December 30th...I sat in the SEATAC airport, gate A9, at 0825 waiting for my plane to board. I spent all night the night before packing my bags. I was up until 0230 and awake again at 0615. 2 carry-ons and 2 checked bags were all I was taking and I had to fit everything I had left in those bags. I did pretty well too. In the end there was only a small pile of stuff left. I found it hard to believe I was really sitting there to go to Frankfurt. I felt very ready to leave Seattle and start living my life. It almost seemed as if at that moment life really began; like a stopwatch being clicked to clock a race. Up until that moment, I'd only been training for the race that I was to run. My Seattle to Chicago flight was 4 hours. I slept the whole time.
Once in Chicago, I sat in the airport at my gate for 5 hours. I made as many phone calls as I could to capitalize on my last chance to use my cell phone. It was snowing on and off and I was hoping it never got bad enough to delay flights. My plane going from Chicago to Frankfurt was late arriving in Chicago. Then, they had to de-ice the plane before we could take off. All in all, we left over an hour late. I was sitting in a window seat and when they closed the doors I realized there was no one next to me... I had the row to myself to lay down and sleep! So, naturally, I was alseep before we even took off. When I woke up for the first time, my arm was completely numb and I felt like it had been hours. I looked at my watch and it was only 2145. Essentially, I had slept for an hour. Just great.. i still had just under 7 hours to go. I stayed awake for dinner and the movie 'No Reservations' before i laid down to sleep again. I love sleep. When i finally sat up again, we were 25 minutes from landing. I looked down and could see that we were flying over fields and villages. It was surreal. The announcements made by the crew before we landed were in German first, then English. Needless to say, I know no German.
Once we landed at 1130 on December 31st, we went through passport control, baggage claim, and customs. Then I met the 64th Replacement Battalion. I took a bus from the airport to Hanau where I signed in and was released to LT Birmingham's sponsor, who was kind enough to adopt me. We went a couple of places to do some paperwork but, since it was the end of the day on New Year's Eve, no one was around to do a whole lot of inprocessing for us. Everything starts on the 2nd. We won't even see the hosptial units for a few weeks. We still have to inprocess to the hospital, get our housing, take a driver's class and written test for a license, get my car after i get a license, register my car, go to CIF for my TA-50 (yes, I still get all the army stuff), and so much more I don't even know what is.
LT Birmingham and I were very tired last night. So, for our New Year's Eve, we rented 'License to Wed', got wine and champagne, and had our own little party in our rooms.
Once in Chicago, I sat in the airport at my gate for 5 hours. I made as many phone calls as I could to capitalize on my last chance to use my cell phone. It was snowing on and off and I was hoping it never got bad enough to delay flights. My plane going from Chicago to Frankfurt was late arriving in Chicago. Then, they had to de-ice the plane before we could take off. All in all, we left over an hour late. I was sitting in a window seat and when they closed the doors I realized there was no one next to me... I had the row to myself to lay down and sleep! So, naturally, I was alseep before we even took off. When I woke up for the first time, my arm was completely numb and I felt like it had been hours. I looked at my watch and it was only 2145. Essentially, I had slept for an hour. Just great.. i still had just under 7 hours to go. I stayed awake for dinner and the movie 'No Reservations' before i laid down to sleep again. I love sleep. When i finally sat up again, we were 25 minutes from landing. I looked down and could see that we were flying over fields and villages. It was surreal. The announcements made by the crew before we landed were in German first, then English. Needless to say, I know no German.
Once we landed at 1130 on December 31st, we went through passport control, baggage claim, and customs. Then I met the 64th Replacement Battalion. I took a bus from the airport to Hanau where I signed in and was released to LT Birmingham's sponsor, who was kind enough to adopt me. We went a couple of places to do some paperwork but, since it was the end of the day on New Year's Eve, no one was around to do a whole lot of inprocessing for us. Everything starts on the 2nd. We won't even see the hosptial units for a few weeks. We still have to inprocess to the hospital, get our housing, take a driver's class and written test for a license, get my car after i get a license, register my car, go to CIF for my TA-50 (yes, I still get all the army stuff), and so much more I don't even know what is.
LT Birmingham and I were very tired last night. So, for our New Year's Eve, we rented 'License to Wed', got wine and champagne, and had our own little party in our rooms.
We are staying in the Air Force Inn on Vogelweh. We each have our own room and we share a bathroom. I was lucky to find an adaptor that was left in my room to plug in my computer because everything in here is on the German circut. I was sound asleep before 2130 last night. I woke up at 4am and had to get up, eat some food, drink some water, and take some tylenol before I could go back to sleep. I slept straight until 0930... which in Seattle was 0030. Today was a day spent in my room. I organized all my paperwork, studied for the driver's test, watched some cartoons, and got really confused trying to read the German website for how to get my internet connection. Finally, I went down to the front desk to beg for help. They told me, "there isn't internet." well... yes there is, I figured it out!
Tomorrow (the 2nd) we go to housing and then LRMC to begin everything. Hopefully, I will meet my sponsor tomorrow. She had been working night shift for the 3 days before I arrived, so I got very lucky to be adopted by LT. B's sponsor. I hope to go house hunting very soon so I can get settled. Gas is 1,13 euro/liter... there are 4 liters to a gallon... and the Euro is about 1:1.45 right now... soo yea...$6.55 a gallon. I think I might invest some of my xmas money in a bicycle and condsider housing on the closer side rather than the farther side.
I'm tired. Peace out.
I'm tired. Peace out.
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