One VERY Sick Girl

Josie woke up on Monday morning, the first official day of Spring Break with an extremely swollen neck.  I've never seen her swell up like that before.
As it turns out, most people here take the week before Easter or the week after Easter or both off for vacation.  Our normal doctor was following protocol and was gone.  We asked around and were given a few Dr. names in town but none of them opened until 10AM.  It was 7 AM and she was in a lot of pain.  We decided to go to the ER as it was right around the corner from where we live and we knew they could get her in right away.  Plus, we knew it would be a normal sized bill unlike using the ER in the states.  They don't really have the in between "Urgent Care" places that we would normally use in the US if the same thing were to happen there.

We didn't have to wait too terribly long and in fact were in and out and diagnosed by 9 AM.  So an hour before even the normal Dr. offices were even open. 

The diagnosis was Mono!!  It is interesting because for the past couple of weeks I told Marty it almost seems like Josie has Mono because she always looked so tired but I didn't think you could get it that young.  Apparently Mono is silently multiplying in your body for 30-60 days before you show signs and symptoms!!

We came directly home.  I went to the store to stock up on tons of liquids (juices, teas, popsicles, etc) and Josie went straight back to bed and slept most of the day.  Poor thing.

West Seattle Visitors

 If you think we get excited when we get physical mail from home, you should see us when friends from home come to visit.
One of Josie's friends had planned a family Spring Break vacation in Europe and ended their 10 day whirlwind European tour in Berlin!  Lucky us.

We met the Orwigs downtown and Marty gave his tour of the important parts near the Brandenburg Gate and the surroundings.  Todd and Kirsten have two kids nearly the same

ages as ours.  Ainsley and Josie became friends in 3rd grade and remained friends over the years and they live just a few blocks away from us in Seattle.  They also have a son one grade younger than Benjamin named Grady.  The kids kept each other busy with small talk (girls)  and throwing rocks

(boys)
After several hours of touring we were all hungry so decided to head to our favorite Indian restaurant.  Even if it was a bit out of the way.  And funny enough, Kirsten even lived in Steglitz (the area where the restaurant is) for a month back in College.

After lunch we headed to the Allied Museum to have a look around. What day of sightseeing would be complete without a trip to the ice cream shop!
Josie was acting kind of strange, super tired and kept saying it was hard for her to breath.  She is so much in the teenager phase where nothing is a big deal or it is the BIGGEST DEAL IN THE ENTIRE world.  So we kind of blew off her complaints.  She was tired from just finishing up

school right before break.  A good night sleep will make her feel better.
The next day she did not feel better.  We hosted breakfast out at our place and walked them around our boring, sleepy little part of town. Josie was in no position to go out even though our plan was to all go to Mauer Park

and the weekly Sunday Flea Market.  And then dinner at our favorite Greek restaurant right around the corner. 
Since the kids were very well entertained I suggested that Kirsten and Todd take advantage and go on their own.  We could bring their kids to them later in the evening.  Thankfully they took us up on it

because really, the kids were having a ball and I know what a treat it is to have a bit of alone time without the kids after a tiring albeit exciting 10 days of being together 24/7.    A win/win/win for all of us.  Marty and I both wanted to take their kids back to them downtown so we flipped a coin. Marty won and so the three of them trekked back downtown.  Josie went straight to bed with a fever. Surely another night of sleep and she would be back at it.

Auction

On Thursday of Marty's spring break we got all dressed up and attended our first fundraising auction here in Germany.  It is a novel thing here - to raise funds for something or someone.  It is rare that when our friend Juli was setting it up she had some people look at her funny.  Why would I spend my money and time on something like this?  I pay my taxes.  The government takes care of all of that with my taxes.  Which is technically correct. This is her 2nd annual fundraiser for a great organization that helps very young mothers and their children called The Agape Tree.  Mostly all of their basics are covered by government programs - smart policy, right??- so she raises funds to do something special for them.  Last year it was to send the mothers and their children on a mini vacation, by train to the Baltic Sea.  One week without the stresses of life to bond together as little families.  This year she helped raise funds for a special program they are starting at this organization. 
It is so interesting how auctions and fundraisers from public education to helping with medical costs is SO incredibly common in the states and relatively unheard of in Germany. 
Other than raising a lot of money for a good cause, it was a fabulous night with great food and drink surrounded by some of our very favorite people here in Berlin.

Tech Start Up Field Trip

Marty also took advantage of his "free week" to attend a huge renewable energy, start up, Tech conference.  He is doing small little program segments for the local, public radio here in Berlin and he was able to interview a few people at this conference.
Of course his favorite part was the free food!  What is not to love about that?

Field Trip to the Waldschule

Marty started his "Spring Break" today.  Since Seattle Public Schools calendar is different than ours sadly his vacation days do not align with the kids.  VERY frustrating. Especially when they have TWO full weeks of spring break the weeks after he has his week of vacation.   

But it does allow him to be involved in the kids school those weeks.  Benjamin just so happened to have a field trip on the first day of Marty's vacation so he signed up to chaperone. 
It is always fun to attend one of the kids field trips and when we were in Seattle I did it all the time and Marty never was able to.  Since moving to Germany he has chaperoned a few of Josie's and this was the first for Benjamin's.
The day trip started with a walk of about half a mile down to the Sbahn train.  All the kids either have their own transportation pass or are part of the class train ticket.  Every kid in Berlin (ours included) know how to "do" the

public transportation.  It is one of the big things we are gifting our kids by living here.  I know it may seem small but knowing how to navigate a city is a big gift.
They arrived at the Waldschule "Forest School" in English.  The entire day was conducted in German and the only three people who were not fluent in German were Benjamin, his buddy, Zeke, and their teacher who comes from Wisconsin. 
Next year Benjamin will go on a 4 night (!?!?!) trip to a Forest school where they learn how to build fires and survive in the wild.  So this is in a way a preparation. 

The were supposed to see animals and learn things about nature.  In the end Marty said that they saw one dog with one human.  Some birds too I suppose but that was the end of the animals sightings. 
Both boys had a great time on their field trip.

Spring is Coming

The weather is turning from Winter and Spring and I love it.  Spring really is the season that Berlin shines the most.  Last Spring we had sunny skies and temps in the high 70's from the second week of April until the end of September.  I know that encompasses Summer as well and actually during the summer months (when we were here as we spent the month of July in

Seattle) the weather was HOT.  But anyway, Spring is lovely here and I hope we aren't hoping for too much in that we would love a repeat of last years weather.
This Sunday dinner was hard to get the kids motivated to get out of Zehlendorf but we ended up at our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant and even sat outside.  And then headed to our favorite ice cream place.  Everyone in town had the same idea as the line was OUT THE DOOR and into the plaza.
Nice Spring Summer Evening. Benjamin always finds a minute here or there to get in some reading.  The kid is on fire with his reading!!

Hertha - Berlin Soccer

 It is funny that we hadn't been to a Berlin Soccer game until today.  Soccer, or as it is called here, Futball, is a big deal.  Every city has their team and people are just more generally into it here.
Both kids play on the school soccer team this year.  Even though both are a bit bored by it.  Josie much more so than Benjamin. 

Sports aren't really a big deal in schools here and are played mostly in clubs instead.  Especially soccer where the really talented kids have already moved on to elite or superior teams by grade 3.  Since schools don't really play soccer they only do scrimmages with other members of their team.  For Benjamin it is still a full kind of like a full on game but for Josie it isn't the same as what she was used to at all in Seattle.  Partly because they have fewer girls participating so her team is all the girls from grades 4 to 12!!  And even then there are only maybe 15 kids.

The Hertha tickets were organized by Benjamin's soccer coach so we went along with nearly Benjamin's entire team and their families.  The trains were so full that you had to wait for a train or two to find space to squeeze in.  Still so much better than having to deal with traffic and parking in a car. It was a beautifully sunny Saturday and we all had a great time.