Settling In

Hi Everyone,

I've now finished three weeks here in Germany and I have to say that I love it here.  I'm freezing my butt off, but I much prefer it to melting my face off like I was in Arizona.  I haven't traveled anywhere yet other than a quick trip to Trier (half hour away) and Ramstein AB (hour away).  I'm still waiting for my car to get here, which should be in about a month, and then I can start exploring.

I have found a place to live, it's in Huttingen an der Kyll.  It's a three bedroom, 1200 square meters apartment.  It's right next to the river Kyll and right across the river from the house is the train station.  The landlords (owners) live in a house right across the courtyard and they seem extremely nice.  The former tenants, also military, loved living there.  It has heated floors and a very open floor plan (which is very unusual in Germany).  The kitchen is a really good size and even has an island (also very unusual).  It also comes with a garage and a large storage room behind the garage (also unusual).  I think I lucked out finding this place and am pretty sure I'll be very happy.  I move in November 1st.

I've been to German restaurants a couple of times now and here's what I've noticed that is different from American restaurants.  First of all, don't expect to come in and be served right away.  If you need a place that's fast, don't go to a restaurant.  Here they expect you to take your time and socialize with who you came with.  So they don't bother you for awhile when you get here and they take their time getting you the food and then getting you your bill at the end.  Expect to spend several hours at a restaurant here.  Also, each restaurant has it's own unique house salad and dressing.  Each restaurant I've been to has had a different kind of lettuce for the salad and different toppings.  The dressings are yogurt based and are very good.

Trier was very nice.  I love all the different buildings in the "walkplatz" area in the center of town near the Porta Nigra (Black Gate).  Very colorful and busy.  The day I went they had a band playing in the courtyard, they had a children's activity area, and many street vendors.  All the shops were also open.  It was on a Sunday and they only open the shops one Sunday a month.

Everyone goes to Ramstein AB to do their shopping for items other than basic needs items.  The BX (Base Exchange) is actually part of a "mall" they built here.  It consists of the BX (huge), a food court, a movie theatre, and about 30 other shops.  Most people though shop online a lot too or wait till they go back to the states, especially for clothes.

Need to go back to work now, I'll post more soon.

Welcome to Germany

Well, I have finally arrived at Spangdahlem, Germany. The flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco went very well. They even had a little dog park to the side of the terminal where I could take Blitz outside to take care of business. On the other hand, the flight to Frankfurt was miserable. When I first got on board I tried to put Blitz under the seat as required but there was a video box under all seats so of course he couldn't fit all the way so that meant I had very little leg room. Then to top it off I discovered that my seat was broken and could not recline. So when the guy in front of me put his chair back and I couldn't put mine back that meant I had very little space. So between that and the restricted leg room I was feeling very cramped and my legs and feet were hurting pretty badly by the end of the flight. Also because of this I got no sleep except a few minutes here and there so I was up for a total of 33 hours straight by the time I went to bed.

This morning I started checking in and getting paperwork done including an I.D. Only to find out that I'm not in the system yet and that it could take a couple of days. So that means I can't go to the base stores without my sponsor with me. I feel bad because it's taking so much of her time. I still have yet to go to my school yet but I will be going in tomorrow morning.

It's very beautiful here and my sponsor, Andee, will be taking me around the little villages outside the base to get an idea of what they're like so that I know when I start looking for an apartment/house to rent.

My temporary living apartment is just as big as my apt back in the states and is on the first floor with a very nice balcony and within walking distance to the school.

More to come soon. As soon as I can use the stores I can buy an adaptor to upload pictures so I will be posting some soon.

The Countdown Begins

Soooooo.....Today is Tuesday and tomorrow is my last day teaching at Amberlea.  The principal came in to tell my class that I was leaving and to let them know that the teacher who had been helping me all day was now going to be their new teacher.  It was very sad because a few students started to cry. (Made me feel bad.)  Several more kept asking me why I said yes to take the job.  I told them that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you can't just turn those opportunities down, but I don't think they really understood.

The next few days will be a whirlwind.  Tomorrow morning I take Blitz to get his rabies shot and health certificate and I also have to get another fingerprint card done for some reason so I have to drive to Tempe again.  Then I'll go back to school for the afternoon and finalize things there.

Thursday I drive to Tempe again (maybe I should wait to do the fingerprint card then, hmmm) to get all the paperwork signed off for Blitz to be able to go with me to Germany and then I head over to Luke AFB to meet with TMO who will take care of sending my belongings and car to Germany and then to the travel agents in that office to sort out my flight over.

Then I plan that evening to head to Lake Montezuma to say goodbye to my parents and grandparents (that will be hard) and return Saturday evening.  Sunday I will finalize everything and then I hope to fly out on Monday.

Amidst all this I still have papers for my master's class to complete and a home to organize to get ready to pack up.  Whew!  My head is going to explode!

My next post will come when I've actually reached Germany.  I will be posting pics and info as I go.

Tschuss (Bye)  BTW that u should have two dots over it but I don't know how to do that. :)

The Waiting Continues

   So here it is on Tuesday and I am still waiting for my official orders to come through.  Now I've begun trying to be able to bring Blitz (my dog) with me to Germany.  Looks like it's going to be another very long process that I hope I can complete before I need to leave.  My biggest worry is that with this short time frame, my belongings won't get picked up in time and my daughter will be left to deal with it or the dog thing won't process quickly enough either.  Hopefully things will go smoothly and I can stop worrying about it.

   More to come later as things begin to happen.

The Adventure Begins!

Hello Everyone!

     I've started this blog to document all the adventures that I will be having in Germany and abroad.  My plan is to keep all my friends and family up to date with what I'm doing and places I'm seeing.  I'm a major picture taker, so be prepared to see lots of pictures.

     Let's start at the beginning.  As a teacher in Arizona, the school year had already been in session for two weeks when I received an interview call from the principal of Spangdahlem MS in Germany for the Educational Technologist position.  Understandably I was very surprised.  Usually DoDDS does their hiring at the beginning of the calendar year, so since I hadn't received a call for an interview by the end of last school year I thought my chances for getting hired was passed.  I've been in their system for two years and it usually takes that long to get hired.  But, lo and behold, here I was getting a call.

      Naturally, once I had been offered the position, I couldn't turn it down.  The last week has been very hectic trying to get all the paperwork completed and getting ready to go.  (Even my blood pressure has skyrocketed from all the stress :(  )  At this point, it looks like I will be leaving around the 13th of September.  Everything will depend upon when my passport arrives.

     Unfortunately neither of my children will be joining me, but that's okay, they both had planned to move away anyway.  Josh is joining his dad in California and Ashli is moving in with friends while she goes to college.  But I look forward to seeing them in the summer when they'll come and visit me.

     Well, that's all for now.  I'll keep you updated as things progress. 

Auf Wiedersehen!