"You Don't Choose a Life… You Live One"

Sorry, I know it has been awhile!

Clint and I are doing great. We know our way around and feel comfortable venturing out to all the German stores and towns nearby. Our neighbors are finally seeing us as neighbors and not "those Americans in that weird house". We usually get a "hallo" and some even attempt a conversation. Our street also ends at a trail head, so we see a lot of regulars. We have deemed a few as our favorites...mainly because they let us pet their dogs!  ha ha  :)

During the week, Clint continues to teach and make the JTAC world a smarter place. I just landed a job (finally!) last week working for a company that deals with TRICARE, the military health insurance. I also decided to get my MBA and plan to start classes this fall or early next year. 

Thanks to Pinterest I no longer find cooking scary and I have been attempting a new recipe at least 4 days a week. Anyone who knows me recognizes that anything beyond box mac and cheese and a peanut butter sandwich is venturing out into the great unknown, so my progress has been exciting! Clint and I also joined the pool on base and go swim laps about 3-4 days a week. It is a nice break from the gym and I already feel more in shape.

Traveling is still at the top of our priority list, and we continue to visit new places since my last post. We went on a day trip to Paris, which was absolutely amazing. There is no way to see it all in such a short time, so we plan to go back soon. We have toured several of the German towns that are close to us; Heidelberg, Burg Eltz and Cochem to name a few. I recommend them all, especially those with castles and/or wine. Clint also controlled the fly over at a Memorial Day event in Maastricht, Netherlands. It was a very special day, and Maastricht is definitely one of my favorites cities I have been to so far. And if that's not enough, we head to Italy on the 30th of this month for a 6 day tour! We cannot wait. 

More to Come :)

"Patience is a…"

I can say with 90% confidence that Clint and I finally feel at home here...The other 10% should be right around the corner.

Our move-in day was a success, and within a day or two our house was transformed into a respectable place of residence. It is amazing how a few pictures and some good pillows can put a smile on your face. *Feel free to note that the internal walls of our house are made of a plastic material from Ikea. You light up one room, you light up all. You heat up one room, you heat up all. And now you can see why they call this an “energy efficient” house. ha ha

Clint finished sitting through his first class and I have no doubt he will be a fantastic teacher. We (mostly I) also got through the first week of being apart. Every 7 weeks or so, the class goes out for 5 days of “air” in another country. Although I hate not being together, I will take 5 days over 9 months any day. He also gets to visit some cool places and sometimes the spouses get to tag along for a somewhat free mini vacation. This time around they went to the Czech Republic, and Clint said the best part was that 6 massive beers only cost $6. Yay.

I am still trying to find my purpose...so to speak. It is never easy to go from having your own career to not having a job. I believe that everything happens for a reason though and with time I have no doubt it will all work out. I have applied to several administrative jobs and pursuing a few volunteer opportunities in areas of healthcare that I have always wanted to explore but never have. I think this whole journey is really going to teach me a lot... and it will not be easy.  -bring it on-

With the weather slowly warming up, Clint and I are starting to plan a few trips. Last Saturday, we went on our first USO Tour to visit two Bavarian castles - Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. These castles were home to the 19th century king, Ludwig II. Hohenschwangau was his childhood home for a few years and Neuschwanstein was his most famous castle as it became the model of Disney’s Cinderella castle. The detail inside these castles were unbelievable and the views were magnificent. I think I got a mini sunburn too... total success.

In April, we are heading to Paris for a city tour and dinner boat cruise! We are also thinking about going to the Olympics in London. Oh the excitement to come…

Us in front of Neuschwanstein

Hohenschwangau is the yellow castle behind me!

Neuschwanstein

"Unofficial Moving Day"

"Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response."

To be perfectly honest, I am still adjusting to this new place, this new house and this new… life. Not adjusting in a bad way, just in a normal person put into a new situation way. ha ha. Clint is busy at work and will begin taking his last online classes in the next month. I have officially applied to two jobs and will begin volunteering with the Red Cross at Landstuhl Hospital in the next month as well. With a little time, I have no doubt we will be back into our normal groove. I also use "we" loosely… I am pretty sure Clint found his groove the minute we landed. :) 

In fact, we hit a German milestone a week and a half ago. We finally got internet and a landline phone! It makes me feel slightly closer to reality and slightly closer to home in a weird kind of way. I got to speak to my mom for the first time since leaving the states, which was great (except for her usual mom tears).  Hopefully we will get into a routine of calling back to the states very soon.

On a seemingly similar positive note, the weather is warming up ever so slightly. It is still overcast most days, but I can finally step outside with normal winter gear and not fear that I may get frostbite on the way to the car.

And … (insert drum roll)…. our household goods are being delivered THIS Friday! And they are picking up the hideous temporary furniture Friday as well. I am already decorating in my head and pretty much have it all sorted out. I usually have this crazy OCD way of unpacking and decorating an entire place in only one day. I know Clint is already planning on having a few breakfast beers to make it through the day with his lovely, type A wife. This means that by Sunday you should expect a facebook Album titled Euro Trip: Our New German Palace. I have also been working on a few crafty projects that will hopefully be unveiled as well.

As far as travels go, we have been to Luxembourg since our last post. Luxembourg, known officially as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany. It covers less than 1,000 square miles and has the greatest concentration of banks in Europe (over 220 of them).  It is now the world's only remaining sovereign ruled by a grand duke. Pretty cool huh? We went to Luxembourg City and found a really cool military museum in a nearby town. We also got to see the Grand Duke's palace and took pictures of their hardcore "palace bouncers". Lastly, we found The Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. It was created in 1944 during WW2. I added some pictures below… it was amazing.

Downtown Luxembourg City

Grand Duke's Palace

Luxembourg from our walk

The Luxembourg American Cemetery

The Memorial

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"Family of the Week"

Good afternoon from the gloomy, rainy, snowy country of Germany!

I don't want to sound negative, but I do miss the 360 days of sun that Colorado had to offer. Clint and I were talking the other day about how exciting it was when we saw snow in Colorado and now even the mention of snow makes us want to punch each other. This too shall pass. Soon?…Right? :)

In the meantime, I decided to load up on extra Vitamin D, open the curtains and drink Sunny Delight.  I hope this will pull me through the next few winter months. Luckily, I heard the summer days are amazing. Hot, but not too hot (thank goodness because the houses do not have air conditioners) and long. The rumor on the street is that the sun is out from 7am to 11pm some days. I have a sneaky suspicion our new grill and new neighborhood butcher will get a lot of use.

Clint and I went to the city of Trier with our new friends Liz and John this past weekend. It was a neat town with a lot of character. There was a downtown market filled with cute shops and little German restaurants. The city itself was founded in or before 16 BC. We toured several beautiful churches, to include the Trier Cathedral and the Aula Palatina. The Trier Cathedral was originally built by Constantine and is the oldest church in Germany. It was gorgeous inside and housed (or so they say) the Holy Robe of Christ. The Aula Palantina was built in 310 and was built solely for the purpose of housing Constantine's throne. It was not as glamorous as the Cathedral, but interesting nonetheless. And finally, we got to see the infamous Porta Nigra, a Roman city gate that's been around a day or two.

Clint and I are still waiting for our household goods and I cannot wait for the day when we can return our temporary furniture. It's hideous to put it lightly and when I combine that with the weather, I sometimes go into an instant "funk". However, it should be here by next week at the LATEST so I'm learning to calm down and let it be.

Lastly, we were selected as the Family of the Week in the paper. Of course if I had known we would get such a huge honor I would have never shown up with my hair back. :)

The Trier Cathedral! 

That's us!

"The Front Nine"

Guten Tag!

After our exciting, but exhausting snowboard trip to Garmisch, Clint and I decided to make the next weekend a relaxing one. We slept in, goofed off around town and watched a movie at the Ramstein Air Force Base Exchange. The Exchange is what we consider a "safe house" for Americans. It has clothing, shoes, home items, Coach purses, appliances, a food court, recreation/outdoor center, theater, Harley Davidson store, furniture store, etc, etc... etc. We also go there on Sundays because in German culture Sunday is a family/rest/church day and most places are closed. And get this, Germany also has quite hours. Before 6am, from 1 to 3 and after 10pm you are expected to not make any noise outside. Genius.

We are also getting more comfortable with the recycling process here. It is NO JOKE, and I actually kind of like it. We have a trash can for paper (blue), a trash can for plastic/cardboard (yellow), a trash can for compost (brown) and a trash can for…trash. Oh, and you can get money back for returning plastic bottles and glass. Responsible, huh?

Clint and I are trying our best to finish all our "errands" so we can start traveling and enjoying this awesome country. I would say we are 85% done. We get the keys to our new German palace tomorrow and officially move in on Wednesday (we hope internet/cable/phone come soon after)! We have to get temporary furniture for two weeks until our house goods arrive, and we also got a few pieces of Danish furniture last week! I cannot wait for everything to come together. I promise many pictures will come soon. 

Lastly (and the inspiration for this post), Clint and I both got cars! Clint got a beautiful, and well maintained, 1990 Volkswagen Golf CL. Clint swears the CL stands for Classic. It easily keeps up with the "big dogs" on the autobahn and gets killer gas mileage. Only downfall… radio doesn't work. I somehow managed to get a brand new 2012 Volkswagen Golf TDI! This amazing and cute and sporty diesel gets close to 50 mpg. We got it tax free and will be able to bring it back with us. Please see the pictures below :)

From 2012

…To 1990

Miss everyone!!!!! 
Tschüss!

"OUCH"

We have been told since we got here: "Don't wait to start doing stuff.  Start now. Three years will go by faster than you think."

And so we listened.

Joel and Maria picked us up at 1:30 AM last Friday for our first German skiing/snowboarding adventure in Garmisch (we figure if we confuse our bodies enough, they will eventually catch up). When we arrived, the sight of snow and mountains made us feel like we were back in Colorado. Then we stepped out into the cold and were immediately brought back to reality. IT WAS COLD. And not the "scarf and down jacket will do" type of cold. The type of cold that requires several thermal layers, heat packs in your gloves and constant movement.

Clint and I learned several things early on that day. Germans don't really care about personal space, they don't really care about lines and my patience for learning how to snowboard is basically nonexistent. My snowboarding skills never really improved during the day and I definitely spent more time on my arse than anything else. To be perfectly honest, I am still recovering. Clint did pretty dang good for only having a few past snowboarding experiences and lasted much longer than I did. We eventually made it to a snack bar (sigh of relief) where I got my new favorite drink/milk combo called a Milchkaffee and Clint got a good ol' fashioned German beer. I quit after we hit this milestone, but Clint pushed on for another 2-3 hours.

The next day we decided to go to a place called Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany! This place was amazing. It literally looked like we stepped into a skiing wonderland. They had typical "ski runs", but you could basically ski and snowboard wherever there was snow (and of course there was snow as far as the eye could see). The most notable, exciting and terrifying event happened after Clint and I got wind that they had an “above average” sledding slope. I should mention that neither of us could physically get on another snowboard this time around due to our aches and pains from the day before so this discovery was pretty awesome. This sledding slope was no joke. It ran parallel to a red ski run and once you decided to start that sled down hill, there was no turning back. We estimate hitting speeds of around 40 mph, and definitely acquired a few bruises and snow burns along the way. I wish I had pictures to prove it, but I think the camera would have gotten broken along the way. Believe me though, it was intense and it was a blast!

We are currently on a no-joke hunt for two awesome vehicles, and I have a feeling a blog post for that will be coming soon! :) 

Here are a few pictures from Zugspitze!

See… it's unreal!

My girly/nice ski jacket hasn't arrived yet… so I was stuck with this pretty thing :)

Another view.

Clint looking cool as usual :)

"Hallo Aus Deutschland"

Clint and I are moving at lightning speed. 

Our "sponsors" Joel and Maria (who just happen to also be friends from Colorado Springs) have been amazing these past few days. They picked us up from the airport, drove us to our temporary German apartment and even cooked us a welcoming spaghetti dinner. Joel set up Clint's in-processing schedule that started yesterday and Maria has been nice enough to show me around town during the day. I should also mention that Maria is from Germany. We are constantly asking her (and Joel and her son) how to say things in German since we are bound and determined to wow the pants off all you Americans.  :)

Clint got his driver's license today which means we can go find our first vehicle soon. With the small parking spaces, expensive gas and freakishly narrow roads, the locals drive very "efficient" cars. I believe Clint and I will follow in their footsteps since we are learning quickly that Germans tend to be pretty darn smart! We are also going to TKS tomorrow (a third party vendor for T-Mobile) to get our new cell phones. These phones will allow us to text and call within Germany, but are not the best idea for calling back to the states. Not to worry though, landlines/home phones are common here and we plan to follow the Germans on that as well.

OH, and… we found a house!!! If everything goes well with the housing office, we will be moving in February 1st! It's in a neat little village called Hohenecken (pronounced HOnekin, not HoNEkin). The landlord's son is an architect and this is his first "designer house" so to speak. It is brand new, outfitted with IKEA appliances/walls/everything and has a fantastic view of a church and castle from our living room. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and another bedroom/storage room. I will put up pictures very soon.

We also had our first official German meal last night at Burgschänke (pictured below), the restaurant/hotel near the house we found. It was delicious and I promise to take all visitors there. (Incentive!Incentive!)

The American Website: http://www.burgschaenke-kl.de/ 

Tschüss!