Steph's Munich Madness

German Hospitals

2010-10-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

Check-In Day at the Hospital

This post is for those who have encouraged me to start blogging again. It was therapeutic and since we are still in Germany three years later (no, I can't believe it either), I need an outlet. Blogging seems as therapeutic as anything else so here goes...

I had to undergo a minor surgery in Germany, which required a hospital stay. Previously, my only experience in any sort of German hospital was delivering Willem and Pieter so this was a bit different. I figure since I'm still in hospital and looking for things to keep me occupied, I'll share some of my insights on the differences between German and U.S. hospitals (at least from MY experience).

First off, my surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning but I was told to arrive a whole day early to check-in. Can you imagine that? I had nearly 24 hours to hang around in my hospital room BEFORE surgery. Not sure if that was a good thing for me, since it only gave me more time to stress. But it was good to already be here and settled the night before, as my surgery was scheduled for 7:30 the next morning. I requested a private room because I have small kids who will visit and bother any person sharing a room with me. Last thing I wanted to do was irritate some old Bavarian woman and get the stink eye.

So basically, the room is what you'd expect in the U.S. with a few subtle differences. First off, there are no privacy curtains around the beds. Germans aren't as "private" as we are in the U.S. Second (and I wish I had thought of this before arriving), I really should have brought my own towel for showering. Now, I understand this varies hospital to hospital but I had to request some towels and was only given a couple hand towels so I do believe the expectation was that I would bring my own.

The clinic I am in is relatively small, but that is not necessarily uncommon in Bavaria. While there are large hospitals, it is not uncommon to find many smaller specialization clinics. The hospital where I gave birth to Willem and Pieter was a small clinic specializing in women's health issues. And the clinic I am now in is even smaller- about 64 beds in all. This is quite small by U.S. standards. I actually do appreciate that about being here. So far, for the most part (noting some minor exceptions) I have received very personalized care by both nurses and midwives here. The clinics are smaller and therefore the staff is smaller and closer. It provides for a more comfortable feeling, which for me is always good. Though I can't say for certain, I would also imagine that the rate of cross-contamination is lower in these smaller clinics, which can be a problem in big U.S. hospitals.

Noting that Bavaria is also a very Catholic state, it is not surprising that I am in a Catholic clinic- in that it is run in conjunction with the Sisters of Mercy. This Order of nuns have devoted their lives to helping poor and sick people. In this clinic, both secular nurses and nuns work together tending to the patients. I've grown used to the fact that there are crucifixes all over Bavaria, in many public places, but I have to say it still is a bit creepy to see a crucifix above my hospital bed.

The next noticeable difference is the length of stay in a German hospital. In the U.S. the surgery I just had has a typical hospital stay of two days. I was told to expect a six day hospital stay. I'm not sure how I feel about this, just yet, but on the whole I think the possibility of staying longer is always good. My experience in the U.S. is that you get kicked out pretty quickly because your insurance won't pay, otherwise. Here, it is not uncommon for women to stay in the hospital up to a week after a normal vaginal delivery of their babies. Contrast THAT to the U.S., where they all but force you out after two days.

I've been here three years now and I still have difficulty getting used to the meals. Germans typically follow the big meal at midday with smaller meals at breakfast and dinner, and while healthier, my body definitely isn't used to it. I am awakened by hospital staff around 6:30 a.m. (remember I'm in a Catholic hospital so they've already been up for ages for Morning Mass). Breakfast (crusty roll, butter, slice of cheese or meat, and coffee) is a around 7:30, a big hot lunch at 11:30, coffee or tea at 12:30 and then dinner (more crusty roll and cheese) at 5pm. The big meal in the middle of the day thing is good and all but I'm not used to it, which means I'm super hungry at 8pm. Fortunately, I anticipated this and brought a few things from home- instant soup packets and lots of still water (all the water they serve here is bubbly).

The doctors here are quite competent and most speak decent English (whether they actually WANT to use it with you is a totally different story). They do tend to suffer from God-like complexes, though, and do not like to be questioned. (If you know me, then you know that for most doctors I am the thorn in their side with my incessant questions.) It puts me at ease to know what is happening and be informed. This is contrary to the German way of doing things, as many people here just simply accept anything that someone in a position of authority states. Not only that, but they seem to not ask for further clarification. When a doctor comes in and routinely asks you, "So do you have any questions for me?" and starts to walk out before I even have time to answer, you know they aren't used to any actual questions. And with me- they usually get the Spanish Inquisition- not a debate over WHAT they are doing, but an explanation of it. Anyhow, this torques some doctors here, but I guess that the God-Complex is found in all countries. And their bed-side manner... well hit or miss there, but typically... not what we Americans are used to... much colder. Though, that's probably a whole new post in and of itself.

In Germany, doctors wield a lot of power and are well-respected. It is not easy for any Joe Shmoe to get a medical license here. Things appear much more regulated. There is high respect for "titles" given in Germany and "titles" aren't given out lightly. Case in point- There is technically still a law (though rarely enforced) in Germany that states that anyone who did not receive their PhD in Germany cannot refer to themselves as "Doctor" in Germany. Though rarely enforced, this did prove problematic for some PhD working at a renowned scientific organization here, as he was fined over it. I presume someone lower than this PhD felt he was somehow lording his title over their head, and as a result he was reported. As he indeed did not obtain his PhD in Germany, he was fined.

My stay here has been okay, except that I feel bad for my kids. The last two nights they have been quite upset when they left, and Gerrit even almost cried on the phone with me before bed. I am hoping they will let me out today, but it is Sunday, and I have been told Sunday is not a typical "discharge" day. A nice little nun did come to my room earlier, though, and invite me to attend mass with her in the hospital chapel.

It is interesting being cared for by both nuns and nurses. That is quite different. There is a sort of holistic care happening here than I have experienced otherwise. Though, admittedly, I am probably one of the only people at this hospital that is not Catholic. Some of the nurses speak a tiny bit of English but most of the nuns are quite older and do not speak any English, but we seem to be managing quite fine with my poor German. Knowing at least some German creates a bit more of a comfortable feeling for me than I had giving birth to Willem in the hospital three years ago. I do not have as much "angst" as the Germans say.

Righty-oh, well... contrary to all the German regulations and being told last night that I was likely NOT leaving today, they are in fact going to discharge me today (with the understanding that I must come back Tuesday afternoon to speak with the doctor once my pathology results are in). Woo Hoo! That means I get to go spend the day with my family and celebrate Willem's birthday. I'm quite excited! Will gather my things and scamper out the door... hopefully before another lovely German hospital meal comes my way. :)

Snuggling Pieter before daddy takes him home

After surgery...
Was terribly groggy and nauseous after the surgery for several hours.
This was taken at the end of the day when I started feeling a bit better.

One day post-op, and the boys finally get to see me.

Pieter is excited!

Gerrit had fun watching German cartoons...

... and playing with the bed controls.

Willem and daddy collect mommy from the hospital

Mom and son happy to be together

Pieter cruisin' around following in daddy's footsteps.

Relaxing at home with our "Trio of Trouble" :)

Joys of Boys

2010-01-14T04:33:00.000-08:00

I have always wondered if boys found things just as funny as adult men. Things like farting, burping, and the like. I'm sure the Dutch Oven thing has happened to more than one unsuspecting woman (if you are a gal who has no idea what a Dutch Oven is then you are one of the few lucky ones in this world). So I have often suspected that boys just started out thinking these things were hilariously funny... and well... then just never grew out of it. My suspicions have been confirmed.

While searching for German cartoons on youtube, we came across this little gem. (Not exactly what I was hoping for to help with Gerrit's German, but I suppose that this topic is universal- no language barrier here.) Needless to say, both boys could not stop laughing and played it again and again.

Also, Gerrit now jumps up in his seat just like the rabbit whenever he has to fart.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

After Kindergarten today, my conversation with Gerrit over lunch...

Me: (burp) Oh, excuse me.

Boys: (laugh)

Me: So Gerrit, what did you do in Kindergarten today? Did you have a new teacher named Annemarie?

Gerrit: (burping his answer) YEEEEEEEES.

Me: Nice. Did you play games and practice German with Annemarie?

Gerrit: (burping his answer yet again) YEEEES.

Meanwhile, Willem chimes in with a burp and a chuckle. Notice a theme here?

Me: What games did you play today, Gerrit?

Gerrit: (taking a deep breath to be able to answer with a complete burp)
POOOOOOOP-EN HOOOOUUUUUSSSSSE.

(For those of you Germans, that's Puppen Haus.) Gerrit just told me he played witha Play House/Doll House today in Kinder. Hey, I suppose I should be grateful for any German answer he gives, even when they come with the added bonus of a belch here and there.

A Year in Review

2009-12-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Since I've been so pathetic at keeping up with this blog lately, here's a quick look back at 2009. Happy Holidays!

Pieter Arrives

2009-10-26T09:23:00.001-07:00

Anyone uninterested in reading about my labor and delivery details of Pieter's birth, please skip to the end of the post to find pictures. I realize I can provide TMI for some people.

So life has been progressing along with our newest addition, Pieter Johannes. The boys have been dealing with him pretty well, and we're all adjusting to becoming a family of five. My mom arrived a few days after his birth and has been a big help in helping us settle in. For those interested, Pieter's birth details are below.

After celebrating Gerrit's birthday, I started noticing I was having some minor contractions that night. Nothing to be too alarmed about as they were only coming every 45 minutes... but as the evening progressed, they seemed to be progressing some in intensity.

Around 4 am I awoke and was a bit uncomfortable. (I was still not really thinking this was going to be Pieter's birthday. I assumed I had just overdone it the day before with all the running around I'd done.) I moved downstairs to the couch to be more comfortable. It became a bit more clear to me that things were going to progress when two hours I was leaking some amniotic fluid (not a gusher, as with Gerrit, but definitely noticeable). My contractions immediately ramped up to 20 minutes apart and became a bit more intense. At this point, I went upstairs and woke Gerard and the boys, told them today was the day, and began packing a bag for them and a hospital bag for me.

As a side note, I had been telling Gerrit for months that one of his birthday gifts was going to be a new baby brother, so I think it's quite fitting that his new baby arrived right after his fourth birthday. Needless to say, Gerrit was quite excited about the announcement, though honestly, I'm not sure he really understood what that REALLY meant. Willem had no clue what was going on, but was just excited by all the morning's activity.

Gerrit, still playing with his birthday gift from the previous day (a digital camera), was snapping pictures of me all morning. This was something I began to have a bit less tolerance of as time went on and my contractions became even stronger and closer together. Still, I tried to keep a happy face and take it all in stride.

We dropped off the boys with a friend of ours around 8:45 a.m. and headed to the hospital. (I really wanted to try to have this baby without pain medication. I was unable to make it through my previous two labors of 20 and 24 hours without any medication, and I hoped that this one would progress a bit faster. The long labors have been a killer for me and I caved after about 16 hours.) While driving to the clinic, I was seriously doubting my ability to have a natural childbirth. I was already in quite a bit of pain but kept imagining the midwives telling me that I was only a few centimeters along. If that was the case, there'd be no way I could last.

We arrived at the hospital around 9am. At this point, I'm telling Gerard that if I'm not further along in dilation soon, there is no way I'm going to make it without drugs. My contractions were 4 minutes apart, HARD, I was having a really hard time breathing, and I literally felt my cervix moving and stretching with each contraction. Still, not to be disappointed I was prepared for the worst when the nurse checked me. Thank GAWD she said I was nearly 5 cm at that point. Woo Hoo! If I continued at this pace, perhaps there was hope for me. The midwife was great. She told me that she would check me in one to two hours and that if I wasn't much further, we would negotiate drugs. However, she also encouraged me that I was progressing at a good pace and that she thought I might be nearly ready in a few hours. All great news to me. I was in! Gerard was good, too. I asked him to help slow me down with breathing because I could feel myself getting quite dizzy and beginning to hyperventilate.

At nearly two hour marked, the midwife checked me again- 9cm, awesome but so incredibly painful. I felt ready to push, and after two more contractions she told me to go ahead and do so. Okay, so everyone who has had a baby without drugs tells me the pushing is a relief. While that may be true, I still felt this whole experience frenetic and painful. I think it's only slightly less painful if you push and just don't stop at all until the baby is out. I had a terrible time controlling my breathing during this process and I literally just pushed nearly the entire time, with short breaths in between. When he was born, I took a huge breath like I had literally just come up for air after being trapped underwater. Thank god he was out. In the past, I've been able to watch myself deliver with a mirror and then touch the baby and the head, etc. This time, the midwife asked me if I wanted to touch the baby's head. NO WAY!!! Just get him out - the quicker the better. Apparently, Gerard said I was clamped onto his arm while I was pushing. I don't think I pushed more than 8 minutes at most before he was out. Thank goodness!! Out popped Pieter at 11:11 am.

Pieter was born on Thursday morning and I was ready to leave a few hours later but Gerard always likes me to stay at least one day. I tried to get out of the hospital Friday at 9am but was only released after 7pm. I guess they are not used to people wanting to leave the hospital so quickly. In Germany, you are allowed to stay 5-10 days post delivery and most women do, so they always seem shocked when someone actually wants to go home early. I just find hospitals uncomfortable. I'd rather recover in my own house in my own bed. Incidentally, I felt surprisingly better after delivery than I expected. My midwife thinks this is from a lack of drugs, and I think it's probably more likely the shorter labor. My midwife tells me statistically the third one comes the fastest and that after that, stats show the labors are longer again. So any of you ladies thinking a third is in order but concerned about a longer labor, I say go for it. I was thrilled to bits that this labor was so short.

So... a few pics and stats.

Pieter Johannes van Belle -Born October 8, 2009 (one day after his oldest brother's birthday). Weighing in at 3,780 grams (approx 8 1/2 pounds), length 55 cm (22 inches). We're all home and doing well, and big brothers are adjusting to the baby. On the way home, Gerrit and Willem informed me that Pieter cried too much and both of them covered their ears.

Gerrit's Turns Four!

2009-10-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

So this happened several weeks ago now, but I have fallen behind on blog posts yet again. I think facebook has ruined my blog, by the way. It had sort of gotten to the point where more people were interested in looking at my blog pictures and video than were actually interested in reading my posts, so as I started posting more images on facebook, I started posting less and less on the blog. Hence, it's demise. Alright, people, to inspire me to keep this thing up, let me know you still look at it from time to time- and not SOLEY for the pics.

We had a lot exciting things happen these last two months. In September I began in intesnsive German course. It met nightly for three hours (Monday-Thursday). As it was in Munich, during rush hour, we decided it made more sense for me to take the train into the city, rather than drive. This, however, meant that I needed to leave at least one hour before my class. With the commute time there and back, my three hour class had now turned into at leat a five hour adventure each day. Bleh! Even with my enthusiasm, the class began taking its toll on me by the first week in. To motivate myself, I kept repeating that taking this class made sense because Gerard was in town and could watch the boys at night. Plus, the baby would arrive soon and taking an intensive class like this would then be much more difficult. I started this class one month from my due date and was already waddling all over town. I found walking that much each day was proving more difficult than I had originally anticipated, so I decided to ride my bike to and from the train station. This seemed like a great plan... until my bike was stolen. Rats! Back to walking. Fortunately, I survived, though immediately ending the class I ended up with some sort of stomach virus for a few days. I can't say the course improved my German much, but at least it was something, right? I continue to struggle with this ridiculous language on a daily basis. I honestly doubt I'll improve much more before we leave here, but I continue to try anyhow.

The next bit of exciting news...

My big boy turned four. Yes, Gerrit celebrated another birthday here in Germany. When we arrived he was just shy of two and now he is four. I know he's still young, but I can remember his birth so clearly. I feel like he was just born. I can clearly remember my teacher friends telling me that I looked "lower" than normal and asking me how I felt. "Fine, fine," I would say. "I haven't had any contractions but my mucous plug came out and I think it's still a few days away." (Yes, I know that's gross and probably TMI for most people, but if you know me, you are not surprised that I would discuss such things openly.) In fact, my water broke (and we're talking a gusher) about five minutes after that conversation. I remember still being in denial that the time had come (I was still two weeks from my due date and felt not at all prepared for a new baby). I think I was still in denial through the entire labor, birth, and first few hours thereafter. This being the U.S., they whisked Gerrit away from me within the first twenty minutes after delivery to do a bunch of tests. I didn't get him back for hours.

But when I did... and I unwrapped my swaddled newborn son.... I fell in love. My denial melted away into adoration.

This year, Gerrit received a special gift for his birthday- his very own kid-size digital camera. For some time now, Gerrit has been fascinated with our camera and has taken some decent pictures now and then. So we decided it was a good time to introduce him to a camera. The problem with these kid-cameras, is that picture quality is sacrificed for camera durability. This camera can be dropped on the ground, survive in water, and can withstand most things little hands can throw its way- but the pictures come out rather dark and sketchy. Still, Gerrit enjoys the camera and that's what matters. As a side note, I've also noticed that since Gerrit now has his "own" camera, he has taken much more liberty in snapping pictures of any old random thing. So practice makes perfect, little man. Keep it up.

Gerrit, trying out his new birthday gift

Here you can enjoy some of Gerrit's photos- life from his perspective.

Mommy

Niki

A view of the cat's litterbox

Ready to mop the floor

Little Brother, Willem

Daddy

Waiting for grandma to arrive at Munich airport

Grandma's HereGrandma and new brother, Pieter

It's hard to believe it has already been four years. Gerrit is becoming such a little man. He attends a German kindergarten, and is picking up a bit of the German language. His ability to understand is still much stronger than his ability to speak it, but it is coming along. I love to listen to his stories- he is developing such an active imagination these days. Over the last two years, he has developed an extensive vocabulary and an outgoing personality. He is empathetic, affectionate, and looks out for his two younger brothers. Gerrit and Willem do have their spats (as most siblings do), but I so enjoy seeing them play together and care for each other. I can't wait to see how Gerrit continues to mature over the years.

A look back at my first baby...

A Few Hours Old (October 7, 2005)

One Year old...

Two Years Old...

Three Years Old...

Four Years Old...

Happy Birthday, Gerrit!

Our Itallian Adventure

2009-09-08T00:21:00.000-07:00

(I've been meaning to finish this post for ages now but have only now gotten around to it.)

I have been wanting to take a family vacation (including dogs) since we arrived nearly two years ago. One major reason we got a 7 seater car here has been for such travel. (As a side note, folks, this is the smallest seven seater you'll ever see. By German standards, it's considered big. But in the U.S. this is still a teeny car. When you actually have all seven seats in, it is possibly even worse than traveling coach on the airplane with the amount of room one has.) This little Toyota Picnic's (yes, that is the real model name) purpose was to serve as a vehicle to use when guests visit, as well as one we could remove the back row of seats from and pile in dogs and luggage for various European driving adventures. Up until now, we haven't been able to manage the latter. Mostly, it is because we haven't done much car traveling (aside from various day trips). Gerard maintains a pretty vigorous travel schedule and when in between travel, he must catch up on office work, making it difficult to get away for more personal travel. When the kids and I are fortunate enough to accompany him, it often involves flying to destinations, making travel with pets even more precarious. Even then, his work travel means he is working during the day and often has various events into the evenings, which means that while the boys and I get to go somewhere new and see dad in the evenings, we are often running about on our own during the day. It is fabulous when other wives tag along as sometimes I can hang out with them as well. Still, while wonderfully exciting at times, it is not a proper family vacation without work.

Yet finally, a week set aside to plan a mini-holiday. Ah, but where to go. As I am now nearly eight months pregnant, a quite rigorous trip did not exactly sound appealing. As some of you know, our house in the U.S. has cost us a lot of money as of late from various tenant issues, so I was looking to find a slightly less expensive sort of vacation (that still included our pets). One obvious thing that came to mind was camping. First, let me say that when I say camping, I really mean "carping" (car-camping). While we do enjoy being outdoors and going on some smaller day hikes and/or nature walks, we are not the type who pack a backpack and head into the woods on foot with everything we need to survive for a five day trip. I admire people who do that, but that is not our current lifestyle. One minor complication in all of this is that Gerard and I haven't been camping/carping since before we had Gerrit. This means our four-person tent would be as stretch to accommodate two adults, two kids, and two dogs. So this had me looking up various camping websites that also had semi-permanent tents and/or cabins to rent. I came across a few that were still available (August being the prime travel time for Europeans). I was lucky to find anything so last-minute. The only place available that allowed dogs appeared to be a northern Italian campground, but as there were no other camping spots available in August, we rented a small cabin. So... our destination- Northern Italy... Lake Maggiore, in fact. One of the larger northern Italian lakes.

Video on the road to Lake Maggiore-
Gerrit gives his opinion on baby names

We hit the road later than expected (always the case with me). As the earliest check-in time was 3pm, we figured that a 10 am departure was adequate time to get there. Between leaving one hour later than planned, plus the various traffic jams we ran into, we didn't actually arrive until 6:3p.m. Bleh, a long car ride. Boys, dogs, as well as Gerard and I were quite restless when arriving. We quickly unpacked, ate dinner, and checked out our camp.

The pink building is our cottage- divided into three separate flats.
We had the bottom flat. (Note, our tiny seven seater car as well.)

The boys enjoy dinner in our cottage after a long day of driving.

Say Cheese!!!

Exploring the creek near our cabin.

Monday-
We decided to go look for a castle we read about located in the middle of the lake. (The Castles are referred to as the "Castles of Cannero Islands." The ruins are located on two small islands, and are what is left of the castle Rocca Vitaliana, built between 1519 and 1521.) Turns out that ferries and boats only take you up to view them but do not allow you to get off the boat and explore the castle. Since we could only view the castles from the water, we decided to save the money and just view them from land.

View of "Cannero Island Castle" in Lake Maggiore

Next, we went into the local town Cannobio, explored a bit, and of course, had some gelato. How can a Italian trip be complete without loading up on gelato. :) While in town, I attempted to look over the ferry schedule to some neighboring islands, but was unsuccessful in purchasing tickets as it was just after noon and their office had just closed. Rats! Forgot about the long "Siesta" time here (12-3pm). Oh well, we ended up getting groceries and headed back to our campground to play in the pool and on the playground. The playground, by the way, has to be one of the most unsafe playgrounds out there. I am always amazed to see things here that under no circumstance would be allowed in the U.S. So much here is about "Do it at your own risk."

The boardwalk in Cannobio

Even the dogs enjoy gelato

Tuesday-
We had hoped to find a zoo for the kids. But when we discovered it was about 1 1/2 hour drive, we decided to forego the experience. Instead, the camp owner told us of a ferry to a neighboring island, Laveno, that had a cable car going up to the top of one of the mountains (Sasso di Ferro). He informed us that we would get a fantastic view atop this mountain of all five nearby lakes. It all sounded like good fun so we decided to make a day of it.

Video of Gerard and Gerrit mapping our adventure for the day

On the ferry headed to Laverno. The two dim lines

up the side of the mountain represents our cable car adventure.

Gerard seemed to think the cable car would be more of a funicular railway. Boy, could he be any further from reality on that one. Check it out.

Note that the compartment only holds two people and stops at your waist. A tiny door

(which can easily be opened) keeps you from tumbling down the mountain side. Yikes!

A Tight Fit

Video of the cable car- a.k.a Death Trap

So it turns out this thing is actually referred to as a Gondola, not a Cable Car (yah, I can assure you this is no cable car). And the elevation is nearly 3,000 feet up. It took us a good 20 minutes (at least) to get up to the top.

Now, I'm not normally afraid of heights, but given that Gerrit and I were in a tiny compartment with a door you could easily open and fall out, I was having some slight panic attacks about Gerrit tumbling out. Fortunately, he was very well-behaved. He got a bit scared as we continued to ascend, but as long as I at least "seemed" to remain calm, he was comforted. Thank goodness we chose not to bring the dogs with us that day. I don't know how we would have fit them and kids in a tiny cable car.

Thankfully, we finally made it to the top and I could get out of that crazy contraption. Atop the mountain, there was a pricey restaurant, snack bar, gift shop, hang glider station (which Gerrit found fascinating), a decent view, and another crazy, unsafe play area. All in all, it was good fun. Of course more ice cream had to accompany our experience.

Complaining about not wanting to go back down in the "death trap"

Video of the a lovely Italian Public Toilet

Playground at the top of Cable Car ride in Laverno

Willem LOVED this swing

Family portrait at the top of the cable car ride in Laverno

Waiting for the ferry to take us back

Two very tired boys means a successful outing

Wednesday-
Today we headed into town of Orta San Guilio. We explored the town a bit, ate an afternoon snack of local cheese varieties, and then took a boat to San Guilio Island which houses a Basilica. At every corner, people were either stopping us because of our unique looking dogs or kids. :) I had the gentle leaders on the dogs so they wouldn't pull as much. Gerrit has been wanting to help hold the leash and this helps tremendously with pulling if they get excited. Even though these gentle leaders are not muzzles, the fact that they go around their muzzles somewhat, makes people think the dogs might be vicious. Trying to explain this to Italians proved a bit difficult. Still, many people were curious enough that when they saw us and our kids petting the dogs, they felt they were less ferocious than they imagined. We got many compliments on how gorgeous our kids and dogs were. Gotta love Italians. Always making you feel good. :)

Gerrit hamming it up, as usual. :)

Willem looking pensive and skeptical, as usual. :)

Modern Art

The boat ride to the Basilica.

Jake and Niki were quite a hit with the Italians

The Monastery

A couple of cuties

Checking out the playground before we head back to our camp

Thursday-
As this was our last full day in Italy, we decided to take it easy before the long drive back. We spent the morning driving around trying to find another zoo (this one, we were told was much closer than the others). We were told there were signs along the road but apparently, they were so small we must have passed right by them. When we finally discovered the "Park with Animals," it was closed for.... SIESTA TIME. Okay, we diverted to the lake and decided to return when it opened.

We played around at the lake a bit. Surprisingly, the water was much warmer than I had originally expected. The day was also quite warm, so the water felt refreshing. Gerrit liked it too, and enjoyed splashing around with his arm floaties, while Willem mostly played in the sand at the water's edge.

The boys and daddy

Gerrit and mommy

Willem and mommy

Later, we spent a couple hours at the "Park with Animals." Though we had been told it was a zoo, it was really much more of a plant nursery with a section for small animals- goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, pigs, mules, and lots of different birds. The kids seemed somewhat entertained, though Willem more than Gerrit. The day was still hot, so we didn't stay long before heading out... with... ice cream for the drive back. :)

"Park with Animals"

Donkeys

Willem loved the bunny rabbits

Friday-
Friday we had to head out early. Our check out time was 9:30 so we had done a fair bit of packing, loading the car, and some cleaning the night before. I was ecstatic when the owners commented on how clean the cabin looked after our visit (complete with two kids and two dogs). (I wish I could say the same for our house at home.) We hit the road and headed for our castle stop on the way back.

We decided to stop in Bellinzona, Switzerland, at the base of the Alps. The city is well-known for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro). We chose to visit Castelgrande.

View from the city
View from the Castle
Heading into the courtyard

Running around the courtyard

Water break

Family Photo

We hit the road again for the rest of our drive and appeared to be making good time until we hit some major traffic. At this point, our gas tank was getting low and as there are much fewer exits on the autobahn we were getting a bit worried. We had "Adventure Sallie" reroute us to a gas station. This backtracked us a bit, but were practically driving on fumes when we arrived, so it was good thing. We stretched our legs, grabbed a snack, and back into the car we went. When we arrived home, it was already 6pm. A crazy long day, but a full week of some family fun. Yay for our first real family vacation since being here! I hope this means there will be many more like it before we leave Germany. :)

My Horror Film

2009-08-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

(Photo taken from wordpress.com)

Today had all the makings of a horror film.

The dilemma- Both dogs needed their vaccinations today and had an appointment at the same time. Husband out of town. No babysitter available.

So... one must do what one must do, right?

Two 50+ pound dogs to wrangle - one husband + two young kids who have a hard time being confined or sitting still - any available babysitter = a disaster waiting to happen.

I packed the dogs and double stroller into the back of the car. I figured confining both kids to the stroller was the better route to go rather than only confining Willem and letting Gerrit go on walkabout. Willem wants to do EVERYTHING his big brother does and frankly, I was afraid he might scream at the vet's office if he had to stay in the stroller but Gerrit was allowed to walk around. I walk into the vet's office with two kids in a front-to-back double stroller and two dogs on a double leash, with a slightly exasperated look on my face. They politely tell me to have a seat, but they look at me like I'm nuts. (I'm used to this look from Germans. You should see the looks I get when I'm riding the bike with both kids in the bike trailer and and one dog on each side of the bicycle. People can't help but stare and give the most bizarre looks with that one.)

I managed to herd the dogs and push the stroller into the exam room. The boys are sitting in the stroller along the side of the room watching everything. They are very curious about what is happening to their dogs. Niki is panting (she freaks out at the vet's office) and Jake is excited just to be someplace new right now. I put Jake on the exam table and the doc asks me why I am there. Uh... I thought given that when I had made the appointment I said the dogs needed their shots, this info. would have been passed onto him. Apparently not. I reiterate my needs (in bad German and some broken English when words escape me). He is satisfied with my attempts in German enough to do the necessary exam and give each dog their injections. Niki shakes the entire time, but she does fine.

The doctor even has the nerve to tell me he thinks my German is better than his English. That's laughable given that I only said two sentences to him in German and then he spoke mostly in English to me. (Ah well, I'll take the compliment given every time I receive one it makes me more willing to practice German. I'm sssooooo self-conscious about it and I still do not know enough vocabulary to have a decent conversation.)

I pay the bill, corral the kids and dogs back into the car and head home. Drop the four-legged kids off at the house and take the two-legged kids out to eat at our favorite Indian restaurant in town. Gerrit is excited and asks me, "Momma, do you like to eat rice at the Taj Mahal rice place because I love to eat rice there." (There is a big artistic drawing of the Taj Mahal there and Gerrit recognized it after a few times at the restaurant, and now the restaurant has been known by that name ever since.)

I had my doubts about how the boys would do at the restaurant. That could have been an entirely new disaster having ME... ALONE... with BOTH boys at a nice restaurant. This place ain't no Chuck E. Cheese, you know. But to my amazement, they were relatively well-behaved and ate extremely well. Made for a pleasant meal.

So... my makings of a horror film actually turned out to have a Mastercard commercial ending. Making it home with dogs, kids, AND my sanity in one piece.... priceless.

And just in case you are wondering what I look riding with dogs and kids, here it is. This video was taken last summer, and I took this video to specifically demonstrate this contraption to my family back in the U.S. - Helmet not required for me, except to encourage my kids to wear "their" helmets (which IS a requirement).

Why Gerard Misses Beer from the U.S.

2009-08-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, we've all heard about Germany's fantastic beer, and we've seen pictures of Munich's famous beer halls... complete with buxom dirndl-clad women carrying five different liter-sized beers in each hand. Often the image one has of Germany and beer is an image of Oktoberfest, where more than 6,900,000 liters of beer are served every year at the festival. If so many tourists flock to Germany and some come specifically for the beer, why on earth would Gerard crave anything from the good ole' U.S. of A.? That's just absurd, right?

Well, here's why.

The Reinheitsgebot, sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law," is a regulation concerning beer production in Germany. In the original written text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley, and hops. Yeast was not mentioned in the original text, as it was not known to be an ingredient of beer. It wasn't until the 18oo's that Pasteur discovered the role of yeast in the fermentation process. Prior to this understanding, brewers took some sediment from the previous fermentation and added it to the next.

Some of the original reasons for the Reinheitsgebot make good sense. There was a need for some regulation with regard to preservation methods of beer. Medieval brewers sometimes used problematic ingredients, such as soot, or herbs such as stinging nettle or henbane to preserve beer. Hops not only provides flavor, but also acts as a preservative, and it's mention in the Reinheitsgebot was meant to prevent these inferior methods of preservation.

Another reason for the introduction of the law was to prevent price competition with bakers for wheat and rye. The restriction of grains used in beer brewing to barley was meant to ensure the availability of affordable bread (as the more valuable wheat and rye were reserved for use by bakers).

Incidentally, this law first started in Bavaria in 1516. Bavarians then insisted this law spread throughout Germany to prevent competition from beers brewed elsewhere with a wider range of ingredients. As you can imagine, this was met with strong resistance from existing brewers outside of Bavaria. This law ultimately led to the extinction of many local beer specialties, such as North German spiced beer and cherry beer, and led to the rise of pilsener style beers in the German beer market. Only a few regional beer varieties survived the implementation of this law.

In May 1987, a court ruling led to the Reinheitsgebot being lifted. In 1993 the original law was replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law, which allowed other ingredients such as wheat malt and cane sugar to the mix (but no longer allowed "unmalted" barley). Though the original Reinheitsgebot brewing laws no longer apply, beer brewed according to them still receive special treatment as a "traditional" food.

The proud tradition of these German brewing standards remains today, and many breweries continue to comply with these original laws. Claiming compliance to the Reinheitsgebot is a valuable marketing tool so breweries often proudly proclaim to do so. However, some breweries claim to follow the original laws when they actually do not with respect to the wheat beers (which were originally prohibited in the Reinheitsgebot).

In total, there are approximately 1300 breweries in Germany, with almost half of them located in Bavaria. In fact, the Benedictine Abbey Weihenstephan brewery (established in 725) claims to be the oldest existing brewery in the world, as they have brewed beer continuously since 1040. This brewery, by the way, is located about twenty minutes from our house. So if you like beer, and are interested in a trip to Munich, come by for a visit. We have a guest room, and the brewery gives tours for an extremely nominal fee. :)

Okay, so you see... it's not that Gerard dislikes the beer here. He dislikes the lack of variety of beer ingredients here. What Germany produces is very fine quality, but Gerard is used to a bit more choice in his beer selection. Many bars do not sell many imports, and if they do it's something like Bud. We've found a few Irish or British type pubs that will sell Newcastle or Guinness, if we feel like traveling into Munich. It appears that for a greater variety, you need to get an imported beer. It also seems that imports are not found here easily, and when they are, they are quite expensive. So if you are headed to Munich anytime soon, smuggle in a few extra "hoppy" pale ales or maybe a Sierra Nevada or two. Gerard would be ever-so-grateful. Heck, while you're at it, I wouldn't mind a cider or an extra fruity beer, either. :)

Home, but not Quite

2009-08-07T03:56:00.000-07:00

While in the U.S. we were able to meet up with some friends and family, and Gerrit was thrilled to bits to be able to speak English with people and be understood. (I have to say I share his sentiment.) In fact, the kindergarten teacher here made mention of how Gerrit was then trying to speak English with her and the other kids at the kinder when we came back and how surprised she was that he spoke so much. Typically, Gerrit doesn't try to say anything in English at kinder because he knows they don't understand him. Unfortunately, since his German skills are still very weak, that means he doesn't say much of anything. She was very surprised to realize how much language he actually has. It just isn't in the language she would like. I am hoping this will encourage them to try to offer Gerrit more German language support at the kinder. Currently, they do not plan to offer him any language support until his Vorschule year at the kinder (last year- typically age 5), which is still a while away.

Being in the States was sort of an eerie feeling. I visited places that were familiar and yet different. Overall, things were the same, though some businesses had changed hands or closed down and a few new ones had cropped up in their place. I think the most noticeable thing to me was that I felt a bit like a visitor there. Not a complete stranger, but it is no longer my home. Our home in Altadena is being rented out so that's not quite home. Yet since Germany is a temporary thing, it isn't quite home either. I think at the moment I feel a bit displaced. Since my grandmother's passing a few years ago, I no longer have a home base in Torrance, and it just doesn't feel the same there either. Though a few families I grew up with have remained in the area, many have moved on. My grandmother's house is now being completely renovated by the family who purchased it a few years ago. My grandmother was quite good at doing the necessary maintenance on the house but not so great at keeping up with current trends. It's nice to see the place being "updated," but it's a bit bittersweet. When I look at the house I can still fondly recall the times I helped my grandfather tend the garden or helped grandma in the kitchen, but the house now belongs to someone else. It is being changed to suit their tastes and their needs, and will be a place where they create their own family memories.

Still, we had a nice visit with some family and friends in L.A. The kids even got to experience Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. We spent lots of time with my mom and the boys had fun meeting many people and playing with other kids. The strangeness of being back in L.A. and the South Bay was balanced out by how many familiar, friendly faces I had around me. In the end I suppose home (regardless of city) is really where our family is all together. That means, that for now we are always home. That is a pleasant and comforting thought. :)

My boys at Volksfest in Neufahrn
(A few days after coming back from the U.S.
Not bad for some serious jet lag.)

Racing... ah, competition.

Gerrit assures Willem of his piloting skills.

And now that we're comfortable flying,
we try the open top flying elephant.

Gerrit LOVED the bumper cars with daddy.

Enjoying chocolate shakes on a hot day at
our favorite ice cream shop in Neufahrn.

When my boys smile, it makes my heart melt.

Willem learning the function of a dump truck

No Posts for a While

2009-08-07T01:48:00.000-07:00

While in L.A., I had an experience that had me questioning whether or not I should continue my blog. Whether they held any value for anyone other than me. I had a conversation with a friend and it got me to thinking about my life right now and what it has become. Without going into the sorted details of the exchange, I will just simply state that it was brought to my attention that I was no longer the person that this person knew in L.A. and that I had changed and not in a desirable way. And that this change was evident in my blog entries.

I tend to share my experience here with my family and friends through this blog. The funny and sad experiences, the ones that make you slap your forehead and say, "Oh Duh," and the mundane. For those who care enough to read my blog and want to hear things about my life here- well, folks, that's the silly and mundane are also part of it.

Yes, I am different. Yes, a lot in my life has changed. I now have two (almost three) kids. Circumstances have brought us to Germany, and while I find it a struggle and did not want to come, I am trying to be supportive of my husband and also make the best of it here. Though not easy, I do feel the experience is enriching our lives and certainly given *me* an empathy for my second language students and their families that I did not have before. Gerard and I struggled immensely with the transition here and our relationship, but we seem to be on a better path. Though I was not ready to quit work and be at home full-time (and I still desperately miss teaching), I also know that it took a forced move like this to have me home for a while. It is time with the kids that I know in the long run I will not regret having.

So yes, I have changed. I no longer talk about my teaching work on a daily basis. My day to day struggles are now with German culture, language, and raising my kids in a foreign country. My blogs at the beginning were more about getting settled, and now yes, they are more mundane. This is where I am in my life right now and if I hadn't changed at all, that would seem unnatural. So the blog doesn't have to hold any value for anyone other than me. It's out there and if anyone else happens to get anything from it, that's great, too. I find value in it and will hopefully look back to this as a time in my life I wish to recall, for better or worse.

The Big Pregnancy Reveal

2009-07-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law and I had been keeping our pregnancies secret from our husbands' family so that we could reveal it together when we saw them at our big family reunion in July.

The big "pregnancy reveal" went well. We told them by making a belated Father's Day card for my father-in-law (since both my sister-in-law and I neglected to actually send anything out to him for Father's Day). We scanned a page from the book "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss to use as our card. The page is the one where it shows the creature with 11 fingers. Currently, my in-laws have 9 grandchildren. But with my sister-in-law and I both pregnant, it will soon be 11. Once we scanned the page, we added the names of each grandchild above each finger and left the last two with question marks for names and the tentative due dates listed. Then we changed the text a bit.

The original text goes like this-

Say! Look at his fingers! One, two, three... How many fingers do I see? One, two, three, four, five six, seven,eight nine, ten. He has eleven! Eleven! This is something new. I wish I had eleven, too!

We changed the words "I" and "fingers" to "you" and "grandchildren." Then at the end instead of "I wish I had..." we wrote, "This is something new. Soon you will have eleven too!"

Yes, we thought we were very clever. Our in-laws thought it was a cute normal card that maybe one of the grandchildren had made until they read it closer. Then, they thought that one of us was having twins and they weren't sure which one was pregnant. That's when we revealed our bellies to show them that we were both OBVIOUSLY pregnant at this point. Funny that they didn't catch that it couldn't possibly have been twins with different due dates, but oh well. They were very surprised, but they also seemed quite excited.

Christi Himmelfahrt Weekend

2009-05-24T13:19:00.001-07:00

Thursday was a public holiday in Germany- Christi Himmelfahrt. Himmel means "heaven" and fahrt means "travel." It is basically the same as Ascension Day (Jesus' ascension into heaven 4o days after Easter). Yes, yes, fahrt (pronounced FART here) leaves me a bit giggly, too. Can't help that I'm American. Whenever I pay for parking at the airport and the sign wishes me a "Gute Fahrt" (a good trip), I still have to keep myself from snickering. You'd think that as often as I see variations of that word, such as "Ausfahrt" (an exit off the autobahn), I'd be immune to it by now, but no... I'm guess I'm still an immature 12 year old at heart.

Since many businesses and schools were closed on both Thursday and Friday, we had a nice long family weekend together. Thursday the boys painted some pots for me as a belated Mother's Day gift. We will plant garlic and oregano in them. Later we rode the bikes over to the duck pond near our house. Friday Gerard took the boys to the Deutsches Museum for a "Boys' Day Out" while I got a haircut. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

The boys have fun painting their pots.

Ready to ride to the duck pond.

Jake and Niki riding with me to the pond.

Hanging out at the duck pond.

FRIDAY AT THE DEUTCHES MUSEUM

Posing in front of a printing press.

The boys discovering the wonders of animated Lego sets.

Gerrit is telling daddy to pose so he can take his picture.

Let's break for some joke time.
"So, Willem, this guy walks into a bar..."

My Three Handsome Boys

The boys got lollipops for being so well-behaved during their haircuts.
Here, Gerrit is telling Willem to lick the lollipop, not bite it.

I think all Willem heard was the word "bite."

Gerrit shows off his cooking talents.

Beat It

2009-05-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Gerard and I have been listening to some 80's Music cd's. Here, Gerrit decides to show off his classic interpretation of Michael Jackson's Beat It.

Sunday Afternoon with the Family

2009-05-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those pleasant but unexpected Sundays...

We went to the International Church run buy some ex-pats. They are in the process of hiring a new pastor and I wanted to hear what the pastor had to say.

After church, we headed to the International School to celebrate Maifest. The towns had Maifest celebrations at the beginning of the month, but this was a school fundraiser. Essentially, a carnival of sorts with music, games, activities for the kids, food, and several booths of people selling old books, toys, etc. There was a dunk tank, face painting, and a craft table for the kids.

Enjoying a day at the International School's Maifest

The Giant Teeter-Totter

Willem tackles the slide

When we came home, we hung out in the back playing in the sandbox and on the trampoline. I also used the lid of the sandbox as a makeshift wading pool for the kids. They had fun splashing around in it. The weather was finally warm enough today to justify that sort of activity. We concluded our day with a pizza dinner and played some boardgames with the kids before bed. All in all, it was a fun day for everyone.

Bubble Fun Back at the House (The boys are trying to eat the bubbles like Jake does)

Video of the the boys (Jake included) chasing bubbles.

Our sandbox lid pool

Gerrit getting more adventurous on the trampoline

These next few pictures are from our Saturday trip to IKEA...

Enjoying ice cream after an errand at Ikea.

Willem and Vincent in a stare down.

"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

The Gerrit Chronicles

2009-05-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Huh???

A little story from Gerrit.

Upon picking Gerrit up from kinder this afternoon, I received a great big hug and then he couldn't wait to tell me something.

"What?" I asked.

"Mama, the Schlange ist kaputt."

"Huh?

The snake is broken? My immediate thought was that they had a classroom snake pet that died. But no... they don't so was Gerrit talking about a pretend snake or did he mean something else? I decided to ask one of his teachers. I called her over and had Gerrit repeat his sentence. She shrugged her shoulders and had no clue what he was talking about either. At this age, it's difficult for me to decipher whether Gerrit's stories are always real or sometimes fantasy. So we headed out the door.

"Mama, come see. Come look. The Schlange ist kaputt."

"Okay," I say, wondering what I'm in store for.

Gerrit leads me to the side of the school building and points to the ground.

"See... the baby Schlange... it's kaputt. It's broken."

Oh!!!! Now I get it.

"Oh, Gerrit, you mean Schnecke. Die Schnecke ist kaputt. In fact, die Schnecke ist gestorben."

At our feet, lies a sad-looking crushed little snail. Gerrit has always confused the word for snail and snake, even in English.

"Irem step on it. We need to call the doctor to fix it."

(Irem is his little partner at school. A few years older than him. The youngest kids are assigned older ones to look out for them and help them complete various tasks, hold their hands on field trips, etc. Gerrit and Irem often play together at recess.)

"Hmm... I'm not sure the doctor can help this little snail, Gerrit. I think Irem should just be careful next time. Maybe you should just tell Irem, 'Das ist nicht nett, Irem'... and maybe she won't do it again."

As we walked away from the kindergarten, Gerrit recited, "Yeah, das ist nicht nett, Irem. You don't step on the snail. That's not nice."

We'll see how that goes over if he actually remembers to say that tomorrow.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another Cute Gerrit Moment

Just put the boys down. Read a great little story I picked up for 50 cents from the Flea Market called "I Love You All Day Long." It's about a little pig who doesn't want to go to kindergarten/school, etc. (it's purposely vague).

The piglet asks, "Mommy, do I have to go today?"

She responds, "Yes, you have to go today" as she's packing up his lunch.

"But Momma, you won't be with me."

She reassures, "You're right. I won't be with you, but you should remember this... I love you when we're together.... and I love you when we're apart."

The story goes on to have mom explain several circumstances in which she still loves her child- examples of things he does when they are together and apart... examples of him being generous, naughty, sad, happy, and nice. And of course, under all circumstances she still loves him and reminds him, "I love you all day long."

Gerrit has obviously taken a liking to this book and has asked for it to be read to him several nights this week. I think part of this stems from a phase he's going through where he wakes up each morning and informs me that "he's not going to kindergarten today." We still end up going to kindergarten of course, but this phrase has become a morning ritual lately.

He has also been asking if daddy and I love him. I explain that just like the book we both love him under all circumstances. I then go on to provide examples for him and then end with, "Remember, we love you all day long."

We then closed the book and turned off the lights for bed.

And then... a moment that all parents treasure.

Gerrit gave me a big contented hug and said, "Momma, I love you all day long."

My heart melted.

Fun with Duplo

2009-05-12T04:27:00.001-07:00

Germany has these great kinder flohmarkts (flea markets), think group swap meet or garage sale. I happened across this nifty little used Duplo castle set. It was missing most of the people, so we had to improvise a bit. We used other Duplo pieces we had (a zoo set) so that the castle was inhabited by animals and the zoo keeper was helping to defend the castle. We also brought out some non-Duplo toys (dinosaurs and cheap McDonald's toys) to attack the castle. Things started to get a bit out of hand when we found the catapult that came with the castle and began launching dinosaurs and people at the castle. But, boy was it fun!

Gerrit proudly showing off his castle,
defended by zoo keeper and animals.

Crazy Monkey, Ninja, and Dinosaurs
(carrying our sole knight) in attack formation.

Gerrit decided the dinosaurs needed to

launch a rocket/missile into the castle.

Here, we begin the catapult trials. Notice flying baby dinosaur.

This time baby dinosaur actually made it to the castle.

The fire engine AND Shaun the Sheep arrive
to fight off dinosaurs and save the day.

Video of us starting to launch anything and everything at the castle.

My How Time Flies

2009-05-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in Germany, Gerrit was hardly talking much and I was quite pregnant with Willem. Now, Gerrit is a non-stop talker (just like his momma) and attends German kindergarten, learning to interact with other kids. He's even picking up a bit of German along the way. He is a proud big brother, who looks after his kid brother. Willem is now a walking machine who tries hard to keep up with his older brother. He is fearless and full of mischief. It is a joy to watch the boys play together now. Here are some pictures of our boys (taken this spring).

Even though Gerrit is growing up, I can
still see my first baby boy's face here.

Proud big brother showing off his younger brother.

This is my favorite photo of the two.

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

The boys and I had a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday. We met Liesel and her kids at an enormous public park in Munich located on the grounds of Schloss Nymphenberg. It was originally a hunting grounds for the Royal Court. Today, The park apparently hosts the largest beer garden in the world, seating over 8000 people. It is also home to a Wasserspielplatz (basically a playground with sprinklers on some of the equipment) and a deer garden where kids can pet and feed deer through a fence. On Sunday, however, we didn't do either of those fun activities, though that will definitely be another trip sometime soon. Instead, Mother's Day was the seasonal opening of their Wasserspielplatz, so the park was filled with all sorts of games, rides, and other family-friendly activities. After eating our picnic lunch, we wandered the fairgrounds. Here's a taste of what we saw.

The Wasserspielplatz. Sprinklers are located on and inside
the equipment so that kids can play and stay cool.
Unfortunately, even though it was the opening day of the
season, the water play had not yet begun.

Willem takes a ride down the slide.

Structure building. Mostly this consisted of Gerrit trying
to attach poles together while Willem tried to rip them apart.

Building towers with wooden blocks.

The boys were much more interested in sitting inside
these crates to watch OTHER people build towers.

Gerrit's first face-painting experience. He looks a bit nervous.

When she first started he touched his face and smeared
all the paint. That's when we came up with the plan to have
Gerrit sit with his hands together on his lap.

All done. Check out my airplane.

Willem balancing on boards with mommy's help
(Look at his ice-scream smeared face and
tell me if you think he had a good day)

Gerrit carefully navigating the balance boards.

A video of Gerrit on the balance boards

The Rollercoaster Slide

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of Gerrit
going down the slide. Here's a shot of Ella riding the slide,
with Thomas ready to slide down next.

A short video of the slide in action.

Two very happy but very tired boys with balloons.

Our New Family Toy

2009-05-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

The parts for the new toy.

Building the frame.

The boys occupy themselves while we build.

Gerrit decides to help.

Ah... half way done.

Woo hoo... we're almost finished.

At last! The boys are anxious to try out our new toy.

Flying Rocket!

The boys try out the trampoline.

You'd Think After Being Here Over 18 Months, I'd know...

2009-05-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

but...

you learn something everyday (particularly living in a foreign country).

For the last few weeks I have been having terrible hair days. My hair has been extremely limp, flat, heavy and always feels quite greasy... even immediately after washing my hair in the shower. I figured it was either me or perhaps this new shampoo I'd been using.

Yesterday I was chatting with Regina while watching our kids (Gerrit and William) run around in their Kinder Turnen class. We were chatting about bathing kids, etc. and she mentioned that when she washes her kids she only uses shampoo, no "spülhung" on them.

"Wait, no spülhung?" I ask. "Is spülhung conditioner?"

"Yes," she says.

I start to laugh. No wonder my hair has been so dull, limp, and greasy. I haven't been WASHING my hair for the past two weeks. I've been CONDITIONING it.... over and over again... piling it on without ever WASHING the darn stuff out.

The store was out of the shampoo we'd been buying here so I decided to try a new shampoo... or so I thought. It said "spülhung" on it. I remember thinking, "Gee I hope this actually IS shampoo." But I quickly dismissed my doubt reassuring myself that my "Spül Maschine" at home was indeed my dishwasher. So I figured it was a special type of shampoo, maybe for a specific hair type. No matter. So I bought it.

Silly, Stephanie. Regina later corrected my misunderstanding. "No. Spülen is to rinse so your dishwasher is rinsing your dishes."

Wait... my dishwasher (Spülmaschine) is only RINSING my dishes but my washing machine (Waschmaschine) is actually WASHING my clothes? Nah, nah, nah. In this case, I feel it's a bit of a poor German word choice.... and oh so confusing for a silly foreigner like me.

Last night I hopped in the shower with a fresh bottle of ACTUAL shampoo. Heavenly. And this time I actually WASHED my hair.

Twice.

Improv Everywhere

2009-04-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Some of you know I'm kind of a YouTube junkie. I can somehow get locked into different threads that take me from one video to another, linking ideas. My most recent discovery was videos posted from Improv Everywhere. This is what their About Us section states on their homepage:

Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 80 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City.

I love this idea and the missions are hilarious to watch. This of course, brought me to a related video on YouTube, which I post now in honor of my most recent trip to Salzburg with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Louis and Karen. We spent a day in Salzburg during their visit to Munich last week (will post more details and photos of our adventures there later). Louis and Karen wanted to go on the Sound of Music Tour, something I had yet to do on my many trips to the quaint little Austrian town. This video reminded me a bit of our trip and brought a smile to my face. I actually just love the idea of a group of people getting together to stage something like this in a public place. I think it brings joy and a smile to those lucky enough to see something like this first hand. Anyhow, I share it now for your viewing pleasure.

Here's a link in case the video doesn't come through for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY

Roman Holiday

2009-04-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going on an outing ALONE- no kids, no husband. Some good friends from L.A. (Steve and Deborah) were visiting Italy this past week. We tried to work out a way to meet up with them, and it happens that we found a flight from Munich to Rome using only a few frequent flier miles. So... despite it being a frivolous adventure, we booked a flight out for me Saturday morning with an EARLY return flight Sunday morning. Yes, I know what you are thinking... a mere 24 hours in Rome seems a bit of a waste. Gerard and I went to Italy for our honeymoon and since we live so close now, I'm sure we'll go back to visit at least once more before returning to the States. Besides, the primary goal was not to see Rome, but rather to catch up with some dear friends.

I awoke early Saturday morning- all my boys still asleep. I kissed them on the way out and headed to the train station bound for the airport. It was so nice to travel lightly. Usually, leaving the house with kids involves food preparation, diaper bags, goodies to entertain them, jackets, stroller, etc. But this involved my purse and a backpack as my overnight bag. Woo Hoo! I made it to the train station in a jiffy with such a light load.

The flight to Rome was fairly uneventful. Since I only had a carry-on I was able to check in with Lufthansa's automated check-in machine. They even fed me on the plane... surprising for a mere 1 hour 20 minute flight. I had intended to take the train to the center of town and then walk the rest of the way to Steve and Deborah's hotel, but when the plane landed, I only had ten minutes to catch the next train. By the time I sorted out where the fast train was, where to buy tickets, etc. it was too late, so I hopped in a cab. Thirty minutes and 50 Euro later (yikes... but as Gerard would say, that's just the cost of doin' business), I arrived at Steve and Deborah's ultra fancy hotel just as they were checking in.

We dropped Steve's mom off in the hotel room and left her in good hands with a big comfy bed, some T.V., a book, and room service (she had hurt her knee and needed to rest). Then the three of us headed out to the Villa Borghese, a former vineyard developed into a large landscape garden. The garden area houses many old buildings, museums, and even a zoo. The Galleria Borghese was originally built for Scipione Borghese, to be used as a party villa and to house his art collection.

Wandering around the gardens of the Villa Borghese

Galleria Borghese

The Galleria was so packed they stopped allowing visitors in without advanced ticket sales, so we continued walking through the gardens. We happened upon a butterfly and flower exhibit and decided to have a peek inside. Our tickets bought us entry into the exhibit as well as a cup of tea or juice while sitting in the aviary, where various butterflies and moths were flying around. It was quite tranquil.

We all found something aesthetically appealing to our inner nature... even Steve.

This guy was ENORMOUS. Easily the size of a small bat.
We wanted to put our fingers nearby for scale, but we
were all a bit frightened as he was flopping around.

Silk worm thread

Look at these enormous, deformed lemons. We wondered if these lemons would make good limoncello (lots of lemon rinds on these big fellas). Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. Since limomcello uses no lemon juice, it is not sour but quite sweet. Here's a recipe for anyone interested.

Limoncello di Lucia

Ingredients:

750 ml bottle of grain alcohol
7 or 8 large lemons (make sure they’re organic and not sprayed, you’re using the peel!)
5 cups water
3 cups sugar

Directions:

Wash the lemons thoroughly - scrub them clean of all residue.
Using a peeler, take off the skins being careful not to get any of the white lemon “pith” onto your peelings or it will add bitterness to your limoncello.
Put the peels into a large, open-mouth jar with the alcohol and seal the lid tightly. Put the date on the bottle.
Put the jar in a cool, dry place for one week - once a day, shake the contents well to remix everything. You’ll notice the color of the liquid changing to yellow and the color of the lemon peels fading.
One week later, dissolve the sugar completely in water by heating it on the stove. Then cool the sugar-water mixture to room temperature.
Strain the lemon peels out of the alcohol and then mix the alcohol with the sugar-water. Usually the color of the alcohol changes from clear yellow to cloudy yellow when it’s combined with the sugar-water.
Pour the mixture into bottles which can be sealed tightly and store them in the freezer. If the limoncello is kept “frozen” until serving it becomes thick and syrupy.

Most of our visit involved walking a bit, sitting for a meal or snack, walking a bit more, repeat. I consumed LOTS of yummy pasta and it was a pleasant day. Later that night, after Steve and Deborah packed themselves up for the long trek back to L.A., we headed out for a lovely dinner at Le Fric. The meal was scrumptious, the company was even better, and the atmosphere was well... also quite appealing.

This is a picture of the restaurant owner. :)

A wonderful last meal in Rome

We all slept a few hours in the hotel room, and at the wretched hour of 3:30 in the morning we awoke to collect ourselves so we could all head to the airport at 4:30 a.m. (Bleh! I am NOT a morning person!) Upon arriving at the airport, we discovered a peculiar site. Most of the airport was black outside- apparently the power had gone out at some point before we arrived. There were emergency lights, no computers working, no planes taking off, and I later discovered that some people were even stuck in elevators when the outage struck. A quick hug and kiss to Steve and Deborah and we parted company to wait at our respective airlines. We just sat in the ever-increasing lines of people that were waiting to check in. The airline agents couldn't do anything since nothing was up and running so we just waited until there was at least limited power. After some time, a bit of the power was restored and agents could at least begin checking people in manually. I found ONE solitary Lufthansa kiosk working so I could get my ticket from an automated machine without having to wait in the enormous line. My plane was scheduled to depart at 6:40 but we ended up leaving at 8 a.m. Not too bad, considering.

I had phoned Gerard to tell him I'd be late and he told me that the boys were sick. Gerrit had vomited throughout the night. (We had visited some friends on Friday evening for dinner. They had come down with a gastro bug earlier in the week, but we all thought they were over it by the time we connected Friday night... apparently not.) I told Gerard to hang in there and I'd help when I got home. I had been feeling queasy, too, but just attributed it to not eating breakfast and thought as soon as I ate something I'd feel better. Shortly after my plane took off the flight attendants brought around a snack. This is good, right? I'll get a bit of food in me and feel better. As soon as I opened the box of food, I took one look at it and that was it... I hurled. Thankfully, no one was sitting next to me AND I was able to grab the emergency motion sickness bag in time. I tried to be discreet, but some people sitting across from me glanced over with these pained looks on their faces. Apparently, I had also come down with the same nasty gastro bug that the boys had. I folded the top of the bag down (no seal for the bag) and placed it on the floor next to me, in case I needed to use it again later. I turned the air vent on and let it blow on me and fell asleep. I awoke just as we were ready to land. I felt nauseous again but since we were already descending, I was confined to my seat. I glanced down at my bag to be sure it was still readily accessible. We came in fast and landed hard. So hard, in fact, that the pilot slammed on the breaks when we hit the ground and my bag o' fun went sliding down the aisle. Thankfully, it stayed upright and didn't travel too far away from me. I was able to retrieve it before it disturbed any other passengers.

We had to take a bus to the terminal. I was the last one off the plane, hobbling, pale white, trying desperately not to hurl again. I had grabbed an extra motion sickness bag from the seat pocket next to me and stuffed it in my purse. On the bus, I start to feel dizzy so I sat down on the floor with my head between my knees. I pulled the bag out of my purse just in case. As soon as the bag emerged, passengers around me started to back away. The bus came to a stop and I poured myself out and rested against a pole as other passengers rushed inside. I was hoping the fresh air would do me good. No one stoped to ask if I needed anything or if I was okay. They all just rushed past me into the terminal.

It's at this point that I truly realized I was once again in Germany as the bus driver began to yell at me in German that I needed to be INSIDE the terminal and not sitting OUTSIDE. I waved him away, motioning I understood but I needed a moment. He stood there giving me the stink eye until I picked myself up and hobbled inside the terminal. Gerard later told me I should have puked on him and believe me, if I could have forced it I would have.

So back in Munich and the kids and I spent our Easter on the sofa, rushing to the bathroom throughout the day. Ah well, at least I enjoyed my visit with Steve and Deborah BEFORE the bug hit me. I think the Easter Bunny is smart, too. Since we're all sick, he didn't bother to bring us any baskets full of chocolately goodness since he knew we were too sick to enjoy it. I think he's bringing our goodies tomorrow instead. What a smart bunny. :)

Winter Pics/Video

2009-04-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

These are from before Christmas but still enjoyable. :)

Sledding

Gerrit pulls Willem for his first sled ride.
Gerrit holds on tight to Willem for more fun (with mommy pulling).
VIDEOS:

Willem's First Sledding Experience

Christmas Tree Fun

Gerrit learns to decorate the Christmas Tree

Gerard Presents at Gerrit's Kindergarten

2009-02-24T13:48:00.001-08:00

Dropping Gerrit off at Kindergarten

I am married to an amazing man. NASA Man, or err... I guess I should call him ESO or PRIMA Man now (though NASA Man is a way cooler name if you ask me). Gerrit's entire kinder/school was exploring a space theme last month. They were learning about the planets and the solar system and a bit about stars, etc. Gerard used to give space-themed presentations to our third grade class when I was teaching in La Canada, so he's somewhat familiar with talking to kids.... in English anyhow. This time, I offered him up to Gerrit's kindergarten to do a presentation for three to five year olds... using a bit of German. Amazingly, he pulled it off.

He spent hours preparing a mini-presentation for the kids, using Google Translate to help translate his slides from English into German. Then we went to our German friend's house to run the slides by her and make sure they were somewhat correct. We figured that Gerard would show the slides (with titles written in German - and attempt to read them in German, since the little kids aren't yet of reading age), and then he would go into a bit more detail in simple English. The teachers had said they would help translate the simple English into German. This is what we were banking on.

Unfortunately, when Gerard began to speak about the slide in English, there was dead silence. He looked up at the teachers and would pause now and again for them to try to explain further. Nothing. Blank stares. Yikes! So... Gerard switched to using even simpler German and when he didn't have the vocabulary, he either looked to me for help (between the two of us we know slightly different words, so together our German is only slightly better). When all else failed and we didn't have enough German vocabulary to further explain a slide, he just read the title of the slide in German and then paused long enough for the teachers and kids to take in the pretty picture. When we started using more German, however, the teachers chimed in and started to elaborate on the slide presented. I guess our crappy German was enough for them to figure out what we were TRYING to convey, and they were then able to help out more.

Gerard only had one minor slip up. He was trying to talk about shooting a laser (shiessen- pronounced SHEE-sen). Instead, he used a form of the word scheissen (pronounced with an "I" as in the word "shy" like SHY-sen (this word means "to take a crap")). Before the presentation Gerard kept reminding himself to say SHEE instead of SHY and he did well in three out of four presentations. Once, he slipped and basically said the laser sh*t in the sky. Fortunately, I think his overall German pronunciation may have been awkward enough that no one caught it.

Gerard wasn't thrilled with his performance, but in light of the fact that he knows only a little German and did almost the entire presentation IN GERMAN... I think he did an awesome job. How many other people would get up in front of 75 kids and their teachers, and present something when they don't know the language very well at all? Truly amazing, if you ask me. We even passed out mini muffins at the end of the presentation, topped with little stars. I figured if the performance was a complete bust, bring treats for the kids and all would be forgiven. Despite our yucky language skills, I think the kids still got something out of the presentation and I'm very proud of Gerard for stepping up and doing such a good job. There is no way I'd have the courage to do that. Gerard, you are my inspiration. :)

Waiting for the kids

Talking About Galaxies

Willem is thoroughly engaged

I love this video. The kids think that they are looking at Saturn, and even though Gerard is explaining that a star is formed from dust and gas, the kids see the photo and pay no attention. The teacher has to clarify that they are looking at a star surrounded by some planets, and NOT Saturn. Saturn and Mars... always the kids favorite planets, eh?

Talkin' About Planets

For the kindergarten's Fasching Party, the kids were asked to come dressed as something "spacey" to culminate the end of their space theme. Most kids came as aliens, a few as astronauts. Gerrit wanted to be a rocket. So... with the help of Regina, we fashioned a rocket costume together for Gerrit and he blasted off around kindergarten. Of course, after he insisted on dressing as a rocket, I'm quite sure he only actually wore the costume for about ten minutes before deciding it was too cumbersome and pulled it off. :)

Ready to blast off!

Gerrit with one of his super cute kindergarten teachers

Finally... some progress!!!

2009-02-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

This comic represents what I hear when German is spoken to me.

I can totally relate to this poor dog.

I've been here over a year now and today I did something I never thought I would have the courage to do. With an intro like that you are probably expecting some tremendous escapade, but no. For many of you, this will be nothing, but for me it was a huge step.

Today there was an Eltern Frühstück (Parents Breakfast) at Gerrit's Kindergarten. I saw the list yesterday and it asked people to RSVP, so with some reservation I signed myself up. (I figured it might be a good way to network with other parents, and possibly set up some play dates for Gerrit.) This may sound silly but the thought of putting myself in a situation like that where people would likely talk to me in German and expect me to respond (in German, no less) really really had my stomach in knots. For those of you who have no fear of throwing yourself out there and mutilating a language in order to learn it better, I applaud and admire you. I, unfortunately, am not one of those people. So for me, knowing I would understand very little German conversation in the first place, yet also make a complete arse of myself as I butchered their language while attempting to communicate was nauseating. You may think I'm exaggerating, but I was one of those kids who totally feared being called on by the teacher. (Yes, I can totally relate to the anxiety of some of my own students.)

I arrived this morning with Gerrit and Willem in tow. I dropped Gerrit off at his classroom and looked at the room where we would meet for breakfast. I thought about bolting but convinced myself that the experience would never be as bad as I had played it out in my mind. At first, parents smiled but no one spoke with me. Many parents seemed to know one another already and there were no introductions. I tried to listen in (and perhaps interject if possible) to a group of women chatting, but they were all speaking over one another and so fast that I was completely lost. Finally, a gentleman sat across from me and spoke to me in German. I responded and immediately told him (in German) that I only understood and spoke a little German and that I didn't know very many words. He said that he knew a little English and I could try to speak a bit of German to him and he would try to speak a bit of English to me. I requested (can you believe it) that he try to speak MORE German to me than English but very slowly. We did... a bit of pidgin English and German back and forth... but it was working. It was probably the most German I've used in any one conversation since being here. The breakfast ended and although I hadn't made any connections with parents that might turn into something more, at least I took a step in the right direction.

When the breakfast ended, I only had about an hour and half before I would need to pick up Gerrit. I decided it wasn't enough time go home and get settled. Feeling a bit more positive about my Deutsch sprechen, I decided to strike while I still had the courage to do so and headed to Regina's Deutsch Mother/Baby group at the local Mother Center. There, I continued to practice very pidgin German throwing in English when I didn't know German words. My grammar, cases, and articles were complete garbage, but I muddled through. I kept telling myself no matter how awful I sounded, the attempt was what mattered.

I have always been bad at learning languages. Add that to my extreme insecurity and fear or failure and it's amazing I utter a single word of German EVER.

Today is the FIRST day I've felt like my frustration in trying to learn German hasn't been all for nothing. Six months ago, I would never have attempted what I did today. Today, I made some (albeit minor) progress. I hope this is a trend that continues.

I'm a Krapfen,You're a Krapfen... Wouldn't you like to be a Krapfen too?

2009-02-05T01:01:00.000-08:00

A lot of my friends have asked me what sweets and other junk food I miss and can't seem to get in Germany. There is certainly no shortage of junk food available here and some of it is quite good. But when one is craving a particular food from home, that is what is wanted... not a substitute, but the real thing. One example of this is boxed cake mix. Yes, even the mere mention of using a "boxed" cake mix of any kid makes REAL German Hausfrauen shudder. But remember I'm not a REAL German Hausfrau and dang it, I enjoy my good old Duncan Hines Chocolate Cake mix. Now, there ARE a few stores here that carry these mixes, although they are over 5 Euro a pop. Then again, when you're jonesin' for a moist D.H. cake, you'll pay the stiff price. Don't get me wrong- German cakes taste fine. But when you're feeling a bit lonesome and craving things from back home, you want well... those EXACT things from back home.

Here's another...

Donuts. Okay, now before all you people give me grief about this, let me assure you there are plenty of other yummy things in Germany. Though different from back home, they have their own charm. For example, while they don't have traditional donuts (as in something you'd be able to purchase from a Dunkin Donuts or Winchell's chain), they have their own donut-like creations here which are equally yummy. One example of this is the Krapfen (pronounced as you'd imagine- CRAP-FEN). Yes, I get a kick out of the name, too. It is hard to order a Krapfen without succumbing to my internal 11 year old immature side, as I snicker to myself just saying the word out loud. Still, even though the name can be a bit off-putting and may elicit some smirks from Americans, these little treats can be quite tasty. I say, "CAN be quite tasty" because there is certainly no shortage of Krapfen varieties available this time of year, and some of them are a bit odd.

It's Fasching season now. What is Fasching, you say? Think Mardi Gras, only omit the beads and topless women. LOL! The Germans may let loose this time of year, but I've yet to see a gaggle of drunken ladies parading around topless in order to get beads. The most I've heard of is "Women's Carnival", where women run around cutting ties off the men and kissing any man they like. So Fasching is an interesting little celebration here that seems to be a blend of pagan ritual and Christian tradition, which I suppose is how most holidays end up.

Fasching is what Karneval is called here in Bavaria and in parts of Austria. Many parties involving parades, drinking, lewd behavior and costumes are part of the Karneval/Fasching experience. (And you thought Oktoberfest was outrageous!) In Köln's Rosenmontag parade, people spend a ton of effort creating elaborate floats. As the floats pass by, the costumed people on board pelt the street crowd with candy and sweets as they sing traditional Karneval songs.

A pagan ritual still observed in Karneval include dressing in ugly masks to drive out the evil spirits of winter and encourage the coming of spring and good crops. The festivals associated with the Christian church involve wild partying before Lent and fasting begins. In the Middle Ages, Karneval festivals allowed commoners to poke fun at the aristocracy and government while hiding behind imaginative masks and costumes.

Apparently, in pre-Christian Europe it was customary to choose a man to be the "sacred king" of the tribe for a year. When his year in office was up he would be sacrificed and his blood returned to the soil to ensure a successful harvest. The method of choosing the sacred king was the King's Cake. A coin or bean would be placed in the cake before baking and whomever got the slice with the coin was the chosen one. These filled cakes have evolved into the filled donuts we are familiar with today.

While Krapfen are offered year round, during Fasching the variety of Krapfen are ramped up to include a ton of different flavors, some even bizarre. Traditionally, you'd find apricot, vanilla, or chocolate filled Krapfen, but such interesting flavors as champagne, sour cherry with vodka, marzipan, raspberry & mascarpone, Bailey's, and a variety of of other fruits are available during Fasching.

A more traditonal looking Krapfen

More festive-looking Krapfen offered during Fasching

I encourage those of you interested in this, or other crazy German festivals to visit with us during our time in Germany. However, for those of you who cannot make it out here, yet still wish to try Krapfen, I've included a recipe to indulge your inner domestic goddess. (This is for you, Gerb! I expect to hear how they turned out.) I have not yet tried the recipe myself and I take no responsibility for its success, but have fun with it. Try spicing it up and mixing in some other fillings. :)

Krapfen

Ingredients:	500 g flour
	1 pack of baker`s yeast
	¹/₈ l milk
	80 g butter
	100 g sugar
	the zest of ½ lemon
	jam as stuffing
	confectioner`s sugar

mix flour with yeast
add remaining ingredients to flour and yeast (they should be lukewarm)
let the dough rise
roll out
cut out round slices with a glass ( diameter: ca. 7-8 cm)
you need two slices for one Krapfen, put jam in the middle of the first one, put second slice on it
press the rims firmly together (with a glass)
let it rise
fry the Krapfen in hot frying fat (not salted), the fat is hot enough, when a small piece of dough swims on the surface after throwing it into the fat
sprinkle the Krapfen with confectioner`s sugar

So yes, while I will indulge in Krapfen and all sorts of other sweets while here, I still miss my good ole (disgustingly sweet) Krispy Kreme donut, warm and fresh off the conveyer belt. YUM!

Freshly glazed warm Krispy Kreme donuts

Revenge of the "Poop Shelf"

2009-01-27T00:53:00.000-08:00

So I have officially changed my stance on the poop shelf.

Those of you who have been following my blog from the early entries will recall my vivid descriptions of the German poop shelf we have on our very traditional German toilet. This is a lovely little shelf that allows you to see and smell your bowel movement before flushing it down the toilet.

For those of you unfamiliar with said shelf- here are a few links to older posts, complete with descriptions, pictures, diagrams, and even reasons for poop shelf existence.

http://stephsmunichmadness.blogspot.com/2007/10/weekend-news-more-poop-shelf-insights.html

http://stephsmunichmadness.blogspot.com/2007/09/weekend.html

This shelf up until now, I have thoroughly enjoyed, in fact, gotten a little kick out of having. Gerard, you will also recall has disliked the shelf from day one. He hates the associated stench as the excretion doesn't actually hit water until you flush it. I have always been rather amused by Gerard's distaste for the shelf. As I found the entire transition to Germany quite difficult, perhaps it gave me a little bit of pleasure to see him struggle with this one thing. Perhaps Gerard's disdain for the shelf even made my affection for it all the stronger. Yes, you don't need to remind me. I know I'm strange.

My affection for the poop shelf has now waned. Why, you ask?

Willem.

Willem is fifteen months old now and walking quite well. He's an unstoppable force, I tell ya, and he's quick to find trouble. He is also fascinated (just as his own mother) with toilets. Recently, I was sitting on the toilet reading a book while doing my business, and he was happily playing with some toys on the bathroom floor.

Now, you may be asking yourself at this point WHY? Does Stephanie normally bring her child into the bathroom with her? Does she spend hours on the toilet? Even if you weren't asking these questions and could care less, you will get the answers. Normally, I'm in and out of the bathroom rather quickly, but since Gerard seems to enjoy his bathroom time with a book, I thought I'd give it a try to see what I was missing. Now, I also have a toddler who is in the midst of separation anxiety. Some of you know what this is like. So, I left Willem contentedly playing in his room, while still leaving the bathroom door ajar in case he needed me. In no time he had moved a few toys into the bathroom so that he could be "closer" to mom.

A few moments into playing and just as I was getting engrossed in my book, Willem looked up at me and saw me there, slightly preoccupied. Obviously, he decided now was the perfect opportunity to get into some mischief. He quietly got up and started toward me. Before I knew it, he was right next to me, staring into the rest of the toilet bowl behind me. I immediately put my book down and tried to grab his hands, but have I mentioned that boy is quick? Before I could grab his hands, he had plunged them into the toilet... right onto the shelf and into its associated contents. Oy vey! Now I had Willem's messy hands to deal with, as well. I'm desperately trying to clean myself up and keep Willem from touching anything or putting his hands in his mouth. I thoroughly clean his hands, cursing the poop shelf the entire time. Had my little present in the toilet been a few inches lower and even covered in water, Willem would not have been able to explore it so freely.

So yes, my once friend is now the dreaded enemy. I have changed my stance. I now truly HATE the poop shelf.

New Years

2008-12-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

Post-Christmas Bliss

A few pictures of our first ice-skaing experience...

Gettin' Ready to Ice Skate

"Woah!!! Hold on tight to me, Daddy!"

"Wow... this is hard work!"

Headed Home

So what does an American family living in Germany do to celebrate the New Year? Well, if you have little kids, as we do, then you go light fireworks off at 9:30pm and tell them they stayed up til midnight. Actually, we were as tired as the kids were so none of us needed much convincing to celebrate early.

We had planned to be out of town for New Years but that didn't pan out. We found ourselves here on the 31st with no plans, little food, and most shops closing at noon. We had to think fast. I sent Gerard to find some goodies at the airport grocery store (that one is almost always open no matter what holiday) while I searched online for some ways to ring in the New Year- German style.

What I came across was this rather peculiar T.V. program called "Dinner for One", or "The 90th Birthday" (its German title). "Dinner for One" is an old British sketch comedy that is replayed on a variety of German channels here on New Years Eve. Here's the Wikipedia synopsis:

The sketch presents the 90th birthday of elderly upper-class Englishwoman Miss Sophie, who hosts a dinner every year for her close friends. The problem is that given Miss Sophie's considerable age, she has outlived all of her friends, and so her equally aged butler James makes his way around the table, impersonating each of the guests in turn. Miss Sophie decides on appropriate drinks to accompany the menu of the evening, consisting of Mulligatawny soup (Miss Sophie orders sherry) , North Sea haddock (with white wine), chicken (with champagne), and fruit for dessert (with port) served by James, and so he finds himself raising (and emptying) his glass four times per course. That takes its toll, increasingly noticeable in James' growing difficulty in pouring the drinks, telling wine glasses from vases of flowers, and refraining from bursting into song. Even before the alcohol begins to exert its influence, he has trouble coping with a tiger skin sitting on the floor between the dinner table and the buffet.

Dinner for One has become somewhat of a cult classic here in Germany. Some people have even developed drinking games around the 15-minute sketch, while some hard core fans even try to recreate the scene at their own "Dinner for One" parties. I first heard about this strange viewing ritual from my midwife and her husband. They had told me that Germans love to watch it and that it was quite a funny little show. I didn't realize that it had such a HUGE German following, however. This little black-and-white slapstick (typically televised in its original English version) has apparently become the highest-rated TV show in German history, despite the fact that few English-speaking countries actually know of this quirky little show. Apparently, Germans are so taken with this sketch that the mere mention of the tag-line, "same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie" will elicit the reply, "Same procedure as every year, James" and hysterical laughter ensues. I wonder if Germans realize that the rest of the English-speaking world isn't really in on their little joke. I suppose the cultural phenomena that "Dinner for One" has become here is comparable to "The Sound of Music" in the U.S. Many Germans have little knowledge of the musical. Since I know you're all interested to watch this funky little sketch now, here's a link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1v4BYV-YvA

After watching Dinner For One, we decided to try out some traditional German New Year's cuisine. A google search revealed that many people eat fondue on New Years. I thought a moment - Hmmm, I think I have a Fondue pot downstairs that someone gave us a wedding gift- never opened. Ah ha, if I can find it it's the perfect time to break it in. I ran downstairs and on this rare occasion, I actually knew where said fondue pot had been placed. I came back upstairs with the pot. We made a cheese fondue and a chocolate fondue. Not the greatest meal but fun nonetheless. Gerrit particularly enjoyed the marshmallows dipped in chocolate. :)

Next German tradition- Bleigiessen (pronounced BLYE-ghee-sen). What the heck is that, you say? Yes, that's what I said, too. Bleigiessen is "lead pouring." A small amount of lead is melted typically by putting a piece of lead in a tablespoon and holding it over a candle. Then the melted lead is poured into a bowl or bucket of water. As the lead cools it forms a shape. The shape is supposed to predict the coming year. For example, if the lead forms a ball it means that luck will roll your way, a cross signifies death, a fish means luck, a flower symbolizes new friendship, etc. Apparently, they sell Bleigiessen kits in the store. Too bad we didn't know about this before the stores closed. Oh well, perhaps next year.

New Years celebrations can't be complete without fireworks and believe me, Germans KNOW how to do Feuerwerk. None of these puny little fireworks we used to get in California when fireworks were actually legal. No, no, no. These Germans have some crazy pyrotechnics, all available at your local grocery store. It's amazing. Seeing as how we have little rug rats who probably wouldn't last til midnight, we took our little fireworks kit of puny fireworks out to the edge of town (yeah, you can still by lame fireworks here, too) and lit them off at 9pm. Gerrit was freaked out by some of the louder ones but he loved the sparklers. Hey, what kid DOESN'T love sparklers! :) I still love them and I think Gerard even has video of me doing some sort of funky colorguard moves with them. Yeah, I know I'm a dork.

Gerrit enjoying his sparkler

We got the kids in bed, had our champagne toast and watched the crazy home fireworks display from our attic room. Soon after the fireworks began, a thick haze of smoke filled the sky, masking the church steeple in the center of town. Then the air was just a smoky mist with bursts of color out of nowhere. The whole experience went on for a good 40 minutes. Just amazing!

The distant sky is the main street in town.

Fireworks were shooting off up and down

this entire street.

So, that's how we rang in our New Year here. Next year, maybe we'll even try the popular German New Years drink "Feuerzangenbowle" ("flaming fire tongs punch"). That one sounds like an adventure all in itself.

Jake, Steph & Willem- All tuckered out

Learning to pose for the camera

Shopping, fun, fun!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hello Family and Friends!

Yes, I know I've been a complete slacker when it comes to keeping up this blog lately. Ever since coming back to Germany this fall, the time seems to get away from me. Perhaps a New Year's resolution should be for me to try to keep it updated more often. ;)

We have many things for which we are grateful. We are thrilled to have survived our first year in Germany. In fact, we are beginning to enjoy our time here much more, and we hope to be able to get out and travel more in year two. We were fortunate to enjoy a week in Granada, Spain, in November. Gerard taught at a workshop and we tagged along. We have also greatly enjoyed the German Christmas Markets this December, complete with mandeln (burnt almonds- my personal favorite), and gluhwein (warm spiced red wine- Gerard's favorite). Gerrit and Gerard even attempted ice skating at one of the markets.

Gerard has been quite busy working on the telescope in Chile. His group completed installation of PRIMA and its first on-sky results are very promising for future success in planet detection. On the home front, my own Hausfrau skills are improving. This, of course, is a relative statement as my domestic skills were non-existent when we arrived. That of course means that even minute progress is an improvement. ;)

Willem is on the verge of walking (about 5-10 steps at a time before he gets over-excited and falls). In addition to several gutteral grunts and utterances, Willem has actually added a few words to his repertoire. His first word was in fact, "Nein" (the German "NO"). Not surprising, considering Gerrit is always saying, "Nein Willem, you go away!" whenever Willem charges at one of Gerrit's toys. Willem's vocabulary also currently includes, "Mama, Dada, daw (for dog), nana (for banana), and Tschuess (pronounced "Choos"- a friendly way to say "Bye"). He adores his older brother, and does not believe that he is too small or young to accomplish anything that brother Gerrit does. Ah, Willem, this perseverance will serve you well later in life.

Gerrit's German is improving almost as quickly as mine. He often includes a few random German words in his speech. He enjoys kindergarten very much. Although he still gets frustrated communicating with other German kids, his language skills are improving all the time. Though it's been a bit of a warm winter, it did snow a bit last week. This meant we were able to take Gerrit on his first sledding adventure. Fortunately, we have a great little sledding hill right here in Neufahrn so it was just a hop, skip, and a jump for us. A few times down the lower part of the hill, and he insisted on tackling the peak, where all the "bigger kids" were sledding. Gerrit had so much fun, and I was tickled to see how much he enjoyed himself.

First Sledding!

And a view from the top!!

Since I'm a slacker, I was unable to get Christmas cards out in any decent time frame this year. Heck, I'm terrible at updating this thing, so are you at all surprised? Therefore, I'm including a link to some online Christmas cards I created. There are about seven pages so feel free to browse through the pictures.

And now, I have far too many presents left to wrap, and things to prepare for tomorrow. We are actually having a few guests over for supper. This is the first time I've ever made an entire holiday meal so I'm nervous. It is compounded by the fact that our guests are German, with German palates. Alright, I'm off to do battle with the German stove yet again. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

St. Martin's Day at the Kindergarten

2008-11-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

Gerrit had his first little performance at the kindergarten last night. They had a celebration for St. Martin's Day (November 11th), performing at the Catholic church across the street from the kinder. The whole "no separation of Church and State" cracks me up sometimes. They have a church tax here. It is not considered out of line for your employer to ask your religion, then note it and you have an automatic deduction of 8 or 10 percent (can't remember which now) from your paycheck. Crazy, huh? There are crucifixes in schools and yes, they celebrate Catholic holidays in public run schools.

So... here I am watching a bunch of 3-5 year olds perform at the church across the street and then walk around around the block carrying a bunch of candle-lit lanterns. Yes, that's right... paper lanterns containing an open flame. Gotta love that there are a bunch of little kids carrying fire around. It's awesome. Would never see that sort of thing in the U.S.

Kids assembling at their classrooms
(Isn't Gerrit's teacher hot?
He has another teacher just as cute.)

So at the church service, all these kids are sitting there nicely waiting to sing their little German Lantern songs while someone explains the St. Martin legend (in German). Here's the run down on the guy...

St. Martin's Day (or Martinstag) is November 11, the feast day of Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier turned monk. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Children usually march in a procession while carrying paper lanterns. They also sometimes go to houses with their paper lanterns and candles, and sing songs about St. Martin in return for treats. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.

So back at the church... all these kids are sitting their quietly, holding their lanterns. And what's MY kid doing????.... Check it out.

Gerrit is sitting right next to the older gal in this picture.

He's still on the right. Notice the other

kids all sitting there waiting patiently?

And just a few minutes later...

See Gerrit still right next to the gal on

the right? She's now holding him.

Yes, that's right... both my kids are sacked out. I expected as much from Willem, but Gerrit?? It was a bit embarrassing but what are you gonna do. At least he didn't get stage fright. Instead, he just sacked out on one of the gals helping out. His teacher brought him to me when it was time for the kids to march outside with their lanterns. He slept through the entire church service.

I woke Gerrit while we were walking around the city streets with the lanterns. He liked following the guy on the horse but got upset as soon as there were too many people blocking his view. He got a little freaked about the whole "marching around with your lantern" experience. He was too tired and it was a bit too much at that point.

Lantern procession

Back at the kindergarten we got to purchase back all the food we donated to the kindergarten at their bake sale, while the kids played. One of the teachers brought around cookies shaped as geese. Apparently, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, so he hid in a stable of geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him. Hmm... might have been a nice man but doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed if he hid in a stable of noisy geese.

Gerrit bit the head off this goose immediately after

this picture was taken. Ozzy's got nothin' on my kid! :)

True to German/Catholic form, these holidays are also just an excuse to eat a bunch of crap and drink a lot... only now that the weather is cold, everyone drinks Gluhwein, a warm spicy red wine. I find it pretty repulsive but DH has developed a taste for it.

"Check out my portable flame thrower!"

Boys' Birthday Party

2008-11-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Since Germans don’t typically celebrate Halloween, we decided to have the boys’ birthday party on October 31^st. All three of my boys had birthdays this month- Gerard turned 40 (woah, over the hill now), Gerrit turned three and Willem turned one. We decided to invite some of our friends by (all of whom have children), which meant there were 12 kids here. That number was supposed to be 16 but a few people couldn’t make it at the last minute. Phew!!! Twelve kids and ten adults in our puny living room. To boot the weather was cold and icky and it was dark so all the games were played inside…. which made things a bit of a nightmare in that area. I think the games and craft were a complete bust. Kids running everywhere in tiny places doesn’t make for much organization. We ordered WAY too much pizza but at least we didn’t run out. The most successful part of the evening was the cakes. Fortunately, those were gobbled up. All in all, *I* think the party was kind of lame, but thankfully the kids probably won’t remember that. Oh well, the people that mattered most- the birthday boys we were honoring in the first place- seemed happy enough, so I guess it wasn’t a complete catastrophe.

Cake & Presents for all the boys on Gerard's Actual Birthday

Big Birthday Party Time

Matching Shirts for the Birthday Boys

Starting a few party gamesPin the Smokestack on Thomas

Gerard's Cake
Muhuhahaha!

Gerrit & Willem's Cake

This is a typical Willem move

when it comes to any sort of food

Recovering the Next Day...

Mmmmm..... leftover cake for all!

And the result of leftover cake for all....

Hyper-active three year old

Meanwhile...

A food coma hits the one year old

Playing around in our homemade tent

Gerrit is trying to lift me with his legs here :)

Jake needs a little lovin' too

And as always, hours of

enjoyment building cool train tracks

Happy Birthday Willem!

2008-10-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Willem! I can't believe you are one year old already!

One day

One Month

Three Months

Six Months

Nine Months

And Now... One YEAR!!!

"My brother is so uncivilized!"

Mr. Willem

2008-10-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

My adorable second son, Willem - You're not putting that thing in my mouth- van Belle is such a joy to feed. Whereas some children like to daintily self-feed, Willem likes to destroy whatever it is that is in front of him. He will mush the banana, pound the bread, squash the peas, drop the cheese, and fling his cup across the room. When you do try to get food into his mouth, on most occasions it's a combination of skillful distraction and steely determination. He will use his karate chop action to swat at the spoon and spew food everywhere. Thank goodness we are transitioning to more and more "people food" and less "mush." That really helps lessen the collateral damage I take in the experience. And right about now, I am loving the fact that we have dogs to help with the clean up.

It's as if Willem has this game in his head- Ah... the food game. Here she comes with the spoon. And... I'll open my mouth to make her THINK I'm really interested... and here it comes... the misdirect and whamo... yeah... three points for flinging food onto mommy's shirt. Two bonus points if the damage is heavy enough to warrant a shirt change.

Whereas Gerrit would fuss any time he had food on him. (Come to think of it, he still does fuss.) A tiny grain of cooked rice, a smear of peanut butter, or a string on his banana was and is all it takes to set Gerrit off. Willem, though he doesn't like to self-feed very often, LOVES to immerse himself in the joy that is texture. When he's done mashing, squishing, grinding, banging, and flinging, and using his food as hair gel, he's a huge mess. Combine that with his usual gutteral utterances - a lot of grunts and groans as he's doing all of this- and he resembles something out of The Exorcist. Still, gotta love my little demon. I'll just save the stories to embarrass him with future girlfriends. :)

Rock Star Willem

Staying Warm while visiting Rothenberg

"Awww... my brother is cute when he's
sleeping. Now let's wake him up!"

Three Year Olds Are Amazing Creatures

2008-10-23T00:29:00.000-07:00

"Hey Dad, I'll pose and you be sure to
get a shot of the hot chick behind me."

"Yeah, now that's what I'M talkin' about!"

Three-Year olds are amazing creatures.

Gerrit started at the German Kinder a few weeks back (on this third birthday in fact). So far he seems to be enjoying it and is learning the ropes. All the little guys have an older buddy who help them with things like putting on their shoes, coat, helping them on the playground and on field trips. Gerrit's buddy is a sweet five year old girl named Irem.

A few events...

Gerrit's teachers are friendly and he enjoys going to kinder. However, he did get in trouble
for throwing sand the other day. We had a discussion about it (as much as a three year old can have with you). He seemed to understand and assured me that he would not throw sand at other kids.

The next day, the teachers tell me that he was throwing sand again. Hmm... so we discuss things over lunch...
Me: Gerrit, did you throw sand?
Gerrit: Yes, I throw sand.
Me: Remember that we talked about that yesterday, Gerrit. Remember what mommy told you? You can't throw sand at people. It hurts their eyes, it's not nice, and people don't like when you do that.
Gerrit: Mommy, I no throw sand people, I throw sand up in sky.

Then I realize it's MY fault. He was telling me that he heard what I said and that he had in fact not disobeyed. I hadn't been explicitly clear that we don't throw sand AT ALL. Oh vey! Gotta love his perfectly valid reasoning, though.

Three-Year olds are amazing creatures.

Gerrit and his kinder class went to die Bucherei (library) today- in the town's Marktplatz. They read the kids a few German picture books and then the kids ate their morning snack. The teacher told me Gerrit had a hard time concentrating and wanted to lie down while she was
reading, etc. This doesn't surprise me, especially given that he currently knows VERY LITTLE Deutsch. Anyhow, when I picked Gerrit up...

Me: Hi Gerrit, what is that you have there?
Gerrit: A worm.
Me: Where did you get your worm?
Gerrit: I read a story.
Me: Oh!!! Did you go to the library?
Gerrit: Yeah, I went to the LIE BERRY.
Me: Wow! That sounds like fun.
Gerrit: Yeah, I have fun. And I ate my bears.
Me: Oh, you ate your bears?
Gerrit: Yeah, I ate my bears.
Me: Did you eat your sandwich and your cheese, too?
Gerrit: I like my cheese.
Me: Did you share any of your bears with any of the other kids in kindergarten?
Gerrit: (With a look that says why on Earth would I ever do that?!) No, I don't want to. I eat my bears.

I just love these little conversations we're beginning to have about his day. He's really starting to get a little personality and express himself. It's a lot of fun.

We went to IKEA so I could pick up a couple of items. We got a cart and Gerrit urges me to go fast.
Gerrit: Mommy, go fast.
Me: But I want to go slow- like a turtle.
Gerrit: No, mommy, go fast like a rocket.
Me: Okay, now I want to go slow like a snail because snails go really, really slow.
Gerrit: Okay, now go fast like an airplane
Me: Okay, now we go slow again. Gerrit, what else goes slow... slow like a....
Gerrit: Choo Choo Train. We go slow like a choo choo... langsam...
okay now choo choo goes schnell schnell schnell.

Hey, working on similes and German while running errands. Woo Hoo!

After the errands we ate lunch at IKEA. Gerrit and Willem rode the motorcycle and deer/horse
thing in the downstairs food area. On the way out to the car, Gerrit helped me push Willem in the cart. We pretended to be going fast like we were in a rocket. We went down the ramp into the parking lot "SUPER FAST" (like Little Einsteins) and then BLASTED OFF into the space
parking lot. We said we were in space and then we had to find our space station, our space car. Gerrit spotted it and we docked at the space car long enough to put our stuff inside (including Willem). Then we took our shuttle cart to the Shuttle Port where they keep all the other Shuttle carts. We detached from the shuttle and floatedinto space back to our space car, got in, and blasted off to home. Gerrit kept laughing and saying he was having fun. At home we built an amazing train track and played, trying to keep the giant Godzilla Willem from destroying our fine work. All in all, it was a great day and I really enjoyed my three year old.

Three-year olds are amazing creatures.

After a wonderful day and a wonderful dinner, we went up to take baths. I was getting Willem ready for bed while Gerrit was still playing in the tub. As I went back into the bathroom to get Gerrit, I nearly slipped and fell on my arse. Gerrit had dumped bucketfuls of water from the tub onto the floor. You could have waterskiied on the floor. Sigh... and after cleaning up the giant mess in the bathroom I kept thinking, "Just when you go and sing their praises."

Yes, three year olds are TRULY amazing little creatures. Oh vey!

Gerrit's First Day at German Kindergarten

Working on a Healthier Attitude and a Better Me

2008-08-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

I haven’t posted in a while for a variety of reasons… mostly because I felt like I haven’t had a ton of exciting things to write about. I recently had to submit my resignation letter to La Canada as they would not grant me a second year of Leave. I’ve been bummed about that and just generally feeling down for a while so I have been having a bit of a pity party with myself. But now it’s time to stop and refocus my energy in a more positive way.

For the past few months I’ve also noticed some self-centeredness on my part. I’ve been concerned more about what I “don’t” have rather than all that I do have. I’ve been envious and jealous of people around me and back home for a whole variety of reasons. It’s unhealthy. It’s counter-productive. And I don’t like who I am when I do that. Tonight I try to change that. Tonight I begin to focus on how very fortunate I am.

I have a wonderful family with two great kids, a husband, and a gaggle of pets… and all of them love me. I have a wonderful, loving, supportive extended family. My parents and in-laws have always been extremely accepting of me… quirks and all. I have fabulous friends who have listened to me whine and complain, and have even talked me off the ledge on more than one occasion since being here. Some of these fabulous friends have even come to visit during my time of need and transition to Germany. They must really like me to brave the journey out here. While I miss teaching, I have the luxury of staying home with my boys. I get to see them as they grow and change on a daily basis. I feel very blessed.

I have a husband who is ambitious, creative, and perseverant. He is steadfast and loyal. Just when I think I know him, he does something new that surprises me. He is a strong man with deep thoughts. He is generous and has a strong sense of what is right and wrong... and he continues to strive to better himself. He is a wonderful husband and father. Though not always easy, sharing a life with him is truly a wonderful adventure.

Okay, so what about Germany, you say. How far has Steph come in the “I hate being in Germany” department? Well, I’ve been here almost a year now and while the whole transition has been quite difficult for me, I do feel I’m making progress. Sure, I still have my list of minor and major annoyances, but there is now a growing list of things that I appreciate about being here.

First off, Regina (my midwife). She took pity on me when we first arrived and took me on as a client- even though she was due to deliver her own child two months after I was due. Since the delivery we have become friends and continue to get together with our children. Regina has a kind heart and a very giving soul. She gives but does not ask for anything in return. In fact, I sometimes feel our friendship is a bit one-sided. Regina is the one person I feel I can say without question is a true friend here. I appreciate her so much and I want to be as good to her as she is to me.

Continuing to focus on the positive, here are a few more things I appreciate about living in Germany. Less smog. Public transportation. Living in an extremely “walkable” town. Being surrounded by beautiful countryside. Living close to a train station, an airport and farmland (full of tractors and wildlife) all for Gerrit and Willem to enjoy. Midwives. Public health care. Government subsidized daycares and kinders. The opportunity for Gerrit to potentially learn a second language. Living in the geographic center of Europe where a five hour drive in any direction takes you to a different country. Being able to drive a half hour away and see really awesome medieval castles and ruins. Seeing old architecture and visiting places full of history.

Working on a healthier attitude and a better me.

And Now For Your Viewing Pleasure...

2008-07-20T02:23:00.000-07:00

Here... some pictures and videos to catch you up from the last few months.

VIDEOS

Learning to Climb the Slide

Teaching Willem to Jump

Park at Chiemsee

Chasing David

May 2008

Mom (Grandma Vicki) Visits
Baby Food Mishap

Hamming it Up

"Aahh... a beer and a pretty girl. This is life!"

Salzburg

Salzburg Sightseeng Tour

Atop Hohensalzburg Fortress

Aren't I such the tourist?

Fascinated with the boys

Chiemsee Island

Taking the boat to the island
This reminds me of the Tree People in "Lord of the Rings"

Herrenchiemsee Palace

Visiting the Wildpark

Mom & Willem

Trying out my Mother's Day Present...
Our new Chariot Bike Trailer

Love, Love, LOVE the "Chariot"

Random Pictures from May 2008

Bubble Fun Potty Training Time with Elmo

June 2008

Willem and Gerrit in their element

Willem tells Niki his diabolical plan to take over the world

"Don't mess with me. These sunglasses and
this spaghetti beard make me look tough."

David's Visit

Good Food, Good Beer, Good Friends..

What could be better?

"You see son... some day you will grow up and... "

"... Find this really cool statue to pose with"
(Yeah, I know... boys never grow up)

Chinese Tower Biergarten with Kaspar

Awww... two cuties!

Gerrit Attempts His "Own" Musical Style

Father's Day

"G'Morning Daddy!
Did my hammering wake you?"

Dad gets his loot

3-2-1 Blast Off, Daddy! Cake Time!

My Three Boys

Local Neufahrn Biergarten & Lake

Gerrit Reads to Willem
Willem is thrilled to bits that Gerrit
wanted to join him in the Pack 'n Play

Willem is not so thrilled to wear his helmet

Hot and tired after our day in the sun

Gerrit May Have Finally Made Peace with Flies

2008-07-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

The weather has been nicer so Gerrit has enjoyed spending more time outside playing in his sandbox (this is a major life saver, by the way- the best purchase ever). SIDE NOTE: Gerrit does not particularly like bugs just yet. Whenever he is outside and a bug flies at him, he runs inside yelling, "Ahh... fly fly!" More outside time means more bugs in the house (no screen and Gerrit doesn't like having the door shut if I'm inside). So Gerrit has had more close encounters with flies lately.

Gerrit also has a habit of asking if you are okay whenever he hears a loud noise. The handshake to this is, "I'm okay. Gerrit, are you okay?" He will respond that he is fine and then things resume. If you fail to answer or just say that you are okay, Gerrit will continue this question until he receives the desired response.

So...

Yesterday, Willem knocked something off the table while tooling around in his walker. Gerrit of course asked, "Oooh... Willem are you okay?" I answered for Willem and then Gerrit asked if I was okay. I answered for me and then Gerrit turned to the two flies that had been buzzing around the couch and said, "Hey, are you okay flies?" :) I thought it was cute. Wonder if he knows what the fly swatter *really* does.

Cute Video of the Boys

2008-07-19T01:43:00.000-07:00

Found this video from back in May. Willem was 6 1/2 months old at the time. I came downstairs to find this so I had to video it. :)

Bayern Park

2008-06-13T15:13:00.001-07:00

Bubble Fun in Our Front Yard

We had a little family outing to Bayern Park, a German amusement park in Bavaria. It was a cute little place and we all had a fun day, particularly Gerrit. Train rides everywhere.

Toboggan Ride

Donkey Ride

May Fest

2008-06-13T13:33:00.001-07:00

Our neighboring town had a little May Fest Celebration on the 1st of May. They erected the town's May Pole, which is the main event. Each Bavarian town has its own May Pole that gets replaced every few years. Each may pole has a height of at least 30 meters (about 100 feet). The may pole lies in town while it is being worked on before its erection, and traditionally, there are guards around the pole at all times to keep neighboring villages from stealing it. If they are successful at stealing the pole, is it returned after some negotiations involving beer and food. The celebration began at 10 am and likely didn't end until late into the evening. We left before the May Pole was erected because it started to rain and kids were being pills. Perhaps we'll see it next year. I found a bit more info about may poles to share with you below.

If the maypole survives all of these dangers then positioning begins. An unwritten law is that this should be accomplished only by physical strength. For this purpose, the entire village of men are mobilized. This is a traditional event which takes place on only one day of the year and so the entire villages comes together to celebrate this tradition in a big festival. Before erecting the maypole, the mayor of the village says a few words to the assembled villagers. After that the Reverend blesses the tree and then command is assumed by the "maypole chief". With commands such as Hauruck and Zugleich and with the aid of so called Schwalben the tree gets higher and higher. As soon as it is upright it is fixed in place. The band then plays for the traditional May dance. The festivities continue until late into the evening with plenty to eat and drink.

The May Pole Cheers!

Mmm... Fish on a Stick

Sean's Visit

2008-06-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

Since I am so behind on posting, thought I'd try to catch up a bit. Here are some photos from when Sean came out to visit in April.

Sean's Wedding Gift to Us... only six years late. :)

Fruhlings Fest. Sean was here during Fruhlighs Fest (a much more scaled down version of Oktoberfest). A few beer tent and food stands but lots of rides for the kiddies.

Riding the train into town
Notice the BIG kid among all the little ones

We also visitited quite a few castles while we Sean was here. Since there are so many castles around here, Gerard and I purchased an annual family pass to many of the castles in Bavaria. It gets us into over 40 castles. Amazing to see these things still standing after all these years.

Prunn Castle Pictures

Eichstatt Castle Pictures

Museum inside the castle
(Mammoth)

Gerrit kept calling these guys Niki and Jake

Attack of the Birds

Mmmm.... bug collection!

Neuschwanstein Castle Pictures Castle in the Distance My Little Tree Hugger Ludwig's Childhood Castle Courtyard

We toured the Weihenstephan Brewery in Freising, which claims to be the oldest brewery in the world still brewing beer. And of course, a Munich trip would not be complete without a visit to the famous and ultra touristy Hofbrauhaus.

I was so excited to go back to Salzburg because this time I was was hoping to take a Salt Mine Tour. The mine's website said that kids under six were free. Apparently, the website was misleading as it was a poor translation. Turns out kids under six are not allowed in the salt mines. Such is life. We hung around and waited for Sean to come from the tour while we visited a historic Celtic village. Then we headed into town to view the Hohensalzburg Fortress and tour Motzart's birthouse. It's strange to see pictures of myself from 1992 in Salzburg as compared to now. If I can find some, I'll have to scan and post them. Boy, does it show me how much I've aged.

Salt Mine Visitor's CenterHohensalzburg Fortress in the distance

Motzart Museum
I find this picture of Motzart in his cradle
(looking like a miniature man rather than a baby)
underneath a blue halo rather disturbing

A Long Day in Salzburg.
Ready to sleep on the drive home.

Gerrit's First License

2008-04-24T11:27:00.001-07:00

Willem digs the noisy toys on the walker, but Niki seems dubiousWillem's first trip to Ikea documented :)

Well, as it's been nearly a month since my last post I thought it was time. Willem is now 6 months old today, and we have recently started solids. I toyed with rice cereal and oatmeal last month and he's recently tried sweet potatoes, carrots, and pears. I've even made some homemade baby food, but it seems doubtful that I'll actually continue that trend. Here is a video of Willem's first super runny cereal feeding.

We enjoyed ourselves at the Neue Pinatothek (art museum) in Munich while Jerry & Ellen watched after our kids. It was almost like a "real date." :)

In front of the museum
Dinner with Jerry & Ellen
Gerrit had Jerry "fly" him about ten times while we were there

We also managed to finally take care of our driver's licenses here. It was a bit confusing, but after two days of back and forth between the German equivalent of DMV bureaucracy, we accomplished our goal. (We received conflicting information from two different employees about what we needed to have in order to convert our licenses.) To celebrate we went out to dinner at our local Greek restaurant here in the Marktplatz in town. The food was fantastic, but the service was extremely slow. Guess we're used to that from trips to Lucky Baldwin's back in the States. :) I will definitely miss the small town feel of Neufahrn when we leave. I enjoy being able to walk into the Marktplatz and do the shopping or go to the library, park, or even window shop. It would be nice to find something like that back in the States. I also enjoy being able to take public transportation without fearing for my safety, but that may be even harder to come by in the U.S.

Waiting to get our licenses converted.
The dreaded "New hours and we hope you understand" sign
"Look Ma... no hands!"
Can you see any family resemblance?

Enjoyed another visit to the Flugzeug Museum in Obserschleissheim. This time we decided to dress accordingly... in tacky flying shirts. Yes, we're dorks, we know. Still, Gerrit LOVED that he and mommy were wearing the same shirt. Gerrit flew his own small airplane and received a junior pilot's license for doing so... oh yeah, and a gummy bear, too. :) That day, they were also hosting a model train event so Gerrit was in absolute heaven.

"Look, daddy... mommy and I match!"
Father & Son equally excited to see the planesGerrit was entranced
Surveying the aircraft
Awaiting first flight
Cheering for his big brother!Victory: Gerrit's Pilotenschein
A fun day, but a tired family :)

Errands and Toddlers

2008-03-28T01:41:00.000-07:00

Gerard is in the U.S. right now. He went to D.C. for a meeting. Even though he's not in Los Angeles, I'm still kind of envious that he's in the U.S. at all. He brought an extra suitcase and is planning to bring back a ton of stuff. Thankfully, it's a short trip for him, but that means for now, I'm on my own with the kids.

Argh!!! Today is Friday and we're nearing the end of a two week spring break for the school kids here (actually, they probably still call it Easter break here). This also means that there have been no German classes for me, or any other extra things for Gerrit during these two weeks. Since Friday and Monday were also holidays here, I could not take Gerrit to his Tagesmutter on those days either. Even though I still have no German class today, I was planning to take Gerrit to his Tagesmutter this morning so I could do a few things.

First off, I need to run some errands- groceries, pharmacy, and a few things from their equivalent of Home Depot. It is so much easier to shop without BOTH kids. I think it's worse here, too, because the cashiers are super super fast. They can swipe products on all sides and get a price scan. Since you have to bag your own groceries here, people give you a hard time if you move slowly. I usually stand at one end and start literally "throwing" all the stuff back into the cart just to keep up with the cashier. Then I offload the groceries from the cart to the bags at the car. I also dislike having to load and unload the kids out of the car all the time for various trips like this. I can probably walk to the pharmacy and make that a side walking/outdoor trip for us together, but groceries are another story. It's just plain easier to drive to get them.

So yeah, I was happy that Gerrit would be with his Tagesmutter for a few hours today, and that I'd only have to tote Willem around with me. I knew the Tagesmutter had told me that I could start bringing Gerrit back to her today, but I figured I should call just to give her the heads up that I was still coming. We were ready to head out the door and I called. No answer. I called the cell phone and she answered. I said, "Ich bringe Gerrit heute, ja?" "Nein," she says. I'm a little shocked by this so I ask why. She tells me that she has taken her daughter to the doctor because she started coughing last night. When I phoned her cell, she was at the doctor's office. Okay, so now I'm a bit irritated because I figure that she could have called to let me know not to bring him. It's a good thing I actually hadn't left the house yet and thought to call her ahead of time. I don't know enough German, nor did I think it was the appropriate time to try to tell her that I'd like her to call me when she needs to cancel. I guess I thought it would have been sort of obvious.

It's taking Gerrit a long time to get comfortable with this new Tagesmutter, too. We started going to her when I started back at German. Gerrit only goes to her when I have German class (Mondays/Fridays). We had three German classes and then another two week break. Everytime I take Gerrit to her, he cries. Obviously this bothers me, particularly when he ran up to his last Tagesmutter and would wave goodbye to me. Now he's super clingy and doesn't want me to leave. I keep hoping he will come around to her soon, but with all these disruptions to our schedule, it certainly makes it tough. So... as Gerard would say, "It is what it is." But what it is IS frustrating.

So I'm nursing Willem right now before I head out to brave some of these errands with kids in tow.