There are a few thing that I wish someone had told me before moving to Germany with the military:
1) HAVE THE MILITARY SHIP YOUR CAR (yes, I would even yell it at you if we were talking face to face) Yes, you can also buy a beater euro car when you get here if you want/need but it's so much nicer to have your car shipped and not have to hassle with buying a car that may have wacko issues with it. And the paperwork and work involved with getting your car over after you're already here is a headache.
2) If you have a pet you're even considering moving with you, BRING IT. If you do not bring your pet with you when you PCS then you will have to bring your pet over on a commercial flight because Space A will not accomodate your pet after you PCS. Heartbreaking and/or expensive.
3) (Depending on what base you go to) There is hardly any room on base to live. You will most likely have to live off base or live in a stairwell apartment on base with noisy neighbors. Pick living off base unless for some reason you are bound and determined to live on base and are willing to wait months to move into your apartment (or duplex if you are higher ranking or have a bunch of kids).
4) Even though living in the hotel is miserable, take time to look at at least 3 places to live before signing the contract. We like our apartment and we love our landlady but sometimes we see features in other peoples houses we wish we had. Take the time to look a little so you're happy. The military won't pay for you to move to another house (unless you move on to base)
General observations you should know:
1) Learn how to recycle. Seriously. There are days when you drive down the road on recycling morning and can obviously point out the Americans by their horrible job of recycling.
2) Learn to waste less. You only get so much garbage space in your trash can. And if you put your garbage in your neighbors garbage can they will start to feel homicidal (in a nice neighborly way, of course...)
3) Learn to pay much better attention to your driving and forget about your cell phone completely while driving. Driving here can be crazy, especially in the smaller villages with a manual car. Pay attention.
4) Even though your German neighbors may look crabby and stare at you, smile and wave as you drive or walk past. Most the time they will smile and wave back!
I have more on my list but that's it for today
Tschus!
