Willkommen
December 4th, 2011So a long two weeks it has been since Shannon and I have arrived in Germany. The sloth in me had been meaning to type some kind of journal-like chronology but I have not gotten around to it until now. Perhaps I will be able to keep this as a weekly thing? Oh how time shall tell.
Stepping back a long bit, Shannon & I got orders for Geilenkirchen NATO Airbase, Germany following my assignment at Tyndall AFB, FL. This was in August. Since then time has flown, I completed UABMT (my AF tech-school) and earned my flier wings. Our graduation was on 5 October 2011 and we were privileged to have Maj Gen Lori Robinson as our guest speaker for the ceremony. She is pretty easy going and exceptionally friendly, and also has the distinction of being the highest ranking ABM in the Air Force.
Fast forward a touch to 12 October and I got to go to SERE (without official PCS orders, thanks a lot Air Force Personnel Center). SERE is short for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape and runs for 19 days with no breaks. Prior to the long course I had a 2 day, non-parachuting water survival course which was actually great deal of fun (yay for swimming in Eastern Washington in the fall season). SERE itself was also fun except for the death-by-powerpoint which began the course. We have a week in the classroom learning how to survive, then we hit the field for 6 days (4 of which are survival, 2 are escape-oriented). After the field (which is basically camping and hiking in the woods of Northeastern Washington) we return to the Resistance Training Lab, aka ‘Happy Camp’, where we learn the finer points of resistance in captivity. As the saying goes: SERE is the best training you never want to have again. I agree. I returned to Florida on 5 November, orders in hand (or email, whichever) and ready to take on Europe.
Stepping back a bit less, we had TMO (the Travel Management Office) arrive on 7-8 November to pick up our goods, both an “unaccompanied baggage” (which will arrive via air about 30 days from pick up) and our mass shipment of goods (which will take about 2 months) to get to Germany. From there we moved from our cute little apartment into a massive temporary lodging duplex (ie: 3 bed, 2 bath compared to our 1/1 apartment). The kitties were freaked out by the change and, likely, by the ambient dog/cat smells littering the place we were staying. From that point it was a simple matter for me to get out-processed from the 325th Air Control Squadron, which was my school at Tyndall, and prepare to depart. Due to some bits of drama we had to scramble with a few things but all-in-all were able to resolve everything. Our pitiful amount of household goods are en route to Germany and my little 1997 Toyota Tacoma has been donated to a new home (soon) with a loving family (2 awesome folks, 2 awesome kids, 2 ok cats, 1 sinister cat =)) to look after it.
We left Florida on Wednesday, 16 November to Columbus, OH via Memphis to visit Shannon’s father, brother, & dear friends for a few days before our hop across the pond. We spent the time at her father’s house with her dad and brother (whom I finally got the pleasure of meeting), hung out a good bit, watched some movies, enjoyed copious amounts of delicious foods that Shannon praises & speaks of often which of course we could not get in Florida. An additional highlight was meeting (again, finally) Shannon’s dear, old friend Michelle of whom she speaks often (and wants to visit, *nudgenudge*). We also reunited with Shannon’s other dear friends Lauren & Eric which was again awesome to just hang out and enjoy good company. The kitties joined us our our flight to Ohio and suffered remarkably less ill-effect compared to the short drive to our temporary stay in FL before we left. Weird cats. We did drug Ketchup a bit for the flight as a test but left Meatloaf be as she was coping quite well.
So, on we left Ohio on the noon-ish hop on Saturday the 19th down to Atlanta, again kitties in tow, for our long haul over to Germany. This was neither Shannon or my first trip overseas but the excitement was in the air and quite palatable. We arrived in Atlanta in the mid-afternoon and our flight to Dusseldorf, Germany left at 17:45L. If you have ever flown overseas you know that these flights are long and can suck — fortunately we had the option to upgrade our seats to Delta’s new ‘Economy Comfort’ which has a lot more leg room, more recline, and (best of all) included cocktails! It was only an 80$/each upgrade for an almost 9-hour flight — well worth it! We also had the positive fortune with our seating assignment adjacent to a now-friend in the Army at Shinnen, the Army guard post, in the Netherlands. We tapped her brain for a bunch of the flight and received some great insights into what to do, what not to do, who to see, the people, culture, etc. Awesome gift to receive!
Now, cue the time change, over-night flight, already lack of sleep, cocktails, and excitement … and the journey truly begins.
We arrived at Dusseldorf at 08:20L on Sunday, 20 November 2011 with four large pieces of luggage (mostly all clothes to include all my damn uniforms), two kitties, and ourselves. Great.
The first trial we encountered in Germany was not customs, which we walked to, said “hi” to the agent, got our passports stamped, and simply walked through. No, our first challenge was figuring how the the hell to get one of the little baggage caddies to release so we didn’t have to hand-carry said four large bags and two cat carriers. Long story short? Sure. The stupid credit/debit card readers on the machines were not functioning. How the F I could possibly have figured that out not speaking German nor having any smart-phone on which to Google the mystery words, I will never know. I ended up asking someone, hoping I was not ringing up massive swipe charges on my card for being retarded, who said “oh, the card readers do not work any more.” Really? Really? You couldn’t cover them up, turn the light off, something? Nope, apparently not. So I went and bummed a few Euro off our friend from the flight over (again, she was a gift).
So, yay, four large bags, four carry-ons (I did mention those, right?) and off to find two kitties … oh shit. And everyone else has all their stuff by this point so it is basically just us, a cart, and baggage. Fortunately I saw a sign on the wall saying something about “Karussell 12″ next to the picture of a dog & cat. Hrm, so we walked over to baggage return 12, fingers crossed, and started looking around. Well, there was a small customs room there and a few customs officials standing out front so I boldly? Daringly? Audactically? walked up to one and asked if he spoke English, which he did not well but enough to get through that we wanted our cats. He looked over our vet/immunization papers briefly (all of 45 seconds for both cats all while seeming entirely disinterested in the whole thing … well, he IS working on a Sunday, more on that later) and took us to get the beasts back where we had started. Sure enough, two happy and soon to be purring kitties alive and well (and probably individually fairing better than Shannon & I together).
The next step? Correct, I said a small prayer that 1) our sponsor was there and 2) that he hadn’t left yet since this is almost an hour after we landed. He was there. I got to meet Warren finally who was immediately friendly and cracking us up (in part because he gets lost easily and Dusseldorf is not a driving-friendly city). So, we pushed our cart and made it to his car which is a slightly out of place early 2000s Hyundai. Somehow we fit our 4 ginormous bags, 4 carry-ons, and 2 cat carriers in and buckled in for our almost hour drive back toward the Geilenkirchen area. We cruised along, chatted, got to experience the autobahn for the first time, and enjoy the lay of the land.
We arrived in a town called Gillrath and met up with the owners/operators of Karin’s Guesthouse, which is kind of like an upscale apartment but in an intimate, non-hotel setting. We have one main room (pictures to follow … somewhere, some time soon! Promise!!) which has a fold out bed (as in “fold down from the wall”), small kitchen complete with mini (read: normal German-house-style refrigerator, dishwasher, and stove). There is a little sofa and chair as well and fortunately plenty of storage & room to ‘move-in’ for our 30 days of allowed temporary lodging (while house-hunting). The bathroom is awesome and comes complete with a strange German toilet sticking out from the wall with no visible tank, and a whirlpool bath (big enough for two — woo woo!) and separate shower.
We got to Karin’s at about 11-11:30 and Warren said he would let us get settled and come back around 15:00 so we could run to base an grab a few essentials (food/etc) to get us through the next day or two. Shannon & I were in the little bed promptly and passed out until I woke us up around 14:30 to get up and going. That was definitely a much-needed nap but may have hampered the jet-lag-adjusting a bit. From there we ran down to base which is mercifully only 10 minutes from where I am staying, hit up the NATEX (which is a Canadian (eh?) version of a Commissary/BX setup) and got some food, briefly toured the base, and headed over to Gangelt for (early) dinner. We scarfed some schnitzel and a crazy-delicious mozzarella-tomato-pork dish at a restaurant I cannot pronounce let alone remember the wording of and enjoyed ourselves some water & beer (and to Shannon’s delight her first German cappuccino). From there we returned to our guesthouse room, “got settled”, and were promptly asleep for probably close to 12 hours (who remembers when they fall asleep anyway??).
Now me, being the good little Airman that I am, went in to work directly on Monday the 21st to begin in-processing at my new base. Warren had meetings. It was (gag) Blues Monday. It was “you now live on a parallel north of Maine” cold. I had to walk around base to in-process. Thankfully (& mercifully) the base is pretty much, what’s the term … tiny? Yes, that will work. Warren dropped me at the Training Wing (where I will undergo my Basic Qualification followed by Mission Capable training prior to my placement formally in squadron 2) where I couldn’t find anyone I needed. Eventually I made my way, with some help of running into a familiar face from Tyndall (Jesse Witmer) up to the US NSU (National Support Unit) a few blocks away and got started on my in-processing with the base. The first major order of business was attaining a NATO ID card for getting on to GK (which was much more enjoyable than turning in my passport for a visitor badge every time).
Does anyone want to hear the trials & tribulations of in-processing over the next several days? Didn’t think so. We shall proceed with a few observations in no particular order since we have been here:
* Germany is pretty awesome. The villages (too small to call towns) are everywhere, as in every 1-4 kilometers there is another one with a different name, new street numbers, etc. We are in the true countryside of Germany, complete with cows, sheep, horses, piles of rutabagas, and fields ripe for harvesting. Tractors hauling it down the road are not an out of place sight.
* Geilenkirchen the Airbase and Geilenkirchen the town are distinct entities. The town is quaint with a little centro of shops, train station, and several restaurants.
* German people are very rule oriented. If this is the rule, that is how it is done. Exceptions are looked at with confusion.
* If you are hungry for lunch you better go before about 13:30-14:00 else everywhere is closed. They may not even let you in and serve you if you show up that late. Most eateries re-open for dinner. Fast food basically does not exist, at least not in these smaller towns & villages. The closest thing to fast food still takes 10 minutes to get your food and that is a Turkish “donner” diner (think gyros but with turkey meat rather than lamb).
* 90% of work on base is done before lunch. Lunch is 1.5-2.0 hours typically (don’t forget to enjoy your post meal cappuccino).
* I got to see my first E-3A take off and land on Geilenkirchen Monday my first day, it was exciting I must admit. Air Power!
* I learned that I basically do not exist on base until I start training. They (the training wing) technically kinda owns me but not really. Squadron 2 which (tentatively) will own me after I am mission qualified does not own me. I have no one to report to. There are no casual jobs. My job right now is house-hunting and in-processing. I am done in-processing (except for a few “once a month” things that have not come up yet).
* Everything gets done twice here … I have a NATO flight physical and a US flight physical. Every year. Ditto dental check up.
* Amazon.com won’t ship a new Kindle Fire to an APO. The BS response I got via email when I challenged this was laughable.
* Dual voltage electronics is suddenly a concern & factor in my life … The electrical system here runs on 220volts where as the US is 120v. Some electronics are dual voltage and work from appx 100v-240v so work state-side and here. Dual voltage items I own: laptop 1, laptop 2, external hard drive, all the power supplies in the new computers I built this summer, most of our chargers (cameras, etc). Non-dual voltate: my 60″ fucking television we shipped. *mutter*. Most small electronics (toasters, microwaves, hair dryers, etc) are not dual voltage.
* Oh, German washing machines take a long time. German clothes dryers can kiss my ass they are so slow. So slow we will be hanging a lot of our wash (when pragmatic anyway).
* Food: Schnitzel is awesome. Pork is not prepared in a paranoid/overcooked way as in the US. They serve pommes frites (fries) with damn near EVERYTHING. Potatoes are like heroine here, everyone does it.
* Prices: The economy is not bad for the day-in, day-out, or food items. Most costs are the same here as in the US (although they charge 6euro here for something we would charge 6$ for, so factor in the 3:4 conversion the 6euro is 8$ but still close). Houses & utilities on the other hand are exceptionally more expensive.
* We have been frequenting a little pizzaria called Il Genios (which is one of two walkable food places in Gillrath where we are staying, with no car … pay attention!) mostly go get drinks (read: cappuccino and/or beer) They recognize us already. The other we just tried yesterday (Saturday the 4th) is called “Grill Master” but is basically a schnitzel/gyro-type place. There is another little cafe and a bakery also but they hold weird hours.
* Shannon got a haircut at a local salon. Half of their business card is “We Speak English!”
* I passed my USAFE drivers test, now have to go to Heinsberg to get the actual International License lined up … I have a temp for Germany at least.
* Cold-calling people trying to arrange to see a house/duplex/whatever sucks, especially when you don’t speak their language and are just mentally praying that they speak enough English to set an appointment and show you around.
* Anthony Mafnas, another Tyndall-mate of mine arrived last Tuesday.
* There are little churchy/Jesus corner things EVERYWHERE (again, you’ll see the photos some day soon).
* Shannon & I have been walking nearly every day and enjoying the countryside.
* Oh, we have German cell-phones. Both Shannon & I have the new (and free) iPhone4S with t-mobile over here. Facebook Messenger and “WhatsApp” are best for text-message type communications, but otherwise my email. If you want our phone numbers shoot me a FB message or email so we can ‘text’. There is also Skype if you have it and FaceTime (which I have yet to actually try since the internet where I am staying is …. poor) if you have an iPhone. GoogleVoice is being a bitch right now but will get ironed out.
Big ticket items remaining include: finding a car (gave mine away, didn’t you read above???), locking down the house we found (cross your fingers, hold your breath, and hope we can get that finalized tomorrow Monday, 5 December).
We found a house yesterday (the 4th) and I am saying a prayer I can lock it down tomorrow. It. Is. Perfect. We love it. It is in a small town called Tuddern (with two little dot things over the ‘u’ and I am being too lazy to figure out the ASCII-code for that character right now) in Germany which is literally spitting distance from a large town called Sittard in the Netherlands.
Okay … I have run out of steam. Bo Edmonds is kicking my ass in fantasy football right now, I am tired, it is 23:30, and I have to put on Blues tomorrow.
That said, standby for more frequent updates. Anyone think it would be a good idea to start a site dedicated to ‘living vicariously through Jeff & Shannon’? Also, taking suggestions for a non-Facebook place to place & organize photos for everyone’s viewing pleasure.
Lastly: Everyone is encouraged and invited to come visit. All you have to do is get here, we will pick you up and show you the sights!