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