Our World

I’m sitting in Landstuhl, sipping a lukewarm Milchkaffee and soaking in Sun and Alone Time. I’ve been trying to figure out the topic of this blog post since the last one and can’t for the life of me think of something pithy, brilliant, or engaging. So you’re stuck with this super-informative and possible boring post. Many of our friends and family ask us questions about why we're here and what life looks like. And perhaps you have the same questions too and perhaps you want a glimpse of the Mundane Details of our life. I hope so, otherwise this post will be such a waste!

We live about an hour-and-a-half west of Frankfurt in a teensy, tinsy village called Jettenbach. It is literally in the middle of nowhere, only reached by traversing over-hill-and-dale roads. Jettenbach has a population of approximately 800 people, about thirty of whom are Americans, although I never see them. My neighbors are German and I’ve managed to meet a few other Jettenbachers at village fests. It is great for language practice, as most do not speak English. The nearest large-ish city is Kaiserlautern, about forty minutes away. We’re forty minutes from the French border, so really fairly far southwest in Germany.

 The area we live in is dominated by Ramstein Air Base, a massive base near the town of the same name. There are approximately 50,000 Americans in this region and approximately eighteen additional, smaller American bases (a remnant of Cold War era politics). These bases are, shockingly to me at least, still in operation. And so, there are Americans at each base. Ramstein AFB is by far the largest, with a “mall” complete with movie theater and the military’s version of Walmart (the Base Exchange/Post Exchange, or BX/PX for short). RAFB also houses hundreds of soldiers and their families, has a library, grocery store (commissary), post office, bowling alley, Chili’s, Macaroni Grill, elementary school, and a high school with over one thousand students. The coolest part of the base is the massive runway, where on any given day a massive C1-Something-Or-Other takes off on a mission of some sort. RAFB serves as the headquarters for NATO and the control center for Middle Eastern, African, and European military operations. It is also the center of American life in the Rhineland-Pfalz region of Germany. Ben and I are often on base for groceries, a random toiletry, or the gym. It is an odd thing that showing my military ID at a guarded military entrance is a normal part of life now. For geographical assistance, we live about twenty minutes north of the base.

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is the second-largest base in the region and is about ten minutes away from RAFB. The hospital is placed at the top of a large hill, hidden amidst a forest of pine trees, and overlooks the town of Landstuhl. This is where Ben works and where military members and their dependents receive their medical care. It is also where casualties of war receive care. For example, if a soldier (usually an American but possibly one of our allies or even a civilian) is injured in the Middle East, Africa, or Europe, RAFB sends a plane to their location to retrieve them with physicians and flight nurses on board. They return to RAFB, where the injured individual is transported to Landstuhl for stabilization. If necessary, they are then flown from RAFB back to the US for further treatment at Walter Reed.

There is, as you can see, a large American community here. Some live on base, but most live “on the economy,” in a surrounding German village. People here are quick to help each other, quick to make a friend. There is a sense that we are all in the same boat. We all miss family, most of us are trying to figure out German culture and language, and we’ve all had to build community from scratch. Everyone understands military lingo, which is a language in and of itself. I am just now figuring out what some of the thousands of acronyms mean. Everyone uses the NATO alphabetical system (my last name is Delta Alpha X-ray Oscar November). Everyone is either an Army family or an Air Force family. We all stick out in German culture and are used to constantly feeling humiliated in our attempts at speaking Deutsch (yesterday I told the post office clerk that "I want understand" while what I meant was "I understand a little Deutsch"). We miss the same foods (Mexican), wish Target was close by, and that family was closer. Some Americans really hate it here and count down until their return stateside. Others, most I think, love living here and realize that we have an amazing opportunity to travel and live in Europe.

So there you have it. I hope that this gives some insight into how our life here is arranged, what we are actually doing here, and what the American subculture here feels like. Next up, I'll recount all the little things that have changed my life in a big way.

What questions do you have? I’d love to answer!