Random updates

So as my good friend, Dr. Knorr instructed, I'm updating my neglected blog, ending my slackerness. Well, I'm paraphrasing really, but all the way from Princeton, NJ, she's still keeping me on point. Thanks Doc! ;)

Since our ICR class, we've been focusing less on travel and exploration, and more on setting up house. Joe is in painting mode and has already finished the living room. It's just barely tan so you have to look at the ceiling to see a color difference. But it's enough to not make it look like white out exploded in our living room. He'll be working on our next bedroom, blue of course. I swear we were smurfs in our former lives.

I'd love to say we're unpacked and settled, but we're not. Our guest room has become a storage facility which may stay that way for a while since we apparently have no motivation to unclutter it. Our office/craft room is finally set up and we've managed to pack it full! Of course, when that room needs to become a nursery, we will have to squeeze all of that stuff into other rooms - somehow.

I've gone from bored to busy in a matter of two weeks. I volunteered to help start a youth cheer program on base which led me to meeting the high school cheer coach. After discussing my background in cheer and gymnastics, I was invited to help coach. It's a completely different experience working with this type of high school. Department of Defense Schools schools run somewhat differently than back at home. For one example, our teams here have to travel for all their games. And while in the states that means traveling a town or two away, maybe even crossing state lines, here in Europe it means flying to England for a regular season game. Their regional competition is in Germany! It puts a whole different perspective on things. So these days, they practice 6 days a week and I've just started working with them after school, though I only go about 2-3 times per week. It's volunteer, of course.

My gymnastics classes have not started yet, but the equipment was approved and ordered! Hopefully I'll start up in December / January. I was taking a Spanish class taught on base by an off-base local language school, but that idea went away once I started attending. The class is entirely Spanish spoken and they barely teach vocabulary or anything. Being a visual learner, I struggled a lot since I did not know the phonics to understand what they were saying. Since the military offers free Rosetta Stone access, I'll take a stab at that instead. Plus, we have made a good friend at ICR who is pretty fluent in Spanish. He studied abroad in Cadiz when he was in high school and then majored in International Business in college so maybe I can trade him dinners and baked goods for lessons! =)

The other thing that may take up my time is a new position on base I've taken on. The Commander chose three of us to take on the responsibility of starting up the Key Spouse Program here to provide support for the Air Force families in the Squadron. In the Air Force, this year is the year of the family, and they are focusing on improving quality of life for families. The three of us are really excited to be chosen to pioneer this program on base. It has existed before but eventually faded and dissembled. The new Commander is committed to making it a success. Right now we're focusing on creating a great system to welcome new families, both before they arrive with preparation information, and when they arrive with providing expectations and resources. Being the only newly-arriving Key Spouse, I feel I have a fresh perspective on that one. The first families we are welcoming will be here in December so we only have a month or so to do all the prep work!

We've been keeping busy with friends too. We have met a bunch of great people here who are already like family. It's amazing how fast you settle in with new people. Since everyone here is in the same boat, no pun intended being on a Naval Base, everyone just 'gets it'. It seems I'm definitely one of the newest. Some of these families have been overseas for 10+ years! It's amazing. People take a double take when they hear we just got married and this is my first base. Clearly, I'm surrounded by veterans. Lucky for me too!

Let's talk television since it's a major source of frustration for me. To clear things up, don't recommend the internet. Yes, we can access websites internationally but not everything you can see in the states is available to view here. For example, they're not showing Grey's Anatomy live right now. They're not going to air it for a few months from now. They're playing season two on tv right now. If we go to abc.com or zulu.com, we can read content but can't view anything... it says that because of copyright conflicts internationally, the videos can only be seen in the states. So what do we have? We have AFN - Armed Forces Network. There are 12 channels of programming. There are about 3 of those channels that are CNN and Fox News, etc. which are 'useless' for entertainment purposes. Some shows like Oprah play a day late, so we at least get those. And shows like soaps and reality tv airs pretty accurately. FIGURES. But you can forget about great prime time shows. Or even decent afternoon tv. The 'movie channel' plays movies from 1950-1995, at least that's what I've seen so far. And the worst is when I see NCIS on the guide and realize it's the same episode that aired two other times that same day. What a tease. Good Morning America plays at like 10 p.m. so I try to watch that at bed time, even though the weather is for the states. The weather they play here is for the Pacific fleets so I we haven't seen our own weather forecast since we lived in Jersey in July. Seriously. Not that it's really a shock - it's pretty much 75-80 and sunny. Lately, we've started to see some overcast but it's not gloomy. Oh and the commercials!!! Don't EVER complain about annoying commercials to me! They play the same 25 commercials here over and over, only they are ALL military commercials: history, cheesy sexual assault role plays, warnings about getting in trouble/being drunk/losing stripes, etc. It's awful. Those same commercials air all day, every day, no matter what show.

Back to tv, we watch a lot of DVDs over and over. If anyone loves us enough to make some copies of dvds or seasons of shows, we'd gladly take them!! We are going to get a slingbox which will literally sling my parents' cable to us via internet. Of course, it will all play in Eastern Standard Time, which means I'd need to be awake at 3 a.m. to watch Grey's... but that's why GOD invented DVR capability! Yes, GOD. He was thinking of us when he did it. So, in a few hundred dollars from now and a few weeks, we can have normal tv without me having to wait until Joe can download the episodes (WHEN he can find them). Some shows like Private Practice, we can't find at all, and Grey's doesn't pop up for a few days.

On to Rudy. We have tried this from like 5 different angles and keep hitting dead ends. It looks like we're going back to the original plan of putting Rudy on a plane, like cargo, to Madrid. We'll then drive the six hours up to Madrid and pick him up and drive the six hours back. Pretty crazy. And will run us about $2000, not including travel expenses for our drive. If we weren't so attached, we'd find a home for him... but how do you give away your puppy? He's our baby! It's just a shame because Joe works on a flight line in the Air Force and they can't just put him on a plane. Damn red tape. If we were moving here right now, they could have flown him for free but that specific flight didn't exist when we left. And since we're already settled in, it 'doesn't count'. How dumb. We're hoping to put him on a plane in the next two weeks, before my parents leave for their annual Clearwater vacation, so we don't have to pay a dogsitter. Plus, since we were holding out to see if we could get waivered for that free flight that starts in October, and know we won't, there's no reason to wait any longer. Everyone please pray that my dog doesn't end up traumatized or mishandled on his very long day of not eating, drinking and being in the hands of cargo people. And we'll pray he doesn't get here and think "I went through all that just to see YOU guys?" =)

Next up, wedding thank yous. I have the time to do them. I just have been waiting on different supplies that I have to order. Nothing is here that is usable. There are no craft stores. I can't even get roll glue or blank note cards. I was really hoping to have them done in the typically-expected three month window but now that September has come and gone, I'm determined to have them done by the end of this month. We are so grateful that everyone supported us so much, I'd hate for anyone to think we've forgotten! Some of what's brought me a lot of sanity since I've been here is baking, which wouldn't be possible without all of the cool stuff people were thoughtful enough to buy us! It's made such a difference for us here! There are very few choices of things here and mostly everything, though can be shipped here, would cost a ton in shipping! So thanks to everyone even though I haven't sent out the cards yet. We haven't forgotten!