Okay I think I am in a little trouble since it has been soo long since I have written. My family came and went…and I have been meaning to write about it all but have been putting it off because of all the craziness.
My family showed up the day before my birthday (the 9th of Oct) and stayed the entire week. Josh and I had woken up early that morning to pick them up at the airport which is about a 1 ½ hour drive. That morning (it being a Friday) it took us a little over 2 hours because it was a working day so we got stuck in a lot of traffic. On top of it all, Josh and I both had to pee really bad so we pulled over at what they call a “WC” which stands for “Water Closet.” (Josh and I are not the greatest to be in a car for long road trips because we both drink A LOT of water...not sure whose worse). Note to self..never stop at a "WC", they are extremely disgusting and I begged Josh to keep driving so we could find a gas station. Before I knew it he was parked at a WC. I couldn’t watch him go and not me so I did so as well….however, I found I was more disgusted than ever…..no more stopping at the WC.
Once we got to the airport we found my parents right away. I was a happy camper…once again I forgot how exciting it is to see familiar faces. To make the day even better we stopped at Globus (my favorite market) on the way home to get appetizers and wine to have for lunch. We came home and chatted for awhile while my Dad and Josh drank Guiness and the girls had wine. The 3 travelers (my mother, father and sister) all took a nap and just as I was about to ask Josh if he wanted to run to the store with me I looked over and he too was passed out. Once everyone was rejuvenated we headed over to the Ota’s (one of the providers at the clinic) where she was having a birthday party for me….I even got 2 cakes…one made personally by Josh :)
The next day we were suppose to head to Brugge, Belgium with the Ota’s for two nights to eat some waffles, drink some Delirium beer (my favorite) and hang out. We woke up the next morning and got the car all packed up. Right before we took off Josh realized he didn’t have his phone…after looking for it for quite some time we were able to find it…but had seen that he had missed quite a few phone calls. It turned out that one of his soldiers had been in big trouble and he needed to stay in order to deal with it. So we planned to head out the next day and stay for one night. That night while he was taking care of his soldier and the issues he got ANOTHER phone call that stated ANOTHER one of his soldiers was in trouble (this never had happened before) so he had to report to the Military Police station the NEXT night which messed with our Brugge plans. So we decided instead to make day trips for those two days during the weekend. It wasn’t a completely failure because on my birthday my family and I went to Trier (a cute town an hour from Baumholder) where we did some shopping , sat at an irish pub and ate really good German food…(possible some of the best I’ve had so far). I told Josh later that his soldiers better sing me happy birthday…:). The next week Josh had his soldiers do an extra PT (physical training) sessions that started at 0500....after they completey there first session they started their original session at 0630-0800. So I guess they didn’t completely get off the hook.
The rest of the week we took day trips. We did a Rhine River cruise. We passed by 8 castles and the scenery was gorgeous. On the way home we drank some wine and played cards. I always thought that the River cruises were for old people but I think I was wrong…I would definitely do it again. Other day trips we took were to Idar-Oberstein, Trier and Ramstein.
The following weekend my family had to fly out early Sunday so my parents came up with the great idea to spend the weekend in Frankfurt (they call it the Manhattan of Germany). I had never been so I said that it sounded good to me. So Friday morning we took off for Frankfurt. When we got there I had no idea what I was walking into…my dad had picked the nicest hotel I had ever seen. Inside it had old antique cars that were completely cleaned up and displayed. The lobby was huge with a bar, a restaurant, cigar lounge and additional café. The rooms were amazing as well. We headed out to see the Old part of Frankfurt (the only part that survived during WWII). It was pretty cool because it was just a tiny square with a great big church in the middle. The more places I go the more I am amazed to find different places in Germany that were bombed with only a couple things and a church left standing. That church usually being the main church in that town.
Our weekend theme was the song “Brandi Alexander.” My sister asked me if I had ever had a Brandi Alexander and I had no idea what it even was. It turned out that the hotel had a Brandi Alexander so I had to try it….the song was correct about them (you all should listen to the song…it will make you curious).
Needless to say I had a great birthday with my family. I didn’t end up beating up any of Josh’s soldiers even though I was all talk at the time…in fact towards the end of the week I kinda felt bad for them for having to wake up so early…but more bad that Josh had to be the one doing it...it took a lot out of him..but he was a trooper.
After my family left, I got sad. Josh had to cheer me up but I think he was expecting it because the past visitors he had felt the same way….We were both just thankful to have people come see us…it was such an amazing time....thank you Mom, Dad and Meg!
This past week has been craziness for Josh. I told him the other day that it was crazy because I was going to bed before him and he was waking up before me…which would be around 0400 some mornings. This morning he had to be out of the house by 0445 because he will be at the shooting range all day..he told me that I should expect him home around 0200 in the morning….so last night I packed him 6 sandwiches for the day…I guess that seems like a lot but at least it will help him survive in the cold and avoid eating the MRE (meals ready to eat)…they don’t taste very good...and aren't very healthy.
I know this email is getting long but I have to tell you all the most exciting news of all. Two days ago I bought us train tickets to go to Paris for Thanksgiving! We get to go for four days and the train tickets weren’t too bad at all…plus the train ride is only 2 ½ hours!
I will most likely be writing before thanksgiving but incase I didn’t get to I wanted to spread the word because it will be hard for Josh and I to not be around family for the holidays.
Hope everyone is doing well…we miss you all!
Love,
Gretchen (and Josh too):)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Battle with the Big H :)
On Tuesday night, Jim and Shaeffer (Josh’s two friends visiting for the week) took a train to Trier and were meant to get in about 7:30 PM..just in time to grill out. So I got everything ready while Josh went to pick them up. After about an hour we found out that the boys had boarded the wrong train…so they wouldn’t be in till 10 pm or so. So Josh came home and we decided to grill everything inside and they could at least have left overs.
While Josh and I were eating dinner, I could tell that he was disappointed that the guys weren’t going to be back till later. Josh wasn't saying much so once our conversation became me, myself and I, I blurted out “what is your problem" and he was like "nothing, I was just going to ask you to lay on the couch with me." I said "Oh." Then he was like, "so do you want to" and I said "no, there is no point in doing that." (Not sure why in my mind there wasn't a point to laying down). Then he went and laid down on the couch and I started crying... (I’m pretty unbelievable-I know).…so he looked over and said..."are you really crying" and I was like "yeah, but I don't know why" and of course started crying more. Then I told him how he is a boy so he doesn’t understand how girls work and that a girl would understand me. He started laughing and then once I listened to what I had said and I started laughing also. I looked over at the early birthday package Joelle had sent me and I had received that day and cried more. At this point Josh was finding this more humorous than anything because I couldn’t stop laughing or crying. Eventually I chilled out but couldn't believe how awesome Mr. Big H (aka...hormones) was being....and I am going to blame this episode 100% on them. Josh puts up with quite the load sometimes.
Last night we all four went out to dinner at Zumstern...one of my favorite German restuarants across from my Clinic. The guys had taken our car to Bingen and Rudesheim for the day. They said they had a blast and Shaeffer was happy because they saw some pretty ladies. When we got back from dinner we decided to start a game of hearts. We ended up staying up pretty late and playing but it was well worth the late night because the last hand Josh gave me the Queen and was soo happy with himself. So I had no hope but to shoot for the moon….I somehow ended up successful and then rubbed it that I was the winner and made them all loosers….shouldn’t mess with the best (k- I’m now done being cocky). :)
The guys are taking the train today to Munich to see Dachau concentration camp. (We went there with Josh’s parents and after about 30 mins I became physically sick to my stomach…it was good to see but I don’t want to ever see another one again.) So Josh will take the train on Friday morning to Munich to join them for fun Octoberfest festivities. Jim states they are sleeping on a park bench tonight because they don’t have a hotel reservation.
I work tomorrow and then have train tickets to head out on Saturday morning (with a couple friends) to catch Octoberfest for 24 hours…I will let you all know how it goes.
Hope everyone has a great weekend! And I hope this blog finds you having a happy Thursday!
Love, love, love,
Gretchen
While Josh and I were eating dinner, I could tell that he was disappointed that the guys weren’t going to be back till later. Josh wasn't saying much so once our conversation became me, myself and I, I blurted out “what is your problem" and he was like "nothing, I was just going to ask you to lay on the couch with me." I said "Oh." Then he was like, "so do you want to" and I said "no, there is no point in doing that." (Not sure why in my mind there wasn't a point to laying down). Then he went and laid down on the couch and I started crying... (I’m pretty unbelievable-I know).…so he looked over and said..."are you really crying" and I was like "yeah, but I don't know why" and of course started crying more. Then I told him how he is a boy so he doesn’t understand how girls work and that a girl would understand me. He started laughing and then once I listened to what I had said and I started laughing also. I looked over at the early birthday package Joelle had sent me and I had received that day and cried more. At this point Josh was finding this more humorous than anything because I couldn’t stop laughing or crying. Eventually I chilled out but couldn't believe how awesome Mr. Big H (aka...hormones) was being....and I am going to blame this episode 100% on them. Josh puts up with quite the load sometimes.
Last night we all four went out to dinner at Zumstern...one of my favorite German restuarants across from my Clinic. The guys had taken our car to Bingen and Rudesheim for the day. They said they had a blast and Shaeffer was happy because they saw some pretty ladies. When we got back from dinner we decided to start a game of hearts. We ended up staying up pretty late and playing but it was well worth the late night because the last hand Josh gave me the Queen and was soo happy with himself. So I had no hope but to shoot for the moon….I somehow ended up successful and then rubbed it that I was the winner and made them all loosers….shouldn’t mess with the best (k- I’m now done being cocky). :)
The guys are taking the train today to Munich to see Dachau concentration camp. (We went there with Josh’s parents and after about 30 mins I became physically sick to my stomach…it was good to see but I don’t want to ever see another one again.) So Josh will take the train on Friday morning to Munich to join them for fun Octoberfest festivities. Jim states they are sleeping on a park bench tonight because they don’t have a hotel reservation.
I work tomorrow and then have train tickets to head out on Saturday morning (with a couple friends) to catch Octoberfest for 24 hours…I will let you all know how it goes.
Hope everyone has a great weekend! And I hope this blog finds you having a happy Thursday!
Love, love, love,
Gretchen
Friday, September 18, 2009
Another happy Friday :)
I called Joelle last Friday and caught her on her way to Ames, Iowa (where Dane went to College) and were Joelle and I spent many weekends hanging out and listening to Damon Dotson (one of our favorite bands). Before I graduated from college I officially made Ames one of my most favorite places in America…don’t judge until you go there. J Needless to say, I got really sad while I was talking to Joelle and said that I wanted to be in the car with them. We both kinda laughed about how silly we are about missing each other and then I let her go. (The worse part about being sad about this incident is that no one else understand except for Joelle because we were the only ones to make the trip. Josh never made it to Ames so it is hard for him to get what was soo great about Ames.) Once I hung up the phone the tears started rolling. Josh was already asleep so I ran into bed and told him I was sad and HAD to wake up to make me feel better. He tried to wake up but just couldn’t so I told him he would be in trouble and then laid there thinking. When I woke up in the morning Josh had no recollection of me coming to bed…he knows what to say to get out of trouble :).
We picked up one of Jim’s (Josh’s best man) friend, Johnny, from the train station last night. He is coming in for a couple nights to see Jim who we are picking up on Saturday to be here for a week. Jim and Johnny met while studying abroad in Spain. Michael, another one of Josh’s friends from Officer Training Course is coming in on Saturday to visit also for a week. Both Josh and I have to work but the two of them (Jim and Michael) are going to travel around via Train. Next weekend Josh is taking Friday off to head to Munich for Octoberfest with his guys. I was told this was strictly a Man’s event so I agreed to stay back. A week later I got an email from a couple neighbors saying they were heading there so I jumped on the idea and bought own my train ticket to Munich. We are only heading up for one day but it should be pretty fantastic. Josh will take the train back with me while his Friends will head to the airport….this week is going to go by fast.
Tonight I have to bake Jim a b-day cake. His birthday is tomorrow and we are picking him up so I have to make it as special as possible. Mary Jo if you have any tips send them my way. I will update you all after the man’s week adventure. I am happy because I get to ask unlimited questions to the boys about life and love. :)
Sorry this blog was short. I was trying to think of what to write and couldn’t really think of too much. All I could think to write about was work, eat and sleep….I need to become more exciting. :)
Talk to you all soon. Love and much missing from Germany.
Gretchen
We picked up one of Jim’s (Josh’s best man) friend, Johnny, from the train station last night. He is coming in for a couple nights to see Jim who we are picking up on Saturday to be here for a week. Jim and Johnny met while studying abroad in Spain. Michael, another one of Josh’s friends from Officer Training Course is coming in on Saturday to visit also for a week. Both Josh and I have to work but the two of them (Jim and Michael) are going to travel around via Train. Next weekend Josh is taking Friday off to head to Munich for Octoberfest with his guys. I was told this was strictly a Man’s event so I agreed to stay back. A week later I got an email from a couple neighbors saying they were heading there so I jumped on the idea and bought own my train ticket to Munich. We are only heading up for one day but it should be pretty fantastic. Josh will take the train back with me while his Friends will head to the airport….this week is going to go by fast.
Tonight I have to bake Jim a b-day cake. His birthday is tomorrow and we are picking him up so I have to make it as special as possible. Mary Jo if you have any tips send them my way. I will update you all after the man’s week adventure. I am happy because I get to ask unlimited questions to the boys about life and love. :)
Sorry this blog was short. I was trying to think of what to write and couldn’t really think of too much. All I could think to write about was work, eat and sleep….I need to become more exciting. :)
Talk to you all soon. Love and much missing from Germany.
Gretchen
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Happy September 1st!
Josh drove his fam to the airport yesterday morning. They were visiting for 2 wks and 2 days and I am not going to lie I thought that it would not be nearly as fantastic as it was having them here. Right before they came, I have to admit that I was having a hard time imagining now sleeping in my bed….even though it had just as soft of blankets….does that make me high maintanence? I also had to give myself little pep talks that it would be “okay” if the house wasn’t always spotless. For the record though I told Josh the last night that I was really starting to like the guest bed.
The Saturday they came in I begged Josh to let me come to the airport too. (It was going to be a very tight squeeze fitting 6 people into the highlander with luggage.) But I woke up trying to reason with him that I would sit on the floor. He gave in after a couple of hours…so I was very happy! When we picked them up we had a 6 pack of Belgium beer waiting for them. When we got back, we grilled out and just caught up.
The first week they were here Josh had time off so he got to travel with them and just hang out. They were able to go to BernKastle-Keus, Idar-Oberstein, Ramstein (to see how an Air Force base compares to Army….really no comparison) Belgium (I am spacing the name of it) and Luxumbourg. I am sure they went a couple more places but I can't remember them. The next weekend I took Friday and Monday off so we flew to Cinque Terre, Italy. This is a place in Italy that has five small villages scattered throughout this cliff. To get to each village you can either travel by train or hike village to village. We spent most of Friday traveling but ended up getting there and heading straight to the water to swim. Afterwards we had a late night Italian dinner….I am obsessed with Italian food. The next day we got going early in plans to hike until we couldn’t take it anymore. (We were staying in the farthest town, Monterosso). The first hike took a little under 2 hours to complete. Joelle had warned me how beautiful it was but no words could really explain how unbelievable it really was. At times, we were walking right along the edge of the cliff with only 2 ft of walking path….the key to survival was Josh carrying a backpack of 3 Nalgeen water bottles for us. Without the water we would have all passed out…no exaggeration. When we made it into the 2nd town around noon we went right for the beach. After cooling down, we had some lunch and the kids hiked one more town. The rest of the weekend was filled with eating, relaxing and more site seeing….too much fun!
When we got back to Germany, Josh had one day off while I went back to work. Each night we either grilled out, made dinner or went out to eat. Josh’s fam got to meet all our favorite friends. J Once Josh started going back to work, things changed a little bit. He started getting more tired and the first night he came to bed and got really quiet. I asked him what was up and he said he just really liked his family. I smiled and agreed with him. I told him he should go hang out with them more so he got right out of bed to go read his book in the living room. Each night after that he expressed at least 1 time how much he really liked them. After awhile I got sad too.
So Josh’s family came and went….at times I got tired but the fact that I had so many people to ask questions to made it all worth it. Being so far away, Josh and I both agreed that we get caught up in work and Germany that we forget how much we really love and need our friends and family back home.
Today I got told that I get to go TDY (temporary duty) to a conference for 4 days in the beginning of October. The best part is that it is in Garmisch, a gorgeous place in the German ALPS. (When Joelle and her sisters came to visit we went there and it quickly turned into Joelle’s favorite place of all.) Also, I found out that most of the providers are going as well as myself and another nurse….so it should be good hang out times. Josh said he is going to turn the place into a bachelor’s pad for a week.
Well I should go now. I wish you all a happy 1st of September. Miss and love you all!
Love,
Gretchen
The Saturday they came in I begged Josh to let me come to the airport too. (It was going to be a very tight squeeze fitting 6 people into the highlander with luggage.) But I woke up trying to reason with him that I would sit on the floor. He gave in after a couple of hours…so I was very happy! When we picked them up we had a 6 pack of Belgium beer waiting for them. When we got back, we grilled out and just caught up.
The first week they were here Josh had time off so he got to travel with them and just hang out. They were able to go to BernKastle-Keus, Idar-Oberstein, Ramstein (to see how an Air Force base compares to Army….really no comparison) Belgium (I am spacing the name of it) and Luxumbourg. I am sure they went a couple more places but I can't remember them. The next weekend I took Friday and Monday off so we flew to Cinque Terre, Italy. This is a place in Italy that has five small villages scattered throughout this cliff. To get to each village you can either travel by train or hike village to village. We spent most of Friday traveling but ended up getting there and heading straight to the water to swim. Afterwards we had a late night Italian dinner….I am obsessed with Italian food. The next day we got going early in plans to hike until we couldn’t take it anymore. (We were staying in the farthest town, Monterosso). The first hike took a little under 2 hours to complete. Joelle had warned me how beautiful it was but no words could really explain how unbelievable it really was. At times, we were walking right along the edge of the cliff with only 2 ft of walking path….the key to survival was Josh carrying a backpack of 3 Nalgeen water bottles for us. Without the water we would have all passed out…no exaggeration. When we made it into the 2nd town around noon we went right for the beach. After cooling down, we had some lunch and the kids hiked one more town. The rest of the weekend was filled with eating, relaxing and more site seeing….too much fun!
When we got back to Germany, Josh had one day off while I went back to work. Each night we either grilled out, made dinner or went out to eat. Josh’s fam got to meet all our favorite friends. J Once Josh started going back to work, things changed a little bit. He started getting more tired and the first night he came to bed and got really quiet. I asked him what was up and he said he just really liked his family. I smiled and agreed with him. I told him he should go hang out with them more so he got right out of bed to go read his book in the living room. Each night after that he expressed at least 1 time how much he really liked them. After awhile I got sad too.
So Josh’s family came and went….at times I got tired but the fact that I had so many people to ask questions to made it all worth it. Being so far away, Josh and I both agreed that we get caught up in work and Germany that we forget how much we really love and need our friends and family back home.
Today I got told that I get to go TDY (temporary duty) to a conference for 4 days in the beginning of October. The best part is that it is in Garmisch, a gorgeous place in the German ALPS. (When Joelle and her sisters came to visit we went there and it quickly turned into Joelle’s favorite place of all.) Also, I found out that most of the providers are going as well as myself and another nurse….so it should be good hang out times. Josh said he is going to turn the place into a bachelor’s pad for a week.
Well I should go now. I wish you all a happy 1st of September. Miss and love you all!
Love,
Gretchen
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Happy Tuesday! :)
Josh and I sent Harvey, our temporary pup, back to his owners on Saturday. We spent all of Sunday cleaning to carpet and house (well Josh did) and then last night we babysat for Josh’s Platoon Sargent’s two girls. Last night when I climbed into bed at 10 pm (1 hour later than normal- you can say it, I’m a loser) I was EXHAUSTED. So when Josh came in later and turned on the light and wanted to talk and hang out, I was not a happy camper.
And then this morning my bad karma turned on me because about 0545 I was stung by my first hornet. I was minding my own manners running on the treadmill at the gym when all of a sudden I felt shooting pain in my arm. I went over to Josh and asked if I had a bite….sure enough I did, the hornet ended up on my shirt where I swung it to the floor, got scared and ran. I made Josh go kill it on the floor…even though it already dead. He picked the hornet up and stated that the hornet was whispering to him that he was sorry. Since Josh has returned from deployment he has this thing with insects. Every time I see a bug in our house I ask him to come kill it and EVERY TIME he tells me that the bugs are our friends and were created by God so we should let them live. Unbelievable.
I’m not sure if you guys remember my blog from February when I was really excited because we had ordered our coaches for our house. After a huge ordeal they told us it could take up to 6 months to deliver. 6 months down the road still no furniture. So this past Saturday Josh and I went to Volgeweh (where we bought it) to look for new one so we could cancel the order. We found nothing that we liked so we turned around and walked out with the decision to just wait till our order comes….they said no later than the end of August. We then decided to walk into Volgeweh’s Powerzone to look around….shortly after Josh was looking at Mountain bikes and decided he was just going to get one. I have been telling him over and over again he needs to just get it but he always wants to find the best deals and research the features of each bike. He found 2 he really liked but decided we should go to Ramstein (another Air Force base nearby) to make sure they didn’t have any. When we walked into the Outdoor Reaction store this cute little bike mountain bike kept staring at me. I told Josh that I really loved it. He of coarse supported me getting one as well in order to avoid grief giving per me for going biking after work….so today after work Josh and I get to go pick up my cute little pink mountain bike :).
Josh’s family will be arriving in Germany this Saturday for 15 days or so. Josh and I are both looking VERY forward to seeing them. I, myself have to learn (very quickly) to conquer the work hard, party hard attitude. Lately I have just been a work and sleep kinda gal…Josh was even teasing me last night because one of my favorite things of all is crawling into my bed at night and get all snuggled in. Josh says I demand too much sleep…not true.
Josh has been on a role lately making jokes about when his parents and two sisters arrive. He has even stated that wanted to create an agenda for his family…his main point of the spreadsheet was to get across the idea that woman will clean and cook while the men enjoy their vacation. I told him it was forbidden but he continued to have waay too much fun with ideas for the Excel spreadsheet. I will admit that he even had me laughing a few times at his jokes. Mary, Danielle and Britt please come prepared and bring your feistiness.
So I should get back to work…although it’s been a slow day I should go find something to do! Hope you are all having a great week thus far.
Love you all and miss you guys!
Love,
Gretchen
And then this morning my bad karma turned on me because about 0545 I was stung by my first hornet. I was minding my own manners running on the treadmill at the gym when all of a sudden I felt shooting pain in my arm. I went over to Josh and asked if I had a bite….sure enough I did, the hornet ended up on my shirt where I swung it to the floor, got scared and ran. I made Josh go kill it on the floor…even though it already dead. He picked the hornet up and stated that the hornet was whispering to him that he was sorry. Since Josh has returned from deployment he has this thing with insects. Every time I see a bug in our house I ask him to come kill it and EVERY TIME he tells me that the bugs are our friends and were created by God so we should let them live. Unbelievable.
I’m not sure if you guys remember my blog from February when I was really excited because we had ordered our coaches for our house. After a huge ordeal they told us it could take up to 6 months to deliver. 6 months down the road still no furniture. So this past Saturday Josh and I went to Volgeweh (where we bought it) to look for new one so we could cancel the order. We found nothing that we liked so we turned around and walked out with the decision to just wait till our order comes….they said no later than the end of August. We then decided to walk into Volgeweh’s Powerzone to look around….shortly after Josh was looking at Mountain bikes and decided he was just going to get one. I have been telling him over and over again he needs to just get it but he always wants to find the best deals and research the features of each bike. He found 2 he really liked but decided we should go to Ramstein (another Air Force base nearby) to make sure they didn’t have any. When we walked into the Outdoor Reaction store this cute little bike mountain bike kept staring at me. I told Josh that I really loved it. He of coarse supported me getting one as well in order to avoid grief giving per me for going biking after work….so today after work Josh and I get to go pick up my cute little pink mountain bike :).
Josh’s family will be arriving in Germany this Saturday for 15 days or so. Josh and I are both looking VERY forward to seeing them. I, myself have to learn (very quickly) to conquer the work hard, party hard attitude. Lately I have just been a work and sleep kinda gal…Josh was even teasing me last night because one of my favorite things of all is crawling into my bed at night and get all snuggled in. Josh says I demand too much sleep…not true.
Josh has been on a role lately making jokes about when his parents and two sisters arrive. He has even stated that wanted to create an agenda for his family…his main point of the spreadsheet was to get across the idea that woman will clean and cook while the men enjoy their vacation. I told him it was forbidden but he continued to have waay too much fun with ideas for the Excel spreadsheet. I will admit that he even had me laughing a few times at his jokes. Mary, Danielle and Britt please come prepared and bring your feistiness.
So I should get back to work…although it’s been a slow day I should go find something to do! Hope you are all having a great week thus far.
Love you all and miss you guys!
Love,
Gretchen
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Only a babe
So I guess after my emotional night my immune system decided to crash on me. It started as a horrible sore throat that switched to a lot of nasal congestion accompanied by pounding headaches. I came home from work at lunch on Friday and decided to clean all the dog hair from our floor…Josh and I went to town and even bought a vacuum….that kept us pretty busy for the afternoon. That night I didn’t feel like doing much so I made us wine with coke blended with ice. For those of you who don’t know, it is a drink that the Cressman girls (Joelle, Jen and Jessica) brought back from their adventures in Europe. In Spain they put wine with coke and it is called calimocho. I wanted something cold for my throat and since it was a Friday night I figured that a glass of wine couldn’t hurt. Josh stayed in with me and we hung out….I was in bed early.
The next night Josh had an Army party and so he went out while I stayed in….at that point I was really not doing too great and couldn’t imagine going out for a night. He called me at 11:30 to come pick him up and when I got there at midnight he wanted me to come in with my pajamas to say hello to everyone. After I convinced him that we needed to just go home and that I didn’t feel well his talkative self fell asleep in the car. :) He’s only a babe.
So the rest of the weekend was a lot of laying low. I slept A LOT and it seems no matter how much sleep I get I still wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a big bulldozing truck. Last night Josh and I got invited to dinner and I told Josh that I wasn’t in. He decided to stay back to take care of me and when he was on the phone telling the LT that he was going to pass I ran into the kitchen telling him that he was the greatest. He smiled and told me that he thinks he has perfected the art of “reading woman.”
Josh has started to get very invested (time and money) in watching the TV series “The unit.” It is about the Special Forces and their missions…there are a few love stories here and there with the families at all so occasionally I will keep my eyes open to watch some of the show. When I have to go to the bathroom he always offers to pause the show. I tell him that he doesn’t have to he just has to pause it if the show skips back to the love part with wives. J. The past couple nights he has watched 2-3 episodes a night on the labtop. I try not to watch them because I tell him it doesn’t make me very excited knowing what they do. He tells me it is fake and not how SF works. I disagree. Nonetheless he loves the show.
So this weekend we will be around. It is our last weekend of watching the pup, Harvey. And it is already the weekend after that that Josh’s family is coming to visit for 2 wks….very excited!!! Josh has been threating his poor mother that we are going to drink all the Belgium beer we bought (for when they come) before they make it over. He said he talked to his mother last night and she said that's all she thinks about during the day is coming over here. I said "oh sad" and he replied with "yeah and pretty pathetic too." We both got a good laugh in...Mary, we love you! :)
Hope everyone is doing great! Miss you all lots!
Ps. Meg, I was just informed that they are hiring a chiropractor at our clinic. You should really think about it…free healthcare, Germany, meeting your future Army husband..and most importantly unlimited time with your sister!!
The next night Josh had an Army party and so he went out while I stayed in….at that point I was really not doing too great and couldn’t imagine going out for a night. He called me at 11:30 to come pick him up and when I got there at midnight he wanted me to come in with my pajamas to say hello to everyone. After I convinced him that we needed to just go home and that I didn’t feel well his talkative self fell asleep in the car. :) He’s only a babe.
So the rest of the weekend was a lot of laying low. I slept A LOT and it seems no matter how much sleep I get I still wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a big bulldozing truck. Last night Josh and I got invited to dinner and I told Josh that I wasn’t in. He decided to stay back to take care of me and when he was on the phone telling the LT that he was going to pass I ran into the kitchen telling him that he was the greatest. He smiled and told me that he thinks he has perfected the art of “reading woman.”
Josh has started to get very invested (time and money) in watching the TV series “The unit.” It is about the Special Forces and their missions…there are a few love stories here and there with the families at all so occasionally I will keep my eyes open to watch some of the show. When I have to go to the bathroom he always offers to pause the show. I tell him that he doesn’t have to he just has to pause it if the show skips back to the love part with wives. J. The past couple nights he has watched 2-3 episodes a night on the labtop. I try not to watch them because I tell him it doesn’t make me very excited knowing what they do. He tells me it is fake and not how SF works. I disagree. Nonetheless he loves the show.
So this weekend we will be around. It is our last weekend of watching the pup, Harvey. And it is already the weekend after that that Josh’s family is coming to visit for 2 wks….very excited!!! Josh has been threating his poor mother that we are going to drink all the Belgium beer we bought (for when they come) before they make it over. He said he talked to his mother last night and she said that's all she thinks about during the day is coming over here. I said "oh sad" and he replied with "yeah and pretty pathetic too." We both got a good laugh in...Mary, we love you! :)
Hope everyone is doing great! Miss you all lots!
Ps. Meg, I was just informed that they are hiring a chiropractor at our clinic. You should really think about it…free healthcare, Germany, meeting your future Army husband..and most importantly unlimited time with your sister!!
Friday, July 31, 2009
An emotional night :)
Last night Josh and I went out to Mexican. On our way home, we decided to swing by the movie store and get a movie. I stated that I was just going to fall asleep so he could pick out the movie. It turns out that whenever I go into a movie store I always want to get one quick and get out. I hate looking around for a really long time. I tried to be patient but after a little while I told Josh that I was going to go wait in the car…he said he wasn’t going to be much longer so I waited. As I was standing there I saw this movie that I had remembered someone telling me about. It was called “Bridewar” and I then remembered Joelle telling me that she watched it one night and it reminded her of me. I went up to Josh and said, “This movie reminds Joelle of me, so we have to watch it sometime.” He said “okay, lets get it.” I was in a little shock but said “okay!”. In line he stated, “And this is why you don’t bring your wife into the movie store with you.” :)
So we started watching the movie. It is about two best friends who grow up together, get engaged around the same time and end up breaking apart during the planning of the wedding. The day of the wedding comes around they run into each other again right before they are going into their chapels to get married. They both look at each other and smile. One of the girls decides that she isn’t ready to get married and calls it off. She goes over to the other girl and tells her how sorry she is and how much she has missed her. The 2nd to last scene in the movie is the two girls meeting up 1 year later and breaking the news to each other that that they were BOTH pregnant and ironically had the exact same due date. The final part of the movie states how important companionship is and how many times the most important companionship is the friends that you grew up with.
Of course I started crying and told Josh that I was sad and that I left my friend that I grew up with back in Minnesota. At first he just smiled at me but after I started crying a little more he escorted me to the bedroom and told me to lay down with him. I went on about how Joelle and I always said that we would have babies together and that sometimes I thought about how that wasn’t going to happen because the Army wasn’t going to allow us to be in the same place again. He then said, “You find out where Joelle is going to be, tell her that you would like it to be near an Army base and we will go there.” I then asked well what if Joelle and Dane have babies before we get to the next station. He said, “When Joelle has a baby, we can have one.” I said, “So if Joelle gets pregnant tomorrow, we can too? “He smiled and said “yes.” Josh was going to stay up late but crawled into bed with his clothes all on to try to put me to sleep.
This morning I woke up and started thinking about last night. I came to the conclusion that the Lord has blessed me in all the areas of life. I may be pretty dramatic and emotional at times but somehow the people I love most know how to deal with me best.
I wanted to write this blog for you Jojo….one day we can play again friend.
On top of that I miss you ALL a lot a lot! Josh deals with a lot from me being so far away from friends and family so you can all ask him how much I miss you guys!
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Love you,
Gretchen
So we started watching the movie. It is about two best friends who grow up together, get engaged around the same time and end up breaking apart during the planning of the wedding. The day of the wedding comes around they run into each other again right before they are going into their chapels to get married. They both look at each other and smile. One of the girls decides that she isn’t ready to get married and calls it off. She goes over to the other girl and tells her how sorry she is and how much she has missed her. The 2nd to last scene in the movie is the two girls meeting up 1 year later and breaking the news to each other that that they were BOTH pregnant and ironically had the exact same due date. The final part of the movie states how important companionship is and how many times the most important companionship is the friends that you grew up with.
Of course I started crying and told Josh that I was sad and that I left my friend that I grew up with back in Minnesota. At first he just smiled at me but after I started crying a little more he escorted me to the bedroom and told me to lay down with him. I went on about how Joelle and I always said that we would have babies together and that sometimes I thought about how that wasn’t going to happen because the Army wasn’t going to allow us to be in the same place again. He then said, “You find out where Joelle is going to be, tell her that you would like it to be near an Army base and we will go there.” I then asked well what if Joelle and Dane have babies before we get to the next station. He said, “When Joelle has a baby, we can have one.” I said, “So if Joelle gets pregnant tomorrow, we can too? “He smiled and said “yes.” Josh was going to stay up late but crawled into bed with his clothes all on to try to put me to sleep.
This morning I woke up and started thinking about last night. I came to the conclusion that the Lord has blessed me in all the areas of life. I may be pretty dramatic and emotional at times but somehow the people I love most know how to deal with me best.
I wanted to write this blog for you Jojo….one day we can play again friend.
On top of that I miss you ALL a lot a lot! Josh deals with a lot from me being so far away from friends and family so you can all ask him how much I miss you guys!
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Love you,
Gretchen
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
No Babies :)
Last night our life jumped forward 20 years. We took on two kids and a dog all in one night. Josh had agreed to watch his Platoon Sargents children; two girls, an 8 year old and 14 months and on top of it we are watching our neighbors Lab while she is on emergency leave. Turns out that the kids loved the dog and vise versa. At one point in the night, the dog started to get a little hyper and so the kids started winding up. Josh and I weren’t sure what to do so I looked at him and said “Lets go on a walk and maybe stop by the park.” The night turned a little ugly when the 8 year old started crying and running home (we were almost home at this point). Josh just looked at me and said “What the heck happened.” Turns out she was upset because she had to go home soon. So when mom and dad knocked on the door at 9:15 PM and she started crying again….we had to laugh about it. Right after they left Josh said “I need a beer,” and the next look he gave me was priceless. He admitted that he wasn’t ready to have children or take on a dog. He said he liked having our apartment clean with no hair on the floors/carpets. I got a kick out of how tired and stressed he was. He even gave me a hard time because I told the oldest that we could play again before she took off back to the states. So no babies for us for awhile. :)
I made Josh a blueberry pie for his bday last week. He said he didn’t or need want much so he went online to order some Army books to read. We went out to Mexican and afterwards came back to sing happy birthday. We ended up crawling into bed around 9 Pm and as we were laying there he said, “Do you think anyone around us knows we are sleeping this early.” Apparently bedtime plays into popularity factor with Josh. I laughed but we both got a good night sleep that night.
This past weekend was awesome. We stuck around Baumholder and was able to get the guest room ready for when people come visit. It was hard for Josh to do but I was very proud of him. I will admit though when we first walked into the store, I was a little nervous so I warned him that this may take a little money out of our account to do. Once we made it into the store, Josh stopped pushing the cart looked at me and said “I need food, I can’t think or concentrate.” Wowzers, I told him that he is unreal when he gets stressed. After some food, I told him to go pick out 4 pillows and he actually picked out VERY nice ones and didn’t consider the price. It was a very interesting shopping experience but the more weird things us two go through the closer we get….many times I just think about the way he reacts to certain things and it makes me smile.
On Saturday we did a Volksmarch. A new nurse at work was telling me about them, so we tried one. They have them all over Germany (and I guess they have them back in the states but not many people know about them) They are every weekend and you can go and walk. This one had the option of walking a 5 km, 10 km or 20 km. We decided to walk the 10 km and it was absolutely gorgeous. We went past tons of fields and up into paths into big wooded areas. At one point we walked down this large hill on a small windy road that looked over the entire town we were in. It was remarkable…one of the best things I’ve done in Germany. Afterwards they had food served at the start and served drinks and homemade desserts. So we had a beer and a pizza….it was pretty tasty.
This past weekend, Josh and I called Gregory (my oldest brother). It had been awhile since we have got to talk to him on the phone (we play phone tag a lot). Josh and Greg were talking for a little big about his Girlfriend and Josh asked Greg if he makes sure to put the toilet seat down after he uses her bathroom. Greg said, “Yeah dude, that is bathroom 101.” I laughed because that means that so far Josh as failed bathroom 101. Josh said, “you know what you have to do? Put saran wrap around the toilet seat. I thought for a little bit and asked “what is the point of that.” My brother and Josh got a big kick out of it and after there good laugh they were nice enough to explain my stupidity to me…..I hope you all are having fun laughing too. Not okay.
So this week we are dog sitting. We will be around this weekend again, we are probably going to go to a few cook outs….but hopefully we will get to skype or get a hold of a few of you to chat.
I hope all is well back in the states! We miss you a all a lot!
Love,
Gretchen
I made Josh a blueberry pie for his bday last week. He said he didn’t or need want much so he went online to order some Army books to read. We went out to Mexican and afterwards came back to sing happy birthday. We ended up crawling into bed around 9 Pm and as we were laying there he said, “Do you think anyone around us knows we are sleeping this early.” Apparently bedtime plays into popularity factor with Josh. I laughed but we both got a good night sleep that night.
This past weekend was awesome. We stuck around Baumholder and was able to get the guest room ready for when people come visit. It was hard for Josh to do but I was very proud of him. I will admit though when we first walked into the store, I was a little nervous so I warned him that this may take a little money out of our account to do. Once we made it into the store, Josh stopped pushing the cart looked at me and said “I need food, I can’t think or concentrate.” Wowzers, I told him that he is unreal when he gets stressed. After some food, I told him to go pick out 4 pillows and he actually picked out VERY nice ones and didn’t consider the price. It was a very interesting shopping experience but the more weird things us two go through the closer we get….many times I just think about the way he reacts to certain things and it makes me smile.
On Saturday we did a Volksmarch. A new nurse at work was telling me about them, so we tried one. They have them all over Germany (and I guess they have them back in the states but not many people know about them) They are every weekend and you can go and walk. This one had the option of walking a 5 km, 10 km or 20 km. We decided to walk the 10 km and it was absolutely gorgeous. We went past tons of fields and up into paths into big wooded areas. At one point we walked down this large hill on a small windy road that looked over the entire town we were in. It was remarkable…one of the best things I’ve done in Germany. Afterwards they had food served at the start and served drinks and homemade desserts. So we had a beer and a pizza….it was pretty tasty.
This past weekend, Josh and I called Gregory (my oldest brother). It had been awhile since we have got to talk to him on the phone (we play phone tag a lot). Josh and Greg were talking for a little big about his Girlfriend and Josh asked Greg if he makes sure to put the toilet seat down after he uses her bathroom. Greg said, “Yeah dude, that is bathroom 101.” I laughed because that means that so far Josh as failed bathroom 101. Josh said, “you know what you have to do? Put saran wrap around the toilet seat. I thought for a little bit and asked “what is the point of that.” My brother and Josh got a big kick out of it and after there good laugh they were nice enough to explain my stupidity to me…..I hope you all are having fun laughing too. Not okay.
So this week we are dog sitting. We will be around this weekend again, we are probably going to go to a few cook outs….but hopefully we will get to skype or get a hold of a few of you to chat.
I hope all is well back in the states! We miss you a all a lot!
Love,
Gretchen
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The Cruise plus a little more
So as you may all know Josh and I just went on our honeymoon/year anniversary cruise. I am not sure how to keep this post minimal to tell you all the places we stopped at, so I am going to state the dates we were in each port and the highlights of the day.
Marseille, France (27 June 09): We took off from this port. We got in the night before and walked/took a taxi to the port site...it was very interesting bc with the French language barrier (Josh knew a little from HS) it was quite interesting getting to the port. One taxi dropped us off at the wrong port so we had to take another taxi to the right one...at the time we weren't sure what was going on, we just got in the cab and prayed. It worked out but when we were dropped off it was still a little over a mile walk to the ship. We could not believe how HUGE the ship was. It was built in 2008 and held nearly 4,000 people.
That day we got on the boat early and just explored. Once we got our bags we put our swimsuits on. Josh noted that before we left the port that evening he was sunburnt to the max :).....I coudn't talk him into tanning with me before. The boat took off around 6 and we just lounged because we didn't have dinner reservations till 9:30. Josh decided to pick the 2nd seating for dinner so everynight we ate dinner with the same two other couples.
We were a little nervous as to if the people we would sit with would speak english but found out that dinner was always a top highlight of each day. One couple at the table (Faye and Steve) were older and stated they had children our age and the other couple was a few years older than us (early thirties). The great part was that we found out that both guys were engineers and Steve was on a short stent in Paris as a project manager for an oil company. It was fun though because while the guys told their engineer stories, us girls found ourselves looking at each other rolling our eyes at their grand little world....Mary, you would have fit right in at dinner. :)
Genoa, Italy (28 June 09): It was the first port and we were there on a Sunday so we just walked around. The coolest part about this city was there were tiny tiny allyways (where you almost felt clastrophobic) and there would be the door opening to a GINORMOUS church inside and you wondered how such a great big church even fit in the small allyway. It was very interesting. We bought a couple really cheap bottles of wine (the wine in Italy is ridiculously cheap) and some Fococcia bread (with olives) and camped up at a park bench. I of course couldn't stop talking about how amazing the bread was....I really like to talk about food and sometimes it can get a little bit too much for some people but I never get how other people don't talk about how good it tastes too. After a bit more walking around we went back to the pool to go swimming. Dinner that night was another great time and of course with the 6 courses I kept telling Josh how amazing it was. Typically we would get done with dinner around midnight and go right to bed.
Naples, Italy (29 June 09): Here we got some advice from Faye and Steve to take the train up to Sorrento, Italy and on the way back stop at Pompie, Italy. So we headed out to the train station (by foot) and I can't say that I felt that overwhelmed in awhile. The city was absolutely crazy, there were people everywhere, vespa (scooters) racing ever which way...half the time I thought they were going to kill me and a protest (the italians called it a manifesto) going on in the middle of the street where they had traffic at a hult. So there was lots of honking of the horns. I told Josh I was going to go into a couple stores to get away from it and gave him my camera to take pictures. Once we got to the train station we took the train for an hour all the way to Sorrento. We met a pretty neat man on the train (I have found that while traveling you hear some pretty neat stories from people...he was on his way to meet his wife...she had came over to teach pilates for a week). Sorrento was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. We did what Faye and Steve had recommended and walked right into a hotel and went to look at the drop off. Sorrento lies on a cliff right on the beach and they have tons of hotels built into the cliff. To get down to the water they use lifts (elevators) and the water is the bluest of blue. There were no sandy beaches but you could see the huge rocks right through the crystal clear water. It reminded me a lot of Lake superior rocks but with crystal blue water.....Tons of tourists were laying out on rafts....and there were laters leading from the big rocks down to the swimming area (which looked to be about 20 ft deep). It was unbelievable. We said we would go back and spend a whole weekend in Sorrento. We admired it for awhile before heading to Pompei. I had no idea that it was soo big (we could have used more time there) but soon got tired walking and knew we had to get back before the ship left. Pompei is an old Roman city that was preserved by ash from a volcano. That was amazing to see. On our way back to the boat Josh and I stopped and shared a bottle of wine.....Josh gets really fun after a little wine :).
Palermo, Italy (30 June 09...10 month anniversary): We ordered breakfast to our room and sat on our balcony and ate. We recommend to anyone who does a cruise to definately do the balcony...we spent a good portion on it reading and watching the ocean. A lot of times when going at night we would see a small island all lite up and it was pretty neat to see. I would always talk all about the dolphins and how they must have been having so much fun playing underneath the water. Josh laughed and just rolled his eyes saying "I would do anything to just be inside and see what goes on in that head for just a day." I told him that dolphins were smarter than humans and he didn't buy that....I did hear that once but admit I am pretty gulible. We loved Italy!
Tunis, Africa (1 July 09): This was the stop that Josh was most excited for. After the trip Josh started a travel journal were he marks the stops we have been to and what to see. For Tunis he wrote two lines, "We have a map -Do not go back. It's worthless." It was different to see but it was not fun. We took a taxi into town with Faye and Steve and while we were there we were told to see the market. It turned out that it was a small SMALL allyway that went on forever with the locals trying to sell anything and everything. People would bombard you asking you to buy stuff. Many times locals would tell us to follow them and would just lead us to their market...they would want us to pay them for showing them the way. One guy started taking us some where and I told Josh to just stop walking....not to follow him. Josh stopped and told him we just wanted to do our own thing. He got very mad, said some not very nice words and called josh crazy...Josh said, "Yes, I am crazy." It was humerous. We found this one famous site where you pay to go to the top of this store to see a lookout but it turned out that the building top was just the same height as the other building so all you were looking at was the other old buildings....dissapointing...but we all got a good laugh out of it because we tried so hard to find this stop. This day was fun because we got to travel with Faye and Steve. Josh really grew to like Faye because she took notes and planned her days very thoroughly....many times before we took off we would see Faye at breakfast with a couple maps infront of her taking notes of what she wanted for that day.
Palma de Mallora, Spain (2 July 09): That day was the one day we did one of the boats excursions. It took us out on a catamaran to the ocean to swim and sunbathe. The boat stayed close to shore so we were able to see a lot of famous sites and a couple really beautiful beaches. Josh did a lot of swimming, I did a lot of sunbathing. When we got back we went into town for a little bit to walk around. Palma de Mallora is arguable one of the biggest party place in europe(so we were told) so we had to see what it was all about. We didnt stay for long but we did stop by a few local places to have some beer and sangria. We ended up at an American country bar for a little bit because Josh wanted to hear some country music....we love spain!
Barcelona (3 July 09): Okay this was our favorite stop. We had our whole day planned out by Jim (Josh's best friend from hs who spent 4 months studying abroad there) and after visiting I CAN'T believe he came home. Everything about barcelona was amazing to me and I told Josh we had to move there some day. We walked up along Rambla street and every first friday of the month they have this HUGE market. It was the greatest market I had ever seen....I could have walked around it forever. La rambla had a lot of street preformers so it was really cool to just people watch. WE took the Metro up to Sagrada Familia (one of the largest churches I've ever seen). They have been working to build this church for over 150 years now so it was a pretty fantastic site. We then headed to Parc Guell where we walked around and went up to the top to see the city from afar. Again it was breathtaking. It was about 85 degrees out so it gave us a little time to catch some of the breeze. We headed over to a small restaurant in the park where we had a couple beers....Josh took out his maps in order to get us to our next location which was this local sandwhich restuarant Jim had recommended. We found that withough Josh's handheld GPS we would have never found it because it was in this middle of a deserted allyway. When we turned the corner we saw the place was soo packed (at 3 in the afternoon) that you had to gently push yourself to the front to order. We ordered something off the menu (we had no idea what it was...menu was in spanish) and got a bottle of their Cava (kinda like a sparkling wine) for 2 euros. If we hadn't ordered it we would have been the only peopl not drinking this crazy pink juice in the place. The experience was pretty neat and Josh was very happy we found it. When leaving he said, "I could just picture tall Jim standing in the middle of that bar with a great big grin on his face." Jim, you rock for giving us such great places to see!
The last night at dinner when we were all saying goodbye Faye gave me a huge and said, "We really enjoyed your company. Steve and I were talking last night and decided you were quite the character and that your Dad must have had his hands full with you." I smiled and said "Thank you" but wasn't sure if that was what I should have said. I asked Josh after leaving the restuarant and of coarse he laughed and said, "that means you are high maintenance." I didn't understand why a stranger who pretended to like me would call me high maintenance so I tried to prove Josh wrong but after laying in bed for 30 mins continually asking Josh over and over again what he thought it meant I could not figure out what that comment was in reference to. I am still very perplexed. :)
On Saturday we woke up and headed back. The day was interesting because we started out walking (after finding we had no cash on us). After about 45 mins of walking...I was drenched with sweat...I got mad and flagged down a taxi. We somehow verbalized to him that we needed money so we took us to a cash machine before he brought us to the airport 10 hours before our flight took off. We really had no choice because we had so much baggage to carry around. It was very interesting and perhaps we realized we needed to plan our travels arrangements a little better next time.
So I am sorry this is getting so long but I still have to tell you my favorite parts about the trip.
First off, I found that if I let Josh do his whole map and GPS thing (and stay quiet) that we get along quite well. I took a lot of pictures of him at times and numerous different street corners...after awhile I found it pretty cute how much he loves to navigate. I told him in the end he is great to travel with because I just get to go along for the ride.
One night on the balcony, I started talking about dolphins and monkeys and how they were soo super cool. I stated, "there would be nothing better to see just one dolphin playing...it would make my day....okay week....no month." Josh looked up from his book and said, "Look, what is splashing over there." I looked over, thinking he was playing with me and sure enough there was a school of dolphins splashing away. I was soo soo happy and couldn't stop talking about how much fun they were having. There were about 15 of them and they were doing flips everywhere....I was speechless (at least for a good 30 seconds).
I started reading some Nicholas Sparks books...and found myself addicted. Josh even finished his book and I told him my story so a couple nights I read my book out loud to him. The first one I finished "Dear John" I cried like a little baby and even read the ending twice because I couldn't believe how good it was...so I cried twice.
So now Josh and I are back to the world of working. Today I was a little stressed at work and at lunch Josh admitted that he hadn't seen me like that....I am not sure what set me off but after the day was over and Josh and I made dinner, we took a nap and found that was just what I needed. Josh had his first full day back at work as well...and he was given a project so that made him really happy.
I am sorry to let you know that Josh and I have been trying VERY hard to post pictures but for some reason our computers won't let them download the pics to the computer so we will have to keep trying....but you all have to see the places we went.
Okay, my book is done...sorry soo long!
Miss and love you all!
Gretchen
Marseille, France (27 June 09): We took off from this port. We got in the night before and walked/took a taxi to the port site...it was very interesting bc with the French language barrier (Josh knew a little from HS) it was quite interesting getting to the port. One taxi dropped us off at the wrong port so we had to take another taxi to the right one...at the time we weren't sure what was going on, we just got in the cab and prayed. It worked out but when we were dropped off it was still a little over a mile walk to the ship. We could not believe how HUGE the ship was. It was built in 2008 and held nearly 4,000 people.
That day we got on the boat early and just explored. Once we got our bags we put our swimsuits on. Josh noted that before we left the port that evening he was sunburnt to the max :).....I coudn't talk him into tanning with me before. The boat took off around 6 and we just lounged because we didn't have dinner reservations till 9:30. Josh decided to pick the 2nd seating for dinner so everynight we ate dinner with the same two other couples.
We were a little nervous as to if the people we would sit with would speak english but found out that dinner was always a top highlight of each day. One couple at the table (Faye and Steve) were older and stated they had children our age and the other couple was a few years older than us (early thirties). The great part was that we found out that both guys were engineers and Steve was on a short stent in Paris as a project manager for an oil company. It was fun though because while the guys told their engineer stories, us girls found ourselves looking at each other rolling our eyes at their grand little world....Mary, you would have fit right in at dinner. :)
Genoa, Italy (28 June 09): It was the first port and we were there on a Sunday so we just walked around. The coolest part about this city was there were tiny tiny allyways (where you almost felt clastrophobic) and there would be the door opening to a GINORMOUS church inside and you wondered how such a great big church even fit in the small allyway. It was very interesting. We bought a couple really cheap bottles of wine (the wine in Italy is ridiculously cheap) and some Fococcia bread (with olives) and camped up at a park bench. I of course couldn't stop talking about how amazing the bread was....I really like to talk about food and sometimes it can get a little bit too much for some people but I never get how other people don't talk about how good it tastes too. After a bit more walking around we went back to the pool to go swimming. Dinner that night was another great time and of course with the 6 courses I kept telling Josh how amazing it was. Typically we would get done with dinner around midnight and go right to bed.
Naples, Italy (29 June 09): Here we got some advice from Faye and Steve to take the train up to Sorrento, Italy and on the way back stop at Pompie, Italy. So we headed out to the train station (by foot) and I can't say that I felt that overwhelmed in awhile. The city was absolutely crazy, there were people everywhere, vespa (scooters) racing ever which way...half the time I thought they were going to kill me and a protest (the italians called it a manifesto) going on in the middle of the street where they had traffic at a hult. So there was lots of honking of the horns. I told Josh I was going to go into a couple stores to get away from it and gave him my camera to take pictures. Once we got to the train station we took the train for an hour all the way to Sorrento. We met a pretty neat man on the train (I have found that while traveling you hear some pretty neat stories from people...he was on his way to meet his wife...she had came over to teach pilates for a week). Sorrento was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. We did what Faye and Steve had recommended and walked right into a hotel and went to look at the drop off. Sorrento lies on a cliff right on the beach and they have tons of hotels built into the cliff. To get down to the water they use lifts (elevators) and the water is the bluest of blue. There were no sandy beaches but you could see the huge rocks right through the crystal clear water. It reminded me a lot of Lake superior rocks but with crystal blue water.....Tons of tourists were laying out on rafts....and there were laters leading from the big rocks down to the swimming area (which looked to be about 20 ft deep). It was unbelievable. We said we would go back and spend a whole weekend in Sorrento. We admired it for awhile before heading to Pompei. I had no idea that it was soo big (we could have used more time there) but soon got tired walking and knew we had to get back before the ship left. Pompei is an old Roman city that was preserved by ash from a volcano. That was amazing to see. On our way back to the boat Josh and I stopped and shared a bottle of wine.....Josh gets really fun after a little wine :).
Palermo, Italy (30 June 09...10 month anniversary): We ordered breakfast to our room and sat on our balcony and ate. We recommend to anyone who does a cruise to definately do the balcony...we spent a good portion on it reading and watching the ocean. A lot of times when going at night we would see a small island all lite up and it was pretty neat to see. I would always talk all about the dolphins and how they must have been having so much fun playing underneath the water. Josh laughed and just rolled his eyes saying "I would do anything to just be inside and see what goes on in that head for just a day." I told him that dolphins were smarter than humans and he didn't buy that....I did hear that once but admit I am pretty gulible. We loved Italy!
Tunis, Africa (1 July 09): This was the stop that Josh was most excited for. After the trip Josh started a travel journal were he marks the stops we have been to and what to see. For Tunis he wrote two lines, "We have a map -Do not go back. It's worthless." It was different to see but it was not fun. We took a taxi into town with Faye and Steve and while we were there we were told to see the market. It turned out that it was a small SMALL allyway that went on forever with the locals trying to sell anything and everything. People would bombard you asking you to buy stuff. Many times locals would tell us to follow them and would just lead us to their market...they would want us to pay them for showing them the way. One guy started taking us some where and I told Josh to just stop walking....not to follow him. Josh stopped and told him we just wanted to do our own thing. He got very mad, said some not very nice words and called josh crazy...Josh said, "Yes, I am crazy." It was humerous. We found this one famous site where you pay to go to the top of this store to see a lookout but it turned out that the building top was just the same height as the other building so all you were looking at was the other old buildings....dissapointing...but we all got a good laugh out of it because we tried so hard to find this stop. This day was fun because we got to travel with Faye and Steve. Josh really grew to like Faye because she took notes and planned her days very thoroughly....many times before we took off we would see Faye at breakfast with a couple maps infront of her taking notes of what she wanted for that day.
Palma de Mallora, Spain (2 July 09): That day was the one day we did one of the boats excursions. It took us out on a catamaran to the ocean to swim and sunbathe. The boat stayed close to shore so we were able to see a lot of famous sites and a couple really beautiful beaches. Josh did a lot of swimming, I did a lot of sunbathing. When we got back we went into town for a little bit to walk around. Palma de Mallora is arguable one of the biggest party place in europe(so we were told) so we had to see what it was all about. We didnt stay for long but we did stop by a few local places to have some beer and sangria. We ended up at an American country bar for a little bit because Josh wanted to hear some country music....we love spain!
Barcelona (3 July 09): Okay this was our favorite stop. We had our whole day planned out by Jim (Josh's best friend from hs who spent 4 months studying abroad there) and after visiting I CAN'T believe he came home. Everything about barcelona was amazing to me and I told Josh we had to move there some day. We walked up along Rambla street and every first friday of the month they have this HUGE market. It was the greatest market I had ever seen....I could have walked around it forever. La rambla had a lot of street preformers so it was really cool to just people watch. WE took the Metro up to Sagrada Familia (one of the largest churches I've ever seen). They have been working to build this church for over 150 years now so it was a pretty fantastic site. We then headed to Parc Guell where we walked around and went up to the top to see the city from afar. Again it was breathtaking. It was about 85 degrees out so it gave us a little time to catch some of the breeze. We headed over to a small restaurant in the park where we had a couple beers....Josh took out his maps in order to get us to our next location which was this local sandwhich restuarant Jim had recommended. We found that withough Josh's handheld GPS we would have never found it because it was in this middle of a deserted allyway. When we turned the corner we saw the place was soo packed (at 3 in the afternoon) that you had to gently push yourself to the front to order. We ordered something off the menu (we had no idea what it was...menu was in spanish) and got a bottle of their Cava (kinda like a sparkling wine) for 2 euros. If we hadn't ordered it we would have been the only peopl not drinking this crazy pink juice in the place. The experience was pretty neat and Josh was very happy we found it. When leaving he said, "I could just picture tall Jim standing in the middle of that bar with a great big grin on his face." Jim, you rock for giving us such great places to see!
The last night at dinner when we were all saying goodbye Faye gave me a huge and said, "We really enjoyed your company. Steve and I were talking last night and decided you were quite the character and that your Dad must have had his hands full with you." I smiled and said "Thank you" but wasn't sure if that was what I should have said. I asked Josh after leaving the restuarant and of coarse he laughed and said, "that means you are high maintenance." I didn't understand why a stranger who pretended to like me would call me high maintenance so I tried to prove Josh wrong but after laying in bed for 30 mins continually asking Josh over and over again what he thought it meant I could not figure out what that comment was in reference to. I am still very perplexed. :)
On Saturday we woke up and headed back. The day was interesting because we started out walking (after finding we had no cash on us). After about 45 mins of walking...I was drenched with sweat...I got mad and flagged down a taxi. We somehow verbalized to him that we needed money so we took us to a cash machine before he brought us to the airport 10 hours before our flight took off. We really had no choice because we had so much baggage to carry around. It was very interesting and perhaps we realized we needed to plan our travels arrangements a little better next time.
So I am sorry this is getting so long but I still have to tell you my favorite parts about the trip.
First off, I found that if I let Josh do his whole map and GPS thing (and stay quiet) that we get along quite well. I took a lot of pictures of him at times and numerous different street corners...after awhile I found it pretty cute how much he loves to navigate. I told him in the end he is great to travel with because I just get to go along for the ride.
One night on the balcony, I started talking about dolphins and monkeys and how they were soo super cool. I stated, "there would be nothing better to see just one dolphin playing...it would make my day....okay week....no month." Josh looked up from his book and said, "Look, what is splashing over there." I looked over, thinking he was playing with me and sure enough there was a school of dolphins splashing away. I was soo soo happy and couldn't stop talking about how much fun they were having. There were about 15 of them and they were doing flips everywhere....I was speechless (at least for a good 30 seconds).
I started reading some Nicholas Sparks books...and found myself addicted. Josh even finished his book and I told him my story so a couple nights I read my book out loud to him. The first one I finished "Dear John" I cried like a little baby and even read the ending twice because I couldn't believe how good it was...so I cried twice.
So now Josh and I are back to the world of working. Today I was a little stressed at work and at lunch Josh admitted that he hadn't seen me like that....I am not sure what set me off but after the day was over and Josh and I made dinner, we took a nap and found that was just what I needed. Josh had his first full day back at work as well...and he was given a project so that made him really happy.
I am sorry to let you know that Josh and I have been trying VERY hard to post pictures but for some reason our computers won't let them download the pics to the computer so we will have to keep trying....but you all have to see the places we went.
Okay, my book is done...sorry soo long!
Miss and love you all!
Gretchen
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Weekly update
Last Thursday I got an emergency call from my head nurse stating that I needed to come to Garrison Headquarters on base and pick up Shannon (Lori’s 6 year old daughter and also one of the providers at the clinic). She said they were going into an emergency meeting and she would explain later. Josh and I went over and got Shannon. She immediately asked if we could go to the park to play, so we headed over there. We started playing when Josh asked Shannon, “Have you ever played Lava Monster.” I thought “oh this is going to be good….and what the heck is lava monster.” Shannon said very excitedly, “No, what’s that?” Josh said, “We can’t touch the ground otherwise the lava monster will eat us.” After about 30 mins of playing the game, Josh decided that he would be THE lava monster and chased Shannon around. Many times that night, Josh asked Shannon if she knew his name…she said “Yes, you are the lava monster and you are married to Ms. Gretchen.” :)
The emergency was that Baumholder had their first case of Swine Flu. So Friday and this week have been very interesting at the clinic. At times Jean and I have to laugh at how fun (and by fun I mean entertaining) the Baumholder population is. Friday I was told to man the phones at the nurse’s station and this week Jean has been covering for the phones…...one more week of work and my job gets a little more interesting.
This past week Josh and I drove to Belgium and France (two day trips). We went to Belgium to get beer and France to go to Ikea to get Josh is big manly desk and a bookshelf. On our way to Ikea I kept talking about their ice cream and how I couldn’t wait to get it. I told Josh it was the best frozen yogurt in all of the world. When we got there I asked him if he wanted one and he said no. So when I came back and asked him if he wanted a lick he put the rest of the cone in his mouth (they aren’t that big). I couldn’t believe it but went to get another one. So I came back and stupidly enough asked him if he wanted another lick….again, I turned around and it was gone. He thought it was hilarious and I walked right back up to get another one…. received a couple smiles by the cafeteria personal. Josh asked if I could help him move something, so after he was finished moving his part I asked if he could hold my ice cream cone. He agreed and when I asked for it back, found there was no cone left. I may have laughed just because I couldn’t believe it but was very sad inside. I told him I would NOT go order a 4th cone and he said we had to leave. After we started driving home, I asked if we could stop to eat dinner somewhere and he said “I’m not hungry, I just ate 3 ice cream cones.” THE NERVE.
On Monday a group of 20 or so of us went to Hooters for Lorintz (Jean’s husbands) birthday. Monday they have all you can eat chicken wings to so much fun was had by all. I got the hot chicken wings and found that they were too hot for me but looked over at Josh and found that not to be the case for him….his next order was 911 wings (the hottest). Josh took a little nap on the way home….I was the DD. He is waay spoiled by me.
Tomorrow we leave for our honeymoon/anniversary cruise. We are both looking very forward to it, although Josh says this cruise counts as my trip…so that means the next one he gets to plan. I find nothing fair in this statement but I guess I can agree to it since he got me my balcony. Jean and Lorintz just got back from a 2 wk cruise so they had lots of good tips to offer us….one being that they slept in till 11 each day because they had an inner room so never knew what time it was. I thought for a second and realized that this balcony thing was going to back fire at me…turned to Josh to tell him that and he was already smiling. He loves to get up early so I just know that at 6 am every morning he will be gearing up to get his cup of coffee to sit on the balcony…and on his way out he will be opening the curtains all the way in hopes of me joining him.
So I will be out of commission for a little over than a week but I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July. I will write shortly after we get back to let you all know how our cruise is.
Love,
Gretchen
The emergency was that Baumholder had their first case of Swine Flu. So Friday and this week have been very interesting at the clinic. At times Jean and I have to laugh at how fun (and by fun I mean entertaining) the Baumholder population is. Friday I was told to man the phones at the nurse’s station and this week Jean has been covering for the phones…...one more week of work and my job gets a little more interesting.
This past week Josh and I drove to Belgium and France (two day trips). We went to Belgium to get beer and France to go to Ikea to get Josh is big manly desk and a bookshelf. On our way to Ikea I kept talking about their ice cream and how I couldn’t wait to get it. I told Josh it was the best frozen yogurt in all of the world. When we got there I asked him if he wanted one and he said no. So when I came back and asked him if he wanted a lick he put the rest of the cone in his mouth (they aren’t that big). I couldn’t believe it but went to get another one. So I came back and stupidly enough asked him if he wanted another lick….again, I turned around and it was gone. He thought it was hilarious and I walked right back up to get another one…. received a couple smiles by the cafeteria personal. Josh asked if I could help him move something, so after he was finished moving his part I asked if he could hold my ice cream cone. He agreed and when I asked for it back, found there was no cone left. I may have laughed just because I couldn’t believe it but was very sad inside. I told him I would NOT go order a 4th cone and he said we had to leave. After we started driving home, I asked if we could stop to eat dinner somewhere and he said “I’m not hungry, I just ate 3 ice cream cones.” THE NERVE.
On Monday a group of 20 or so of us went to Hooters for Lorintz (Jean’s husbands) birthday. Monday they have all you can eat chicken wings to so much fun was had by all. I got the hot chicken wings and found that they were too hot for me but looked over at Josh and found that not to be the case for him….his next order was 911 wings (the hottest). Josh took a little nap on the way home….I was the DD. He is waay spoiled by me.
Tomorrow we leave for our honeymoon/anniversary cruise. We are both looking very forward to it, although Josh says this cruise counts as my trip…so that means the next one he gets to plan. I find nothing fair in this statement but I guess I can agree to it since he got me my balcony. Jean and Lorintz just got back from a 2 wk cruise so they had lots of good tips to offer us….one being that they slept in till 11 each day because they had an inner room so never knew what time it was. I thought for a second and realized that this balcony thing was going to back fire at me…turned to Josh to tell him that and he was already smiling. He loves to get up early so I just know that at 6 am every morning he will be gearing up to get his cup of coffee to sit on the balcony…and on his way out he will be opening the curtains all the way in hopes of me joining him.
So I will be out of commission for a little over than a week but I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July. I will write shortly after we get back to let you all know how our cruise is.
Love,
Gretchen
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
London Adventures
Josh and I returned from our 4 day trip in London last night. Four maps, 1 night in a 8 bed hostile, and Josh leading the way turned into one of the best weekends thus far in Germany.
Josh and I headed out on Friday night. Once we got to the London airport we had to figure out a way to get into London. So we hopped on a bus and after about an hour we were dropped off at the Liverpool station. Josh turned on his GPS and found that we were only about 1.5 miles away from our hostile (it was the only room we had booked for the trip and decided the rest of the nights we were going to just fly by the seat of our pants). So after we got some food, Josh turned back on his GPS and stood at the corner looking as to what direction we were going to go. The plan was to WALK to our hostile. One thing you all must understand was this was Josh’s trip. I agreed to let him plan this, manage it and decide when and where we were going when we got to London. After walking the same block three times with Josh stating 3x “I am just trying to get my barings to find out where we are,” I asked him if we could please just take the Underground. Josh looked at me with the GPS and two other maps in his hand and agreed that it was okay to do that. I knew from his look that he wasn’t happy about it and I was overstepping my role in this trip…for after all it was HIS trip. We laughed about it later how we walked the same block 3 times.
We had quite the adventures in London. We did a lot a lot of sightseeing. I don’t want to make this email too long so I will try to sum up the weekend in as few words as possible.
On Friday night when we got in we checked into our hostile. I wasn’t feeling soo good and the smell our 8 bed hostile didn’t make me feel any better. Josh really wanted to experience the hostile world and meet people so that is why we decided to stay in a bigger hostile room the first night. After that night Josh agreed to get a room for ourselves….needless to say we didn’t meet any of the other people in the room but it was a definate experience. Friday night Josh and I headed to a pub nearby to plan our next day. Josh enjoyed a Guiness (Guiness is his new love) and since I wasn’t feeling too good, I had some aqua. We called it a night.
Saturday we woke up and walked around. The British Museum was near by so we went to that right when it opened. Josh loved it and it was good for me to read about a little history. Afterwards, we went to a tavern to have some lunch and then we were off to the St. Paul Cathedral (a phenomenal site). Afterwards we hopped on the Underground and went to the Tower Bridge, Henry X111 castle and walked the boardwalk nearby. Also an incredible site. We both agreed that London has some of the most beautiful woman in the world. I could not believe how many tall, slender, gorgeous women there was….and I will have to add that Josh was a gentleman and tried not to make it too obvious if he looked. L That night we went to Mexican and afterwards while walking to a pub to grab a drink saw people were going into the musical Wicked. I asked Josh if we could see how much tickets were so we did. They were only 20 pounds so we agreed to do it. It was Josh’s first musical and I had only been to a couple. Josh said that was the highlight of his day and I could not believe how amazing the singers were. The play had a really good twist on the “Wizard of Oz” and made the wicked witch the good person.
Sunday we woke up and headed to the Buckingham Palace. We were told to get there 1 hour early but we ended up getting there 1 and ½ hours early. WAAAY too early. Advice: You can still arrive 30 mins before and get a pretty good spot. We saw the changing of the guards so I can’t complain….plus I got a little sun and a nap before it started. After some fish and chips, we headed to West Minister Abby (a ginormous church), Big Ben, the House of Parliament and the London Eye. The best part about this day was walking the board walk and seeing all street performers. They had mimes, break dancers and other entertainers just lining the streets. We got some really good pictures (which I will try to post soon). That night we grabbed a drink and some appetizers and called it a night after we got some tea at a coffee shop.
Monday we woke up and headed to the bus to catch our flight. As we were walking down the streets Josh said “Well its back to not being able to understand people.” I laughed only because it was soo true. Josh said that we couldn’t talk British anymore after getting back to Germany (I think he even got annoyed with his attempt to talk in a British accent). Whenever possible Josh would pretend to talk British and I would laugh only because it was such a terrible impression.
Last night Josh and I were planning to call home to talk to the rents and after calling my Mother realized it was Monday and that meant work for everyone else….sad :(.
So its back to work today for Josh and I….I hope everyone had a great weekend. I came into work today feeling completely refreshed. I think London was what I needed.
Will try to call this week to talk.
Still miss you all!
Love,
Gretchen
Josh and I headed out on Friday night. Once we got to the London airport we had to figure out a way to get into London. So we hopped on a bus and after about an hour we were dropped off at the Liverpool station. Josh turned on his GPS and found that we were only about 1.5 miles away from our hostile (it was the only room we had booked for the trip and decided the rest of the nights we were going to just fly by the seat of our pants). So after we got some food, Josh turned back on his GPS and stood at the corner looking as to what direction we were going to go. The plan was to WALK to our hostile. One thing you all must understand was this was Josh’s trip. I agreed to let him plan this, manage it and decide when and where we were going when we got to London. After walking the same block three times with Josh stating 3x “I am just trying to get my barings to find out where we are,” I asked him if we could please just take the Underground. Josh looked at me with the GPS and two other maps in his hand and agreed that it was okay to do that. I knew from his look that he wasn’t happy about it and I was overstepping my role in this trip…for after all it was HIS trip. We laughed about it later how we walked the same block 3 times.
We had quite the adventures in London. We did a lot a lot of sightseeing. I don’t want to make this email too long so I will try to sum up the weekend in as few words as possible.
On Friday night when we got in we checked into our hostile. I wasn’t feeling soo good and the smell our 8 bed hostile didn’t make me feel any better. Josh really wanted to experience the hostile world and meet people so that is why we decided to stay in a bigger hostile room the first night. After that night Josh agreed to get a room for ourselves….needless to say we didn’t meet any of the other people in the room but it was a definate experience. Friday night Josh and I headed to a pub nearby to plan our next day. Josh enjoyed a Guiness (Guiness is his new love) and since I wasn’t feeling too good, I had some aqua. We called it a night.
Saturday we woke up and walked around. The British Museum was near by so we went to that right when it opened. Josh loved it and it was good for me to read about a little history. Afterwards, we went to a tavern to have some lunch and then we were off to the St. Paul Cathedral (a phenomenal site). Afterwards we hopped on the Underground and went to the Tower Bridge, Henry X111 castle and walked the boardwalk nearby. Also an incredible site. We both agreed that London has some of the most beautiful woman in the world. I could not believe how many tall, slender, gorgeous women there was….and I will have to add that Josh was a gentleman and tried not to make it too obvious if he looked. L That night we went to Mexican and afterwards while walking to a pub to grab a drink saw people were going into the musical Wicked. I asked Josh if we could see how much tickets were so we did. They were only 20 pounds so we agreed to do it. It was Josh’s first musical and I had only been to a couple. Josh said that was the highlight of his day and I could not believe how amazing the singers were. The play had a really good twist on the “Wizard of Oz” and made the wicked witch the good person.
Sunday we woke up and headed to the Buckingham Palace. We were told to get there 1 hour early but we ended up getting there 1 and ½ hours early. WAAAY too early. Advice: You can still arrive 30 mins before and get a pretty good spot. We saw the changing of the guards so I can’t complain….plus I got a little sun and a nap before it started. After some fish and chips, we headed to West Minister Abby (a ginormous church), Big Ben, the House of Parliament and the London Eye. The best part about this day was walking the board walk and seeing all street performers. They had mimes, break dancers and other entertainers just lining the streets. We got some really good pictures (which I will try to post soon). That night we grabbed a drink and some appetizers and called it a night after we got some tea at a coffee shop.
Monday we woke up and headed to the bus to catch our flight. As we were walking down the streets Josh said “Well its back to not being able to understand people.” I laughed only because it was soo true. Josh said that we couldn’t talk British anymore after getting back to Germany (I think he even got annoyed with his attempt to talk in a British accent). Whenever possible Josh would pretend to talk British and I would laugh only because it was such a terrible impression.
Last night Josh and I were planning to call home to talk to the rents and after calling my Mother realized it was Monday and that meant work for everyone else….sad :(.
So its back to work today for Josh and I….I hope everyone had a great weekend. I came into work today feeling completely refreshed. I think London was what I needed.
Will try to call this week to talk.
Still miss you all!
Love,
Gretchen
Thursday, June 11, 2009
maybe sorta kinda funny story
Before I start, I should tell you all that Josh purchased us both I phones last week. I still have no idea how to work it but to make and accept phone calls but I consider myself a work in progress....maybe by next week I will understand how to set my alarm clock.
Last night Josh and I were in a really sleepy mood. We went out to this restaurant that is known for its steak and afterwards we both walked into the apartment and decided to just lay down for a little bit. We ended up falling asleep at 7:30 PM....sad but we woke up around 10 to watch the rest of a movie Josh had started while I was at work...James Bond. Yes, super exciting for me but I couldn't sleep so I had no other option. Found out while we were watching the movie, he purchased it for $1 in Iraq. I asked him why he just didn't do Christmas shopping there.
So we went back to sleep after the movie and around 11:30 or so Josh got up to go to the bathroom. While he was in the bathroom, a car alarm started going off. We had our windows open (we are on the 3rd floor) so it was enough to wake me up. I went to the window to see that it was our car alarming. I ran into Josh and said it was our car and he went to find the keys to turn it off. I had forgotten that our car even had an alarm and Josh didn't know that either. So Josh was the super brave man, took a flashlight and went out to examine the car. We figured if anyone was trying to get into the car they must have seen Josh past by the window...and by the time we shut the alarm off from the 3rd story window, we figured the person could be long gone. The only thing that would be of much value to the person/persons who were trying to get in the car would be the GPS but discussed how it is odd that anyone would be breaking into a car on base...because of the high level of security on base.
So Josh went, checked the car and found nothing. We went back to bed and at 2 am, the alarm went off again. We shut it off from the window and just went back to sleep... I was confused. We woke up around 5 this morning and Josh said he couldn't find his phone. He told me to call it, so I did and again the car alarm went off. Josh looked at me and said "I bet my phone is activating the alarm." We both walked down to the car and Josh said to call it one more time to verify it was his phone. Sure enough I called it and the car alarm sounded again.
Maybe laugh out loud, but if you don't want to I don't blame you....so I didn't sleep all that well trying to figure out who would want to break into our car.....talked about the serial killer possibilities and after all that it was just Josh's stupid phone....it's only stupid because now I am pretty positive that every neighbor....and that is probably 95% of my friends, hate us now.
Well I thought I would share that story with you all. Hope you guys are having a good day when you get this.
Josh and I are off to London as you all know this weekend, so we will be in touch soon.
Love,
Gretchen
Last night Josh and I were in a really sleepy mood. We went out to this restaurant that is known for its steak and afterwards we both walked into the apartment and decided to just lay down for a little bit. We ended up falling asleep at 7:30 PM....sad but we woke up around 10 to watch the rest of a movie Josh had started while I was at work...James Bond. Yes, super exciting for me but I couldn't sleep so I had no other option. Found out while we were watching the movie, he purchased it for $1 in Iraq. I asked him why he just didn't do Christmas shopping there.
So we went back to sleep after the movie and around 11:30 or so Josh got up to go to the bathroom. While he was in the bathroom, a car alarm started going off. We had our windows open (we are on the 3rd floor) so it was enough to wake me up. I went to the window to see that it was our car alarming. I ran into Josh and said it was our car and he went to find the keys to turn it off. I had forgotten that our car even had an alarm and Josh didn't know that either. So Josh was the super brave man, took a flashlight and went out to examine the car. We figured if anyone was trying to get into the car they must have seen Josh past by the window...and by the time we shut the alarm off from the 3rd story window, we figured the person could be long gone. The only thing that would be of much value to the person/persons who were trying to get in the car would be the GPS but discussed how it is odd that anyone would be breaking into a car on base...because of the high level of security on base.
So Josh went, checked the car and found nothing. We went back to bed and at 2 am, the alarm went off again. We shut it off from the window and just went back to sleep... I was confused. We woke up around 5 this morning and Josh said he couldn't find his phone. He told me to call it, so I did and again the car alarm went off. Josh looked at me and said "I bet my phone is activating the alarm." We both walked down to the car and Josh said to call it one more time to verify it was his phone. Sure enough I called it and the car alarm sounded again.
Maybe laugh out loud, but if you don't want to I don't blame you....so I didn't sleep all that well trying to figure out who would want to break into our car.....talked about the serial killer possibilities and after all that it was just Josh's stupid phone....it's only stupid because now I am pretty positive that every neighbor....and that is probably 95% of my friends, hate us now.
Well I thought I would share that story with you all. Hope you guys are having a good day when you get this.
Josh and I are off to London as you all know this weekend, so we will be in touch soon.
Love,
Gretchen
Monday, June 8, 2009
Love love love love love
Josh just called, he bought 2 plane tickets to London this weekend. When I was much younger, my family (including my grandma) spent 2 weeks in the England area visiting my big bro when he was at school at Oxford but all I remember is seeing lots of castles and palaces and having soft boiled eggs for breakfast. Okay, maybe I remember a few other things, but I definately didn't appreciate the trip as much as I should have. Josh and I wanted to go somewhere this weekend because I don't have to work Friday or Monday and it appeared that the cheapest flights go to London. Greg, any good recommendations for this coming weekend??
This past weekend Josh and I decided to go to Koblenz Germany to participate in a half marathon. We took off Saturday morning and drove behind Lorintz, Jean, Abby and Jon (two couples). It was a close call that we made it because about 30 mins before the group took off, Josh and I had just concluded our "non-talking" period of 22 hours. It was our longest disagreement thus far and afterwards all he had to say was that we were going to mark June 6th on the calendar as "longest fight" and "one year of being in the army." My response to that was "maybe you should take that as a hint." I laughed a lot and he only laughed a little. He did tell me at the end that he needed to have a long talk with my dad about this stubborn side of mine even though I keep telling him "thats just how God made me." :)
Jean was going to run the half marathon with me and Abby was going to be our cheerleader. When we went to sign up Jean saw that there was a 10 km and Abby sounded interested. So I freed Jean from the half and her and abby did the 10 km. We went back to the hotel before and abby and jean actually took off at 3:30 to start the 10 km. Our race didn't start till 6:30 PM (werid I know) so we didn't have to catch the train till 5:30 pm. It ended up that our train was delayed so a group of about 500 of us didn't start the race till 7:10 PM. Walking to the race, I got really quite (I was starting to get nervous) and Jon asked me if something was wrong. Josh said, "Please, just leave it....she doesn't get like this very often." I laughed...but I'm not sure why I did. For some reason Josh can say just about anything these days and I will laugh at it...even if it isn't funny.
The race started and I was pretty sure that I was going to die at 3 km (a half is 21 km). I tried to slow down but didn't manage doing so until 15 km. It was then that I really thought I was going to not make it. I ran right behind Jon the whole time and managed to do the drafting the entire way. At 15 km I told him he was my inspiration and he looked like he wanted to kill me. Pretty sure that I will never ever put my body through that without training more. Somehow I managed finishing a little under 2 hours with Josh finishing a little under 1 hr 50 mins. He was holding two cups when I crossed, one red and one white, and I looked up at him and told him to please get them away from me. I was pretty sure it was wine, but found out later it was gatorade. For the next hour, I tried to clear my nausea and once we got back to the room and showered and got an appetite, Josh came in very pale and not looking too great. He looked up at Jean and Lorintz to tell them he didn't think he could make it to dinner. He told me to go but I insisted to stay back. He was very bummed but as soon as he laid down, he started to shake and get the chills. He fell asleep while I watched him. It may be when people I love get sick and I get to take care of them that really ensures me I was meant to be a nurse. I know Josh doesn't do too well when I pull the sympathy card (when I'm sick) but it is a complete opposite story with me. I definately loved taking care of him.
Jean, Lorintz, Abby and Jon came back around midnight and one hour later Josh woke up stating he was hungry and we needed to get some food. He awoke in a pool of sweat so whatever he had was broken, he felt great and was hungry. Him and I took off and ended up downtown Koblenz at a doner shop (it is like a gyro stand in the states). It is amazing food and I am not sure if food ever tasted any better than it did at that moment.
This next week is only 4 days of work and then we will be flying out on Friday. I will try to contact some of you before than to chat but I think you all are great, miss you guys tons and can't wait for visitors.
Love,
Gretchen
This past weekend Josh and I decided to go to Koblenz Germany to participate in a half marathon. We took off Saturday morning and drove behind Lorintz, Jean, Abby and Jon (two couples). It was a close call that we made it because about 30 mins before the group took off, Josh and I had just concluded our "non-talking" period of 22 hours. It was our longest disagreement thus far and afterwards all he had to say was that we were going to mark June 6th on the calendar as "longest fight" and "one year of being in the army." My response to that was "maybe you should take that as a hint." I laughed a lot and he only laughed a little. He did tell me at the end that he needed to have a long talk with my dad about this stubborn side of mine even though I keep telling him "thats just how God made me." :)
Jean was going to run the half marathon with me and Abby was going to be our cheerleader. When we went to sign up Jean saw that there was a 10 km and Abby sounded interested. So I freed Jean from the half and her and abby did the 10 km. We went back to the hotel before and abby and jean actually took off at 3:30 to start the 10 km. Our race didn't start till 6:30 PM (werid I know) so we didn't have to catch the train till 5:30 pm. It ended up that our train was delayed so a group of about 500 of us didn't start the race till 7:10 PM. Walking to the race, I got really quite (I was starting to get nervous) and Jon asked me if something was wrong. Josh said, "Please, just leave it....she doesn't get like this very often." I laughed...but I'm not sure why I did. For some reason Josh can say just about anything these days and I will laugh at it...even if it isn't funny.
The race started and I was pretty sure that I was going to die at 3 km (a half is 21 km). I tried to slow down but didn't manage doing so until 15 km. It was then that I really thought I was going to not make it. I ran right behind Jon the whole time and managed to do the drafting the entire way. At 15 km I told him he was my inspiration and he looked like he wanted to kill me. Pretty sure that I will never ever put my body through that without training more. Somehow I managed finishing a little under 2 hours with Josh finishing a little under 1 hr 50 mins. He was holding two cups when I crossed, one red and one white, and I looked up at him and told him to please get them away from me. I was pretty sure it was wine, but found out later it was gatorade. For the next hour, I tried to clear my nausea and once we got back to the room and showered and got an appetite, Josh came in very pale and not looking too great. He looked up at Jean and Lorintz to tell them he didn't think he could make it to dinner. He told me to go but I insisted to stay back. He was very bummed but as soon as he laid down, he started to shake and get the chills. He fell asleep while I watched him. It may be when people I love get sick and I get to take care of them that really ensures me I was meant to be a nurse. I know Josh doesn't do too well when I pull the sympathy card (when I'm sick) but it is a complete opposite story with me. I definately loved taking care of him.
Jean, Lorintz, Abby and Jon came back around midnight and one hour later Josh woke up stating he was hungry and we needed to get some food. He awoke in a pool of sweat so whatever he had was broken, he felt great and was hungry. Him and I took off and ended up downtown Koblenz at a doner shop (it is like a gyro stand in the states). It is amazing food and I am not sure if food ever tasted any better than it did at that moment.
This next week is only 4 days of work and then we will be flying out on Friday. I will try to contact some of you before than to chat but I think you all are great, miss you guys tons and can't wait for visitors.
Love,
Gretchen
Friday, June 5, 2009
Josh's Blog Post
I hope this blog finds everybody in good health and spirits. Yes, I’m back in Germany and having a great time. Gretchen has been doing a great job of keeping us all informed on her activities over the last few months…so I figured I would do the same in ONE blog.
Well, when Gretchen and I parted ways back in February I headed to Kuwait in order to in-process to Iraq. It turns out military airlines are very similar to civilian airlines because some soldiers’ bags were lost en route, causing us to stay in Kuwait for a few extra days. Kuwait was great for me because it gave me time to get ready to take over my platoon. We trained for a couple hours a day and then I used the rest of my time to read or workout. In all we spent about 6 days in Kuwait prior to flying into BIAP (Baghdad International Airport).
Once we landed in BIAP I was shuttled to our Battalion Headquarters where I met a lot of the staff and leadership. My Battalion Commander explained to me which Platoon I would be getting (many of you already know that Jean’s husband was the previous PL of my platoon) and their mission. It turns out that my platoon was running Route Clearance missions about 30 km east of Baghdad. I found out that I would be residing at FOB Hammer for a majority of my time in theater.
I’ll go ahead and explain what Route Clearance is because it can mean many things. Route Clearance essentially consists of travelling roads while looking for IEDs in order to make sure that they are safe for other Coalition Forces to travel. Units who conduct Route Clearance missions are given huge mine resistant vehicles which no other units have in case they were to encounter an IED. The idea behind route clearance is to find the IED without it blowing up and then detonating it in a controlled environment where no one will be harmed. Sounds exciting right? Well….it can be but then you throw in the fact that you never drive above 10 mph and the missions last anywhere from 6-14 hours…it turns into about as much fun as a family road trip to Florida (just kidding Mom and Dad).
Anyways, shortly after I arrived my Platoon was given the opportunity to conduct joint Route Clearance missions with the Iraqi Army. Our mission was to basically teach an Iraqi Army Platoon how to conduct Route Clearance missions. The Iraqi Army platoon had plenty of training before we began working with them, so the process went fairly smooth. Almost all of the time we spent with the Iraqi Army platoon was spent on actual Route Clearance missions. This ended up being my Platoon’s primary mission for the remainder of our time in Iraq.
It was really interesting to work so closely with soldiers from another country and have the opportunity to really get to know them. My soldiers would trade patches and knives with the Iraqi soldiers for their patches, knives and flags. As a leader it was great to see your soldiers work so well with soldiers from another country. Communication was definitely a pain in the ass at times, but the interpreters (‘terps’) that the Army provided my Platoon with were extremely smart. It was really interesting because the ‘terp’ that worked with us the most was an Iraqi male, same age as me and had just graduated with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Baghdad. We had very similar forms of education, completely different backgrounds, yet we were both working together on the same mission at that point in time. My deployment was full of moments like that, that made you take a step back and just appreciate where you were and what you were doing.
If anything I would say that my time in Iraq was short and eye opening. I’m glad to be back but I deeply appreciated the time I spent there. With that being said…I never want to go back to that country.
Oh yeah…and don’t let Gretchen tell you that she had anything but a good time while I was gone because after meeting the women she spent time with I realized a few things. While we were deployed the building we reside in consisted of women who all liked each other and liked to drink even more. So essentially, my wife lived in a dormitory for post collegiate aged women who went to work during the day and all got together to drink at night. Not a bad life if you ask me.
However, I missed her like crazy and am extremely glad to be back under the same roof. I am continuously surprised and proud of the life and friends she has made for herself while I was away. I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to call and talk with Gretch during that first tough month. It not only meant a lot to her but me as well. Everyone take care, send emails and we’ll keep you updated on our activities via the blog.
Josh
Well, when Gretchen and I parted ways back in February I headed to Kuwait in order to in-process to Iraq. It turns out military airlines are very similar to civilian airlines because some soldiers’ bags were lost en route, causing us to stay in Kuwait for a few extra days. Kuwait was great for me because it gave me time to get ready to take over my platoon. We trained for a couple hours a day and then I used the rest of my time to read or workout. In all we spent about 6 days in Kuwait prior to flying into BIAP (Baghdad International Airport).
Once we landed in BIAP I was shuttled to our Battalion Headquarters where I met a lot of the staff and leadership. My Battalion Commander explained to me which Platoon I would be getting (many of you already know that Jean’s husband was the previous PL of my platoon) and their mission. It turns out that my platoon was running Route Clearance missions about 30 km east of Baghdad. I found out that I would be residing at FOB Hammer for a majority of my time in theater.
I’ll go ahead and explain what Route Clearance is because it can mean many things. Route Clearance essentially consists of travelling roads while looking for IEDs in order to make sure that they are safe for other Coalition Forces to travel. Units who conduct Route Clearance missions are given huge mine resistant vehicles which no other units have in case they were to encounter an IED. The idea behind route clearance is to find the IED without it blowing up and then detonating it in a controlled environment where no one will be harmed. Sounds exciting right? Well….it can be but then you throw in the fact that you never drive above 10 mph and the missions last anywhere from 6-14 hours…it turns into about as much fun as a family road trip to Florida (just kidding Mom and Dad).
Anyways, shortly after I arrived my Platoon was given the opportunity to conduct joint Route Clearance missions with the Iraqi Army. Our mission was to basically teach an Iraqi Army Platoon how to conduct Route Clearance missions. The Iraqi Army platoon had plenty of training before we began working with them, so the process went fairly smooth. Almost all of the time we spent with the Iraqi Army platoon was spent on actual Route Clearance missions. This ended up being my Platoon’s primary mission for the remainder of our time in Iraq.
It was really interesting to work so closely with soldiers from another country and have the opportunity to really get to know them. My soldiers would trade patches and knives with the Iraqi soldiers for their patches, knives and flags. As a leader it was great to see your soldiers work so well with soldiers from another country. Communication was definitely a pain in the ass at times, but the interpreters (‘terps’) that the Army provided my Platoon with were extremely smart. It was really interesting because the ‘terp’ that worked with us the most was an Iraqi male, same age as me and had just graduated with an electrical engineering degree from the University of Baghdad. We had very similar forms of education, completely different backgrounds, yet we were both working together on the same mission at that point in time. My deployment was full of moments like that, that made you take a step back and just appreciate where you were and what you were doing.
If anything I would say that my time in Iraq was short and eye opening. I’m glad to be back but I deeply appreciated the time I spent there. With that being said…I never want to go back to that country.
Oh yeah…and don’t let Gretchen tell you that she had anything but a good time while I was gone because after meeting the women she spent time with I realized a few things. While we were deployed the building we reside in consisted of women who all liked each other and liked to drink even more. So essentially, my wife lived in a dormitory for post collegiate aged women who went to work during the day and all got together to drink at night. Not a bad life if you ask me.
However, I missed her like crazy and am extremely glad to be back under the same roof. I am continuously surprised and proud of the life and friends she has made for herself while I was away. I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to call and talk with Gretch during that first tough month. It not only meant a lot to her but me as well. Everyone take care, send emails and we’ll keep you updated on our activities via the blog.
Josh
Saturday, May 23, 2009
He's home!!
I got the phone call at 0450 that said, “Mrs. Rud, your husband is on his way home from Iraq.” Even though I had been expecting the phone call, it was a very crazy thing to hear. I asked where I needed to be and when and he said they would do a 2nd phone call once they had landed in Ramstein (30 mins from Baumholder) to tell when and where to be. Once they got to Ramstein the troops still had to drop off their weapon so it was still 2-3 hours from their landing time till they were at the Welcome Home ceremony. I got out of bed and didn’t really know what to do with myself after the phone call. I tried cleaning, but quickly found I really had nothing left to clean. So at 0515 decided to get the guacamole ready for Josh (that and whiskey were his two requests upon his return). After the guacamole I decided it was best to go into work for a couple hours .I knew that I needed to stay occupied otherwise the next few hours were going to go by very slowly. I got into work and after talking to a few people found out they had landed…very shortly after I got the call to be at the main gym at 11 am. I grabbed Jean (she wanted to come and see all the troops….she knew some of them pretty well since Lorintz was their Platoon Leader for the main part of the deployment) and we were off. Jean kept telling me that she was getting nervous for me. I surprisingly stayed very calm until they began clearing the children off the gym floor. “American Soldier” by Toby Keith started blasting and the 400 soldiers came marching into the gym. I spotted him and thought to myself that I had completely forgot how handsome he was. It was a pretty crazy moment….pretty sure it was the longest time my skin held goosebumps for. Afterwards, they played the German anthem followed by the American anthem. They said a pray, told the troops to be safe and released them. There were about 6 other people there to wish him a welcome back. A couple of my friends from work and a few of the other LT’s that he came in with. After we said hello, I introduced him to a lot of people (they had came from work to welcome them back and some other guys had friends coming in on the flight).
Once we got home, we sat on the couch and talked. It was pretty awesome because for the first time I could actually hear what he did everyday. While he was downrange he could not share very much with me….it drove me crazy. But hearing stories yesterday made it worth the wait. I will have to make him write a blog just so he can give you a little insight. Once we were done talking we went and made a drink, grabbed my tub of guacamole and went outside to a picnic table and played cribbage. He won both games…..and I was not a happy camper. Afterwards we came back here for a little bit, took a nap, snuggled a lot :) and talked some more. Later I walked him over to the neighbors to introduce him and then I took us on a drive. Germany is absolutely gorgeous right now.
I will admit that I didn’t think it would feel this great to have him back. I really did forget how in love with the bouy I was. I became pretty independent in these past 4 months but if that bouy were to leave me again tomorrow I would be right back at the 1st day of his deployment and feel like a lost little puppy. He makes me very happy and this whole crazy adventure of taking me to Germany had it’s highest point yesterday when I got to give him a hug….distance can do crazy things to one’s life! :)
So I had to let you all know that Joshua is home! I think I am the happiest I have been since being here....and for a while I didn't think life could get much better....yesterday, it did.
Once we got home, we sat on the couch and talked. It was pretty awesome because for the first time I could actually hear what he did everyday. While he was downrange he could not share very much with me….it drove me crazy. But hearing stories yesterday made it worth the wait. I will have to make him write a blog just so he can give you a little insight. Once we were done talking we went and made a drink, grabbed my tub of guacamole and went outside to a picnic table and played cribbage. He won both games…..and I was not a happy camper. Afterwards we came back here for a little bit, took a nap, snuggled a lot :) and talked some more. Later I walked him over to the neighbors to introduce him and then I took us on a drive. Germany is absolutely gorgeous right now.
I will admit that I didn’t think it would feel this great to have him back. I really did forget how in love with the bouy I was. I became pretty independent in these past 4 months but if that bouy were to leave me again tomorrow I would be right back at the 1st day of his deployment and feel like a lost little puppy. He makes me very happy and this whole crazy adventure of taking me to Germany had it’s highest point yesterday when I got to give him a hug….distance can do crazy things to one’s life! :)
So I had to let you all know that Joshua is home! I think I am the happiest I have been since being here....and for a while I didn't think life could get much better....yesterday, it did.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Only 1 more hour to live
Shawna left this last Saturday morning. We had a great night on Friday and the dancing shoes were on in full swing. We ended up grilling out at one of our friend's house and stayed out till about midnight. We were going to go out downtown but decided that since Shawna had to wake up at 4 am to drive her interns to the airport that we should call it a night. The goodbye did not get hard until she gave me a goodbye hug....then I kinda lost it and ran away from her really fast. I knew I would see her again in the morning but decided that I had to get my tears out before the next day came. I walked home (it was only a block away) and recovered myself. For some reason, I decided than that it was a good idea to go on facebook in order to occupy myself. I clicked on her wall and saw a message that Josh had posted on her wall. He thanked her for posting soo many pictures and if it wasn't for her he would have forgotten what I looked at, he than had to add that she would be missed. So thanks to Josh I completely lost it and decided after 5 mins of being pathetic in front of my computer that I was going to take a shower and go to bed. The next morning I woke up and called Shawna at 7 Am...she was bound to leave at 9. She didn't answer so I walked over to her place. We got to hang out for a couple hours before she left and then I decided to have everyone come to my house so that a lot of peops would be around. I let Collins walk her downstairs and I said my goodbye from the apartment. No tears were shed but the Shawna withdrawls kicked in before 24 hours. I will even confess that my gym workouts in the morning have definately became less productive. I got soo mad this morning at the gym because there were way too many soldiers there and all I wanted was Shawna to be running on the treadmill next to me. Needless to say I only did 15 mins on the treadmill before I said screw it and decided to walk home.....Shawna's officially in trouble for leaving Germany.
On a much brighter side, we are reintegrating over 1,000 soldiers this weekend. Josh included! This friday over 700 soldiers are coming into Baumholder, so Day 1 for them starts on Saturday. If Josh does not come in by Saturday than I will be working from 0800-1930. That means tons of comp time so an extra day to hang out with Josh when he gets home. :)
So I have this rule that no one in Germany can read my blog...I tell people that after they are gone I will give them access to it. So Shawna Paul, I hope you enjoy your reading time...and I hope no parts of it make you too sad...perhaps it will make you want to come back to Germany! :)
Hope you all are having a great week and if Josh get's home this weekend we will skype at some point!
Love,
Gretchen
Pss. We have a lot of new providers here and I helped one of the Docs do a mole removal yesterday. My friend in central appointments called me today informing me that she was having a couple of her moles removed today by the same doctor. I then got myself in trouble because I told her I had one I had been thinking about removing for a very long time....before I knew it I had an appointment right after hers to remove it. So basically I wanted to let you all know that I am going to die in an hour and I hope you all miss me very much. And don't worry I tend to never exaggerate....Josh that one was for you.
On a much brighter side, we are reintegrating over 1,000 soldiers this weekend. Josh included! This friday over 700 soldiers are coming into Baumholder, so Day 1 for them starts on Saturday. If Josh does not come in by Saturday than I will be working from 0800-1930. That means tons of comp time so an extra day to hang out with Josh when he gets home. :)
So I have this rule that no one in Germany can read my blog...I tell people that after they are gone I will give them access to it. So Shawna Paul, I hope you enjoy your reading time...and I hope no parts of it make you too sad...perhaps it will make you want to come back to Germany! :)
Hope you all are having a great week and if Josh get's home this weekend we will skype at some point!
Love,
Gretchen
Pss. We have a lot of new providers here and I helped one of the Docs do a mole removal yesterday. My friend in central appointments called me today informing me that she was having a couple of her moles removed today by the same doctor. I then got myself in trouble because I told her I had one I had been thinking about removing for a very long time....before I knew it I had an appointment right after hers to remove it. So basically I wanted to let you all know that I am going to die in an hour and I hope you all miss me very much. And don't worry I tend to never exaggerate....Josh that one was for you.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Next week!!!!???? :)
Next week towards the end...but not really the end...perhaps the day of the week starts with a "F" Josh should be arriving in Baumholder. The army loves to change things at the last minute so I am not swearing by that date but either way I am looking very forward to that day.
Just today another large flight got moved back a couple days so I will not be working at reintegration on Sunday...instead it will be on Monday. So that just shows how often all of these flights change.
Josh's mother was convinced that Josh would be home today, so on Tuesday I called Sargent Collin's (the head trainer here at the clinic) and asked if I could see the list. The list gets posted a few days before they come in. He called back and said he had it and I asked for 3 names...one being Josh's. None were on the list, so I knew in advance that Josh's mothers instincts were wrong...however, I will admit that this is one of the first times she has predicted something that has not turned out. Next time Mary :)
It's Jeans b-day today so a bunch of us are walking across the street after work here very shortly for dinner. Then it's one of Shawna's last nights so I will probably meet up with her later. I know I have said it before but she leaves this Saturday and I am very positive that some tears will be shed. If you guys are sitting around on Sunday you should all call me to cheer me up :).
We went to dinner with all the nurses last night and Col Scherr (the big boss) told us that after reintegration tomorrow we could have the afternoon off. So I decided to do Shawna's goodbye and Jean's b-day present all in one...so I scheduled 1 hour long massages for all three of us. I am soo super duper excited. Afterwards, hopefully we will do something fun for Shawna's last night.
Well I hope you all are having a great week!
Love you all millions trillions,
Gretchen
Just today another large flight got moved back a couple days so I will not be working at reintegration on Sunday...instead it will be on Monday. So that just shows how often all of these flights change.
Josh's mother was convinced that Josh would be home today, so on Tuesday I called Sargent Collin's (the head trainer here at the clinic) and asked if I could see the list. The list gets posted a few days before they come in. He called back and said he had it and I asked for 3 names...one being Josh's. None were on the list, so I knew in advance that Josh's mothers instincts were wrong...however, I will admit that this is one of the first times she has predicted something that has not turned out. Next time Mary :)
It's Jeans b-day today so a bunch of us are walking across the street after work here very shortly for dinner. Then it's one of Shawna's last nights so I will probably meet up with her later. I know I have said it before but she leaves this Saturday and I am very positive that some tears will be shed. If you guys are sitting around on Sunday you should all call me to cheer me up :).
We went to dinner with all the nurses last night and Col Scherr (the big boss) told us that after reintegration tomorrow we could have the afternoon off. So I decided to do Shawna's goodbye and Jean's b-day present all in one...so I scheduled 1 hour long massages for all three of us. I am soo super duper excited. Afterwards, hopefully we will do something fun for Shawna's last night.
Well I hope you all are having a great week!
Love you all millions trillions,
Gretchen
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Short Post
I just wanted to tell you all that yesterday was one of the cooler days of work I have had thus far in Germany.
We had our first day of reintegration for the soldiers and I have to admit I felt like a nurse during Pearl Harbor (well at least how the movie portrayed it). There was a lot a LOT of planning that went into this mission and I really can say that my heart is starting to grow for soldiers and what they do for our country....it was kinda a moment for me when I came to the realization that I love being on the nursing side of the military.
I went to work at 6:45 yesterday where myself, the headnurse and the immunization nurse where the ones sent to the reintegration site to do blood draws. The first group didn't come in till 0900 but we went over to the site to set up and make sure as many hiccups were out of the way before they arrived. Walking into the building was pretty neat. They set up this entire warehouse with different stations and things for these guys to do their medical portion. Roughly about a group of 300 soldier came in two days ago so the medical portion is Day 1 of reintegration for them. They have a total of 7 days of reintegration.
Once the guys arrived on bus, they marched into the warehouse where they were given a brief. Then the fun began. I did about 40 blood draws and there was only one that I could not get....opps. A lot of the guys were very dehydrated (from the jolly juice). It was a very busy and fun day.
Josh isn't expected back until the end of May. Although I talk to him almost every day via phone or email. He is all done and basically trying his best to keep his soldiers motivated (and to not get lazy) with PT.
I am very very excited for his return. I told him I am not drawing his blood when he gets back because I know he will be a punk. He said he would wait in line as long as he had....little does he know I'm the commander. :)
Well I had to tell you all about my day yesterday. The next reintegration day is this Sunday so I will be getting some comp time.
Love you all,
Gretchen
We had our first day of reintegration for the soldiers and I have to admit I felt like a nurse during Pearl Harbor (well at least how the movie portrayed it). There was a lot a LOT of planning that went into this mission and I really can say that my heart is starting to grow for soldiers and what they do for our country....it was kinda a moment for me when I came to the realization that I love being on the nursing side of the military.
I went to work at 6:45 yesterday where myself, the headnurse and the immunization nurse where the ones sent to the reintegration site to do blood draws. The first group didn't come in till 0900 but we went over to the site to set up and make sure as many hiccups were out of the way before they arrived. Walking into the building was pretty neat. They set up this entire warehouse with different stations and things for these guys to do their medical portion. Roughly about a group of 300 soldier came in two days ago so the medical portion is Day 1 of reintegration for them. They have a total of 7 days of reintegration.
Once the guys arrived on bus, they marched into the warehouse where they were given a brief. Then the fun began. I did about 40 blood draws and there was only one that I could not get....opps. A lot of the guys were very dehydrated (from the jolly juice). It was a very busy and fun day.
Josh isn't expected back until the end of May. Although I talk to him almost every day via phone or email. He is all done and basically trying his best to keep his soldiers motivated (and to not get lazy) with PT.
I am very very excited for his return. I told him I am not drawing his blood when he gets back because I know he will be a punk. He said he would wait in line as long as he had....little does he know I'm the commander. :)
Well I had to tell you all about my day yesterday. The next reintegration day is this Sunday so I will be getting some comp time.
Love you all,
Gretchen
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monkeys
Shawna leaves in less than two weeks....pretty sure that is not okay and should not be allowed. Luckily I will have Josh home soon after so he can try to console me....and the rest is left to Jean to handle. Okay, maybe I should man up too.
I went back to the flee market in Homberg this weekend. It was Shawna, myself, the Ota's (a doc from the clinic and her husband) and Collins (a medic at the clinic). We had an absolute blast and even stopped at a field of flowers on the way home to take pictures....then we went to a local tavern for one drink. Later that night we went to Jeans and for some reason I had an extra pair of dancing shoes on....all I wanted to do was dance so a lot of people sat around and watched while I tried to get them up to dance. Pretty sure that word around the clinic today is that I am a really good dancer...okay maybe more that I get an "E" for effort....not sure what it is about wine and my feet....but some nights they love love each other.
I told everyone at the party on Saturday night that I was the better looking of the two...(between Josh and I)....someone asked on a scale what he was...coolness factor and looking wise compared to Lorintz (Jean's husband). I told the group that he was really not that cool or good looking and that I married him to make myself feel better about myself. One of the medics there was the guy who gave Josh his predeployment shots called me out on the spot. He stated that he disagreed and questioned if I hands down won the good looking contest. Not only did I question is masculinity but told him that his wife was the better looking of his family. :). K, so maybe I got a little fiesty but it was all in good fun after the subject was laid to rest.
Redeployment starts this wednesday. The head nurse and myself are heading down there for day 1. I actually can't wait...I even got to go to the lab for part of the morning to practice drawing blood. It's going to be a mad house and maybe I won't be excited for too long but the anticipation of what it will be like is really getting me. :)
I'm trying to think about what other cool things I can tell you all....but I should probably get back to work. Josh will be home in a couple weeks here...Jean and I even made signs yesterday for their return. He might not like them as much as I do bc the word "Monkey" may have made an appearance at least once.....:) (he pretends that he hates monkeys because I love them so much...he has even made it a point in each letter I have received from him to state in the ps. "die monkeys die")....oophta...still manage to love the bouy.
Oh yes, I know what other thing I need to tell everyone is that I got an email from Joelle this morning stating that she was now an auntie! Dane's sister had a baby boy two nights ago and they named it Reece clayton....I thought that was pretty cute. She said that Dane looked pretty precious holding a little babe. I tried to tell Joelle to pass the word onto Dane that it was not possible until I got to the same state as them. :)
K, I'm off now! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!
Truly,
Gretchen
I went back to the flee market in Homberg this weekend. It was Shawna, myself, the Ota's (a doc from the clinic and her husband) and Collins (a medic at the clinic). We had an absolute blast and even stopped at a field of flowers on the way home to take pictures....then we went to a local tavern for one drink. Later that night we went to Jeans and for some reason I had an extra pair of dancing shoes on....all I wanted to do was dance so a lot of people sat around and watched while I tried to get them up to dance. Pretty sure that word around the clinic today is that I am a really good dancer...okay maybe more that I get an "E" for effort....not sure what it is about wine and my feet....but some nights they love love each other.
I told everyone at the party on Saturday night that I was the better looking of the two...(between Josh and I)....someone asked on a scale what he was...coolness factor and looking wise compared to Lorintz (Jean's husband). I told the group that he was really not that cool or good looking and that I married him to make myself feel better about myself. One of the medics there was the guy who gave Josh his predeployment shots called me out on the spot. He stated that he disagreed and questioned if I hands down won the good looking contest. Not only did I question is masculinity but told him that his wife was the better looking of his family. :). K, so maybe I got a little fiesty but it was all in good fun after the subject was laid to rest.
Redeployment starts this wednesday. The head nurse and myself are heading down there for day 1. I actually can't wait...I even got to go to the lab for part of the morning to practice drawing blood. It's going to be a mad house and maybe I won't be excited for too long but the anticipation of what it will be like is really getting me. :)
I'm trying to think about what other cool things I can tell you all....but I should probably get back to work. Josh will be home in a couple weeks here...Jean and I even made signs yesterday for their return. He might not like them as much as I do bc the word "Monkey" may have made an appearance at least once.....:) (he pretends that he hates monkeys because I love them so much...he has even made it a point in each letter I have received from him to state in the ps. "die monkeys die")....oophta...still manage to love the bouy.
Oh yes, I know what other thing I need to tell everyone is that I got an email from Joelle this morning stating that she was now an auntie! Dane's sister had a baby boy two nights ago and they named it Reece clayton....I thought that was pretty cute. She said that Dane looked pretty precious holding a little babe. I tried to tell Joelle to pass the word onto Dane that it was not possible until I got to the same state as them. :)
K, I'm off now! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!
Truly,
Gretchen
Thursday, April 30, 2009
only 1 more month :)
Talked to Josh a little more than normal lately and have started to realize that I am not even going to know what to do with myself when he gets back. Very very excited to have someone to come home to after work. No more solo dinners. :)
Josh has more spare time on his hands…they are starting to rap things up where he is. It is kinda crazy here on base with all the anticipation of the guys coming home. Signs are everywhere and it makes baumholder like a lot cooler than it is….did I just say that?
A patient called the other day trying to make an appointment because they thought they had swine flu. Had no symptoms and had not traveled to the U.S. or Mexico recently. I told my sister that and told me that wasn’t that crazy and a lot of patients were making those kind of appointments. HOWEVER, I live in Germany, not the U.S. and Mexico is not a place that many people travel to when you live here. Love baumholder population….very intelligent.
I was having a sort of bad day yesterday and was venting about a couple things that my job required lately as a nurse, wife and all. Jean sent me an email later that had an insert of a paragraph Lorintz had sent her. It was talking/venting about the new Platoon Leader s and I can’t go into much detail but at the end Lorintz told Jean to tell me that Josh was doing awesome work. Hmm….that didn’t solve my problems but it did make me smile….Mustard, I’m still obsessed with you don’t worry.
Got an email the other day with when the troops were starting to come in. There were exact numbers but I wondered how that was since not even the guys knew exactly when they were coming in. I got very excited and found out later that the nurses will be rotating in and out of reintegration site in order to do blood draws….yippy skippy. I even volunteered to work on some Saturdays to help out at the site.
Sister, something very special will be coming in the mail for you...I hope it can be fixed or you can return it....kristen you will benefit...oh yes and you too greg...I bet it will make you look very sexy as well....(its a broken straightener).
Jojo....I meant to tell you something last night but didn't get to...I think you should move to Germany....tomorrow....think about it. :)
Love you all!! VERY MUCH!! Hope you all have a great day and weekend too! :)
Love,
GRRR
pss. sorry if this email has a lot of errors, i never read over it...
Josh has more spare time on his hands…they are starting to rap things up where he is. It is kinda crazy here on base with all the anticipation of the guys coming home. Signs are everywhere and it makes baumholder like a lot cooler than it is….did I just say that?
A patient called the other day trying to make an appointment because they thought they had swine flu. Had no symptoms and had not traveled to the U.S. or Mexico recently. I told my sister that and told me that wasn’t that crazy and a lot of patients were making those kind of appointments. HOWEVER, I live in Germany, not the U.S. and Mexico is not a place that many people travel to when you live here. Love baumholder population….very intelligent.
I was having a sort of bad day yesterday and was venting about a couple things that my job required lately as a nurse, wife and all. Jean sent me an email later that had an insert of a paragraph Lorintz had sent her. It was talking/venting about the new Platoon Leader s and I can’t go into much detail but at the end Lorintz told Jean to tell me that Josh was doing awesome work. Hmm….that didn’t solve my problems but it did make me smile….Mustard, I’m still obsessed with you don’t worry.
Got an email the other day with when the troops were starting to come in. There were exact numbers but I wondered how that was since not even the guys knew exactly when they were coming in. I got very excited and found out later that the nurses will be rotating in and out of reintegration site in order to do blood draws….yippy skippy. I even volunteered to work on some Saturdays to help out at the site.
Sister, something very special will be coming in the mail for you...I hope it can be fixed or you can return it....kristen you will benefit...oh yes and you too greg...I bet it will make you look very sexy as well....(its a broken straightener).
Jojo....I meant to tell you something last night but didn't get to...I think you should move to Germany....tomorrow....think about it. :)
Love you all!! VERY MUCH!! Hope you all have a great day and weekend too! :)
Love,
GRRR
pss. sorry if this email has a lot of errors, i never read over it...
Monday, April 20, 2009
Where does the weekend go??
This weekend came and went a little too fast for me. Jean and I took off of work early on Friday to start our drive to Wurzberg, Germany. It was only a couple hours in the car and we took Shannon (a 6 year old that Jean was taking care of for a Provider at our clinic) with us so the drive went by very fast. I trained Shannon on the way up to tell everyone that her favorite animal was a Monkey, so when Josh called I asked her to tell him over the phone what her favorite animal was. After she said "Monkeys!" I pretty much decided that the day couldn't get any better. Later in the weekend Shannon came and sat on my lap and told me that when she grew up and became a Zookeeper she would take a monkey so that I could have one of my very own. :) I am convinced that Josh will never have the opportunity to meet Shannon for I fear that he will fall in love and that may not be such a good thing.
On Saturday, Jean and I got up and went on a walk around the city. It was raining but the city was amazing. The Main (proper name) river runs right through it and there was a huge palace on the hill (with tons of vineyards surrounding it). Later we came back and met up with the big group and walked around for most of the day. We went into the Residance which was another huge palace....it blows my mind how things were constructed back in the days and how much labor was put into each room. It all was pretty spectacular. Everyone really needs to come visit here!
Jean showed me the shopping of Germany...I was in heaven; however, it was all a little more pricer than I was use to. I controlled myself somewhat but made peace in my mind with each purchase....not sure I had reason to. :) We drove back late, but it was definately worth the drive.
On Sunday I sat at Jeans computer most of the day and completed my Contact hours for my nursing license....I was very happy to get those taken care of.
I have to tell you all that this past Friday I participated in my first PT test! (Well maybe not participate in...but close). One of the providers came up to me after work and asked if I would pace her in the 2 mile run. It rained the entire morning but I think I got her one of her best times....I can't take very much of the credit for it because my job was to just keep her moving. She definatley impressed me though for 50 years old. There were only 4 people taking the test but it was really cool to see. However, I did not realize that between each event: 2 min pushups, 2 mins situps and 2 mile run that the person gets 8-10 mins rest. All this time I thought Josh was an ultra rockstar and had no idea that he got to recover before he did the next event. I told Josh that and he told me that I needed to stop learning more and more about the army. Splurge! :)
Today has been an interesting day at the clinic. I am finally on my own and since it is slow, I am blogging. This is the first quite moment of the day so that is good. I have spread the word that people call me GRR and Jean has made it a point to start calling me GARRR (like a pirate). I went into the lab today to had in some tubs from a test and when I signed in I fould that Jean changed all of my initials, GAR to GARRRRR. She says we are going to have a pirate party for me for my birthday. :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Josh is still doing very well...he is getting much much busier. He did book our cruise tickets and I think he even got me my balcony which is super special. Not 100% sure yet, he says its a surprise...hmmm. He may not have much internet access from here on out so if you don't hear from him and really need to, let me know and I will relay the message to him.
Miss you all, love you most of all and hope to see visitors very very soon!!
Love,
GRRR
On Saturday, Jean and I got up and went on a walk around the city. It was raining but the city was amazing. The Main (proper name) river runs right through it and there was a huge palace on the hill (with tons of vineyards surrounding it). Later we came back and met up with the big group and walked around for most of the day. We went into the Residance which was another huge palace....it blows my mind how things were constructed back in the days and how much labor was put into each room. It all was pretty spectacular. Everyone really needs to come visit here!
Jean showed me the shopping of Germany...I was in heaven; however, it was all a little more pricer than I was use to. I controlled myself somewhat but made peace in my mind with each purchase....not sure I had reason to. :) We drove back late, but it was definately worth the drive.
On Sunday I sat at Jeans computer most of the day and completed my Contact hours for my nursing license....I was very happy to get those taken care of.
I have to tell you all that this past Friday I participated in my first PT test! (Well maybe not participate in...but close). One of the providers came up to me after work and asked if I would pace her in the 2 mile run. It rained the entire morning but I think I got her one of her best times....I can't take very much of the credit for it because my job was to just keep her moving. She definatley impressed me though for 50 years old. There were only 4 people taking the test but it was really cool to see. However, I did not realize that between each event: 2 min pushups, 2 mins situps and 2 mile run that the person gets 8-10 mins rest. All this time I thought Josh was an ultra rockstar and had no idea that he got to recover before he did the next event. I told Josh that and he told me that I needed to stop learning more and more about the army. Splurge! :)
Today has been an interesting day at the clinic. I am finally on my own and since it is slow, I am blogging. This is the first quite moment of the day so that is good. I have spread the word that people call me GRR and Jean has made it a point to start calling me GARRR (like a pirate). I went into the lab today to had in some tubs from a test and when I signed in I fould that Jean changed all of my initials, GAR to GARRRRR. She says we are going to have a pirate party for me for my birthday. :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend. Josh is still doing very well...he is getting much much busier. He did book our cruise tickets and I think he even got me my balcony which is super special. Not 100% sure yet, he says its a surprise...hmmm. He may not have much internet access from here on out so if you don't hear from him and really need to, let me know and I will relay the message to him.
Miss you all, love you most of all and hope to see visitors very very soon!!
Love,
GRRR
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Summer time :)
Hello Everyone,
I'm being a good girl and writing again.
It is hard to believe but in the care bear cloud of Baumholder, Germany has became the Sunshine rock this week. It has been between 70 and 80 degrees for the past five days and no rain....if that doesn't make a girl happy...I'm not sure what does.
I know it is already Wednesday but I have to tell you all that when you come here I am taking you all to France. A couple girls and I drove to Metz, France this weekend and spent the day walking around. We had about a 2 hour lunch at this super delicious French cafe and then went and walked around. The Mosely River goes right through the city and there was a kayak race going on so we got to watch. Then we rented a paddle boat and layed in the sun for a little bit. On the way home we stopped at Cora (my new most favorite grocery store)....I'm obsessed. Its amazing, huge, tons of fresh seafoods and meats....k, I'll stop now.
I had a pt today that I talked to for a bit. She attends all the FRG (family readiness group) and said that she and other wifes have been told that we won't find out when our husband returns until 3 hours before he is here. Meaning that they won't inform the wifes until their flight lands in Ramstein (an airforce airport 30 mins from Baumholder). Love the Army. Jk...I kinda still think it is an okay organization.
I hope everyone had a good Easter! I did, even with being soo far away, no easter basket and no family/friends. (That does not mean that I did not miss all of the above). Myself, Shawna and Morgen (shawna's best friend from Hawaii) went to the Baptist Church right in town. I cried for the 2nd time in church....box of kleenex and all. We had a guest speaker but man could he could he speak. He told the story of how he came to know the Lord. At the age of 9, he was playing in his yard and his neighbor picked him up to go to Sunday School. 3 Sundays later he stayed for the service and went up to the Pastor after. The Pastor told him that he loved him very much but also that Jesus loved him unconditionally. The pastor said that at the age of 9 that was the first time he had ever heard someone say to him "I love you." Right there he accepted Christ...the pastor started to get choked up, so I was doomed right there.
Josh comes home in one month and a little bit. Shawna leaves one month and a day from today.....so I know I'm going to be a very emotional girl coming up here. I can't even imagine how I would have done without Shawna as my friend. Sometimes after busy days I call her to come over to have a glass of wine and just listen to me vent. I know I will soon have Josh (and trust me I can't WAIT for that) but it will be much different in Germany without her. I tell her she was my little angel and that she can't leave me...she smiles and says okay....well see what happens come May 16th.
Josh is still doing very well. He is going to get very very busy here soon and as will I. Friday we had a briefing where we were told how crazy things would start getting at the clinic with the Birgade coming home. There will even be 2 different sick days times for the soldier (per day) and they said that the line is all the way down the hall and sometimes out the door....(we have a very very long hall). I am kinda excited but at the same time know that I am going to be in slightly over my head. I have been told that I may be pulling long days 0600-1900. But hopefully that won't happen too often...if we manage to split up the shifts between us 5 nurses at the clinic.
Me and a couple girls started a Tuesday soccer night. We started last tuesday and played again last night...22 people showed up! I even scored a goal...okay maybe I was standing in the right place at the right time...but it counts for something. We are going to do it every tuesday and thursday because there was such a huge turnout...everytime I try to get the ball from someone though I get scared and think of Joelle
I had a dream last night that my sister hated me....I tried to convince her that I was an okay person....she didn't buy it and I woke up very very panicked. Infact, woke up a little too early and went out to get some fresh air at 0530....it was good though. I am finding myself to be one very independent gal...never thought that I would ever be living alone at the age of 24...even for a short period of time...this is my sister's dream...and I am living it...how did that happen??
Well I will stop babbling now. I hope that you all had a great Easter and are having a great week. I will try to write again soon. Miss you all very much!!
Much love,
GRRR
I'm being a good girl and writing again.
It is hard to believe but in the care bear cloud of Baumholder, Germany has became the Sunshine rock this week. It has been between 70 and 80 degrees for the past five days and no rain....if that doesn't make a girl happy...I'm not sure what does.
I know it is already Wednesday but I have to tell you all that when you come here I am taking you all to France. A couple girls and I drove to Metz, France this weekend and spent the day walking around. We had about a 2 hour lunch at this super delicious French cafe and then went and walked around. The Mosely River goes right through the city and there was a kayak race going on so we got to watch. Then we rented a paddle boat and layed in the sun for a little bit. On the way home we stopped at Cora (my new most favorite grocery store)....I'm obsessed. Its amazing, huge, tons of fresh seafoods and meats....k, I'll stop now.
I had a pt today that I talked to for a bit. She attends all the FRG (family readiness group) and said that she and other wifes have been told that we won't find out when our husband returns until 3 hours before he is here. Meaning that they won't inform the wifes until their flight lands in Ramstein (an airforce airport 30 mins from Baumholder). Love the Army. Jk...I kinda still think it is an okay organization.
I hope everyone had a good Easter! I did, even with being soo far away, no easter basket and no family/friends. (That does not mean that I did not miss all of the above). Myself, Shawna and Morgen (shawna's best friend from Hawaii) went to the Baptist Church right in town. I cried for the 2nd time in church....box of kleenex and all. We had a guest speaker but man could he could he speak. He told the story of how he came to know the Lord. At the age of 9, he was playing in his yard and his neighbor picked him up to go to Sunday School. 3 Sundays later he stayed for the service and went up to the Pastor after. The Pastor told him that he loved him very much but also that Jesus loved him unconditionally. The pastor said that at the age of 9 that was the first time he had ever heard someone say to him "I love you." Right there he accepted Christ...the pastor started to get choked up, so I was doomed right there.
Josh comes home in one month and a little bit. Shawna leaves one month and a day from today.....so I know I'm going to be a very emotional girl coming up here. I can't even imagine how I would have done without Shawna as my friend. Sometimes after busy days I call her to come over to have a glass of wine and just listen to me vent. I know I will soon have Josh (and trust me I can't WAIT for that) but it will be much different in Germany without her. I tell her she was my little angel and that she can't leave me...she smiles and says okay....well see what happens come May 16th.
Josh is still doing very well. He is going to get very very busy here soon and as will I. Friday we had a briefing where we were told how crazy things would start getting at the clinic with the Birgade coming home. There will even be 2 different sick days times for the soldier (per day) and they said that the line is all the way down the hall and sometimes out the door....(we have a very very long hall). I am kinda excited but at the same time know that I am going to be in slightly over my head. I have been told that I may be pulling long days 0600-1900. But hopefully that won't happen too often...if we manage to split up the shifts between us 5 nurses at the clinic.
Me and a couple girls started a Tuesday soccer night. We started last tuesday and played again last night...22 people showed up! I even scored a goal...okay maybe I was standing in the right place at the right time...but it counts for something. We are going to do it every tuesday and thursday because there was such a huge turnout...everytime I try to get the ball from someone though I get scared and think of Joelle
I had a dream last night that my sister hated me....I tried to convince her that I was an okay person....she didn't buy it and I woke up very very panicked. Infact, woke up a little too early and went out to get some fresh air at 0530....it was good though. I am finding myself to be one very independent gal...never thought that I would ever be living alone at the age of 24...even for a short period of time...this is my sister's dream...and I am living it...how did that happen??
Well I will stop babbling now. I hope that you all had a great Easter and are having a great week. I will try to write again soon. Miss you all very much!!
Much love,
GRRR
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
OPPS!! :)
Hello everyone,
I have to apologize that it has been soo soo long. I will take defense and tell you all that my internet has been down for the entire month of March. Even after three letters and countless visits to their office....no internet has made it to our apartment. :( So I am sorry, I suppose I will try to make it up and make this an extra good blog.
Josh is still doing well downrange. He hasn't been the one to tell me most things (mainly because he can't release too much information) but luckily I have Jean who has been my "go to" girl. I am sure I have told you all before but she is currently my preceptor at work and Josh just took over for her husband. Josh informed me yesterday of the date he was going to start heading back here and as expected I can start planning for his return for the first part of June. :). Things will start getting very busy for him in the next couple weeks because they will have to start getting everything ready for the big move back here. I can't stand still when I think about that many guys coming to this base (around 4,000) . I went to the shoppette (that is what they call the gas station on base) and they told me they would start opening up all 4 counters in April.....craziness.
I am a working girl.....like I said I follow Jean all day, so I really can't complain. She makes me laugh a lot and for the most part we enjoy each others company tremendously. :) We are both very exciting for our bouys to get home so that we can make them be friends and then travel together. Pretty sure Jean and I are both the talkers of the relationships so we figured we wouldn't have much problems saying that both Josh and Luritz enjoy cigars and wiskey.
I think I might get a week off in June so Josh and I are going to plan a Greece cruise.....it is taking the place of our honeymoon and 1 year anniversary....I am super duper excited. :).
Whatelse can I tell you that is exciting....oh yes, I cut my finger on Monday night. I was cutting an onion and I pulled away knowing that I did a bad thing. Held my hand above my head and told Shawna to throw the entire onion away. She started to and picked up what she thought was an onion piece and said "oh look, this one has finger prints".....OPPS!! I went over to Jeans later and she fixed it up...the next day she lidocained my finger and put it in hydrogen peroxide....she takes very good care of me. :)
I will try to stay more on top of this blog...and as soon as my internet comes back on you will hear much more from me.
Miss you all still VERY MUCH!!
ps. Just for anyone who is sending Josh things...they won't accept packages past the 15th of April.
pss. Germany is requesting visitors! :)
I have to apologize that it has been soo soo long. I will take defense and tell you all that my internet has been down for the entire month of March. Even after three letters and countless visits to their office....no internet has made it to our apartment. :( So I am sorry, I suppose I will try to make it up and make this an extra good blog.
Josh is still doing well downrange. He hasn't been the one to tell me most things (mainly because he can't release too much information) but luckily I have Jean who has been my "go to" girl. I am sure I have told you all before but she is currently my preceptor at work and Josh just took over for her husband. Josh informed me yesterday of the date he was going to start heading back here and as expected I can start planning for his return for the first part of June. :). Things will start getting very busy for him in the next couple weeks because they will have to start getting everything ready for the big move back here. I can't stand still when I think about that many guys coming to this base (around 4,000) . I went to the shoppette (that is what they call the gas station on base) and they told me they would start opening up all 4 counters in April.....craziness.
I am a working girl.....like I said I follow Jean all day, so I really can't complain. She makes me laugh a lot and for the most part we enjoy each others company tremendously. :) We are both very exciting for our bouys to get home so that we can make them be friends and then travel together. Pretty sure Jean and I are both the talkers of the relationships so we figured we wouldn't have much problems saying that both Josh and Luritz enjoy cigars and wiskey.
I think I might get a week off in June so Josh and I are going to plan a Greece cruise.....it is taking the place of our honeymoon and 1 year anniversary....I am super duper excited. :).
Whatelse can I tell you that is exciting....oh yes, I cut my finger on Monday night. I was cutting an onion and I pulled away knowing that I did a bad thing. Held my hand above my head and told Shawna to throw the entire onion away. She started to and picked up what she thought was an onion piece and said "oh look, this one has finger prints".....OPPS!! I went over to Jeans later and she fixed it up...the next day she lidocained my finger and put it in hydrogen peroxide....she takes very good care of me. :)
I will try to stay more on top of this blog...and as soon as my internet comes back on you will hear much more from me.
Miss you all still VERY MUCH!!
ps. Just for anyone who is sending Josh things...they won't accept packages past the 15th of April.
pss. Germany is requesting visitors! :)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
I joined the Army. Not sure I meant to.
On Friday, my day at work started out with class that taught employees how to refer patients to different health services offered by the army. It spoke a lot about the substance abuse and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) that will occur when the 4,000 troops return to the base in June. The class finished up a little ahead of schedule so I ran over to the Tax center where I completed the taxes...I HATE taxes (officially). I returned to work where we then had a fake " bomb alert" and after proceded into a 2 hour suicide lecture. (This year the army lost more fatalities to suicide than to combat so the head hancho ordered a mandatory 3 step suicide coarse for all of Baumholder base.) It was good information but I decided while sitting in the lecture with 95% military personal (healthcare providers at the clinic) that somehow along the road I was placed into the Armed Forces....however, I am not sure that I have the same mentality as some of the men and woman I work with. Perhaps it was something one had to be there for, but I was amazed how much talking and discussion could be performed in a matter of 2 hours on a topic we all knew A LOT about.
On Friday I went to a work party where my boss was promoted to Colonel. They went all out for the party with appetizers, dancing and a full meal served so it was lots of fun. I also got to talk to Jean's husband, Lawrence (who Josh took over for in Iraq) and he told me that all of his soldiers had taken a period of time to plan this big trick on him. Turns out that when Josh got there and met them they all chickened out. :) I laughed. I let him know that Josh was having a blast and many times I had to remind Josh that he needs to pretend to miss me a little more. Lawrence said that he got really lucky and had one of the better platoons. Many times his platoon were asked to do special missions and things....he also added that by the time he left Josh had a better feel for some things than some of his leaders. One thing that Lawrence did mention that made me think was when he said that "leaving his guys was one of the hardest things he has had to do in the Army." When he returns back to Iraq (after his R & R) he will be given a desk job...which he is NOT looking forward to. When I drove home that night I realized that Josh is basically living his dream right now and I just hope that when he does get put promoted to a "desk job" he is able to handle it.....it kinda scares me that he might not be a very happy camper when that day does come :)
Work this week has been great! I think I am a little in over my head but I think it will be okay in the end. It is a much different field of nursing and I never thought in all my days I would have to be doing some of the things they will be having me do. To give you all a little idea of what the job entails....as a nurse I will be doing/assisting with: toenail removals (weird?....I thought so too), immunizations, birth control injections/teaching/etc, pregnancy tests and teaching, ear irrigations (mostly in children), STD treatments (very very prevalent here), referrals and then what is thrown at as during the day. My head nurse let me know that we will see a lot of abuse from here on out...because it is kinda the breaking point for Mom's and a lot of them are getting nervous for their husbands to return in June. It is true and very sad but even in this first week I have seen some pretty crazy things.
I have got to talk to Josh a few times this week. He tells me that I become quite the commander since he left....I let him know that this week I decided to map out an entire week once he gets home of tasks he has to perform for me...Day 1 will be foot massages and Day 2 will be a day of only watching only chick flicks....thats as far as I have gotten.
So all in all, things are great. Josh is living his dream....and my job has driven me back to a purpose driven life.:)
I hope that everyone has a great week! Josh does send his hello to everyone!
Miss you all still very very much!
Love,
Gretchen Ann
On Friday I went to a work party where my boss was promoted to Colonel. They went all out for the party with appetizers, dancing and a full meal served so it was lots of fun. I also got to talk to Jean's husband, Lawrence (who Josh took over for in Iraq) and he told me that all of his soldiers had taken a period of time to plan this big trick on him. Turns out that when Josh got there and met them they all chickened out. :) I laughed. I let him know that Josh was having a blast and many times I had to remind Josh that he needs to pretend to miss me a little more. Lawrence said that he got really lucky and had one of the better platoons. Many times his platoon were asked to do special missions and things....he also added that by the time he left Josh had a better feel for some things than some of his leaders. One thing that Lawrence did mention that made me think was when he said that "leaving his guys was one of the hardest things he has had to do in the Army." When he returns back to Iraq (after his R & R) he will be given a desk job...which he is NOT looking forward to. When I drove home that night I realized that Josh is basically living his dream right now and I just hope that when he does get put promoted to a "desk job" he is able to handle it.....it kinda scares me that he might not be a very happy camper when that day does come :)
Work this week has been great! I think I am a little in over my head but I think it will be okay in the end. It is a much different field of nursing and I never thought in all my days I would have to be doing some of the things they will be having me do. To give you all a little idea of what the job entails....as a nurse I will be doing/assisting with: toenail removals (weird?....I thought so too), immunizations, birth control injections/teaching/etc, pregnancy tests and teaching, ear irrigations (mostly in children), STD treatments (very very prevalent here), referrals and then what is thrown at as during the day. My head nurse let me know that we will see a lot of abuse from here on out...because it is kinda the breaking point for Mom's and a lot of them are getting nervous for their husbands to return in June. It is true and very sad but even in this first week I have seen some pretty crazy things.
I have got to talk to Josh a few times this week. He tells me that I become quite the commander since he left....I let him know that this week I decided to map out an entire week once he gets home of tasks he has to perform for me...Day 1 will be foot massages and Day 2 will be a day of only watching only chick flicks....thats as far as I have gotten.
So all in all, things are great. Josh is living his dream....and my job has driven me back to a purpose driven life.:)
I hope that everyone has a great week! Josh does send his hello to everyone!
Miss you all still very very much!
Love,
Gretchen Ann
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