Last couple of weeks!

I am sad to say that the work week of our second week in Germany was not much different from the first, continued with in-processing. But we did get to move into our apartment, what a relief. I am not sure that any of us could have made it much longer in our little hotel room. Our second day in the apartment we received temporary furniture from the Army, not too bad, I was expecting much worse. We have to return the furniture when our stuff gets to Germany, which may be longer than we originally thought, looking at end of Oct right now. We have a few items that we do not have to return including wardrobes (you will not find a single closet in Germany), a refrigerator (Army provides refrigerators about 2/3 size of an American refrigerator, about 4x the size of a German refrigerator), and a washer and dryer. We were given what is considered large European appliances. My washer fits maybe 1/2 the clothes that my one in the States fit (1/2 would be pushing it). Anyways, the washer and dryer are supposed to be these super energy efficient appliances, which equates to it taking 2 1/2 hours to wash a load and 3 hours to dry it. Don't forget to empty the water after drying after load, and emptying the 3 lint filters.
Last weekend was the old town festival in our town, equates to a street fair. We tried lots of beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages, lots of different meat sandwiches and desserts. I also bought a scarf, trying to bring some European fashion into my wardrobe. Apparently there were some races in town during the fair, but we never saw them, we will have to try to remember them next year.
My mom passed away last weekend. We had a hard time going to the street fair while trying to cope with our loss. On Monday started our mission to try to get me home for the funeral. After talking to his Captain, Nathan was told that he was still going to go to the field for a training practice Wed. morning and I was most likely out of luck. After talking to my FRG (family readiness group) leader I found out how to start a Red Cross message. We didn't get the Red Cross message until Tues, but as soon as we had it Nathan was granted emergency leave allowing both of us to come back for the funeral. We flew back on Thur., the funeral was on Sat. The funeral was absolutely beautiful, we could not have asked for a more fitting service to honor my mom. We have been very blessed while here in that we have lots of family and friends helping us out between giving us a place to stay, a car to drive, meals, etc. We cannot thank everyone enough. We fly back tomorrow, sad but at the same time looking forward to seeing Ellie and getting settled in Germany a little more.
Due to the computer I am on at the moment I cannot post any photos, but I will add some as soon as we get internet in our apartment :)