Medical Leave

Oct 12-17 2002

I had surgery about a week ago. It was so silly. They told me I needed all these pins and screws. But when I wake up there's 2 tiny holes in my ankle and no repair done at all. I am very upset. There can't be nothing wrong. It hurts so bad! I can't walk uphill because it doesn't even bend. (I find out later in 2004 they missed a ton of damage and eventually got it repaired the right way by a civilian doctor in NM.)  I get 2 weeks of medical leave woohoo! I put in forms to go home but am only allowed 7 days.

Oktoberfest

Sep 20-23 2002

Eric and I had just been to Munich not too long ago, but he really wanted to show me Oktoberfest, and I really wanted to see it. He tells me a lot of stories of when he went with a few other soldiers that have moved on already. He seems so excited.

Berlin Germany

July 3-6 2002,

Wow what an awesome week this was! Eric and I took a train to Berlin this time. There was a long and painful walking tour around most of the city. We saw places Hitler had stayed. The coolest was seeing parts of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. We each bought a piece of the wall for a souvenir. Sometimes I forget I'm here doing this stuff. It's so unreal.The streetlights are very cute. The little green and red men for walking have these neat hats.

Munchen (Munich) Germany

June 14-17 2001

Munich is probably the 3rd famous city I've heard of before. We hopped on a train from the Mainz hauptbahnhof down to Bavaria. The first notable place we visited was called Residenz. It's a Bavarian palace that our soldiers bombed in WWII. They started construction right after the war, and now it's a museum. It's filled with treasures that are centuries old. I just love seeing things like this. It's impossible to see this kind of history in the USA.

France Day 4

May 27, 2002 - Disneyland Paris

Being from California I've gone to Disneyland a few times as a kid. Evans is from Florida so he's been to Disney World. What better way to spend our last day in Paris than to go to Euro Disney? It's kind of far out of town so we had to take a train. I'm so exited about this trip. I wish I could have brought my family here. We're all Disney nuts.

France Day 3

May 26, 2002

Today we did our own thing. No tours. Just us and a map.

France Day 2

Evans had a great idea and signed us up for this cab cruise type of thing. It involves a tour of Paris in a cab, dinner, boat cruise, and some live show.

France Day 1

Paris is one of those places you only dream about visiting. I've often wondered what it was like. In the movies there is often a violin playing gently in the background while everyone around is holding hands. I just got back from the best 4 day weekend in Paris and I can safely say... it is EXACTLY like that! Except with the addition of hot dogs and horrible yet funny drivers.

Evans took me to a travel agent where we booked the train and hotel for us. I couldn't believe this was happening!

Castles and Dates

We finally got some time off together. Guard duty is slowly dying. We're now doing 12 hours on and 12 hours off with a 2 day break after 4 days of work. Pretty nice :)

Mainz in March

Not much going on over here thanks to Guard Duty. The other units are pulled out already and have paid civilians guarding there territory. Not us! Our First Sergeant decided to volunteer us to keep doing it instead of our actual mission. We also have the opportunity to get new furniture in the barracks like all the other buildings. Nope. We have guard duty.