Week One

Wow! This past week has been wild! There is so much to do and learn and plan for, my poor little head is spinning! For those of you who are not sure what I am talking about, a little background is in order:

Last May, I applied for a librarian job at Hohenfels Training Center, Germany, (thanks, Meg!)really never dreaming I would even be in contention for it. Then in early June, I got the phone call from Germany: We would like to offer you this job.

Shock.

Excitement.

Anxiety.

What should I do? Is this the opportunity I was looking for? I have had my Masters in Library Science for 2 years and I have felt ready for a change for a while also. Here was a chance to do the library thing- and in Germany, no less! If you know me at all, you know how much I love to visit Germany, in addition to which my oldest son Stephen and his wife Meghan live there too. But was I ready to take the plunge?

Ben and I talked about it and prayed about it. I came to believe that this was what God had been preparing for me. So....I accepted the job. Report for duty: August 1.

No problem. Just the end of school to deal with, packing up my classroom (thanks, Randy!), and planning and bringing to fruition my lovely daughter Caitlin's wedding in early July. No stress, really.

After a beautiful wedding and reception, I began to pack. Ben and I had already decided to sell our large house, so we just speeded up those plans a bit. On July 30, we flew to Munich, Germany. Ben wanted to come with me to help me settle in, and I am so grateful that he did. He will come back to sell the house and finish out this semester, then hopefully join me in December or January 2008. After we arrived in Munich last Tuesday, we rented a car and drove about an hour north to Hohenfels, Germany. It is between Regensburg and Nuremburg. What a lovely place! It is very rural, with dark forests and green, rolling hills and fields. But it is in the boonies, man. In the middle of nowhere. But somewhere is not too far away. Regensburg is about 30 minutes and there are many quaint German villages around as well.

In the past week, I have: met the wonderful German women with whom I will be working, found a place to stay, moved to a much better place (Hotel Zum Hirschen) in Parsberg, started and finished the process of a new id card, looked at an apartment in the village of Lupburg, loved it, signed for it, went out to dinner every night at a different German restaurant, went to Ikea, went crazy there (what a fantastic place! Good thing they don't take credit cards!), found a car, bought the car, studied for my USAREUR driver's license, took the test and passed it, bought two phones at the Thrift Shop, toured the post and began to find my way around, ate some more great German food, discovered weinschorlesuss, dealt with personnel issues, tried to get my military email address, got my military post office box, visited the fitness center, went on a volksmarch and down into a cool cave, attended church on Sunday and met two really great Christian families.... and much more. Throughout all of this, Ben has been my rock.

It is still a bit of a dream, doesn't feel real, but other times it is all too real. Having to deny an annual leave request for an employee wasn't fun, yet it went well.

God has been so faithful! He has provided a great place to live, work, and several new friends to share it with.

Tomorrow, we go to get my new car. I will tell you more about it then and will add a picture of it.
Thanks for reading- please comment if you like.

Tschuss!