Stuff

It's 9:30 in the morning here in Hanau and i have been awake for the last hour. Almost unheard of in my world to be up this early, but I had to give Jess a ride to work, then I stopped at the US mailboxes to check mine, I am waiting for a couple of movies to come in from Netflix. I was walking from my car to the Post Office and thought how weird it is to be in Europe yet be surrounded be in a US Army post. My life is a strange concoction of US and European lifestyle that is not always pleasant. A large part of the reason I left the US was because of the people. Not all of them obviously, but the general population. And now I find myself spending a good portion of my day working with them, Mind you, I am so grateful for the work here that allows me to stay in Europe, yet having to deal with them can be very wearing.
For example yesterday (Monday). I don't usually work Monday and Tuesday, they are the slowest days of the week and therefore I usually have them off, but the restaurant was short a closer, and since closing is what I do best (5 of 7 days) I was asked to come in. The people who visit the restaurant on weekends are in a vastly different mood than the Monday people. Maybe it is because, obviously, it is the weekend. But yesterday the people I served were so rude, I had a difficult time even putting on a smile after a while. They were, to me, typical rude Americans. They wanted what they wanted NOW, and their looks of disgust made them very unattractive. Everything they ordered had 16 modifications, etc. The men, especially the young soldiers, never seem to be the problem. They are always smiling, joking, polite, ma'am is used etc. It is the wives who are PAINS IN THE ASS. Rude, condescending, impatient. I thought it was funny at first to be looked down upon. I mean, I CHOSE to leave a very comfortable lifestyle to come work at this dinky Taco Bell in the middle of Germany. OK, so I didn't exactly CHOOSE this part, but I chose to take the chance that I might end up at a job like this. And I don't mind at all helping the soldiers, regardless of what I think about the war, America etc, these are the guys who are coming and going from Iraq that I am helping, and I am very proud of that.
OK, I have sort of drifted off the main subject that I wanted to write about, but hey, that's the fun of having a blog (where no one can comment), I get to wander in any verbal direction I want to and no one can complain. Read it, or go away. LOL.

Anyway, what I started out wanted to write about was the weirdest of being caught between two different, VERY different cultures. Especially when one is the military.
I find it fun and different to have one half of my life lived out on an Army post, without actually having enlisted in the Army! You have the typical army type buildings, vehicles etc. Shoppettes, post offices, PXs, dining halls, laundry facilities, libraries etc. Even a thrift store where we have managed to come away with some pretty neat free things, including my daughter's 19 inch color TV with remote. ( she wanted a TV of her own so badly but could not afford even a used one in the thrift shop), then one day we walked in and they were giving one away ( too many TVs for sale) what a deal. LOL.

Anyway, so we come to work, show our civilian Department of Defense IDs to the German guards in uniform outside the post, go and do our jobs with Americans, then leave post and drive home to our apartment in the middle of a German town. Weird, but interesting. I really do try to stay away from buying things on post, especially food, but sometimes you need things not available on the economy (off post).

I have probably taking way too many words to say what I wanted, but again, it is so early in the morning. I don't usually get up until at least noon.

I work til at least 10:30 pm, and have been known to be there until 2 am, helping out my supervisor until 11 or midnight, then standing out in the parking lot talking for a couple of hours. In our parking lot at night there are always at least one or two deer walking around. Midget deer, at first I thought they were fawns, but they are actually full sized deer. There are also always bunnies hopping around in the grass by the dumpsters. Being the weird person I am, I always say “Bunny, bunny, bunny!” to them, knowing damn well they have no clue what I am saying, that I should probably be calling out the German word for bunny, which of course they would still not understand. LOL

Annnnyway... Next week we are FINALLY taking our first road trip to......... (cue drum roll) ..... Amsterdam! Yeah, party on Garth..... We intend to have a hell of a time. Jess and I are driving up with a woman who works at the bowling ally on post, where Jess' Subway (where she works) is located. It is Amber's birthday, and she wanted to go up, so we said lets go! Yes, I intend to smoke the reefer and do any other slightly illegal thing possible to do in Amsterdam, damn right!

We are driving up Monday morning, coming back Tuesday sometime. It is I think a 4 hour drive away, and with the three of us sharing expenses, shouldn't cost too much. AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands.. YES SIR! Should be a lot of fun. Just hoping I don't land in jail or anything.. (just kidding mom..)

We finally decided to get landline and Internet at the apartment. The phone is up and running, but we have to get a DSL modem from the company today to get the Internet going. OH MY GOD, one of life's luxuries back again, Internet at my actual home. I mean, I will be able to be on the internet any time day or night. WOW! LOL... Been almost a year without it. Been almost a year since this whole adventure started. I think I gave my notice at work on April 18th, a year ago. Seems like forever.

The anniversary of my sister's death was just a couple of days ago. NINE YEARS she has been gone. I still think of her every day. Funny how that is, and strange how she will never age or be old in our minds. Eternally young, as she should be remembered.

Well, I have to get up in two hours to return something to the thrift shop, we tried getting a used DSL modem there, but it is not working. So I need to get back to bed so that I can wake up in two hours. (note – later found out that DSL: will not be up and running until tomorrow (WED))

I am guessing you will be seeing way more rambling blogs once we are connected at home. I am not sure if that will be good or bad, but will certainly be a fact of life. Later......