This morning, Bill and I went to get my German driver’s license renewed. After five years, your license expires. We’ve been here since August 2014, so it was time to get this chore accomplished. Because we’re here on SOFA status, our driver’s license procedure is different than it would be if we were ordinary residents. We have to go to an office on an installation, in this case, Clay Kaserne, fill out paperwork, take an eye test, and pay $20. Technically, my stateside license is what makes me legal to drive here, but we have to have one issued by the military installation, too.
License renewal is pretty easy, since it doesn’t require taking a test. In 2007 and 2014, I had to take the driver’s license test. I was able to pass on the first try both times, although not everyone does. I think both times, I took a class directly before the exam was given, although the class is now available online. I don’t think it’s a hard test, but it does take time to get it done. I still have the first German license that was issued to me in 2007. I turned my license from 2014 in today and should get a new one in the mail in a few weeks.
The guy who helped me this morning was a delightful German fellow who was cracking jokes the whole time. I found him very amusing, and could tell that he shares a love of sweets with me. He had a jar of cookies, a candy jar full of gummi fish, and another box of cookies on his desk. When he noticed we’d moved up here from Stuttgart, he was extolling the virtues of Wiesbaden versus Stuttgart. To be honest, I think I like living up here more, although there are a few things I miss about Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a lot more familiar to me and I think the surrounding area is prettier… there’s a lot more nature and pretty buildings that weren’t destroyed in World War II. But the people up here seem more relaxed about almost everything, which makes life easier for me.
After we filled out my paperwork, the guy helpfully explained how I can get an international driver’s license. We’ve been here five years and I never bothered to get one. I don’t drive very often. Bill wants to get me one now, though, because they’re good to have in case something happens to him while we’re out of the country. Also, it’s a lot easier to get the international license up here. In Stuttgart, we had to go to a German government office to get one. It took a couple of hours because there were many people waiting and not enough people working. Up here, we can get the international license on post, and the same guy would be helping us. And… he even explained how we can expedite things even more. Very helpful guy… and very friendly! Edited to add:Bill says we still have to go to a government office to get the international license, but it’s a very large office, so it only takes a few minutes as opposed to hours.
I had occasion to use the restroom while we were renewing my license. I was amused by the wall o’ PSAs in the ladies room. There were instructions on everything from how to wash your hands to how to prevent the spread of flu. And there were tons of directives– turn off the lights, report all leaks, and dammit, wash your hands! The ladies room also had, not just a chair, but a full couch! I don’t know how many people hang out in the restroom, but if you wanted to on Clay Kaserne, you certainly could. Maybe the couch was intended for nursing moms, but I noticed they had a nursing room, too.
Seriously, you could spend ten minutes reading all of this crap on the walls. I get a kick out of military installations, because there is never a shortage of reading material. Every bulletin board is chock full of information, and the walls are full of instructions on what to do in any situation. They especially like to put stuff on the stall doors so you can read while you’re taking a dump.
As someone who could have been a public health practitioner, I do appreciate the pictorial on how to wash your hands properly… but somehow, I think those who need the sign the most probably would not take the time to read it. One would hope this would be a home taught skill, anyway. But, on the other hand, you’d likely be surprised by how many people don’t wash their hands after they go to the bathroom.
I’m just glad I didn’t see anything like this in the restroom…
I’m staying the hell away from Kansas City!
This post is proof positive that I can find something to write about every day, if I put my mind to it.
Bill and I have now lived in our house for almost seven weeks. We’re mostly settled, although until today, there were still a few things that needed to find homes. Bill had some text books from his latest master’s degree program that had nowhere to go, and the small collection of actual books I have in Germany had taken up all of the space on the one bookshelf I had allotted to our shared office.
I always buy cookbooks at Christmas, but only a few of them get much action in the kitchen. The matching bookshelf to the one in our office was, until today, located in our dining room. It was holding all of the cookbooks we never use. This past year, because I bought a couple of extra books, there were a few cookbooks that needed a home. Also, we had some kitchen gadgets that needed storage.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been looking for a nice bookshelf for the downstairs. What I found on the local Amazon site wasn’t thrilling me, and I found nothing at all at the Wiesbaden AAFES. German mod style doesn’t excite me, either.
Then I realized that Bill’s desk chair would probably scratch the brand new flooring in our office if I didn’t find him a rug. Our Wiesbaden AAFES does not have a Turkish rug guy like Stuttgart has (and I’m actually pretty happy with the rugs we bought in Stuttgart in November– they’re much nicer than the ones I bought a few years ago). I thought maybe Ramstein would have a permanent rug guy at their PX, the way Heidelberg used to and Stuttgart still does.
Finally, I realized that my skin is no longer taking makeup like it used to. I have dry skin and when I apply makeup, it collects in my pores and makes me look even freakier than ever. I need to start using primer under foundation so it doesn’t get all cakey and gross looking. That meant a trip to the Lancome counter was in order.
Chili’s was also on the agenda…
With all of these items on my list, plus the prospect of getting some Southwestern Egg Rolls at Chili’s, I told Bill maybe we should go to Ramstein to see what was at the huge PX/BX there. We now live about 80 minutes from Ramstein, quite a bit closer than we did when we were in Stuttgart. Bill hates going there, but conceded that maybe it would be a good idea to see what the largest AAFES in Europe has to offer.
Ramstein’s Exchange is absolutely humongous. It was opened on September 23, 2009, which was just one week after we left Germany the first time we lived here. At the time it was opened, it was the largest AAFES in the world. I would not be surprised if it still is. It’s enormous, especially compared to every other AAFES I’ve ever seen.
By the way, we never did visit Ramstein during our first Stuttgart tour. Our first time visiting Ramstein was in 2012, when we took our very first Space A hop from Baltimore. We flew in and out of Ramstein on that trip, as well as the Space A trip we took in 2014 to Germany and France. I remember sitting at the bar in the now defunct Chili’s Too at the AAFES mall, talking to a soldier who had basically been forced to move from England to Germany due to mental health issues. It was an interesting and disturbing conversation. I wonder how that guy is doing and hope he’s okay.
During our 2014 visit, I recall being sad to be leaving Germany to go back to Texas, where Bill would then retire. I was worried about what would come next. We didn’t know at the time that we’d be moving back to Germany just weeks after that trip; we’d taken our vacation thinking it might be our last chance to enjoy Europe before Bill left the Army. Little did we know…
I remember visiting the PX during one or both of those Space A trips, but we didn’t buy anything there, since we were not stationed in Europe at the time. Back then, I noticed that half of the shops were vacant.
The next time we visited Ramstein was in June 2017, on our way to Belgium. We stopped by to gas up the car and had horrible burgers from Johnny Rocket’s. I didn’t go inside the mall because we had our dogs with us.
The vast food court at Ramstein. It’s probably got twice as many vendors as other AAFES food courts have. They had Chinese food and even Anthony’s Pizza, which used to have a location at Patch Barracks when we lived in Germany the first time. Anthony’s is long gone from Stuttgart, but Ramstein still has one, along with a Pizza Hut Express. There’s also a Ramstein “Hofbrau” restaurant that looked somewhat lame, but probably has good food.
I had to take a picture of the tiny sewing/knitting area. When I was growing up, AAFES had a decent sized sewing section, but not so much anymore. I don’t sew or do needle crafts, but my mom owned her own business selling knitting and needlepoint supplies. She taught many people how to knit. I was not among them.
Spotted at the Birkenstock Outlet… I think they’re pretty tacky, but I’m sure someone else loves them. My dad, rest his soul, would probably wear these. I noticed all of the store space was taken at Ramstein. I don’t think I saw a single vacant space yesterday.
Bill makes it a point to avoid Ramstein when he can help it. He says it’s too much like being back in the States. After today’s visit, I’m inclined to agree. It’s a shock to go to that base and see just how much American stuff is there. It really does feel like “home”. As crowded as our local AAFES can get on the weekends, the one at Ramstein kind of puts it to shame. It’s just huge– it looks like a legitimate American style mall. And besides the Exchange, there’s also a Birkenstock Outlet, a spa, a Swarovski store, and several fast food joints in the food court I’ve not seen in other places.
So… today, we went to AAFES at Ramstein, braving the nasty January rainy weather. I found the primer for my face. Then, we located a bookshelf for the cookbooks. I looked at the rugs offered by the Turkish rug guy, who appeared to have a temporary station under the escalators, but he didn’t have what I needed. The rugs were either the wrong color or size, or they were way too expensive. I found one really nice looking rug that would have worked for the area next to our bed that needs protection from our dogs’ toenails (they take flying leaps onto the bed, and that can cause scratches). It was priced at 1149 euros, which is way more than I wanted to spend on a rug that shares living space with dogs.
Bill’s area sporting AAFES’ finest… I probably wouldn’t have bought it under normal circumstances, but it works for now.
I did, however, find a rather psychedelic looking tie-dyed looking rug that would do the trick for Bill’s office chair. It was tucked away among a pile of cheap rugs at the Exchange and came a bit closer to matching the colors in the much nicer Oriental rug on my side of the office. Next time we visit Stuttgart, we’ll hit up the rug guy on Panzer. Hopefully, he’ll still be there.
After we shopped– and Bill traded gossip with a former co-worker he ran into who now works at Ramstein– we went to Chili’s. The Chili’s Too we visited at the PX in 2014 is now a Macaroni Grill. It’s just as well that the Chili’s Too was closed, since I don’t remember liking it much when we visited in 2014. The bartender had pissed me off for some reason. Fortunately, my memory fails me now. Also, I recall that location only had a limited menu.
The Chili’s we went to today offers the whole menu. To get to Chili’s, we had to drive to the Enlisted Club on Lawn Road. It’s right next to the bowling alley. When we arrived at the restaurant, which is in a building that also hosts a P.F. Chang’s, we were confronted by a crowd of people waiting to be seated.
I noticed a rather strange, sour aroma in the air that made me wonder if we should abandon our plans to get Southwestern Eggrolls and go somewhere else. But the hostess said the wait was only ten minutes, so we stuck it out.
Bill checks out the well-used menu. I found a piece of a straw wrapper in mine.
The noise level in the Chili’s was really high. I felt a little like I was having lunch in an elementary school cafeteria. Babies were shrieking; toddlers were crying; kids were yelling; and adults were talking very loudly. I had forgotten how loud Americans can be in groups. I don’t say this to be disparaging. It’s just that I’ve noticed that since we’ve lived in Germany, Bill and I find ourselves speaking in lower voices when we’re in public. I think it’s partly because we don’t want to be too obviously American. I guess I paid close attention to all of those AFN OPSEC PSAs I used to see when I was in the Peace Corps in Armenia.
Anyway, it was extremely loud in there and very busy. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be a quiet lunch, but there was definitely a lot more noise than I’m used to or had anticipated. But then, we were there in the afternoon, which is probably prime nap time for a lot of young kids. Some of them really sounded like it was time to nap.
I took this message to heart…
Although the ear splitting din in the restaurant sorely tempted me to get a Margarita, I decided to have a beer. Good thing I did, too, because our food got to us before our beers did. And when they arrived, they had, as my Irish friend Chris would say, “shitty wee heads” on them. Quite disappointing.
We decided to split the “Ultimate Dipper”, which is a platter of fried stuff… but it includes Southwestern Eggrolls, which is really all I wanted, anyway. Besides the eggrolls, you get Honey-Chipotle Chicken Crispers, Crispy Cheddar Bites, Signature Wings, and (Regular) Chicken Crispers. You also get six “dips”– basically different salad dressings like honey mustard, blue cheese, avocado ranch, and ancho chili ranch. Oh, and there are also a few celery stalks for all you health nuts out there. The two kinds of Chicken Crispers, by the way, weren’t really like each other. One was like beer battered chicken and the other was like crispy chicken drenched in sweet, spicy maple syrup. It wasn’t unlike General Tsao’s Chicken.
I’m glad we shared this. We didn’t finish it. Chili’s also offers fajitas, burgers, ribs, soups, and Tex Mex stuff, as well as steaks, salads, and at least one pasta dish. I mainly go there for eggrolls.
I think the waitress was surprised to see we didn’t need any refills on the “dips”. Neither of us likes to use a lot of condiments. A little dab’ll do ya.
Our waitress was very friendly. I have no complaints at all about her service, especially since the place was a bit of a zoo. For some reason, it took awhile to get our beers, so she brought us water in the meantime, which I appreciated. It was even still tap water, like you get in the States (although I like mine fizzy). However, I was kind of disappointed in the appetizer. The Cheddar Bites tasted like they’d been sitting awhile, and didn’t taste that good. Actually, the whole thing looked a little wilted and tired, like it wasn’t quite as fresh as it should have been. It reminded me of something I might extract from a box that came from the frozen food aisle at the commissary.
Also, I was a bit grossed out by the ladies room. At least one of the bathroom stalls had a broken lock, and another had the remnants of someone’s dump on the toilet seat. It didn’t exactly make me feel better after eating all that fried stuff.
Still, I did get my Southwestern Eggroll fix, which was really all I wanted. It was also a pretty cheap lunch. I think we paid about $26 and still had leftovers. And after that trip to Ramstein, I feel pretty certain I won’t need to visit again for awhile. In fact, it was kind of like a vaccine against visiting the States. It’s been four years since I last set foot in America. I don’t know when I’ll be going back, but I think I’m definitely content to stay in Germany for now.
I’m sort of kidding. There are certainly good restaurants in the States, and I do still have many friends and loved ones there. But every once in awhile, it’s good to be reminded why one should savor their time abroad. I remember missing Germany something terrible when we moved in 2009. I pined for it for five years, even though some good things happened during those five years away. I know not everyone feels this way. Some people cannot wait to move back to the States. Me? I think I love Europe. It really suits me. And while Chili’s is okay for the occasional Southwestern Eggroll, I think I’ll stick to European restaurants for now… There will surely come a day when I’ll be missing them again, too.
And now, perhaps it’s time for a Margarita in my nice, quiet, dining room.
I regularly get visitors to this blog from people who are considering the overseas military contracting life. Today’s post is update number four in my continuing series about what it’s like to be a contractor in Germany after retiring from the Army. Please note, I’m not the actual contractor; my husband is. However, he doesn’t write this blog; I do.
Something major happened last week. For those who haven’t been following along, here is a brief timeline of our four years in Stuttgart.
August 2014– We moved back to Stuttgart after having been gone five years. Our arrival came one month after Bill retired from the Army. Bill has a job working at AFRICOM with a well known company. I posted my first blog entry about the contracting lifestyle. Four years later, it remains a very popular post.
September 2015– I posted an update of what life had been like thirteen months after our arrival.
April 2017- Bill had just found out that the first company he worked for lost its contract. A new company would be taking over. Not everyone would be hired. It was a very stressful month for us as we waited to find out our fate. Bill did end up getting hired by the new company. He also got a tentative job offer for a GS position in Italy, which he decided to turn down.
July 2017- Bill started working for the new company doing the same job he was doing when he was first invited to come to Germany.
October 2017- My third update on our overseas military contractor lifestyle was posted.
Okay… so this past week, Bill had a meeting after work. At the meeting, he and his co-workers were told that the government has decided to convert their positions to GS jobs. The company Bill works for has been paid through the spring, so they will definitely have jobs until then, but after the money runs out, everyone will have to move to a different position or convert to the GS system.
This situation differs from what happened last year with Bill’s first employer. That time, the contract was simply lost, and everyone was on the hook to find a new job. Basically, everyone was told “Sorry and good luck.” Quite a number of people ended up having to leave Germany, including a couple of people who had only just arrived months prior.
This time, no one is losing his or her job with the company; however, everyone who decides to stay with the company will be moving to a different position somewhere. Some people might decide to become government service employees, but if they stay in Europe, that will very likely mean a significant reduction in pay. Not only is the salary likely to be less, it will also mean giving up the housing allowance and moving expenses, should a move be required. Some might opt to work for another company or simply leave Germany altogether.
Bill was asked if he would consider going GS and staying at his current job. He said he wouldn’t, because it would mean an unacceptable reduction in pay and benefits. Bill has enjoyed what he’s been doing for the past four years, but not enough to forfeit five figures in annual pay. Aside from that, as a former Army officer, he’s used to changing jobs every few years.
Fortunately, in Stuttgart, Bill is qualified for a number of jobs and is well-liked by a lot of people. Not only does he have a lot of experience working as an exercise planner in Europe, Africa, and South and Central America, he also has a brand new master’s degree in cybersecurity to join another one he has in information management. The company he works for is very large and has contracts worldwide, so if there is nothing for him in Stuttgart, chances are good there’s something for him elsewhere in Germany or Europe. Or, we could go back to the United States, although neither of us wants to do that.
Given my ‘druthers, I’d rather stay where we are. It’s not that I don’t wonder about living in other places. I just hate the moving process and have had to do it way too many times over the first twelve years of our marriage. We like our dentist, our vet, and all of the amenities in this area. While I don’t love our house much, I do like our dog friendly neighborhood and our relatively laid back neighbors.
I will admit, though, that I do sometimes fantasize about moving to a different part of Germany, Belgium, Italy, or even Spain and travel blogging in a new area. I like new experiences, trying new foods, and meeting different people. I also sometimes muse about moving back to the States, buying a house of my own, maybe even finally getting a job somewhere, if anyone would hire me. But I also have two aging dogs who aren’t in perfect health, so I don’t really fancy looking for a new vet, putting them through quarantine (in island areas), or making them fly long haul across an ocean.
So we’ll see what happens. I won’t lie. I am a little bit stressed out by this development, especially since we just went through a worse version of it last year. However, some of Bill’s co-workers have been with the company longer and, when this has happened in the past, they were well taken care of. We have no reason to believe that’s not what will happen this time. At least this time, we have plenty of notice and not just ninety days. And this time, the company wants to keep everyone and reassign them rather than tell them “See ya! Wouldn’t want to be ya!”
In August, should we last that long, Bill and I will have spent three years living in Germany for the second time. As I explained in my first article about about the difference between Army life and contractor life, there are significant differences between living in Germany with the military and living here as “hired guns” for government contractors. For the most part, Bill and I have enjoyed our time here with him as a civilian. We’ve made an effort to see and do a lot more locally, have made some friends, and even attempted to learn more of the language. This time, we feel very comfortable in Germany and it’s feeling more like home. Which is probably why the developments of this week seem especially cruel.
Just this week, Bill told me that his company lost the contract he was working on. Chances are good that the incoming company will offer Bill a job, but there is no guarantee that will happen. Consequently, this week has been rather stressful, since the contract Bill works on will expire this summer. We were definitely not planning to leave and even have a cruise planned. I’m going to be super bummed if we have to cancel, although I did buy “cancel for any reason” travel insurance strictly because I knew this could happen.
I try to be philosophical and realize that Easter is a time of renewal and rebirth. It could turn out that this event will lead to good things. But right now, we’re dealing with the uncertainty of what comes next when a company loses a contract. It’s especially stressful when you’re thousands of miles from “home” and will probably have to come up with the money to move back there should that become necessary.
So, this is yet another aspect of living the contractor life that can be worrying and stressful. Bill and I would like to stick around for a couple more years, mainly because we moved six times within the last seven years of his time in the Army. We have been here two and a half years and it’s finally starting to feel somewhat familiar.
And yet… although I have been to almost all of the European capital cities, I still have yet to see Berlin beyond the airport. There’s still a lot I want to see and do and neither Bill nor I have any desire to go back to the States anytime soon. At the very least, we definitely need to see Berlin.
It seems like this kind of thing always happens just when I pay off my credit cards, too. Last time we lived here, I got really close to paying USAA all I owed them. I think I was within $300 of having a zero credit card balance. Then, Bill was unexpectedly called back to the States to take an assignment in Georgia at a post that was due to close less than two years after our arrival. We moved, and were faced with the prospect of having to sleep on the floor for a month while we waited for our furniture to arrive. We also moved into a house that had no refrigerator. Before I knew it, I was whipping out the credit card to buy all the stuff we needed. I know some people are fine with a month on an air mattress, but I’m no longer willing to put up with charley horses and sore backs. I had a big credit card bill again in no time.
Last month, I finally paid off USAA and now have zero credit card debt. I also came up with a plan to eliminate my student loans within the next two years. Sure enough, weeks later, we find out we might end up having to move. Maybe the end lesson is that I shouldn’t try so hard to pay off debt!
In a couple of weeks, Bill and I will be traveling to Scotland and taking a cruise on Hebridean Princess. We have cruised on this ship before, back in November 2012. We were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary. It was actually a rather bittersweet journey because one of our dogs got very sick while we were gone. Despite MacGregor’s sickness, we had a wonderful time in Scotland and especially on Hebridean Princess. Scotland felt very comfortable to me, probably because a number of my ancestors were Scots and my earliest memories are of living in England.
Anyway, when we took that first cruise, Bill brought his dress blues and wore them for the galas on the ship. These are special meals where haggis is served. The men wear tuxedoes and the women wear cocktail dresses. Bill made many people, including the ship’s officers, stop dead in the their tracks when he showed up wearing his uniform. The Brits love it when people dress smartly for a special occasion. It was one of a few times when it seemed like Bill was so much prettier than me. Lots of people congratulated him for looking so sharp.
I hope we can get a nicer shot on this upcoming trip… Yes, we were a little hammered. We needed some Scotch courage to try the haggis.
As it happens when guys get older and retire from the Army, Bill has gained a little weight. Although I have been nagging him for weeks about trying on the uniform, he finally did it today. And he found out that his uniform no longer fits him properly. It’s enough that he needed to invest in a new shirt and jacket. We went to Panzer today to shop for uniform essentials so he’ll be all spiffy on our cruise. He lucked into the last jacket in his new size and found a shirt with no problem. Sadly, clothing sales was missing the piping that he needed for the jacket sleeves and no one there could help him. He’ll either have to get the piping off of his older jacket or go on a crash diet for the next two weeks. Maybe he’ll find someone who can help him before we take off in a couple of weeks.
While he was buying the jacket and shirt, I took note of some “fresh fruit” being offered for sale…
I think it might be time for banana bread… Also, at least one of those apples has seen better days.
We stopped by the PX for a potty break and to pick up some feminine hygiene essentials, then we went to the Auld Rogue for a late lunch/early dinner. Bill tried the chili, which was pretty good but not very spicy.
I might be persuaded to order this sometime, though my chili is much better. I’m not a big fan of lots of heat, but this was pretty bland for chili. I liked the cheese.
This was pretty good, as usual. I couldn’t finish it all, though.
After we ate and had a few rounds of Guinness, we went to Patch to pick up a couple of things from the Shoppette. I took the opportunity to use the bathroom because I knew that if I didn’t, I’d really regret it on the way home. Folks, I’m here to tell you that despite AAFES’ promises of a clean restroom that is inspected every hour, the potty in the Shoppette was even grosser than usual today. It looked like someone’s abnormally large turd was stuck in the commode. And there was also no toilet paper. It’s a good thing I had some Kleenex with me.
Clean restroom promise… HA!
I have ranted about the nasty bathrooms before, but I just figured today’s experiences represented an unusually high level of suckitude. It truly makes me sad. I’ve seen some really gross toilets in my day, but they were in developing countries. I think we should be able to do better in a place like Germany, where there is plenty of running water, people get paid regularly, and detergent is affordable.
Oh well… Somehow, we’ll get Bill in his uniform so he can be stunning to our friends the Brits. I’ll try to keep up with his natural beauty.
My very first passport photo before we moved to England. I was about three years old and two feet ten inches tall. I was born in Hampton, Virginia and my parents moved us back to that area when I was eight. I grew up in Virginia and it’s now “home”, but I don’t miss it that much.
As I was watching the dogs outside this morning, I had a sudden thought about being an American kid in Europe. I spent part of my early childhood in England at Mildenhall Air Force Base. We lived on the base, but I went to a British school instead of the American school. My sisters went to the American schools. At the time, living in England was perfectly normal to me.
I didn’t know I was in a foreign country, although I do remember my mom and sisters explaining to me that we were Americans living in England and that it was a “different country” than where we came from. At that time, I didn’t have a concept of countries, though. England was simply “home”. I still have vivid memories of the primary school where I attended kindergarten with British and a few other American kids. My mom told me she sent me there because the school day was longer and it kept me out of her hair.
Our backyard in England on Mildenhall Air Force Base bordered a big field with cows in it. I was fascinated by them. To this day, I still hate wearing shoes… and I love livestock.
We moved back to the States in 1978, when I was six years old. At that point, I had spent half my life in England and it was really the only place I remembered. I have only the vaguest of memories of our time at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Even though I’m American and was finally back in the United States after three years abroad, it didn’t really feel like my home. It felt like a foreign country. The time I spent as a small child in England changed me somehow, even though I am very much an American. I guess living in England made me more aware of the world around me. It definitely gave me a perspective that a lot of my peers didn’t have, although quite a lot of my peers were also military brats and a few of them had also lived abroad.
Me and my mom going to high tea at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham, England. This photo was so fascinating to me that I used Google Earth to figure out where we were. This hotel is still open and there’s a chance Bill and I might book a room there in March. It depends on how nervous he is about getting us to the airport on Easter morning.
For some reason, I was thinking about kids who are born abroad and spend their formative years in another country. They go to school with host country nationals, probably learn to speak the local language. It’s “home” to them. Then they move back to the country where they’re really from and it somehow feels “foreign” to them. Even though they are among their people, they are different. They were different when they were abroad, too. They weren’t locals and weren’t likely to stay there longer than a few years, but they were mingling among the locals and got to see things through their eyes.
I think sometimes the first place you remember as a child is a place that really leaves an imprint. I have always been kind of fascinated by England, though I haven’t spent a lot of time there since we moved back to the States in 1978. We went to London in 2009 and I remember being questioned by the customs people. They wanted to know if I’d ever been there before. I told them I used to live in England. That piqued their interest, until I told them I lived there as a young child in the 1970s. Then it was okay. I suspect there are a lot of Americans like me, people who lived abroad when they were kids and kind of feel like their childhood home is actually “home”. I think my mom thought of England as home, too. She said she cried all the way back to the States when we had to move.
My parents kept in touch with my dad’s British secretary from when we lived in England. Before my dad died in 2014, they went back to visit her a few times. She visited them, too, and even became friends with my Granny. In fact, I saw her right before Bill and I got married. I remember her fondly. Before we left England, she asked me when I’d be back to visit. I told her I wasn’t coming back until they built a bridge across the Atlantic Ocean. She reminded me of that when I saw her last. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve flown across the Atlantic Ocean since 1978… or really, 1995. I never took another trip abroad until I joined the Peace Corps.
My sisters cautioned me against marrying a military guy. They saw my mom’s life as an Air Force wife and how it didn’t make her very happy. I mostly enjoyed being an Army wife until Bill retired in 2014. The lifestyle took me in a direction I wasn’t expecting, but I’ve been around the military my whole life. It’s kind of second nature to me. I didn’t have the globe trotting experience my sisters had because my dad retired from the Air Force when I was six years old. But I definitely made up for that as an Army wife. I eventually had roots when my dad retired, but now I’m not sure if I’ll root anywhere else.
In March, Bill and I will be going to Glasgow, Scotland to catch a cruise through the Hebrides. We have decided that after the cruise, we will visit my old childhood stomping grounds, possibly with a stop in Stoke On Trent so we can catch a performance of Avenue Q. If we do make it to Suffolk, Bill will probably have to acquaint himself with British driving. I know it makes him nervous, but I feel confident he can do it. If my parents could do it, he certainly can. And who knows? We may even move to England at some point. The expat life definitely suits us.
I spotted this sign in Edinburgh. My maiden name is Tolley. My married name is Crossen. Seems like a clue from the past.
I always thought I’d put down roots somewhere and raise a family. That lifestyle is apparently not in the cards for me. My expat career started with my being a very little kid in England and mingling among Brits. Then I went to Armenia as a young woman and worked with others who also later became expats. Seriously, a lot of my old Peace Corps friends are living abroad. Now I’m on a second Germany tour. I have no burning desire to move back to the United States anytime soon. If I could, I think I’d stay abroad for the rest of my life. We’ll see what happens.
For now, I’m really looking forward to going back to England and seeing somewhere other than London. London is amazing; don’t get me wrong. But it’s not what I remember about the first childhood home I actually remember. Besides, England, Ireland, Scotland, and even Germany is where my people were from in the first place.
ETA in 2023: Please note that I have updated this post a bunch of times since 2014. Look for the links below, if you are interested in our progress. We still live in Germany, although we moved to Wiesbaden in late 2018. Life is still good here. 😉
I was going to wait until we got settled to write this post, but the mood is striking now. So here goes…
In September 2007, Bill and I moved from Fort Belvoir, Virginia to Stuttgart, Germany, courtesy of the United States Army. Because it was an Army move, we were allowed to ship about 17,000 pounds of our personal items and store what we didn’t send. We were allowed to ship one car at government expense and unaccompanied baggage. When we arrived in Stuttgart, we were given money for sixty days of temporary living expenses. The housing office, such as it is, was able to help us find a home and negotiate the rental contract. And we were able to access medical and dental services at Patch Barracks. Fortunately, I only required a contact lens exam and a dental cleaning and small filling (and I was actually very impressed by the services at Patch). If we’d had kids, we could have sent them to the schools offered on the military installations for free.
In August 2014, we moved from San Antonio, Texas to Stuttgart, Germany, courtesy of a government contractor. We had very little time to plan for this move. When we moved with the Army, we found out in November 2006. In January 2007, Bill deployed for six months; then when he came back, we had six weeks to get everything together and move to Germany. We knew well ahead of time, though, so I was able to do things like train our dogs to use their carriers and get started sorting out all of the red tape. This time, Bill got an informal job offer in late June and a formal one on July 8th… three weeks before we had to vacate our rental house in Texas. It was a lot more of a rush to get stuff taken care of so we could make the move.
Part of the reason Bill got hired is because there was a recent mass exodus of contractors, due to the work being taken over by a new company that severely underbid all the other contractors. It meant that the previous contractors were going to be paid about $20,000 less for their work, mainly because the new contractor wasn’t offering an education benefit to contractors with kids. Contractors have to pay for their kids to go to school, while military and DoD employees don’t.
We were given enough money to ship 5000 pounds of our belongings. Fortunately, the Army pays for storage for the recently retired; it’s only for a year, though. Then Bill gets the government rate on storage. Because there are only two of us, it’s no big deal that we only got 5000 pounds. Most of the stuff I really wanted to bring, I could. However, we did have to get rid of a lot of stuff and a lot went into storage. If we’d had kids, that 5000 pound limit would have cramped our style a lot more. Of course, we were also lucky because the guy that packed us for our move to Germany was just plain awesome. Wish I could say the same about the folks who packed our stuff for storage.
We had to pay to ship our cars– it was about $4000. It would have been less, had we been able to drive the cars to Houston and pick them up in Bremerhaven. But the logistics of doing that weren’t feasible for us. We have to repay Bill’s company for the plane tickets to fly to Germany. We pay for our temporary housing before we move into our permanent digs. We get a housing allowance, but it’s paid quarterly instead of monthly; it’s plenty for the type of house we wanted (and ultimately got). We did have to find the house and negotiate the rental contract ourselves; fortunately, we’re inheriting a house from a military couple and our new landlords seem to be pretty used to dealing with Americans. Special thanks to the Facebook Stuttgart Friends and Moving to Stuttgart groups for turning me on to Stuttgart Bookoo. None of these things existed when we were here last time.
Bill’s salary is somewhat comparable to what he earned as a lieutenant colonel– the difference is that it’s kind of split between a base salary and the quarterly housing allowance. He doesn’t have to pay as much in taxes as he would in the United States and he also gets retirement pay, though part of that is temporarily being withheld because he had a brief lapse in service in the 90s and has to repay a bonus he received back then. In about 18 months, we’ll be getting the full retirement pay, which should make things pretty nice. He gets medical, dental, and vision benefits, along with the usual retiree medical benefits, too.
And healthcare and dental care, for me at least, will be strictly on the economy. Bill was able to score an appointment to see a doc at Patch, but I don’t know if that’s going to be something he can do the whole time we’re here. We will also have to buy our own major appliances, whereas when we were still Army, we got to borrow them from the government.
Here’s another weird thing that happened. Last month, I got a new ID made because Bill retired. This month, I got another one made because we’re overseas. The overseas ID is only for use in Germany. The other one is for use in the USA.
We do get to use most of the services available to the military. For example, we get an APO box, which allows mail to be sent and received at US rates, although no one could get us a box before we came. Consequently, the boxes we sent here general delivery may or may not be on the way back to Texas. We get to use the PX/BX, commissary, hotel, and gas ration cards (allows us to get gas at prices closer to what we’d pay in the US). We get a USAEUR driver’s license good for Germany. We both have SOFA cards (last time, they were stamps). But life as a contractor as opposed to being a government or military employee is a bit more bare bones.
When it comes time to leave Germany, there is no telling what will happen. It’s my understanding that contractors win and lose contracts all the time. So it could turn out that Bill’s current company loses its contract and he’ll be out of a job. Or the next company may decide to hire him. In fact, I’ve heard that happens fairly often because it’s cheaper and easier to hire talent that is already local. For that reason, we could be in Germany for awhile. Or we could end up leaving next year. Bill says the contractor he’s working for now really bid low, though, so the chances of them losing the contract are pretty low. This probably means the company will keep the contract and we’ll end up staying.
We love Germany and hate job hunting… and I doubt the company will want to lose Bill now that he’s here. Not everyone can afford to spend as much money as we did just to relocate for a job. We know of some people who turned down positions with this contractor because of the somewhat stingy relocation package. If government contractors can’t afford to pay employees enough to move and take care of their families, they won’t want to come to Germany. If they do come, they probably won’t stay as long as they might. We don’t have kids and don’t need as much money to survive. We just have dogs and a serious case of wanderlust. Fortunately, Bill gets three weeks of paid leave a year and major holidays off!
It used to be that the Department of Defense offered contractors enough money that moving with them was more like a military move. But since the government is cutting back on the military, there is less money to go around and contractors are the first ones to feel the cuts. On the up side, it appears that there’s plenty of work to be done. Bill says he and his new work buddies are being kept very busy with stuff that normally would be handled by people in the military. Apparently, fewer military folks are being sent to Europe– again, due to downsizing. So guys like Bill are picking up the slack and, perhaps, ending up doing some work that may not be in their job descriptions. Of course, Bill has done this kind of work before and still has his Army work ethic, so he’s able to get the job done.
So why did we come here if it was such an expensive logistical hassle? Simple. No one in Texas seemed eager to give Bill a job. We had a choice of moving to Germany or taking our chances in Texas, where there were no job offers on the table and we were in a rental house with property managers we absolutely hated. Since we love Germany and Bill knew he could do the work and would enjoy it, the choice was easy, despite all that went into the move.
There have been some positives to our move, too. One thing I’m glad I didn’t have to do this time was get a physical, even though I could probably use one. I also didn’t have to go through EFMP screening since as civilians, EFMP doesn’t apply to us. I didn’t have to get an official passport, not that that was such a huge deal. It was just a pain to have to keep up with two of them.
Since we are ultimately paying for our transportation over here, we were allowed to choose which airline we wanted to use. In most cases, if you are flying on government funds, you have to use the cheapest American carrier for as long as possible. This wouldn’t have been an issue for us if we weren’t bringing dogs. A lot of American airlines don’t fly pets in the summer or require them to be flown via cargo services which can be very expensive. We flew Lufthansa, which allows pets to be flown as baggage, yet keeps them in a safe area. Instead of paying over $1000 to bring our dogs, we only had to pay $400 and they were there at baggage claim waiting for us when we arrived.
Also, because we aren’t here with the military, we aren’t forced to live in an apartment on a military installation, nor are we forced to use military lodging. Military lodging is fine if you want to use it, but we prefer being on the economy. Because we’ve been here before, the culture shock is not that much for us. Things haven’t changed a whole lot in the almost five years we’ve been gone. It probably helps that we’ve visited Germany twice in the five years since we left!
I am grateful that we got to move back to Germany. Hell, I’m grateful Bill has a job at all– especially in Germany, which was our favorite of all our duty stations with the Army. The beauty of this arrangement is that we could end up living here for a lot longer than the barely two years we got last time. We aren’t subject to the government’s whims quite as directly as we were before.
I’m sure I’ll have more to write about this experience once we’ve been here a bit longer and have settled into our new house. For now, all I can say is that it helps to have been here before, because when you come here as a contractor, there’s less support and you have to figure more things out for yourself.
Yesterday, Bill and I took our driver’s license exam. We took them seven years ago when we were here last time and they were good for five years. Had we only moved back here in 2012 instead of 2014, we could have just gotten a renewal. But since the licenses expired, we had to retake the driver’s ed course and the accompanying exam.
Since our last time in Germany, some kind folks in Kaiserslautern came up with a practice exam that you can access online. I did that a couple of times before we went to the class, which lasted about four hours. Even with the practice and studying, driving in Germany can be tricky for the uninitiated, even though they drive on the same side of the road we do. There are a lot of signs, each of which have different meanings according to their shapes and colors. There are many roundabouts and unmarked four way intersections, and you have to know what to do when you get to them.
Germany is very big on fines. If you have an accident, you will probably end up being fined. And after an accident, you can’t drink alcohol for six hours because the German police may do a blood test after the fact. I read on Facebook about one lady getting reported for driving too fast in her neighborhood and the cops showing up at her house to Breathalyze her. Turned out she hadn’t had a drink that night, but if she had opened some wine at home, she could have gotten into some serious trouble. Germans don’t mess around with drunk driving and can take your blood by force if you don’t consent to testing.
Yesterday’s class started out kind of boring. We watched two military issue films, one of which I had watched on my own online. Then the teacher, a kindly German man who brought his dog with him, taught a lesson. He was very witty and seemed intent on making sure we knew what the rules were, even if the Americans who made up the test and the driving manuals got them slightly wrong. Of course, it was a long time to be in a class and by the time it was over, my brain was kind of fried. Fortunately, Bill and I both passed. In fact, we each got the same number of questions wrong. At least one guy failed the test and has to retake it. He can do that today, but if he doesn’t pass today, he has to wait two weeks. And if he fails it a third time, he has to wait two months and go through the class again.
I noticed this time, they didn’t do the eye test. I guess they figured it was pointless, since when they mass test people, they can just memorize what the eye test on the top line says.
Anyway, with any luck our cars will get here soon so we can break in our new licenses. For now, we have little slips of paper, but in a couple of weeks, the plastic cards will get here. I still have mine from the last time we were here. I try to let Bill do most of the driving because it’s a pain in the ass. But since both cars are coming, I figured it would be a good thing to have a license.
I wasn’t going to post again, but I feel the need to write about what happened to Bill and me tonight. We went back to the biergarten featured in my previous post because after visiting a potential new home today, we were both really thirsty. We enjoyed several rounds of beer, then headed back to the hotel room. On the way there, I heard loud music that sounded like fun. I decided to check it out.
The music led to a small hole in the wall bar. A very friendly guy invited Bill and me to go into the bar. He offered to buy us a round of drinks, which immediately made Bill suspicious. The guy seemed nice and *harmless* enough. I noticed the bar had a lot of poker machines in it and I got the sense they were hoping we’d stay and spend money. It felt very scammy. Bill, on the other hand, was having a very different response. He had broken out in a cold sweat and was very pale.
There were several drunk Greeks in the bar… or so we were told that was what they were. At least two or three of them weren’t wearing shirts and had been dancing. I took it as them having a party, but it really was kind of a bizarre scene. Bill had a death grip on the beer he was holding, with his thumb over the top. He had been well-trained in scams and we had run into our share of scammers in places like Spain and Greece. The people were running well-known and easily researched scams and they followed the well-publicized games to the hilt. And Bill was afraid our new “friends” in Germany were of the same ilk… though in fairness to them, they may not have been. All I know is that my husband was very freaked out.
We got out of the bar and I wrote about our experience on a Facebook group for expats called Stuttgart Friends. Before too long, someone called us idiots. Another person said we were paranoid. Someone else assumed we were totally new to Germany and had just fallen off the turnip truck. These are people in a group with the word “friends” in it.
I wrote that I had clearly misjudged the group and was sorry I brought it up. One person got defensive and still tried to blame me for what happened… This is what happened. We went into what looked like a “legit” bar. I had seen it appear operational all week. An overly friendly guy we didn’t know offered to buy us a round and was grinding against some drunk blonde lady near us. Two guys were behaving rather oddly in the bar, too, and there were two other guys standing outside, staring at us. They noticed me noticing them and tried to look friendly. I wasn’t as weirded out as Bill was, I will admit, and I don’t think these people wanted to hurt us. I just think they were up to no good. Call it a gut instinct.
I shared our experience in this group and was somewhat surprised to be immediately labeled an idiot when really, all I was trying to do was be helpful. This shitty, judgmental, and frankly mean-spirited attitude among military folks is one reason why I don’t enjoy being around them much or getting to know them, although to be fair, more than a few people appeared to be Germans somehow affiliated with military people. At the very least, one would think they’d be sensitive to PTSD, which may have been all we were experiencing tonight, but it was definitely a real thing that had Bill very rattled.
That’s the last time I will make that mistake. I got along fine in Stuttgart without the “Friends” group last time we were here and I can do it again. I suppose I should have told that guy and his buddy to go fuck themselves, but I managed to stay civil in that group, anyway. I’m glad we’re moving to a temporary apartment tomorrow. I don’t have to be around the skanky bar anymore… and next time we have a weird/suspicious experience, I’ll be sure to keep it to myself. Maybe if they ever encounter a similar situation, they will be able to deal with it better than we did… though I have to admit, neither of us ended up crime victims tonight, so that’s a positive thing.
It’s been a week since my last travel post, mainly because I’ve been pretty busy with preparing for our move to Germany. One week from today, the move begins in earnest. Some of our stuff is presumably already on its way. The cars go on Monday and barring any disasters, should arrive within three weeks of being shipped. Maybe we’ll see them in early September.
I joined a few Facebook groups for Americans in the Stuttgart area and, I have to say, had this not been our second move to Germany, I would be extremely grateful for their existence. When we moved last time, we didn’t have these Facebook groups with their very up-to-date information. I still anticipate some pain on the German side of this move, but it’s not as bad as it might be if we were landing there blind, like we did last time.
Yesterday, we went to Randolph Air Force Base to buy a new case for my new laptop and a mouse so I don’t have to use the trackpad, which I can’t stand. Whenever we go there, it feels kind of odd to me. It looks just like the AAFES in Stuttgart at Panzer Kaserne, which is where the facility is located. I know it well, because we were there a lot during our first tour. Although almost five years have passed, it almost feels like we were just there. It’s very odd to me. I guess the older you get, the faster time flies and the more it seems like some things were just happening yesterday.
I know there have been some changes in the Stuttgart area. For one thing, Panzer now has a hotel that was being built when Bill and I were there in 2009. We won’t be staying there because it’s booked solid. Besides, Bill and I would rather not stay on post. I don’t even know if we’d be allowed to, since he’s retired now. I think it’s going to be weird adjusting to Bill as a civilian, wearing his own clothes instead of a uniform. On the other hand, I think this job will be better for him than a job at a big four accounting firm would have been. He relates well to military folks and that work interests him.
I’ll miss him in his ACUs, though… He looks great in his uniform. I think we’ll miss all the consideration you get in the military, too… like being able to take care of personal business sometimes during business hours. This move may be harder for us in some ways. On the other hand, we have the benefit of knowing and loving the area already. It’ll turn out okay, I think. It just may be a challenge at first. Once we’re there, I have a feeling we’ll be able to stay as long as we want to, as long as Bill stays a contractor.
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