So much has happened in the past few days!  We arrived in Germany last Wednesday morning and then to our hotel mid afternoon.  The 4 1/2 hour bus ride, although very beautiful, was difficult after the 10 hour flight after the 2 hour flight after the 5 hour layover after the 1 hour flight after the 3:45 am wakeup.  Total travel time for us was more than 30 hours, but we made it and in good spirits!

That’s when the real fun started.  Here it is Wednesday, a week after arriving and we have done oh so much.  We have picked up our car, passed the drivers test, survived our jet-lag, acclimated to the weather, and rented a house… already!

Our new home-town is Wernberg-Köblitz in der Oberpfalz region of Bavaria.  This is such a nice area!  We are loving so many things about Germany so far and since we just picked up our house key this evening, we are already excitedly planning our next steps.  Namely, getting our stuff delivered.  Also, since this is a German house, we need things like lamps, transformers, a microwave etc.  We’re lucky, the house is large.  Way bigger than what we left behind at Fort Leonard Wood.  This is not typical of German accommodations, so we are quite pleased.  We even have a two-car garage!  The house is on a hillside overlooking the the town with a very nice walking path down the hill to the local and very old church.  We are about 35 minutes from Vilseck/Rose Barracks where Julie will be working and 25 minutes from the big Army post of Grafenwöhr, the really big post around here.  All the american comforts are that close, but we are definitely smack dab out in the middle of the German community.  The town has a castle, Burg Wernberg, that is now owned by the owner of the Conrad Corporation based in the town. The castle is now a fine luxury hotel and fine dining establishment.  There are other notable businesses based here and the location is right along Autobahn 93 that runs between the German cities of Hof in the north to south of Regensburg.  We are less than 15 minutes south of Weiden, a premier shopping and cultural center/city.

Driving in Germany is the other big new experience.  I scored 98 out of 100 on my drivers test last Thursday; Julie takes her test tomorrow (bar is set high, Honey!).  Drving in Germany is so… awesome.  Forget about the Autobahns which are an amazing (and humbling) experience, the secondary roads and all the local roads are a dream come true.  Fast twisties interspersed with beautiful, old and quaint towns.  The biggest difference (although to be sure there are a lot of differences) is the road markings.  I still find myself questioning if streets are one-way or two-way.  You see, there are no yellow stripes, only white, if there are stripes at all.  It’s been easy to adjust, but that is what has struck me the most.  Right of ways are different here too.  Right before left, always unless signage indicates differently, and the Germans do love their signs!

We are settling in nicely.  Looking forward to getting some normalcy back in our lives.  The boys are adjusting wonderfully and are picking up German very fast.  Counting to ten and beyond, dankeschön, bitteschön.  They are always asking me how to say things in German.  It’s good practice for me!

More soon,
Bald werde ich mehr schreiben,

Roland

Unser Haus!

Less than 100 days now until we replant ourselves on German soil.  That means we’re getting short; we’re short-timers.  And it’s actually finally starting to feel like it too.  Especially since we sat down yesterday to make a list of the remaining ”free” weekends during which we can actually get some serious preparations done before our exodus.  I think it amounted to only about 6 weekends, and that’s exactly why it’s starting to feel real.

Dear Schick (Energizer Holdings),

I’m not sure who came up with the idea to have you market Edge shaving cream that smells like toothpaste, maybe it was simply unintentional or an oversight, but I suggest you at least consider re-thinking it. Let me explain.

After waking up this morning for the third time to tell my 3 year-old twin boys to go back to bed because it was ridiculously early, I finally levered myself out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom for a nice warm wakeup shower and shave. Disappointed with the shower’s ability to wake me up and peering at myself in the mirror through still dried-out eyes, I reached for my new Edge Infused Hydrate Lotionized Shaving Cream.