What I've been doing while I wasn't here...part 1 Aug 2011

It's been a pretty busy month and it's hard to grab enough time to really blog about it.

• We went blueberry picking.
• I had an appointment with a neurosurgeon and a quick follow-up MRI. Physical therapy should start as soon as I make an appointment.
• The German and I went to a Sting concert in Rome at the Cavea dell'Auditorium Parco della Musica. We stayed at the Westin Excelsior and were upgraded to a suite that was incredible. And it was just a tiny suite compared to the suite we were connected to as part of one of the largest suites in Europe (we were told that Prince had stayed— in our small section—there recently). I haven't really thought of myself as a Sting fan— we grabbed the opportunity because it was offered to us as a package and because I love Rome and will always take the opportunity to visit it. But this concert was amazing: leaving aside the wonderful weather (Rome was having a cold spell after the previous week's 40C and was at a perfect 28C, with all the Romans wearing coats and scarves), the venue had perfect acoustics and was charming and intimate. At our pre-party, we could see Sting and some of his people testing instruments and listening to sound levels. At the concert, we had front-row seats and it was wonderful. The open sky, the seductive breeze, the music with a full orchestra.... We were given a copy of Sting's Symphonicities (a pun on his earlier Synchronicities)and the concert that we saw and heard was far better than the one recorded on the CD. What a wonderful concert and the La Fenice orchestra was also wonderful.
  
• I had a major dental work done:-(. But it went well:-). Of course my American expat insurance classified it incorrectly as something reimbursed at a lower rate: what would our last two months on expat insurance be if it did not include arguing with the insurance company? I can say from personal experience that more than 80% of our claims are automatically denied or classified incorrectly or paid at the wrong rate and that, after argument and re-submission, they are indeed correctly paid. Sometimes it has required 4 calls and re-faxes of information(they "lose"scan and sends). I cannot wait until we are on German public insurance and I am very pleased to say that time is rapidly approaching.
  
• We took the children for a boat tour on the Spree and it was surprisingly sunny— enough so that I got a bit of a sunburn and the kids were enervated. We aren't used to any sun in this summer without a summer!

—continued in the next post, so that one's eyes aren't overloaded...