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This pizza doesn't look as wonderful as it tasted. Nothing will beat Papa John's.
My car finally arrived last week. Just in time. Shawn has still been riding the motorcycle to work so I can drive his car. He’s been riding in the rain and cold. He says that rain doesn’t bother him, it’s the ice that he won’t ride in (wonder why). Well the very next morning after my car arrived there was ice on the roads. That was a blessing to have two cars. I start work at 9am and he starts work at 7am, but we both get off at 4pm. So we’re not totally able to carpool together yet. Maybe if my hours change later on we’ll be able to carpool. I didn’t realize how much I missed my Subie until she arrived. The fastest I’ve gotten her up to so far on the Autobahn is 110 mph. I don’t even what to know what Shawn’s gotten her up to. Driving over here is not as scary as I thought it was going to be. The most difficult part is how narrow the roads are. It gets a little crazy! When I back out of my driveway if I’m not careful I’ll back right into my neighbor’s house. Shawn and I went downtown about a week ago and were driving around for quite some time trying to find a parking spot that we could actually get in to without doing what Sinbad does on “House Guest.” But the Germans make it look so easy squeezing in and out of these tight spaces.
We also went out to eat off base at McDonalds and Pizza Hut this week. The pizza wasn't to bad. The picture above is the menu outside the door. Any restraunt you go to here they have the menu posted outside so you can look what is on the menu before you go in to eat. At McDonalds The Quarter Pounder with cheese is called the Royal Burger with cheese. There menu was limited, but it's pretty much all the same anyway. I found it interesting that McDonalds only accepted euro. No debit or credit cards. Also, if you go to a Burger King or McDonalds off base that doesn't have a drive thru, they serve beer and wine if you choose to have it with your meal.
The legal drinking age for Germans is 16 years old and the legal driving age is 18 years old. Not sure how many of the 16 year olds here actually consume alcohol.
I officially started my job today. Today was orientation and tomorrow (Friday) I will start training. For those that don't know what the BX is, it is the military's retail store, similar to Target. So I will be the cashier that checks everyone out with all their merchandise. I wasn't real thrilled about being a cashier, but after the orientation today I learned there are lots of areas for advancement within the company. If Shawn deploys (chances are very slim) I will be able to deploy with him. They have BXs (Base Exchange) everywhere and are in need of volunteers to deploy. Like I said the chances of that happening are nil. As it goes with any job you have to start somewhere. It might not be that bad after all. It’s just hard going from Deaconess where I worked for the company 7 1/2 years and worked my way up to make decent money and now I’m back down making less money than I made when I even stared at Valley Hospital 7 1/2 years ago. They know people here need jobs and will take whatever they can get. Plus there is a high turn over rate so I understand that they don’t want to waste money on those employees that aren’t going to stick around. They also offer tuition assistance. I might have to be employed with the company for 6 months before the tuition assistance will apply to me. Either way I will be starting to take online classes in mid December through the University of Phoenix. I will be working on my AA in General Studies or Business. I haven’t totally decided yet which direction I want to go, but I will have to make up my mind soon.
It has been one month today since I landed on German soil. It definitely feels like I've been here much longer than one month, but in a good way. I’ve still been keeping open communication with our neighbors. Bianca, the girl next door with the dog, is just as busy as I was when I was in Spokane, so it’s been a little difficult to keep up with her. We’ve managed to take our dogs out together twice now.
Over the last month I've been fervently searching for a job. I finally got an offer today to work as a cashier at the BX. Not really what I had in mind for a job over here. Shawn and I are just relieved that I have a job. I'm not even sure when I'm going to start yet, but I'm assuming it will be within the next couple weeks.
The weather is still fairly decent. Shawn is still riding his motorcycle to work on the days that it’s not raining. The temperature is remaining in the 50’s or higher. So as long as the temperature stays above freezing Shawn insists on riding his bike to work. I was surprised when we went to the gas station on Saturday, November 1st, to see that gas is down to $2.87/gallon. A month ago when I arrived here it was $1 more per gallon. I don’t even remember the last time I saw gas at $2 something a gallon. We’ll see how long this will last.
Another change that we’ve seen is in the exchange rate for the better. When I got here $1.38 USD was equivalent to 1 Euro. 2 months prior to my arrival $1.55 USD was equivalent to 1 Euro. Today, $1.27 USD is equivalent to 1 Euro. This is something that I never paid attention to in the States, but now that I’m here it is interesting to see how much things do fluctuate on a daily basis.
