The flight from Chicago over to Germany went off without a hitch and we were soon "boots on the ground". Our sponsors where waiting for us outside of customs and thankfully all our luggage made it through. Now we were jet lagged and has a three hour drive back to the base. Driving the Autobahn was a new experience and we arrived faster then we thought. We got checked in and just died. Things started moving quickly the next few days.
John checked into our new unit and I went to look at the house that was set aside for us. I couldn't believe how small it was. We were coming from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment. It was going to take some creative planning but I thought I could get everything to fit. Since we had shipped our household goods so early, they were waiting for us there and our van was being delivered on Friday. John and I passed our driving test first time, our household goods were being delivered on Friday and John was picking up our van on Saturday. So things were moving along quickly.
While John was getting settled into the new unit I attended our first family support group meeting. Everyone was so nice and helpful that we felt at home right away. Friday was our first Hail and Farewell and it was being held in a real castle. What a way to start off our tour. Our sponsors were wonderful. They spent the weekend with us showing us around. First we went to Rothenburg and then took the train into Nurenburg. It was like a dream come true. We never thought we would get to see such things.
We made up our mind then and there to take every advantage of everything Germany had to offer. We didn't let much grass grow under our feet and for 4th of July weekend we headed south to Garmisch. We didn't speak a lick of German but we didn't let that slow is down. The weekend went great and we couldn't wait to branch out to other cities. We drew up a list of places we wanted to see and started checking them off. We didn't want to go home with any regrets.
In some ways Germany was the best thing that could have happened to us and we don't regret a minute of our time there. In fact we would love to get stationed there again especially now that Rob is older and he would remember so much more. But for now we can only hope.
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