Pretty Black Cat

Last Day in Berlin...Tuesday August 2, 2011

2011-08-01T22:49:00.002+02:00

Tuesday August 2, 2011 will be our last day in Berlin. We head home Wednesday morning early. We should arrive in the Twin Cities around 3:30 pm (it will be 10:30 pm in Berlin). It's going to be a long day on the plane with two kids but both are excited to see family and friends. Especially Grandma Marilyn, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Pete.

Three years have gone by quickly.

Tom gets star treatment from our friend Madlen. She'll be catering to his every whim while Chris vacations in Minnesota for two weeks. He'll get on a plane later this month and I'll pick him up from the airport ready to introduce him to his new home. I'm worried as always about my littlest guy and I'm hoping and praying he'll have a safe journey back.

Please pray for us that our travels home to Minnesota are safe and painless :-)

Thanks Berlin for a great few years. We'll miss you but we'll be back for plenty of visits and who knows maybe one day we'll be happy to call you home again.

Tschuss Berlin

2011-06-10T10:07:00.002+02:00

Logan, Connor, Tom (the kitty) and I are headed back to St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota this summer. We leave on August 3rd which is Connor's 4th birthday.

Chris will stay in Berlin (he's the one with the steady income) until I can find work in the Twin Cities. Let's hope that I find a job quickly :-)

We are all sad to be leaving Berlin. It's such a wonderful city. Most importantly we've made many many wonderful friends. This is going to be difficult. Thank goodness for Skype!

The other day I was headed to St. Hedwig for Church (in Mitte...middle of city). I stopped in the middle of Gendarmenmarkt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarmenmarkt) to soak up the scene. WOW! It's just crazy that I live here. I continued on my way to St. Hedwig's and again stopped and looked around Bebelplatz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebelplatz). I try to imagine what it was like here before the war, during and after. Just amazing!

Even after 3 years I'm still in awe of this city. The culture, the people, the architecture, and the history. I'm going to miss it.

Now that I'm leaving I have been taking the time to stop, look around and take it in. I always praise God for his graces and gifts. Truly it's been a gift to live in such a wondrous place.

We've been trying to do a few things around town that we've put off for one reason or another over the past few years. We made it to the beach one Sunday afternoon but didn't stay long. It was a scouting trip but we had wished we had worn/brought our swimsuits. Boo! Check out the website at http://www.strandbadwannsee.de/Strandbad.htm ... if you click on Geschichtliches via the navigation to the left you'll see pictures of the beach over the years. Pretty cool. We really liked this beach a lot and plan to go back before we leave Berlin. Maybe even this weekend. Yippee!

We'd also like to go to the Friedrichstadt Palast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrichstadt_Palast). We've never been and every time we come to Berlin we always say we'll go and never do. Here we are again on our way back to MN and still haven't made it to the show. BLAH! Not sure if we'll have time to go or the funds, but Logan and I might try to get tickets to a matinee.

I did manage to make it to the Pergamon Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum). It's pretty impressive. I've also been to a number of other galleries and museums with Logan and his class from school over the past few years. I'm grateful for being able to go to so many.

I usually use my bike for transportation. I whiz by everyone and everything on my way to my destination, but lately I've been trying to get out more often to just have a look around. Chris, the kids and I often take long rides on the weekends to new places in Berlin that we haven't been. We've found lots of interesting and fun neighborhoods, parks, restaurants, cafes, etc. FYI: Berlin is one of the more bike friendly cities in Europe. There are tons of bike trails and paths all over the city. It's really awesome. I love riding my bike and the freedom that comes with it.

We also made it to Grunewald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunewald) a couple of times. Not sure if I mentioned this story before, but the last time we were there we packed a lunch. We found a nice bench to sit on with the kids and took out our sandwiches, chips, grapes, drinks, etc. We watched as people and their dogs walked past on the trail and said hello. One dog got past our defenses and ate up Logan's sandwich along with Connor's. He also got a few grapes and managed to lick the others. Yuck! Connor was crying, Logan laughing (he didn't want to eat his sandwich anyway...ha ha), me screaming and Chris yelling. The owners of the dog didn't do anything and then their second dog came in for lunch too. More yelling, screaming, crying and laughing. Logan thought the whole thing was hilarious. Poor Connor was so upset that a dog at his sandwich. Chris and I laughed too. What fun. I threw out the rest of the grapes later. More yuck! After our botched picnic we continued to ride into the woods. It was so lovely. We all slept good that night :-)

Boy, I could go on and on, but I've got to pick up Connor from kita (nursery school) soon. Connor slept over night last night with all his friends and teachers from kita. We didn't get a call so it must have been all OK! Hopefully Viola and Carmen (this teachers) survived. I'll find out soon. What fun! ha ha

More later.

Multimedia Stations of the Cross for Children - Loyola Press

2011-03-14T10:17:00.000+01:00

Multimedia Stations of the Cross for Children - Loyola Press

The Seven Last Words - Loyola Press

2011-03-14T09:37:00.000+01:00

The Seven Last Words - Loyola Press

More for Lent!

I will mediate on these for 7 days. I began today.

Very nice!

Praise be our Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins.

Forgiveness and Lent - Loyola Press

2011-03-14T09:28:00.000+01:00

Forgiveness and Lent - Loyola Press

Awesome message not only for Lent but for everyday.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-18T23:37:00.004+01:00

Hi.

Happy New Year!

Thought I better get that out there. I'm a very bad blogger sorry. Life is crazy busy as usual with all my boys.

Chris will eventually get all our new pictures off the camera and on to is website soon. http://www.macgowan.com. He still has our advert for renting our house on his site. **Sigh**

Chris is busy working lots of hours at his job with Mister Spex. He's not sure how he feels about it but working 10 hour days is no fun.

I've been working on web projects at home and also searching for a job. I had an interview at Mister Spex's a few weeks ago and will go back for a "work day" next week.

I am taking a few online courses over at sitepoint.com. They're pretty good. I've taken two CSS courses, a Javascript course and a PHP course. I'm also trying to learn jQuery on my own. We'll see how I do.

Logan is busy finishing up his 1st semester at JFK. He'll have a week off early February and then the new semester begins. He's doing pretty well in his classes. His teachers this year are really great. Logan is really motivated and Chris and I are so proud of our tweener. Yes Logan will be 11 years old next month. Two more years until we have a teenager. We're already feeling the pinch :-) ha ha

Connor is becoming a master at speaking both German and English. It's tough learning two languages at once and we are super happy that he's doing so well. Seems like every few weeks or so more words come out and together in sentences. I don't always understand what he's saying when he's speaking German and have to ask him to speak English. He says OK and tells me what he wants me to know. Pretty cool.

Speaking of languages; I've met this great woman named Madlen from the Facebook Tandem Language website. We get together once a week for a couple of hours to speak both German and English. It's just great and Madlen is very nice and patient with me. I'm learning lots of new words and learning how to string them altogether. Yippee!

Berlin received a lot of snow this past December but in the last couple of weeks we've had some pretty nice temps that have melted it all away. All that's left is the sand and rocks which some folks here have been so kind as to sweep away. It's really sort of a mess on the streets and sidewalks. Lots of dog poops too. I hate the fact that there isn't a law forcing the German's to pick up their dog's poop. Some of the poops are as big as human poops. It's really disgusting.

Not sure how long this warm weather will last and if more snow is in our future. The florist and markets are selling spring flowers already and it's lovely to see. I can't imagine this will last until March or April but one can always hope.

I'm not spell checking this entry. It's late here and I'm off to bed. Please forgive any errors :-)

Bad Blog Writer

2010-10-28T12:56:00.015+02:00

Yes it's true. I'm a bad blog writer.

*sigh*

I just got finished reading "Eat Pray Love" and felt motivated to write on my blog. Gosh I wish I could take the time I need to write the way Liz Gilbert writes. I think I could do it but I just don't.

Insert more *sighs* here!

I did do something very proactive today. That is with regards to my German language skills. I signed up on the FB German/English language tandem page as well as Scrabbin which is a tandem language site. I figured the best way for me to learn besides going to a class (which can cost lots and lots of money and time -- neither of which I have in abundance) is to try to meet up with someone to just speak the language.

I know it's going to be hard at first but I think if I really want to speak German before we leave Berlin I need to do this.

Again this proactivity is partly due to that book again "Eat Pray Love". Liz did this when she went to Italy and it seems like a good way to learn. I'll give it a try.

Now I haven't exactly contacted anyone yet myself but I'm trying to work up the courage to do it in my mind. Maybe next week?? ha ha

I suppose folks are wondering how the kiddos are doing?

Logan is great. He just went back to school after a two week fall break. He read 2 books during his break for his Mother Tongue class (English); "Guardians of Ga'hoole" and "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid". He has to read 9 books before January 7th. Yikes!

Anyway, we went to coffee shops in the mornings after dropping Connor off at nursery school (kita). It was fun hanging out with Logan and just reading and having a coffee (Logan drinks hot chocolate -- heisse Schokolade -- see I'm writing in German).

Now that he's back at school I miss my little guy (not so little I suppose at 10). My mornings now are spent working. That is looking for work (updating the resume/cover letter) and putting the finishing touches on a website project.

Connor is also great. He's just having fun being a 3 year old. Playing and learning! He needs a haircut however.

My furry kitty kid is well too. Tom's been keeping me up at night though, and I don't have the heart to kick him out of my bed. The apartment building we live in has a small backyard so I take him out there to explore. We have mice so he enjoys hunting for them and a neighbor cat he tries to avoid. I tend not to go out with him if the neighbor's cat is out. They don't like each other (go figure) and the neighbor's cat has already beat up Tom once. Now if Ted were still alive the neighbors cat would be TOAST!

So what else is going on?

Well let me see.

I had coffee this morning and started to re-read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" again. The movie will come out here on November 18th. Logan, my friend Jia and I will go see it. Can't wait.

Chris and I are going to parent night at Connor's kita this Friday. That's if we can get a babysitter for the kids. Otherwise only one of us can go. I'll send Chris as he doesn't really get an opportunity to see the parents anymore.

This weekend we'll try to find Halloween festivities around Berlin that we can take the kids to since German's don't do treats or treats. We really miss this American tradition! There's something going on at the Botanischer Garten so we may check it out on Sunday http://www.bgbm.org/halloween/.

Chris' birthday is just right around the corner, November 12th. He'll be 48 this year. Whoa! Not sure what he wants to do but we'll do something fun. I'm going to have the kids make him some birthday cards and we'll make him some cookies. I now have a signature recipe for choco-chip cookies (can you believe it???). Chris can eat 12 at one time (I make 'em small folks). Oh crap! I just realized he'll read this post. Oops! Sorry honey. I'm going to have to think of something else for us to bake/make for you this year. Too bad!

Well I don't have anything else to report at the moment. I sure hope I spelled everything correctly. Blogger's spell check isn't that great.

Sorry no pictures this time around either. I have some new ones but as usual they are stuck on the camera.

Have a lovely day!

More soon.

Connor is 3 TODAY!

2010-08-03T16:54:00.003+02:00

Today is the big day. Connor is 3 years old.

Today we celebrate with a BIG FAT CHOCOLATE CAKE! His (and our) FAVORITE!

Happy Birthday Connor!

Preemie Journey of Colin and Veronica Fiegel

2010-07-27T14:23:00.002+02:00

Check out my friend's blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/ as she talks about her adventures with her twin newborns; Colin and Veronica. They were born I believe at 28 weeks.

Both babies are doing well. Keep them and their family in your prayers!

Harry Potter

2010-07-25T01:07:00.002+02:00

I can't say enough great things about Harry Potter. My head is about to explode!

I just finished the last book, The Deathly Hallows. Boy o'boy was it good.

Now I'm sad. I miss Harry, Hermonie and Ron.

Someone suggested to listen to the books on tape series.

This sounds like a great way to revisit my old friends in a different media.

I want to talk more about Harry but it looks like it's 1 am in the morning and I'm so tired so I'll have to finish this post another time.

Nite nite.

Three Weeks Off -- Yeah Right!

2010-07-25T00:51:00.002+02:00

Logan finished school on July 2nd but had two weeks of fun camp following the last day of school. He had fun!

Connor is on break from his nursery school or kita as they call it here in Germany for three weeks. He's been home since July 12th.

Last week was my first week to have BOTH kids home. It's been an adjustment (that's all I'll say) but now that we've got the hang of it we are set for some fun fun fun this coming week.

Monday we head to the Berlin Zoo. Tuesday we go to the pool. Wednesday is our buffer day. Thursday we'll go to the farm, and Friday we'll head into Berlin's forest or what the Berliners call the Grunewalde.

We're pretty excited to have a plan. Last week we didn't but we also had very hot weather and only ventured out of the house in the morning. We don't have air and only one fan so the most you can do is read a book, watch a movie or just sit and sip a nice tasty beverage.

The last couple of days have been very pleasant here. In the low to mid 70s. I hope it continues. I haven't really looked so I hope our plans are still a go.

When Connor goes back to school on August 2nd Logan and I will be reading "The Graveyard Book". A wonderful gift from Logan's friend Juju. Thanks again Juju!!!! We'll take field trips to some of the more notable graveyards in town and do some research on ghosts. It should be loads of fun. Good practice too for school which will start back up on August 23rd.

My Mom sent the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. I've been reading them and they are quite delightful. We'll read these too and do some research on the Greek gods. Maybe even get to some of Berlin's museums for a real look at some of the Greek/Roman art, sculpture, and myths.

Before we'll know it we'll be back at work and school. In the meantime we'll try to continue to enjoy our summer days and nights before they're gone.

Connor is Three Years Old

2010-07-25T00:43:00.002+02:00

Connor Macgowan turns 3 years old come August 3rd this year. It's only a mere week away.

Can't believe my baby is 3. That went sooooooooo fast.

We're celebrating with friends next Saturday July 31st at this cool kid/family friendly restaurant called KiiWii. Here's the link to check it out http://www.kiiwii-berlin.de/.

They have this great indoor jungle gym thingy that the kids love. What's awesome is that the restaurant has glass in the wall so you can sit at your table, eat your dinner and watch your kids play. Connor and Logan usually come out every so often to take a bite of their food and drink something quick before heading back to play. It's really quite nice.

The food is kid friendly too and not half bad. I usually get the cheese burger and it's quite tasty.

I'll post pictures when we have them.

Happy Birthday Connor! We love you!
XOXO

16 Years of Blissful Marriage

2010-07-25T00:35:00.002+02:00

Hey all!

Yes it's true. Chris and I have been married for 16 years come July 30th. We celebrated actually tonight with dinner at this great Indian restaurant by our flat and seeing the movie Twilight Eclipse (movie was OK, Chris liked the first one better and I the second -- oh well).

It was a nice time for Chris and I to go out ALONE and talk, eat good food and watch a movie without distractions. Hey don't get us wrong we love our kids! Love love love them but sometimes Moms and Dads need a little break :-)

This past March Chris and I met at 1st Avenue 26 years ago. Crazy right?

We still consider each other best friends and with every passing day I love him more! It's amazing how intense my feelings are for Chris even after 26 years :-) WOW it must be LOVE!

So Happy Anniversary to us! I love you Chris!
XOXO

Two Years Today

2010-07-03T21:35:00.011+02:00

Hi.

It's been a long while since I wrote anything and well today/tomorrow is our 2nd anniversary living in Berlin, Germany.

I can't believe we've been here two years already. It went so very fast.

What's new? FYI. I'm going to randomly spew! :-) Also didn't spell or grammar check. I'm too tired and hot.

Well Chris got a job two weeks ago at Mister Spex's an Internet company. They sell eye glasses. Check them out here http://www.misterspex.de/.

We are very excited that Chris got a job just in the nic of time. It will allow us to stay here just a bit longer.

Jennifer is working freelance as a web developer. I got my work permit about 3 weeks ago. I'm working hard to find new clients. At the moment I have one that I'm working on. Check it out here http://www.xleft.com/. This is just a test site. Jan's website will go live at the end of July at http://www.treuholztraining.de/.

Logan just finished 4th grade at the JFK School. He'll be attending "Fun" camp for the first 2 weeks of vacation. Fun camp is sponsored by the JFK after school program. They've got a lot of fun adventures planned for the kids. I'm a little jealous. Logan will go back to JFK in the fall for 5th grade on August 23rd I think it is. Only 6 weeks off but he gets a lot of time off during the year so this schedule isn't too bad.

Connor is attending the Friedenau Kinderhaus, an all German Kita (kindergarten/nursery school). He'll have 3 weeks off beginning July 12th. He's doing great over there and learning lots and lots of German words. It's fun to hear him finally speak. Chris and I were a bit worried as he didn't say much we understood, but now the words are flowing. I guess we just had to be patient. For gosh sakes he's learning two languages at once.

Chris and I aren't big TV sports watchers but have been enjoying watching the World Cup games. Today Germany just kicked Argentina's ASS. GO TEAM GERMANY!!!

Jennifer is finally reading all the Harry Potter books. They are just great but I'm slow to read the 5th book "The Order of the Phoenix". Just haven't had the time to read lately. I need to read all the books before the new movie comes out in November. Hope I can do it.

Jennifer can't wait to see "Twilight Eclipse". Yes groan if you like. I enjoyed the books very much especially "Breaking Dawn". Will go with my friend Annerose when she gets back from Norway. GO TEAM EDWARD!!!

My Mother celebrated her 80th birthday this past April! Happy Birthday Mom! Now get on a plane and come visit us so we can celebrate Berlin style. We are ready to go on an Italian adventure too!

Weather is HOT HOT HOT here in Berlin. Don't much care for it. Our flat has been rather cool so we are thankful for that. No one has air here. Not even sure how you would work it with these windows. I've seen air conditioners at Bauhaus (like a Menards or Home Depot) so if this hot weather continues and becomes too hot we may have to break down and get one. Probably start with a fan first.

Our friends Becki and John Fiegel just welcomed their two twins; Veronica and Colin. Only 28 weeks gestation and doing well. Please if you pray do so for them. They have a long up hill journey to go. Check out their blog at http://www.preemiejourney.blogspot.com/.

We are hoping we can make it back to MN for a visit this winter. Our goal is Christmas and New Years! FYI if you have plans to come visit us.

WE WANT VISITORS! Come and see us!!!! We miss our friends and family and want to show you are new adopted town. There is so much to see and do here plus the rest of Europe is waiting for you. Exchange rate is looking pretty good these days!

Tom our 15 year old kitty is doing well also. We have a nice backyard for him to hang out in (escorted by me of course) and we found a mouse so he's pretty happy. Can't seem to get it though. Mousing was Ted's passion. We miss you Ted! You would have loved this new flat.

We are still looking for renters for our house in MN. No takers yet. We lowered the rent from $2,300 to $2,000. Here's hoping we find someone soon. Would hate to have to sell or lose the house because we couldn't rent it. If you know of anyone who is looking for a house to rent please have them go to our website at http://www.macgowan.com/ for all the details.

Logan just started training to become a server at the Catholic English speaking mission we belong to here. He was so excited to follow in his Mother and Uncle Sean's foot steps. When I was a kid I don't remember it being so intense, but these folks take it very seriously. Logan goes every Friday evening from 5-6 pm. It's a nice time for me too as I get the opportunity to spend some time with my Lord! Logan will have the summer off now and will start back up in late August or early September. If all goes well he'll start serving in October. I'll be sure to post pictures.

So that's what we've been up to since I last posted. If I think of more I'll be sure to post again.

Have a lovely 4th of July everyone!

We miss you all!

XOXO

New Pictures Ready for Viewing

2010-03-11T10:42:00.001+01:00

Hi folks.

Chris uploaded some new pictures on to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com/photo_index.php.

Check them out.

Logan's Turning 10

2010-02-02T13:31:00.002+01:00

Logan Macgowan, my first born child is going to be 10 this month. I just can't believe it's been 10 years already. Logan is a "leap year" baby so we'll celebrate on the 27th and 28th this year. We are having a party with some of his friends from school at Bamboo land not from from us in Steglitz. Here you can check out their web site http://www.bamboo-land.de/dasat/index.php.

Logan is on winer break until the end of the week. We are going to go see a movie tonight and maybe head to the zoo tomorrow morning. He really wanted to go to Bamboo land but we told him he has to wait until his birthday party.

Chris and Logan will go out on Thursday for some vacation fun. Not sure what they will do.

There aren't a lot of indoor places to go and hang out (other than malls) so being outside in the cold isn't our idea of fun. BLAH!

Again I've failed at delivering any new pictures, but I will one of these days and you'll all be surprised.

Later.

2010 - Can you believe it?

2010-01-20T22:33:00.020+01:00

As promised I'm back even if it's three weeks later. My goal is to try to remember to post at least once a week but I'll be glad if I can remember to post once a month. ha ha

So on with the show.
P.S. My spell check isn't working so forgive me for not spelling certain words correctly :-)

NO PICTURES
All our new pictures are either on the camera or Chris' computer. I'll make it my goal this weekend to get some up here for your viewing pleasure.

NEW ADDRESS
The Hays/Macgowan clan moved from Niedstr. 19 to Wielandstr. 12 in November 2009. We initially started looking at the end of August for a cheaper place to live. This would help in our quest to stay in Berlin a little longer.

We spent about three weeks looking around Friedenau (the area we've been living in) and a few areas close by. We found two great places; one in Friedenau and one in Steigliz. It was a tough decision as both places were really great. There were three exceptions. The place in "S" was on the 5th floor (no elevator) and was smaller than "F". "F" didn't have a balcony. Both had many many pluses but in the end we decided on "F" specifically Wielandstr. our current home. We all love our new place a lot and am glad we moved.

We have three huge rooms; two are bedrooms and one is our living/family room. We have a smaller room that is our office. It fits four desks nicely. We have a new bathroom that is just HUGE. We have a stand up shower, tub and lots and lots of space. We are able to fit our washer and dryer in there too. This is without a doubt my favorite room in the house. I missed taking showers. It's nice to have one again. We also have a new kitchen. It's pretty nice.

We have really nice neighbors and the house itself way nicer by like a 1000% from our last place. A few of the neighbors will gather this spring to do some gardening in the yard. I'm excited for this as I haven't done any gardening since moving to Berlin. I miss my yard in MN.

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful digs.

TOM TURNS 15
Our kitty Tom turned 15 in 2009 on December 5th. We celebrated with a can of tuna and various other treats. He was happy. We are looking forward to bringing him outside in the spring. He's comfortable in the flat and enjoys walking the halls as long as no one else is around. I'm hoping in a few more months he'll want to venture out. A neighbor in the next house over has a kitty and hopefully Tom can make a new friend. He misses his brother Ted. It will be a year in March that he died. We miss him. Love you Ted.

WEB CONSULTING
Chris and I have taken matters into our own hands and have started doing some web site development. We currently have a few clients and are hoping to get more. I'm working on getting business cards made as well as a web site up. The consulting company is called PBC Consulting which is short for Pretty Black Cat Consulting. Our new web site is at http://www.prettyblackcat.com/. There is nothing there at the moment. I just got it all set up in the last couple of days.

We are pretty excited about this opportunity. If you know of anyone that needs a web site built tell them to give us a call or shoot us an email. Until I get our site set up our resumes are online at http://www.macgowan.com/SoftwareConsulting.php.

KIDS
Connor started nursery school (Kita) in September and has been doing well. He got a nasty eye infection just before Thanksgiving and was in and out of Kita until winter break (around Christmas). He just went back this week after being home for 4 weeks. His English language skills have grown but his German not so much. One of his teachers mentioned that he doesn't understand anything but I think in time it will come back. He was so happy to see his teachers and his friends at school. It was great to see.

Connor is just as feisty as ever and is always getting into trouble or beating up on poor Logan. He says the funniest things and is making sentences out of the English and German words he does know. I finally had to cut Connor's hair as it was so long that it was unmanageable for him. I only had the guts to cut it straight across the back and shorten his bangs. He looks cute and the curls stayed. YEAH!

Logan started the 2nd half of 4th grade after the winter break. He was happy to go back and see his friends. Hey don't get me wrong he really liked having two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's but he missed his buddies. Logan really enjoys most of his classes. His favorites are Math and Science. He likes German too and is really doing well. His pronunciation is just great. Almost as good as a native speaker. He's talking more and more without help and can pretty much understand most Germans. We are very proud of our eldest son.

Logan is still gaga over anything Star Wars and Pokemon. I think I remember him telling me that he has something like 500 Pokemon cards. He does a lot of trading with kids at school. Logan and I like to play the game the cards were intended for and he usually beats me everytime. Logan's other new favorite pastime is playing his DSi. He loves it! My brother Sean and his wife Paula gifted one to Logan. He just can't seem to get enough of it. Sean, Paula and my Mom have supplied him with a nice mix of games. He seems to conquer them quite quickly. I'm hoping some day soon he'll let me play it.

SNOW AND MORE SNOW
Berlin has been blasted with cold weather and snow over the past couple of months. This is not the norm. We think the snow is great (not the cold), so we took the kids sliding a week ago. There is a hill near our flat so we took a few plastic trash bags with us (no sleds) and headed over there. We had a blast. The bags were a hit. They were used by other kids in the park that day. Who knew that a plastic bag would make such a great sled.

BOOKS
I've been reading a lot lately (unfortunately my eyes are getting bad -- old age). I read "The Hobbit", a few novels by Ann Patchett (currently reading "The Patron Saint of Liars"), all 7 of the Narnia books and Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Saga. All are great and I highly recommend any of these. I'm also reading "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold and so far I've had force myself to put it down. I could sit and read it all day like I did the Twilight Saga books (read all 4 in a week) but I would never get anything else done. I plan to read all the Harry Potter books after I finish the two I have started. I can't wait. I was hoping I could read them all before the last two movies come out.

MOVIES
I haven't been to as many movies as I would have liked to go to but since I last posted I've seen "New Moon", "Moon" (rented from iTunes), "9" (rented from iTunes) and "Avatar". Eeeek! That's not many at all. Oh well. I'm saving my money for some big ones coming out this summer. If you haven't seen "Avatar" you should go see it. The tech is pretty awesome. The story is average but the tech is just wonderful. Be sure to see it in 3D as it was intended. I liked all the Twiligt books so of course I liked "New Moon". It wasn't as good as the book or the 1st movie but I still liked it. "Moon" and "9" were interesting movies. I had heard about them from my Screen Rant guys http://www.screenrant.com/. Both were really good movies. "9" was a bit scary and Logan didn't want to have anything to do with it. I don't blame him. Not really a kid movie even though it was animated. I really liked "Moon" but it was sad. Great story and I'm a fan of Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey.

THE END
No, I'm not talking about the Black Eyed Peas' new album even though it's pretty good. No, I'm saying goodbye. Hopefully I've given you a fair amount of update since my last postings. I hope everyone is healthy and happy. Please come and visit us or email or call or comment. We'd love to hear from our family and friends. We miss you all and hopefully we'll be back this summer for a visit. That's the plan anyway. XOXO

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T18:16:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone.

It's been a long time. I thought I better quickly write and say Happy New Year!

Life has been busy so blogging hasn't been a priority but hopefully I can change that in 2010.

Chris has added some new pictures to his web site at http://www.macgowan.com and here is our PDF Christmas card http://www.macgowan.com/christmas_card_1_20091228.pdf.

WOW!!!! I can hear the fireworks going off already. It's a big deal here in Berlin to shoot them off on New Year's Eve.

I've got more to share but will do this when I have my pictures downloaded from the camera.

I wish all of my family and friends a wonderful and blessed New Year!

St. Faustina, Pray for US!

Tropical Islands and Dresden

2009-08-24T12:08:00.003+02:00

Chris, Logan, Connor and I had a mini-vacation to Tropical Islands and Dresden from August 5th to the 10th.

Our pictures are located here http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php. Check them out.

TROPICAL ISLANDS
Tropical Islands is an indoor water park/tropical forest/spa. You can read more about them at their web site http://www.tropical-islands.de/en/visitors.html.

Logan and Connor had a blast here. There are several pools including a beach, water slides, and restaurants. They have a fun kid park with go-carts and mini-golf (18 holes).

We didn't get a chance to explore the tropical forest or the spa/sauna. Maybe next time.

Chris and I thought to really experience Tropical Islands in all it's glory would be to stay one or two nights inside the bio-sphere. They have tents or huts to rent.

We stayed in a nearby hotel that was about a 15 minute drive.

Tropical Islands is about 45 minutes to an hour away from Berlin. We had rented a car and the drive went quickly.

AUTOBAHN
I DROVE ON THE AUTOBAHN for the 1st time and let me tell you folks, people DRIVE REALLY REALLY FAST. I stayed to the right most of the time and let everyone fly by me. Eeek! I must say though it was FUN! My top speed was 250 kph which is about 155 mph. More EEEK!

DRESDEN
On Friday, August 8th we headed for Dresden. What a great city. It's about a 2 hour drive from Tropical Islands maybe a little less.

We stayed at the Westin Hotel right on the Elbe river. We had a wonderful view of the old city. There is so much history here. Dresden was completely bombed by the allied forces in WWII. Many of the historic buildings and bridges were bombed to their foundations. You can read about it on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden.

Again we have lots of pics on Chris' web site at http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php.

Chris, Logan and I (we took shifts hanging out with Connor) took a bus tour which was very good. There was so much to see and we just couldn't get to it all in only a couple of days. We hope we can go back maybe next summer.

Body Worlds

2009-08-24T11:35:00.003+02:00

Last Friday Logan and I went to see the "Body Worlds" exhibit.

All I have to say is WOW!

If you haven't seen it it's pretty amazing.

Check out http://www.bodyworlds.com/.

The big "to-do" at this show is the plasticized couple posed in the "sex" position. It was at the end of the exhibit and to be honest was no big deal. In fact, I had forgotten all about it until I was in the "special" room where it was being exhibited.

Logan was a little freaked out by it all (except the animals) so he didn't look around too much and just focused on the animals being displayed. He would then sit down at the end of each section/room.

The exhibit was about the human life cycle from birth to death. Each life cycle had it's own section and in each section there were topics on the various parts of the body like the heart, lungs, kidneys, nervous system, etc.

What I thought was cool was the transparent slices of a giraffe. It was life size. Logan thought it was neat too.

The other thing that was cool was the 4 reindeer and Santa plastinates. Just amazing. Logan thought this was creepy. He just gave a quick look and moved on to the next section.

I would have stayed longer but Logan was ready to leave.

I'm glad I got to see the exhibit and would highly recommend it to those of you who haven't been yet.

If you've seen this show already let me know what you thought.

The Hurt Locker Review

2009-08-16T18:18:00.002+02:00

Hi folks. Just went to see THE HURT LOCKER. Check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/ and http://thehurtlocker-movie.com/. Pretty darn great movie. Here is a review from my friends at Screen Rant http://screenrant.com/the-hurt-locker-reviews-pauly-17207/. I would give it a 4.5 too. PLEASE GO SEE IT!!!!

It's one of those movies that makes you think about a lot of things. As I was walking out of the theater at the Sony Center here in Berlin I was thinking WOW this place was bombed out too. Twenty years ago before the wall fell it looked the same as it did after WWII. Pretty crazy if you think about it. Now there are lots of pretty things and happy people around. Will Iraq be like this in 20 years? One has to think........

GO SEE THIS MOVIE and tell me what you think. I'll be looking for comments on this blog!

Connor's Officially 2 Years Old

2009-08-03T10:30:00.005+02:00

So today is the day. August 3rd, 2009 and my little boy is 2 years old. Wow!!! That went fast. It's currently 10:30 a.m. here in Berlin and 2 years ago I was laying in the operating room looking at my newest edition. He was so little. Now what a big boy. Walking, talking, learning all kinds of new and cool things.

We are enjoying Crepes for breakfast. It's a rainy day so not sure what we'll do to celebrate.

On Saturday, August 1st we took two of his friends; Emilia and Lea (and her sister Sarah) to the Berlin Zoo. We've got pics and will post soon. Emilia's Mom and Dad; Annerose and Oliver came with us as well as Lea and Sarah's Mom Olivia. Logan was at hand to help supervise the kiddies. Yeah right :-) Emilia and Lea are from Connor's Montessori class. Our dear friend Jia Hu joined in on the fun.

It was the 165th year celebration of the Berlin Zoo. It's amazing that the zoo has been around that long. Pretty cool. We saw lots of animals, had a little lunch, ate chocolate cake, opened gifts (Connor got 4 trucks, a book, and bath and sand toys--Jia even bought a Lego Star Wars set for Logan--how nice), and played at the zoo park (huge and very cool). We got there around 9 a.m. and left the zoo around 2ish. We were all very tired when we got home. Naps for everyone :-)

We had a very nice celebration and I think everyone had a good time.

Well my banana chocolate crepe is getting cold so I'm going to sign off.

Happy Birthday Connor. Hope your 2nd year of life is filled with wondrous and amazing adventures. May God shine his light upon you!!

Tom Out the Window

2009-08-03T10:25:00.002+02:00

Well a week ago my little kitty Tom fell out our 1st floor window. Poor guy. He was okay just a little shaken. Chris took him to the emergency vet clinic at the Frei Universitat and they gave him the A-OK. A week later no problems. Thank GOD!!! I was really worried. I'm sure it's because we are only 1 floor up and that he went tail/butt first and landed in a bunch of weeds and bushes. It cushioned the fall. I haven't let him out on the window ledge again since but I suppose I should. I think I need more than a week to recuperate. :-)

Part 6: A Love Story...A Beginning

2009-07-31T09:12:00.002+02:00

The night was ending quickly. He wrote his number on a slip of paper taken from a First Ave event calendar sitting on the table in front of them. She did the same. Numbers exchanged, a date obtained, and now the painful ritual of saying goodbye yet again. The evening was a blur of happiness and little did they know 23 years later they'd be living in Berlin with two kids and a cat.

There will never be an ending to this story. It will go on and on long after Chris and I are floating in Heaven with God. Praise be his name.

As Chris and I reflect as we do every year on how we met (and our lives together up to this point) we consider ourselves so lucky to have found each other. I knew from our first date that I would love this man forever. It took awhile to get it all worked out in our hearts but on July 30, 1994 we said our vows and made our relationship a lasting bond that would live on for eternity. How cool is that?!

Thanks to all our friends and family for enduring my day long reminiscing here in my blog and on Facebook. It was a pleasure to write and I hope a pleasure to read.

Thanks for all the well wishes and the "side" story by my friend Paul Jones. Paul I can't wait to read the next installment.

Peace and Love to all!

Part 5: A Love Story...The Conversation

2009-07-30T18:05:00.000+02:00

The guy in the black beret asked the black-eyed girl if she wanted a drink. She immediately accepted his invitation and they climbed the balcony steps to the bar. Drinks were poured, sips were taken and they scanned the area for a cozy place to talk. Hours had gone by effortlessly. Soulmates had been found. But could a date be secured before the night was over?

Part 4: A Love Story...The Meeting

2009-07-30T14:30:00.001+02:00

A young man dressed in black with a matching beret upon his head dances to the beat of The Suburbs song "Love is the Law". A hand taps him on the back and as he turns around he stares into the eyes of the woman he longed for only just a few weeks ago. She was back and smiling at him. "David?", she said. "No, it's Chris", he responded. "Remember me?", she said. How could he forget?

Part 3: A Love Story...The Introduction

2009-07-30T09:48:00.000+02:00

"I'm sorry," said the young woman, "but I can't. My ride is leaving." The suitor said, "How about next weekend?" The young woman explained that she was going on vacation with her family, but she would be back and would look for him. They said their goodbyes and the young man watched as his bride left. Would he ever see her again? He hoped he would.

Part 2: A Love Story....The Introduction

2009-07-30T00:40:00.001+02:00

The black-eyed girl was startled by her suitor's approach. Little did she know that he had stalked her all night. Watching in the shadows, wanting desparately to ask her to dance but scared she might say no. Now standing before her he quickly said hello and introduced himself. He commented on the fact that she was leaving and asked if she might have time for a dance....

A Love Story...The Introduction

2009-07-29T21:59:00.002+02:00

Below is from Facebook...Follow along on Jennifer Hays' Facebook page or get it here on my blog.

The Love Story begins......

Happy Anniversary starts at midnight tonight!!! Fifteen years of marriage ain't bad! However the story doesn't start there.....Let's go back to March of 1986 First Avenue Dancerteria (is that really a word???). A young man of 24 introduces himself to his future bride of only 19. As the young woman prepares to leave the establishment via the coat check area, the straping young hunk jumps out of the darkness...

Want more? Well you're gonna get more whether you want to or not. Stay tuned as our hero tries to make contact with his beloved. What will happen next???

New Apartment

2009-07-19T11:22:00.002+02:00

Chris, Logan, Connor, Tom the cat and I are moving come October 1st to a new apartment here in Friedenau. It's only about 4-5 blocks away from our current place. We looked at a number of different places here in Friedenau and in Licterfelde (which is not far from Friedenau). Chris took some pictures of our new apartment at http://www.macgowan.com/PhotoIndex.php. Click on Berlin, Germany, July 2009 (Apartment: Wielandstrasse 13). Our new address as of October 1st will be Wielandstr. 12 (it's not 13 as noted above in the link) 12159 Berlin Germany. We hope we don't have to change our phone number but if we get a new one we'll let everyone know.

Our new place is larger and cheaper and we are excited to have a yard again. We did give up having a balcony but we can live without it.

The owners of our new place will renovate it as the folks that lived there before had lived there for 9 years. Don't get me wrong the place is in great condition but needs some sprucing up. We also get a new kitchen and bathroom including a shower. We are so excited to take a shower again as we haven't had the luxury in over a year. I don't mind a good soak once in a while but overall not a bath person.

Well as it gets closer to the move we'll post pictures of the building, yard, apartment, etc.

One Year!

2009-07-14T21:01:00.003+02:00

As of July 4th we were officially here in Berlin for a year. It went very very fast.

Logan finished 3rd grade after a challenging but successful year. He made lots of new friends and got hooked into Pokemon. He loves to trade his cards and play the game. Not to mention watch the animated series. Anyone out there want to trade with him? Let us know. Logan will go back to the JFK School for 4th grade on August 24th. We hope to take a little holiday before he goes back. Logan really wants to see some castles and ride on a ICE (fast) train. Not sure we can accommodate the train ride but there are lots of smaller castles not to far from Berlin. This might be more within our budget. We really wanted to go South and see the big castles but maybe another time.

Connor finished Montessori and music class for the year and made lots of new friends. He's mastering walking and running. He loves to chase Tom all over the house. He's crazy about balls and loves to throw and catch them. Connor says lots of words which include both English and German. His favorite word to date is NO. ha ha Connor will go to Kindergarten in the fall. We are very excited for him and he loves hanging out with kids around his own age or older. He'll probably go for 1/2 days every day. We've checked out a few places and all seem great. We have appointments mid-August to meet teachers and get tours.

Tom is doing better but at times misses his brother Ted who died a couple of months. His favorite thing besides eating fishy is to sit on my bedroom window sill and look outside at all the people, cars and birds that go by.

Chris continues to look for work. He has some new leads on jobs and is trying to take advantage of the contacts he's made here. Hopefully after summer break he'll get a break and get a job. He does have a film job this coming week as a boom on a short film. It doesn't pay much but could open some doors for him, and of course it looks good on a resume. Chris also has been doing a number of late night bike rides throughout the city. He really enjoys it.

I'm doing well. I was having some issues with my thyroid that I hope are resolved. I'm now back on my regular dosage of medication. It was tough being tired all the time.

I'll continue my German language studies this fall. I'm excited to get back to class. I haven't had much time to study but I do my best to speak German when I can.

My Mom sent me a book called The Shack and it was really great. She just sent me Run by Ann Patchett and am looking forward to reading this book too. I saw the latest Harry Potter movie (it was okay) and now am curious about how it all ends, so I may have to pick up the last Harry Potter book and read it.

Ted "Teddy" the Cat

2009-04-11T11:14:00.004+02:00

I was writing an email to my Mother telling her about the death of my beloved cat Teddy today and I thought it would make a very nice blog entry.

Sad news Ted died this morning at 10:15 a.m. I held him in my arms until he took his last breath. He was really messed up and Chris and I just couldn't watch him get worse and worse. The meds we gave him just didn't help as he was too sick. We'll keep an eye out now for Tom and watch his levels. Hopefully now that I have some knowledge of this disease (Chronic Renal Failure) and I can make sure that if Tom gets it he'll have better managed care. Here is a great site I found http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm.

Ted will be cremated and given back to me in an urn.

Ted had a little food before we left this morning. His favorite fish. He didn't eat much. We walked slowly to the vets and the warm spring air hit his face as we walked. He enjoyed it. The sun was shining. He turned to me and meowed as if to say this is great. I was having second thoughts about putting him to sleep today as this walked seemed to perk him up. I let him walk around a bit before we said our goodbyes. I prayed and whispered "I LOVE YOU" before the vet gave him the meds that would put him to sleep.

He got to see the face of Jesus and God today :-)

It's weird coming back to the house without him. We left him on his blanket at the vets. He looked so peaceful. Just sleeping there. I made sure this morning to brush his hair and take the junk out of his eyes. I told him he looked beautiful.

Logan, Connor, Chris and I will go out today and enjoy the sun and warmth and think fondly of Ted. He loved being outside.

We'll take Tom out for a run this evening as he is too scared to be out during the day. Too many people around.

I'm so very sad.

Loser

2009-03-27T11:57:00.004+01:00

Once again I am the big loser as I have not posted a blog in such a long time. Life as been busy and crazy. Sorry no new pictures either. BLAH!!!

This past week Chris went out of town to answer a casting call for the movie, "The Ghost" starring Pierce Brosen, Kim Cattral and Ewan McGreger (sp??). Chris was an "extra" and was transported to the West Sea via bus/train for the shoot. He had a great time and met some interesting people. He also made some good contacts and hopefully one of these may turn into a job.

I had an interesting few days with the kids. Connor got sick the day Chris left (bummer for us) and Logan earned 5 Euro for being a HUGE help to his mother.

I went out Wednesday evening with friends from the Goethe-Institute to the Lucky Star for some good Chinese food. It was fun to see Jia, Anmar and Fernando. Anmar got a job teaching in Washington, D.C. and leaves to go to the US in May. It will be sad to see him go.

Chris and I continue to look for work. Thanks to all who have sent good wishes and prayers our way. We really would like to stay here another year or two and would hate to come home in August of this year. It was a huge effort on our part to get here and it would be a shame to have to leave so soon. It's been a fast 9 months. Keep praying that we find work soon :-)

Connor and Logan are well. Logan continues to do well in school and is looking forward to having a couple of weeks off for Easter. Connor has a cold. It was really bad earlier in the week but he's getting better thank goodness.

Can't have a posting without a comment about the weather. It's been weird here. Winter still trying to hang on. I looked at the 10-day forecast and it's supposed to be in the upper 40s the rest of the week and into next week and then by the end of next week in high 50s and low 60s. If this really happens I'll be so happy.

Sicknesses & Jobs

2009-02-25T09:41:00.004+01:00

Well everyone in my clan got sick this past week. UG! It's started with Connor getting a cold and turned into the flu. Chris got sick next, then me and then Logan. I haven't had the flu in a long long time. Logan and I used to get flu shots but this year we didn't for who know why not. Once I'm well I think both of us will go get one. There is still a month or two left of the flu season and I really don't want to get sick again. We are all slowly feeling better. We all have coughs with junk in our chests and hopefully this too shall pass soon.

Since I started looking for work about three weeks ago I've had some successes getting interviews. I've had one at Nokia for a job that I wasn't really qualified for but I wanted to go check them out anyway. If I did have the necessary skills I think the job would be exciting but also a handful. I'm currently working with the CTO of Pixeltex. I hope to have a face-to-face interview in the next week or so. I've been talking to them via email over the past couple of weeks. It's seems like a good job and company. I hope to learn more soon. I also have had other groups at Nokia interested in me and have been working with their HR over email to set up some phone and face-to-face interviews. They have a lot of job openings at Nokia. Chris has also applied at Nokia. Maybe one of us will get a job there.

Alfred Zimmerman

2009-02-20T15:47:00.003+01:00

My dear friend Alfred Zimmerman died on Monday, February 16th after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

His funeral Mass will be held today Friday, February 20th at 2 p.m. at the Church of St. Peter's in Mendota Heights (old Mendota). http://www.stpetersmendota.org/

Alfred and my Mom Marilyn Hays had been together for more than 20 years after remeeting at a high school reunion in the late 80s.

Alfred was a kind and generous person. He loved my kids Logan and Connor so very very much.

He loved Ely and we spent a lot time up there with him and my Mom. We have many wonderful memories.

Alfred was always there to help Chris or I with anything we needed.

He will be greatly missed and is deeply loved.

Alfred pray for us!!!

Time Off

2009-02-02T22:11:00.002+01:00

Logan has the week off from school; winter break.

Since Chris and I are hard at work looking for jobs we'll be sticking around Berlin. Lots of our friends are going skiing for the week. Gosh it sounds nice.

Anyway, we don't have any big plans. Today Logan, Connor and I just played. It was cold out today so we stayed in. Later in the day we went outside to a park nearby for a 1/2 hour or so.

Tomorrow we'll try to go out for a walk and maybe head over to the big part if it's warmer than today. If not, we'll see what the day brings.

Wednesday Logan and I will go out for breakfast and then head over to KaDeWe for boxer chips. Don't ask me I don't know what they are but Logan says everyone at school is using them for this game so we'll go check it out and we'll see what it's all about.

No Montesorri this week and maybe no music class either. I have to call Lifelines and find out. We missed music class last week as Connor was napping. He didn't go down until real late and I just didn't want to wake him. So we'll hopefully make it up at the end of our session. We get one makeup.

Not much else going on other than working on finding a job. I updated my resume a week or so ago. Now I have to work on my web site. I also need to get my resume and cover letter translated. So much to do. BLAH!

I can speak German?

2009-01-27T14:41:00.005+01:00

This past Saturday Logan, Chris, Connor and I went to our friends house in Magdeburg. It's about 2 hours (on the train) southeast of Berlin. Here's a little Wikipedia for ya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg.

The family Grunert (I really need to get some pics up here) live in Magdeburg. Chris was friends with Volker Grunert. Volker died of a brain tumor back in 1996 or '97 I believe. He was only like 28 years old. He is missed. Volker is survived by his sister Annchia (sp?) and parents; Christal and Gehart (sp?). Sorry I'm bad at writing German names :-( Volker's sister Annchia is married to Andreas and they have two boys; Christian (12) and Henrich (8).

We love this family so very much. They are good good friends. We are lucky to have them nearby. It's always wonderful to visit them. On this visit I was armed with lots of new German words. I was determined to speak German.

We had a tough train ride. Connor usually naps from 11-1/2ish and we didn't leave our flat until noon. Once on the train he was crazy. Over tired and hungry. We feed him but getting him to nap was going to be difficult. All he wanted to do was walk or run all over the train. Chris and I took turns chasing him down. Logan sat back and laughed.

Once we got to Magdeburg we met up with Andreas. He took us to their house. They have a lovely home btw. Immediately I began to speak German. Slowly of course but I was speaking German. The Grunerts understand English pretty well and like me with German are slow (and a little shy perhaps) to speak. It was fun I think for all of us. By the end of the evening I was tired and was looking forward to the quite ride home on the train (knew the kids would both sleep and they did).

Chris said I did well. He said I was much more confident as the day/evening worn on.

Today Chris and I spoke some German to each other. It was fun. Again I'm slow to speak but he understood what I was saying which is of course important.

Berlin goes Ghost

2009-01-22T22:01:00.003+01:00

Another film is being shot here in Berlin. We are such a popular city
:-)

The Roman Polanski film "The Ghost" is being shot here starting Feb. 4th. Chris and I will have do some searching around. Check out this article http://www.mcnblogs.com/mcindie/archives/2009/01/pr_polanski_goe.html.

A New President

2009-01-21T22:04:00.002+01:00

We have one and I'm hopeful :-)

Chris, Logan, Connor and I had a little party last night while we watched CNN.com via Facebook. It was fun to watch President Obama get sworn in. We started watching at 2 p.m. our time here in Berlin and finally turned off the computer at midnight. I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. What a great day for the US. What a proud moment for us all.

New Post for the New Year

2009-01-17T13:27:00.005+01:00

I've been bad. I've been playing myFarm like a crack addict on Facebook. What's wrong with me??? I must say it's fun to play but I've gotten a little carried away. It all began when I visited the myFarm discussion forums. I learned too much and went bonkers. Instead of one nice steadily growing farm I have 5. All in various stages of development. Logan is helping me with one but can only farm on the weekends so that leaves me to tend 5 during the week. I've got to get a better hobby :-) So if you want to take a look at my most properous farm go here http://apps.new.facebook.com/farmgame/visit.pS?sid=822758894 I'm saving up for a 2nd chicken coop and a barn. The barn allows me to be able to sell animals. The coop protects the chickens. The developers of the game have promised fences and for the chickens to lay eggs.

Okay I didn't want to fill this post with my latest addiction. What's been happening these past few weeks you ask? Well,

LOGAN
Logan is back at school. He started winter semester and is doing well. In fact we have a book report to do this weekend. It's about robots and humans and their battle with each other on this mountain. Fun stuff! He'll have winter break the first week of February which he is looking forward to already.

CONNOR
Connor is on the bullet train to two. He's a running maniac. We'll have to take some video and post here. We had our last music class yesterday but will continue on for another 8 sessions. It's our Friday afternoon fun time.

Connor's also having a great time in Montessori class. He really enjoys the kids and the teacher. I wish I could take video of him but it's probably not allowed. I suppose I could ask. The room is set up into different stations and the kids walk around the room going from station to station learning and experiencing new skills and objects. For example, one of Connor's favorite stations consists of two metal bowls. One bowl has a spoon in it and the other a bunch of large chestnuts. He uses the spoon to transfer the chestnuts from one bowl to the other. At first he couldn't work the spoon so he would just dump them in. After some practice with the spoon he can use it to transfer the chestnuts. His new favorite thing is to find other cans, cups, boxes, bowls, etc. in the room to put the chestnuts in. It's fun to watch him explore and figure things out for himself.

Last week all the kids were running around the room. Talking to each other in baby language, patting each other on the head or just laying on the floor looking at each other. It was really fun to see. After 5 sessions they really haven't paid much attention to one another so this is really a treat. They also began to work together at different stations by helping each other figure things out. It was a really good class. Chris was able to attend with me and wants to come again on Monday. Connor often walked past us and smiled looking for praise at what he was doing.

CHRIS
Chris continues to hunt for a job. He's got a few headhunters helping him now which is good. He can use the help :-) He's had a few good interviews unfortunately one fell through already but he's still waiting to hear from the others.

JENNIFER
Besides playing myFarm; I'm still working on my German. My class ended prior to Christmas so I'm hoping I can go back in March with some of my other classmates. I've been hanging out with a few folks from class which has been nice. Trying out new restaurants and speaking German. Last night some friends of ours came over to deliver a table and some chairs for us to use and I was able to speak somewhat okay with them. They can understand English but don't speak it too often so I broke out the German. I felt I sounded bad but they said no, and where I didn't use the correct grammar they did understand what I meant and told me the correct way to say it. It was tough but fun.

This week I'll start working on my resume and begin the task of looking for a job myself. I'm going to have to plant 3 day crops on my farm so I don't have to check it every day. ha ha

Happy New Year!!!

2008-12-31T11:42:00.004+01:00

Tonight is the night. We celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another. Goodbye 2008. Hello 2009!

I wish all my family and friends a happy and healthy new year.

Blessed be God forever!

Australia the movie - Review

2008-12-28T13:19:00.003+01:00

After a nice meal, Beth and I decided to leave the kids in the very capable hands of our husband's and go to the film Australia. I had read on the Internet that the love scenes between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman were hot hot hot and that the movie was pretty good for a chick flick. So we went and I was disappointed.

There was hardly any hot hot hot lovin' going on between Nicole (Sara) and Hugh's (the Drover) characters and if you exam (and not too deeply mind you) the story it's more about the aboriginal boy and less about the couple.

I went back to look at the trailer and it's clearly geared toward this epic love story between Sara and the Drover. Like an "Out of Africa" sort of film but I think we got "Gone with the Wind". Hey don't get me wrong, I love "Gone with the Wind". It's one of my favorite movies. It's just dated and kinda cheesy now.

So Australia is loaded with cheese and the number of "beauty shots" is out loud laughable. You have to see it to believe it. The film is predictable and by the end you pretty much know what's going to happen.

I really wanted to like this movie and I do sort of, but I wouldn't pay to see it in the theaters. If you like cheese and okay click flicks, my recommendation would be to wait to watch it on DVD when it's available to rent.

Here is the URL of the movie's web site if you want to check it out for yourselves http://www.australiamovie.com/.

We did see a trailer for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and it looks really good. Not sure when it comes out here but I'll go see this one in the theaters for sure.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T01:08:00.001+01:00

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Have a blessed holiday and enjoy your family and friends.

Majel Roddenberry

2008-12-19T08:47:00.002+01:00

Sad news for all my Trekker friends. Majel Barrett Roddenberry died yesterday 12/18/2008. She of course is the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry (died in 1991). Majel also played the first officer in the Star Trek Pilot, "The Cage", Nurse Chapel in the original Star Trek series, the computer voice on many of the Star Trek space ships, and Deanna Troi's mother Lwaxana Troi on the series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Check out:
http://screenrant.com/majel-roddenberry-died-vic-4681/
http://www.trektoday.com/news/181208_01.shtml

God guide her soul to heaven. Sweet Virgin Mary pray for us!

What's Happening?

2008-12-17T14:26:00.024+01:00

December Birthdays

Happy Birthday to all my family and friends (including my new lovely Facebook Friends) who were born in December. Again you'll have to forgive me as I am doing this from memory. My birthday book is in the US.

So Happy Birthday to:

Cousin Jim Mihelcic - Dec. 3
Ed Raeker - Dec. 5

Barb Crain - Dec. 6

Martin Lubell - Dec. 7

Ian Quine - Dec. 8

Cousin John Mihelcic - Dec. 10
Grace Magill-Cuerden - Dec. 14

Cousin Joe Mihelcic - Dec. 15
Mike Bykov - Dec. 16

Carrie Bennett - Dec. 16
Dana Bailey Alexander - Dec. 18

Sharla Siluk - Dec. 21

Okay so that is all I can remember. If I have forgotten anyone please email me (jahays@pobox.com) or post it here in the comments section.

Sprechen Deutsche
My German class is officially over as of last Thursday (12/18). It was very sad to say goodbye but I made many new friends. My biggest hurdle I think was finding the time to study. In 8 weeks we got a ton of material tossed at us. I find it hard to pronounce many words for some reason. I can say them in my head but once they leave my mouth it doesn't sound quite right. The words I know and say more frequently sound great or at least that is what I've been told by my German speaking friends. This makes me feel pretty good. I plan to start up again in March when the weather gets a little warmer. I can't say I'll miss the commute.

Another Fine Outing with Friends
A few of my classmates and I had the opportunity to go out for some dinner. I went out with Teresa and Jia. We had good food and nice conversation. The following week more of my classmates and I went out including our instructor Astrid. We all had a nice time. The food was good and so was the company. Tomorrow I plan to go to Erika Roos' Opera with Beth Muellner. Beth is in town with husband Martin Lubell and their two children Julian (9) and Xaiver (7). Erika was in my German class and she happens to be a world famous Opera singer. I can't wait to see her. It will be a blast.

Here are some pics from my outing with Teresa and Jia.

Teresa and Jia

Jennifer and Jia

Teresa, Jennifer and Jia

Jennifer's yummy pasta dish.

Really yummy Tiramisu

Getting Lost in Berlin

The night I went out with Jia and Teresa I missed the last U9 train home. I thought my line was open 24 hours but I was incorrect. I didn't know about the night bus so I ended up taking another line to another part of the city hoping I could get another train there that would get me closer to my flat but once I got off I again found out that the trains basically stop running during the week between 1-4 a.m. So here I am all alone in a foreign train station in a foreign country not really knowing the German language. I was a little freaked out for about 10 seconds. I looked around and saw a guy looking around too. I asked him in German if he spoke English and he did. He helped me find a Taxi so I could get home. He was very nice. The Taxi driver was also very kind. I was able to talk to him more than I thought I could in German. He got me home in under 10 minutes. I got dropped off right at the door and 10 more minutes later I was snuggling next to my boy Logan who was nice and warm.

Bad Hair Cuts

Yes this is the superficial part of the post but I feel the need to vent. Lately I've been plagued with bad hair cuts. The last two I haven't really liked. I went today to get my hair cut and colored. The color is great (bye bye gray) but the cut, I'm not digging it. Prior to our move to Berlin I had really nice long hair and I decided I needed a change. What a mistake! Today I asked for a trim and got a weird looking something. Yikes!!! I think the thing to do is not to get my hair cut at all for at least a year or two and see where I land or perhaps I just need to find a new salon.

Holiday Meal - German Style

2008-12-10T12:01:00.003+01:00

Some friends from German class and I went out to a great Bavarian restaurant after class one night. Here are some pics below.

Guerrmo and the foot long or rather meter long sausage. He said it was excellent.

Here is Fernando with his civilized meal.

Ja, Teresa, Anmar and I shared the meat palooza. It was excellent let me tell ya.

Group pic without Ja. From left to right: Anmar, Jennifer, Teresa, Guerrmo and Fernando.

Pic with Ja from left to right: Anmar, Ja, Teresa, Jennifer, Guerrmo and Fernando.

It was a nice time and we plan to go out again tomorrow Thursday. It's Anmar's last class as he is going on vacation for the holidays. Our last week is next week and the last class is Thursday, December 18th.

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-09T23:27:00.002+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

I can't figure out how to embed the video here put click on the link above to go to the video on YouTube. I'll try to work with this again tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

2008-11-27T11:34:00.002+01:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Of course the German's don't celebrate the US holiday but Chris, the kids and I will make a little meal here and celebrate. In fact we are off soon to go get some cooked chickens.

The sun is peeking out and this is always a good thing here in Berlin. Baby is screaming so I better go see what's going on in the kitchen. Chris was feeding him but I think he is done. ha ha

All the best!!!

Four Weeks Left

2008-11-24T00:33:00.009+01:00

Four weeks left and my German class will be over. Sad but happy as three nights a week and lots of homework is really kicking me in the %!@@(&$. ha ha

Hey don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time but I have a long commute and I have to do it three times a week. UG!!!! It's even farther away than Connor's Music Together class. With temps hitting the low 30s and the rail stations with no heat it's tough to get excited about going to class when you freeze your buns off just getting there. Again I say UG!!!

Okay enough gripping. German class is going great as well as me speaking the language. It's fun to be able to use more words and understand more in the "real" world.

Week in Review
Another week as come and gone. It seemed like a really long week to me. Not sure why but it was. It may have been due to Connor getting yet another cold. Babies shouldn't be allowed to get sick. He is slowly getting better. We had to miss his final Music Together class which was too bad. Neither one of us missed the commute but it would have been fun to go to our last class. Connor's teacher Antje is very nice and he really likes her and her guitar a lot. :-) We also missed our Friday music class at Lifelines but we can make it up no charge. Good news for us.

Logan will have yet another short week this coming week due to Thanksgiving. For those new to my blog Logan's school JFK is a German/American school and they celebrate both German and American holidays. Logan gets a lot of time off. Unfortunately that means he goes to school until July. Last week he had Thursday and Friday off due to teacher workshops. This week it's Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving here in Germany will be uneventful. We plan to buy a couple of already cooked chickens the day before and eat that along with potatoes, veggies, bread, etc. on Thursday. Chris will take the day off from job hunting.

Chris continues to look for work. Nothing yet. He had a couple of interviews with consulting firms and they are looking for work for him. He got a call this past week from a head hunter offering him an opportunity in Switzerland. Yeah we aren't moving sorry guy.

Tom and Ted are getting along okay. Ted is losing more weight but tonight he actually ate something so I'm very happy. We'll take him in to the docs again this week and get some blood work done and find out what he needs. He's on meds but they make him sick. Poor kitty. Send prayers our way for the little guy or your positive energy!!! Thanks.

More prayers or positive energy is needed for my Mother and Alfred Zimmerman. Alfred was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. He was in the hospital several weeks ago and then in an assisted living residence getting stronger after a terrible bout with pneumonia. Alfred is thankfully back home with my Mom and she reports that he is doing better. Mom and Alfred your family and friends are thinking of you and sending their best wishes, prayers and good vibes your way. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

On that note I'll sign off. It's late here (1 a.m.) and I should be getting to bed. I have to wake up in oh 5 hours. BLAH!!!!

Slacker

2008-11-17T22:44:00.003+01:00

Yes I'm a slacker but my German class has really been keeping me busy. I've got homework every night but I'm learning the language and it's staying in my head. YEAH for me!!!

What's been going on? Well, I'm in German class learning some German. ha ha

Chris is job hunting. He had a couple of interviews with consulting companies in town and they are working to find him a job. He is also checking in with some of the larger companies in town; Siemens, Bayer, etc.

Logan is working hard in school. We spent all last weekend working on his homework. He wrote a book report on one of the Magic Tree House books; Vikings at Sunrise. He also had to write a letter to a pen pal and he's learning lots of new words so they have the kids writing stories using these words. He always has German, spelling, writing, and Math. We do lots of review. A couple of weeks ago Logan had a Math test and only got 4 wrong. I think there were like 30/35 questions. He was proud as were we. Logan has a short week this week and next. Teacher workshops this week and Thanksgiving next. His school celebrates both German and US holidays.

Connor is great. Walking absolutely everywhere and getting into trouble. Chris took some new pics of Connor so I'll take a few more this week so I can post some new ones up on Flickr, Facebook and here on this blog. Connor's last Music Together class is tomorrow. We are sad that we aren't continuing on but happy that we don't have to make the commute any longer. It was a long way to go for 45 minutes. We still go to Lifelines a couple of doors down from our flat to a German music class. Both Connor and I love it. We go Friday afternoons. Connor will also take a Montessori class on Mondays starting in December. It should be loads of fun.

Tom and Ted are sad they can't go outside as often as they did back home in St. Paul, MN. They don't like the cat food here either. Not sure what the heck I'm going to do about that now.

We got a new oven for the flat. It's much larger than the old one and of course is brand new. The old one was nasty and we didn't use the oven that often but we did wash up and use the stove. We still need a new sink and cabinet. These items are in our contract and should have been put in back in July when we first got here. Don't get me started again on the folks that run this place. I could rant on and on and on and on....

Okay it's late here and I need to go to bed but not before I have a couple of cookies. I brought them with me to class but didn't get a chance to eat them. ha ha

November Birthday Wishes

2008-11-13T23:19:00.003+01:00

I wanted to be sure to wish all my friends and family a Happy Happy Birthday. So Happy Birthday to:

Monica Bayer
Amanda Woodfill
Chris Macgowan
Geraldine Robinette
Marian Mihelcic
Karen Curry Moran

Am I missing anyone???? My birthday book is packed away in MN so I'm doing this by memory. Let me know if I've missed anyone and I'll be sure to send my warmest wishes.

Hope you all had or will have great days. Know that Chris, Logan, Connor and I are thinking about you all and wish you the very very best.

Miss and love you all!!!

Happy Birthday Chris

2008-11-12T00:05:00.004+01:00

Today is Chris Macgowan's birthday. Happy Birthday to my love!!!!! Hope you have a great day!!! If you want to send Chris a birthday greeting, e-mail him at chris@macgowan.com or leave it here and I'll forward it to him.

Chris has an interview at 10 a.m. on his b-day. Hopefully it will be a great opportunity and the folks interviewing him will love him and offer him a job. Keep your fingers crossed.

All is well here in Berlin with the Hays/Macgowan clan. I'll write a weekly update tomorrow. It's midnight here (actually 12:07 a.m.) and I need to go to bed.

More later.

Connor Turns 15 Months

2008-11-03T17:25:00.002+01:00

Today Connor officially turns 15 months. Hard to believe that 15 months ago my little guy was born and we were living in the US. Time flies.

Connor is doing well and is walking everywhere.

THE VOTE

2008-11-03T17:22:00.002+01:00

Well the big VOTE is almost here. Tomorrow is the big day. Chris and I sent in our ballets about three or four weeks ago. I wonder what will happen. I have class tomorrow evening so I usually get home around 10 p.m. I hope to find some LIVE coverage on the Internet. Maybe German TV will cover it too. If anyone knows of a good site for this let me know. Thanks.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

2008-10-29T19:59:00.007+01:00

More pictures for your viewing pleasure. Please go to my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

Here are a few as a preview.

Logan and me in either 2004 or 2005 at the OshKosh Air Show in Wisconsin USA. We are in front of Spaceship One.

Chris, Logan and Connor in front of our flat.

I love this picture. Logan is looking at me while the train is pulling in.

Remember more pictures for your viewing pleasure at my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

German Immersion

2008-10-29T09:56:00.007+01:00

Last night in class I was submerged in the German language. Yes class is full immersion. It was weird and yet not. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to hear English but then I thought hey I'm living and breathing German everyday so do I really need to hear English?? Once I answered my question with a resounding NO I was more at ease with the class, my teacher and the students around me.

Everyone in the class seems really nice. I'm the only person from the US. We only had two people from the same country; Italy. It's fun to have such a diverse group of folks in one class. The teacher didn't speak English until the end when she wrote the word, "Hausaufgaben" and we all looked blankly at her. She smiled and said I won't speak much English to you but in this case the word I wrote means HOMEWORK. We all laughed. It's weird that everyone in class speaks English. ha ha

So what did we learn? Well, we learned how to say (formally and informally) how are you, my name is xxx (or I'm called xxx), I'm from xxx and I speak xxx. We learned the Alphabet and numbers 0-10. It was fun. The three hours went really fast. We had one 15 minute break (the German's call it a pause) to do whatever we needed to do (bathroom, drink, eat, talk, smoke, etc.). I didn't bring anything with me but on Thursday I'll bring some food and something to drink. I did get myself some water to at least wet my whistle. I was starved by the time I got home at 10 p.m. so I stopped at Dos (nearby Mexican restaurant -- it's okay) for a chicken burrito.

All-in-all the experience was good. A few words and phrases were new to me which was nice and the rest was review. As I've mentioned in earlier posts I've been using the workbook "German in 10 minutes a day" to study the language. What I learned last night is toward the middle of my book. I think the book I have is really for folks who need to speak German NOW 'cus they're going on a trip or are on a trip and need to be able to interact with the folks around them. You get a lot quickly which I liked but half of what I've learned so far from the book we didn't even talk about in class. I suppose since I have German class three nights a week for three hours each time I'm sure we'll get to IT, but I was hoping last night to hear the words and phrases that I've learned so far. I guess I just have to be patient :-) I'm probably going to get what I asked for on Thursday. ha ha

Faces

2008-10-29T09:34:00.004+01:00

So is it me or do I see the faces of my family and friends all over the place? I even see TV and movie personalities. Note: I did see (along with husband and kids) Dennis Quaid here in Berlin near St. Hedwig's in Mitte. He was with another man and his two twin babies. He smiled at me as we passed because Connor was screaming at the top of his lungs. The parental acknowledgement of yeah I've got one (or more) of those too was nice. I didn't really think about who he was until after we passed.

I wonder if there is a syndrome or condition or something that ex pats like me see people they know everywhere they go while living abroad. In my travels around the US and Europe I haven't encountered this syndrome or condition or whatever you want to call it.

Hold on let me try a Google search.....

Okay I tried a few different searches but I got nothin'. It's probably my searching techniques and my lack of using the correct words but I'm sure I'm not the first to think about this. I'll have to try again later. If anyone out there reading this post has info for me, please let me know. Thanks.

I'll also look on the ex pat web site I read and see if Christina G has anything to say about it.

More Days Missing

2008-10-28T12:49:00.002+01:00

Once again I've fallen short of my goal to write in my blog everyday. BLAH!

Sunday was nice. We missed the whole "fall back" time change so when we went to Mass we arrived an hour early. No worries. We found a cute coffee shop and had a little "more" breakfast before heading to church. Mass was wonderful as always. Logan gets distracted when Connor and Chris are around but he was better toward the end. Connor fell asleep which is always good as he is a screamer and yeller. He likes to hear the echo. It's okay at the Cathedral though Arch Bishop Flynn addressed Connor during his Homily once which was really cute. Arch Bishop Flynn loves loves loves kids. He couldn't care less if kids screamed during the entire Mass. This is very cool.

Anyway, I've got pictures this time but sadly they are in the camera but I will post this week.

Logan and I took a short bike ride later in the evening which was nice. It was cold cold cold for sure.

Monday Logan went back to school. It was hard for everyone to get up well except Connor. He always gets up early. Logan had a good day and was happy to see his friends. We got homework done and checked played some indoor soccer and a little Pokemon before heading to bed. It rained all day so poor Connor and I were stuck inside but he had fun practicing his walking. Connor helped me do some laundry and cleaning of the flat. He's quite the helper. Now if I could only get Logan to help me too.

Jennifer ist spreche Deutche heute!!!

2008-10-28T12:38:00.003+01:00

I probably didn't write or spell the words in my title correctly but, yes yes yes, I will be going to class tonight. I'm very excited. I will go early to get my picture taken for my student ID. I'm taking A1 which is the first class you can take. Even though I know a little German and could have tested at a higher level, I decided it was better for me to start at the beginning. Class is at 6 p.m. and goes until 9 p.m. Should be loads of fun.

Since I'm at class Chris and Logan will take Connor to Music Together class. They will all have a lot of fun too. Music Together ends I think on November 18th so after today there are only 3 classes left. The music class at Lifelines just down the street ends at the end of December. That class was super fun and the kids in the Lifelines class are about the same age. Connor really liked seeing kids his own age and really enjoyed it. I did too. Chris will take Connor next week to check it out. Also the Lifelines music class was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper. Like 1/2 the cost of Music Together not to mention the no hassle of getting there. I'm really happy about this.

Okay better get going. I will report after class how it went.

Missed Friday Now It's Saturday

2008-10-25T19:08:00.004+02:00

Oh gosh. I missed Friday. I'm trying to blog everyday but mother duty calls so...

Friday was a nice day. It was cold but sunny. Chris and Logan went on their first bike ride. Yes it's terrible that it took this long to put the bikes together and get out on the streets. I haven't yet had the opportunity but hope to do so this week. We were planning to get a baby seat but didn't get a chance to do it so we'll try this week and see.

Logan's vacation is over. We got back to more aggressive reading and Math. Chris also reviewed Logan's German lessons. We'll do more today and tomorrow before he heads back to school on Monday.

We got to talk to our friends Beth and Martin Friday via Skype. It worked great. We talked to Martin earlier in the day when Beth and kids (Julian & Xaiver) were at school and work. Later in the day we talked to Beth, Julian and Xaiver. It was fun to see them as well as hear them. I just Love Love Love Skype. The Muellner/Lubell clan is well and having fun in Vienna. It was great to see the kids talk to each other. It's like they never have been apart these past few years. They showed each other their trading cards (Pokemon & Yugi Oh) and Legos.

The evening ended with a little dinner from our favorite place Del Falco's.

Today we did some shopping and napping. Chris and Logan went on another bike ride. It's cold and cloudy here today which is sort of depressing. I better get used to it. The months of November, December, January and February will be more of the same. At least in MN it snows (here not so much) which makes the cold bearable. Also it may be really cold but the sun does come out.

Chris tells me that some flats still use coal for heating. Today I smelled it for the first time. It's smells like a campfire.

Oh gosh music class for Connor and I was really fun. We were offered a spot in class so we signed up for 8 more. Music Together classes end in about 4 weeks so it will be nice to have something else for Connor to do. I missed the Montessori sign up so we'll have to wait until January. It was great to just walk down the street a couple of doors to class. No stroller. If I leave early enough I can have Connor walk there. He'd really like it I'm sure.

It's about 8:30 p.m. here and we are finishing up dinner. We tried to make stir fry but it didn't work out. Neither Chris nor I have made before so that is part of the problem. We'll try again. We need to get a good sauce recipe so if anyone out there is reading this please post something for us.

We'll end the evening with a little play time with the kids and then off to bed. We are all going to St. Bernhard's tomorrow. It's cutting into Connor's nap time but that is okay. He'll fall asleep in his stroller.

Typical Day

2008-10-23T12:20:00.004+02:00

A friend of mine (Kristin Fischer Rosel - Hi Kristin) asked what a typical day is like now that we are living in Berlin. To be honest not much as changed from our "regular routine". We still get up in the morning, have breakfast, feed the cats, take Logan to school and then busy ourselves with typical daytime stuff. Chris spends his time looking for a job while I take care of Connor most days. I do laundry, clean the flat, make meals, go on walks with the baby, go to the park, etc.

Grocery shopping is a little different from what we are used to back in St. Paul. Since we don't have a car we have to shop more frequently. We purchased a little grocery cart on wheels so we can get a little more when we go out. They don't give out bags here so you have to bring your own. We use a combination of cloth and plastic. We also don't shop at one place. We have to go to many places to get everything we need. We are lucky to have two bio stores nearby. The BioFresh and the BioCompany. We also go to Kaiser's which is not as nice as a Kowalski's or Lund's/Byerly's but nicer than a Cub or Rainbow. Once I again I feel the need to show pics but have none sadly. I will take some and post.

Everything takes longer to do here without a car but hey I'm okay with that. I think having a car would be a liability in this city. First of all there are no places to park. No one has garages so it's a free for all on the street. In some neighborhoods like ours you have to pay to park on the street. The U & S-Bahn trains as well as the buses are excellent in Berlin. You can get just about anywhere in the city. Biking is HUGE here too. There are bike lanes everywhere. WATCH OUT! If you're standing in a bike lane you'll get run over by a cranky biker. They are freaks about this for sure.

Connor and I have been to the doctor's which isn't really a part of a typical day but this is a little different too. I think I've mentioned these experiences in other posts but basically the doc does it all. I was a little worried about the shots for Connor and the blood draw for me but all went well. For those that care my thyroid levels are A-OK.

So our typical day is like your typical day. We just happen to live in a European city.

If you would like to come visit us and see for yourselves, please feel free to let me or Chris know. We have an extra room with a nice large comfortable bed.

What happened to Tuesday and Wednesday??

2008-10-23T11:24:00.012+02:00

Ha they came and went. I can't believe it's Thursday already.

Logan's vacation is quickly coming to a close. We've gone to the park and to the Fassbender & Rausch chocolate shop and to KaDeWe. Today not sure what we'll do. It's a beautiful day out. It's cold but the sky is blue. We hope to get a bike seat for Connor so we can all go biking together. This is what we are thinking of:

Hopefully we can get something that isn't too expensive. Chris thinks they are about 100 Euro. Yikes! However, it would be nice now that the bikes are built to all go out on a ride rather than just one of us always staying behind with Connor. Plus I might try biking to music class and see how long it takes me rather than riding the rails.

Okay let's go back to Tuesday. Tuesday was a very nice day. It was super warm and sunny. It got to 68. Logan, Connor and I took the train to the "big" park over by Rathaus Schoenberg. Rathaus Schoenberg is where JFK made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner. Anyway, this park is huge. I should take a picture and post so you can see just how big it is. Maybe we'll go today and I can snap a few and post. In fact I have to try to bring the camera wherever I go. Everytime we leave the house it's a new adventure and a picture is worth a 1000 words right?? Logan found a purple kiddie rake and Connor loved playing in the sand with it. When Logan tried to take it away Connor screamed bloody murder. We made it home just before it started to rain and then it rained on and off all day on Wednesday.

Sort of a bummer when it rains here as there aren't any real indoor places to go that aren't cold. All the train stations are open so it gets mightly chilly inside. The shops and restaurants are all heated but you can't hang out in there forever. Berlin has a couple of malls but most of them are super crowded. Everyone has the same idea to get out of the cold. I don't like to fight all those people with the kids and stroller. Not my idea of fun.

So Wednesday we didn't get out until later in the afternoon. We were rain free long enough to get to the train and take it to this really cool chocolate shop/restaurant in Mitte called Fassbender & Rausch. We were there for about an hour. We had some hot chocolate and a chocolate mousse dessert. Everything was great and then Connor peed on me. BLAH!!! Connor was sitting on my lap and I felt this warm liquid on my leg and knew what it was immediately. From that point, Connor started screaming and Logan was running around. I thought I was going to go crazy. We picked up all our stuff and headed to the bathroom. I completely changed Connor and loaded him up to go out to this really cool plaza nearby. As soon as we walked outside it started to rain. More BLAH! We decided not to take the train but take the bus instead. It was a nice ride as Connor fell asleep. Logan sat quietly looking out the window too. Peace at last. ha ha

One more Video of Connor

2008-10-20T13:12:00.003+02:00

Getting ready to eat some dinner.

Let's Try It Again

2008-10-20T12:02:00.004+02:00

I'm going to try to post these last two videos of Connor. Logan has some video he took of his Legos and Connor but again the files are too big so we need to figure out how to post these for him. More on that later.

Here we go....

One more...

We have a WINNER

2008-10-20T11:36:00.004+02:00

In our search for a Catholic Church Logan and I met a very nice priest named Father Markos. He gave me the name of another priest Father Gillisson at St. Bernhard's in Dahlam. I called Father Gillisson and he told me to come to the 11 a.m. Mass on Sunday. So Logan and I went yesterday to St. Bernhard's. It was a lovely train ride to Dahlem and a short walk to the church from the train station. The church is very nice inside and it was great to finally hear Mass in English. Logan and I have been going to various churches around Berlin. Mostly to St. Hedwig's in Mitte. They at least had the Readings in English even though the spoken word was German.

Logan and I also were able to go to Confession after Mass which was a real treat for both of us. We haven't gone to Confession since we left the US in July. Logan said as we left the church that we were back on God's path.

After Confession we met with Father Gillisson. I wanted to know about homeschooling Logan religious ed. Logan gets religious ed 1 hour a week at JFK but I miss our time together. I homeschooled Logan in 1st and 2nd grade. It was a lot of fun for both of us and we both learned so much. Father invited us to come back next weekend (he wants to meet the entire family) and he would introduce us to other families in the Parish. Some of these other families have similar interest so I get the feeling they don't have a program yet but would like to do it. This could be fun organizing if enough families are interested. If it doesn't work out with St. Bernhard's Logan and I will still do it on our own. I can order the books from findingGod.org. It just would have been nice to interact with other kids and families. Logan likes the group activities and of course snack time.

Next weekend we'll bring the camera and take some pics of the area and the church. The train station has some weird looking benches that Logan and I thought were really funny.

One More and I'm Going to BED

2008-10-20T00:01:00.009+02:00

My last post of the day/night. I've got to get to bed. I'm so so tired. I still have my cold and while I'm feeling better I have a cough now. I'm sure I'll have it for the next couple of weeks. Dang!

Here are some cute pictures of at least two of my kiddies. You can see more of course on my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex

2008-10-19T23:27:00.003+02:00

Chris and I went to see "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" yesterday. You can read about it here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765432/ on IMDB and Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Baader_Meinhof_Komplex
and here is the official web site http://www.bmk.film.de/. If you Google it too you can read more about the film and I'm sure the RAF. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction. Anyway, it was good. It could have been better but all-in-all I liked it. I had done some reading about the RAF and the "key" players like Baader, Meinhof, and Ensslin. Pretty crazy folks for pretty crazy times so when I saw the movie I was expecting more and the film didn't deliver as I had thought it would. The performances from some of the actors were fantastic and I wish the writers/director would have spent more time on the main characters. I really felt as if I didn't get to know these people very well and what drove them mad to do what they did. Okay so go see it and tell me what you think.

Chris and I had a nice discussion on the bus ride back to the flat but our thoughts soon were of our boys and our new babysitter. Did they all survive the last 5 hours? Apparently they did. Connor seemed happy to see us and Logan was busy watching the end of a movie. Clara (our new babysitter) said she would come back. YEAH!!! More dates for Chris and me.

Technology STINKS

2008-10-19T23:25:00.002+02:00

Okay I'm trying to upload more videos but IE decided to choke so no more videos tonight. I'll try posting the last two tomorrow. Sometimes all this technology just stinks. BLAH!!!

No I LOVE IT REALLY!

Connor Walks Videos

2008-10-19T19:11:00.012+02:00

We took some video of Connor walking today and I wanted to try to post some of them here. Hopefully it works out. One of the videos is big and was taking a long time to upload so here is a shortie and I'll get the larger one out on the web somewhere. Stay tuned.

One more very short clip.

Okay I got the bigger one to work. I have two more I want to post and will try to get them up but I may have gone over my limit for the day so I'll have to do it tomorrow. Let's see what I can do. One moment.....

What's Happening????

2008-10-14T13:07:00.005+02:00

SICK AGAIN?
Connor's mucus is extremely potent. I swear I have been washing my hands like crazy since he got a cold a few days ago but wouldn't you know it. I managed to get a cold and a sore throat as well. Gee wiz. Like I don't have anything else better to do with my time than baby a cold. BLAH!

GERMAN
Two weeks from today I'll be heading to my first German language class at the Goethe Institute. I'm so excited. Over the past week or so I've been brushing up on my German using the book "German in 10 minutes a day". It's really a great book. Here is the web site http://www.bbks.com/ if you want to check out. I think once I get a little German behind me I'm going to brush up on my Spanish and Italian and maybe even French. We have lots of folks living in the neighborhood that speak these languages and it would be cool to speak with them in their native language as well. Fun stuff learning new languages.

CONNOR
Connor and I will go to a different music class this week. I think I may have mentioned this in another post but there is a cute baby store about two doors down from our flat and they also have music and montesorri classes. I signed us up for both. Connor and I get to "try it" before we "buy it" this Friday so it should be loads of fun.

Connor continues to take more and more independent steps. He thinks he's king of the hill.

LOGAN
Logan's conferences this week are going well. Nothing new. We hope we can get his teachers talking to us and to each other. We'll keep you posted. I'm getting the feeling though that this is a Germany thing. Unfortunate really.

Logan and I went to see "Wall-E" last week. It was really a cute movie. We both recommend it.

SKYPE
We got Skype working on my laptop. If you don't have it get it NOW. http://www.skype.com/ Calls between Skype members are free and signing up is free too. Chris, Logan, Connor and I talked to Matthew, Tally and new baby Nicole Jane yesterday. It was fun to be able to see each other as we were able to successfully video conference. You don't have to video conference with Skype it's just a nice benefit if you have a camera.

More pictures on Flickr

2008-10-12T23:09:00.003+02:00

I posted more pics on Flickr. Check them out http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat

Tom and Ted go outside

2008-10-11T23:09:00.003+02:00

Today was such a beautiful day we took Tom and Ted out for a walk. Ted did great. We actually walked down the street a bit (this is all at night btw) to the grassy front lawn of the neighbors for a munch and then back home for a little tuna treat. Chris took Tom out for a dragggggggggggg. Tom did walk back to the flat on his own. Yeah, good boy!

Living with All BOYS

2008-10-11T23:06:00.002+02:00

Let me think about this one for a bit and get back to ya all.

Connor's Stats

2008-10-10T12:49:00.002+02:00

I forgot to add in a previous post that Connor is 26 lbs. and 32 inches tall. He's like 87% for weight and a 98% for height. Kid is growing like a weed.

This is scary but Logan fits into my shoes. I wear an 8-1/2. Yikes.

Conferences for Logan Monday, Oct. 13th

2008-10-09T16:45:00.002+02:00

Fall conferences are just around the corner. There will be no surprises we hope. Communication has gotten a little better with the teachers but we are still concerned about Logan and how he is doing. It was a tough start for Logan. He has 6 different teachers and none of them talk to each other. There is little communication with parents. At Linwood, Logan's school in MN, we received a parent letter every week telling us what was going on that week. The teachers talked to each other and created similar lesson plans. We are also concerned about the discipline. It appears that each teacher does their own thing which is a HUGE problem. Some teachers YELL at their students and are just plain condescending and mean. Both Chris and I have been witnesses to these events. None involving Logan but classmates. I'm just furious about it. Chris and I plan to discuss with the teachers next week. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and that I don't cause too much of a ruckus.

More Shots for Connor

2008-10-09T16:35:00.002+02:00

We had another visit to the doctor's office today. Connor had his final two shots. Here in Germany the max shots they give is two. Last month Connor had his MMR and today he had everything else. Seven different kinds of drugs. Yikes! None of them are live viruses so we are hoping he won't get a fever like he did with the MMR. Connor didn't really cry on the first shot but did the 2nd one. Ouchies!!!

Rainy and cold today. Fall leaves are falling from the trees. Lots of yellow, brown, red and orange. Very pretty.

How to become a Facebook addict

2008-10-09T16:25:00.002+02:00

Yes I've become an addict, that is a Facebook addict. Do you have a Facebook addiction? Here let me make it easy for you if you don't http://www.facebook.com.

Sleep

2008-10-07T22:58:00.000+02:00

Don't get enough of it.

TP

2008-10-06T19:03:00.003+02:00

Another missed item is my lovely Charman TP. Oh the agony.

My fantastic cousin Karen sent me a HUGE package of TP. I mean HUGE. I've got a picture of it in the camera and will post. I'm so proud of it. It's a vision of white fluffiness. Oh the simple pleasures of life.

Karen my dearest thank you so much from the bottom of my tushy!!! You are a GEM.

Thank you thank you thank you!

More Birthday Wishes

2008-10-06T18:57:00.002+02:00

Happy Birthday to our friend Jeremy Wilker. It's his day today. He and his wife Meghan (and daugther Trixie) are expecting a very special person today too. Their 2nd child's due date was today. Any news? Can we welcome the next Wilker into the world???

Stay Tuned.

Here is Meghan's Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishgirl/. I'm sure she'll have something up as soon as the baby is here.

All the best guys and again Happy Birthday Jeremy.

I LOVE SHOUT!

2008-10-06T18:51:00.003+02:00

I think the absolutely best stain remover is SHOUT. I've been battling my wash machine here in Berlin since we got it oh a month or so ago. I can't seem to find the right setting or the right detergent. Well I finally found a decent setting on the machine. I wash everything on the sportswear setting. Weird that a wash machine has that type of setting but that's okay. There are others that I can't read and Babelfish has no idea either. I stay away from those (at least for now). I can wash my clothing in cold no problem but was having a hard time getting stains out that I had not had problems with in the US. I found a passable substitute for SHOUT at the Bio Company. I also went online and found that lemon juice, vinegar and the sun are good at getting stains out too.

So I was sad and frustrated that I couldn't get this blueberry stain out and I asked my wonderful Mother to send me some SHOUT. She sent me TWO and a OXY stick pen. Oh JOY! Now even old stains are coming out after a couple of washes. Oh boy oh boy LIFE IS GOOD!!!

I LOVE SHOUT!

Thanks again Mom for sending :-)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Pete

2008-10-05T21:08:00.003+02:00

It's Grandpa Pete Macgowan's birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Connor, Logan, Chris and Jennifer miss you and wish you a very happy day.

The Imperfect Parent

2008-10-05T11:27:00.002+02:00

This is a "must see" web site. Loads of funny stories.
http://www.imperfectparent.com/

Connor Walks

2008-10-05T10:59:00.004+02:00

Well folks my little baby Connor is growing up. He's finally decided now is the time to walk. He thinks it's pretty cool too. He took about 10 steps yesterday in the hall of our flat. I think he thought I was holding on to his shirt but I wasn't. He's still the fastest crawler I've ever seen but eventually he'll be up on two feet and running around trying to catch Logan. Oh my!

Recycling in Berlin

2008-10-05T10:52:00.002+02:00

In Berlin it seems we can recycle just about anything. Our building has a number of recycling bins in the back for glass, paper, plastic, and compost. I feel so, I don't know, liberated from trash. It's a weird feeling knowing that I can recycle just about anything. Chris and I keep forgetting that we can recycle the plastic packaging our food comes in. I have to pull it out of the trash (which is gross) but I'm doing right by the planet. Hey, and all of it gets reused. Boy the folks over here got it right. This is one of the things I will miss when we go back to the US.

German Reunification Day

2008-10-03T09:23:00.003+02:00

Happy Reunification Day Germany!

Today marks the 18th year. Crazy that it's been that long already. Logan has the day off of school. He woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to finish building a new Lego set he bought himself yesterday. It's the AT-TE Walker from the new animated Star Wars movie "The Clone Wars". I made him go back to bed. Connor followed him out into the darkness of the morning and he too was brought back to bed with a little early morning milky. Connor was happy and Logan not so much. They slept another hour or two. As much as I don't want to wish their lives away and have them grow up to soon, I can't wait for them to be teenagers so they'll "sleep in" until noon. :-)

I wanted to include a link to the festivities of the day here but since I don't know German it's tough to find something English. I could have refined my searches in Google but I don't have the energy at the moment. Must be my anemia :-) or that I was up at 5. Anyway, here is a link to Wikipedia http://berlinadventures.blogspot.com/. The best I can do at the moment. The paper says that there is lots going on at the Brandenberg Gate so we'll head over there after Connor's nap.

Since today is a holiday there isn't much open. Connor is out of Soy milk. I was supposed to go out at around 6 p.m. last night to get my meds and milk but forgot as I was making dinner. Shit! I sure hope something is open at the train stations. Maybe we'll go check out Hauptbanhof.

More later.

I forgot the camera :-( I'm so sad. I wanted to take some pics at the festival but with all the crap we take with us we forgot it. Oh well.

The crowds were deep deep deep. It was way worse than the MN State Fair. BLAH! In fact at times we would be at a standstill. I hate large crowds like that. Anyway, we finally made it out and got some food. I had this beef goulash with noodles that was very good. Chris and Logan had wurst with pommes (sausgage with fries). Connor ate off our plates. He really likes fries. Later Logan and I spotted the Haribo booth and treated ourselves to 10 Euros worth of candy. Yummy. We also stopped to get some crepes. Chris and Logan had cinnamon and sugar while I had bananas and Nutella (chocolate). All very tasty and Connor loved it all too. The only thing on a stick was either candied or chocolate covered apples.

There were a couple games and one ride (ferris wheel) that we could see. They had a huge bandstand and lots of large screens everywhere so you could see what was happening on stage. Lots of beer and fried food stands mostly.

Chris and Logan went back Saturday night but said the place was dead. It was cold so I suppose most folks wanted to be inside.

Connor and I stayed home in the warm comfort of our flat and went to bed early.

Monday Madness

2008-09-29T17:59:00.002+02:00

Okay it wasn't quite as mad as you might think but I was busy today. Forgive any spelling errors. Too lazy to check :-)

PERGAMON
I finally got my butt over to the Pergamon Museum to see the Babylon: Myth & Truth exhibit. If you are interested in checking it out online I've added links above. Anyway, I got over there around 12:30 and stayed until about 4ish. At the end my back was killing me and I decided to just listen to the rest of the stories. I found a nice bench and just punched in the numbers in to my headset. I had a self-guided tour in English.

All in all it was a pretty good exhibit. There are two parts. The myth (based on the Bible's interpretation) and the truth about the people, royalty and life in general. If you look at all the artifacts they've uncovered over the years you get the feeling that these folks were pretty on top of it; way ahead of their time in almost every facet of life. It's pretty cool to look at the sculptures, books, paintings, etc. and think that most of what I am looking at is like 4000 years old. Crazy.

The Babylon exhibit ends this week but I need to go back to the museum to see the Greek and Roman antiquities and artifacts. I was only able to see the Pergamon temple. There are a ton of museums here and I hope I'll be able to see more. The next museum stop for me is the National Gallery. I think this is the museum with the Egyptian antiquities. My favorite.

REGISTERED FOR GERMAN CLASS
After the museum I went to the Goethe-Institute and registered for my German language class. I start on October 28th. I'm pretty excited. I brought some books with me and have been trying to learn a little German this way. It's helped for sure but there is nothing like going to class and interacting with other people. Logan has been teaching me a few lines of German too. I've been using what I've learned so far in the "real" world and so far so good. Only bad thing is that I don't always understand the answer so I end up having to ask (in German) if whomever I'm talking to speaks English. Kind of a bummer but that will resolve once I learn more.

COLANDER
I bought a nice colander today along with a laddle, spatula, measuring cup, shredder (for cheese) and a milk steamer pot (for hot choco & milche kaffe). Ah the basics of life. You really miss these simple utensils when you don't have them for 3 months. It's nice to be somewhat civilized again.

THE WEEK AHEAD
We have a busy week ahead of us. Chris hopes to send his resume out this week along with making some phone calls to contacts he has here. Logan has basketball after school on Tuesdays and is getting extra help with math after school on Thursdays. He has Friday off as it is German Unification Day here in Germany. Connor and I will be going to music class tomorrow evening and my goal is to finally unpack some of my clothing and hang them up in one of the armiors. I also have to go back to my Drs. office to get the results of my thyroid blood test. I can't remember if I talked about my experience last week but let's just say it was pretty low tech. I was somewhat scared. The Dr. I saw didn't speak much English but we muddled through it. I see the English speaking Dr. Wednesday so it will be interesting to see how they interpret my lab results.

Funday at JFK & Berlin Marathon

2008-09-28T09:34:00.005+02:00

FUNDAY at JFK School
We attended our first FUNDAY at Logan's school. It was indeed fun. The weather was great. Funday is quite the production. It's basically a fundraiser for the school and all it's clubs, sports, etc. It's such a big deal they only do it every other year. They had tons of food, games and music. We got to school around 1:30 and stayed until it was over at 4. I've got some cute pics and will post soon. They had a raffle too but ran out of tickets so we couldn't participate. Too bad they had some really great prizes. Anyway, once we got home we were wiped out. Chris, Connor and I napped until 8:30. Lucky Logan got to play some video games and watch a movie while we were out. Later we ordered food from our favorite cheap Italian restaurant Dal Falco's and then just chilled out at home until we all hit the sack around 11. It was a nice day.

BERLIN MARATHON
Today is the Berlin Marathon. We saw a little of it yesterday. I guess they have a biking race, a rollerblade race (we saw this yesterday) and a running race. This morning is the running race. Chris, Logan and Connor are out right now watching. The races go through the center of Berlin. Starting at the Reichstag/Tiergarden and winding through Berlin ending back at the Reichstag. Check out the web site I linked to above. Logan and I are off to church soon and then we'll connect up with Chris and Connor at the Marathon later. We also have our friends Christian and Yorunt coming up to visit. It's cold here but the sun is out and for Berlin that is a big deal. More later.

LEAVE A COMMENT
Now anyone can leave a comment here on the blog if you wish. I needed to change the settings. I also changed the settings on Logan's blog http://commanderrex.blogspot.com. He only has two entries so far but now if you wish to leave him a comment you can.

Loud and Proud

2008-09-22T20:03:00.005+02:00

I'm finding that Germans (when not watching soccer or drinking heavily) tend to be rather quiet people. Somewhat reserved you might say (with the exception of the above) or at least the people that live here in Friednau are quiet.

Chris calls us the loud family. Logan is really loud and well Connor is a baby and he is just well a baby. Babies yell a lot. Anyway, I tend to be loud too. I grew up in a family that yelled from one room to the next. We didn't get up and go into the other room to talk to the person we wanted to speak to we just yelled. So we were loud and lazy :-) Okay I'm exaggerating a bit but you get what I'm saying. You and your family might do the same thing. Not sure if the same is true for Chris but Chris and I tend to yell from room to room too. I guess my bad habits rubbed off. When you live in a house it's easy to yell from room to room. In an apartment it's not recommended.

Thus we are I'm sure noted here in our building as the loud Americans. WHATEVER, I say. My mother sent me some SHOUT stain remover and I received it today (thanks MOM). I've been doing Logan and Connor's laundry all day (kids generate a lot of dirty clothes) and I finally got the stains out of one of Connor's shirts. If you've read one of my earlier posts I talk about my laundry problems. Anyway, I yelled really LOUD and I'm darn PROUD of it!!! I don't care what the neighbors think. I got some freakin' stains out of my kids clothes damn it (PG-13 rated on the damn it words)!!!!

The Week in Review

2008-09-21T21:43:00.005+02:00

Not sure how much review I can do as I'm on Connor watch this evening so here it goes....

JOBS
None.

GERMAN STUDIES
Trying to connect with the folks at the Goethe Institute. I plan to take a night course three times a week so I have to call the admissions office for the evening classes but everytime I call I get a busy signal. This is typical here in Germany. Seems to me that the German telecom only hands out one line to everybody and that is that. I've emailed too but no response. I may have to just go down to the office to register. Not really convient with Connor but I guess I can try it. Worse case I have to leave and try another time.

SICK KIDS
So Connor recovered from his fever. First time for him. He threw up once which I documented in an early which isn't bad for him. Connor is a puker. We lucked out with Logan so I guess we were due. I was a puker when I was little. Ask my mother, okay don't but it's true. BLAH!!! Okay anyway we did call his doctor but of course couldn't get through so both Chris and I emailed. She got back to us a few hours later. For some reason our phone wasn't working right and she couldn't get me on my cell so she emailed us then we emailed back and then finally later in the evening of the next day I actually got her on the phone. By then Connor's fever had broken and he was getting better. No need to go in thank goodness. We don't have a car so we would have had to take the bus or the train to get to the clinic. I hope Connor (and Logan) never get sick again. It was an experience let me tell you.

Now Logan has been pretty healthy since we got here. Just allergies mostly but he broke out in a weird rash all over his body. Not sure if it is food or something else. Anyway as long as he is taken his allergy meds he doesn't have the rash so the doc said we should probably come in and have blood drawn. Oh crap. Logan hates shots and now he has to have blood drawn. I think we'll have to knock him out for that one.

LAUNDRY
This is the bain (did I spell that correctly??) of my exsistance at the moment. I'll start off by saying that Chris IS OF NO HELP. He can't read any of the German on the bloody machine. This is part of the problem. There are so many choices and don't know what to choose and bablefish isn't of any help either. It's driving me crazy. It shouldn't be this hard. I'm going to have to get one of our German friends to come over and show me how to do laundry here. Everything we own (unless it's black) has some sort of berry stain on it. Connor likes to spread it around. What the heck am I going to do??? Feel like crying now. boo hoo boo hoo

MAIL
I can't seem to get my butt in gear to send any. I will though trust me I will.

FOOD
Logan continues to cause us grief but today Chris had Logan try some chicken noodle soup he had made and Logan loved it. Oh MY GOODNESS. He also tried raspberry jam on toast and liked it too. Is Logan turning over a new leaf??? I won't hold my breath :-) Connor on the other had is a good eater as is Chris who eats (it seems anyway) a pint of ice cream every night. He must be stressed out :-) I on the other hand have been eating nasty nasty food like Coke and coffee (mostly milch kaffees) and chocolate and other bad foods. I'm craving a Coke right now. Good thing we aren't buying it. I'll just continue to suck down my wasser mit gas (bubbly water).
CARE PACKAGES
Thanks to all that have sent us care packages from the USA. We are so happy to receive them. I just received A&D Ointment, TP, lotion and books from my cousins Karen and Jim. Thanks so much. My mother is keeping Logan and Connor feed with Kraft Mac & Cheese, Gerber fruit puffs, M&Ms (they taste nasty here) & Tootise rolls. Chris' parents, Sandy & Pete have sent us our forwarded mail and meds for the kids. Of course there is more and we thank everyone so much. It is hard to find replacements for all the products we used in the US. I still can't find a replacement for A&D ointment so if you are so inclined feel free to send us some. Baby Connor needs it for his bum :-)

SMOKING
They still do it here. YUCK!!

DOGS
They still poop everywhere. Seems worse now that the leaves are falling. It's dangerous out there.

SITE SEEING
Had a nice time on my walking tour of Berlin. Plan to do much more. Found out that the Grimm Brothers have their graves near our house as well as Marlene Dietrich. We will go on a grave tour soon. I plan to go to the Pergamon Museum this week to see the Babylon exhibit. Will report on that later in the week.

JFK SCHOOL
We think we've finally got Logan on the right track at school. We found out now two weeks ago that he was missing homework and was sort of lost on what he was to bring home for homework, etc. The school isn't the best on communication and the teachers don't seem to be working together but it's still early and Chris says we need to give them a chance. So I'm waiting to see how it all works out before his first conference in October.

MUSIC TOGETHER
Connor and I went to our first class past week. The next day he got the fever so he wasn't too into it but hopefully this week will be different. No kids his age so I'm hoping to get him into another session. Also the train/bus ride out to the class takes an hour. Not loving the commute. The other class is closer. Hopefully we can switch. Keep fingers crossed.

WEEK AHEAD
We expect our boxes that we shipped on the slow boat in July will be coming this week and we are very excited. It is cold here and we don't really have jackets or warm clothing. I packed more toys and books for the kids as well as some games. They'll be happy to see it. We didn't bring much with us so the kids are really bored with what they have here. It will be good to put these things away so a few months from now those toys will be new again.

Chris will be working hard on looking for a job. We've got our desks up so it's nice to be able to sit at a desk and blog or do whatever on the computer. Logan has a desk too and it makes doing homework easier. Connor likes it too and does his homework on the desk. More like get into trouble but he's trying.

I've got more pics to post and will do some in the coming week. Make sure to check my flickr account for more pics closer to the end of the week. http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat.

I found this web site for american expats. Check it out http://www.amiexpat.com/. It's been somewhat helpful. It's interesting to read for sure.

Sick Kids

2008-09-18T10:55:00.002+02:00

There is nothing worst than a sick child and I have one. BLAH!!!

Connor was not eating or sleeping well on Tuesday and then yesterday he took a dive. He threw up all over his new clothes including the cute little wool jacket I got him. UG! Of course he did this on a walk and we were far from home. I raced back as fast as I could as the vomit was everywhere. I had thought about just changing him but there was too much and it was all over the stroller too. Once I got back I cleaned him up and all the clothes but he continued to get worse. We continued to give him lots of water and some meds. Last night wasn't too bad and today he seems better.

My poor little baby. This is the first time he's had a fever. Little kids just don't understand what's going on. They just know they feel terrible and the only thing they can do is cry. As a parent you sort of feel helpless especially since you've done all you can do. Time is the only thing that can help.

If you pray say a little prayer that Connor recovers quickly. If you don't, send good vides his way.

Cold Day

2008-09-16T19:58:00.003+02:00

It was a cold day in Berlin today. Connor got to wear the new coat I bought him yesterday. It was a good thing :-)

We all stayed home today except Logan went to school. He is in basketball so he stays at school until 3 p.m. He said it was fun. He's doing homework right now. He brought home the school portrait form. Pics will be taken next week. I'll be sure to post them.

Connor and I went to Music Together class today. It was a long ride there due to rush hour and a really long ride back. It was COLD too. Also most of the kids are older than he is so he doesn't really have anyone to play with in the class. I think I might ask the teacher if there is an opening in the Wilmersdorf class. It is also closer to us. Keep fingers crossed that there are more kids his age in this other class and that they have an opening.

Tomorrow Logan goes on an all day field trip. We just found out from him this afternoon. JFK isn't really good about letting us parents know what is going on. Something we need to discuss with his teacher at conferences. It's very frustrating. Linwood A+, Logan's school in MN was great about the communication (with exception of the merger with Monroe School).

Another cold and gray day I think for tomorrow but Connor and I will venture out somewhere. Probably to the store and to the market.

Flickr

2008-09-15T22:49:00.003+02:00

I've added some pics to my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prettyblackcat/.

Discover Berlin

2008-09-15T22:39:00.003+02:00

Today I went on a tour of Berlin. It was great. I had such a nice time and met some nice folks. I went on the Original Berlin Walks tour in English. The tour guide Johanna was very good. She gave us a lot of history and background on Berlin/Germany. We went to many historical sites. There is so much to see here. We went by Hilter's bunker (it's a parking lot now) and even though it's a parking lot it's weird to be standing in the space. We also went to the plaza where the Nazi burned over 22,000 books. Chris and I have walked by this plaza many times before and I go to church nearby so it was again crazy to think that this happened here.

Next week I plan to go to one of the museums. I'll most likely drop Logan off at school and then head into town to the Pergamon. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pergamon_Museum and here is another site http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=en&p=2&objID=27&n=1&r=4. There is an exhibit called Babylon Myth and Truth. It is at the Pergamon until October so I'm excited to see it as well.

I can't wait to discover more cool places here in Berlin. Maybe next time I'll remember the camera :-)

Jennifer Hays the Tourist

2008-09-14T19:05:00.002+02:00

I'm going on a walking tour of Berlin tomorrow morning with the folks at Original Berlin Walks. If you want to see what kind of walks they conduct go to http://www.berlinwalks.com. I'm going to take the Discover Berlin walk. It should be fun. I'll report on it later.

Chris and I started talking about how we should take some time to be tourists in Berlin while we are living here. When Chris lived here in the early 90s he didn't take the time to "really" see the city and before he knew it he was back home in the US. We have a great opportunity and need to take full advantage of what this city has to offer.

Next time you have free time go on a tour of your city or do something you've never done before. You'd be surprised at what you're missing and it's just around the corner.

Uh-Oh!

2008-09-14T18:54:00.002+02:00

The time has come for Logan, Chris and I to "watch" what we say around Connor. He's beginning to repeat some words. The other day Connor dropped his bottle on the floor and I said "Uh oh" and he repeated it promptly. He then pushed the bottle off the table and onto the floor, looked at me and said "Uh oh". I smiled back and repeated it. After that moment he started tossing his toys around saying "Uh oh" and looking to me for confirmation. I stopped to think about how often I say Uh oh and I realize I do say it but more often I say crap or other more colorful medifores. Chris and I were much more careful about what we said around Logan so I think now is the time to start with Connor. I just didn't realize how quickly it all comes.

Shots

2008-09-10T23:04:00.003+02:00

We had our first experience at the doctor's yesterday. Connor needed to go in for his One year check up. He got one shot (MMR with Chixpox) but needs two more. We go back in early October. Connor only cried a little when he got his shot. Not like his big brother or dad who hate needles. Mom has no problems either :-)

Sprechen

2008-09-10T16:30:00.002+02:00

I think I spelled that correctly??

I've decided to sign up for German language lesson at the Goethe Institute. I know I said before that they were expensive but I compared the instruction time, materials, location, reputation, etc. and really there isn't a big difference. I'm calling tomorrow to sign up. Hopefully they have space for me in their late October class.

YEAH!! It feels good to make a decision about this.

Busted

2008-09-08T21:39:00.001+02:00

I think the picture says it all.

Logan and Friends

2008-09-06T11:57:00.001+02:00

Here are a few pics of Logan and his friends.

Darth Vadar

Clone Trooper

JuJu Olson at Linwood A+ School

Darius (DD) at Monore/Linwood A+ School

Adam at Monore/Linwood A+ School

Rosy & Violet Haas on moving truck at 952 Linwood

Rosy Hass at 952 Linwood Avenue

JuJu Olson and Logan Macgowan at Sans-Souci Palace in Potsdam, Germany