España - Toledo

After not quite as good as a sleep in "the palace" the previous night but better than I normally get in my Berlin bed, Simone and I get up and head to the train station.  This time we have our tickets in hand but not certain where to go.  We finally figure it out, head through security and then onto the correct platform.  Not more than 5 minutes pass before the train takes off.  I used to be this type of traveler- pushing it right to the last minute but since having kids and knowing that so many things can go wrong along the way I much prefer to get somewhere at least 15 minutes early.  Simone is quite the seasoned traveler and didn't even break a sweat when we, in my opinion, barely made the train 😉

We didn't know it but this was an express train and we were at the Toledo station in under 30 minutes.  As we approached the dusty brown hills reminded me a lot of Mexico, or more specifically, Tijuana.  It was near 90 degrees that day and the heat and the dusty hills combined made it really seem like the hills around Tijuana. 

Train station in Toledo

One step into the beautiful train station and it was obvious we were in Spain.  Toledo was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 because of its history and cultural significance.  Its history includes Christian, Jewish and Muslim influences and is known for hand made marzipan and knives and blades of all kind.

I almost didn't take photos at the station because
I knew they wouldn't do it justice.. and they don't

This walled city is (it has walls on three sides and a river on the fourth) is home to the 5th largest cathedral in the world but unfortunately, because it was a Sunday didn't open until 2PM and our train left the station at 3:25.  If we had been better prepared we could have seen it but by the time we meandered back toward the church after lunch there was already a very long line to buy tickets.  We stood in the line awhile hoping it would  move fast enough and I think if I hadn't been there Simone may have tried to risk it but I didn't to miss our train.  As it was, after standing in the barely moving line for about 10 minutes we got out of line and started walking back to the station.  I was in a near full on jog and Simone was walking quickly and it was 90 degrees and by the time we sat down on the train (with less than 5 minutes to spare) I was a sweaty mess.

Our time in Toledo really was just about meandering throughout the skinny, winding streets up and around the city.  Berlin doesn't have any hills so I was definitely feeling it. 
Our day in Toledo was very fun and eye opening.  It would have been really nice to be able to see inside the cathedral but otherwise we felt we had enough time there.  We still had one final dinner in Madrid.  I really wanted Paella so we did!!
To bed by midnight for a 4AM alarm to catch my flight.  Unfortunately I was too worried about oversleeping I didn't even sleep much during those 4 precious hours.  Oh, well... when in Spain, I suppose.

The cathedral through the tiny city street

The cathedral up close

There was a graffiti class of some kind.  We stumbled upon this guy first

After lunch we walked back and saw this transformation

The guy on the left was probably the best of the bunch.  There were four artist on the four sides of this white cube. 

Simone went searching for some gifts and met this most amazingly kind man from Senegal  He makes chocolates at a shop owned by a guy from Belgium. We had several yummy tastes.

The national beer

It was so nice to soak up the sun..
who knows when it will feel this warm again

España - Madrid

On Friday I took a 9PM flight to Madrid to meet one of my first friends in college and someone I've been close friends with ever since.  That would be 30+ years!! We've seen each other through the good times and the bad that is for sure.   Simone had booked a 2 week birthday trip to Spain well before we decided to move to Berlin.  Although her second choice for her birthday trip was actually Berlin so I'm hoping she makes a return trip to Europe while we are here.

Her two week trip was interwoven by various friends coming and going, I think 14 or so throughout her two weeks.  I met up with her for her final weekend.   My flight arrived around midnight.  In a "normal" city this would seem quite late or even the middle of the night but not so in Spain.   This country likes to LIVE!  They do have a 3 hour siesta in the middle of the day and typically the city slowly wakes up but is very quiet until well past 9AM.  So when I arrived the streets were full of people.  The sidewalks were packed and people were spilling out of bars, restaurants and discos.

Her friends were all leaving the next morning but I had one glorious night in the "palace" as they called it as it was a beautiful, huge apartment in the center of Madrid.  All I remember is the wonderfully comfortable bed!  I slept the better that night than I have since arriving.  Did I mention that our bed here in Berlin is one notch above a futon!

We have a leisurely morning with cafe con leche, Spanish tortillas (omelettes) gooey, chocolate covered cinnamon rolls and freshly squeezed orange juice before heading to our the hotel where we would end up staying the next two nights.  We drop off our bags at the new hotel and decide we want to take a day trip to Toledo.  We head to the Atocha train station.  This is the station that was bombed on March 11th 2004 shortly before Spain's general elections.

We figure out where to buy our tickets but the train we wanted was full and the next train wasn't going to leave until 2:30.  This seemed a bit too late to begin a day trip so we decided to see more of Madrid on Saturday and buy tickets to go to Toledo on Sunday. 

Leaving the train station we decide to go on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour which is always a great way to see a big city.  It was in the upper 80's outside so being on the top deck of the open air bus was really nice.

Madrid is a major cultural capital in Europe.  I did not know that it was the third largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin.  (I didn't know Berlin was the 2nd largest either!) I have felt like Germany has so much history and the buildings are so old, and they are, but didn't really comprehend the fact that much of Germany was bombed and rebuilt unlike Madrid.  The buildings and the grandeur and the detail on a lot of the buildings is simply breathtaking.  As are the skinny, winding streets and alleys.  I could easily and happily get myself lost in this city. 

The streets seemed much more crowded than Berlin but that is probably because we don't leave our small town and head to the center of Berlin very much. 

One of the main squares and
one of the few things both
Marty and I remember from
our couple of days in Madrid
in 2005.

I was explaining to Simone that our little town of Zehlendorf is very much like West Seattle.  It is even in the South West corner of the city.  We love the quiet of our neighborhood and our life and feel like we can head to the big city whenever we want.

After nearly completing the entire tour we decide to grab lunch.  We find a super cute Mexican restaurant and are pleasantly surprised with the food and the decor.  After lingering a couple of hours of a delicious lunch of AMAZING guacamole, chips, and tacos with cactus and pork and Mexican Sangria (sangria with tequila) we head out to catch the sister line of the hop on hop off which highlights the architecture.   We happily sit in the top deck again and take it all in.

Where Real Madrid, Madrid's soccer team plays.

We arrive back to our hotel around 8PM with over 10 miles clocked in.  I'm super tired but dinner places don't really open until 9PM so we shower and then head out a bit later for another delicious dinner. 

A quick sangria before dinner at San Miguel Market

Grocery Shopping - Go Time!!

Grocery shopping here still tends to be a bit stressful. Not overly so and maybe I should say different instead of stressful. Like nearly everything here we just have to learn a new way of going about things.
I'm getting used to the products and can find our staple products quickly and easily.  I now know which stores have the best bread and rolls, the best cream cheese and dairy products, the best produce and which ones are cheaper than others.  When I need something out of the ordinary for a recipe I still have to google it and try to pronounce it which normally goes horribly bad and then I have to show the store worker my phone and then inevitably they point out that my phone is cracked.  Thankfully, Marty and I normally do the shopping together after school drop off.
What is noticeably different and a is a bit stressful is checking out, paying and bagging your groceries.
First off, the store checkers sit down at their register they don't stand like they do in Seattle.  They normally have a very grumpy look about them even when I warmly smile and say "hallo" Or "Guten morgen" sometimes they smile back by mostly they just look at my like I'm a bit crazy. They then start scanning your products much like in the US but there is only a teeny tiny area past them where they start shoving the items once they are checked.  I get it that most people shop for just a few things every day and don't load up but honestly some of the area past the checker is so small I couldn't fit everything for my family of 4 for one day.  So I tend to get a bit nervous as we are approaching the checker.  I've realized that they aren't so fast to pay like we are.  At least that was what I always felt rushed to do in Seattle but they definitely rush to get their groceries off that little storing area before the next customers items start flying toward you.  And the checkers DO NOT wait for you to get your groceries out of that area they just starting flinging the new customers stuff toward you and the next customers huffs and puffs and starts literally breathing down your neck.  The whole person space bubble here is SO small and they are space invaders of the worst degree.
We have pretty much learned the system.  IF you get a shopping cart - which we rarely do, you turn your cart around so the end (opposite of end where you push) is pointing toward the teeny area where you groceries will be pushed. 

Once they have been scanned you IMMEDIATELY start putting them back in your cart, in no particular order as this would take too long, then you push your cart over to this little shelf and THEN put them in an organized manner in your grocery trolley or in your bags or backpack.
We typically just fill up Marty's back pack and I have a lightweight fabric shopping bag that I keep in my purse (Thanks, Dawna :-) ) but like the shopping cart as soon as they items are scanned we start stuffing them into our bags.  Once they are 95% packed THEN we pay.  Once you pay you are really meant to be gone.
So...Trust me, no one bags your groceries here and NO ONE asks if you would like help out.  It is going to seem so luxurious when we grocery shop back in Seattle again.

Kite Flying and House Hunting

We spent a lot of the day on Sunday at a new (to us) park.  Benjamin had received a cool kite along with some other gifts from Julie's parents before he started school. There is a tradition in Germany called a "schultüte" where kids are given cones filled with gifts before their first day of school.  Ela and Holger brought both kids very nice gifts back when we had the birthday celebration for Julie at our house.

One of Benjamin's gifts was this kite which he LOVES.  Yes, it is supposed to just fly on its own but it hasn't been windy here yet (other than the hurricane day but that would've been too much, obviously!) so he just runs with it behind him and loves it.  It is so great because he runs and runs and runs and wears himself out all while enjoying the kite.

We also have been feverishly looking for a new place to live.  A few weeks ago we received word that the owners of the house we are living in are returning at the beginning of February.  To say we are bummed is an understatement. 

When we had originally found this house the terms were for a full academic year but shortly before we signed the lease they informed us that there was a chance that they would have to return mid year.  We decided to go ahead with the 6 months because the house seemed so perfect and we thought there was a good chance that they wouldn't return.  Well, it really has been worth it even if we did get spoiled by the house and especially the location.  But now we have to go about finding another rental and rentals or even places to buy in this area are really very few and far between.  There just isn't much inventory and since Marty works from home we have to have at least 3 bedrooms preferably 4 but we could do with 3 and larger houses are not as common.  So, just when things were starting to settle down and become a bit easier they get harder again.  I'm trying super hard not to stress about it now.  Anything that is for rent NOW likely will not still be available come February and since there is such a limited inventory I cannot imagine a landlord is going to wait around with an empty house or apartment for 4 months.  I'm hopeful it will all work out the way it did with Benjamin and school and even if we find something that doesn't seem quite as good we will make the best of it.

Peanut Butter + Swimming = AWESOME!

Saturday morning we wake up and the first thing I do is stir the peanut butter.  I always hated doing this in Seattle because no matter how careful you are some of the peanut oil spills over the side.  But this time I was delighted to stir the peanut butter.  And I was delighted to eat it on toast for the first time in nearly 2 months!! We brought a small jar with us when we came but that was long gone many many weeks ago.  I used to eat peanut butter every single morning in Seattle.  SO SO good.
After breakfast Josie had swim practice. On Saturdays it is always at the same pool, the one we missed all of our connections to last Saturday.  This time we made all of our connections and walked into the pool right at 9:00!  Yay.

Even more exciting was me remembering to bring my swim stuff because from what I could gather there was open swim during the time Josie was at practice.  Wouldn't that be so great if I could swim while she was practicing?  I packed my swim bag reminding myself to keep my expectations in check.  I could just go for a walk if I couldn't swim.  But I was still hopeful.

I drop Josie off and ask another swim parent if he knows if it is open swim in the part of the pool that the JFK team is not using.  He said it is!  I walk to the other entrance, pay my 5 € and I'm in!  Put my stuff in a locker and head out to the pool.  It is a glorious 50 meter pool with tons of windows.  AHHHHH!  SO nice.  I ask the life guard if it is just open swim because there were lanes dividing up 2/3 of the pool which was being used by the JFK team and then there were three lanes open but with no dividers.  He said yes and pointed to the open three lanes.  I said, oh, so you just have to watch out for each other people.  And he said yes and looked at me like I was dumb.  Well, if you know anything about lap swimming you know that typically there are lanes and if there are two people you just split the lane and each person goes there and back on their side of the lane.  If there are more than 2 people then you circle swim by always staying to the right side of the lane both there and back.  In this open three lane area everyone was just swimming willy nilly. There were about 15-20 people and about 6 of us were freestyle trying to lap swim.  Even though it wasn't quite as relaxing and energizing as being able to just swim and not have to avoid crashing into someone it was still really super great.  I knew I was out of swimming shape but was pretty tired after about 15 minutes of hard swimming.  Right about then the lifeguard gets my attention and says I could use one of the lanes.  He must have gotten the attention of a few other lap swimmers because before too long there were about 5 of us circle lap swimming.  Now, this was it!!  I had arrived.  Now that I didn't have to avoid anyone I had much more energy and ended up happily swimming another 45 minutes.  This makes me realize how tiring it is to constantly be on the alert, constantly watching out for people or afraid of doing something wrong.  Which is how it has felt for much of our time here in Berlin. We are constantly on the alert.  No wonder we are so tired all of the time.  Living, or in this case, swimming is so much easier and less demanding when you are familiar and now what to expect.  In Seattle an hour was my normal so this felt good to be able to do it again here in such a nice pool.  Come to find out that the pool, Schwimmhalle Finkensteinallee was built as a training facility for Hitler's army.  And then later used by the US military.  It really is a great pool.  I decide that this will be our Saturday routine.  Yay!!

Later in the day we head out to the park we found while Marty was gone and go to Indian food for dinner.  Josie (and I) must've been so hungry from all the swimming that she didn't even complain about going to Indian food this time... well, OK, she did a little but not much.  I had forgotten just how hungry I get after I swim.

Home and Gifts

Marty made it home on Friday afternoon completely exhausted from his return trip from Seattle.  Neither of us understand how people do this kind of travel much more frequently for work.  Crazy the wear and tear it does to your body.  But he was HOME.  He also came with gifts for all of us.  It is funny because you really do learn to live without and we would have been fine without any of these things but it was SO so nice to have him bring a few things from home. 

We had forgotten our toothbrush chargers.  So our electric toothbrushes were just the regular old type that you had to brush yourself. Totally doable but now that I have my electric charge back my teeth really do feel that much cleaner.

Benjamin forgot to pack his beloved Minecraft books.  He was thrilled when Marty pulled them out of his bag.  Josie has been roller blading a lot with her friend and neighbor Aurora.  She asked him to bring back her roller blade.  I thought it was ridiculous.  They are huge and HEAVY.  But he brought those too.  Josie's best friend organized a bday card collection so Marty brought bday cards and greetings from a bunch of her Seattle friends.  My good friends Lori and Steve gave Marty THREE jars of TJ's peanut butter, Uncle Woody's truffle salt popcorn and a homemade jar of strawberry rhubarb jam... OMG!!  Heaven! Jodi had bought a large Costco sized peanut butter

(YES, we will eat all of this peanut butter!), red vine licorice, baking soda and tampons. Everyone is making a big deal about this.  I haven't even look myself yet but apparently they only have the OB non applicator type here so someone mentioned that I should have brought more from home so I asked for some.  Yes, they have tampons here. 

Yes they have peanut butter but not the natural stuff and it is super expensive and not at all the same.  No, I haven't found red licorice only black that is so strong it tastes medicinal.  Someone said they do sell baking soda but I haven't found it and I use it in baking and cleaning.  They do not have yummy homemade jam... well, they must right? But I haven't found it or anyone here who makes it.
One thing that this whole move has taught me is do not save up your special gifts for a special time.  You should just enjoy them right when you get them.  When we packed up our Seattle house I found so many gifts or "special" things that I put away for a special time and never got around to eating or using them.  So.... you can see what I'm eating as I type this blog post. 

YUMMMMM!  One bag of popcorn down.  They aren't THAT big and I shared (a little)
Thank you friends and family for all of our fun "imports" 

Hurricane

On Thursday morning we woke up to rain and we all walked to school.  Little did we know that the afternoon would bring a hurricane.  Seriously!!  A freaking hurricane in Berlin.  Not in a million years would I have imagined that there were hurricanes here.  What with the hurricanes and the mosquitoes it is *almost* like we are living somewhere tropical... but oh yeah, minus the HEAT! 

Benjamin had library day
and new book to read for the ride

So to be fair it was *just* hurricane force winds not an actual hurricane but it was scary and even more scary was that I didn't have any clue it was coming or happening until it was over.
Josie had swim practice and she has asked me to ride with her one way which I'm fine with.  On Thursday she asked if I would ride with her from school to practice and then she would get herself home on the bus.  Because Marty was out of town Benjamin had to come with me.
We meet Josie and are off to the pool.  Nothing really out of the ordinary.  But as Benjamin and I head home around 4 we notice that it is super windy.  Not just super windy.  REALLY super windy but I'm thinking this is Berlin.  It isn't like they have tornadoes here.  I didn't even think of a hurricane.  We make it home and are shocked watching the trees our yard and across the street as they are blowing every which way.

Josie texts me and says she is at the bus stop and has to wait a few minutes for her bus.  She says "Mom, it is SUPER windy here"  I tell her I know and to stay inside the little bus shelter and watch for falling branches.  After a few minutes she texts back and says that this bus is not going to run because of the storm and she has to walk to the other bus stop. 

She knows where this other stop is but has only been there a time or two.  I get a bit worried at this point but figure this next stop is much bigger so surely the buses will run from there. 

A few minutes later she says the two buses we normally take are a 15 and 20 minute wait (there is a reader board that tells you when the buses are coming) She then asks if I know if a different bus, one we have never taken, goes toward Zehlendorf?  I have no idea but I look it up and tell her it does. 

I wanted to say just wait there for the 15-20 minutes in the shelter.  It would be the safest place.  But I let her make up her mind and take a different bus.  I told her how far it would get her toward our house before it turned in a different direction but I told her she needed to confirm with the bus driver before she got on.  She did all this and thank GOD.  Her bus made it nearly to our little downtown area (about 1 mile from our house) before every bus in the city shut down. 

The bus driver made everyone get off the bus and all buses and public transportation across the city of nearly 4 million came to a screeching halt.  The sbahn trains were shut down and several of the ubahn trains were shut down due to trees on the tracks. 
She texts me that she is going to walk home.  The wind is still blowing but not quite as hard.  Benjamin and I put on our shoes and tell her which road we are walking down and meet her about half way. 
Even though I was pretty freaked out about it all - having her out in the storm by herself, having no car to go rescue her if she needed it, having no German to ask for help if we needed it I was in awe of her that she kept her wits about her, figured out a plan and in the end made the very best choice to get on that next bus. If she had waited it would have been a 3+ mile walk in the storm to get home.  Yes, doable but not the safest.
On our walk to meet Jose we saw the devastation from the storm around our house.  Trees and large branches were down everywhere.  Then I started seeing people posting pics on FB about the stations. 
SO SO SO thankful we all made it home safely without too much trauma other than to me ;-)

The overflowing S-bahn station

One friend said her husband had to wait for 7 trains until there was room on one of them.  Crazy!!  We had a long talk that night about her always having her (charged!) cell phone and carrying some cash in case she needed it in an emergency.   Every day here are new things to learn and learn to do better.