Our second week in Germany

8 observations in the last 8 days

11   Even though I’ve been an Army brat my entire life and an Army spouse for over a decade, I feel great affection for the Air Force planes that are taking off, landing, and flying overhead here.

22    The German road surfaces are so impeccable that there are signs warning of “damage” before a filled-in pothole or filled in road work. Imagine in Massachusetts if there were warning signs before bumpy pavement! I wish I could draw a cartoon of the constant signs “bumpy road surface next 700 meters”, “damaged road surface next 2 miles”, etc. that we'd see in the states! There are even warning signs for “dirty road surface” if a construction or farm vehicle has even ONE SET of muddy track marks on the road! Can you imagine in the US?

33     There are rotaries everywhere here! Very few traffic lights, but constant “roundabouts”. At first, I found this annoying, as you really have to slow down and respect the rotary traffic, NO barging in like some MA drivers! After a few days it started to feel good to not stop at traffic lights all the time.

 4    Trier was a good choice for our first train trip. We sat in a comfortable seat for 2 hours with beautiful views of the countryside, walked around the historic city, and trained it back to Kaiserslautern. We’d recommend a visit to Trier.

 5   We have seen 8 houses, and really liked 3 of them. There haven’t been any built in closets like the US, so we’re trying to figure out storage. Some have been so clean we’d practically eat off the floor, others have been “tired”. We've found a winner, and have an appointment with housing on Monday to approve the rental agreement. Hopefully next week's update will not be another "yes and no" report!

This is a MUSEUM in TRIER, not our new house!

 6   The food here is delicious, but we’ve had to make an effort to get plenty of fruits/veggies every day. Top meals have included Schnitzel, salmon, and lasagna at German restaurants, and BBQ here on base. The military grocery store stocks our favorite brand of frozen broccoli, and we found a nice selection of frozen veggies at a German store (along with fresh, but I'm not cooking much from scratch in our wee kitchenette). The bakeries are ubiquitous.

77     It’s been nice meeting other Americans, who are very friendly. That’s not to say that the Germans we’ve met are not friendly, but 3 American women invited me to get together (separately) for lunch or tea. Thanks to a Ft. Riley, Kansas, connection, 1 from the chapel here on base, and 1 from Bible Study. I miss my friends “back home”, but don’t feel lonely all the time here.

88     I had no idea how good the tap water in Framingham, MA tasted until I started getting dehydrated here because the tap water doesn’t taste good. Hate the environmental waste of drinking bottled water, but that’s how it has to be until we are in our new house. Rental agreement in process, hopefully will be moved in the third week of March. Stay tuned…

Week 1 Yesses and NOS

Day 1:

Yes- arrive at Frankfurt Airport 5:11 am after an uneventful flight, retrieve luggage and cats without any problems.

Yes- Meet pre-arranged van for 1.5 hour ride to Ramstein Air Force Base (we recommend Airport Runner).

No- room not available because after our flight was cancelled due to snowstorm last week, they “forgot” to re-book a pet room. Sorted out after 20 minutes.

Yes- Set up cat litter box in our room, cat food in dishes, sleep for 4 hours.

Yes- Walk to grocery store on base and enjoy the fresh air.

Yes Yes- Weather near 40 degrees!!!

Day 2:

Yes- cats are fine, unpack belongings in our efficiency quarters, one bedroom and one living room/kitchenette.

No car…therefor walk 10,000 steps all around base. Food court at military base includes a Johnny Rockets  but I had Chinese food instead for the veggies

Yes- get Air Force library card (NOT valid on Army bases in the area, must get separate Army library card!!!)

Day 3:

Yes- nice contemporary church service at base chapel

No car- walk another 10,000 steps to Macaroni Grill and all over base to learn our way around for tomorrow.

Not possible to register our ID cards for 24 hour gym access on a weekend, must register for 24 hour access only during regular business hours (weekdays)

No laundry on our floor of building due to lobby renovation, so haul laundry bag to 2^nd floor for free washer (30 minutes) and dryer (1.5 hours)

No shuttle bus to off-base restaurants, but Jeff’s colleague drove us to an Italian Restaurant in Kaiserslautern, 30 minutes away

Day 4:

No shuttle bus from temporary housing building to newcomer orientation building; walk 40 minutes in the falling snow to helpful meeting with nice people (6 hours)

No shuttle to veterinarian office on Army base…Yes nice person there said we can register the cats once we have a rental car

No permission given to take drivers test here at the Air Force Base where we are staying, must pay 50 Euro for a taxi to take us to the Army installation where the test is administered for Army people (that’s us!)

Day 5:

Not possible to receive special European/US military driving license with my current spouse ID card due to Jeff’s military status…must obtain new ID card with my spouse status due to Jeff’s new civilian job. Um, hello?

No friendly people in the mandatory 2 hour pre-driving test at the Army installation, including a 40 minute video. No, no, no, you cannot take the test right after the class. The office closes after the class. Come back another day.

Yes- helpful and friendly person in the Army ID office; new civilian ID in less than 30 minutes. This feels entirely miraculous.

Yes- new German SIM cards for our cell phones, signed up for 1 month plan

Day 6:

No luck after 7am taxi to Army driving test- on paper with a pencil! Got a few road signs mixed up and 3 questions more than allowed wrong. Oh, the shame. Cried when calling taxi to pick me up, staff finally felt sorry for me at the idea of paying another 50 Euro tomorrow to re-take the test, so they authorized the Air Force to let us take it via the Air Force later in the week. Um, hello?

Yes- registered ID card at gym for 24 hour access, found craft center and post office and community building with BBQ restaurant

Yes- nice people at the mid-week Lent church service at chapel!

Day 7:

No shuttle to different Army installation with housing office, 50 Euro for the cab (round trip) to learn about renting rules we already read about on-line. Got a paper listing of 70 houses for rent, some of which we had seen on-line using a website that is no longer contracted with the military.

Yes- nice dinner at BBQ restaurant on AFB.

Day 8:

No shuttle from temporary housing to driving test building…alarm set for 5:30 am in order to walk 40 minutes. The “test” started with the same 40 minute video we had already watched with the Army. OMG. The test is on a computer! Wow! Ahhh, the sound of a room full of mouse clicks. We passed!

Yes- nice people in the Hertz rental car office…we are now in possession of a small Ford Fiesta! Yay!

No(body) remember to put me – the wife- on the gas ration card. Get to gas station, drive back to customs office so the men (!) can put the wife on the gas ration card. What year is this again? Go back to gas station to validate gas ration card. Also have separate ration card for coffee, tobacco, and alcohol. Not ATF, c/t/a!

Yes- good sandwich at food truck in gas station lot- cooks remembered 3 orders from regular customers as they approached the truck.

Yes- nice house in a teeny tiny village for rent with a narrow lane of a street

Yes- nice dinner in a regular town nearby- whee, free at last!

Stay tuned for week 2 in a week!

PCSing OCONUS with cats

If you are not sure about the alphabet soup in this blog post title, it’s to help military families moving overseas. We have some advice based on our complicated experience. Stay tuned for more updates from the cats when we have our new house!

The three of us cats have had a heck of a ride since the ‘rents (parents) decided to move to a military installation in Germany. They actually had a choice, since it was a civilian job, but the regulations we encountered apply to everyone.

The oldest of us cats had to get a microchip, which was quick and relatively easy. The new microchip numbers are FIFTEEN (15) digits long. It turns out that the younger cats had already been microchipped a few years ago, but theirs had fewer digits (only 10). The veterinarian recommended against putting new microchips in us because we would have been required to have another rabies shot after the new microchip, even though we had already had 3 year rabies shots last year. For that reason, our new microchip cat had to have a new rabies shot even though the current American 3-year shot was still valid. The friendly military veterinarian offered to let us borrow a microchip reader gadget so we could get into Germany (not all airports have microchip scanners for the old chips).

Some guy “Uncle Sam” said we absolutely had to fly on American Airlines. This was plan B because the rotator out of Baltimore only allows 2 pets per family, with a third pet as “space-A”. Um, does that mean that one of us would be left behind if there was no space available? Ack! Baltimore is 6 hours away from our home, so who would come with us to hold on to no space-A cat #3? So we were booked on American Airlines, which allows pets to be shipped to Europe. Eagle-eyed Mom noticed on the reservation confirmation, that the flight would be operated by USAir, which DOES NOT ALLOW any pets at all on international flights. Hello? How is this better than the rotator, again? Yikes! A mighty battle took place by telephone and e-mail, because this Uncle Sam guy apparently does not really care about us wee cats at all. However, if you have a bunch of human kids, they can go along no problem- full priced in the airplane cabin. We are only 9 pounds and the ‘rents love us so much, we don’t even eat that much food or require cell phones like people kids.

Anyway, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth among the ‘rents, we were booked on a United flight, operated by Lufthansa. Plan C resulted in a small fee to the 'rents (price difference between the tickets for passengers on United/LH compared with USAir/United). The website says that 2 of us could go in the cabin, but once Uncle Sam’s people booked the tickets, all of a sudden we had to go in cargo. Miraculously, the cargo fee is a steep $200 per cat in our small-ish carriers; those parents of ours must be nuts to pay so much for us to come along.

Different airlines have different pet carrier rules for animals. There was a nifty carrier at the pet store with 2 doors- one in the front like normal, and another one on the lid of the carrier. Please check carefully if your airline requires pet carriers in the cargo section to have a SOLID top with no extra door/grate in the top. Good thing Moms kept the receipt for the top-door carrier, and returned it to the pet store. We each got a new $50 carrier from the pet store with solid tops, and nice supplies from www.dryfur.com (there are also videos about how to adapt carriers to airline requirements).

Our cat carry-on suitcase included disposable litter boxes, plastic zip-top bags of cat litter, zip lock bags of cat food, a small plastic collapsible bowl for water, and our favorite cat toys. Also, one special cat bed that we've had for a long time, so the first night in temporary lodging wouldn’t be too scary. Each of our carriers got a t-shirt in it that smelled like one of the ‘rents, along with puppy pee pads- good grief, can’t puppies learn to use the litter box like us? Just kidding.

We made it through the flight ok, and the ‘rents were waiting for us in Frankfurt at the “bulky baggage” pick up in the corner behind luggage carousel #1. We hollered when we saw them but then we settled down for the drive to Ramstein. We like it in our temporary quarters, and we’re eating, drinking water, and using the litter box ok.  

#1stworldproblems

I am filled with gratitude for the many blessings in my life, but still manage to find complaints. I’ve been working on some attitude adjustments, and want to share my thanksgivings.

this is why my cat sneezes- she loves warm air

I miss the two humidifiers in my house (which sold after 8 days on the market!!!)…I can make do in our (warm, safe) hotel room by simmering water on the cooktop so I don’t give my fur-babies static shocks.

I miss my 2 year old Prius in my former garage, which is being shipped courtesy of Uncle Sam to our new place in Germany…and I appreciate the rental car that we can afford even if it’s not a reimbursable expense. Looking forward to being reunited with my first ever new car next month, and hopefully having a garage again for the next few winters overseas.

my cat sitting on a new frame for a cat painting by www.ghostkitten.com 

I miss all my STUFF, but am realizing how little we really need to live. Even the 4 suitcases that we have to tide us over until the first shipment in this move (next month) aren’t essential. Business suits, more than 1 pair of shoes each, and extra toiletries (good thing, as our flight was cancelled due to another snowzilla storm) are luxuries. Thanks to military lodging for free laundry facilities.

and way more snow fell on top of this stuff!

What else have I grumped about? It’s really cold here…and my friend in South Africa has power rationing so doesn’t have air conditioning 24/7 like I do here in the summer. Our seasons are opposite, so when I skype with her now, I can see how hot the weather is there. I’m grateful for my warm winter coat, hat, gloves, boots, scarf, earmuffs, extra gloves, etc.!

I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but after years of a regular (forced) exercise routine, I actually miss my nice (pool, sauna, etc.) gym. I can feel that I’m eating less healthy foods since we moved out of our house, and I’m not spending the consistent time each week with cardio and weights as I have for a good decade. Yesterday I wrote fitness time into my calendar between now and our flight in a few days, and appreciate my limbs, heart, and lungs for doing so well by me every day.

What are you grateful for that can show up as a complaint?

How Can Life Coaching Help Me?

I'm experimenting with technology and communication styles! This week's blog post is in video format. I met Hong Le-Bruno at Toastmasters, and was honored when she suggested that one of the shows at Midfield Access Television might like to interview a Life Coach. Pam Jones interviewed me, and here are the answers to your questions about Life Coaching:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nuNwSnOYSg 

Ok, that link looks really boring. But it's 18 minutes of useful information! Please post your questions or comments.

Going International!

Exciting things are brewing over here. It's taken a few weeks to finalize a big decision: we are relocating to Europe! This is what it feels like sometimes

A path dimly lit! You are fairly certain there is a path, and you hope that by trusting these small nuggets on information, you will find your way to the destination. 

This is one of my favorite quotes. I kept this newspaper page from 1991, when I studied in Vienna and enjoyed reading the International Herald Tribune every day. We're not moving to Berlin, but it still feels like a sentimental connection---plus we'll be able to visit Berlin any time we want!

We'll have plenty of outdoor cafes to sample. The basket-like chairs are typical beach seating with built- in shade, while everyone else has umbrellas (and ashtrays!). But the coffee and desserts are spectacular :). Of course, we'll have to let the snow melt before it looks like that!

Off the Beaten Path: Sequoia National Park & Kings Canyon

We drove into Sequoia National Park from the south, and found the hairpin turns up into the mountains to be manageable. The Rangers at the visitor center were helpful, and provided us with a more detailed map than the one we had. We stayed in the Park, at Wuksachi Lodge, rather than drive in and out each day. The scenery was gorgeous, and the stargazing was phenomenal.

For those of you who live closer to sea level, the elevation of 7,000 feet may not be bothersome, but stay hydrated and stretch before you embark on your walking, climbing, and hiking adventures. We tackled Moro Rock first, and I felt nervous about the spaciousness which left me feeling like an ant! I don’t believe that my fears about safety were warranted, but I was glad that Mr. Spice walked down ahead of me.

We walked around Crescent Meadow, which was lovely. This is a great place to build in some picnic time and relax. Remove from your vehicle all food, beverages, and hygiene products that may have a fragrance, and store in one of the metal “bear boxes” next to the parking area. 

I thought I went to the gym often enough to also visit the Crystal Cave that afternoon. I managed the hike down and back up, but was really worn out by the combination of activities. I feel kind of wimpy admitting my pain, but would rather save someone else the pulled hamstring! The cave was neat, and I’d recommend it. Bear box near the parking area again, and this time we saw a bear on the way back up from the cave- far enough away to not be nerve-wracking.

Finally, Mr. Spice insisted on a visit to the General Sherman Tree. I was pretty wiped out, but didn’t want to sit in the car while he saw the giant sequoia! “Its’ only half a mile each way” is irrelevant if the total for the day is 9.5 miles. Perhaps my physical exhaustion tainted my impression of the tree, but I liked the General Grant Tree in King’s Canyon the next day much better. 

We departed Sequoia and headed north through King’s Canyon, detouring at Mr. Spice’s request to see another grove of sequoias. I cannot recommend this stop highly enough- it was really neat! Autumn is a good time of year to visit without tremendous crowds! If you've visited these parks, do you have a favorite part?