New to site

[oram]

Hello!
I am new to this site and interested in seeing who is near me. I am in Grafenwoehr which is nearest to Vilseck and not far from hohenfels(sp?)
I have been here a year and have made a few friends- my closest friend is leaving germany the end of July so I am trying to branch out and meet some more like minded women. I just gave birth at home in march to a beautiful daughter- my son is 21 months. This is the first time I started a thread but I actually replied to two previous posts and haven't heard back. Are most of you military? It seems harder to meet military women who have similar life styles to mine- organic eating and a more holistic approach to living. Like I said I have made friends and they are great women but they're not part of my "wolf pack" if you know what I mean. I sure miss my good friends at home and it's so hard to be away from them while in this important life phase of raising your children and creating a home and family. There's something really exciting about doing it in a foriegn country though- wouldn't you agree? It reminds us we can create a wonderful home no matter where we are. Any way- curious to see who is near. Tchus!

[Hollycrand]

I have NO IDEA where you are - what state are you in? Are you military affiliated?
I am not military affiliated, living in Germany with my French/German husband and two daughters. I know what you mean about finding like-minded mommies. I have a hard enough time with some of the cultural differences in raising children German v. my US experience (I come from a crunchy SF Bay Area family) and then to have so many differences with the Americans I've met here...I have some good friends who don't feel the same way about parenting as I do (they don't co-sleep, don#t wear their babies, stop BFing at 8 months, etc.) but we don't let those things get in the way of a friendship. I have met some like-minded women (AP, crunchy) in sme of the most unlikely places. The crunchiest friends I have are from a French playgroup I go to - but we're all considered 'weird' anyways from Americans and French alike. There are also a couple of crunchy mamas I met in a German playgroup I attend.
If you are military affiliated, do you have a LLL group near you? I know it's hard even in a LLL group - most of the women in the English speaking LLL group in Stuttgart (military affiliated group) are quite mainstream but there remain a few exceptions. A couple of the military affiliated friends I have are from the LLL group. Even though we might differ in some parenting styles, we can still have some great discussions, and are open-minded to many parenting styles.
I agre with you - home is where you make it. But I do wish that we had family near. My in-laws came for a visit earlier this week and dd#1 was so happy...she really has a great relationship with her grandparents. It's too bad we can't see them more often or live closer to them. Good friends are nice, but good extended family role models are also important to have as well.