March 28th and 29th

The weekend came and went much like the rest of our days.  Saturday was absolutely gorgeous.  It was warm and sunny and spring was springing everywhere.  Poor Benjamin's allergies are in full force.  We had the windows wide open nearly all day long on Saturday.  Saturday morning Marty says that on Friday afternoon he had seen someone walk through the park with a large bag of toilet paper.  It is the one thing that we will eventually need that we cannot find in stores.  So he says that we should all go walk Mogli and I should venture on to the two stores that are near the park he saw the woman walking with TP the previous day.  Well, you don't have to tell me twice.  I was thrilled to be asked to go to the store.  I am the designated "store" person and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I saw this meme the other day and it made me laugh.  Actually most memes make me laugh these days.   Well, I went to the store closest the park, Lidl,  because it also happens to have my favorite wine.  I mean, since I'm there and all.  Lidl did not have toilet paper but did have a large pack of individually wrapped (like 6 per pack) tissues.  I bought it because you never know.  Plus, the Germans ALWAYS have a pack with them and it seems smart.  Lidl did have flour and rice so that was a win.  As I was looking at the packs of tissues in the section that the toilet paper should be there was another customer that was also looking for TP and she said, Aldi - the store I was going to go to next- didn't have TP either.  So, I just ended up going to one store.  But I bought wine - my favorite- for 3.99 Euro and two packs of 10 each tulips for another 4 Euro (flowers here are SO cheap) so for 8 Euro I splurged.  No better time than the present to buy a few things that make me happy.

Later in the day Marty and I went on very long walk - probably 5 miles total.  We went a different way and passed a couple of grocery stores.  Marty said, well you might as well check in there for TP.  Again, you don't have to tell me twice.  This store did not have TP but they DID have canned tomatoes.  Woot!!  I could finally make that lasagna. 
Sunday was cloudy and much colder.   I decided that I need to start doing some stretching and sit ups and push ups and planks.  As I was down on the living room floor, Mogli was very distraught.  When am I ever "lying" down.  He started pawing at me... and as he got more agitated so did his pawing and he got me good down the side of my face and neck. 

OUCH!!
As is pretty normal every couple of days we ask each other what day is it? What is the date? And when I realized it was March 29th we remembered that it was Josie's half birthday.  13.5!!  So later in the day she decided to make a cake all by herself for us to celebrate.  It took everything in me to not interfere.  She started with one recipe and then decided she wanted to make it a lemon cake so she just started adding lemon juice willy nilly.  Again, biting my tongue I just let her do it but reminded her that at this time wasting ingredients would really not be

OK.  As she added different colors of food coloring to different batches of the batter... well, I even held my tongue then.  But all of that tongue holding paid off as the cake

was moist and delicious!!!  Happy 13.5 Josie Marie.  Hoping things are back to normal for her actual 14th birthday.  Corona.  I will give you 6 months! 

March 26th and 27th

The days continue to be
sunny and even a touch warm. 

The 2nd full week of quarantine ended with a very nice Skype happy hour (at 8pm) with some of our favorite people here. We have dubbed ourselves "The Supper Club" because back in the good old days we would pick a restaurant and all meet there to eat a fabulous meal together.  Or we would meet at one of our houses with entire families and enjoy each other's company.  I'm not big on Skype calling or video calling of any kind but it was super nice to all "be together" for an hour or so.  Hoping we do it again.
Thursday and Friday went pretty much the same as the beginning of the week.  Dietrich, Marty's dad, celebrated his 91st birthday on Thursday.  Wow!!  Sad to be away from family, especially on their birthdays and especially during a global pandemic.  Happy 91st Birthday, Opa!! Liz sent us the cutest pictures of her and Ed on the outside of a large window and Oma and Opa sitting in the inside peering out the window in their Senior Living facility.  Liz had brought a fun little "happy birthday" banner even.

Thursday, Benjamin and I made an apple pie from scratch.  In Seattle I would always opt for the pre-made pie crust but here they only have pre-made phyllo dough and it does not work so well for a pie.  I also don't have my apple corer/peeler here... but in the age of Corona - we all have nothing but time.  I also made pretty good veggie burgers.  We had had "the best veggie burger ever" on our trip to Stockholm a few years ago and I have not been able to recreate it.  SO frustrating.  This was not as good but it was the closest I have come.

This is the recipe I mostly followed.  A friend in Seattle
had posted a bunch of veggie burger recipes.  Still trying
to recreate the one from Stockholm... 

I mostly followed this recipe for the veggie burger but I didn't add tofu and only added 1 cup cooked rice.  I also doubled the garlic, used a full can of chick peas and added a small, grated zucchini, a small bunch of cilantro, a tsp ish of cumin, one egg, about 1/4 cup of grated parm cheese.  The mixture was a bit too liquidy.  I

added a bit more flour and should have drained the zucchini and wrung it out with a cheese cloth first.  They needed about 45 minutes to cook through - flipping every 15 minutes.  They were in fact crunchy on the outside and cooked through but not too dense on the inside.  This made about 8 patties.  I cooked the first four on Thursday and put the rest of the mixture to cook fresh in a few days. Other than school work, the kids have spent a lot of time on the trampoline.  Mogli has never been on this many walks in his ENTIRE life.  At the end of the each day he just crashes happily next to one of the kids.  I will say it again, but this Corona was a HUGE win for the dogs!!
At night Mogli is SOO tired... but happy.  And Josie has not been seen without earbuds in her ears for 2 weeks!

March 23, 24 and 25

I don't even have the wherewithal to properly write my dates in the Title of the post. Much like my undergarment use...OK, I wear clean underwear every day but I haven't worn a bra in over two weeks....  Haha!!  I also don't know what day it is most of the time.  I could have sworn yesterday was Thursday.  All day I thought it was Thursday.  Not that it would matter.  All the days seem the same other than Benjamin proudly points out that he does NOT have to do school work on Saturdays NOR Sundays.   But the paper recycle gets picked up here once per month and we have missed it the past two months and we really needed to make sure it was out there.  And it was.  Yay.   Small celebrations for the silly and mundane.

Benjamin making
bread to go with
our potato soup

 We continue to be healthy and handling the new normal with more comfort and ease withstanding a few major blow ups from time to time.  Josie works most of the day in her room.  She loves that she can stay in her pajamas all day and work to her own beat.. literally.  She constantly is listening to show tunes and musical sound tracks with her ear buds.  I know she is also on her phone texting friends and watching stupid Youtube videos but she gets her work done on time with minimal drama.  There was a day earlier in the week, Monday maybe? Where she had a bit of a meltdown over school work but for the most part she is getting her stuff done.  We have the rest of this week and all of next week and then technically the kids have "Spring Break" for 2 weeks... so same type schedule but no school work. 

On the 25th Marty and I walked/biked to our local and nearby grocery store.  It is really small and a typically well stocked and relatively empty.  Our good friends who live right next to our old apartment and just around the corner from where we live now had texted with saying that they had our same plan.  One of them goes in and does the shopping and the other one waits in the parking lot to help schlep it home.  Marty walked through the park with Mogli and planned to meet me there after the walk. I rode my bike because it is so much quicker to get there and SO much easier to just push my bike with groceries in the bag in the basket than to try to carry it.
Just as I was rounding the corner to the grocery store parking lot I realized that I had forgotten my coin to get a cart.  It is a deposit that you have to stick in the cart and then it releases it and you get our coin back when you return it.  I normally never get a cart because if I do I always underestimate the weight and then I'm stuck trying to carry it all home.  But since Marty was coming I knew I needed a cart.  Thankfully our friends that had the same plan were still loading up in the parking lot and I was able to borrow their coin/cart.  You really have NO idea how frustrating it is to forget a damn coin for the cart when you really need a cart.
The store was very quiet. It was just around 8:00 AM.  There were just a few other customers and workers restocking.  The produce again was as plentiful and full of variety as normal.  The prepackaged bread section was nearly all gone, dairy was pretty well stocked, there was absolutely no pasta, canned tomatoes or anything at all in the Italian area.  The TP was still gone as was the flour and most of the freezer sections were empty.  There weren't plain tortilla chips (only flavored ones) otherwise I got what I needed.  I had planned to make a huge pot of Italian meat sauce and freeze some and then make a large lasagna so that was frustrating and at some point we may run out of TP but other than that it was quite successful.

Later on the 25th Marty and I rode our bikes out to our friends house again to pick up a bunch of books that she is lending us for Benjamin to read.  The kid reads like no one I've ever seen.  It is crazy. He stayed up late on the 24th finishing a book so "school" on the 25th didn't start until well past 11AM.   The bike ride is about 5.5 miles each way and takes about 25-30 minutes.  It has been beautifully sunny and a bit cold but the sunshine helps.

These are all the books that Benjamin has read
since we started "quarantine" 2 weeks ago.
Deck of cards for size comparison.  And
he has finished 2 more books since taking this
picture!!

Meals continue to get great reviews from my family which makes me happy. Monday was a potato/leek/
cauliflower soup which I combined these two recipes:

Recipe One


And Recipe Two.  We had the fresh bread that Benjamin made and topped the soup with Cheez its smuggled back by Marty from his Seattle trip.
Tuesday was YUMM bowls!!  Thank GOD for Marty's purchase of Yumm sauce while in Seattle and Wednesday was left over Butternut squash Dal and this yummy kale salad.  Recipe given to me by sister in law, Kelley.  I finally found kale!!  We were biking back from our friends house with the load of books when we rode right by a small outdoor market. YUM!  We are all going to have trouble fitting through the doors once they allow us out again.

I have been walking A LOT.  Mogli is loving all of the extra walks and sleeping a lot.  There really are some highlights to all of this.

March 20th, 21st and 22nd

Benjamin fulfilling his hour of "creativity" by using
a recylced milk container and the hot glue gun

 I keep meaning to post every day and well.. I'm too busy and not even sure with what.  The days definitely are blurring together.  Benjamin, very happily announced on Friday afternoon, that it WAS Friday which meant that there was no school for the next two days as it was a weekend after all.

He was trying to make a catapult.. or something. 

Friday I have to report that our school day together was much smoother.  I broke his time into 30 minute sections with about 6 different 30 minute check boxes with an hour for exercise and "do something creative"  It wasn't perfect but it was definitely better and in the world of "flattening the curve" the curve was flattened or heightened or whatever the trend was curving in the right direction.

Lots of time or Gravitrax with Dad. 

Marty and I worked in the yard together for a couple of hours.  I took Mogli or a long walk.  I had finished my book The Lost Man via Audio book and it was really good.  I then started in on The Dutch House - a book by Anne Patchett that I had been wanting to read for a long time.  I wasn't into audio books when I had requested it from Seattle Public Library and so I only had the ebook version.  I decided to sign up for one month free of Audible and then I was able to get 3 books for free.. one of which was the Dutch House.  And the extra bonus is that it is narrated by Tom Hanks.  I'm over half way now and am really liking this new way of consuming a book.  It feels a bit lazy but I'm able to get through so much more of it during my day because I am able to listen when I walk and clean and cook, etc.

The weather, although sunny, has turned cold again.  Lows of 25 and highs in the low 40's.  Thankful or the sun!!  The first day of Spring (usually well celebrated by me) came and went without much of a thought even though there are signs of spring everywhere... hopefully not killed off my the recent cold temperatures.  We went for a long walk - all back roads and long cuts to pick up some door handles we had ordered for our new 

Playgrounds and parks taped off due to the virus

upstairs bathrooms.  We have had the bathrooms "finished" for a few weeks but there are no door handles so you can't really close the door, there is no glass on the showers so you can't take a shower and the mirrors are not hung so you can't really get ready up there yet but having a toilet just outside our bedrooms in the middle of the night is gold. 

The "Corona Meals" continue to be "top notch" according to my family.  Friday we had left over tacos stuff and I made this Mexican rice for the first time and it was super good.  I added some chili powder and used canned diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. Saturday night we had zuchinni fritters and schnitzel for Benjamin along with steamed broccoli and green salad.  With the fritters I added sauteed onions and garlic and also add in some bread crumbs and top with either tzatziki or if you can get it garlic sauce. Sunday night we had this easy Indian dish with butternut squash and lentils and it simmered in the crock pot all day.  SO yummy.  I added a bit more chili 

powder and it was pretty spicy.  I loved it but a bit too spicy for Marty and Josie.  They cooled it down with some cottage cheese on top. I buy a jar or can of premade tikka masala sauce and Benjamin eats that on rice and it adds a nice little tang to put a dollop on top of the butternut squash dal. 

I am so stocked up that when Marty suggested we go back to the store this week I honestly could not think of anything I "needed"  Sure, some fresh fruit would be nice but we still have oranges and apples so we don't really "need" to go.  I am going to look into food delivery next time.  According to Seattle friends it is nearly impossible to find a delivery slot available.  One friend said she has looked

hourly for a week and despite the company claiming to add new slots per day she hasn't been able to get one. 

I spent several hours on Saturday cleaning out and reorganizing the kitchen cabinets.  I was so used to just buying what we need for the day or two ahead that things were never that organized.  Then when we "stocked up" I just stuffed things in where they would fit.  Even the kids helped.  Thankfully we have a TON of storage here and two fridges.  The old renter left his sizable American fridge which was been a God send during current times.

Last night these new guidelines were delivered to us Berliners.  I have to say that I am very impressed with Angela Merkel and the way she is handling the epidemic.  She is smart, logical, KIND, compassionate and instills hope and respect.  Things I would never say about the leadership in the US right now...don't even get me started 😨: 

Paraphrased from translated German: Coronavirus Update: Chancellor Merkel went to the doctor for a pneumonia immunization, and the Dr has now tested positive so Merkel is in quarantine. Berliners must now stay at home and can only go out for necessary shopping or exercise outside, but only with immediate family members. People can still go to work. You should probably carry official documents with you, because police can check them. No more visits from friends. There are exceptions to visit old, sick or funerals. You can walk your dog but must keep 1.5 meter distance to other people.

Tuesday and Wednesday - March 17th and 18th (and Thursday)

Parks are scattered with people.  All safe distances apart.
On my walk I saw many fathers with children, moms
sitting on their front porch or side garden areas
reading books with their kids.  There are silver linings. 

 Well, we have been busy doing nothing really.  It is a strange reality.  "We are all preparing for something we hope doesn't happen" a good friend said to me.  And it is hard to know if I'm over reacting or under reacting and I vacillate hourly between the two extremes.

Josie's schedule

We are all healthy and relatively happily co-quarantining together.  Marty said the other day it was like our family has been preparing for this for a few years.  First, moving away from all of our friends and family and in a sense closing our borders.  Yes, we could fly back if we wanted to but unless it was a MOMENTOUS event or tragedy we would not have done it.  Then we moved from an apartment to our house.  I really think having to quarantine in Seattle would be much more difficult for me.  Our life here, even though in a more densely populated city is more isolated than when we were in Seattle.  The fact that I wouldn't be able to go to the gym for my daily swim alone would have put me over the edge for sure.

Benjamin's schedule.  Hahaha!!

So, we are doing fine.  I'm trying really hard not to be too lazy with the kids and not to be too strict.  I want them to have some fun out of this if possible or at least some choice and flexibility that wasn't available in the pre-Corona days.
The days continue to be nice and relatively warm. Mogli continues to LOVE the change in our family pace and the amount of time and extra love and walks he is getting.  I am beyond grateful to be living in a house with our own sizable yard, a trampoline that continues to get a lot of bounce time and that even though I would like a bit of variety I'm happy to be stuck with my small family.  As claustrophobic as I might feel with just them to talk to, there really is no one I'd rather be stuck together with.

I picked up Benjamin's
German school work.  His very
sweet teacher left each student a
chocolate and a caramel tea bag. 

Tuesday and Wednesday the kids did some school work and a lot of screen time.  I asked them each to come up with their own schedules.  Yeah, well... Both kids are a bit unrealistic in their extremes.  Josie's looks good but there is no way she will stick to such a strict schedule.  Good for her for setting a good goal.  Benjamin on the other hand, well.  I will have to supplement quite a bit.  Their teachers have been great.  Josie gets emails directly from her teachers so I don't have to be the middle man which is great.  And she is definitely responsible enough that I don't have to check on her.  Benjamin's teachers are sending out just the right amount of work that he can do from home.

One of our better schooling moments from Thursday ;-)

Keeping him focused is another problem and because he loves reading so much he says he will just read for the (my) required 4-5 hours of learning.  He keeps finishing books and instead of being thrilled by his reading speed and interest it stresses me out as I see his stack of "read" books steadily grow taller than his "to read" stack.  I'm really hoping that they open the school library again at some point.

Our friend, Fionnaula, not only
lent us her car but she was prepared
with gloves and disinfectant spray

On Wednesday Marty said OK, let's go back out and load up on groceries.  We had done it the first day that school was canceled for Benjamin - Thursday March 12th. We really did stock up then but I didn't really understand the exercise.  A week ago there were completely full shelves, no gaps other than in the pasta aisles.  Those were pretty bare but still enough. This time, a week later, huge sections were empty.  A lot of produce still available and actually probably no difference at all in the selection or quantity - except there were no potatoes.  The prepacked bread aisle was pretty bare.  The cereal section was very bare.  The rice was nearly gone.  There was no flour, and no T.P.  The craze has hit here now. We really loaded up and I bought things with breakfast, lunch AND dinner in mind this time.  I didn't realize that my largest role and contribution to the whole thing, even bigger than monitoring school work, would be making sure there is food on the table (or at least available)

Benjamin making cinnamon rolls from the left
over pie crusts.  Just the way my mom did.. and hers
did too, apparently. 

breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Every. Single. Day!!
After our large shopping store expedition - we went to the largest shopping store in our area - Kaufland - which is probably just a touch bigger than the Admiral Safeway.  Not big at all by American standards but for Berlin it is HUGE.  So after our big shop we hit a couple specialty stores. Mitte Meer has the tortillas, chips, salsa, refried beans, jarred jalapeños.  Then to the Asia Store for popcorn, 

edamame and black beans.  Asia Markets are one of the very few places you can buy the plain black beans.  When the normal stores have black beans - they often don't, they are in a nasty chili (sweet) sauce.  But the Asia store was out of black beans so I walked down to the Bio Market - Bio means organic.  It is a lot like PCC.  There I found the coveted 6 pack of black beans.
The day was beautiful and 65 degrees.  Later in the day Josie wanted to walk to a dog park to meet a friend who also had a dog.  So we had a nice 30 minute walk there together and then I headed home on my own along a mostly carless bike bath through the forest.  It was really nice.
Thursday was some MAJOR fights with Benjamin over school work.  "No! I DO NOT HAVE TO DO MATH TODAY" Huge fights.  Yelling, screaming, tears.  But we shook it off by the end of the day and made up but it was a bit of a rough day.  I was trying to be super cool about it all but sometimes he can be such a little pain in the ass.  We ended the day on good terms with vows to make Friday a bit better.  Some school work was done, some video games were played, long walks were taken, some jumping in the trampoline happened and some good food was eaten. I don't know if I'm extra inspired to cook because I know that someday soon our food supply might be in jeopardy but the entire family has said "these Corona meals have been GREAT"  The whole family.  That never happens and certainly doesn't happen days on end. It makes me so happy.  Lunch is just so so and breakfast is on your own but I have learned that I need to have lunch out or at least available sometime before 1 pm and dinner on the table by around 6pm. Otherwise we are all on a completely separate and wonky schedule.

Warm enough to break out the Chacos!!

 

Quarantine Monday, March 16th 2020

Monday was a pretty good day too.  It REALLY helped that it was super nice outside, sunny and nearly 65 degrees!  That starting of Spring always lifts my moods but so much more so in the time of unknown and worry.
We started the day with a full family walk to the park.  Mogli, as I have said before is in HEAVEN.  So many walks to the park, so much family time, we are all around the house all day long.  He doesn't know what this Covid-19 thing is but he is really liking it. 
After the walk, the kids did some reading and math and some

drawing and some writing.  Nothing was very formal or enforced.  I really struggle with being too strict and being flexible.  Josie can pretty much manage her own time.  The teachers are meant to send out homework and lessons via email soon and I know if she has something due on a certain day she will get it done.  She has always been very good about that.  School has always been her thing.  Benjamin on the other hand really does see this as an extra long spring break.  He reads and reads like a maniac but he needs to do more than read. 

One of Benjamin's new jobs
is restocking the fridge. Since we
stocked up on things, we put a lot of
the liquids in the basement

We had lunch all together.. didn't forget this time.  And then Marty and I went on a very nice bike ride to our friend's house to deliver some melatonin that he had bought for her while he was in Seattle.  It was about 5.5 miles there and 5.5 miles back through mostly a large wooded bike path.  The sun was shining and it was easy to forget the problems of the world.  When we arrived we placed the bag on her fence post and we talked with each other (her on her side of the fence and us on the street side) for about 20 minutes.  Even just that small interaction with someone other than my immediate family was really nice.  Josie says I'm not going to make it through this pandemic.  Not because of the illness but this social distancing is not my thing. 

He has to check what we
have in the fridge and if we
are running low on milk, juice
or sparkling water he has to refill
it.  Always with a book in his hands
ALWAYS..

Josie says "Mom loves to travel - gone, Mom loves to talk to people - gone, Mom loves to go grocery shopping- gone, mom love to go out with her friends - gone.  Hoping she isn't right but yes, this is tough for me.  And I fully understand my "tough" is NOTHING compared to business that are struggling or even more people who have friends or family sick with the virus.  One thing that is different here than in the US is that every worker has 5 weeks PAID vacation leave and 6 weeks PAID sick leave.  So even though these workers likely will not want to take their vacation for something like this there is a safety net built in.  The vast majority of Germans work for a companies.  And yes, I have NO idea what the government here will do by way of helping or supporting the actual companies.  It will be interesting.   The ramifications of this pandemic are SO far reaching. 

After the bike ride we all read, Marty worked, I took Mogli for a walk and was happy to see that some of the Easter decorations have made their way out.  Some normalcy is nice during these odd days. After I got home I started making dinner. It was super yummy by the way and really easy. Buffalo Cauliflower and chickpeas. 
It was taking longer than I had anticipated so we went outside while it was cooking and the three of them played catch.  It was a PERFECT cap to the day.  Day # whatever... was pretty good.  Oh and we even squeezed in a family show.

Easter Eggs hanging from the trees on our walk

The "fire bugs" are back.  They are a bit like heavy duty, not so cute lady bugs. 

Quarantine Day- Sunday, March 15th

I've realized that my numbering of days was off due to a weekend and my being sick.  Technically we are on day number 4 since the Elementary School was shut down. So.. onward.
 Day Number two or 4 or whatever.. wasn't so bad either.  Again, I know this is a marathon and we have barely turned the first corner.  However, I will continue to enjoy the good days while we have them.  I have not overly freaked out about this.  I am an extrovert... less so than I used to be but by nature I really enjoy interacting with others, even just at the grocery store.  Well, not so much here as it isn't quite as relaxing or welcoming as in Seattle.  Oh and don't get me started on how much I love to grocery shop.  SO... given that my daily grocery store trips have been taken away and all other contact with humans outside of my immediate family I've been relatively sane.  Again, we are just a few days in and it WILL get worse before it gets better I am very well aware but just happy that I haven't completely freaked out yet. We are not technically "quarantined" and we could, if we wanted, get together with friends but then I see things like this about Italians sending themselves messages from 10 days back and realize we are only 10 days from being where they are now and I have to agree with Marty in that we do our part to try to stop this ravenous disease.
So on day #2 or #4 or whatever... I cleaned,vacuumed, mopped the entire main level.  It was sunny and bright and relatively warm outside (mid to upper 50's) so I had the windows wide open and the music up loud.  Marty and Josie took Mogli on a walk in the morning, Benjamin read (and finished by the end of the day a 400 page book!!) while I cleaned.

Later in the day Marty and I took Mogli on a long walk.  There were a lot of signs of Spring everywhere.  Flower buds budding on trees and a lot of people out on their bikes.  It was a nice touch of normalcy in this crazy world right now.
We all completely forgot about lunch and so had an early dinner Spicy Detox veggie soup for dinner. Recipe sent to me by my Sister in Law, Kelley.  Thank you!!  I added pan fried tofu at the end and used veggie broth (no chicken or chicken broth) and added some cooked spaghetti noodles to the bowl before I ladled soup in.  I wished I had had rice noodles as I was going for a Pho type soup but who knew when I was stocking up a few days ago that I'd need them... Tasty all the same!!  Speaking of tasty, I made this soup/stew with sweet potatoes and coconut milk and ginger before the shut down.. Really good too.  Not quite as detoxing, I'm sure but still healthy all the same. I couldn't find Kale...not not a coronavirus thing. 

Spicy detox soup with tons of veggies and tofu 

I can barely ever find kale here. It is strange to me. So I subbed in spinach.  I think it would be better with kale for the texture. I did stock up on ingredients for this recipe because I had just made it before our stocking up trip.
The kids had a lot of trampoline time.  Mogli is LOVING that we are all home so much more now.  Benjamin had some

Naked Gun... Oldie but a Goodie

skyping/game time with his buddy Evan.  And we ended the day with a "family show"  When we made our list of things to do  DAILY during this Coronacation a family show each night was on the list as well as a family game.  Day 2 (or 4) we got the show in.  Phew.  Such an important part to the Corona-cation. ;-) And yes we do have a larger regular sized TV downstairs but for some reason we decided to snuggle on the couch and watch from a small iPad.

Quarantine Day #1 (or whatever)

 Well, I have been extremely lame in my blog posting.  It is sad because I was doing so well for awhile there.  I suppose there is nothing better to prompt me into posting again than the current state of the world.  It is crazy times for sure!
I know everyone nearly everywhere is dealing with the outbreak of the Corona virus in their own way.  Here in Berlin we are currently practicing "social distancing" and self imposed quarantine of sorts.  To back up a bit.  Benjamin and I had a very nice trip together to Italy (Naples area) returning to Berlin on February 8th and a whole hell of a lot has changed since then.  Just before we left there was word that a few people had died from this new strain of the flu.  It wasn't in the southern part of Italy so we didn't think much about it.  Within 2

weeks the virus had gone crazy with many deaths and many many more infected.  Friends of ours were in Italy on their school break when it happened and when they returned they were not allowed to step foot on their International School campus, just a couple miles from us.  The same school that had been subbing at.  I thought it was an over reaction at the time.

During this time, Marty leaves for his 2 week trip to Seattle.  Half way through his visit,  the virus reaches and takes a grip hold on the Washington State, in Kirkland (about 15 miles from our neighborhood) We were worried that he possibly wouldn't make it back to Berlin.  But he did, thankfully.
While Marty was in Seattle I finished up my Citizenship class. True to German form, I have to wait 4-6 weeks to get the results.  I also started working at the gift shop at the US Embassy and secured an English Teaching job with a governmental agency that helps "older" (40-50s) women who want to transition from their current job into office management.  The teaching is set to begin mid April after spring break.

On Wednesday they sent an email home from the kids' school saying that a teacher's aid in the kindergarten class had tested positive for COVID 19.  The Elementary school would be closed for one week effective immediately.  The high school, strangely enough, was to remain open.  We had long talks about whether Josie should go or not. Benjamin was THRILLED that he didn't even have to have the discussion and he could stay home.

Thursday morning Josie does go to school. I stop by the school library to stock up on books for Benjamin for his week of no school.  I wished I had known it would end up being 5 weeks + with no school as I would have gotten more books.  Thankfully he was only on book #2 of a 13 book series.  I grabbed the rest of the series and head home.  Meanwhile Marty has been reading the news and decides that we need to "stock up" We only have bikes to transport our groceries and I've spent the past 3 years training myself to only buy or today or tomorrow but not to overbuy.

We ride our bikes to where there is a small minivan type car for rent (car sharing is big here) We end up spending 3 hours and 14 Euro to rent the car and go from store to store.  Overwhelming is an understatement.  I was already not feeling well.  Just a cold but my head was fuzzy and trying to stock up for 2 weeks kind of put me over the edge. 
I spent that night and the entire next day in bed with a terrible headache.. NOT Corona.  During this time the mayor of Berlin decides to close all schools in the area until April 20th.  So officially Saturday was Day One of our Quarantine.  And I know this is a marathon and not a sprint but I have to say the first 800 meters or so of this LONG race went pretty well. It helps A LOT that the sun was shining, that we all got along for the most part and that we had plenty of food. 

We put up the trampoline and unearthed a bunch of stuff that the old owner left in the house.  Josie sent up a small sun shade/tent that she found.  We had lunch together outside and the kids jumped and giggled on the trampoline.  Josie and I made a lemon meringue pie (making lemon pie out of lemons) and because it was Pi day. I really needed cornstarch which I didn't have (UGH!  - who thinks of cornstarch as they are stocking up) so I improvised.  It tasted great but a strange texture.  We had Yumm bowls for dinner.  THANK GOD for Marty's recent purchase of Yumm sauce!!! 
So, Day One was pretty good.  Only 40-50 or more days to go....