Ahlgrim's Summer Update - 2007

Time sure flys! It is already September and we finally have gotten around to writing another newsetter.

We are still living here in Japan. 2 years down and one more to go before we leave for our next phase of life. The Navy of course cannot yet tell us where that might be and we haven’t yet decided whether or not to stay on another 4 years to find out. Perhaps we might leave our nomad lifestyle altogether and move to Colorado to pursue a more normal family life in the civilian world. To keep this possibility open, Joel needs to look into finding a new job and we’ll have to make a decision by the end of the year. In any case, the decision won’t be easy to make. Both options have significant advantages and disadvantages to consider.

In May we got back to Germany for the first time in the last 18 months. This was the first time for Grandpa Willy and Aunt Sandra to finally get to meet little Andrew personally. Grandma Inge was out for a month after Andrew was born to help out. Everyone was gathered in the airport and seeing everyone again was really great. Unfortunately the flight was pretty tiring for Andrew and he wasn’t able to stay in a good mood for long. (See the airport pictures and you’ll understand). After a few days of adjusting to the jet lag, he was back to his old happy self and made a great impression on his aunt and grandparents. They of course did a great job of properly spoiling him over the next month.

Joel – the budding amateur Brewmaster - had the chance to take a great tour of the “Frankenheim Brewery” with his father-in-law. Even though it wasn’t the season for the big “Schuetzenfest“ that Neuss is known for, there was a smaller festival going on and Joel was able to get a taste of it. It was a lot of fun. Willy even managed to see to it that he recieved a medal an „honoraray member“ status. Now that he has had a taste, hopefully our schedules will allow us to visit in August someday for the big event „The Neusser Schützenfest.“

Since Joel only had 10 days to spend in Germany, there wasn’t all that much time, but we did out best to make the most of it. One of the highlights was a daytrip with Sandra and her boyfriend Marcel to Maastricht. We picked this destination almost by chance and we really were impressed. It is a beautiful city. After Joel left, we were visited by my godfather and his family for the weekend.

The Streitbergs had a really great idea and surprised us with the presentation of the “Andrew Tree“ which Willy had planted in the yard. Now Andrew has his own little apple tree to check on every time he is visiting and Grandma and Grandpa have a constant reminder of him that will (hopefully) grow healthy and tall just like Andrew. Thanks again for the great idea. We loved it!

After Joel returned to Japan, Nicole and Andrew stayed behind another 3 weeks. With this extra time, Nicole took advantage of overseas base-to-base free shipping policies and packed up a few hundred pounds of childhood toys, furniture and just about anything else she’d like to have from Germany. When she was done, she was able to airmail all this to me here in Japan for free. She didn’t want to use so much precious time of her visit with box-packing, but that may have been the last real chance to ship her personal belongings out of Germany while we can still use the military benefits.

Typhoons and earthquakes aside, we are enjoying the summer. It is relatively nice weather, but the humidity is pretty tough to handle. We have tried to make the best of things and see a bit more of what is right outside the base. So often we tour far and wide, but don’t really get to know our own area so well. Besides that, our “Time-manager“ Andrew doesn’t usually put up with too many big tours. Fortunately, over the last 2 years we have been able to see just about everything in Japan we had hoped to see.

Earlier in the summer Nicole was finally able to experience a taste of the traditional „Japanese Tea Ceremony“ when a group of ladies came on base to perform it for guests at the base’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival. The Japanese are known for their elegant cermony and polite nature. I cannot even guess how many times I was given a polite bow during that short ceremony… ha ha ha

One of the sad parts of military life is the frequent departure of friends as they are moved from place to place. This year a lot of our friends have been sent back home to the US, but through Joel’s work and Andrew’s play group, we have quickly been making new acquantances.

I still have my monthly “Girls Game Night” and the guys have occassional “Poker Night” in addition to their weekly Friday afternoon “Meetings“ at the Officer’s Club. I have also joined the „Japanese-American Officer’s Wives Club“ and we get together for social events and cultural exchange activities. Last year for example we were able to enter a former imperial home that would normally not be open for visitors.

In Joel’s free time, he is keeping busy with a variety of pasttimes. Lately he’s been brewing his own beer at home. It has been turning out very well, so at least if the job search doesn’t work out, he can go into brewing instead. I’m sure he’d make a fortune. This actually doesn’t involve much time at all (just an occassional mess in the kitchen). Although Andrew rarely gives us a lot of free time, quite a bit of it is spent with hobby #2... Making extravegant productions out of our home movies. We have been able to put together some really nice momentos of our travels here in Japan and of course have recorded just about every interesting thing that has happened in Andrew’s first year of life.
One of our big memories of the year has been climbing Mount Fuji. (The highest Mountain in Japan) We had to go on separate days so one of us could watch Andrew, but we both made it. Joel hit the summit in about 5 hrs, and Nicole made it in 6 while hiking with her mother-in -law. Even though it isn’t extremely high, it is really a tough climb due to the constant grade, and loose volcanic rock. The descent is really no rest since the steep slope and loose gravel puts you in constant danger of slipping. Joel got down in 3 hrs and Nicole made it in 4. From the exertion and the altitude, both of us got a headache (Mount Fuji is about 13000 feet). Nicole felt particularly sick, but recovered quickly once down at the base. We both agree that once is enough. Apparently there is a say in Japan that “A man who lives in Japan and never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool, but the man who climbs it twice is an even bigger fool“. Now that it is behind us, we are both glad to have done it and we are proud to look up at the peak and know we we on the top!

Meanwhile back at home, our little “Boss of the House“, Andrew is now over 10 months old. It is amazing how fast time has passed by. He is now the proud holder of both an American and German passport. Unfortunately, he can still only speak Japanese, so we really have no idea of what he is trying to tell us even though he obviously tries to get his point across. He is now crawling all over the house and pulls himself up whenever he finds something to grab on to. He can even feed himself small snacks and really enjoys himself. He is also working on drinking water from a cup and in the last week or two, he has even (finally) gotten his first tooth. (So he is understandably a bit more clingy than usual). Without a doubt, he really keeps us on our toes, but we are enjoying every moment of it.

This year the only visitors we have had have been the Ahlgrims. Alan & Linda actually came out twice; first in April and again in August. Kristin was able to come as well on the first visit. Our last visitor for the year comes this September when a friend of Joel’s will be coming out for 10 days. Joel will be flying back to the US briefly in November, but Nicole and Andrew won’t be able to come along. In December we will all be in Germany again for Christmas..

At the beginning of August, we were finally relocated from our un-renovated home on base, into a newly finished unit. The Navy has been systematically renovating all of the housing on base and following their own schedule. We really didn’t have any choice of when we were moving, but at least the Navy took care of organizing everything. There was really no need for us to lift a finger, except to pack and unpack the precious or fragile items we didn’t want to trust to the movers. Getting the house put back together was a big frustrating for Nicole since she was in charge of re-organizing everything, but in the end we agree it was worth the effort and we are enjoying our freshly renovated little house.

That about wraps up this newsletter. You are now totally up to date on all of the happenings in the life of the Ahlgrims. As you have already discovered, our website has changed and hopefully will work better in the future. We will still post some pictures here, but there will be more available through the photo button which will send you to our shutterfly collection. From there, you can download hig-res pictures, or prints, or whatever. If you haven’t already done so, please delete the old bookmark, and type the address into the bar. It will still be at the same address, but the old bookmark won’t work. Just type:

www.ahlnews.us