The Last Few Months

Ok, so clearly I'm the best blogger ever. It's only been a little over 3 months since my last post! Sorry about that.....but that means this post is going to be a really random compilation of events and musings. Bear with me!

To begin, we are all settled into our home and some sort of routine. Actually, the routine didn't last too long because AJ is now 2 weeks into a 9 week training in the states, so things are a little "off" now. But here's the basic run-down on what we do around here:

AJ: Goes to work at the JAG office Mon-Fri. 3 days a week he as PT (physical training) in the mornings, so he leaves pretty early (don't ask me exactly when....I'M still sleeping....). He works in the General Law section (basically civil law as opposed to criminal law), and helps out the active and retired military folk in the area with their legal troubles. He gets home around 6:30 because it's a really busy base for JAGs (or so we've been told), Then he eats a delicious meal that his totally awesome wife cooked with fantastic German ingredients. Nice!

Stephanie: My days are way more interesting than AJ's--mostly because they're different every day, and they're dictated by what I want to do :) Since i'm in kind of an awkward position of not really being able to practice law out here, and it takes months to get a job situated on base (because of bureaucracy and competition), AND because we're having a baby in t-minus 13-ish weeks (ah!), I don't have a real job. And i'm totally OK with that. I do, however, keep busy. My pseudo-job status is volunteering at the legal office's tax center helping people with their taxes (for free) and teaching violin lessons (not for free). The rest of my days are spent starting and finishing projects and spending time with new friends. Here are some of the "projects" that are going on:

Painting furniture!

BEFORE

AFTER

Now that we live in a house and not a 2 bedroom apartment, we have room for things.....which means I get to pick up old, nasty furniture and clean it up! Now tell me this isn't a lovely set-up:

Don't mind the cat--she's in an embarrassing amount of our photos....I have a theory that she would be a selfie addict if she could use a camera.

Another project is the garden! I've got a bunch of trays going right now that started as seeds and are doing really well! As soon as the frost is over, i'll transplant them outside. I also just bought a bunch of flower bulbs and seeds that will need to be planted soon. I don't think i've ever been so excited to dig in the dirt with various bugs and spiders as I am now that we have a yard! I imagine it will be a very Romantic thing to do--planting a garden in Germany--but i'm sure the reality of it will be that I'll be huffing and puffing the whole time, because my ever-growing belly is getting in the way. Oh well! Here's to self-sufficiency! 

There's also the on-going project of the baby room. (And there's that dang CAT again!) The baby room has a great little set-up architecturally--it's connected to AJ and my room, and has a little balcony outside this door that you see. It's pretty perfect! I will definitely do a whole post about this room when everything is done, because it's taking A LOT of my energy, and I know I'll want to brag about it :)

Another thing AJ and I do here is TRAVEL! We live in a great location that allows us to drive to a lot of great places! So far, we've done:

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

BRUGES, BELGIUM

TRIER, GERMANY

PARIS, FRANCE

COLMAR, FRANCE (also visited Riquewihr and Eguisheim)

Where next, you ask? Spain! As soon as AJ gets back.....

A few little tid-bits about living in Germany:

• We have to air out our house every couple of days (by opening various windows) because mold grows on the the walls! There's so much moisture in the air here, so it grows WAY faster than seems normal.....we may or may not know from experience......
• We LOVE our little village! The neighbors are so friendly! Even if they don't speak English, they still stop and say hi. 

View of our village from a hill--not the best quality pic....

• There are very few police cars patrolling the streets. Crime is very low here! But don't go thinking that it's easy to get away with speeding.....NOPE. Just got my first ticket via a SPEED CAMERA. You're just driving along, then all of a sudden, you see a flash of light! And you know....you're busted. I'm expecting my actual ticket in the mail in a couple of months.

Alright, that's all I can really put together right now. Hope that gives you all a better picture of what we're up to! We sure miss our family and friends back in the States, BUT, if you've read this far, that probably means you care about us, so here's an invitation to visit! We have an awesome guest bedroom that's calling your name! :D

"Getting Stuff Done"

Ok, so here's the skinny on Germany so far. I'll warn you right now, that at times it's not exactly pretty. There will be much complaining, and some whining, but then there are also some cool pictures and experiences, so if you're in it for the long-haul, I think you'll find it was all worth it. (Am I talking to myself?....)

For starters, I've must confess that I packed 8 huge bags for us to take on the plane (free for military!). Plus two carry-on's, a backpack, a purse, a violin, and a cat. Why? Because I was told that worst case scenario, we wouldn't have any of our household goods (which we shipped in October) for a few months, and I wanted to be prepared for that. Ever wonder what that much luggage looks like going into the airport? Here's a great pic:

Don't ask where Luna is on the stack. I won't tell you. I'm afraid of animal rights activists coming after me. Anywho, we pushed these carts through the Little Rock airport without much trouble, and made it on the plane with time to spare!

Here's a great little side note: did you know that when you go through airport security with a cat, they make you take the cat out of its carrier and hold it while you go through the metal detector? Yep. They say this: "ma'am, you're going to have to take the cat out and hold it and then wait until we call you over." Me: "um, ok....how long?" TSA: doesn't answer--just makes you wait with a terrified, claw-bearing cat in your hands. FINALLY, Luna and I (with minimal scarring) make it through the gate, and she gratefully jumps back into her carrier.

*Uneventful layover in Chicago*

Getting off the plane in Frankfurt: it's 5:45 am, and we haven't slept a wink since 7 am the morning before. So we're in that weird, I'm exhausted and ready to fall on the floor, but totally wired because I'm in a foreign country and don't know what's going on state. Luckily, all of our baggage made it!!! YAY!!!! We happily pulled it all off the belt, and AJ went to get a couple of carts to put it all on. But OH-HO! Germany Lesson #1: airport carts are smaller than American carts. Meaning we need 3 carts to fit all of our stuff! Fine, except there are TWO of us, and these carts require you to push down on the handle before they'll move. And we have to cross 3 terminals to meet our ride. So AJ decides to push two at the same time, and i'll follow behind with the 3rd (and Luna, who is now in a panic--probably because she's hungry, or has to poop, or something....). I love AJ, but to be honest, he's not very good at pushing two huge, luggage-filled carts through a busy, international airport. There are things like people and doors in the way, and he is struggling. I'm trying really hard not to laugh at him, but it's pretty hilarious, and I can't help it. Finally, I take over the two cart thing, and who'da thunk--I'M AWESOME AT IT. I was BORN to be a dog sled driver or something, because I ROCK at maneuvering these carts through the next couple of terminals. *thank you, thank you...*

We meet our driver, and he takes us to the Ramstein Air Base. From there, we go to the hotel to check-in. Here's what it looks like:

Awesome, right?! Except this isn't where we're staying, because we have a cat. And people who have animals don't get to stay in nice places. People with animals get sent to this place:

I wouldn't call it dank, or ugly, or smelly, or old, but for some reason, those are the words that come to mind, so I'll leave it at that :) But seriously, it's nice enough for what we need until we find a house, but the smell really kind of gets to me.....not sure what it is exactly, though I can guess it has something to do with every previous tenant having an animal with them.....?

*quick nap, then a tour of the base with our sponsor, then BED*

Next morning: AJ has to go through in-processing, and I have spouse in-processing. In my in-processing, I learn about things like banking, how to rent a house, German customs, spouse activities, etc., and meet some pretty cool ladies :) I realized really quickly that I basically have NO IDEA what's going on with anything on TWO whole levels--(1) I don't understand the military, much less the air force, and (2) I don't understand Germany. Everyone else in the class understood the military at least, so I was the one that was like "uuuummmm, what does TLA, OCONUS, RIP, etc., etc., mean??"

AJ and I then meet up again to GET STUFF DONE!! Only from this moment on, until this very moment that I am writing you all, "getting stuff done" is easier said than done. Rather than give a detailed explanation of every frustrating moment we've had, I'll summarize in this one paragraph in red. You can choose to skip it if you'd like, or read it to understand our plight:

Before you can do anything, you need a way to get places, and a phone to communicate with people. Oh, you don't have a car or a German driver's license? Better take a test! What? You want to take the test, but you don't have your husband's orders? Better call him and have him bring them to you! What? Neither of you have a phone to call each other? Better email him! What? He doesn't have an internet connection to get emails? Bummer. *finally get driver's licenses* Now you need a car to get places! You found a car, but you need money to buy it--good thing you have money! Except too bad it's in an American bank that will only allow you to withdraw 1,000 Euros a day! Maybe you should open a German bank account! Except you don't have a car to get to that bank, so Bummer. *eventually get car, eventually get it registered* Now to get cell phones! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Can't get cell phones until you have a German bank account! Better get a GPS to find a German bank since you don't have cell phones with map capabilities! *get to the German bank* Whoops! Can't open an account here because we can't speak English! (they tell us in English....) But call this number and set up an appointment to open an account *make appointment for next day* Gotta find a house! Call German strangers (hoping they speak at least some English) to see houses. Drive a million miles to see different houses (using the GPS!). Find a house--now you need to go through the Air Force Housing Office to get the contract approved! *Eventually set up that bank account* Go back to cell phone store, get told that AJ's German credit has not been approved (which is pretty hilarious considering he's been here a week and has no credit....apparently this happens a lot). Try doing the phone contract in my name, but have to wait another day. Still no phones. *go to a million different offices on 2 different bases to get housing contract approved* Now to figure out utilities and internet (which requires quite a few more office visits.....and money......everyone wants our money......).

Suffice to say, we are exhausted. We have been here 11 days, and can only move a few inches at a time. BUT, we do see a light at the end of the tunnel. We're hoping to move into our house as soon as the cell phone situation works out. The reason for this is so that we can have some sort of internet connection and communication capabilities, because guess how long it takes internet to get switched on (even when it's already ready to go--they just need to flip a switch)? Anywhere from 20 days to 3 months. This is not a joke. Or it could be a crazy, heinous joke they play on Americans. I'm not sure. But it's just another one of those hoops to jump through....

So the house--we saw about 9 different places, all very different, and eventually decided this was the perfect fit for us. It's in a little village (but I won't say where for Air Force security reasons--message me if you're interested). It's in the countryside, about 20 minutes from AJ's work. The house was built in 1876, and we're pretty in love with it :) Here are just a couple of pictures--more to come later:

It's definitely got a lot of character to it, and for us, it feels like home :) I'll post more pictures once our household goods arrive, and it's furnished. But finding this house has definitely been a positive highlight for us in a mountain of frustration, so we feel very blessed.

Speaking of blessings--we're making friends! The people in our ward over here are pretty awesome! We've been invited to dinner at a couple of homes, and gone on some fun outings! It makes a huge difference. Last Saturday we went to Lichtenberg castle with 3 other families, and had a blast. Here are some of those pics:

We have a place for Thanksgiving, and a trip to Belgium this weekend. Church = insta-family, and I am very grateful for that. I hope one day we can be that family that reaches out to help the "new kids" :)

Love you and miss you all!

Cleaning, Packing, and Preparing

In case you haven't heard, AJ has accepted a job with the US Air Force as a JAG Officer! It's been a whirlwind of decisions, and phonecalls, and emails, and LOTS OF PRAYER, but this is happening, people! AJ was given the option to start Officer Training (COT) in October (which was very short notice), so they sweetened the deal by saying they'd send us to Ramstein, Germany for our first permanent change of station (PCS)! This assignment will most likely last about 3 years, and word on the street is that Ramstein is AWESOME. It serves as headquarters for the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa, and is a NATO installation! Cool, eh? We fly out on November 15th!

But before we get to the fun and exciting part about this move, we had to pack. Correction, *I* had to pack. In AJ's defense, he would probably rather be packing with me than at COT, where they are whipping him into shape! While I only have to deal with de-junking and organizing our apartment for the movers, AJ has to deal with yelling, and running, and yelling, and push-ups, and yelling while he runs and does push-ups....soooooo....I'm feeling pretty okay about my situation. I would rather clean up one of those houses on "Hoarders" than have someone yell at me while I tried to hike my butt up a mudy hill at 4am. *....Let's all say a prayer for AJ now....*

But the movers came, and went, and everything went smoothly. They basically wouldn't let me do anything, so I just kind of pointed at stuff once in a while. Unfortunately for the movers, we had one of those Arkansas downpours that morning, which made it a little more frustrating. Especially because we live in a second floor, backside apartment. But no movers were hurt manuvering the couch down the stairs, and neither were my feelings when they mocked our strange assemblage of food storage....("uh, Ms. Gregory....whats all these cans of beans for?...Sure you be needin' all them beans in Germany?")

Now, about our handsome 1st lieutenant, how is he doing? Very well, considering! I get to talk to him for about 10 minutes every night, and his spirits are high. It's been a tough transition, but he's getting the hang of the physical and mental demands. Apparently they (the COT trainees) recieve demerits for everything from averting your gaze, folding your underwear wrong, or having lint on your shirt, to accidentaly marching your flight (the group of trainees you are assigned to) into a wall (go figure). BUT, after almost a week and a half of practice, there are fewer wall incidents, and much less lint. He also has written assignments and tests based on Air Force Operating Procedures, but that doesn't seem to be too bad (nobody yells at you while you're taking the test).

In other news....

I know people are dying to know what we're going to do with our cat, Luna--WELL DON'T YOU WORRY! She's already got a one-way ticket to Germany riding shot-gun (sorta) with us! At least, she'll be riding under the seat in front of us. I imagine there will be some coin-flipping to see who will endure that cramped situation, but the point is, SHE'S COMING!!! Luna is only the most fabulous cat around, and we think she will do very well in German society.

I'll update again as things get interesting....which will probably be after AJ's graduation in November...Stay Tuned!