One of the few things my mom wanted to do while she was here was see a castle. Saturday we drove across the border into Luxemburg to a small town called Vianden. Vianden has a castle you can walk through which has displays of period furniture, tapestries, and different armour displays. It was really neat to see, especially because many castles in this area are more run-down or falling apart. It took us less than 40 minutes to get to Vianden... just a bit of a reminder of how easy it is going to be to travel around while we are here. After we were done at Vianden we still had half the day left... so we drove back into Germany to a town called Trier. I had gone with Josh to see Trier when I was here in April. We took Mom to see Roman ruins and yet another cathedral. There was some sort of music festival going on in Trier, which made getting around the sites a bit of a challenge, however there was an amazing selection of little food carts. I believe the amount of beer carts were equal to that of the food.
The storage problems have been solved. There is a craigslist type website for the base where people can post things for sale. I've been watching the site looking for different options for something to use as storage in our bathroom. The other day I'd seen something and contacted the seller who told us she was having a flee market on Sunday. We went to the flee market with no real hope of finding anything. The flee market looked and smelled like a typical garage sale... I was figuring that we would walk away empty handed. However, as we started to walk up and down the aisles of items and sifted through things, it seemed that we had stumbled upon something more special. We found a cabinet for our bathroom to store towels and things. We also found a black and white photo of a city that looked as if it was local. The woman running the flee market told us it was an old painting of Luxemburg City, which is about a 45 minute drive away. My mom found different trinkets and knick-knacks for herself. We only ended up paying 25 euro for all of it, which is about $36. The woman runs her flee market as a business and always has new things coming in and out. I really enjoyed being there... it made me thing of all the times I went to garage sales with my Grandma Shirley as a child. Mom and I kept saying that if Grandma were there she would be going crazy. So many things and antiques. She also would have tried to haggle and pay less than we did. Needless to say, I think we'll be back. And maybe next time I will have the nerve to try and talk the already low price down.
I had to go on base for a new-comers orientation. It was something I had to attend to get some paperwork to get my German drivers license. Luckily to obtain said license I just have to take an open book written exam. However... spending my whole morning at a "military briefing" was definitely something new for me. And overwhelming. I'm hoping to take the written test for my license next week. That way I won't have to rely on Josh to take me places. We haven't decided yet if I'm going to get a car over here, or if we're going to share his. As long as it works out with work schedules, I'm not opposed to sharing. Speaking of work... the one good thing about my briefing yesterday was that I met the head dentist at the dental clinic. I introduced myself to him, and asked if there were any positions available. He said there is a civilian hygienist who is leaving in a few weeks... he's not sure yet with funding and such if he will be able to replace someone in the position. He did take down my contact information. At least it's a foot in the door, and I was able to meet him in person. I feel better about it. AND the best part about it (if I were to get the position) is that it is for a perio hygienist. Even better. Doing perio for the government on a military base would be one of the biggest learning experiences I could hope for.
I believe we have found a couch. When Josh left Florida he had a nice micro-suede couch and a crappy bachelor loveseat. When the movers packed up his stuff one of the moving guys was talking about how he'd just broke up with his girlfriend and she took/kept everything, so he was starting over with nothing (I personally say HA and he probably deserved it). Josh, being Josh, offered to let the guy take a bunch of his stuff. Josh offered to le the guy have his old loveseat. When Josh's household good arrived... the moving company sent the crappy loveseat, but his couch was nowhere to be seen. He thinks it could possibly be a mistake, but I have no doubt that the guy took his couch and left the loveseat for Josh. Karma. There is a military couple who lives below us who asked Josh the other day if we were interested in buying their couch... it doesn't fit well in their apartment and they've been looking to get something else. We went down to look at it, and I quite like it. It's a wrap-around couch that is micro-suede... and RED. Which will make decorating our living room fun, and interesting. The red will go well with all of my black and white pictures - and with the one we just bought. It makes me wish even more that my things were already here.
The trade off with our land lady... she may be a creeper who watches what we do... but she will let us paint if we want to, and she will pay for it. The people who lived in our house before us had painted the living room some terrible pastel colors... and they did a very sloppy job of it. So we're planning on doing some painting... nothing too crazy, more just getting things to a neutral color before we hang things on the wall. The most interesting part of it is that all of our walls are wallpapered... and you just paint over the wallpaper. Unlike American wallpaper the paper here doesn't have any colors or patterns, but it is textured. So... we will be painting our textured wallpapered walls from easter egg colors back to something normal. And hopefully it will start to look and feel more like home.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Prying Eyes of Frau Zumner
Our "house" is technically a 3 bedroom apartment within a large house made up of other apartments. However, I'm pretty sure the square footage of our apartment is bigger than my house in Missoula so I've referred to it as a house. The landlord is this little old woman who happens to live across the street. She frequently sits out on her front steps watching the activities of the neighborhood. When she's not outside you can see her peering through her curtains continuing to watch what's going on. I was washing the kitchen window when I realized she was sitting there watching me... so I waved to her. She smiled and waved back. Mom and I went for a walk around the town yesterday (to walk to each side of the town took a whole 5 minutes) and we could see the landlord watching us go. Frau Zumner seems a befitting name. It turns out it's not just my landlady who watches what is going on. As we were walking yesterday there were plenty of people who were sitting in their windows or on their front steps staring as we passed. The other night we went out to dinner and the waitress brought us English menus simply stating "You look like Americans." Hmm. So we do.
Since we got here my mom has been helping me to attempt to get organized and unpacked... which has been a bit challenging. German houses don't usually have closets... so we have a couple of different wardrobes in the house. It is strange to have clothing and cleaning supplies in the same space. I never realized how much I used a closet until there wasn't one. We have discovered that we need some extra cabinets/storage spaces in the kitchen and the bathroom. The bathroom is also lacking a towel rack. Aside from the minor things we need to buy we've been doing a lot of cleaning. Our house doesn't have any carpet, only tile... which makes for a lot of sweeping with two cats. The cats are adjusting to the tile as well because they can't seem to get any traction when they run.
We took a break from our cleaning to go exploring the other day and took a train to Koln. I went to Koln with Josh when I was here in April, and thought it'd be something my mom would want to see. It was her first time on a train, and it's the perfect train ride for someone to take because the train follows the river and there are vineyards on either side of the train. One of the big things to see in Koln is the cathedral. When Josh and I went the area around the cathedral was completely packed with people... however when Mom and I got off the train there was no one around. It was strange... and it turns out everyone was just on the other side of the cathedral at some sort of ceremony. We unknowingly picked a German holiday to travel on... and so the cathedral was closed for viewing in the morning while they had this large outdoor church ceremony. Some ushers tried to hand us programs to follow/sing along... but we wandered off instead and went through the Chocolate Museum (yes, you read that right. Chocolate museum. It's as glorious as you'd think). The other challenge of the day beings that it was a German holiday was most stores were closed. Koln has a lot of shopping... but we were only able to window shop. Later in the afternoon the cathedral opened back up and we were able to wander back through. Mom seemed to enjoy the trip into the city even if things were closed and more quiet than normal.
My mom took 5 years of German in school. My great grandfather, her grandpa, was from Germany so she had someone to practice speaking with. As we were traveling I asked her if she could understand things people were saying, and she said she could. If I ask her what the word is for something she can tell me what it is... however she refuses to speak. Even with people in stores she'll speak English. I keep telling her to try... and she keeps saying it's been too long and she wouldn't be able to. I think she's got a better chance than either Josh or I at speaking...
Since we got here my mom has been helping me to attempt to get organized and unpacked... which has been a bit challenging. German houses don't usually have closets... so we have a couple of different wardrobes in the house. It is strange to have clothing and cleaning supplies in the same space. I never realized how much I used a closet until there wasn't one. We have discovered that we need some extra cabinets/storage spaces in the kitchen and the bathroom. The bathroom is also lacking a towel rack. Aside from the minor things we need to buy we've been doing a lot of cleaning. Our house doesn't have any carpet, only tile... which makes for a lot of sweeping with two cats. The cats are adjusting to the tile as well because they can't seem to get any traction when they run.
We took a break from our cleaning to go exploring the other day and took a train to Koln. I went to Koln with Josh when I was here in April, and thought it'd be something my mom would want to see. It was her first time on a train, and it's the perfect train ride for someone to take because the train follows the river and there are vineyards on either side of the train. One of the big things to see in Koln is the cathedral. When Josh and I went the area around the cathedral was completely packed with people... however when Mom and I got off the train there was no one around. It was strange... and it turns out everyone was just on the other side of the cathedral at some sort of ceremony. We unknowingly picked a German holiday to travel on... and so the cathedral was closed for viewing in the morning while they had this large outdoor church ceremony. Some ushers tried to hand us programs to follow/sing along... but we wandered off instead and went through the Chocolate Museum (yes, you read that right. Chocolate museum. It's as glorious as you'd think). The other challenge of the day beings that it was a German holiday was most stores were closed. Koln has a lot of shopping... but we were only able to window shop. Later in the afternoon the cathedral opened back up and we were able to wander back through. Mom seemed to enjoy the trip into the city even if things were closed and more quiet than normal.
My mom took 5 years of German in school. My great grandfather, her grandpa, was from Germany so she had someone to practice speaking with. As we were traveling I asked her if she could understand things people were saying, and she said she could. If I ask her what the word is for something she can tell me what it is... however she refuses to speak. Even with people in stores she'll speak English. I keep telling her to try... and she keeps saying it's been too long and she wouldn't be able to. I think she's got a better chance than either Josh or I at speaking...
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
International Cat-Wranglers
Mom and I headed to the airport on Monday morning armed with my two over-flowing suitcases, the two cats, and our carry-ons. I had been worried about my bags being too heavy and didn't want to pay for any heavy bag fees, and I did a lot of extra shuffeling around to try to avoid it... and each bag was around 60 pounds. Definitely "heavy"... yet I didn't get charged for it, which was really what I was concerned about. Josh's mom and Jen came to send us off. Josh's mom brought us a bag of goodies to have while we traveled... and also had a pot of coffee and insulated cups in a tote bag with her. I wish I could make that up, but I'm not... she had an actual coffee pot that she carried into the airport with her. My mom was grateful.
My biggest concern about the whole trip was the cats. I just wanted to make sure that they got to Germany safe without any health issues, and without a major mental melt-down. We gave the cats some sedatives before we went to the airport, and they seemed to be kicking in by the time we checked in. I've never flown with a pet before, and I can see why not many people do. It can be a major pain in the butt. I wasn't sure how the cats would go through security... obviously they don't go through the x-ray scanner... and what we had to do was take the cats out of their carriers (which they were THRILLED about) and send their carriers through the x-ray and then walk through the metal detector while holding the cats. Not even kidding. I don't know if this is normal at all airports... or if this is just how they handle things in poe-dunk Missoula Montana. But my mom and I each walked through the metal detector with a squirming, uncooperative cat in our arms. Clearly, we were a threat to national security.
Saying good-bye to everyone as I left Missoula was hard, but there was never any tears on my part. Sad and hard to say good-bye, but I had the excitment of seeing Josh ahead of me, which overtook any crying. I feel like a lot of my goodbyes were somewhat rushed, on my part. However, as we climbed the stairs out of security up to the gate and I looked down and waved goodbye to Jen and Josh's mom, I found tears springing to my eyes. As our plane taxied away from the gate and up the runway I suddenly found the tears I hadn't had earlier. I said goodbye to Missoula with tears streaming down my face as the plane left the ground.
Many people wondered how my cats would do flying... I wondered how they would do. Many jokes were made about how the cats would behave. I'm happy to say the cats did very well, at least at first. On our first two flights they were relatively quiet. We covered the front of their cages with our sweatshirts to block out the sounds/light, and they seemed to sleep undisturbed. Our flight into Detroit was late. I sat in frustration watching the automated map as our flight circled around the city again and again... and each time it circled the closer our connecting flight was to leaving... Our flight to Germany which I didn't want to miss. For one of the first times in my life, I turned into one of "those people" when we landed... the fasten seatbelt sign had barely been removed and I had lept up out of my seat to dig our bags out of the overhead bin. By the time the door of the plane opened Mom and I were both standing, cats in hand, ready to go. Unfortunately we were towards the back of the plane and had to wait like cattle while everyone else gathered their belongings and left. I did a lot of silent cursing in my head... and a lot of not so silent cursing as well. I pulled a desperate trick out from my skiing days and simply said "on your left!" to people as we shoved past on the jetway. We got into the airport and took off running... we steped into the Detroit airport at 5:20 and our flight to Frankfurt was scheduled to leave at 5:35. Running with two heavy carry-ons and two some-what big boned cats is a challenge... and we arrived at our gate huffing and puffing... but we made the flight, which was all that mattered. We hadn't had time to do any of the necessary checks on the cats that I had wanted to do before our flight. I had to re-drug the cats before the flight took off. Mom would hold the cat carrier on her lap and open the door of it, and I would feed the cat their pill. It all would have been a lot smoother if my cats would cooperatively take pills. We got the cats re-drugged and settled in and covered the front of their cages with a blanket. My boy cat Pucky was meowing, but we figured he would settle down after a few minutes. We were wrong. Poor Pucky cried for the whole flight. The WHOLE flight. At different times we could feel him moving around in his carrier as it shook everything under the seats. I quickly went from being embarrassed, to annoyed, to finally feeling very sorry for Pucky as he cried. It wasn't his fault... I'm sure being stuck in his carrier for that long was getting very old. Finally when there was two hours left in our flight my mom picked up Pucky's carrier and held it on her lap while she stuck her hand inside to pet him. He was quiet. In fact, he slept. Had we known that would have worked we would have done it a long time ago.
I had heard from other people that bringing their pet into Germany through the Frankfurt airport wasn't a big deal. They were right. The longest part of the whole process of customs was standing in the line. The man at the customs counter glanced at my passport and stamped it. That was in. No questions, no having to show the multitude of forms I had to carry about the cats. Before I left I had to update some of the cats shots which they weren't even due for, but they had to be less than a year old for Germany to recognize them... yet no one asked about it. Hmmmm.
From the Frankfurt airport to our house is a little under a two hour drive. Since the cats had been in their carriers for about 18 hours at this point, we decided to take them our of their carriers and let them be loose in the car. They did well being loose. Pucky slept (probably because he'd worn himself out on the flight over), and Vega decided that riding the car is actually pretty great and spent a lot of the ride sitting on Mom's lap looking out the window. We got a picture of it, it was pretty entertaining.
We got to the house and decided to carry the cats up by hand rather than put them back in their carriers. The shirt I had worn for the flight over will never be worn again as Pucky tore multiple holes in it as I carried him. I had warned Josh that Vega likes to hide, and will find a way to hide in the most unlikely of places. She proved me right. Within the first hour of us being here she had wedged herself under a chair, behind the washing machine, and then went under one of the wardrobes/closets in the house. Josh went on a kitty-recon mission to try to and find ways to block Vega out from some areas.... I think this may be an on-going battle.
When I woke up this morning there was a big black Pucky cat curled up by our feet. Down the hallway I could see the siloutte of Vega looking out the window. It seems that the cats have recovered from their adventure.
My biggest concern about the whole trip was the cats. I just wanted to make sure that they got to Germany safe without any health issues, and without a major mental melt-down. We gave the cats some sedatives before we went to the airport, and they seemed to be kicking in by the time we checked in. I've never flown with a pet before, and I can see why not many people do. It can be a major pain in the butt. I wasn't sure how the cats would go through security... obviously they don't go through the x-ray scanner... and what we had to do was take the cats out of their carriers (which they were THRILLED about) and send their carriers through the x-ray and then walk through the metal detector while holding the cats. Not even kidding. I don't know if this is normal at all airports... or if this is just how they handle things in poe-dunk Missoula Montana. But my mom and I each walked through the metal detector with a squirming, uncooperative cat in our arms. Clearly, we were a threat to national security.
Saying good-bye to everyone as I left Missoula was hard, but there was never any tears on my part. Sad and hard to say good-bye, but I had the excitment of seeing Josh ahead of me, which overtook any crying. I feel like a lot of my goodbyes were somewhat rushed, on my part. However, as we climbed the stairs out of security up to the gate and I looked down and waved goodbye to Jen and Josh's mom, I found tears springing to my eyes. As our plane taxied away from the gate and up the runway I suddenly found the tears I hadn't had earlier. I said goodbye to Missoula with tears streaming down my face as the plane left the ground.
Many people wondered how my cats would do flying... I wondered how they would do. Many jokes were made about how the cats would behave. I'm happy to say the cats did very well, at least at first. On our first two flights they were relatively quiet. We covered the front of their cages with our sweatshirts to block out the sounds/light, and they seemed to sleep undisturbed. Our flight into Detroit was late. I sat in frustration watching the automated map as our flight circled around the city again and again... and each time it circled the closer our connecting flight was to leaving... Our flight to Germany which I didn't want to miss. For one of the first times in my life, I turned into one of "those people" when we landed... the fasten seatbelt sign had barely been removed and I had lept up out of my seat to dig our bags out of the overhead bin. By the time the door of the plane opened Mom and I were both standing, cats in hand, ready to go. Unfortunately we were towards the back of the plane and had to wait like cattle while everyone else gathered their belongings and left. I did a lot of silent cursing in my head... and a lot of not so silent cursing as well. I pulled a desperate trick out from my skiing days and simply said "on your left!" to people as we shoved past on the jetway. We got into the airport and took off running... we steped into the Detroit airport at 5:20 and our flight to Frankfurt was scheduled to leave at 5:35. Running with two heavy carry-ons and two some-what big boned cats is a challenge... and we arrived at our gate huffing and puffing... but we made the flight, which was all that mattered. We hadn't had time to do any of the necessary checks on the cats that I had wanted to do before our flight. I had to re-drug the cats before the flight took off. Mom would hold the cat carrier on her lap and open the door of it, and I would feed the cat their pill. It all would have been a lot smoother if my cats would cooperatively take pills. We got the cats re-drugged and settled in and covered the front of their cages with a blanket. My boy cat Pucky was meowing, but we figured he would settle down after a few minutes. We were wrong. Poor Pucky cried for the whole flight. The WHOLE flight. At different times we could feel him moving around in his carrier as it shook everything under the seats. I quickly went from being embarrassed, to annoyed, to finally feeling very sorry for Pucky as he cried. It wasn't his fault... I'm sure being stuck in his carrier for that long was getting very old. Finally when there was two hours left in our flight my mom picked up Pucky's carrier and held it on her lap while she stuck her hand inside to pet him. He was quiet. In fact, he slept. Had we known that would have worked we would have done it a long time ago.
I had heard from other people that bringing their pet into Germany through the Frankfurt airport wasn't a big deal. They were right. The longest part of the whole process of customs was standing in the line. The man at the customs counter glanced at my passport and stamped it. That was in. No questions, no having to show the multitude of forms I had to carry about the cats. Before I left I had to update some of the cats shots which they weren't even due for, but they had to be less than a year old for Germany to recognize them... yet no one asked about it. Hmmmm.
From the Frankfurt airport to our house is a little under a two hour drive. Since the cats had been in their carriers for about 18 hours at this point, we decided to take them our of their carriers and let them be loose in the car. They did well being loose. Pucky slept (probably because he'd worn himself out on the flight over), and Vega decided that riding the car is actually pretty great and spent a lot of the ride sitting on Mom's lap looking out the window. We got a picture of it, it was pretty entertaining.
We got to the house and decided to carry the cats up by hand rather than put them back in their carriers. The shirt I had worn for the flight over will never be worn again as Pucky tore multiple holes in it as I carried him. I had warned Josh that Vega likes to hide, and will find a way to hide in the most unlikely of places. She proved me right. Within the first hour of us being here she had wedged herself under a chair, behind the washing machine, and then went under one of the wardrobes/closets in the house. Josh went on a kitty-recon mission to try to and find ways to block Vega out from some areas.... I think this may be an on-going battle.
When I woke up this morning there was a big black Pucky cat curled up by our feet. Down the hallway I could see the siloutte of Vega looking out the window. It seems that the cats have recovered from their adventure.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The final countdown!
The movers came on Monday. At the moment I am living out of two overflowing suitcases, borrowing pillows, blankets, towels, and sleeping on an air mattress with a leak in it. I start out the night on a some-what normal bed and wake up every morning on the floor. It's as comfortable as it sounds, I assure you. It is the first time since I moved into my house two years ago that it has been this empty. Sounds echo off the bare walls up the stairs. It is strange, and bittersweet. It's hard to believe in no time at all that someone else is going to be living in my house.
My last day of work was Wednesday. Yet another strange and bittersweet moment. Even as I was handing over my keys and leaving the office for the last time it still hadn't sunk in that I wasn't going back. For the first time since graduating college I am unemployed.
The list of things to get done before I leave is getting shorter each day... and the list of people I want to spend time with grows longer. My time here in Missoula is coming to a close and I haven't fully realized it yet....
My last day of work was Wednesday. Yet another strange and bittersweet moment. Even as I was handing over my keys and leaving the office for the last time it still hadn't sunk in that I wasn't going back. For the first time since graduating college I am unemployed.
The list of things to get done before I leave is getting shorter each day... and the list of people I want to spend time with grows longer. My time here in Missoula is coming to a close and I haven't fully realized it yet....
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