Rob has landed

After all the legwork was done, it was time to leave for Germany. I was able to get a direct flight from Charlotte, NC to Frankfurt, Germany. I arrived at the airport and checked in. I knew it was going to be close but my luggage was 6 lbs over the weight limit. I took out my military orders, showed them to gentleman behind the counter and 'voila', the fee was waived. The flight was 45 minutes late for regular maintenance, so my mind starts to think the worst. But they finally let us on and we took our seats. I was wedged between two people, one of whom didn't hardly say a word the whole flight and never left his seat, the other a very tall guy who probably got up 8 times. I just decided to go into my own little world and watch the tv that was provided. The flight itself was 8 1/2 hours and no turbulence, but I still only got 1 hour of sleep. Upon arrival I was a little nervous, never being to Europe and realizing that I knew no German and it might be a bit dicey trying to communicate with anybody. I got off the plane and followed the rest of the crowd to the customs area. The gentleman at customs probably said two words to me, in english, and I was on my way again. I was able to gather my luggage and find my sponsor, Shannon Lynch, whom originally hired me. We streaked back to Landstuhl after a few wrong turns. I was tired but I couldn't sleep, I was in Germany after all, I needed to take everything in (I think I forgot that I was going to be here for two years and would have plenty of time to make see the German countryside). Upon arrival in Landstuhl, the first order of business was to drop off my luggage at my temporary residence. Ilse met us at a gas station and led us to the apartment. It was a nice two bedroom place that I was to share with another person for a couple of weeks. After that I was to move into a larger house that would accomodate my family. After unloading everything I was taken on a tour, by Shannon, of Ramstein AFB. We went to the commissary to buy some staples and got some money out of the bank. After that I was taken back to the apartment and just relaxed...but didn't sleep. I was told the best way to combat jet-lag was to stay awake the first day and that is exactly what I did.

The wheels start to turn

...Christmas came and went and the year began like it normally did. My daughter had her birthday and mine was right around the corner. As my birthday approached I decided that I would email Germany again re: the job in Mannheim that was mentioned as a possibility for July. A week later I received a response, in essence it stated that of the three people that had been originally chosen for the job one had to back out for personal reasons and would I like to take the position. Um...YES please! My name was submitted to CPAC, which takes over the hiring process once you have been selected by the hiring official. Now I had to wait again...at least I knew I had been chosen, so the waiting was a little easier on the stomach this time. A week later I received an email communication from CPAC that had 5 different attachments, all of which had several pages of applications and information sheets that needed to be filled out. We filled out all of the paperwork within 1 day and emailed it back...can you say 'anxious'? CPAC said once I filled out the paperwork and sent it back I would know within 2 weeks if I officially had a job offer. Three weeks later I had my official job offer. FINALLY! Now that it was real we had to start to work. We had to prepare and plan for the move of our household items, our car and 100 other things that needed to be done. We had to get military passports from Ft. Bragg, so we made a special trip to do that. All the while we continued to fill out more paperwork they kept sending our way. The wheels were now in motion...

First Contact

...So after waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I was finally contacted in November of 2009, a mere 9 months after initially applying for the job. "Finally" I thought, it was about time they decided they needed me. I set up an interview time and patiently awaited the phone call. Now what you didn't know is that during the application process and during the waiting, I knew I was going to get a call and get the job. I didn't know how or when this would all take place, but it was going to happen...I just knew it without a shadow of a doubt. So now, back to the story...the call came and we talked for 90 minutes on the phone...I figured if she was willing to spend 90 minutes on the phone with me from Germany then it must be going good. I had a great feeling about this. They had three spots available and only a handful of applicants, my odds were looking good. She said she would have her decision made within two weeks. No problem, I can hold on at least that long. Two weeks came and went, no phone call. Three weeks, nothing. Four, nope. So I emailed her a few days before Christmas, thinking what a great surprise for my family to give them at Christmas time. The response came back..."I am sorry you weren't chosen". Devastated! She stated that we had a good interview and I was basically the runner up to the other three people chosen. If any of them backed out for any reason I would be the next candidate...I felt like the runner up at the Miss America pageant...but I never even got to wear a gown or tiara. During the course of our conversation Shannon had mentioned another position that might be opening up July 2010 in Germany. I decided to keep that on my horizon, because lets be honest, who of those three people chosen would not want to take a position in Germany....

The Beginning

So unbeknownst to many of you, Sharma and I have wanted to live abroad for some time. Not sure where we wanted to go, but just knew that we wanted to live outside of the US. We figured that we would be writing this chapter after our kids had all graduated and we would just be two fun loving people roaming the globe. Our story begins in March 2009...no actually, much earlier than that, back when we were living in Everett, WA. I am a believer that certain doors are opened to give us opportunities, however, it is up to us to walk throught those doors and take those opportunities. While living in Everett we decided that it was time to move, we toyed with the idea of Kentucky, but ultimately decided on Charlotte, NC. We moved into our new church and met many wonderful people. One particular person that we met was on a journey of her own. She just moved into our church as well because she was marrying a man that we had become friends with. She was a teacher for the elementary school on Ramstein AFB located in Landstuhl, Germany. As luck would have it we struck up a friendship with her and we were very intrigued with her story. We decided to do dinner with her and her new husband. At dinner we asked her all sorts of questions about Germany, the job there, life, travel, the perks for working for the government and the list went on and on. We were very intrigued with everything she was telling us and decided that we needed to apply immediately. We were so excited and could hardly contain ourselves at the thought of this happening. So on a dark, cool night in March of 2009, we applied for a physical therapy job in Germany. I expected to hear from them the next day.....I didn't....