Germany, things we do and don't know

Okay another week has gone by and we have done a lot of searching out our questions. We also got a great welcome packet from the principal of the high school Dennis will be teaching. So here are some of the things we did find out and some we are still working on.
We do know Dennis will be teaching science but we don't know what class for sure. His transfer paperwork said AP Physics and health. Once we accepted the transfer the principal emailed him and asked what he had taught. To make a long story short. New in DODDS as of last year, if you teach an AP course you have to take that AP training. His new principal told him to hold off on that and maybe she would have him continue in AP Biology.

We do know we will be living off base. That is totally fine with us. We also found out some strange things about German housing. None of them have closets!!!! We can either buy wardrobes or the base will provide them for us. They have regulated quiet times of 1-3 every afternoon and then after 9 pm and all day on Sunday. Most houses do no come with any appliances but the base will also provide those also. It will cost us about three months rent and then some to get into a house. We are putting every penny away!

We do know that the military will ship a car for us but we are not sure if our car will meet German specs as the fastest you ever drive here is around 40, an no I am not kidding. Our van also has the steering wheel on the other side. So we are still working on that.

They will ship our stuff we have had in storage the last 11 years. Huuum what is in there anyway?? We also found out we can go through our storage and get rid of stuff and just ship what we want. Now we need to find out exactly where the military sent it. It started out in a place in Utah but we know it was moved a while back when that place went out of business.

We know Meagan will be attending the high school. It goes 9th through 12th. Matthew will be attending the middle school. It goes 6th through 8th.

We know we are leaving here the first week of July but we are not sure of the date yet. We would like to visit Simi, Utah and Oregon this summer but because we will be traveling with three pets we are working on details.

We do know the dollar is weak to the euro right now which means any shopping off base will be expensive. We have been told you can get a stein of beer very cheap but a small soda will cost you so we will be drinking water when we are out and about which we plan on doing a ton of.

We also found out this week that we have friends over there. The wife is working at the same high school Dennis will be working. The husband teaches on a different base. They used to live here and both taught are Zama and we just loved them. They were only here our first couple years then moved on for the wife to get into administration. Dennis got an email saying his name came up at a staff meeting that he was moving to the school she said she couldn't believe it. She and her husband have both written us and offered all the help and advice they can give. We are looking forward to seeing them again.

Something I learned is that Germany does Christmas up big. I am soooo excited about that. It is my most favorite holiday. They have stores dedicated to just Christmas stuff!!!!! After being here where off base almost no one put up lights and even on base hardly anyone put up Christmas lights I just can't wait. I can't wait to find out if we can go back to a fresh cut Christmas tree. We gave that up a few years ago here when they only last about a week or so because it is so dry during the winter.

So that is where we are so far. As of now we are the only family in our school that got a transfer this year. We are even more excited to get there and feel very blessed.