the best choice, no matter the level of relaxation it provided. I cannot get enough water! I was in an aisle seat and John sat across the aisle. There was no one sitting next to either of us, so we had some room to put things. In the window seat next to me, sat a quiet man with the biggest 'fro I have ever seen. The curls in his long hair sat about 4 inches off his head. I'm pretty sure I would have been jealous of that hair if it were longer. It had so much body! My only gripe was that he refused to open his window when we landed and was sleeping instead. I was getting a bit airsick because I could feel the plane banking, but could not orient myself with the ground. I had to rely on other windows. It's not really the same.
-Customs was easy and quick. We had no issues getting Otis. He was not happy and yowling when I picked him up. He calmed down when he could get out of his carrier and eat and pee. He's even happier now that he doesn't have to wear a collar. I also think he's bored hold up in this hotel room. Hopefully we're out before the 30 days.
-We have lots of in-processing to do.
-And language learning.
-We have a smallish but efficient hotel room with a microwave and mini fridge.
-I have taken a few pictures. But John's computer doesn't read my card. And I believe I packed the transfer cord.
-It doesn't feel like we live here. It feels like we are on vacation. I kept dreading the return flight while on the incoming flight. Then I remembered that that flight won't occur for a good long while. It also doesn't seem like 2 days since we left. It seems like we've been here a total of 8 hours.
And yet, I'm definitely ready to find a house. And receive my car! So much to do, so much to do....
I thought I had it nipped, but then we slept until 11 am without blinking an eye...after being up from 2-5 am, of course.
So, in an effort to not fall asleep this afternoon, I'll do a quick bulleted post then go for a walk.
First, quickly, blogger is wanting to spell check my entire post with German words.
That won't be very helpful in the future.
-we have been redirected to Vilseck! Apparently, they figured out that John was more senior to another dude, and they switched him to Heidelberg. I believe we actually met him at the airport. He thought he was going to Vilseck, but hadn't checked his AKO account in 2 weeks. Considering this happened 10 days ago, it was missed. Funny - John was checking his AKO every morning as early as possible to be able to be in the know with all the updates.
Being notified 8 days before we flew that we were being diverted - again - was adventurous. We still need to contact the transportation office to let them know to re-redirect our HHG and car back to Vilseck/Graf area. We didn't get amended orders until we landed in Frankfurt.
-the flight was good. We didn't get upgraded, but we were near the front of the plane. Well, the front of economy class. Near the door. We also had to pay baggage fees. (we will get reimbursed since we were flying on orders.) However, Lufthansa provides wine with dinner. Free wine! We each had three glasses. Now that I have been freaking parched for 2 days, I'm not sure it was the best choice, no matter the level of relaxation it provided. I cannot get enough water! I was in an aisle seat and John sat across the aisle. There was no one sitting next to either of us, so we had some room to put things. In the window seat next to me, sat a quiet man with the biggest 'fro I have ever seen. The curls in his long hair sat about 4 inches off his head. I'm pretty sure I would have been jealous of that hair if it were longer. It had so much body! My only gripe was that he refused to open his window when we landed and was sleeping instead. I was getting a bit airsick because I could feel the plane banking, but could not orient myself with the ground. I had to rely on other windows. It's not really the same.
-Customs was easy and quick. We had no issues getting Otis. He was not happy and yowling when I picked him up. He calmed down when he could get out of his carrier and eat and pee. He's even happier now that he doesn't have to wear a collar. I also think he's bored hold up in this hotel room. Hopefully we're out before the 30 days.
-We have lots of in-processing to do.
-And language learning.
-We have a smallish but efficient hotel room with a microwave and mini fridge.
-I have taken a few pictures. But John's computer doesn't read my card. And I believe I packed the transfer cord.
-It doesn't feel like we live here. It feels like we are on vacation. I kept dreading the return flight while on the incoming flight. Then I remembered that that flight won't occur for a good long while. It also doesn't seem like 2 days since we left. It seems like we've been here a total of 8 hours.
And yet, I'm definitely ready to find a house. And receive my car! So much to do, so much to do....
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
From a different homestead
Well, we are in Colorado for the time being. We successfully sorted out our things into five sections: Unaccompanied baggage, Non-temp storage, household goods, donation, and trash.
OK, I say "successfully" tongue in cheek. I think there are things that got packed up that shouldn't have. Like an oil candle I had. But the packers packed it before I remembered it wasn't supposed to go. Just like our house cleaning contract. Luckily, the Housing office was relaxed about it, verified the amount agreed to with our cleaning person, and all was well. Isn't unpacking things and seeing how the shipment turned out part of the fun??
At least I didn't have to pack everything. While I appreciated having everything removed from shelves, wrapped up, put in boxes, loaded onto a truck and sealed into crates in ONE DAY (for household goods anyway), it was frustrating too because the ladies who were delegated to pack our things were terrible. They were slow, they were always on their phone, and the movers had to take frequent breaks because they were always waiting on them. They also delayed our ability to clear post on Wed. It was no big deal to clear on Thursday, as we were still a day ahead of time, but it meant getting into Colorado at 1 am instead of a nice 7 pm.
Yes, we decided driving would be better. We could take more things without paying huge penalties for overweight and excessive baggage on a one way ticket...with extra charges for a cat. The military will reimburse us for travel charges for getting to our next duty station, but not to get to our leave destination, which is what CO would be. And, we can take all of these things without extra charges (aside from the cat) on our flight to Frankfurt as airlines allow more weight and bags for military personnel and dependents flying on orders.
The plus side is, we discovered Otis is actually a really good traveler! He mainly slept in his crate, even though the door was open and chilled. He got out to look around when we stopped for gas and even peed in his litter box when we were on the on ramp to I-80! (Something I imagined took some balance and coordination as the on ramp curved ever so slightly and we were accelerating.) The only part Otis *really* DID NOT like was the storm. Just past North Platte, NE until Ogallala, NE we hit a mother of a storm. Luckily, there was no tornado activity. We had been tracking it on the radio as well. We happened to drive west into it as it was moving east on a stretch of I-80 that is down to 2 lanes in opposite directions. They estimated it dropped 4" of rain an HOUR. With hail. We were going 25 mph. It was the longest 11 miles on I-80 EVER.
And Otis was also letting us know he was displeased with the situation. He yoooowwwwwled and yowled and yowled and yowled. It was loud. At first, we didn't even hear him. Poor widdle kitten, it hurt his widdle ears! After that he was OK. Just restless for the last hour of the trip. He was ready to be out of the car. As were we.
It didn't help that we were pulled over outside of Sterling, CO. Luckily, we weren't going too far over the speed limit, and the officer was sympathetic that we were now "homeless" en route to our next duty station.
If all that wasn't enough excitement, we found out the week of our shipments, the week of our move, right after a Hail and Farewell ceremony, that we didn't have a forwarding address in Germany because our sponsor had heard we were being diverted.
wwwhhhHHAAAAAA?
After several days of phone calls and emails to G1 (a military equivalent to HR), the outgoing LTC, as well as several numbers overseas to the unit - who is currently on block leave and have very few people available, and even fewer with any helpful insight - we discovered that USAREUR (don't ask me what it stands for exactly) is pulling John to work at G4 headquarters. In Heidelberg.
Heidelberg is on the west side of Germany, closer to France.
Upon hearing this news, EVERYONE exclaimed how lucky we are because Heidelberg is GORGEOUS and WONDERFUL!
Here is what it comes down to:
Pros:
Closer to Western European countries for ease of travel
ability to explore more of Germany
I am back on concurrent travel and will fly with John instead of waiting for him to get there and find a house.
I can do the in-processing thing with him as I have never done it before
More housing availability, choices and sizes
No gray area for Otis's paperwork.
Pretty sure John was selected for this job because he's a rockstar.
Cons:
This is not a KD job. He needs a KD job to proceed in his career path.
He needs to politically maneuver his way to only be there for a year and then maybe go to Vilseck (or other KD job) without ruffling feathers or being the complainer guy who doesn't really want to be doing his job.
One extra move instead of moving there, then moving back.
Being last minute and changing ALL plans already made in preparation for moving to Vilseck.
Aside from that...it should be fun!
Remember my post when I first announced that we are "(for now) moving to Vilseck!" and I explained that the "for now" part is because the Army likes to change it's mind?
See, I wasn't lying.
As always, I'm along for the ride.
OK, I say "successfully" tongue in cheek. I think there are things that got packed up that shouldn't have. Like an oil candle I had. But the packers packed it before I remembered it wasn't supposed to go. Just like our house cleaning contract. Luckily, the Housing office was relaxed about it, verified the amount agreed to with our cleaning person, and all was well. Isn't unpacking things and seeing how the shipment turned out part of the fun??
At least I didn't have to pack everything. While I appreciated having everything removed from shelves, wrapped up, put in boxes, loaded onto a truck and sealed into crates in ONE DAY (for household goods anyway), it was frustrating too because the ladies who were delegated to pack our things were terrible. They were slow, they were always on their phone, and the movers had to take frequent breaks because they were always waiting on them. They also delayed our ability to clear post on Wed. It was no big deal to clear on Thursday, as we were still a day ahead of time, but it meant getting into Colorado at 1 am instead of a nice 7 pm.
Yes, we decided driving would be better. We could take more things without paying huge penalties for overweight and excessive baggage on a one way ticket...with extra charges for a cat. The military will reimburse us for travel charges for getting to our next duty station, but not to get to our leave destination, which is what CO would be. And, we can take all of these things without extra charges (aside from the cat) on our flight to Frankfurt as airlines allow more weight and bags for military personnel and dependents flying on orders.
The plus side is, we discovered Otis is actually a really good traveler! He mainly slept in his crate, even though the door was open and chilled. He got out to look around when we stopped for gas and even peed in his litter box when we were on the on ramp to I-80! (Something I imagined took some balance and coordination as the on ramp curved ever so slightly and we were accelerating.) The only part Otis *really* DID NOT like was the storm. Just past North Platte, NE until Ogallala, NE we hit a mother of a storm. Luckily, there was no tornado activity. We had been tracking it on the radio as well. We happened to drive west into it as it was moving east on a stretch of I-80 that is down to 2 lanes in opposite directions. They estimated it dropped 4" of rain an HOUR. With hail. We were going 25 mph. It was the longest 11 miles on I-80 EVER.
And Otis was also letting us know he was displeased with the situation. He yoooowwwwwled and yowled and yowled and yowled. It was loud. At first, we didn't even hear him. Poor widdle kitten, it hurt his widdle ears! After that he was OK. Just restless for the last hour of the trip. He was ready to be out of the car. As were we.
It didn't help that we were pulled over outside of Sterling, CO. Luckily, we weren't going too far over the speed limit, and the officer was sympathetic that we were now "homeless" en route to our next duty station.
If all that wasn't enough excitement, we found out the week of our shipments, the week of our move, right after a Hail and Farewell ceremony, that we didn't have a forwarding address in Germany because our sponsor had heard we were being diverted.
wwwhhhHHAAAAAA?
After several days of phone calls and emails to G1 (a military equivalent to HR), the outgoing LTC, as well as several numbers overseas to the unit - who is currently on block leave and have very few people available, and even fewer with any helpful insight - we discovered that USAREUR (don't ask me what it stands for exactly) is pulling John to work at G4 headquarters. In Heidelberg.
Heidelberg is on the west side of Germany, closer to France.
Upon hearing this news, EVERYONE exclaimed how lucky we are because Heidelberg is GORGEOUS and WONDERFUL!
Here is what it comes down to:
Pros:
Closer to Western European countries for ease of travel
ability to explore more of Germany
I am back on concurrent travel and will fly with John instead of waiting for him to get there and find a house.
I can do the in-processing thing with him as I have never done it before
More housing availability, choices and sizes
No gray area for Otis's paperwork.
Pretty sure John was selected for this job because he's a rockstar.
Cons:
This is not a KD job. He needs a KD job to proceed in his career path.
He needs to politically maneuver his way to only be there for a year and then maybe go to Vilseck (or other KD job) without ruffling feathers or being the complainer guy who doesn't really want to be doing his job.
One extra move instead of moving there, then moving back.
Being last minute and changing ALL plans already made in preparation for moving to Vilseck.
Aside from that...it should be fun!
Remember my post when I first announced that we are "(for now) moving to Vilseck!" and I explained that the "for now" part is because the Army likes to change it's mind?
See, I wasn't lying.
As always, I'm along for the ride.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Anxiety
I always have a low level of anxiety when I run out of something in the fridge or pantry. I run to the list to make sure it gets picked up on the next trip to the commissary of grocery store. If it's a popular item, I make sure it's on the list the minute it reaches the magical level of what I deem to be "low".
This really does not explain the amount of times I have run out or not had a particular item mid-recipe.
But it may explain the anxiety.
So these days, I'm consistently torn between relief of using up an item, and not having enough of it.
We're trying to clean out the fridge and freezer, see. We will be in this house just a little over a week more, moving to a hotel next Monday, I believe.
(We still need to find a hotel that accepts pets. Not that they aren't out there. We just haven't looked. Yet.)
A lot of what we don't use will get trashed. Or donated to neighbors. Or donated to a food bank. Or (in the case of liquor) brought to my folks house.
My computer will start it's journey overseas on Thursday, so I may be a bit MIA thereafter. More than usual.
This really does not explain the amount of times I have run out or not had a particular item mid-recipe.
But it may explain the anxiety.
So these days, I'm consistently torn between relief of using up an item, and not having enough of it.
We're trying to clean out the fridge and freezer, see. We will be in this house just a little over a week more, moving to a hotel next Monday, I believe.
(We still need to find a hotel that accepts pets. Not that they aren't out there. We just haven't looked. Yet.)
A lot of what we don't use will get trashed. Or donated to neighbors. Or donated to a food bank. Or (in the case of liquor) brought to my folks house.
My computer will start it's journey overseas on Thursday, so I may be a bit MIA thereafter. More than usual.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Connections
I wouldn't say I had a "typical" army spouse experience thus far. I don't feel like I have anyway, but I'm not sure there is a definition of a "typical" army spouse experience.
My experience, so far, entails
-marrying later in life, far after college, or even high school
-not living near an army post until I lived ON an army post
-living on an army post that is about 1000 sq. miles on an island in the Mississippi River. It's a bit small compared to most other posts, and the civilian employees FAR outweigh the active duty service members.
-of the active duty population, there is a high proportion of senior ranking officials.
I know a lot of spouses who have known their military husbands (usually officers) since college and were married shortly after, and sometimes before, they were commissioned. They have been a part of their husbands' career from Day 1. (I don't mean to leave out Army husbands and focus on Army wives, I just haven't met any recently with wives who are still active duty.)
I met John when we were both well into our careers. (something I have had to put on hold, myself) I never lived in the same town as he did. We opted to commute back and forth from Denver to Colorado Springs when he was stationed there. I visited, we socialized, but a lot of the time was reserved for spending time together. I was never a part of his company's FRG when he was in command. His 1SG's wife handled that. Apparently it was a high drama filled FRG. But drama runs high during deployments anyway.
I was in a different state when he was the CG's Aide de Camp. It was apparently better that I wasn't around because, with his schedule, neither was he.
So I'm new to Army life in general. And now I live on post. Oh, and by the way, I learned a little too late that you stop and stand and face the flag during retreat. Do you know why I never knew? With the civilian population so large here, almost NO ONE does this. People don't even pull over on the road. I had no clue until I was with John and he got out of the car and stood at attention to face the flag.
So my point, (I'm getting to it, I promise), is that it's harder than I thought it would be to make connections. Don't get me wrong, I have loved being with my husband and getting acquainted with the idea that it's normal to see each other every day. But I have few friends. I have gotten involved with the FRG and the Welcome Club. (formally the Women's Club. However a new lady general is coming to town and her husband is one of the aforementioned Army husbands and gets very involved in the spouses groups.) I have friends I go to lunch with. I have neighbors that I wave and chat with. I have neighbors that I run in the door when I see them coming, too. But I don't really have anyone in a similar stage in life, in a similar stage of an army career, that I can relate to.
But in this community, it's been tough. I have heard it referred to as "inbred." People are born here, they go to school here, they get a job with John Deere or the Arsenal (generation after generation works here), and they die here. Everyone knows everyone else. The people that change are the active duty military.
The FRG is tiny. People are reluctant to get involved. Most people are older. (The Command Surgeon's wife runs it. It's commanded by a CPT but the wife of a COL is running our FRG.) I also hear rumors of spouse and family services here being a shadow of what you will find at other posts. The civilians are very much comfortable with their own processes and aren't used to dealing with active duty issues.
I have made very good connections with some generals' wives. But they don't socialize regularly unless it's with each other. Or within the realms of the social groups. I don't blame them. It seems to follow a "that's the way that it is" notion. It wouldn't really matter if they did anyway...I wouldn't be able to relate to them in the way that I'm seeking.
So. Back in March, a new CPT showed up to take command of the company on post. The company our FRG is attached to. He and his wife are younger, have no kids, and are just funny and cool people. (Others we have met in this criteria have a touch of whackadoo in them.) We hung out with them a few times in social situations and had a blast.
And now we're moving.
And there's also the small annoying fact that when it's not a social situation, the good CPT will address me as "Ma'am". Always in front of John, who outranks him. For one event we had, we were joking around in the preparation process, and then John arrived and then he started calling me "Ma'am."
"Hey, do you have the tape?"
"Right here, Ma'am."
It's a sign of respect, I know. It's more of a sign of respect for John's rank, I know.
But it still drives me up a wall. Luckily I can still easily chat with his wife without risking being called "Ma'am." hehehehe
It will be interesting to get into a military community at the Battalion level again. For me, anyway. I need to experience being on a more active duty centered post. Meet more spouses. Make some new friends. Connect.
Germany holds lots of adventures for us.
My experience, so far, entails
-marrying later in life, far after college, or even high school
-not living near an army post until I lived ON an army post
-living on an army post that is about 1000 sq. miles on an island in the Mississippi River. It's a bit small compared to most other posts, and the civilian employees FAR outweigh the active duty service members.
-of the active duty population, there is a high proportion of senior ranking officials.
I know a lot of spouses who have known their military husbands (usually officers) since college and were married shortly after, and sometimes before, they were commissioned. They have been a part of their husbands' career from Day 1. (I don't mean to leave out Army husbands and focus on Army wives, I just haven't met any recently with wives who are still active duty.)
I met John when we were both well into our careers. (something I have had to put on hold, myself) I never lived in the same town as he did. We opted to commute back and forth from Denver to Colorado Springs when he was stationed there. I visited, we socialized, but a lot of the time was reserved for spending time together. I was never a part of his company's FRG when he was in command. His 1SG's wife handled that. Apparently it was a high drama filled FRG. But drama runs high during deployments anyway.
I was in a different state when he was the CG's Aide de Camp. It was apparently better that I wasn't around because, with his schedule, neither was he.
So I'm new to Army life in general. And now I live on post. Oh, and by the way, I learned a little too late that you stop and stand and face the flag during retreat. Do you know why I never knew? With the civilian population so large here, almost NO ONE does this. People don't even pull over on the road. I had no clue until I was with John and he got out of the car and stood at attention to face the flag.
So my point, (I'm getting to it, I promise), is that it's harder than I thought it would be to make connections. Don't get me wrong, I have loved being with my husband and getting acquainted with the idea that it's normal to see each other every day. But I have few friends. I have gotten involved with the FRG and the Welcome Club. (formally the Women's Club. However a new lady general is coming to town and her husband is one of the aforementioned Army husbands and gets very involved in the spouses groups.) I have friends I go to lunch with. I have neighbors that I wave and chat with. I have neighbors that I run in the door when I see them coming, too. But I don't really have anyone in a similar stage in life, in a similar stage of an army career, that I can relate to.
But in this community, it's been tough. I have heard it referred to as "inbred." People are born here, they go to school here, they get a job with John Deere or the Arsenal (generation after generation works here), and they die here. Everyone knows everyone else. The people that change are the active duty military.
The FRG is tiny. People are reluctant to get involved. Most people are older. (The Command Surgeon's wife runs it. It's commanded by a CPT but the wife of a COL is running our FRG.) I also hear rumors of spouse and family services here being a shadow of what you will find at other posts. The civilians are very much comfortable with their own processes and aren't used to dealing with active duty issues.
I have made very good connections with some generals' wives. But they don't socialize regularly unless it's with each other. Or within the realms of the social groups. I don't blame them. It seems to follow a "that's the way that it is" notion. It wouldn't really matter if they did anyway...I wouldn't be able to relate to them in the way that I'm seeking.
So. Back in March, a new CPT showed up to take command of the company on post. The company our FRG is attached to. He and his wife are younger, have no kids, and are just funny and cool people. (Others we have met in this criteria have a touch of whackadoo in them.) We hung out with them a few times in social situations and had a blast.
And now we're moving.
And there's also the small annoying fact that when it's not a social situation, the good CPT will address me as "Ma'am". Always in front of John, who outranks him. For one event we had, we were joking around in the preparation process, and then John arrived and then he started calling me "Ma'am."
"Hey, do you have the tape?"
"Right here, Ma'am."
It's a sign of respect, I know. It's more of a sign of respect for John's rank, I know.
But it still drives me up a wall. Luckily I can still easily chat with his wife without risking being called "Ma'am." hehehehe
It will be interesting to get into a military community at the Battalion level again. For me, anyway. I need to experience being on a more active duty centered post. Meet more spouses. Make some new friends. Connect.
Germany holds lots of adventures for us.
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