Traveling

In early 2009, my recently widowed mom told me and my niece that she sign a job contract to work for the US Miltary in Germany as a civilian contractor and that we're going to move in June. This was big news since this will only be the second time that I moved (the first one was into my childhood home when I was 2 years old), but it'll be the first time I'll actually be out of the country. I rememeber my mom taking me and my oldest niece to the post office that was near the airport to have our photo taken for our passports. For me at the time, this was my opportunity to get away from the kids at my old school as I didn't fit in due to being autistic (I remembered a fat black chick and a fat white redneck bullied me at that school because of both my disability and that I was awkward to be around with) and since I'll be going to a school on a miltary base in Germany, this means the kids will be more "nicer".

But I stupidly didn't look up what life was in Germany and by the time we moved, I think I suffered from a few meltdowns over everything being different than living back at home! I didn't like that the time looked different (it's military time), that not everyone speak English (but if they did, some tend to speak in broken English) and that everything is closed on SUNDAYS (yes everything, this include grocery stores)!!!! Thankfully after a month, I got over it real quick (or as I found, years later in my Intro to Speech class in university: culture shock) and managed to fit in. Then when it was time for school to start, I got on a bus that takes the miltary and civilian contractor kids to the school on base, I sat in the back with the middle and high schoolers (I was an 8th grader) and I heard swearing, just like any other teens would say in America! It looked like things were mostly the same after all....

When we first moved to Germany, we stayed in a hotel for a month until my mom managed to find a house to rent that is 30 mintues away base. I took various photos from my digital camera at the time. It's not that much to be honest. Most of the pictures were blurry and some of the pictures I took was from McDonalds and Burger King! So, I end up using only the better photos that I saved on my computer.

One of the first places we visited in Germany is to a renaissance fair in Stazvey, Germany in May 2010. It's like what you see in TV and movies about the fairs, there were actual people dressing from the medieval era, play folk songs, shop in medieval markets, have jousting touraments, eating cooked meat by hand, etc. There was also a castle, Castle Stazvey, that was placed in the center of the fair. I rememeber enjoying it and eating Flammkuchen, which is a German type of pizza that is made with thin dough and is covered with white cheese, thinly sliced onions and lardons. I didn't take any photos there and if I did, it got lost to time. I know my mom did, but I wondered if I should steal a few photos (the ones without our faces on it) from her Facebook album and put it on this page.

The next place we visited was in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in July 2010. My memory is a little rusty on this one, but I know that this is the place where Germany's highest mountian, Zugspitze is located. A few days later, we went to a town of Schwangau, where one of its most famous area, Neuschwanstein Castle is located. We actually went inside of the castle and heard the story of how it's former owner, King Ludwig II of Bavaria spend his entire fotune in building the place, but died in a mysterious circumstances in 1886 before it was completed! We later went to a traditional restruant in a different town where we probably have schnitzel with french fries. I also didn't take photos or if I did, they were lost to time. So, I took some of the better photos that my mom took during our trip there. And prior to getting there, we saw some mountains in the background, so there photos of that too.

In March 2011, we went to the town of Eltville for an easter market (or as I called it on my Facebook album: "Easter Town"). What I rememeber is that we inside one of the churches were as I mention before, it's an easter market that took place on that weekend. It was full of homemade things that were made of glass and wood such as toys, easter eggs, picture frame and more. I think mom bought a wooden musical box from there and we still have it to this day. I have photos from inside, but some were blurry and was using a Samsung smartphone to take pictures, so the quality wasn't that good. The town is also home of Johannes Gutenberg, who invented the printing press, which allowed more people to read. I rememeber that what the tour guide said on the bus before we arrived at the church.

Then later that day, we went on a cruise boat on the Rhein River (and yes, I know I wrote it wrong, but that's how it's spelled in German) and spend the next few hours sight seeing. We saw many castles, old half-timbered buildings and various wine vines. I rememeber it being cold and windy that day, so we wore a jacket to keep warm. Then on our last stop before we head home, we landed at the Niederwald mountment in Rüdesheim am Rhein, that was made in the 1871 to commemorate the founding of the German Empire.

Then later that month, my family headed to a city of Trier. I remembering it starting out poor as my mom accidently left her wallet, that has Euro at home! So we spend half of the day without acutally money, until I think mom found an ATM and withdraw money that allow us to buy food and some souvenirs. Beside that, my family and the tour group saw the Electoral Palace, which combines the Basilica of Constantine, a Roman palace basilica that currently used by the Evangelical Church and the palace that has three different archiectural styles: Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo. We even went inside of the Basilica of Constantine!

Later that day, we went to the Porta Migra, which is a large Roman city gate since the city was found in 16 BC, during the era where the Roman Empire was still there. I rememeber going inside on the city gate and getting to see pst of the city from the upper floor of the gate. I also remember Trier was cloudly, cold and windy, so the tour had a glommy atmosphere.

One month later, my family headed to two places: Wartburg Castle and Eisenbach. For Wartburg Castle, it was the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German. It was also an inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Newschwanstein Castle. I rememeber going inside of the castle and seeing some of the artifacts. We even walked around the courtyard.

Later that day, we headed to the town of Eisenach. It was the town where famous German composer, Johann Bach was born. I rememeber touring his home, the Bach House. Inside, it has original exhibits and a Bach music autograph. Then that afternoon, there was a Easter parade, where various groups marched around the town. I think it was an easter parade. I don't know. It's been years since I went there. I know that I barely took photos of it, so I stole some of my mom's photos off of Facebook, once again (she won't mind since she doesn't use the account as much as she used to).

On Memorial Day weekend 2011, my family headed to Berlin with a tour group to look around the German captial. This one I can rememeber well as we went to the various places in the city. Such as the Brandenburg Gate (and there was Greenpeace at the gate, protesting about being anti Nuclear and covered the gate with huge sign), Charlottenbug Palace, Pergamon Museum, the Holocaust Memorial and Checkpoint Charlie, a popular border crossing between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War. I recall getting a stamp on my passport, showing that I did cross the Checkpoint, which I think was cool. Other places we saw was the Berliner Dom, Victory Column and the Riechstag Building.

However, one thing came out of this trip was that during downtime, my family went to a sushi resturant, near the hotel. Prior to that, I never had sushi before. And when the food arrive, I noticed a green sauce nearby and decided to taste it with my finger. WORST. MISTAKE. EVER!!!! It turns out it was wasabi and it was HOT! So hot, I quickly took a sip of my Coke to get the spiceness off of my tounge! While I still like sushi, my mom will always, teased me about doing that to this day!

Around June 2011, my family went to Holiday Park, an amusement park in Haßloch. My memory of this trip was a little hazy other than that we went there by mom's car, which means we didn't went on a tour guide this time around. I know that we got on a few rides, one that I rememeber was a water-based boat ride where it was a mediveal themed. And one of the carvings was a topless woman! Remember, this is Western Europe, where nudity is more accepted than in the States, so the Germans are not bothered by this. I don't have any photos of our trip, so sorry for those who want to see them! But I do have the map of it, which is somewhere in my room, that I can post later on once I can find it...

In July 2011, my family went on a river cruise for 4th of July as I rememeber they did fireworks at nighttime. I rememeber this well as it's where my 9th grade English teacher was there with her friends! I don't rememeber if they got on a boat with us, but it was crazy for something like that to happen. I rememeber looking at the various towns and villages as the cruise went down the Rhein. Then when it got dark, fireworks came out, which is funny since Germany doesn't celeberate the American holiday. I think there was some festival from another town going on or something. I didn't take any photos on the trip, but I do remember that my mom had someone take a family photo of us on the cruise. I won't show that here because of privacy reasons. But there were two photos from the event that I can find from my mom's page

Afterwords, we didn't do anymore travels for awhile. Mom wanted to save money in order to pay the bills and such. Plus there was school that me and niece had to deal with. But that changed in October 2011 when my mom and some of our family friends took us to Europa-Park in Rust. For those who don't know what Europa-Park is, it's excatually what it is, it's a European themed amusement park. And it's mascot is a mouse (but this one is different for the mouse that we all know)! We went when they have a month long Halloween event, where there were spooky stuff everywhere and staff members were wearing costumes. Some of the themed areas we went to at Europa-Park was Holland, France, Scandinavia, Germany, Greece, Russia, Italy and England. I didn't take photos there, but my mom did and I still have the map from when we went there, that I can post here later.

Then a few weeks later, my older cousin, who was living in France at the time as foreign exchange student, came to stay with us for a bit and one of the things we did was go to Rheinstein Castle. We took a tour of both the interior and the exterior of the castle. We even climbed near the top of the castle based on the shaky photos I took that day (sorry about that)!

Later on, we went to the town of Trechtingshausen we went some musuem and walked around the town for sightseeing. There were Christmas decorations everywhere even thought it's November (Germany doesn't have Thanksgiving like we Americans do). Despite that, it looked beautiful even thought it was cloudly and cold.

Then in Febuary 2012, my AP World History class took a field trip to Ronneburg Castle, which was fitting since we were covering the Middle Ages in class and this was a perfect opportunity to explore history itself! Based on the shaky photos I took on that day, it showed artifacts from the era, which include knight armor, swords and one of the medieval torture device, the pillory, which stood outside of the castle! I took a few photos of that.

I know that a few months later, my family went back to Satzvey for the renaissance fair and this time me and my niece actually wore dresses from the era! Beside what I mention in the last sentence, I think this was the only places we went to in Germany up until I graduated from high school in 2014. But then, a month after my graduation, my family and our family friends headed to Legoland Deutschland in Günzburg. I remember staying two nights in a castle at Legoland Holiday Village, which was across from the theme park. As for the park itself, we went to a couple of areas such as Lego City, Miniland (where there's a 1:20 scake recreations of various European cities and landscapes), Knights Kingdom, Little Asia and Pirate Land. And unlike the last 2 theme parks we went to in Germany, I actually took pictures and will post them here, along with the map that I kept!

After Legoland, I moved back to the States to start university, along with my family also moved back to the States as well and we stayed there for 5 years. It wasn't until in 2019, my mom signed a contract to work for a different branch of the US Military on a different base in Germany. Wanting to get away from the drama from her work (long story) and what bullshit that the Trump Administration is doing to our country, she took the chance, bought some furniture and left the house under my older sister's care as she landed in Germany to find a place to rent. Once I graudated with my Bachlor's Degree, a few months later, I was allowed to live my mom under special orders as I'm disabled and is planning to live with her for the rest of my life.

Now unlike from 10 years ago, I was older with more knowledge and expereince. Even if I did live in Germany for 5 years, I actually did my research on what life is like in Germany and even relearned how to speak the langauge (which I give up after awhile, but knew some words and phases to get around)! It was because of this, I didn't have any meltdowns this time around and was glad to be in Germany! While yeah, the country has their own set of problems (the rise of the far-right due to the country allowing million of Syrians to immigrate in 2015, the housing crisis and dealing with the fallout of Brexit), at least it was 10 times better than being back at home!

For the 2 1/2 years we lived in Germany, I took my photos of the small city that we used to live. Like most places in Germany, the city have the mixuare of modern and half-timbered buildings. Another thing about the city that it have tons of vineyards as it's one of the many winemaking areas in Germany. Too bad my mom couldn't drink as much of it because she's diabatic and our rented basement has a wine storage room.

As for some of the places that me and my mom went to Dortmund, where the Pokemon Go Fest for Euporeans and Africans player took place. We went to Westfalenpark, where we went to all the areas that some of the Pokemon were hiding. And there was a contest that my mom got into (which I didn't want her to go because of embrassment), but she managed to won a free t-shirt out of it! Meanwhile, I had to pay 30 Euros for mine t-shirt....

Unlike from before, there were a few places I went by myself such as Mainz and Frankfurt. I got there by using a train that was located, south of the city we were living at the time. I remember mainly walking around the 2 cities, taking photos and eating at a local McDonalds (I know, I know I'm a filthy casual American who rather eat food from home than locally. I do, it's just where me and my mom lived, there was no fast food restaurants, only local restaurants, which we went to some and actaully tasted good). For Frankfurt, I only went there twice by train: in Nov. 2019 and on my birthday in 2021. On both of my trips in Frankfurt, I walked in the downtown area where unlike most European cities, Frankfurt have skyscrapers to the point its' nicknamed Mainhattan, combing local river Main and "Manhattan".

On Mainz on the otherhand, I went there muliple times, including one in December where there was a Christmas Market in the main plaza. I rememeber taking all the photos and looking at the wooden theme to the market. I know Mainz is also home of the famous Carnval parade and was deabting on going, but it was in Feburay 2020 when mom told me to stop getting on the bus and the train as an virus from China, was making its way to Europe...

Sadly, Covid came and ruined everything as we didn't went out as much as we used to. Because unlike in the (cough) States (cough), Germany took Covid, very seriously (it also helped that the Chancellor at the time, was a former scientist). Closed everything expect for the grocery stores and the pharmacies and forced everyone to wear masks too, which was GREAT! The US Military, who tend to follow whatever their host nation do, did the exact same thing to the military and the cillivans. So as the results, me and my mom stayed home and the only time I went out was to take out the trash and walk to the local grocery store, that was a 3 mintue walk from our rented townhouse.

In March 2022, me and mom had to move back to the States when her contract ended early than usual and there was drama on getting her a spot at her old job (it was so bad that she had to contract our House of Rep in Congress to get things sorted out!) While I'm sad that we didn't do any touring this time around thanks to Covid and that mom had to pay the bills back at home, it was nice to go back to Germany with better respect than before. I hope that one day, we can go back.

In the summer of 2008, my mom send me and my oldest niece to stay with our aunt (the same aunt who was smoking crack in mom's car, one year later), south of Dallas for the second half of summer vacation. I remember not liking it because as I barely knew and that she was a terrible cook! So terrible that she rarely cook and relay on takeout. And that there was barely anything to eat there! Because of that, I actaully lost weight. Then after a month, she forced me to go to a day camp program for being too lazy around the house. There, I rememeber the people at the day camp forced us to pray before eating, which offended me as I was nonreligious and this took place in a public school too! As result, I hated staying there and plus, we rarely went anywhere too, beside a trip to like, Walmart or something! Thankfully, this was the only time my mom did this as one year later, we actaully moved out of the country.

6 years later, my family moved to southern Texas as part of a contract that my mom signed for her job. The only time I would visit Texas, was during break and when I switched schools to a univeristy that is near my house, I permanently became a Texas resident. As for traveling, we don't do as much as we used to when we were in Europe because my older sister and her kids now live with us, so money tend to be tight. The closest thing we get to travel is San Antonio, a major city that is not far from where we live. We went to the San Antonio Zoo for a Pokemon Go event and Brackenridge Park on that same day.

I know that San Antonio is home of the Alamo fortress and the Riverwalk. I actually went on the Riverwalk back in September 2023 when I was at San Japan, a local anime convention. The Riverwalk was actaully pretty and somewhat crowded since it was on Labor Day weekend when I went, but I didn't take too much photos, though. 7 years early, my family and some family friends went to Six Flags Fiseta Texas during summer break. It was okay thought, the food over priced and was crowded due to it was on a weekend. I should think about going to see the Alamo itself and the Tower of the Americas before my mom retires in a few years.

As for other places we have been in Texas, we went to Fort Hood to see family friend, who onced lived in Germany with us and that's...it. Well, my mom went to lakeside cabin somewhere in Texas with them and even visit them at their new home in Rockport, which is near the Gulf of Mexico. So yeah, we haven't been traveling anywhere thanks to the economy and being too busy with life.

To be honest, I hate living in Texas. Due to it being 100 degrees for at least 4 months a year (2023 was one of the worst summers that we ever had), the state is very right in the political standing to the point that I don't feel safe living there since I'm a black, bisexual, autistic woman, living with her widowed mom and have no job. But some of the few good things about living there is the food and the culture, which is nice if you think about. Other than that, I hope that my mom actually can move to a more liberal state, where it won't be as hot in the summer compared to Texas.