Getting there
Oct. 28th, 2004 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dream_labyrinthI called the army lady in Munich today, to ask whether she had managed to figure something out concerning a place to sleep for me in Hammelburg.
She said she had called somebody, but had not yet received an answer, and gave me the number of the person.
So I called her. Several tries, but I am kind of getting used to that by now. She gave me the number of somebody else who, in her opinion, would be the person to ask about a room.
Called that guy. My first contact with a soldier in that matter, all the others had been civilians. He was pretty unhelpful and said he wasn't the right person to ask, and gave me still another telephon number.
So I called that gentleman. A civilian again. Very friendly, but not the person responsible for assigning a room to me. He's responsible for assigning rooms for guests of the whole base, while the other guy (the soldier who said he wasn't responsible) was in fact the person to ask for rooms for people who were anyhow connected to the school, as I will be.
So I called him again. Explained what the other guy had said. Then he was much more helpful, and looked up whether they had a room available. It might be difficult to get a room for myself at first, they only had rooms for two, but some where occupied by only one person so far. (I think, in all those calls, I heard "It's much easier to find a room for a man" at least twice.) But it depends on your rank where you are placed. As I don't have a rank, and I am not really a civil servant at first, we had to figure out what rank would get equal payment as I do. One room seemed a good idea to him, as the other occupant isn't there right now. Personally, if I were her, I would consider it pretty shitty to come back and have a second person share my personal space, but I figure that's something you have to be prepared for as an officer.
He played around with his computer and found several possibilities, but said his boss was the person to decide. Who wasn't in his office today because he was participating in a biathlon. (Which makes me wonder where they have the snow for that, considering it's October.)
But he promised me he would have some room, somewhere, for me. It's going to be pretty cheap, too, though I do have to pay for it, of course. And he added my name to the list for the feeding of the beasts. And adviced me not to get the food provided on Friday nights. Travel rations, because almost everybody leaves for home on weekends. But I'll have three meals a day from them, which is fine in the beginning. Means I don't need to worry about cooking or even storing food.
He also told me where to go when I arrive Tuesday afternoon. And told me by what time I should arrive. (Really, if somebody were to attack Germany after 4 p.m., they could run right through. Not a soldier there to stop them.)
Then I called the music school to ask about returning my instrument and get out of my contract. Wrote the letter they required, telling them I had to get out quickly because I would not be able to continue lessons come November, and didn't know much earlier to tell them ahead of time.
Brought the letter and my instrument to them. The lady who took back the clarinet didn't even bother to look inside. I think I could have kept the instrument and they wouldn't have figured out for a while.
Then my Mom and I went to the zoo. Haven't been there in a while. The lions have kittens, but we couldn't see them. :-(
But they have been doing some great work to the whole zoo. They place where all the cool cats are is much nicer than before. Not that smelly, and much more light. There are only glass (or maybe plastic) panes between you and the animals. Some panes are pretty scratched from the inside already, but it seems the animals got used to the visitors after a while.
And in two buildings, there are monkeys. With nothing between you and them. There is a warning sign that you are not supposed to feed them and also that they may steal your stuff if you are not careful. And two monkeys actually are outside their building as well. It seems they managed to break out several times, but never left the zoo, so the zoo keepers have decided to let them go where they please. Pretty cool.
I was a little dissapointed though at the lack of large birds. And when I say large birds I'm not talking about pelicans and flamingos. I'm talking about owls and birds of prey. They had two Ural Owls that looked really great. I love how owls can turn their heads around all the way.
They are going to build a new place for the crocodiles. It's going to be set up so that you walk on bridges above them. That'll be great.
Pity they don't have elephants anymore, though. I think one of them died and then the other went kind of mad and became very aggressive. Couldn't keep her.
And one monkey had just been put down because of a disease similar to AIDS (Actually, the disease that was the predecessor of AIDS). Though no other animals seemed to be infected.
I watched the penguins. (They have like 20 or 30, and they all have names. There is a picture of each one with its name written underneath it on the railing.) At first they were just sitting around, and a few swimming, but then suddenly they swam around like crazy, jumping out of the water like dolphins. Fun to watch, and they splashed me. :-D
And there were two sloths sleeping, and they looked exactly like my brother when he's sleeping. We always thought a sloth would be the perfect heraldic beast for him.
Like the trip yesterday, it was like being a child again. We used to go to the zoo often. I can still remember the smell of the old lion house, and the dark stairs to the aquariums. (Actually, that building hasn't had any work done yet, so it still is dark stairs. Though a little filthier than I remembered.) We also had a great view of the town, because the zoo is situated on a hill (okay, so they keep saying a mountain, but it really is more like a hill) and the higher up you get, the more you can see of the town. Turn your head one way and see all those animals, turn around and look over the town. I don't think I ever could appreciate that view when I was a child.
But seeing all the landmarks I know, the church steeples, some buildings, it really hit me that I am moving away. I have been living in this area for all my life. We moved out of town in 1991, but we still live only 10 kilometers away, actually less than that, and I went to school in town, and all my activities took place there. It will be so strange not to be able to go to those places whenever I feel like it.
Edit: And I forgot to mention that my right hand has blisters across the fingers as if I had burned myself. Which in a way, I have. Went for a walk with our dog yesterday, and she found something interesting and jumped at it, pulling the nylon lead through my hands a little too quickly. Stung like hell, now it's getting better.
She said she had called somebody, but had not yet received an answer, and gave me the number of the person.
So I called her. Several tries, but I am kind of getting used to that by now. She gave me the number of somebody else who, in her opinion, would be the person to ask about a room.
Called that guy. My first contact with a soldier in that matter, all the others had been civilians. He was pretty unhelpful and said he wasn't the right person to ask, and gave me still another telephon number.
So I called that gentleman. A civilian again. Very friendly, but not the person responsible for assigning a room to me. He's responsible for assigning rooms for guests of the whole base, while the other guy (the soldier who said he wasn't responsible) was in fact the person to ask for rooms for people who were anyhow connected to the school, as I will be.
So I called him again. Explained what the other guy had said. Then he was much more helpful, and looked up whether they had a room available. It might be difficult to get a room for myself at first, they only had rooms for two, but some where occupied by only one person so far. (I think, in all those calls, I heard "It's much easier to find a room for a man" at least twice.) But it depends on your rank where you are placed. As I don't have a rank, and I am not really a civil servant at first, we had to figure out what rank would get equal payment as I do. One room seemed a good idea to him, as the other occupant isn't there right now. Personally, if I were her, I would consider it pretty shitty to come back and have a second person share my personal space, but I figure that's something you have to be prepared for as an officer.
He played around with his computer and found several possibilities, but said his boss was the person to decide. Who wasn't in his office today because he was participating in a biathlon. (Which makes me wonder where they have the snow for that, considering it's October.)
But he promised me he would have some room, somewhere, for me. It's going to be pretty cheap, too, though I do have to pay for it, of course. And he added my name to the list for the feeding of the beasts. And adviced me not to get the food provided on Friday nights. Travel rations, because almost everybody leaves for home on weekends. But I'll have three meals a day from them, which is fine in the beginning. Means I don't need to worry about cooking or even storing food.
He also told me where to go when I arrive Tuesday afternoon. And told me by what time I should arrive. (Really, if somebody were to attack Germany after 4 p.m., they could run right through. Not a soldier there to stop them.)
Then I called the music school to ask about returning my instrument and get out of my contract. Wrote the letter they required, telling them I had to get out quickly because I would not be able to continue lessons come November, and didn't know much earlier to tell them ahead of time.
Brought the letter and my instrument to them. The lady who took back the clarinet didn't even bother to look inside. I think I could have kept the instrument and they wouldn't have figured out for a while.
Then my Mom and I went to the zoo. Haven't been there in a while. The lions have kittens, but we couldn't see them. :-(
But they have been doing some great work to the whole zoo. They place where all the cool cats are is much nicer than before. Not that smelly, and much more light. There are only glass (or maybe plastic) panes between you and the animals. Some panes are pretty scratched from the inside already, but it seems the animals got used to the visitors after a while.
And in two buildings, there are monkeys. With nothing between you and them. There is a warning sign that you are not supposed to feed them and also that they may steal your stuff if you are not careful. And two monkeys actually are outside their building as well. It seems they managed to break out several times, but never left the zoo, so the zoo keepers have decided to let them go where they please. Pretty cool.
I was a little dissapointed though at the lack of large birds. And when I say large birds I'm not talking about pelicans and flamingos. I'm talking about owls and birds of prey. They had two Ural Owls that looked really great. I love how owls can turn their heads around all the way.
They are going to build a new place for the crocodiles. It's going to be set up so that you walk on bridges above them. That'll be great.
Pity they don't have elephants anymore, though. I think one of them died and then the other went kind of mad and became very aggressive. Couldn't keep her.
And one monkey had just been put down because of a disease similar to AIDS (Actually, the disease that was the predecessor of AIDS). Though no other animals seemed to be infected.
I watched the penguins. (They have like 20 or 30, and they all have names. There is a picture of each one with its name written underneath it on the railing.) At first they were just sitting around, and a few swimming, but then suddenly they swam around like crazy, jumping out of the water like dolphins. Fun to watch, and they splashed me. :-D
And there were two sloths sleeping, and they looked exactly like my brother when he's sleeping. We always thought a sloth would be the perfect heraldic beast for him.
Like the trip yesterday, it was like being a child again. We used to go to the zoo often. I can still remember the smell of the old lion house, and the dark stairs to the aquariums. (Actually, that building hasn't had any work done yet, so it still is dark stairs. Though a little filthier than I remembered.) We also had a great view of the town, because the zoo is situated on a hill (okay, so they keep saying a mountain, but it really is more like a hill) and the higher up you get, the more you can see of the town. Turn your head one way and see all those animals, turn around and look over the town. I don't think I ever could appreciate that view when I was a child.
But seeing all the landmarks I know, the church steeples, some buildings, it really hit me that I am moving away. I have been living in this area for all my life. We moved out of town in 1991, but we still live only 10 kilometers away, actually less than that, and I went to school in town, and all my activities took place there. It will be so strange not to be able to go to those places whenever I feel like it.
Edit: And I forgot to mention that my right hand has blisters across the fingers as if I had burned myself. Which in a way, I have. Went for a walk with our dog yesterday, and she found something interesting and jumped at it, pulling the nylon lead through my hands a little too quickly. Stung like hell, now it's getting better.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-28 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-28 07:57 pm (UTC)And it sounds like your military isn't much more organized than ours! :D
no subject
Date: 2004-10-29 10:11 am (UTC)That ranch is a great idea. It seems that many people first buy exotic animals and then don't know how to deal with them, so it's good there is place to bring them and know they'll be cared for.