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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Antispam question: How many total fingers does a human have? Answer: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by tericee[/i] [br]Hello everyone! Sorry I've been off the BOARD for so long. I thought you might like an update on my life since I moved across the pond. Things in Germany are great; I've been here almost three months now. Since arriving in Stuttgart (though actually the base is in a suburb called Vaihingen), I have made several friends, moved in, gotten set up at work, finished all in processing activity, and done some traveling. I’ve “gone native” and am living in a German town about three miles from the base, which is known as Patch Barracks. My small, 3BR townhouse is in Möhringen, a suburb of Stuttgart. There's a town website at http://www.stuttgart.de/sde/item/gen/14153.htm that you can paste into AltaVista's Babel Fish translator if you're interested. The house was originally built in the late 1700s, but has been completely renovated, as you can see in my Yahoo! Photo Album. (http://photos.yahoo.com/tericee) The fact that my street is very narrow and is partly made of cobblestones only enhances the German experience! I love my neighborhood just as much as my house! When I first moved in, I walked around my block to see what the local community had to offer. I found a couple of hair salons, clothing stores, a massage therapist (I think), a tanning studio, a market, a Chinese place, an umbrella store (?), a hardware store, a pizza place, a small bookstore (all German books obviously), a tapas cafe, and an amazing Greek restaurant that I have been to several times now. There's also a lovely old church (Catholic, I think) about a block away that has all sorts of scaffolding around it. The church spire is the tallest thing in the neighborhood, so it should look really cool once it's finished. I found out that they ring their bells on the hour and half hour, but it isn't loud enough to be annoying at night (or when I'm trying to sleep in). Moving in and getting settled have turned out to be entirely different things. I received my European washer/dryer, some loaner furniture, and both my Norfolk and L.A. shipments within four days of receiving my house keys. My house is so small that my queen box spring wouldn't fit up the stairs, so I ordered a "split queen" box spring from the Post Exchange. I slept in my guest room until it came in mid-December. The base loans everyone two schranks (wardrobes) but neither one of them would fit up the stairs either. The delivery guys took one back to the warehouse and left one in the foyer, which you can also see in my online photos. I found out recently that the base-issued schranks come apart, so the movers brought back the second schrank when they came to retrieve the loaner furniture shortly before Christmas. I still think I’ll still need more closet space than just two wardrobes though, so it looks like I'll be a good customer at Ikea. I'll have to buy stuff and then build it AFTER I get the box up the stairs... I am slowly but surely making headway in the organizing of my home. I finally got a phone line in December, but I’m still waiting for DSL Internet access. The guest room and the kitchen were the first two rooms that look even remotely presentable, but the living room is starting to take shape also. I have set up my dual-voltage/multi-system entertainment center, which is flanked by bookshelves full of knick knacks and photos of friends and family. All I can do so far is watch DVDs and videos since I haven’t signed up for German cable yet. There’s not much furniture in there yet, but I have picked out a new couch and chairs from Ikea that I’m hoping to buy during one of my holiday days off. I'm at a loss with my bedroom due to the storage situation so I've left it for last. All I’ve really done is make my bed, plug in a halogen floor lamp, and create a make-shift bed side table out of a box so I’ve got something to put my alarm clock on. I finally took my old boss’ advice and did not ship my Cabrio to cold, cold Germany. A guy at my dad’s church in TX was interested in buying it, but shortly before the sale, though, it was totaled. Oh well. Since I have been borrowing my friend Deanna’s car since the week I arrived in Germany, I took my time looking around for a new car. I only had until the end of December though, so I just bought a 1996 Saab from my co-worker for $4000. I had been hoping for a small car, maybe German-spec/diesel, like a VW Golf or something, but this one is nice, and has heated seats and a CD changer! With housing and transportation taken care of, the next necessity when I move to a new city is to find some friends! I have been quick to make new ones, mostly due to the help of my friend Deanna (see below) and my time at JFSC. Back in June, I was introduced via e-mail to Deanna Burt, another single Major who's stationed here. She became my "unofficial" sponsor, but then found out she was being deployed. I got here about two weeks after she left, so I've been staying in her house, driving her car, and taking care of her cats. (Now I’m down to just taking care of the cats.) Anyway, she left the names of four of her friends, and they have been very welcoming. The one I've gotten to know best is an Army communications civilian named Michelle; she and her British beau, Roy, are great fun. She's good to have around when were out on the town, since she speaks quite a bit of German. I also met about twenty other EUCOM inbounds at Joint Forces Staff College this summer, many of whom have become friends. We had class together every afternoon for three months to learn about EUCOM’s area of responsibility. Learning about Europe and Africa was good, but we're finding that the best part about the class is having instant acquaintances all over base! We run into each other all the time at in-processing appointments, lunch, and even out shopping on the economy. My best buds from JFSC are two other Majors: John Fraser and Jenny McGee. John is single (I had thought there might be an opportunity there, but he has a girlfriend in DC) and has lots of free time, and Jenny's Navy husband, Patrick, is frequently TDY, so the three of us have been exploring Stuttgart together. Up until the holidays, John, Jenny and I were going to German 1a class two nights per week, three hours per night. For some reason I was pretty good in class, but in public can never remember more than "My German isn't so good," and "Check please." Luckily, many of the younger Germans speak English at least a bit, since they have taught it in the schools for about thirty years. My landlord loves to practice his English on me, but says he'll let me practice on him once I can speak in complete sentences... Regardless, I’m definitely signing up for German 1b! Every other Wednesday, I have ski club. I’ve never considered myself a skier, but they're a fun bunch of people and they offer free food and drinks at meetings once you've paid your $30/year dues. I have finally jumped into action, though, and signed up for two weekend trips – one in January and one in February. I’ll let you know if I fall down a mountain or anything… I also discovered an English-speaking book group online; I went to my first gathering in mid-December. We discussed “Being Good” by Nick Hornby while munching on German food. Aside from the one German woman in the group, about half of us were American, and half were British ex-pats. Surprisingly, only one other person was related to the American military base in anyway. It was fun to meet some non-military folks and hear what life is like in a foreign country without the extra benefits and helpful hand of Uncle Sam. As you probably know, one of my big goals is to travel as much as I can while I’m over here. I think I’ve made a pretty good start! I went to Amsterdam over Veteran's Day weekend, where I met up with the European Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Kappa Sorority. Most of the weekend was centered around food and talking about sorority stuff. One night we wandered en masse through the Red Light District just so we could say we'd been there. Saturday we spent most of the day at our hostess’ house in the suburbs. On Sunday, the day which offered the most free time, a few of us took a daytime walking tour of the city and a ride in a flat bottomed canal boat; I'll have to go back again to do the artsy/historical tourist stuff like Ann Frank's house and Van Gogh museum. I made my second trip over the Thanksgiving Holiday -- to Bristol, England. My friend John Mackaman (also a "crash & burn" in the romance department since he's anti-long distance relationship) is stationed there as an exchange officer in the British acquisition corps. He met me at the Bristol bus station and then gave me a nice walking tour of his city. On Thursday morning, we drove up to the outskirts of one of the larger USAF bases to enjoy Thanksgiving with one of my sorority sisters (Isabelle Doty) and her family. On Friday, the Dotys showed us the way to a base, where John took advantage of the large Base Exchange since he's an hour from his servicing base, which has a very small store. I also raided their book store since we have a pretty small book section in our PXtra here. John and I went back to Bristol on Saturday, stopping in Cambridge for a tour of King's College Chapel and lunch along the way. It was rainy but pleasant. (Unfortunately, due to our rushed schedule, we weren’t able to stop into the Trinity College Library to view the original Winnie the Pooh manuscript. Needless to say, I’ll be going back at some point to complete my “Pooh Pilgrimage.”) Saturday night we went to a barn dance with John’s church friends. We didn't know what to expect, but it turned out to be square dancing. We had a great time! My big thing in December was Christmas Markets!! I've went to three of them in under a week! On the last night of German 1a, our class went out to the Stuttgarter Weinachtsmarkt to test our skills. (http://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/deutsch/stuttgart/erlebnis/weihnachtsmarkt.html) We took the S-bahn (subway) there, so we were able to sample the Gluhwein (mulled wine), Heisse Met (hot mead), and Heisse Moscht (hot mulled cider I think). There was also some good food to be sampled, but it was hard to eat when you're trying to hold both your mug and your plate. My one bad experience there was with roasted chestnuts, which I now know are called “Maroni” here in Germany. I also found I don’t like them at all! Over the weekend, my friend John Fraser (not to be confused with John Mackaman, who is in England) and I drove to Nürnberg for their world-famous Christkindlesmarkt. (http://www.christkindlesmarkt.de) I was on a mission to see as many Christmas markets as I could; he wanted to see the sights, since the city center is very medieval. (John is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, so he is into all things medieval. His girlfriend, Nicole, who is also a member, has visited here once and the city they chose to visit was Rothenburg – probably the most famous medieval city in Germany.) We arrived in Nürnberg on Saturday afternoon. After finding our hotel, we wandered around, did some shopping, then accidentally lost each other in the crowds and wasted a good hour and half trying to locate each other. We finally found each other back at the hotel and still had time to make it to the 7PM "Nightwatchman's Tour" which was led by a funny woman dressed in period garb. The tour was in German, but she was kind enough to tell us in English the gist of most of her stories while we were walking from site to site. John took some German in high school, so he was able to understand more of the tour than I was. Regardless of the language barrier, I was able to see things in person that were pictured in our tourist guide, which was the important thing. On Sunday, we checked out of the hotel, and then went on a hunt for food and good souvenir mugs. They serve the hot beverages in collectable mugs labelled with the name of the market and the year; there is a deposit, called a pfand, for each mug which you get back if you return it. This year the mugs in Nürnberg were cute blue boots which apparently nobody wanted to return. Most of the booths had to resort to handing out mugs from years past, so we were constantly looking for a way to trade in our 1999 and 2001 mugs for the boots. Not an easy task! We finally ended up buying a boxed set of two mugs with a bottle of gluhwein. It was €11, but with our €4 pfand applied to it, we decided the price wasn't too astronomical. After our mug hunt and our lunch (which was some kind of wurst that smelled like Jimmy Dean sausage -- yum!), we took the 1PM city tour in English. While we were waiting for our guide, we learned that Saddam Hussein had been captured. Very cool -- if this is one of those things where you won't forget where you were when you heard the news, then I'll always remember Nürnberg! The Sunday tour was different enough from the Saturday tour that we felt our money was well spent. On this tour, we got to go inside one of the churches AND inside the castle. They had a very cool demonstration at the city well where they poured water so you could hear how deep it was and then lowered candles down to the water level so you could see how deep it was. WAY cool. After the tour, John wanted to climb to the top of the castle tower, so I humored him. Talk about tiring, but the view was good! And my last Christmas market was the following Tuesday -- the Esslinger Mittelaltermarkt & Weihnachtsmarkt. (http://www.esslinger-zeitung.de/aktuell/weihnachtsmarkt/weihnachtsmarkt03.cfm) Apparently Esslingen (which is a short drive from Stuttgart) is the only city in Germany to conduct a Middle Ages market at the same time as their Christmas Market. The two were side by side, and had very different looks. All the vendors on the Middle Ages side were dressed in garb, in much the same way as a Renaissance Faire. John bought some gluhwein, drinking horns, spoons/forks made of bone or antler or something, and a red medieval shirt (think pirate shirt). I was actually able to contain myself, and spent very little money. (For once.) I like gluhwein, but I bought hot chocolate since I was the DD. (The €3 pfand here was the most expensive I've seen so far.) The souvenir mugs (http://www.mittelalterliches-esslingen.de/Grafik/Grafik2003/Tonbecher.jpg) were even period-looking -- terra cotta sort of pottery, finished on the inside but not outside, without handles, and stamped with medieval symbols. Pretty cool, but we only had a couple of hours there, so I wasn't able to get the Christmas side souvenir mug. (http://www.mittelalterliches-esslingen.de/Grafik/Grafik2003/Kaffeebecher.jpg) I guess I’ll have to go again next year! My final trip of the year was over Christmas. I visited my friends Kyle and Maureen Robinson in Madrid! They will only be there until Summer of 2004 so I wanted to visit them quick before I run out of time. It was good to be in a country whose language I speak somewhat. We didn’t do much in the way of touristy stuff, but I ate A LOT of good food. The first night we went to their favorite tapas bar and hung out until closing time around 4PM. We ran into their British friends Andy and Samantha as we were leaving and lamented the fact that we hadn’t found each other sooner. We saw them again the next night, though, since they invited the three of us to their place for Christmas Dinner. I’d have to say that night was the highlight of my visit. I also think it was the most food I've ever eaten in one sitting. They went all out British for us, and everything was WONDERFUL. The starters were pate w/hard bread and salad, after which we moved on to potato and leek soup with soft bread. The main course consisted of turkey, potatoes (2 kinds), and vegetables. For dessert we enjoyed two very British treats: Christmas pudding and mince pies. The final courses of the evening were a cheese tray, and then champagne mixed with sorbet. The various drinks that were served ranged from champagne, to wine, to Porto. I think we sat eating/drinking at their dining room table for about five hours. We ended the night at about 2AM after listening to 80's CDs and playing many rounds of Jenga. Since the Robinsons live in downtown Madrid, we walked everywhere. After sleeping in on Friday, we went to see a movie at their original language theater. We were planning to see “Return of the King” (in original English with Spanish sub-titles) but the only seats available were in the front row. (Interestingly, movie theaters in Madrid sell tickets by row and seat. This was the first movie I’ve seen with assigned seating.) We opted to see “Love…Actually” instead. It was great! And watching the Spanish sub-titles was educational, too. On our way home, we stopped at a Starbucks so I could feed my addiction. (There isn’t one in Stuttgart, so I’m always craving white chocolate mochas and caramel macchiatos.) On Saturday, we visited an arts/crafts festival that we had seen the night before on our way to the movie. I bought an engraving that pictures the Plaza de Santa Teresa de Avila, who is one of my name saints. I also looked for one of Don Quixote and Sancho, but didn’t find one with a matching frame. After shopping, we went again to see “Return of the King” (successfully this time) and ate dinner afterward at a VERY popular restaurant called La Finca de Susana. There was already a line forming outside before they opened at 8:30PM. We were close to the front so we got a table with no trouble at all. I flew home on Sunday after breakfast and a driving tour of Madrid. I hope to go back at some point to see the city of Avila and maybe more of Madrid. So far, no big plans for New Year's. (Which is tonight.) It snowed this morning, and I'm still not too great at driving in the stuff. I was totally spoiled in Los Angeles, I have to say. I may just stay in with my friends Jenny & Patrick and have a movie night. Rah. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.