The Move

In case you've been curious what we've been up to, Greg and I have been lost in a big black hole called moving. After 30 days of living in a hotel, we finally have a place of our own that is somewhat put together. If I ever run across someone who is PCS'ing to Germany, I have a whole ton of advice for them when it comes to the move itself.

Two weeks before our apartment lease expired in Colorado, Greg managed to set up for us to have all of our household good shipped. So how do you prepare to move overseas in less than 2 weeks? You don't. You just wing it and hope everything arrives in one piece in Europe.

When the movers arrived in Colorado, we were surprised to find that the moving company had sent two older women and one young man to pack up our whole apartment in four hours. Yeah, it ended up taking 2 days. At the end of day one, it was pouring rain and hail to the point that they decided to just give up and come back in the morning. Greg ended up needing to be around the whole time to help them move out the larger furniture.

Our big empty apartment in Colorado

A couple of things to note:

• Greg and I sent all of our clothes, half of our linens and some of our kitchenware and utensils "unaccompanied" meaning that it flew on a plane instead of being packed onto a ship to get here. The purpose is that some of your stuff gets to your new location earlier so you aren't completely stranded. The trade-off is that it's less secure and your stuff is more likely to be damaged this way, so don't send anything of any significant value. How did this work out for us? Well, after spending all the time planning what we would send and shipping it 30 days before our arrival in Germany, our unaccompanied goods arrived 2 days after we did. However, we were not able to access our unaccompanied goods until we had a place to live, which didn't happen until we had been here for a month already. By then, our household goods had already arrived as well and both shipments were delivered the same day to our apartment. Luckily, nothing in either of the two shipments were broken or damaged, not even so much as a picture frame. So, send some things unaccompanied, but don't set your heart on actually getting them sooner than everything else. Maybe you'll get luckier than us and get a home right away, but if you're coming to where we're located, don't hold your breath. The housing situation here is crazy and you don't get to decide whether you live on or off post.
• PRO-GEAR! Make sure you separate everything that is pro-gear and most importantly, if you are  a spouse with a career (or in school), everything needed for or related to that career counts as pro-gear. Textbooks, work clothes, diplomas all count as pro-gear and do not go towards your total weight. Greg and I don't own much stuff, but we do know of others that have gone over their total weight and had to pay for part of the shipment. We shed several hundred pounds off the shipment total by being sure both of our work related items were labeled pro-gear. This also allows you to get away with more stuff in your unaccompanied goods, if you choose to go that route.
• Buy things you'll need before you leave and pack them to ship! We did this to an extent, but no where near like we should have. Fair warning, don't expect air conditioning when you move to Germany. If you are coming in summer, you'll want some good fans and black out curtains at the very least. Get them before you come here! We knew we wouldn't have air conditioning, but we were told that the temperature stayed so low that you didn't need it. Summers are rather mild, but there are days it gets 90 degrees and your apartment will feel like a sauna even when it's 80, especially if you ever plan to use your oven. You'll want fans to cool the bedrooms and living areas and good thick curtains to keep out the light. One set of curtains at the PX cost $70, when I know the exact same ones were half of that price back in the states. You'll be hard pressed to find black out curtains on the economy because German buildings have these awesome metal blinds to keep the light out that you won't get on post (and probably won't get to choose if you live on post or not). Fans at the PX are often sold out and will cost you $40 for one of those ugly stand ones that won't match any of your decor. Sure you can wait for Amazon to deliver, but if it's 85 degrees the day you're unpacking, you probably won't want to wait. Plan ahead and buy curtains and fans. If you want to be really proactive, you could consider buying an air conditioning unit, but they are not allowed in government housing. Yes, a lot of people over here have air conditioning units even though they aren't supposed to, but we surprisingly aren't one of them. I'm way too cheap to spend $400 on one. Finally, look into whether or not your housing will have a microwave, and get one if you feel you need it. We don't have a microwave and we may eventually break down and get one, but I'm not a huge fan of them anyway. If you can't live without a microwave, you may want to buy one in the states before leaving because they aren't a household staple here like in America.

We've surprisingly unpacked most of our stuff in the past 3 days. It helps that we have a whole spare room just to throw empty boxes and storage. We've realized that we still need a lot of things to really make this place home. Slowly, it will come together I hope. Until then, I'm just enjoying having my own bed back and a kitchen to make bread in!

The Reunion

I'm home sick from work today. I've been sick since last Tuesday, exactly one day after Greg came home from Afghanistan. And let me tell you, it was a long time coming.

Originally, Greg was scheduled to be home the weekend after Thanksgiving. That didn't happen.
Then, Greg was supposed to be home on November 27.
Then November 28.
Then his flight was cancelled all together.
Then he was told they'd be home December 1.
Then December 2.
This time, they went through customs, boarded the plane and sat on the runway for 2 hours. Oh yeah, then the plane in front of his slid off the icy runway...
So, finally, on December 3 at slightly before noon, I lined up at the Special Events Center to claim my husband.

For anyone who has never experienced the horror of a military homecoming, let me just explain the scene that unfolded. First of all, the SEC gets packed the second the doors open, about 2 hours before the actual ceremony. If you want to show up say, the hour before, you might as well prepare to stand. Babies and small children are abundant and often uncontrolled. The place reeks of cheap perfume like everyone took a Shore Shower the minute before entering the room. The media takes up half of the floor. It's hot. Kids are getting upset. And, in true Army style, the ceremony is never on time.

But, despite all of that, I was excited out of my mind. Nine months of deployment were finally over. 26 long months of living separately were coming to an end. For the first time in our marriage, we would actually get to live like a married couple- in the same home. Words can't even describe how excited we both felt.

It seemed like a century in that gym before they finally started entering.

Greg is in the second line, closest to the front. I didn't notice when I took the picture.

Thankfully, it only took about two minutes for them to get lined up and dismissed to find their families. We seriously lucked out that I showed up so late and was standing about four feet from Greg when he was released. It only took about 30 seconds for me to find and jump on him. I'm almost entirely sure that we were on the local news that night.

This is our obligatory homecoming photo.

Regardless of the delays, the set backs, the awful smell in the SEC and the fact that I've had a horrible sinus infection for almost two weeks, I'm thrilled that our family is finally back together. Onto our next adventure- Europe!