First Day of Orientation

Today began with breakfast, as many do...although there were some interesting foods to be had at breakfast (not foods that everyone would eat though). One of the foods that I found particularly interesting was the 'black pudding.' It is a delicacy in England, and it consists of pig's blood and meat made into a type of sausage that they cut into smaller pieces...looking nothing like pudding if you ask me. Another thing that was for breakfast was poached tomatoes with sunny-side-up eggs. Apparently you are supposed to eat them together...I wasn't feeling too adventurous on my first breakfast, so I didn't try those things just yet. I did, however, get what I thought was toast that had been pre-buttered, but then I found out that it was deep-fried bread, so I didn't eat that either...I will become more adventurous soon. Promise.

We practiced the blitz outside of the NAAFI (the equivalent of the PX and Commissary on American bases). I am sure that was quite the spectacle, with people watching us sing and dance, but I bet they thought we were brilliant!  <-----look at that! I am using British words in my everyday writing! We performed the blitz for our new supervisors and staff, followed by an introduction from the man who is our main POC. He was hilarious...talking about how he loved America and had been to Iowa twice. He said that he was fascinated by his trip, and one of the first things he saw that he thought was weird was the "Adopt a Highway" signs. He said that in the UK they normally adopt children and that he had never heard of anyone adopting a highway before :) He then introduced the man that is in charge of all of the Garrisons in Germany. He was also funny, comparing the American English to British English. He said that we all have words that have meanings, just slightly different ones. His examples were trousers to pants, a hat to a bonnet, a trunk to a boot, etc. It was funny to hear both of them talk about how different our English could be. He told us "by the time you leave here, you will be actually speaking English." Our main POC was talking with us again and told one of the camps that they would have a vehicle to get to camp from where they live, and he called it a '9 seater people carrier.' I had to think for a minute to fully understand what on earth he was talking about, but I finally got it!

I also found out during out little history lesson that this garrison is one of four main garrisons placed in Germany. It was placed in Germany post-WWII as NATO Security. It is starting to shrink, however, and they think that it will be completely obsolete by 2020. This stinks for those that love living here and for Camp A too...but at least more of the troops are getting to go home :)

We got a break for lunch and came back in the afternoon for the beginning of the site-specific training, which consisted mainly of getting-to-know you games. They were really fun, cracking jokes and laughing constantly. Andy, our facility's director, was hilarious and reminded me a lot of my Uncle Bill :) They seemed very supportive of Camp A and what we were about, which was refreshing to hear, because last year that wasn't really the case last summer.

We found out basics about our facilities and what we would have access to within the center. It is going to be an awesome summer. We have a large multipurpose room with couches, old diner booths and a stage with a disco ball! There is also a room with nothing that will serve as a type of gym, and then a room completely dedicated to arts and crafts! There is also a room that is used for the teens on the weekends, which has couches and chairs to lounge on with a projector on the wall...it is super nice and was just remodeled. Having this facility will make the profra

new words/phrases for today:

whilst- while

programme- program

trousers- pants

bonnet- hat

meself- myself

9 seater people carrier- 9 passenger van

have a read of them

i've got it all settled

what books me...