USA?!?! Noooooooo!

from JoeUser Forums
Things I'll miss about Germany:

1. Making fun of Smart Cars
2. The autobahn's really fun speed limits (or lack thereof)
3. Carnivals & festivals all the time
4. Traffic lights that turn red-yellow-green, then green-yellow-red, allowing us to creep out on the yellow light as it's about to turn green.
5. Really fun indoor water parks
6. Being near France
7. Charming souvenirs
8. Breathtaking scenery that can't be found anywhere else in the world
9. Mild climate
10. Priority roads & traffic circles
11. COLA (extra money on my husband's paycheck)
12. Fantastic travel opportunities

Things I look forward to when we move back to the USA

1. Smooth sidewalks
2. WalMart, although their method of passing savings onto the customers is pure evil
3. My choice of telephone & internet providers = less $$ to fork out every month
4. Normal caller ID service
5. No longer having to figure out exchange rates, and not having to carry two types of currency in general
6. Not having to mentally convert kilometers to miles as I'm driving, while keeping my toddler entertained
7. Traffic lights that are far away enough to see (i.e. not directly over your head so you have to crane your neck to see when the light turns green)
8. Not having to walk up 40 steps (carrying groceries & a 30 lb toddler) to get to my home
9. Not being pulled over for a "random vehicle inspection" every 4th time I drive home, causing me to get out of the car (it's worse when I have to wake up my slumbering child) open every door, hood, and compartment in my car, and stand behind the yellow line as the guards look through all my stuff, and under the car with a huge dental mirror
10. Speaking English without fear of being frowned upon as a stupid American who doesn't speak German
travel
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Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
9. Not being pulled over for a "random vehicle inspection" every 4th time I drive home, causing me to get out of the car (it's worse when I have to wake up my slumbering child) open every door, hood, and compartment in my car, and stand behind the yellow line as the guards look through all my stuff, and under the car with a huge dental mirror


So, you won't be living on post, then? (Here it's actually every 10th time through the gate, officially.)

I enjoyed Germany while I was there for TDY, but obviously didn't have to face the same things as you...
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
The US will be glad to have you back. You are lucky to have had the opportunity to live overseas. I would love to travel - someday. Everytime we move to a new duty station there are things I am looking forward to leaving behind and things I will miss. Maybe not as big as yours since all of our moves have been in the US. This time I think will be the hardest because this is the first time we bought a home. Moving out of base housing isn't as hard, I don't think.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
I had forgotten about the stop lights.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Well I have never traveled farther than Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea still I can at least say I have traveled internationally. Honestly I don't ever see myself traveling not even to Europe. Sorry, I have no beef with Europe, I just have a hard time adjusting to new cultures even if it's for just a few days. I don't have much patience for it. So I don't travel far.

Now about the missing list. Here's my thought on each:

1. There will be plenty of not so smart cars to make fun of here. And there will also be not so smart drivers as an added bonus.
2. Even though we have speed limits here, people seem to be blind to words when driving. That's why most people miss their exits.
3. We have plenty of Carnivals and Festivals, just be carful what you eat and what you ride.
4. You wait for yellow to green to creep up before green? I thought that was done with the red light while guessing that the other light should be yellow to red any moment now.
5. We have Disney and Great Adventure, what more do you want?
6. I don't get it.
7.
8. Don't worry, with all the air pollution here you breath will be taken away just by looking at some old building at the Getto.
9. Well, when it snows it's mildly warm, when it rains it's mildly dry.
10. We don't have many priority roads but people seem to use the sidewalks just as well so... there are a few cirles here and there and traffic..., well theres plenty of that.
11. I though we made cola here, Pepsi and Coke.
12. We have fantastic travel oportunities, illegal immigrants usually enjoy those privilages. Nothing like taking a free trip back to your country after making good under the table money here in the States.

Things to look fowqard to in the USA? Come one this is the US, what isn't there to look foward to. Just look at the list above.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
4. Traffic lights that turn red-yellow-green, then green-yellow-red, allowing us to creep out on the yellow light as it's about to turn green.


I always thought of them as drag strip 'go' lights.

C'mon home!