Welcome to Mannheim!

Nearly 30 years ago, my family landed in Frankfurt, Germany, boarded a bus that transported us from the Flughafen and let us out in front of the Bowling Alley in Mannheim. My daughters hadn't slept at all during the ocean crossing and my husband, a former Army Brat, was just excited to be starting a new adventure. 

We left our trucks and bags on the curb and made our way through the doors of the very American building, we got our first "Willkommen". In those days, there was a "greeter" standing at a podium, checking IDs. As we approached a tall, smiling young man he called out, "Welcome to Mannheim! Y'all "sprecken and deutsch?" We were there for two years, but stayed... DoDDS, DDESS, DoDEA is a great adventure.

So, what's YOUR story? Whenever I meet a DoDEA colleague for the first time, or move to a new military community, one of the first questions I ask is, "What's your story? How did you make the decision to come to DoDDS/DDESS?"

I thought it would be fun to collect some of these stories, as well as stories about the DoDDS/DDESS experience. I would love to have DoDEA folks Past and Present to share stories and experiences as a bit of an archive. Please share the adventures!