Text 2048, 104 rader
Skriven 2008-02-09 09:21:28 av hap newsom (1:124/311)
     Kommentar till en text av Ruth Haffly
Ärende: RE: travels
===================
Hey Ruth!
-> 
-> -> I know, but it was 20 years difference. I'm glad we had the opportunity
-> -> to go when we did.
-> 
->  hn> Yep, better to have gone late than
->  hn> to have not gone at all! (grin) or something like that!
-> 
-> Different time frame, different perspective. I went as an adult, with a
-> couple of kids but you went as a child (teen).  But, we were in Berlin
-> when the wall came down; that will always be a hall mark reference for
-> our time in Germany.
-> 
My hallmark reference  is the assasination of JFK...watched
the funeral on French TV at a Friend's house via telstar. There
were no "USA" TV's over there in those days. 

-> ->  hn> I had...But I did buy my bike with my own money, and
-> ->  hn> traveled on my own money and bought all my ski and baseball
-> ->  hn> gear with my own money.
-> 
-> -> So you made some pretty good (for the time) investments.
-> 
->  hn> chuckle...well I thought so, I also spent a lot of
->  hn> Franc's on train tickets to various places as well!
-> 
-> As long as you could, why not?
-> 
->  hn> Can you believe we were in France for almost 5 years
->  hn> and the I was the only one who did much travelling!
-> 
-> I'm surprised your dad and mom didn't go, or was it too close to their
-> personal history to do so?
-> 
Well Pop was home so seldom, as he was on Flight Status
almost all of his career. He'd be off flying somewhere for days,
weeks, or months at a time! I was the only one who was
old enough to be off on my own so I went off as much as
I could! Sometimes with friends, but mostly on my own. 
By bike if it was close enough, or by train if not. 

->  hn> We never even went to Normandy!! I went on my own
->  hn> and it was the first time I ever cried for the pain of others.
-> 
-> That would be a hard one to take, especially after reading so much about
-> it.
-> 
It was my first concept of what real war was about.
Not long after I visited Normandy, the movie the Longest
Day came out. What an added perspective that gave!

-> ->  hn> the Commisary and the Exchange and those that
-> ->  hn> did shop on the economy lived there as well. Of course
-> 
-> -> We lived in military housing.  For shopping on the economy, we'd have 
to
-> -> get our $$ changed to DM and use them. It wasn't a problem as long as
-> 
->  hn> We could exhcange franc's for $$ or just spend the $$ on the 
economy
->  hn> and sometimes that was an even better rate of exchange than
->  hn> the 5 for 1 rate at the bank.
-> 
-> We didn't have that option; it was all DM on the economy. Got some good
-> food from those little imbiss stands all over the place--good prices
-> too. Much better than the fast food places available on post! (G)
-> 
When I was in Berlin (and most of Germany for that matter) you
could spend US $$ just about anywhere, the Germans were HAPPY 
to have them!

->  hn> Last year there was a reunion of kids from my school
->  hn> (kids...all of us are in the "over 50's now!) back in
->  hn> Chateauroux...from what I see on the website you'd
->  hn> have thought it was the second coming !!
-> 
-> I've not heard of any reunions from the school Rachel & Deborah went to
-> while in Germany. Rachel is in touch with some of her Berlin classmates
-> thru MySpace tho. Interestingly, 3 of them (Rachel and a couple of
-> others who went to the same church we did in Berlin) are relatively
-> close together now; they are in Tucson and she is in Las Vegas. They've
-> half talked about a get together.
-> 
There are a few sites dedicated to those of us who went to that 
small exclusive club of DOD schools. If she's interested I could 
email them to you.
-> 
-> ->  hn> I have a lot of memories of those days, some good
-> ->  hn> some bad...but mostly I remember the good ones
-> ->  hn> and try to forget the bad ones!
-> 
-> -> That's about normal for most people.
-> 
->  hn> I've been called a lot of things
->  hn> Normal isn't usually one of em (grin)
-> 
-> Normal is a setting on my washer. (G)
-> 
-> 
I think it's on my dryer (grin)
chat with you soon
hap 
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