Settling in to Deutschland
I first laid eyes on Europe two weeks ago. As we coasted below the clouds, I peered out the small airplane window to my left. From my seat in the sky I saw lush green forests dotted with clusters of white houses, and small boxy cars moving through narrow streets like matchbox toys. I gripped Eugene’s hand a little tighter and braced myself for our new adventure in Germany.
My husband Eugene and I touched down on Ramstein Air Force Base in the Rhineland-Palitinate region of Germany on a rainy gray afternoon in May. Our journey since then has been all-at-once overwhelming and exciting.
We’ve spent the last 14 days living on base in a temporary lodging facility, or TLF, though we don’t actually spend a lot of time there. Our days are filled with mundane, but necessary, in-processing tasks that include things like finding a home, setting up an account with a local bank, and learning the ins and outs of living in foreign country.
We have managed to get off base, though, and in the short time we’ve been here, we can already tell we’re going to love it. There are countless small villages throughout the region, each with their own restaurants, cafes and forests filled with walking and biking paths. There’s always people outside walking along the clean, quiet streets. And the beer is inexpensive and available everywhere.
We got our first real – figurative and literal – taste of German culture at K-Fest. Germany is known for its festivals, and this annual get-together is held in Kaiserslautern, which is one of the biggest cities in the area. We took part in the merriment, walking down lane after lane of carnival attractions and games, and stopping every so often at a different beirgarten that caught our eye. We noshed on kartoffelpuffer with apfelsoße and sampled my new favorite food: currywurst.
And while everything is mostly fun and exciting, we’re learning and growing through challenges like the language barrier, non-existent speed limits, and being so far away from our family and friends.
Here’s a sampling of what we’ve experienced so far:
