You can't kill the rooster

I had heard, through the grapevine, there was going to be a job opening up in the medical/dental clinic soon. I had been told there was a hygienist "leaving soon" by one of the dentists at the dental clinic back in July. I decided to circumvent the civilian employment office and took my resume to the dental clinic in person. There wasn't a dentist available to talk to, and no one at the front desk seemed to know anything about an opening or need for a hygienist. However, they were kind enough to get the head hygienist to talk to me. This is what I learned. At Spangdahlem air base there are only three hygienist positions, and they are designated for and are only to be filled by enlisted military hygienists. She assured me she needed and wanted more help, but there weren't the positions available. In my senior year of hygiene school I had a clinical rotation with the VA dental clinic in Spokane. The hygienist on base said that was a helpful thing, and I should gather up a packet of my credentials (transcript, copy of license, copy of diploma, ect) for her. Once I do that she can take the information to some higher ups. The chances of them "creating" a job for me is very small, but I may be able to "volunteer" doing other things around the clinic such as assisting or charting. Not at all what I wanted to hear. She did encourage me to try and find a job with a German dentist. She also suggested getting in contact with some dentists surrounding Ramstein air base (an hour away). Apparently there are quite a few American dentists who work off base in that area. So... what I learned was there is not a job for me at Spangdahlem and there probably won't ever be. Awesome.

I am just frustrated at the situation. I am sick of sitting around... the "break" I had was nice, and it was good to get oriented/situated... but I'm ready to go back to work - not just for the money, but for something to do. I never realized how much my self worth was attached to my working, my ability to contribute. It's a crappy feeling to know you are perfectly capable of working and to be sitting around the house instead. What frustrates me more than anything is I feel lied to. When I looked into my options for moving over here, I did a lot of research with the Department of Defense. On their website I found lots of information talking about working as a hygienists overseas on a military base. They sound as if they are crying, begging for hygienists to come over seas and work. Granted, there was not a hygienist position listed on Josh's base... At the base employment office they talk about spousal preference, which basically means if I apply for a job I get preference over a German or a civilian because Josh is the military... yet... there isn't anything available to me? I also am confused by the dentist I talked to on base. He told me there was a position available.... yet there isn't any positions for civilians? And he knew I was civilian.  I guess I just had false ideas of what it would be like to find a job over here. I had thought there would be a job for me and it wouldn't be too difficult to be hired. I guess I was wrong.

I am grateful for the information the hygienist did give me about seeking out employment off base. I don't have zero options, I just don't have the options I thought I would. I am going to focus on what I do have. I do have somewhere to go. I just am pissed right now. And I think I'm allowed to be.

In situations like this, one way I like to cheer myself up is to read a story called "You Can't Kill the Rooster" by David Sedaris. It may be too vulgar for some, but I find it funny. I often like to read it aloud to myself and make the appropriate voices for characters. I leave you with my favorite part of said story:
"My brother's voice, like my own, is high-pitched and girl-ish. Telephone solicitors frequently ask to speak to our husbands or request that we put our mommies on the line. The Raleigh accent is soft and beautifully cadenced, but my brother's is a more complex hybrid, informed by his professional relationships with marble-mouthed, deep-country work crews and his abiding love of hard-core rap music. He talks so fast that even his friends have a hard time understanding him. It's like listening to a foreigner and deciphering only shit, motherfucker, bitch, and the single phrase You can't kill the Rooster.
'The Rooster' is what Paul calls himself when he's feeling threatened. Asked how he came up with that name, he says only, 'Certain motherfuckers think they can fuck with my shit, but you can't kill the Rooster. You might can fuck him up sometimes, but, bitch, nobody kills the motherfucking Rooster. You know what I'm saying?'"

Lessons learned in Berlin

Josh and I did a quick weekend trip to Berlin. We went with the base travel group (Information Tickets and Travel - ITT) which had organized the trip. Josh has done ITT trips before when he was stationed at other bases. I, obviously have never done an ITT trip. Berlin was on my list of places I wanted to see, however it is a long trip whether you drive or take a train, so I wasn't sure when we'd be able to go. When I heard ITT announce their overnight trip to Berlin I figured it was a good way to try out ITT, see Berlin, and let someone else do the driving. I was excited about our trip... and it was an interesting whirlwind.

I will start with the bad first. When I signed up for our trip, they didn't have a set itinerary available for me to look at. However, the lady at ITT told me we would meet on base and leave at 11:30 pm on Friday night, ride through the night on the bus and arrive in Berlin Saturday morning. We'd have Saturday to tour around the city, and we'd spend the night. We would wake up Sunday morning and leave sometime in the morning to get back to base Sunday night. When Josh was put on night shift we had worried that his new shift would interfere with the trip. However, I had been told we would be back Sunday night, so we both figured it would work out okay. At worst, Josh may need someone to cover the first hour of his shift. We talked about calling or stopping into ITT just to confirm times, but never did. We should have. We arrived on base Friday night, boarded the charter bus, and our trip was underway. We were about a half hour away from base and the tour coordinator was walking up the aisle of the bus seeing if anyone had any questions. Josh asked him what time we were to return to base on Sunday. We were informed we'd be returning to base Monday morning around 5 AM. Josh's shift starts Sunday evening at 10:30 pm. So we knew from the beginning that either Josh would have to either try to get someone to cover his shift (which wasn't a possibility) or we'd have to take the train home. It was a crappy way to start the trip. However, it was our own fault. Which made it even more crappy. Riding on a bus, even a nicer charter bus, is not the most comfortable way to try and get a good nights sleep. Josh and I didn't get much sleep just because it was hard to get comfortable... that and we had to listen to the annoying whining of the girl sitting behind us who kept telling her friend how "terrible" and "auw-FUL" the bus ride was in a horrible southern drawl. The group of people who were on this trip were mainly younger people ages 18-20ish (I say 20 because we overheard a group of them talking about how to gamble in Germany you must be 21 and they were kicked out of a casino). They just had different priorities than Josh and I. As we were talking about which historical places we wanted to see and which museums were on our list, the younger group was talking about going out to party that night. Why on earth would you go to Berlin and spend your time partying? You can drink at home. The whiny girl behind us whined not only about the bus ride, but generally everything about the trip. It got old very quickly and I felt myself rolling my eyes and dreaming of gouging her eyes out. The train ride home was long as well... slightly more comfortable than the bus ride, but it is a long time to have to sit. However, the bad of unexpected train travel and annoying people was nothing compared to the good. Onto the good.

We arrived in Belin at 7 am. Knowing we only had one day to tour around, we wanted to cram in as much as we could. Included in our trip was a bus tour of the city, which was a great way to see the layout. We then went to a Holocaust Memorial, one of two in the city. We walked from the memorial to the Brandenburg Gate.

We then were given the option of going to the Zoo or going shopping. Josh and I both love zoos, and although we only had about an hour and a half we were able to walk through and see a good portion of the animals at the zoo. They had our "neighborhood" wild boars there. There is nothing about these animals that are cute... and nothing that can make them cute.

We were taken to check into our hotel, which was an art deco hotel that was Andy Warhol themed. Lots of bright colors, and many replicas of his work. Interesting to say the least. After checking into the hotel we had free reign to do whatever we wanted around the city. Josh and I took off to go tour. We went to see Checkpoint Charlie and the remainders of the Berlin Wall. Strange to actually see it in person and to think of basically two separate cities and worlds divided... And to think it really wasn't that long ago. All through the city you can see a strip of cobblestone that is about a foot and a half wide, and it marks where the wall once was.

Once a year the museums in Berlin have an even called the Long Night of the Museums where all of the museums stay open late. They also have lots of extra things going on such as musical performances and food. You can get into most of the city museums with just one ticket. We decided to take advantage of this, and went to see the DDR Museum (about what life was like in East Berlin under communist rule), the Altes Museum (Greek and Roman art), and the German History Museum. We also walked through the Berlin Dom (cathedral). Like a lot of cathedrals in Germany, the Berlin Dom was damaged during World War II, however the damage done to it was significant... so the inside of the Dom now looks much newer and brighter compared to other churches.

After all of our running around we were exhausted. It was a long, full day. We went back to our hotel to relax and get some sleep. In the morning after breakfast we went to the train station. Our train ride home was long, but went without much of a hitch. 

Berlin deserves a second trip to see all of the things we weren't able to see/enjoy this first time. From here on out we will be traveling on our own. There will be no wasting of time or waiting on other people. Lesson learned.

Pig Fest 2011

Pig Fest is a festival (obviously) that happens every year in the town of Wittlich, about 20 minutes from our house. I have heard about Pig Fest since the moment I arrived. Everyone says it is the best of all the local festivals. Everyone talked about Pig Fest, but no one told us what it was about. Saturday we woke up to clear, sunny skies and the temperature was in the low 80s. It was easily the nicest day we've had all summer. Really it is about the only day of summer we've had. We decided the best way to spend the day was figuring out what Pig Fest was.

We weren't sure where the festival was going to be in Wittlich... but as we got closer to town we could see a Ferris wheel, and another carnival ride that when I was a child was called the YoYo (swings). It was easy to assume if we headed towards the carnival rides we would find the festival. Parking for the festival was similar to parking at any major event... although the Germans think it is fair game to box other people in, park on the curb, and park in all sorts of places I would consider inappropriate. I first used the word "impossible" but clearly, the Germans have (once again) proved me wrong. So I will say inappropriate. After circling around the parking lot multiple times, a sweet plump German man waved us into the parking spot his wife had just backed out of.

The first thing we came to were tents and booths of a craft fair. Josh and I were distracted for a good 10 minutes by a booth of hand made toys (after 10 minutes we realized the majority of the toys we wanted to buy would cost 4 times the cost to ship home to Zoey in Montana). We could hear a marching band playing, and wandered up the street to find ourselves watching a parade... and the center stage of this parade were pigs. Not live pigs, but dead ones... for the pig roast... which is what Pig Fest is about (surprise). After marching the pigs through the streets they reach their final place where they are cut up and sold as sandwiches. All along the narrow streets were beer and wine vendors. When I think of a beer vendor, I think of either the beer garden at the Western Montana Fair (it's probably exactly what you envision) or standing in line at a sporting vent/concert to get a plastic keg cup of draft beer. German beer vendors have tables around their stands where you can sit/stand and you drink out of real glass glasses.

Josh and I followed other people up a few streets, and discovered that in addition to a craft fair, parade, and pig roast there was a carnival. Like most carnivals, there were a few rides and games. Carnivals games and the carnies who work them are universal...

I have never been very adventurous when it comes to carnival rides, and Josh didn't want to go alone... so instead we decided to enjoy the midway by drinking beer. After enjoying our people watching and beer drinking, we wandered back towards the main festival area to sample some of the pig. The "sandwich" you got was actually a large piece of pork on a fresh roll with mustard. I'm not a big pork person, but it was delicious.

It was a fun Saturday afternoon. I can see why everyone enjoys Pig Fest and why it is a favorite. I can't believe all the things the word "festival" encompasses.

I'm a pioneer woman, pal!

I discovered at 8 o'clock this morning we were out of hot water. I, of course, uncovered this problem when I was wanting to shower. I wish I could say this is the first time this has happened, but it's not. I would say in the past three weeks we've not had hot water about three times. Once was due to the water heater running out of oil. There is one large hot water heater which supplies hot water to the whole building, and it is fueled by oil. The nice thing about one giant water heater is we never have run out of hot water when taking a long shower, or having multiple people shower. The last two times there has been no hot water it is because the heater has needed to be repaired, which was the case today. Since I had no major plans, I figured it wasn't too big of a deal to wait on my shower. However, by 4 o'clock this afternoon I could no longer stand the feeling... and the monster pile of dishes in my sink was starting to be a real eye and nose sore. But what was I to do? I am not brave enough (at least in this circumstance) to take a cold shower. The first thing I thought of was Little House on the Prairie - I'm not sure why. I remember reading as a child about how they would have to heat up water to put into a tub to bathe in. This was also back in the days when people didn't bathe often. After having to boil water and lug it around, I can see why.  I took the three largest pots we have (good thing my pots arrived), filled them with water, and set them on the stove. After passing some time on my computer while the water heated, I carried the pots (separately) down the hall and dumped the boiling water into the bathtub. I turned on the faucet to add cold water to the boiling water. My plan was by adding cold water I would not only cool the boiling water down to a point where it was safe, but it would add more water to the bath thereby eliminating the need for me to go boil more water. I was wrong. Even with my plan, there really wasn't much water in the tub, and I had over-estimated how much cool water I would need... so I had a small, lukewarm bath to try and wash in. It wasn't quite as I imagined it. I had envisioned myself enjoying a relaxing warm bath (which I had gotten in my clever way despite the circumstances). I had even brought my book with me into the bathroom thinking I may enjoy reading as I relaxed in my nice warm bath. Needless to say my bath was absolutely nothing like I had planned. There was no reading. There was the bare minimum of washing. I emerged chilled rather than relaxed.

The water heating process was repeated for me to wash dishes... and it was as undesirable as before... only it took less water and I was less concerned about having enough water at a good temperature. I have been lucky and spoiled in that I have always lived somewhere with a dishwasher. Every house we lived in growing up had one. My college apartment had one. My house had one. Washing dishes by hand is nothing new to me, I've done it countless times in my life (who hasn't). Washing dishes by hand in Germany is certainly nothing new as it is the only way we can wash dishes. It isn't the first time I've thought about having a dishwasher, but I think it is the first time I have really truly missed it. As I was thinking about my beautiful stainless steel dishwasher back in my house in Montana, the stack of clean dishes I had washed/rinsed adjusted on the counter and half of them fell onto the floor. Maybe it was the disaster of a bath I had just finished, or maybe it was my general frustration at the water heater for putting me in the situation... but the falling dishes was one thing too many. I stood in my kitchen wearing mismatched gym shorts and shirt with wet stringy hair, staring at the dishes I'd have to re-wash... and like a three year old I started to cry. A pathetic and ridiculous site... especially when there is no one to see it. Not even the cats came to investigate. And for that reason the wine hour began at the Lehman house at 5 o'clock this evening.

Making our house Home

My things arrived in Germany and were delivered this morning. Praise the Lord and pass the wine.

Like any sort of household thing, I had an "appointment" for the movers to come, and like any typical house appointment it was between the hours of 8 and 6. With a stroke of luck the movers showed up this morning right after 8. Two German men came to unload my stuff, but sadly they were not as entertaining as the last German movers I saw. These ones were quite small, in fact. However, they still amazed me with the style in which they move things. I have a hope chest which is filled with things such as yearbooks, boxes of pictures, Broadway playbills, photo albums. Nothing fragile, but when it's packed together it's not light. Two men carried it out of my house in Montana, and it was a challenge for them. A German mover who was the size and build of my brother (and for those of you who haven't met him, Kyle is about 6' and maybe 160 pounds soaking wet after eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet) threw it on is back and huffed it up two flights of stairs. Yet both of the movers worked together to carry my empty bookcase upstairs - something I have moved by myself before. Nuts, I tell you, nuts.

It has been about two years since the last time I moved, and I'd forgotten the overwhelming feeling you get when you see a room full of boxes you know you have to unpack. I also forgot how much I hate unpacking a box and realizing I have no idea where I want to put anything. Beings that I'm married to the military, I suppose I should get used to it. However... our house looks a bit chaotic at the moment.

When I getting ready to leave Montana and I was trying to get my stuff together for the movers to pack, I kept wondering when on earth I had gotten so much stuff. Where had it all come from? How on earth had I managed to store/hide/use all of it? I had the same feelings today. How do I have so much stuff? How does it fit into so many boxes?
Thus far I've gotten the whole kitchen unpacked and put away (thanks to some help from Josh), my bookshelf unpacked and organized (obviously a high priority for me), and the majority of my decorative stuff unpacked. Putting the decorative stuff in place will be a whole different story. I did take some time to put a few things up in the bathroom (by far the easiest of my decorating).

A few weeks ago I worked on painting parts of the house. The hallways I simply re-painted white - but it made a big difference. We have an archway in our hallway that was a dirty white (like the walls) but I painted it a brown color. With my things arriving today, I added a touch to the archway which is very Kirsten.

Although my feet and back hurt, and I am exhausted I am excited to finally have my stuff here. I can't wait to get a chance to hang things up and decorate. The only question is if Josh can sleep through me drilling screws into the walls...

Oh the places you will go

I am currently obsessed with researching and planning trips for us. Right now it's more me planning hypothetical trips I'm not sure if we will even or when we will take them... but. Planning none-the-less. I believe this has been spurred on by a few things:
1). How fun our last trip was
2). How easy it was to book
3). Remembering how much I want to see and do all around Europe... and outside of Europe
4).Realizing that 3 years isn't that long
5). Boredom... and too much time on the internet.

There are a few things I have discovered:
1). Whenever anyone talks about traveling around Europe, everyone always talks about how cheap and easy it is to travel by train. I was told by many people the first thing I should do is buy a Euro-rail card. Let me clear this myth up for everyone. Traveling around Europe by train is extremely easy. Cheap, no. At least not in Germany. Germany is the only country which does not participate with the Euro-rail system. So even if you purchase a Euro-rail card, it will not be valid in Germany. You can purchase a German rail card, but it's pretty spendy. You'd really have to calculate out how much a train ticket to somewhere will cost first to see if it is worth just paying for the single ticket or getting a rail card. Really... a rail card is only worth it if you're planning to hop over to a few different cities in a few days. And... frankly where we are right now, it's easy/cheaper for us to drive. The same applies to trains in other countries. In some countries the train is cheap. In others... not so much. So... it really depends on what you're planning to do. The Euro-rail would be great for someone who is planning on country hopping in a two week time frame. I believe that is what it is made for. The Euro-rail pass is also cheaper if you are a European citizen. So yes... train is a an easy option, but beware of being told it is cheap. I have also discovered many of the people who talked about "cheap train travel" either haven't been to Europe, haven't used the train in Europe, or it has been at least 20 years since they were in Europe.

2). In searching for cheap ways to travel to other places, I have discovered Ryan Air. Ryan Air is a cheap airline that flys to major European cities to the non-major airports (think of Allegiant Air or Southwest Airline). I've heard of it before and had looked into it... but I've started looking more thoroughly into where we can fly with them. The airport we'd use is 45 minutes away from our house, and from there we can go to Rome, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan,  Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Oslo, Crete, and a few places I hadn't heard of, or wasn't familiar with. Like any airline, the more time you have before your trip, the cheaper your tickets will be. And, similar to Allegiant Air, your ticket may be one price, but to check a bag is more money, ect ect. Lots of extra charges if you aren't careful. But, if you plan it right, it can be very inexpensive. Due to finding cheap plane tickets, there are two new destinations I am seriously considering which were not on my list before: Poland and Croatia. Similar to Belgium, it's not that I have anything against these destinations, I just haven't had them on the top of my travel list. What got me interested in both places was I could find plane tickets (round trip) for 18 euro.... so for both Josh and I we could fly there for 36 euro. When I looked into Poland, I discovered we could stay at nice hotels for very reasonable (mainly because Poland is under a different currency and they are poorer). It could make for a cheap vacation. As I've done more research into Poland, I've mapped out an interesting 4-5 day trip for us. It would include flying into the city of Rzeszow, touring the local area there, then taking a train to Krakow, touring around Krakow, taking an excursion trip to Auschwitz, then back to Rzeszow to go home. I haven't researched Croatia as much as I have Poland, but I do know from what I've looked into it that similar to Poland we would be able to stay in a nice hotel for cheap, and the area I've been looking at is a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. A beach-esk destination will sound nice in a few months I'm sure. Traveling to a more obscure not-so-traveled area may seem odd at first, but in the end it may be worth the cheaper price. Here's to hoping.

3). I love the website www.booking.com. I have booked two separate hotels for different trips from this site, and it is great. They list a lot of hotels (many more than the usual American travel sites), and they provide reviews and feedback from people who have stayed there. The information other travelers give has been very helpful when I've been looking. It's also a useful tool when I'm doing my "hypothetical" travel preparations.

4). With the military, Josh is only allowed to travel 500 miles or 8 hours away from base (anything farther than that and he officially has to take leave time. Not a big deal, but there won't be any weekend trips to Rome or London). This is quite a distance, and we can get to a lot of places that are within that distance. I have discovered many places I do want to go that are in a reasonable driving distance for us, including: Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Salzburg (Austria), Zurich, Berlin, Hamburg, "Normandy" (France), Prague... just to name a few. My list continues to grow every time I look on Google maps to see how far away a site is...

Josh has to work tonight. His normal shift is suppose to be Sunday night to Thursday night. But, he'll have to work tonight as well, possibly Saturday too. It is all in preparation for the upcoming inspection. I'm using his unhappiness about having to work to my advantage - in a good way. I've been trying for the past few days to convince Josh we need to travel somewhere for Labor Day. He has been resistant to this idea because he's a guy, and in his mind we have "plenty of time" to figure something out. We will have just returned from Berlin the weekend before. But, I used this weekend as an example, saying we have to take advantage of getting the extra day for travel when we get it. He relented, and agreed maybe we could look into something for Labor Day. Lucky for him, I've already been planning. I really want to go visit the town of Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber. It is a walled-in medieval town that is supposibly a picture-esk "must do" while in Germany. It's about a five hour drive away from our house, and everything I've read says you need at least two days to properly see it. It makes a weekend trip a bit of a challenge. Do-able, but rushed. Labor Day weekend would be perfect. The other perfect part of my plan (and I think the thing which really made Josh agree) is there is an Army base about 40 minutes away from Rothenburg. If we can get a reservation, we could stay on base at the hotel. The hotel would be much cheaper than anything we'd find in Rothenburg, and the rooms come with a kitchenette, so we could cut down on costs by packing some food from home. Plus, we can gas up on base, which is always much cheaper than off base. In addition to Rothenburg, I'm planning for us to drive to see Dachau concentration camp. It's about an hour and a half drive from where we're staying, and it's something I want to see (yes, I realize that in this blog alone I've mentioned two separate visits to two different concentration camps. That may disturb some people. I find it fascinating, and an important thing to witness). Josh is going to call to make a reservation tomorrow morning... as long as there is an opening for us, we will be on our way for some fun Labor Day plans. Now if I can only find other bases for us to stay at... too bad there isn't one in Paris.

Josh was teasing me that I'm going to make us "travel poor." This may be true. Since I've been here I weigh my options that way. Would I rather get a brand new dining room table, or be able to spend a long weekend in Paris? Paris. Update new bedding for our bedroom or add that to the travel fund? Travel fund. Before we bought Frank, there was the option for us to buy a much newer Audi. Josh even went so far as to say we could look into getting an auto loan to get me something new to drive... but I told him I'd rather go on vacation. I love Frank, and I love driving him even more knowing that I saved money we can use to travel. Plus... if there is any sort of deal out there - a cheap flight, cheap hotel, discounted tour tickets - I will find it. I will find a way to make our trip cheap. It's like a challenge to myself.

The land of beer and chocolate

This post will be a bit more colorful than the rest. In the craziness of me leaving Montana, I either put the cord for uploading pictures from my camera to the computer with my packed things the movers took, or I've misplaced it. But with my new fancy laptop I can directly put my memory card in the laptop and by-pass the cord situation. So. There will be pictures - FINALLY.

Josh came home exceptionally late on Thursday morning. I was a bit worried, and my worry turned into confusion when he arrived home with two big Starbucks cups. He announced the base had Friday off, so he didn't have to work Thursday night. I was happy about having him home an extra night, and my happiness grew when I realized we could expand our weekend plans. We had talked about doing something for the weekend to spend some time together and get out of the house. The ideas we had thrown around were all local things we could do on Saturday. A friend of Josh's had invited us to make a crazy marathon trip to Austria with him. It was appealing - anything that is a new place for us to see appeals to me - but just too long of a drive with too little time. However it did make me start to think- dream - of farther away destinations rather than just a local trip. Josh not having to work made it possible for us to leave Friday morning, making it a three day weekend. Luckily, Josh agreed that taking a longer over night trip sounded like fun. But where? How far away did we want to venture? Josh first suggested Paris. I panicked and told him I wasn't at all prepared to go to Paris. I'm not sure why, but Paris is THE one place I really want to go. I want to be a nerd, do my research, and plan all the places/sites I want to see. I have not had a chance to prepare for Paris. I did agree that we should aim for something bigger like Paris. Josh then suggested Belgium. I hesitated for a moment. I did, in theory, eventually want to see Belgium. But it wasn't high on my list of priorities. However, within minutes I was able to find a reasonable hotel in Brussels online. Done. We were on our way to Belgium.

Brussels was a surprisingly quick and easy drive - only 2.5 hours, all autobahn. I spent most of the drive "preparing" myself with the Brussels travel book I bought. As I read I discovered we were headed to what looked like a beautiful city with a lot of things to do. After checking into our hotel and getting situated, we walked to the subway and went into the city center. Josh likes to tease me saying I haven't traveled much. His travel and my travel have been different. I traveled a lot as a child growing up, but all of it was in the US. He did no traveling as a child and all of his travel has been international to crazy places with the military. He's much more accustomed to being the "dumb American" who is lost/can't communicate in a different country. I am not, therefore I tend to get nervous about a lot of things in Germany. However. My swift navigation of the Brussels metro system proved him wrong. HA!

Brussels has a beautiful downtown historic area that is easy to walk around, but it also has some sites on different ends of the city. The first thing we stopped to see was the Cathedral. Beautiful inside and out. Outside of the Cathedral there were a multitude of open air tour buses. When my mom and I went to San Fransisco we took one of these buses, and I discovered they are great. You can see an overview of the city and a lot of sites you may want to see, but don't necessarily want to spend time at. All of the buses are also hop on/hop off, so if you arrive at a site you do want to see, you can get off, tour around, and catch another bus later. The bus we took came with headphones that narrated the journey in a variety of languages. It was a good way to get an overview of the area.

The first place we hopped off was at the Atomium. It was build for the 1958 World Fair. You can pay to go inside of it. There are escalators inside of the steel beams that connect the spheres. We went inside... it kind of reminded me of being inside of a giant gerbil toy... not that I'd been inside one before. We hopped back on the bus and finished our tour of the city. We then walked down into the historic area of Brussels. It's a beautiful area with lots of flea markets, food, and sites. I didn't know where to look first.

We had a delicious dinner... followed by chocolate. Chocolate is, obviously, everywhere. Belgian chocolate is EVERYTHING it's cracked up to be. Fantastic. We followed up the chocolate by sampling Belgian waffles. You can find waffles pretty much on any street corner. You can get a plain waffle, or one with whipped cream, whipped cream and strawberries, chocolate and strawberries, chocolate... the list goes on. I got one with chocolate and strawberries, Josh got whipped cream and caramel. They were fantastic. After a bit more walking, we settled down outside a pub and enjoyed the other fine Belgian treat - beer. We were not disappointed.

The next morning we ventured to two museums. They were museums I chose, not Josh, but I chose them because I knew he would enjoy them. The first was Auto World (you can guess what that was about) and the other was the History of the Military Museum. I was actually surprised and impressed by everything they had in the museum. We were there about two hours and could have easily spent more time. Brussels has many museums - over 25 - and I wish we'd had time to see more of them. Josh and I agreed we will have to make another trip back to see more things. We ended our day by enjoying another walk around the historic downtown before returning to our hotel and driving home. Josh had wanted to come home Saturday night to try to get some extra sleep/adjust his schedule back for working nights. We were about 50 kilometers from home when I felt Josh slowing the car down. I looked up from my book to see a wild boar running across the road in front of us. I would say it was the height and length of a large black lab... and must have weighed at least 150 pounds. We didn't hit the boar, but in true Montana fashion Josh began  to speculate what he would do if he had hit it (his plans included putting the - hopefully dead - boar in our trunk to take home and skin).

We had a wonderful weekend trip. I don't know why Belgium wasn't on my radar as someplace I wanted to go, but it is on my list of places I want to go back to. Soon.

The job will never win

As of August 1st Josh started working mid-shift. To me, mid-shift sounded like a swing shift. That is because I'm a civilian, and we have crazy thoughts like call things by a name that makes sense. What mid-shift really is, at least at this base, is the night shift. Night shift (for Josh's shop) is from 10:30 pm (or 22:30 for those 24 hour folks. I will adapt, but I will not conform) until 6:30 am (06:30). The base is preparing for an inspection, and to get ready for it Josh's shop is working 10+ hour shifts until the inspection is over. For the time being his night shift runs from 10:30 until around 9 am. Luckily this shift change is temporary (how long "temporary" is I'm not sure). Josh got moved to this shift to work as a supervisor after some airmen got caught sleeping on the job. In this situation "supervisor" is a fancy word for babysitter. The night shift consists of two young airmen and Josh. Josh  - understandably - is not happy about having to work nights. He's even more unhappy about having to work nights because people can't keep their shit together. I try to be positive about the move when talking about work with Josh. However, after only working two nights with these boys and hearing stories about how work had gone... it appears that he truly is babysitting the Beavis and Butthead of the Air Force. Yesterday I made cookies (these turned out far better with less frustration than my banana bread. It is my second successful attempt at baking cookies. Cookies - it seems - bake well in German ovens). I packaged them up and told Josh to take them to work with him to share with "the kids." For the record, I baked cookies out of boredom, not with the intention or purpose of Josh taking them to work. Josh looked at the cookies and grumbled, "They don't deserve to have them." When I asked him this morning if he'd brought his cookies into work he informed me that they are in his car where they will stay. He plans to take some in with him only for his enjoyment every night because he "doesn't want to share with those assholes." Glad to see we are playing nicely with our co-workers.

When he found out he'd been placed on the night shift, Josh asked me if I was okay with it. I found this very funny. When has it ever mattered if someone is okay with what their spouse's shift is? Or what their own shift is for that matter? Do I get a say in it? Can I tell Josh's commander, the colonel, or the Air Force for that matter that I'm unhappy with the shift he's assigned to work? No, clearly I'm not "okay" with him working the night shift. It makes a lot of things more difficult. But do I have a choice in it? No. Since I don't have a choice then I'd better learn to be okay with it. I'm thankful my dad worked different shifts when I was a child growing up. It helped me to get used to him not being there sometimes, or being there at weird times. It also helped me learn what to do, or what not to do, during the day when someone is sleeping. The strangest part about Josh working this shift is that technically he's home with me for more hours in the day than he ever was. He's just sleeping during those hours. He may be home more hours, but the time that we have to spend together is definitely less. Of the time we do have to spend together, much of that is spent with Josh eating, showering, and generally functioning in a zombie-like sleep deprived state. It's a very strange feeling to know he is home with me - just feet away - and yet I'm still here by myself. In a way it is lonely. I think in the last two days it is the first time I have honestly felt lonely and home sick since I have been here. I'm not any less busy during the day, I still find plenty to do. My mind is active. But there is definitely an aspect that is lonely. Isolating.

There is something for me to take away from this - a challenge to myself - to take each day, and cherish it. To take the time I do get with Josh - however short that time may be - and enjoy it. Enjoy the time I do get to see him and not focus on all the time I am not seeing him. That is the challenge to myself. Take what you get, and be happy for it, or in spite of it. Show nothing but love and happiness, even when you are feeling bitter and lonely.

My dad worked at a paper mill for 22 years. Prior to that, he had worked other shift work jobs. For the first 25+ years of my parent's marriage they spent it in the balance of my father's various work shifts. Living with someone who works the night shift while you continue to function on "normal time" is not easy. Anyone who thinks it is hasn't been in this situation. On the night we got married, my mom told me her and my dad have always had an agreement about work: the job will never win. It made sense to me then, but the wisdom of those words seems more powerful now. I cannot think of a more fitting statement, or better advice than those simple words. Josh and I may just be passing by each other for the next few weeks, but the job will never win.