Strangers in a Strange Land

George is working at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center with returning soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan before they are sent back "Down Range" or home to the U.S. so we are getting used to two new cultures, Germany and the military.  Both are markedly different from Oz!  They love their rules here while the Australians had none, so it's a big adjustment.

Everything is more complicated here than our simple life in the laid-back places we've lived.  The Germans even gave us a 24-page booklet on how to sort the garbage.  You can be fined for sorting your trash improperly as well as for not sweeping your sidewalk and curbside twice a week.  No streetsweepers here!

We were informed we would get a Rosetta Stone to learn German; what they didn't tell us was that there is one copy for the whole base.  So our German hasn't improved much but we have learned lots of military acronyms.  The first couple weeks, we were at a loss whenever someone at the hospital was talking.  One woman asked if I was PCS-ing (Permanent Change of Station).  Misunderstanding her, I thought she thought I was being grumpy.  No, wait, that's PMS-ing.

I am really tired of being called Ma'am and G is equally sick of being addressed as Sir all the time but we might as well get used to it.  I much preferred being called Love in Oz and NZ.

Don't get me wrong.  We chose to come here but forgive me if I whine (or whinge for you Brits, Ozzies and Kiwis) a bit now and then.