Obama 2154
Clinton1919
New York to Berlin, New York to Colorado, it's a long trip...
04 June 2008
03 June 2008
Visiting the Doctor
Today I took Thing2 in for her 2 year visit. One of the wonderful differences between visiting the German and the American pediatrician (although I adore our American ped- he was there at Thing2's 1st hospital check) is how unrushed I am here at a visit. Even with my poor grasp of German and the Dr's better grasp of English, there is never any feeling of hurry. I think our entire visit was over an hour long, with 40+ being just with the Dr.We discussed general developmental issues as well as physical health issues.The remaining time was getting immunizations and I really appreciated that as well as Thing2 getting her shots (which we discussed after looking at her medical records), I was able to get two immunizations as well! As the Dr. said, it is also his duty to ensure that the parents are healthy as parents so frequently do not visit the Dr. themselves. Since I had asked whether the meningococcus vaccine was also recommended for adults, and since my HepA needed a booster, they pulled those shots out for me. So first Thing2 had her two shots (with 6 vaccines total) in her adorable little thighs (and no, she did not enjoy them) and then I had one in each arm and she was fascinated to watch that!
We will go back next month to have an additional meningococcal booster with strains more found in the Americas and then in July Thing1 will have her 5 year visit when she will also get that shot (not given in the States) as well as her last DtP booster. Then a year off until her pre-school visit.
02 June 2008
Deutsche Leistungsfaehigkeit (Efficiency) and Apartment hunting in Berlin
One of the leitmotivs in my ex-patriate life here in Germany is my ongoing disbelief at what utter Quatsch my original belief that Germans are efficient was. They are certainly methodical and rule following, but they are as far from efficient as a people can be.
In fact, it often seems that they will create a procedure that has one running in circles just for the sheer joy of telling one that since a rule has not been followed throughout its winding and twisting turns, one must either start over or just give up.
(Sometimes I still hyper-ventilate when I think about American Express and how completely incompetent their operations in this country are. And one day I will write that post, but at the moment it annoys me too much.)
So let us proceed instead to apartment hunting. The German real estate market here is relatively opaque and monopolistic. Since the renter (as well as the purchaser) pays the commission there is no incentive to negotiate commissions and they are therefore high (as are most professional compensations in Germany).
We are currently apartment hunting because (yeah!) the German's firm has told us that he may station himself permanently here in Berlin if we so desire, rather than moving to Duesseldorf and we gave that a great big "Yeah!". We did a lot of research on immobilien socout, which is a great resource, and then we started to call brokers and make appointments. And this is where German efficiency comes into conflict with my American version of efficiency: in many cases, apartments were not available to view for several weeks, even though listed, because the currents tenants did not want to allow viewings. In most cases, the photos posted were horrible and in many others no photos were available and even floor plans were not available. In several cases, when the German called to make appointments he was told that the broker had enough possibilities and would contact him if those fell through. In one case (that particularly rankles), the broker did not return calls, did not have an answering machine, and when he responded to an e-mail inquiry sent information on a completely different apartment in a different area! This while the apartment has been listed for 4+ weeks!
Many, many annoyances later, a particular apartment that we had called on three weeks ago was still posted, so the German called the broker again. Although we had previously left our information in case the "open contract" fell through, the broker had not done so. But this time we were able to make an appointment to view (the just renovated) apartment. The German looked at two apartments in the same day, both of which looked great on paper, and came back enthused about the re-opened one. I looked at both of them the following day the one I had thought I would like was far worse than in photo while the "re-opened one" was far better in person: I handed the broker the completed paperwork after a 5 minute walk through.
Then the real work started. The broker told us he would call us that evening: we called him. Then he said that he would call the next day when he heard back from the owner (a bank). We called him. He said he would call us the next day (Friday). While biking around the lake, we stopped and called him and he said he hadn't yet heard but we should perhaps send in additional documentation (from the firm) stating that the German would be stationed in Berlin, rather than elsewhere in addition to the employment contract which we had already submitted. So the German called his chef out of a meeting to get him to send a letter to the broker. That afternoon, the German called back to see what was up and the broker mentioned that it was a good thing that he had followed up, because the woman at the bank had misread his employment contract and thought that we would be returning to the US in August, and wondered why we would bother to apartment hunt for three months! Note that she did not call the broker to query him. And note that the broker only called to ask status or if there was other documentation that would help our case after the German had spoken to him four times, each time initiating the call.
Dear Reader, we got the apartment. But only because of our tenacity and follow through. We are pretty excited and you'll be hearing more about it as the next few weeks progress. There is an einbaukuche (built in kitchen) but, as is typical in Germany, all light fixtures are empty and we will need to purchase and install 8 light fixtures in the next 21 days, as well as get a washing machine and my heart's desire: a chest freezer. Luckily, we brought along a dryer (strange thing, someone had brought one to the US, found it was too much trouble/impossible to retrofit, and gave it to us to bring over) so that's one less purchase. We'll be visiting Ikea a bit because there are no built in closets, so we will need shelving and wardrobes.
But! It's a great apartment! A small balcony off the kitchen area and a huge rooftop terrasse. It's bi-level and we will need to thinl about how to best safely utilize the space, but more later!
In fact, it often seems that they will create a procedure that has one running in circles just for the sheer joy of telling one that since a rule has not been followed throughout its winding and twisting turns, one must either start over or just give up.
(Sometimes I still hyper-ventilate when I think about American Express and how completely incompetent their operations in this country are. And one day I will write that post, but at the moment it annoys me too much.)
So let us proceed instead to apartment hunting. The German real estate market here is relatively opaque and monopolistic. Since the renter (as well as the purchaser) pays the commission there is no incentive to negotiate commissions and they are therefore high (as are most professional compensations in Germany).
We are currently apartment hunting because (yeah!) the German's firm has told us that he may station himself permanently here in Berlin if we so desire, rather than moving to Duesseldorf and we gave that a great big "Yeah!". We did a lot of research on immobilien socout, which is a great resource, and then we started to call brokers and make appointments. And this is where German efficiency comes into conflict with my American version of efficiency: in many cases, apartments were not available to view for several weeks, even though listed, because the currents tenants did not want to allow viewings. In most cases, the photos posted were horrible and in many others no photos were available and even floor plans were not available. In several cases, when the German called to make appointments he was told that the broker had enough possibilities and would contact him if those fell through. In one case (that particularly rankles), the broker did not return calls, did not have an answering machine, and when he responded to an e-mail inquiry sent information on a completely different apartment in a different area! This while the apartment has been listed for 4+ weeks!
Many, many annoyances later, a particular apartment that we had called on three weeks ago was still posted, so the German called the broker again. Although we had previously left our information in case the "open contract" fell through, the broker had not done so. But this time we were able to make an appointment to view (the just renovated) apartment. The German looked at two apartments in the same day, both of which looked great on paper, and came back enthused about the re-opened one. I looked at both of them the following day the one I had thought I would like was far worse than in photo while the "re-opened one" was far better in person: I handed the broker the completed paperwork after a 5 minute walk through.
Then the real work started. The broker told us he would call us that evening: we called him. Then he said that he would call the next day when he heard back from the owner (a bank). We called him. He said he would call us the next day (Friday). While biking around the lake, we stopped and called him and he said he hadn't yet heard but we should perhaps send in additional documentation (from the firm) stating that the German would be stationed in Berlin, rather than elsewhere in addition to the employment contract which we had already submitted. So the German called his chef out of a meeting to get him to send a letter to the broker. That afternoon, the German called back to see what was up and the broker mentioned that it was a good thing that he had followed up, because the woman at the bank had misread his employment contract and thought that we would be returning to the US in August, and wondered why we would bother to apartment hunt for three months! Note that she did not call the broker to query him. And note that the broker only called to ask status or if there was other documentation that would help our case after the German had spoken to him four times, each time initiating the call.
Dear Reader, we got the apartment. But only because of our tenacity and follow through. We are pretty excited and you'll be hearing more about it as the next few weeks progress. There is an einbaukuche (built in kitchen) but, as is typical in Germany, all light fixtures are empty and we will need to purchase and install 8 light fixtures in the next 21 days, as well as get a washing machine and my heart's desire: a chest freezer. Luckily, we brought along a dryer (strange thing, someone had brought one to the US, found it was too much trouble/impossible to retrofit, and gave it to us to bring over) so that's one less purchase. We'll be visiting Ikea a bit because there are no built in closets, so we will need shelving and wardrobes.
But! It's a great apartment! A small balcony off the kitchen area and a huge rooftop terrasse. It's bi-level and we will need to thinl about how to best safely utilize the space, but more later!
Wilde Pferde
It was a rainy Fridaynight and a wet Saturday as we gathered ourselves up to go see the wild horse round up in Duehlman. It was soggy and gray but we got 
there about 9 am and walked around looking at the horses that had already been coralled prior to what would be a cutting out of the first year stallions for sale.
The girls had a lot of fun walking and looking and petting the many already tamed horses that were waiting to compete in the "rodeo" that would take place after the cutting. There
were many Wildepfereden there in individual rope enclosures with signs showing when they had been purchased at prior sales and who the owners were: an awful lot of horse crazy girls and horse clubs. In addition we watched the Frieians being unloaded (there would also be a Friesian show). Then we wandered the area, picked up some pikante strudeln (there's not an awful lot of non-schweine food here in Deutscheland) and sat on the bank of the stream for a bit (we had brought a blanket and some drinks).
Here you see a horse-drawn bus bringing people in from the far parking lots.
Around 12:30, or about 30 minutes before the gates would open and an hour before the actual show would start, the kids just became too tired, so we bundled them up, the younger on the German's shoulder and Thing1 in the stroller and took them back to the car. We were able to sell our tickets at the gate for the price that we had paid;-), so we got to walk around for free rather than pay the (lower) price for grounds tickets, so we were pretty happy. I bought a DVD of the round up and next year we will buy sitzplatz and get there at 12:30 which should leave us fresh for the show!
Afterwards, since both girls fell asleep in the car, we drove the half hour to Muenster and took a quick drive through, as I'd never been there. Both the German's parents had gone to University there (it was where they met) and his sister had done her University work there as well and liked it. It was a cute (and very small) town and I could see why it has the title of Bicycle Capital of Germany--- I have never seen so many bicycles in my life. There were huge herds of them, like passenger pigeons, resting everywhere.
there about 9 am and walked around looking at the horses that had already been coralled prior to what would be a cutting out of the first year stallions for sale.
The girls had a lot of fun walking and looking and petting the many already tamed horses that were waiting to compete in the "rodeo" that would take place after the cutting. There
were many Wildepfereden there in individual rope enclosures with signs showing when they had been purchased at prior sales and who the owners were: an awful lot of horse crazy girls and horse clubs. In addition we watched the Frieians being unloaded (there would also be a Friesian show). Then we wandered the area, picked up some pikante strudeln (there's not an awful lot of non-schweine food here in Deutscheland) and sat on the bank of the stream for a bit (we had brought a blanket and some drinks).
Here you see a horse-drawn bus bringing people in from the far parking lots.Around 12:30, or about 30 minutes before the gates would open and an hour before the actual show would start, the kids just became too tired, so we bundled them up, the younger on the German's shoulder and Thing1 in the stroller and took them back to the car. We were able to sell our tickets at the gate for the price that we had paid;-), so we got to walk around for free rather than pay the (lower) price for grounds tickets, so we were pretty happy. I bought a DVD of the round up and next year we will buy sitzplatz and get there at 12:30 which should leave us fresh for the show!
Afterwards, since both girls fell asleep in the car, we drove the half hour to Muenster and took a quick drive through, as I'd never been there. Both the German's parents had gone to University there (it was where they met) and his sister had done her University work there as well and liked it. It was a cute (and very small) town and I could see why it has the title of Bicycle Capital of Germany--- I have never seen so many bicycles in my life. There were huge herds of them, like passenger pigeons, resting everywhere.
29 May 2008
Asparagus Potato Salad (Cold)
I had a bunch of asparagus in der Kuhlschrank (note that it is green, as all good tasting asparagus should be), some potatoes starting to shrivel and I wanted something light for dinner: voila.
By the way, note the purple potatoes? I had read about them and when I passed through the Markthalle at Alt Tegel and saw them, I bought some. They taste fabulous. They have a nutty, almost smokey flavor and I will definitely buy them again, for the flavor not just the purtiness of the color (and it took me three washes to return my hands to their normal color).
Asparagus and Potato Salad
1 bunch green asparagus
7-10 small potatoes
Blanch the asparagus for 4-6 minutes in salted boiling water until tender/crisp. Cool immediately with water. Peel the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water (before or at the same time) until fork done. Also cool immediately with cold water (to stop the cooking)
Cut the asparagus into two inch pieces, cut the potatoes into edible sized chunks or slice. Place them into a bowl, add vinaigrette (see below,only when ready to eat) and toss lightly. If you aren't going to eat immediately, add vinaigrette to portions you will eat as you prepare them
VinaigretteA few glugs of white wine vinegar
the same number glugs of evoo (although many use a 1:3 ratio, I love vinegar)
Salt and pepper, fresh ground, to taste
a teaspoon (or more) Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon thyme (got some super fresh dried thyme last week at the markt)
Whisk all ingredients together well.
26 May 2008
Lentil Soup
I was wandering around Julia's Here be Hippogriffs today when I noted her lentil soup recipe. It had several ingredients I either didn't have or wouldn't use (such as andouille sausage), but it made me think of making one myself. I did, we liked it, here's the recipe:
Lentil Soup/Stew
1 1/2 cups lentils
5 c chicken stock (which I happen to still have from the States, next time I might try either water or my frozen, a bit concentrated, chicken soup)
1/2 cup chopped carrots (I used 1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup diced onion (didn't use)
2 t thyme- wouldn't have thought of it, liked it very much
quite a bit of Cajun seasoning, which is mainly garlic, paprika, onion, salt. and a bit of Cayenne
salt to taste
In a saucepan, place the stock and lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 20 minutes. Add other ingredients, simmer for 20-30 minutes.
A very easy and tasty recipe, as well as healthy and fast. Made enough for lots.
Lentil Soup/Stew
1 1/2 cups lentils
5 c chicken stock (which I happen to still have from the States, next time I might try either water or my frozen, a bit concentrated, chicken soup)
1/2 cup chopped carrots (I used 1 cup)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup diced onion (didn't use)
2 t thyme- wouldn't have thought of it, liked it very much
quite a bit of Cajun seasoning, which is mainly garlic, paprika, onion, salt. and a bit of Cayenne
salt to taste
In a saucepan, place the stock and lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 20 minutes. Add other ingredients, simmer for 20-30 minutes.
A very easy and tasty recipe, as well as healthy and fast. Made enough for lots.
25 May 2008
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Hmm, picked up some more rhubarb (I love rhubarb season) and a kilo of strawberries and needed to decide what to do with them. Very important to decide quickly, because I find that strawberries here go bad within 24 hours of purchase. So I "cobbled" together a recipe.My Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
About 1 kilo rhubarb
About 600g strawberries
1/2 c sugar
Cut rhubarb in 1" slices. Hull and slice strawberries. Put them in large, nonreactive bowl in 3:1 proportions. Add 1/2 c. granulated sugar and 2-3 T lemon juice (and lemon zest if you have a zester), stir and let sit for 30 minutes to macerate.
Then I scrambled together a cobbler based loosely on Pioneer Woman's wonderful Blackberry Cobbler.
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 T baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
Now, her recipe uses shortening and involves some finicky mixing, but mine: just put it all together and mix. If it's too sticky, add a bit more flour while you mix it together. The spray Pam on your 9x13 glass pan (or butter it), lay the fruit mixture out, and drop the cobbler mixture on top. As you can see, there really wasn't enough cobbler mix to cover the amount of fruit I wanted to use, next time I would probably make half again as much.
Pre-heat the oven to 425F, or to 200C heissluft (I can't figure how to turn the convection off) and cook for 30 minutes. Let it cool a bit, then enjoy. (Some recipes add 2 T of tapioca to stiffen it up but I didn't have any around, and I don't mind it being drippy).
24 May 2008
Gray's Anatomy season closer
and a makeshift chili which was pretty good. Since the girls had a warm lunch I made them plain pasta for dinner and for the German and myself I threw together a chili-type meal.
Left Over Chili
4 onions, sliced and diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced
4 carrots, sliced into thin rings
3 ribs celery, sliced lengthwise then diced
2 cans drained and rinsed kidney beans
500g sieved tomatoes
Cajun spices, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper and chili powder, sea salt and black pepper
500+g ground beef (Rinderhackfleisch)
Put them in a saucepan with olive oil and start sauteeing. I threw a bunch of sea salt and ground pepper on there as well. After about 10 minutes I poured in the tomatoes and kidney beans, stirred, added a lot of spice and stirred it again.
In the meantime, brown the ground beef in a large stockpot/soupkettle. I didn't need to use any oil, because I brought up the heat slowly and the beef gave off fat. When done browning, strain the meat and discard fat.
Then add the saucepan of vegetables to the meat, stir, add salt, pepper and more of all spices to taste. remember that hot spices get hotter as they cook, so if you spice to taste, it will be much hotter after it's done cooking.
After a few hours (putting the girls to bed) I made myself a bowl. Then, for the German, I added another 500 g of tomatoes. He's come a long way, but not quite far enough for the amount of cayenne pepper I enjoy. These are, of course, spices I brought with me from the States. I'm not certain how the spices would be here, because when I bought fierig scharf crushed red peppers here, they were absolutely bland.
Ah, the season ender of Gray's? A few surprises here and there, but what a nice, satisfying, great ending.
Left Over Chili
4 onions, sliced and diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced
4 carrots, sliced into thin rings
3 ribs celery, sliced lengthwise then diced
2 cans drained and rinsed kidney beans
500g sieved tomatoes
Cajun spices, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper and chili powder, sea salt and black pepper
500+g ground beef (Rinderhackfleisch)
Put them in a saucepan with olive oil and start sauteeing. I threw a bunch of sea salt and ground pepper on there as well. After about 10 minutes I poured in the tomatoes and kidney beans, stirred, added a lot of spice and stirred it again.
In the meantime, brown the ground beef in a large stockpot/soupkettle. I didn't need to use any oil, because I brought up the heat slowly and the beef gave off fat. When done browning, strain the meat and discard fat.
Then add the saucepan of vegetables to the meat, stir, add salt, pepper and more of all spices to taste. remember that hot spices get hotter as they cook, so if you spice to taste, it will be much hotter after it's done cooking.
After a few hours (putting the girls to bed) I made myself a bowl. Then, for the German, I added another 500 g of tomatoes. He's come a long way, but not quite far enough for the amount of cayenne pepper I enjoy. These are, of course, spices I brought with me from the States. I'm not certain how the spices would be here, because when I bought fierig scharf crushed red peppers here, they were absolutely bland.
Ah, the season ender of Gray's? A few surprises here and there, but what a nice, satisfying, great ending.
22 May 2008
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.
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.
21 May 2008
Class trip: Rawums(:) Ausflug ins Wunderland der Schwerkraft
Today I went along on Thing1's class trip to a children's theatre (as an extra adult to herd the cats). The brochure calls it a "PuppenFigurenObjekte", although I didn't see any dolls...?
It was put on by Schaubude Berlin, an experimental theatre sposored by the Berlin Senate. There were about 40 of us and it was very mausing as we went along like ducklings, taking two light changes to make it across the street..., we took a bus to the S-Bahn and then
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