Spring Break Week 1

The kids have 2 full weeks off for Easter/Spring vacation.  Unfortunately, the vacation days did not lined up with Marty's vacation days.  I also had German class every day for the first week.  The kids really did a great job of entertaining themselves while I was at school or

Marty had to work.  They each read between 4-7 novels.  Josie made homemade Easter gifts for everyone.  They went rode the bus to the store several times on their own to do grocery shopping or craft supplies shopping. 

One day they all met me after my class by a nearby park.  I would always prefer to travel but this slow week (and the one during our February break) reminded me that it is OK to stay put sometimes. 

It was freezing one day 

 But sunny and around 55 the next.  After so much cold 55 felt SO good.

Physical Comedy

Marty and I went on our first legit, nighttime date since arriving in Berlin on Thursday night.  We have had plenty of fun, daytime dates but not really nighttime ones.  Josie is old enough now to stay home with Benjamin.  She has our number and we text often to make s

ure all is good.  The only problem we normally have with her staying home at night with Benjamin is actually making sure he gets to bed.  He still is used to me (or Marty, but mostly me) putting him to bed each night.  But since it was Spring break we knew if he went to bed late it wouldn't have any negative consequences the next day.

Our good friends Fionnuala and Wolfgang invited us to join them at a comedy show.  She defined it by saying it was a "physical comedy show"  We had no idea what this meant here in Germany but we were game if it meant getting out and being able to spend some time with them.
We arrive to a spiegeltent that reminded us so much of being at Teatro Zinzanni in Seattle.  We get drinks and laugh and laugh at the two Kiwis from New Zealand in their very slapstick comedy show called Mad Office.

Haha!  Not so good at selfies.

Throughout the night Josie has texted me with a run down of what was happening at home.  Mostly movie watching which was what I told them to do when we left.  How much trouble can they get into while watching a movie?  None!  Which is why I told them that they probably won't ever hear me say it again but that all I wanted them to do for the next few hours was watch a movie or two.  Josie took her job very seriously and tried her hardest to put Benjamin to bed.  She lied in his bed next to him until he fell asleep.  She is such a good big sister most of the time and when it really counts you can ALWAYS count on her!!
We hopped the train and were back home pretty late by our standards.  It was close to 11.  She was very sleepy but very proud of her first real babysitting job.
It was a real win/win/win/win for all 4 of us.  I sense more nighttime dates in our future.  Yay!

The Lion King

Josie and I went to the Berlin International School (elementary) production of the Lion King on Thursday night.  Our new friends that were over on St. Paddy's Day, The Shaughnessys, go to this school. Bridget teaches there and her two kids, Tesh and Elia attend.  Elia had spent months and countless hours practicing and she did such a fantastic job.  The whole production was really well done and the costumes, in particular, were seriously amazing.

Josie and I hopped a bus and within a few stops we were in Kleinmachnow - the town just next to Berlin.  We live right on the border but rarely cross it.  I had just walked into Kleinmachnow the other day when it was sunny to check out the Airbnb that our good friends are renting next week when they visit us.  Very coincidentally, the theater that Elia performed at was 2 doors down from the Airbnb.  What are the odds??

Anyway, Josie and I had a fun time picking up a bundle of gerber daisies to give to Elia after the performance.  And as we were waiting in line to buy tickets we ran into Tesh and Luke and were even able to sit with them.
Fun fun night for us.  And fun to support new friends.

Why Don't You Just Hop In

This is what my good friend, Fionnuala, said to me after the JFK Verein meeting.  If I could only find a way to type it out in a way that you could hear her cute Irish accent.

The Verein is much like the American PTA and I went to my first meeting on Wednesday night.  A friend was running for the new Verein President position and she asked me to come to vote.  She's actually invited me to come for the past 4 or 5 monthly meetings as they all go out for drinks afterward but every time the meeting comes up there is something else on the calendar so I've never been able to go before.
This time I had it marked and highlighted on the calendar and I made sure I was there.  My friend was voted in as PTA president, but she shouldn't have worried as she ran unopposed.  The next several positions all were voted in unopposed.  Then comes the position of Members at Large.  Apparently the people that hold these office positions come to the meetings and vote on the important (or not so important) issues that come up with the school.  There  10 or 12 Members at Large.
When this position comes up for vote several friends in the room looked at me and said "you should do this"  or  "can I nominate you?"  I finally caved and said sure.  Of course this was the ONLY position the entire night where there was an actual vote! But, after a close vote, I was one of the new Members at Large for the JFK Verein for the 2018-2019 school year.  Yay, me! I actually have been wanting to get more involved and this will be a great way.

This is kind of what her bike looks like.
She reasoned that she takes her 6 year old twin boys
along with groceries.  I could be no heavier than that!!

After the meeting a bunch of the parents head to a local restaurant for food and drinks.  As a new Member at Large I took my position seriously and of course joined in on the fun.  As we were leaving, me on foot and Fionnaula with her kid carrying bike contraption.  We walked side by side out of the school gates and then she looked at me and said with her adorable Irish accent, "Why don' you just hop in, Karrie?"  Haha!  She has offered me a ride in the kid carrier in front of her bike before but I have always refused.  This time I thought what the heck.  We laughed so hard we almost wet our pants.  Imagine two small women - one pedaling an enormous bike/child carrying contraption and the other woman inside the kid seat laughing LOUDLY, hysterically really down the streets.  The Germans, as mentioned before, are not at all demonstrative.  They don't talk, let alone laugh on the streets, or on the bus or in the store.  Here we were laughing so hard we were crying down the street toward the restaurant.  Drinks and lively conversation ended the night at one of our favorite Indonesian restaurants.  Fionnaula even gave me a "lift" home on her bike.

Sunrise Sunset

We get to see the most
beautiful sunset from
the windows and terrace in
our new apartment. 

I have been strangely so fixated on our day length and how it compares to Seattle's.  It really shouldn't still surprise me but the time change (9 hours except for the past two weeks when here in Berlin we have not had our "spring ahead" and we have only been 8 hours ahead)  still boggles my mind.
It seems there is never a good time to call or text with friends.  I've found that around the time we get home from school on most days (4ish PM) when my friends and family are getting up and getting to work and getting their kids off to school is the best but still hard to connect with people when our sun is setting just as their is rising.
It was even more apparent while Marty was in Seattle.  It was so hard to talk or even text and if Josie had a German assignment, it made it even more difficult.
The shortest day of the year - worldwide- is the Winter Solstice on December 21st.  At that point here in Berlin our days were nearly an hour shorter (and darker) than in Seattle.
On March 22nd we had one more minute of daylight than Seattle with a day length of 12 hours and 18 minutes.  Every day until Summer Solstice on June 21st we will gain one (or more) minutes of day than Seattle and by June 21st we will have nearly an hour more of day light than Seattle. 
It seems such a strange thing to focus on but as I try to stay connected to my friends and family in Seattle somehow this information soothes me.  And knowing our days are getting longer and brighter and (hopefully) warmer is also so comforting.

Fest

As we concluded our final week of classes for German 2.1, one of our teachers suggested we have a party ("fest") for the last hour of class.  A few of our cohort would not be moving forward to the next class (German 2.2) Some had to work, some were going to travel and some were going to try to study on their own and then join back up with us for German B1.1 in about 5 or 6 weeks.
Everyone brought in food and it wasdelicious.  A woman from Syria brought in a typical dish from her country and it was DELICIOUS.  It was some tahine, chickpea,

creamy sauce thing over cooked and crunchy pita bread and then lemon juice drizzled over the top.  One of the guys is a chef and brought in the most tasty and beautifully decorated cake.  We all laughed and ate and laughed some more.  What a fun group of people that I am on this German language learning journey with.

First Day of Spring?

On Tuesday, March 20th, the first day of Spring, it snowed AGAIN here in Berlin.  I have to say I was pissed.  I had really dealt so well with the cold dark winter days here.  Maybe I boosted myself up too much and Mother Nature was just biting me in the butt one (or a few) more times for being so cocky. 
I really truly did sit patiently during Berlin's cold, DARK, short days of January, I didn't complain and even embraced the bitterly cold of February and was even cool with the black ice and snow in early March but after that really sunny day a week or so ago I turned a corner.  I retired my "sleeping bag" coat

and threw my hat and clothes in the basket.  Sure, I knew it wasn't going to be sunny and in the 70's.  Duh!!  I knew that but what I didn't know was that another full fledged winter would hit us again and again!

One of the biggest things I appreciated about the warmer weather (other than just the gloriously beautiful and warm - relatively speaking sunshine) was that I didn't have to pack so much crap.  Hauling around my sleeping bag coat - even on my body- is heavy and stifling.  Add to that my gloves and hat and scarf.  Ugh!!  And since we walk everywhere you always have to have it with you. Then you go to the grocery store and you are trying to speedily get through the check out line before some cranky German breathes down your neck or the checker huffs at your inability to put your groceries away before she calls out your

total and you are juggling your hat and gloves and you can't put them in the bottom of you bag because then you can't get to them when you walk back outside into the "winter wonderland" 
Oh, I know... it will pass.  It has to, right?  And I know Seattle has these false winters too.

But Spring, SUNNY and WARM ... I cannot wait for you to truly emerge here in Berlin. 
Until then we will play in the snow.  My Brazilian friend in my German class

loved seeing the snow.  She convinced me to head outside during our 15 minute break and take a few photos.   It really was the fluffiest and softest powder snow I've felt in a very long time.  After class I had a Dr appointment.  I told Marty to lay out the kids' snow pants and snow clothes so they could play it in when they returned from school.  It had JUST started snowing as they left for school in the morning.  But sadly it had all melted by the time they got home. 

Mexican Food on St Paddy's Day and Cats in the Sun

Like cats in the sunlight, the boys sat here for hours
basking in the warm sun through the windows which
did not properly convey the cold temps outside

On St Patrick's day we had our friends, Bridget, Luke, Elia and Tesh over for dinner.  Because Bridget and I both love Mexican food and it is so hard to come by here in Berlin I figured I'd make that despite the fact that it was on an Irish holiday not a Mexican one.  That is just how we roll here in Berlin.
No pics, but a lovely, laughter filled evening with the Shaughnessy clan.  So fun to be able to laugh at all of the "German experiences"  with people who truly get it!!
The Friday snow

turned into bitterly cold, windy weather for the weekend.  I think the high was 23 degrees.  WTH??  I thought we were done with winter.  The cold temps along with the wind made going outside literally painful.
On Sunday Leopold and Suzy came over for the day because their mom was running a half marathon.  Crazy in and of itself but in these cold temps.. NUTS.

The boys had a great time playing Gravitrax and the girls building a kite to fly in the icy wind.
After lunch they went out to our big play area in the back that was basking in sunshine

albeit very cold temps.  They played capture the flag out there for nearly 2 hours!!

His Posse

For the past few weeks we have invited Clayton and his younger brother, Gavin, over after school on Fridays between school and Lacrosse.  Marty and I meet them at school at 1.  We all walk through the park together and they eat lunch here and play for a bit and then the boys and I head back to school

where they have Lacrosse practice from 3-4.  This past Friday we also invited his other friend, Adrian to join us.  Adrian was actually Benjamin's very first friend here. 
They had a ball walking through the park, eating lunch, playing legos and then a bit of screen time before we had to head back to school.
I typically meet Josie at the school entrance at 3 and then she and I head over to the gym to watch Benjamin's practice and it is a really nice time, just the two of us, to catch up.

When we left practice the coach handed out popsicles.  Which was funny because as we left school it had started to snow (!?!- what was up with snow and cold weather AGAIN) The kids never seem bothered by this very late start to Spring and always embrace snow.
We had planned to go out to eat on this Friday night but once we got back home we decided to make it a cozy night in and I just threw together a quick pot of pasta and sauce.

Never Again

Kid made posters at school

 On March 14th Josie along with many of classmates walked out of their classes and did a 17 minute quiet march around her school.  They were supporting the International #ENOUGH campaign to bring awareness and change for the current US gun policies.
I've said it before but I will say it again:  We NEVER think about guns here.  There are NO fears when the kids go to school that there may be a crazy student, adult, kid with a gun.  Guns are virtually non existent here.  Not just at school but everywhere.  There have been times in train stations or walking on the sidewalk where you hear a sound that could be a
gun shot (back firing car, construction equipment, balloon popping, etc) but no one else is startled by it because they inherently know it is not a gun.  We still jump and are startled until we remember that we are here and not in the states and there is no way it could be a gun.
I've also said it before and I'll say it again that we are having an incredibly amazing experience here in very large part due to the school, JFKS, that the kids attend. 

It is like somehow having your feet in both worlds in the very best way possible.  To be able to support causes like this with your teachers and fellow students who have a connection to both Germany and the USA is pretty unique.  We feel blessed by their ability to attend this amazing, world class school for FREE, every single day.
#NEVERAGAIN
#ENOUGH

Home to Home

It is kind of strange but super nice to feel like two places (which are half way around the world from each other) are really and truly HOME.   Berlin does feel like home to us now.  We miss our friends and family terribly but we have made some really quality friends here now.  Obviously this doesn't in any way replace our Seattle friends or family but it is a strange an unique (to us) thing to have two places to call home.  The kids and I haven't been back yet to Seattle so it will be interesting to see if in reality we do feel like both places are home but I know Marty does.  His week in Seattle was filled with work and seeing his parents and seeing friends and walking along Alki and running a TON and TON of errands.  He picked up all of our favorites and crossed off our long list of Seattle/American wants.
He arrived tired but not nearly as beat up as his last return flight from Seattle.  He must be getting better at intercontinental travel.  He arrived shortly before the kids and I got out of school.  We rushed home to get big hugs and loads of gifts for all of us.  Legos from Benjamin's Seattle stash.  New electric toothbrushes for Josie and I.  Taco seasoning packets and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing packets (such a comforting taste of home) Easter candy (my ALL TIME FAVORITE!) Peanut butter.  SO much peanut butter.  Two awesome books from my friend Lori.  Toothpaste because the toothpaste here isn't Crest and deodorant because I use it here way more than in the Seattle and because I can only find that nasty, wet roll on stuff here. my favorite Cutco knife.  I cannot believe I've survived this long without it.  And the list goes on.

As nice as the gifts were it was even better to have Marty back with us.  Things are quieter and not nearly as fun without him here.

Emerging

Line out the door at the local bakery. Everyone
enjoying the sun

The sun came out in all its glory on the Sunday while Marty was gone.  It was seriously amazing.  It was bright and warm and lovely.  I decided to go for an hour walk to clear my mind and soak in the sunny goodness.  The kids had 30 minutes of reading and then 30 minutes of screen time while I was gone and we were all happy about it.

On the train - Benjamin looks SO much like
photos of Marty when he was a kid

I decided to walk west in the direction of Kleinmachnow, the town just to the west of us and on the other side of the former wall that was once around Berlin.  I set off with crop yoga pants - feeling a bit free having my ankles showing after months of being bundled up.  I pulled out one of my lighter weight down jackets and a long sleeved t-shirt.  No hat, no gloves and I felt light for the first time in months!!

 After less than 10 minutes I took my coat OFF. I was coatless for the first time in... oh, I don't know how long.  Coat LESS.  It felt so good.  I walked and noticed people literally emerging from their homes and squinting at the big, glowing, yellow ball in the sky.  People were everywhere on the sidewalks - much more than normal and they were mostly smiling.   And it was so very nice.  It gave me hope.  I really have not complained too much about the winter here. I have mostly embraced it and soaked it in but now with this first taste of Spring I was on a different track.  I was on the track heading toward Spring and it felt good.

One guy walked out and smiled at the sun and then smiled at me and we both laughed and at the same time said "sehr shön!"  Very nice!! Then we both kind of chuckled at our over exuberance at seeing and feeling the warmth of the sun.
I happily walked home with an extra bounce in my step.  Josie made us

all a lunch and we hopped a bus and a train to meet up with our friends Katy, Suzy and Leopold at a super cool, new to us, park.
The kids played and soaked up this gorgeous Spring day. Josie even said "wow, this feels amazing!!" and she never notices or comments on the weather.  Wow, what a difference a bit of warm sunshine makes!

On the way home we hit the mall because it was shopping Sunday and the food court was open.
And to celebrate the SUNNY day we also got ice cream cones.

Saturdays

Saturdays have been soccer days for awhile now and Benjamin is loving it.  Although he often doesn't want to go to practice, once he gets there is embraces it wholeheartedly.
The first hour or so of practice is "training" and they do these crazy drills. 

Running down some make shift obstacle course where they hop back and forth over a bench.  Or one kid gets on a big mat and the other team members push the kid down the court and then the kid on the mat shoots a basket and the first team to make a basket wins. 

All the drills are run in German and it really is sink or swim for Benjamin.  He hates to lose and like any kid doesn't want to be the kid holding his team up.  He is about the only one on the team that doesn't speak German and besides his best buddy Clayton who just joined, is the only 2nd grader playing with all 3rd graders.

It is an intense 2 hours and he is sweaty and smelly and tired at the  end.  Often times we stop by his favorite dönner place and he devours a huge Turkish dönner in minutes. 

On the Saturday that Marty was gone he happily and intensely played soccer and then Clayton came over for the day.  I made a huge double batch of vegetarian chili and Josie had her friend Maya over and they studied for their German test together.  All the kids got along so well and I had the music turned up while I cooked.  It was such a comforting and cozy winter day.