''Mom, did you got holes in your ears?''
Aaron is fascinated with my earrings and the fact that I have an actual hole in my ear. To be honest, it is kind of strange that we do that, isn't it?
''Mom! We got the keys! ....... AHHHHHHHHHH!''
The boys think it's funny to play with the keys in the doors, which they know is NOT allowed. And then come and tell me that they have them, and then scream and run away.'' I just ignore them and wait until they are bored and ask them to put them back.....however, if they lose one, they ARE in big trouble. The keys are over 50 years old and cost at least 50 Euros to replace.
''When I die, you will call the ambulance,'' Aaron says tauntingly.
''Aaron! Please don't say things like that!''
''Timmy will die next week, and you will call the ambulance.''
''No one is allowed to die for the next 80 years!'' I say.
Aaron has been really interested in the ambulance, ever since we saw a huge yellow emergency helicopter land in the gas station behind our home 2 weeks ago. There were also ambulances and a fire truck. Apparently someone had to get picked up there.
We could hear it as it approached and got louder and louder, until we looked out the window of the kitchen, and....whoa!!....there was a helicopter hovering over our backyard! Ever since then, Aaron has been talking about getting a ride in the ambulance and the life-flight. Every time he gets a bump, he says I need to call the ambulance, or that I need to take him to the doctor.
''TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMM!!!'' (Imagine a low pitched voice climbing higher and louder)
A huge fight about to ensue is prefaced with this warning. The boys play really really well together...until...well....they don't. Depending on the day, they might play happily together for 2 hours, OR they need me every 15 minutes to break up a fight. Overall, I would say that it's been a huge blessing how well they play together since we got here. I think that school will be a huge adjustment for them to learn to play nicely with other kids who aren't used to the way they play with each other. But inevitably, the happy play time ends with this word.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
A typical saturday
It's nice to be in a routine again, and to experience "typical" Saturday's again. We first went to Aaron and Timmy's Kindergarten, and visited their Sommerfest (Summer Festival). It was all about the senses, and this little station was supposed to teach them about how things felt. The main point of us going there was to get the little one's used to the school and teachers so that they won't go into shock when they start school in Aug. It'll be hard enough for them to go into an enviroment where no one speaks english.
Then we drove an hour or so to Düsseldorf to the Stake Center for the Stake Primary Activity. It was a pioneer celebration, so the kids were supposed to dress-up like poineers. I made my typical cereal box cowboy hats, and KT bought some string and I twisted it into some thick rope for suspenders. Unfortunately, the string ended up being horse hair, and pretty much stunk up anything it came in contact with. At least we felt that they smelled very authentic.
As a side note, our check oil light went on on the way down. In our experience (one of relatively old and inefficient cars) the check oil light was usually translated as: "Hey dummy, you better stop your car right now and beg for oil because everything is going to seize up and explode in a matter of seconds." Howver, as we now know, among the germans it simply means "Excuse me kind sir, but I would like to advise you to consider getting your oil changed in the next few months." In a panic, we pulled over and I checked the oil, fully expected to see a thirsty dipstick and splattered oil all over the place. It looked fine. Under the hood, there was a tag that said the last time the oil was changed was January 2011. Apperently, they also change the oil either once a year or once every 30,000 kilometers. That goes in direct opposition to the 3 months / 3000 mile advice I used to give at the shop, but I guess times are changing for the better.
Anyway, heere are some pictures of the primary activity, with a little puppet show and dance that they have. And yes, the boys both danced with the same girl. I hope this is not a trend, or things could get mighty ugly a few years down the road.
And here they are filling thier "wagon" and going on a trek. The sister did a special little english session just for them, and they really enjoyed it.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Explanation
If you're like me and just look at the most current post, I just wanted to draw your attention to a sudden frenzy of blog posts that we have constructed today. We just decided to take the whole afternoon and document our first five weeks here. I also finally finished the commentary of our Migratory Adventure if you're curious.
Our First Visitor!!
We had our first visitor just 2 weeks after we arrived! Our friend Tom was leaving London, and we decided it was "now or never" that we get to see each other in Europe. Luckily, we had gotten a huge bundle of free furniture that week before, so we had our own bed, and had the sofabed all ready for a guest!
It was a good excuse to leave the work behind for a couple of days and check out the town. We went to the Dreiländer Eck (the 3 land corner) where Germany, Holland and Begium connect. We toured Lousberg and we visited Heimbach in Eifel National Park.
Thanks Tom for being our guinea pig visitor. We didn't even have curtains up for him, and he slept in a sleeping bag! But we had a great time, and hope to have lots more visitors so that we can get this down to an art!
Suggested Itinerary for a 6 day trip to Aachen:
Day 3 - visit Maastrict and take a tour of the underground tunnel system. (1 hour bus or train ride)
Day 4 - visit the Dreiländer Ecke for a beautiful hike, and ride the elevator up the tower for a view into all three countries
Day 5 - visit Kornelimunster and the museum (check opening times!) it's only open occastionally.
Day 6 - take a nice long hike around Lousberg, which has a beautiful view of the city of Aachen. Have dinner in Aachen and enjoy the city center one more time.
If you have kids, the South Swimming Pool, Frankenburg Park and the Tierpark in town are also great!
Also visiting Cologne on the way makes for a great stop since the largest cathedral in Germany is right outside the trainstation. The cathedral is breathtaking. If Roman history is interesting to you, right next door, there is also a Roman museum. For a longer day, you can take a boat ride up the Rhine. You can also take the train across the river and go up the spindal tower for a view of the area. There is also an expensive but nice zoo there for a full day activity by itself.
Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London are 3 hour train rides away, if you were interested in seeing more of those cities in the area on the way in or out.
It was a good excuse to leave the work behind for a couple of days and check out the town. We went to the Dreiländer Eck (the 3 land corner) where Germany, Holland and Begium connect. We toured Lousberg and we visited Heimbach in Eifel National Park.
Dreiländer Ecke
On the train with Tom
Heimbach, view from the fortress
Thanks Tom for being our guinea pig visitor. We didn't even have curtains up for him, and he slept in a sleeping bag! But we had a great time, and hope to have lots more visitors so that we can get this down to an art!
Suggested Itinerary for a 6 day trip to Aachen:
Day 1 - view Aachen city, have an ice cream by the Dom, see the Dom, Rathaus and beautiful fountains.
Day 2 - visit charming Monshau in Eifel National Park. (1 hr bus ride)Day 3 - visit Maastrict and take a tour of the underground tunnel system. (1 hour bus or train ride)
Day 4 - visit the Dreiländer Ecke for a beautiful hike, and ride the elevator up the tower for a view into all three countries
Day 5 - visit Kornelimunster and the museum (check opening times!) it's only open occastionally.
Day 6 - take a nice long hike around Lousberg, which has a beautiful view of the city of Aachen. Have dinner in Aachen and enjoy the city center one more time.
If you have kids, the South Swimming Pool, Frankenburg Park and the Tierpark in town are also great!
Also visiting Cologne on the way makes for a great stop since the largest cathedral in Germany is right outside the trainstation. The cathedral is breathtaking. If Roman history is interesting to you, right next door, there is also a Roman museum. For a longer day, you can take a boat ride up the Rhine. You can also take the train across the river and go up the spindal tower for a view of the area. There is also an expensive but nice zoo there for a full day activity by itself.
Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London are 3 hour train rides away, if you were interested in seeing more of those cities in the area on the way in or out.
Closets
German apartments do not have closets. Just like they don't usually come with light fixtures and kitchens, and aren't painted yet. It's just one of those things that are different. They use wardrobes. That being said.... I'm particularly proud of this piece of furniture which we aquired...for FREE!
It's mondo-huge and I love it! We have room for all our things!
And thank you to Scotty for putting the whole blasted thing together because it was huge and heavy!!
Jahresmarkt at Kornelimunster
Yesterday we attended the Jahresmarkt in Kornelimunster with Sara and Tyler.
Kornelimunster is a beautiful little town south of Aachen. Apparently, every June they have this markt with people selling art, jewelry, housewares, toys, etc. There were lots of booths with things for sale. There were also some carneval rides and booths with food and drinks.
The boys and I rode the swings in the city center next to the church.
The boys even got to get into the Feuerwehr Auto and wear a real firemans helmet!
We were also happy to run into Touran, a friend of Scott's from work, and his family. Their two boys are almost our boys' same ages!
Tyler found a really nice bike path that he rode from Aachen to Kornelimunster that he highly recommended. Perhaps someday we will all bike down there.
How on Earth did we get this Place?
We are really really fortunate to have been accepted to live in this apartment. It is reasonably priced, 3 blocks from Scott's office, in the best residential part of Aachen. It has amazing garden views on both sides of the home, and has a perfect little "prison" driveway with a gate, so my kids can't run into the street. We are close to the University and it`s hospital, so we are in an ideal local. The apartment is also really beautiful with a balcony and high cielings.
We looked for months and had a hard time getting accepted in an apartment. Families with children are usually not such desireable tenants due to the noise. All the better priced, larger apartments we found were taken so quickly that our application was probably not even considered.
So, we heard a great story from our Landlords on Sunday, which answered the question, "how did we get this apartment?"
Our Landlord was born right after WW II in the center of Germany, and as a baby, was orphaned. He has no idea who his mother was or how she was killed. Somehow he was taken to the priest in the area. The priest asked the congregation for someone to take care of him. But no one had any food. The people were poor, hungry and the streets dark and gloomy. No one wanted him or had any means to care for him. But an old woman who had 4 grown children, had just lost her grown son in the war. She longed to fill the hole in her heart from losing her son, and she offered to take him home and she raised him. They were very hungry and very poor, but managed to survive.
When he was about 5 years old, they recieved a package one day. It was from a US organization named "CARE" who sent care packages. There were not enough packages to go around, but families with small children were able to get one, so they recieved one.
He said that he'll never forget when they opened it. It had a little chocolate bar inside, a can of corned beef and a little can of powdered milk. He had never tasted chocolate before. He put his finger in his mouth and tasted the powdered milk on his finger and it tasted so sweet. Even more than 50 years later, he said he can still remember the smell of the corned beef when they opened it.
When they needed to decide which tenants would take the apartment above them, Herr Timmer said they had 3 tenants who they were considering. A female German doctor, a couple with one child, or us (with two children). We were kind of the worst, right? Anyone else would have chosen the female doctor. She would be the quietest for sure! But he said "We'll take the Americans, because they sent me a package when I was a little boy and I was hungry."
We feel really priviledged and grateful that they chose us.
Photos:
We looked for months and had a hard time getting accepted in an apartment. Families with children are usually not such desireable tenants due to the noise. All the better priced, larger apartments we found were taken so quickly that our application was probably not even considered.
So, we heard a great story from our Landlords on Sunday, which answered the question, "how did we get this apartment?"
Our Landlord was born right after WW II in the center of Germany, and as a baby, was orphaned. He has no idea who his mother was or how she was killed. Somehow he was taken to the priest in the area. The priest asked the congregation for someone to take care of him. But no one had any food. The people were poor, hungry and the streets dark and gloomy. No one wanted him or had any means to care for him. But an old woman who had 4 grown children, had just lost her grown son in the war. She longed to fill the hole in her heart from losing her son, and she offered to take him home and she raised him. They were very hungry and very poor, but managed to survive.
When he was about 5 years old, they recieved a package one day. It was from a US organization named "CARE" who sent care packages. There were not enough packages to go around, but families with small children were able to get one, so they recieved one.
He said that he'll never forget when they opened it. It had a little chocolate bar inside, a can of corned beef and a little can of powdered milk. He had never tasted chocolate before. He put his finger in his mouth and tasted the powdered milk on his finger and it tasted so sweet. Even more than 50 years later, he said he can still remember the smell of the corned beef when they opened it.
When they needed to decide which tenants would take the apartment above them, Herr Timmer said they had 3 tenants who they were considering. A female German doctor, a couple with one child, or us (with two children). We were kind of the worst, right? Anyone else would have chosen the female doctor. She would be the quietest for sure! But he said "We'll take the Americans, because they sent me a package when I was a little boy and I was hungry."
We feel really priviledged and grateful that they chose us.
Photos:
Birthday, trains and POTTY TRAINING!
November 11th, 2011 "At any given time these days, Aaron has on at least two braclets. The other day he had on a pig rattle bracelet, 20 silly bands and 2 hair ties."
Aarons interests are ever changing, but trains have been a more lasting interest. After we gave away his trains to move here, he was so sad that I promised him we would get him a train set when we got to Germany. He also still misses and asks about his lamb, which we left in a hotel in Arizona in February, and were unable to locate.
His birthday, honestly, came and went. We were so busy and just not settled enough yet to have any kind of meaningful celebration.
After another week, we were settled enough to actually buy some cake and ice cream, and we invited the neighbors to officially have a birthday for Aaron.
His birthday began with a surprise! Lamby came back from his Arizona vacation, after "having had a bath and gaining some weight from all the food he ate." (shhhhh....he was ordered from amazon.uk)
We said "no gifts" just come eat with us, but the Timmers surprised Aaron with a set of balloons, new pants and 2 shirts, a painting set with painting paper, and even brought Timmy a memory game so that he would have something to open.
He loves his train! The best part about it, is that we only gave him a little cirle, 2 trains and a couple accessories to start. But the set I bought (used from Kalaydo) has hundreds of pieces! We decided to give him a piece every time he goes on the potty. Easily enough, he decided that he would LOVE to go potty to get a new train piece 10 times a day. His train has grown and grown this week, and he asks me "Can I go pee-pee again???" and I say "Yeah! You can go as many times as you want, and get a train piece every time!!" And he's like "OKAY!" and runs to the bathroom.
So, he's been in "big boy underpants" now for 7 days. He's only had a few accidents and runs to tell me, cleans it up himself. I figure I'll give him another week and then we can probably go ahead and buy some rugs! :) Here is the whole train set. It will take him a least a whole second week to get all the peices.
Aarons interests are ever changing, but trains have been a more lasting interest. After we gave away his trains to move here, he was so sad that I promised him we would get him a train set when we got to Germany. He also still misses and asks about his lamb, which we left in a hotel in Arizona in February, and were unable to locate.
His birthday, honestly, came and went. We were so busy and just not settled enough yet to have any kind of meaningful celebration.
After another week, we were settled enough to actually buy some cake and ice cream, and we invited the neighbors to officially have a birthday for Aaron.
His birthday began with a surprise! Lamby came back from his Arizona vacation, after "having had a bath and gaining some weight from all the food he ate." (shhhhh....he was ordered from amazon.uk)
Erika Abraham and her son Andras also joined us, and brought Aaron a really cool flap book with tractors and trucks. He loves it!
We ate plum cake and cheese cake with ice cream and drank some typical German drinks....sprüdel (mineral water), roboos tea, and juice. Then, we pried the boys from the paint set to have Aaron open his train.
He loves his train! The best part about it, is that we only gave him a little cirle, 2 trains and a couple accessories to start. But the set I bought (used from Kalaydo) has hundreds of pieces! We decided to give him a piece every time he goes on the potty. Easily enough, he decided that he would LOVE to go potty to get a new train piece 10 times a day. His train has grown and grown this week, and he asks me "Can I go pee-pee again???" and I say "Yeah! You can go as many times as you want, and get a train piece every time!!" And he's like "OKAY!" and runs to the bathroom.
So, he's been in "big boy underpants" now for 7 days. He's only had a few accidents and runs to tell me, cleans it up himself. I figure I'll give him another week and then we can probably go ahead and buy some rugs! :) Here is the whole train set. It will take him a least a whole second week to get all the peices.A little work, a little play, a little food.
A little plaque of ours has been hooking up the vent above the stove. Guess how you say "vent" in German. Yep. That's right. Dunstabzugshauber. Try explaining what you want to the guys at OBI and BauHaus when you have to use that word several times. Well, that's what I did 5 different times over the course of 3 weeks time.
First, we got outfitted with a huge metal accordian pipe. Scott and Mike took one look at that thing and said it looked awful. I went back the next week and got set up with this monstrocity pictured above, and ordered a board to go over the whole thing to help it look more finished. I also picked up a smaller white circular tunnel, but we decided that that would look like we had a drier above the kitchen. Mike suggested we search for a smaller canal. So, I went AGAIN to the store for more pieces.
After I forced Scott to make a trip to OBI himself, we ALMOST had it. I made one more trip to Bauhaus for 2 more connectors, and we were finally in business. Here's the final set up:
It still has a huge pipe coming out of the wall, but as you can see here from the kitchen entrance, with a little clock in front of it, it's almost completely covered. So, we'll get some decoration for the corner, and we're good to go!
We had a lovely Saturday in Bonn Germany last Saturday. Some friends of ours that we met from Northwood last year, Katharina and Sabastian, are from Bonn. They are moving to Florida in September. So we made a trip for a 2 fold purpose. To see friends and check out the town, and to purchase some of their stuff, since they need to clear out, and we need almost everything! 
After that we stuffed our rental car full of stuff, which we were delighted to have and gave them some breathing room to pack some more. What a fun day!
Katharina highly recommended the bakery by the Bethoven statue too. I decided to just get the most German bread I could (which Katharina and the baker both agreed that their favorite was the Vollkorn bread.) Here she is. It's thick stuff! The baker warned me when I ordered it, that the machine can't cut the loaf, so I had to cut it at home. She wasn't kidding! This stuff is like grains just pressed together. 
You might wonder how one gets her children to eat such bread. Here she is....the best spread your taste buds have ever experienced. Speculoos. Everyone knows about Nutella (or Nutoka...the no name brand). It's a hazelnut spread with chocolate. It's like putting chocolate on your bread. Super yummy! ...... BUT!!! Speculoos is one step up on the naughty wagon. It's just pure cookies, ground up with oil added to make it spread. Oh my goodness! It's so delicious! Makes vollkorn bread a treat! My kids gobbled it up and asked for more.
A nice perk of our neighborhood:
During May and June there is a fruit\veggie stand just around the corner from our apartment that sells fresh picked strawberries, white asparagus, and occasionally tomatoes. The white asparagus is an astronomical price! (8 Euros for a little bundle) However, the strawberries are the same price as in the grocery stores, but picked that morning, and they taste phenomenal! We've purchased them several times now. This is a photo of the ones I bought this week.
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