Personal Narrative Essay: Home In The American Arms Hotel
530 Words3 Pages
The quarters still weren’t ready when we arrived, so the Army put us up for a week in the American Arms Hotel found in the middle of the clean, beautifully organized town. We had two rooms, and there were plenty of stores and restaurants in the area. And the Army paying for the meals, made the transition tolerable. The kids liked it, but it was cramped, and I was grateful it was only a week. My preference was to integrate into the community and to learn Germany and the customs, but Colonel Stewart insisted we stay in Government quarters. Finally, our quarters in Aukamm Housing area were available for inspection. The quality, hilly area sat just above the town, close to the Commissary and Post Exchange. Luckily, they assigned us a four bedroom apartment on the first floor, a half flight up as there was a basement for storage and laundry half flight down. As a senior Major, I was eligible to join the duplex waiting list, lovely houses we would enjoy. We took severe tests for our DoD driver’s licenses, arranged for quartermaster furniture and other standard utilities. Phone service proved terribly expensive, even charging for local calls. Overseas calls were about $6 a minute (the equivalent of over $17 in 2015 dollars). That made…show more content… A European green 1969 911S, owned by a Lieutenant Colonel was available and bought it for $1500. It was acceptable mechanically but had developed rust in places. A month later, our Honda was at the port in Bremerhaven and that weekend we picked it up. Bremerhaven was dramatically colder than Wiesbaden, and we had not taken suitable clothing. The car was fine, with no damage and we headed back. Driving around Wiesbaden and up to Bremerhaven gave us a taste of Germany; clean and organized; and outstanding food and wine! We soon found our favorite restaurants and touring