That we have been in Germany. But it sure seems longer. Not in a bad way-but in a good way, in that it means that we have been quite busy, and the next week holds in store much of the same.
It has also re-affirmed for me that Col Gundel was right-I should have stuck with my German classes. The S.O. has begun her pursuit of finding the cheap places to shop, which truth be told there are places you can find bargains and save money compared to what the prices are on the US bases here. However, in several cases we ran up against a language barrier. The S.O. speaks or reads no German, and seems shocked that not everyone has a dynamic command of the English language. I have a working knowledge of German-but I read it better than I speak it. My six years of high school and college study have atrophied more than a little. As a result I have started with the Deutsche Welle on line interactive courses working an hour each night to help improve my comprehension. I understand the subject matter being spoken-but the speed of the conversation in the stores and the flea market( the S.O. was ecstatic when we stumbled on one in Sindelfingen) was much too fast for my fading memory. I did my best to translate for the S.O. when the folks were explaining in German where items came from and how much they wanted. So now I have a new mission-to re-master the language I studied so long ago. I remain a firm believer that you should be able to work in the language of the country you are living in. Which by the way means English in the USA.
We have begun the process of finding a second car and looking for a place to live. We were out looking at houses and apartments yesterday-and will look at more next week. I would prefer something closer to Stuttgart and the public transportation. The amount of stuff we have though will probably drive us out to the smaller villages and more affordable housing away from the city. As for the car-well the urge for a new BMW is strong, but I would really like to get a handle on what my new financial situation is before I commit to something that is going to cost me monthly payments. But they sure do look nice.
The one major obstacle will be getting the S.O. to understand that she is going to have to make some compromises. She can’t get a big old house for not so much Euro. And that with the currency fluctuations-we need to be prudent to build in a safety cushion to ensure we stay within the confines of what I am getting paid in a housing allowance.
But I would like to get the housing and car/driver’s license things behind us-so we can settle into a routine and begin to explore the country. There is a tour to Bastogne that I am probably going to sign up for in December. It is a historical tour-walking the sights of the battle that occurred in December 1944. The S.O. thinks I am crazy to get on a bus at 2AM to ride up to the Ardennes then walk 9-12km-and then ride a bus back arriving at midnight. It may be-but I think it might also be really interesting.
Getting settled into my new job has been a time consuming process-made more difficult because they are in the middle of a wholesale conversion to Windows 7 ( which shocked me a little-my previous place of employ had been on Windows 7 for almost a year). I am always amazed that when you go to someplace new, even though electrons move at the speed of light-it takes “24-48 hours before your account will be active”. And of course in today’s world, with out a computer-you are just out of it. There are also a whole string of training courses I have to take-and my bosses are wanting me to get all of that out of the way before they start tasking me. They are also being quite gracious about wanting us to get the “fed and bed” part of lives squared away first. For which I am quite grateful.
The leaves are in full color here now. It is very beautiful as we drive around. Yesterday was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed it as we drove around our new “home town”. The snows of winter will probably be here soon enough-but for now its great weather wise.
Although busy, in several ways I feel more relaxed than I have been in months. I’m not sure why-because there are a whole host of challenges that are out there to be overcome. Perhaps it comes from not having time to watch the news. ( Blessing of blessings-there is no FOX news in our hotel. Just CNN and BBC. That has a lot to do with more a more rational flow of news to us.) The S.O. is getting a kick out watching the Euro Sport channel and the figure skating championships. At least I am not having to hear the national lunacy on a daily basis. If there is one down side-it is that the S.O. is useless about learning to drive a stick shift. Our rental care is a stick-the automatic was much too expensive. So once again I am condemned to being the driver ( which means I have really not had a chance to enjoy the German beer out in town-getting fired for getting stopped for anything, right at the start of a job, is not on my list of things to do.)
More exploring is on our plate for today. Pix will follow I promise.