We live in Heaven September 24, 2008

It’s official. We live in a little slice of heaven.

Jael and I were walking back from the commissary, a walk of less than a mile. I was carrying a canvas bag and a couple of plastic bags. Jael was running along side me with my sweatshirt draped over her tiny body. We must have looked cold as we had two people stop and ask if we needed a ride. Twice.

I called an office and asked about the PCS Child Care program. It wasn’t the office I needed to talk to but she told me who to call and said if there was anything I needed, any questions about anything, just give her a call.

I wen to the Airman and Family Readiness Center and talked with them for about thirty minutes about living in Germany and getting a house, etc. They were so incredibly helpful. They were also very sympathetic when they heard we were coming from Keesler. Apparently, everyone in the Air Force sees Keesler as the hell hole it is.

But we are here now and it is wonderful.

Update from Deutschland September 23, 2008

So I am writing these regular updates to friends and family. I think I will post them here as well. Yup. I’m that lazy.

Gutentag! (Good day)

I hope everyone can forgive me, but there is so much to tell everyone that it’s much easier to write group emails and address the specific questions and such within. I hope no one feels slighted. I would like to respond to each email personally but I just don’t have the time or eye power to stare at the computer for so long. That and I would tire of telling the same stories over and over and someone would end up with:

“Have jet lag. Haven’t found house yet. Scenery is beautiful. Sorry about you being sick. Hope work starts going better. Talk to you later.”

And I don’t think anyone wants that letter. So, having said that, here’s the news with some personal notes at the end. Feel free to read everyone’s notes…I won’t put anything personal or private in a group letter. I may be kind of spacey but I’m not quite so spacey or tactless as that!

I met some other wives with their kids today. Jael and I happened to be at the park when another mom and her two kids got there. The kids played together for a while and then she invited me to a playgroup that meets on Tuesdays from ten to noon in the playroom in the TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) basement. So we did that for an hour or so and then Jael asked to go home. She was feeling tired, what with getting up at 2am and all.

Anyway, I picked their brains, asking all sorts of questions. Simple things like phone service are complicated here. I’m afraid we might end up with DSL internet. I’d never used DSL before. Before we had cable internet, I’d used dial-up at home and cable or wireless at the libraries. Our room in TLF at Keesler had DSL and it was sooooooo slow compared to cable. Unfortunately, a lot of the small towns around here do not have cable internet. I guess we’ll adjust but if there are two houses available and one has access to cable internet, I imagine we’ll take it. The internet is our connection to the world, you know?

Oh, and there is a phone company here called TSK and they were running, Melloney was unsure if they still were, a special that you could choose one country that it would be free for you to call. Guess which country I would choose? If we do that, we will have to do the calling!!

The time difference. Just add seven hours to your time. If it’s noon for your, it’s 7 pm for us. If it’s 7 pm for you, it’s 2 am for us and, please, don’t call. I’d say it’s safe for you to call from about 11 pm your time until about 3 pm your time. So in the middle of the night, early morning, naptime (for those of you with kids), and right before my dad gets home are good times to call. Weird isn’t it?

Israel doesn’t start work for a couple of weeks but he doesn’t have the day off. He should really get a couple off to get over Jet Lag (and I think it should be capitalized). He’s going to “Welcome to Germany” briefings all day. Fun. Tomorrow I will go with him as it’s more community minded things and less military. Then on Friday we should be going on a tour of Trier, the oldest city in Germany and boat tour. Hopefully. Maybe we’ll even have that new digital camera!

I’ve had a few people ask where in Germany we are. I wish I knew. Ha ha. No seriously. It seems very complicated. The US has such neat lines between the states that it seems much easier. Spangdahlem Air Base is located near the small town of Spangdahlem with larger cities Bitburg and Trier nearby. It is in the Eifel Mountain region in southwestern Germany near the border of Luxembourg. Trier, the oldest city in Germany, is twenty minutes from Spangdahlem. The Mosel River, with its picturesque villages and famous wines, flows nearby. Don’t know if that helps but there you are.

Jet Lag’s a Bitch September 22, 2008

Jet lag is a bitch.

Jael woke up the night before last at about 1:30 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I wanted to be angry with her but I couldn’t sleep either so about 4 am I turned her light on and let her play quietly in her room until our alarm went off at 6. Last night, she woke up at 2:30 am (an improvement, no?) and couldn’t get back to sleep. I laid down with her but after an hour and half of tossing and turning by Jael, I realized she was not going back to sleep. Again, neither could I so I turned her light on, told her to play quietly, and left her room. As I walked into the hall, I saw light coming from the dining room. I peeked around the corner and saw Israel sitting at the dining room table, also unable to sleep.

So, our plan for today is to not nap. As tired as we are, we have to get sleep at night and not in the afternoon. Jael will get laid down for a nap at around eleven and I will wake her up at about 2:30. Hopefully she’ll sleep the night through soon. I feel like if I didn’t get woken up, I would sleep through the night but once I’m awake, I can’t fall back asleep. It’s so strange. I want to sleep. I am tired. But my body’s clock must still be Mississippi because at 3 in the morning, my body is ready to party.

Germany…here we are!! September 22, 2008

Well, we have arrived. We are in Germany. We arrived Sunday morning after a long and somewhat tiresome journey. Our flights went well but the nine our flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt was long and while we only traveled from 330 pm to 12:30 am Mississippi time, we lost seven hours and arrived at 7:30 German time. So after not being able to sleep on the plane for more than a couple of minutes. we arrived very tired.

Mac was there to pick us up…although a bit late due to bad communication in the shop so we had a couple of worried minutes but it turned out okay. He drove us to the base, which is about two and a half hours from Frankfurt. Upon arriving, we attempted to check into Lodging but were informed that while they had a reservation for us, our room would not be ready for about three or four hours. Mac kindly offered his guest room to us so we went to his house and passed out on his couches. After a foud hour nap, we went back to the Hotel and received the keys to our room.

We hauled our things up to the second floor and opened the door into a beautiful apartment. We have a living room with a couch and two stuffed chairs, a TV and DVD player, a coffee table, a desk, and a door leading to the balcony.

The kitchen is larger than any kitchen we’ve had, except for Hilltop, which was a kitchen/dining room combo. The kitchen comes stocked with dishes, pots and pans, silverware, small appliances (toaster, microwave, can opener, etc), and dish soap. We have a dining room with table and six chairs.

Jael has her own room with large closets and a TV (which she doesn’t get to watch in there).

Across from Jael’s room is the bathroom, which is the largest bathroom we’ve ever had.

Down the hall is the second bedroom, with a full bed and large closet and another TV. Across from that room is the Master Bedroom with queen bed and TWO closets, TV, end tables and the Master bath, which has a washer and dryer in it. Again, it’s a very large bathroom.

So we are pretty happy.

Today, Israel started the inprocessing process and brought home a stack of available homes/apartments. And I mean a STACK! 163 listings to be exact. We spent the afternoon going through them and narrowing them down. We started by only looking at the ones that were eight miles or closer to the base so Israel can still bike to work. We weeded out probably 75% of the units. We are going to start at the closest and work our way through. Hopefully we’ll find something soon but I’m not too worried. Our “room” here in lodging is more than adequate.

Jael and I walked to the Commissary and brought home some cheese covered “pretzels,” which were bread dough, shaped into pretzel shapes and covered with cheese and jalapenos. We had those and some fruit for lunch and felt very European.

After supper, we went to the park and then took a walk around until we got chilled. Chilled. Not hot and sweaty, but chilled. YAY!

We are loving it here. I will post more as we experience more.

Our Trip to Iowa…and pictures September 4, 2008

We first visited my parents in Western Iowa. My parents live in a largeish house. My brother and his wife and their two children live in the basement, which they’ve made into an apartment so it’s not as bad as it might sound. My sister and her four children were there most of the time. My other brother, who’s in a band, was there for less than twenty-four hours. When we arrived there was one other band member staying there and a girl who have lived there most of the summer and was leaving the next day.

CRAZINESS!!!

It was fun but it was also a lot of pandimonium.

Self, Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, Brother

Brother, brother, husband, dad, brother-in-law, neice and nephews, daughter, self, sister, mom, sister-in-law

Jael and I went to my mom’s side of the family’s family reunion. It was okay. I mostly talked with my brother and his wife and my sister. I did get to talk with a cousin’s boyfriend, who had lived in Germany as a child. He couldn’t really give me any advice, as it had been so long since he’d been there and he was so young at the time, but it was one more person who loved it and that makes me happy.

Grandma Charlotte and Jade

We went to the Art Museums’s kid’s area and the kids had a great time.

"She's Got the Two Worlds In Her Hands"

I LOVE YOU!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

My brother, Zach, is a computer guru and the kids were fascinated…

Computer Time with Uncle Zach!

And last, but not least, a picture of Jael at the Rose Garden. Zach’s wife, Katie, is quite the amateur photographer. Every picture on this post, except “Computer Time” was taken by her. Katie, Jael, and I went up to a local park so she could take some pictures of Jael in her yellow dress. You may recognize the dress as one I made. Yup. I’m amazing. But on to the picture…

Jael at the Rose Garden

That was the first four days of our trip. Hopefully I’ll post more. I’m struggling with loading pictures. Hopefully I’ve figured it out but we will see.