MEDEVAC II - Kaiserslautern

Tuesday 24 July
2230

Today I finished processing and am now awaiting transportation to CONUS. I have to go in tomorrow to check in with the air transport people and find out about my specific flight information. I know I am going to Ft. Benning, but do not know anything further than that. Other than that and clearing the billets, I am done.

So far I have written almost exclusively about the military aspects of this process, but there is another aspect of it that is really cool – I am in Germany! I certainly never expected to find myself here during this mobilization, but since I am here I am enjoying it to the extent possible.

I started out speaking a few words here and there to bus drivers and other service personnel. It felt strange, but not for long. After a few tries, the words started rolling off my tongue again, and long-lost vocabulary began to surface. It is really refreshing just to be here. Part of the effect is green trees, grass, fog, cool evenings, etc. But a large part of it is seeing and hearing German everywere. I had sort of lost track of just how much I loved it here, and how at home I feel. Within 24 hours I was chattering away with our bus driver, understanding nearly everything he said and finding it quite easy to express myself as well.

I have had plenty of opportunity to get to know the bus driver – things are pretty spread out here so we ride the bus everywhere. I am staying on one kaserne, the hospital complex is on another, and the main PXes are on a third and fourth. Most of the US Army installations in Germany were this way – spread out on small kasernes rather than large bases like they are in CONUS. A kaserne a smallish military post anywhere from the size of a large high school campus to a suburban neighborhood. Most (if not all) of them were taken over from the German Army after WWII. They are typically enclose by fences or walls, and have lots of cool old buildings on them. The one I am on dates from at least pre- World War I, as did the kaserne I was stationed on in Hanau in the 1980s.

Kaserne Building

One of the things I talked with the bus driver about was where to go if I got a chance, and he told me. So when I finished my processing yesterday and had some free time, I got an off-post pass, put on civilian clothes, and headed downtown. I rode the bus (German civilian bus this time) and got off at the Rathaus (Town Hall). Then I walked back a couple blocks as he had suggested, and found myself in the Fussgangerzone (pedestrian district). This comprises several blocks of typical German city streets with little shops, old buildings, churches, etc. It was really nice to be there.

Around one of the very first corners I turned was a “Hannen Fass”, the same restaurant/bar I used to hang out in in Hanau 25 years ago. I guess it must be a chain or a franchise. In any case I sat down and had a Hannen Alt beer, and enjoyed it immensely.

I walked around, just window shopping, listening to people, and generally enjoying being there. I found some German rock CD’s in a couple record stores, including Nena, BAP, Ideal, and the soundtrack from the movie Lola Rennt (“Run Lola Run"). No Rodgau Monotones, though! I am importing these into iTunes as I write this, so I can enjoy them on the way back.

Then I stopped in a hat shop to see about replacing my beloved (but not immortal) Forstmeister cap that I love to wear in the winter. It has done yeoman service but is getting a bit worn. Unfortunately the shop didn’t have one in my size, but the owner took my name and email address, and said she’d order one for me and send it with a bill. I didn’t even ask her for this - it was very nice of her to offer. I suspect it had to do with the fact that I was able to speak to her in her own language. I often noticed the last time around that I got treated quite differently once people realized that I spoke German.

After walking around for awhile I decided it was time for dinner. I had seen a restaurant that looked kind of cool, and had Pfalzische food on their menu, so I went there. It turned out to be really neat. It was called the Spinradl (spinning wheel). The building is the oldest Fachwerk (wood framework with masonry filler) building still standing in Kaiserlautern, and was built in 1509.

Spinradl Restaurant

The outside was obviously very old, but the inside had been refinished and was very nice (although still in a traditional style). I decided to order the “Pfalzer Teller”, a sampler of local specialties from the Pfalz region. It came with three kinds of meat. The first was a Bratwurst, which requires no explanation. The second was a Leberknoedel, which was basically a meatball made of liverwurst. The third was a slice of Sauma, which they explained as being made of various parts of pork (Hackfleisch, which basically means chopped meat), mixed with some other ingredients of which I only recognized potatoes. It is pressed into a large roll and cooked. To serve it they cut slices off and grill them (fry them, more likely). It reminded me of SPAM more than anything else.

It was a very enjoyable meal, made more so by the fact that when I ordered a beer they served it in a traditional half liter stoneware mug (Stein or Krug) instead of a glass. When I think of German beer I think of drinking it out of beer Steins, but it’s actually served in glasses most of the time. So getting a ½ liter Krug with a big head of foam on it was just too perfect. :-)

After dinner I walked around a little more, and had an Eis (sherbet)- raspberry & chocolate, my favorite!. Then I took the bus back with the intention of working on a blog entry and importing my CDs to iTunes. Unfortunately the barracks is so loud that there is no place to work that has both an internet connection and anything even approaching silence. The place is awash in movies, TVs, and video players, and that is all everyone seems to do in their free time. So I ended up going to bed and leaving this until tomorrow.

Wednesday 25 July:

This morning I got up and went back to Landstuhl for my final processing. I got my movement orders, and visited the post office to mail home some excess clothing that I didn’t have room to pack (I *really* didn’t want to be dragging two duffel bags around with me). Then I went back to my room, packed my bags, and came back downtown to the Hannen Fass.

I just finished another Hannen Alt and a Rahmschnitzel (a breaded veal cutlet with some kind of sauce on it). It was very good. I also had a nice conversation with a young man who is here from Wurzburg, looking around the city to see if he wants to come here to the university.

The street is Steinstrasse (Stone Street), apparently because of this column covered with fragments of old marker stones. I remember finding stone like this in the woods, marking historical borders between different German states and principalities. Here are a few photos from around where I was sitting:

Street Scene from Hannen Fass

Marker Stones

The Wirtin here at the Hannen Fass is a different one than yesterday. This one has her hair dyed *exactly* the same color as Franka Potente did in “Lola Rennt”. I half expect her to take off running…. ;-)

It is very relaxing to sit here and sip my beer, listening to snatches of the conversations around me, and just sort of soaking up the atmosphere. It makes me think of all kinds of things. For one thing, it brings back a lot of memories of the years I lived in Germany before. I find myself thinking back to how happy I was then and how much I felt at home here, and wondering how it was that I let my life drift so far off course that I never came back here.

The ease with which I fell back into speaking German and the sense of belonging that I feel here have really got me thinking about whether it might be feasible for me to come back here and work somehow with the Army. There are still a lot of Americans here, and lots of opportunities to come here on tours, etc. I think that would be a very good possibility once I’m done in Kuwait. Of course there are lots of family questions to consider. I am the only one who would feel at home, at least right away - anyone who came with me would have a lot of adjusting to do. Nothing is ever simple!

Now I’ve ordered a Jaegermeister as an after dinner drink, and will sit here and sip it slowly, enjoying what remains of my afternoon. It’s only about 5 PM, but If I want to post this I’ll have to get back, because I still want to download my photos to the PC and post this entry. I have to get up early tomorrow to clear the barracks and catch the bus for my flight. (I sure wish I’d thought to bring the data cable with me so I could stay *here* and do the photos!).

I think when I go back I may use some of the last daylight hours to explore the cemetery across the street from the Kaserne. In Germany cemeteries are regarded quite differently than here. They are still treated with respect, but are used as parks to an extent that I don’t think is duplicated in the USA. They are not just big open fields full of graves, but are kept more like public gardens, with lots of trees, shrubbery, and walking paths. (To get a feel for this, watch the movie “Immortal Beloved”.) So I think that will be a nice last little taste of Germany – a walk in the park under a blue sky at the close of the day.

Cemetery

Music: Water falling in the fountain nearby
Mood: Happy