Our Wednesday morning was spent taking the cats to the vet clinic to get their travel clearance and health certificate. It didn't take long and everything went smoothly so all in all it wasn't so bad. The cats hated being in their kennels and taken around so they voiced their opinions to us, a lot. The base that has the vet clinic is also the same one where I used to work and I needed to stop by the office. I had gotten a call saying that something had come in with my name on it from corporate offices stateside and could I come and get it. Turns out it was completely work related and could have been handled the day they got it, but they didn't know that. I just thought it was a bit funny.
After all the running around David tried to get some more out processing done while I chilled back in our room. By that evening I was getting a bit of cabin fever but couldn't decide what I wanted to do. In the end we rented movies and hung out in the room some more. The movie we watched was the Joss Whedon adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing". It was fantastic!! Joss Whedon brought a spin to the story that only he can bring and it was hilarious and just wonderful. Dave even enjoyed it, but that's not surprising given he tends to love everything Whedon does.
The day was kind of boring when all things were said and done but I guess I can expect more of the same for quite a while. We'll be stuck in temp housing when we get to Vegas and will probably be another smallish room that make people want to go crazy. I think the anticipation is killing me too and I just want this all over with. In the end, I'm sure I'll find someway to enjoy living in Las Vegas, at least I hope so.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
My Last Tuesday In Germany
So I'm sitting here in our temporary housing on base with nothing to do while the hubs runs around doing his final out-processing appointments. I figured that I would update my blog and talk a little bit about my last week here in Germany. But first, I'll quickly sum up what's been going on up to now. Last week was the big hurdle for us: the move. The movers came on Tuesday and packed up our unaccompanied baggage (household goods and clothes that get expedited rather than going on the slow boat). We thought the other movers were coming on Wednesday but they did not show up until Thursday. At any rate, they got the house packed and on the truck that same day. Friday and Saturday were spent cleaning and taking trash to the local dumping facility. Sunday was the day our hired cleaners came out to clean the entire house before our landlady came that afternoon. She showed up and everything was fine so we got all out of the house without any issues. Whew! Still with me?
Ok, so now on to my last week here in Germany.
Yesterday was Tuesday and we had a few things going on. I was put on some antibiotics a little over a week ago and on Sunday I noticed red splotches on the tops of my thighs. I thought it had just been from cleaning or something but they hadn't gone away by Monday after I'd taken antihistamines and used cortisone cream. As a result, I made an appointment for Tuesday morning to be seen by my doctor. It was the last thing I wanted to do but with a history of penicillin allergies in my family I didn't want to chance anything the week before we leave. As it turns out, it wasn't an allergy but could have been triggered by any number of factors and I was sent away with a prescription of cortisone cream and good wishes for my PCS. So that was a waste of my morning but I suppose it gave me peace of mind. After that I had another doctor's appointment with a local German dermatologist. Spent almost an hour in the waiting room to be seen for literally less than 5 minutes. Again, another colossal waste of my time. However, since I was in town I had the opportunity to return some things we'd bought for the house that we ended up not needing.
I went back on base and got David so that we could go take some stuff to the recycling center that we still had in the rental car. Normally we can't take stuff on base because that's for people in base housing only. But, since we have PCS orders, we're allowed to use the facility at least once which was very helpful.
Since our morning and early afternoon yesterday was spent running errands it made it all the nicer when we got to sit in our room and relax. David actually took a nap while I watched Ellen on AFN . I don't know why, but it's so nice to watch TV again. For the 4 years we've been over here we didn't have cable or AFN. We had our TV to watch movies and play games on but it was never connected to a receiver. When we get to Vegas and have cable we're not going to know what to do with ourselves.
We topped off the night by making cheddar brats, baked potatoes, and broccoli for dinner while we watched some of our favorite TV shows. All in all it was a pretty good and fairly productive day. I do want to continue on posting every day of my last week here in Germany. I'll try to include a few pictures, too.
So as you can see, nothing fancy about our digs, but it works. It's nice to be in a place that has a kitchen, even as limited as it is, so that we can not have to go out to eat every night.
That's about all for now, I suppose.
Ok, so now on to my last week here in Germany.
Yesterday was Tuesday and we had a few things going on. I was put on some antibiotics a little over a week ago and on Sunday I noticed red splotches on the tops of my thighs. I thought it had just been from cleaning or something but they hadn't gone away by Monday after I'd taken antihistamines and used cortisone cream. As a result, I made an appointment for Tuesday morning to be seen by my doctor. It was the last thing I wanted to do but with a history of penicillin allergies in my family I didn't want to chance anything the week before we leave. As it turns out, it wasn't an allergy but could have been triggered by any number of factors and I was sent away with a prescription of cortisone cream and good wishes for my PCS. So that was a waste of my morning but I suppose it gave me peace of mind. After that I had another doctor's appointment with a local German dermatologist. Spent almost an hour in the waiting room to be seen for literally less than 5 minutes. Again, another colossal waste of my time. However, since I was in town I had the opportunity to return some things we'd bought for the house that we ended up not needing.
I went back on base and got David so that we could go take some stuff to the recycling center that we still had in the rental car. Normally we can't take stuff on base because that's for people in base housing only. But, since we have PCS orders, we're allowed to use the facility at least once which was very helpful.
Since our morning and early afternoon yesterday was spent running errands it made it all the nicer when we got to sit in our room and relax. David actually took a nap while I watched Ellen on AFN . I don't know why, but it's so nice to watch TV again. For the 4 years we've been over here we didn't have cable or AFN. We had our TV to watch movies and play games on but it was never connected to a receiver. When we get to Vegas and have cable we're not going to know what to do with ourselves.
We topped off the night by making cheddar brats, baked potatoes, and broccoli for dinner while we watched some of our favorite TV shows. All in all it was a pretty good and fairly productive day. I do want to continue on posting every day of my last week here in Germany. I'll try to include a few pictures, too.
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| Our spiffy temp housing quarters. |
That's about all for now, I suppose.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Mad Cash, Yo!!
So I decided to go through our little coin bank to get rid of our all our Euro coin that we won't need once we leave. It actually netted us quite a bit of money. In full rolls we got $22 in American coins (dimes, nickels, and pennies) and then €35 in Euro coins. We are just a few coins away from get €75 between the 1 and 2 euro pieces. So if we get over €100 that will turn in to about $135-ish. Not bad! What's funny about having 2 full rolls of pennies is that no one over here takes them, everything gets rounded up or down to the next nickel. It costs more than the pennies are worth to ship them over here so how we ended up with that many pennies baffles me. We aren't turning in our quarters (which probably would have netted us another $20 or more) because we're going to need them to utilize the laundromats on base while we're displaced and have no appliances of our own.
In other news, I've packed up most of my Hard Rock glasses to send to my mom. I ran out of packing tape for the second box so I need more of that before I can continue. I don't trust the movers to pack them well enough to avoid being broken. I'd rather pack them myself and know that it got done right than leave it up to a bunch of guys who don't care about the time I've spent collecting them. My collections is pretty impressive though. Not all of them are martini glasses like I started out collecting (some of the locations just didn't carry them) so I have a few random types of glasses. I am kind of bummed that I didn't complete my Germany collection and get the one from the Hamburg location. I have Berlin, Munich, and Cologne but I won't have Hamburg. Somehow I managed to get 2 glasses from Rome, a hurricane and a martini, which is weird. Oh and I have 1 pilsner glass from Dublin. So my collection is more hodge podge than I would have liked, but the hubs says it has personality. Considering I have 14 glasses from my travels, it's not too bad. :)
Other than that, the movers are coming next week which should be a big relief for the both of us when it's done and over with. I'll try to keep anyone who is following and interested updated on our plans and if anything major changes. TTYL!
In other news, I've packed up most of my Hard Rock glasses to send to my mom. I ran out of packing tape for the second box so I need more of that before I can continue. I don't trust the movers to pack them well enough to avoid being broken. I'd rather pack them myself and know that it got done right than leave it up to a bunch of guys who don't care about the time I've spent collecting them. My collections is pretty impressive though. Not all of them are martini glasses like I started out collecting (some of the locations just didn't carry them) so I have a few random types of glasses. I am kind of bummed that I didn't complete my Germany collection and get the one from the Hamburg location. I have Berlin, Munich, and Cologne but I won't have Hamburg. Somehow I managed to get 2 glasses from Rome, a hurricane and a martini, which is weird. Oh and I have 1 pilsner glass from Dublin. So my collection is more hodge podge than I would have liked, but the hubs says it has personality. Considering I have 14 glasses from my travels, it's not too bad. :)
Other than that, the movers are coming next week which should be a big relief for the both of us when it's done and over with. I'll try to keep anyone who is following and interested updated on our plans and if anything major changes. TTYL!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The Move Is . . . Going
We will be out of Germany in less than 3 weeks. Our car was dropped off for shipping today and the movers will be coming next week to haul away our stuff. By the 18th everything will be packed up and gone and by the 21st we should be out of our house completely. It makes me so sad to think we'll be leaving this amazing place; it's been and absolutely fantastic 4 years and I am so glad I got to have this experience. I find myself jealous of the people I worked with at Service Credit Union that are here on their own and not because of the military. Some moved specifically for the job, some found it while they were here doing other things. I envy them though that they still have this ahead of them and there is no ending in sight.
Las Vegas is going to be a new adventure and I am slowly beginning to look forward to it. It will be nice to have all the conveniences of the States again. Not to mention the proximity to family and friends. Our traveling days are not over, just put on hold for a bit. The hubs and I were talking that we do need to see more of our own country so we may spend a few trips doing just that. Exploring our own backyard and seeing what there is out there. I know I am looking forward to planning another trip to NYC and to Seattle. Especially Seattle since I want to go to a Mariners game. Guess we could go to L.A. for that, but that's not any fun :).
Anyway, that's what's on my mind right now, just thought I'd share.
Las Vegas is going to be a new adventure and I am slowly beginning to look forward to it. It will be nice to have all the conveniences of the States again. Not to mention the proximity to family and friends. Our traveling days are not over, just put on hold for a bit. The hubs and I were talking that we do need to see more of our own country so we may spend a few trips doing just that. Exploring our own backyard and seeing what there is out there. I know I am looking forward to planning another trip to NYC and to Seattle. Especially Seattle since I want to go to a Mariners game. Guess we could go to L.A. for that, but that's not any fun :).
Anyway, that's what's on my mind right now, just thought I'd share.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Rome 2013 - The Last European Getaway . . . For Now
We spent a weekend in Rome with a friend of ours who is stationed in Italy. He wanted to get together before we left so we decided to congregate in Rome. Needless to say, it was Amazing. And yes, the capital A in amazing is necessary.
It was a hot weekend, not surprising given that it's Rome in September, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We got to spend some time at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill and then visited the Vatican. Much gelato was consumed to keep our temperatures down. It's almost a requirement, really, for the proper enjoyment of the city.
The food, of course, was fantastic and so was the wine. The even better part was the company. The hubs and I aren't used to traveling with another person in our party so it was really nice to have someone else to hang out with while we were tooling around the city.
Alaska had a great time as well. He missed our last trip to Rome so it was a great opportunity for him to see another country as well. That makes about 5 countries he's been to, I believe. Not too shabby at all if you ask me.
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| Outside the Colosseum |
It was a hot weekend, not surprising given that it's Rome in September, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We got to spend some time at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill and then visited the Vatican. Much gelato was consumed to keep our temperatures down. It's almost a requirement, really, for the proper enjoyment of the city.
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| Hamming it up in line at the Vatican |
The food, of course, was fantastic and so was the wine. The even better part was the company. The hubs and I aren't used to traveling with another person in our party so it was really nice to have someone else to hang out with while we were tooling around the city.
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| I'm in ruins! Ah ha ha ha |
Alaska had a great time as well. He missed our last trip to Rome so it was a great opportunity for him to see another country as well. That makes about 5 countries he's been to, I believe. Not too shabby at all if you ask me.
All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and I couldn't have wished for a better trip for our last hoorah while we're over here. We leave in 3 weeks and it seems so surreal that I won't be able to plan a quick getaway to another country anymore. Being over here has made me so grateful for the opportunities and the adventures we've had. This is, by no means, our last European trip however. There is one in the works for a girls trip to London, my mom, possibly my aunt, and hopefully my little sister. Maybe we can even convince my older sister to come! Whatever it is though, it will be fantastic! and I will take the opportunity to visit Bath (for the Jane Austen house) and Stonehenge (because I still haven't seen it). And you better believe, if I get the chance, I'm going to Highclere Castle to visit the set of Downton Abbey. I'm nerd girl squeeing over here . . . it's pretty pathetic.
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