The Wurst Years: Finally!

We thought the day would never come... heck even our cat was here before us. And, even though it was hard to say goodbye, we are now in Landstuhl.

The flight went fairly smooth. In the almost 8 hours we were in the air, I actually had time to get a little shut eye and, believe it or not, so did my 2 year old. I even got complements on how well he behaved on the flight... REALLY. The boy who cried the whole flight from Japan to California has possibly turned over a new leaf. At least for a little while.

Our sponsor and one of Mike's military coworkers picked us up at the airport in a maxi van. I have to say, here in Germany the "maxi" van is about double the size of a "maxi" van in Japan. It was great, though, and exactly what we needed for the 4 carry-ons and 7 check-in pieces of luggage that we had. That's right... 11 pieces of luggage.

The closest airport to us is in Frankfurt. From Frankfurt, it's about an hour and 30 minute drive to downtown Landstuhl. We were unable to get an apartment/temporary lodging on base so we are staying at Cafe Sander's in downtown Landstuhl. I was very apprehensive about this before arriving. I equated a hotel out on the economy as a small hotel room, and for an extended stay with children, that is a struggle. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The apartments are very nice. Similar to a large one bedroom apartment: there's a living room, kitchen, dining area, patio, bathroom with clothes washing machine, and master bedroom. The patio opens up to give a view of downtown and of Nanstein Castle.

Our sponsor was great and understanding of Sam. After the drive from the airport to our lodging, he took us to "breakfast" on the ground floor of Cafe Sander's. We were worn out and so after breakfast, our sponsor left us to settle in and get some shuteye. He returned in the afternoon to take Mike to the Ramstein Commissary, to get a few necessities for our stay. And that was it for our first day in Germany. Once Mike returned from the Commissary, we stayed in and rested.

The remainder of the week has been mostly getting settled into our new little town of Landstuhl, finding the local convenience stores, grocery stores, and specialty stores. Mike has been doing all the necessary in-processing paperwork and orientation meetings needed to get the ball rolling in his new duties. And we're slowly adjusting to the new time zone.