Ski Week in Klosters (Part 2)

Ski week 2011 is over now, and I am sad.  This was the first time we did a full week and I wasn't sure if we had the stamina and interest enough for 5 straight days of skiing, but we did!

The weather was just OK for the first 2 days.  There hadn't been much snow up until then, so snow was actually a good thing, even if it did hide the mountains and make seeing where you were skiing a bit tricky.  We definitely needed goggles to find our way down the mountain!  Luckily, the kids were just on the small slopes or in the kindergarten area these days, so no worries about them getting lost or falling off a mountain. 

Here is Jason all ready to do the "Bärnet" blue!  It was tough going to see where the piste was at times, especially since there weren't so many skiers out there.

After 2 cloudy days, we were blessed with 2 of the most beautiful days you could ever wish for.  Sunglasses came out along with views of the mountains.  Standing at the top of the slope, I wanted to bust into a song like: "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music" or "Hallelujah"! Majestic is the only word to describe the mountains on a bright clear day.  This is what skiing is all about!

Baby and Mama Ski Bunnies

 Ready for the best day of skiing yet!

 Jason and I took full advantage of the glorious day by skiing into a on piste bar for lunch.  After skiing all morning, we lounged outside with a warm coffee before lunch.  I think this is what I love most about skiing.  It's great exercise that keeps you warm in the winter, you see amazing views that you just don't see from down below, and on a sunny day you can even sunbathe!  I'm not sure if you can tell exactly how happy I am in this picture, but this was definitely one of my favorite days ever!

 After lessons and some fun in the kids' fun park, Kirsten and I skied a bit longer after the boys took the kids home for a nap.  We took our time coming down because I was stopping to take pictures every few minutes!  We left our ski boots at the top of the mountain and walked back to our apartment to enjoy the sun a bit more.

This piste runs from the highest point at Madrisa down back into town!  We did most of it, but it turns black at the bottom, so we skipped that part.  It was seriously one of the most beautiful and serene days of my life.

 Poor Jason didn't get to ski much this perfect weather because his boots were hurting.  He did spend lots of time with Lainey sledding, though.  These sleds are really fun!

 Our 2 day stretch of perfect weather came to an end at a bummer of a time.  Thursday night, we were supposed to go into Davos (20 mins away) to see a snow sport show.  Aidan and William were so excited to see the snowboarders doing tricks, and so were the adults!  Unfortunately, just before we were to leave it started snowing buckets.  Driving was too rough over the mountain and we had to head back.  Aidan was really disappointed, but he drew a picture of a snowboarder instead.

 The snow and fog stuck around for Friday, too, unfortunately.  The kids had their ski races that morning and although the powder was great, visibility was not so good.  The kids didn't seem to mind.  They both were very confident and controlled doing their slalom.  Neither one fell down or looked wobbly. I'm happy they didn't come in first or second, because I don't really want them hurtling down a mountain.  Slow and steady is much better, I'd say!  Delainey earned her second Blue Princess badge and came in 10th in her race.  Aidan didn't quite make Blue Star, but did make "excellent" at Blue King.  He raced against Blue Stars and came in 12th.  He was not happy, he wanted to win.  Poor guy was also confused because all week his teacher had been telling him to slow down and learn how to stop quicker and that he'd have his whole life to go fast and that now was the time to learn control.  So, that's what he did in the race.  He said he could have gone faster, but tried not to, and so he was mad that he didn't place better.  I think he did brilliantly!

Neither of the kids were happy to be done with skiing.  Aidan especially would have happily skied another few days, and so would I!  I think we are really addicted.  But it's such a great thing and something all four of us can enjoy together.  At least, until the kids are a few years older and tear off to the black slopes and leave us to the blues and reds!  Bode Miller and Picabo Street better watch out for the Barnett kids :)  These 2 are getting stronger, more confident, and braver on these hills every day!

The day we had to leave was beautiful again.  I almost cried when we had to go!  Lainey told me she wants to live in the mountains so she can ski all the time and see the pretty views.  Me too, I think! 

Here's a picture of the apartment we rented from friends in Zürich. We had the top 2 floors on the left of the building.  It was such a great location, right in the middle of town with a short walk to the bus or gondola.  Much easier than last year in Mürren!

Well, we didn't run in to Princes William or Harry like I had hoped since we heard they were skiing in Klosters too, but we met up with our old upstairs neighbors, the Victorias.  They were one of the first families we met in Zollikerberg and at school.  It was like old times having coffee with Lena and another old neighbor, Annika, who also has a place in Klosters, while the kids played. Lainey was thrilled to see their girls, and they even came to watch the kids at the medal ceremony.  Lainey would not stop hugging or holding Ellen's hand.  She wants this picture to be framed and put in her room :)  Ellen and Scarlett and Lily have always been so sweet to Lainey.  It was so good to see them and to hear that the middle daughter, Scarlett is singing in Evita in Zürich!  She has a solo part!  Not bad for a 10 year old.  And we can say we knew her when...

This picture says it all for Aidan.  He and William were just so happy to be together all week.  I really hope we can see them semi-often when we move back to the US.  I think it is going to be a hard move back for Aidan in this sense.  England is not exactly next door to Michigan, no matter how hard those 2 boys try to make it!

 Even better for Lainey than seeing Ellen, skiing, or playing with Teddy all week, was what we surprised her with on our way home.  I found out that her best friend, Sara, who had moved to Slovakia last year, was going to be visiting another of Lainey's friends, Molly, this weekend.  Lainey has not stopped talking about Sara since she moved last February.  We have had the girls Skype a few times, and Lainey names all of her new toys Sara.  So we told Lainey we had a surprise for her and didn't tell her what until we pulled up at Molly's house.  Lainey remembered it and said "This is Molly's house, do we get to go in?  Really???"  She was all smiles.  Then she sees not only Molly, but Sara come outside to meet us and she says "Sara, you are so big now!" and gives her the tightest hug ever!  The three of them did not stop smiling or hugging for the whole 3 hours we were there.  The princess dresses went right back on as they always did and it was like no one had ever moved away.  They worked with Sara and Molly's older sisters to put on a concert before we left, and Molly's brother James was so happy for some male companionship from Aidan that we didn't see them for hours.  They hid out in the basement man-cave. 

I am really not sure if I have ever seen Lainey has happy as she was when she saw what her surprise was.  She was absolutely beaming.  I hated having to leave after just a few hours, but she sure got the royal treatment of tons of hugs, a few tears and a bunch of kids running after our car as we drove away.

The best and worst part of being an ex-pat is meeting so many great people.  We've got friends all over the place, but unfortunately someone is always going somewhere else. 

Ski Week in Klosters (Part 1)

We are enjoying our first official "ski week"! We are in Klosters, Switzerland and we're lucky to be vacationing with our friends from England.  Aidan is thrilled to be with his BFF, William, and Lainey and Ted always have fun together.

Klosters is a small ski village south of Munich, Germany and north of St. Moritz.  It is quite a posh place and it is overflowing with Brits!  Kirsten and I saw Margaret Thatcher's daughter at the grocery store, and Prince Charles and the boys are known to ski here regularly.  Luckily, we have a friend with an apartment here, so we aren't paying posh hotel prices!  :)

It's been nearly a year since any of us were on skis, but we've all gotten back into the swing of things.  Aidan is especially good this year.  He's in the Blue King course each morning and is able to ski beginner and middle runs.  At the end of the week, he´ll be participating in a slalom race and be abe to do a small ski jump.  Jason skied with him once, then he complained that Jason was too slow.  So, I skied with him.  I kept up, but barely!  By the end of the week, he'll be leaving me in his powder!

Delainey was in Blue Princess last year, but when she went to the top of the mountain with the Blue Queen group she freaked out, so she's doing Princess again.  It's great for her; she's got lots of confidence and can ski the kids' slalom like a mini-Olympian.  I'm quite happy to leave her in the safe kids' area.  Then Jason and I can ski and not worry about her falling off a mountain!  Soon enough, she'll be on the big mountain and I'll be the one freaked out!  By the end of the week, she should be skiing a full beginner mountain!

I'm going to need to jump back into lessons pretty soon just so I don't embarass the kids...

Europe: where I feel dumb just opening my mouth

After nearly 3 years, I still feel like a dumb American sometimes.

Today, I went to the fruit market.  The man working the cash register (read: not a person holding a Master's Degree most likely) spoke French to the woman in front of me, English to me, and German to the guy behind me.  And I don't me he spoke English like I speak German (sputteringly).  He spoke English and French as though they were his mother tongue!  And switched back and forth without seeming to think about it!

It never ceases to amaze me how Europeans speak so many languages fluently.  But, that's what happens when you learn foreign languages beginning in Kindergarten, or even earlier. 

And just think, when I wanted to minor in French at Michigan State my advisor wouldn't let me because, and I quote her "you'll never find a job teaching a foreign language in an elementary school". 

True, but not right or even developmentally correct. 

Bye Bye Maddy

This weekend, we received some sad news.  Maddy had to be put to sleep.  Becca, Erin's best friend, who adopted Maddy from us when we moved, said that Maddy had been in a lot of pain recently.  She couldn't walk the stairs and was having kidney problems.  She was 11 1/2 years old, pretty old for a big dog. 

Needless to say, we were all sad.  It was like losing her a second time.  Aidan was especially upset and kept saying "I am not ready for Maddy to die!" and was very upset we didn't go home at Christmas so he could have seen her again.  He cried and cried.  Lainey cried a bit, but she doesn't remember Maddy as our so much as a dog she visited in Michigan.  I was sad, but only cried (and then cried A LOT) when Becca posted on Facebook that her daughter was watching the movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven" because that's where her dog is now.  

So here's my tribute to my first baby:

We adopted her from the Humane Society in 1999.  She was my Sweetest Day gift from Jason the year we were married.  She was always a sweet and loving and mostly well-behaved dog.  She didn't mind being left home alone while we were at work and made a great watch dog.  She always put herself between me and any workmen who needed to come in.  She could look tough and mean to strangers, but those who knew her know that she'd never hurt a fly.  When we brought Aidan home, she warmed to him immediately and loved her baby brother.  She'd lay next to him in his swing, sometimes nudging the chair a bit with her nose if the swing stopped.  She let him, and later Delainey, crawl all over her, tug her ears, pull her hair, whatever.  If it ever bothered her, all she'd do is lick them, knowing they'd stop if she did.  She was a great help to me when the kids were babies, as she'd clean the floor around them and their high chairs after meal times! She would wake up with me and come in to the nursery for late night feedings and started sleeping in hallway at night, instead of in our room, once the kids were born-she was on guard for us all.  Of course, she wasn't perfect, being afraid of thunderstorms made her dig holes in our carpet, but she was one of the best dogs I've ever known. 

 Leaving her when we moved to Switzerland was one of the hardest things we ever had to do.  But we did it for her.  She was used to a big yard, and wouldn't have that in our small apartment.  Plus, I don't think her nerves could have handled the flight.  We are so grateful that Becca and her family took Maddy in and made her part of their family and loved her for the last 2 1/2 years.  We are even more grateful that Becca let us come visit her when we were in Michigan.  I'll never forget how when we went to see her this summer, after 18 long months away, Maddy remembered us all!  She came right to me and cuddled with me and Aidan and Delainey.  When we finally left (with Aidan sobbing crocodile tears), Becca told me Maddy cried at the door for a long time.  Maybe she knew it was the last time she'd see us.   

Maddy, I hope you've found a big yard to romp in up in Heaven with all the rawhide bones and treats you can eat.  I hope you're up there playing with and protecting all the babies and children who went to Heaven too soon.  I'm not sure if "All Dogs Go To Heaven", but I'm certain that's where our Maddy is.

 Our last visit with our best friend and "big sister"

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!