Cochem walkplatz
I flew directly to Frankfurt from Maxwell AFB, AL where I was attending Sq Officers School. Jen and Julia stayed back in California while I got things together in Germany. In retrospect, this was probably the best thing we could have done. Those of you who've been assigned to USAFE can attest to the fact that the initial few weeks are fun but REALLY stressful. Not only is there a new language to learn and cultural bugaboos to be aware of, but you have to do all the normal things like wait for your car to be shipped and find a place to live. To make matters worse, I was rediculously sick when I checked into my billeting on Kapaun AB. Thank GOD I didn't have to drag everyone around with me while getting everything together. All the while, all I wanted to do was hit the Autobahn (BTW, huge disappointment) and see Europe.
The girls on the Hamburg waterfront
Once Jen, Julia, and Reagan did arrive, we had a house with all of our furniture there, I'd purchased a piece of crap Opel to get around, and I'd gotten off to a good start at my job at TPMRC. It made life so much easier! I was so excited to begin our three year European vacation! A few days after landing in Germany, we headed down to Kaiserslautern (aka "K-town, downtown, little America, etc"). Now at the time K town was one of the host cities to the 2006 World Cup and as we soon discovered, these guys loved their soccer! The altstadt (old town) of K-town was bustling with revelers and I thought to myself, "hey, these germans get a bad rap. They seem like fun luvin folks and really cut loose. This assignment is going to be alright." Come to find out that most of these people were from places like Italy and Spain who's national team was playing in Kaiserslautern. After the world cup left, downtown seemed so dead for the next three years.
Downtown during the World Cup (Drinking in public=perfectly acceptable!)
Sadly, America didn't do so well during this event so we quickly started to root for our new "home team", Germany. I do remember going downtown after work with my my buddy Donnie and we watched the Germans play Argentina on a big screen setup in one of the platz's. Germany, who were probably three point underdogs, pulled off the win in a shootout and the crowd erupted with euphoria! Beer was flying, people were shouting, girls were hugging, and the guys where chanting, "Berlin! Berlin! We're going to Berlin!" in German (the finals were held in Berlin).
Julia in K-town on 4 July 06
A few days later Germany advanced to the semifinals where they were slated to play Italy. Friends from Aviano were nice enough to come up and stay with us during this time so for a time we were a house divided. Like us, they were pulling for their newly adopted country and who could blame them! The Italians treat the sport as a religion. Anyhow, the game was close and the tension was really building in our place but Italy was triumphant and would go on to beat France in the finals (Thank God!). Whatever. We were in Europe--doing what Europeans did--and getting paid to do it! What a great start to our three years.
Our friend Maria with JJ in K Town.
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