Argle-Bargle

Today was....not the funnest day ever.

First off, I must have delayed jet-lag. I didn't get to sleep til after 3:30am, and I had to wake up at 6am. Horrigible.
Second off, there is no bus station close to the housing. There is a reason for it, but it's just too boring and political to explain. Remember yesterday when I talked about how much I'm excited to walk a lot more around here? Well, I may have spoken too soon. The closest bus station is in the middle of the base - we're on one end, and all the buildings we need are on the other end. So, walking for 20 minutes thru the 38 degree rain at 7am in the morning - not the most fun.
Anyway, we finally make it to the office that provides my ID card - I'll need it for shopping on base. Josh was told exactly what he needed to bring to the office, but of course they forgot to tell him that we needed our marriage license. So, that was a bust. Then we went to the Finance office to get his civilian pay figured out. They were closed...even though they told us yesterday that they would be open today. THEN, we went to another office and we didn't have a copy of Josh's orders, so we couldn't do anything there either. At this point, we were so tired and cranky that we went to Josh's office and had one of his coworkers drive us back to the apartment, pick up all our needed paperwork, and drive us back. Thank God, because I swear it was getting colder and wetter outside.
Anyway, we managed to get most of our stuff done, and even went grocery shopping. I guess the most exciting thing about today is we rented a car!!! It's just so far from our apt to the rest of the base, and we have to go house hunting ASAP, so we just had to bite the bullet now. Anywho, we rented a 2 seater smart-car. They call it an automatic, but it shows a little arrow on the dashboard when you have to up-shift (if that's not the correct name, then I'm patenting it, because it fits). Basically, it's exactly like driving a golf-cart around. All of the traffic rules on base are German, so it's good practice for the real Germany. LOTS LOTS LOTS of roundabouts!!!
BTW, I suck at life, because I haven't done pictures yet. As soon as we were done today, we came back to the house and I crashed for a little while. I couldn't help it, but I know I'll regret it later today. At least tomorrow is Saturday - and we TOTALLY plan on exploring off-base tomorrow. Yay!!
Oh, also, Sasha did SO GOOD today!! We practiced with her - we leave the apt and stand outside the door. As soon as we hear whining/barking, we give one rap on the door and she calms down. We figured out that if she is out of her kennel she barks and whines, but in her kennel, she does perfectly. I'm so glad that's one less thing we have to stress out about.

Misc. Trivia thus far:

- our dishwasher is awesome. it is the most quiet and amazing dishwasher ever. yes, i'm a nerd
- our oven sucks. well, let me rephrase....i don't know how to work the oven correctly.
- Josh and I own way too much stuff. we came here with 3 checked bags, 2 backpacks, and 1 rolling carryon. those, combined with our furnished apartment - all we really need. i think 95% of people, us included, need to look at our lives and realize how little we truly need.
- german tomatoes are yum
- german toilets are yuck. it's true about the shelf. google it. it's like a drag race in the bowl.
- pets with jet-lag are annoying
- there are emo kids EVERYWHERE on base. i don't know where they are getting it from
- i've yet to see the sun. it's a good thing i love vancouver island weather.

And on that note - the AFN movie channel plays some good movies, so we're watching Temple Grandin tonight. I really will try to post pictures tomorrow.

xxooxx

by the way - yes, i know i complained a whole lot in this post....but i'm cranky, and unapologetic about it.