Catching Up

View from the Spree this summer

One of these days I will finish up and publish the posts about our vacation, but right now I'm just catching my breath in a lazy day at home (doing some tidying and decluttering, but not laundry).

It's been a week and the German has been working like mad with T1 helping her to catch up on the work that she has missed (I don't think that we can take time off in the school year again- it's too hard catching up). So far, I have helped her with two classes and a test, he has helped with another two and she had a test yesterday and I hope that she can be prepared for a catch-up math test this week. Whew.

Orthodontist yesterday and swimming class today. Tomorrow I hope a swimming exam that will get her the Silver medal she should have had last year. Thursday nachhilfe and Friday art and then a deep breath and perhaps some fun on the weekend, rather than studying. Last week we were all in a stupor of exhaustion and I think we have finally caught up on our sleep.

The washing machine broke on Sunday and although the German has been working on it (taking things apart and replacing them), we need professional help. So I'll be hanging about tomorrow, missing a planned holiday lunch, waiting for the repairman (and it will be a man- this is Germany) to show up. I ran two loads yesterday, with the German draining the water out through a pipe, wringing the towels (ouch- not good for arthritic hands) and using the dryer as well as hanging the more delicate items. We can't last very long without a washer: right now the pile fills a basket and I should be changing the sheets tomorrow.

Back to my coffee and Castle, while I sort through more paperwork. Next commercial break I will run the bio, glass and paper down to the cellar. The clothes for donation are in the car (there's a collection point by my girls' school) and the plastic bags for the kita are also waiting for drop off.

What I am Reading: November 2011

My sleeping pattern is still off as I get over the jet-lag and try to get the house in order We came back with the usual pile of clothing swag (18 pairs of socks for $8.99! and so on) and I am working through re-packing the summer clothes, getting rid of the fall clothes (because it's definitely winter time) and the rain clothes and boots, and moving clothing downward: hand-me-down (thanks to my nieces), Big Sister to Little Sister move-downs, give to friends, give to charity, recycle. It's still pretty chaotic, but I also unpacked six bags, three carry-ons, a stroller (makes Disney so much easier! just to lug stuff around, and then if the evening goes late), two car-seats and two children's backpacks. I'm still working at it all, but it's been proceeding and I'm hoping to get back to a post or two this month.

1. Infernal Affairs (1996) by Jane Heller: A re-read before it goes back to mom. This reminds me a bit of several books that I must have read in the 90s- divorced woman selling her soul to the devil for a spiffy new body and success. Barbara is a broker in South Florida's Banyon Beach and when this book was written, brokers (or as they are known in Germany, maklers) really did seem to have made deals with the devil (the succeeding years of crashes may have been the devil losing a few rounds). Frothy, light and fun: I enjoyed it.
2. The Best Years of Flying: a memoir of Howard Hughes & TWA (2011)by Dee Merian: This is a review copy (ARC) that I got in 2011, although the publication date from Headline Books is 2010. This was an interesting book to me, as my aunt was an early flight attendant and I recently scanned some of her collection of photos and was amazed by Europe in the mid-60s (Trevi Fountain empty- cousin dipping her feet in it!). I am also enjoying the new series Pan Am, which although as sexist and racist as the period actually was, is interesting to me. This book is just a bit earlier (late 50's) and the writer is discussing a bit of her time as a flight attendant. It needed more editing: simple issues like noticing that Tony Bennett is not Toni, and so on. It is also a bit facile. But I enjoyed it, because I am always amused reading about that time period and about NY in that period (which she is stationed in when she flies internationally). I could have enjoyed it much more, if the author had been more reflective or more interested in bothe the time and the countries she was discussing, though.
3. Water Song (A retelling of "The Frog Prince") (2006) by Suzanne Weyn: I brought this with me from the US, with several other modern re-tellings of fairy-tales, and I am finally getting around to reading it so that I can add it to my discard/donate/sell pile: I don't want to keep it. Yes, a "modern" re-telling of the cited tale, set during WWI. A slightly interesting look at the historical period, with heroine Emma Pennington trapped behind the lines in Belgium. An American, New Orleans native who has volunteered for the British is gassed and, with his skin peeling and his eyes bulging, looks froggish. But there is really no fantasy at all in this story. A bit of the occult, as Jack dreams of his mother, a magic woman. But although I enjoyed the bit of history, it didn't grab me enough to make me want to keep it.
4. Murder by the Glass (2006) by Michele Scott: It's not a good sign when I prefer the recipes to the mystery. Set in the Napa Valley, with protagonist Nikki Sands working at Malveaux Estate. I love wine, I love Napa, but this just didn't interest me.
5. The Riesling Retribution (2009) by Ellen Crosby: Whereas this was an interesting mystery. Because plot and characterization matter.
   
6. A Dead Man out of Mind (1994) by Kate Charles: I didn't much like the last David Middleton-Brown book I read, but this one was better, with more interesting characterization, less emphasis on a prior problematic relationship, and the ecclesiastical detail was a bit more interesting to me. The relationship between David and Lucy Kingsley (an artist) is developing and more interesting.
7. Stamped Out (2008) by Terri Thayer: First in the "A Stamping Sisters Mystery" series. April Butchert, rubber stamp and restoration expert, returns to her home town to work with her father and resolves open mysteries from her departure years before. Recovering from a failed marriage and sabotaged career her work is interrupted when a body is found. A good start.
8. Moving is Murder (2006) by Sara Rosett: A first "Mom Zone" mystery. Protagonist Ellie is a military wife and mom, moving to a new posting with her airman husband. Moving and organizational tips are scattered throughout, in keeping with the theme and the reality that military families move constantly. A neighbor who was against development is found dead and all the suspects are her husband, Mitch's, co-workers. Well written and enjoyable.
9. The Christmas Garden Affair (2002)by Ann Ripley: It's been a while since I have read a mystery featuring PBS garden host and detective Louise Eldridge, and I had forgotten how much I enjoy her and Ms. Ripley's writing. Interesting story, warm characters, and intriguing mystery with good research. Louise's show is being upstaged by a bumptious and risque British upstart, when Bunny (of "Bunny in the Garden") is poisoned at a conference featuring the First Lady. Secret Service involvement, a smattering of Stasi spy, and plenty of interesting suspects made this a great read.
   

Seasonal Change-over

A slightly terrifying look at the corner of the office.

The empty boxes on the left are from the unpacked winter clothes (as is the large green one on the right. The other boxes are summer clothes (and a box of size 8s still too large for T1, who at 8.5 can still wear size 6): they are still up here rather than in the Kellar because I need to pack our suitcases for Florida this weekend.

Then they will go downstairs and this corner will empty out a bit (although I am afraid that pile of books in the window will take another month or two to be sorted out into read and keep, read and discard/donate/sell, and put in bookcase to read later). Life would be easier if we had an attic or a cellar connected to our dwelling.

Weckmänner

We spent last weekend in Köln, at the Expat Meet Up. It's discussed at much greater length here, (and probably other blogs as well, when everyone recovers enough to post). I'm not going to talk about it here and I was coming down with something so I didn't see a tremendous amount.

But what we did enjoy on the way out was this baked treat. Since Frau Dietz mentioned it, I thought I would as well. We don't have them in Berlin (not part of the culture) and T2 wanted one when she saw them at the bakery as we loaded up before leaving. She wound up eating a pretzelzopf instead and I ate this, so I can say that it tasted quite nice: an egg yolk glazed white flour yeast recipe, not very sweet. The pipe is inedible, the eyes are raisins, and that's a glazed cherry you see.

This is a recipe and a story about Weckmänner. And here is an interesting Wikipedia article that, although translated from German into Esperanto, is not in English:-), while here is an interesting discussion of German religious holidays with information pertaining to St. Martin. On the way home we stopped off for lunch with my in-laws and my father-in-law told me much of what the article below said, as well as some more anthropological bits and the amusing info that those pipes (formerly a Bishop's crozier, and other things) were, not so long ago, functional and that they were changed to non-functional pipes because so many German children actually used them to start smoking (things:-)).

11. November: St. Martin
Der historische Martin wurde 316 AD als Sohn eines römischen Tribuns in Ungarn geboren, wuchs in Italien auf, wo er m Alter von 15 Jahren in die römische Armee eintrat. Als berittener Soldat kam er nach Frankreich, wo er zum Christentum fand. Er ist als Bischof Martin von Tours in die Geschichte eingegangen, zu dem er 371 AD geweiht wurde. Sein Todestag ist der 11.11.397 AD. Nach seinem Tod wurde er Schutzpatron der Bettler, der Soldaten, der Schneider, der Reisenden und der Hirten sowie der Reiter. Und natürlich auch der Kinder, die ihm zu Ehren am 11. November abendliche Umzüge mit bunten selbstgebastelten Laternen und Fackeln veranstalten. Auch große Feuer sind Usus. Ursprung dieses Brauches ist Lukas 11/33: "Niemand zündet ein Licht an und setzt es in einen Winkel, auch nicht unter einen Scheffel, sondern auf den Leuchter, damit, wer hineingeht, das Licht sehe." Typisch für diesen Tag sind Weckenmännlein, ein Gebäck in Form eines Menschen, mit einer Tonpfeife im Arm. Die Tonpfeife ist ursprünglich Martins Bischofsstab gewesen.

What I've been doing while I wasn't here...part 2 Aug 2011

And more that we did this month, with a few photos to relieve the eye...

• T2 entered as a vorschulkind into her last year before Grundschule, complete with Winnie-the-Pooh small schultuete. It hurts my feelings a bit when she tells me, "Mama, go!" But at least she hugs and kisses me before she sends me on my way. I'm glad that we didn't push for her to go to first grade this year, as she is enjoying it so. Erste Klasse won't be a bed of roses and I think she will have a grand time this year in kita.
• We went for a weekend religious retreat and really enjoyed the warm feeling, although it was a bit hectic because the following Monday—
• School started again, with T1 switching teachers (which makes us sad because we loved her old one). And wow- is 3rd Klasse incredibly harder than 1st or 2nd! (Kita resumes far earlier than school starts, at least here in Berlin.)
• We went to Amsterdam for the concert at the Hotel Pulitzer and found that suite 273 was charming, bright and airy. We met a lovely expat couple (Mexican and Portugese, respectively) and I need to send them some photos. We had "won" a package and we had :the weekend in a gorgeous suite (more bathrooms than we have at home!), a walking tour with visits to a historic distillery and a cheese cave, a wonderful meal with accompanying wines and a sommelier to guide us (and including what I think is the best piece of beef we have yet had in Europe), a boat tour through the canals, pontoon side seats during the Prinsengracht/Pulitzer concert (the director sat next to us, when he sat) and an invitation to the after party: we sat on a garden bench and "people watched", wondering who the people were that all the others were fawning over (our best guess:Dutch nobility).
• While we were in Amsterdam, the children were enjoying the Soester Fehde and I was a bit jealous: if I had known this existed, I might not have tried for our Amsterdam package but instead enjoyed this! They also did some boating and swimming with their cousins.
  
• T1's Zahnspange lost a piece while being brushed (with a soft toothbrush!). She needed to go for another impression and will get a new upper plate next week.
• The German shifted his Munich workweek a bit and came home to go to the "Faces of the Renaissance" exhibit at the Bode Museum (in partnership with the Met): it was gorgeous. The Bode itself was a lovely , extremely and ornate, gilded piece, but the exhibit was fabulous. We took a guided tour with my women's club and I'm sorry that we did: once again, I find the audio guides to be infinitely superior to a single human as guide. No matter how much that person knows, it won't be as much as the many erudite and recondite sources who put together the audio guide, nor will she have her own period soundtrack or the ability to be put on pause while one gazes and ponders. I'll probably make a repeat visit, with audio guide. During the tour, I took lots of photographs (I asked, as always, at the door and was told it would be fine with no flash): at the end of the tour, the guide told me that in this special exhibit, photos were not allowed (due to the many private owners of individual paintings collected) so I was lucky. Strange that no guard stopped me if it was actually forbidden, though.
  
• I took a bread course, an African cooking course, a Persian cooking course and a vegetarian Persian cooking course. I enjoyed them all, even though a woman in the bread class informed me, as I was discussing sourdough starters with the teacher (a Master Baker), that the US has only "squishy" bread. I asked if she had ever been in the US and she told me no, although her friend had told her all about it. The folks in the African and Persian courses were much more friendly and open. I wonder if there is some correlation between taking a cooking course in a foreign cuisine and not having negative stereotypes about foreign cuisine? (Perhaps that's a bit obvious:-)).

Now I have posted these, perhaps I can get going on some more current posts! I can say that I may expand on some of these and re-post as individual pieces, but I seem to never get around to doing it.

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...

To Oma and Opa's house we go...

Over the river, and through the wood—

And straight through the barnyard gate,

We seem to go extremely slow,

It is so hard to wait!

Lydia Marie Child

The children spent the last week with Oma and Opa, some of which we spent in Rome and some of which home and here. They think of the time with Oma and Opa as being a form of adventure camp. In the last week they have:

• taken a boat trip, which Opa did the narration for,
  
• visited a sculptress and had a lecture and gotten a fragment of marble as souvenir
• visited an apiary, talked to the bee-keeper, examined the hives and poured their own honey into their own jars
• learned how to consistently, and at a high level, make princess crowns and decorate them
• wandered and picnicked in many places, by foot and by bike, including the river above
• visited a cousin and seen his sheep and ridden some local ponies
• visited friends and had American-German style barbecue and batted at whiffle balls
• bonded with cousins and spent time with the beloved Grosseltern and increased their Wortschatz and grammar tremendously.

Summer camp for T1 was lots of fun, with many interesting day trips (T2 stayed in kita), but this was truly an adventure camp for the two of them!

Keukenhof

After we flew back from Birmingham and Eastercon, we packed up the girls and the bikes for our annual trip to the Keukenhof.

We generally stay in Leiden, which is relatively close and at a hotel which has a great pool for the kids. This time there were horses and ponies (a dam and foal of each) and the girls really enjoyed petting them.

Once we were at the Keukenhof, we did our regular wandering about and enjoying. this time, I allowed T2 to slip in the water while we were hopping across the stones and we then needed to spend quite some time with the German in the Men's room drying her pants and shoes: we bought some Dutch shoe house shoes for the children and T2 spent the rest of the time wandering around in them. T1 chose a pair in a Tulip pattern and I stared at them for a long time, wondering whether I should get myself a pair.

I asked the German, he said" If you like" and T1 said, "Go ahead, get it".

I didn't and now I regret it. Next time! The flowers were in better form than last year: one of the interesting aspects of always going on Easter vacation is that since Pesach/Easter is a movable holiday, the blooms we see vary quite a bit. We were too early for the strawberries, though, which I was sorry for. Seems odd that even though we have had some record heat, the strawberries are a bit behind in their normal season.

Birmingham?

So we are off to Birmingham next weekend and this time I would actually like to see something rather than simply go to the convention.
Last time, I asked the shuttle driver what he would suggest, and he couldn't give me anything that he felt I should, as a tourist, visit. Which I thought was very sad. So we had a great meal at a gastropub recommended by a friend.
This time however, I would really like to see something cultural or architectural: anyone have any ideas?

Chaos from order and hopefully back soon.

Life's been so crazy that I even forgot to post my reading list at the end of the month. I have been working on posts for a while, but they aren't done. I'll link them here when they are done.

• Saw The King's Speech (two weeks before the Oscars)
• I visited an interesting museum, the Daimler Contemporary, and had lunch with my group.
• Went to Vienna for the weekend and saw Cirque de Soleil with a friend.
• Found a massage place, finally, and my back is still feeling the pain.
• Had a bad experience with T2's swim instructor and had to switch classes.
• Discovered that my blog had been scraped and my posts were sitting on someone else's web site.
  

In the regular and scheduled craziness, I'm taking:

• yoga Tuesdays and Thursday,
  
• my German class has restarted Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday,
  
• my German writing course is still running Wednesdays,
  
• the kids have speech therapy on Monday,
  
• T1 has swimming on Wednesday while
  
• T2 has it Friday (due to the above mentioned instructor issue),
  
• they both have recorder instruction on Thursday and
  
• T1 has art/ceramics on Friday.

Ice skating Saturday ended two weeks ago, so last week they went bike riding on Saturday while waiting for rollerblading to start.

This week, I also had Elternabends on Wednesday and on Thursday, as well as the massage and lunch with a friend on Wednesday.

I am also trying to declutter at least 15 minutes a day, I run about 7 loads of laundry a week (with three on Wednesdays when I change the linens), and I am "looking forward" to the seasonal change-over of clothing that I anticipate in three weeks.

The calendar is receiving a work out and the German needs to start referring to it— he actually scheduled a babysitter for one of the Elternabends for me, but he told her the wrong day! Luckily, she lives two streets over so it wasn't terribly inconvenient for her, but it was awfully embarrassing!

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:).

What I've been doing for the last month: A-ha and Amsterdam

Actually, I've done a few other things in that time as well. I'll try to get those posted as well.

We went to Amsterdam for the weekend because, after I procrastinated for so long, the cost of driving to Amsterdam was cheaper than me buying a train ticket, even with a 50% discount on DB. Since we were driving, we brought the children along. Luckily, the German had some points that brought us into free nights at the Hotel Pulitzer in Amsterdam. This was just as charming and quirky as one might expect from the description: multiple 18th century townhouses merged into a charming hotel. We had a room looking into the garden (no canal view:() but directly facing on a play set. This was important because we later discovered that Amsterdam has a sad paucity of playgrounds: the major one in Vondel Park, the largest park in Amsterdam, couldn't hold a candle to any of my 5 local playgrounds here in Berlin. They still enjoyed playing there, though.
T1 kept asking to be in T2's stroller and we were a bit intolerant (she's heavy!) considering how much walking around we did and that she wound up being sick the following week, but we still enjoyed ourselves. We spent the whole weekend walking around enjoying the blue sky and the wonderful weather and looking at things (with an tram ride and 1 boat trip). I love Amsterdam and I love the architecture there.
We had rijstaafl one evening which was lost on the girls— we wound up buying them a bowl of rice each to make up for all the items they didn't like.

The actual reason for me going to Amsterdam was to meet up with a friend who was there after doing an Art residency so deep in Ireland that I couldn't meet her there: 12+ hours travel time to reach a village in Ireland just wasn't manageable (and that would be plane to train to bus to walking or taxi the last thirty miles!). I had the chance to grab some tickets to A-ha's final tour the weekend she would be in Amsterdam and I thought it would be amusing to do that.

As it turned out, J was ill the evening we were to go and the German and I wound up getting a babysitter through the hotel (he had expected to watch the kids that evening). The sitter was lovely, fully multilingual and the cost was the same as a babysitter in Berlin, so we were very happy.

The tickets were supposed to be special, and after a bit of confusion at the Heinekin Arena box-office, we discovered why: we were directed to the VIP entrance. There we were given colored arm bands, offered a free check for our packs and coats, and shown to box seats where there was a free bar. If we'd known that was what "special" meant, we would have shown up earlier!

The concert was fun, even though I really didn't remember very many A-ha songs beside the most famous iconic MTV videos. But there was a lot of energy and a lot of dancing and it was nice to be out with the spouse.

This was the encore and we really enjoyed it:
(it's not my video, our view would have been from the upper right when facing the stage)

A bit of enjoyment

Even though a large quantity of our time was used up very painfully, we were still able to meet friends and family in western Massachusetts and have an "American birthday" party for T1 and T2. They love American birthday cake and I am always amazed by how good a cake from the local Big Y or Hannaford tastes. On 16 hours notice they did a really sweet split between the two themes: Pooh for T2 and Tink for T1.

It was great to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law and their two younger kids (each a year or so older than ours). It's been a long time.

Our first week of vacation.

Here's a look at some of what we did on our first week of vacation.

Vacation: Not

It's been a crazy month or so.

We started by going back to Westchester county to clean up our house in Westchester, NY for the new tenants. The prior, German tenants, were returning to Stuttgart. Neither our broker nor the tenants, nor any of the prospective tenants, had indicated any issues with the house.

So we were overwhelmed to discover unattended and unreported flood damage, general non-normal wear and tear damage to the plaster walls, a bathroom renovated two weeks before turne dover to the new tenants that was now destroyed (water damage, mold, marble damage), flood and mold damage in the basement (where the dehumidifying system was also set at 35% instead of 70%— or even higher to deal with the unreported mold), furniture which was destroyed and filty beyond belief: it was shocking. From the large to the small: the buckled floor in the basement to the lost remote to allow the ceiling fan/light in the living room to be turned on to losing the privacy pins to the nickel door levers to not replacing a single outside light bulb (we had left them three years worth of compact fluorescents- just not enough of the low wattage for outside fixtures). The list was endless.

All this while they had turned off the cable and phone (which we had requested to retain for the half month) so we had no easy way to contact anyone. We still haven't spoken to the insurance company officially, although we have talked to our agent and taken hundreds of photos before beginning to mitigate the damage.

There's a 4-6 week lead time on the replacement vanity (special order to be code compliant in a small bathroom) and the marble repair will wait for that. The shower doors will be in stock next week and taken care of then, but our "vacation" was having done/getting estimates for/doing:

• marble repair, floor and vanity top
• ordering a new vanity
• ordering bathroom doors
• plastering and repainting gouges in the hall and three rooms
• completely repainting another after patching holes
• emptying the house of the furniture (previously rented furnished) while discarding the destroyed furniture- we loaded it into a U-Haul and drove it upstate to storage by my parents
  
• ordering a new remote from Minnesota (easily done- the manual was there!)
• replacing all the lost/removed (why?) hinge pins so that the doors would not re-gouge the walls after replatering and re-painting
  
• fixing all outside locks (a screwdriver and a brain)
• having the basement swabbed down with bleach, the mildew mitigated and painted with special paint.
• discarding destroyed rugs (downstairs due to mold, upstairs due to the tenants' fire, which they had otherwise mitigated)
• having emergency landscaping done: we expected to do some things, but having a sumac 14 feet tall next to a bedroom window indicates that in three years they never lifted a finger. They also destroyed grass areas where they had pools or tarps. Luckily, they had no control over the irrigation system or there would have been no grass left.
• there was more, but I get a head ache thinking about it
  

This was after they spoke to the husband, as one German to another, and asked to use their security as last month. Because they assured him of how everything was in order, and because the broker agreed, he complied. I expect that will be a little less than we will be out of pocket. I expect he won't do that again, either. I also think that after the current lease is up, we will be considering selling the house rather than dealing with this again.

After we get back to Berlin next week I can't wait to start dealing with all of this long distance and time estranged to US contractors and insurance companies.

I expect that I will have a lot of additions to my Downsizing blog as well, when I can sort the photos out.

(Here's my favorite shot— the full potty left in the rotted out vanity.)

Heading Out

I haven't started packing yet, but I'm heading out in the morning for the US. It's a quick trip, without the kids and husband, and I am both looking forward to it and dreading it.

Looking forward to it because:

• No husband and kids:). That translates into an easy trip, reading books, watching movies, sleeping.
• I'll be visiting my parents, seeing my Dad just shortly after his 80th, seeing at least one brother and his family: I miss them.
• I'll be stopping at the BEA--- and what could be better than ARCs for the forthcoming year's publishing schedule, meeting authors and listening to interesting panels?
• I'm going over with a half empty suitcase and another within it and I expect I'll fill them up with Carters' clothes, Stride-Rite shoes,and Target t-shirts for myself (the husband has already got a few pairs of Zappos ordered shoes waiting). Another blogger recently found and posted how to get Splenda in Germany, so I'll be looking to bring back Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and CrystaLite (I'm stocked on molasses and baking soda right now and make my own vanilla extract). The books will be shipped back at M-bag rates (half the cost of regular shipping) and I may ship a box or two of lighter things over as well, but I expect that I will fill that second suitcase. At least I don't need to bring any books with me because I'll be using the Kindle (300+ books last I looked, not all those I want to read:)), bringing magazines that I'll recycle on the way, and a book or two as presents that won't make their way back here.

Dreading it:

1. Because I will miss the kids. The German not so much, because I'm used to him being gone all week.And because I expect he will call, but that I will frequently miss the kids becuase of the time difference and cell phone blanks in NYC.
   
2. And because, due to following the cheapest ticket, I will be flying out of Newark, rather than JFK. It requires that I find a shuttle bus that I have never been on before, after making my way by train to NYC from visiting friends upstate after the Expo, while dragging two suitcases and a carry-on, alone. Yich. I'll be allotting myself plenty of time to discover that there are no handicapped (that is, luggage dragging) accessible ways from one public transport area to another. Ah well. It's something that I have become acutely aware of as a parent and now as a non-business traveler (never cared much when I was only carrying a carry-on!).
   

Can it be Sunday already?

As is evidenced by my lack of blogging, I've been more chaotic and all over the place than usual.

We have had New Year's and Yom Kippur and Sukkot and a sadly great amount of time spent in synagogue was on the weekend rather than during the week. Sad because it has meant that I have spent the weekends being busy and therefore started each new week already tired.

We took a quick run to Dresden to use a free Starwood night before it expired and had a really lovely time at the Westin in Dresden: wonderful views, walking distance to the Center, on the river.
Dresden September 2009 Dresden September 2009

Thing1 lost an upper front tooth but has refused to allow the tooth fairy to visit and now she seems to have lost the little box she had that tooth in.

Last Friday we finally came to a decision on the move to Munich: it's really been on the burner, going back and forth, since June. The final result will be that the German will work no more than 4 days a week until January, that we will have a bit over three weeks of vacation between now and then and that after the 1st he will go to 3 days a week, which is manageable until the end of the school year. So the girls keep their friends, as do I, and all our arrangements will continue and I can start to relax: those of you have moved in Germany know just how horrifying and stressful the concept was: giving three months on this apartment and only having apartments available to view in 1, 3 months notice on utilities and gyms and ballette classes, having to uninstall and reinstall lights and renovate.... Yes, although at this point I was almost psyched at the concept of Munich I was definitely still more than unhappy with the thought of moving!

Great companionship checking out the new W on the beach:) October 2009

So after finding this out, I ran away from Friday to Sunday to Barcelona (as previously planned)and it was wonderful: weather, architecture, food, companionship and weather. Walked a lot and looked at things from the outside and had a great time.

Came back from low 80's to chilly and high 40s and a late end and early start to the week.

The best tuna tartare I've ever had, at the new W in Barcelona October 2009

The girls were exhausted this week: Thing1 was so tired on Tuesday that when I picked her up at school she actually wept and begged me not to make her go to swimming. I'm going to guess that she must have been a little sick, although she had no fever. In any case, we stayed home and had an early night with movie. On Thursday I was called in to pick her up from school early because her remaining upper front tooth was so painful and we stayed home again. That night, her tooth came out and now she looks like the cutest little vampire in the world:). It brightened her mood. We had some negotiation over what would inveigle her to allow the tooth fairy to take her tooth and we determined "something with ponies and fairies".

Luckily, here in Germany there is no shortage of such and she wound up with the new Lillifee DVD and a Ponyfee book. Perfect for her reading age and I am finding it useful myself- now I know that I can, sortof, read in the 6-8 age group.

This week culminated with Simchat Torah and another weekend in synagogue. The girls were pretty happy with this, as there was definitely candy being tossed about. The German was a bit wobbly as l'chaim and kiddush were being made with Russian vodka!

We also made a quick run to Ikea- T1 and T2 adore going there. Another blogger mentioned that she had been there this weekend and was overwhelmed by lost and rowdy children and Germans with no idea of personal space.
I certainly agree that many Germans have no idea of personal space- I particularly loved the man who thought that stepping between my crying child and her mother and not moving was a good thing to do- while standing in line himself at the childcare area! But I have never seen/heard announcements for more than lost child or two, because the main reason that folks go to Ikea with their children!) is to take advantage of the free supervised spielplatz. Often we go have a coffee and chat for that hour, although this time we picked up another Benno (in schwarz-braun) for downstairs. Then we all went up and ate salmon and boiled potatoes and frites. That after a lunch of grilled steak and mashed potatoes. T1 said it was "the bestest day".

Only two more days before my German class is over and a two week vacation until the next one starts--- yeah!

Summer Plans...

It's been a little harder making summer plans than I thought it would be.

First, the German keeps working Fridays. I thought I signed on to be a single parent Monday through Thursday and having him show up on Friday after the girls are in bed is breaking our bargain. The girls are pretty good, kita is wonderful and we are all trying, but it seems that I am just starting to recover from the flu/bronchitis/pneumonia that started mid-April and felt like it nearly killed me. I am still easily exhausted and I am pretty certain that what I had was originally an undiagnosed and untreated H1N1. After all, I started the entire process of my illness with IV antibiotics and things just went down from there. Clearly should have attacked with the Tamiflu. So by the time the weekend is here I am too tired to do anything and then I feel bad about not doing things. And the German keeps scheduling Friday off, then changing his flights and working.

I hope that next week mellows out, as day camp starts for the girls and it's just walking distance. I will visit a museum next week, I swear!

In bigger news, it took me three days of intense pain (and melting ear drums) to book our trips to the US. We had talked about going for some weeks ever since we decided to up our stay here for at least another two years. I worry about the fact that my children are forgetting Nana and Grandpa, particularly Thing2. Since they just won't get on a schedule to Skype, the kids are obviously going to have troubles remembering them. After all, Thing2 has lived in Germany longer than she lived in the US at this point.

But booking the tickets was a lesson in Catch-22 and circular logic. See, I wanted to book the girls' tickets with (you can't believe how much) money and our tickets with frequent flier miles (half a gift from the parents). But one cannot book children's tickets over the internet without purchasing an adult ticket at the same time. I couldn't book my ticket without knowing the children's tickets because, you know, it might be a bit awkward if 1. I couldn't get them seats on the same flight(s) or 2. if the only way to get them such tickets would be to pay so much for their tickets that I could go ahead and pay for all 4 of us for the sme price.
The second option came up three times with AirFrance and KLM. I spent hours on the phone with agents in the US and Canada (because with our rate plan it was way cheaper than speaking to people here in Germany, which I did just long enough to find them unhelpful at .14 Eurocents/minute). I'm not kidding: three days of spending hours on the phone after the girls were in bed, my brain melting and sweat pouring down my jaw from my melting ear. I got transferred, told to speak to other groups or airlines, repeatedly told to do things that were not doable, apologized to for lack of technical capacity, lied to, put on hold, transferred, dropped, lied to, told how I could do something (on the basis of which I transferred miles and wound up not being able to do that thing and freaking out), was multiply offered tix for the girls that were the same price as the schedule I'd found on momondo or other sites for the girls plus an adult... you just can't believe how horrible the experience was.
Then I spoke to someone at NWA. She was like an angel from heaven. She was able to find me a reasonable flight for the kids (versus the one I had on hold for the price of 3 of us). She was able to book it for me with the note that I had another FF flight with the required adult. She was able to seat the kids with a space next to them that I could fill in. She was able to book it as a KLM flight so that they would stop f***ing with me.
When I went back to KLM and asked them to re-book my FF flight to match the confirm number of the childrens' flights, the call center woman said,"No, it's not possible."

I lost my temper. After I explained how it was possible, the lady was actually to change my reservation to math the childrens' so that we are actually travelling together.

This process should have been easy. It was made extremely difficult and even with my saving angel of NorthWestAir I was required to pay the "over the phone" booking extra fees for the children, which really wasn't fair as it was their own systems which made it impossible to do what I would have preferred: booking on-line.

I haven't booked the husband's ticket yet: that's waiting for the transfer of yet more miles to allow me to do that. Transferring the miles from my AmEx account was problematic because we ditzed out this past month:our AmEx cards had expired and they had a no forward on the replacements. We hadn't noticed because there really isn't a lot of use for credit cards in Germany. But one can't transfer miles without a current AmEx card. So last month we had ordered new cards. They had arrived when the groseltern were taking care of the children and I had them put away where they would be safe.

I can't remember where that place is. Luckily, AmericanExpress' Mileage Rewards has a US based customer service model, and with some discussion theyw ere able to transfer the miles for me. So sometime tonight I should book those flights for him. He will be staying with us for two weeks, with my parents, and then I will be staying on another week.

With us staying here for who knows how long, we thought it was important that they know my parents, my brothers, their cousins. The trip is hideous and I'll be coming back alone with them, which is a horror I wish not to contemplate, but we think it's necessary. I'm not sure we will be able to afford the time or expense next year so I hope we can get some enjoyment this year with everyone.

I'm not looking forward to the 18+ hours travel time, though.

Proximate vacation: Are we becoming European?

Although I still haven't uploaded our photos from the trip to NY, Mass and Florida, we are making our plans for our next trip. After the German being on a project for the last 20 months, we have some time "on the bench" from a major project coming up and I want to take advantage of it.
In addition, it is finally Spring!
We plan on spending a few days during Pesach (through Easter weekend) in the Netherlands. Perhaps this is becoming a tradition because we also spent part of Passover week last year at the Keukenhof, as we plan to do again. We liked it so much, though, that this time we will make a 4 day weekend out of it, stopping at the in-laws in NRW to pick up our bicycles and then going on to Leiden, which looks like an adorable little city not far from the Gardens. I will be bringing my 24 mm lens with me:).
We plan to add some time to stop at our friend A's and see her brand new and adorable baby.

Afterward it's back to Berlin for a few days, hopefully sunny ones where the girls can play outside as it is still school break.
Then it's off to Paris. The German has a training session and I am coming along. We are driving there and will pass through the in-law's first as they have (oh so kindly) offered to take care of the girls while we enjoy the life in gay Paree (oh, that's me- the German will be in training all day). The hotel the firm is putting us in is a little out of the center, but at 1/4 mi from the subway stop, I think I can handle it.

Anyone have any suggestions for what I should scope out during my unplanned Monday through Friday days in Paris? I have seen most of the major museums in relatively great depth and I think I want to spend more time walking around than inside. I'm thinking the Catacombs, which were closed last time I was there, Shakespeare and Co, a department store, a good cooking shop, window licking (as the French would say) just to gawk? Any recommendations for interesting restaurants (not too expensive, but fun?).

I don't think that we are reaching the level of real Germans, who spend 50% of their income on leisure time activities, but even though the German is only taking 1 day off for these two "vacations", from my point of view this is what life in Europe is supposed to be like.

Home again, home again...

Back from the States to our Berlin home.

We actually got back Wednesday morning (plane touchdown at 9 am, arrived at apartment at 10:30) but since we left for the airport in Orlando at 9 am the day before we were a bit tired when we arrived.

It was an epic return, of sorts. We had mistaken the time of our departure on Tuesday by an hour (earlier, not later, which was unfortunate). The day before, the German had run off to Downtown Disney to exchange some Cinderella shoes (size marked incorrectly) and to pick up a Dornroschen dress and because the time was not listed on the website (and no one answered the phones at the store when we called) we didn't realize that they were open until 11 pm while Tar-jey was open only until 10 pm, missing our window of opportunity to return some items there.

So we packed all night (discovering that there were two driers in the house because neither actually worked- made me think of you, Diane :-)). Then we set the alarm for 8 am, and when I checked our flight schedule again, discovered the discrepancy. Oops. We ran around like mad while our friends, who left about an hour later and were domestic not international, looked at us. Then we dashed to Tar-jay where I returned items (a wrong size swim suit for Dad, unopened bottled juices and Mott's for Tots, etc) and the German picked up two cheap duffles to carry our overflow.

Then we ran to Lenscrafter's to pick up my glasses. We had gone there on Monday and gotten my prescription done. Strangely enough, the dr. found no astigmatism in my right eye, unlike Fielman's. Perhaps that explains why I kept having a hole in my field of vision in my right eye as Feilman's insisted that I had a severe astigmatism there?

It was such a relief to have a prescription that worked. When I told the dr. about my problems here I said that I felt that I was giving the wrong answers to the dr. here and I was grateful to be tested again with the US tests that I have been used to since my first pair of glasses (about 40 years ago...) and when I described the tests here he was astounded. Said that he hadn't used or seen those tests seen he was an intern, that they were not used in the US as they gave poor results. So now I know. He also dilated my eyes and checked their structure. We chose a new pair of frames and then ate lunch at Panera Bread (man, I love their Greek dressing. I now have a bottle in the refrigerator).

While we waited for my appointment, we took the kids to KoolKuts, where they both had their hair trimmed and both for the first time. The hairdresser was terrible, but the kids had a great time (and I was so afraid that Thing1 would have hysterics- she didn't want a cut) and sat in trucks with seatbelts while watching videos. Since it was just a "trim", the fact that it was uneven wasn't so bad. At least the ends are healthy now and we will find a place in Berlin to even it out in a few months.

After we got my glasses (no time for any adjustment) and filled the gas tank we lit out (as much as one can in a Sienna LE with two small children) for the airport.

I thanked the Lord aloud when we got to curb side and saw that Orlando allowed international curbside check-in (JFK does not).
We got a skycap and unloaded:

• 7 suitcases and 1 duffle to be checked.
  
• 2 car seats to be checked.
• 1 double stroller, check at gate
• two backpacks, adult
• 1 purse
• 3 carry on duffles
• 2 kids' rolly back packs (Disney princess')
  
• 1 kid's back pack, small, Tinkerbell
• assorted foods and drinks to be swallowed or discarded before security
• 1 case of Passover matzah to be hand carried
• 1 Costco size carton of Goldfish (cheddar)

What a great skycap. He took our passports and went off to handle everything while the German ran to return our minivan rental ($424 for 8 days versus lowest offer of $1400 when we called all the companies ourselves: I love you Priceline!). The skycap even came back after giving me all our tickets and claimchecks to see if he could help me through security, but I told him the German wouldn't be able to find us (only 1 American SIM between us). (I had tipped him quite well.) We arrived at the curb at 10:58.
The German came back and we were 35 minutes before our flight (per the car receipt of 11:18 and 7 minutes for him to get back). Also fortuitously, the security line was light (flying on a Monday at noon) and we went in the family line and moved quite expeditiously. Everyone was just so nice. We grabbed a monorail to our gate area (it's a hub and spoke design in Orlando which never leaves you too far from your gate) and we actually arrived at our gate after boarding had started but before our zone had been called.

Can you imagine my relief when we actually got settled into our seats? There was a "deadhead" airline officer sitting behind Thing1 who was helping settle carryons in (the plane had the "extended" overheads, which was nice. Then nothing but calm (and giving the kids toys to play with).

We had a 5 hour layover at JFK and it was all fine. We piled our masses of stuff at the gate and made forays out for food and bathroom visits. The kids played fort under the stroller and bags and Thing1 sat for a while in the window and drew (she is really great) while T2 napped in my arms and then the German's (she is too heavy for me!). The German and I were both a bit ill (stomache and head) but we survived.

It was amazing to me to see the calorie counts listed on the display menus of all the fast food places. This policy (is it NY only?) must be making a dramatic difference in eating habits. I know that it made one in mine as I considered what I wanted to order and I am a relatively sophisticated consumer who has actually requested calorie counts before! I think it's great and that it should be required everywhere.

As we boarded our plane (pre-boarding for folks with small children who need extra time- first plane since I have had kids to do that) I heaved a sigh of relief. Not least because they had changed our planes and instead of sitting 2x2 we were 3x1, which meant that I would be able to catch a few zzz'z myself:).

An interminable trip, with the kids eating only cookies and fishies, but relatively calm and quiet. The girls slept the last 4 hours and didn't wake up until we woke them after landing.

We gathered our things at Tegel. It took two luggage carts (important tip: American quarters work in SmartKarte slots), we dragged out our winter coats (I had put jeans on in the plane) and we trudged like overladen sherpas through the Zoll. I looked at the beamtor looking at our luggage and I could see him blanch. As he pulled over a perfectly inoffensive German with a single small bag, I could almost read his thoughts:" No way do I want to deal with that!".

The special large taxi/van home and within 40 minutes all our luggage was inside (the elevator worked!), a modicum of bags unpacked, our teeth brushed and the kids were in the bath. I love Tegel.

We then went to sleep for 5 hours, picked up Chinese for dinner, and had a late night again (hard getting the kids to sleep). Then a lie in today with several loads of laundry and lots of tidying (it rained- it's how I recognize Berlin:)). Kids had another bath, left-overs, and they are still wandering around like ghosts every few hours, although we put them down at 8 (at 11:45 the two just wandered past on the way upstairs to go to bed in "Mama's bed").

I hope to get some posts about the trip up over the weekend: not because I think it's so interesting to everyone else, but because I love my blog as a form of journaling with search capability and photos.