The First Visitors!

This is an absolutely delicious dish that looks rather unfortunate on camera. It's fried bananas with honey! We had it in Bamberg at the first Chinese restaurant we found in Germany.

A typical German square while any kind of fest is going on. This fest was in Bamberg, though I'm not certain that this doesn't happen every weekend there.

Those houses are in the middle of the river! And the clouds just look great. (photo taken in Bamberg)

In about twenty minutes, I'm going to leave here to go pick up the Troxels. (Dr.) Lori Troxel was one of my professors in school and ended up becoming a good friend and encouragement in the halls of Featheringill. She, her husband and two kids spent the last couple of weeks in Ireland on a missionary trip so I can't wait to hear their tales. They'll be with me for two nights, and then I'm driving them over to Prague where they'll spend two nights, and then catch their flight home.

I'm excited to have visitors! They'll be our first overnight visitors and I've finally got the house pretty much where I want it. Everything is beginning to be put away, almost all the important papers are filed, the car is cleaned out, and I think we've finally figured out the trash system (trash every other week, paper once a month, and plastic/aluminum I have to take to the recycling center myself). I even got to fiddle around on my dollhouse a bit! I can't wait to start working on that again, it is such a nice distraction.

I'm sure you're thinking "oh no, has she given up on the job search?" Of course not! I handed in my application for the framing job yesterday, and I'm sprucing up my resume so it has the exact words it needs for the engineering job. My contact is gone all August though, so I don't think that will head anywhere fast. Oh, and no news on the puppy, you will all know if a little bundle of joy enters my life as soon as or even before it happens.

News from Matt: I've gotten to talk to him again! It's so wonderful getting an unknown phone number on my phone, because I'm pretty certain who it is. He told me that he got to do some pretty cool stuff the other day. Apparently, the Army brought in some contractors (people not associated with the Army but getting paid big bucks to be there) to teach the soldiers about IED's (improvised explosive devices). They taught the soldiers some of the basics and then let them loose on a house that was "booby-trapped." This was all of course in training and nobody would have really gotten hurt. Apparently, Matt's team found a passageway that went under the house, through a secret passageway and chamber, and came up somewhere else...all because a few screws didn't look right on a shelf.

Also, a few months ago Matt had missed the chance to take some medical training that he had really wanted, but just a few days ago he was able to get some of the best training he's ever gotten. The Army has these ridiculously high-tech dummies that blink, breathe, and spew blood from different parts of their bodies (okay, not nice to visualize, but just think in terms of training). The soldiers were split up into teams, sent into a room of hurting "people," and told to try and help their dummy. Matt's team had the dummy that was bleeding from that large artery in the leg, so their dummy died, but not without some theatrics which ended up all over the team. You should have heard him, he was so pumped.

And just in case you wanted to send me something (a few wonderful people already have), here's our address:

CMR 411 Box 2299
APO AE 09112

If you send a package, please be warned that it could take a while to get here. But let me know it's coming so I can keep an eye out for it. Letters seem to get here within the week, which is great.

Okay, I'm off to pick up the Troxels!

The Solo Melones

It's been a few days since Matt left and the world doesn't seem to have fallen apart, which makes me think we might actually make it through this whole "being apart" business. My first night I spent at Veronica's place, nursing a cup of hot chocolate spiked with Bailey's while watching Little Women. Oh yes, and cried myself to sleep (I haven't not done that yet, but tonight might be a winner).

The next day I woke up late and Veronica made me a scrumptious breakfast. Sometime in the afternoon, I decided I needed to get back to our house to face the loneliness and take a shower. Walking in the door was an experience because so much of Matt was still in the house: his flip-flops by the couch, his bible on the coffee table, his ACU backpack, towel in the bathroom...those kinds of things. My heart didn't quite know what to do with everything. Once I finally made it into the house, I just focused on making it to the shower. Once I was clean things were more manageable and I was able to pick some stuff up around the house. Though I will say that the clothes he wore on his last day here are still on the bed so I can smell them.

Later that day Veronica picked me up to go run an errand with her, and that evening we went to Krista's to eat some delicious goulash, peach cobbler, and to watch a couple of movies. When that was done I reluctantly came home to face the lonely bed. Let me tell you, that was not fun.

I won't give you a play-by-play, but the general gist is that I've tried to keep myself busy by talking to people on the phone (those who called, you don't know how much I appreciate that!), reading some from this Army book Matt wanted me to read, organizing the house, and watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

BUT! I have gotten two emails and a phone call from Matt! I didn't expect to hear from him for a couple of weeks, but I'll insert some excerpts from what he wrote:

"I'm situated here for a few days before moving to the next place. It's hot here... No, I mean
like really hot... No, I don't think you're understanding how hot it is here. Imagine someone with four blow dryers blasting all over your body all the time.
...

There's really nothing new to report. I'm just enjoying taking advantage of having access to computers right now because in a few days I'll be somewhere new and probably won't have this luxury anymore.

Today dust blots out the sky. It's 121 degrees and the worse part is the fierce winds. You have to wear sunglasses everywhere. At least three guys, including myself, have commented on how the sunsets remind us of the ones from Star Wars. On the up side, I do get to wear a sweet boonie cap here.

The days are long and lame. Rachel, you should know that I'm doing quite well in Monkey Island 2. I rarely have to cheat now and look at the walkthrough. There's a starbucks here and two other generic 24 hour a day coffee houses that have plush seats, books and sweet smoothies. Today we lounged for hours drinking icy cappucinos. Last night I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall at a movie theatre here.

So, as you can imagine, I'm in no danger right now and am taking it quite easy. Hope you're all well."

I think that says it well! I'm trying to download some pictures we took before Matt left, but the internet is being especially slow tonight, so if there are no pictures, I just couldn't get Vodafone to behave.

Just a few more hours...

...to spend with my husband. He's just grabbing his uniform out of the laundry and getting ready to put his bags in the car for bag drop-off. So to keep myself distracted I decided to write a little and explain some of what's going on. Mind you, this is just what I understand of the situation and of technical terms. If I get something a little wrong, you'll have to give me a little grace.

Matt has bag drop-off at 1800. After that, he has off until 2100, during which time we are going to come back home and make some pancakes for dinner. At 2100 he is going to be locked in the gym for the final manifest check. After that, they go to a nearby Air Force Base and wait for their plane. For all they know, it could be a couple of hours or a couple of days. From there they take a commercial airliner (yay!) to Kuwait where they train for an unknown amount of time (days? weeks?) and then head to Iraq. I don't know if they fly, drive or skip their way there, so don't ask.

Once in Iraq he expects to sit around for a while until he gets attached to his specific company. After that, he's hoping to get a platoon of men (35-45 guys in this case) that he can command. He's not sure, but he doesn't expect to be going on raids, he will more likely be doing check-points and cordons (something quasi like a raid but nobody can tell me the real difference).

I, on the other hand, am applying for a framing job at the arts and crafts center in case this Corps of Engineers thing falls though (email correspondence makes it look very positive though). I'm spending tonight at Veronica's place so I don't have to spend my first night alone...alone. I think we've planned to have hot chocolate, cheesecake and a movie. At home I have stocked TV dinners and checked out chick flicks from the library so I'll be set for the next few days. Oh, and we're also looking into asking our landlord if we can get a puppy. I'm really hoping the answer is yes, because then there would be something else in the house that makes noise, but I'm not hopeful.

The house is mostly put together now, other than a few bits here and there. The Troxels are coming on the 29th so I had to clean out the guest room, and I've set up a really cute temporary area for their two kids upstairs. If I still like it in a few days I'll take some pictures.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet. I've been getting emails and messages from people who love me encouraging me, and it really does make me feel loved and like I'm not alone. These next few days will be hard, so I certainly welcome emails or phone calls, but can't promise to write back with any expediency. Oh, and if you have gmail, google talk (just a quick download) works much better than skype. If I'm online, you'll be able to call me.

The last few days

So, we've hit about the 1-week mark before Matt has to leave for Iraq. I know it's probably a sad note to start out on, but I know that's why everyone is reading this blog (other than the really awesome pictures ;). What have our lives been like recently? Well, the rear detatchment (Rear-D) commander just changed to a new guy named Captain Anderson, a high-speed infantry-man that Matt really likes. I've come to really like him as well, because as of a week and a half ago, Matt didn't have to go in for anything at work other than morning PT (which is from 0630-0800). And what'd we do with the rest of that time? Had fun! We had such a lazy last week and a half, half-heartedly cleaning up the house, making gourmet dinners every night, driving around our area, getting packages from the CMR (Central Mail Room). Speaking of which, I just got our pots and pans a day ago, and they're beautiful!

What's the schedule from here? More of the same. Matt only has to go in for PT in the morning, so we might actually start taking day trips to cities within the 2-hour driving distance. Bavaria is really the best part of this country. In the north part of Germany, the landscape and architecture are just not as interesting. The south is cool, and we haven't visited the west, but Bavaria is where all the cute little towns are, and more importantly, where they make all the beer. Beer here is only allowed to contain four ingredients, so a lot of it tastes similar, but every now and again, you get a real gem. One such gem is found at the brewery located about 200 yards from our house. Yes, we're ridiculously lucky.

As for a specific day that he's leaving, we don't know. He has a flight window of about 4-5 days. There's a possibility that the flight might not go at all. This window was originally scheduled to go at the early-mid month mark, but has already been pushed back a few times. But, the likelihood of it not going is small enough that I'm not considering it.

How am I doing? Well, I've not let myself dwell on it too much. The hardest times are in the evening, after we've finished watching a movie. I got a glimpse of what this upcoming time would be like when he was on a 1-week training exercise, and that memory and anticipation of much more of it is just very sad. One thing that doesn't help is that I found out yesterday that a soldier that went to Iraq just over a month ago was killed in action. This soldier was the husband of someone I was familiar with, and a friend to one of my best friends here. I scowl at Matt every now and again for leaving me here to just think about these things, but I know that's not productive, so I try to control it.

We've had so much fun these last few months together, and that really does help the situation. I would hate for him to go to war and for us to only have been arguing all this time. He also encourages me by saying that he'll be in a "safe" area most of the time because he'll be training for a few weeks or so, then meeting the guys, and then a couple of months after that, they have to start packing up. He's basically saying that his window of time to see action is pretty small.

What's going to keep me distracted while Matt's gone? Well, I had planned on working at the outdoor rec (ODR) in Grafenwoehr, but that didn't work out. I had visited the ODR in Vilseck, and the people that worked there were cool, and it was in a good building/location. Assuming things would be the same in Graf, I applied for the open position there. A few days later I decided to stop by myself and see what it was like. The building it was in was sketchy, and it was in a tiny room, instead of a whole stand-alone building like in Vilseck. Instead of seeing 3-4 young-looking people behind the counter, I see one middle-aged man with long greasy hair. After talking there for a bit, he said I wouldn't want to work there because he was an ass-hole, and good luck with the job. In the middle of this, Matt walked in and just walked right out. When we got back in the car, we looked at each other, and agreed that I'd withdraw my application.

After that scary incident, I went over to the framing shop to see if the job was still available there. Turns out it was! The guy I talked to really wants me to work there, so I picked up an application.

A few days later, Matt and I had gotten a map of Graf post (something for which we had been looking for a long while). On it had a building marked "Department of Public Works." On a whim, we went over there to ask if there were any jobs available and to ask where the Army Corps of Engineers were located. The German guy we were talking to looked confused, said there were no jobs, and pointed us in the direction of the Corps office...out in an area not shown on our map that I didn't know even existed. We drove by, eyed the building, and said I'd come back the next day with a resume and cover letter and see what I could find.

The next day, dressed all snazy and with a ridiculously well-written resume and cover letter printed on resume paper, I made my way to the Corps office. I walked in, not knowing what would come of this endeavor, and somehow found my way to a gentleman in his late 40's who, though he worked in a Corps office, still looked very alive, intelligent and engaging. It would take too long to explain exactly what happened, but the whole conversation we had was very witty. He had on his desk at that moment resumes that he was looking through to fill three available positions. I handed him my resume, explained my situation, he looked at me, and basically said he wanted to hire me. Woot! He didn't know if he could, thought there might be some red tape, but would contact me later about it. But part of his incentive to help me was that he had gotten his start the same way, just walking into someone's office. And he had a pained look on his face when I mentioned that my only other option was to work at the arts and crafts store doing framing.

He called me later that day, very hopeful, and said that he'd send me a copy of the job announcement and description for the job he was trying to fill, and told me to adjust my resume to include as many of the underlined words as possible. I said I'd get right on it.

About an hour later he called again, and then he told me that there was no way I could ever get the job. He had talked to the people who actually appoint people for the job (not engineers, and nobody I'd be working with), and they said that the job announcement calls for 1 year of experience. With my internships, I'd only have about 9-10 months, and that would never cut it. I was currently at a level of GS-5, and the position he was trying to fill was a GS-12 (I don't know what GS means, this is just what he told me). So, he told me that 3 more months of experience would take me from a GS-5 to a GS-12, which is ridiculous in my opinion, and in his as well. I offered to volunteer for the office for 3 months to get that extra time, but he didn't like that option. So we hung up the phone and I was depressed, again.

The next morning, he called me saying that he was going to try to create a position for me that would be a quasi internship position. My impression was that it would have to pay a lot less because of my experience, but he just really wanted to see me start my career. So how this last scenario would work is that it would take him about half a month to create the description for said position, then he's gone all of August, then after that he could submit the position to the lame people in the states that make all the important decisions, it would take a month for them to decide to publish it or not. If they liked it, they'd publish the description online, then I'd have to compete for it, the people in the states would have to like my resume enough to send it back to my friend in Germany, and then he'd make the final decision.

That's where we are today. I'll have to wait until early October to know if I have a job or not. Very aggravating, but at least there's hope. Everyone who's supposed to know about jobs around here was not helpful. They all tried to send me to the unit of engineers in Graf, where I'm pretty sure civilians don't work. Finally, I had to just go do the research in person around Graf (the information could NOT be found online, frustratingly enough), found the office, and just walked in. So pray that the people in the states view this idea favorably, view my resume favorably, and that this situation can work out well for me. I'd really like to start my career, and not just put it on hold for 3 years. I mean, how could we plan for kids if I was just starting my career at 26?

Enough about all that! I've included some pictures below that I took a while ago and just haven't had an excuse to put up yet.

This is Veldenstein Castle. Just half an hour from our place. We had planned to have dinner there the night this was taken, but there was a wedding going on that interrupted our plans.

This little empty church is about 2 kilometers from our house. So sad that nobody uses it anymore!

Ah, the beloved Smart car! The church is in the background, and my very handsome groom is in the driver's seat.

This is me just goofing around at a castle/manor in a city about an hour and 15 minutes away. Nobody was here, and the place was completely free to get into. Man I love Europe!

Prague and Beyond

Last weekend was Matt's last four-day weekend before he leaves for Iraq so we wanted to take a vacation. Considering we'd taken two other vacations in the past two months, we thought it might be a good idea to head to eastern Europe to see if we could cut down on costs. And where is the closest eastern European city? Prague! Though certainly not the cheapest of cities, it promised to be cheaper to get to and most likely cheaper to travel around.

July 3rd Matt got online and booked a hotel for the following evening...I still can't believe we are able to do this. We are going to be ridiculously spoiled after living here. It is certainly not fair that we can plan our trip to Prague one day in advance when others plan months in advance, but knowing that, we are taking as much advantage of our situation as possible. Now is the time to have adventures like this, so we're diving right in!

July 4th (a 1-year anniversary of our engagement!) we made it to Prague. We got an incredible rate on a place right in old town, just a 5-minute walk from Old Town Square. The first afternoon/evening there we meandered around the square, across the Charles Bridge, and then back to square for dinner. Oh, and in the middle of that, my parents were able to call and wish us a happy 4th, and it didn't cost us a cent! How awesome is that? It costs an incredible amount to make phone calls, but to receive them is free, no matter if we're roaming or not, apparently.

The Old Town Square

Matt in front of the Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

The next day we walked back the same route and headed to the castle. The path from the square, over the bridge, and to the castle was just lined with shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants of every kind and color. Everything along this path seemed fun, beautiful, safe, and very clean. Once we got to the top of the castle the view was incredible. We wanted to go inside the cathedral which was inside the castle walls, but the line looked ridiculously long, so we just enjoyed it thoroughly. We promised ourselves that the next time we have visitors in town for a while (most likely the Melone family) we'll have a look inside.

Cathedral inside Prague Castle

We received complaints that we were never in photos together...this is the view from Prague Castle


The sun sets on Old Town Square

That evening we decided to do a pub crawl. Sadly there are no pictures of the crawl because I didn't think it wise to carry the camera around while we were imbibing potentially large amounts of alcohol. Nevertheless, we had an amazing time! The first pub was really the place to get all the drinks in...they gave you three shots as you walked in the door, and then randomly came around later to hand out more. You also got as much beer or wine as you could handle, and even offered a beer bong if you wanted it.

The second place we went to had a normal pub upstairs, but downstairs had quite a few rooms for the club they had going on. We took a shot at the door and immediately went downstairs to the loud music and bar. Matt and I got some drinks and sat down near the dancing area. My oh my, we were not prepared for the kind of dancing we would see on the dance floor. Don't worry, it wasn't lewd or anything, it was just ridiculous. It looked more like the chicken dance (or the rabid chicken dance for some) than anything else. Finally, Matt and I took the floor, and once other people realized that there were some people on the floor that weren't crazy, they joined as well. So we felt really cool after that, because we got the night started :).

We followed our guide to the next pub, which was this ridiculously awesome...cellar. I can't explain it better than opulent stone rooms underground. Candles on all the tables, wonderful nooks and crannies, circular stair cases leading up to upper levels...so fantastic! Great pub crawl!

The last pub was more like a club than any of the other ones. I won't say much, but the bouncers at the door definitely found Matt's "insurance" (read: knife) he had in his pocked and kicked him out to go "hide" his weapon. We didn't stay there for long, but all in all, the evening was a great hit and we're so glad we did it!

All in all, this is probably our favorite city that we've seen so far. Venice might be arguably more beautiful, but there were hardly any Venetians there, only tourists. In Prague, though the tourists are a huge part of the economy, it's not the only thing sustaining it. It was a real city.

The next day we packed up, bought some yummy chocolates, and headed on our way. On our drive back we saw a sign for a very cool-looking castle, so we followed the signs off the highway for 16 kilometers on country roads. What we found is in the picture below. So cool! It was Charles V castle, built in 17 years in 14--. It was beautiful and commanding.

We got home that afternoon (yesterday) and just crashed. Earlier today we went to get some food and on the way back decided it was high time we invest in some beer. We had seen a little store in our village that said "getranke" (un-elegantly put: booze) on the side, and had also seen people walking out with cases of beer, so we decided to check it out. We have found a gold mine! We got about 14 different kinds of beer, and 20 bottles total. And what was the cost of it all, including a deposit for the bottles and case? About 16 EUR! For a variation of the best beer in Germany! Yeah, we live in an awesome village.

Job for Rachel? I applied to work at the outdoor rec. Hopefully I'll find out in the next day or so if I got the job. I wouldn't imagine too many people would apply for it, but all I need is one woman whose husband has been with the military longer than mine and the job is hers.

I know you all want to hear about when Matt is leaving, but all I can say is sometime at the end of July. There's something called OPSEC, which stands for Operation Security. This security is mainly for intel like troop movements and other kinds of information that might be valuable to the enemy. It's probably not AS big a deal to know about a couple of new guys (which is who will be on Matt's flight), but if a unit of 6,000 men were about to enter or leave hostile territory, that kind of information could cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands.

There are more pictures that I want to share just from the area, but I'll get to those at a later post.