So remember wayyy back in the 8th when I first told you all about the possibility of going to Germany?
And I teased on Wednesday about off-post housing in Germany. Well its official we're headed here:
Baumholder, Germany!
Wait... that's not ALL the news. Some of my long-time followers know that my sister, Katie also married a soldier (her high school sweetheart actually) and they are currently stationed at Fort Carson. Well yesterday she calls me on my cell, while I'm at work. I text her back because I can't be on my cell phone at work and ask her what's up? She replies "CALL ASAP." Ummm ok... My first thought was what about the kids? eeek!
So I call IMEDIATELY.
She says, "So we're going to Germany too."
I said, "SHUT UP. No you're not."
You see my sis and her family have/had no desire to go to Europe. She was excited for us to have the opportunity to travel and see more of the world but please believe she laid the guilt trip on THICK when I told her we had orders (but at the time didn't know to which post in Germany).
She says, "No, seriously we do have orders. Levi called branch to see what his options were and they told him he has to report February 2011.
She also was able to tell me which post they were going to.
I was puzzled, as Kevin and I actually tried and pursued our orders and were told they didn't know specifically, to which post we were headed.
Well, as I'm on the phone with my sister and Levi is on the phone with Kevin, telling him the exciting news!
Kevin found out at that same time that we were headed to Baumholder!
Oh did I forget to mention where my sister and her family are going?
Yes, you probably guessed it: BAUMHOLDER!
Kevin and I were looking forward to being just "Samantha and Kevin" for a while but I know that my sister and my nephews and even Levi being there will make the transition a 1000 times easer.
It was really just crazy how the whole thing worked out! But I couldn't be more excited.
Wait... I have approximately a million things to accomplish before 10 December:
SELL HOUSE
SELL a car (can't decide which one)
SHIP a Car
PACK and SHIP our household possesions
Get Brody Squared away to take him with us
Germany drivers license
Living on or off-post???
(kevin insists that we have to live off-post... because on-post they have apartments. Evidently he's beneath apartment living at this stage of his life. I tried to remind him that it's Europe and it's not like we'll find a single-family home with a huge yard. But what do I know?!)
That's just to name a few.
I have to get everything organized and ready to roll in a mere 5 months. I'll be contacting a real estate agent this weekend! Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on that FIRST!
So that's the BIGGEST news. But I also VERY excited to announce I won a bloggy make-over from Mrs. Muffins, via Shepdogg: One P, Double G!
It will probably be a week or two in the making.. since I'm fickle and indecisive.
Stay tuned for all the exciting changes to come...!
HAPPY FRIDAY Readers!
16 comments:
Woohhhoooo thats so exciting! Congrats : )
Ha, I was just in Baumholder last weekend. Its a great area, close to the Air Force Base with an actual mall, k-town, France. It's very hilly and the weather changes constantly but I think you will love it if you want to travel. One of the best things about living in that area is that you are very close to the airport where ryan air's main hub is (its called Frankfurt Hahn is you want to look it up). Its the cheapest airline in Europe, last year we flew to London for $10 round trip for the both of us. Where we live though we have to drive 4 hours to that airport. If you have ANY questions about Germany I have been here almost 2 years, just email me. :)
You actually don't get a German license. When you get here, your husband will get a manual to study. When you are ready, you walk to the "DMV" and take a test for your USAREUR license. But you can only get it if you have a stateside license. You can not get on the vehicle registration with a German license. And you have to be on the registration or you won't be on the gas ration card and you can't get gas unless your name is on it.
I live in Baumholder! I can tell you a million good things, and a million bad things about it! But I'm traveling and seeing A LOT so it's SOOOOO worth it! If you have any questions, want pictures (again, MILLIONS) or anything else let me know! I can definitely help you out.
Oh... and the manual to study for the drivers test to get your USAREUR driver's license is online. I passed the first time. Took hubby three times. But never hurts to start studying early. Here's the link. :)
http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/g6/images/AEP190_34_1000477.pdf
Apartments suck, but buying all brand new appliances and your own washer/dryer to live off post sucks more in my opinion. Plus, anything close to here isn't really single family homes anyways. Gotta go a town over (25-ish minutes) for houses and even then the yards are very small and all the houses are close together.
Anyways, let me know if you have questions! :)
yay sam =)
so happy for ALL of you!!!!!
i've always wanted to go to germany!!!
im here in Baumholder too.(since march 2010) right now its super hot, but so far we love it. i would go for on post housing ( which we are in) there really isnt a lot of single family houses close by....we are happy here. Warning: the units here are not family friendly. this is a highly deployable post..and not just to iraq and afganastan,but to the field and classes too. UGH. Any questions let me know and i will do my best to help!
we were in Germany 10 years ago and loved it. I would give anything to be able to go back
OMG that's where we have orders for too!! We're supposed to get there in November. Wow, I'm super excited that I know of somebody else going there! Looks like you pretty much already know everything I know about the place, so no new info to add. Good luck with your move!
How exciting that your sister and her fam gets to come too!
that's so exciting!!!! I can't believe it's all happening so fast!
How glorious!!!
I will miss you terribly!
Totally jealous!
We are stationed in Miesau...it's a small base in the Kaiserslautern (K-town) area...LOVE LOVE LOVE Germany although I was pretty sure I'd hate it. LIVE OFF POST! I love living on the economy. As for buying new appliances...that is not even a realistic option...u get appliances thru the military...thru FMO. They give you brand new 220v appliances...microwaves...furniture...wardrobes (Germany HAS NO CLOSETS). There is no air conditioning anywhere here...buy lots of fans or dish out like 250euro for an air unit for your home. Also...you arent supposed to have those on base so be prepared to sweat if you live on base. No German houses have closets because they get taxed for every room they have and they consider that a room. CRAZY. Definitely study for ur drivers test...i failed the first time because i thought the practice test looked really easy...NOT tha case, just mainly study the signs because some are in German ofcourse. Take advantage of the USO trips...also, once u get to europe...its actually pretty cheap to travel even if you drive. BUT if you dont want to drive, use RYANair.com. FABULOUS. Hmmm...other than that, ENJOY!! Live it up...we're only a short ride from B-holder so if you ever need anything then shoot me an e-mail! (greeneyzwow32@yahoo.com)
WOOOOOO!!! You are 20 minutes down the road from me!!!
Just a heads up with the off post thing.. Baumholder is HUGE! You may want to get on a wait list NOW for on post.. They do have town homes and apartments... If you move off post.. Keep in mind the Euro rate.. You don't pay bills like you do in the states.. month to month. Power, water, oil, gas, and so on are 6 months in advance.. Then you get back what you don't spend.. We live in Air Force housing in Kaiserslautern!
One more thing about Bholder... Their PX is open until 7 pm and it's small.. VERY SMALL!!! Come to K Town.. Our PX is open until 9 and the biggest one in the world!! :D
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