Happy Holidays!

Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!  Merry Christmas and a good slide into the New  Year!


This was the view from our terrace last week.  This week, for Christmas, rain, rain and more rain.

To Over Live

Alex has developed this habit of saying "over lived" instead of "survived."  He's translating from German, and in German "to survive" is "überleben," which literally translates into: über = over + leben = to live.  No matter how many times Philip or I correct him, he still insists on saying "over lived," as in "I over lived the day at school."

Happy 25th!

Last week, Bob celebrated 25 years with Siemens.  His boss threw him a party, to which I was also invited, that included a 4-course lunch.  Bob was asked to pick the menu, and he wisely chose the French menu--beef broth with pistachio dumplings, scallops as an appetizer, steaks for the main course and white chocolate mousse for dessert.  After lunch, there was a party in his department, and his boss made a speech, gave me flowers and sekt (German champagne), and thanked me for "renting Bob out to Siemens for 25 years."

Bob said in Chicago he would have probably received a catalog and chosen a gift that he didn't need or want. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't forgotten that Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November, but this year we celebrated early.  We celebrated yesterday, because the boys had the day off--it was Buß-und Bettag.  This is supposed to be a day of penance, and it was a national holiday (remember, no separation of church and state in Deutschland) until 1994.  But, Bavaria decided to keep it as a school holiday.  I think more for the teachers than the students.

Since they were home all day, they helped me make a sweet potato pie.  I haven't found canned pumpkin here yet, and when we tried making pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, the filling came out too runny.  In other words, our sweet potato pie is better than our pumpkin, and this year I added ginger, as well as cinnamon and nutmeg.  It was a little spicier and better.  And just like last year, we made a chicken instead of a turkey.  I made it with tarragon, which I love, but Alex didn't, so we had to scrape it off.  He told me that he likes the chicken from the street vendor, who sells roasted chickens on Tuesdays near our local grocery store, better.

Bob and I also had to explain to Alex what Thanksgiving is all about.  Philip learned about the Native Americans and how they helped the Pilgrims while he was in the first and second grade in Sauganash.  But since Alex is being educated in Germany, he hasn't learned the significance of Thanksgiving.  He thought it was a medieval holiday and had us dress as kings and a queen. 

The Eleventh Commandment

On the day after Halloween, All Saints' Day, which is a holiday in many European countries, we drove to Everberg, Belgium, to visit Przemko and Sasha. As always, we had fun--too much fun and too much Belgium beer, which is stronger than German beer and much, much stronger than American.


While in Belgium, we revisited Antwerp, which is fast becoming one of my favorite European cities. We visited the Diamond Museum, located in the thriving Jewish quarter, and there are not many thriving Jewish quarters left in Europe. It reminded me of parts of NYC, and this is one reason why I'm so fond of Antwerp.


The other is Het Elfde Gebod, or the Eleventh Commandment, a cafe cluttered with religious paraphernalia. A place like this in the US would piss off the Christian Right for being irreverent. I thought it was a great place to spend a religious holiday.

Speaking of Halloween, I am starting to appreciate Halloween here in Germany more and more. I never really liked Halloween. As a kid I didn't enjoy Trick-or-Treating, and as an adult, I didn't care for Halloween parties, with the exception of Halloween on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin--from the University of Wisconsin's campus up to the state capitol, it was wall-to-wall revelry. In Chicago, the month of October rivaled December in yard decor and hype. Every house in our neighborhood was decorated with spooky stuff, and it seemed like we spent practically everyday leading up to Halloween visiting haunted houses/forests, pumpkin patches and parties at school and at every extracurricular activity. (Another exception was Holly and Matt's Halloween Party--that was truly fun!) In Germany, Halloween is a relatively new holiday, so there are very few spooky decorations, although decorated and carved pumpkins are common, few parties, and Trick-or-Treat only lasts about one hour. And the kids come home with a reasonable amount of candy, so I won't be throwing away old candy six months from now.

Don't Forget to Vote!

Bob and I voted early--I actually mailed in my ballot in September, right after I received it. I'm not at liberty to say who Bob voted for, but I voted for Barack, as most Germans expected me to.

Most Germans, friends as well as people I've just recently met, find it hard to believe that anyone in the US would vote for McCain. They see him as an extension of George Bush with his poor economic and foreign policies. And as for Sarah Palin, they roll their eyes a lot. They see her for what she is--inexperienced. They cannot fathom that this combination may be the US's next president and vice-president.

And yet, I fear that they may win, and then McCain will die in office, because he is old and being the US president is a high-pressure job, and then Sarah Palin will be president, which is a very, very scary thought.

Pumpkins and Horseradish

Alex decorated the pumpkin CK bought while she was visiting.  He named it Johnny Danger.

And back in September, we went to a horseradish festival in Baiersdorf, a village near Erlangen. I'm not actually sure what this sculpture is supposed to be, maybe a crown, but it is made entirely with horseradish.  The kids were surprised to learn that horseradish is a root, because they had never seen it other than processed and in a jar.

When CK came to town...

After six weeks in India, Cara spent a week with us in Germany before flying home to Chicago. It was nice--very, very nice. We didn't get a chance to sight-see like I had hoped (I love playing tourist in our own little corner of Bavaria), because the boys started school on the 16th, and since classes the first week are until 11:20 only, my schedule wasn't as flexible. But this may have been a blessing, because we had more time to talk and I listened without the distractions the boys usually create.


We did attend a bierfest--the Altstadtfest in Nürnberg (top photo). And Bob drove Cara through the Fränkische Schweiz for pumpkins and schnapps.

On Saturday morning, I drove Cara to the train station in Nürnberg, said Good-bye, and spent the rest of the weekend feeling sad. I miss her very much.

The Adriatic Coast

Our second vacation this summer was spent in southeastern Europe--Italy and Croatia. We were gone only five nights, and yet, we did and saw so much more than a full week in Denmark. This was my kind of vacation!!!

First we spent two nights in Venice, actually in a small town outside of Venice. With two kids and a dog, the logistics of staying in a hotel in Venice would just be too complicated for me, so we stayed in Quarto D'Altino and took the train into Venice.


This was our third trip to Venice, and I like Venice more and more each time. I'm fascinated with how people live there. For example, we watched how the garbage is picked up by boat. A little thing, but very different from the way garbage is picked up in most cities in Europe and the US.



As on our previous visits, we walked to Piazza San Marco, but this time we kept getting lost. It was okay, because we walked down skinny streets free of souvenir shops. At San Marco, we expected the boys to chase pigeons, like they did when they were younger. But they're growing up (we keep forgetting) and were content watching someone else feed the birds (this is illegal now, but a few folks were still participating in this tradition).



On the drive to Venice, we stopped in a charming town at the foot of the Dolomites, Bassano del Grappa. Bob learned about it on a TV travel show (Rick Steves, maybe) while in Chicago and decided to see it. I'm glad we made the stop, because it was "lovely" (this is how my British friends describe anything nice).


From Venice, we drove to Pula, Croatia. To get to Pula, one has to drive through a sliver of Adriatic coast in Slovene. Since we had to eat lunch, we stopped in Piran, a town like many towns along the Adriatic influenced by Venetian architecture.




In Croatia we camped in Fazana, just outside of Pula. Our campsite was near the beach, so the boys spent a lot of time looking for crabs. The beaches in Croatia are made of small rocks instead of sand as in Denmark, but the boys had more fun because there is more life in the warm Adriatic than in the cold North Sea.



Camping in Europe is different from what we were accustomed to in the US. We always camped at state parks, so facilities consisted of outhouses and no showers or simple toilets and showers. Here the camping is elaborate in comparison. Restaurants, supermarkets, swimming pools, organized activities, and rentals--bikes, windsurfers, kayaks, and boats--all on site. They even had a scuba shop. We rented a pedal-boat with a slide.



Pula is a very interesting city, especially if you like sightseeing. It contains quite a few Roman structures, such as a miniature version of the Colosseum, but without the long lines as in Rome.

I think next year we'll spend a full week, maybe two, in Croatia.

In the Land of Lego

We decided to spend our summer vacation in opposite ends of Europe this year. First, we drove north and spent one week in Denmark, returned to Erlangen for a week, and now we will travel south to Venice and Croatia.

We picked Denmark because so many of our German friends had told us that the beaches of Jutland are relaxing. So we rented a house about 300 meters from the North Sea. The only obstacles between our house and the beach were very large dunes.



We spent the sunny days on the beach or on our porch and were lucky enough to have a clear night for the lunar eclipse.



And it was relaxing, but when it rained, we had to find alternatives. So we spent one day at Legoland



and another exploring the Nazi bunkers on Houvig Strand.



We also looked forward to the sunsets.



Before we returned to Erlangen, we spent one night in Hamburg and visited the Fischmarkt on Sunday morning. It reminded me of the old Maxwell Street in Chicago, except that in Hamburg, the old Fish Auction Hall hosts a live band and sells beer from 5 AM.



I learned a lot about myself this trip. Mainly, I cannot sit still and relax for more than two days. On the days that we did NOT go sightseeing, I felt like I was wasting time just reading. I finished two thick books in one week, which is an accomplishment for a slow-reader, and yet, I still felt as if I had wasted my vacation. The kids and Oscar loved it, but I was bored (so was Bob).


This one is for Cara and Ursula.

Bierfests, Continued

In late June, there was the Zollhausfest, in our old neighborhood from our first lives in Erlangen.


Then there was Annafest in mid-July. Annafest is Forchheim's version of the Bergkirchweih, Erlangen's big beer festival, but less crowded.



And more recently, Kulmbacher Bierwoche, which is a smaller version of Munich's Oktoberfest.

Sicki

Not too long ago, we saw Sicko, Michael Moore's documentary about the healthcare system in the US. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of MM, but I do think he brings up issues we should be discussing. I just don't always agree with the way he makes his arguments. I know he omits things, but I suppose we all *forget* to disclose everything we know about a subject--only the things that support our opinions.

The part I liked best in Sicko was his roundtable discussion with Americans living in France--not French people, but Americans who considered the French healthcare system superior to the USA's. The question is, will Americans who have never lived abroad believe them?

The German medical system is similar in many ways to the French system based on what they were saying, and when we returned from our first lives in Germany, many of our friends and family didn't want to believe us when we told them we received excellent medical care here. I have to admit; I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. I, like most Americans, have been brainwashed into believing we have the best medical system in the world, and it is difficult to let go of that belief even after the Chicago Tribune ran an article in 2001 about the WHO rating the US 37th in the world because we don't receive the same amount of care that people in other countries do relative to the amount we pay.

For example, during our first lives abroad, Philip started clearing his throat incessantly. He said he had a tickle in his throat, so I took him to an ENT.

Let me digress here. I didn't need a referral from our pediatrician or to check if the ENT accepted our insurance. I just walked in during his office hours. Back in Chicago, I waited for 4 days before I received a referral to an ENT, because my primary care physician's associate (my doctor, who is a wonderful, was not in that day) couldn't determine if I had an ear infection. He gave me eardrops to soften the wax, told me to take ibuprofen for the pain and return in a week. After 2 days of not being able to hear out of my left ear and of popping pills for pain, I started calling and leaving messages (I guess American receptionists are too busy to answer phones). I broke down and cried during one of my messages, and someone must have taken pity on me and called back with a referral.

Back to our German ENT. I took Philip in, and not only did the doctor look into his throat and nose, but he did both ultrasonic and endoscopic exams of his sinuses. He couldn't find anything and determined that it was probably a nervous tick. Our insurance paid 142 Euros (the Euro was about 1:1 with the dollar at the time) for everything.

When we returned to Chicago, I took the kids to a pediatrician recommended to me by my Ukrainian friends. During their physicals, I brought up Phil's throat clearing. She didn't look into his throat or nose--she couldn't be bothered--and said it's probably a tick. I also asked her to look at a mole Philip had. Again, she wouldn't look at it, and told me to keep an eye on it. Keep an eye on what? For this our insurance paid $130, not including immunizations.

Even though both came to the same conclusion, I would rather pay a little more and have a doctor actually exam my children or me.

Speaking of ultrasound, German doctors make better use of technology than US doctors. My GYN here uses ultrasound during routine exams, and I find it more reassuring to see that my uterus and ovaries look normal than to take the word of a doctor who has simply put his fingers up my vagina. My OB/GYN in Chicago would have used ultrasound more often, but he said most people's insurance won't cover it.

I'm not saying that German healthcare is better. I've had some really great doctors in the US. But, I think if we continue to say to ourselves that we have the best medical system and ignore the fact that other systems, including socialized ones, may be better, we will never improve our own.

Movies from Poland

I'm posting two movies from our trip to Poland that I didn't post originally. One is of Gorale singers in a restaurant in Zakopane, and the other is of Bob's home and barn in Liski.

Oscar's Blog

I've started another blog, and this one is dedicated to Oscar's travels in Europe. He's seen more of Europe than most dogs, and more than some people. And like the boys, he's a very good traveler.

Eddie Reininger

Edward Reininger, Bob's brother-in-law, passed away suddenly on June 2, 2008. On April 30, he celebrated his 40th birthday, and on the day before he died, his third child's, 3-month-old Emma's, christening. Not only will he be missed by his wife, Irene, son, Max, 7, and daughter, Lily, 4 and a half, but by my boys too. He was their favorite uncle and Philip's godfather. I'm sure they will never forget him.

No Sleep Til Liski

For years, Bob has been planning, or should I say talking about, visiting his hometown in Poland, Liski, the town in which he spent the first 12 years of his life. Well, he finally did it--he (we) drove to Poland.

Since we were driving, we decided to spend a couple of days in Krakow and Zakopane before continuing to Zamosc and Liski, and I was surprised how close Poland is to us. It took us only 8 hours to drive to Krakow, and 8 hours is not long for a family that drove 13 hours straight from Barcelona. Of course, the road to Krakow is a major highway, whereas the road from Krakow to Zamosc is more like a country road, which made that leg of our journey slow and hair-raising (passing a truck while another truck is coming head on is scary).


Krakow was our first stop, and it reminded me of Chicago. Maybe because I heard so many people in Chicago speaking Polish, or because like Chicago, Krakow has so many beautiful buildings--some in very good shape and others in desperate need of a coat of fresh paint.

Our first day was spent walking around the old city (Stare Miasto) and looking for a Polish restaurant, Chlopskie Jadlo, recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. It turned out to be a chain of restaurants with very good food, beer and vodka, but more expensive than we expected.




Our second day was spent in the Wieliczka Salt Mine, where statues and chapels have been sculpted from the salt. Even the chandeliers are made with salt crystals from the mine, and they have an underground cafeteria, which, of course, I had to eat in. They also know how to squeeze pennies from tourists--they charge 10 zloty (3.50 Euros or $5) for a permit allowing one to take photos. This turned out to be a re-occurring theme throughout Poland.




Later, we walked from our hotel to Wawel Castle, which has wonderful views of the Vistula River, and beneath it, a cave where Prince Krak killed a dragon.


We ate dinner that evening in a Ukraine Restaurant. Unfortunately, they were out of Ukrainian varenyky (pierogis) and I wanted to compare them to the Polish.


The next day we drove to Zakopane, Gorale (hillbilly) Disneyland. I loved it! The restaurants have waiters and musicians dressed in the local Gorale clothing and singing local folk songs. The songs reminded me of the songs my grandmother, who is a Boyko, the Ukrainian version of Gorale, sang.



The best part of Zakopane is the Tatra Mountains, which remind me somewhat of the Rockies in Montana, although not quite as majestic. We drove into the mountains on our second day, and rode a horse-drawn carriage to Morskie Oko, the Eye of the Sea, a large lake in the mountains.



On to Zamosc, the largest city (about 70,000 people) near Liski. When we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Zamojski,on the market square right next to the pink town hall, we had to upgrade to a suite, which cost us 30 Euros more a night than we expected, but it was worth it. We had two bedrooms and two TVs, which meant we didn't have to share with the boys.


On the way to Zamosc, we noticed all the storks and their nests built on utility poles and the chimneys of houses. We had heard from our parents that the storks return to Poland and Ukraine every spring and occupy the same nests. If they don't return to their nests, then it is bad luck for the family that lives in that particular home. I always thought we had a lot of storks in Germany, but nowhere as many as we saw in Poland.




Finally, we made it to Liski. Our GPS was able to locate Liski, but the last kilometer would have been over a rutted, dirt road. So we had to find an alternative route, which we did, over a paved road. Bob had a hard time remembering where his family's home was until we found the church, then it came back to him. Bob's cousin came to meet us and we met his grandmother (Bob's great-aunt), his brother, his brother's wife and a neighbor, whose son Bob played with as a boy. We saw Bob's old house and barn, which are no longer in use, and visited the graves of Bob's grandparents. It was fascinating to see where Bob grew up--more so than I can describe in words. And the boys seemed very interested in Bob's old home. Alex suggested that we live there. We toasted our visit with vodka and Bob's great-aunt invited us to return. I hope we do.

PS Sorry CK for borrowing your title, but I couldn't help myself.