Merry Christmas!
This is a short one as we are at the library and have only a few minutes left in this session.
Got moved into our new house:
Stegerwaldstr. 16a
65199 Wiesbaden
Our APO address is still the best for sending mail from the US as US postage still applies.
We'll be busy unpacking and getting internet/cable hooked up for the next several weeks. We are saving a few boxes to open on Christmas Day since we have skipped shopping this year.
Not a lot else to report. Hope everyone has a wonderful and joyful Christmas!
If you know anyone interested in renting a house near DC, please let us know.
Love, Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 12/14/08
Hi Folks,
Today's the start of our move out of the hotel. Thank God! I don't think we could last another day here, especially the cats, which brings me to an interesting cat story:
We scheduled maid service for Saturday morning, which requires cats be in their kennels. We are in a suite-style room and it's much easier to get them in their kennels if we don't have to peel them off the carpet under the bed or out of the safe in the closet. So we shut them in the living room before going to bed.
This was OK until Rocky started whining at the bedroom door. He apparently just needed some attention so he was cuddled briefly and then tossed back into the living room.
The next morning our fun began. Interestingly enough, Rocky has frequently wandered into his kennel on his own, even when I have asked him nicely, but this time he was NO WHERE to be found. We proceeded to search the room top-to-bottom, emptying drawers, suitcases, checking under furniture. He simply could not be found.
Then we entertained the notion that maybe housekeeping had let themselves in earlier and he made his escape then. We checked with the front desk, but they had not seen any stray cats. We then called housekeeping for help.
Turns out there was one place we had not checked. The living room in our suite has an entertainment center. This piece of furniture has a little cubby hole in the back that some smaller pets have been known to wander into. The maid asked if we had checked there and we obviously had not, since we weren't aware of it till now. I reached behind and felt Rocky's bushy tail at last. Whew! Guess I got a little too optimistic thinking that he will just wander into his kennel whenever I ask him to.
So here's this week's wrap-up:
Monday, 12/8/08
Regular workday for Lew. I caught a morning shuttle over to the Airfield (Wiesbaden Army Airfield) to return DvD's we checked out from the library, pick up mail and try my first meal at the base Dining Hall. Back to the hotel to get a book I loaned back from Irmgard and to signup for the free tour to the Mainz Christmas Mart the next day. Got started on laundry and ran into Ron (friend/co-worker). He said that Lew had been asked to pickup some folks at the Frankfurt airport who were here to attend an IT conference. This must be one of those "other duties as assigned" he's been talking about. They were all staying at the American Arms so we took one fellow with us to dinner - Justin here from a DoDDS-IT facility in England. We took him to the favorite local dinner spot here - the Rhein-Main-Grill and then strolled through the Christmas Mart. The other folks were from DoDDS-IT in Vicenza, Italy. A gentleman named Marty and his wife, Marcy, who was basically just along for the ride. At last! A buddy for me to hang with during the day.
Tuesday, 12/9/08
Called Marcy bright and early to meet me in the hotel lobby so we could catch the shuttle up to Hainerburg to catch Irmgard's tour to Mainz. We hit it off immediately! Marcy's husband does similar work as Lewis but she, like me, is a small business owner - specifically in hypnosis and massage therapy. She wants to open her own wellness center. She's having some problems getting it off the ground in Italy, but for now she spends time working for the Red Cross.
We met up with Irmgard and four other ladies to catch the bus to Mainz. Fabulous breakfast buffet in Mainz at a trendy little chain called "Alex." Then we strolled through the Christmas Mart. We all had a fantastic time, taking pictures and comparing relocation notes.
I complained to Marcy that I really miss the sun and blue skies over here. She agreed with me but it's probably not as bad in Vicenza. I also told her I never see anyone smiling. My smile is never returned. She related and said that there is kind of an air of sadness throughout Europe but we both agreed we really loved being here.
We rode the bus back with Santa Claus! Dinner that night consisted of us and all the visitors grazing through the Christmas Mart. Lew and I decided to checkout the outdoor rink they just opened in the center of town. We can't wait to start putting our ice skating lessons from last winter to work again!
Wednesday, 12/10/08
German class in the morning. Marcy said she'd accompany me to Rudesheim on the train that afternoon so she did. Got lunch in the train station and then we were off. It's still amazing to me that roundtrip train fare for two is more expensive than for five! Rudesheim is this great little German village right next to the Rhine River. Their Christmas Mart is huge and very festive. Marcy was on a mission to get beer steins for her sons and I got a few holiday items.
Dinner at a Greek restaurant we had been meaning to checkout was marginal. No wonder we never see anyone in there.
Thursday, 12/11/08
German class again. Marcy needed some downtime and I had errands after class. She has invited us to come visit in Italy. I told her to pencil us in for May 2010 when I turn 50!
Best news that day was that our car had arrived!!! Worst news is that Lew tried to pick it up without me and they wouldn't let him because it is in my name. This has been a constant nightmare. I knew I should have changed my name before we left and it's always been on my list but the US Gov't is not with the program yet. We've had to keep a marriage license with us all the time, and even that doesn't always help, especially in this instance when I had to actually be physically present to prove I was his wife. Kind of put a damper on the rest of Lewis' day as we really needed our car for the walk-thru of our new house tomorrow. We planned to catch the 6:45am shuttle the next morning to get us back in to Dotzheim by the 10:30 walk-thru. Can't remember exactly what we did for dinner that night but we did spend 25 euros on it.
Friday, 12/12/08
Took the day off from Germany class for the walk-thru. Up at dawn to get our car. It survived the journey pretty well except for some cosmetic damage to the grill plate in front. They gave us a check for $150 to cover that damage. The really funny thing about this process is getting temporary tags from registration to then get the car inspected and then back to registration for the permanent tags. If you are doing the whole thing at once, it doesn't make sense to get temporary tags.
So we have wheels now! It feels really strange to not be riding buses. We did make our 10:30 appt with no problem which went extremely well. Out of all the housing inspectors in Germany, I think we ended up with the best one. He brought a digital cameral and took shots of every scratch and imperfection. Even discovered our stove was cracked (YEAH!). The owner is German and does not speak English so he was pulling double duty inspecting the house and performing translation services.
We were finished by about noon. Lew dropped me at the hotel and then in to work for the rest of the day.
Dinner that night with Ron and his son, Chris at a restaurant in Mainz-Kastel called "Brauhaus Castel." This is one of those places where atmosphere gets an A and the food gets a D. It was also crowded, but obviously not for the food. Lew got a fish in a mushroom sauce with potatoes, Ron got Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chris had Schnitzel (the national dish) and I had a very very strange sausage salad that consisted of pickles and a huge pile of bologna strips. The dessert was a little better but not enough to raise their grade.
Saturday, 12/13/08
Already wrote about our morning dilemma finding Rocky in the hotel room. Once that was all taken care of, I took Lew to find the local "Alex" brunch place. We are definitely coming back here. For about 6 euros, you get a full brunch and orange juice. Coffee is extra here and so are refills. I think we spent more on our coffee than the brunch.
So now that we have wheels we are able to get a lot more done on Saturdays - like get ready for the Frankfurt Hash Christmas Party that evening. The attire was festive and I really don't have anything so I pulled an outfit together from the PX and we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. Party was a blast! Made many new friends - some who live near us here in Wiesbaden.
There is another Sushi in the Frankfurt Hash and she lives nearby in Bierstadt and teaches at the International School. Her name is Sushi Mooshi (aka Heather). We gave her a ride home that night. She doesn't own a car here and it took her two hours to get there by train, which stops running at midnight. By car, the place was about a 45 min drive from Wiesbaden.
The party was at a microbrewery in a town called Oberusel (sp?). They serve freshly-brewed beer daily. Sounds like the perfect Hash venue, huh? It was!
Sunday, 12/14/08
We rode with Ron and Chris to the Ronneburg Christmas Mart. This is an actual medieval-themed Christmas Mart that is held inside a 13th Century castle in Ronneburg. All the vendors are in medieval costume. Much like the Md Ren Fest, except only 4 euros admission. Germans really know how to do Ren Fests! There were traveling minstrels, donkey rides for the kids, even a small wooden merry go-round. I tried to take pictures but it was pretty overwhelming. Besides sampling gluhwein, we had pork cubes on a stick, and kafe und kuchen (coffee and cake) in one of the upper level rooms of the castle.
It's a good thing we got there early cause the traffic pouring in later was extremely congested. That would not have been fun to sit in.
Being our last night on Uncle Sam's dime for eating out, we chose an Italian place called "Cinque Due." I wasn't crazy about another German meal. At least when it's Italian I can expect a decent tossed salad and maybe a soup or small plate of pasta.
Starting tomorrow we will be without internet in our home for at least a couple of weeks. Lew will have it at work, of course, but I probably won't be on everyday until we are hooked up at home. I'm going to try to remote in to update the weekly blog as much as I can.
Everyone, Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!
Love, Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Today's the start of our move out of the hotel. Thank God! I don't think we could last another day here, especially the cats, which brings me to an interesting cat story:
We scheduled maid service for Saturday morning, which requires cats be in their kennels. We are in a suite-style room and it's much easier to get them in their kennels if we don't have to peel them off the carpet under the bed or out of the safe in the closet. So we shut them in the living room before going to bed.
This was OK until Rocky started whining at the bedroom door. He apparently just needed some attention so he was cuddled briefly and then tossed back into the living room.
The next morning our fun began. Interestingly enough, Rocky has frequently wandered into his kennel on his own, even when I have asked him nicely, but this time he was NO WHERE to be found. We proceeded to search the room top-to-bottom, emptying drawers, suitcases, checking under furniture. He simply could not be found.
Then we entertained the notion that maybe housekeeping had let themselves in earlier and he made his escape then. We checked with the front desk, but they had not seen any stray cats. We then called housekeeping for help.
Turns out there was one place we had not checked. The living room in our suite has an entertainment center. This piece of furniture has a little cubby hole in the back that some smaller pets have been known to wander into. The maid asked if we had checked there and we obviously had not, since we weren't aware of it till now. I reached behind and felt Rocky's bushy tail at last. Whew! Guess I got a little too optimistic thinking that he will just wander into his kennel whenever I ask him to.
So here's this week's wrap-up:
Monday, 12/8/08
Regular workday for Lew. I caught a morning shuttle over to the Airfield (Wiesbaden Army Airfield) to return DvD's we checked out from the library, pick up mail and try my first meal at the base Dining Hall. Back to the hotel to get a book I loaned back from Irmgard and to signup for the free tour to the Mainz Christmas Mart the next day. Got started on laundry and ran into Ron (friend/co-worker). He said that Lew had been asked to pickup some folks at the Frankfurt airport who were here to attend an IT conference. This must be one of those "other duties as assigned" he's been talking about. They were all staying at the American Arms so we took one fellow with us to dinner - Justin here from a DoDDS-IT facility in England. We took him to the favorite local dinner spot here - the Rhein-Main-Grill and then strolled through the Christmas Mart. The other folks were from DoDDS-IT in Vicenza, Italy. A gentleman named Marty and his wife, Marcy, who was basically just along for the ride. At last! A buddy for me to hang with during the day.
Tuesday, 12/9/08
Called Marcy bright and early to meet me in the hotel lobby so we could catch the shuttle up to Hainerburg to catch Irmgard's tour to Mainz. We hit it off immediately! Marcy's husband does similar work as Lewis but she, like me, is a small business owner - specifically in hypnosis and massage therapy. She wants to open her own wellness center. She's having some problems getting it off the ground in Italy, but for now she spends time working for the Red Cross.
We met up with Irmgard and four other ladies to catch the bus to Mainz. Fabulous breakfast buffet in Mainz at a trendy little chain called "Alex." Then we strolled through the Christmas Mart. We all had a fantastic time, taking pictures and comparing relocation notes.
I complained to Marcy that I really miss the sun and blue skies over here. She agreed with me but it's probably not as bad in Vicenza. I also told her I never see anyone smiling. My smile is never returned. She related and said that there is kind of an air of sadness throughout Europe but we both agreed we really loved being here.
We rode the bus back with Santa Claus! Dinner that night consisted of us and all the visitors grazing through the Christmas Mart. Lew and I decided to checkout the outdoor rink they just opened in the center of town. We can't wait to start putting our ice skating lessons from last winter to work again!
Wednesday, 12/10/08
German class in the morning. Marcy said she'd accompany me to Rudesheim on the train that afternoon so she did. Got lunch in the train station and then we were off. It's still amazing to me that roundtrip train fare for two is more expensive than for five! Rudesheim is this great little German village right next to the Rhine River. Their Christmas Mart is huge and very festive. Marcy was on a mission to get beer steins for her sons and I got a few holiday items.
Dinner at a Greek restaurant we had been meaning to checkout was marginal. No wonder we never see anyone in there.
Thursday, 12/11/08
German class again. Marcy needed some downtime and I had errands after class. She has invited us to come visit in Italy. I told her to pencil us in for May 2010 when I turn 50!
Best news that day was that our car had arrived!!! Worst news is that Lew tried to pick it up without me and they wouldn't let him because it is in my name. This has been a constant nightmare. I knew I should have changed my name before we left and it's always been on my list but the US Gov't is not with the program yet. We've had to keep a marriage license with us all the time, and even that doesn't always help, especially in this instance when I had to actually be physically present to prove I was his wife. Kind of put a damper on the rest of Lewis' day as we really needed our car for the walk-thru of our new house tomorrow. We planned to catch the 6:45am shuttle the next morning to get us back in to Dotzheim by the 10:30 walk-thru. Can't remember exactly what we did for dinner that night but we did spend 25 euros on it.
Friday, 12/12/08
Took the day off from Germany class for the walk-thru. Up at dawn to get our car. It survived the journey pretty well except for some cosmetic damage to the grill plate in front. They gave us a check for $150 to cover that damage. The really funny thing about this process is getting temporary tags from registration to then get the car inspected and then back to registration for the permanent tags. If you are doing the whole thing at once, it doesn't make sense to get temporary tags.
So we have wheels now! It feels really strange to not be riding buses. We did make our 10:30 appt with no problem which went extremely well. Out of all the housing inspectors in Germany, I think we ended up with the best one. He brought a digital cameral and took shots of every scratch and imperfection. Even discovered our stove was cracked (YEAH!). The owner is German and does not speak English so he was pulling double duty inspecting the house and performing translation services.
We were finished by about noon. Lew dropped me at the hotel and then in to work for the rest of the day.
Dinner that night with Ron and his son, Chris at a restaurant in Mainz-Kastel called "Brauhaus Castel." This is one of those places where atmosphere gets an A and the food gets a D. It was also crowded, but obviously not for the food. Lew got a fish in a mushroom sauce with potatoes, Ron got Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chris had Schnitzel (the national dish) and I had a very very strange sausage salad that consisted of pickles and a huge pile of bologna strips. The dessert was a little better but not enough to raise their grade.
Saturday, 12/13/08
Already wrote about our morning dilemma finding Rocky in the hotel room. Once that was all taken care of, I took Lew to find the local "Alex" brunch place. We are definitely coming back here. For about 6 euros, you get a full brunch and orange juice. Coffee is extra here and so are refills. I think we spent more on our coffee than the brunch.
So now that we have wheels we are able to get a lot more done on Saturdays - like get ready for the Frankfurt Hash Christmas Party that evening. The attire was festive and I really don't have anything so I pulled an outfit together from the PX and we spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready. Party was a blast! Made many new friends - some who live near us here in Wiesbaden.
There is another Sushi in the Frankfurt Hash and she lives nearby in Bierstadt and teaches at the International School. Her name is Sushi Mooshi (aka Heather). We gave her a ride home that night. She doesn't own a car here and it took her two hours to get there by train, which stops running at midnight. By car, the place was about a 45 min drive from Wiesbaden.
The party was at a microbrewery in a town called Oberusel (sp?). They serve freshly-brewed beer daily. Sounds like the perfect Hash venue, huh? It was!
Sunday, 12/14/08
We rode with Ron and Chris to the Ronneburg Christmas Mart. This is an actual medieval-themed Christmas Mart that is held inside a 13th Century castle in Ronneburg. All the vendors are in medieval costume. Much like the Md Ren Fest, except only 4 euros admission. Germans really know how to do Ren Fests! There were traveling minstrels, donkey rides for the kids, even a small wooden merry go-round. I tried to take pictures but it was pretty overwhelming. Besides sampling gluhwein, we had pork cubes on a stick, and kafe und kuchen (coffee and cake) in one of the upper level rooms of the castle.
It's a good thing we got there early cause the traffic pouring in later was extremely congested. That would not have been fun to sit in.
Being our last night on Uncle Sam's dime for eating out, we chose an Italian place called "Cinque Due." I wasn't crazy about another German meal. At least when it's Italian I can expect a decent tossed salad and maybe a soup or small plate of pasta.
Starting tomorrow we will be without internet in our home for at least a couple of weeks. Lew will have it at work, of course, but I probably won't be on everyday until we are hooked up at home. I'm going to try to remote in to update the weekly blog as much as I can.
Everyone, Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!
Love, Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 12/7/08
Monday was mostly summarized in last week's installment. Lew and I strolled down to Christmas Mart for dinner where he picked up fish sandwich and I got a bowl of lentil and wurst soup. Instead of getting mugs of gluhwein, we went to Aldi's and bought a bottle of gluhwein for 1 euro and nuked it back in our room.
Tuesday was my dad's birthday! Late start. Grabbed goulash soup and roll for lunch. Back to hotel to call dad. Had a great chat with the folks. Did laundry and got room serviced. Walked to the train station to pick up a salad to bring back. Really great salad vendor in train station! We met Ron and his son in the lobby to try out a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. It was one of the best meals we've had! Ron's son Chris is on a temporary work assignment here and two of his friends and their 11 month old daughter joined us. Then another friend of theirs "happened" to walk in and joined us as well.
Wednesday was the first day of Crash Course German Level I with the USO. Snowing like crazy. Not a very nice walk to class. Should have taken the shuttle. Our teacher's name is Frau (Isolde) Payne. We have five students in our class. Nice mixture of Civilian and Military and a 15 year old home-schooler who is quite a bit farther along in German than the rest of us.
We meet for three hours in the morning on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays through Dec. 19th. Frau Payne has a nice relaxed, conversational teaching style which I have not had before. Really lends itself well to learning a language when you have some more individualized attention and can really try to think in another language.
Only snag is that she did not have our books for the first class. Uh-oh! So I ended up volunteering to go into town to buy them (don't ask how) since I or Lew always walk into town at some point everyday. Next problem is that the largest book store in town only had two copies! They asked me if I wanted to order the others and I said no. It was pain enough schlepping these books through town while we hunted for dinner.
Had a hankering for pizza on "Italian Row" which we had not visited yet. Found a really cool little pizzaria called "Il Mediteraneo." Looked like an old hotel from the French Quarter or something, except it's just a restaurant now with maybe apartments above. Pizza was exactly what I was looking for - small and thin-crusted. Mine was topped with mozzarella and prosciuto and Lew got kind of a "meat-lover's" topping. He drank his usual Pils and I had my usual Chianti.
Riesling and whites are the most commonly available wines here as we are in the heart of Riesling country. But Chianti has become my favorite too, among the reds. It makes me think of Italy, which I hope to soon be visiting!
Thursday I wisely took the shuttle to class. Had a nice chat with the USO Secretary who lives downtown and takes public transportation a lot. She gave me a lot of good tips on how to find a healthy lunch at the Foot Court in the PX shopping center. This is really a challenge cause it's all fast food.
So I delivered my two books to the only two girls in class - myself and Marilyn (who gave me a ride back to the hotel after class on her way to the Gummi Bear store). She has two school-aged children.
Thursday night the three of us (Lew, Ron and myself) met at the PX so Ron could get his gas card to fill the tank in his rental car before turning it in the next morning. Oh btw, we've been sharing the same rental car with Ron for about three weeks now and it's getting expensive.
Ron and Lew had a funny way of telling me they really wanted Popeye's for dinner: they first asked me what I wanted to do for dinner. Polite as usual, I said it didn't matter but I was interested in trying out the Pasta Place in the back of the Commissary but it really didn't matter so Popeye's it was but I got a Taco Bell chicken salad. So Ron tells me later that he can only eat at Popeyes before his wife gets there. Not really sure why. Not crazy about Lew or anyone eating there, myself. It's all lard, flour, sugar and processed junk but it's not like he's eating there everyday.
We did the Commissary after to pick up some items. I really didn't think we'd go to the Commissary at all when they asked me to decide on dinner. I would have just gotten something there. Commissary, by the way, is a grocery store for the military.
Friday was German class #3. Took shuttle over. Planned to meet with USO people about doing Music Together in their building, but they are nonprofit and it wouldn't earn me enough to be worth the trouble. There are a LOT of babies in strollers around here!! I still plan to pursue starting the program here, but not with USO.
So Friday lunch I finally hit the Pasta Place at the Commissary. Spaghetti with red clam sauce. YUM!
For dinner, we were supposed to meet Ron and his son for dinner at City Bowling, but they seemed to be closed for a private party. Lew and I wandered into town. Stopped at a really great German restaurant I can't remember the name of. The receipt was handwritten on a plain piece of paper. I had pork strips in a mushroom sauce with spaetzle and Lew had wild boar with red cabbage and potatoes. Of course, we each got a salad which meant I had two because they always drench them in dressing, which Lew doesn't eat.
On Saturday, Lew and I took the bus to Dotzheim to check out our new neighborhood. Did a little shopping and got lunch at a kebab place. We got back in time to shower and change for his office Christmas party. Carol came at 6pm to pick us and Ron up for the Christmas Party. The party took place at a Schloss (castle) in Biebrich (another area of Wiesbaden). It was quick the formal and classy affair with everyone in blacktie and evening gowns! We still don't have most of our clothes yet which meant WE dressed casually. This wasn't really our fault as we had been advised otherwise to not bother buying anything dressy. Should have known better.
On Sunday, Lew went to the hash and I took a little train trip to see another Christmas Mart. Bought a ticket to Rudesheim (where everyone has recommended I go) only to find out the trains don't run there on Sunday. Tried to get a refund but was told the buses go there but that wasn't really my point. I wanted a train ride. So I compromised and rode to Mainz instead. It's only about 3 stops from Wiesbaden. Spent a lot of time walking in the wrong direction before I found the Christmas Mart. Once there, I enjoyed a warm cup of gluhwein in my "free mug" (that I pay a deposit for but end up keeping for Lew's collection). This Mart is just as everyone says - crowded. I'd like to go back on Tuesday with the tour to Mainz that Irmgard is leading.
Spent the rest of Sunday back at the hotel, pretty tired from too much walking. I'm starting to feel like "the lady in the blue coat" with all this walking to the same places repeatedly. Oh, speaking of walking.. our car delivery has been delayed past the expected date of Monday, 12/8. Apparently there were some issues with having to change boats, etc. etc. If we don't have it this coming week, we will have to rent again.
Dinner at the hotel consisted of canneloni with ricotta and spinach. Took a while for it to cool enough to eat. Chianti wine as usual. Hotel bar was packed with two large screens tuned into major league football games.
Lew got back from the hash at about 9pm.
Stay tuned for next week's episode on how to move to a new house without a car (I hope not!). Incidentally, it may be more like two or three weeks before my next installment. I've been hearing that once we move in to the new place, it will likely be some time before our phone and internet are hooked up. Hopefully I'll be back around this month to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Auf wiedersehen!
Tuesday was my dad's birthday! Late start. Grabbed goulash soup and roll for lunch. Back to hotel to call dad. Had a great chat with the folks. Did laundry and got room serviced. Walked to the train station to pick up a salad to bring back. Really great salad vendor in train station! We met Ron and his son in the lobby to try out a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. It was one of the best meals we've had! Ron's son Chris is on a temporary work assignment here and two of his friends and their 11 month old daughter joined us. Then another friend of theirs "happened" to walk in and joined us as well.
Wednesday was the first day of Crash Course German Level I with the USO. Snowing like crazy. Not a very nice walk to class. Should have taken the shuttle. Our teacher's name is Frau (Isolde) Payne. We have five students in our class. Nice mixture of Civilian and Military and a 15 year old home-schooler who is quite a bit farther along in German than the rest of us.
We meet for three hours in the morning on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays through Dec. 19th. Frau Payne has a nice relaxed, conversational teaching style which I have not had before. Really lends itself well to learning a language when you have some more individualized attention and can really try to think in another language.
Only snag is that she did not have our books for the first class. Uh-oh! So I ended up volunteering to go into town to buy them (don't ask how) since I or Lew always walk into town at some point everyday. Next problem is that the largest book store in town only had two copies! They asked me if I wanted to order the others and I said no. It was pain enough schlepping these books through town while we hunted for dinner.
Had a hankering for pizza on "Italian Row" which we had not visited yet. Found a really cool little pizzaria called "Il Mediteraneo." Looked like an old hotel from the French Quarter or something, except it's just a restaurant now with maybe apartments above. Pizza was exactly what I was looking for - small and thin-crusted. Mine was topped with mozzarella and prosciuto and Lew got kind of a "meat-lover's" topping. He drank his usual Pils and I had my usual Chianti.
Riesling and whites are the most commonly available wines here as we are in the heart of Riesling country. But Chianti has become my favorite too, among the reds. It makes me think of Italy, which I hope to soon be visiting!
Thursday I wisely took the shuttle to class. Had a nice chat with the USO Secretary who lives downtown and takes public transportation a lot. She gave me a lot of good tips on how to find a healthy lunch at the Foot Court in the PX shopping center. This is really a challenge cause it's all fast food.
So I delivered my two books to the only two girls in class - myself and Marilyn (who gave me a ride back to the hotel after class on her way to the Gummi Bear store). She has two school-aged children.
Thursday night the three of us (Lew, Ron and myself) met at the PX so Ron could get his gas card to fill the tank in his rental car before turning it in the next morning. Oh btw, we've been sharing the same rental car with Ron for about three weeks now and it's getting expensive.
Ron and Lew had a funny way of telling me they really wanted Popeye's for dinner: they first asked me what I wanted to do for dinner. Polite as usual, I said it didn't matter but I was interested in trying out the Pasta Place in the back of the Commissary but it really didn't matter so Popeye's it was but I got a Taco Bell chicken salad. So Ron tells me later that he can only eat at Popeyes before his wife gets there. Not really sure why. Not crazy about Lew or anyone eating there, myself. It's all lard, flour, sugar and processed junk but it's not like he's eating there everyday.
We did the Commissary after to pick up some items. I really didn't think we'd go to the Commissary at all when they asked me to decide on dinner. I would have just gotten something there. Commissary, by the way, is a grocery store for the military.
Friday was German class #3. Took shuttle over. Planned to meet with USO people about doing Music Together in their building, but they are nonprofit and it wouldn't earn me enough to be worth the trouble. There are a LOT of babies in strollers around here!! I still plan to pursue starting the program here, but not with USO.
So Friday lunch I finally hit the Pasta Place at the Commissary. Spaghetti with red clam sauce. YUM!
For dinner, we were supposed to meet Ron and his son for dinner at City Bowling, but they seemed to be closed for a private party. Lew and I wandered into town. Stopped at a really great German restaurant I can't remember the name of. The receipt was handwritten on a plain piece of paper. I had pork strips in a mushroom sauce with spaetzle and Lew had wild boar with red cabbage and potatoes. Of course, we each got a salad which meant I had two because they always drench them in dressing, which Lew doesn't eat.
On Saturday, Lew and I took the bus to Dotzheim to check out our new neighborhood. Did a little shopping and got lunch at a kebab place. We got back in time to shower and change for his office Christmas party. Carol came at 6pm to pick us and Ron up for the Christmas Party. The party took place at a Schloss (castle) in Biebrich (another area of Wiesbaden). It was quick the formal and classy affair with everyone in blacktie and evening gowns! We still don't have most of our clothes yet which meant WE dressed casually. This wasn't really our fault as we had been advised otherwise to not bother buying anything dressy. Should have known better.
On Sunday, Lew went to the hash and I took a little train trip to see another Christmas Mart. Bought a ticket to Rudesheim (where everyone has recommended I go) only to find out the trains don't run there on Sunday. Tried to get a refund but was told the buses go there but that wasn't really my point. I wanted a train ride. So I compromised and rode to Mainz instead. It's only about 3 stops from Wiesbaden. Spent a lot of time walking in the wrong direction before I found the Christmas Mart. Once there, I enjoyed a warm cup of gluhwein in my "free mug" (that I pay a deposit for but end up keeping for Lew's collection). This Mart is just as everyone says - crowded. I'd like to go back on Tuesday with the tour to Mainz that Irmgard is leading.
Spent the rest of Sunday back at the hotel, pretty tired from too much walking. I'm starting to feel like "the lady in the blue coat" with all this walking to the same places repeatedly. Oh, speaking of walking.. our car delivery has been delayed past the expected date of Monday, 12/8. Apparently there were some issues with having to change boats, etc. etc. If we don't have it this coming week, we will have to rent again.
Dinner at the hotel consisted of canneloni with ricotta and spinach. Took a while for it to cool enough to eat. Chianti wine as usual. Hotel bar was packed with two large screens tuned into major league football games.
Lew got back from the hash at about 9pm.
Stay tuned for next week's episode on how to move to a new house without a car (I hope not!). Incidentally, it may be more like two or three weeks before my next installment. I've been hearing that once we move in to the new place, it will likely be some time before our phone and internet are hooked up. Hopefully I'll be back around this month to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Auf wiedersehen!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 11/30/08
We have seen two snowstorms in the last week. Very unusual for Germany in November (much like in DC). Pretty cold too. Didn't time the shipping of our winter coats too well and had to buy some stuff to tie us over.
Pretty eventful week but then again every week since mid-August has been eventful..
Hope you all liked my picture blog last week. I'm embedding a link to some more (and better) pictures of our new house, which we move into on Dec. 15th. We originally planned to move Dec. 1st but that is tomorrow and we don't even have our car yet.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mossless/HomeInGermany
I forgot to mention last week that I attended a weeklong orientation here at the hotel for Army and DoD spouses and dependants (for free!) by the Army Community Service. It was conducted by a German lady named Irmgard who is considered the local expert on German culture and customs.
We spent the first day getting maps and general info about Wiesbaden. Tuesday we heard from vendors like the USO, PX, Commissary and then a quick course in survival German. Wednesday we had to take our driver's tests (we passed!) so I had to miss Irmgard's walking tour of Wiesbaden. Thursday we all met at the train station to learn about the train system and then she took us on a tour of a German version of Whole Foods. Friday's event was cancelled due to the threat of snow (which didn't happen till Sunday). We had planned to meet at a bus station so Irmgard could show us the bus system and then travel to and from Mainz. I could have really used that lesson, but the orientation was free so I guess beggars can't be choosers.
OK, so back to this past week. Lots more stuff to report. Monday went to the Post Office and checked our mail. Dropped off / picked up some DvDs from the library to watch at the hotel. Getting pretty tired of watching the AFN (Armed Forces Network). Basically all the commercials are military-related and extremely repetitive. My saving grace is that they are broadcasting all my favorite shows - Daily Show, Colbert Report and Boston Legal!
Tuesday the Wiesbaden Christmas mart opened! Christmas Marts are street festivals held in most German cities from the end of Nov. through Christmas. The streets are closed so food and craft vendors can set up shop while everyone browses through, sipping mulled wine (gluhwein) and munching on local favorites such as bratwurst, pommes frites, potato pancakes, soup, flat breads, etc.
Wednesday I spent most of the day finding Lew a 9th Wedding Anniversary card in German. Most of them seemed to be wedding cards. It's too bad my dictionary didn't translate wedding anniversary but Lew's did. In case anyone's interested, the Germany word for wedding is Hochzeit and wedding anniversary is Hochzeitstag, which I thought to mean wedding day. Oh well... Lew did get me a card and in English!
Thursday was Thanksgiving and our Anniversary. Thanksgiving is just an average day here in Germany. We had an invite to join a family for dinner who works with Lew but got a tip on a great restaurant near our new house so made that our plan instead. The big adventure that day was taking the bus to the restaurant! Also a chance to practice taking the bus from Wiesbaden to our new house and back. The commute was fine except we almost caught a cab home when we discovered the return route had been switched to another stop causing us to miss the first three buses back into Wiesbaden.
Friday was a workday for Lew. I spent the morning at the train station firming up our itinerary to Cologne the next day. Turns out that round trip fare for up to five people from Wiesbaden to ANYWHERE in Germany only costs about $45 total on weekends. We invited another coworker of Lew's, so that made our train fare pretty cheap.
We had a fabulous trip to Cologne! They have about 7 different Christmas marts, including a floating one and one that sits right in front of the Cologne Cathedral. Weather was terrific, not to mention the company! But we got a little Christmas-mart'ed out toward the end of the afternoon and made our way home.
The ride up from Wiesbaden was quite scenic. The train bordered the Rhine River most of the way, passing many castles and quaint Germany villages. By far the best deal for our money yet. We are looking forward to more train travel on weekends whenever possible.
Today is Sunday and we splurged on a brunch at a five star restaurant at Kafers, located in the Kurhaus (casino). YUM! Got our second snowfall today but it didn't stick.
Hoping to start my German class this week but won't know for sure till tomorrow. Tomorrow going on tour to Rudesheim w/Irmgard. Wonderful medieval town with fabulous Christmas Mart.
As of today (Monday), our main shipment and car have arrived so we are 100% in Germany now. Just may not see our car till next week's post.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!
Love,
Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Pretty eventful week but then again every week since mid-August has been eventful..
Hope you all liked my picture blog last week. I'm embedding a link to some more (and better) pictures of our new house, which we move into on Dec. 15th. We originally planned to move Dec. 1st but that is tomorrow and we don't even have our car yet.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mossless/HomeInGermany
I forgot to mention last week that I attended a weeklong orientation here at the hotel for Army and DoD spouses and dependants (for free!) by the Army Community Service. It was conducted by a German lady named Irmgard who is considered the local expert on German culture and customs.
We spent the first day getting maps and general info about Wiesbaden. Tuesday we heard from vendors like the USO, PX, Commissary and then a quick course in survival German. Wednesday we had to take our driver's tests (we passed!) so I had to miss Irmgard's walking tour of Wiesbaden. Thursday we all met at the train station to learn about the train system and then she took us on a tour of a German version of Whole Foods. Friday's event was cancelled due to the threat of snow (which didn't happen till Sunday). We had planned to meet at a bus station so Irmgard could show us the bus system and then travel to and from Mainz. I could have really used that lesson, but the orientation was free so I guess beggars can't be choosers.
OK, so back to this past week. Lots more stuff to report. Monday went to the Post Office and checked our mail. Dropped off / picked up some DvDs from the library to watch at the hotel. Getting pretty tired of watching the AFN (Armed Forces Network). Basically all the commercials are military-related and extremely repetitive. My saving grace is that they are broadcasting all my favorite shows - Daily Show, Colbert Report and Boston Legal!
Tuesday the Wiesbaden Christmas mart opened! Christmas Marts are street festivals held in most German cities from the end of Nov. through Christmas. The streets are closed so food and craft vendors can set up shop while everyone browses through, sipping mulled wine (gluhwein) and munching on local favorites such as bratwurst, pommes frites, potato pancakes, soup, flat breads, etc.
Wednesday I spent most of the day finding Lew a 9th Wedding Anniversary card in German. Most of them seemed to be wedding cards. It's too bad my dictionary didn't translate wedding anniversary but Lew's did. In case anyone's interested, the Germany word for wedding is Hochzeit and wedding anniversary is Hochzeitstag, which I thought to mean wedding day. Oh well... Lew did get me a card and in English!
Thursday was Thanksgiving and our Anniversary. Thanksgiving is just an average day here in Germany. We had an invite to join a family for dinner who works with Lew but got a tip on a great restaurant near our new house so made that our plan instead. The big adventure that day was taking the bus to the restaurant! Also a chance to practice taking the bus from Wiesbaden to our new house and back. The commute was fine except we almost caught a cab home when we discovered the return route had been switched to another stop causing us to miss the first three buses back into Wiesbaden.
Friday was a workday for Lew. I spent the morning at the train station firming up our itinerary to Cologne the next day. Turns out that round trip fare for up to five people from Wiesbaden to ANYWHERE in Germany only costs about $45 total on weekends. We invited another coworker of Lew's, so that made our train fare pretty cheap.
We had a fabulous trip to Cologne! They have about 7 different Christmas marts, including a floating one and one that sits right in front of the Cologne Cathedral. Weather was terrific, not to mention the company! But we got a little Christmas-mart'ed out toward the end of the afternoon and made our way home.
The ride up from Wiesbaden was quite scenic. The train bordered the Rhine River most of the way, passing many castles and quaint Germany villages. By far the best deal for our money yet. We are looking forward to more train travel on weekends whenever possible.
Today is Sunday and we splurged on a brunch at a five star restaurant at Kafers, located in the Kurhaus (casino). YUM! Got our second snowfall today but it didn't stick.
Hoping to start my German class this week but won't know for sure till tomorrow. Tomorrow going on tour to Rudesheim w/Irmgard. Wonderful medieval town with fabulous Christmas Mart.
As of today (Monday), our main shipment and car have arrived so we are 100% in Germany now. Just may not see our car till next week's post.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!
Love,
Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Monday, November 24, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 11/23/08
Trying something new this week - my first "all pictures" blog!
Finally made it to the FH3 (Frankfurt Hash House Harriers)!
A few shots of #16a, Stegerwald Str. in Dotzheim. Hoping to sign the rental agreement this week. Private gate and driveway. Entrance to house on left.
Courtyard looking back to separate office / guest quarters.
Now this is a cool looking bathroom!
Inspecting one of the upstairs bedrooms with private balcony.
Spacious eat-in kitchen next to front entrance and foyer.
House from the courtyard.
I've never seen leaves this large!
Rocky pretty much lives under the bed.
And Howard likes to be under end tables.
Lew sipping his first Gluhwein at a neighborhood church bazaar.
So here is our current home - The American Arms Hotel!
Auf wiedersehen and Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Finally made it to the FH3 (Frankfurt Hash House Harriers)!
A few shots of #16a, Stegerwald Str. in Dotzheim. Hoping to sign the rental agreement this week. Private gate and driveway. Entrance to house on left.
Courtyard looking back to separate office / guest quarters.
Now this is a cool looking bathroom!
Inspecting one of the upstairs bedrooms with private balcony.
Spacious eat-in kitchen next to front entrance and foyer.
House from the courtyard.
I've never seen leaves this large!
Rocky pretty much lives under the bed.
And Howard likes to be under end tables.
Lew sipping his first Gluhwein at a neighborhood church bazaar.
So here is our current home - The American Arms Hotel!
Auf wiedersehen and Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
Jaime, Lew, Howard and Rocky
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 11/16/08
Whirlwind 2nd week here, not unlike the first week. We can probably not count on settling down until mid-2009 sometime.
Today is Sunday and Lew is again watching football in the other room with me here in the bedroom on the laptop.
So picking up from last week, I'll start where we left off last Monday, 11/10:
Remember I said we were carless? Well today took the cake with relying on the base shuttle to get Lew and his colleages to and from work. They were at the stop awaiting the 6:45am pickup only to find out that the shuttle was on a weekend/holiday schedule (basically a drastically reduced schedule with the first pickup not occurring till 9:20am!). Apparently this is a common practice over here. Tuesday was Veterans Day and when a holiday occurs at the end (or close to) a weekend, businesses tend to take the other day off to give their employees an extra long holiday weekend.
So instead of my shuttling over to base to meet Lew later that morning (we had errands), I just boarded the 9:20 shuttle with him. So then came the hassle of him getting a ride home from work because the last shuttle back to the hotel left at 3:15pm! He got a ride home from his boss. Indian Dinner at the Taj Mahal was wonderful!
Tuesday, 11/11. Lew has the day off! Spent the day hoofing around town. Visited the PX in the morning and downtown Wiesbaden in the afternoon. Had to get lunch at the train station there because it's such a cool place. Then split up so he could check out the electronics store and I spent an hour obsessing over cheap jewelry at the mall. Back to the hotel for dinner.
Wednesday, 11/12. Lew works noon-9pm schedule on Wednesdays so we hit the Housing Office in the morning to check out listings. Several leads and referrals obtained so we scheduled appointments to check them out Friday afternoon.
A quick side note, seem to have a serious lack of decent coffee here in the morning. We get a free continental breakfast but the coffee is pretty bad and I have developed a strong dislike for their liquid "creamers" so keep buying cartons of whole milk, except those are a pain to carry around. This is a letdown because I always expected European coffee (anywhere in Europe) to be far better than in the US.
I spent the rest of the day walking my butt off to the different neighborhoods we planned to visit on Friday. Wasn't really thinking clearly cause 1) I didn't carry an umbrella (big mistake... rains here a lot) and 2) got temporarily lost just before dark. But made it back home via the train station for a warm bowl of soup and pretzel. I think walking is OK for an hour or so but a 3-4 hr stint is a bit much.
Thursday, 11/13: Spent the morning contacting some job leads and talking to a landlord about a house in Bierstadt. Dinner was at Italian Bolognese (or something like that) with Carol and Daniel. We headed to City Bowling first (they have GREAT food) but we arrived as this massive crowd was flooding in so opted for the other less crowded place. I dined on wonderful spaghetti marinara and Lew had a mixed seafood plate. The waiter served us (except for 16 yr old Daniel) Italian liquor for dessert called "Grappa (sp?)" The waiter brought his own glass to join us in our toast which Carol and I thought was a nice touch.
Friday, 11/14: Long chapter here. Lew works the morning and has the afternoon off to look at housing with me. He got a good deal on a rental car for the next week or two. Yahoo! We are pretty sick of the shuttle by now.
We had appointments to see 4 properties. The first one was a super posh 4 bdrm apt overlooking the Kurpark (Wiesbaden equiv of Central Park) and on Mozartstrasse! I was ready to move in based on the street name alone. This place had one major drawback - WHITE carpet throughout. We were made to put on little booties to tour the place. I'll never understand the logic of installing wall-to-wall pure white carpet in one's home.
Second place right next to train station but a huge letdown to find the inside pretty drab and dismal with extremely high ceilings and poorly furnished kitchen. Furnished kitchens in Germany, by the way, are not a given. If we weren't going through the Base Housing Office we would probably be negotiating for one.
Third property was the worst but also the most hysterical. Very modern two-level apartment right on a major highway! Very curious little guest apt OUTSIDE of the main apt with it's own entrance and laundry facility. I guess this would make a good crash pad for someone you weren't necessarily comfortable with inviting into your home or perhaps a place to send the spouse for the night after a bad argument.
Fourth property was better. A little further out and lots of nice features, including private courtyard, gated driveway, and separate office. We'd definitely need a second car if we went with this one, but decided to sleep on it.
Very disappointed when we got back to the hotel that we were just too tired to go to the Full Moon Hash in Frankfurt. Strolled over to the another part of town for Thai dinner instead.
Saturday, 11/15. Quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed off on foot to check out a huge apartment back in the Thai restaurant part of town we visited last night. We were joined by another family to check out the same place. Turned out there were 2 of these huge apartments available in a very old, historic and gothic style building. We all agreed they were beautifully appointed but difficult to feel "at home" in a huge space that resembles some sort of 19th century gallery or drawing room. And the kitchen? Well.. basically rooms the size of walk-in closets had IKEA floor plans taped to the wall with drawings for kitchen furnishings to be added later. That coupled with extremely old electric wiring meant we were outta there.
After that disappointment we cheered ourselves up by wandering back through the pedestrian malls and farmers market. Picked up two curry sausage platters with fries. We are starting to suffer the effects of "fries" with EVERY meal. In addition, most folks here enjoy them with ketchup or mayo or both. Isn't frying them in oil enough? Oh, and I can't forget the cup of dressing that automatically gets tossed on every salad unless you adamantly specify otherwise but that doesn't work too well either cause I think a lot of these salads are premade. We don't have a prayer for our waistlines here if this keeps up!
OK so Saturday ended on an upnote. We toured the house in Bierstadt I had called about on Thursday. Just the name of the town was enough spark our interest, don't you think? Anyway, I think we have found our home sweet home but a lot more details to iron out before I can say for sure. It's a pretty cool little place with rose garden, terrace, garage, sauna, balcony and lots of closet and shelf space! The American owner lives next door and knows how much closets mean to Americans. Closets pretty much don't exist here in Germany.
Potential downside of this place is that a small portion of the basement with it's own entrance is rented out to an elderly. There are compromises to made no matter where we look.
Ran into Carol and Daniel back at the hotel. Gave them a lift to do some shopping and then City Bowling for dinner.
Sunday 11/16. Downstairs in time for breakfast. Chatted with some other guests who were also out looking at places this weekend (some saw the same ones we saw). It was cool comparing notes and reactions.
Seriously planned to go hashing but it started to rain. RATS! I must say that I have only seen the sun a couple of times in the two weeks we have been here. Lew says the climate is equiv to the Pacific Northwest where it is gray and foggy most of the time there too.
Spent the rest of the day studying for our driver's test on Wednesday. This also means constantly converting miles to km's, meters, etc. and vice versa. Their right-of-way rules are a lot different from ours. Told Lewis he probably won't see me behind the wheel while we are over here.
It's about 11:15pm here so I'll close out this week's installment.
Hugs to everyone!
Jaime, Lew, Rocky and Howard
Today is Sunday and Lew is again watching football in the other room with me here in the bedroom on the laptop.
So picking up from last week, I'll start where we left off last Monday, 11/10:
Remember I said we were carless? Well today took the cake with relying on the base shuttle to get Lew and his colleages to and from work. They were at the stop awaiting the 6:45am pickup only to find out that the shuttle was on a weekend/holiday schedule (basically a drastically reduced schedule with the first pickup not occurring till 9:20am!). Apparently this is a common practice over here. Tuesday was Veterans Day and when a holiday occurs at the end (or close to) a weekend, businesses tend to take the other day off to give their employees an extra long holiday weekend.
So instead of my shuttling over to base to meet Lew later that morning (we had errands), I just boarded the 9:20 shuttle with him. So then came the hassle of him getting a ride home from work because the last shuttle back to the hotel left at 3:15pm! He got a ride home from his boss. Indian Dinner at the Taj Mahal was wonderful!
Tuesday, 11/11. Lew has the day off! Spent the day hoofing around town. Visited the PX in the morning and downtown Wiesbaden in the afternoon. Had to get lunch at the train station there because it's such a cool place. Then split up so he could check out the electronics store and I spent an hour obsessing over cheap jewelry at the mall. Back to the hotel for dinner.
Wednesday, 11/12. Lew works noon-9pm schedule on Wednesdays so we hit the Housing Office in the morning to check out listings. Several leads and referrals obtained so we scheduled appointments to check them out Friday afternoon.
A quick side note, seem to have a serious lack of decent coffee here in the morning. We get a free continental breakfast but the coffee is pretty bad and I have developed a strong dislike for their liquid "creamers" so keep buying cartons of whole milk, except those are a pain to carry around. This is a letdown because I always expected European coffee (anywhere in Europe) to be far better than in the US.
I spent the rest of the day walking my butt off to the different neighborhoods we planned to visit on Friday. Wasn't really thinking clearly cause 1) I didn't carry an umbrella (big mistake... rains here a lot) and 2) got temporarily lost just before dark. But made it back home via the train station for a warm bowl of soup and pretzel. I think walking is OK for an hour or so but a 3-4 hr stint is a bit much.
Thursday, 11/13: Spent the morning contacting some job leads and talking to a landlord about a house in Bierstadt. Dinner was at Italian Bolognese (or something like that) with Carol and Daniel. We headed to City Bowling first (they have GREAT food) but we arrived as this massive crowd was flooding in so opted for the other less crowded place. I dined on wonderful spaghetti marinara and Lew had a mixed seafood plate. The waiter served us (except for 16 yr old Daniel) Italian liquor for dessert called "Grappa (sp?)" The waiter brought his own glass to join us in our toast which Carol and I thought was a nice touch.
Friday, 11/14: Long chapter here. Lew works the morning and has the afternoon off to look at housing with me. He got a good deal on a rental car for the next week or two. Yahoo! We are pretty sick of the shuttle by now.
We had appointments to see 4 properties. The first one was a super posh 4 bdrm apt overlooking the Kurpark (Wiesbaden equiv of Central Park) and on Mozartstrasse! I was ready to move in based on the street name alone. This place had one major drawback - WHITE carpet throughout. We were made to put on little booties to tour the place. I'll never understand the logic of installing wall-to-wall pure white carpet in one's home.
Second place right next to train station but a huge letdown to find the inside pretty drab and dismal with extremely high ceilings and poorly furnished kitchen. Furnished kitchens in Germany, by the way, are not a given. If we weren't going through the Base Housing Office we would probably be negotiating for one.
Third property was the worst but also the most hysterical. Very modern two-level apartment right on a major highway! Very curious little guest apt OUTSIDE of the main apt with it's own entrance and laundry facility. I guess this would make a good crash pad for someone you weren't necessarily comfortable with inviting into your home or perhaps a place to send the spouse for the night after a bad argument.
Fourth property was better. A little further out and lots of nice features, including private courtyard, gated driveway, and separate office. We'd definitely need a second car if we went with this one, but decided to sleep on it.
Very disappointed when we got back to the hotel that we were just too tired to go to the Full Moon Hash in Frankfurt. Strolled over to the another part of town for Thai dinner instead.
Saturday, 11/15. Quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed off on foot to check out a huge apartment back in the Thai restaurant part of town we visited last night. We were joined by another family to check out the same place. Turned out there were 2 of these huge apartments available in a very old, historic and gothic style building. We all agreed they were beautifully appointed but difficult to feel "at home" in a huge space that resembles some sort of 19th century gallery or drawing room. And the kitchen? Well.. basically rooms the size of walk-in closets had IKEA floor plans taped to the wall with drawings for kitchen furnishings to be added later. That coupled with extremely old electric wiring meant we were outta there.
After that disappointment we cheered ourselves up by wandering back through the pedestrian malls and farmers market. Picked up two curry sausage platters with fries. We are starting to suffer the effects of "fries" with EVERY meal. In addition, most folks here enjoy them with ketchup or mayo or both. Isn't frying them in oil enough? Oh, and I can't forget the cup of dressing that automatically gets tossed on every salad unless you adamantly specify otherwise but that doesn't work too well either cause I think a lot of these salads are premade. We don't have a prayer for our waistlines here if this keeps up!
OK so Saturday ended on an upnote. We toured the house in Bierstadt I had called about on Thursday. Just the name of the town was enough spark our interest, don't you think? Anyway, I think we have found our home sweet home but a lot more details to iron out before I can say for sure. It's a pretty cool little place with rose garden, terrace, garage, sauna, balcony and lots of closet and shelf space! The American owner lives next door and knows how much closets mean to Americans. Closets pretty much don't exist here in Germany.
Potential downside of this place is that a small portion of the basement with it's own entrance is rented out to an elderly. There are compromises to made no matter where we look.
Ran into Carol and Daniel back at the hotel. Gave them a lift to do some shopping and then City Bowling for dinner.
Sunday 11/16. Downstairs in time for breakfast. Chatted with some other guests who were also out looking at places this weekend (some saw the same ones we saw). It was cool comparing notes and reactions.
Seriously planned to go hashing but it started to rain. RATS! I must say that I have only seen the sun a couple of times in the two weeks we have been here. Lew says the climate is equiv to the Pacific Northwest where it is gray and foggy most of the time there too.
Spent the rest of the day studying for our driver's test on Wednesday. This also means constantly converting miles to km's, meters, etc. and vice versa. Their right-of-way rules are a lot different from ours. Told Lewis he probably won't see me behind the wheel while we are over here.
It's about 11:15pm here so I'll close out this week's installment.
Hugs to everyone!
Jaime, Lew, Rocky and Howard
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Week Ending Sunday 11/9/08
My very first blog here, so bear with me...
I was hoping to get some pictures up of our first week here but too busy to take any! We keep saying we are here for at least 3 years and will find the time. Of course, we won't have any pictures of our arrival, now will we?
It's 7am Monday and Lew has boarded his shuttle to work. He works for the IT Division of DoDDS-Europe (Dept of Defense Dependant's School System).
Here's a brief summary of Week 1, here:
Departed Sunday 5pm out of Dulles to Frankfurt. Cats survived the trip extremely well. Not a single peep out of either through the security check (had to hand carry them through the gate) and then being stuffed under plane seats for 7.5 hours. It seems that all our preparations to get them through German immigration were all for naught as they didn't ask for any of the paperwork nor care to see that we had cats at all!
Our sponsor and Lew's new boss, Stephen, met us with a litterbox at the Frankfurt airport. He then got us to the hotel so we could get the cats settled and then start our tour of the area. Much of the rest of last Monday is a blur. We were encouraged to stay awake until at least 8:30 and they were right. I took an afternoon nap and didn't get any sleep at all that night.
Tuesday: Lew's first day on the job. Oh btw, we are carless right now and have to take public transp. everywhere. Along those lines we need to study for the German driving test which I am NOT looking forward to. Our hotel (American Arms) is right in the heart of downtown Wiesbaden with many local attractions, restaurants and stores within walking distance.
Wednesday: I took the shuttle to join Lewis for lunch where he works at Mainz Kastel Station. Then we all shuttled back to the hotel for meetings with HR. Had a wonderful dinner with Lew's coworker from the States, Carol and her son, Daniel who attends high school on base.
Thursday: Cats need to be in their kennels in order to have maid service. Scheduled this for early afternoon while I ran errands.
Friday: Long day going to base Job Fair, etc. Many good job leads for ME at the Job Fair and all in education.
Saturday: Went to PX to set up bank account. Shuttled back to hotel and walked down to Wiesbaden. Great fish restaurant for lunch. Shopped in the afternoon with the plan of dinner at Sushi World. They have a Japanese-Chinese buffet which is a little overpriced and under-quality on the Chinese side. The sushi was marvelous.
Sunday: Visited the Commissary and then hotel restaurant for lunch. Laundry all afternoon. Would have gone out to dinner but Lew discovered a Vikings game on TV! Ordered a pizza instead while I finished laundry.
That just about wraps it up for this week. Till next time..
Tchuss!
Jaime
I was hoping to get some pictures up of our first week here but too busy to take any! We keep saying we are here for at least 3 years and will find the time. Of course, we won't have any pictures of our arrival, now will we?
It's 7am Monday and Lew has boarded his shuttle to work. He works for the IT Division of DoDDS-Europe (Dept of Defense Dependant's School System).
Here's a brief summary of Week 1, here:
Departed Sunday 5pm out of Dulles to Frankfurt. Cats survived the trip extremely well. Not a single peep out of either through the security check (had to hand carry them through the gate) and then being stuffed under plane seats for 7.5 hours. It seems that all our preparations to get them through German immigration were all for naught as they didn't ask for any of the paperwork nor care to see that we had cats at all!
Our sponsor and Lew's new boss, Stephen, met us with a litterbox at the Frankfurt airport. He then got us to the hotel so we could get the cats settled and then start our tour of the area. Much of the rest of last Monday is a blur. We were encouraged to stay awake until at least 8:30 and they were right. I took an afternoon nap and didn't get any sleep at all that night.
Tuesday: Lew's first day on the job. Oh btw, we are carless right now and have to take public transp. everywhere. Along those lines we need to study for the German driving test which I am NOT looking forward to. Our hotel (American Arms) is right in the heart of downtown Wiesbaden with many local attractions, restaurants and stores within walking distance.
Wednesday: I took the shuttle to join Lewis for lunch where he works at Mainz Kastel Station. Then we all shuttled back to the hotel for meetings with HR. Had a wonderful dinner with Lew's coworker from the States, Carol and her son, Daniel who attends high school on base.
Thursday: Cats need to be in their kennels in order to have maid service. Scheduled this for early afternoon while I ran errands.
Friday: Long day going to base Job Fair, etc. Many good job leads for ME at the Job Fair and all in education.
Saturday: Went to PX to set up bank account. Shuttled back to hotel and walked down to Wiesbaden. Great fish restaurant for lunch. Shopped in the afternoon with the plan of dinner at Sushi World. They have a Japanese-Chinese buffet which is a little overpriced and under-quality on the Chinese side. The sushi was marvelous.
Sunday: Visited the Commissary and then hotel restaurant for lunch. Laundry all afternoon. Would have gone out to dinner but Lew discovered a Vikings game on TV! Ordered a pizza instead while I finished laundry.
That just about wraps it up for this week. Till next time..
Tchuss!
Jaime
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