Another place where the faces are so cold, i'd drive all night just to get back home..

I think I have finally begun to shake off the culture shock and grow accustomed to life in Baumholder. I know to prod John into waking up from an afternoon nap before it gets too late..or else we will have to go to the Shopette (24 hour gas station on post) for dinner. My German is getting less rusty. I was able to successfully order and pay for a pastry in German for now 2 days in a row. I am growing accustomed to walking everywhere, and dodging bicycles and cars (because pedestrians don't have the right of way here).

We were able to find out some news yesterday concerning our options now that our command sponorship has been denied. The only thing that John can do, is take up to 30 days PCS leave. So, he is going to do that. They won't authorize early reporting, so this is the best that we can do. Come to find out, my visa expires October 12th so I have a lot less longer then I originally thought. Right now I am in the process of applying for an extension to my 90 day touriest visa, or to become a resident of Baumholder...without paying the taxes.

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride..

Bring on the rain, bring on the thunder..

I wish I had good news to report right now.

Yesterday John talked with S-1 about our command sponsorship, and it was needing just a few more signatures before it was going to get pushed through. It looked like we were going to be able to get the final (good) word sometime before August block leave about it.

However, stuff changed.

His platoon sergeant called him this afternoon asking about his report date to Ft. Bliss. So we made the journey up to S-1 to see what was up. John came back outside with some good and bad news.

The good news is that his report date got pushed up about 2 months to December. Meaning, he will start clearing sometime in late November. The bad news is that because of this, our command sponsorship got denied. My visa is still good until December 7, so we have some time. Even if I over stay my visa by a few weeks..if I leave after that, there is no way I could come back for another 6 months. He is happy that he doesn't have to stay in Germany for an extra 2 months, when John has already been here for almost 3 years. It is possible to get his report date moved up as well. That is if it is authorized by his recieving command, and is signed off by his departing command.

So, that means another few months of living out of hotels for us. Also, possibly the unability to take August block leave.

Right now, the final answers and solutions will be up in the air until next week. That is when John will be able to go back with his platoon leader and try to work things out and get questions answered.

I am disappointed and worried, I won't lie. The good thing is that we will be able to return to the states sooner then expected. The bad thing is that after 90 days, the Army won't recognize my presence here.

I think we are planning on laying low this weekend. Laying low and doing some research on the possible alternatives so that Monday John will be able to go to S-1 well armed with information and questions.

I just wish I could be completely hopeful about the situation; however we were counting on the sponsorship to go through. However, when we return to the states there is really no way that they can deny us sponsorship there. It is just that there is so much that goes into an overseas command sponsorship.

I believe in us. I know that we will make this work in whatever way possible. We have been through worse, and we are going to fight to be able to stay physically together for as long as he is over here.

I just wish right now that we had some concrete answers instead of all the new unknowns that we face.

Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer..

Guten Tag!

It's a wonderful and lazy Monday across the ocean. Today was John's first day back to the Scouts, and so far so good it seems.

Today has warmed up quite a bit from yesterday's chilly breeze that sent me crawling for my only sweater and real shoes. (Sorry flip flops..but you just weren't enough for that cold air!) It was a cool morning, and Mandy and myself took advantage of it to explore Baumholder a bit. We walked down to the little lake about 5 minutes from the hotel and walked around it after breakfast. Of course, we had to indulge in these incrediable pastries that we got from this little grocery store on the way and they were fantastic. I think I could really get happily fat here. There was some fishermen and a couple of moms with babies, but other then that it was just us and the ducks.

John came back for lunch and told me that we had had more errands to run. I thought that we had covered all the bases..and nope. Since he has a Class A inspection on Thursday, we walked up to post and had a quick lunch of more Tex Mex before beginning. We ran first to Clothing Sales to pick up stuff to sew onto his uniform, before dropping it off at alterations. He realized AFTER we were done at Clothing Sales that he needed to get another set of ACU's.

I love his memory at times.

After deciding that it could be dealt with at a later time, we made a stop at the bank before coming back to the hotel for a an hour before he had to report back to work.

The homesickness is beginning to settle in fully, but it will soon get better. Especially now that we are settling into a routine. Tomorrow, we go down to test for our German drivers licenses so thats good.

No word on command sponsorship. The guy at S-1 who is tracking our stuff, was on staff duty today and has tomorrow off. So we won't have any news until Wednesday. I hate having to be patient sometimes.

We are talking about possible trips for next weekend. So far it's either Paris or Rome if the rumor proves correct about the 4 day weekend. Lots of pictures will be taken of course, and I am excited to get to see some really cool old stuff.

Especially Rome.

To answer Joe's question, breathing is a foreign task is a lyric taken out of a song that has been stuck in my head for quite some time. It seems to fit well with the situation, with everything being so new and foreign to me. With the culture shock from Germany, and the getting used to life as an Army wife. I am not completely unfamilar with the military..but sometimes it is like John is speaking another language to me. I need him to translate into Navy terms..or better yet, English sometimes.

I often use lyrics as blog titles too...because I am weird like that. ;)

And we'll have Halloween on Christmas..

Wow!

I am so not used to this weather! It is my first chilly day/evening in Baumholder. My Texan senses are telling me that it is entirely not normal to be running around in long pants and a hoody outside in the middle of July. I am starting to feel the first pangs of homesickness. At least for my big, open, and beautiful Texas skies and sunshine. I even almost miss the heat.

John was given a 4 day weekend this week due to the change of command. Meaning...it won't be until the middle of next week before we hear anything about the command sponsorship. There has been no news about it, yet no news is good news at times so it's just staying patient and crossing our fingers. We really have no set plans yet as to how we are going to spend the time however. Right now, we are just enjoying spending our first weekend together in each others company. We accomplished some errands today though. John needed a haircut for Monday, to make the best of impressions on his return to the Scouts. Also, he needed some uniform stuff as well. So we walked up to post and first paid a visit to the Clothing Sales, before following up with a trip to the barber. We had Taco Bell for lunch (Ah!!!! A taste of good ol' home and Tex Mex).

The ceremony Wednesday was long. I felt bad for them standing at attention and parade rest for almost 2 hours with the sun on their faces. Like all military ceremonies, this one was no different. Every officer it seemed had something 'important' to say and to contribute, but really wasn't saying much of anything. There were cannons involved, which thrilled my red neck side to death. However, later on when I talked to John afterwards he mentioned that they had made no comments about there being cannons involved. He said that the guys were like 'Oh god, artillary' upon first reaction...and most jumped. Typical military. Mix cannons and vets who have just came back from Iraq...without warning. That would have been entirely too easy. Haha.

John has another 4 day weekend coming up next weekend, which is amazing. I am getting far too spoiled with him getting off of work early and all of these long weekends. Next week though, its a trip for us to the place where they test for German drivers licenses. He's already failed once, so we will see how this one goes for both of us. Walking isn't so bad here, as long as it isn't raining, but we both need a drivers license.

To answer some of the questions from last time...

-Yoga, is amazing Deb. You really should try it.

-I got the nickname of Baby Squid by my love of the Navy. Sailors are called squids, and I wasn't fully enlisted, so hence...baby squid.

I really appreciate the comments and feed back from everyone. I will try to get those pictures uploaded Monday when John is back at work. Until then, we miss and love everyone.

And breathing is a foreign task...

This is the blog that I created to keep both John's and my families and friends in the loop with everything that is going on. Boy, there sure is a lot too!

After a hectic week of through hoops and even 2 road trips to Houston, TX for my passport; I landed safely in Frankfurt, Germany at about 5 am Texas time. I had a short 3 hour layover at Denver International from DFW. I am sorry that I missed everyone from up that way. By the time I got through everything, I ended up waiting at the gate for about an hour. The last leg of the trip wasn't so bad, just really long. I sat next to some knuckle heads from the German military and they made it really hard to sleep straight through. The food looked questionable, but all in all it was a uneventful flight. John met me at the airport and we successfully made it to Baumholder and reached the hotel. It's definately weird and a major culture shock for me. I am definately not in Texas anymore.

Monday John was able to take the day off after PT and morning formation so we could do the last few things that we needed to get done. He turned in the command sponsorship packet to his team leader first thing, and we are both very positive about the outcome. We have heard nothing but how it was going to go through without an issue so we have our fingers crossed. Monday we got me into the IAX system so I can get on post without him, went to housing, and got me a cell phone. I will be sending the number out to those who want it, just let me figure it out first. Lol!

In other Army news, John goes back to the Scouts Monday. There is also a new Battalion CO, so there will be a change of command ceremony tomorrow. John was selected, or rather voluntold to be apart of it and I plan on posting pictures from it. It is looking like John's leave will begin August 7-27th, so we will be heading back stateside. We have a couple of things to get accomplished so we will be updating the families on which parts will be spent where as soon as plans become more concrete.

While John has been at work, I have actually kept myself busy. I met a friend in the form of an Army fiancee named Mandy who also stays here at the same hotel as us. Her fiancee is actually in the same battalion as John, so it actually works out quite nice. I have discovered with her the joy of yoga on post, and of late breakfasts after they leave for formation. So, I am not going stir crazy.