Welcome to the Deutschland era

Some of the younger villagers came over to get acquainted but I believe they just wanted us to buy them some whiskey. Nicholas came over and helped us figure it out. We made a few friends in the village and took some conversation Deutsch classes and began to learn some of the language. The people were just great and very helpful and patient with us. We went camping with a family we became friends with and we knew very little Deutsch  but understood much more when we returned. It was a really great camping trip and much different than we do in America.

Tents and campers were right next to each other and many of the tent ropes and anchors crossed each other and it was very close. It took some getting used to but was very nice and great after awhile. The campers for the most part were all very friendly and loads of fun. At one point Brad disappeared and we ended up finding him in a family's camper in the middle of their table eating some fruit. They were so friendly and said not problem and it was good but we were embarrassed but it was normal for them it seemed. We visited some caves,  a Gasthaus or two and many local towns in the area. It was really a great experience and education for us and the kids. We visited and orphanage while there and decided to have several of the kids to our house for Christmas so set that up also. This vacation flew by and before we knew it it was time to go home and 30 days had passed. About this time we found out the renters in our house in Blaine had some fire damage and our Real Estate guy was not taking care of the problem so Carol flew home to get it fixed for us. I think the one we were using wanted to get the house condemned and get the property cheap as it was a prime area. At any rate she got it all fixed with the insurance money and we was able to rent it again and we got another agent to manage it for us. It rented right away so that worked out good and Carol came back for our life here.

Christmas came and went and before we knew it one year was done. We had settled in very well and made many friends in the village. Tammy and Matt were going to school in Bitburg about 30 kilometers away and I commuted to the base about 10 mile the other way. We went to the old Schwirzheim Castle and explored it and had Nicholas tell us all the stories about it. We made some trips to the Black Forest among many other sites and spent some time in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Austria and many more areas. We went to many dances at the village hall and had a great time.