The Holiday Whirl: Will it never end? December 22-31

Sledding at Oma and Opa's House

After getting back from the UK (and counting our blessings that the weather did not interfere with our plans in any substantive way) we came back to a full schedule.

We got back Tuesday afternoon and sent the in-laws on their way with effusive thanks: we offered entertainment but they wanted to get back to prepare for the holidays (and every day my mother-in-law is not there is a day that someone needs to substitute for her on the organ and at the retirement home).

TMI following, feel free to skip: Then I got to fast. Wednesday morning was my (delayed) colonoscopy. After we extended he contract here in Germany, I realized that I needed to start actually considering my health, getting a three years too late annual exam, a full gyn, a mammogram (and ouch, they were extremely good at checking the margins!), a lung X-ray when my internist got tired of hearing me cough, and finally the colonoscopy. This is when I am grateful to be on extremely good Expat insurance (legal because we are here on secondment, otherwise not allowed to German residents). I think that with family history one can get checked for these things earlier than the German standard, but I'm not certain. What I do know is that my sister-in-law hasn't asked and she has an even stronger (worse) family history than I do: at her age I had been checked for 5 years. All was well with all the tests, the German prep for the colonoscopy was even worse than the American one, and I can wait four years until the next: Yeah.

Then more traveling:
Next came the last days of school and the drive to NRW. That's where we really ran into the weather issues that we had avoided traveling to the UK: 9 1/2 hours to travel a distance that usually takes us less than 4 1/2. The A2 was closed in the morning but then it reopened and we thought we could get through. Until it started raining heavily while -.5C and the Autobahn became a sheet of ice while all salt and grit washed away. We were actually very fortunate that the traffic came to a dead halt while we could see an exit and we wound up getting off, taking the kids to the (unbelievably packed) McDonalds we saw in the distance and checking the computer and with the in-laws to discover that there was a 26 km stau– we spoke to people who had stood on the highway unmoving for more than 10 hours. In our case, after consultation with our neighbors at the table to the right (they had a million maps!) and father-in-law, we wound up going south and detouring through Kassel before heading back north. It was much easier as we went south and it became colder with the precipitation being snow rather than rain. I was cursing that we hadn't chosen to take the train after hearing the forecasts, but we found out the next day that four ICE trains had been stuck on the tracks between Berlin and Hamburg due to cold and ice, so we were definitely better off in the car. We got there a bit before 2 am and carried the kids to bed.
Then we had a leisurely and domestic holiday. Some highlights:

This is an actual German Christmas tree. Those lights that you see are not cleverly designed electric lights, they are actual candles burning on an actual pine tree that is not sitting in a container of water (because they don't water trees here) in a room lined and roofed with wood and next to curtains.Amazing, isn't it? (Also, note no fire extinguisher or bucket of water in room). Keeps one on one's toes:).










This is my charmingly anonymous spouse and the girls. Note how warm they appear. The one without ski pants or waterproof gloves is the one taking the picture. The hill is the actual street outside my in-law's: the day after we arrived it became usable only if one entered above and exited below, Those who tried it the other way made loud revving noises until the German and the F-I-L dug them out. They seemed to enjoy it and we spent some time every day sledding here and on other hills in the area. We weren't as venturesome as my sister-in-law, whose husband dragged the kids on sleds up a steep hill in a neighboring town, then rode back down with them.

We met up for lunch with our former au pair in the US (I can't believe that she's about to start her internship in medical school) and had a nice chat: I wish we lived closer by and I hope she has the time to visit us after exams. All around a pleasant and domestic time, which included all members of the family playing instruments and singing carols as well as enjoying (adults only) the traditional Feuerzangenbowle. I actually like this, which is surprising because I generally hate Glühwein– perhaps because what I am served at Weihnachtsmarkts is more usually Glögg?

It was a relaxing and pleasant wind-up to a frenetic holiday season and the trip back took only four hours:).

Whew

Thing1's fever has finally broken. It  reached 104.1, or just over 40C and it did not respond to Motrin all day so I was getting quite concerned. T2 had the same on Monday night, but it responded beautifully, so she never got over 103F and I never felt that I needed to call the doctor. Today the German spoke to him in the forenoon and I spoke to him in the late afternoon, at home (another of the good parts of the German versus American health care system) and the doctor was able to reassure me that the high temperatures would not hurt her, in and of itself. I've never had a child stay up at 104 for any extended period of time and it's been quite frightening. I researched around and the new literature all seems to say that fevers in and of themselves will not be damaging, but it was very reassuring to have a doctor discuss it with me, offer to come over if I felt it was necessary, but explain why it wasn't at that point. Some cool showers and Motrin and swabbing down later it seems that it may have broken on exactly the same schedule as T2's. Looks like being on the waitlist for the H1N1 vaccine may no longer be as important. T2 back to kita tomorrow, if her health maintains and perhaps T1 can return on Friday.

A quiet weekend with President Obama

The German got back last night from Munich and we spent today doing the ordinary things: a big shopping trip, a hot afternoon meal, laufradding and rollerblading.

Thing2 is developing a cold (gosh, we have been illness free for almost a week!)but she has finally decided that she will take medicine. This is an exciting new development and makes dealing with fevers easy: she was very funny as I finally persuaded her to taste the children's Motrin, and she curled the tip of her tongue into it. (Meanwhile Thing1 was throwing herself at me, begging for medicine: she loves Motrin and Tylenol.)

Then we had a lovely evening dealing with paperwork and faxing off a backlog of information in all different directions. We are winding up watching (re-watching, in my case) President Obama's speech in Cairo. It is such a good speech, so very carefully and so very intelligently written and so well-delivered. For those who have not had a chance to watch yet, it's well worth the almost one hour. Did you notice how very careful the distinction is between the political state of Israel and the religion of Judaism? How carefully he spoke to the difference between the religion of Islam and the acts of extremists? How careful he was with the differences between ethnic groups and political entities. What an intelligent man, how grateful I am that he is my president. How greatly I agree with his views.


Here is the transcript.

"America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed -- more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction -- or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews -- is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

....

And finally, the Arab states must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state, to recognize Israel's legitimacy, and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past.

America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and we will say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. (Applause.) We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true.

Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra -- (applause) -- as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. (Applause.)

....

The sixth issue -- the sixth issue that I want to address is women's rights. (Applause.) I know –- I know -- and you can tell from this audience, that there is a healthy debate about this issue. I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. (Applause.) And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well educated are far more likely to be prosperous.

Now, let me be clear: Issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, we've seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.

I am convinced that our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons. (Applause.) Our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity -- men and women -- to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice.
...

I know there are many -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort -- that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur. There's so much fear, so much mistrust that has built up over the years. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country -- you, more than anyone, have the ability to reimagine the world, to remake this world.

All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort -- a sustained effort -- to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Applause.) This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.

The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Applause.)

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now that must be our work here on Earth.

Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

"

There and Back Again... to the Doctor's, that is.

It's been a long slog. April 19th I woke up in bed in Paris with a high fever and tremendous bodily aches and pains: influenza.

By a week later, the fever was past, my neck pain was almost gone, I was starting to feel better. That's when the breathing problems started. I waited a while, but I reached a point when I was quite unhappy and I wound up going to the ER, as I already mentioned.

They diagnosed bronchitis and provided antibiotics and an inhaler. 4 days later I was back again. This time the higher level doctor diagnosed pneumonia and proffered 4 days more of the antibiotic and another inhaler. That's when I called my OB/GYN for a referral and the next day I was at an internist. I talked about that entry experience a bit. That visit brought me a new inhaler, a different antibiotic and a codeine drop prescription (as I had suggested the previous week at the ER).

The next Friday, I was back again. Both the doctor and I were not too pleased with the way my lungs sounded, but they were a bit better and we were still waiting to see if I was pregnant or not, so we didn't want to up the medication. Another week of antibiotics, increase in codeine drops, told to use the inhaler more and more frequently.

On Sunday, discovered that I wasn't pregnant. Monday morning, the doctor brought me back in and was finally able to run me through the hoops. X-Ray: check. Still pneumonia and still quite bad, especially in the right lung. Blood test to ensure not whooping cough as well as pneumonia (my uncontrollable coughing, to the point of being unable to breathe without an inhaler, was quite frightening). Lung Capacity test: Check. Caused quite a bit of concern and after the first run through they made me take 4 drags off a serious inhaler, wait 10 minutes, and do it again.

Result, brand spanking new kick butt antibiotic and unbelievably expensive inhaler (10 times the cost of an ordinary one!)and a refill on the codeine drops as well as the ordinary inhaler.

I must say, this has been quite bad. I think this is the longest illness I have had since mononucleosis 25 years ago (I remember that was painful, but all othre memories disappeared with that semester). 32 days and still counting. Wow. I am much better now, but I still feel it and I still feel my lack of lung capacity. It's really easy to see how folks used to die like mayflies when they had pneumonia. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

What's going on right now (in my lungs).

All sorts of nasty things.

As I mentioned before, when I woke up that Monday morning in the Paris suburb, I was quite ill. Aches, pains, fever, sweats: I clearly had the grippe. Since it was before the Swine Flu panic broke, I felt that I just needed to rest, and I did. This severely damaged my sightseeing (although I did some, and now I am thinking too much).

It was quite a bad flu, with lots of pain and inability to turn my head without masses of Aleve, but I powered on through because influenza is a viral infection and as such, I knew that fluids and rest was the answer, not antibiotics which are ineffective against virus infections (and no, I never actually though of getting an antiviral).

By the following Saturday, when we drove back to NRW to get the children, I was feeling much better, with only residual stiffness in my neck, although still clammy and easily tired. But by Tuesday, I was starting to get a cough. As before, it got worse until on Saturday I was in the ER. Unfortunately, those big antibiotic tablets and the inhaler didn't seem to be helping. That is, although after a spasm of coughing, when I felt that I would drown in my inability to breathe, I could actually take a breath after using the inhaler, it didn't really seem to be getting any better. Since I was prescribed a 5 day dose of the antibiotics, I became quite frightened on Wednesday (day 4.5) when I continued having paroxysms of coughing and the crackling in my lungs worsened dramatically. What a great opportunity to use an SAT word: the rales were getting worse and were both coarse and fine.

At the ER on Wednesday, I got the semi-private room and the higher level Dr. She listened to my chest and then diagnosed pneumonia. This was certainly no improvement since Saturday's bronchitis, so she also immediately suggested a lung X-ray and a switch up of antibiotics. When I pointed out, as I had on Saturday, that we were pretty actively attempting to reproduce and that I wasn't comfortable with either an X-ray or an antibiotic that would not be safe if I were indeed procreating, she seemed overwhelmed. After consultation with someone else on staff, she gave me a refill on the inhaler, an extra (free) two days on the ineffective antibiotic and a complete lack of understanding as to what to do. After all, if 5 days of that antibiotic took me from bronchitis to pneumonia, what would an extra two days do?

Skipping over the experience with the a***h*** doctor who blocked me in my spot, and the inability to walk more than 20 paces without breaking out into a cold sweat, I contacted my ob/gyn, who seemed extremely surprised that a competent dr. could not find another course of treatment. She set me up with another internist, whose office I was in today.

That was also an experience. After I had climbed the staircase to the office, I stood to register, but the receptionist kept calling people in ahead of me. I didn't want to enter the room to sit down because there was a notice asking to stand "behind the line" to allow for patient privacy. After the second person, I said (all this in my painful German, although the husband says it was correct enough when I repeated it)- My husband called to say that I would be in, can I give you my name and sit down, I am too sick to stand. The receptionist said, very loudly and very quickly back at me: Gibber, gabble, whatever. After she stopped, I repeated what I had said and she told me where the waiting room was (in German).

Once I had been sitting for about 15 minutes, recovering my breath, I became concerned that I had not been given any forms to fill out. All medical offices like forms, so I assumed I was being totally ignored. I called the German and told him what was up and then I heard the phone ring and be answered. Apparently (he told me later), the biggest question was why I, a non-German speaker, was there alone, because the Dr. did not speak a word of English. So the German gave her all my information and said he would come if we needed him and then the receptionist came out and talked to me and was absolutely lovely and spoke wonderful English (and she was in her early 60's, while the Dr. was in his 40's). The German says perhaps that is a typical German problem, the knee-jerk meanness while underneath may be a very nice person.

When the Dr. saw me, the receptionist came and translated and I used as much of my terrible German as I could and at the end, we were back in the same place: pneumonia and what to do? So he sent me back to the waiting room and had a conference call with my ob/gyn and came up with a treatment plan that includes codeine at night (yeah!) so that I may possibly stop coughing myself into non-breathing in the evenings. I started the new antibiotic immediately and the game plan is that if I feel any worse I am to contact him immediately and otherwise I am to come back next week.

I'm still feeling pretty awful, but the codeine has helped with the rales and the German is actually feeling a trifle scared (I was offered a few days in hospital and told that may become non-optional if I'm not careful) so he came home early:). I'll be spending the weekend basically in bed, I think.

Whoda thought pneumonia was so dangerous (and painful)? The other times I have had it were quite easy to get over. And this was a definite example of 1. German niche living- these things don't require ob/gyn consults in the US and 2. perhaps a bit of over caution (I am guessing Thalidomide is still remembered here).

Tuesdays... but not with Dorie

Even though today's recipe, Tiramisu Cake, from Megan at My Baking Adventures looks nice, I am still weltering in my illness and I am not doing either baking or cooking. So far I am in my third week of significant illness: this actually feels far worse than when I had pneumonia twenty years ago. I am on day 3.5 of some extremely big antibiotic pills (and quite new as well) but I am still taking drags off the inhaler as my lungs sound like they are full of crinkled up plastic bags and wax paper. The coughing has decreased to the point where I no longer think that I will break a rib, but it is still ongoing, and I just don't have a huge amount of energy. Even though I napped last evening, when I woke around midnight I had a great deal of trouble feeling that I was oxygenated enough to go to sleep and wound up staying up for about 2 hours feeling panicked. I'm hoping that I feel better by tomorrow.

NOT the Swine flu...

I should have all sorts of interesting posts and interesting photos. After all, we were in Holland for the long Easter weekend, than I had 6 days out of Paris. Locally we had the riots last night.

But I have been too sick. The flu struck my first morning in France and it has just beaten me to the ground. Of course, I know that influenza is a virus and that therefore, after the first day or so (when antiflu meds can be taken) there is really nothing to be done. I dealt with the aches and the deep, bone-deep, pain. The exhaustion. The fevers. The sweats and the chills. I hydrated. I even managed some sightseeing through my exhaustion (although nothing to what I had wanted) and I endured.

Through today, in fact. This week my bones no longer hurt, I no longer had deep wracking chills and sweats that required me to shower twice a day. But I started to cough. A non-productive cough. As we all know, Germany has no adequate cough medicine. Luckily I had kid's Mucinex (guafinesin and dextromethorpane) and started swigging it (my Lors, I miss Nyquil). After 2 days I started coughing so hard that my ribs hurt. Thursday night when I started to go to bed, I was afraid to: I felt I wasn't under-oxygenated. I sat up for a while, until that weird ratting noise in my throat went away.

I felt better Friday morning, with lots of hot chamomile tea and honey. And Wednesday I had been at a different dr., for some minor outpatient surgery, and he checked my lungs and said they were fine, so I thought everything was getting better. He even gave me an IV antibiotic (as is standard in the US after minor surgery, although there they just give a pill). How could things get worse?

Well, Friday night, as I heard what really did sound like the death rattle, I realized that things were worse.

This morning we hopped up and all four of us headed to the ER. Yesterday was May Day, a legal holiday (taken very seriously in Europe as a day for rioting and idiocy) and I hadn't wanted to make us all sit in an ER for hours, yet was a bit afraid to go alone.

What a doofus I was. Of course, in a country where healthcare is not tied to wealth or job status, an ER is actually used for emergencies, not for ordinary care. I was seen within 5 minutes. Wicked strong antibiotics and a bronchial inhaler (never had one of those before) later, we were on our way. How cool it is. Why didn't I visit a regular dr., you ask? Well, I actually don't have one. My children's pediatrician (absolutely fabulous guy) has given me my flu shots, my meningitis shots, and checked me for strep. He says all peds do the same, because otherwise parents would never get taken care of. I didn't think it made any more sense to try to emergency visit my OB-GYN (who might actually have emergencies relating to her specialty) and the experience was wonderful: I only hope that all Americans one day have the opportunity to experience a medical system that is rational and not over-burdened.

Stupid and Selfish People: Medicines and Vaccinations

Let's start with stupididity.

Here in Germany, homeopathy is a multi-billion Euro industry. It was invented here, so perhaps that's why even insurance will often pay for it (although not as much as it once did). It is a ridiculous and stupid concept, basically operating in the same way as this true anecdote:

When I was in college, I bartended over the summer. (My Ivy even offered a non-credit Mixology class). The first time I made a martini for a real alcoholic, she sent it back: not dry enough. I dumped it and re-made it but I still used the same ice cubes and it was still "too wet". My manager re-made it, with a different shaker and new ice and I noted that she did not add any vermouth at all. She told me the old joke:"When making an extra-dry vodka martini, you just whisper "vermouth" three times over the ice." What the drinker wanted was chilled straight vodka and the belief that she was having "a mixed drink" rather than drinking the equivalent of the purest alcohol one can buy in New York.

That's homeopathy. You dilute an ingredient that may or may not be useful beyond any recognition beside existing in the same world, package it prettily in a sugar pill and container and prescribe it. It may actually succeed in doing something for an ignorant patient, due to the placebo effect.

I am actually good with giving stupid people sugar pills (it only works on those who believe in it) and hoping that it makes them better, my problem is with the disgusting profits made by the industry and paid in many cases by governmental insurance companies, as well as the people who actually make careers out of being "homeopaths" and waste their lives going to "homeopath colleges". They would be far better off taking a course in massage therapy and throwing in the homeopathy for free. By the way, I am not knocking herbal remedies here: those are actual, although perhaps dangerously uncontrolled, remedies.

Moving on to the type of stupidity that damages others in a terrible, perhaps life threatening way: not vaccinating children.

The German and I were at a convention in London last year that actually offered babysitting. We hadn't known that when we registered and that was actually the first weekend that we ever left the kids with the grandparents. When we arrived and saw the service, we were kicking ourselves for being separated from the kids. That is, until we saw next day in the convention newsletter that a child in babysitting had the measles and had exposed everyone there (as well as whoever else had come into contact with the children).

While standing in line for something the following day, we wound up discussing this behind the very parents who were responsible for their child exposing a swathe of perhaps extremely vulnerable (especially younger- babysitting went down to 12 months!) people to this quite dangerous disease. As we discussed how grateful we were that our kids weren't there, they turned around to tell us how terrible this was for them, how they had to take their kids to the grandparents (they were London residents!), how it had interfered with their lives.... I was apalled. This is becoming increasingly common in the UK and Europe. Europe is now exporting measles cases to the Third World. Measles is not a common cold. It caused 530,000 deaths in 2003. It is wrong and selfish and stupid for mis-educated, ignorant parents in the First world, who rely on a good system of health care and well nourished children to allow their children to survive to put the rest of the world at risk of death and birth defects.

I am not saying that I don't have serious concerns about giving too many vaccines at once, or about when there was thimerosal (to which I am violently allergic) in them (thimerosol is no longer in childhood vaccines and I make certain to check that they aren't old vaccines).

There are currently vaccines that are different in different areas of the world. When we arrived in Germany, I made certain that my children received the meningococcal vaccine that is not given in the US. But when they were born, I delayed the hep B until they were a month old because I didn't feel it was necessary that they have it at birth. I have pushed vaccinations when they were ill, I have split them and used only vaccines without thimerosal. But I would never dream of allowing my kids to be susceptible to terrible diseases and to destroy the herd immunity
which is all that protects the prgnant and immune suppressed and old and ill from a terrible death.

That's just plain stupid and I think the healthy non-immunized should not be allowed to co-exist and reap the benefits while destroying them. No schools (which is illegal and therefore would mandate immunization in the school age), no pubic venues, no public babysitting: live in enclaves until you can show a blood titer. Do you have better answers?

What I haven't been blogging about.

It's been a busy and chaotic few weeks.
It started with Thing2 coming home from school with what looked like a scrape on her arm. By bath time that night the "scrape" had resolved to teeth marks. What concerned us, above and beyond the actual bite, was that I had not been called and told about it.

When we discussed the situation by phone with her teachers and the school director, we felt that the situation was considered seriusly. Then we had two Hanukah parties, on separate days. Both of those required me going by U-bahn and bus to the kita and back, a total journey time of about 90 minutes. That was a bit exhausting, what with trying to shop around them, but it was fun.

Then Thing2 came home with another "scrape", this one on her back. She was bitten through her turtleneck and undershirt. Once again, I had not been called.

I was pretty unhappy.

The German called and spoke to the director and I wasn't happy with her response. Then I spoke with her and since her native language is not English (although not German) and my German is shreklich, we had an unsatisfactory communication with me using my worterbuch quite a bit.

Afterward, the German and I had unsatisfactory communications, then I called the external director of the school and wound up waiting quite a while to receive a call back, which resulted in another call back, and so on. The Chef and I agreed that the lack of communication was a big problem, that more needed to be done to protect Thing2, and we left it there.

Then I spoke to the mother of the child who had bitten Thing2, who stated that although her son had bitter her the first time, another child had bitten her the second. When I inquired as to how she could know that, as I had been informed differently. she told me that the School Director had so informed her. "What, without informing me?" I thought. Another communication problem. Other child's mom didn't seem very considered, so I explained to her that the savagery of the bite was quite terrible. She aid that she "was working on it" but since that particular child had bitten another of her children (also in the back, also through layers of clothing- strange that) the day before, it didn't seem to be successful. It seems the onus of protection will be on the teachers.

In between the bites we had an elternabend, where the bite was a major object of concern because the German and I were one of two sets of parents that showed up. The biter's parents were not amongst us. We also discovered that the biter had bitten another child as well and we discovered that the following Monday Thing2's primary teacher would shift to Thing1's class as a helper and another teacher would start. That was a bit short term and surprising (we will see the reason in a while, I would guess).

In addition, we were appointed "Class Parents", as no one else bothered. Weeks later I still have not been given everyone's name and contact information. Most parents have not paid into the class kasse and although there was a separate collection for Holiday gifts, we paid for 70% of the agreed upon expense (and a bit more, as we felt it was not enough) and expect to not be reimbursed. Ah well. Welcome to Germany.

As the topper to this crazy few weeks, both girls have been ill. First Thing1 was out of school with a high fever, then Thing2 joined her. The German was working late and long, I had no chance to do any type of shopping, let alone holiday shopping. On last weekend, the German went west to pick up the car we had looked up the week before and I also got no time to go shopping. A friend had a baby, I haven't even visited her yet, I feel terrible about it, but I was sick myself and didn't want to run the risk of carrying anyone's germs to her, and then we ran into prior commitments.

The German went on holiday after work Thursday, just in time for me to run out and pick up some chocolates to add to the cards (and cash) that we gave to all the teachers on Friday. We drove over (!!!) on Friday morning to let the girls (still on medication, but recovering) say "Happy Hanukah" to their frinds and teachers before the two week vacation. I also go the chance to speak to the new boy in Thing1's class who has been mean to her (I can't tell why- perhaps he likes her), which embarassed him but which the teacher was glad to hear about and will follow up on.

I'm so glad that we have a car. Although I have in many ways enjoyed being without one and the cost of busing is a bit less (and the ease of putting them on the bus in my pj's has been wonderful), having a car will allow me to interact with the school, the girls and the other parents in a way that I haven't been able to do since the summer, when I took the girls there by foot (but without the pain of the bone spurs).

We are also looking forward to being able to take local vacations in the spring, summer and fall through the kind offices of the in-laws and their trailer.

Whew. More tomorrow now the dry spell is broken and the fourth load of laundry is in, and the beds have been changed, the mess tidied and the clutter contained. I can't even imagine how women an home-school and keep their lives under control: 11 days with the kids home and the husband late and I have been totally frazzled.

I look forward to vacation, although we expect to be busy: moving our remaining "stuff" to Berlin, taking a quick trip to Amsterdam, spending time with the in-laws (which I do enjoy, although I find trying to speak German exhausting), visiting a very dear friend by Muenster (and spending New Year's with them), going shopping without the kids(yeah!) but with the German(double yeah!), perhaps even getting some museum hopping going here in Berlin.

Plantar fasciitis revisited, and bronchitis as well.

Sometimes I am amazed to turn around and realize that another week has gone by. When I worked 16 hour days, and even when I worked 9 hour days with a commute, I would never have dreamed that it would be possible to have no time to get everything done if I didn't have an outside job.

This was a moderately challenging week.

Last Friday, after being sick for a bit, I went to a Dr. R that the German had found. He was an orthopod, but German doctors are not as specialized as those in the US and he was able to check me out for bronchitis. After a bit of back and forthing, as he kept saying that I should have an infusion (which I thought was some type of herbal tea), it turned out that he meant an antibiotic drip. That was ok with me. With my history of bronchitis, pneumonia and bacterial superinfection, I take my lungs quite seriously. But since I was there anyway, I decided to speak to him about my still painful foot and to show him my new, expensive, prescription orthotics. He whipped out an ultrasound and examined my foot, which I found intriguing, since the last Dr. had not done so. Then he X-rayed my feet and indicated we would talk after the drip.

What an easy way to get antibiotics (plus lovely energizing electrolytes). I lay down, the Dr. put the needle in (and very well indeed, showing the practice German dr's have compared to their American brethren), and then I read a magazine for 40 minutes.  I can absolutely see why American dr's don't do this: they would never waste the time and space when they can just write a prescription and see five more patients in that time.

Then we took a look at the X-rays and he pointed out the heel spurs on both feet and that the one on the left was pushing into a ligament, which was causing the pain. He rewrote my orthotics prescription so that the ones I had would be modified and gave me an antibiotics script and a physical therapy script for my feet and I ran home to get the kids. Wow. It is so hard to get anything done! It has been about 5 months, I think, since I started having pain in my feet and it has really played a number on my sightseeing desires.

What I haven't been blogging about.

It's Friday night and the German has just left for the gym, I'm watching the season premiere of Pushing up Daisies, I have just cleaned the kitchen, my feet are up, and I am drinking Diet Light. The week has been exhausting and, as Germans would say, stressful.

It started with Saturday's mobbing and then continued...

It's been the holidays for the last two weeks, with kita closed. However, although my synagogue said that there would be babysitting, there wasn't. That put a serious crimp in my ability to actually pray and when I was fasting, made it impossible to even stay at services. Although Thing1 could run with the other children like a wild thing, Thing2 is just too small to be allowed to run up and down stairs with rambunctious children. Sigh.

This week was also a two day holiday, and I just gave up. We stayed home and played because Thing1 started a small cough and a low fever. (by Friday Thing 2 had a cough as well, but Thing1 has been fine since Wednesday).

I finally got our taxes finalized. Working with the German accountant we used through my husband's firm was stressful and annoying. After the German side is done, I will run them by my US acct. and go back to him next year: I don't appreciate dealing with people that are slow and don't return communications. That whole customer service concept. Strangely enough, the German side appears far more friendly. But they are done and sent off and we can anticipate a solid refund. That's annoying because I hate to give an interest free loan to the government, but gratifying because I had required them to withhold less than they said we should and it's pleasant to be correct.

I was supposed to have a book club at my house this week, but a combination of things came together to make me just give up: Thing1's illness, that I hadn't had a chance to reread the book that week, the chaos of my house and that the German had been leaving early and coming home late and I would have no time to tidy up and bake anything, that the kids wee spreading a wave of chaos like stones in a pond... So I rescheduled for two weeks from the date and I felt an immediate release from stress. The now amusing, but at the time peak of my stress, was when the person who had borrowed my book came over on Tuesday to return it and I wasn't able to open my door to ask her in or to get the book: the German had locked the door behind him when he left and Thing2 had taken the key and put it somewhere. So I had to call her on the handy and ask her to just leave it under the mat. Luckily, after about 15 minutes of concerted looking I was able to find it.

That was a relief because we don't have a spare. I tried to cut a spare last week and the locksmith said the key was controlled and only my landlord could provide a new one. The German hasn't gotten a new one yet and I need to follow up next week.

The power cable from my computer fried. It fried at about the same time that I found myself rather claustrophobically locked in my apartment. The German stopped by the Apple Store on his way home and found that the cable was still in warranty (the darned thing is only 2 1/2 months old!) but that they wouldn't sell it to him and then credit when we gave in the ruined cord, so he had to come home and grab the computer and cord and adapter and run back to the store. On the plus side, they relaced the cord with a German plug cord and we were able to purchase the American adapter for only 15 E (a savings of 90E). On the negative side, their Adobe Elements is not switchable to English, so I still don't have it.

We had another bi-lingual open house that the German attended without me because we couldn't find a babysitter available that early in the evening.

On the plus side, I invented a lentil stew that I was very happy with, had a great salmon dinner with rice and veg (with sweet chili sauce), and Thing1 helped me with making and baking cookies. Now I only have to make it through the three days vacation the children have next week and I can have a day to myself before my next round of German classes start.

Sick again....

Well, I'd been hoping that we could avoid being ill for a while... Thing1 actually was ill on Monday- she got off the bus and made it to our front door (on the street that is, 5 floors down) before she told me how sick she was and then proceeded to vomit. So, there I was, with Thing 2 and the car seat and the rucksacks behind me, holding Thing1's long hair and her shoulders as she vomited on a major street in Berlin, with the tourists walking by and the people eating at the cafe next door (on the street, weather has been great) watching. One gentleman who needed to enter past us (we have businesses on most floors) kindly gave us tissue so that I could help Thing1 wipe her mouth. Then I carried each one of them and the car seat up the stairs, onto the lift, out of the lift and up the next half landing and down the corridor into the apartment.

Thing1 said that she was ill because A, a little boy in her class, had hit her. I am actually sure that he had (he is a behavior problem that I understand, because he is very young and very large: my nephew had the same problem) but I don't think that was why she was sick. She had no fever, wasn't ill again, and ate dinner without being sick so she went to school on Tuesday. We called her teacher and there was no real problem at school (Thing1 is good at telling others "Stop touching/hitting me", we have practiced it) so all was well.

But Wednesday night, Thing2 started vomiting. After the third time ( and not small vomits either), when we finally got her to sleep at after 11 pm (and after stripping and changing sheets and pillowcases on two beds- see why I couldn't live without a washer and dryer?) I knew that she needed to stay home from school.

So Thursday was a home day and the second missed German class day for me. I called my teacher and asked if one of the other students (who lives by me) could drop off the homework that I missed and she kindly brought it over herself: she's so nice! She stayed for a few minutes to explain it to me and I will try to catch up this weekend.

In any case, things are currently difficult with Thing2 anyway. It seems that 4 of her teeth are all coming in at once and she's having trouble getting to sleep, she has developed a terrible fear of the bath (which I guess is developmental because Thing2 went through it as well at around this age) which is wreaking havoc on our generally happy play/bath time and making Thing1 sad as she has to play alone, and she is starting to think about toilet training, although she is only sitting on the potty with her diaper on, rather than without. Lots of changes and stress.

It's London calling...

Or rather, I am blogging from London, where the German and I are staying at Heathrow for Orbital2008 , which is a British science fiction convention. One of my favorite authors is a guest of honor, Tanith Lee, and I'll probably put up a few photos when I get home.

I developed Thing2's illness last week, so I've been roiling in my intestinal misery, but it seems that today I am finally starting to improve. Probably the large amount of sleep I got yesterday finally helped me to feel better. Of course, I missed my last week of German class and the party, but I am starting to expect that. At least this time I didn't bring refreshments to the party and not get to go, the way I did last time.The illness started slowly, but yesterday morning I was just wondering how Thing2 had been managing, so I'm glad that the German finally pointed out that Imodium exists for these exigencies. I can't believe I hadn't thought to take medication!

We drove to my in-laws on Thursday after work. I had hoped to get to a Purim party before going, but I just wasn't feeling well enough, and that was just as well because we arrived just around midnight and since our flight was at 7:30 that didn't leave us much time to unload the girls, the cat and the car and get some sleep.

Up at 5 am on Friday, kissed the girls and the cat good-bye and off to London.

Sick again...

Thing2 had a bit of a Durchfall on Sunday, so today I kept her home from school, which meant that I needed to stay home from school as well. With only 2 more teaching days left, I guess it barely matters. I hope that this semester at least the girls don't take ill on the last, party, day. Especially because that is the Purim party day and the evening that we will be leaving for the Sauerlands, preparatory to our London trip...

• And it snowed (but did not stick)
• 2 loads of laundry
• No cat vomit, but Thing2 vomited last night

Sick again...

Besides, we are sick again. Strep throat, went to the Dr. on Saturday, she prescribed antibiotics for myself (on day 4) and the German (day1). Not contagious by Sunday, bt still sucking back the lidocaine throat drops (I had gone into an Apotheke on Thursday and said "Can I have the strongest medicine for Halsschmerzen that doesn't make me ill from the taste?" and the ones I got are quite good.

Sick again...

This time Thing1 came home from kita with a swollen eye. I've never seen it in person before, but as the eye seemed to grow worse and then pussy, the thought "conjunctivitis" passed through my head. Gave the German a quick call, the dr. another and we dashed the two girls to the doctor just at closing time. Although only Thing1 had a noticeable infection, by the time Thing2 was done crying at the indignity of being examined by a dr. we determined that she
was starting a case of pink eye as well. The dr kindly prescribed enough for all four of us, just in case the German and I are not able to beat back the illness before being infected ourselves.

The annoying part is that the girls were sent home with a note stating not that Thing1 was ill, but that Thing2 had had a durchfall and that she should see a dr before returning to kita. Now, Thing2 has been falling in and out of a cold since we got to Berlin and we have taken her to the doctor three times before this. In each case the dr has said, just as would a dr at home, that the infection was viral not bacterial, and that unless a superinfection ensued (as happened to me) antibiotics were not to be used nor required. But the kita keeps saying that she is ill. So this time the dr wrote quite a detailed note telling them that: no fever, no ear trouble, and a runny nose with occassional durchfall (perhaps due to food at the kita) is not an illness and that a further note should not be required. Amd, of course, we will be calling them first thing Monday to tell them about the conjunctivitis as Thing1 was exposed on Thursdsay and therefore everyone in her class must be getting ill today. Ah well. The teachers are great, and I am glad that they care.

Sick again and again...

Sunday December 30: I have finally recovered from what was apparently a bacterial superinfection after the flu. The girls were out of school for one week, then they both went back for two days and in those days I went to two doctors, got a scrip for ten days of doxycycline and started to feel better a few days later. But on Tuesday Thing1 had what seemed to be a burn on her finger and that evening she developed an earache which got worse and worse as the evening wore on. Although she went to sleep, she woke up late in pain and the German wound up going to the children’s emergency at about 2 am, which definitely was not something that 1 wanted! The doctor there said that the pain was a result of a build up of fluid behind her sinuses and that we needed to get her mucus to loosen, so that was our next try, with a prescription nasal spray and an emphasis on blowing.

But of course I kept her home the following day and she went with me to my doctor. On the way home I noticed that she was limping and when I looked at the bottom of her foot I saw what appeared to be a wart, so that evening we called Dr. R and asked him what to do and of the two choices (cut out or medicate) we decided on medication. So, off to the Apotheke for wart medication. However, when I examined her foot on Thursday, the spot had blown up and no longer looked like a wart, but rather seemed like her finger, which we now decided was an infection rather than a burn. So, another call to Dr. R later, the German came home early and ran 1 to his practice. Speed was of the essence because almost everything and everyone closes down in Germany for the Christmas holidays. Dr. R decided to lance both and start 1 on antibiotics because of his concern that she might develop an infection over the holidays. So, antibiotic for the next 8 days and a second visit Friday morning to do a second lancing, just to be sure before the long holiday.

On Saturday we had hoped to take the children to visit the KinderWeihnachmarkt at the Citadel in Spandau, but it was too cold and raw, so we just cleaned up, packed up and had lunch before heading off to my in-laws for the next week. The German makes the trip far more tolerable because he manages to make it in an average of 3.5 hours, rather than the 6+ hours that it takes F. There is much to be said for the Autobahn when one lives in the hinterlands .

We stayed in the Sauerlands from Saturday night through Friday the 28th and it felt like a milder reprise of August in NY : our palette load had finally arrived and when picked it up at Bremerhoven three weeks ago, we discovered that all of the boxes had been opened and examined. Now we found that they had been left on the dock uncovered and there had been water exposure and damage. So we spent several days moving boxes, opening boxes, repacking boxes, examining boxes. We were clearly punch drunk toward the end of our packing in NY, because we actually sent a box of paperwork that we had planned on hand carrying and I was very grateful to see it.

We wound up staying through Friday rather than leaving Thursday because we needed to run to Ikea and pick up a bookcase and a double wardrobe to actually allow us to make a habitable area. The wardrobe was a hack for the German to put together, because the ceiling is low and he had to put it together standing up. Took some time but by Thursday night we actually were able to hang clothing up for the first time (there are no closets in Germany and there had been only a tiny armoire in the apartment). I also unloaded all my book boxes and filled two Billy book cases (we got the new black with white flowers design: pretty cool). Other than the packing and moving it was a gentle and relaxed vacation. F & G had a tree, which the kids liked looking at. They also had real candles, which I found strangely hypnotic to watch (as well as a strand of electric candles). We took a run into Soest to buy a humidifier and some undershirts for the girls and met C for a coffee and cake. We found all their Little People figures and most of R’s toys and games in the new boxes, so the girls were ecstatic. We had a traditional (sort of) Christmas Eve dinner of potato salad and bratwurst (although in this case they were a very untraditional turkey sausage) and on Christmas day Gerlind made beef for us (and rabbit for the others). On Wednesday, we all shared a raclette dinner. We socialized with sister-in-law G and her friend C, sister-in-law C and her husband E and their kids K and B through most of the week and stopped in to say hello to the German's uncle H and aunt U and their daughter C and her friend A.

Thing1 fell in love with their cat Shnurri (which means purrer). We came back Friday evening (December 28th)and unpacked and piled boxes everywhere (we brought a lot of stuff back with us- cake mixes, cereal, peanut butter, books, toys, 1's costumes, more winter clothes, etc). I was grateful that we had gotten the Mercedes R320TDI as our rental: not only is it a super car to drive in, with great handling and a wonderful ride, but there’s a huge amount of space in it, so we could load up.

Saturday morning we dashed out to the Kaufland and then to Ikea to pick up a bookcase for here in Berlin (we got a Billy and a Benno to hold CDs and DVDs). Then we stopped at the Post on the way back to grab a package (with an automated package retrieval system-very interesting and efficient) then ran back to unload and take the care seats out before the German had to return the car and grab the kids so that I could run to get my hair done. I finally got my hair cut (and colored) on Saturday for the first time since July- I feel like a new person! I know that I should be able to get things done on a regular basis, but with class until 1 pm and the girls getting home at 2:30 and then being sick so much, it’s been impossible and this was great. Maybe I will even be able to get my nails done some time! We put the bookcase and a Benno together and loaded them up with all my books and magazines and CDs and DVDs and the place is really beginning to be under control: I really can’t live for any period of time without having a bookcase available.

We weren’t able to get a babysitter for New Year’s, so instead we had booked someone for Sunday afternoon, which gave us the opportunity to have brunch at the local Greek place and then to walk around the Museum isle and look at a craft market. It was nice to spend a few hours with the German without the girls and it gave us the opportunity to check out our new babysitter, S , who will be watching the girls next week when we are at The Ring of the Nibelung over the next two weeks. The girls loved her, so we are pretty happy about it- wouldn’t want to worry through 24 hours of opera!

Sick again...

Well, we are winding up another week of solid illness here. Sometimes I think that my in-laws might be plague carriers, but then I just acknowledge that we have absolutely no resistance to German disease at this point. So, first we get sick from the children that 1 and 2 are exposed to at school and get Berlin diseases, and then we visit or are visited by F and G and get all the Nord-Rhineland Westphalian bacteria that K and B are exposed to and we get even sicker from them. Hopefully we will develop some type of immunity before we leave Germany that will allow us to have just a single month without illness….

12/16 On Sunday morning Thing 1 developed a type of allergic rash that we thought might have been provoked by the pony ride on Saturday, but she had had a bath and had new clothes, so no. I gave her a bath and she seemed to improve, but after everyone left (the German needed to work, as he had a huge deadline this week) she blew up again and I got quite frightened. Her face was almost unrecognizable. I called the German to find out what to do, he called the pediatrician, and Dr. R came, on his motorcycle, on a Sunday, to make a housecall. Wow. So that’s what it was like in the 1950’s!
Thing1 is on an allergy medication and we need to see how it plays out before, perhaps, having her re-tested for allergies. Anyway, we have spent the week in the grip of the grippe. I haven’t had a real flu in ages and had forgotten how awful it is. Deep bone pain, intense head-ache, waves of heat and cold. The girls went in and out of high fever as well. It’s Saturday night now and we all seem to have reached, 6 days later, the level of deep, racking, phlegm-filled coughs and I alone have achieved the status of completely voiceless. We had hoped to go to a Weihnuka (Weinacht + Hanuka) festival tonight in Prenzlauer-Berg, but our babysitter came down ill with this same flu (which we almost certainly gave to her) and therefore we are staying home, coughing, eating carry-in Chicken Jahlfrezi and Sheekh Kebab and watching Blood Diamond. This is an absolutely horrifying movie about the murderous RUF in Sierra Leone and although I had known most of the background information, seeing it enacted was far more horrible than reading about it.

----We have had to just stop it, because Thing2 can’t sleep and the German is holding her and we can’t have her seeing any of that for at least the next 14 or so years, so An Unpleasant Truth is what we are watching now. Interesting movie.---- And back to BD…I am really impressed by Leonardo DiCaprio. He shows a depth of character (and acting ability) in this movie (playing a miserably greedy diamond dealer) that I find impressive. The movie was overwhelming. I can’t understand how anyone could bear to watch it in a movie theatre, because I could barely manage to watch it at home. I can see why Angelina Jolie adopts orphans, because when watching this movie, I wanted to adopt one as well. And she is seeing them in reality. Well worth seeing, but on the small screen, where one can pause to relieve the overwhelming nature of the subject and the sheer horror of its (accurate) depiction.
Well, at least in one way this movie has succeeded. Neither the German nor I will ever again buy a diamond that has not been certified conflict free. And I’m not certain I will ever want a diamond again. On to watch an episode of House. I can’t handle another serious movie this evening!

General News: While suffering through the worst illness he has had, the German managed to work overtime and on the weekend pulling through a major crisis at work. All went well and we have been extended here through March 31st, which we had been hoping for. Because we had been hoping for the extension, we didn’t give notice at school, or arrange for an integration course in the Sauerland or discuss start dates in Duesseldorf, about which I am very pleased. Germans don’t seem to do well with spontaneity or changing plans.

Kirmes in Soest and our perma-state of illness...

Went to the in-laws in early November. The German had a meeting in Düsseldorf on Wednesday, so we drove in on Tuesday night and the girls stayed with Oma and Opa on Wednesday while I drove to the city with him. While he did his (all day) training, I wandered around the city a bit, trying to figure out where we might want to live, or at least crossing off some areas. It was a good week to go because we wanted to visit die Kirmes, which was having its 670th holding in Soest. It is the largest in city carnival/fair in Europe and perhaps in the world. The really neat thing about it is that it is built directly inside the city and Soest is a cute walled city. Looks very different with a carnival built inside it! The fair starts every day at 4ish and runs through later than we stayed up (we went home 1 am). On some of the rides it looks as if one’s feet will brush church steeples! We rode this ferris wheel and it was great, although raining.

Luckily, the rain stopped and the weather moderated and the evening wound up being very nice. Chrissie (our former au pair ) lives in Soest, so she had come back from school for Kirmes and we met up and wound up going about until after midnight, where we had thought that we would leave shortly after 8:30, when the fireworks ended. But we had a great time being shown about and tasting things and looking at things and drinking (although the German couldn’t partake, as designated driver). When we got back to the house, we found that K, my niece, who was staying over as well, had been ill.

Saturday morning I also was sick as the proverbial dog. I spent the morning uebergeben for the first time in 24 years and I didn’t enjoy it. I also didn’t enjoy my in-laws belief that my illness was due to over indulgence (that belief disappeared after Opa came down ill that evening). Chrissie was also sick as a pup the next evening so clearly a very nasty virus was making its way through Koerbecke. I threw up more times than I care to mention.

Both kids are sick again (November 17th) with what I had last week probably, so I think I will need to call a babysitter for Monday.

Getting settled

The children are in school. That took quite a bit of work.

First, the German had to register our marriage in the Sauerland where he was registered. Then, when we returned to Berlin, he registered both of us and the children here. I did some research on line and found some kindergarten/kitas within walking distance, called them, and set up appointments. The first one we went to, one that was supposed to be based on a nurturing method, left me in tears. The head told us that they were not really interested in children that would be “transient”, eg staying for less than three years, and that also the documents that the children require would take weeks and weeks to get, so why would we even bother to put them in school when they would be leaving Berlin in the spring? I pointed out that Thing1 was very sad, had walked up to a little boy in the school and asked him to be friends, and that Thing1was regressing due to interactions being mainly with Thing2. The head didn’t exactly shrug, but didn’t seem to give a darn.

She did give the German the number of the state agency that would provide the required documents, but reiterated that it would take weeks to get the forms, perhaps even months. When we walked out the door, I really was in tears at the thought that the children would not be able to play with other children for the foreseeable future. The German told me that everything would be alright, that in a country where children have a legal right to schooling that it would be impossible for it to take so long to get required documentation. In the event, he called the agency the next morning and when he went there, the woman in charge was wonderful. She assured him that it would take only a day or two for the document for Thing1 to reach us, and that she would be able to issue one for Thing 2 if he could provide documentation that I was taking a course.

So the German registered Thing1 for the 5-7 hours of kindergarten that she is legally entitled to. However, Thing2 could not be registered until I provided documentation that I either had a job or was taking an integration course.

When wandering about our new neighborhood, we had discovered the Jewish Community Center (Judisches Gemeinde Haus). When we stopped in to ask about the community, we were told that they have a Volkshochschule, which is a type of community school all across Germany, where I could take a Deutschkurs for Anfangers (German for Newcomers). So I signed up for the semester, the German took the information to the state and we received the documentation for both the girls within three days.

(Germany has an amazingly good post system. It generally takes only one day for mail to reach us from just about anywhere in Germany. If we haven’t received something in three days, we know that there is a problem and know to call to see what is wrong.)

We got the names of some Jewish kindergartens from the JCC and called a few to see which would have openings and how far some might be. The real problem was Thing2, because the spots for her age are generally filled (there is a legal requirement of fewer young children per teacher at her age). We went to one lovely school in Grunewald, but not only would it be quite difficult for me to reach by public transportation, but also they would have had a problem with Thing2- she would not have been able to start until January, when they would be adding a teacher. The head was very nice and after showing us around, she sat the girls down to play with toys, took us back to her office, and started making calls for us. After two tries, she was able to make an appointment for us with the head of X school. So we called a cab and went there. We drove back and forth but this time, after stopping and asking for help and calling for clarification, we finally found it. This was funny, because we had attempted to reach X school almost on our arrival in west Berlin. But when we had called to get directions there we had not been able to find the school: it’s not easy to find.

In the meantime, I had gotten information from the JGH about Jewish kindergartens and kitas and had spoken to an International School (second choice, being both quite expensive and thwarting our aim of having the girls exposed to German as soon as possible). ) So when we got to the X school, finally, we were very impressed. The Rabbi knew our previous school, was warm and friendly (from the US;-) ), the classes seemed good and at least one of each teacher pair spoke some English, and the curriculum seemed great and familiar (although with both German and Hebrew). This is just what Thing1 has been needing.

The Things started school October 8th, the first day after Succoth, when my class also started. I spent the first two days with them at school, making certain that they would be ok, and on the third day the bus service that the school has started and I was able to go to class. We are all enjoying our classes now, although you would never know it from Thing1: she doesn’t tell me anything that goes on! Thing1 has been to the Zoo and the Opera House and to the library, but I only know that from the teacher: she is not yet good at communicating this information.

We have suffered through waves of illness. First, I was sick. A bronchial illness that hung on until I went to der Artz in the Sauerland (the weekend our container finally came in) and wound up getting antibiotics. Then, the week after Thing2 started school, she was quite sick. She had a temperature of 104+ and I had to find a doctor within our area and run her over. Dr R assured me that it was a virus and I should continue to concentrate on keeping her temperature down, which I needed to do by medicating her every six hours around the clock with Motrin. Her high fever continued from Sunday through Friday, when the doctor had told me to return if she were still running a fever. The doctor looked again, said it was still just a virus and prescribed a mucus thinner as well as continuing with the Motrin. Thankfully, her fever finally ended on Saturday. I kept her home on Monday, just to be safe.

This had played havoc with my classes, of course. I took two days off, we hired a babysitter one day, the German stayed home through my class one day, and the final day we had another babysitter, who we needed to send home because she was unable to comfort Thing2 (the only person, ever. We complained to the agency about her.) So back zur schule went Thing2 on Tuesday and on Tuesday night Thing1 started to run a high fever. So, Wednesday I went in to class for a few minutes to pick up my work. Thursday she seemed a bit better so I brought her, with coloring books, to class with me. She was exhausted and wound up falling asleep on me when I carried her out, but it was the day of my appointment with the Alien Affairs office and I needed to be there with the German in person.

So Thing1 and I took a cab there and met the German, they quickly called us in and gave me my residence visa, and then he called us a cab and went back to pick up the forms and come home later. Germany is extremely organized in processing newcomers and it’s admirable.