Mars over Erlangen

A Nice Place to Visit

2011-09-13T09:57:00.014+02:00

This is hard for me to write, because I have mixed feelings. Going home can be very emotional, and this was my first trip back to Chicago in five years. I have to admit, the trip turned out better than I initially anticipated, but it was in many ways stressful.

Adding to the stress was my mother's death in July. Because I hadn't spoken to her often in the last 10 years, I was at first numb. I didn't feel sadness or guilt the way I did when my father died. I felt nothing. But then I had to go to her condo in Chicago and everything changed. Suddenly, I was feeling pain, anger and grief. I went to her place four times during the 17 days we were in Chicago, and each time my feelings deepened.

I was also worried about what my aunts and cousins would say to Larissa, who drove to Chicago from Bozeman with her dog Wolfy, and me. I didn't know how they felt about our estranged relationship with our mother. It turned out that they were very understanding and supportive. At the family reunion that my cousin Christy hosted, everyone was so nice. I was a little timid at first, but it was so nice seeing everyone. This sounds cliche, but I felt so comfortable talking to my family as if we talked everyday. It felt as if we were still as close as we were when we were young and running around Wisconsin Dells. I'm glad my cousin and her husband decided to throw this party.

Bob's sister also threw a party, so we had two family reunions, and we visited many of our friends, but we weren't able to see everyone, not in 17 days. We did manage to find some time to do touristy things,

like Great America (Batman--best roller coaster I've ever ridden),

Michigan to see the boys' cousins,

Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Buckingham Fountain,

the Field Museum,

and the Sears (now Willis) Tower with their new Skydecks--glass-enclosed viewing platforms, including transparent floors. Looking through the glass floors made me so nervous that I developed a tension headache. The boys were very cautious about walking out onto the decks too, even Philip who at 2-years-old jumped onto the glass floor at the CN Tower in Toronto.

We enjoyed our trip to Chicago, and I hope to return sooner than five years, especially since the boys really miss their grandparents, but I can't say that I miss living there. We spent a lot of time in the car, not only because of the distances between city and suburbs but because of traffic too. Although it was a fun trip, I was so happy to come home to Erlangen.

My 50th Birthday

2011-06-22T07:48:00.005+02:00

Last week, I celebrated turning 50 in Munich. Originally, I wanted to celebrate in Paris, but Paris is 8 hours away by car and too far for me. Then I thought Strasbourg. No, still too far (3 hours). But Munich is less than 2 hours away! (Is avoiding long distance travel a sign of old age?)

We spent two nights at the Holiday Inn-Schwabing. When we first lived in Erlangen, we used to stay there often, and Alex, who was only two the last time we stayed there, still remembered a few things about the hotel. So Holiday Inns may not be as charming as most German hotels, but this one is convenient, has a pool, kids eat free, and dogs are welcome. Perfect!

Our first night, we met our friends S. (from Ukraine via London) and J. (from France via London) at the Hirschgarten Biergarten. It's near their apartment and the boys wanted to skate the Hirschgarten Pool. After skating and drinking beer, we had dinner at Cafe Neuhauser in Munich's Neuhausen neighborhood, hence the appropriate name. The food's Italian and excellent. Alex, our pizza connoiseur, loved his cheese pizza.

On Tuesday, my birthday, we visited the Deutsches Museum, a lot like Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry but without the long lines (I've never been to the mining exhibit in Chicago because of long waits, and in Munich, I've seen the exhibit twice) and cheaper. The rest of the day was spent just walking around Munich. We had lunch at the Viktualienmarkt (top photo), an open-air market in the city center, and later dinner in Schwabing, the neighborhood that's home to our hotel. Schwabing reminded me of some of Chicago's neighborhoods, such as Lakeview, Uptown, Wicker Park. For example, the restaurant, Drugstore, where we had dinner, had a small theater upstairs.

Back in our hotel room, at 11 PM, the time I was born, Bob and the boys sang "Happy Birthday" to me. What could be better on one's 50th?

Potsdam and Berlin

2011-05-07T11:08:00.009+02:00

During the Osterferien (Easter break), Bob had to work in Potsdam, and we all went with him. I don't think we would have visited Potsdam if it hadn't been for Bob. After all, Potsdam is about 30 kilometers from Berlin, so why stay in Potsdam when you can stay in Berlin. Wrong attitude.

Our hotel was near the entrance to Park Sanssouci, which means "carefree" in French, a huge park with a collection of rococo palaces built by the Prussian king, Frederick the Great. Since the park was literally our backyard for four days, I took Oscar for walks through the park twice a day, everyday. We didn't visit the interiors of any of the palaces (the boys become belligerent at the mention of a tour), but we climbed the stairs and explored the grounds around Schloss Sanssouci. From the terrace is a view of what look like Roman ruins, but they were actually built by King Frederick. They make for a nice view, and if one can afford to have his own "ruins"...

Since Potsdam is the capital of Brandenburg, they have their own Brandenburg Gate. Not as big as it's well-known cousin, but impressive in its own way.

The boys don't go anywhere without their skateboards these days, so I had to find them a skate park. Luckily, there is one in the Volkspark Potsdam (People's Park of Potsdam). It has a half-pipe and lots of ramps. The boys learned how to do drop-ins. They loved it. We had to pay to use the park--not much, €1.50 for me and €0.50 for each kid--but there's a conservatory, gardens and playgrounds. There's even a memorial to the former GDR, better known as East Germany.

Of course, we drove into Berlin one day. We visited the Natural History Museum of Berlin, which has the world's largest mounted Brachiosaurus skeleton.

We ate currywurst at Konnopke's (with an apostrophe--usually in German they just add the "s" without the apostrophe), which supposedly is where currywurst was invented. I don't know if this is true, but it was the best we've ever eaten.

We stopped at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Street. There are several of these memorials throughout the city. This one was not far from the currywurst stand.

Naturally, we had to visit the Reichstag and the Brandenburg gate. And before we returned to Potsdam, we stopped in Kreuzburg for Mexican food. I read an article in the New York Times about Mexican restaurants in Berlin run by Mexicans. We picked one, Santa Maria, and it had the most authentic Mexican we have eaten in Europe. It was so good, we ordered food twice.

We've already decided that the next time we visit Berlin, we'll stay in Potsdam and drive, or take the S-Bahn, into Berlin.

Skiing in Allgäu

2011-03-18T10:45:00.010+01:00

This year's ski trip was in Allgäu, Germany, instead of Obertauern, Austria, because we decided to ski over the Fasching Ferien (carnival holidays) instead of the Easter break, when we usually go. Late April is just too late to go skiing, in my opinion, although I'm sure there's still snow in Obertauern. Unfortunately, everything was booked in Obertauern during the Fasching break, which is the traditional time for most Germans to go skiing (some people refer to it as the Ski Ferien), so we decided to go local.

In Allgäu, we stayed in an apartment in Pfronten and skied nearby Breitenberg. Our first day turned out to be a little frightening, because of a thick cloud that settled on the mountain. At first, it wasn't too bad. We could still see the lift through the fog, and so we skied on the trails alongside it. But later in the afternoon, we lost sight of the lift. We could hear it but couldn't see it. That's when I decided to quit. Bob, on the other hand, wanted to continue, but since majority rules and the boys agreed with me, we went swimming instead.

We went to the Kristall Thermal Baths in Schwangau, home of King Ludwig II's famous castle, Neuschwanstein. It's actually in the photo behind the boys, but it blends right into the mountains.

We also crossed the border into Austria and skied Berwang. The boys liked it better because of all the jumps that were set up along the runs. Therefore, we ended up skiing Austria the rest of the trip.

Of course, we had to spend one day touring the area. We made a stop in Schwangau to get a better look at Neuschwanstein.

And near Steingaden to see the rococo Wieskirche, built on the site where a farmer saw his wooden statue of Jesus crying.

We also stopped in Oberammergau, a very touristy town in Bavaria famous for the Passion Play they put on every 10 years. Despite its commercialism, its a charming town with the facades of simple buildings painted to make them look baroque (Lüftlmalerei).

What will it be next year--Obertauern or Allgäu?

I'm Teaching Again

2011-02-14T09:18:00.002+01:00

Right after the Christmas break, I started teaching again. I'm working as a free-lance instructor for the Friedrich Alexander University here in Erlangen. My friend, who teaches in the English department, heard that the Sprachenzentrum (Language Center) was looking for someone to teach English classes in the biology department. Since I'm a biologist, she recommended me.

Thus far, I've taught scientific writing to master's degree students in a four-week genetics module. I basically gave a few lectures on writing research papers and then edited the students' papers with them. I was impressed at how serious these students were. They really wanted to improve their writing and they wanted to understand the grammar rules. In Chicago, my students used to ask why papers in biology had to be grammatically correct. "But this is not an English class," was their usual response. My German students actually intimidated me with all their questions, because sometimes I didn't know how to explain the grammar rules.

Tomorrow, I begin my next course--oral presentations in English--in the immunology department. This group is PhD students, so they may be even more intimidating. I hope not.

Happy Winter Solstice

2010-12-22T13:11:00.004+01:00

Last Saturday, we celebrated the solstice with bonfires at a Wintersonnwendfeier (winter solstice celebration) at Waldschänke Brückkanal in Feucht, just south of Nürnberg.

The Waldschänke (restaurant) is located in a forest on Brück canal, hence the name, and it was hard to find in the dark. But it was worth it. They had two large fires and one small one for the kids, and they were serving Glühwein, bratwurst, and, of course, beer. It was a nice change from the usual Christmas markets.

Integration Program

2010-11-22T10:05:00.003+01:00

For the last two weeks, I have been spending four hours every morning in an orientation course, learning about German history, politics and culture. It was the last module I had to take to complete the integration program, which is required if I want to apply for permanent residency. And I do!

Last year, we renewed our residency here in Deutschland, and it was a hassle--so many papers to submit from Bob's work, the kids' schools, our apartment lease, etc. And we have to do it all over again next summer. So last fall, I decided to find out how to apply for permanent residency. Since 2005, anyone who wants permanent residency has to participate in an integration program to learn the language. Through the program, one can take up to 600 hours of Deutsch classes for only 1 Euro per hour. When I took the placement test, I was told that I could take the last 100 hour module to improve my spoken Deutsch, or take the B1 test directly and then the orientation course. I decided to take the exam, because I couldn't fit 100 hours of class into my schedule.

The Goethe Institute sets up classes for six levels of Deutsch proficiency--A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Passing the B1 exam means one has an intermediate level of written and spoken German. I passed the test in July and am now finished with the orientation course. What's next?

I have to ask the Rathaus (City Hall) what comes next, and if I can apply even though Bob hasn't done the program. After all, we are here in Deutschland because of Bob's work. He's the one that may have to get permanent residency first.

Stay tuned...

Garda, Amalfi, Vieste and Ferrara

2010-09-28T11:37:00.024+02:00

Since it was too expensive to fly back to Chicago this summer, we decided to go to Italy instead, which was not cheap either. Our first stop was Lake Garda, and thanks to Oscar, we didn't stay directly on the lake. We stayed in the foothills of Monte Baldo in a town called Pai.

I had made several reservations at hotels claiming that they allowed dogs, but they emailed me back saying "small dogs only." At 30 kg (66 pounds), Oscar is not a small dog. I finally found a place called Locanda San Marco that allowed large dogs in the village of Pai di Sopra. It was perfect! We had to walk down to the lake, which meant we had to climb back up, but Pai was quiet, unlike the touristy, crowded lakefront. Pai became lively only in the evening when everyone was outside in the main square eating, drinking and talking. One night they even had live music.

The boys brought their skateboards thinking they would be skating all over Italy. Lake Garda turned out to be the only place flat enough and safe enough for skating.

Because we knew Amalfi and Ferrara would be the cultural parts of our trip, we decide to do something touristy before driving farther south. We went to Gardaland. Gardaland is a large amusement park on the southern end of the lake. I don't usually like amusement parks, but this time I had a great time. Gardaland has a lot of roller coasters and water-based rides, nice on a hot day. And they have a 4D theater, which is just 3D with moving seats, but fun. It was very crowded, and since the waits for most rides were up to an hour, we spent an extra 48 Euros (after spending 113 Euros to get into the park) for express tickets. This meant we could stand in the express lines for only 10 or 15 minutes. Expensive, but worth it; otherwise, we would have ridden only half of the rides we did ride.

After a long day of driving south, past Bologna, Rome and Naples, we arrived on the Amalfi Coast. We rented a house built into the side of the cliffs overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. We parked the car in the garage off the street and walked DOWN many steps to our house and even more steps to the sea. It is amazing to me that people actually live here. The streets are narrow and twisting with three way traffic--the normal two way and the Vespas and motorcycles down the middle. There are no sidewalks, so everyone walks along the side of the road. I felt like we were risking our lives every time we left the house. And since it is not flat, we were either walking up- or downhill. (The top photo is a view from one of our balconies and the bottom is the house we rented.)

Our house was located about 500 meters up the hill from Minori and on the road toward Ravello, which overlooks Minori.

While on the Amalfi Coast, we went snorkeling off the rocks below our house,

took the ferry from Minori past Atrani, another coastal town,

to see the cathedral in the town of Amalfi.

While in Ravello, we checked out the pool at the Hotel Caruso.

And we spent time just hanging out on the balconies of our house.

But the best part of our time on the Amalfi was visiting Pompeii and climbing Vesuvius. I was expecting it be educational, but it was fascinating! There are the temples (to Jupiter, above),

the well preserved frescos,

and the snack bars. And so much more.

After Pompeii, we ascended Vesuvius. Our GPS took us up the old road, which apparently happens a lot, and so a tour operator has learned to take advantage of this. At the end of the paved road, if one wants to continue up, one must pay for a ticket on a 4WD bus that will take one up the dirt road. Yes, expensive, but it was fun riding up the winding road on a very bouncy bus. At the end of the dirt road, we walked the rest of the way up to the crater. Vesuvius may not be as impressive as Kilauea--there is no smoke and no smell of sulfur--but it is a volcano the way I always pictured volcanos. And it is active. It erupts every 100 years and the last eruption was in 1944.

From the Amalfi Coast, we drove straight east to the Gargano Peninsula. Here we rented a bungalow just outside of Vieste. On the way to Vieste, we stopped in Monte Sant'Angelo. Supposedly, St. Michael made several appearances here in the 5th Century, and now it is a popular pilgrimage site. Although we were not on a pilgrimage, we found the town very charming and very white.

Unfortunately, after arriving in Vieste, we were a little disappointed with our accommodations. The views were great,

and the pool rivaled Hotel Caruso's in Ravello. But the bungalow was in disrepair and very dusty, probably because of the dirt path that led up to the door--I thought camping in a tent would have been better and cleaner.

On the brighter side, the beach was not far, and the beaches of the Gargano coast are covered in soft, yellow sand, unlike the rocky beaches of Garda and Amalfi.

And the Adriatic Sea is not as tame as the Tyrrhenian. A couple of times we thought we were going to lose the boys.

Obviously, the seafood was great, and some of the restaurants are found in trabucci, wooden structures unique to the area and built for fishing.

Our last stop was Ferrara, and Ferrara is my kind of town--a college town, a medieval college town. It is the Italian version of Erlangen and Madison. There are students and bicycles everywhere. Of course, there is also a castle, Castello Estense, with a moat,

and a labyrinth of narrow streets in the medieval quarter to explore. If we should ever move to Italy....

Oscar also came along on this trip, and a couple of his photos are on his blog.

Endlich Sommer

2010-07-26T09:19:00.006+02:00

Finally, the last week of school is here! And summer vacation begins on July 31. It has been an interesting year academically, especially for Philip. He started Realschule this year, and initially, I was relieved that he wasn't going to Gymnasium. I was told that Gymnasium was harder and moved a lot faster than Realschule. If this is true, how come more kids aren't dropping out of Gymnasium?

I was surprised at what Philip was expected to learn in Realschule. First, he had algebra and geometry classes this year, fifth grade. I didn't learn algebra and geometry until I was in eighth or ninth grade. And they moved fast--it seemed that he had only a few days to grasp a concept before moving onto the next one. Luckily, Philip picks up math quickly. Unfortunately, he made a lot of mistakes on exams, so his grades didn't reflect his understanding. He's passing, and his grades improved over the year, especially when I stopped helping him.

Second, his biology teacher taught biology to fifth graders the way I taught Intro to Bio to freshmen at Northeastern Illinois University. For example, he was expected to memorize the names of all the major bones and muscles in the human body (even I didn't make my students do that), the entire circulatory system (this my students had to learn), animal classifications, and botany. They're finishing up the year with human reproduction, also known as sex education.

In Deutsch class, he had to write grammatically correct essays from the beginning of the year. His teacher in fourth grade made them write one essay after another, so he was used it. But Philip still has problems with grammar, so he's passing but not with good grades.

English was his best subject. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, but Philip was never a good speller. I was really worried at the beginning of the year, because he had to learn a long list of vocabulary in a short period of time. And he did have problems at first, but he's developed into a very good speller, in both English and Deutsch.

Overall, Philip did better as the year progressed, and so did Alex. I have to admit, I'm so happy that Alex isn't having the same problems in elementary school that Philip had. Alex's teacher told me that he makes the same mistakes that the German kids make. In other words, he's learning at the same level they are and should be able to get into Gymnasium or Realschule without any difficulties.

Other than school, Alex finished a triathlon. He swam 50 meters, biked 3 kilometers, and ran 500 meters. He finished somewhere in the middle, and everyone got a medal.

Philip played piano in his music school's annual concert. He played well and was proud of himself. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos of him while playing. After the concert, we celebrated at a local Biergarten.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T10:45:00.009+02:00

The 4th was uneventful here, except that I realized that I haven't updated my blog in a long time.

Since our biking trip around the Chiemsee, we've hiked to the Teufelstisch (Devil's Table) in the Fränkische Schweiz.

Biked around another lake, the Brombachsee, not far from Nürnberg. The Brombachsee is actually three lakes, and the largest one in smaller than the Chiemsee (about 17 km around vs. 60 km), so this was a day trip.

Of course, there was the Bergkirchweih with a new ride this year--River Rafting.

During Projektwoche (Project Week) at Alex's school, his class was learning about the USA, so I came in to talk about the elementary school system in the US, the sports kids play, and Chicago. And I had to use my broken German! I was more nervous speaking in front of a 3rd grade German class than I ever was speaking in front of college-aged Americans. Alex also gave presentations on the Empire State Building and Mt. Rushmore--he was not nervous.

Alex and his friend, Felix, played guitar during mass at the local Catholic church. This was their first public performance, and they were cool--that is, until that Sunday morning. Nevertheless, they did a great job.

We celebrated Philip's birthday at a local indoor/outdoor playground, Tucherland. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, because they were busy running around for four hours.

And then there's been the World Cup, or Weltmeisterschaft in German. And Germany is doing quite well. Every time they win, the police close off the main streets and intersections so that people can celebrate, and celebrate they do!

Chiemsee

2010-05-26T15:41:00.004+02:00

Since Monday was a holiday, Pentecost or Pfingsten auf Deutsch, we spent the long weekend biking, about 60 km, around the Chiemsee. On Saturday, we biked from Prien, an upscale resort town on the west side of the lake, to Chieming, a smaller town on the east side. We followed the northern route, which we read was the more scenic route, and it was. We spent the night in a very nice, and large, holiday apartment in Chieming and on Sunday followed the southern route, part of which runs along the highway, back to Prien. There was no shortage of restaurants along the way, and we ate at one place on the northern route, Schalchenhof, that was exceptionally good and had a great view of the lake.

Before the trip, I was a little worried about the boys being able to bike 30 km a day, but they were great! They were tired but didn't complain. They actually enjoyed it, and Alex now wants to bike the Bodensee (Lake Constance), about 300 km around.

Super Al

2010-05-10T17:30:00.005+02:00

Here's Alex holding up a one ton train part.

And, as promised, Alex riding, here on Flöcke (Snowflake).

American Marshmallows

2010-05-03T10:51:00.004+02:00

For the last 3.5 years we've been buying Rocky Mountain marshmallows for Philip, who likes to roast them, and of course, they're made in the USA, because who else would make them. What I noticed only recently was that they are made in Elk Grove Village, IL. Home, sweet home, Chicagoland!

Alex's First Communion

2010-04-26T09:18:00.002+02:00

On April 18, 2010, Alex, like Philip, made his first communion. And like Philip, he spent many hours in after-school classes preparing for this big day. But the best part was having his grandparents fly in to celebrate. (They flew into Frankfurt one day before all the airports in Europe closed because of Eyjafjallajökull.)

Ski Happy

2010-04-12T08:54:00.007+02:00

Just like every year during spring break, we returned to Radstadt and Obertauern, Austria, for skiing and hiking. One of the highlights from this year's trip was skiing a Schwarz Piste (black diamond ski run in the US). It was the first time for the boys, and my first time since before Philip was born. There weren't a lot of moguls, but it was steep.

Both boys had orange helmets, so they were easy to follow. Philip was a little more cautious than Alex, and therefore, closer to Bob when he took the photo. Alex is closer to the bottom of the hill.

The boys also discovered something new to eat--the Germknödel. The Germknödel is a large ball of sweet dough filled with plum jam and covered with vanilla sauce, powdered sugar and poppy seeds. The boys each ate one everyday of our holiday. The best place for Germknödel was the Heu Stadl (hay barn?) in Obertauern, where the music, played loudly, was a mixture of local folk, yodeling and variations of popular songs, such as Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry." In the Heu Stadl version it's "Don't Worry, Ski Happy," but in German, ski is pronounced "shē," so "Don't Worry, Shē Happy."

We also did some hiking, through the forest, up a steep hill to the Bürgerbergalm. Hiking in Europe is very different than in the US. If you want solitude, the US is much better. But if you like the convenience of a warm meal and a beer in the middle of a forest or on top of a mountain, than Europe is the place to be. In Europe, the hiking trails are sprinkled with Hütten, which are cabins with a restaurant and sometimes rooms for overnight. The Bürgerbergalm, overlooking Radstadt, is a small Hütte with a restaurant only. The food was great and cheap, and we met the family that runs it. The daughter told us to come back in January or February, when there's lots of snow, so that we can go sledding down the access road to Radstadt. "At night it's better, because than you can see the cars coming."

Bob suggested that we try someplace new to ski next year, but I think I like having a "second home" in Radstadt.

NOTE: Oscar, as always, traveled with us--click on the link to his blog.

Easter Sunday

2010-04-04T19:18:00.002+02:00

I'm sitting in my kitchen looking out the window onto the playground, and Alex is currently digging a hole in the sand with Timo, Philip is playing ping-pong with Jan on inline-skates, and Jan's sister just rode up on her unicycle.

Blatant Bragging

2010-03-02T09:28:00.002+01:00

Alex scored two back-to-back beautiful goals in Sunday's handball tournament. He's scored before but never with this much style. He jumped before reaching the goal perimeter line, flew through the air, and threw the ball before landing in the goal area. And he did this twice. Both of his coaches congratulated him on his magnificent goals, and German coaches are not quick to compliment. I hate this word--awesome--but it seems appropriate here.

Wanderung

2010-02-22T12:28:00.002+01:00

Yesterday the temperature was 3 degrees Celsius, or about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. The snow is definitely melting, but in the forest it's still pretty icy. In my opinion, not a good day for a long walk in the woods. But it was the perfect day for a Wanderung, or hike, for many Germans. I was surprised to see so many people in the Wald by our apartment. I had to take Oscar out and was planning a quick walk, but it turned out to be a longer walk because so many people in the forest meant more people stopping to pet Oscar (have I ever mentioned that Germans love dogs?).

And many of these Wanderer were elderly. It never ceases to amaze me how many seniors in Germany are out and about walking or riding their bikes. In Chicago, I saw our elderly neighbors only in the summer and only in their yards. Here, I see them slowing shuffling to the bus stop or grocery store or with their walking sticks on long hikes through the hills. There are even a couple who look to be about ninety with osteoporosis still riding their bikes.

This is probably why the German government gives monetary benefits (Kindergeld) to people with children. We get 328 Euros every month for the two boys, and all we did was fill out some papers. It's like getting free money. But Germany has a decreasing growth rate and an increasing number of pensioners (mandatory retirement is at 65 or 67). Obviously, they have to give incentives to people to have kids in order for the social safety net to continue working.

They may want to consider increasing the Kindergeld, because the old folks around here look very fit. And balanced--I was the one slipping on the ice yesterday, not them.

Starbucks, Erlangen

2010-02-04T11:26:00.003+01:00

I almost walked into Erlangen's one and only Starbucks. I should add "brand new;" they opened shortly before Christmas.

And I almost walked in after going without having a Starbucks coffee for three and a half years. This was not due to lack of opportunities--Nürnberg has two that I know of, and we've seen many throughout Europe. I've just never really liked their coffee. I've always thought it tasted as if it had been overcooked and sitting in the pot all day.

I also feel some animosity toward Starbucks. Before they invaded Chicago, there were many small, independent cafes, each with its own unique atmosphere. And let's face it, if you've been in one Starbucks, you've been in them all. They, along with Seattle's Best and Caribou Coffee, drove many of these cafes out of business. In some cases directly, like when Starbucks took over Scenes Cafe on Clark and Belmont.

But I almost walked in today. Maybe their coffee is better here. And I doubt they'll close down any indigenous cafes--cafes are ubiquitous in Europe, like hot dog stands in Chicago. But as in The Exterminating Angel, I couldn't make myself cross that threshold.

My Little Cowboy

2010-01-18T11:17:00.002+01:00

Before Christmas, Alex decided he wanted to try horseback riding, actually pony riding. So I signed him up for a class at the stable where I ride. I was so sure he wouldn't like it. My teacher expects her horses and ponies to be cleaned spotlessly before saddling, and I was so sure that Alex would hate brushing the pony's coat and picking his hooves. I was wrong. He actually enjoys cleaning his pony, and so now we go riding weekly.

His first few classes were on a longe line, but last week he rode solo. He basically went through the same exercises I do--walking and trotting around the arena, walking and trotting through a slalom course, riding in circles, etc. He hasn't tried galloping yet and a few other exercises, such as sidestepping.

The pony he rides is black with a thick, fuzzy coat and appropriately named Fussel, which means fluff. I promise to someday post a photo of Alex with Fussel, but right now I'm too nervous that the flash will frighten the pony and he'll throw Alex off.

...the bombs bursting in air,...

2010-01-04T10:16:00.003+01:00

This is midnight, New Year's Eve, from our terrace. Note that these are not professional fireworks, but just ordinary Bürger (citizens) unrestrained one night a year. Can't do this on any other night. We tried blowing up fireworks on 4th of July and were reprimanded by our neighbors.

Frohe Weihnachten!!!

2009-12-25T10:07:00.002+01:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr (slide well into the new year)!

Gogol Bordello

2009-12-14T10:30:00.002+01:00

I went to see Gogol Bordello at E-Werk, a small, local concert venue here in Erlangen. I started listening to Gogol Bordello after seeing the film Everything is Illuminated, which featured their music and starred Eugene Hütz, the singer of Gogol.

It was my first punk concert in I don't know how many years, and I was definitely out of practice. I had no intention of moshing, but the whole club was one big mosh pit. I had to jump or be jumped on. And I'm too old to jump for an hour and a half. There were a few "seniors," like me, in the group, but most of the people looked college age. Even though I had fun, I was exhausted, so it may be few years before I do punk again.

Back in the Sattel Again

2009-11-16T10:53:00.003+01:00

I started riding horses again. Actually, I started riding last spring, but then took the summer off before returning last week. I wasn't too sure I wanted to return.

After my old instructor took his Icelandic horses and left last winter (see earlier post), the stable, conveniently located 5 minutes away by bike, was taken over by a woman who breeds American Paint horses and teaches Western riding. I had hoped that another instructor with Icelanders would take over, because I really enjoyed riding them. Icelandic horses tend to pace more often than trot, which means no bouncing and therefore no posting. Just a smooth, comfortable ride.

I also didn't want to ride Western, because I've always thought that there was no technique involved--just sit in the saddle and pull the reins left or right. But then, I wasn't too crazy about going back to English either. I definitely don't want to jump, and dressage sounds like too much work. But, like I said, the stable is only 5 minutes away, and the return trip home is downhill all the way!

Well, I was wrong about Western. My new instructor has me riding through slalom not only forwards but backwards too, and I have to make the horses sidestep around the entire arena, which is not easy. Her horses are also trained to respond to shifts in weight and changes in leg pressure. To speed up, I need to shift my weight forward, and to slow down, back. To turn right, I need to press the horse's left side with my left calf, and the opposite to turn left. I use the reins only if the horse doesn't respond to my legs. So much for just sitting in the saddle.

Although I'm learning a lot about riding, and I'm learning Deutsch too, because my new instructor speaks very little English, I still miss my old instructor. "Just get on the horse and ride," he would say, and I truly miss that attitude. I also miss his horses, not only because they paced, but because they were a little wild. They were very sweet to humans, but very playful with each other. When they were running together in the arena or in their paddock, they reminded me of a herd of Mustangs, even though Icelanders look nothing like Mustangs. The Paints, in contrast, are very well-behaved.

And, it seems a little ironic to me that I moved to Germany to ride American horses and in the very American Western saddle.

Handball Mom

2009-10-14T15:42:00.003+02:00

In the US, we have soccer and hockey moms, and here in Germany, we have handball moms (and dads) too! Alex played in his first tournament; his team, HC Erlangen Tigers, won two games and lost one.

German Elections

2009-09-28T12:19:00.002+02:00

Yesterday Germans voted and re-elected Angela Merkel as their chancellor. And when did I learn of this election? In July, when my German teacher mentioned it in class. And when did I learn who was running against her? A few weeks ago, when they debated each other. And when did I learn of the debate? The day after. And when did I learn of the exact date to vote? On Friday, when Alex came home from school and reminded me to vote, which, of course, I cannot do.

Granted, I don't keep up with politics the way I used to, but this time, I missed the entire horse and pony show. That is, if there ever was one.

Croatia and Belgium

2009-09-16T16:02:00.013+02:00

We returned to Fazana, Croatia, this summer, and stayed at the same campground, Bi-Village, as last year. As promised, we stayed longer, and it was worth it.

We went kayaking. We rented a pedalboat and went snorkeling. We went swimming in the Adriatic. As I mentioned last year, camping in Europe is nothing like camping at Rock Island State Park, our favorite in the US. Bi-Village has a resort-like atmosphere with restaurants, pools, and sport facilities. The boys even found a video arcade.

Outside of playing at the campground/resort, we did a little touring. We visited the town of Rovinj, up the coast from Pula. It was touristy, but for good reason--it was very charming. The architecture was Venetian, and it was interlaced with narrow, winding streets lined with art galleries and laundry hanging overhead.

We also took a boat trip to the Brijuni Islands, the private residence of Tito for 30 years. We saw the Cadillac that President Eisenhower gave him, and his private safari park, where he collected exotic animals given to him by politicians from all over the world. This cow, I think, was a gift from Indira Ghandi. And long before Tito, the islands had been the private residence of Roman nobility.

When we came home, the boys' Aunt Irene spent a couple of days with us after her business trip to Switzerland. The boys, of course, took her to the BMX track.

And finally, the weekend before the boys returned to school, we drove to Belgium to visit friends. On the way, we stopped in Maastricht, Netherlands. We've visited Maastricht many times before, but rarely ventured beyond the main square. This time we got there early, ate lunch and walked!

In Belgium, the boys played with their friend, Sasha, while we sampled beer in Leuven, the home of Stella Artois. I think, to most Belgians, Stella is what Budweiser (although Stella is stronger with 5.2% alcohol) is to most Americans, but I really like it.

Sommerferien

2009-08-26T15:11:00.008+02:00

Summer break began on August 1, and we've been busy ever since. First, Bob's sister with her family came to visit, and we went through our standard sight-seeing repertoire--Nürnberg, Bamberg, Fränkische Schweiz. It was especially nice for the boys, because they had a chance to spend time with their cousins, who they haven't seen in three years.

Then we did some local things, like spending the day with friends at Freizeitland Geiselwind, before our vacation in Denmark.

This time I was prepared for lazy Denmark, much more so than last year. I brought lots of books with me and told myself not to expect anything special. It worked, because I didn't feel bored once. We did many of the same things we did last year, such as visiting the WWII bunkers on Houvig Strand and Legoland, and since we celebrated Alex's 8th birthday in Denmark, he picked out his present at the Legoland store. We also experienced a new ride--Power Builders. You receive a chip card and program what you want the ride to do. Then you're strapped into a huge arm that moves you around. Alex and I kept it simple by programming it to swing us back and forth and tip us onto our backs, but not flip us over like it did Bob and Philip.

The one new thing I did this year was ride a horse, a Norwegian Fjord, along a beach. I've always wanted to ride on a beach. I've ridden over fields, through forests and in deserts, but this was my first beach. Unfortunately, I rode no faster than a trot, because I'm timid about galloping. But next time...

On the way home, we stopped for the night in Stade, on the Elbe River, not far from Hamburg. To get there, we took a ferry across the Elbe. At first, we thought we would have to wait for a long time, because there was a long line of cars. But there were so many ferries loading and unloading that the entire excursion took less than a half hour.

We stayed at Hotel am Fischmarkt right in the center of Stade, and it was perfect. Stade is a very charming, old port city with a plethora of brick Fachwerk buildings. In Bavaria, Fachwerk houses are mainly wood and stucco, so it was so nice to see the brick variation. Thank you Matthias for recommending it!

Now we are getting ready for our trip to Croatia.

Aufgeber (Quitter)

2009-07-30T10:07:00.002+02:00

I just handed in the boys' resignation letters from their swimming classes. Letters! I had to write letters letting the swim club they belong to know that they were quitting. Something about writing it down makes me feel like a quitter, and I hate quitting.

In Chicago, I would register the kids for classes for 10 or 12 weeks at a time. At the end of this period, we would decide whether to re-register, or not. It didn't feel like quitting, because we were simply not returning.

Here, most sport programs are run by sport clubs, so one has to join to participate. The clubs usually allow potential new members to take one or more classes for free before making the commitment. (Some programs let you pay as you go, as with my yoga and horseback riding classes--more on this in a future blog.) After joining, dues are paid through a Lastschrift, which means I give the club my bank info and they pull the money out monthly or quarterly. But in order to terminate the Lastschrift, one has to do it in writing, hence the resignation letters.

Note: Our rent and bills are also paid through Lastschriften. In these cases, I love it, because I hated writing out checks.

As for the boys, they're happy to be done with swimming. Philip's next step would have been competitive swimming, but he's not interested in competing. And Alex just wants a break. I'm the only one that feels like a quitter.

Children's Music

2009-07-01T09:08:00.002+02:00

This is what my 7 and 11-year-old are listening to these days.

Birthdays and Bonfires

2009-06-22T16:13:00.000+02:00

Philip turned 11-years-old on Wednesday, June 17, and celebrated on Saturday with an Übernachtung (sleep-over) party. While he along with his brother and three friends destroyed our apartment, Bob, Oscar and I went to the Johannisfeuer in Spardorf, the village next door.

The Johannisfeuer is a bonfire that commemorates both the summer solstice and St. John the Baptist's feast day, June 24. And many things coming into season now are named after the saint, such as Johanniskraut (St. John's wort), Johannisbeeren (currants) and Johanniskäfer (fire flies).

Die Besucher (the Visitors)

2009-06-13T13:15:00.009+02:00

Bob's parents came to visit us, and since Bob took a few days off, it felt more like a vacation for all of us than last year's visit.

We went to the Bergkirchweih.

We took a boat trip through the Danube Gorge to the Weltenburg Abbey. Drank some very good beer!

And we spent a few days in St. Wolfgang, Austria, and stayed at the White Horse Inn.

While in Austria, we hiked a strenuous 400 meters, all uphill (the internet site called it an easy walk through an alpen pasture--only if you're Austrian), to the Dachstein Ice Cave.

We also visited Hallstatt, a town often used in travel posters for Austria, and for good reason. It's built on the side of a mountain, on the edge of a lake. What could be more picturesque?

Because there is not much room in Hallstatt's cemetery, after 10 to 20 years, the bones of the dead are removed from the graves, cleaned, painted and placed in an ossuary, or bone house.

It was a good holiday for all of us. Where shall we go next year when they, hopefully, return?

Realschule Addendum

2009-06-08T17:50:00.003+02:00

Here is the document I used as a reference to get Philip into Realschule:

http://schulberatung.km.bayern.de/imperia/md/content/schulberatung/pdfmuc/migration/tn_skript_db_250908.pdf

See page 8, Ziff 7, Übertritt.

Realschule

2009-06-02T12:41:00.002+02:00

Philip made it into Realschule, but it wasn't as easy as I had hoped. He never managed a 2.6 GPA (see my last post on the subject). Instead, he got a 3.0. Normally, he would have had to sit in on the Probeunterricht, a series of three-day lessons and tests to determine if he was "fit" for Realschule. In order to prepare, I downloaded a bunch of tests from Note1plus, a website with sample tests from previous years. But instead of making Philip more confident, they made him more anxious, and me too.

Thankfully, a South African friend now living in Germany told me about a rule in the Bavarian school system that allows foreign students, who did not start first grade in the Bavarian system, to enter Realschule or Gymnasium with a GPA up to 3.3. Unfortunately, not everyone in the school system knows about this rule. Philip's teacher never told me about it. The assistant director of the first Realschule I contacted wasn't familiar with it. I called the Schulamt (school board), and they transferred me three times before I finally spoke to someone who knew something. He told me to talk to the principal of Philip's school, and she was very helpful. She spoke with Phil's teacher, and together they decided to recommend Philip for Realschule.

But as Philip's principal explained, the Realschules still don't have to accept him. So, I emailed the assistant director of the first Realschule, the school that Philip really wanted to go to, and he told me to set-up an appointment with one of their counselors. In the meantime, I also emailed the director and assistant directors of the other Realschule in Erlangen and set-up an appointment with the director. At the Realschule am Europakanal, Philip's first choice, they told Bob and me that Philip would still have to sit on the Probeunterricht, but based on his report card, the counselor said his chances of passing were very good. He also explained that they were overcrowded and therefore could be more selective. At Werner-von-Siemens Realschule, the director told us that they would take him WITHOUT the Probeunterricht. He also explained that a 3.0 for a non-German speaking student was considered the equivalent of a 2.0 for a native German speaker. This made me feel so much better, because Phil's friends got 2.0s and I know they are not any smarter than him.

The decision was obvious to me--we didn't need the stress of preparing for the tests. Philip agreed, but he was disappointed. The curricula at both schools are exactly the same, but more of Phil's friends will be attending Realschule am Europakanal. I had to remind him that his two closest friends will be going to two different Gymnasiums, and all three of them will be separated. But we'll all be still living in the same neighborhood, so they will have time for each other after school and on weekends.

Besides, the city bus that stops right in front of our building also stops near the Werner-von-Siemens Realschule. No transferring like he would have to if he were to go to am Europakanal. And Philip, being the practical guy that he is, likes this.

Oscar's 4th Birthday

2009-05-17T15:46:00.003+02:00

In honor of Oscar's birthday, the boys decided to make him a doggy pizza. I made the dough from a dog biscuit recipe, and the boys added Oscar's favorite toppings--peanut butter instead of pizza sauce, crumbled dog biscuits instead of cheese, and carrots instead of pepperoni.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

2009-05-08T13:22:00.008+02:00

Like I said in my last post, May Day fell on a Friday, which meant a three day weekend for us. So, we drove down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, at the foot of the German Alps. It was the home of the 1936 Winter Olympics, and is a good base for visiting the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak. And that was the plan--to ride either the cog-wheeled train or cable car to the top. But the weather did not cooperate. Even when it wasn't raining, the peaks were still in the clouds.

Therefore, we walked through Partnachklamm, a gorge just below our hotel. We followed a narrow path through the gorge, and since one end of the gorge was closed, we had to turn around and return the same way on this narrow path not meant for two-way traffic. Because of the rain and melting snow, so much water was flowing into the gorge that it felt as if we were walking behind a waterfall the entire distance.

Our hotel was also a treat, because to reach it we had to ride a Seilbahn (cable car). The hotel, Forsthaus Graseck, is perched along the top of the gorge, and although there is a narrow road leading up to the hotel, there is no parking. The best way to get there is by the cable car. When we walked out of the cable car and into the Biergarten and playground, Alex said, "This is paradise!" Oscar, on the other hand, was nervous riding the Seilbahn, and whined all the way.

In addition to our walk through the gorge, we visited Schloss Linderhof, one of King Ludwig II's three fairy tale castles. This palace was the only one ever completed and the only one he actually lived in. Since I consider myself a minimalist, I found it way over the top with all the gold leaf and intricate porcelain chandeliers. He also had an artificial grotto built so that he could view Richard Wagner's operas from a shell boat. Why is it that all kings have extravagant tastes? Someday, I hope to visit a palace decorated with white walls and simple hardwood furnishings.

Since Oscar always (almost always) travels with us, his blog has also been updated.

May Day

2009-05-04T09:26:00.002+02:00

May 1, International Worker's Day, fell on a Friday this year, so we spent the long weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (more on this in a future post). The night before, in my German Conversation class, we discussed how May 1 is celebrated in different countries--we're a very international group. As the only American, I had to say that we don't celebrate on May 1, instead we have Labor Day in September. Then, a man from Vietnam said, auf Deutsch of course, "But Worker's Day started in the USA." Our teacher said that this was what she had also been told. So, when I got home, I went straight to Wikipedia, and I learned that not only does May 1 commemorate a worker's strike and riot in the US, but in Chicago!

May 1 marks the anniversary of the Haymarket Riots. It is embarrassing for me that I didn't know this, because back in the Reagan-Bush years, I became very interested in anarchy, and for reasons that are not clear to me, labor unions and strikes seem to be always organized by so-called anarchists. Well, I did a lot of reading about the Haymarket Strikes and Riots back then. I made a special trip to the Near West Side to see what was left of the monument marking the spot of the riots. And I knew that five of the eight men tried for starting the riots are buried in Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park. But I never knew that the riots resulted in an international holiday (a guy from Spain thanked me for this holiday, even though I was totally ignorant about it). I always thought of the Haymarket as a slice of Chicago history, not even American history.

I had to move to Germany to learn about its impact on the rest of the world.

Neubeuern and Radstadt

2009-04-17T15:32:00.006+02:00

On the way to Radstadt, Austria, for our annual ski trip, we stopped for lunch in Neubeuern, Germany, a small town not too far south of Munich. This is where my father and his family were refugees after WWII. They lived here in the shadow of the castle, which is now a school, from 1945 to 1949, when my father immigrated to Tennessee to work on a farm. It was from Neubeuern that my father was sent to Traunstein, last year's stop, for school.

We only skied three days, and of those days, only the first was good. It just got too warm too fast, and the snow became slush. But, nevertheless, we had fun and the boys are developing into pretty good skiers. Better than me!

The rest of the week we spent swimming or hiking near our apartment. One day we visited Burg Hohenwerfen. Every year drive by this castle on the way to Radstadt, so this year we decided to pay it a visit. It turns out that this was the castle featured in the movie "Where Eagles Dare." Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I've seen this movie, and so it did not seem familiar. We took a tour of the castle, which included a torture chamber and weapons cache (it seems to me that this is how people during medieval times spent their leisure hours--inventing new ways to inflict pain), and saw a great falcon show. I was impressed, because at the end they released a Kaiser eagle, a vulture, a large hawk and two smaller hawks all at the same time. With the exception of the Kaiser eagle stealing some food from one of the smaller hawks, they all seemed to enjoy flying around together. Add your own metaphor here.

PS Oscar's blog has also been updated.

The Old Couch

2009-03-30T09:57:00.005+02:00

We got rid of our old couch, and some other stuff, last week. In Chicago, we would have put it out in front of our house, and someone would have taken it. If not, then we would have "convinced" the garbage men to take it.

Here it is more complicated. If something doesn't fit in the dumpster, such as a couch, then it is called "Sperrmüll," or "bulky wastes," and one has to call the city to come and haul it away. They'll come twice a year for free, and after that, you have to pay. I don't know how much, because I don't know anyone that has made an appointment for "Sperrmüll Abholung" more than once a year.

And here, the city doesn't send one truck--they send three. Because not only do they collect your junk, they sort the metals and electronics from the furniture and wood products. (NOTE: I missed the trucks that picked up our stuff, so I used a photo I took earlier this year, hence the snow, of someone else's junk being hauled away.)

Rote Wand mit Neuer Couch

2009-03-17T11:18:00.004+01:00

And now, our red wall with our new couch!

Red Wall

2009-03-11T11:34:00.003+01:00

I now have a red accent wall in my living room. And I painted it all by myself! Actually, the boys helped. Back in Chicago, I wanted to paint one of the bedrooms red, but the painters talked me out of it. I'm sorry they did, because I love my new red wall.

Fasching

2009-02-26T13:51:00.003+01:00

For almost a week now, the kids have been on break from school. They call it a winter break, but it's really a break for Fasching, also known as Karneval or Carnival.

Fasching begins officially on November 11, when the clubs organizing the parades and festivities start throwing balls. These balls are televised, especially during the week before Ash Wednesday. But to me it seems like all the partying really begins on Weiberfastnacht, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. This is "Ladies' Night," and women cut off men's ties and collect them. I've never participated, so I'm not really sure how this done, and what does one do with these severed ties later? The parties continue through Faschingsdienstag, also known as Mardi Gras, and there are lots of parades over the weekend. The big parades are on Rosenmontag, or Rose Monday, but the biggest and best of these are in the Cologne/Dusseldorf area and Rhineland.

Since it was wet and cold with a chance of snow, we opted to stay in town and go to the parade in Bruck, one of Erlangen's neighborhoods, on Sunday. This is a very small parade without the impressive floats and costumes of the bigger parades. It also means the kids collect less candy and junk food, which is what they throw from the floats. Two years ago, we went to a parade in the Cologne area, and the kids collected three large shopping bags full of candy, chips, and little toys. But this year, like I said, it was cold and wet, and most of the candy ended up in puddles. And we left the parade about halfway through because our feet were frozen. Well, at least we tried to participate in the big bash before Lent.

Let it Snow!

2009-02-16T09:55:00.006+01:00

We've been having a wonderful winter. It's been cold enough since the beginning of the new year for the outdoor ice skating surfaces to stay frozen, and so the boys have become really good skaters and hockey players.

And we've had just the right amount of snow. Last year, we didn't have any snow, and two winters ago, we had only one weekend's worth. This year, we've had enough to keep us sledding, making snow angels and throwing snowballs since early January. But, it hasn't been too cold, so we've been able to picnic--with Glühwein, of course.

Deciphering, and Trying to Cope, with the Bavarian School System

2009-02-11T10:03:00.000+01:00

The last couple of months have been rather stressful, and not because I lost my hobby. Last fall we had Philip tested by a child psychiatrist for attention-deficit problems and for dyslexia. The good news is that he has neither ADD/ADHD nor dyslexia, but he does have problems concentrating and reading--he reads very slowly and often skips words or replaces words he doesn't know with more familiar words. The psychiatrist said this might be because he has been learning to read in both English and German.

Digression: Alex, on the other hand, seems to have no problems with reading in two languages. He learned to read German first, and then basically taught himself to read English. Of course, since Deutsch is read phonetically, he complains about all the exceptions to the rules in English.

The bad news is that there is very little help within the school system for children with learning disabilities, or for Ausländer (foreigners). Once a week, Philip attends a class at his school for help with German reading and writing, and twice a week we send him to a tutoring program (probably similar to the Sylvan Learning Centers in the US). In Chicago, Philip's class had a teacher's aide who helped the kids keep up with their in-class work, and if it hadn't been for her, Philip would have never learned to read and spell in 1st grade as quickly as he did (Philip was behind the rest of the class, because German kindergartens don't teach reading and writing). A friend from Erlangen moved to Boston last summer, and she wrote how wonderful it is that her children receive help with their English everyday from the teacher's aides.

It seems to me that here they teach to the "gifted" students, and to those who cannot keep up, "Sorry!" Philip comes home with pages of notes, and from these notes he's supposed to figure out how to do his homework. There are examples and he says his teacher explains things, but quickly and briefly to the class and not the individual. There seems to be very little tolerance within the system for students who cannot pick up concepts quickly. Those who have serious learning disabilities end up going to "special" schools. I've heard that other German states are trying to integrate these children, including Down syndrome students, but not Bavaria.

Philip is in the 4th grade and this is his last year of elementary school. In Bavaria, children start secondary school in the fifth grade, and depending on their grades, they end up following one of three routes. If their grades are good, then they can enter Gymnasium, which lasts through the 12th grade and prepares them for university studies. If they don't manage a 2.3 average (more on this later) but a 2.6, then they can attend the Realschule, which from what I understand, is similar to Gymnasium, except that they learn at a slower pace and Realschule lasts only through the 10th grade. Afterwards, students can begin an apprenticeship or enter a Fachoberschule/Fachhochschule, which like Gymnasium prepares them for the Abitur, or test, that they need to enter university. The lowest level of secondary education is Hauptschule, which lasts through 9th grade only, and although I've been told that one can work their way from Hauptschule to university, I've also heard that the chances are slim. As Philip put it, "Hauptschule is for losers." And this, unfortunately, is the attitude of many Germans I know.

Last week, Philip received his Zwischenzeugnis, or mid-term report card, and he received straight 3s in the three subjects that count toward deciding which secondary school he will attend. The German grading system consists of numbers 1 through 6, with 1 being the best and 6 failing. A 3, according to the footnote on his report card, is satisfactory, so I think it is the equivalent of a C in the American system. Straight Cs, in my opinion, is not terrible, but in the German system, this is enough to keep you from attending university.

Unlike the US, the federal government here pays for one's university education, with individuals paying a small fee of about 1000 Euros per year. Therefore, entry into a German university is more selective. Unfortunately, the system in Bavaria is set-up so that the selection process begins in the 4th grade, with children only 9 or 10-years-old. In Belgium, grade school lasts through the 6th grade, and I've heard this is true for some states in Germany. But, we live in Bavaria, where they seem to think that 10 is old enough to make final decisions about one's future.

Philip has three months to pull a 2 out of either math or Deutsch in order to attend Realschule, and his teacher seems to think his chances are better in math because he makes too many grammatical mistakes in Deutsch, even though his essays are very good. He has good ideas, changes his sentence beginnings, uses quotes, etc., but he still has problems with the articles and adjective endings, which change depending on gender and declension. In math, he can do all the calculations quickly and accurately, but he gets mixed up doing the word problems. In his defense, solving the word problems requires multiple steps using addition, subtraction, multiplication AND division. Even I find them overwhelming and I love word problems.

We're all very frustrated right now--Bob and I because we find the system so complicated, Philip because he knows many of his friends will be going to Gymnasium without him, and even Alex is worried about Philip's grades. In addition, I feel guilt for pulling him out of the Chicago public school system, where he was on the honor roll, and ashamed of myself for feeling disappointed. Right now, he needs confidence, and I need to help him find it, but I'm not sure I know how.

Ich habe Pech!

2009-01-16T12:11:00.007+01:00

which translates into "I have bad luck." I finally found a hobby I enjoy--horseback riding, and then my instructor quit. I know it is not a disaster, but it takes me so long to gather up the courage to try new things, especially since I'm insecure about my ability to communicate in German.

Even in Chicago, I was hesitant about taking classes. We were back for one and a half years before I decided to sign-up for a Pilates class and an ice skating class. And there was no excuse for waiting to take the ice skating class. I had taken many classes at McFetridge before and after Philip was born. I knew some of the instructors and the director of the program, but I kept putting it off. I had no time, I was too old, what if I fall and hurt myself--the list of excuses goes on.

Now, I have another excuse--my German is not good enough, which is true to a certain degree. I tried yoga classes last year, and I could get through the first half of each class, because we were doing poses that were familiar to me. My instructor was also a dancer, and the second half of each class involved quite a bit of improvisational dance. It also involved partnering, and I had trouble not only understanding what my teacher expected but what my partners expected. After six classes, I was too stressed to return. Especially since during the sixth class, she had us do a "relaxing" exercise, in which we were supposed to express our wishes. We were supposed to just say what ever came into our minds. I listed places I want to visit-South Africa, New Zealand, Chile--everyone else wished for world peace.

I tried a ballet class with an instructor from Pennsylvania. There were no communication problems, but I just did not enjoy the class. Allow me to digress here and mention that most schools here will let you try one class for free. They don't expect you to commit right away, kind of like a blind date.

I wanted to try horseback riding when we lived in Erlangen the first time around, because there are so many stables in the area. I actually started searching the Internet for info shortly after we returned, but not many of the stables have websites. A friend suggested that I just walk up and knock on the door. I finally found the "Mut" (courage) to do this last July. I rode my bike to a stable in Spardorf, the village next door, a five-minute bike ride, and asked about lessons in broken German. It turned out that the instructor, who's from Iceland, spoke perfect English, as most Scandinavians do. The horses were also Icelandic and the style of riding was more relaxed than English. After my trial class, I knew that this was my new hobby. I liked the horses, the other students, the proximity of the stable, and especially the instructor. Two weeks before Christmas, he tells me he's leaving and the riding school is closing, and now I'm back to where I started--searching for a stable and for courage.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-22T13:10:00.004+01:00

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

2008-11-24T10:13:00.002+01:00

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!

2008-11-21T13:49:00.003+01:00

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!

2008-11-20T14:46:00.002+01:00

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

2008-11-08T18:57:00.010+01:00

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!

2008-10-29T12:56:00.003+01:00

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

2008-10-10T10:11:00.004+02:00

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...

2008-09-23T10:32:00.008+02:00

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

2008-09-12T11:00:00.010+02:00

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

2008-08-29T16:36:00.014+02:00

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

2008-08-12T10:05:00.006+02:00

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

2008-07-23T09:33:00.003+02:00

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

2008-07-13T13:10:00.005+02:00

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

2008-06-26T16:08:00.003+02:00

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

2008-06-12T11:26:00.004+02:00

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

2008-05-27T09:20:00.018+02:00

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.

Beerfesttime

2008-05-11T17:40:00.006+02:00

It is festtime again in Germany! In late April, Kitzmann Brauerei held a bierfest in the courtyard of their brewery.

The first weekend in May is when the fest on Walberla, a small Berg (mountain) in the Fränkische Schweiz, takes place. This is one of the better fests, because there is a lot of space and people spread out blankets, eat picnics, and just relax.

Now, it is time for the Erlanger Bergkirchweih. The photos are misleading, because we attended the fest on a Saturday afternoon before the Pfingsten (Pentecost) holidays, when most people were still shopping for the long weekend. At night, on Sunday and on Pfingsten Monday, the photos would have been of a river of people slowly drifting from booth to booth, keller to keller.

Skiing Video

2008-04-24T16:55:00.002+02:00

I tried to post this video from this year's ski trip previously, but without success. Now, Blogger has made it easier for me.

Phil's First Communion

2008-04-18T14:33:00.009+02:00

April 6 was a big day for all of us--a very big day, indeed. Philip made his first communion!

For most Catholics, this is just another one of the steps taken as a member of the church. But, Bob and I are not like most Catholics. Bob is a *born again* atheist and I don't know what I am. Sometimes I believe in God and sometimes I don't. I'm definitely not spiritual--I just don't feel like I need to be at this point in my life--but I do like the feeling of community a church provides.

But, this post is not about us. It is about Philip. Philip made the decision to prepare for his first communion on his own, even though it meant giving up a lot of playtime. First of all, we had to switch him from ethics class to Catholic religion classes at school. Because there is no separation of church and state, public schools offer Protestant and Catholic classes as well as ethics for those who are not Christians (followers of the Orthodox Christian faith usually end up in Catholic classes). Then, Philip gave up two hours on eight Friday afternoons for first communion classes, one entire week of afternoons for Bible classes, five hours one Sunday to prepare him for his first confession, and one more Friday afternoon to confess his sins to Pfarrer Zettelmaier. He also spent four hours in practice for the big day, and on April 6, he made his first communion in the morning and returned in the afternoon for devotions.

It was a special day, because his grandparents, Bob's parents, flew from Chicago to be here for him. His grandfather sat with him during the morning service (the rest of us sat in the back with the other parents) and his grandmother sat with him during devotions. And then, of course, there was dinner in a restaurant and presents.

He also received a little extra reward--a day off from school! All the first communion kids got the following Monday off in order to make a field trip to Bamberg. Parents were invited too, so I joined Philip. Bamberg was one of the few German cities not destroyed by the Allies during World War II, because there was nothing there except churches and old palaces. Two tours of Bamberg were scheduled--an architectural tour for the adults and a medieval tour for the kids. We both learned about the history of Bamberg, but Philip's tour sounded like more fun--they built a fire using flint and ate gruel. After the tours, we attended a mass held in the Bamberger Dom (cathedral), and Philip looked so proud when he took communion for the second time in his life.

Bob and I are extremely proud of Philip, because he made the decision to accept the sacrament of communion despite his parents' beliefs and despite the huge time commitment, and he never once thought of quitting.

Skiing

2008-03-30T13:53:00.007+02:00

Like last year, we spent our Easter break skiing, and just like last year, we stayed in an apartment on a hill that overlooked Radstadt. But unlike last year, we had lots of snow this year. It snowed every night, and a couple of mornings and afternoons too. Last year we skied at Obertauern in slush, and this year, we skied in powder. Only a couple of inches of powder, but powder nevertheless.

Alex's skiing improved--he went from skiing linked to Bob by a pole to skiing alone, and Philip, who already is a good skier, gained more confidence.

We also went sledding! We, including our sleds, were carried to the top of a hill by a snowmobile-driven carriage, and we sledded very, very quickly down a steep and twisting trail. Philip and I made it down safely, but when I rode with Alex, we had trouble making some of the turns and ended up in snowbanks twice. Poor Alex! He then rode with Bob and wiped out twice with him too.

On the drive to Radstadt, we stopped in Traunstein, Bavaria, for lunch. This is the town where my father finished his secondary education while being a refugee in Germany after WWII. Now that I've been there, I have so many more questions for him, but unfortunately, I can't ask him.

Language Woes

2008-02-28T11:21:00.001+01:00

I love Germany. I love living here. I love how green it is here. I love the bakeries and the beer. I love being able to ride my bike everywhere. If only the Germans spoke English…

Last month I finished a Deutsch grammar course, and now I feel like my German is worse than it was when I started. I am aware of every little mistake I make.

Oh, I understand quite a bit and I can small talk, but who wants to talk about the weather all the time? I want to be able to express myself to the same extent that I'm able to in English.

For example, the other day I met Alex on the way home from school, and he was crying because a girl in his class keeps taking his hat. I told him that she probably just wants to play with him, but he wanted me to talk to his teacher. Instead, we caught up to this girl and her mother, who were walking ahead of us, and I told her mother what has been happening. "Lea nimmt Alexs Mütze und er weint." Lea takes Alex's hat and he cries. I also wanted to say that I'm sure Lea just wants to play with Alex but he doesn't understand. Unfortunately, I don't know how to say all that in Deutsch.

I want to be able to make the little distinctions that I can in English. Sometimes I'm angry or frustrated or annoyed or furious or just anxious, but in German, I'm forever *wütend* (furious). In conversation, I can never remember the words for the other feelings.

I never thought learning Deutsch would be easy, but I never imagined it would be this frustrating, and humbling. One cannot sound smart when they are stumbling over words in a foreign language. I apologize for underestimating the intelligence of all the immigrants I met in the US.

By the way, Germans use *liebe* (love) only when speaking about their spouses, children and parents. They think Americans are *theatrical* because we love everything.

Nudity

2008-02-06T12:00:00.001+01:00

I recently read in a German newspaper that ABC had to pay 1.4 million dollars to the FCC for showing a naked woman on primetime TV. I wonder what the Germans are thinking, because the NYPD Blue clip doesn't reveal anymore than a typical ad for bathroom fixtures in the Obi (similar to Home Depot) catalog.

Nudity is taken for granted around here. You see it in television and print advertisements, in movies made for general audiences, on posters announcing the annual Erotic convention in Nürnberg, at the public pools where sunbathing topless is typical, and of course, the Englisher Garten in Munich (see my post from 7/13/2007).

And Germans don't "protect" their children from sex. Before children's movies in the theatre, we've often seen ads for AIDS prevention featuring talking condoms. In one, a young woman and a young man are passionately kissing in bed and they both reach over to pick up a condom. Another ad features Boris Becker emptying his pockets at airport security and saying something about being careful. I'm not ready to explain the depressing story of AIDS to the boys, but when they asked what condoms were, I told them that they keep you from having a baby before you are ready.

The way movies are rated here also demonstrates a greater tolerance for sex and nudity than in the US. Brokeback Mountain, for example, garnered an "R" rating in the US, but "ab 12 jahre (from 12 years old)" in Germany and "U," the equivalent of a "G" rating, in France, because two men kissing is not considered offensive, and the sex in the movie is only implied. The Devil Wears Prada earned a "PG-13" rating because Anne Hathaway's character spent the night with a man, and again, the sex was only implied. The same movie in Germany was considered mild enough for newborns, "ab 0 jahre (from 0 years old)."

Horror movies, on the other hand, are rated for adults only, the same as hardcore pornography, whereas in the US, they receive an "R," meaning children can see these movies as long as they go with their parents.

I was talking about this with a friend, who is originally from Canada but now lives in Erlangen, and she too doesn't understand why in North America we need to keep sex a secret from our children. As she put it, "Chances are good you will have sex in your lifetime, but what are the chances that you will be blown up?" Or chased by a masked man with a chainsaw, for that matter.

Something One Would Never See in Chicago

2008-01-24T10:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, I was standing in line, waiting to check out, at the grocery store, when the elderly woman in front of me pulled 20 Euros out of her wallet and handed the wallet, along with the 20, to the cashier. The cashier then took out the 8 Euros and 95 cents that the woman still owed, counting it out to the cent, and handed the wallet back along with the receipt.

Weihnachten, Silvester, und Drei Könige

2008-01-08T10:22:00.000+01:00

Christmas was perfect, just like last year, because we stayed home! Of course it is nice to visit family and friends, but this should be done on December 26, which is also a holiday here in Deutschland, as well as other countries, like Great Britain, where it is called Boxing Day (I think it's the same in Canada?).

On Christmas Eve, Philip and Alex baked cookies for the Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus), who brought them lots and lots of Legos. And he didn't forget Oscar.

Callum, along with his mother, flew from Boston to Erlangen to visit his grandparents and the boys, or so they like to think.

Silvester (New Year's Eve) was spent having dinner at the home of one of Bob's colleagues and later on our terrace shooting off bottle rockets and watching the explosions over the center of town (sorry, no photos, because we don't have the expertise to capture fireworks on *film*).

The holidays ended on January 6, Drei Könige (three kings, also known as the Epiphany), with us driving to Pottenstein in the Fränkische Schweiz to see the fires on the surrounding hills (see my post from last year, January 7, 2007).

When Larissa Came to Erlangen

2007-12-14T10:58:00.000+01:00

Larissa, my sister, came to visit us in Germany! She didn't stay long enough, but if she had stayed a year, it still wouldn't have been long enough for us.

While she was here, we hit the Christmas markets in Erlangen and Forchheim,

and Bamberg,

and Nürnberg,

and Prague.

(Larissa's feet on a Prague sidewalk)

Larissa joined us on the Nikolauszug (St. Nicholas Train), and had a long conversation in English with one of St. Nick's angels.

She also made it to Alex's Nikolasabend (the Eve of St. Nicholas Day, December 5) Parade and Concert, and Alex did get to use his Goose lantern this year.

We had a lot of fun, but of course, she had to go home, and this was very hard for all of us. The boys liked having her around, and mention everyday that they miss her, and I feel guilty for living even farther from Montana. In Chicago, we were 24 hours apart by car and now we are 24 hours apart by air, due to layovers in Denver.

When we both lived in the Midwest, we saw each other often, and when Larissa first moved to Montana, we saw each other at least once a year--either Bob and I would drive out west or she would take the train to Chicago. But then in 2001 we decided to move to Germany, and it was four and a half years before we got together again. Now this visit was two and a half years since our reunion in 2005. I'm not certain when the next time will be. It could be this coming August or next year or the year after that. It doesn't help that we moved to Germany, although our lives were so busy in Chicago that I couldn't guarantee seeing her more often. Nevertheless, this uncertainty makes me miss her all the more.

November

2007-11-26T11:07:00.000+01:00

November has been a busy month, but not a very interesting one. Philip went from writing simple sentences, in German, in 2nd grade to writing essays, in German, in the 3rd grade. Alex is learning to read and write in both German and English. I'm taking a German grammar class--more on this in another blog. The boys decided they were too old to participate in the annual St. Martin's Day parade (the photo is from last year's parade--Alex made a lantern that looked like a goose, St. Martin's symbol). We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with a chicken instead of a turkey, which you can buy here but we think the chickens taste better.

And Bob returned from a trip to Chicago, which he promised to write about and post on my blog (we're still waiting). While in Chicago, Bob stocked up on things that are not easy to come by in Deutschland. Such as:

Hellmann's Mayonnaise. They have mayonnaise, but not Hellmann's. You can buy it in Belgium, but not in Germany.

Ziploc Bags. People with US connections buy them and then wash and reuse them. During the summer, we saw a lot of Ziplocs hang out to dry on clotheslines. I'll have to get a photo next summer.

Secret Anti-perspirant. They sell deodorants, but not anti-perspirants, or at least, I haven't been able to find any. They used to sell Secret deodorants, which I thought were just as good as the anti-perspirants, but I can't find them anymore either.

Levi's jeans. Oh, they sell Levi's here and they are quite popular, but they are expensive. A pair of 501s can cost 85 Euros, or with the current exchange rate of $1.48 per Euro, $125.

Halloween!!!

2007-11-03T13:58:00.000+01:00

Halloween was much better this year. The boys went Trick-or-Treating this year with a friend. And a handful of kids, mostly Philip's friends, showed up at our place. Philip complained that a lot of people weren't home or weren't opening their doors, and therefore, they didn't get a lot of candy. I reminded him that in Germany many people, particularly older folks, don't celebrate Halloween (All Saints Day, November 1, however, is a public holiday) and that in Chicago we ended up throwing at least half of the candy away. They said they had fun anyway.

Actually, Halloween here reminds me of Halloween when I was a kid. With the exception of Jack-O-Lanterns, nobody decorated their homes, and we collected candy only from our immediate neighbors, the people we knew. And my mom didn't open the door every five minutes from 5 to 9.

I thought it was perfect, especially since it was a foggy night!

Shopping on Sunday

2007-10-28T18:00:00.000+01:00

Last Sunday everyone in Erlangen went shopping. Shopping on Sundays is normal in the US, but not in most parts of Germany. All stores, except bakeries and the quicky-marts of gas stations, are closed on Sundays, so when the stores open one Sunday every season, everyone takes advantage of it. I hate shopping and yet I feel like I have to go on these rare Sundays.

But there is more to do than just shop. The fire department was at Huguenot Square teaching kids how to use fire extinguishers. The Bergwächter (mountain guardians--literal translation) demonstrated how they transport someone who is hurt down a cliff. They climbed down from the tower of the Huguenot church. The church and tower were open to the public, and we walked up to get a view of Erlangen. There were bratwurst and brezen (pretzel) stands, and a medieval market at Neustädter Kirchenplatz (another church square).

So it was more like being at a street fair than just shopping. It had more to do with meeting friends for a beer and sausage than spending money on a new jacket, although I'm sure plenty of jackets were sold that day.

Biergarten Weather

2007-10-16T10:06:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday was another beautiful fall day in Erlangen. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm. Sweater Weather! So, we decided to bike to a beer garden in a village, Adlitz, about 7 or 8 kilometers from Erlangen. And so did everyone else in Erlangen. The roads and paths through the forests and fields from Erlangen to Adlitz were packed with bikers and walkers. Everyone from the tiniest babies to the oldest Omas (grandmothers) were out and about, because winter is coming and the beer gardens will all be closing soon.

The ride itself took longer than I expected and there were more hills than I remembered. We made this trip before in 2002 and 2003, with both kids in a Burley bike trailer. This time they rode their own bikes. They tried to make it up as many hills as they could, but often they had to walk their bikes up. This gave me the excuse to get off my bike and walk too.

The struggle was worth it--the bratwurst and roasted wild boar were good and the beer was great.

Unfortunately, the weather also made me nostalgic. I always loved Chicago in October.

Herbst

2007-10-03T12:44:00.000+02:00

It's autumn, and the weather has been mixed. We've taken advantage of the sunny days by visiting a reconstructed medieval village in Bad Windsheim, where the boys learned about sheep herding, and by buying pumpkins and gourds at the local farms.

Unfortunately, today is a holiday, German Reunification Day, and it's raining. We were planning to go to a local amusement park before they close for the winter, but I think we'll go swimming to Atlantis instead.

PS Alex lost his first tooth--the exact same tooth Philip lost first when he was six.

Summer Vacation III--Spain Wieder

2007-09-23T10:38:00.000+02:00

Valencia and Barcelona were the last planned stops of our Sommerurlaub. Unfortunately, our stop in Valencia was not a pleasant one. Not because Valencia is an awful place. On the contrary, it has everything I like in a city--an old and gritty center, great museums, and restaurants facing clean Mediterranean beaches.

Our stop in Valencia was unpleasant because our car broke down. The car's battery died in an underground parking garage. If there is one thing I truly fear, it is car troubles. Maybe it is because I once owned an old Saab that was constantly breaking down and leaving me stranded. Luckily, Bob joined ADAC, Germany's version of AAA. They were great! First of all, their phones are manned by people who speak English, and when we're stressed, neither one of us can remember a word of Deutsch. Secondly, they took care of everything. They asked to speak to a Valencia native, which was not hard to find since we were next to the Mercado Central. The woman told them our exact location, and they sent a local mechanic to jump the battery. It took him about an hour and a half to get to us, so during that time the kids and I went shopping in the Mercado.

Since our car decided to die on us on the day we were to leave for Barcelona, we couldn't wait for car garages to reopen after lunch. Everything in Valencia closes down from about 1 or 2 until 4 PM. Since Bob couldn't turn the car off, because the battery would die again, we drove straight to Barcelona. Bob didn't even turn the car off when he added gas. The bartender at our hotel in Sant Cugat, a suburb of Barcelona, told Bob how to find a garage and we had a new battery within the time it took the kids to finish their swim in the hotel's pool.

While we were in Valencia, we tried paella, which wasn't very good, but we ate at one of the restaurants along Valencia's immaculate city beaches. Supposedly, Hemingway ate his paella at La Pepica, a couple of doors down. Too bad it was closed that day.

We also saw the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a modern museum complex with an arts center, science museum, IMAX theatre, planetarium and aquarium. The science museum had an exhibit about the Titanic, but we didn't have time to see it. Schade!

Last stop Barcelona! I used to think Paris and Prague were the most beautiful European cities. Now, I'm going to have to add Barcelona to this list. In fact, Paris has been bumped down. After my second visit to Prague (possibly in December), I'll decide which one tops my list. The architecture was mesmerizing, and the locals were very patient with the tourists, almost too patient.

Our first stop, of course, was La Sagrada Família. All I can say is "Hmmm?" I don't know if I liked it. It was not as impressive as I thought it would be, but I didn't hate it. I am glad that we viewed a few of Gaudí's other architectural gems; otherwise, I would have left Barcelona without a positive impression of Gaudí. We saw Palau Güell, which was under scaffolds but the rooftop sculptures were visible, Casa Batlló, and La Pedrera. La Pedrera was especially breathtaking--flowing concrete and metal is the only way I can think of to describe it.

After taking photos of La Sagrada, we stopped at a café across the street for dinner. The food on the menu seemed reasonably priced, and we assumed that beer and Fanta would be only a Euro or two more than in Valencia. We ended up paying almost 7 Euros per beer and almost 5 Euros per Fanta. The waiters said, "It's not us, it's the church."

The next morning, we visited the Barcelona Zoo, home to the only know albino gorilla, Snowflake. What their website neglects to tell you is that he died three years ago. We were all disappointed, but we knew that he was old--he was brought to the zoo in 1966--and he hadn't been in good health since 1996, so we weren't completely surprised. They did have some of the largest pythons we had ever seen, and during our visit we came across a cage of about 50 nutrias. Bob said, "This is why the pythons are so big." I told him to keep his voice down, because Alex was going on about how the nutrias looked like his favorite stuffed animal, Bibery, which is actually a marmot but looks like a beaver.

We spent the afternoon walking through Barri Gótic and along La Rambla. We found a great restaurant in the Barri Gótic called 4 Gats (4 Cats)--Art Nouveau décor and three course meals, including water and wine, for 15 Euros a person. There were too many mimes along the Rambla, in my opinion, but the boys found them interesting, as did the British tourists.

Bob and I will remember the architecture and the food in Barcelona. The boys, on the other hand, will remember the completely naked, old man riding his bike down a busy street. Too bad we didn't get a photo.

Originally, we had planned on camping one more night in either Lyon or Dijon, about half way between Barcelona and Erlangen. But, Bob was anxious to get home, so we drove 14.5 hours home.

Summer Vacation II--Portugal

2007-09-15T13:25:00.000+02:00

After five days on the road, we arrived in Portugal. Our first stop was Porto, and when in Porto, one must buy Port wine. Unfortunately, Bob and I know nothing about Ports, so Bob called his friend Mike in Chicago. He told us to look for Churchill or Sandeman Vintage 1995 Ports. Interestingly, the shops we visited recommended the Portuguese Port houses over the British. A little competition? We ended up buying a Borges Vintage 1995 and a Sandeman Founders Reserve. We have yet to try either one.

After Porto, we stopped in Óbidos en route to Lisbon. Touristy, but charming, here we saw our first and best impression of azulejos, decorative tiles often depicting landscapes, historic scenes or the holy family.

That same evening, we arrived in Lisbon. We stayed at the Novotel, a hotel chain belonging to the French Accor hotel group. This may become our default hotel in Europe, because they all allow dogs. Even the Holiday Inns, which allow dogs in Germany and France, don't allow dogs in Portugal or Spain. In six days we had seen so much that we decided to stay in and call room service.

Normally, our first stop when visiting a new city is the historic center, the old city. But in Lisbon, we decided to go to the Oceanário first. It's a modern aquarium somewhat similar in design to the New England Aquarium in Boston with a large central tank and smaller tanks circling the walls. It had your usual collection of sharks, rays, eels plus a huge Ocean Sunfish, which I thought looked prehistoric. The Lisbon Oceanarium is the second largest in Europe, but which is the first? When I did an Internet search, the aquariums in Barcelona, Valencia and Genoa all claim the title.

Before going to the Oceanário, Oscar's leash ripped opened Bob's left index finger at the second knuckle. Oscar lunged at another dog, and since Bob was holding the clasp, which allows you to lengthen or shorten the leash, it somehow snagged the skin on the inside of his index finger and cut it deeply. Because it was still bleeding that morning, we couldn't tell how deep the wound was. But, when we returned to the hotel and took the bandage off, we realized Bob needed stitches. I thought I was going to faint, because I could see the cartilage of his knuckle.

I had seen a sign for a clinic near the hotel, so I told the guy at the desk, who seemed to speak perfect English, that my husband needed a doctor and how do I get to the clinic. He said he was new to this hotel, so he went to ask the manager. I didn't hear their conversation, which was probably in Portuguese anyway, but I think they thought I wanted to buy Clinique cosmetics, because they sent us to El Corte Inglés department store. He said the clinic would be right in front. Later, I realized that cosmetics are usually sold in the front of department stores. Nevertheless, the security guard and the department store nurse helped us by sending us in a taxi to the closest hospital. Luckily, almost everyone in Portugal speaks English, unlike Spain or France. Both the receptionist and doctor who stitched Bob up spoke English.

That evening after Bob returned from the hospital, we decided to see historic Lisbon. The guy at the desk (same one) suggested we take a taxi up to the Castelo de São Jorge and then walk through Alfama. Great idea, because the castle sits on top of a hill overlooking Lisbon, and if we had walked up the hill, we would have heard a lot of whining from Alex. The views from the castle were great--Lisbon has its own versions of SF's Golden Gate Bridge and Rio's Christ the Redeemer. And walking through the winding streets of Alfama was fun, although my outdated guidebook made the Alfama sound like a working class neighborhood with lots of family-friendly restaurants. Instead, it reminded me of Wicker Park during the early stages of gentrification. Finally, we did find a family restaurant that served Cape Verdean food.

The next morning, we drove to the suburb of Belém to see Mosteiro dos Jerónimos. I had read that this monastery had the most beautiful cloisters in Europe, and this time the guidebooks were right on target. The architecture is Manueline Gothic, which is unique to Portugal. Even though I couldn't fine a source confirming a Moorish influence on Manueline architecture, the monastery and its cloisters reminded me of the Alhambra. After the monastery, we were going to walk to the Torre de Belem, which according to Rick Steves is right across the street. Across the street and a kilometer away, which is not far unless it's a hot day and one has two kids in tow. It might as well have been 10 kilometers away. We decided to drive. Since the line to get in was long, we just took photos from the banks of the Tejo River. Besides, the kids were more interested in some jellyfish that had washed ashore.

That evening we drove to Cabo da Roca, Europe's westernmost point. In my mind, I had always pictured Ireland and Great Britain as being much further west than continental Europe, but after this trip and a glance at a globe, I realized that the western coasts of Portugal and Ireland fall approximately on the same longitudinal coordinates. It was beautiful, but very windy and cold.

From Cabo, we drove to Sintra. Originally, I wasn't too excited about visiting Sintra, because it sounded too touristy, but now I regret not seeing more. First of all, the road to Sintra wound, or should I say spiraled, through quaint villages and beautiful mountain forests. The pines don't look like traditional Christmas trees, i.e., triangular. They look like most deciduous trees, with a long trunk and full canopy. We drove past numerous Quintas, or estates, some of which doubled as hotels. I had hoped to see the Castelo dos Mouros, which overlooks Sintra. All we saw was a glimpse of the walls between the trees before the fog rolled in. We never saw any part of Pena Palace, which from the description in the guidebooks sounds like it rivals Neuschwanstein.

After three nights in Lisbon, we spent a week on the Algarve, Portugal's southern coast. We rented an apartment in a house with a swimming pool. We ended up using the swimming pool more often than the beaches, which were about two kilometers away, and like I said before, on a hot day with two kids…

As it turned out, the beaches in our area near the town of Albufeira were very crowded. I had assumed with British and German tourists, but the owner of the neighboring house told us that all of Lisbon comes to Albufeira in August. But we managed to find a less crowded beach in Salema, in the western part of the Algarve. Part of the beach allows dogs, which is not true for Falésia, the beach near our house, and there is a great seafood restaurant, Atlântico, on the beach. This is the beach popular with British and German tourists. We rented kayaks, and Philip paddled quite well. Alex, on the other hand, just wanted to enjoy the ride.

On August 15, we celebrated Alex's 6th birthday. All he wanted to do was swim in the pool and eat Chinese. Luckily, we noticed a Chinese Restaurant near Falésia.

We spent most of the week relaxing by the swimming pool, but we did a little sightseeing. We saw the rock formations of Ponta da Piedade near Lagos, the Moorish fortress in Silves, and the beaches along the barrier islands of Tavira.

First Day of School

2007-09-12T09:49:00.000+02:00

I'm interrupting my summer vacation series to announce that yesterday Alex Kozan began first grade at Adalbert Stifter Schule. This is a big deal in Germany. Parents take the day off and grandparents drive in from all over Germany. The first graders arrive at school one hour later than the upper grades and are greeted by the second graders with songs. It's a big deal, because unlike the US, kids don't learn to read and write in kindergarten. Here, kindergarten is like what I remember kindergarten being 40 years ago--a place to learn how to socialize with other children.

The best part of the first day is the Schultüte. This is a cone filled with candy, school supplies and toys. It is meant to make the transition from Kindergarten to Grundshule easier. The children take their Schultüte with them to school, but don't open them until they get home. On the way to school, Alex complained about how heavy his backpack and Schultüte were, but on the way home, he was so excited about being a first grader that neither one seemed heavy anymore.

Summer Vacation I--France and Spain

2007-09-02T19:42:00.000+02:00

August is the month when all of Europe goes on vacation and so did we. But unlike most Europeans, we decided to make a "Grand Tour."

Our first stop was in Tours (no pun intended), France. Here, we visited only two of the Loire Valley's countless chateaux--Chambord and Chenonceau. Chenonceau is the more interesting of the two, in my opinion, because its great hall is actually a bridge over the River Cher. We also stopped briefly at Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. Clearly, my guidebook was written before "The Da Vinci Code" was published, because it said that not many people know about Leonardo's last home. But, by the number of people lining up to get in, it was obvious that everything about his life has become popular.

I also had my first great French dinner in Tours. We've been to Paris several times, but I've never had a great French meal--African and Italian, yes, but not good French food. If you're ever in Tours, you have to eat at L'Devalière.

The second night of our tour was spent camping at Dune de Pyla, on the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux. I thought I had seen some big dunes at the Indiana Dunes and Warren Dunes in Michigan, but this dune makes those dunes look like babies. Dune de Pyla is three kilometers long! That's almost two miles. And the top of the dune was desolate. With the sand blowing against our legs, I felt like I was in the Sahara. The kids thought it was the end of the world as depicted in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3."

Our third night was spent in a new country, Spain. We camped at Covadanga, at the foot of the Picos de Europa. We had planned to drive up to Lake Enol, but only made it as far as the Mirador de la Reina, because we were low on gas. We thought we would go back into town for fuel, and then finish the drive. Unfortunately, we learned that they close the road from 10 AM to 8 PM to reduce traffic up to the lake. Only bus tours are allowed during the day. Smart! Not only does it reduce car traffic, but crowds too. I'm sure many people are like us, and say, "I'm not paying to take a bus when I have my own car." Instead, we visited a shrine to the Virgin of Covadanga built into the side of a cliff.

The next two nights were spent in Santiago de Compostela. This time we stayed in a hotel, one of the few on the Iberian Peninsula that allows dogs. Many German and French hotels welcome dogs, but Spanish and Portuguese hotels are not so pet-friendly.

In Santiago, we visited the pilgrimage church of St. James the Apostle, who supposedly is buried under the altar. Of course, Bob bought the boys walking sticks from the surrounding souvenir vendors, just to pretend that they walked the Camino de Santiago. We also found a great restaurant, Meia Pataca Meson, away from the touristy parts of Santiago, where Bob tried something that looked like tube worms, and before they were cooked, they would move in and out of their shells. They tasted great!

We made a side trip, while in Santiago, to the Rias Baixas, the Galician estuaries west of Santiago. Specifically, we visited Porto do Son, a fishing village on the Ria de Muros e Noia, and Castro de Baroña, a 2000- or 4000-year old (depending on the source) Celtic ruin. We noticed that the price of food and beer in the Rias was about half that of Santiago.

Coming Soon! Part II--Portugal

Summer Vacation-Intro

2007-08-25T13:33:00.000+02:00

We just returned from a three week vacation. We drove through France, Spain and Portugal with stops in the Loire Valley, Dune de Pyla along the Atlantic Coast near Bordeaux, the Picos de Europa in Northern Spain, Santiago de Compostela, Porto, Lisbon, the Algarve (here we rented an apartment and stayed a week), Valencia and Barcelona. I plan to write about our stops in more detail within the next two weeks before the kids return to school.

Although we saw a lot of Western Europe and we had a great time, this vacation was not very relaxing. I've always thought the typical European vacation of renting an apartment or house for two or three weeks and just staying put sounded boring, but now I'm thinking this may be the way to spend the holidays, especially with children. Bob and I love road trips, and before the kids were born, we would drive to Montana to visit Larissa or to Upstate New York to visit Polly when she lived there, and we would make stops along the way and see as much as we could. Even when we lived in Europe before, we were able to tour around and see more since Alex was in a backpack carrier or stroller and Philip was small enough for Bob to carry on his shoulders. But those days are gone forever.

Now, they walk but not quickly or for very long distances. They also have very strong opinions about what they want to see or do. They like museums and I like zoos, so there is quite a bit we enjoy doing together. But Bob and I like just walking around and looking at architecture and trying to find a good restaurant. The boys hate this unless we buy them toys or ice cream, and their idea of fine dining is McDonald's. And they despise driving. "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer now?" are asked at about two-minute intervals.

I think our next vacation will be European-style.

Alex's Birthday and Übernachtungs

2007-08-01T10:11:00.000+02:00

Last week we celebrated Alex's birthday. His birthday is actually on August 15, but since we'll be in Portugal, we decided to celebrate now. He had a party at the kindergarten during the week, and on Saturday, we went to Tucherland, an indoor playground. He didn't want a big party--just Philip and his friend, Callum, who's from Boston but was in Erlangen visiting his grandparents. Tucherland has a climbing wall about 20 or 30 feet tall with an automatic rope system, unlike the wall at Dick's, which has a human on belay and supervising your climb. Dick's has a height limit, whereas at Tucherland anything goes. Tucherland also has trampolines, unsupervised. The attitude here in Deutschland seems to be if one hurts himself than it's his or his parents' fault, not the establishment's.

Alex's kindergarten graduation was one week before his birthday celebration, but it was nothing like the graduations in Chicago. They started the day with a field trip to a cave, Binghöhle, in the Fränkische Schweiz. To get there, they had to take two buses and one train. Then they returned to spend the night at the kindergarten. They also had a bonfire that night in the kindergarten's garden. This rite of passage proves to the kids that they can travel and sleep without their parents. Philip's class also had an übernachtung (sleep over) at his school, but their field trip was to the local ice cream shop.

PS The weather has been cold and rainy most of the summer, unlike the southern European countries, which were having a serious heat wave. It feels more like fall to me. We did have a couple of hot days in June and then again in July. On Sunday, July 15, the temperature topped 40 degrees C, or about 104 F. Since very few homes have air-conditioning, everybody was at the outdoor swimming pools, which are not heated.

Sommerfests and Gäste (Guests)

2007-07-13T10:06:00.000+02:00

It's been a long time since I've written, but it's been a busy summer, although it feels more like fall--cold and rainy.

The weekend after Philip's birthday was Kindergarten St. Nikolaus's Sommerfest, and Alex played the xylophone during the Vögels Hochzeit (Birds' Wedding). Plus, he had a birthday party to attend and two play dates that week.

During the last week of June, Bob and I made numerous phone calls to hotels in Paris and Strasbourg trying to get a hold of my friend, Darka, who was touring Europe with a Ukrainian Dance Group, Hromovytsia, from Chicago. We finally made contact and met her and her family in München (Munich) for dinner at the world famous Hofbräuhaus, which was packed with American and Asian college students getting drunk on liters of beer.

Saturday, June 30, was Philip's busy day. He had his Sommerfest, during which the students presented projects they had been working on throughout the week. He learned to whittle and worked on the wood decorations that would complement a painting done by another group of students. Later, in the afternoon, he had his piano recital and played "Happy Birthday" almost flawlessly.

The highlight of our busy schedule was the arrival of C.K. (C.K.'s blog) from Chicago en route to India. It was a mini-vacation in Bavaria for us, because instead of doing all the things we normally do with visitors, such as driving out to the Fränkische Schweiz, we did things we hadn't done yet.

On Saturday, we did the underground tour of Nürnberg. We visited the dungeons of the Rathaus, which, of course, the boys loved because they had a torture chamber and instruments of torture. We also visited the Felsengänge, the tunnel system that served for centuries as a natural refrigerator for beer and food, and later, during WWII, as an air-raid shelter. This tour was a little too long for the boys, so Bob left with them early. C.K. and I toughened it out.

On Sunday, we drove to München to meet C.K.'s imaginary friend (C.K.'s friend's blog). First, we had lunch in the Englischer Garten. Bob and I had heard that people sunbathe in the nude here, but we were surprised by how many naked Germans, mostly men, there were sprawled out on the lawn. We were also surprised to see so many people swimming in the fast moving Eisbach river. Later, we met C.K.'s friend for coffee, and the imaginary friend became a real friend.

Before C.K. continued her journey to India, she gave me a much appreciated yoga lesson. She taught me some poses that would help strengthen my arms and stomach and loosen up my back.

Thank you very much, C.K., for a wonderful weekend.

Happy Birthday

2007-06-19T09:26:00.000+02:00

Thursday, June 14, was my birthday, and Sunday, June 17, was Philip's. For my birthday, we went to Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant, which was perfect. This was all I wanted. Saturday and Sunday, on the other hand, belonged to Philip. His friend, Jan (pronounced "Yan"), spent the weekend with us from noon on Saturday till 6PM Sunday. We went to a movie, then out for pizza, ate cake, opened presents, and on Sunday, we spent the day at Playmobil Fun Park.

It was fun, but not relaxing. I remember wanting Philip to be born on June 14, so that I could forget my birthday. He was due on June 6, but he was late, and on June 14, I kept wishing that I would go into labor. I never liked my birthday. I just wanted it to be another day like any other day. Now, I miss having my own special day. Instead of spending my birthday thinking of myself, I now spend it planning Philip's parties. This year I baked brownies for Philip's party at school. I want to be selfish on June 14--I want to spend my birthday in Paris or Mexico or New Zealand with my sister and a few friends.

Swinging back into mom-mode, let me add that I'm very proud of my nine-year-old. He has become so independent. He walks to and from school and piano class by himself. He cleans the table after dinner. He does his homework without complaining. He speaks, reads and writes in two languages, everyday. He gets good grades. And, he loves playing with his little brother! Bob and I are very lucky.

Normandy

2007-06-07T14:18:00.000+02:00

Another two-week Schulferein (school holiday) comes to an end--this time Pfingsten, also known as Whitsun or Pentecost. We spent the first week of the holiday in Normandy. The weather was awful--lots of wind and rain, but it made the visit to the D-Day Beaches somber, which was appropriate.

We visited the American Military Cemetery at Omaha Beach, where 9386 American soldiers are buried. Some of the headstones have no names on them, because the soldiers' bodies were never identified. We visited on Sunday, the day before Memorial Day, and many of the graves had flowers on them, even the nameless ones.

Walking along Omaha Beach made me think of Saving Private Ryan, the only movie about D-Day that I have ever seen (I've never read or seen The Longest Day). I kept describing to the boys the opening scene of the soldiers climbing out of the amphibious vehicles and running through the surf, up the hills, trying not to get shot. I don't know the exact distance, but the movie made the hills look much closer to the beach than they actually are.

We also visited Arromanches, where the British established an artificial port. Quite a few metal bridges and docks still remain along the beach.

To continue learning about Normandy and its battles, we experienced the Bayeux Tapestry. I say "experienced" because it was like watching a needlepoint film. I was worried that the boys would be bored, but we got them the audio tour and they listened, while walking along the tapestry that wraps around the center of the gallery, to the story of how, in 1066, William the Conqueror defeated King Harold of England. The entire story unfolds with each panel, and near the end, gets graphic. The boys loved the beheaded soldiers and King Harold with an arrow sticking out of his eye.

The rest of the trip we spent at Mont St. Michel, an abbey on top of a pyramid-shaped island that is connected to the mainland by a causeway, which floods when the tides are very, very high. We stayed at the Hotel Le Mouton Blanc, within the medieval walls, which was a great idea, because in the evening, after the tourists had gone back to the touristy villages on the mainland, we had an entire medieval town to ourselves. Well, almost to ourselves--there were, of course, other tourists staying at small hotels within the walls of the Mont. We bought the boys wooden swords (Alex wanted a metal one), and they ran up and down the streets pretending to be knights defending the king and his castle (they didn't want to accept that this was an abbey instead of a castle).

We returned to Erlangen in time to catch the last few days of the Bergkirchweih, the second largest Bierfest, after Oktoberfest in Munich, in Bavaria. It's all about drinking beer served in a keller dug into the side of the Berg, a large hill north of Erlangen. Unlike Oktoberfest, one does not sit in a tent and drink, but on wooden benches set in the forest above the kellers, or in the kellers, which are more like caves than anything else (although some are furnished like restaurants). When the days are hot, the kellers are naturally cool, important in a country where very few places have air-conditioning.

Too Many Holidays

2007-05-18T21:00:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was another holiday, Christi Himmelfahrt, also known as the Ascension (the German name literally translates to Christ's Heaven Journey). It was also Vatertag (Father's Day). Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May, as it does in most countries, but Father's Day falls on the Ascension. I guess they didn't want to waste another Sunday. Nevertheless, we celebrated at our favorite Brauerei, St. GeorgenBräu. The boys were being extra nice to each other since it was Father's Day.

Next Saturday we leave for Normandy. Just a long weekend. Monday, May 28, is also a holiday, Pfingstmontag, or Pentecost Monday. We'll be in France for only 4 days, but Philip has two weeks off. The kindergarten will still be open.

Before we left Chicago, I looked forward to all the German school holidays. Kids in Bayern (it varies from state to state) begin school in mid-September, and go to school for about six weeks before the one-week Herbstferien at the end of October (Philip calls it Halloween break). Then it's another six or seven weeks before the two-week Christmas break. Before Lent, they get one week off for Fasching (Carnival), and 40 days later, two weeks for Easter. Six weeks after Easter is Pentecost and yet another two weeks off. The school year ends at the end of July, and Sommerferien is about six weeks long. School-aged children (children aged 3 to 5 are in kindergartens, which double as daycare centers, so they have fewer breaks) have just as many days off as kids in the US, but their breaks are spread out throughout the year instead of packed into the summer. The boys and I were always so exhausted by Christmas and Summer break in Chicago. I like having the frequent breaks from getting them ready for school and helping them with homework, but on the other hand, it feels like we've just settled into our weekly routine (all extracurricular activities also follow the school break schedule, as do many businesses and doctors' practices--see the next paragraph) when a new break starts.

Since the kids are off, many parents also take time off from work, including business owners and doctors. It is not uncommon to call your favorite hairdresser, for example, only to find out that the entire shop has closed down for the holidays. Over the Easter break, I made an appointment with my dentist. Thinking since he was open, I would call to set up an appointment for Alex with a speech therapist (he has problems pronouncing "s" and "sh"). I left messages on the answering machines of three different practices, and only one called back before the end of the break. I think I've lived too long in a cultural that never sleeps--I need to learn that it is best to put everything off until after the holidays, and there are so many of them here.

Maifeiertag

2007-05-02T11:51:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was May Day, a public holiday in many European countries, and contrary to what many Americans believe, it is not only a Communist holiday. In fact, it also commemorates an important event in Chicago history, the Haymarket Riots.

Since the kids had the day off and Spiderman 3 opened here on Maifeiertag, we went to the movies. Bob refused to go because the Cine-Star Theater was showing the movie only in Deutsch. We could have driven 20 kilometers to Nürnberg and seen it at a theater that shows films in their original language, but it's so much easier to go to the local theaters. I didn't have any problems understanding the movie, but I do have a problem with seeing familiar actors speaking in unfamiliar voices. Let me digress here and say the worse are the dubbed voices of Clint Eastwood and all of the Simpsons--they are not even close!

All movies and TV programs on German channels are dubbed. We have CNN in English, TV Monde in French, and MTV in English with Deutsch subtitles, but all the other channels are in German, regardless of the origins of the film or program. It's not a big surprise that Bob and I love visiting Przemko and Kristin, because the Belgians don't fool around with dubbing. They use subtitles!

Lyme Disease 3

2007-04-26T11:05:00.000+02:00

I had a second antibody titer done last week, and on Tuesday of this week, I found out that I was still negative. In other words, no antibodies developed against the Borreliose spirochaetes, and therefore, I am no longer fighting an infection. The itchy rash is gone, and I don't have to take anymore antibiotics!

But, I can't help wondering if the antibody titer had been positive, would I have been immune to further infections? I guess I'll just have to do very careful tick checks after long walks in the Wald (forest).

Skiing in Austria

2007-04-18T10:16:00.000+02:00

We spent the second week of Osterferien (Easter Break--kids get two weeks off in Deutschland) skiing in Austria. We stayed in a condo in Radstadt and skied Obertauern. The boys took three days of lessons. Philip took an advanced beginner class (he took his first ski lessons in Obertauern three years ago), and Alex took a beginning class. Philip had a great time skiing both easy (blue piste in Austria, instead of green as in the US) and intermediate (red piste instead of blue) runs. Alex, on the other hand, was not begeistert (enthusiastic) about skiing. He complained that he didn't like falling and getting wet.

On the fourth day, we skied as a family. We stayed on the blue piste because of Alex, and even these were steeper and longer than the runs Alex had been skiing. So, Bob took his ski pole and held one end, while Alex held the other end, and they skied side-by-side. Alex enjoyed this form of skiing more than skiing on his own.

Oscar joined us on our trip, although he didn't do any skiing--he just wore Alex's helmet in our condo. It's easier to take pets with you on vacation in Europe than it is to leave them in a pet hotel. There just aren't that many pet hotels around. In Chicago, when I asked Oscar's vet for a list of boarding kennels, she gave me about 25 names of kennels and in-home services. Our tierärztin in Erlangen gave me a list of three names, one of which was in Munich, two hours away. Thankfully, most hotels and vacation apartments allow pets.

Even though it was a great trip, it wasn't perfect. Unfortunately, our car got towed in Salzburg. We stopped for lunch on our way to Radstadt, and we parked along a busy street, just as we had three years ago. I noticed signs with a drawing of a bus and hours on Werktags (work days) and Samstag (Saturday), but I understood these as the hours when parking is allowed. There was nothing such as "Parken Erlaubt" (Parking Allowed) or "Parken Verboten" on the signs, and other cars were parked as well. Five years ago, I got a ticket in Erlangen for parking on a street without any signs (There were other cars parked there, and they got tickets, too.). I learned to look for signs stating when and where parking is allowed, instead of "No Parking" signs, such as the ones we have in the US. In hindsight, it should have occurred to me that the hours on the sign in Salzburg indicated the hours when the bus was running, since there was a drawing of a bus instead of a car. But, I didn't take the time to think deeply about the sign. I just wanted something to eat.

Lyme Disease 2

2007-03-27T10:43:00.000+02:00

The antibody titer came up negative, but the doctor told me that it comes up negative 50% of time even if you have been exposed to the Borrelia bacteria. She also mentioned that it may have been negative because we did catch it early. Nevertheless, I have to continue taking the doxycycline, and next week she will check my titer again. Hopefully, it will remain negative.

Lyme Disease

2007-03-22T10:41:00.000+01:00

I may have Lyme Disease. I won't know for sure until Monday, when the antibody test results come back, but my doctor thinks it's Lyme (they call it Borreliose here, after the spirochaete).

I was bitten by a tick three weeks ago, but I didn't think anything of it because I've been bitten before--here in Erlangen in 2004, in Chicago last year, and I don't know how many times when I was a kid. I remember picking ticks off my sister, Larissa, and her picking ticks off of me. Well, the bite wasn't healing, and then last week it turned red and started to itch-A LOT!

I have to take doxycycline for 21 days, and it makes me nauseous.

Ticks are a real problem here, and they probably will be worse this year, because we had only 4 days of real cold weather this winter. Not only do they carry Borreliose, but they also carry a virus that causes encephalitis. We all have been vaccinated against the virus, and Oscar is on flea/tick medicine, Preventic, which is similar to Frontline. It's a good thing he's a light color, because he's a tick magnet.

Little Differences

2007-03-01T09:28:00.000+01:00

Sometimes it’s the little differences that can make a transition more difficult, and other times, these differences can help one appreciate their new surroundings. The following is my list of some of these little variations between living in Erlangen and Chicago.

1. Regardless of whether you buy or rent a home, in Germany one has to supply his own kitchen. It’s rare to find an apartment that has a fully equipped kitchen. Usually, people buy their kitchens, and when they move, they take all the cabinets and appliances with them. Sometimes they’re willing to sell their old kitchens to the new tenants. Since our apartment was just built (note that I said apartment, not building—our apartment was built on top of an existing building), we had no choice but to purchase an entire kitchen.

This wouldn’t have been so bad, if it hadn’t taken 10 weeks for our kitchen to be installed. We ordered our kitchen in early August hoping that it would be installed before our furniture and stuff crossed the Atlantic. I guess they don’t believe in warehouses here, because we were told by our Verkäufer (salesman), Roland, at Neubert’s that it would take 10 weeks for our kitchen to be built, delivered and installed. We moved into our apartment on September 7, and our kitchen arrived on October 14. For five weeks, I made soup and spaghetti on a portable electric cook top that we borrowed from a friend and washed dishes in our bathroom sink. We had a coffee maker that we bought while still in our temporary apartment on Innere Brücker Strasse, and we bought a refrigerator two days after we moved into our permanent apartment.

The upside of all of this is that I got a red (ruby red to be exact) kitchen. We had originally ordered a kitchen with birch veneer, but then I saw a cooking show with a red kitchen and mentioned to Bob that someday I would like to have one of those. Bob said this was my chance and called Roland.

2. Apartments and houses also do not have closets. That’s right, no closets. Instead, clothes, toys, and linens are stored in schranks. Schrank is the German word for armoire, cupboard, kitchen cabinet, closet, wardrobe—all of these are simply called Schranks (it’s also a fun word to say). Because nice armoires are expensive and don’t hold enough, most people own large, portable closets, which can be purchased in most furniture stores. IKEA has a huge selection, even in the US, although I don’t know any people in the US who have an IKEA schrank. We don’t need them in the US, because we have closets and small rooms we call walk-in closets. As you can imagine, this limits one’s storage space, and therefore, it is not a good idea to accumulate a lot of clothes, unless you don’t mind a closet so packed that you can’t get anything in or out.

In general, when you move into an apartment, you get the floors, walls, windows, doors, toilets, tubs and bathroom sinks. Things, such as light fixtures, bathroom mirrors, and curtains, you have to supply yourself. On the one hand, this can make moving into a new place very expensive, but, on the other hand, when one moves again, they’re guaranteed a kitchen, schranks and accessories that reflect their personalities instead of the previous tenant’s.

3. Most household appliances in Europe are similar to those in the US, but there are slight evolutionary variances. For instance, refrigerators are smaller, and this is because everyone buys fresh food every few days. Europeans are not into long-term storage of food, hence the lack of preservatives in most food. Fruits and vegetables are sold ripe, so they spoil if not eaten right away. Bread grows stale in one or two days, and mold within a week. Meat turns gray within two days, and ham becomes slimy in less than a week.

Ovens also tend to be smaller. I don’t know the reason for this, but it doesn’t affect me because I don’t have to make large meals.

Washing machines are more complicated. Instead of picking cold, warm or hot water, I need to choose between cold, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 90 degrees C. I also have to choose the spin speed--400, 600, 800, 1000 or 1200 rpm. The dryer also makes me choose between damp, dry or extra dry. The dryers here come in two types—some vent steam like those in the US, and others use condensers similar to those in air-conditioners. The steam from the drying clothes is turned back into water, which is collected in a container that I have dump when full. They’re perfect for places where one may not have an opening to the outside.

My favorite appliance is my vacuum cleaner. I hated my Hoover in Chicago. It was heavy and noisy and had only one suction mode—very, very strong. That thing would suck up small rugs and curtains from two feet away. My vacuum here is light—no more stress on my back. It doesn’t have rotating brushes, which is a marketing rip-off, in my opinion, so it’s quiet and still able to pick up dog hair. Finally, I can adjust the amount of suction, so that I can vacuum thin rugs without having to worry that the entire rug will be eaten.

4. I mentioned in a previous blog that shops are closed on Sundays and holidays. This is not a problem--we don’t starve on Sundays because we do our shopping on Saturday. If a holiday falls on a weekday, we are aware of it because Bob has the day off and the kids have no school. We can plan ahead. But, if a holiday falls on a Saturday, this can be a problem. Twice we’ve been caught by surprise. The first time was in 2003, and All Saints’ Day, November 1, was on a Saturday. We woke up planning to shop for the weekend and realized everything was closed. That meant we had to eat out at least once (most restaurants are open on holidays), and the rest of our meals for the weekend consisted of pasta and canned or frozen vegetables.

The second time was January 6, 2007, the Epiphany (there is no separation of church and state in Germany, so most public holidays are Christian holidays). I realized it was a holiday when I was walking Oscar and heard the church bells ringing on a Saturday. We had already planned to have dinner in Pottenstein (see Bergfeuer), but again we had to be creative on Sunday.

5. No more writing checks! I hated writing checks. I never understood why I had to write out the amount in words. The number should have been enough. Here, they wouldn’t know what to do with a check. Money is transferred directly from our account to the bank account of whomever we need to pay. This can be done in two ways—through an Überweisung or a Dauerauftrag.

The Überweisung is used for one-time payments. For example, if I owe my dentist (just as in the US, dental insurance doesn’t cover everything), he would give me his bank account number and I would fill out an Überweisung from my bank, directing them to transfer the money to his account. All I need other than his bank account number is the code number for his bank. And I can do this online.

A Dauerauftrag, on the other hand, is used to pay monthly bills, such as rent, phone, electric, Alex’s kindergarten and Phil’s piano teacher. We give them our account info, or they give us theirs, and we set it up between our banks. We paid our mortgage this way in Chicago, but with utilities there were fees involved, and I don’t think Phil’s piano teacher would have agreed to give me his bank account number. When we moved to Germany the first time, we were very apprehensive about giving out our account number, but we spoke to some Americans living here and they said they had never heard of anyone using an account number to steal someone’s life savings.

The only thing I have to remember is to reverse the punctuation. In the US, we write 2200 dollars as $2,200.00. Here the comma and period are reversed, so 2200 Euros is written 2.200,00 Euros. I filled out an Ueberweisung to our moving company for 2,200.00 Euros, and ended up paying them 2 Euros and 20 cents.

Rosenmontag

2007-02-19T14:46:00.000+01:00

Today is Rosenmontag, and there is a big Karneval parade in Koeln (Cologne in English). But it seems to me that the festivities leading up to Ash Wednesday have been going on since the Epiphany, January 6. They have been broadcasting the Karneval Balls from Cologne on TV, and the peak of all this partying was reached this past weekend, the last weekend of Lent, which started on Thursday, Weiberfastnacht, and ends tomorrow on Faschingsdienstag, also known as Mardi Gras.

In Bavaria, they don't call it Karneval, but Fasching, and although everyone celebrates it and the kids have a week off from school, it is not as important of a holiday as in Cologne, where it is a public holiday. The parades are also bigger and wilder. We celebrated Karneval in Dormagen and Hackenbroich, which lie just north of Cologne. Bob's cousin lives in Hackenbroich, so when we lived in Deutschland before, we would visit during Karneval. Every little town and village in the area has its own Karneval Umzug (parade), and just like in New Orleans, different clubs sponsor floats and throw things at the spectators. In New Orleans they throw beads. Here they throw candy, popcorn, toys, condoms, and sometimes little bottles of liquor.

This year we hit the parade in Dormagen on Saturday and the one in Hackenbroich on Sunday. During Halloween, I told the boys that they would be collecting candy in February instead of October, and they did! They each collected two full shopping bags of candy, chips and popcorn. During Halloween in Chicago, they collected only half a bag each. Next year, I think we'll stay in Erlangen, where the parade is smaller, and therefore, less candy to rot their teeth.

Paranoid American

2007-02-15T11:02:00.000+01:00

Last night, as I was walking Oscar, I walked past an open first floor window of an apartment down the street from ours. There were four Arabic-looking men having dinner, and instead of thinking, Four friends enjoying dinner and conversation, I thought, This has to be a terrorist cell planning to blow something up in the US or UK.

Caca's Article

2007-02-03T13:04:00.000+01:00

My friend's current post on her blog (click on the title and look for Green, Orange, Whatever, posted on 2-2-2007) is a must read, even if you are already a convert. She's attached an article she wrote about what you can do to keep the planet clean.

Even though I believe Global Warming is a natural phenomenon that is part of our geological timeline, which, by the way, human evolution represents only 20 seconds on this timeline (I read this somewhere. I also read that the planet may have been going through a global warming period 3.5 million years ago, when we first began walking upright.), I still think there is no reason for us to contribute to global warming or pollution or overconsumption.

Unfortunately, American culture makes it difficult for us to be green. In Europe, most people recycle. The waste disposal system is set up so that paper goes into the blue dumpster, plastics into the yellow, biodegradables into green, and all other garbage into the black dumpsters. Even if you don't consider yourself green, there is no reason not to recycle. It's so easy. Every home, apartment building, office building, etc., has four color-coded dumpsters. And multi-bin home garbage cans are sold everywhere, so sorting at home is a no-brainer.

You also have to pay a deposit on most glass (beer) and plastic bottles, so you're motivated to return them. For wine bottles, clear glass and metal cans, there are large bins set up through the cities, and at rest stops along the autobahns. It is truly amazing how much of our garbage is recyclable, but you don't realize it until you start sorting. For example, I was amazed at how much of our garbage is foodstuff, which goes in the green, biodegradable dumpsters (once every two weeks, these are taken to a large compost pile somewhere outside of town). I don't make the kids clean their plates, so back in Chicago I was sending leftovers to the landfill. Even after the kids grow old and pass away, their half eaten sandwiches will be alive and well in a landfill on the outskirts of the city.

Communities in Europe are also designed to make it easier for people to go shopping or to work without having to drive. There are bakeries, butcher shops, grocery stores, hair salons, etc., located within walking or biking distance from residential areas. There are sidewalks and bike lanes leading to these shops. In many of the suburbs surrounding Chicago, shopping areas, i.e., stripmalls, are located a mile or more from housing developments, and even if they are closer, often there are no sidewalks between the two. If you decide to ride your bike, you end up sharing space on roads where the cars are averaging 60 mph. In Europe, people also live closer to their places of employment. They walk or ride their bikes, and save their cars for weekend excursions. They laugh when Bob tells them that he had an hour commute, one-way, and by Chicago standards that's not a long commute.

We complain about soaring gas prices in the US, but is that a bad thing? Benzin here costs about 1 Euro and 20 cents a liter. There are about 4 liters to a gallon, so 4 Euros and 80 cents per gallon. With the exchange rate, it equals about $6.25 per gallon of gas. No wonder Europeans would rather ride their bikes to work. Not only are they NOT adding more hydrocarbons to the atmosphere, they're staying fit.

Unfortunately, this time around we've noticed more SUVs on the road. We've been told that European SUVs have smaller engines than those sold in the US, but I'm sure they consume more energy than the Ford Fiesta or Cooper Mini, which are still more popular. They definitely consume more energy than the Smart car.

Thankfully, most Germans are not building mini-Mansions (also called McMansions) the way they are in the US. A lot more Germans are owning than renting these days, but they seem content with modest houses and small yards. This is a good thing, because more families can live in a smaller space. I can just see some of my friends cringing. Isn't the American dream to own a big house with a big yard and a high privacy fence so that you don't have to know your neighbors? But those big houses and big yards mean more natural spaces have to be destroyed, thus reducing genetic diversity. Regardless of whether or not I believe that we mortals can affect climate change, we mortals do have the power to accelerate or slow down extinction. Remember the Dodo bird?

Batteries, like gasoline, are expensive. This discourages people from buying things, such as toys, that require batteries. In fact, the toy stores here have lots of Legos, Mega Bloks, puzzles, board and card games, etc. They carry very few toys that run on batteries.

Speaking of shopping, there is no shopping on Sunday and Holidays, not yet anyway. When we lived here before, shops were open only until 6 PM on weekdays and 4 PM on Saturdays. Now, they are open until 8 PM, Monday through Saturday, and bakeries are open from 8 AM to 5 PM on Sundays, as well. There is talk about changing the laws so that shop owners, if they desire, can do business on Sundays. I think it will be a sad day, because it is nice to have one day a week for family excursions. Restaurants, museums and zoos remain open, and there's always the long walk with the dog and kids. I do not miss the extra day of spending money on stuff I don't really need but it's on sale.

Which brings me back to garbage. It is not so easy to get rid of stuff you no longer want here. There are drop-off boxes for clothes all over town, so that's easy. I know a place that buys old CDs for 1 Euro each, but I have yet to figure out how to get rid of my old books, other than throwing them into paper recycling, and the kids' old toys. Large items, like furniture, have to be picked up by the city. This requires an appointment, not like in Chicago, where you just put it out on the curb and someone with a pick-up truck will come along and take it. Not only do I have to ask myself, Do I need this?, but I also have to ask, How do I get rid of it later?, whenever I buy something. For example, we were going to buy a new breadbox, but since we don't have a lot of storage space, what do we do with the old one? We decided that the old one was still doing a good job, so it need not be retired.

A German friend of mine, who lived in Houston for five years and whose children were born there, decided to return to Germany to raise her children, because she wanted them to grow up respecting their surroundings. She doesn't blame Americans for their wastefulness, because we live in a country with seemingly limitless space and resources. In a country of 80 million people living in an area the size of Wisconsin, limits are more apparent.

Die Deutsche Schule

2007-02-03T11:59:00.000+01:00

There's a scene in an episode of Sex and the City, in which Mikhail Baryshnikov's character corrects Carrie on the pronunciation of his name, and she gives him a quizzical look. I often get that look on my face when people correct me on my German pronunciations. I feel like saying, Isn's that what I said?

Philip has also been giving me that look whenever I say, You should know how to do this. You did this in Mrs. Burks's class last year.

Philip started in third grade this school year, but after one week, he was sent back into second. I was expecting this, because I didn't think his German was good enough for the third grade. But it wasn't his Deutsch, it was his math. He did really well in math last year in Chicago, so I assumed he would have no problems keeping up. Here in Deutschland, or maybe just Bavaria, they are so much further ahead of us in the US when it comes to math. By the beginning of third, the students need to be able to add and subtract two-digit numbers quickly in their heads and have all of the multiplication tables memorized.

To Sauganash School's credit, they did teach him how to add and subtract two-digit numbers, but the presentation was different. In the US, we set up the problems vertically:

53
-28

It's easier to then make the 3 a 13 by superscripting a 1 to the left of the 3, and to change the 5 to a 4 by simply crossing out the 5. And we're allowed to do this on paper.

Here, the problems are presented horizontally: 53-28, and the students have to be able to do the conversions in their heads, not on paper. And absolutely no counting on your fingers (I still use my fingers sometimes).

Philip also started to learn multiplication from Mrs. Burks, but only 0 through 5 and 10. I don't think he had these memorized. Here, he will have to know 0 through 10 by heart before the end of the school year, July 27.

They are also big on cursive writing. By third grade, they need to read and write everything in cursive, using a fountain pen, no less. Philip has the advantage of having learned cursive in second, whereas most US schools don't begin until third. Still, it seems archaic in an era that expects everything written on a computer.

They don't teach spelling the same way either. They have Diktats, or dictations, in which the teacher recites a story using the spelling words they were supposed to have learned. So, not only do they have to remember how to spell their assigned Lernwoerter, but also the other words in the story and to capitalize and punctuate.

On the one hand, I feel guilty putting my son in this strict school system, but, on the other hand, I feel like he's getting a better education. And Philip is the type of kid that needs an extra push to learn something new. As Marge Simpson said of Bart, He needs structure.

German Punctuality

2007-01-31T09:22:00.000+01:00

Germans are known for their punctuality, but to me punctual means showing up on time, give or take a few minutes, not 15 minutes earlier.

Today, a plumber came to fix our toilet. German toilets are more complicated than toilets in the US, because the internal workings are inside the wall instead of a tank behind the bowl. This appeals to my sense of minimalism, but it makes it difficult to fix on one's own. Anyway, he was supposed to come between 9 and 9:30, but instead he showed up at 8:45. What if I hadn't returned from dropping off Alex at Kindergarten? Would he have just left?

This is not the first time this has happened. Our building has a new heating system, so for a while the installers kept calling to set up appointments to check the heating in each apartment. They always showed up 15 to 30 minutes early. The same with deliveries. Our washer and dryer arrived 30 minutes early too.

But our schranks (portable closets--German homes do not have closets) arrived a whole hour earlier. I was expecting the delivery guys at noon and they showed up at 11. When I said You're early, they responded Yes, we hope you don't mind (in Deutsche, of course). I did mind, but I didn't say it. What if I hadn't been home? Would they have returned or left me a note telling me to reschedule?

Nevertheless, I now know to be home at least a half-hour before the predetermined time.

Snow, Finally

2007-01-24T09:38:00.000+01:00

It started snowing last night and it's still snowing! It's been so warm around here that I forgot it was winter. The snow is light, but it can be packed into snowballs. It's not like the wet, heavy snow that comes down in Chicago, and it hasn't been coming down fast like in Chicago. It's just slowly dropping from the sky, so although it's been snowing for over 12 hours, we have only about 15 cm (6 inches) on the ground. In Chicago, an overnight snowfall would have resulted in a foot, or more.

They don't use salt to melt the snow, so even though they have plowed the streets, the snow is beginning to accumulate again. This makes driving hard, but Germans aren't as dependent on their cars as we Americans are. People are taking the bus, walking, riding their bikes (it is so much fun to ride a bike in the snow!), or pulling their kids on sleds. Philip walked to school with his friend, Jan, and Alex and I went by bike and anhanger (Burley trailer). I actually enjoyed it!

Orkan Kyrill

2007-01-21T16:51:00.000+01:00

We survived Orkan Kyrill on Thursday, January 18. For a good description of what an orkan is, click on the title, but in general it's hurricane-force winds that on Thursday swept through Europe. At first, Bob and I didn't think much of the storm, because we get strong winds in Chicago. But that night, each gust of wind that hit our apartment sounded like a car, or some other large, heavy object, slamming into our walls and windows. By the next morning, the winds had died down and we were left with some heavy rain, but schools were canceled anyway. We've had some pretty good snowstorms in Chicago, and still had to get the kids to school. Not much happened in Erlangen, except for a few trees blew over. According to a CNN article our friend Orest from Seattle sent us (by early Friday morning!), 25 people had lost their lives in the storm, two of them toddlers, and Great Britain suffered the most damage.

Thankfully, we were all home during this orkan. In October 2002, Philip and I were a train from Munich when an orkan hit. What should have been a two-hour train ride turned into eight hours because of trees that had fallen on the tracks around Nuernberg. Philip and I spent most the night in the Ansbach train station waiting for the tracks to clear. Luckily, we met a teenager on the train who spoke perfect English, and he translated the messages being broadcast over the intercom system. He also lent me his handy (cell phone) when mine died. Around midnight, our train arrived in Nuernberg, but could not proceed to Erlangen because they were still trying to clear the tracks. So, Bob came (Nuernberg is only a 20 minute drive from Erlangen) to pick us up. The storm in 2002 was not as bad as Kyrill on Thursday. Kyrill shut down the entire German train system.

Levi Strauss Museum

2007-01-18T11:52:00.000+01:00

Sorry, I could find only the German version. For more on Mr. Strauss, see wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss.

St. Georgen and Levi Strauss

2007-01-18T10:40:00.000+01:00

Last weekend, we made our fourth annual trip to St. Georgen Braeu in Buttenheim. Actually, it should have been our sixth, but since we couldn't make the trip in 2005 or 2006 because we were back in Chicago, it will be known as our fourth.

While we were living in Erlangen before, on the second Saturday of the new year, we would drive to Buttenheim to have dinner at St. Georgen Brewery. The first time we made the trip, was in 2002, about three weeks after we arrived in Erlangen. Bob had been to Erlangen several times before on business, so he wanted to take me to the places he thought were memorable. We had already been to Nuernberg and Bamberg, and now it was Buttenheim's turn. Buttenheim is a small village about 25 kilometers north of Erlangen. It is home to St. Georgen and Lowenbrau (not the same Lowenbrau as in the US) breweries--both owned by brothers as are Puma and Adidas, also headquartered near Erlangen. Bob had been to St. Georgen before, so that was where we went, and I loved it. I loved the beer. All of them--Pils, Dunkels (dark), and Keller. And I loved the atmosphere. It looks just like a Bavarian restaurant from the movies. It has lots of wood--paneling on the walls, beams on the ceilings, long tables and benches--and the beer is served in large ceramic mugs. It's also kid friendly, although compared to the US, most places in Europe are. And, it's cheap. Our current trip only cost us 40 Euros for two kids' schnitzels with pommes (French fries), Schauferla (pork shoulder--a local delicacy) for Bob, Hirschbraten (roasted venison--another local delicacy) for me, two sodas, and four beers. Our last dinner outing in Chicago cost us over $100. We went to Frontera Grill, which, outside of McD's and the corner diner, is kid-friendly. The kids split a taco plate, and Bob and I each had only one Margarita.

Let me digress here, and say that I miss Frontera Grill, Tecalitlan on Chicago Ave., and La Pasadita Tacos on Ashland. We have yet to find a decent Mexican restaurant, but you can buy tortillas, salsa and taco seasonings in the supermarkets, so we make our own tacos. Unfortunately, we can't find fresh cilantro, and what's a taco without cilantro?

Buttenheim is also the birthplace and childhood home of Levi Strauss, the inventor of jeans. His blue Fachwerk (half-timbered) home now houses a museum that does a very good job of telling his story. Briefly, Levi left Europe for NY when he was 18, and eventually made his way to SF during the gold rush. There he made pants out of a tough French fabric, serge de Nimes (the word denim is derived from de Nimes). He later started using copper rivets to hold his jeans together. This was not his idea, but since he put the money up for the patent, I guess that's why only his name appears on the label.

Before coming to Buttenheim, I never stopped to think that someone had to invent jeans, and I always thought Levi Strauss was the combined names of the company's founders--Mr. Levi and Mr. Strauss. It never occurred to me that Levi was a first name, although he changed it from Loeb.

Now, if only I could figure out how to add links within my text instead of just the title, you, my dear readers, would be able to check out the Levi Strauss Museum site.