Friedberg Germany visit

Today we spent the day with Tom’s Aunt Micky and her husband, Helmut. Tom drove the BMW on the autobahn. To say the least, he was in 7th heaven. As he said “BMW’s were made for the autobahn”. If you are interested there are additional photos of his drive on my flickr site.
We walked around Freidberg for hours and hours. Micky showed us where Tom had lived as a child. It was very interesting to see his old home and the street he played on. We saw the castle and the church as well as the old US Army base “Ray Barracks”. We went into the local museum which had Roman finds as well as old farming items. To me the best part was seeing some items and photos of Elvis. I just love him.
Tom’s Uncle Joe is in the hospital so we went up there to see him. He didn’t know we were coming, but as soon as he saw Tom, he knew him. Joe had tears running down his face when he hugged Tom. Tom speaks/understands very little German and Joe speaks no English, but they didn’t have any problem communication. Joe was very happy to see Tom. We didn’t get to spend much time with him, but it was well worth the trip just to see Tom and his Uncle Joe together.
Tom spent a lot of time talking to Micky. I’m not sure which one smiled the most. I think Tom really enjoyed the day.
Me? Well there was only one disappointment. The yarn “wolle” shop was closed! So close to yarn, yet so far away.

Update from Germany

Well we are still homeless in Germany. We are having trouble finding a house. The yellow house on the hill that we expected to get was turned over by the current occupant to someone else (most likely someone they knew). So we were back to looking. We looked at a place today, but it seems the Germany landlords don’t always tell the complete truth. The house was suppose to be a single house with gas heat and had been updated. In reality it was a 1918 house that had been divided into apartments. It wasn’t a single house as the side apartment was rented. The other apartments were combined into one apartment on the other side. It had huge rooms, but almost no kitchen. No frig, no stove, and fewer cabinets than we had in our bathrooms in Texas. So back to square one. We start over again. At this rate, we’ll run out of money before we find a place.
The house in Texas is showing, but still no buyers. Tom’s beginning to waiver and want to keep the house so we can move back. Not something I really want to do.
On the knitting front: I have been knitting. Remember the yarn I purchased back in Feb? Here’s what I’ve been knitting. I still have a little yarn left, but I need to find a yarn shop soon.

My daughters have Yahoo IM and made me sign up. Glad I did, we’ve been able to not only call each other over the internet, but we have video. Admittedly the video is a little jumpy but it’s free.OH, yeah, forgot to tell you the best news. I was offered and accepted a job with AF Personnel Ramstein. I start 29 March so that’s one less worry. They matched the pay I received in Texas, so that’s great.

Miata arrived

We picked up my car on Monday. No real damage, but it was on "really empty"! The yellow empty light was staying solid and that means don't move the car cause you don't have any gas. Someone wanted 2 gallons of gas really bad, as they couldn't find the gas cap door lever (in the cab of the car), so they opened the trunk (shows they had the key), and pulled the lever cord (breaking it) and popped the gas door open. If Tom hadn't been knowledgeable about my car, we would have had to call the dealer to come either tow the car, or fix it on the agent's lot. Either way it would have cost big bucks here in Germany. It took Tom a couple hours, but he got it put back together. We had to buy a gas can on base, get gas and take it to the Miata before we could even drive it off the lot. What a pain! But it could have been worst.
The Miata is called MX5 here in Europe, so guess I’d better get used to calling it that. NAW, it’s still my Miata. In SA the Miata looked so small, but over here it’s normal size. I have been surprised at how many MX5’s I’ve seen. None my color and none with the retractable hard top. Not that I’ve been able to use it yet. Too cold for me, but I have seen some BMW’s with the top down. Not me, not yet.

We are still homeless. There are not many single houses available right now. We've found a few, but nothing that fits. Two houses had the landlord wanting to live in the basement. One house is next to a gypsy camp and housing says to stay away from that area. Another house is beautiful, large and old. Built in 1914 but remodeled in the last few years. Sounds great? Tom took one look at it and said he knew I'd never live there as it's HAUNTED. Yep they current tenants are leaving because their kids are afraid to go in the basement or to be in the house alone. Tom said that it looks like something out of "Most Haunted" TV show. So we’re still looking, but we have 3 agents now looking for us.

While writing this I got an email from Ramstein AF Personnel Office wanting me to call them. I did and I got a tentative job offer. I have to wait for the official job offer to come from Randolph AF Personnel center and with the time difference that could take days. But Ramstein wants me to start Monday 30 March. That means I’ll start getting a pay check!!!! With the house in Texas still on the market, we really need the income. I should know something more before the end of the week (I hope).
Tom would like to go to see his aunt and uncle in Frankfurt this weekend. I’d love to go, as it’s only 85 miles away, but we may need to stay around to look at houses. With me going to work, Tom’s going to have to look harder (not that I was any help at all anyway).
I’m almost out of yarn, but I’ve heard about 2 yarn shops in the nearby towns, got to go find them soon.