Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

stationed in germany

What You Need to Know About Being Stationed in Germany

by 5 Comments

So happy to have Malori from Warrior Life Wellness to tell us all about what it is like to be stationed in Germany! She has some great advice for anyone who will be pcsing to Germany anytime soon. Please let me know if you would like to guest post about where you are stationed!

stationed in Germany

Our OCONUS PCS

Moving to Germany is something that happens to “other military families.”  Just like I never thought I would marry a soldier, I never thought we’d get stationed overseas – even though it was a dream of mine to live in Europe.  Well, as you probably have guessed by now, I did marry a soldier and we did get stationed overseas! I knew we were in for the adventure of a lifetime, but I did not have proper expectations of what that entirely meant.

When my husband Mark received orders for Germany in 2017, he was deployed to east Africa.  I was back at Ft. Bragg, in my senior year of nursing school, so to say we had a lot on our plates is an understatement!  As it would happen, my husband had to report to Germany before I was done with school. So he did the geo-bachelor life for about three months.

stationed in Germany

This meant I had the pleasure of handling our first OCONUS PCS alone….while finishing nursing school.  (OCONUS = outside the continental United States) I don’t suggest these circumstances, but I did gain a certain sense of accomplishment from completing the move (and school) without anything major going wrong.  My parents came for my graduation and to help with the last-minute PCS tasks, like overseeing the movers. If you are ever in a solo PCS situation, especially overseas, get your family or close friends to help! It makes a world of difference.

Five days after graduation, I was on the Patriot Express to Ramstein, Germany; final destination, USAG Wiesbaden.  It was wonderful to simply live with my husband again after almost a year apart! But on top of that, we had a new country to explore together.  I definitely had my rose-colored glasses on, though. While having a positive attitude about any PCS is important, it’s equally important to have realistic expectations.  As my husband likes to preach: “expectation management.” This is not about being negative or complaining, but simply having a balanced outlook for your transition. It helps lessen that feeling of overwhelm.

Expectation Management

The first thing I did not expect was being so jet-lagged.  I had flown to Europe once before, when I was 20, and I don’t remember feeling particularly jet-lagged. But 12 years later? I felt like I got run over by a bus every day for at least two weeks! Even with sleeping 10-12 hours a night at first, I couldn’t conjure up my normal energy.  So my first piece of advice, for anyone moving overseas, is to give yourself plenty of time to adjust and sleep. It really does take several weeks to get over jet lag!

Another thing I did not expect was experiencing culture shock.  I again drew on my former European experience. I had spent 5 weeks in Austria for a summer music program, and I remember feeling like I fit in so well.  However, visiting Europe, even for an extended trip, is much different than coming here to live. (Austria is also very different culturally from Germany, despite both being German-speaking countries.)  I also assumed that since Germany is a first-world, western country, surely culture shock would not exist!  I even have experience with German culture, from doing Bavarian folk dancing and taking over four years of German language courses.

stationed in Germany

But my pride got the best of me and I struggled big time with adjusting.  Even if you live on post, like we are mandated to do, you have to get used to the driving rules, shopping on the economy, cultural nuances like shops being closed on Sundays, and most of all, the language.  There are also specific rules tied to being here with the military, like how to use VAT forms, what you cannot have sent to your APO box, getting your home-based business approved, and more. Expect that you will have a significant adjustment period to the culture. Because culture shock threw me for such a loop, I made a YouTube video about it! https://youtu.be/mqFEQIv4IjA You are not alone in your feelings.

Something else I have a bad habit of doing for any PCS is to believe that I can jump into a routine right away.  In our last PCS I was forced to do that, as I started pre-nursing courses almost immediately after arriving at Ft. Bragg. Other things like learning the best places and times to shop, learning the lay of the land, and finding your tribe take time.  Yet I always have this underlying belief that “this time” I’ll be more efficient. But with an OCONUS move, you have all the normal PCS adjustments to make, plus the foreign country aspect. With myself, I also had the added stress of studying for the NCLEX (RN nursing board exam), which I had to take in London, England.

stationed in Germany

So with an overseas move, I’d say to give yourself at least six months to feel fully “adjusted,” if not one year. Don’t beat yourself up when you feel homesick or are totally frustrated.  Normally OCONUS assignments are three years, so you will have at least two years during which you’ll feel pretty comfortable!

What helps with the transition overseas?

What makes a positive difference when moving to a foreign country is receiving your household goods.  (It IS possible for government housing to feel like home!) It also helps to meet your neighbors and to make at least one close friend with whom you can commiserate and go through this unique experience together.

stationed in Germany

Finally, get out and travel, travel, TRAVEL! The biggest mistake I made last year was isolating myself. I’m a combination introvert/extrovert, and after nursing school my extrovert was burnt out. I craved quiet time.  But after awhile, it got too quiet and anxiety set in. A great pick-me-up is finding a new place to visit during each month’s 4-day weekend! Make a list of your dream travel list, and then strategically plan your year according to the training holiday schedule.  It might take several trips to get the hang of European travel planning, but tons of traveling is something you will NOT regret!

Since a blog post can only be so long, I’ll leave my advice and tips at that. However, if you want more support in your OCONUS PCS and adjustment period, come find me on YouTube!  http://www.youtube.com/c/MaloriMayor14 I have a growing library of videos about how to PCS to Germany, as well as what life is like here.  I love helping other milspouses in their move to another country. It’s a monumental task, but you will be forever grateful for it.  Embrace the journey!


Bio: Malori Mayor is a registered nurse, classically-trained violinist, blogger and YouTuber, and most importantly, wife to Mark for almost 5 years.  Deployments, PTSD, and TBI may have rocked their world in past years, but they weathered through the hard times together and are currently enjoying an overseas assignment at USAG Wiesbaden, Germany.  Malori has been casually blogging for over 10 years on various personal blogs, but last year decided to create her business and new website, Warrior Life Wellness. On it she shares her take on health, wellness, and life in Germany.  She also creates YouTube videos about PCSing overseas and life in Germany for other milspouses who are walking the same path. She believes that rigorous organization is key to a smooth OCONUS PCS, so she recently opened an Etsy shop, where milspouses can purchase printable Overseas PCS Binder pages for creating their own organizational binder.  Connect with Malori on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook! 

Blog: https://www.warriorlifewellness.com
YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/c/MaloriMayor14
Instagram link: http://instagram.com/warriorlifewellness
Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/warriorlifewellness
Etsy shop: http://bit.ly/pcsbinder

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse’s Military Career

by

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse’s Military Career

I was recently added to a Facebook group for my husband’s first duty station in Schweinfurt, Germany. While the post has been closed, the group is mostly about our memories of our time there. My husband arrived there in late 2005 and me, and my son joined him in March of 2006. We lived there until May of 2008 when we moved to our second duty station in Germany, Grafenwoehr. We were there until we moved back to the states in 2010.

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse's Military Career

Spending four years in Germany was quite the experience. Sometimes I loved being there; sometimes I hated it. Sometimes I couldn’t quite believe we were living in Germany. Having a baby, raising toddlers, and having a deployed husband can make for a different kind of experience than we might otherwise have had.

As I think back to those years, I realize there are quite a few things about being stationed in Germany that will stick with you forever. That those of us that had the experience have a bond, one that can connect us over the years.

Here are 22 signs that you have been stationed in Germany during your spouse’s military career:

1. You can still recite AFN commercials, even years later. I mean, you did see the same ones over and over, how could they not stick in your head?

2. No matter how bad on post housing is now, you can handle it; you survived stairwell housing, you can survive anything.

3. You miss your beer truck. Enough said.

4. You are still finding Euro coins, in every corner of your house.

5. You have at least one child who was born there if not two or three.

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse's Military Career

6. “Ausfahrt” still makes you giggle.

7. The German section at your local Commissary simply doesn’t measure up.

8. You can talk about that one time when you flew nine hours on a flight with a one-year-old on your lap, trying to save $700 on their ticket. Not worth it. 

9. You get excited when ordering a soda and it arrives with ice in it.

10. German music still makes you smile.

11. Whenever you meet another spouse and hear they were stationed in Germany, you have to talk about your shared experiences.

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse's Military Career

12. You miss the community feel that you can only find overseas.

13. You get annoyed that you have to pay for a care package. You miss when they were free. APO to APO shipping was the best.

14. It takes you two years until you stop asking every store and restaurant if they take a card. Of course, they do silly.

15. You keep wondering why your waitress wants to rush you out of the restaurant, in Germany, they let you chill for as long as you wanted.

16. You still get super excited that you can go to Target anytime you want.

17. You cry when you break a dish because you know you can’t go back to the little German shop you bought it from and buy another one.

22 Signs That You Have Been Stationed in Germany During Your Spouse's Military Career

18. Your children have been to 10 countries already, and they are only six year’s old.

19. You swore you would never go to Taco Bell or Burger King again, but that only lasted three months.

20. The idea of being 9 hours behind your deployed husband is crazy; you are used to just a couple hours difference.

21. You feel guilty throwing away anything that isn’t food scraps and wonder why your American city doesn’t recycle at all.

22. You have fond memories of your time there, the people you met, and the adventures you have. And you hope every military spouse gets the chance to experience something just like that during their time as a military family.

Have you ever been stationed in Germany? When were you there?

Amsterdam & The Netherlands

by 3 Comments

Amsterdam

While we were overseas we were able to do a little bit of traveling. I am glad we were able to do this.  In May of 2008 I took a USO tour with some friends to visit Amsterdam & The Netherlands. It was a two-day tour but you were supposed to sleep on the bus. I think I was one of the only ones that couldn’t do that but it was still worth it, even though I never got to sleep.

Amsterdam

We were able to go to a cheese farm, a place they made wooden shoes, the Keukenhof where we got to see all of the tulips and beautiful flowers, we took a canal right around Amsterdam and visited a diamond shop. We also had exactly one hour of free time where a friend of mind was able to see the Anne Frank house. The rest of us didn’t think we had enough time to do the tour, although we did get to see the outside. I wish I had been a little more adventurous and done it even if it meant getting on the bus five minutes before we were supposed to be there.

Amsterdam

The USO is a great way to travel if you don’t want to plan the trip yourself. It is good for traveling alone, with your spouse or your friend. You sign up on post, pay the fee and then go where you need to go the day the trip starts. They have day trips, overnight trips and even week-long ones. You can also meet new people on these trips which is a lot of fun. If I didn’t have children when I was in Germany I would have gone on as many trips as I could afford to do but that just wasn’t possible.

Amsterdam

 

sss
I thought Amsterdam was amazing. I want to go back with my husband and spend a week there. In some ways it reminded me of what New York City would be like, although I have never been there myself. In other ways it reminded me a bit of San Fransisco. It was just big and amazing. Very different from Bavaria and maybe that was why it stood out to me so much. I was used to the German countryside and not a big city.

Amsterdam

I loved looking at the tulips at the Keukenhof.  They were simply amazing and thinking back to that reminds me to look for tulip festivals in the states. I know they probably won’t compare but they would be great to see too.

Amsterdam

When we were in the canal on the boat, I thought it was amazing to think of living on one of those house boats. What a different life that would be from my own. To be that close to water and to have to depend on it. To have a bike and no car. It feels like a different world and I find it fascinating.

That is what I like the most about traveling. Seeing first hand out other people live in different parts of the world. Understanding that my normal is not everyone’s normal and that is a good thing.

Amsterdam

The only part of the trip I would have skipped was the diamond factory. It really wasn’t interesting and they kept us there longer then they normally would have. A diamond went missing and they had to figure out what happened before we could leave.  I wish we could have spent that time in the city, walking around, visiting the Anne Frank house or doing something else more interesting.

Amsterdam

 

3eee

 

errr

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? What did you think? Have you been on a USO tour?

 

 

 

 

When Being Stationed Overseas is Hard

by 3 Comments

When Being Stationed Overseas is HardWhen Being Stationed Overseas is Hard

It’s been 5.5 years since we have returned to the US from Germany. We were over there for four years. In some ways, it seems like a lifetime ago. I look at all the photos from that time and they warm my heart. I think about how simple life was then. How beautiful everything was. How much I got to see. It is easy to forget that our time there wasn’t always easy, especially since my husband was deployed twice for a total of 2 years and 3 months.

I tell people that if they ever get the opportunity to go overseas, they should. Being overseas is an amazing experience and you never know if you will ever get the overseas option again. You might not and this could be your only chance.

What to Expect When You Are Stationed Overseas

It is important to know what to expect when you get over there and how sometimes being overseas can be hard. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go, it just means that you should be aware that when you are over there isn’t necessarily going to be 100% wonderful all of the time. If you think being overseas is going to be like that, you might get really disappointed when life doesn’t work out that way.

Living overseas can be difficult because you will start to miss certain things about the US. You will miss your family and might not be able to see them for the years you are over there. Yes, for some people being overseas means going years without being able to see your family. Not everyone can afford to visit home and not everyone has family that can come visit. You can sometimes feel like you are stuck in a Military world and it can be difficult to take a break from that. You might have small children that are hard to travel with and a spouse who is always gone.

I think being away from family can be the hardest part about living overseas. You can’t go home for the weekend. You can’t even go home for a week. If you go home, it is going to be a huge trip.

Missing Your Home Country

When we were in Germany I started to miss a lot of the restaurants and stores I loved that were in the states. Although there are a lot of great opportunities for new food experiences overseas, sometimes you want something you are used to having on a regular basis. There is a Chilli’s at Ramstein and ended up being closed when we were there. Thinking about that right now with one just 5 minutes away makes me laugh but I was pretty bummed out at the time. The PX will have American food. Ours had Taco Bell, Popeye’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and a Subway. I told myself I would never eat from those places again once I moved back but that didn’t last too long.

The Military Community Overseas

When you are overseas you are going to have access to the Military community in a way you don’t in the US. I never really understood that until we got to Fort Campbell. In Germany, we had to depend on the post for a lot of things. Our mail, all our healthcare, any American items we needed, etc. The Military post was “home” in a place that wasn’t home. The military installation was a little break from having to be the outsider. Because of this, the Military community is a lot closer than it is in the United States. This was even truer when we were at Schweinfurt because there were only about 3,000 soldiers who were stationed there.

Embracing Overseas

When being overseas is hard, try to remember the bigger picture. Yes, you will miss things about the United States. You will miss your family and all of that can be so difficult. But if you are able to get out and explore, even in your Germany city you will start to see the benefits of being stationed overseas. If you can truly embrace being overseas you will make memories that will last you a lifetime even when being stationed overseas is hard.

 

Have you felt like this when you were overseas? What did you do about it?

 

 

 

On Living in Wiesbaden, Germany

by 6 Comments

On Living in Wiesbaden, Germany

Happy to have this guest post by Rebecca on Wiesbaden, Germany. Please visit my Duty station guest post page for posts on other locations or more information about how you can write a guest post about where you have been stationed. 

I had the privilege of living in Wiesbaden, Germany from January 2008 through December 2010. This was my first experience living overseas and it was an adventure! Back in those days, military and their family flew on commercial flights, which landed us in Frankfurt. We were then bussed to an inprocessing center and then finally bussed to Wiesbaden Army Airfield. At that point we were escorted to a downtown hotel and I could, finally, sleep.

On Living in Wiesbaden, Germany

Now, families fly into Ramstein Air Force Base, about 90 minutes from Wiesbaden and they are housed in a nice, new hotel, conveniently located close to the commissary, PX, and housing. While it is nice that families with school-aged kids are close enough for their children to walk to school immediately upon arrival, we really enjoyed the hotel that was downtown. It gave us an opportunity to explore, walk around our new city, and, upon our departure, visit the Christmas Market each evening.

Housing in Wiesbaden was 90% stairwell apartments. We lived in a new two-bedroom, one bathroom third floor walk-up. Contrary to the stories my mother-in-law shared about her Berlin apartment building, we had government provided washers and dryers in each apartment, so I did not have to descend to the basement to do laundry.

On Living in Wiesbaden, Germany

I loved our apartment. I loved that we were on the 3rd floor and heard no one above us. I loved that there were only 3 families in the stairwell and no one ever walked past our door or came up to the 3rd floor unless they were coming to visit us. I loved our neighbors. This was the apartment where our house because a home. Where we bought our bedroom set, first couch, and more importantly, where we brought our children home for the first time.

I was pregnant when we arrived in Germany, and when we left, I had two kids. In Wiesbaden, all prenatal care is handled by off-post, civilian providers. I had excellent care and delivered both of my children at St. Joseph’s Hospital, just a mile or so from housing. For everything else we saw providers on post and had no problems with any of the medical care. My children used the CDCs on post, both for full time care and hourly care and we were always impressed with the quality of the providers there.

As seems to be our luck, there was a lot of construction going on during our time. Improvements were made to housing, the commissary, the PX and that resulted in some frustrating times. However, those improvements have been well received. Wiesbaden has grown tremendously in the past few years, and with all those people, these changes were necessary. I just wish we’d been able to enjoy them.

On Living in Wiesbaden, Germany

We were, incorrectly, told we would not need a car in Germany. Wrong! We ended up purchasing one there, that we shipped back with us. And we bought a second car, for my husband to use to get back and forth to work. Most people buy and sell the second car around PCS season, so it is easy to find something affordable and quick. You absolutely need at least one car, as most housing is not on the airfield.

We travelled as much as we could. With four deployments, one long TDY, and a high op-tempo, my husband didn’t have the time to travel. With two pregnancies resulting in two kids under 2, I didn’t have the energy. And with the exchange rate not in our favor, we had to budget accordingly. I was strongly encouraged by friends to save the COLA for travels and to not get used to living off of it. This was, and continues to be, good advice.

I did a lot of day trips with the Spouses’ Club, and we became very familiar with both Wiesbaden and Mainz, the university town across the river. We weren’t afraid to get out and explore. I got my license quickly after arriving and drove around a lot. It’s not as intimidating as some think. We really enjoyed the local scene and felt at home in the town.

We took a few bigger trips; Koln, Berlin, Portugal, Italy, and Munich. Berlin we did by train, which was so much fun. That trip was arranged for us by the travel agency on post. We drove to Koln for an overnight. We flew to Portugal for a four-day weekend and explored as much as possible. We took a longer trip to Nuremburg and Munich when family came to town. There were tons of USO trips, both day and weekend available, but with two little ones, we just couldn’t imagine those long days being fun. We did venture to Garmisch for a marriage retreat and I was so grateful to see Bavaria that summer.

Europe, like any duty station, is what you make of it. We did the most we could with the time and finances and kids. We made some of the best friends we could ever have. We grew into a fantastic family there. And we’d love to go back. We know it would be different, but we also know what fun we will have. I hope, that if Europe is ever an option for you, you embrace it head on.

 

mountainsRebecca Alwine has been a military spouse for over 8 years, traveling the world and learning about herself. She’s discovered she enjoys running, loves lifting weights, is a voracious reader, and actually enjoys most of the menial tasks of motherhood. She is an avid volunteer, most recently as President of the Fort Huachuca Community Spouses’ Club and has worked as a career counselor for transitioning service members. She has a Masters in Emergency Management from American Military University and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Mary Washington. Her writing has been published both in AUSA’s ARMY Magazine, Military Spouse Magazine, on Many Kind Regards, and multiple digital magazines and blogs. You can follow her on Twitter and on Facebook.

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

by 34 Comments

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

Even though the Military is shutting down some Military installations in Germany, people are still PCSing to Germany. Sometimes they have a choice, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes the spouse thinks about staying in the US.

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

As someone who spent four years in Germany, I have to recommend that if you have the opportunity to go overseas, do it. I say this as someone who didn’t always enjoy being there, that missed the US a lot more than I should have, and who hated being so far away from everything.

It’s been years since we moved back to the states and because of that I can look back and see Germany for what it was. An experience. A sometimes really amazing one. A sometimes really frustrating one.

Being stationed in Germany was an experience I will always be thankful for.

So if I hear someone is trying to decide to go, I urge them to do so. Even though being there might get hard or be really frustrating at times. The experience is worth it, and living overseas will change your life forever.

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

You simply can’t find that type of Military community in the states. Well, maybe you can but the community when you are stationed overseas is unique. For one thing, very few of the people stationed where you are can go home for the weekend. Why? Because home is 2,000+ miles away. Because of this, you spend a lot of time there and not as much time away.

You have to stick together because you only have each other. If you can speak the language, that will make things easier but at the end of the day, your Military friends will be your main link to America and you will feel the need to bond a little more than you do in the US.

The travel opportunities are simply amazing.

From taking a day trip to a castle to planning a post-deployment vacation to some amazing city you never thought you would ever travel to in your lifetime. I had little babies and toddlers when I was there. My kids were only 3 and 5 when we moved back.

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

Traveling wasn’t easy but we did what we could. I took my two boys on a train to visit my friend in Austria, we went on a cruise to the Mediterranean, and I went on a few USO trips during my time there. And of course, there was Garmisch, one of my favorite places.

Another great thing about living in Germany is being around another culture. In some ways, Germans are a lot like us, in other ways they are completely different. Although this part of living there was frustrating at times, it really opened my mind to a different way of life and seeing the world.

For example, in the US, when you go out to eat, you are pretty much rushed out of the restaurant as soon as you eat your food. In Germany, you practically have to hunt your waitress down for your check when you need to go. Sitting, talking, and having a long time at a restaurant is expected. You are not rushed out in the same way.

With deployments, the time difference is only about 2-3 hours. That was hard for me when we had our first deployment in the US. Having just a few hours difference made life a lot easier.

Why You Have To Say Yes To A PCS To Germany

You can also ship things to your deployed spouse for free. That was another thing that kinda stopped me in my tracks. “You mean I have to pay for that?” Being a little closer to the war zone has its benefits. If something were to happen and they had to go to Germany, you are already in the country.

There is also the whole beer and flowers thing. Beer everywhere. We even had a beer delivery truck.

The festivals are so much fun and are a great way to spend an afternoon or evening. They seem to be happening all the time too. And the flowers. I used to buy flowers all the time. They were so cheap. I miss that.

As you can see there are a lot of great things about being stationed in Germany. So if you have the chance, do it. You will be glad you did.

Have you ever been stationed in Germany? Have you ever been stationed overseas?

Bye To Schweinfurt, Germany

by 20 Comments

Bye To Schweinfurt, Germany

In March of 2006, my oldest son Daniel and I flew to Germany to join my husband at his first duty station. Daniel was just 18 months old and we had been waiting to join him for the past 4.5 months. It would have been longer but we decided to buy our own tickets and head over once the Command Sponsorship was done. They sent us our No fee passports about 6 weeks later.

I remember when we flew in. I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been to Europe before, I hadn’t even been out of the US unless you could mission trips to Mexico. We were tired and so ready to be back with Ben.download (17)

 

Ben met me at the airport and we took the train to Schweinfurt, our first duty station. I remember sitting there watching all the business people on their cell phones thinking, this is a lot like America. In some ways Germany is like America, in other ways it is completely different as I would soon learn.

We got back to our apartment which was a third floor stairwell apartment. We lived on Askren Manor which was the main housing area there. People also lived off post in government leased housing or in private housing. There was also a small section of housing on another part of the post.

download (19)

The next day Ben had to work all day. I was suffering from jet lag and rather confused. I wanted to go exploring but I was a little scared to. I didn’t even know I could have walked to the Commissary. I felt silly about that.

Time passed. We got our household goods. We got our driver’s licences and Ben got orders for his first deployment. I also found out I was pregnant with Drew. I got pregnant the day we got there. This was right around the time that I started making some friends. Our FRG had a dinner a few weeks or maybe it was months before the deployment. I went and got to meet some of the other wives which was a very good thing. During the deployment we met for coffee on Mondays and did a lot of fun things together.

download (14)

The deployment was long, 15 months. During that time I never left Schweinfurt other than going on a retreat to Garmich. I had Drew during the deployment and my family was able to come visit. My mom came for two months which was amazing. I got to experience two different hospitals. The first is where I gave birth to Drew and the second was where we spent almost a week when he came down with RSV at two months old.

Ben eventually came home and we spent a month in California with our families. I will always remember that trip and how nice that time was. We headed back to Germany the first week of January and I really didn’t want to go. I was kinda in a slump. I was annoyed that there was already talks of them deploying again. I didn’t like my apartment and I felt like if he did deploy then I would just go home.

download (18)

But then one morning I woke up to the news that some of the brigade was moving to Grafenwoehr, two hours away. I told Ben I really want to go. We were able to. In May of 2008 we moved to a small village about 30 minutes from post called Erbendorf.

Anyway, Schweinfurt is now closed. The closing ceremony was last week. When I was there I remember hearing it would eventually happen but not for years and years. And now that time has come. It makes sense for the Army to close some of the posts in Germany. We don’t need them like we did in the past. So I get it. But it is weird to think that it will be closed and will be given back to the Germans. It is weird to think that little city will not have an US Army presence anymore. It is strange to think that if we ever go back and visit, it will be very different.

download (10)

Although we moved to Graf and I was so happy about that, I will always have a place in my heart for Schweinfurt. It is where I learned to be an Army wife. It is where I figured out the Commissary, had our first experience with Military schools, found PWOC, made friends, figured out how to get through a deployment. It is where I learned about German culture, Euro and how my US life is just one way to live in this great big world of ours. It opened my eyes to things I never would have thought about before. It is also where I learned to be a Mom. Daniel was only 18 months old when we got there. In the two years that we were there he changed a lot. I think back to those years and Schweinfurt is a huge part of it.

download (7)

 

download (15)

download (20)

Have you ever been to Schweinfurt? When were you there? Have yu ever visited Germany?

After Two years and Three Months What Do I Really Miss About Germany

by 9 Comments

It has been 2 years and 3 months since we got on an airplane and left Germany after being stationed over there. A lot of people come back from Germany missing it like crazy. They don’t enjoy being in the US and want to go back. We were not like that. We were so ready to not live in Germany anymore. We were so ready to be back in the US. We were so happy to have that chapter close in our lives.

Schweinfurt

Well now it has been a while. It can be common to miss certain things about places you didn’t fully enjoy after time passes. With Germany, I can’t stay I really miss it but there are things I do miss about it. Sometimes when I am talking to others who have been there or about my experiences in Germany something pops into my head and I realize I miss it. There are a lot of things I really love about the US but here are a few things I miss about our four years in Germany.

1) The close-knit Military community. There is just something about it you can’t find in the US. You are all in a foreign country together. You have to make friends and you spend a lot of time together. Not that I don’t here but it is just different there. I bet you know what I mean if you have ever been stationed there.

German Swimming Pool2) Their pools. Germans have awesome pools. The one I remember the most was in Schweinfurt. It was a huge complex with the coolest children’s pool I have ever seen. Lots of fun!

3) Their baked goods. There is a German bakery in town that has yummy German baked goods but it isn’t too easy to get to. It is more like a treat. In Germany these types of places are everywhere.

4) Walking. I miss how easy it is to walk everywhere there and how so many people do it. Here it is not easy to walk anywhere. Frustrates me.

5) Sunsets. I am not sure if it is because there are so many more grey days in Germany (which I do not miss at all) but Germany seemed to have such nice sunsets when it wasn’t grey. I remember I could look out the window of our apartment into the sunset…so pretty.

There are other little things I miss like the flowers or the trips we went on. As nice as those things were I am not sure I would want to be stationed there again. Ask me again in a couple of years 🙂

Schweinfurt

Have you been stationed overseas? Where? Do you miss it? What do you miss?

One Little German Village, Erbendorf

by 1 Comment

I wanted to post about where we use to live.  Now that we don’t live there anymore I feel more comfortable talking about it.We use to live in Erbendorf which is about 25 minutes from the Grafenwoehr Army post in Bavaria.

We use to live in Erbendorf which is about 25 minutes from the Grafenwoehr Army post in Bavaria.

The village is cute.  It’s small.  Really small.  The people are friendly.  Lots of cute places to walk.

We lived living off post in Germany outside of Graf. We lived in Gov’t leased housing.  Which in Germany means living off post but the Army runs the house.  You don’t pay rent or utilities.

When we lived in Schweinfurt, we lived on post.  So this was a chance to live off post.  I am glad I got to experience both while we were overseas.  Living off post in Germany can be great because you do get to interact with more of “real” Germany.   What I didn’t like about where we lived was that we were so far from post.  It made it really hard especially since it snows so much in the winter.

Here are some pictures of our little village 🙂

 

living off post in germany

living off post in germany

 

living off post in germany

 

living off post in germany

 

living off post in germany

 

living off post in germany

 

living off post in germany

And let me tell you, it does feel odd seeing these pictures now that we are back in the US.  Weird that this little village is now apart of my past.

 

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen Goodbye…

by Leave a Comment

Germany

Well…it’s time.  This will be my last post from our home here in Germany.  Our internet is being turned off tomorrow.  I have a Kindle I can post from so I will try to blog again soon but not totally sure about when.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to all my friends 🙁  That will be hard.

Then it will be time to leave.  Pray for us on our long journey.  It is going to take forever to get there.  But then we will be in America again and I will be super happy 🙂

I think the boys pretty much know what is going on.  They seem pretty ok about it all so far but we will see.  Usually when a big change happens they just can’t sleep well.   They are excited about going on an airplane but I think they think we are going to end up at Grandma’s or Disneyland.

Our family is officially closing the Germany chapter of our lives…and what a weird feeling that is.