Monday, November 29, 2010
The honeymoon is over
You know when you first get to know someone or something and the quirky things they do or the minor inconveniences are seen as cute? And then as time goes by, these things become less cute and more annoying? (Except in the case of your spouse, of course, when everything they do is seen as cute for the entire marriage). Well...the things that used to be little inconveniences about Germany and Europe are now pissing me off. I long for the conveniences of home, the customer-service orientation of the US and the general respect of one's own private space. And, for God's sake, I want to be back in a culture that knows how to line-up and not just push their way to the front like kindergarten. Do you know that you can't buy a first class train ticket easily here, as I experienced this morning? You have to buy a second class ticket, insert your credit card and go through the whole transaction. Then you have to buy a 1st class upgrade and do it all over again. Are you kidding me!?!?!?!?!?!? Where is the German efficiency????
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Kate's first meal at the Four Seasons
We are on a 4 day trip through Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. We left directly after school on Wednesday as the kids have a fall break Thursday and Friday. The kids were well behaved on the flight and we had an uneventful trip to our apartment hotel in Vienna. Thursday we were up and checked out the Hofburg castle, Sisi Museum, Children's Museum and the Lippanzer Stallions, before going to Christmas Markets. There was a small market for children where there were 8 stations they could go in without parents to make gifts, cookies, etc. Dinner at Wienerwald and Rebecca and the kids were asleep by 730!
Friday morning we caught a train to Budapest, a 2.5 hour train ride, but not before a heartbreaking event. Rebecca caught her wedding ring on her coat while getting on board one of the trains and when the train pulled out of the station, she noticed that the primary stone was gone. A priest came up to her as she cried on the train, gave her a medallion of the Virgin Mary that he said was blessed by the Pope and told her, "Better to lose the stone than the whole finger!" After paying for insurance on it on our homeowner's policy in the US, I do not believe it is currently insured...painful!
Alot of trains on that day and took a while to figure out the subway system in Budapest but we made it within two blocks of our apartment. I called the landlady and she could not tell us how to get there from the big 8-way intersection we were at ("walk one direction 200 meters and if you don't see the street, turn around and try another direction!" Ridiculous). We ended up figuring it out with the GPS on my phone but the intersection was so big that there is no crossing it above ground and had to keep going down stairs and up stairs with our luggage, stroller and bundled up kids. We went out briefly last night to some Christmas markets and found a TGIFriday's for dinner! So nice to taste American food! Most people would scoff at Friday's or Hard Rock but we love finding them as we have so much German food that some comfort American food is so much appreciated.
Finding food in Germany for us is hard due to Kate's milk allergy. Finding food in a foreign country in a language that we know nothing about with people who speak such little English is miserable. We had some crackers for breakfast early this morning as they had ingredients listed in English. As we walked toward the bus tour we had reserved, Kate said she was starving and the tour was supposed to be 2 hours. So we went in the Sofitel Hotel to see if they had a gift shop or something to get pretzels. No dice. Across the street to the ritzy Four Seasons, Rebecca and Kate went in and Lauren and I waited in the cold outside, a block away from where we were supposed to board the bus in 20 minutes. 15 minutes later, no Kate and Rebecca. Lauren and I ran to the bus to ask them to wait and they waited. Right as the clock hit 11 and they told me they had to leave, Rebecca and Kate come running out of the Four Seasons full speed toward the bus. It took 10 minutes before my out-of-breath pregnant could explain. Apparently they had no food or gift shop, but promised they could make her scrambled eggs in 1 minute. They made the eggs but then Rebecca realized she had no Hungarian money or a credit card on her. So she had to run to the front desk, exchange Euros for Forint and go back and pay. I asked for the receipt to see how much these eggs had cost and it was about $28. What a bargain...
A 2 hour bus tour on a bus that doubled as a boat down the Danube was awesome, though Kate was in tears the last 20 minutes because she had to pee so badly! Off the bus and found a pizza/salad place that is prevalent throughout Europe - Vapiano. Great lunch then off on the subway to the Hungarian circus. Wow...what an experience. Most circuses I have seen in Germany are Eastern European in origin and I believe they usually originate from Romania or Bulgaria, countries with nomadic people and gypsies. Ironically, we go to a circus in Eastern Europe, and the primary characters who performed 75% of the acts, were musucular, dredlocked black guys, rapping and beat boxing as they performed the typical acrobatics. A few animal acts and others as well. Oddly, the lead rapper/singer was a guy dressed only in a speedo and war paint and in a 55 gallon drum for the entire performance. He would pop out of it and sing or just peak out of it and watch what was going on. And at times, believe it or not, he would drag himself across the ring on just his arms, dragging his body and the 55 gallon drum. We saw him later in the show and this was not to hide any sort of handicap as he was walking just fine. Just artistic...
And here we sit on our last night before taking 2 trains and a plane tomorrow back home. For the 4th night in a row, the kids have been miserable going to bed, likely due to overtiredness. I am certainly overtired from lugging the luggage and stroller up and down so many flights of stairs...that is why people backpack when they come to Europe...and do it before they have kids.
Friday morning we caught a train to Budapest, a 2.5 hour train ride, but not before a heartbreaking event. Rebecca caught her wedding ring on her coat while getting on board one of the trains and when the train pulled out of the station, she noticed that the primary stone was gone. A priest came up to her as she cried on the train, gave her a medallion of the Virgin Mary that he said was blessed by the Pope and told her, "Better to lose the stone than the whole finger!" After paying for insurance on it on our homeowner's policy in the US, I do not believe it is currently insured...painful!
Alot of trains on that day and took a while to figure out the subway system in Budapest but we made it within two blocks of our apartment. I called the landlady and she could not tell us how to get there from the big 8-way intersection we were at ("walk one direction 200 meters and if you don't see the street, turn around and try another direction!" Ridiculous). We ended up figuring it out with the GPS on my phone but the intersection was so big that there is no crossing it above ground and had to keep going down stairs and up stairs with our luggage, stroller and bundled up kids. We went out briefly last night to some Christmas markets and found a TGIFriday's for dinner! So nice to taste American food! Most people would scoff at Friday's or Hard Rock but we love finding them as we have so much German food that some comfort American food is so much appreciated.
Finding food in Germany for us is hard due to Kate's milk allergy. Finding food in a foreign country in a language that we know nothing about with people who speak such little English is miserable. We had some crackers for breakfast early this morning as they had ingredients listed in English. As we walked toward the bus tour we had reserved, Kate said she was starving and the tour was supposed to be 2 hours. So we went in the Sofitel Hotel to see if they had a gift shop or something to get pretzels. No dice. Across the street to the ritzy Four Seasons, Rebecca and Kate went in and Lauren and I waited in the cold outside, a block away from where we were supposed to board the bus in 20 minutes. 15 minutes later, no Kate and Rebecca. Lauren and I ran to the bus to ask them to wait and they waited. Right as the clock hit 11 and they told me they had to leave, Rebecca and Kate come running out of the Four Seasons full speed toward the bus. It took 10 minutes before my out-of-breath pregnant could explain. Apparently they had no food or gift shop, but promised they could make her scrambled eggs in 1 minute. They made the eggs but then Rebecca realized she had no Hungarian money or a credit card on her. So she had to run to the front desk, exchange Euros for Forint and go back and pay. I asked for the receipt to see how much these eggs had cost and it was about $28. What a bargain...
A 2 hour bus tour on a bus that doubled as a boat down the Danube was awesome, though Kate was in tears the last 20 minutes because she had to pee so badly! Off the bus and found a pizza/salad place that is prevalent throughout Europe - Vapiano. Great lunch then off on the subway to the Hungarian circus. Wow...what an experience. Most circuses I have seen in Germany are Eastern European in origin and I believe they usually originate from Romania or Bulgaria, countries with nomadic people and gypsies. Ironically, we go to a circus in Eastern Europe, and the primary characters who performed 75% of the acts, were musucular, dredlocked black guys, rapping and beat boxing as they performed the typical acrobatics. A few animal acts and others as well. Oddly, the lead rapper/singer was a guy dressed only in a speedo and war paint and in a 55 gallon drum for the entire performance. He would pop out of it and sing or just peak out of it and watch what was going on. And at times, believe it or not, he would drag himself across the ring on just his arms, dragging his body and the 55 gallon drum. We saw him later in the show and this was not to hide any sort of handicap as he was walking just fine. Just artistic...
And here we sit on our last night before taking 2 trains and a plane tomorrow back home. For the 4th night in a row, the kids have been miserable going to bed, likely due to overtiredness. I am certainly overtired from lugging the luggage and stroller up and down so many flights of stairs...that is why people backpack when they come to Europe...and do it before they have kids.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I am sitting in a Starbucks, actually reading and relaxing on a Sunday while I wait to pick up Kate from a birthday party downtown. Rebecca took Lauren to another birthday party. Sort of guilty sitting here accomplishing nothing but some downtime is nice. The last two months have been quite stressful:
1. Rebecca is pregnant and we are just finishing the first trimester. She wasn't quite as sick with this one as the last two but it has been no cake walk. The concerns of problems with the baby (due to our now being old) and a couple of day stay at the hospital largely due to a ovarian cyst kept things interesting. But all is well and we have the lowest possible chance after all the screening to have any genetic issues with the baby. Like 1 in 3900. I'll take those chances.
2. Becca's been very sick with some virus the past few weeks, the kids have had it on and off and I seem to be coming down with it a bit.
3. Work has been busier the past 3 months than I ever recall. Long days. Turning work away as we are so busy so this takes time away from the family and stresses them a bit too.
4. We have been struggling for a while about where to return to in the US and where the firm would allow us to. After lots of discussions and thinking about it, we chose to go back to Cleveland against most recommendations that suggested other places would be best career wise. However, best career-wise didn't sound like best family-wise which is most important. So thrilled to be returning home to family, friends, the cottage.
5. However, we have decided due to our growing family and the need for better schools, to move from our first home on Coleridge. Sad to leave it as we loved it but excited to find a new place that will be the place our kids remember most about growing up. Both of us are set on the community being most important as we both grew up on very loving wonderful and open streets and want our kids to have the same experience. We just need to weigh that with distance from family, schools, the desire for a newer home (ok MY desire for a newer home).
Definitely feels like we will be closing two chapters of our lives at once. Certainly on our lives and wonderful friends and experiences here in Germany. But also on Coleridge as we never closed that chapter and expected to return to our awesome neighbors and great location. For those of us who embrace change and are excited about new things and experiences, this will still be emotional but an adventure. For those of us (REBECCA!) who don't, the next 6-8 months will certainly have its challenges. And moving with a 5 week old will certainly lessen the stress...;)
We are off to Vienna and Budapest this week for a brief 4 day vacation that should be fun. Never been to Budapest which I hear is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
1. Rebecca is pregnant and we are just finishing the first trimester. She wasn't quite as sick with this one as the last two but it has been no cake walk. The concerns of problems with the baby (due to our now being old) and a couple of day stay at the hospital largely due to a ovarian cyst kept things interesting. But all is well and we have the lowest possible chance after all the screening to have any genetic issues with the baby. Like 1 in 3900. I'll take those chances.
2. Becca's been very sick with some virus the past few weeks, the kids have had it on and off and I seem to be coming down with it a bit.
3. Work has been busier the past 3 months than I ever recall. Long days. Turning work away as we are so busy so this takes time away from the family and stresses them a bit too.
4. We have been struggling for a while about where to return to in the US and where the firm would allow us to. After lots of discussions and thinking about it, we chose to go back to Cleveland against most recommendations that suggested other places would be best career wise. However, best career-wise didn't sound like best family-wise which is most important. So thrilled to be returning home to family, friends, the cottage.
5. However, we have decided due to our growing family and the need for better schools, to move from our first home on Coleridge. Sad to leave it as we loved it but excited to find a new place that will be the place our kids remember most about growing up. Both of us are set on the community being most important as we both grew up on very loving wonderful and open streets and want our kids to have the same experience. We just need to weigh that with distance from family, schools, the desire for a newer home (ok MY desire for a newer home).
Definitely feels like we will be closing two chapters of our lives at once. Certainly on our lives and wonderful friends and experiences here in Germany. But also on Coleridge as we never closed that chapter and expected to return to our awesome neighbors and great location. For those of us who embrace change and are excited about new things and experiences, this will still be emotional but an adventure. For those of us (REBECCA!) who don't, the next 6-8 months will certainly have its challenges. And moving with a 5 week old will certainly lessen the stress...;)
We are off to Vienna and Budapest this week for a brief 4 day vacation that should be fun. Never been to Budapest which I hear is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
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