We finally moved in....

Hello friends and family,

I apologize in advance for not writing sooner, but we finally moved in our house!!! See photo below!!! It is a brand new house in a village called Speicher.  We live very close to base and this makes for an easy commute to work for Brad.  The outside of the house is still under construction and the landlord is working to pave the front of the house and back terrace.  Over here in Germany, the sidewalks and driveways of your homes are all paved with bricks or stones so it takes a lot longer for completion.  We were lucky enough to get a house with a 1-car garage, a luxury around here!! Additionally, there is a door that attaches right to the house so we were thrilled!!! Brad is also pretty happy because he has not had to do any yard work yet!! The house has a total of 3 bedrooms and 1 mini bedroom and 1.5 baths.  The only downside is, that we are still waiting for T-mobile to come and install our internet.  They said since it is a new area it could take weeks,  eeekk!! So, I have been coming to base on a daily basis to get my internet time in. :) 

This past Monday, our household goods finally arrived.  This means all of our furniture, electronics, BED, and accessories.  Unfortunately, Brad was TDY (temporary duty) to Las Vegas so he missed all the fun! I was fortunate to have my new military spouses come over and help me direct the movers.  Someone has to man the door at all times to check off each box, chair, desk, etc in accordance with the number sheet.  It was a learning process for myself as well.  Fortunately, it rained all day too, but we got all of our stuff.  I have been busy unpacking and finding new homes for all of our stuff.  Here are more photos of the house below.

The small guest bathroom!  There are 2 buttons for flushing, one for a half-flush, and a the bigger one for the full throttle.  They are very into conserving energy here!

Here is a photo of our master bedrooms.  We have a total of 3 bedrooms, and 1 mini bedroom which we are converting to a closet.  None of the German houses are built with closets or pantry's.  Makes for an interesting way to store your items.  The base gives you 2 shrunks/armoire's per person to hang your clothes.  We filled ours up right away.  We purchased a clothes rack from Ikea for the rest of our clothes and coats. 

 This is a photo of the mini room we have converted to a closet!

This is a photo of the master bathroom.  It is large and spacious.  We also have a huge tub that was not photographed in this picture  If some of you are wondering, we do not have 2 toilets, but 1 toilet and a bidet. Interesting I know.  I am thinking of covering so I don't have to look at it all the time, lol!!

Here is our wonderful kitchen.  You can see the stove on the right which is tiny!! and on the far left is our fridge.  Since it is so small, the base gives us a American size standard fridge to put the rest of our cold items in.  Our built in fridge did not come with a freezer so we were excited to get the one from base!

These past couple of weeks have been busy and unpacking was not as fun as I thought it was going to be!! I'm glad we won't have to do this for at least 3 years!!  Brad made it home this past Friday and we have been both working hard to get the house organized.  Still not sure where we are going to put some items, but with time everything will have a spot.  We have also been faced with the challenge of our electronics and appliances.  Germans use 220 volt and at home it is 120 volt.  So almost all of our appliances and TV's, DVD players, etc are not compatible.  The base gives you  2 transformers to convert the energy so that has been helpful.  Not sure what I am going to do with all the kitchen appliances though.  You forget how much you rely on electricity to get through the day!!!  There are some options of buying used appliances on a website called Spangdahlem yard sales that I am looking into.  It is a website for military and locals to network and see items.  This is actually how we found our house!!  

Next weekend is our trip to London and Brad and I are both looking forward to the adventure.  Pray that T-mobile is able to get our internet connected soon and I can communicate more often with everyone back and at home!!

Brad, Sarah, and Baby Dvorak!!