Hallo Deutschland

Hallo from Germany!

We arrived here on February 28th, 2011. We had a long and bumpy flight on the way here, which did not go over well with the pups. Poor Moose, who never goes to the bathroom in kennel wet himself because he was so scared... needless to say they will never go on a plane unless they have to. Although they had a rough time, they are so happy to be here in our new home. They have so much room to run around the house and a large backyard as well.
They had a little jet lag, but are otherwise doing great!
This is Dave and me in front our new house the day we arrived in Germany! As soon as we get the house completely set up, we will post pictures for y'all to see.

So how is Germany? Germany is amazing! We have yet to explore a lot around us because we have been so busy ever since we got here, but are looking forward to the adventure.

Driving around here is nothing like it is in the USA. It is true that you can drive really fast on the Autobahn, and here the Autobahn is no big deal, it their freeway. There are a few places where there a speed limits, but for the most part, no matter how fast you are driving, a German will pass you. One day we were doing about 90 and someone FLEW past us!!! Also, I have noticed that there are very few stop signs and traffic lights. Almost everything is a yield and there are roundabouts everywhere.

Something else we found interesting is how different the kitchens are here! Our kitchen is very small compared to out last house, but is definitely not small compared to many German kitchens. We also have the SMALLEST kitchen sink you have ever seen!!! Our bathroom sink upstairs is about twice the size of our kitchen sink. Also, Germany does not have garbage disposals, so everything goes into the trash can before dishes go to the sink... This definitely took some getting used to.

Germany is also crazy about recycling! We have a very small trash can and the trash only gets picked up twice a month. If the lid to your trash can does not close completely, they trash people will not take your trash. However, you can place as many bags of recycle out on your curb, and they will gladly pick them up. The downside is that they only pick up your recycle bags once a month... we have probably 10 bags of recycle in our garage right now ready to go out next week. I never realized how much could be recycled. I love that Germany is so green and environmentally friendly! =)

Two weekends ago, we hopped on the train and went over to Trier with some friends. There we met up with other people from the squadron to celebrate Fasching! Fasching is the way the Germans celebrate Carnival. Everyone dressed up in costumes and consumes lots of liquor. Well unfortunately, we did not get the memo that Fasching is not celebrated on Saturdays... oops! We were the only people walking in downtown Trier in costumes. Needless to say, we definitely stood out like Americans, and received many stares and funny looks. Despite that minor detail, we had a great time and are looking forward to dressing up next year for Fasching, and we will make sure we dress up on the correct day!
D and me at an Irish Pub in Trier

Our first couple of weeks have been an adventure to say the least! Everything is so new and we are learning a lot about the wonderful land of beer, Germany! Until next time... xoxo

In Route to Germany

On our way to Germany, were were stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV on temporary duty (TDY) for 6 weeks. While we were there, Dave received intensive training to prepare him for our squadrons upcoming deployment. Initially, we were not the most excited to go to Vegas for that long period of time; we are no strangers to this city because we lived there back in 2007. However, we had an amazing time and were able to meet and get to know many of the people in the new squadron we just joined. I was very fortunate to meet some of the wives from the squadron as well. We thought we'd share a few of the highlights from our 6 weeks there.

There was a Naming Night when all of the new guys (FNGs) had to dress up and go out on the town with the other guys from the squadron. They went to various places where the FNGs had to complete certain tasks assigned by the Warhawks who were already named. At the end of the evening all of them were given their new call sign.

These are all 5 FNGs that were named that night!

Dave was Elvis, and had to sing "I'm All Shook Up" in front of many people at the Hofbrauhaus. His new call sign is "Tripel".

We also were fortunate enough to be able to participate in our first Habitat for Humanity project together along with people from our squadron.

This was Money Night! Basically Money Night is a night where everyone gets really dressed up and spends a bunch of money. All of the guys put money into a pot and then draw names to see who is the lucky winner of all that money (it ended up being $2,000) will be. Then that lucky person picks the casino and the game he would like to play and has to bet all of the money on one hand. If he wins, he keeps his winnings and passes the original $2,000 onto lucky #2. This will keep on going until someone looses the money. During this Money Night, our good friend was lucky #1 and won $2,000 playing roulette. Unfortunately, #2 was not as lucky.

This was our last night in Vegas AND our last night in America! We were so lucky to be able to spend this evening my my sister, Michelle, and her boyfriend, Nick. We went on the Strip and gambled and had a great time, until we lost our money... but that's Vegas!

Overall, we had a blast in Vegas, but we were definitely ready to get to Germany and sleep in our own bed!

Peace out America!