Because I'm so bored, I spend a lot of time looking out the windows of the apartment, mostly watching the traffic 4 floors below, but recently I've taken to watching the cat in the apartment across the street. The owners open the window and the cat walks out the window, onto the roof and walks all over the tops of the buildings. Every time I try to get a photo, that cat disappears. I swear it's magic! So for the past few days I've kept the camera by the window, just in case. I wanted to get a photo the cat walking on the roof.

That cat is smart. It just stood in the window watching me. I swear it's true, that cat watches me watch him/her. I did get a photo of the cat in the window. Look closely at the windown in the middle of the photo. Ever since I read the "cat who" books, I've wondered if there really were smart cats. This one proves that cats are smarter that we give them credit for. And every time I see the cat, it's watching me. This cat even looks intelligent. Her/His eyes follow you from window to window.

Even Tom is amazed at this cat and he’s not a cat lover. He even mentioned that we might get a cat if we could get one that smart.

Our rental car is...

Photos from our front window.

We picked up our Germany driving license Friday morning. Tom picked up the rental car in the evening. Since we not used to driving here, we wanted a small car with automatic drive. After checking around, he found his best option was from an off base Germany company. His options were either a “smart” car (you know those really small compact cars that look like something out of science fiction) or a small Mercedes Benz. Yep, our rental car is a brand spanking new Mercedes (only had 16 miles on it).
On Saturday we drove to the AF base for a little shopping and to try to find our way around. I got some YARN! The Arts & Craft shop only had some cotton yarn but at least its yarn.
Saturday evening I drove us over to the AF Base Enlisted club. We had dinner (very expensive hamburgers) and played the slots. The slot machines were very much like the ones at the casino, but they only have a couple dozen machines. I stopped playing when I was $20 ahead. Tom played awhile longer, and he broke even. Now for the good part, I drove the Mercedes back to the hotel in the dark. It wasn’t too bad. The worst part is not knowing the roads or even be sure of the way back to the hotel. We made it in one piece and no damage to the rental car.
Today we were going to drive around and look at houses, but after looking at the list, we decided we need to make some phone calls first. So Tom will try to make the calls tomorrow from work (with someone who speaks German standing by).
Missy called last night, she’s got a buyer for Tom’s old Dodge truck. She got the asking price.
Need to close for now, as I can hear my knitting calling me.

Letter to my best friend “Lucy”

Today is one of those times I wonder if we did the right thing leaving Texas and moving to Germany. Not that I dislike Germany, it’s just that I am beginning to realize just what we’ve done.
We left our beautiful home in Schertz empty; hoping it will sell before we go broke paying the mortgage, paying the yard guy and the pool guy. I’m lucky that we can afford to do this for awhile, but for how long? We’ve had lots of lookers but no offers. I know it’s been in the 80’s in Schertz the last few days, so maybe a pool will look more enticing.
I went over to the local AF personnel office. I had expected that since I’m a current AF employee (soon to be on LWOP) and have family member preference, that I would have received some kind of assistance from them. The only thing I got was two German clerks that looked at me like I was nuts when I asked about signing up on their local priority list. They just said they didn’t have one and turned away. I explained that this was a list they needed to clear before advertising jobs. I got the deer in the headlight look. One clerk went away to talk to a specialist, but when she came back she just told me to apply for jobs on line. I have already done that. Maybe leaving my “GREAT” job with AF Unique’s wasn’t such a good idea.
It’s still cold here, but no snow lately. Even when we had snow, it melted the next day. So I guess that’s a good thing. I want to go around (walking) and take photos, but so far I just haven’t wanted to brave the cold with my cameras.
We took the Germany Driving test yesterday and passed (I just barely passed). I just went blank during the test and couldn’t remember anything I had studied. Because Tom hasn’t received his official local CAC card, we couldn’t get the actual license, but at least the test is over. Hopefully Tom will get the card today or tomorrow so we can pick up the licenses. The problem is you can’t rent a car without the license and we can’t look for a house without a car.
I did finely figure out how to use the German Washer and Dryer (I think). I copied the words on the machines, went on line and found a German to English translator and typed in the words. Not all words were exact translations, but I was able to figure it out (maybe). I’m doing a load of clothes now, and I’ll find out how good my guessing was.
Our landlord has a bakery downstairs and I just went down and got a cup of Earl Grey tea and two of the flakiest pastries I’ve ever had. Of course I had chocolate! Did you need to ask?
We also have cable TV. 600 channels of nothing, well not quite nothing. We have British TV channels and I’ve been able to watch some of the shows I had enjoyed in England. Most of the channels are Germany (who would have guessed that), but some are in Russian, Indian, Arabic and some languages I can’t identify. No HGTV, No DIY, No history channel, what’s this country thinking?
When/If we get into a house, we’ll get American Armed Forces TV and that will have a few of the shows we are used to (I hope).

Who would have thought I’d be bored? I’m not used to staying home and I miss my family and friends.
And the worst thing is: I’M OUT OF YARN!!!!! I CAN’T KNIT!!!!

No wonder I’m falling into a deep depression. OK, the yarn thing is true and I’m having knitting withdrawals, but I’m not depressed.
I have been working on some designs, but it’s not the same as knitting them.
So that’s my latest update from Germany. Take care and keep in touch.

We passed

Tom and I both passed our German driving test. It was not an easy test. I went into panic mode during the test and had trouble remembering anything. We couldn't get our license as Tom's not in the computer yet. Maybe Friday.

Kd

Today was Tom’s first day. He spent the entire day in processing and he’s not finished. Tomorrow we have appointments to take the German driving test. Should be interesting as I don’t do test well. One of us must pass in order to pick up the cars. No pressure there! If you hear crying coming over the internet, it could be me.
I’m trying out the use of the German washer and dryer. Everything is in German (imagine that), so I’m just pushing buttons and hoping for the best. I got the washer to wash (forever) but the dryer seems to dislike me. I got it to start and left for dinner, when I got back it had stopped and wasn’t even warm. Then I figured out the problem. What I thought was the timer (40) is really the temperature. So of course it wasn’t getting warm at 40. I changed the temp and it seems to be warming up. Maybe I need a German to English converter.



The photos are not from Germany. It’s my 17 year old granddaughter in Tennessee playing in the snow.