Settling in... for now

Well we had another moving day yesterday.  Our third in seven days!  We still have one more.  Our house should be ready in 10 business days.  We have decided to live on Robinson Barracks which is near the downtown part of Stuttgart.  Although it will be a 20 minute drive for Rick to work; we just feel that it is better to be closer to the action instead of the base.  Many people look at us like we are crazy but yesterday we went on a hospital tour and we actually got to see the area... so worth it.  The base is up on a hill so it overlooks Stuttgart.  It's surrounded by vineyards that are open for you to walk through and we can take Reno.  Our tour guide, Rosie, was telling us that we could go and hang out on the base and for New Year's you can see the whole town and have a great place to watch the fireworks so hopefully we are living up there by then but maybe we will just have to go up and visit.

I have had the pleasure of sitting in on some of these Army briefings.  Wow!  Is all I can say.  Some actually have some good information, but others really should take a course in public speaking... boring!  Today we have a 2 hour delay due to snow, but this morning Rick and I are going to check out the education center and see about some of the online programs they have available for me.  We are also having to go to the finance office so that we can start to get reimbursed for our other hotel rooms.  Friday we are going to try and take our driver's test.  We have been studying every night!  Hopefully all the studying will pay off although we do have to sit through a four hour class on Friday before we can take the test.  On Tuesday, I have an appointment to find me a job!  There have been some rumors that they need some SPED teachers on the schools around here yet I can't find it listed anywhere.  The man I am meeting on Tuesday works to help spouses find jobs.

Rick and I went and visited the USO the other day.  We got to rent some movies and we signed up for our first trip.  We are going to Rotenburg on Sunday.  It's a medieval town that is still fenced in.  We are going to go and see their Christmas market and enjoy their white Gluewein.  Yum!  It was on 40 euro each so we decided to go for it.  We might do some volunteering at the USO; it seems like a great way to meet new people.  The base's logo is, "I am glad I live here." So you know we have to get involved somehow.

Last night we were able to walk down to the little commissary here on Panzer and buy some groceries.  There is a German bakery here so we are going to pick up some fresh bread today so that we can have sandwiches for lunch.  It's been hard eating out on the economy (buying food off base) all the time; it can just get so expensive.  Last night I was preparing our dinner (Chicken Enchilada Casserole... yum.  Are you surprised that my first meal has to be Mexican?) and we heard a loud crack.  Yep, cracked the baking dish in half.  Ha!  At least we could salvage the meal and it was delicious!

I think Saturday we are going to walk down to the mall near the Marriott. I need to get some different shoes and maybe some warm tights to wear with my shoes and Rick needs some other shoes as well.   It gives us another chance to go walking around.  At one of our briefings the other day they gave us a pedometer.  Yesterday I had almost 7,000 steps.  I'm telling you... walking galore!

I will post pictures of our new pad later on.  I hope you are all getting ready for Christmas!