Saving energy

Though I have always leaned towards the conservative side of things (ok, more than leaned...), I have certainly noticed a large shift left over the last 5 years in my political and personal views. As part of that, I have found myself making more of an effort to conserve energy and recycle, especially here in Germany where recycling is a big deal and everyone has several sets of trash that only certain products may be thrown away in. However, there are times I don't make the effort, largely when the effort inconveniences me. For example, we were in France this weekend and had to replace the batteries in my kids Leapsters. Rebecca insisted on bringing all the batteries back home (in addition to already having more than we really needed for an overnight) to recycle them there instead of throwing them away in the hotel. I would have thrown them away in the hotel. And there are some times when the effort to conserve energy seems to go just a bit too far here. In particular, lights in certain rooms and bathrooms are programmed to shut off if no motion is detected in a certain amount of time. And that time is WAY TOO SHORT. When you end up using the bathroom and are there for greater than 3 minutes, it is quite an issue to be stuck in an unfamiliar stall in pitch darkness with the motion sensor near the doorway. Absolutely ridiculous.

Closed Sundays

I may have written a bit about this before but the whole issue arose once again in our weekend trip last weekend. When we first arrived in Germany, the concept that all stores (except restaurants, bars and gas stations) were closed on Sundays was very difficult to get used to. It meant that all shopping for the weekend (and school lunches on Monday) had to be completed before the stores closed Saturday. And since Germans shop daily typically (as they cannot fit anything more than a days worth of food in their tiny refrigerators and there are not preservatives in food), everyone else was at the stores on Saturday too. (It actually has gotten alot better since I lived here in 1989 when stores were open once or twice a month on Saturdays and only until lunch time).
As time went by and we got used to getting the shopping completed and spending Sundays as Germans truly intend - united as a family, not distracted by mundane household stuff - and actually liked the idea of not shopping Sundays. Rebecca went so far as saying that she wanted to bring the concept back to the US with us when we moved back. I am not quite convinced but understand why she likes it.
However, this weekend we went to Strasbourg, France and Baden-Baden, Germany for the weekend just to see the cities as we had heard positive comments. We had a great day in Strasbourg, only to find that when we wanted to grab dinner at 5:30 (the kids go to bed at 7, especially after an afternoon of swimming like Saturday). Nothing opened prior to 7 pm and even that would have been hard to find according to the hotelier. So...off to McDonald's we went, not happily but far better than experiencing the meltdown of going to a French restaurant 90 minutes later, not finding anything our picky kids would eat and enjoying the meltdowns of the kids....
The next morning we got up, me out the hotel door to find a bakery for something to eat. And, alas, according to the hotel, absolutely nothing is open on Sundays except restaurants later in the day. So frustrating...especially for those of us being used to being able to run out at whatever whim we have to eat, shop, anything....so we ended up at a below average buffet at the hotel for only $27 per person...I am no cheapskate, but this just seemed to ridiculous to me when a $2 croissant would have sufficed.
People ask me why I like the US better and what I won't miss about Europe and this is a huge one - what I perceive as better customer service and availability of things when I want them. That is all so restricted around here...

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????

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.

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.

Canary Islands

We are in the midst of a short one-week vacation in Tenerife, Carnary Island, an island chain off the coast of North Africa that belongs to Spain. While Spanish is the primary language, English is very prevalent with most signs also being in Englisg due to the plethora of Brits who vacation here. We have been told by a few people that very few Americans make it here as the islands are similar to the weather in Florida, the Caribbean or Hawaii so people don't make the journey here. For us, we flew from Frankfurt to Madrid (2.5 hours) and then Madrid to Tenerife (about 2 3/4 hours). An hour drive took us to this beautiful mansion we rented with plenty of room for another family and a pool that has been used non-stop.

We have spent a few days lounging by the pool and swimming all day. This morning we went to a local beach (some of which are black sand) and enjoyed the waves and salt water. Both girls were fantastic and Kate was in the water in 30 seconds, paddling out on a wake board, as well as "snorkeling" with me a ways out in the water. Beach pics below are from this morning.

There are also some wonderful amusement parks on the island and we chose two to go to - one of the largest water parks in the world (Siam Park) and a wonderful animal park with dolphin and orca shows (Lora Parque) that rivaled Sea World. Both wonderful parks and the girls loved them. One had a roller coaster and Lauren loved it - screamed the whole time with her arms up!

Kids have been tough to get to bed at night despite being exhausted...perhaps the hour time change from Frankfurt, perhaps the new environment or perhaps just missing their window and being over tired. But Rebecca has been asleep by 8 every night except the first one. The first one we arrived about 10 after an hour drive from the airport and then saw a huge fireworks show over the water that was Kate's first real fireworks show. She loved it!

We fly home in 2 days, back to wintry, grey Frankfurt. Though happy Grandpa David will be joining us for some time next week and looking forward to Kate's birthday in a few weeks.

Catching Up

I can't believe it has been 8 months since I wrote. Alot has happened in that time - nothing big but just fun moments while living in Germany. To catch you up before I complain about the cost of living here..

February - a fantastic 12 day cruise preceded by 3 days in Barcelona. Cruise went from Barcelona to Rome to Athens to Turkey to Egypt to Malta and back to Barcelona. This was cruise number 30 for me but the first for the kids and was fantastic. It was tough to get them out of the Kids' Club.

April - Made our extension to stay in Germany through June 2011 official. Who knows where we will end up thereafter but I will be pushing hard for Cleveland...unless they have some other wonderful place for us to spend some time.

May - Rebecca and I went on our first trip alone to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We flew our babysitter (and essentially one of the family since she has been with us since Kate was little) from the US. She came a week early to "learn the ropes" - driving, taking the kids to school, meals, etc. The trip was fantastic. We drove first to Venice, then Florence, Pisa and then to the Cinque Terre, 5 gorgeous cities on the Italian Riviera. The first 5 days were full of museums and we were quite tired of museums by then. The last 4 days were relaxing - some hiking along the coast and sitting on the beach for the day. We even decided to come home a say early as we missed the girls. All was wonderful, Natalie did a fantastic job. Aside from my leaving $1,500 in cash in a safe in Florence...got it back but a few panicy hours.

May - My sister Becca, her husband Bryan and 2 year old son Ben (the B's) came over for 10 days. We had so much fun sharing with them where we lived, exploring the local area (castles, Frankfurt, etc) and they had a few day jaunt to Munich to check it out. Glad they could make it over before baby number 2 joins us in the next week or so!

June - Went to Berlin for a 4-day weekend. My firs trip back since January 1990, just after the wall came down and so much has changed. Construction everywhere and really a big city, cosmopolitan feel. Such fun to show Rebecca (a European history major) the wall, museum of the SS, Brandenburg Gate and many other very historical sites. We stayed in an apartment hotel that worked out well.

July - The family few home to Cleveland on the 2nd, originally staying for 5 weeks, though we extended it to 6 before we even left. Ended up changing it to 7 near the end of the trip. We had a great time seeing family in Cleveland, staying with Mimi, a week at the cottage swimming, jet skiing, etc. and just visiting with everyone. I flew home the 17th and the family stayed through August 16th. However, I was able to work on a project in Toronto, Canada so was in North America for the next month and got to visit every weekend. Not ideal but better than spending the summer in Germany alone! Kate and Lauren spent 4 hours a day in the pool at Rebecca's parents house and are swimming so well. Kate dove to the bottom of the 10 foot pool to fetch rings and Lauren is swimming all alone with no flotation devices. Really proud of them!

August/September - Back to school! Kate came home and discovered she had "two wobbly teeth" and the first fell out yesterday! She was sooooo excited. Kids enjoy their classes and it is nice to get back into the swing of things.

We are now gearing up for a trip to the Canary Islands in about 3 weeks for a week. We have rented a villa with a pool near the beach and expect a Florida-like atmosphere and weather. It is hard to find warmth in Europe after September but the Canary Islands are quite far south, off the Atlantic coast of Morocco. They are owned by Spain...though are about as far from Spain as Puerto Rico is from the US.

On to cost of living. We get a decent cost of living allowance to account for the difference between living in Cleveland and Frankfurt. And frankly, I believe it covers us pretty well as Rebecca and I are relatively frugal except for our wonderful travels. However it is times like yesterday that just blow my mind...

I took my car to the car dealer for the 65,000 mile check up and the cost was...$1,900. And that was without anything broken....just to change oils, lubricants, filters, general check up. The oil is about $40 a liter...so changing my oil was $200. With all other lubricants and filters, just the oil change was about $400. Compared with $20 in the US? Good fricking god. And every two years, cars must be inspected to allow them to remain driving. The findings on mine?

1. A small nick in the windshield, causing the ENTIRE windshield to have to be replaced.

2. A fog light was out

3. The light in the glove box was not working and needed to be replaced

4. The first aid kit that is mandatory in every car in Germany was missing.

5. A small piece that is part of the windshield wiper was missing and had to be replaced. But they don't have that piece separately so I needed entirely new wipers. Which, I had just replaced in May prior to our anniversary trip. Only $80. What a bargain.

And, of course, they couldn't fix any of these things as they don't carry the inventory of ANY of them so I had to make another appointment. Oh...and then ANOTHER appointment for a reinspection.

No wonder Germany has such a high GDP and strong economy. Their processes and laws ensure that so much money is spent on maintaining one's vehicle (and property - get this, you MUST pull your weeds in the sidewalk every 7 days or face a ticket, you MUST have all snow shoveled each morning by 7 am or be cited), therefore boosting the economy.

So for all the times I think we are saving some money on the cost of living increase, I have to be reminded of times like these. Car maintenance and housing....so expensive.