Moving Mondays @ My Traveling Troop

Today I'm being featured over at My Traveling Troop for 'Moving Mondays'.

Kristina has a fabulous blog where she shares about her life as a Navy wife. 

Her family recently made the trek from Monterey, California to SINGAPORE.

Kristina is creating an incredible collection of tips and stories of military families living all over the world.
Getting the news that you're PCSing to another duty station can bring on all sorts of emotions.
 Excitement, but also fear of the unknown. There are so many questions running through your mind!
That's why having a database where you can go to read other spouses experiences is so beneficial.

So if you get a chance today stop by My Traveling Troop and read my Q&A session with Kristina.
We cover everything from the pros & cons of living in Germany to travel tips and my newest obsession: Crossfit.

If you're a military spouse be sure to bookmark her blog or add her to your Google reader because let's be honest...
none of us know when or where we'll be living next!

The Comforts of Home

We are finally out of the Army hotel and living in our new apartment! We live in a town not too far away from post. Close proximity was a must since 1. I'm terrified of driving in the snow and 2. I found a job! Our town is adorable (which is true for every German town around here) complete with its own bakery and butcher! After a month in a hotel I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to be in our own place with a kitchen, lots of room, and our own washer and dryer! And as an added bonus our first shipment of goods is arriving earlier than expected- next week! I am so looking forward to having more of OUR things in our apartment. 

You know what else makes it feel more like home? Technology, mainly the internet and my new iPhone. Oh to feel connected again! Enjoy some pictures from Instagram and be sure to follow me at: emmacleigh :)

Road leading up to our apartment

View from our balcony

Our landlord's garden

Close up of a wind turbine

Update from Deutschland!

It's hard to believe that as of today we have been in Germany for a whole week!

Here we are in the Baltimore airport where we waited NINE hours for our flight to Germany. 

Why so long? Well this guy decided to make a trip to Afghanistan so air control had to delay all traffic coming into the AFB. For us it was a 3 hour delay. Apparently this time his arrival was so top secret and no one knew he was even coming until Air Force One was in the area. Crazy, huh?

QUICK RECAP OF OUR TRAVELS

• Monday:  drove from Atlanta to Columbus, dropped off our car to be shipped, stayed the night in Atlanta & spent time with RC's family
• Tuesday: flew out of Atlanta, arrived in Baltimore, waited and waited and waited, flew out for Germany that night.

DETAILS OF OUR FIRST WEEK

• Wednesday: ARRIVED in Germany, missed our shuttle from Ramstein to our new home, stayed in a German hotel, experienced German food for the first time, and slept!
• Thursday: at 3 am we were introduced to jet lag and didn't go back to sleep, took a 3 hour shuttle to our new home, met our sponsor once we arrived, checked into our hotel, and ate downtown!
• Friday: Got prepaid phones, a Community Bank account (which is so helpful when paying rent!), and our APO mailing address. Anyone want to send a care package? ;)
• Saturday: Continued our battle with jet lag and slept from 3 am to 1 pm. Took a taxi downtown. By this point we were tired of schnitzel at German restaurants so we went to an Italian restaurant in the marktplatz which is where their historic townhall is located. I don't have many pictures of their downtown area yet, but I'm working on it!
• Sunday: Found out we had a kitchen in our hotel and started cooking dinner there instead of eating downtown.
• Monday: RC began in-processing and I went to SNAPS, a newcomers awareness program that ACS puts on every month! It was perfect timing and I am becoming such a huge fan of ACS (Army Community Services). They are so incredibly helpful! 
• Tuesday: Same thing... in-processing and SNAPS. Found out Ross is officially deploying.
• Wednesday: 
• Skipped SNAPS TO TAKE MY DRIVER'S TEST! And I passed. So I can now drive in Germany! Now I just need a car to drive, ha! Our's shouldn't arrive until mid-June so we will probably be renting until then.
• Went by the housing office and picked 2 apartments to go look at! AH YAY! Due to RC's rank we have to live on the economy (in actual German neighborhoods), aaaand there's a shortage in housing/apartments here right now since their economy is doing so well. So I'm interested to see what the apartments will be like. We're wanting to stay as close to post as possible so we know we'll be looking at less square footage meters. Fingers crossed that we can find something quickly! Some people stay in the hotel for a month until they find something, and we just don't have that much time before RC leaves. Wish us luck! 

Out with the Old & In with the New

Out with the old...

And in with the new...

Just another one of our preparations for moving to Germany!

When you PCS overseas the Army will pay to ship one POV: privately owned vehicle. We had to decide between shipping my 2002 Honda Civic or RC's 2004 Toyota Tacoma. I think it would be pretty apparent to most that a truck in Germany wouldn't really fly. The roads and parking spaces are just smaller. Could it have been done? Sure. Ideal? Not so much.

So we made the decision to sell RC's truck and ship my Civic. I love my little Civic. She's the only car I've ever had. She is in great shape despite the many, many miles I've put on her. So the plan was to make her a world traveler, and then purchase another car once we were in Germany.

Then RC ran across the little beauty above on USAA.com. It was a match made in heaven. A 2009 Toyota Camry that was significantly newer than either of the cars we had with MUCH less mileage. Only one owner... She was a steal! Plus the listed price matched well with the trade-in value we would receive for RC's Toyota Tacoma. This was critical because if we were going to buy a car in the US before leaving we did not want to have to finance! If you finance a car the lender has to give you approval for the car to be shipped overseas. I've heard horror stories of military families not receiving approval and being stuck. We did not want to have to deal with that! So we forked over some cash and TADA we have a new car that we'll be shipping to Germany! I'm really excited to have something newer and I can't begin to tell you how much I love having four doors after driving a coupe for so long. Plus it's more family friendly. :)

January Recap/PCSing and ACS Info.

RC is in the final weeks of his BOLC training which means lots of time in the field! It's crazy how fast time has flown by. It's definitely been one of those weird circumstances were it has seemed to drag on in the moment and then the next second you look up and wonder where the time has gone! I am so proud of RC and how well he has performed during BOLC. He is going to be such a great leader and officer. Plus, I know he is so ready to finally be in what I call "the real Army" and get out of GA! We only have to get through ARC and Airborne... then Germany here we come!

So what have I been doing while RC has been gone all this time? Well, working first of all. We've been trying to save all of my paychecks (our "fun" money) for traveling in Germany. Although at times I get frustrated sacrificing weekends with RC to work, I know having that extra money in Germany will be wonderful!

I've also been trying to plan as much for Germany as possible. I've gone through the medical screening, received my tourist passport, applied for my no-fee passport, and now we're just waiting to receive orders with my name included for travel!

In the beginning the process was very frustrating. RC went to a briefing and received some paperwork to begin the process. But it was very scattered and somewhat unorganized. Most of the phone numbers I had been given were wrong numbers and everything required an appointment. How exactly are you supposed to schedule an appointment when you can't get a hold of anyone? But with a little patience everything worked out.

Through my process I've definitely learned some information that I feel may be helpful to share. From my experience the Army isn't going to hand hold your hand through this process. You have to go out and figure it out yourself! The resources are there, you just have to utilize them!

Here are some of the resources that have helped me:

1) Get on Facebook and "like" your local installation's FMWR page! They are frequently updated and can keep you in the loop with things going on if you don't live on post. I found out about a PCS briefing on-post from the FWMR Facebook page, not from someone in the FRG or on post. 

2) Reach out to ACS! Army Community Services (ACS) hosted the PCS briefing and look at how helpful they were! ALL of this is information about going through a PCS as well as information on PCSing overseas. This information has been a lifesaver! I think your first PCS is going to be overwhelming, let alone PCSing to a foreign country; so I am a HUGE fan of ACS right now for providing all these resources.

So what did I come home with? Maps of European countries, multiple translation books, a menu translator, tips on living and working in Germany, a packet on the process of shipping your POV, contact information to schedule our move, the drivers manual for Germany (hello, I need to study!),  how to request a sponsor, and a lovely 74 page packet on our new installation. 

And all of this was FREE! 

So to say the least I'm a little relieved right now. I received a ton of information and no longer feel out of the loop. I was surprised to find out that I was on track and actually ahead of the curve with moving overseas. So maybe being a control freak isn't so bad! :)

Guten tag, everyone!