Mission Accomplished!

As many of you know, my only complaints about living in Europe is the lack of Target and Taco Bell.  When we moved to Germany, I found out that the rumor that there was a Taco Bell on the Wiesbaden US Army base was actually true.  Since then, I have made it my mission to gain access to it.

Yes, TB is crap food.  But it is delicious crap food unlike any other food found in Europe.  Mexican of any quality in Europe is rare, but I admit I love Taco Bell.  It is my absoultely guilty pleasure that has been pushed into submission for the last 2 1/2 years.  I was fine with the loss in Switzerland, but here knowing that there is a Taco Bell less than 20 minutes from my house that I could not go to was just mean.  It taunted me everytime I drove into Wiesbaden.

Today: Mission Accomplished!


I got to have Taco Bell for lunch today!  How, because a friend of mine from school knows an Army wife who sells Pampered Chef stuff at US prices.  A bunch of us wanted some PC stuff, so I decided to host a party.  The party was crazy good, and I got over $500 of free stuff, but even better is that the when I suggested to the consultant that we meet to close the party today at lunch, she suggested we go somewhere on base!  Yes! 

It was quite a process to get in.  I had to show a passport and be signed onto base, just to go to lunch!  How crazy is that?  Once on base, everything looks like it does in the US, for better or for worse ;).  There was an ugly strip mall with a food court full of junk food, but I wasn't in the mood to judge.  I just saw the sign for Taco Bell and cheered.  It's a good thing I haven't cleaned out my wallet since August, since I had to pay for lunch in US dollars. 

It is weird how "American" everything on the base is: big US brand SUVs in the parking lot, prices in dollars on signs, English on signs and spoken by everyone, and streets named Texasstrasse and Californiastrasse and John F. Kennedy Strasse!  As grateful as I am for the taste of home today, I am also happy that while living abroad, I am truly living in the foreign culture.  I don't think living on base would be as authentic as living in a German or Swiss community.  It's harder, I'm sure to acclimate to living abroad as an ex-pat instead of as a military family, but I'm really glad we did it this way.  It feels more "real". 

Germany, the East Side of Detroit?

A funny thing happened this weekend.  I took Lainey to the Opel Zoo for "Mommy and Lainey Day" while the boys went to get muddy playing football in a park.  She and I were checking out the meerkat exhibit when we heard a few boys behind us comment:  "The meerkats are cool, but they aren't anything like the prairie dog exhibit at the Detroit Zoo.  I like that way better!"  Later that day, Lainey wanted to drive the little cars, so I let her.  For the cost of 1€ she was able to cruise around in a car with a Michigan license plate! 

Welcome to the Frankfurt/Wiesbaden area.  It's the far east side of  Detroit, just with a bit of an accent.

Sometimes, it doesn't even feel foreign around here.  It is as if the midwest hiccupped and a few thousand people from Chicago, Detroit, Columbus, and Cleveland got spit up a few thousand miles away. At least in Zurich, we had the "foreign-ness" of meeting people from all around the world.  Here, my friends are mainly from the midwest, with a heavy majority being from Detroit with the same company.  I have one or two acquaintences who are English and one German friend-but she and her family are moving to Chicago in April!

I have had to jump back into German lessons just to feel like I'm not living in Detroit!  I started a new course in our city.  It's a group course for immigrants.  It is me, a few women who are married to Germans, or whose families moved here permanently years ago, and 2 au pairs. It is certainly a mixed bunch!  There is me from America, and women from Japan, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and France.  So guess what-German is the only common language!  It is a bit stressful, considering even the teacher doesn't speak English and I've joined a level 3 class!  It is all the stuff I told myself 2 years ago I wasn't going to bother with: grammar rules. 

German is a completely complicated language with 9 or 12 (I've lost count) words that all mean "the" and another 9-12 that mean "a/an" depending on where the "the" or "a/an" fall in a sentence (subject, direct object, or indirect object).  But, those rules can change if a certain preposition is found in the sentence.  And, don't forget that each time you change the "the" or "a/an" that means if an adjective is in a sentence you need to add an ending to it.  And, yep, there are 9-12 different endings for these adjectives!  It is a darn good thing that I have a degree in English and that I know what subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, and prepositions are or I'd be completely lost.  As it is, I'm 3/4 lost. 

But, I keep trying.  Yesterday, I brought my German homework to school when I went to pick up the kids so I could ask my German friend, Susi, for help since I can't ask my teacher to explain, since she'd only explain it again in German!  Susi is the one moving to Chicago.  She's lived there before and speaks perfect English and is a teacher at the school.  Even she, a native speaker, had a hard time explaining it to me. Even further, she told me that if her sons, all native German speakers, were given my homework, she thinks they'd only get 2 out of 5 right on average! That made me feel much better! 

Today, she told me her 5th grade son was impressed with me.  He overheard her working with me yesterday and told her that I am the first English person he has ever known who even knows what "dativ" and "akkusativ" tenses are. 

Not bad I guess, I'm happy with that!

England Trip!

On Boxing Day (or the day after Christmas for us Americans), we left snowy Frankfurt and headed to England.  We went to England to see our English and Australian friends whom we met in Switzerland.  Kind of "it's a small world after all!" but true.  The English Balkoskis and the Australian O'Briens were our neighbors in our apartment complex in Switzerland and were our first and still are, our closest friends in Europe.  Our kids ran back and forth between our apartments like Becky, Kelly, and I used to run across the street.  It was perfect-until we all had to move.  At least Germany and England aren't so far away, so we've been able to meet up with both families a few times.  But, this trip will be the last time all 3 of our families will be on the same continent for a LONG time as the O'Briens are on their way back to Australia as I type.

Visting our friends was the main reason for our trip, so we didn't do much sight seeing.  Aidan was ecstatic to be back with his BFFs William and James, and Lainey and Lucy are so much alike in someways you'd think they were sisters, and Teddy is just so sweet and has fun with all of them!  Even we adults get along fantastically!  What are the odds of that?

So after just one quick day of seeing sights, and some full-contact shopping in London, we spent most of our time in Wimbledon and in the English country. Here are a few pics of our day in the big city.

We have already done the big touristy-sightseeing trip in London, so this time we wanted to get the more "authentic" English experience.  So, the first thing we did is go to a Pantomime.  A Pantomime is like a play but where the audience interacts with the cast.  They are geared towards kids and the kids are invited to yell out things to the actors on stage.  We went to see "Peter Pan" in Wimbledon because it was close to our friends' house and it was starring none other than the world's cheesiest actor, David Hasslehof, as Captain Hook!  Seriously, how could we pass that up?  It was a hilarious show, if a bit off script, since included a very gay pirate who loved to dance and make quite adult innuendos.  The humor was like in the Shrek movies, jokes for the kids and some that go over their heads for the adults.

After the show, the Bailkoskis came to pick us up in London and take us to their place in the country so that we'd be out of the way for the movers to come back up the O'Briens stuff the next day.  But before we left, we made sure to get some good pics of everyone all together one last time.

Kirsten and Bob live near Reading, England, about half way between Oxford and London.  They live in a really tiny village, kind of like the one in the movie "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet house swap.  Their village is complete with thatched roof houses like this one, an ancient church, a cozy pub, and not much else.  It was quite pretty, but so foggy most of the days we couldn't truly appreciate it.  I think we'll have to visit again in the summer! While there, we did a few side trips like this one to Oxford where Kirsten and Bob took all the kids to a science center while Jason and I explored the city, had a drink in the oldest pub in Oxford, and shopped.

They also took our kids to another pantomime; this time it was "Sleeping Beauty" in Reading.  They didn't have enough tickets for us, so we did more shopping. 

(Do you see a pattern here?  I made up for not going to the US over Christmas and shopping, by doing it in the UK!  I brought home nearly 2 suitcases of new stuff, including 2 frying pans and 2 woks.  Who does that??  But the day and week after Christmas in the UK is like the day after Thanksgiving and the week after Christmas in the  US combined!  I had so much fun getting great deals at stores that aren't in Germany, like the Gap, that I could barely control myself!)

We ventured out one night to the little pub in their village for some fish and chips and a pint of ale.  Yummy! I wish we had pubs in America like this.  They are so cozy and there is one in every little village.

We stayed in England for New Year's Eve.  We were supposed to have a little party at their house and meet some of their friends, but poor Teddy got sick, so it ended up just our 2 families.  But, we had a great time anyway.  William, Lainey, and Aidan stayed up until midnight playing Wii (especially the new Michael Jackson game-even the adults had fun with that one!) and we sent up a hot air balloon with our wishes for the new year in their back yard.

My kids got addicted to the fun of Christmas crackers, and they even had a giant one to open on NYE along with party poppers filled with confetti that I'm certain Kirsten will be cleaning up until the next New Year's Eve! 

It was a great week spent with great friends!

Christmas and Snow Fun

Christmas in Germany was certainly white this year!  The last day of school before break was a snow day and we were worried that we wouldn't make it to Barcelona.  Luckily, that wasn't a problem!  We returned from Barcelona to even more snow, so Jason and the kids built a cool igloo/fort in our backyard on Christmas Eve.

It was big enough for all 4 of us to fit in!

We spent Christmas Eve with our friends, the Lowes.  They stayed in Germany over the break, too, but are originally from Plymouth!  We had to move halfway across the world to meet a family who's daughter would be in 2nd grade at Allen School (the grade and school I used to teach in!) if they weren't here in Germany with Opel!  We had a nice early dinner at their house then went to church on the US Army base.  After church we went back to our own house to open presents.  The kids could hardly wait!

They passed out all the gifts and had fun tearing through everything.  We skyped with Grandma Pat and Aunt Toni and with Mamaw and Papaw.  It wasn't the same as being together, but it helped! 

Aidan's big gift from us was this race track which has since proven to be a pain.  Oh well, he still likes it.  He also got some Frankfurt soccer team stuff, legos, Magic Tree House books, and a bunch of other stuff. 

We got each of the kids their own "big kid" set of towels.  Nice fluffy ones without the baby hood.  I was surprised at how much they liked them!

Lainey also got a new camera, outfits for her Bitty Baby, some Zhu Zhu pets and a lot of other things.

Delainey and Aidan each bought us gifts and each other gifts with their own money which was so cute.  Lainey got me this gingerbread cookie that says "Mama du bist Super!" and some nice smelling fancy soap. She got Daddy socks, and Aidan a magnetic dartboard.  Aidan bought me a sparkly scarf, Daddy a hat, and Lainey a new Zhu Zhu pet.  They were so proud to give their gifts.  It is nice to see them realize the joy of giving, not just in receiving :)

Jason and I ended up buying most of our own gifts, but we still found a few surprises under the tree! Santa was good to everyone too.  Aidan was beside himself to find that Santa had brought him a Nintendo DSi, something he'd be asking for for 3 years.  I couldn't even take any pictures on Christmas morning because they were so excited!  Lainey got a drum set and guitar-our budding Rock Star!  She thinks she is the bomb!  She likes to wear her sparkly tank top that grandma sent her that says "rock" on it and jam in the playroom.  We have a little Hannah Montana on our hands I think! 

All in all, even though we weren't with family, we had a nice Christmas.  The kids are both making me promise to go home for Christmas next year.  I guess my decorating can't compete with the Winter Wonderland at Pattone's house!

Barcelona

"It's just another shitty day in paradise!"- Jimmy Buffett

Excuse me for starting with profane quote, but as you read on, you'll see this is a perfect quote to sum up our trip to Barcelona.

Barcelona, is truly, my kind of town. It has all of my favorite things: a great beach, cool old city with a rabbit warren of alleys, great food and drink, and good shopping.   My own personal paradise.  After only 4 1/2 days, this city has tied with or even maybe surpassed Zurich as my all-time favorite place!

We flew in to sunny, palm-treed Barcelona on Saturday after fighting with heaps of snow in Germany for the last few weeks.  Our drive to the airport was pretty rough because of all of the snow and the inefficiency of the Germans when snow falls on their roads.  Just seeing the sun was enough for this trip to be great in my mind! We arrived at our hotel, the W, and didn't leave that evening!  It was such a luxurious hotel, right on the beach with great food and the most comfortable beds ever-hands down, no competion!  We were all happy to just sit in the lobby, nibbling tapas and playing games while looking at the beach outside. This is what we were overlooking, so can you blame us?

On Monday, we wandered around the city all day.  We went to La Rambla, the main walking street, and explored the Barri Gothic (Gothic Quarter).  We found a Christmas market and made sure to do some shopping!

I had read online about these Christmas logs that they sell in Barcelona.  Apparently, they are the traditional Catalan Christmas decoration, instead of trees.  The website told me that it is these logs, not Santa who brings kids gifts, and that the logs "poop" out the gifts. There is even a song that kids sing to the log as they wait for him to poop all December.  So, of course I had have one of these pooping logs! Lainey and I each bought one :)

Apparently, poop is really important to the Catalans.  They even have a squatting shephard in their nativity scenes, and a 3 story one in the mall!  Quite foul if you ask me, but also very funny!

At the Christmas market, nearly every stand was selling some animal or person-including celebrities-in this position.  At least at the mall, they had an explanation.  Here is the link I mentioned with further explanations if you are so inclined :).
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/events/christmas/barcelona-christmas-traditions.html

Now do you see why that was such a good quote to start with?

Aside from, the old town, we also took the kids to the aquarium there.  They loved it!  Later that evening we went for an early dinner (in Spain) at 8pm for paella.  Yum!  Aidan hated the food in Spain, but liked that one of his favorite soccer players from Spain, Messi, had eaten lunch at our restaurant the same day!

The next day we went in search of the Gaudi buildings.  Antoni Gaudi is a "moderniste" architect who's buildings are famous in Barcelona.  We saw 3 of his most famous ones and they were really cool!

La Pedrera

Casa Batallo

His masterpiece, still unfinished, Sagreda Familia

Most mornings, this was our wake up view.  This sunset picture was taken from my bed!

 

We loved trying all the tapas, at restaurants like this. Aidan was not a fan of the food, but Lainey liked it!

 One afternoon, we came back to the hotel to play on the beach.  It was a bit chilly, but the kids still had fun!  Better a little chilly on a beach, than freezing in the snow!

 Our last day there was rainy, so we met up with one of Jay's co-workers who's wife is from Barcelona and they took us to lunch and to the fresh market.  You could buy every kind of fruit or veggie here, plus all assorted parts of animals!  Aidan thought the fish were funny, but we were all a bit grossed out by the cow bellies!

We bought some strawberries there before going back to the hotel for a nap.  Lainey looks the picture of relaxing and luxury as she eats her berries from a martini glass!

Barcelona was a great trip.  Probably the most relaxing one we've been on in some time!  It's a good thing Barcelona is such a fun city, the hotel was so great, we would have been fine never leaving it!  Just staying there was vacation enough!  Hopefully, we can get back to Barcelona, and other parts of Spain, when the weather is good enough to enjoy the city and the beach some more!

Köln Christmas Market

Yesterday, after returning from Barcelona, we decided to stop off in Köln (or Cologne) on our way home.  We had been wanting to see this town that's over 2000 years old, and hadn't made it yet.  So, when we realized we'd be driving through to get to and from our airport near Dusseldorf, we figured it would be a great opportunity!

Köln is known for its cathedral, or Dom.  It is nearly 1000 years old and is truly magnificent.  Köln is also known for a certain kind of beer, Kölsch, and groups of guys come there often for guys weekends. Further, one of the biggest Christmas Markets in Germany is held there, so of course we had to go!

We only spent a few hours in the city, but it was enough to explore the outside of the Dom, go to 2 of the 7 Christmas Markets in the city, and to have dinner at a typical Kölnish restaurant. 

These markets were probably the most beautifully decorated that we've seen.  I was actually able to get some pictures, because it was more spread out than others. Plus, since the temps were above freezing, we could enjoy it more!

After we toured the first part of the market we went for dinner.  We found a crazy little pub that served typical Köln dishes and their famous beer.  The beer was just normal, and the food was OK but a bit weird for me (pig knuckles and such...ew. I had turkey curry, not so typical, but safer for me!) The most photo worthy part of dinner though was that the kids' apple juice came with ice-a real rarity in Europe!

After dinner, we walked to the Dom.  The biggest of the markets was in front of it, so we couldn't even get near the entrance.  It was amazing enough from outside though, and made a beautiful backdrop for the market.  We wandered the stalls, I collected another Glühwein mug, and made a major Nutcracker purchase! (This might save me the trip to Seiffen, but maybe not!)

Here are our new family members, happily at home!

Snow Day!

I got 2 early Christmas presents yesterday!  One was a brand new camera and one was a snow day off from school (which is probably more for the kids, but meant I didn't have to bake bunches of cookies today and go help out in the kids' Christmas parties at school later today :)

So, instead of baking and running errands and the like, the kids played out in the snow this morning and I played with my new camera.  Here are a few pics from this morning with my new toy!

 The view from my living room window

 A close up of the tree across the street

 Sitting on my couch looking outside.  I still have to figure out how to make inside stuff not look dark.  Apparently, that is possible with my new camera.

 Sledding down our driveway!  Our crazy steep driveway is good for something!

 With my old camera these action shots would have been blurry!

After shoveling, the snow was as high as our car!  It took poor Jason forever to get to work today.  I'm really glad the kids and I don't have to go anywhere!