Thursday, May 31, 2007

German Words

I find it fascinating how German is constructed. Where English has modifier words (adjectives, for example) that remain separate words while applying to a noun, for some reason they seem to like to add them together into one new word in German. You see this all over the place and it makes it hard to understand German via a German-English dictionary, because sometimes you don’t know where to separate words to look up the parts. And some parts are just little “helper” word kinds of things that either aren’t in the dictionary or don’t really tell you anything. There’s an example of the word combining thing at the food court by the PX. The iced tea dispenser on the soda fountain, rather than saying “with lemon” says “Mit zintronengeschmacht” (with lemon flavor). When my mom was here she observed that real German words look and sound like words you would make up if you were pretending to speak German.

Yesterday Wee Laddie and I went to the craft store on base. It’s kind of surprising that it’s taken me this long. Although I’m not really a crafter (I knit, but don’t do stamping or scrapbooking or anything), I LOVE Michael’s and have always liked looking at different kinds of paper & stuff (long before Michael's I used to love to go look around a little local stationery shop). Weird, I know. Anyway, since our beloved Cheryl (who runs the Friday Little Troopers group) is leaving, we’re putting together a scrapbook, so I needed supplies for my page. They don’t have much stuff there at all, so I hope all of our pages don’t look exactly the same!

Today we were playing around on the floor and I was stretching my back (been having some issues lately). Wee Laddie asked me, “Rub your back?” (Sweetie.) So, of course, I took him up on it, partly just out of curiosity to see what he would do, partly ‘cause a backrub would be seriously awesome right about now. He did rub it for a minute, then climbed on it. Ah well… win some, lose some.

I finally talked to the hotel in München. When we stayed there with Grandma-Nana and Aunt Kaffee, we lost one of Wee Laddie’s sandals. Okay, it was me. Guitarman was putting Wee Laddie into his car seat and I tried to toss the shoes around him & into the car. I thought I heard one miss, but I didn’t mention it right then, and then promptly forgot. (And Guitarman didn’t spot it when he backed out.) When we got home, I realized it was missing and knew exactly what had happened. So a few days ago I got around to calling the hotel and they were going to check their Lost & Found. They found it!! They’ll mail it to us, and we just have to pay postage when it gets here. Yay!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Respekt

Fell asleep early with Wee Laddie again last night. I have to stop doing that… it creates a whole vicious cycle with staying up late so I can get caught up on the stuff I was planning to do after he went to sleep. That much sleep would be good if I were pregnant, but that’s on hold again ‘til we know what’s up with Guitarman’s work contract.

Or until Wee Laddie is 9, whichever comes first.

I hit my elbow on the gear shift today and was going, “Ow, ow, ow!” (Aren’t elbow bumps the worst for the initial reaction? Well, them and toe-stubbing.) Wee Laddie asked, me, “Need some ice?” God, I love that kid. He has developed a renewed interest in being swaddled (after seeing himself swaddled in some photos) so here's what we were up to today.



There were only 2 of us in my German class tonight and we were kind of chit-chatting at the end, so I was filling them in on how we may not be here that long and blah, blah… and I said, “So we may be going home at the end of October. After getting here in January.” The instructor said, “You’ve only been here since January? Wow, you know a lot of German! Have you been here before?” I said that we’d visited Berlin for a week about 7 years ago. She said, “Respekt!” That felt really good! (Let’s not tell her that I don’t really understand what she says in class. I can usually get the gist, but I suspect she doesn’t really know how lost I am.)

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Memorial Day

Not suprisingly, it was also a German holiday of some kind (usually Catholic holidays of all varieties). So even though Guitarman was off work, we didn’t get to do any fun shopping or anything. I was hoping for a chance to go look at rocking chairs at the Mobelhof. Harumph.

Guitarman and Wee Laddie took Grandma-Nana to the airport. Wee Laddie didn’t take his nap in the car like we were hoping. Well, he slept for about 30 minutes, but then woke when Guitarman got home & tried to take him up to bed. 30 minutes does not a nap make.

Wee Laddie and I played with Play-doh some this afternoon. He loves to tell you what to make… usually cars. And not just any cars, but the cars from the “Cars” movie. But of course. Today I was making some other stuff… a plant, a pumpkin (punkbin), a flower. And I got him to make something, too. I asked him what it was and he said, “A seal.” I think it’s fantastic.



Incidentally, I may be becoming a Play-doh snob. We’ll see, as there are other modeling compounds that I haven’t tried yet, but the knock-off brand we’ve already tried is nowhere near as good as the real stuff. The knock-off is crumbly, so pieces are very difficult to stick together.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Proud to Be… shhhh

We were driving up a street not far from here and as we were dodging through the cars parked on both sides (most often, people seem to at least try to all park on one side of the street), Guitarman remarked that the Americans were parking like idiots. Suddenly we notice that not only have they parked like morons, but they’re also flying a huge American flag from their apartment balcony. Oh, it’s embarrassing. And not only that, but there are some very valid reasons why it’s ill-advised to be too obvious about being an American in Germany right now. Sheesh.

How’s this for odd? In a country that has virtually NO Mexican food (I say virtually… there is some, but I’ve been assured that it’s not very good), there is a quesadilla maker on sale at Netto (local market) this week. And if they’re selling it, that means it’s 220-voltage… which begs the question: Where in the 220-voltage world is the high demand for quesadilla makers? They seem like such an American product.

Grandma-Nana wasn’t feeling well today… she skipped breakfast and everything, and pretty much laid low today. Poor thing. And just before her trip home (she leaves tomorrow).

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Year of the Jackhammer

Today Grandma-Nana was wiping her glasses off with a tissue and Wee Laddie asked her, “Your glasses are dirty again?” Now that may seem like a simple remark, but as a person who is closely watching the language acquisition process right now, let me tell you: that’s big, conceptually and grammatically. I’m not saying my kid’s a genius or whatever, but I was impressed.

Now that our next door neighbor finished his pergola and seems to have chilled about some of his other projects, the people across the street are having landscaping done. They’ve had a digger there to even out their backyard and remove a large mound of dirt at the back of their property. Now they’ve got some guy out there with a jackhammer, doing who knows what. During my son’s naptime, naturally. Aaargh.

Wee Laddie has started playing around with calling us “Mom” and “Dad.” It sounds a little strange when you’re used to being called something else by a person and they suddenly change it. But it’s only part-time so far, so we’ll see if it sticks. He’s getting so many words and his sentences get more sophisticated all the time. But he still does have a few babyisms: like hen wants to be picked up he asks me, “Mommy, bup-up?” I know I will miss those when he stops using them.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Candle Sniffer

We took Grandma-Nana to Rothenburg ob der Tauber today. It was nice… very much a postcard town. We walked around quite a bit and stopped for lunch. I was quite pleased with myself at conducting our lunchtime interactions with our server entirely in German… including when I asked him if he could move the umbrella so that it was shading us! (Okay, so I gestured some, too, but there were words used!) Rothenburg is listed as a don’t-miss of the towns along the “Romantic Road” (note: not romantic in terms of love, but in terms of history & architecture). I’ll have to come back and post a slideshow later.

This evening when we went onto the base, there was an MP there who asked for my license and registration, too. Usually we show our military IDs, so this was different. It made me a tiny bit nervous, but I think just as a throwback to that feeling you get when you’ve just been pulled over and a cop asks for those. There were some people who were recently arrested for a suspected terror plot against one of the bases in Germany, so I’m all for a little extra vigilance. Even if it means the “inconvenience” of having to show an extra ID now and then.

At the PX tonight I let Wee Ladie smell candles. It’s one of his favorite things to do there (tip for you parents who are seriously lacking for entertainment for your toddlers). He’ll easily spend 20 minutes doing that. And we discuss what the candles smell like (and of course he gets told about 15 times, “No, baby, no glass ones. Put that down.”) and what colors they are and whether or not they smell good. It’s fun.

Spent some time today pulling up some of The Yellow Weed That Ate Our Backyard. It was out there in small numbers before, but all of a sudden it covers like ½ the lawn. Wee Laddie was a great help, but we’ve still got about ¾ of the yard to do. Unfortunately, the aforementioned weed also has buddies of different varieties… so there is lots to do! (Special love sent up to little Cash while we were out there… his mom’s a landscape architect, so it seemed like a fitting time.)

Friday, May 25, 2007

Some German History

Finally made it to the local castle with Grandma-Nana. The outdoor part was under construction so we didn’t walk around. When we got there the door was locked, but there was a buzzer next to it. I managed to, in German, tell the person who answered that we wanted to see the museum… and understand when they said they’d be there in a minute. It was only when the guy started a rather lengthy explanation as to how much admission was that I had to confess my lack of German language skills.


Somewhere I have a bunch of photos of the castle from our windows, but here’s one from up behind the house...

The museum was good. Small, but they have lots of stuff. One floor is devoted to items related to the history of this region (dishes, farming equipment, apparel, furniture, etc.), the other floor is a bunch of stuff about the Third Reich. The curator (or whatever he was) came looking for us while we were in this section and showed us some interesting things. One of the ways the Nazi’s got money was that they issued sets of buttons every year, and you could buy them. And, apparently, many people did, as you were considered kind of out-of-the-loop if you didn’t have the most current set of buttons. There were lots of them and some of them were very pretty.


…and here’s a view of our house from the castle...

He also showed us a set of little Army men from that time and, sure enough, there was a little Hitler doll there. Oh, and he talked about this hospital that was only open to the “real” Aryans for care… you’d think it would be a status symbol or something to have gone there in that time but he said it was actually very risky to go there for treatment, as they frequently discovered some sort of ethnic “wrong” in the patients’ backgrounds. And boy oh boy, you’d be in big trouble then.

I find it hard to even look at displays pertaining to Hitler and the atrocities committed against the Jews. I have an aversion to all kinds of torture and things like that. (Who doesn’t, right?) Maybe this is common, but even though it’s easy to look at things like that intellectually and say, “Yikes, that’s horrible!” this feels like more of a visceral reaction. Like when Liz and I went to the dungeons in some of the castles she took me to, I felt physically sick and was having trouble breathing (not in dramatic fashion… I probably didn’t even mention it). Same when I saw, “Schindler’s List” and “American History X.” (Both very powerful movies.) I actually had to take a sanity break and go sit outside for a while to get back to feeling normal.

Anyway, all of that will explain, perhaps, why I have no plans to go see any of the concentration camps during our stay in Germany. I don’t think my psyche could handle being in one of those places in person. I did okay at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin, but in a place where untold thousands of people were put to death? I think I’ll pass.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Castle Attempt

We skipped our usual lunch with Guitarman so I could nap Wee Laddie early and we could go see the castle and the church with Grandma-Nana. Wee Laddie didn’t go down ‘til 12… and then Grandma-Nana came in to wake us at 2. I’d forgotten to call Guitarman and let him know what was up nap-wise, so (apparently sure that we’d met with some terrible fate while he was off at work) he had fully freaked out and was calling repeatedly. Bit of a worrier, you might say.

Since the castle is only open from 9-11 and 2-4 (obviously a very tourist-oriented place) and we still had to make & eat lunch, we’ll try again tomorrow.

I certainly hope Grandma-Nana wasn’t expecting nonstop entertainment around here. Although my son works diligently at entertaining those around him, the process involved in working a schedule around his naps and bedtime is not always a simple one. Nor a convenient one.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Road Butt

This morning, Grandma-Nana, Wee Laddie and I took Aunt Kaffee to the airport in Nürnberg… another easy airport trip. While we were there, I heard a cell phone playing the “Dallas” theme. (I swear, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.)

Tonight at German class I asked our instructor if we could hire her to teach through the summer (our last official session is next week). She said yes and my classmates were in, so we should be able to go on! Yay! And since we’re not going through the school, we can still pay her what she’s used to, but it will cost us all less, even though we’re going to cover the cost for our asylum-seeker friends, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go. And whose language skills are such that they’ll challenge the rest of us! Plus at least one of them is very funny, I can just tell… I hope to learn enough German to understand what he’s saying.

During tonight’s tuck-in reading time:
O-tay: What’s that?
Wee Laddie: Road butt.
(For those of you without toddler translation dictionaries, the rest of us call it a “robot.”)

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Try Another Flavor

Some of the food flavor choices here are very different than in the US. First off all, American chocolate blows. I’m sorry, but European chocolate is so amazingly much yummier. The markets all sell these great, huge chocolate bars about the size of a thin paperback book. And the flavors are different and interesting. Many of them I can’t read, of course, and some of them aren’t surprising like, say, nuts. But a couple of interesting recent discoveries: red chile and lime & green pfeffer (which is not the veggie, but ground green peppercorns). I had to try both. I thought they were both interesting… maybe not quite my cuppa. (Maybe mainly because there’s this “orange intense” one that I’m stuck on.)

Yogurt flavors are also very different, and some include seeds and grains & stuff. I got Wee Laddie one the other day (without realizing) that had pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in it. He was not a big fan. One of his fave flavors is pear/banana, another is peach/raspberry. So we got a rhubarb one to try, but it was much sweeter than I expected. Some others: kiwi/apple, passionfruit, pineapple/grapefruit. Of course, you can also get the usual strawberry and blueberry. It’s fun to have so very many interesting choices!

And in the “only the mom of a young child would know this” category, have you ever watched how a soap bubble pops? Sure, some of them pop when they touch other things, but the ones that last a longer time and just float away? Those ones don’t so much pop as just fade away. I never noticed it before, but it’s kind of cool to watch. There is like a little pop at the end and a tiny piece of bubble residue, if you will, that will fall away. And at that point, the bubble has ceased to be.

Monday, May 21, 2007

München, day 2

Today we skipped the 21-euro-per-person hotel breakfast
(puh-leeeze!) and headed over to the Olympiazentrum from the 1972 Olympics. It looked amazingly current for something 35 years old. We even pondered whether or not there was anything left that was actually there for the ’72 Olympics or if it had all been rebuilt. After later research... turns out it is all the stuff built in '72. Except that they've since added some memorial stuff to honor and remember the athletes that were killed.


Guitarman and I took Wee Laddie to Sea Life while G-Nana and Aunt Kaffee went off on their own. I’m not actually sure what all they did… when we came out, they were at a restaurant in the park having a beverage. So we joined them there and we all had lunch. Sea Life was fun, but I don't think it was as good as the Downtown Aquarium.


After a quick shopping trip (FC Bayern hats for the guys and Aunt Kaffee), it was time to head back to get the car from the hotel garage. And then out of München. Traffic was quite heavy heading out of town. I sure was glad it was Sunday and the trucks were all off the roads! All in all, though, not a bad drive. Note to Aunt Lisa: we will not all fit in my car!

Once we got back home, Guitarman headed off to do laundry while the rest of us went to Hotel Hirschen. Guess what I ate? Yup, käsespätzle. (I know, I’m like a crack addict with that stuff.) Wee Laddie was very revved up all through dinner… it was rather exhausting. I keep expecting that he’ll calm down after getting used to having people visiting, but it hasn’t worked that way so far. Maybe he can sense that Aunt Kaffee is leaving soon or something. Maybe he is just here to make me insane.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

München, day 1

After we all got our showers & stuff, we drove down to München. Oy, was it cramped in the backseat! I sat back there with Grandma-Nana and had to cushion part of the seat to try to get it level, or else it was tipping me right into her, pinning her between me and Wee Laddie’s car seat. Not that she would complain, but that could not possibly have been comfortable.

Our hotel is pretty decent… quite business-oriented, so it wasn’t in the heart of the tourist district or anything, but we were only about 6 U-Bahn (underground train) stops from Marienplatz, where the Glockenspiel is. I got pictures of yet another European tourist attraction with scaffolding on it. It happened with Eros in London many years ago, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and now the Glockenspiel in München. I mean, I’m glad they are keeping these attractions in good shape and all, but my timing seems to be a teensy bit off. The Glockenspiel was still fun to see and I took a horrible scaffolding-filled video anyway. You just gotta, you know?

Oh, and this struck me as funny. Do you see it?



Need a closer look?
Okay, so the zoom looks like crap, but here's the bike dude smoking a cigarette! It's like Colorado, man. Hike a 14er, and you'll probably see someone lighting up at the top.

We spotted the famous Hoffbrauhaus so we stuck our heads in. We weren’t really planning to eat there or anything, but this sealed the deal:



And we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. My husband seems to be missing American food quite a bit. I miss Mexican food, but not as much as I was expecting to. I guess I was so prepared for the possibility of not being able to find any at all that I’m delighted to have as much as I have. That said, I did order nachos for dinner. Yum. Guacamole. Even though I can make it here myself, it’s sometimes nice to have someone else do it.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Weekend Plans

Guitarman and Aunt Kaffee tried to plan a two-night stay in München, but ended up just booking us all for one night (tomorrow). Wee Laddie and I went to our usual playgroup (the semi-regular one) in the morning while they and Grandma-Nana went to the travel agent’s office. Had lunch at the big mess hall, just kind of so that Grandma-Nana and Aunt Kaffee could see it.

Dinner at home… we grilled again. Well, I prepped everything and Aunt Kaffee ran the grill. I think we’re going to be *so* happy about that grill for the rest of the summer! I’m going to have to go online to find some yummy recipes to try.

We got some batteries put into Wee Laddie’s new polizei car toy. Now we just have to find out what the heck it says! All I can understand is, “… please come.” I’ll have to take it to one of Wee Laddie’s playgroups so one of the German mommies can translate for us. Aunt Kaffee’s attempt (she doesn’t speak German) just made me laugh.

A note to those (few) who have been leaving comments: I’ve been trying to reply to all comments, but am going to stop. I thought it was an etiquette thing, but haven’t found that to be so. Please know that I love & appreciate the comments. If I am on your blog & find something to comment on there, I’ll communicate with you that way. Or via email. Or phone. Or telepathically. ;)

Friday, May 18, 2007

Apparently, Not All Käsespätzle is Good

Went to a volunteer appreciation luncheon today with the ACS people. It was at Winkelbräu in Lengenfeld, which is off the next A3 exit toward Nurnberg. On the way to Velburg. They served us sandwiches. The food was okay, just not stuff I like all that much. Dessert, on the other hand (strawberry-rhubarb strudel w/ice cream… I split it with the power walking instructor) was fantastic!

They invited those of us who are volunteering our time to do classes or foster parenting or whatever, and Brandi also gave some kudos to her employees, which I thought was really cool. We all got certificates of appreciation and a little baby plant to take home. It was really nice. And all the people involved at all with the signing thing were very apologetic and they’re going to keep a key at the ACS office in future, just in case.

It was kind of nice to just go & have a grownup lunch… as much as I adore my son, it is nice to get a teensy break now and then. And when I got home he’d just gone to sleep for his nap, so I also got some computer time!

We all went to the Bärenkeller restaurant around the corner for dinner. I got käsespätzle. I thought about getting something that had spätzle on the side instead, but didn’t. And should’ve. I thought that it might be boring w/o the flavor of the cheese, but the “plain” one definitely had more flavor. Mine wasn’t terrible, but the cheese had a bit of a moldy smell to it, which I’m not at all fond of… it’s the way cheese smells just before it goes bad, usually. And it didn’t have the fried onions… just some chopped up green onion. Harumph. Wouldn’t order that there again. Especially when I can walk ½ a mile and get the incredible one over at Hotel Hirschen. Our server seemed very abrupt and not too polite at first, but he seemed to warm up to us. He spoke excellent English, but I still worked on my German. Go me! ;)

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Lunch in Burglengenfeld

Sign class was supposed to be this morning. I got there about 10 minutes late and everyone (all 3 of the attendees) was leaving! I talked to one of the moms (Kelly, the one that was here Friday before last) and she said nobody was there with a key. I have the signing stuff, but no key. I called Cheryl (hers was the only ACS phone number I had on me) and she said that Stacy wasn’t there today and that Brandi was in Vilseck doing an AFN commercial. Oops! I’m sure they didn’t do it intentionally, as they’ve been really positive about the class and offering support for it.

Grandma-Nana, Aunt Kaffee, Wee Laddie and I drove over to Burglengenfeld to have lunch. We tried to find a hotel where we could have a traditional German meal, but the only one we saw had a sign with a picture that looked remarkably like Saddam Hussein on it. As Americans, that made us feel a little weird so we looked for another one. Finally ended up at a döner shop. And a good one. I ordered for us in German and the guy said some big long sentence back. So I told him I only understand a tiny bit of German and he said that’s okay, that he speaks no English at all. And we did okay. We even tried to order pommes (french fries) and got an explanation that if he plugged the fryer in while the rotisserie was going, the lights would blow. And Grandma-Nana (who I don’t think speaks a single word of German) managed to find out what the meat was. Chicken. Pretty impressive for not speaking the language!

Then we got some ice cream and went to a nearby toy store, where Aunt Kaffee got Wee Laddie a birthday/Christmas present: a polizei car. He was quite excited.

Made pretty much a duplicate of our grillfest the other night, but with wild rice on the side instead of pasta. I didn’t get it cooked quite right, but it was okay. Aunt Kaffee did an awesome job on grill duty again. Yum. I’m so geared up for thinking of fun things to try on the grill this summer!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Cash Out

Guitarman took his mother and sister to Regensburg today. Not sure what all they did, but they did look at the big church and have lunch at the Wurstküche. Well, ya gotta. Grandma-Nana showed us a postcard she’d bought with a bunch of photos of the town and on the back it said, “Nord….. Italiens,” so she’s like, “That’s a pretty big typo.” Or whatever. And something struck me about the quotes, so I got to wondering if it was a slogan or something. And it is, apparently. Because of the Italian influence on the architecture of Regensburg, it is referred to as the northernmost Italian city.

Guitarman took his mom and sister to Regensburg to look around while Wee Laddie and I did naptime. We had an early nap (like back in Colorado) and a late lunch. Somehow, I actually found time to read a magazine… that almost never happens!

Little Cash died last night. Poor Page and Teri… I had no idea that he was in such rough shape. They’d been planning to take him home from the hospital but they all never made it back home, I guess. Oh, the heartbreak must be unbearable. It makes me think back to Wee Laddie’s first 4 months and how much he grew and changed during that time and how completely chaotic it is… especially the first 6 weeks or so. I ache for them that they didn’t have that much time after those first hard weeks. The time when you really get to know your baby, and to enjoy them. They had some of it… but not nearly enough. I am heartbroken on their behalf.

There was also a toddler who got swept away from his mother in a flash flood in Denver tonight. I can’t even fathom how that must have felt. When rescuers came, the mother let go (they did manage to pull her out). Can’t imagine not doing the same.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Christening the Grill

Wee Laddie slept in 'til 8:20 this morning... must've been worn out from all of yesterday's excitement. Grandma-Nana and Aunt Kaffee are still a bit tired (those transatlantic flights are so draining!) so they weren't feeling up to too much.

We went to base to meet Guitarman for lunch, then to the grocery store and a drive-by of the local castle. Grandma-Nana said that she doesn't feel like she's in Europe yet...she feels like she's in Colorado, since she's visiting us. I thought the trip to the market and drive might help, but I'm not sure they did. I took the "scenic" route back from base, which goes through several small villages and gives some nice views of the local scenery. Wee Laddie got himself in trouble in the market and had to go sit in the car (Grandma-Nana took him... nice that I had someone to go with him so I didn't have to put all the groceries back and do it myself).

When we drove by the castle, I spotted a playground here in town that is actually open to the public (unlike the one 2 blocks from our house). So I told Wee Laddie that we'd come back another time. "One day," he says to me. When we got home he melted down a bit 'cause he didn't realize we were only going to drive by the castle... he thought we were going to get out of the car & walk around.

Had the inaugural grilling tonight. I marinated some veggies and put Aunt Kaffee in charge of the cooking part. Guitarman had picked up some pre-marinated chicken that was quite yummy, and Aunt K made grilled garlic bread while I cooked some whole wheat veggie pasta. Delish, every bite. We are going to be so glad we got the grill, finally. 'Course now I have to learn how to manage the grill by myself.

Monday, May 14, 2007

A Mother's Day Score

I’ve probably joked about impending insanity before, but I think it’s really going to happen… courtesy of our neighbors. They had a party last night (largely in the backyard) until about 10pm and when everyone left they were all shouting out in front of the house (Guitarman had put Wee Laddie down in his own room because of the previous noise at the back of the house… we cannot win!) and honking their car horns when they left. And I’ve just put Wee Laddie down for his nap and they’re out on their back deck, talking loudly. And they’ve got company again. (I’m delighted for them that they have so many friends… I just wish they didn’t all have to congregate over there and keep my toddler awake.) Oh, and they’ve apparently decided that we were getting too much peace over here, as they’ve even moved the table on their deck to the end closest to us instead of the other end, where it was before today. Aargh.

Guitarman’s mom (Grandma-Nana) and one of his sisters (Aunt Kaffee) arrived today at the Nürnberg airport. Guitarman said it was even easier to pick people up there than at München. München is farther (about 1.5 hours), but has been incredibly easy to deal with so far. When I went to pick up my mom, I think I got there about 15 minutes after her plane was supposed to land, and she’d already gotten her luggage and cleared customs! Anyway, he said it’s very small, so there’s less room for potential confusion.

Wee Laddie was all revved up this morning before those two went to the airport. He was literally running in circles upstairs, saying, “Somethin’ crrrrrazy there!” over and over again. Hehehe… god, I love that kid.

Mother’s Day. Guitarman put in more effort than he often seems to. There was the jewelry from last weekend, flowers on Friday and a card this morning. It’s so nice to feel so appreciated for what I do. I need to remember to treat him well on Father’s Day, too.

Those 3 went to base while I napped Wee Laddie and Guitarman got us a grill. :) I’ve been bugging him about it recently, so we can cook healthier quick meals now that the weather is nice. Of course it took me about 3 hours to put it together (well, there was a dinner stop in there), so Guitarman cooked the burgers in a pan. Still yummy…and still really nice that he cooked.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Baseball, German Style

Went to our first German baseball game today. It was the Regensburg Legionäre (our home team, if you will) vs. the Gauting Indians. The home team leads the league right now, in both leagues (Bundesliga 1 & 2). We didn’t get to see much of the actual game, as we took turns watching Wee Laddie. They had a small sandbox there, so you can guess where we were. Nice, though, that they had something. Wee Laddie was very excited, talking all morning about the baseball game, but he only watched maybe 10 minutes of it.

We went with Christina and her husband Rainer, who also seemed very nice, from what little I got to talk with him. I hope we didn’t scare them too much about what it’s like with an active little one… their little Oliver (I keep forgetting to ask her whether that’s his actual name or his in-utero nickname) is already kicking up a storm like Wee Laddie was back in those days. They may think they’ll never be able to have a grownup conversation again. They may be right. ;)

We got completely lost, having followed the directions from the Legionäres website. We were running about 20 minutes late to begin with (it’s different with a kid since you can’t say “Oh, well, we’ll just eat when we get there. Here, have a cracker to tide you over.” Well, you can, but only to a point, and we’re really fighting the cycle of letting him fill up on crackers—or whatever super-easy but usually carb-loaded snack we can think of—and then him not eating the more nutritious meal because now he’s not hungry. So lunch got us a late start…) and then when we followed the directions, we ended up in an empty parking lot by the Donau Arena. I thought it a bit odd that it was so empty, but you know, Coors Field has *tons* of overflow parking, so I figured it was something like that, and that we might as well park there and walk over rather than trying to get closer parking only to find it full. Our directions had said there was a footpath that took only 4 minutes. So I thought we were all set.

We walk a few minutes and come to the Donau Arena. There’s not a single car there either. Nor a person. Hmmm. I think, “Maybe I’ll just call Christina and see where it is from here.” And realize that I’ve left the handy (that’s the German term for a cell phone) in the car. Yup, handy. (When I said I’d left it in the car, Wee Laddie said, “Have to go back & get it?” the reasoning for which rather impressed his father and me.) So we walk around the whole Donau Arena and only see one other person, and no other sports facilities at all. I’m getting a little stressed at this point, partly because I know that Germans as a people are put off by the relative lateness of Americans, and partly because I’m thinking that I don’t want Christina and Rainer to think we’re totally rude. (If they had any idea how absolutely punctual Guitarman usually is, they would guess that we’d gotten lost or something… but last time we met Christina, I’d gotten totally lost, too. She must think I’m a moron.)

We finally work our way back to the car and Guitarman thinks he sees stadium lights across the highway. So we leave the parking lot we’re in. For some unknown reason, we cannot go straight across the street, so I turn right and will flip a u-turn, right? Hah! Not yet, missy. We seriously had to go like a mile in the opposite direction before there was a place where I could turn around. Aaaargh! So when we finally turned around and were getting close-ish to the turn I called Christina to see if she could help us find it. She did and we finally arrived about an hour late. Luckily it was a tiny stadium and the seating is unreserved, so she and Rainer had already gone in and were watching the 1st game of the double-header. We got there just in time for the ½ hour break they took in between games. Oy vey. (I almost edited this down, but decided to keep the long explanation so that you really get the feel of how long it took us.)

I thought it was fun to see a baseball game here. It didn’t really feel that different culturally (though Rainer and Christina noted that there were no hot dogs), but it felt mostly like a very small town game rather than a pro sporting event. (This stadium is apparently the largest baseball stadium in Germany… it holds 2000 people.) During the break between games, the ballplayers all came out into the bleachers to sit with their girlfriends and families.

Rough start for us, but a nice afternoon.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

The Real Children

Wee Laddie said he didn’t want to go to Little Troopers this morning. I said, “Because you want to stay home and watch movies?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “No, we’re going to play with real children,” and told him that if we got there and he wasn’t having fun we could go do something else. But it wouldn’t be coming home to watch movies…. It would be something on base. Once we were there, of course, he had a ball.

On the way to Little Troopers, Wee Laddie was talking about his friend Avi from playgroup back home. I don’t know why it came up but it was odd because Jodi had just mentioned yesterday or the day before that she had just talked to Sarah (Avi’s mom). Must’ve been a vibe he picked up on or something.

Near the end of the day I’ll sometimes ask Wee Laddie, “What was your favorite part of today?” He usually says, “Umm… umm…” until I list off things that we did and then he’ll say, “Yeah,” to at least one of them. Today as soon as I asked, he said, “Little Troopers.” This from the boy who wanted to skip it entirely this morning. I wonder if he’s getting too much TV time. I tend to let him watch it more here, just because I want him to have the exposure to German, especially while we’re here and it can be reinforced for him by hearing it when we go out places. And Guitarman is pretty quick to turn the tube on… I usually keep it off ‘til at least 8am (when Sesamstrasse starts), but he’s a little more lax.

Happy birthday, Aunt Tam! :)

Friday, May 11, 2007

Not So Big as Before

Went by the ACS (Army Community Service)office to drop of my official volunteer packet (for the signing workshop) and I asked again about photos. They must have some around, but I’m having a hard time getting a hold of them without tipping off Cheryl… and now, Brenda (who is PCSing to Hawaii in a month or so and should also get a going-away gift). So I talked to them about maybe the marketing guy asking for some images for his posters, since it’d be way less obvious if he asks vs. me asking. He gave me a couple of CDs he’s got, and will come by Little Troopers tomorrow to get some shots.

On a personal note, my weight loss seems to have stalled. For those of you not keeping track (er, most if not all of you) I’ve lost about 25 pounds since my maddening heaviest—post-baby, post-miscarriage, mid-misconception about how weight loss really works. Things really did turn around after implementing the stuff I read in the Ultra-metabolism book, not that I follow it to the letter. Back in Denver, I tossed everything with hydrogenated or partially-hydrogentated fats (sometimes the label will say zero transfat but these evil fats still lurk therein). It’s hard for me to translate labels here, but the ingredient lists generally seem simpler, which seems like a good sign.

And I’ve fully embraced olive oil… I pretty much slather stuff in it… ‘cause, well, YUM. And it’s showing up as a cancer preventer and everything (at least according to some sources), so I’m all for that. And I’m now back to my pre-pregnancy weight, more or less. That was still more than I’d ever weighed before, so I still struggle with that. But it’s something. Something kind of big, actually. I still am not at a weight that feels comfortable or healthy for me, so I’ve obviously got some work to do. But the changes so far are just based on minor dietary modifications with very little added exercise. It’s a start, for sure.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Slugs

We had sign class today. Our attendance still hasn’t gotten back up to where it was that one crazy day (when I wasn’t there) when we had 30+ people. I’m starting to think that’s a myth.

It was quite rainy yesterday, so we had some slugs in our driveway. I don’t think I’ve seen a slug since I was living in Chester, England in high school. I do remember from my childhood that my grandma (Dad’s mom) used to kill them with gasoline. However, I’m trying to not make Wee Laddie uncomfortable about any kinds of bugs, so I try to be really tolerant of them. They are really creepy little buggers, though… here’s a photo, in case you haven’t seen one close-up.

I suspect that Wee Laddie is fond of them because of the “Flushed Away” movie, in which they sing and are even almost cute. They are so not as cute as hedgehogs, which are another creature that I really didn’t see much of before living in England.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Lost in Laaber

Wee Laddie and I met Christina (from the Hotel Hirschen lunch back in March) in Laaber for lunch. The main road to Laaber was closed for a detour (Umleitung, as you may remember from an earlier post), but so was the regular detour that Christina was expecting so her directions were moot. I somehow got to Laaber, but not a part of it that she was familiar with. It’s like when I was in Schweinfurt and was close but not quite… and things kept fitting into the description of what I was looking for, while remaining entirely incorrect. So our lunch began very late, but Christina was very understanding about our delay (and multiple phone calls whilst en route). We had a nice lunch at a Gasthof there in Laaber, which is a very cute town.

The restaurant was quite kid-friendly… in fact, they had a whole toy box of stuff worthy of a good exploration. I ordered schnitzel (I’ve only had it a few times since we’ve been here), mostly because I thought Wee Laddie might like it, and would certainly enjoy the pommes (french fries). Oh, silly Mama. He ate all of the cucumbers & tomatoes from my salad, a few bites of schnitzel and about 3 fries. Not exactly a filling meal. Christina is due in July with her first baby, so I was sharing a few tips with her… not completely unsolicited. I swear. She maybe would have rather discussed something more grownup, but this is all I’ve got right now. I haven’t read a book that wasn’t parenting-oriented or a children’s book in… well, probably nearly 3 years. Yikes.

I muddled through with some very elementary interactions in German… If Christina was inwardly cringing, she at least didn’t let on. But I didn’t actually end up speaking English with the server this time, so I feel somewhat succesful. Okay, so “Schmeckt,” (the food was good) isn’t exactly a conversation, but whatever. At any rate, it was a nice lunch and I very much enjoyed her company. Again. We’re planning to go to a sporting event (with hubbies, this time) over the weekend.

Went grocery shopping after Deutsch class (just a few things, as the store was nearly closing). The woman from the metzgerei (butcher shop) had to call the cashier to come check me out, so then the cashier was telling me something. I chucked the confused look and told her that I’m sorry but I only understand a little German. So she, of course, told me in English. Then she gave me my total in English, too. I now need to learn to say, “In German please. I need the practice.” I think I’ve got everything but the “practice” part. I don’t want people to always cater to me and then I’ll never learn any additional German.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Typical Day, Wee-Laddie Style (aka Nap Challenge 2007)

Today would be our week off of exercise class anyway, but I don’t know if the class will be going forward or not. If not, I’ve got to start walking around the neighborhood or something. You know, if I could get Wee Laddie’s nap schedule sorted out, it would make such a huge difference.

Here’s a typical day.
7-7:30 wake up
8 watch Sesamstrasse while O-tay cooks and we both eat breakfast (Wee Laddie likes a waffle every day, but will sometimes also eat about ½ a scrambled egg or some yogurt.) Then I wash up the breakfast dishes and have a shower if there’s time.
9-10 off to an acitivity on base
11:30 lunch at mess hall
1-2 back home (time depends on whether or not we’ve stopped to run some errands)
3 finally get Wee Laddie to sleep
4:30 Wee Laddie wakes up and needs to be snuggled/held for about ½ hour since he got a late start to his nap, which puts him a bit out of sorts
5-5:30 call Guitarman to see when he’s coming home, start making dinner
6:30 finally sitting down to dinner
7:30-8 toy cleanup and off to bed for Wee Laddie
8-10 trying to get Wee Laddie to sleep

And since he’s often been skipping the nap lately, then that nap block is taken up with me talking, singing, reading, rocking, driving, etc. I really hope we can get back onto a better schedule soon!

Monday, May 7, 2007

A Woman on the Verge

I’m on the verge of a major blog catch-up. I’ve got a few random blogs that are missing, but then I’ve got many of them already done. Once I fill in the blanks, you’ll have lots to read. That’s either good or bad, depending on your perspective. Though if it were really bad, I don’t suppose you’d be here, reading. So nevermind.

We went up to Würzburg today, since it’s open on Sundays. Oh yeah, plus it has that darned Taco Bell. Even poor Wee Laddie now depends on a regular Taco Bell fix… he’ll suddenly start talking about “cheesy potatoes.” That kid doesn’t stand a chance at not liking Mexican food in some form. Let’s see, “salsa,” “hot sauce” and “relleno” were all among his first probably 50 words… so it’s a done deal, I think.

So while we were shopping at the PX, I got a surprise, “Wee Laddie and I wanted to get you something from the jewelry counter for Mother’s Day.” Wow. First time for jewelry, other than engagement/wedding rings. Nice. Imagine Guitarman’s delight when I walked away from the diamonds (just can’t see it after “Blood Diamond”), opting for Wee Laddie’s birthstone instead—more fitting, really, and picked out a lovely necklace for $15. Yup, you read that right. Did he pick well, or what? ;) We ended up adding on a bracelet (okay, that was over $100, but still not in diamond territory). So a lovely treat for me on behalf of my awesome son, by my thoughtful hubster.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Toymarkt

Last night while Guitarman was tucking Wee Laddie in (we’re pretty much trading off every night, except that Guitarman always does Tuesdays while I’m at German class), Wee Laddie was making a bit of trouble. So Guitarman started counting. Wee Laddie got mad and told him, “No counting! That’s Mommy’s!” hehehe

After nap and all of the related hoopla, we went to walk around Neumarkt (which Wee Laddie calls “Toymarkt” ‘cause I mentioned wanting to go to a toy store there… it was closed by the time we got there today, of course). After feeling so close to Mexican food the other day, I thought it was worth and additional trip to see if we could find it. And, if we could, then maybe even to check out the menu & see if it looked worth a try. Couldn’t find any trace of it. The GPS should have led us right there, so I don’t know if it’s just been replaced with something else or if there was a data entry goof somewhere. Perhaps some malicious software engineer (no offense to Guitarman) who doesn’t like American ex-pats… “Ha, I’ll lead them on a wild goose chase for that silly Mexican food they always talk about missing!”

I shot a fun video of my feet as I walked… interesting to note the changes in the cobbles or whatever. I think I’ll incorporate it into a montage with photos of buildings & stuff that we saw there. I have a funny feeling that if I ever really get a chance to play around with video editing stuff (so like after Wee Laddie’s in school full-time, I suppose), it may serve as a backdrop of sorts for many things.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

No Nap for You

Kaitlyn came over to play this morning. Only one other mom on the playgroup even replied. How disappointing that people aren’t more interested. I understand they’re busy and all, but am I the only one not having other playdates or something?

Wee Laddie & Kaitlyn had fun. Her mom, Kelly, is very nice. And not afraid to correct Wee Laddie when he’s getting a little overenthusiastic with his physical contact with Kaitlyn, so that’s good. And I made a peanut butter & flaxseed version of Rice Krispy Treats that I found online. I’ll have to tweak the recipe as it was a bit sweet for my tastes, but I liked it.

Went to have lunch with Daddy, then back for nap. (And we finally got the summer tires put on my car.) No luck with nap—again—so we drove to Neumarkt to check out a few stores. (There’s also a restaurant called “Hacienda” there, so I was hoping to find it but it seemed to be on one of the cobblestone streets that are often pedestrian-only zones and I wasn’t sure if it was legal for me to drive there or not.) After all of the squirming, extra poops and claims of, “Wee Laddie all done sleeping,” guess who fell asleep after 15 minutes in the car. Aargh! So I drove around for a little bit trying to find a good place to park. Found this gem of a spot:


Er, it seemed like a gem until…

That red thing? Yup, that’s a train.

Friday, May 4, 2007

A Little Cash

Wee Laddie slept until 9am this morning! That made us quite late to Kids’ Club, but we still went. I’ve been skipping out on swimming for quite some time now, but it’s a little easier to get us to Kids’ Club, and the running-around time is so great for Wee Laddie!

Talked to my mom tonight… a family friend (Page) and his wife (Teri) who had a baby 4 months ago have just learned that their baby, Cash, has been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and is not expected to even make it to a year. They must be so utterly heartbroken… I cannot imagine what they are going through right now.

When I think of Page, I always am transported to his parents’ deck in Boulder, on the day that he discovered his mom’s latest attempt to hide tofu—in cheesecake. Page was holding his throat and screaming, “There’s tofu in the cheesecake? Tofu cheesecake! Aaagh!” And then there was the summer at their cabin near Durango where the older 3 of us finally got around to rigging up a fake Elektra Lake monster and Page (the oldest of the younger 3) just barely still believed that it might be real.

I like those thoughts better.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

A Dually. In Deutschland?

I saw a dually truck driving around today. Now, obviously, it’s American. (I’d be shocked if they even *make* duallies here.) I had to wonder at the logic of bothering to ship a dually over. It must be such a huge pain in the ass to park… hell, even to drive around. Guitarman’s co-worker, Charlie, and his wife, Thalisa, recently bought a Volvo SUV here. Charlie said they’d booked a hotel room when they went to pick it up and the person giving them directions told them a different way than what was on the map, so Charlie asked about it. “Oh,” the woman said, “your car is too big to go that way.”

Today Wee Laddie and I were chit-chatting in the car. We often talk about what we’ll be doing today, or our plans for the rest of the week or whatever. I can’t remember now what I mentioned, but he said, “That be fun. That be awesome!” And the ‘80s live on through my child’s vocabulary.

Truckers here in Germany often get those little mini-license plates with their names on them, then stick them in the windshield. So you see a truck and you know that Dieter is driving. Weird. Can you see that flying with truckers in the US?

Wee Laddie slept in his own room again tonight. I wonder if this is becoming a trend.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Games We Play

Had my German class tonight. I am completely blown away by the 3 most advanced students in our class (of the 6 of us there tonight, I was the least advanced), for whom this is not just their 2nd language. One guy, Sita, was looking up words in his German-English dictionary, then in his English-Cambodian (I don’t think that’s really the language’s name, but it is what he called it) dictionary. Wow. As I’ve just done a quick web search about the Cambodian languages, it says that the main language has no tone. The exercise we’re doing in class is this:

There are 3 adjective cards on the table. (for example, happy, jealous, tired)
You draw a card with an unrelated sentence on it, and then have to read the sentence in a way that illustrates the adjective. The other players guess which adjective you are using.

It’s a really fun game because it keeps you from over-focusing on the German words, and forces you to try to evoke some emotion rather than just spewing stilted sentences. Anyway, I’ve had such a hard time figuring out what Sita and Kim’s adjectives were, because they just don’t use as much facial expression and inflection as the other American students do. (I’ll literally guess like “angry” when their adjective was “friendly.” It’s honestly that hard to tell.) The info I’ve acquired tonight about their language sheds an interesting light on that.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

In My Room

Wee Laddie slept in his own room all night last night! He chose to be there and didn’t change his mind like he did last night. We haven’t really gotten around to trying to move him back to his own bed. We’re kind of in that “well, he won’t sleep with us forever” place and it’s working okay. But lately he’s sort of developed an interest in sleeping in his own room. I’m kind of surprised that he’s pursuing it on his own, as he’s so mommy-oriented all day.

We are still watching “Cars” pretty much every day. Wee Laddie knows most of the characters’ names. Interestingly, though, he doesn’t relate himself to the characters the way he does in “Flushed Away.” Sometimes when I say something to him he’ll completely ignore what I’m saying to correct me: “I not Wee Laddie, I mouse woman.”

I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep doing daily posts. Those of you who are reading these entries as I post them know that I’m currently about a month behind, and I write the entries based on my notes in my PDA (I have a terrible memory). So I’m coming across entries where I’ll have just a word or two that was supposed to remind me of something, like I just read one that said, “written.” Well, what the hell is that supposed to remind me of from a month ago? I have no freakin’ idea, so if I have days like that I’m just going to skip them. I may have enough goofy fillers (random observations about Germany or whatever) to fill them, but I might not. So you’ve been warned.