I made my way slowly down the mountain because I couldn’t see two car lengths in front of me. I checked twice to see if my headlights were actually on. Five minutes later I was well on my way towards Kaiserslautern. The fog started to lift and I could see patches of blue sky ahead of me. Ten minutes later, the sky had opened up to reveal a cloudless canvass, the prettiest shade of baby blue. I turned up the music, slid back the sunroof, and decided to go wherever I could stay under the sun. These are the days I am missing my apartment in Baumholder.
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My Apartment in Baumholder Germany
I remember the fog was thick in Baumholder. And I could barely see the branches of the thick patch of evergreens that lined the front yard. Or the old lattice wood fence covered in wooly moss all-year-round. All I really wanted was to chase the sun today. However, it was nowhere in sight. Despite the weather, I packed up my camera and an extra battery and waded through the thick soup to my car.
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Living on the Rock
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my apartment in Baumholder, but that town was well-known for its contrary weather. Baumholder is fondly, and not so fondly, referred to it as the rock. Our apartment was in an old stone mansion that had been renovated into four large apartments.
We shared the second floor with a retired German officer. The first floor was split between a US Major and his wife. Across the hall was a 90+-year-old German widow. Both Germans had lived in that house before it was a US Army post. The German Frau relayed stories about Hitler who apparently loved to train in Baumholder because of the weather.
She walked me around her apartment, pointing to things so I could learn German. She didn’t have any family in the area. And she was lonely and hoped we would become friends. Unfortunately, we didn’t.
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Our German Home
for the Next Three Years
The 3-bedroom apartment was tight for four people. And the front door opened onto a shotgun hallway I lined with three long rugs outside each doorway. A woven chest sat just inside the entrance that held our shoes. The kitchen was to the right, my oldest son’s room to the left. One of the first things we did was take the kitchen door off the hinges and store it in the basement. I’ve since learned that many cultures prefer a door to their kitchen. It prevents all the smells from seeping into the rest of the house.
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Our Pink Bathroom
The bathroom was on the other side of the kitchen for the convenience of having all the plumbing in one area. The Pepto Bismol pink and black tiles wouldn’t have been my first, second, or third choice. But it’s funny what you can overlook when you have no alternative. One of the things I never overlooked was that we had a stackable washer and dryer in one corner of the bathroom— also for convenience sake. And although it was a small unit only able to handle 4 or 5 pairs of jeans at a time and it took 2 or 3 cycles to dry them— we were much better off than having to go to the public laundry mat or creepy basement facilities available in most stairwell housing. A large claw foot tub/ shower sat opposite the vanity sink.
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The Bedrooms
Our bedroom was directly across from the bathroom. It was a pretty big room and the only room that the parquet floors weren’t covered by ugly linoleum. It was large enough for our huge queen-size four-poster bed, two gigantic military wall Locke, s and my elliptical machine.
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