The time has come, and within the next three months we’ll be unpacking in another home.. While there is still a lot that has to be determined, we know we’ll (most likely) be heading to the Bavarian region of Germany. The TBD, location wise, is which base will we be calling home? We have an idea, but until it’s official, we’ll just leave it as somewhere in good old Deutschland! And let me tell you, we can not be any more excited.
Fingers and toes are crossed, for more reasons than one. First wish being – that COVID gets under control and stops being such a threat to everyone. We’ll also both be vaccinated by then as AJ already is and my second dose is on 4/20 (it’s okay to laugh, I laughed). Either way we wish everyone could just go back to living a safe, healthy life without having to stay indoors the majority of the time. It really is impacting many peoples mental health. Our second wish is obvious.. we want to hit the ground running and take advantage of EVERY.SINGLE.FREE.MINUTE we have while being OCONUS. BONUS wish for me specifically is that hopefully I won’t have to get a stick stuck up my nose, into my brain just to get out of the US and into Germany. I say me, because AJ has done it already..
This is new for the both of us one way or another. For starters we got married basically yesterday.. AJ has never PCS’d with a family (me + our two four legged ones) and I’ve never moved overseas. Then you throw COVID into the mix, and my goodness, that’s one stressful recipe. I’ve joined every Facebook group I can get into and it’s really helped put my mind at ease almost instantly.. That search bar function in groups has either fully answered all of my questions or sent us in the right direction. Poor AJ – the planner in me is already driving his laid back self up the wall. What’s even better is that, obviously the Army is great, but all communications go through AJ and his opinion of helpful details basically mean 98% of the [my] puzzle never fully reaches me. (I adore my husband and he knows my attention to detail vs his perception of what’s need to know and/or be planned for, are two constantly clashing components, but he really does try to keep me in the loop).
I will say though that once you can grasp the fact that there are a ton of moving parts that come with a PCS, and even more for an OCONUS assignment move… you just have to roll with it. There are even more positives to being assigned outside of the United States. Our biggest highlight is the sole fact that we can travel together all around Europe. Which means that we’re already taking an extra look at our current budget, and seeing where we (which really mostly means me) can save some extra cash. He has zero problem living off of Ramen, and while that may be my dinner tonight, I cannot and will not live off Ramen. The good news is that ultimately we both have the mentality of the more we manage to save up for our European Adventure, the more memorable the next three years will be!
Which leads me to my final point in this post: I pinky promise, I will post all about all the awesome places we’ll be exploring). Many many posts to come! <3
In the mean time though – check out my blog post that covered our 2020 Oktoberfest in Charlotte, NC here: Less Than 24 hours In Charlotte, NC during a Pandemic. It was us preparing for life in Germany, before we even knew Germany was an option!
Coming soon: Pre-PCS check list (currently being experienced, lived and written)
<3 idkjacklyn
Can’t wait to see and read about all your European adventures!