Phone a friend

So I have a favor to ask.

Last week I received quite a shock when I opened the phone bill. It was almost twice what it normally is for a month. A quick review showed a number of very expensive calls. They were all by us, and they were to a number we recognised. It was the first (and last!) time we had ever called that number from our home phone. Over 80 Euro went into four or five phone calls over a few days. They were important, nessesary phone calls, and we would make them again, but they did show me just how lucky we are to live in a internet-enabled world.

We generally make calls with Skype on the computer. A quick glance at the screen tells me how much I am spending (usually 2 cents per minute) and how much credit I have available. Plus I can call another logged in Skype member for free. So computer to computer is free, and computer to phone is 2 cents. 80 Euro would be good for 4000 minutes. Even better, for the same price I can forward calls to my actual phone. Any of you who have ever called the phone # in the US and had me answer in Germany? Thank Skype. I purchased the phone number and simply have the calls forwarded to my phone. When we go away for the weekend the number forwards to my cell phone. When we move in a few months I will forward the calls to our new phone number.

Here's the best thing about the Skype number, and it gets to the favor I need to ask you. It is just a normal phone number in the US. Depending on your plan, it may be free for you to call me. If you have a flat rate for the US, or free evenings and weekends, or any other little tricks which do not exist in Germany, you can use them to call me for free.

The favor? Please call us. When we lived in Hawaii, we were behind everyone, time wise. I called people I needed to call for business early in the morning. By afternoon I could begin to call family and friends as their day wound down. My parents stay up late, so they were called later, generally as I made dinner. I know the time line for being six hours behind. It is easier to call if you are behind than it is when you are ahead. Trust me. Here, just at the time I am thinking "Hey, I'd like to call....", the boy gets home from school and life goes on and I forget to call. Then you all head off to work or whatever else your day might hold, and I might leave a message, but I know that I will forget to call again. Our weekends are generally pretty busy, so I again forget.

I'm not saying that your time isn't filled with the same million things that fill my day. What I am saying is that it is generally pretty easy for me to set things aside for a few moments so I can say hello. If it is a bad time to talk, I do not answer my phone. At night our phones stay downstairs where they will not wake us. You can call at any time, for any reason. You will always have a better chance of contacting me than I will have of contacting you. And it is either free, or the cost of a simple call within the US.

So if you have a Skype account, let me know. We can add each other as contacts, and maybe I'll see you online. If not, I'm not asking you to create one just for me. I am asking you to call us occasionally.

Don't have our US number? Need a better explanation? Please email me. As long as I actually know you I will be happy to give you the info. I am doing what I can to avoid another insane phone bill!

Thanks!

Vilseck sky

Clouds over Vilseck this week. The storm has cleared out, but left behind some amazing skies.

Images from Austria

We were not in Austria long enough to update this blog, but I have a feeling that it would not have worked...

So we tried very hard to go rodeling in Austria again this year, but we were thwarted. First there was no snow, and then the boy started to cough. We decided to come home early and have a quiet weekend at home instead.

Unfortunately, getting home was a bit of a problem, even with our handy navigator. She tried to help us through the rough stuff, but the staus were neverending, and it took us a really long time to get home.

Luckily the boy was well prepared for the trip, so he watched a couple of movies and he ate a bunch of junk food. After a nap and a quick stop of IKEA to use the facilities, we were home.

Those of us in the front seat were not so well entertained.

So we are glad to be home, and we have already decided to again head south at some point in the very near future, but we are hoping that we won't have to relive the traffic from Saturday.

The holiday season is at an end

The boy went back to school this morning. It has been fun having him at home, but we were all happy to get him on the bus!

We spent most of the majority of the vacation at home. Our friend Ann joined us for a few days, and we spent time with Daniel and his parents. Wendall received some board games as gifts, and we all of us enjoyed playing them after dinner. I think that it is a tradition which we can build.

Prague was fun, but rushed. It is a three hour drive, so we made it there by lunch and then ran around like crazy people. We stayed as long as we could and left before we wanted to, and the trip reminded us that Prague is one of our favorite places to be. We look forward to returning as the days get longer. It was Ann's first time in Prague, and she immediately began planning a return trip. It has that effect on people.

New Year's Eve was spent at our house with Ann, Daniel, Heike, and Todd (Daniel's parents). We ate, drank, lit fireworks, and had a wonderful night. The funniest part of the night was when Ann and I were able to relive the (chemical) gas attack which drove us from our dorm rooms 15 years ago.* We were grilling at the table and I added some hot peppers to the mix. Moments later we all started coughing, and the room had to be cleared. Wendall and I opened all of the windows and ran the fans, and Heike and Todd joined Ann on the front stoop. The boys were upstairs, so missed my attempt to add spice to the evening!


On New Year's day, we dropped Ann off at the Munich airport. My navigator tells me that I live 146 miles from the airport, and that it is a two hour drive. The navigator forgets that I live in Germany. I drove 140 of those miles in just over an hour. It helped that it was early in the morning and that the weather was clear. The trip home from the airport took the standard two and a half hours.

Other than the day trip to Prague and the trips to the airport we stayed home. The boy and I did go to Playmobil Land with a friend over the weekend, and we had fun, but it was more about seeing an old friend than about being at "Little Plastic People Land"

*When Ann and I were seniors in college our dorm was evacuated after someone dropped a canister of a military grade gas. He had kept it as a souvenier of his summer interning at a military proving ground. Needless to say he did not graduate and is probably still working off the debt for the emergency services. No one suffered lasting damage, but a few hundred students were all without housing for a few days.

Mpozi Mshale Tolbert

Mpozi was my friend in High School. We met at CAPA, Philadelphia's High School for Creative and Performing Arts. There have been a number of CAPA students who have been sucessful in their field, and Mpozi was one of them. He did not gradate with me, but he certainly did make a name for himself in a creative field.

Mpozi became a photographer, first for the Philadelphia City Paper and then for the Indianapolis Star. He was also very active in the musical world, both as a photographer and as a dj.

Mpozi died in July, at his desk, of a heart attack. The last time I saw him was in Philly, probably 15 years ago. Still, reading the news of his death upset me. It was one thing to know that I once had a friend named Mpozi, and that I would most likely never see him again. It is quite another to know that there once was a man named Mpozi, and that no one will ever know him again.

http://www.okayplayer.com/mpozi/mpozi_mshale_tolbert.html

~

Goodbye my friend.

A frazzled start to the new year

But it is getting better!

Tomorrow the boy and I will head out to spend time with a friend. This is a family who moved last summer, and we are meeting in a central location. I look forward to spending the day away from home, but not on a trip.

Our holidays were full. We spent them at home, but with friends.

Coffee with the in-laws

Today we went to a friend's house for coffee. She ad invited her parents, and wanted us all to meet. We had a lovely time and enjoyed ourselves completely.

Her son, who is five, made miniature tea cakes for us. They were delicious, and I asked the boy what he was making me for dinner. He mentioned not being able to cook, but offered to learn.

So now I'll add some simple cooking lessons to our evenings. It should be interesting!

Happy New Year

I started off the new year with some computer issues. I am working to resolve them, and then I can get back to other things. The Holiday message from the family has been pushed aside while things have been crazy here, so watch this space.

Well, not this space, the space above.....

We hope you had a great time welcoming the new year.

December wishes

Happy Holidays

Happy Everything

Hopeful Future

Waldweihnacht in Sorghof

We went to the Weihnacht (Christmas) festival in the woods last week. The boys had a great time.



It was wonderful to see the community gather for a magical evening. The bonfire kept us warm, though the Gluwine helped, and much laughter was involved.

Blogger Beta can Bite my......

I have a few photos to post, but have not been able to do so. I will try again tomorrow.

His first written sentence.

Please note the punctuation. 

A wide assortment of nuts

Edeka opened to rave reviews. The store was so busy that I even spotted men shopping! This is not something which happens often in Vilseck. A friend had a doctor's appointment and reported that he was surrounded by women in the waiting room, all talking about the new store. We have stopped in a few times, and have managed to find everything we could want.



Today they had face painting for the kids. We walked in and Wendall was so happy! He made the difficult choice between a tiger or Spiderman. I think he made a good decision.



After his face was done we headed on base to get a check up. He was a great hit in the waiting room! This photo shows his face and the knot he had just finished tying.

Small Town Life

Tomorrow morning will be amazing. The people of Vilseck are waiting patiently for the opening of our brand new market. An Edeka Markt is opening on Amberger Strasse. It is billed as a "Schlemmerparadies", and promises to have all of our shopping needs under one roof. It will even feature a bakery and a small cafe.

The opening tomorrow (at 8am) will be the end of a full year of construction. The store will be open for 12 hours every day, and has a large well lit parking lot. It is directly across the street from a bus stop, and is on the main street of town.


It is also at the bottom of my block. I pass it at least twice a day as the boy and I walk to and from the bus. The opening time means that I will be able to get the boy on the bus and then do my daily shopping on my way home. I may even sit and have a cup of coffee at times. The elder Wendall (the one who does not shop) has found my excitement over the store amusing.

Here's what he misses: Last week, the boy announced to all of the employees at the commisary that we would not have to shop there anymore. He told his friends that a new store is opening right near our house, and we could "go there whenever we want!" Then, on the way to the bus this morning he asked if the store was open today. I said no, and then looked over at the building. We watched two women rush over to the door and dance on the pressure sensitive entrance. When the doors did not open they stopped dancing and spent a few moments peering through the windows. Wendall asked if it would open tomorrow, and when I told him yes he asked if we could go see it after school tomorrow. I promised him that we could buy his after school snack, and he went to school a happy boy.

Just wait 'til he sees the face painting!

Joyce

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
~Kahlil GibranThe Prophet 27 On Death

We lost a parent last week. Wendall's stepmother died after being diagnosed with cancer only a few weeks before. She was a young, vibrant woman, and her loss was a blow to all of us.

Honest Talk

Joyce's Obituary

Summer in Seoul

It looks like we will head to Korea sometime in late May or early June. We are slowly working out the details.

A childfree day

The boy is at Mega Play with Daniel. We went out for a quiet lunch and talked about grown up things. Now we are wandering around the house, not talking much. We need to do this more often!

Happy Feet and a sleepover

The boy is having a sleepover tonight. His friend Daniel is here, and they are finally asleep after a wild night of movies and playing.




We went to see Happy Feet. What a weird movie! It is billed as a comedic kids movie, but is instead an animated March of the Penguins combined with a bunch of other stuff. The two main themes are ecology and religion. It was a slow moving movie, and very heavy with morals. The strange thing about it is that nowhere in the research I did on the film did it say anything about the anti-religious tone in the movie, and the ecological themes were mentioned only briefly. They were major aspects of the film. It was not very funny, and unfortunately bored the boys (who are both five). Ah well. The good news is that we got in for free due to some coupons I found. Not that I would not have paid to see the movie, but I did leave feeling that I had been tricked, and I actually agreed with a good deal of the propaganda in the film! The animaton had a few spectaclar moments, though.

Anyway, I'm off to pet a kitty and read for a bit.

Leaving Vilseck

Many of you have started asking us about leaving Vilseck. We were sent here for a two-year assignment (which has gone very well!) and our time is almost at an end. We arrived in May of 2005, and we expect to leave here sometime in the spring of 2007. As the time gets closer we will have more information on an exact date.

We do know where we will be for the next two years. We are headed east again, back to Korea. The three of us have been lucky enough to grab one of the few accompanied spots to the Yongsan base in Seoul, South Korea.

Honestly we had hoped that we would head back to the East Coast for a year or two, but that was our long shot hope. We all realized that it was much more likely that we would be sent somewhere else for at least a year before Wendall could be sent to the school in Virginia. A few months ago Wendall informed his commanders that he was open to almost any position as long as we could stay together as a family. Our only desire in our Army adventure is that we be able to spend as much time together as possible. Above all, we were both willing to make sacrifices if it meant that he did not have to deploy.

So we got lucky. For a variety of reasons the military tries very hard to send soldiers to Korea for one year without their families. Korea was mentioned as a one-year assignment, which would have been without us. By requesting a two-year assignment we will all be able to head for the Republic of Korea.

We are very excited about this new mission. We have no details yet, and will fill everyone in when we can. All we know now is that you will need passports, but no visas for a visit less than 30 days. Because we will be living in the city we will almost definitely be in a two-bedroom apartment, so anyone who thinks they are staying longer than 30 days had better think again! We do want people to visit, though, and from what I’ve seen we might be lucky enough to find a three-bedroom apartment.

Other things we know for sure:

1. Wendall and I really enjoyed Korea in 2000. The only thing we did not like was that we were apart.
1a. We have always said that we would like to go back for an accompanied tour. I would like to be there for longer than two months!
2. The cats can come, we just have to figure out how.
3. We will get to ship one car. Odds are that it will be the Passat.
3a. The cars in Korea are almost as cute as the Smart Car. Not quite, but close.
3b. I’ve seen the drivers in Korea, and I’ve also seen the top rate public transportation. I plan on not driving while we are there unless there are no other options.
4. We will not be able to bring most of what we own. What we are not able to bring will be stored for us at the Army’s expense.
4a. Seoul has an amazing amount of shopping. We are bound to leave with some wonderful souvenirs.
4b. Nothing could be as wonderful as the souvenir I brought home the first time.
5. The thing we have missed most here in Germany is Asian food. Problem solved!

We are just at the beginning of the planning process. The next few months will be filled with sorting, packing, and gathering information. We will do our best to keep everyone involved and informed.

To summarize:
We leave in approximately 7 months. The entire family will move to Seoul, South Korea. We will live there for 1-2 years. We can bring one car, but only 3000 pounds of "stuff". We are very happy, excited, and anxious by this move. We hope you visit. If you want to see us in Germany, get going!

We are home

And Wendall has been cleared to drive and to do other things. Yay! He's walking around without sunglasses and having a great time looking at things.