We move into our place tomorrow. TOMORROW!! We've been here for 2 weeks so it's not terrible. But it's definitely time to get out of lodging. It's been nice and it's been great to have a place to stay...I'm grateful. But done.
We are thisclose to getting a car. It's a 1997 (I think...heh) Mazda 626. It's cute, 4cyl manual, dark blue. It's very well kept. The guy selling it to us is a retired guy DOD contractor. He's very cool. The car didn't pass inspection because of the tires so he's getting those replaced. But as soon that's done it's ours. He loaned us his other spare vehicle to drive in the mean time which is awesome cause we'll definitely be able to get all of our stuff to the new place in the van.
Every time I leave lodging and we're riding through the country side it reminds me...I'm in Germany. It's so amazing. We drove through Vilseck, the town, last night in search of Cigs (still no ration card). I am always in awe. The buildings have so much personality. And history. I can't even imagine how many generations of people have walked down those streets even before they were paved. Germany and Europe as a whole I'm sure has a feel of history. I know that the US has that, there have always been people there. But Germany...I don't know, it's just different.
I have heard many stories of people emigrating to the US and stepping off the boat/plane and falling in love with it on first site. I feel like that's how it was for me coming here. I love every single part I have seen so far. I adore where we are and I'm glad we didn't get put in a bigger city atmosphere. It's very rural and the towns (Vilseck and Grafenwoehr) aren't huge but I cannot wait to explore them. In between there are fields of corn and green. Green everywhere. After having been in the West US for so long green is a very different site. CoS was practically the desert when it wasn't snowing. Dry. Brown and red more than green. So it's very nice to be here where it's so green and pretty. And the houses!! I can't get over the houses. The farm houses, the city houses. The churches!! Everywhere. For someone obsessed with Catholicism it's amazing to see so many beautiful Catholic churches. Bavaria seems very steeped in Catholic history. Driving down the road there are crucifixes everywhere. Just randomly where you would never think of looking, on a tree in the middle of nowhere. On a street sign. Everywhere. I am going to have a great time collecting Rosaries all over here. I am almost certain I will be able to find one every place we visit in Germany. Now that we have transportation other than a bus that goes straight from the PX here to the PX there we'll be able to explore more.
There is a cemetery right down the street from our house. It doesn't look like a family graveyard like the ones in NC so I am hoping I am able to visit it. But it is kind of randomly on the side of the road so I'll play it by ear. I am thinking the more graveyards I visit here the more really old headstones I will find. I find a lot of peace in cemeteries. No one is trying to get me to make decisions or talk to them or help them (since I am not the Ghost Whisperer I guess). It's just peace and quiet. Seeing personalities brought out in the choice of headstones and words. Not that I'll be able to understand anything other than names and maybe dates...but if there are words I can take photos I can look up the words.
I need to learn German. Even basic German. All I know are the basic "good morning", "good afternoon" and "good evening". That's about it. I have picked up certain other words like wasser and pfeffer. Just because they're fairly similar. But unless I want to order pepper flavored water I'm screwed. I also want to brush up on my French. Then I could be tri-lingual! Or something. We shall see. I think I'll have a lot of time to learn these things since I probably can't get a job any time soon. Maybe next spring after we're all settled completely.
I suppose I should stop blogging. I need to get dressed and primp a little before we head to the PX for housey stuff. Basics. Blankets, sheets, paper plates. I have no clue when our stuff will arrive but until then we have "loaner" furniture so we won't be sitting and sleeping on the floor at least.
Hope everyone has a great day!!
