Last Days of Summer...

Mainz, Germany is a very busy place on 'market day'.  Umbrella stand after brightly-colored umbrella stand, filled with fruits, veggies, flowers, fish, and fresh bread crowd the old-town square.  Many different smells surround me.  The smell of the watermelon which was just dropped by that lady (accompanied by the sounds of embarrassed laughter); of freshly baked bread; of basket upon basket of bright sunflowers; of the light breeze collecting all of the smells and mixing them into one single, delightful scent that states quite clearly, "Last days of summer".

My family and I visited Mainz (along with Rothenburg and Ramstein Air Force Base) with my Mimi while she was visiting.  While in Mainz, we stopped by the Gutenberg museum and learned a lot about how the printing press has developed and how it is used .... even though we don't speak German.  We also visited the Mainzer Dom cathedral ^.

 My dad captured some pretty amazing photos with his pretty amazing camera.  Mr. Temperamental-Little-Point-and-Shoot would not have done the lighting justice.

SchlossSchonburg was our 'pit-stop' on the way home.  As the GPS guided us along the Rhein, we saw castle after castle after castle.  So, finally, we had to stop, walk around, take pictures, buy a wooden shield, you know, all those things that tourists are compelled to do.  

And then, once these important tasks were completed, we piled back into the van and reset the GPS to a not-so-scenic, but much quicker route home.

~RM 

A Quick Update

We are officially Lupburgers (Lupburgians?... however you want to say it.  People who live in Lupburg.)!  We moved into our house on Thursday and we are almost completely unpacked!  I love our little German town so much!  There are many places to explore here and I can't wait to post some pictures of the castle ruins found on the top of the hill.  But, right now, our favorite place here in Lupburg would have to be the bakery that is just down the street.  And thank goodness for kind, English speaking cashiers :)  Right now I happen to be chowing on a delish pretzel that has been left un-guarded on the table for much too long.  I will post pictures of our home and Lupburg as soon as possible!

~RM

A List

Of things that are different here than in America.

• A rather large difference being the whole language issue. 
• There being two buttons to press while flushing a toilet. The 'On' button and the 'Off' button.
• Almost all the cars are five passenger.
• The fire trucks are teeny.
• All the menus in the restaurants are unreadable.  For us un-German speaking Americans anyway.
• Everyone has an accent here ...... Except for us Americans.  Pooh.
• One of the differences that I have a big problem with is: the soda here is messed up.  And I'm not exaggerating when I say that it tastes like medicine.  I would be the one standing at a soda machine filling my cup, tasting it, deciding it didn't taste right, dumping it out, and then walking over to the other soda machine to try again.  I do this almost every time we go out to eat.  I've gotten lots of knowing nods from other Americans who are suffering through the same tribulation.
• Carbonated water.  Another thing I have a problem with.  Our first experience with carbonated water was at the airport.  We bought three big bottles of what we thought was water to quench our thirst and then almost choked after tasting the awful stuff that was plain carbonation.  Harsh wake-up call.
• No ice.  Restaurants do not put ice in your drink.  So picture that lovely medicine-tasting Coke at room temperature.  You have now pictured my detestable torture.
• No closets.  Except the water closet which is what the Europeans call the bathroom.  So instead we have wardrobes.  And trust me, the minute we get ours in our new house there is going to be much opening and closing of doors until we find Narnia.
• Streets that almost taper off entirely.
• 110 and 220 electricity.
• Walking into a small, privately owned furniture store and having the German owner exclaim in his lovely accent, "Oooh!  Beeg a family, yah? Hahahaha."
• Walking through a store, having your way blocked by two women speaking in German, saying "Excusez-moi" and getting a reply in English.  Then you wonder..."Do I really look that American?"

That's all for now, but I'm sure I will be posting a sequel to this list sooner than later.

~RM

Caribou? Yup, Two-Footed German Caribou.

First of all, before I begin my un-holiday-spirit-like rant, I hope you all enjoyed the year of 2010 and are having a great New Year.  That said ...
Holiday buses should run on holidays!!  I mean, some people (say, my family?) actually get out on New Years day, do not have a car, need food, want to get out of a tiny hotel room and stuff like that.  My dad looked up the Hohenfels holiday bus schedule this morning so that we could ride around base and pick up a few necessities.  So we all got bundled up to trek down to the bus stop.  The bus did not come.  And then I allowed myself to get roped into walking across the base to the shoppette that may or may not be open.  In the snow.  I don't know what I was thinking, I was not wearing walking shoes.  Those boots were purely ornamental.  Well, we got to the shoppette which was open and I did not die.  I came close to, but I did not die.
Now, in case you were wondering, there is a connection to my near death experience and the title of this post.  All along our extremely strenuous forced march there were several different animal tracks in the snow.  Some that looked like a rabbit's, some like a cat's, others that we weren't so sure about.  I identified them as caribou tracks using my tremendously educated knowledge of the outdoors.  My dad pointed out that there are no caribou in Germany and I countered with the all purpose: How do you know?  Maybe the caribou had grown tired of where ever they were from and migrated to Germany?  Then one of my family members tried to debunk my theory by asking why the tracks looked like they belonged to a two-footed animal.  And yet again I gracefully defended my position through a lengthy explanation of how the caribou mutated into bipeds when they migrated to Germany.  That stopped their critical remarks.
Then we saw the deer.  I watched my theory crumble before my eyes.  And we were only half-way to the shoppette ...
~RM

In Which I Sound Like a Complete American

So far I have not had very many opportunities to use my extensive German vocabulary (which consists of: Guten Tag - Hello
Guten Morgen - Good morning
Auf Wiedersehen - Goodbye
bitte - please
danke - thank you
and No comprendo which means I do not ... no, wait ...)
  I enjoy hearing the German language, but in some situations it can be quite overwhelming.  Crowded McDonald's when you have just been awakened and dragged off a warm bus that you did not want to leave, into the freezing cold to get a burger that you did not want to eat, surrounded by talking people that you can not understand, and then accidentally eating a pickle on your supposedly ketchup-only cheeseburger while suffering through the stares of the locals because of your younger brother who is expressing the way you feel by crying incessantly is a great example.  I wanted to get back into that bus, pull on my slippers and curl up again more than is possible to convey through a blog post.
  I have been working to expand my already extensive German vocabulary with the following phrases:
Ich verstehe nicht. (I do not understand.)
Es tut mir leid.  (I am sorry.)
and
Konnen Sie die Heizung anstellen?  (Could you turn the heat on?)

~RM

Germany: check. Jet-lag: check. Snow: check. Frostbite: double-check.

After a full twenty-four hours of traveling, we have arrived in Hohenfels and are settled into the 'Sunrise Inn'. 

 Germany is amazingly beautiful.  Covered in snow and experiencing it's harshest. winter. yet.  Problem?  To say the least.  Snow is piled high on roofs, icicles hang from balconies and every one of our noses turn red after being outside for 5 minutes.  But the snow does make for a stunning photograph ...

Now I am off to make myself some hot cocoa.  Auf Wiedersehen for now.

~RM

Oh Yes, Life Most Certainly Can

There have been quite a few times that I've said to myself,  "Life just can't be more hectic."  Oh, how I regret those words now!  This past week we have 1) received our orders - almost, anyway, we have not actually held a copy of them. They are currently being revised since a few minor details (like my dad's social security number) had to be corrected. 2) We have learned that we will be leaving island about a month before we thought we were.  3)  Suddenly we realize that our possessions will be shipping in just a few weeks.  That hasn't exactly sunk in yet.  "You mean I have to pack all these things?  Already?!"  "You don't have to pack everything!  There's a trash pile and a sell pile right over there!"  My mom is very organized and enjoying the whole 'weeding out process'.  I, on the other hand, am not.  She says I get it from my dad's side.  So, the next few weeks are about to get amazingly crazy with all the packing and the garage sale coming up.  Add to that ice-skating lessons, ballet lessons, small-group, and school....I don't think things will be slowing down anytime soon.
~RM

The Event of Which We Do Not Speak (But I AM Kinda Excited)

You all would be so proud of me if you knew how much junk I cleared out of my room this past week. That is, if you knew how much junk was in my room in the first place...Well, anyways, I have been cleaning and organizing my room before the 'event of which we do not speak' happens. Our move to Germany. I am sorry my Hawaii friends, I know I promised I would not speak of it, but it is going to happen sooner or later and I have to blog about it sometime. If you are one of the two people who do not want to hear me talk about 'the event' stop reading now.....
I'm actually quite excited about moving to Europe. Just not excited about leaving people, again, to travel halfway across the globe, again. I make it sound like we've done it loads of times, but it's only our second move with the Army. Oh the places we'll go! Rome, Paris, Luxemburg, the list goes on forever! I'm learning French! Wait? You're moving to Germany, wouldn't you be learning German? You wouldn't believe how many times I've been asked that. My answer: FRENCH IS JUST PRETTIER! So there! We are going to be stationed at Baumholder (say: bomb-holder :D) which is about 3-4 hours away from the French border. So many things to do before the move though. I've got my room cleaned, check that off my list. Things still to come: packing, garage sale, Mimi's visit!, getting tickets, movers, oh yeah, and finishing our first semester of school. All before December. Busy? Nawwww, us? Yes, but it's an exciting busy!

~RM