Saturday, August 29, 2009

Our new house


Well we have moved into our quarters. We are in the end unit, "A" of a 4-plex building.

Our furniture has until October 5th to arrive. So in the meantime, we have been issued temporary furniture from the Army. It isn't the prettiest or the most comfortable, but it will suffice.

If you want to see more of our house, be sure to check out my online photo album at:

My Picasa Photo Album

Monday, August 17, 2009

Offered housing

Well we stopped in the housing office today. Unfortunetally my hopes of us living off base in "built to lease" housing was crushed. There were no off post housing available. Housing offered 2 different houses here on base. They were both located on the same street. I could throw a rock from one and hit the other. So location wasn't going to play a factor in which house we choose. They both had the exact same floor plan and part of a 4-plex housing unit. The only difference was, 1 had a neighbor on each side, and the other was an end unit. It looks like we'll be selecting the house that is the end unit. If I have to live on base, I'd prefer to have as few neighbors surrounding us as possible.

Good points on the house:
  • Elana's school will be about 2 blocks away.
  • George's office is roughly 1/2 mile or so away.
  • It's by the MP (military police) station, so I'd like to believe that it's a quiet safe neighborhood.

I think we'll be strolling through the neighborhood tonight. It's not far from the hotel room we are in. I'd like to see how it looks at night. If I don't feel safe, then I'll push to pursue living off base in private (German landlord) housing.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Feet on the ground in Vilseck

So we arrived at the Frankfurt Airport and then to the welcome center for military.  After sitting for 3 hours they put us on a bus headed for Vilseck.  No one had really slept on the flight.  I suppose that had a lot to do with uncomfortable airline seats and we were excited to be on our way.  During our 5 hour bus ride, the kids slept.  George and I dozed off for some short naps.  About half way to Vilseck, the bus stopped at a rest stop with a BurgerKing.    Clayton woke up and walked in with George.  I tried to wake Elana, but she was out for the count.  Eventually, I carried her into BurgerKing and set her down on a barstool.  She immediately went back to sleep with her head resting on the table.  Clayton had sat down beside her and also was resting his head.  So George and I proceeded up to counter to make our 1st attempt at ordering in Germany.  We looked over at Clayton and he had disappeared.  We figured he had gone in to the bathroom.  After we got our food, he still wasn't back.  George and I frantically started to search the bathroom and the bus.  He wasn't to be found anywhere!!  I moved Elana from the barstool to a booth and asked George to start searching the rest of the BurgerKing.  That's when George found Clayton laying down on a benchseat to a booth on the other side of the room, sound asleep.  Phew... would have hated to explain to officials how we lost our kid with only being in country for roughly 5 hours!!

We got back onto the bus and finished the trip to Vilseck.  We had a very warm welcome from George's new unit.  We received our ration cards and then we signed into the hotel on base.  Our room is sufficient.  It has 2 beds, a bathroom with a very very deep tub, and a small kitchen area.  I'll be sure to post pictures of our temporary place soon.

The base in general is small compared to ones we've been at before.  It really reminds us a lot of Japan.  It has the basics and the people we've talked to so far have been very polite and friendly.  All in all, our first impression is good.  I think we are going to like our stay here in Germany!

Friday, August 7, 2009

In the hotel

Our days in Virginia are numbered. Today we moved into the hotel. All our household items are on their way. Granted we'll be in limbo for awhile. The kids need to learn to use "quiet" voices in the hotel room. And we all need to be alert for Houdini's escape attempts. Thankfully we are on the 3rd floor to if he does get "out" we've got an interior hallway to capture him in