Das German "Wal-Mart"

Today, things didn't go quite as planned.  Last night was a disaster and I think I got around 4 hours of sleep while the girls screamed from 10 pm to 2 am, keeping everyone in the hotel awake.  So I spent all of the girls nap time today sleeping that kind of sleep where your mouth is wide open and your own snoring wakes you up.  M and I were planning on taking the afternoon and checking out the sights at the BX.  But while I was half conscious on the couch his sponsor called and wanted to take him to get some of the basics done (rental car, drivers license, etc).  So I was here with the angry, sleep deprived baby monsters all afternoon since all things military related always take about 2 hours longer than you expect.  Once I got past the irritation of not going to the BX to get my standard American size pillow (the Rhinoceros sized pillows are nicht gut), I realized that we still needed milk for the babies since our mini fridge in the hotel only holds a half gallon and that lasts us about 1 1/2 days.  We decided we would load up the girls and walk the 15 minutes to the...super store, I don't remember what its called.  Walking through the streets of the village was interesting, we looked at houses while little cars drove by, bumping that terrible euro/techno music that makes you feel the need to flail around while holding glow sticks.  The streets were lined with houses and restaurants, some odd looking and some exactly how you picture a cute little house in Germany to look.  After stopping a few extra times to ask for directions (and pretending to understand the native language, I'm sure, not fooling anyone) we finally found the German "Wal-Mart".  My first thoughts were 1. People are smoking in here  2. There is no air-conditioning  3. Absolutely everything is in German and I thought more people in this country were supposed to speak English.  Very stereotypical American, I know.  Finally we found what we needed and stumbled through the check-out process while the people behind us audibly rolled their eyes. We piled everything into the bottom basket of the stroller and started our trek back to the hotel.  M tried to convince me we should get gyro for dinner from one of the shady looking vendor trucks in the parking lot, but I decided having food poisoning is not how I want to spend my first week in Germany.  Stress and long flights do nothing for my digestive system so it was the salad bar again for dinner.  It was nice getting out of the hotel for a bit, maybe if its not raining tomorrow, I can get out again with my little girls.

       

"This pillow is the size of a Rhinoceros"

We finally made it to Germany.  The flight wasn't the worst thing in the world but it would have been nice if S & P would have slept...more than 45 min at a time.  I don't think M and I got more than an hour of sleep all night and now we're fighting staying awake.  Everyone is telling us to stay up all day, go to bed at 8 tonight and it will make the transition smoother- easier said than done.  We put the girls down as soon as we got to the hotel (5 hours ago) and they are still sleeping, which is nice, I can sit here in my painful exhaustion and not be chasing them around the room.

 We haven't seen much but the short drive from the base to the hotel was beautiful.  We were told we flew in on one of the unusually sunny days, its sunny here about 70 days out of the year.  That's going to be a little difficult for this sun worshiping, California girl.  I can't believe its not more humid here for how much it rains and how green it is.  The hotel has these giant, sound proof windows that don't have screens on them because there aren't many bugs here,  I type this as a fly is sitting on my banana...Everywhere we've lived I have battled with the inscet population, it would be nice to have a break from that.

The German beds have these awesome mini individual comforters.  At first I thought it was odd, but the more I thought about not dealing with blanket snatching, the more I think its an ingenious idea.  There are also these HUGE pillows on the bed.  I'd take a picture for you but I'm too lazy.  M got into bed for our mini nap and said "This pillow is the size of a Rhinoceros..." which was pretty darn funny at the time.  So here I sit, on our small German furniture, looking at the gorgeous trees out the window, feeling the cool breeze, being thankful that its not raining today, feeling too tired to be clever or witty but wanting to give you guys a little update about being here.

 

Where are my jeans?

 We are nearing the end of our time of being "homeless".  As much as I love never being able to find my jeans when I need them (why can't I find them in the giant pile of clothes that covers...my entire room?), living out of suitcases for over a month has been challenging.  Being cooked for and eating only food your parents have paid for is reminiscent of college days, only I can't sleep till noon and spend all day getting some sun by the pool anymore.  It has been really nice to be home, we had a jam packed week with Mike's parents.  In n' Out, Disneyland and afternoons at the beach are some of the necessities while down there.  Catching up with old friends ("I can't believe it was FIVE years since I saw you last!") before leaving the country makes it feel like we are going to live with the monks in the Tibetan mountains, never to return.  I keep getting surprised reactions when I tell people we are planning to come home some time around Christmas.  It is a long flight, and maybe I don't realize how terrible it will be with two babies but we are going to try.  I have been up with my parents for the last few weeks.  Their house is far from being baby proofed, the girls are now quite familiar with the word "NO".  As soon as the "N" crosses my lips, they stop what they're doing and shake their head back and forth.  Of course, they then continue whatever it is they shouldn't be doing and it ultimately results in me standing in front of the forbidden object until they lose all interest.  The weather has been beautiful and many afternoons have been spend either in the pool or crawling around in the grass in the front yard.  Its nice being able to take them outside without worrying too much about allergy attacks.  In Texas, an afternoon in the backyard meant a 103 degree fever the next morning.  Hoping (when its not covered with snow) Germany will be the same.

Anyways, its been really nice to be home all this time but I think I'm finally starting to feel ready for whats next!