How Does This Work?

    My kids went to school today, folks! Like, real, inside a building that isn't our house school. It's been six months since they last did that. Today was the first day of school for all the schools in the KMC (Kaiserslautern Military Community), and after much deliberation and tribulation in registration, Jake and Quinn were able to start school on time, without missing any days. So, what did I do with myself all day since I finally got some time to myself for the first time in six months? Did I write up this blog post? Oh, no! Of course not! That would have been too sensible. I did laundry, and sat on my (temporary) couch enjoying the silence and the absence of people needing me for something. It was glorious. The last few days since getting out of quarantine have been a lot.

    Day one was getting our drivers' licenses and procuring a rental car. Watching us emerge from quarantine was probably like watching baby giraffes learn to walk. But, we only have to wear masks here when we are inside, so that's nice. As the rental car guy walked out the door to take us to our car, I noticed as he immediately removed his mask and I had already found my first kindred spirit in Germany. This base is big. I let Brandon handle the driving on day one. After we had the car, we picked up Jake and Quinn and went to the BX (base exchange) to get something besides PB&J for lunch. The BX here is more like a mall; lots of stores and a pretty big food court. This was also where we began the process of trying to figure out how to get German cell phone numbers. It's not quite as easy as it is in the US. You have to have a German bank account or what's called an IBAN (International Bank Account Number). There are lots of apps for accomplishing that now, without necessarily going into a brick and mortar bank, but providing a physical address is one of the requirements, which was something we did not have on day one, so another day of travel pass with Verizon. I'm not looking forward to that bill.

    But that's enough for today. Every day feels like a lot of running around to only get one or maybe two things done. However, now that I have my days to myself, I should be able to whip out the rest of it pretty easily. One of these days, I might even have pictures to share with you guys, because let's be real, even though I'm hilarious, what you really want is photographic content. I have so much more sympathy for social media influencers now. I'm a slave to my Audience.