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
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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
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