And that's the way it is on Sunday, January 11, 2015

And that's the way it is on Sunday, January 11, 2015 Does anyone remember Walter Cronkite? He used to end his newscasts with that phrase every night. Never thought I would be one of those old-timers who had to ask if folks remembered or even KNEW some of these famous people. Seems like this is happening more and more and I am moving further and further away from the younger generation. I used to be in the younger generation and thought these people were so old!!! Where did the time go? So, it IS Sunday, January 11, 2015. I have GOT to get this blog going again and try and post pictures too. Really don't want to use Facebook for blogging because it is such an invasion of privacy. Hopefully you have managed to find this and to get caught up on all our latest adventures as American expats in Germany now repats relocated to the Southern US. I am not sure what the greater transition was - returning to the States from being overseas in Germany for 6 years or moving to Georgia. Would have been a lot easier to return to our home of record (and family, friends, etc) in Maryland but the job is in Georgia. Go figure. So we have been here south of Atlanta for over four months now. I told Lewis I would give this place a year. Unfortunately, we are now four months into that and I am not feeling the love yet. I will say that I am fighting several battles that would have to be fought even if we had returned to Maryland. The first is that I am a City Girl now living in the country. We both decided that after being city or ourskirts dwellers and fighting the traffic and noise that we wanted to live somewhere quieter. The second battle is that I am unemployed and have to completely start from scratch in finding job leads, associates, friends, connections; basically build a job hunt network completely from the ground-up, where a lot of connections in Maryland are already there (including my teacher certification). The third battle is that we are in a remote area south of Atlanta that has NO public transportation! BOOOOO! Also, have to hunt down music and theatre connections and there just don't seem to be as many here. Lastly, we are Yankees living in Southern territory. No way around that, except that most people here are Yankees or northern transplants so you don't really feel like you are in the South, except for all the baptist churches - can't sneeze without passing one! The latest is that we have now received all our earthly belongs - from our time in Germany AND what we put into storage before we moved there over six years ago. Holy commoly, do we have a LOT of STUFF! Next move is to sort and purge. Like to have a garage sale to get rid of stuff that is never being moved again. Poor Lewis has been busy going through all of it while I've been in denial about actually having moved here and not willing to unpack for fear that will mean we will be stuck here forever. He convinced me that a) we need to get rid of stuff we will not move to the next place an b) get rid of stuff that "might come in handy some day." I think the majority of our load falls into that latter category. Lew is downstairs watching football while I write this. I made us a yummy Asian style chicken soup for dinner and choc ice cream bars for dessert. Downton Abbey is on later and I'm afraid I'm getting hooked on it. Tomorrow is a workday for him and possibly a workday for me, if Fayette County Public Schools calls me to Sub. Regardless, I have my little Sub "kit" packed and a gym bag to hit a 4:30 class after work.

Out of Pocket

Want to get this thing started again after 6 years. We arrived back in the States on Saturday, September 6, 2014. Picked up at the airport by Lew's co-worker and checked into Holiday Inn Suites at Peachtree City, GA for an extended stay (still there as of today - October 14th). Lew started his new job in Peachtree City (PTC) on Monday. I spent the first week trying to find a gym and a place for us to live. A gym was the first priority as I had fantastic gym access overseas which made a huge difference in my physical and mental health, particularly through long stretches of unemployment. I must have toured a half dozen gyms before we settled on World Gym (with free wifi where I am now typing this blog). This place is incredible! It has three locations, including one that is next to Lew's work, and all the classes have top-notch instructors. I am heading off to a super-session now of Pilates and then Total Body Conditioning. Too bad I have gained several pounds since we arrived but that's all from eating out. I will get that off in no time. Hate having to squeeze into my clothes and then having to buy new ones cause they are too tight. I'm going to have to buy some clothes, though, because I start my new job as a Fayette County Subsitute Teacher tomorrow and I only have the clothes we packed to tie us over until household goods arrive. Most of my clothes are for working out, hashing, a few casual items, and one dress.

Monday, 22 September 2014 We're baaaaack! After almost 6 years living overseas in Germany, we have finally returned to the motherland. The original plan was three to five years overseas but somehow that got stretched to six. I started "The Report from Germany" when we arrived there but had to abandon it after I accepted a fulltime job with the DoD schools that sucked up most of my free time. So now I am back in the States and again unemployed (and loving it!) so maybe I can keep this going, even after I start working again. So we arrived at Atlanta Airport over two weeks ago on Saturday, Sept. 6th. The Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt was smooth and uneventful. Thank goodness for Lufthansa - especially the free wine and beer! Only snafu was losing one bag but all said and done, not a bad flight at all. We were greeted by Lew's sponsor from work. Fortunately, he brought a car big enough to carry us and our six large bags, packed with enough stuff to get through till our household goods arrive in about 6 weeks. Of course there's a six hour time difference from Frankfurt and physically it was the middle of the night, so we crashed after checking into the Holiday Inn Suites in Peachtree City - our new home for the foreseeable future! Tuesday, 23 September Loving hotel life! I get a hot breakfast every morning and prepare our own lunches and dinners in our hotel suite kitchenette. Could be a lot worse. Of course it all comes to an end when our stuff arrives and we move into a house. I do appreciate the amenities here and doggone it - we have been serving our country overseas for the last 6 years so why not!! So let's see if I can summarize the last 2 1/2 weeks. Yesterday I summed up our arrival, so to continue... After fetching us at the airport and get us checked into the hotel, our sponsors graciously offered to pick us up the next day and show us around Peachtree. So we got the grand tour, including all the sub-villages of Peachtree and their wonderful home, which included two adorable dogs, a hot tub, vaulted ceilings, spacious kitchen, and ride in the golf cart! Golf cart travel is the preferred mode of transportation here. Their golf cart came with their house but we haven't seen too many of those deals in our hunt for property. Have to admit, one gets rather nauseous riding backward in the backseat so front seat, forward travel is the only way to go, unless you want to spend a fortune on a golf cart and get a deluxe, all seats forward model. The highlight of our first week was getting me a mint-condition lightly-used Trek bike to hop around in while Lew uses the rental car to travel to and from work. I have enjoyed riding for the most part, until I encounter a golf cart and most of them don't really know how to deal with a bike sharing their road. Yesterday, I almost got hit coming out of tunnel by a cart that was going well over the speed limit. You also see all ages of drivers. Kind of a jolt driving past the high school with hundreds of them filling up the parking lot! Most of my riding so far has been limited to late morning/early afternoon, with everyone working or at school. I shudder to think about riding during rush hour.