A bi-annual update!

So… the last time I wrote anything was in February. A lot has happened since then, and I will do my best to fill you in.

March
My mom visited us for Emma’s 2nd birthday! It was so nice to have a few days to spend with my mom, but I was very anxious about her flying (over Istanbul, no less) with a broken arm.

At the end of the month I started a crafting blog with my sisters, which has sadly not been updated since… August?

April
One of my friends had complications with her pregnancy and hired me to be a nanny/cleaner/extra set of hands until she was in the clear. I worked about 25 hours a week in the afternoons watching Emma and her daughter. It was fun, but made me very much appreciate that I don’t have twins! :D

Over Easter, my mother-in-law invited us to vacation with them in August! Thinking about the upcoming trip really saved my sanity over the summer.

At the end of April I had my first German interview for a job (that I didn’t get). If nothing else, it was a learning experience.

May
I started volunteering at the German American Institute library in Heidelberg. As if I didn’t already have enough to do.

Fabian got a random student job where he had to count people on busses. The company gathers statistics and works with different transportation regions to help them update routes and make service more efficient. Kind of cool, but he ended up having to work quite a few times overnight staying in random small cities at the French border. It was nice that he had the job, but it was unpredictable and left me with little free time.

June
Happy summer! Fabian was still working that job. The highlight was taking a daytrip to Wissembourg, France. We hadn’t been able to have a lot of time for each other, and it was nice to have an excuse to go somewhere together. :) Emma also learned that it was OK to play in fountains…

July
The good parts of July were defined by playing in the rain, a visit from a friend (Jacob), and my 27th birthday! Fabian spent a lot of time writing his thesis, working, and we were both pretty stressed.

August
At the beginning of August, I got a new temporary contract from one of the companies I’ve worked with three times before. It was beautiful timing.

Shortly after, one of my best friends (Stevie) came for a visit! It was a very fun visit, and my in-laws said that she was a “real American!” They especially loved her accent. :)  Stevie is one of those friends where you always pick up exactly where you left off, and it doesn’t matter how much time has passed since you’ve seen each other. It was so nice to have a visitor and not feel like I was changing my life to accommodate her - it was relaxing!

A week later, we went to Dolcedo, Italy (a beautiful town built in the  early Middle Ages) with Fabian’s family for a week, and it was an excellent trip to decompress. We were in the middle of the mountains without internet. I really needed to disconnect, it was very good for me. We took day trips to Nice, France, and Imperia, and Genoa, Italy. We went hiking! We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on vacation with his family for the second year in a row (and this year he didn’t get food poisoning!!) It was so much fun!

The drive to Italy was very easy, we just had the expected hour-long traffic jam leading up to the Gotthard Tunnel (it’s more than 10 miles/16.5 km long and is the third longest road tunnel in the world!), but the rest of the trip was uneventful.

On the way back however, the 8.5 hour trip took 14.5 hours. (Yes. you read that right.) First, we had traffic along the coast getting out of Italy. We later learned that Italians were starting their summer holidays, which meant that the roads were extremely full. Combine that with the torrential rain… it took a while. Then, we got stuck for more than an hour in Milan waiting to pay the toll. So, after waiting for that long, Fabian’s dad decided he wasn’t going to wait in traffic at the tunnel, so, we detoured over the Alps taking the San Bernardino Pass. The views were gorgeous, and were the only thing that made the detour worth it.

We ended up driving next to Lichtenstein, through a corner of Austria, and then around a corner of Lake Konstanz, up to Ulm, and finally back over to Karlsruhe to get to Heidelberg. We were constantly met with traffic and construction. It was SO long.

(Thank you for illustrating my point, Google Maps!)

Aside from the visit and the vacation, Fabian was still working on his thesis, and we were both applying for jobs all over the place. At the end of the month I found out that I got into an English-language study program, but I am not going to go  because it’s located in a dumb town far away from everything useful and the likelihood that Fabian would also get a job there is pretty much non existent. 

The only thing I regret was that the trip to Italy overlapped with when our friends were meeting up in Amsterdam for 5 days. I would have absolutely LOVED getting to visit with them.

September
September also went quickly. We kicked the month off by taking Emma to get her first haircut! It was very exciting, and she was wonderfully non-wiggly when the stylist had the scissors near her face! She looks so much more grown up now!

In the middle of September, the daughter of my mother-in-law’s friend invited me for an “interview” at the marketing/advertising agency she works at. The job was to edit websites based on the templates they provided. The “interview” was a test to see if I could do the job. I went in at 10:00a, and walked out at 4:00p with a job! :) It is on a freelance basis, and I am waiting to see if there is more work for me in October, but I really enjoy the job, and the fact that I have an excuse to go into the city wearing nice clothes!

September was also the month my sisters visited me! We had a wonderful sister trip, the cousins could play together. Emma kept singing a song saying that Kira (my niece) was her best friend. It was so sweet! After they left, I felt very sad that I live so far away and that the cousins don’t have the chance to know each other very well. I miss my sisters very much. :(

October
On October 2nd, Fabian had an interview with the chamber of commerce in Passau. We are anxiously waiting to hear whether or not he got the job (but it does look hopeful).

I am getting my passport renewed (name change, y’all!) and collecting documents to renew my visa, which expires on November 1. I am crossing my fingers that my passport comes back in time!!

Aside from that, Emma decided she was (finally) ready for potty training!! She had had a few accidents during the week, down to one accident on Thursday and then no accidents on Friday. She’s a big fan of helping with the whole process.

I will leave you with a silly story:

Emma really likes her privacy on the potty, which usually means the second the door is closed she says, "Peepee! Finished!" and I go back in. So last night she was peeing before bed, and I was waiting for her to say she was finished, it took a surprisingly long time, and when I opened the door she was mid-pour emptying her potty into the toilet. Of course I surprised her and she got pee all over her hands, which she promptly wiped on her pajamas... but, it was HILARIOUS! :) She looked so proud of herself!

She also fought a night diaper last night, so we said what the heck, let her go without one to see what happens. The most amazing thing happened, SHE STAYED DRY!!! Which was extra good since I spent half the night in her bed with her. But seriously. It's been a whopping 6 days since we started potty training. I feel like I have won the lottery!

 

Until next time…!

First date

Three years ago today, Fabian and I had our first date. We met after Polish class at Centrum, walked to a copy shop, and printed out patterns to build paper robots. We went back to Fabian’s flat, cut out robots, listened to music, and had awkward conversation. Who would have guessed we’d end up here?! :)

***

Emma is growing up in a big way!! She is able to express what she wants with words (in both languages) and by force (taking your hand and putting it on what she wants). She still babbles a lot, but her vocabulary has grown in a big way. She still sings a lot, too.

In the last week or so, she’s started calling Fabian and me by our names. “Er-ca!” “Fa-bi-an!” She gets the tone so perfectly, too. I hear my exasperated voice coming out of her mouth. Oops… One friend told me she’d heard that kids parody their parents. I can definitely see it.

***

We haven’t been affected by the artic weather that has affected a lot of the US. Instead, we had one of the warmest Januarys on record! It only got below freezing on a handful of days (mostly overnight), and the rest of the time we had a pretty nice average of 40° F. A few days ago, it was full-on SPRING weather!! It was so sunny and was something like 50° F! Emma is definitely happy to be outside more often.

***

Life in Erica-land has been bittersweet. I don’t know; generally speaking, I’ve just been feeling lost. I don’t know what I want, I don’t know where I want to be… it’s all making me depressed.

For the better part of the last three years, I haven’t had a clear picture of where my life is heading. First it was not having a real plan when I moved to Germany, then it was having a baby, after that it's been Fabian’s grad school. I’ve definitely wasted time, I’ve definitely not been as motivated to fully establish myself in Germany and/or fully commit to learning (more) German as I should be.

Even after being traumatized by the kindergarten job with the employer from hell, I’ve still been applying for jobs, but so far nothing has worked out. Next week I am going to inquire about the twice weekly job at the outdoorsy store down the block from Emma’s daycare. It’s run by foreigners, so maybe I have a chance!

I started volunteering as a translator (German > English) for Watching America. I get to pick a German-language article that somehow pertains to the US and translate it. I really just signed up so that I could practice reading in German, and something must be working because the translations are slowly becoming easier. I wish I was able to take German classes along with it, I think I would really be able to make some progress that way.

I also started “teaching” English this Thursday, which is hilarious. I have two students: I am meeting one on a weekly basis, and the other is a two-day intensive kind of thing the first week of March. Both of them need practice speaking and correcting pronunciation. My first lesson was fun, and the woman is very nice, but I am just making it up as I go along. Can any ESL teachers out there give me some tips? :)

***

Back in the middle of January, Fabian’s great aunt died. She had throat and tongue cancer; it was very sad, but most people were relieved she wasn’t suffering and in massive pain anymore. She was such a sweet lady, but I only ever understood part of what she was telling me. The funeral was sad, and incredibly somber. In Germany they really go all the way with the black clothing. I wore a dark blue jacket (or my normal winter jacket) and felt out of place because my jacket was too cheerful.

***

Fabian is in the final semester of his MA and has started working on his thesis. I’m excited that he’s almost done, and proud of him for having done so well in grad school! He’s started looking at jobs all over the place, too. We’re both all over the map and keeping it complicated. We’re both having mid-life crises and we’re only in our twenties.

***

Until next time…!

It’s almost Christmas??!

Since I last updated this thing, I have returned to Germany, got hired and fired (ask if you want the story, I just don’t think it’s good form to have it out there on the internet), dealt with an exploding toilet, “quit” the choir, had a sick kid, got sick myself, celebrated Thanksgiving with friends, Fabian celebrated his birthday, got a Christmas tree, discovered we are living with a mouse, Emma became a cookie and chocolate addict (thank you, Advent), and now it is the fourth Sunday in Advent and I can’t believe it is just two days until Christmas.

***

First, a good laugh. When I still had a job, one morning the toilet got stopped up and since we had to leave, we decided to deal with it later. At work (a nursery), two children were out sick with hand-foot-mouth disease, which is highly infectious and starts with a fever and gives you itchy red spots on your hands, feet, and in/around your mouth (more on this later). Fabian picked Emma up and we meet up after work to ride the tram home together. I was stressed because I hadn’t seen Emma all day, and she had a 4-hour nap in the afternoon, so I was debating whether or not I should go to yoga; Fabian convinced me I should. Halfway through class my phone tells me I got a SMS, and when I checked after class, it was Fabian saying, “call before you leave, we have a situation.” And what is that situation, you ask? Turns out that as Fabian was plunging the toilet, the water found an exit all over the outdoor entryway. There was a small lake of smelly shit water standing outside. Fabian called his dad to help fix the plumbing/cleaning, Fabian’s mom and sister entertained Emma. When I got home, everything was more or less OK, but it still smelled outside. After dinner, some kohlrabi-ginger soup that gave Fabian a belly ache, I gave Emma a bath, and of COURSE she poops in the tub. It was one hell of a day.

***

Emma and I have been sick pretty constantly since we returned to Germany in October after our stint in the US this summer. We’ve had constant sniffles and coughs, then, back in November, Emma got a urinary tract infection, which was pretty serious until we figured out what it was because she was vomiting, had a high fever, wasn’t eating, was totally lethargic, and only wanted to sleep. Then she got antibiotics and perked right up. Thank goodness. Two weeks later, I had the 24-hour stomach flu, and it was a very “happy” Thanksgiving for me.

We had planned a Thanksgiving get-together with our friends for the last Saturday in November. Thursday night, I started vomiting, and wasn’t feeling better until after a trip to the doctor where I got an IV to help replenish my fluid levels, since I hadn’t been able to keep anything down. Friday I still felt nauseas, but I could at least eat small portions. Saturday was particularly rough since we had all the food and cooking smells in the house. I was glad that I could go pick-up friends from various train/tram stations and get out of the smelly house for a little while. Sadly, it was a lack-luster party for me, I fell asleep when putting Emma to bed around 7:30p. In hindsight, I feel bad that I didn’t really get to visit with my friends. I hope I’ll get to see them again soon.

***

Next, Fabian celebrated his 26th birthday! I gave him a crepe pan and made him an apron, he was pretty excited, and the next day we ate crepes!! Sadly, it was a weird day and didn’t feel all that festive. Fortunately we could do a bit more celebrating the following weekend for Nikolaustag (Nikolaus came to Fabian’s parent’s house and we had a raclette dinner!), and that made his birthday celebration feel happier.



Thinking about Nikolaustag brings me to Emma’s cookie and chocolate obsession. Every day Emma gets a wooden Haba toy in her Adventskalandar (thank you, Henriette!), except on the 6th and 24th, for Nokolaustag and Christmas Eve; those two days she gets chocolate. So, we started the morning with two chocolate Santa’s, one in her calendar, one in her boot. the one from her calendar was gone in an instant, because we didn’t know that she could open the foil wrapper. Before I knew what was going on, the Santa from the boot was open and half eaten! Then she sat up tall in her highchair demanding more “La-da!” (from the German, Schokolade).

Moving on to the cookies: Fabian has been baking so many Christmas cookies, and Emma got to help out a lot. She snuck a bunch of cookie dough, and of course got to sample the finished product. During the month of December, Emma has asked for/demanded cookies at least once a day, if not more! Now we have to spell out C-O-O-K-I-E whenever we talk about them so as not to get her started on a cookie rampage.

***

On the 16th of December, we bought our first Christmas tree! Even though this will be our third Christmas, we haven’t had the chance to get our own tree. First, while I was pregnant, we were living in Passau and visited his family for two weeks around the holidays. Second, we were in the US for a month between December and January, and having a tree would have been dumb. So, finally, this year, we could have our own tree! :) Emma has only sort of “discovered” it, thankfully, so we haven’t had tree-catastrophes.

***

Last weekend, Emma had a particularly late night, and Fabian and I stayed up until 2a doing miscellaneous nonsense on our computers. I got up to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom before finally sleeping, and when I was in the bathroom, a mouse darted out from underneath the sink cabinet making a beeline for the door (which was closed). Until then, Fabian and I had both “seen” the ghost mouse, but this time we really knew that she was there. I called for Fabian to come help me catch it, but she was too clever for us and we still have a mouse somewhere in the house. We are sort of thinking about getting a cat, but in this exact moment, I am not convinced it’s a good idea, because having a pet means more financial obligations, and right now that just isn’t an option for us.

***

I almost forgot! Remember that Hand-Foot-Mouth disease I mentioned earlier? Well it made its way to our daycare and the week before break 5 of the 7 children got it, Emma included. And because she loves me so much, she gave it to me! !%/§$. It was like chicken pox but only on my hands and feet. My case was definitely worse than Emma's, but she was such a monster it was obvious she was sick, too.

***

With all the Christmas spirit in the air, Emma has picked up (we think at the Kindergruppe), some songs, namely O Tannenbaum and Jingle Bells. Emma will demand us to, “Sing! Singen! Singen!” until we properly start up with '”O Tannenbaum,” then she joins in with “O Tammenoun!” It’s incredibly cute. Two days ago she started the same thing with “Jungle Balls,” which took me a minute… We have a video of her singing her own song that you can check out, if you are interested/haven’t already seen it.

***

The last thing I can tell you is that we started potty training yesterday. I made Emma a pair of crotchless pants so that she wouldn’t have to run around half naked in December; it’s a bit chilly, you know?! We are borrowing some training pants from a friend, and so far it’s not so bad! Emma is starting to figure it out. :)

***

So, that brings us pretty up-to-date. I haven’t had any motivation to do much of anything since I got fired, especially since there is a lot of drama surrounding it. However, I have applied for a few jobs and apprenticeships, and I hope something will pan out because right now I am feeling like the most useless person in Germany. I have no reason to be here. I hope that you are doing better than I am, and that you are enjoying the holiday season!

Until next time…

Little dance mouse

Emma absolutely LOVES music, and she is almost always a cutie and will dance along. Fabian is less thrilled with this video, but he's given his blessing to have it posted all over the internet. Good man.

Baby dance mouse from Erica Wilfong on Vimeo.

Long overdue

I know that I haven’t written anything since March. This update is long overdue.  I haven’t been feeling like myself and I haven’t had the motivation to write anything to anybody.

April went fast, and I felt drained by the end of the month. I was swamped with work, and Fabian had a few projects for school. In the miniscule amount of free time we had, we did a little bit of traveling in the region; I finished the sewing project I’d been meaning to do; Emma started talking (her first word was “banana”); and I joined a choir.

May also went fast, and poorly. Emma had her first real accident (stood up and whacked her face on the corner of a bench), we’ve had four days with sunshine and I still need to wear a jacket—in MAY, and to top it all, I lost my job. Sweet. At least my Mother’s Day was nice.

That little bit of travel
We had a nice weekend daytrip to Bensheim and Heppenheim. It was a Saturday, shops closed early, it was rainy and sunny, and we didn’t do a lot except wander aimlessly. We agree that Bensheim is nicer than Heppenheim.

We had a weird experience at a café in Heppenheim: for the first time, we felt unwelcome in a restaurant because we had a baby with us. They had a highchair, so you would think they expect a child customer now and then, but they gave us a glare when we walked upstairs, and couldn’t believe that we needed a place to change Emma. We left, went back to the car and headed to Bensheim 3 km away, because we couldn’t deal with ending the day on such a sour note.

Fortunately, Bensheim was much more fun. After a torrential rainstorm, the sun came out and we had a lovely jaunt around the city, Emma practiced walking, and then we had a second cup of coffee and a slice of cake at a much happier café where the waitress doted on Emma.

Sewing project
After I made the sofa cover, I bought fabric online through Etsy to make pillow covers. The fabric sat in a cabinet for almost five months before I did anything with it. Ta da!

Emma
It feels like everyday Emma is doing something new. She’s mastered a stacking toy, she can walk with help, she climbs up and down stairs (which took her all of 3 minutes to figure out). After mama and papa, her first word was banana, and she has added Nase (nose) and Baum (tree) to her vocabulary. EVERYONE ASKED and now I can say, she speaks more German than English. 

Emma’s personality has continued to emerge—she is such a little ham! :D When she is tired, she will lay down on the carpet and look all cute and stuff. She gets enthusiastic about feeding you, and won’t stop shoving food at your face until you eat it. Handfuls of grass are the best toy when we can play outside. She likes to feed the bunnies.

Networking
At the end of April, I took over as organizer for a parents/playdates Meetup group I was part of. The original organizer’s children are in school now and she didn’t want to continue paying for it. Nobody wanted to pick-up the leadership role, and at 5 days until close, I decided to take it over for a few months to see what happens.

After I organized a meetup at my house, one woman wrote me and said she lived in the next neighborhood over, and we should meet. So we did, and now Emma and I both have new friends that live seven minutes away, and the new friendships have been excellent for both of us.

New project
I’d had this idea in the back of my mind for a while, and I finally implement it. I have changed Emma’s diaper on the bathroom floor of many restaurants and cafés because there weren’t kid-friendly facilities. I know, I know, Germany is old, and old buildings, etc. But, my idea was to create a list of the restaurants and cafés that DO have amenities for children.  So, www.kidfriendlyin.de was born.

I have had a few setbacks though—I’m in the middle of rebuilding the website AGAIN. Ugh!! The first time I was frustrated with the way things were linked and had to recreate pages using a different template.  The second time I had a lovely fatal error and lost the entire site, so I switched CMS and am working  of through it. So. Tedious.

Losing the job
I was working as an independent contractor for five months, then last Friday, out of the blue, I get an email that says I should hold off on everything for a few weeks until bossman can get his ducks in a row. I think it boils down to the fact that he doesn’t really do email, and since I’m not there to talk to, he couldn’t manage the project.

On one hand, I was relieved, because doing a job with zero feedback was stressful because I didn’t know if I was on the right track. On the other hand, I felt screwed over that I had no inkling that it was coming.

Farherschein
I’ve lived in Germany for almost two years. I was supposed to exchange my Illinois drivers license for a German license after the first six months, but that just didn’t happen. So, I finally did it! I have a mean looking picture, and I will pick it up next week.

Summer plans
Big news, we are coming to the US this summer, and we will be in Chicago for the month of July. Emma and I will be in Nashville in September. If you want to visit, please start making plans, I am already getting very busy. :(

 

Emma certainly knows how to get comfy and pass out. I feel like that too, practically every day! :D Here’s hoping June is better. Good night y’alls.

Happy 1st birthday, Emma!

I suck at keeping up with this blog. I hope that I can be better now that I am only working one job!

The months of February and March have been intense. On top of working two jobs, and being a full-time Mama, I took an intensive Deutsch B1.1 course, which was five days a week for a month! Then, the course ended, Fabian got sick, Emma had a birthday, and now I’m sort of recovered?

I was sick the last three days of my German course—I wrote the reading comprehension test (badly), then my teacher sent me home. I guess I looked really bad. I know I felt awful! When I got home, I discovered I had a small fever, then the next two days I had intense head aches. Two days later, Fabian notices some sort of rash on his chest, and when it started hurting him, he went to the doctor and found out he has shingles (herpes zoster), caused by the same virus that gives children the chicken pox.

So yea, shingles are fun. Fabian has been in a lot of pain for most of the last week and a half. The doctor said they were probably brought on by stress, which makes sense. It is a little bit funny, because we had just decided not to get Emma vaccinated against the chicken pox, and we still didn't vaccinate her against it even though Fabian has shingles… fortunately Emma isn't showing any signs of the chicken pox, and Fabian is past the contagious part. So, we are probably in the clear.

***

In other news, Emma started walking (sort of)! She has a small push wagon that she got after Christmas, and the day before her birthday, she started walking with it back and forth across the room for 30  minutes! Since then, she's gotten steadier with it, and now practices balancing herself when she stands. It is so cool! We bought her a pair of leather-soled shoes as a sort of congratulations. :)

She hasn’t figured out how to change directions, so she just keeps going until she runs into a piece of furniture. Then, she looks confused why she can’t go and lifts her feet like she’s walking in place. It’s cute and funny!

***

Emma’s first birthday was a lot of fun, but holy cow, children’s birthday parties are STRESSFUL!!

We originally thought we would have a nice birthday brunch at 11, but two weeks before her birthday, Fabian’s dad asked if he could grill. Who are we to turn down a barbecue?! The weather didn’t quite cooperate (so cold!), but we still grilled, and it was delicious. Fabian made tasty cucumber and chickpea salads, and we made rhubarb chutney and apple barbecue sauce to go with the meat. Mmmmm! (For the record, Emma was not a fan of the chickpea salad.)

The most stressful part of the party was opening presents. Emma was already tired because she didn’t nap well in the morning, and by the time 2:00p rolled around, she was pretty done. We also had a 3.5-year-old at the party, who was intent on “helping” Emma open presents. Cute, but overwhelming.

Emma had her own smash cake. At first, she didn’t know what to do with it, but Oma helped her out by scooping a big fingerful of frosting and sticking it in Emma’s mouth. About 20 seconds later, Emma was all over the cake!

I really wonder what she thought about the day. Randomly given a cake, tons of presents and attention? If I didn’t know what was going on, I know I would be confused.

***

One of the coolest presents Emma received was a hand-made riding toy.

***

A few random bits to tie up this post:

• Emma got her 7th tooth, and the 8th is almost here! Right now it’s a nice whitish lump sitting just under her gums.
• Emma makes funny noises by flipping her lip with her finger (bl-ub, bl-ub, bl-ub). Cuter is when she smiles because the noise is so silly!
• Transitioning to solid foods is a real commitment. I didn’t realize how challenging it could be to create a diet for someone else!
• I am slowly adding recipes to this blog. We have a lot of good ones, and it’s a shame to keep them to myself. :)

That’s all I’ve got for tonight. I hope to write again soon!

A weekend in the Netherlands

We were half way through our trip in the US when we decided we would go to the Netherlands for a few days after returning to Germany, and after a day back in Heidelberg, we started planning a trip for the following weekend! Everything was very spontaneous and not well planned, but it was a lot more fun that way. :)

First, we coordinated with the Erasmus friends we knew living in the Netherlands, then figured out we could meet them both in the same region, and booked a room on www.airbnb.com in den Haag. The flaw in our plan was expecting that we could take Fabian’s grandma’s car for the weekend. Two days before the trip, Fabian’s dad said we shouldn’t take the car because the locks don’t work well and  it wasn’t good to drive it in the snow (it’s an older car, and it does make weird noises sometimes…), so we should look for train tickets. Well. the train was going to cost about 350€, and I said to rent a car for a fraction of the price instead!

Day 1: We woke up at ass o’clock to finish packing, then Fabian went to pick-up the rental car. The first thing he says when he gets back is, "There was a problem with our reservation and we didn’t get a car." My reaction was “WHAT??!!!” until I realized that he was just pulling my leg. But there really was a problem with the reservation—they didn’t have the car we reserved, so they gave us a BMW 320. Ha! At first, we both felt a little bit ridiculous, but after 100 km it was just fun. It was definitely the fanciest car I’ve been in.
We set off, realizing an hour in that we forgot to bring our Christmas money, and had no cash. Oops! We also didn’t have a map, and only had directions to the house we were staying at, but not to Delft, which we were going to visit on the way. However, as luck would have it, we were in a fancy BMW and navigation was included! Crisis averted.

Emma was really happy in the car, even though she is a bit big for her car seat (we need to hurry up and buy the bigger size!). I was worried she was uncomfortable, but she was able to sleep for a few hours and didn’t complain too loudly, so I guess it was okay.

***

We started our vacation with a visit to Delft. Delft is a smaller city (~100k people) in southeast Netherlands. Fabian had picked a random parking lot vaguely near the center from the navigation thing, and we drove a very roundabout way through the city through really small curvy streets to get there.



Emma was very excited to get out of the car and see something, and we decided to find a cafe where we could enjoy a coffee and cake to kick-off our vacation.

I was concentrating on keeping Emma occupied so she wouldn’t start crying, and Fabian was on the lookout for a cafe. We passed seven or so before I just picked one (Thuis In) because Emma was getting too heavy. The cafe was a funny split-level place with the kitchen in the lower level, bakery on the main level, and a few tables on the upper level. The cafe man greeted us then asked what he could get for us. We said we wanted to stay for coffee, and he said, “Okay, I have some toys your baby can play with if you want to sit upstairs.” Fabian was amazed! (He is used to being greeted with disdain when entering bakeries/cafes with small children in Germany.) So, after five hours in the car, Emma finally had her chance to crawl around and unwind. We ordered cappuccinos, Fabian picked out some funny cakes, and we sat in the cafe for an hour.

We walked around Delft for two hours and saw some interesting/strange/pretty things including  a hobo snowman, and posts lining a public square that looked like swastikas from the top (awkward!). The city is quite gorgeous, and looks especially beautiful at night all lit up.



Eventually, we left Delft and drove to Den Haag, and had a relatively easy time finding our host’s flat. We had a hard time figuring out where to park though, and had to wait for the guy to come downstairs to show us where to go.

Our airbnb hosts were a very nice Iranian family. They were very welcoming, and enjoyed playing with Emma. :)

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Day 2: Our second day in the Netherlands we explored Den Haag. We had a late start—I was up for three hours at 3:30a because of a stuffy nose and the whole not being able to breathe made it hard to continue sleeping. We weren’t out of the house until after 11:30a and set off for a very cold walk to the central station to meet Matea and Krzysztof. (They live in the northern part of the Netherlands, but were coming to the south for a day to visit some Polish friends, and since we were there at the same time, we all hung out together.)

We met up around 12:30p, and decided it was very cold and their friends took us to a funny bar/restaurant called Pavlov, where we had tea and sandwiches. Emma was happy to be out of her snow suit and was jumping around for a while. She did take a nap before we left the restaurant, which made me very happy since she was acting cranky and exhausted.

After lunch, we walked around in the center, made our way to the Escher Museum (he’s the guy with the crazy perspective art and tessellations). The museum was cool, and on the top floor there was an interactive exhibit with lots of space for Emma to crawl around. The security woman was entertained until we were in the regular exhibit area and Emma was babbling very loudly, so I went to the coat check area to wait for everyone else.

Next, we continued walking in the cold, which wouldn’t have been so bad if the wind wasn’t as extreme. We saw the castle, then the group split up because Emma needed to sleep again and it just wasn’t working to stay outside anymore.



We stopped in a cafe so I could feed Emma, she passed out, and we walked around looking for a place to eat dinner. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant (NL has amazingly delicious Mexican food compared to a lot I’ve had in Europe!), and Fabian was getting frustrated going out for dinner with Emma because she was waking up and it was becoming an ordeal. But, the waiters were all smiling at Emma and waving as they passed, and it wasn’t a big deal at all. We enjoyed a delicious dinner complete with yummy and overpriced cocktails.

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Day 3: We had big plans for our last day in the Netherlands. First we wanted to see the coast, then we were going to Rotterdam to see Robbie. We left our hosts around 10:00a, and drove to Monster to see the coast, and a windmill.

The closer we got to the coast, the windier it became, and by the time we walked from our car to the becah, I  couldn’t feel my face, legs, hands, or neck. I’m extremely glad that I had a sleeping Emma in the carrier with a big blanket around her to save her from the wind. But, I think she was still effected because she woke up to scream a few times after there was an extra strong gust of wind. Before the wind it was –4° C (25° F), and I don’t know what the temperature was with a wind chill… All I can say is that it was FREAKING COLD!

From Monster, we drove to Rotterdam. We arrived in Rotterdam at the Park and Ride around noon, then took the train to the central station. The original plan was that we would walk around for an hour and a half before meeting Robbie, but it was snowing, windy, and extra gross, so we stayed in the train station and had coffee and tea, and funny ham and cheese sandwiches (extra cheesy, topped with cheese).



We met Robbie, and he took us around Rotterdam to a cool restaurant (De Machinist) where we tried kroket, to Delftshaven, the historic part of Rotterdam that survived WWII (and I saw a second windmill!), the cube houses, and to a fun marine-themed restaurant where we had drinks and Dutch pancakes. Mmm!



Robbie tried SO HARD to win Emma over, and he came so close! She is still very cautious of people she’s never met, which is a good thing, but it can be so frustrating for our friends/family who want to give Emma some love and she’s not at all interested.  This picture was after Robbie tried holding Emma, and she crawled right back into Papa’s lap…



After pancakes, we went our separate ways and went back to the car to start driving to Heidelberg.

***

I had a great time visiting friends in the Netherlands, and I definitely want to go back when it is warmer (I’ve only been to NL in January), so I can see tulips, and, of course, more windmills!

After this visit, I am very curious to learn a bit more about the Dutch language. It is a crazy combination of German and English, and I find it fun to listen to. Matea was telling us a little bit about her Dutch-learning experience, and said that you really have to think.

For example, counting to ten, it sounds more German, but then there are 5, 7, and 10 that sound more English (that Dutch ‘ij’ combination makes a similar sound to an English i): 

Dutch	een, twee, drie, vier, vijf, zes, zeven, acht, negen, tien
English	one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Dutch	een, twee, drie, vier, vijf, zes, zeven, acht, negen, tien
German	eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn

Anyway, off my linguist rant. I had a wonderful time, and hope to visit the Netherlands again soon!

Thanksgiving and Nikalous

I have been sort of busy these last few weeks, so please excuse me for not posting about Thanksgiving earlier.

This Thanksgiving felt like a total bust. We couldn’t have dinner until Sunday, then two of Fabian’s siblings had/have mono and couldn’t join us for the festivities. Thanksgiving day itself blew chunks—lots of stress and neither Fabian or I were in a good mood. We were able to find almost everything for a traditional dinner, except cranberries. We substituted with jars of Preiselbeeren (I don’t know the translation in English), which tasted pretty similar and are also usually eaten with meat.

Thanksgiving day itself was fine. We hosted Fabian’s parents, brother, grandma, aunt, and a random friend of his aunt. Everyone enjoyed the meal! We even had pumpkin pie, and the new Thanksgiving celebrators couldn’t believe that it was really pumpkin.



After the celebrations, Emma faked us out by pretending she was really going to sleep, and when she woke  up 20 minutes later, Henriette told us we should go walk around Schwetzingen to get out of the house (it was still relatively early), so we did. Emma was in a FANTASTIC mood, and we could leave her sitting n the Kinderwagen while we shared toast Hawaii and drinks. I really couldn’t believe how well she was behaving for us! Such a nice Thanksgiving treat!

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On December 3, Fabian celebrated his 25th birthday! He got to sleep in a little bit, we went to Schwetzingen for lunch, then had his family over for coffee, glühwein, and cake. Mmm! After everyone left, we had a relaxed evening and had a pizza dinner.

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Breaking news in Emma-land:

• She likes snow!
• She can climb book cases.
• She can get from laying down to sitting up all by herself.
• She has 6 teeth, and teething suggests more are on the way.
• She’ has finally rediscovered that sleeping is good and enjoyable!!!!
• She can get from sitting to standing by pulling herself up on furniture easy peasy.

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Yesterday was Nikalous day. In Germany, the tradition is to leave your boot outside and then Nikalous will deliver treats (peanuts, mandarins, chocolate, socks, etc.). My family also celebrates St. Nicholas Day, and we’ve always gotten goodies inside stockings. This year, we had three Nikalous’s stop by!

From her American Nicholas, Emma got a toy cell phone. It makes noise. But, she seems to enjoy throwing it all over. Thanks American Nicholas! Her German Nikalous brought her different jars of fruity baby food, and two pairs of tights! The third Nikalous gave her some hilarious baby leg warmers. :)

Between Fabian and I, we now have more chocolate than we know what to do with, a whole bunch of new socks (yay!), and soooo many peanuts!!!!!

Happy Halloween, and happy St. Martin’s Day.

Emma celebrated her very first Halloween and St. Martin’s Day!

Halloween isn’t a huge tradition in Germany, so I was totally fine with Emma going as “Mommy’s Little Pumpkin”.



St. Martin’s Day is a huge tradition in Germany to celebrate the Roman soldier Martin of Tours who shared his cloak with a beggar. In Germany, children walk through the town/village/city with lanterns o celebrate his kindness.

For her (and my) first St. Martin’s Day (11.11), Henriette and Paul made a papier-mâché lantern for Emma to “carry” through the park. Emma slept through most of the festivities, but I had fun learning a new tradition, and Fabian had fun reminiscing from his childhood. Here are a few pictures from the evening:

On the tram to Luisen Park



Sleeping through the festivities.



Monster lantern at twilight!



With Mama in the dark

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Last, and totally unrelated to this post, Emma has new teeth! :D