Insane posting person, that's me

Yesterday I had my first day on base as an official person.

It's technically the middle of the night, at 4:34AM, but I'm awake and my brain's turned on. Since I don't feeling like journaling with paper, y'all are getting the benefit of my brain tortuosity.

Yesterday morning, I rode onto base with Bernie McMichaels, who's the person in charge of assisting with the relocation of new contracted civilian hires and Ying, the new PA from Houston. After being signed into base, we headed for various offices completing tasks, meeting lots of people, who were all very nice. I truly got a good feeling being on the base and chatting with the mix of Americans and Germans who keep it running.

After walking to various offices and buildings in the crisp fall sunshine, (there's frost on the cars in the morning) I ended up with a military ID card to get off and on base, an APO address, a bank account which allows me to get US dollars or Euros without a fee and also pay bills automatically in either currency, leads on auto purchasing and housing and a feeling for the base layout in general.

Splitting the day in half was a trip to the cafeteria, where for $4.25, you pick up a tray and silverware and point at the food you'd like to eat, then deposit the tray for someone else to do the dishes. My dream come true. Just like my days in the dorms. I think I'll be eating there every day.

We left for home a little early, as Bernie needed to stop at the bank, then the three of us had coffee and an apple cake in the bakery in town.

Yesterday, I'd decided that I might need to relocate to a hotel with more occupants. Although the owners here are nice, I rarely see anyone. It's so quiet- like living in a library. The room is nice, but I'm quite tempted to move down the street to a smaller pink room in the Gasthof Hammer, which is warm inside and bustling with Germans and Americans. It just feels more homey. Knowing myself as a person who honestly likes people, (even moreso when I've first arrived in a country or when traveling) I think I'd transition better in the company of other folks in my same shoes. Just visiting there yesterday for a short time resulted in an invitation to go to Stuttgart on Saturday with some guys from Alabama.

God knows I need someone else to talk to, or I'll be posting ten times a day! :)

First day in Vilseck

It's 6:11AM. I got up at 5:30AM, not too shabby for the first day. Last night, I lasted til about 8:15PM before I crashed asleep.

My pension. It's only a three room place. The owners are wonderful- greeted me with tea and stollen when I arrived. While I was walking around town, the husband re-assembled my boxed-up bike. He also works on base and bikes to work every morning at 7am, so tomorrow I'm going to ride with him. (By the way, they have all separate bike paths, so I won't be sharing the road with cars.) Today, someone is picking me up so I can get all my IDs, APO box and other paperwork done.

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It's a little odd waking up alone in a room after five days at Carrie's, knowing that I'm somewhere on the other side of the world. I may try to move to a place which has more rooms later, for social interaction purposes, but most places were booked when I rang.

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I wandered around on base a bit yesterday with the man who picked me up. I feel that I won't be hanging out there too much. "The Economy" is much nicer to be in. Most people speak German (duh, it's Germany). In fact, I spoke almost all German to everyone when I was not on base. It's surprising what I remember, considering I took German at UND in 1996-97.

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My room has satellite TV. I realised already that I'm not gonna be a TV watcher. It only took one day. I had thought that I'd try to watch more TV over here. Alas, no.

Vilseck, the town that the base is on. Weather's crisp, but not cold. It's a very small town. No snow anywhere in Germany that I saw flying in. (It must have melted.)

If you take a left at the end of this street by the tall yellow and green houses, that's where I'm staying.

Walking around town all afternoon yesterday- lovely.

I even made it to the countryside.

In town Vilseck actually.

My old basement with all the stuff that's on it's way in my container.

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OK I realise I'm not a morning writer. This stuff is a little dry. Drink your coffee and wake up! That's what I'm off to do.