Life in Germany 13
Hi all...
I have no idea why I put these off for so long sometimes. I had meant to write this about a month ago but just kept putting
it off until later. Well I suppose now is as good of a time as any.
It's pretty much the same old stuff over here. With only a few exceptions I haven't been busy at work in a while now. I
spend most of the day trying to find something to do or at least try to find something that makes it look like I'm doing
something. About three weeks ago I found out that the OIC(officer in charge) of COMSEC was talking about moving me down
there. I had expressed interest in getting out of my shop a couple months ago due to some problems I was having. But since
then my problems had been fixed and I didn't want to leave Net Admin any more. So I started talking with some people in my
chain of command explaining that I'd like to stay if possible but would really like it if I could start doing something
besides training but if not I was going to go down to COMSEC.
When I was put on training about 8 months ago I was very busy. We had to build everything up from nothing. It was a long
process and I always had something to do. I've never really dealt with training before by my supervisor had. She would tell
me what to go do and I'd get it done. It worked out good that way. Now training is up and running for the most part. My
supervisor is on maternity leave and so now I don't have a lot of work to do. I'm sure there has to be some stuff that
needs to be done but I don't know what it is. She was always the one who knew the interworkings of training and knew what
needed to be done. I do the basic stuff like ensuring CDCs(Career Development Course) and ancillary training are being
accomplished but that's about it. So for now, at least until my supervisor comes back I don't have a lot of work to do.
And even when she does come back I don't think there'll be a lot of work to do.
I have been at Ramstein for a year and a half and have learned very little in that time. Most of what I have learned has to
do with AUTODIN which isn't used any more. That was my biggest argument, I'm not learning anything and feel like my career
has stalled out. If I have to I'll go to COMSEC so I can start learning some stuff and am actually doing something but I'd
rather stay here and be a help to the shop I'm in now. Also I want to work with the servers and such and know that if I do
leave Net Admin that I probably won't get another chance at it. Luckily for me my supervisors understood what I was saying
and have recognized that there were a few people in my shop, including myself, who were not being used to all their
potential. So there's something in the works for me, I just have to be patient.
Both Bekki and my birthday have come and gone. We had good birthdays for the most part. For mine we had a few friends over
and had a little cook out, nothing fancy. I took a few days off from work and gave myself a little vacation which I really
enjoyed. We aren't quite done celebrating Bekki's birthday yet. On her birthday we went out to a movie with a friend of
ours who is getting ready to leave for North Dakota. And then next Friday a whole bunch of us are planning on going out for
a big dinner over at a really good restaurant located in the village of Sembach, about 30 minutes away.
I got a 4 day weekend for Memorial Day weekend. Friday was a "family day" and then Monday was the holiday. I really didn't
do too much over the weekend but on Monday I went for a great drive. Germany is so pretty this time of year. Everything is
so green and the weekend was pretty nice, lots of sun. Monday was a bit cloudy but as the day went on it cleared up more
and more. I started the day by heading out through Landstuhl and driving around in the hilly farm country to the south west
of base and ended up down near Pirmasens and Waldfishbach. When I take my drives I try to stay on the back roads and get to
see a lot of neat stuff. A couple of the roads I took were little more than one lane roads and a few weren't more than dirt
paths. After driving around for a couple hours I came back to have lunch with Bekki who unfortunatly had to workthat day.
Then I headed back out, this time going more to the south east which a more forested area. As I was driving down a small
road near the village of Trippstadt I discovered a little castle, Burg Wilenstein. So I stopped and checked it out. There
was a nice little walk up to the castle and I got some pictures of it. In all I drove over 100 miles and really enjoyed my
day.
We found out about a month and a half ago that we are going to be getting kicked out of our apartment. The building we live
in is pretty old and they are planning on tearing it down and building townhouses in it's place. I think the townhouse idea
is an excellent one, much better than what we live in now. Too bad that it will be a long time before they are done, well
past when we leave. So anyway I found out the other day that we will be moving a whole block to a newer building. Right now
there's still someone living in it but he'll be gone in less than 30 days. Then we just have to wait for some clean up and
maintenance and then we'll get to move in. Probably by late July. The AF is paying for everything at least. There will be
movers to pack up all my stuff and move it a block to unpack it and they will be giving me money to cover switching my phone,
cable, and internet to the new apartment. My biggest complaint is that we will be getting an even smaller place than we have
now. How it's possible that the new place is smaller is beyond me, our place is real small as it is. The whole thing is
just a major pain in the butt and I'd prefer living in my old run down place rather than the newer place just because of
all the inconvenience of it.
So I guess that's how life in Germany is going right now. Hopefully my work life will be changing for the better soon.
Despite my car having some issues I've been trying to get out more and drive around. There are a few great castles within an
hour or so I want to get to this summer. Unfortunatly I don't think Bekki will be going with me for all of them. Our
schedules conflict way too much and if I waited for a time when we have days off together and we are both motivated to go do
stuff I'd never leave my house and you all wouldn't have any pictures to see. There are some pictures from my Memorial Day
drive on my website. There are a bunch in the Germany gallery and also I created a gallery for Burg Wilenstein. I also plan
on going back to Wilenstein at some point soon with Bekki so I'll try to get a few more then. Also I've been working out a
new layout for some of the site which I'll maybe get up in the next month or so, I just have to keep motivated about it.