Hallo!!

Sorry that you haven’t heard from us in awhile, it has been a very busy week. Josh got more on his inprocessing accomplished and started to prepare more for his deployment. I attended a course called “R.O.C.K” where I learned the culture, a little German and the bus system. My instructor was amazing and we had so much fun together. There were only 5 people total in the class, 4 of them being a set of couples so the instructor and I spent a majority of the time together which was a plus for me because I could ask her any questions..and you can only imagine the amount of questions I asked. (smiley).

The first day of the class we visited the Baumholder museum. Lots of history but it was cool to see…it definitely made me realize how very little I know about even our current war. The next day we all took a bus into Idar-Oberstein. She brought us to this nice lunch place and taught us how to properly manage in a restaurant. In Germany, you never put your knife down. You cut while you go along and you scoop your food with your knife. When you are done, there is a certain way to place your utensils on the plate and if you want more there is also a way to place it. The restaurant had the freshest salad bar and potatoes I had ever tasted…it was unreal. The third day of the class was the best day! Again she brought us into Idar-Oberstein via bus, we switched busses and headed to Globus. It is sort of like a Sam Club. The instructor told me to come with her and she taught me thee coolest things! This place was a grocery store heaven for me but it was neat because it was all German food and everything was in German. She took me and we tried so many things. I was proud of myself because I was trying different sausages and cheeses. I came home at the end of the day with a large Globus market bag. Josh said that I had too much fun and that we wouldn’t be going to the grocery store for awhile. They had an entire isle of JUST different kinds of ketchup. She showed me the best kinds of chocolates that they only have here. It is a German brand called “Milka” and I will have to send some to you all because it really is the best kind of chocolate. I also purchased these espresso chocolates..where they are an entire espresso shot covered in dark chocolate….and when you bit into it is liquid (never had anything like it).

That night we had 4 of the lieutenants over for pizza and drinks. That was fun and the next day we hopped back on the bus because I had to show Josh Globus. He admitted it was pretty cool but I don’t think he had as much fun as I did. We than took a bus to the middle of Idar-Oberstein where we walked to the top of this castle. It was very cool and I have to post pictures of the top, unbelievable view. It was a whole day of traveling but definitely worth it! That night I made us this German dinner which was meat covered in cabbage with potatoes and carrots. We both agreed we could eat that meal again!

On Saturday we wanted to try our luck with the trains so we headed out around 10 am. There is this deal that if you pay 27 Euro for up to 5 people to travel via bus and train within the Rheinland region. We looked at the map and decided to go to Trier (a city we have been told we must go see). Chances were we missed one of our busses so we didn’t make it to Trier till 3 pm. The other lieutenants were much smarter and drove (which was about a 45 min drive going over 100 on the autobahn). So when we rolled in they were about ready to leave. We all decided to go see the Ampitheater before so Josh and I were able to walk around the city for a couple hours before we left. It was a pretty neat city, they had tons of cafes and pubs within this huge shopping area and strip. We walked into this cathedral which was also an unbelievable site. Some of the details in the walls and art was breathtaking. The best thing about Trier was they even had some American shopping stores so I was a happy camper. Josh says he is going to take me back tomorrow to shop a little.

Last night we got home and I was tired so I told Josh to go out with the guys. He had a much good time and they even experienced a couple Irish car bombs (a drink). He came home and woke me up and said that one of the guys had offered to take us to Kauserslaughter to rent a car (for a much cheaper rate than we are able to get her on base). So today we drove there to get a car….we ended up with a tiny For Fiesta. It is quite the sight to see. We all went out to breakfast afterwards. For breakfast they are big on meats, cheeses, spreads and hard rolls. It is actually very tasty. Afterwards we went exploring and drove onto two of the Air Force Bases nearby. The 2nd one we stopped at was unbelievable. We went into their BX (kinda like a walmart- on Army Posts it’s called a PX) and it was the coolest BX I had seen. It was 2 stories high and had everything you could ever imagine. When you walked in they had about 8 shops that were European stores before you even got into the main BX shopping area. We also stopped at their Commissary (grocery store) because I had heard so much about it. Again I was in heaven!!
We got home not too long ago and decided to read for awhile…which turned into an 1 ½ nap. Seems that since we have purchased our new bed that we have attended a little too much too it.
Josh said it was the best purchase he has ever made!

I hope all is well, and I will try not to take so long again to write. Soon we will have internet and a home line (that we can make cheap phone calls from) so you should all be hearing much more from us.

Josh and I send our love and hope you all had a great weekend!!

Grechend and Josh