And it begins...

Well as most of you know; we have made it to Stuttgart, Germany. Let me just say that I know in a few months life will be great but at this moment everything is harder. For example, it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to post a new blog. Trying to decipher all this German is rough. We tried to study the language, but we obviously have a lot more practicing to do. Everyone has been really nice to us so far. The Marriott staff has been fantastic and thanks to my brother we are able to stay under our allotted per diem rate. We have been here since Wednesday and so much has already happened. We have placed our name on a waiting list to get a house, we have already moved hotels (from Mo. Hotel to Marriott), got our German cell phones, checked out Panzer Kaserne and Patch Barracks, got our military IDs registered, I have applied for a job and am working on updating my DODDs information, and we have gone to the Stuttgart Christmas market.

Rick is on his in-processing work schedule so that means that his hours are a little different each day. Next week we both have some in-processing to go to and I plan to go and check in with some people about some employment opportunities. Wish me luck! We have to start studying for our German driver's license which seems to be a little intense. I plan to try and get mine done this coming week. Once that is out of the way we plan on purchasing a little European car for me. In the words of Ashton Kutcher in Just Married I will be Flinstoning my ass everywhere which should be a goofy site. I will make sure to post pictures for sure, that way you can all have a great laugh at my expense. : )

Today I think I am going to try and walk down to Panzer and wash our clothes. We are also going to try and see how far Patch Barracks (where Rick will be working) and Robinson Barracks (where they want us to live) are from each other. They have free shuttles/ buses from base to base so hopefully it can work out. Robinson is closer to downtown Stuttgart which would be nice. I don't want to become a base rat.

Rick and I have done so much walking in the last couple days! We are both sore. I had to take a hot bath this morning just to give my muscles a break. I hope to keep up the walking as it would be a nice way to balance out all of the pastries the Germans eat, and man are they good. Who knows maybe I could come to Germany and loose some weight! Ha!

Reno has been great in the hotel! First couple of days there was some barking but she seems to be doing better about it. We try and take her on a long walk a day. Today her and I walked for about 2 miles at around 5 this morning (yep still have a weird sleep schedule). There were a couple of guys who were walking home from the night; they must have enjoyed a beer garden! Here in Germany dogs can go anywhere. The other day we saw about 5 dogs in the mall. You can even bring your dog in the restaurant with you as long as they lay down. We are going to start practicing with Reno in the bar downstairs so that she doesn't have to be in the room all the time. Yep that's right we will sample German beers and train our dog... can you say Americans?

Well, I better get going if I want to get everything done. It should take at least 30-45 minutes to walk to Panzer... told ya lots of walking!

Miss you all!

Love,

Damasa