Happy Halloween!

Getting Settled

For the longest, one word described my recent job hunt best: frustration. I started looking for jobs and applying as soon as I had my SSN (wich was in mid-July). However, I did not even get an interview until mid-September. I sent out over twenty applications in less than six weeks and no word from anyone? Now that is what you call frustrating.

You can probably imagine how happy I was when I was invited for an interview. So of course I went and hoped for the best. I must have made a pretty good impression, because I did get the job. After all, I am finally back in the work force.

At times, I felt so useless and my self esteem took some serious hits from my job hunt, as I started to feel that no employer would even be interested in me, despite my skills and qualifications. I knew it was going to be hard to find employment as an immigrant and I assume that many American employers had no idea on how to interpret my German education and training. I decided to have it evaluated and I should receive my evaluation soon.

Meantime, I was finally able to start working. I had a lot of paperwork and screenings to complete before my start date. However, my biggest worry was finding child care. I was very relieved when I found a solution for our family and I know my children are well taken care of. It is an adjustment for all of us, but it is worth it.

Having work is priceless to me. Besides finally being a dual income household again, it simply gets me out of the house and I am meeting people. Being in a foreign country and missing your family at home is hard enough, but the hardest part for me so far was not knowing anyone over here for the first two months. It takes time for me to warm up to people, which does not make it any easier.

We do have some really nice neighbors across the street and I also met with another German lady who also lives here on post and our husbands actually work together. It seems things are finally working out, it just takes time. One thing I am definitely learning is being more patient. Not everything can happen overnight, especially not the really good stuff! :-)

Oh, in case you were wondering: I am an administrative assistant in a daycare center. So I get to work my kind of job and get to be around children which rocks!

dangerous beauty

I have never had as many spiders in my house in all my life, as I have here. We kill between two and three spiders in the house daily. To top it all off, I had an encounter with a black widow today. She was sitting less than three inches away from our door, on the outside wall. I took a large piece of mulch and moved her away. Normally I leave spiders alone as long as they stay outside, but this one I killed with insect spray. I am not taking chances with a black widow. Even though I am freaked out by any kind of spider, I was really fascinated by this one. I actually thought she was beautiful. LOL. I never thought I would say that about a spider.

Butterfly Festival

Today we went the 2nd Annual Butterfly Festival in Oak Grove, KY. I met with two other german ladies and their children there, which was really nice and we had a great time. At the festival they had all kinds of fun things for the children to do: games, arts & crafts, a petting zoo, and much more. Elijah was actually riding a pony today! We were also able to go in a tent full of butterflies. In the end, they released 400 live butterflies into the air, which was beautiful to watch. I took pictures, of course and I will post them soon.

More pictures coming soon.

It has been a while...

...since my last post. I am trying to catch up as soon as possible and will post some entries I have been writing on for a while now. I am doing OK, just very busy hunting for a job, which is a true challenge over here. We are also preparing for my husband's training that is coming up soon. The boys have been in school just over a month now and are finally getting into a routine. I will update soon. Promised. :-)

Driver's License

Woohoo! I finally have my driver's license. I just took the road test and I was so freaking nervous it was not funny anymore. I did pretty good, and the examiner was really nice and laid-back and helped me overcome the nervosity quickly. Before I took the test, I was so scared I might be tested in parallel parking. That is one thing I am absolutely unable to do. I actually practised up until last night, but thank goodness I did not need it. So, I officially have a Driver's License now and I am allowed to drive on my own. Yay! One word: Independence. I hated that I could not go anywhere without my husband. I was basically stuck at home while he was at work. This also is a milestone in finding a job. Now, if I do get hired somewhere I can actually drive to work. There is barely any public transportation available over here. So before today, it would have been either bus (if there was one going) or my bike.

Road Trip

So it has not even been a full month since I finally got here, and we already went on our first big road trip. :-)



We took Mom's car (2004 Kia Optima) and went down to San Antonio, TX, to exchange it for mine (2010 Mazda3), which she has been driving since we bought it in January. And of course, the most importans thing, we finally got our boys and took them home at last. It has been so long since we actually lived together as a family.

We left Fort Campbell at 4 AM for our 936 mile trip and our scenic route took us all the way around the post and through a lot of woods at first. We then went through an area called the Land Between the Lakes, a popular recreational area in this region. Definitely want to go hiking and camping over there some time. We then drove through Tennessee in southwestern direction on I-40 and passed Memphis. After Memphis, we drove through Arkansas, passing Little Rock and the birth town of Bill Clinton, Hope, AR on I-30. Then we went through Texarkana (yes this is the name of a city), which is, surprise, on the border of Texas and Arkansas, hence the name I guess. Later on we saw a bit of Dallas, driving through it. It has some beautiful areas with big lakes, might want to live there one day. We will see...

So, Nathan was stubborn and decided on driving the whole route without an overnight stay halfway. By the time we almost got there (Austin) it was raining really hard and we stopped at Whataburger (Yum!) to grab a bite and then took a 4 hour nap in the car. We were just exhausted and did not want to drive in that heavy rain at night. Once we had enough rest and the rain wore off, we continued our journey and finally made it to Mom's house around 2 AM.

The following days we were busy packing the boys' things and donating anything obsolete to the Goodwill. Love that place! You can donate pretty much anything from furniture to clothes to toys etc. They create jobs for people who cannot find work in the regular job market due to disability or other reasons, by selling donated goods. So we went there with bags and bags of clothes and toys. I am always glad to help others. http://www.goodwill.org/

After we knocked out all the packing and getting rid of things, we finally had some time to kick back and relax. We actually spent our last couple of nights at a hotel, where we were barbecueing and the kids (the boys and their cousins) had fun in the pool.

We also met a "Texas sized" spider, as Mom called it. I believe it was a trantula. It was huge, hairy, and creepy. I was walking to my car, parked in the cul-de-sac, where Mom's house is at, wearing sandals of course since it is summer, and what do I see slowly strutting down the street next to my car? This big old, fat spider. Eeeek! I literally jumped when I saw it. I wanted to run, but then I was fascinated to see a spider of that size roaming freely and not behind glass in a zoo. I did keep my distance, considering my open shoes. That spider was walking extremely slow, not in a hurry or anything. Then comes the kitty of the neighbors, a tiny but bold little feline, attacking the spider and playing with it until the spider disappeared under a trash can. That kitty had some balls, I was afraid for it to be bitten and die or something, but that little furball was fearless.



Talking about crawling things. San Antonio had a plague of crickets this summer. Parking lots, store fronts, entire gas stations literally covered in carpets of black crickets. That was just crazy. I haver never seen anything like this. The boys were grossed out by them. I did not care, just hated the crunch everytime you stepped on one, which you could not avoid as they were everywhere, including the hotel grounds. Unfortunately they also made it into our room, through the A/C, but what could management do about it, a different room would not have made a difference. So every night we hunted the crickets (about 15 to 30) in the room and got rid of them. So, yeah, I had my share of crawling creatures this summer, not to mention the occasional roach you encounter in a Texas home. LOL. Roaches really are the worst though. One thing I love about Fort Campbell: I have not seen a roach here, yet!

As we, or should I say Nathan since I cannot drive yet, learned our lesson, we decided to split the trip back home in half and stay overnight at a hotel in Little Rock, AR. In Little Rock we also went to a BBQ place called Backyard Burgers, one of the best grilled chicken sandwiches I ever had. Delicious! I later found out that it is a chain restaurant. I am not a big fan of chain restaurants, which are a big deal in America. This place was different though and I love it! I need to find out if there is one close to Fort Campbell, too.



As we arrived at Fort Campbell in the early evening (this time we took more time and longer stops throughout the trip, I could not help it and had to take the picture of the squirrel just relaxing in the shade at the gate:



More pictures coming soon.

Learner's Permit

I passed the written test for my driver's license almost 2 weeks ago. Now I have a learner's permit and I can finally practise driving. I hope I will be good at it soon, so that I can take the test. Driving sure is fun, but I am still nervous when on the road, hope I will get used to it better soon and become a little more relaxed. But so far, I guess I am doing OK, when we were in San Antonio, I even got on the expressway (voluntarily!).

study time

Good news: I found out that I can apply for my learners' permit for the drivers' license without an SSN. I need to fill out an affidavit and get it notarized. I am glad we have legal assistance here who can do that for me. So now, I am studying the drivers' handbook like crazy right now, hoping I will be ready to take the written test next week. I would like to have my learners' permit soon, so I can practise driving... watch out, here I come, ha ha :-)

Also, I am getting my certifications translated, so I can get my German education evaluated. I hope that helps me with finding employment. Otherwise, college/university is also an option...

Goodbye Germany. Hello Fort Campbell.

Today, I left my home country Germany for good.

I flew from Frankfurt via Dallas to Nashville. Strange feeling. I am so so happy to be finally back with my husband, who has been waiting for me for a long time, and we will also be able to pick up the kids from their grandma soon. Yay! However, I know that I will not be able to see my mom in a long time. That also goes for my sister and my little niece. My sister and I had our goodbye yesterday already and my mom came to the airport with me. She took it very hard, letting me go. After all, being her youngest daughter I am her baby. It broke my heart when we said goodbye and she started to cry. For some reason I did not cry, I guess, it does not feel real yet. Still feels like just going on a vacation, but it is not. So far, I feel pretty darn good and I do not miss home at all. I hope it stays that way. I do miss my family, but prior to leaving Germany I was already used to not being around them very much as I lived in a different city. Only time will tell. Right now I just enjoy having my husband back and I am all excited to start my new life here in the United States.

When I arrived in Nashville, it was already dark, but I noticed there are many trees around here. Our house on post is really nice and a lot bigger than it looked like on the pictures my husband sent me. I love having a yard now (front and back) and cannot wait to plant some lavender bushes in the flowerbeds by the front windows. It is very warm and humid here, it will probably take a few days for me to get adjusted to this climate. I am glad that I generally handle heat better than cold. :-)

Starting tomorrow, I will be unpacking my 37 boxes I mailed over here. LOL. I hope everything survived the long journey across the ocean. Some boxes look pretty bad, I will find out when I open them.

update

I received my visa today! :-)
Looks interesting... a big colorful sticker in my passport. Has a picture and my data on it, of course.
I will try to fly next weekend, this way I will make it there this month still. Yeah! Hope all works out.

progress report

I finally had my visa interview in Frankfurt today. Yay! I should have my visa within the next two weeks... :-)

Last Friday I already went to the doctor for the exam that I need for the visa. Everything went well, both the doctor's exam and the visa interview. The people at the consulate were very friendly and helpful. I was a bit nervous about the interview, because I did not know what to expect. However, the consular officer was a very nice lady, and I was stressing out for nothing. I brought way too many documents to my appointment, but I am rather safe than sorry. I did not want to risk having anything missing, so I was double-checking my folder a couple of times to make sure I would not forget anything.

Woohoo! I am so excited that I will be holding my visa in my hands soon. Once I have it, I will book my flight and off I go... Baby, here I come!

home is where your ♥ is at

Today, I officially turned my apartment over to my landlord. Goodbye Frankfurt. I will miss you. Frankfurt is a very diverse city, rich in culture and history, yet modern and international. However, I never really felt home there. Must be, because at times I was feeling extremely lonely. No husband, no children, just me and my job (and sometimes my good friend Saskia, who made sure I was not going crazy despite my situation).

Until my departure to the United States, I will be staying at my mom's in my hometown Oppenheim. I still need to take care of some paperwork and sell a few more things on eBay, which I will do from there. As much as I hate that I still need to wait fo my visa, it is nice to be back in the town I grew up in. This way, I am close to my mom until I leave. This also makes it easier to see my sister and little niece more often, as well as meeting some of my childhood friends again. When we were driving along the B9 towards Oppenheim today, I realized how much I missed my hometown. The scenery is just so beautiful - I love that area between Nackenheim and Nierstein - those vinyards always make me feel home.

They say, "home is where your heart is at," so I guess I will always have two homes in this world. On the one hand home is that beautiful little town of Oppenheim and the region around it, because this is where I grew up and also where my mom lives. On the other hand, home is wherever I can be with my family - my dear husband and lovely children - and that will be wherever the Army sends us...

sorting, wrapping, packing

I am so glad that this is the first and LAST overseas move I am doing on my own... You know, a regular move is already a handful. Since I will be mailing all my things through the post office, I have to pack extra carefully, so that everything will survive the long journey across the ocean. Then, I must not exceed a certain size and weight limit if I do not want to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. Plus all the customs forms - yuck! Oh well, enough complaining for now. I chose this method myself, as I will end up paying a lot less than I would have had to if I had chosen to hire a moving company.

I am very thankful that a family friend volunteered to help me moving all the furniture, that my mom and my sister are getting from me, on Wednesday. Thank you so much, Rolf!

Thursday, all the extra sturdy boxes and the packing materials arrived. A huge roll of bubble wrap, lots of wrapping paper, and many rolls of tape. Since then I have been a busy little bee, zooming through my apartment: Sorting things, wrapping them when necessary, and putting them in the right size boxes. I was even able to fit my beloved nightstand (which I cannot disassemble) in an extra large box I had ordered - yay! My PC is still giving me a little headache though. I saved the original box that it came with, and it it would be perfect to just put in and mail it. However, I do not want the content to be that obvious. You know, things do get "lost" in the mail sometimes. Right now I think I will wrap the original box in brown paper, but I am not sure if that is the best solution. Still thinking... Oh, and I am also making an inventory of each box. I need that both for customs, and for the insurance.
As of tomorrow, I will no longer have a kitchen. Goodbye to cooking and to fresh food. I will live off cereal, PB & jelly sandwiches, and take-out/delivery for the next few days. Any ideas for maintaining a healthy diet without a kitchen are very welcome! ;-)

This is it.

Today I had my last day at work here in Germany. Strange feeling. After I graduated from high school, I did a trainee program at this company. After I finished the program last summer, I worked as an administrative assistant in our Frankfurt branch. And now, I am leaving. Way too soon, but there is a good reason: The loves of my life, my dear husband and our two boys, are waiting on me - in America.

This is where I will be going soon. Starting tomorrow, I will pack my things and get everything out of my apartment. I hope I can do all this within one week. Lots of work ahead, but manageable.

My colleagues invited me to dinner tonight and we went to a typical place for Frankfurt: a restaurant with regional food and "Ebbelwei" (apple wine). As the weather was nice today, we even got to sit outside and enjoy the warm spring air. We had a great time, including lots of laughs and interesting conversations. By the way, how would you define a chick flick? And since we had so much fun, time just flew by. Eventually, we had to say good-bye, which was not easy for me. Even though I have not been at that job for a very long time, I will definitely miss my colleagues. As a little gift for me to take along, they created a CD for me with their favorite songs that reminded them of me. I love the idea of it and I am enjoying the CD right now! Thank you guys (and girls)!

It is now time for a new chapter in my life... I am excited to start my life in America and I cannot wait to be back with my family!

Impatiently Waiting

Technically, I would be with my husband in Kentucky in one week from now. Actually, that will not happen. Not within the next week, probably not even within the next four weeks. I am still in Germany, hoping that I will soon be able to take the next step towards my Visa. I just can not wait. This is killing me. It has been so long since we had a real family life. I want to at least make it over there before the 2-year mark. I hate that we already missed our 1st Anniversary last year due to hubby's deployment. This year we will not make it either, I will be in Frankfurt, he will be at Fort Campbell. Well, there is always next year, right? Ha ha. This sucks. Yeah, I know, complaining will not solve anything, but it makes me feel at least a little better for now... So yeah, here I am venting. I guess what makes it so hard for me, is that I do not have a date I can count down to. I can not say "only x days left." There simply is no definite date yet. So I just wait and prove my impatience.