Patience

Happy election day eve!!

All of my stuff supposedly arrived--my air shipment AND my household good are here. Do you know what that means? I don't have to sleep on an air mattress for weeks. I get my own bed, with my own sheets and pillows. My comfortable couch and throne-like chair are available for my rear end's imprint. It means Tuesday is my last night in the hotel and I'll be almost settled.

I was surprised when the in-bound shipment office called me back and told me that both of my shipments arrived. My furniture and everything will be delivered on Wednesday and my air shipment will be delivered on Thursday. Yikes!! I have a lot to do!

Tomorrow I have an 8:30 appointment at BMW to get my Euro maps installed (thankfully). After that, I'm headed to base to get some VAT forms (value added tax--I can explain later if you really want to know) and possibly stop at a store on base to see if I can get some household items knocked off my list. I need to get things that are a must before the weekend, like a hair dryer (stop laughing) and a coffee pot (you couldn't live without it either). However, I'm just going to go to a Walmart-like store called Real in the evening with a friend of mine to get that stuff, plus a vacuum, and an iron. (Keep in mind that all appliances run on 220V over here instead of 110V and they have a different plug, so I need all new stuff.) I also need to get food to get me through the next few days at least and also some cleaning stuff, laundry soap and dishwasher soap. (Can you believe it?? I have a dishwasher!)

I'll be a busy bee tomorrow. Hopefully, since I have to be at the apartment at 8 on Wednesday to start waiting, they'll be there fairly early, otherwise, it's going to be pretty darn boring in an empty apartment with nothing to sit on, looking at a white wall! At least I'll have time to figure out where I want my most prized piece of art to hang and where my few pieces of furniture will go.

I may be MIA for a while after I move in, because I just ordered internet today and they said to come back in 5 days to see what day it would be when they actually turn it on. Keep your fingers crossed it's not long, because the internet is my portal to my family, my friends, and to the world.

Make certain you go out and vote tomorrow. This election makes me nervous. I'm either going to be very happy or extremely disappointed. Make me proud Ohio!

Ever Present Past

I took this from my hotel window at sunset on Wednesday night.

Last night I went to a girls night at this woman's house in Mainz. She made this wonderful Mexican food, white and red sangria, and margaritas. I tried both white and red (I didn't want to be rude), but stuck to red the rest of the night. I pigged out on the food too. It's hard to find Mexican food over here and if you do, something is usually just a bit off. So I was thrilled when I walked in and found out there were enchilladas and fixin's for nachos. After some talking, we watched the Sex in the City movie.

Today I'm a year older and no longer on the cusp of my 20s. I had nothing planned and I almost up and left for Tongeren, Belgium this morning. It's the oldest city in Belgium, but on Sundays starting aroudn 6am or something, they have an outdoor antique market and you can apparently find some really great stuff. I saw a couple things at the house I was at last night and I've heard other people say they've bought some great stuff. Without my GPS and with no other map than the Wiesbaden and surrounding areas, I decided against it. Plus, if I bought something I didn't want to have it in my hotel room. So I've saved that for another weekend when I have GPS and a place to put stuff. Plus there were a few women last night who said they'd go back any time.

Instead, I wandered through the city today. Stopped and got a hot bread thing from the bakery topped with mozerella and tomato and kept wandering. I walked up to the street where I'm going to be living to the apartment, then down to the park directly in front of my place.

My place is the second balcony from the right on the first floor. I have a garage too. It's a shared garage for the building, but I get a space for my car. I couldn't imagine leaving Rouble (that's her name--Trouble without the T) out on the street.

I think I'm headed out to dinner soon, which you can bet will include a big birthday beer!

Speed of Sound

Saturday, I spent my evening with some people at the Mainz Oktoberfest. I had a liter of beer and a bratwurst, while talking and watching the people walk by in their weird outfits. We were sitting right by the entrance, so we had the first look at everyone who came in. I wish I could have set up a tripod and taken a picture of the people entering the tent, just like they do when you board a cruise ship.

Sunday I was a total slug until around 5 when I headed out the door to my sponsor Chantel’s house for dinner and some football on AFN. It was a bit of a drive out there, but I had no problem driving. I found my way to the country on Google maps before I left, since I don’t have the Euro maps loaded on my BMW, and only made one slight wrong turn, but got there in plenty of time.

When I got there, as soon as I opened the door, their standard poodle Bacchus was ready to greet me (or he was just jealous and wanted to smell the new car too). The other fairly new guy Pete was already there, so we were given our choice of beer from the fridge, poured them into the appropriate glasses, and then Chantel took us on a tour of her ENORMOUS house. I almost got lost, but what really floored me was the pool in the basement. Yes, a pool, that can be heated if desired.

Her husband Ryan made this great sweet potato soup, but it didn’t taste like sweet potato for those of you thinking, “she hates sweet potatoes.” He made bread to go with it and then this great baked fish, for which I plan to get recipe. After dinner, we sat in the living room and watched some football, which included the 1989 Super Bowl runners-up, the Cincinnati Bengals. My goodness they are painful to watch. The only reason AFN had the game on was because the power in San Diego was on the fritz.

I said something to Chantel last night about going in to work on Monday, but she said that I should try to get some appointments to see some houses. This morning, I was at the housing office at 8, flipping through the book of places they have and I wrote down a few. They printed off directions for me, called the landlord, and I made some appointments. I saw three out of four places today, all in Wiesbaden in the city. The first had a wonderful view of Wiesbaden from this huge balcony and was advertised as 2 bedrooms, but technically only had 1. You could put up a curtain, the woman said, in this little area and make it a 2nd. You could, but it would make the apartment so much smaller. It also had a weird garage, which I don’t even want to attempt to explain in words.

The 2nd place I saw was on a main street, but in this huge 100+ year old building 2 minutes from the pedestrian area downtown. The apartment is the entire top floor, has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a huge living area, a huge kitchen (by German standards), a nice balcony, and fake hardwood floors. I loved it! I had lunch in town, relaxed in my room and then I was off to see another place. It was nice and new, but sat on a very busy street and was a bit of a hike to the center of town for restaurants, etc. So tomorrow I’m going into the housing office first thing to tell them I think I’d like to take the place. It’s a little weird that I may have found something so quickly because everyone else seems to have trouble and has been looking for a month. So I’m apprehensive for that reason, but really like the house. Fingers crossed…

For those of you counting your tax dollars, I’m on day number 10 in country and I still haven’t been to work, save for a few hours last Wednesday. Can you itemize my time on your taxes??