Weekend Recap: Grafenwoehr

I typically hate drill weekends, but I didn't mind this drill weekend so much because we were able to join Malu on this one!  It was pretty much an abbreviated drill weekend because the unit had its Christmas party, but I'll get into that more in a little bit.

The last time we were in Grafenwoehr it was May and we stayed in lodging that must have been centuries old.  When I made reservations for this weekend, I dreaded the thought of staying in those old, dingy rooms.  Little did I know that an entirely new lodging facility had opened and those old buildings were no more.  Malu pulled up to a building that looked exactly like the lodging here in Stuttgart.  As a matter of fact, we experienced some major deja vu as we walked into our room.  It looked exactly like the room we spent three weeks living in almost a year ago (I can't believe that much time has gone by)!  I'm not sure why I'm so surprised.  Army lodging is pretty standardized worldwide.  Army lodging is also becoming more expensive.  $155 a night?  For real?

We were right across the street from the PX, which was perfect for linking up with Malu at lunch time on Saturday.

You guys, these chicken trucks are everywhere in Germany and we love them to death (my family knows how much Malu loves his chicken!).  It's the best rotisserie chicken you'll ever eat, so we eat it whenever we have the chance.  As a matter of fact, we have a really good chicken guy that sells his stuff right outside our gate here at Patch Barracks.  He's aptly named, the "Chicken Man" and is quite popular in these parts.

For those of you that don't know, Malu works for the same unit that I do here in Stuttgart, but he's really assigned to a reserve unit based in Grafenwoehr.  So he does double duty.  This was the first time I actually got to meet his co-workers and what a great group of folks.  This weekend they held their unit Christmas party at a place called the Brauerei Bruckmueller, which was originally a Franciscan monastery dating back to the late 1400s.  Located in Amberg (about 30 minutes away from Grafenwoehr), it has been a family-run brewery for over 500 years.  This place and the food was amazing in terms of the ambiance and the structure of the building.  I also haven't had German food this good in a while.

There was a really neat beer crate Christmas tree out front.  I thought my dad and brother would get a kick out of this.

Sina, feeling a little bit under the weather (there's a bug going around her school!) and perhaps overwhelmed by the crowd, decided she wanted to play shy and snuggled up to daddy most of the time.

I absolutely love this photo of the three of us!  And yes, I recently got my hair cut.  Back to my old, short style.  I just think it suits me better...and it's definitely low maintenance (I'm a wake-up-and-go kinda gal).

I'm not going to lie...this was my plate.  Hey, it was a buffet.  And it was FREE--compliments of the USO!  I definitely got USO's money's worth.

We had schnitzel (pork), spaetzle (noodles), some kind of pasta casserole, a mushroom gravy, and a dumpling.  It was dee-licious!

We also sprung for dessert.  Apfel (apple) strudel.  Yum!

There were tons of drinks (and shots) to be had.  These guys were tons of fun, and extremely nice.  I'm so happy Malu's got a great team!

Malu might have imbibed in his fair share of said drinks and shots.  Okay, maybe I had to drive us home :)  It was all in good fun.  Definitely a team-building experience.

We also did an elephant gift exchange.  I won a really cool Starbucks mug and some coffee.  Speaking of Starbucks...the Grafenwoehr PX has a Starbucks.  I was in heaven!

Some other things...

While waiting on Malu during the day, Sina and I were able to link up with the Finch Family for a visit.  They dropped by to do some shopping at the Graf PX (they live about an hour away from there) and we joined them. We also met their newest little one, Mackinley, for the first time.  What a cutie!  We'll be linking up with the in the coming weeks for a Christmas market trip!

While at the PX, I ran into an old friend that I met at Fort Bragg 9 years ago.    Her husband was in my unit and gosh, they were so young back then and pretty much new to the Army.  They are a Filipino family, which instantly connected us although I wouldn't say we were extremely close.  Nevertheless, they made me a godmother to their daughter.  We'd lost touch all these years, so imagine my surprise when this 8-year-old girl comes walking up to me, not having a clue who I was.  Yet, her mom excitedly exclaimed, "this is your ninang!"  or godmother, in Filipino.  At the time, we were in a rush because we were on Malu's lunch break and I had to drive him back to his unit, but I hurriedly had her scribble her contact information on a piece of paper.  When we got out to the car, I told Malu I felt like I should have handed that little girl $100 or something (as this is customary for godparents in the Filipino tradition).  He asked why I didn't.  Well, I didn't exactly have $100 on me.  Fail.  But I'll be keeping in touch from now on.  Small world, eh?

And that was pretty much our weekend.  Pretty cool, huh?

It's definitely getting colder around here.  I heard mentionings of snow a few times today at work, so I'm thinking we'll be getting some soon.  This cold weather makes for some perfect cuddling time in front of our Christmas tree, which I'll tell you guys about soon.

Oh...and Sina turns 16 months tomorrow!

Happy Monday everyone!