Yesterday was plain awful...

My sister loves the musical, Annie. We watched our VHS version of Annie over and over until we knew all of the lines. Early in the musical, Annie sings, "Yesterday was plain awful...you can say that again...yesterday was plain awful, but that's not now, that's then." Yesterday and the day before were truly "plain awful." I spent Tuesday morning doing more paperwork, fingerprinting, etc. at the hospital. Matt went and met with the landlords while I was in a meeting during which I was totally overwhelmed with others saying, "We're so glad you are here. This is a huge job. How are you going to do it all?" Thanks.

In the meantime, Matt was able to open a bank account but the landlords got the painter to come early so they want us to move in Nov. 1 not Nov. 15th. Everything is paid here with bank transfers, but you can't open a bank account until you have an ID (CAC) and you can't have a CAC until you are "in the system." So, we have a bank account with no money in it and we need to give the landlords about $5K to move in (pretty standard in Germany). Ugh. Oh, and the previous tenant told Matt that if we wanted to keep the loaner furniture (closets, refrigerator, washer, dryer, microwave, etc.), we would have to go to the furnishings office before they closed at 2:30. It was then 1:30. Ugh. But we hadn't taken our contract to the housing office yet. So, we get to housing and the line is enormously long. We finally get called in, everything looks good, and we put our names on another list to try to cancel the pick up of the previous tenant's items. Matt has to go back to the apartment to work, so I drive him back (10 minutes away) and returned to be scolded for not being there when my name was called...there had been about 15 people in front of me. The German national who helped me was actually very sweet. She cancelled the pick up and told me where to go grocery shopping off post, given our distaste for the cold on-base, teeny-bopper shopping mall and limited selection, not so fresh produce at the commissary. So, after more online paperwork, we head out to Aldi (similar to the ones in the states). We found lots of bargains! We approaced the checker who said, "Oh, we don't take credit." You can go to the bank and I will hold your groceries. So, we run to the car (Aldi closed in 30 minutes) and I drive frantically through the curvy streets of our new hometown (Ramstein), searching for a bank. Oh, did I mention that we're almost out of gas. So, amidst the frantic running around, we stop to get gas. A kind woman is able to describe in broken English where I can find an ATM. We make it there, grab the cash and return to Aldi. The checker greeted us with a smile and sent us on our way.



YESTERDAY...we were told to be at the driver's orientation and testing facility at 7:15 to ensure that we got a seat in the class, so we left our house at 6:30 to make sure we could get there in time. We arrived at 7:10 and when the window booths opened at 7:30, we were told that we were in the wrong place. So we follow someone to the "right" place, but the facility was closed for a private function. So, after a long time, we are led to a conference room where we waited. The room slowly filled. Finally by 9:30, we were listening to the orientation. Then we registered and Matt got bumped from the class. By this time it was noon. The test was at 12:30, so we grabbed lunch and hurried back. The test didn't start until after 1:00. I passed and we were out of there by 1:45. We raced back to base to deposit the money in our new bank account so that it could be wired to our landlords for our move on Sunday....dropped Matt off and raced to the hospital for my drug test. Then, we spent way too much time at the dreaded mall on base researching internet and phone...nothing is cheap. We came home exhausted and I found out that my doctor doesn't have my vaccination records that I need for my pre-employment physical...ugh. I had a mini-meltdown...."but that's not now...that's then."