Happy New Years

Day 26 without internet. My symptoms are beginning to stabilize. The headaches and nausea have faded and the uncontrollable urge to check cnn.com every 10 minutes is abating. I did break down last night to go to a local internet hotspot to download the Doctor Who Christmas special. Unfortunately, the connection was too slow. I returned empty handed to my cave with no freshly killed meat to present to my wife.

Tonight is New Years eve. I'm looking forward to it with waxing curiosity. Multiple, reliable sources tell me that the Germans are crazy about fireworks and that I'm in for a show. I mentioned to a co-worker that I might let the kids stay up to watch the craziness and she laughed at me. Apparently, things will be too loud for us to have any choice in the matter. Possibly that explains why fireworks are for sale in every local supermarket. And not just the little bitty ones. They sell the heavy artillery that you can only get in the US on Indian reservations.

We leave this weekend to go skiing in Austria. We are promised that Internet and telephone will be hooked up upon our return. We hope to publish a backlog of photos and updates then.

Wishing you all every good blessing in the New Year.

Happy Birthday

Malissa rightly shames me for failing to mention Piper's birthday. I thank her for yet another year of being married to me. It wasn't my place to tell her that she could have done better... I am, however, continually grateful that she didn't.

Today I leave work early to buy an ATX power supply before the stores close. I dutifully connected the kids computer up to a 110V/60Hz transformer last night before turning it on. Somehow, it blew up anyway. I chalk another casualty up to the German power grid.

Tess got roller blades for her birthday and has already learned to use them. Micah has spent the last 3 days watching Tess and complaining that he doesn't have a bicycle. Piper has spent the last 3 days listening to Micah and smiling because she knows what he does not.

Merry Christmas.

Random Odds & Ends

Blogging has been difficult without internet access. A quick post now with some odds and ends. I have but a moment with this computer.

Internet and phone installation is scheduled for January 7th. We are contemplating going skiing that week so we may not be connected til the following week. We hope to rejoin the real world by mid-January.

Christmas preparations have been delayed in the midst of other priorities. Internet. Installing lights. Acquiring closets (don't get me started). Fixing the dishwasher. You get the idea.

We started picking up presents for the kids last week. Tess and Maddie will both get scooters. Micah will get his first bicycle (with training wheels). Lots of little odds and ends but that's the big stuff. Thanks to all the family who mailed presents. We've gotten a bunch of boxes that have gone under the tree.

This may be the last time I'll be able to discuss the kids Christmas shopping on the internet. They're growing up quickly. . Fortunately Huckle is still alive and well.

Piper and I are both sorry that we've been so out of touch with family and friends for the past month. We wish all of you a blessed Christmas and we look forward to talking with you in January.

Much love to all.

Move-In Update.

I have gotten several e-mails from the masses who read this blog crying out for an update. Have we moved in? Are we well? Why the heck aren't we posting?

We have moved in. The apartment is cozy but very nice. It's great having no maintenance. We're also in a prime location for access to work and the kids school. After 2 months in the hotel, our 1100 sq ft apartment seems palatial. We like it alot.

We're doubly fortunate since the walls are solid cement. This is key since Germans like quiet neighbors and the smaller members of teamfordham are not (always) so quiet. It also helps that the family who lives directly below us is Italian. They don't have the same cultural obsession with quiet tidiness that some Germans do.

A sidenote on the cement walls. Hanging lights and pictures is a pain. Putting anything into the walls requires a hammer drill. Please cross-reference this fact with the comments in the above paragraph about quiet neighbors.

Lights have been the first priority since the previous tenants took all the lights with them. (The Swabian region of Germany is known for *thrift* so such behavior is pretty common). Between the lights and the furniture, the Ikea check-out people now know us by name.

So why no blog posts? The short answer is that we've been the unwitting victims of a conspiracy by German telecom to keep us from getting internet and telephone service. Several installation appointments have come and gone. We're now in the process of giving up on getting cable modem and settling for DSL. We hope to have a real phone number in a few weeks.

This is, of course, dependent on whether I can decipher router installation instructions when they're writtin in German.

Wish me luck.

All is well

All is well. Much to tell, but not now. We should have gotten Internet today, but the technician fell and broke his arm (ouch!). We hope someone will come Friday so that we will have electronic access before TG's birthday.

Hasta pronto

Three points of Contact and Keep your Mind on your Work...

And speaking of snow,

A sleeting, freezing weekend called for a change in plans last weekend. I had planned for a drive to the French border to walk through a Roman walled city. But walking through sleet with three children was enough for even me to say no.

Instead, we went to kid nirvana that happens to be only 5 kilometers away and indoors. It's called Sensopolis, and, if you're under 25, we can't wait to take you there; if you're over 25 and still like slides, we'll still take you there! t could be called Slide Land. It has a 40-foot shoot (the photos at the top are the shoot at the top--you're at the top right looking down-- and a blurry Andy at the bottom), slides that send you shooting all over a space ship. Wide slides that you can hold ands and go down as a family, curly slides that make you feel like you're riding down a slinky.

It has a six-floor ball pit complete with cannons and a vacuum that sends the foam balls flying. The ball pit is guarded by a giant dragon slide that empties people at the entrance. It as a science floor with all the cool science stuff, a pirate ship... and food that you are actually glad to eat.

For me, the best part was a suspended ropes course. From the bottom looking up, it looked great. I had lots of time to think about how great it really was when I was up at the top, looking down from 60 feet at an unforgiving floor, waiting for my turn. I had a while to wait because the ropes attendant had to go out and pull two people off when they got stuck or just were too frightened to go on any more. While I was hanging out in my harness, trying not to look down, a Marine-looking guy finished the course and gave me a thumbs up.

"How is it?" I asked.
In drill-Sargent mode, he answered,"Piece of cake. Maintain three points of contact at all times and keep your mind on your work."

That became my mantra as I, barefooted (I had left my shoes at the bottom and didn't want to go down to get them), stretched my toe to reach the next dangling log.

Here is a view of the course looking up from the ground. Those tiny things up there are people.

We had a blast of a Saturday. Micah fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until Sunday morning.

Crushed as cranberries

These are our friends Brad and Stacey. They are cool and fun, and we miss them. We knew each other when Andy and I lived in Florida. We were going to Vienna for Thanksgiving to visit with them and see their three kids, whom we haven't met yet.

I tried not to gloat about it in public. I just pranced around the hotel room saying to myself, "why, as a matter of fact, we're going to Vienna for Thanksgiving."

As it turns out, not gloating was a good policy. There is a forecast of freezing rain, snow and fog the latter half of the long weekend. The prudent among us (that means Andy)decided that was too risky in the Alps for a long weekend that included 16 hours on the road.

but Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I pray the day is filled with reminders, big and small, of all you have to be grateful for. We love you!

St. Martinsritt

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We have some catching up to do on our weekend activities. Sadly, the camera batteries were going for this event so the flash didn't work so our photos of St. Martins are few and very dim (sorry!).
Three weeks ago we gathered Saturday night for the annual celebration of St. Martins Ritt (read down to the section on his cloak). This is a big deal here because St. Martin is the saint of Sindelfingen. The old church in the square, Martinskirche, was built in the 11th century and dedicated in 1083. It is one of the oldest Roman churches in Wuerttemberg.

One of the teachers had organized it. The kids made lanterns as an art project the week before. We met at dusk at the school to collect and light the lanterns, then we walked, singing through the park. As we walked to the square, we met up with other children in the town; there were about 200 in the church yard by the time it started. We waited in the cold for the annual reenactment of St. Martin's kindness.

There is a man dressed in rags in the church yard shivering. It was a cold night so that part of the story was easy to reconstruct. Then a man dressed as a Roman soldier rides through the yard a few times. A children's choir sings special songs and everyone holds up lanterns. Marting then takes his sword and cuts his cloak in two and give half to the beggar.

After the performance, the church sold sausages, cookies and hot wine to raise money for mercy projects in Asia. Wonderful night. And we all survived, which was sometimes questionable when you have 200 little people swinging lighted candles around.

Reflections on the Audubon

Back in the US, the Audubon had a certain allure. The idea of driving on a highway without speed limits was rather enticing to my younger self.

It's both exceeds and fails expectations. The majority of drivers behave quite responsibility on the unrestricted portions of the Audubon. Trucks even more so since their top speeds are mechanically regulated by governors. (Being trapped behind one truck trying to pass another can be annoying since the passer is often mechanically limited to speeds that are only glacially faster than his target).

But then their are the other drivers. On the dashboard of our beloved rental car is a sticker directed at those drivers. It warns that the car is not to be driven at speeds in excess of 230 km/hr (if you're hesitant to do the math, this is over 140 mph). I have seen those drivers and have a few safety tips to pass along.

Know where your hazard lights are at all times. Traffic stops instantly and without warning and normal brake lights don't always convey the severity of the situation to the driver behind you. My friends who drive American cars that they imported from the US frequently complain about their need to replace brakes that weren't built to withstand frequent decellerations from 80 mph to 0.

Should you wish to venture into the left lanes, spend lots of time looking into your rearview mirror. The average American is not used to being passed by a car travelling 60 km/hr faster than he is when he's already cruising at comfortable highway speeds. These relative velocities make drivers approaching from the rear just as dangerous as those in the front.

Time to run. My children inform me that it's their turn to use the computer.

Coming up soon is a driving post on German street signs. Piper is collecting anecdotes. This has been quite confusing since the US relies on a staple of about 30 types of street signs. The Germans (quite literally) have over 300 types. Their are literally signs for everything (often 3 or more on the same signpost... a very precise people these Germans).

Seen and Heard, a collection of Random Comments and Observations

--So just how many Smart Cars can you fit in a parallel parking space? Legally three, but we've seen more. They just pull into the parking space, leaving room for as many more as care to squeeze in.

--"Is that boy from Argentina?" (In German. A man who stopped me in the grocery store while I was shopping with Micah. He had been to South America and swore that Micah looked like he was from Buenos Aires.)

-- Failure to yield right-of-way is a criminal offense in Germany (Drivers Handbook and Examination Manual for Germany)

-- Quiet hours are 1-3 daily, from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. and all day Sunday. They are strictly enforced. (Our lease. This is a common clause in German rental agreements).

--New president Obama will tell Americans to stop the war, to stop running their air conditioners and to stop building big houses.(In German, DJ on a rock radio station).

--"Every woman in Europe has the right to wear a bikini!" (a European friend of mine at the pool).

--Residents are responsible for sweeping the sidewalks in front of their houses. Instead of waiting for the leaves to fall, I've seen many German housewives beating their front bushes with a broom handle to get the leaves off faster.

-- "I'm not so Michael Phelps." (a woman at the pool commenting on her lack of form. In German, it sounds like "Ich bin nich so Michael Phelps."

--Overheard: A man from Germany, from Korea and from Portugal, arguing in a restaurant in their common language of English if "kindergarten" is a word in English. The German guy insisted it was stolen. The Korean guy said it couldn't be an English word because children don't grow in gardens. The Portuguese guy said he didn't know because he didn't have kids.

--German mail carriers deliver mail on bicycles with three large, bright yellow panniers.

--It is illegal to talk on a cell phone while riding your bike. (Drivers Handbook and Examination Manual for Germany)... sorry Todd.

-- Cabbage is everywhere. In all shapes and sizes and colors.

--People actually smoke here.

-- "An American without a TV? I didn't know there could be such a thing!" Comment in my German class.)

-- Small dogs in Germany wear sweaters.

Guest Space

Yes, we have guest space. And if you need more space than you find with us, I've talked with the owner of a guest house across the street. The Waldhotel Einholz is ready to serve as our guest room. That way we can rent guest space on an as-needed basis instead of paying for a bigger house.

Now Come!

Apartment!

That's right, sports fans, we have a place to live.
We rented an apartment about a kilometer from the school so it will be easy to keep our walking lifestyle.
The apartment is at the end of a dead-end street. A short walk through the woods takes you to a big park with a soccer field, tire swings, slides, sand pit, etc.
The Wonder Woman craze continues. The park's zip lines are their invisible planes...
We move in Dec. 1

German class

I'm half way through a German language class at a community center called the VolksHochSchule. It's what you might think of a community language class . There are 12 of us. I get the whole western hemisphere to myself. One woman each from India, Kosovo, Croatia, and Kazakhstan. One man each from Hungary and Poland. One man and four women from Turkey. Most executives and their spouses get private language training as part of their package, so this group is the un- or under-employed who can spend four hours each morning for a month studying German.

I love this class.

Some of it is painful, like tossing a ball to your classmates and saying, "Guten Tag. Wie geht es Ihnen?" to the person who catches it. But great stuff comes out. I asked Chaba why he left Hungary. He said, in English: "Hmmm. Because Communist s---," he said. He will drive to Austria to hear rap concerts or Megadeath, but his all time favorite singer is Frank Sinatra.

Elhama would like to go back to Kosovo but the job market is bad there, she said. But the living is much better now than it was. We don't have the German vocabulary for political discussions. She could just say "10 years war. Bad. America comes. Now is good."

The guy from Poland has come to Germany from Ireland where he was working as a locksmith. He swears like an Irishman too so his English is pretty salty. Funny hearing a guy named Slawik say "F 'ing" with an Irish accent.

I try to talk with the women from Turkey, but they all speak Turkish so we talk together as far as our German will allow and then they switch to their common language.

Halloween and Heidelberg

I dislike Halloween. Any holiday with witchcraft and tooth decay at its core will never be a favorite. In Glenside, we treated it as a neighborhood costume party, but I was looking forward to a break in the holiday.

It was not to be.

As we got closer to the close of the month, more and more people started asking what we were doing. The kids, who had previously said they didn't care as long as they got to eat candy that night, started getting that wistful look of "I want to Trick or Treat."So, on Friday, we went on the hunt for costumes. A timely display of cheap Chinese clothes turned Micah into the King of Siam and Maddie into a Chinese princess. Tess has been a Russian princess for too many years to return to the theme. She was an Alpine hiker.

Let me tell you about Halloween on a military base. First, it's mobbed. If you try to get on base at 6 when the Trick or Treating starts, you'll be in about two miles of backed-up traffic of regional Americans and their German friends signing in to get on base. Parking is miserable. It is swarming with kids.

We were forewarned so we came at 4:30, parked, ate at an Italian restaurant and were ready to hit it when the sun went down.

It is what Andy calls a target-rich environment.

Family housing is in apartment blocks; each apartment has a large terrace at one end. Instead of trooping up and down the stairs, families in each building meet on the terrace. Four or so adults take turns handing out scoops of candy to kids who file by (four scoops per apartment building) while the rest of the adults have a cook out on the terrace. There are dozens of buildings so the haul is tremendous. There are army patrol guys every few blocks handing out glow sticks. One little girl asked the man if he dressed up as a soldier for Halloween. It's great to have the glow sticks. I also doubt that there are any smashed pumpkins on the roads.

The next morning was Heidelberg. We wanted to explore some of the city before joining friends of my sister and brother-in-law for dinner. It was one of those amazing places that makes you think, "yes, this is what I came to Germany to see." It's not just that the castle is amazing and every church is beautiful. The town itself is lovely to walk around in. It's pretty and old and well kept. We love it.

Buell and Hans Walter went to graduate school and did post-doc work together. The two have been colleagues at National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson and Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg for years. I had met them in Princeton, but my now 15-year-old nephew Brigg was a bald baby the last time I saw them. They live in the M-P equivalent of a manse. Wonderful house with amazing gardens. Salmon dinner then chatting in a living room warmed by a refurbished wood burning stove from France. The kids got to watch Jungle Book. HW said he was there holding Micah for the last part because Micah got scared of the tiger, but he was also laughing at the funny bits. Good to know that brilliant astronomers can like cartoon bears. MB sent us off well fed, well cared for and with a large bag of fresh-cut herbs. ahhhh.

Overheard in the other room...

Maddie: "... fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, fifty ten"

Tess: "NO! It's sixty."

Maddie: "Oh. Sixty, sixty one, sixty two... sixty seven, sixty eight, sixty nine, sixty ten."

Tess: "MADDIE, NO! It's seventy."

Maddie: "Oh... math is really hard."

Adoption costs: $ Lots, Conversations while holding hands: priceless

Micah and I were walking down the street last week. He looked up at me with his espresso-colored eyes and said, "Mommy, thank you for going to Bangkok to get me."

Maddie is Six!

Maddie's birthday party was Friday, actual birthday was Monday. Maddie had fun. Mommy had emotional turmoil (more on that later).

Our first day in Germany we took a groggy walk and came to a place called KinderWelt. It's an indoor playscape that is all a kid could want: slides, climbing blob, ball pit, slides, scooters.

We decided right then that it would be a special spot for birthdays, so there was no question what MM wanted to do. The invitees were Anika Watts, and Divia and Danny from school. Both girls are in first grade. Danny is in MM's class. They played for hours, had dinner and opened presents. All good.

The only thing remaining that MM wanted for her actual birthday was the ice cream cake we always have for birthdays** recipe at bottom**.

Yet I got up Monday morning with a furrowed brow and tight lips. I imagined that I was standing in my kitchen in Cliveden avenue and not rummaging through a German grocery store trying to find Brownie mix. I wanted to call Malissa for cookie/ice cream combination options. I wanted MM to have her friends, and mine, there. I wanted the Ennises for dinner; this was our first birthday without them in six years. It was hard to focus on the joy of what was instead of the burden of what wasn't

We had already planned to play with an ISS family that morning. I asked Estelle if I could use her oven to bake the crust of the ice cream cake. When we arrived and I told her what the brownies were for, Estelle sprang into action. One of her daughters had recently had a birthday so she was well supplied. She brought out party plates, balloons, Duncan Hines brownie mix!, candles, candies, apple juice. Her three kids plus my three made a great party number, and MM had a full-blown party for lunch. After lunch MM and Vanessa made up an opera and performed it for us. They played all afternoon.

After dinner, the kids ate cake and watched one of MM's birthday presents, Singin' In The Rain--it's one of the kids' favorite movies.It was more than I had hoped for the day.

**Malissa File Ice Cream Cake

--Pick out ice cream and let soften

--bake brownies in a cake pan (I like to take them out a few minutes early. Frozen gooy brownie is excellent!)

--pour a layer of ice cream over cooled brownie, then into the freezer til ice cream freezes.

--break up cookies and layer over now ice cream, then add final layer of melted ice cream.

Kids favorite: cookies and cream ice cream with crushed Oreos

Piper likes coffee ice cream with crushed Heath bar

Andy likes butter pecan with crushed shortbread.

Pumpkin Party

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin carving party for the kids in Andy's office. All American so it wasn't a culturally new experience, but fun and easy for the kids.

Everyone brought pumpkins and carved them in the middle of the driveway.

It was, as Andy mentioned, at a former hunting lodge of the local king at the turn of the century. Lots of horns. Horns over doors, horn chandeliers, horns on walls.

The host family was great. Hot cider and mulled wine. They also buried candy in a pile of hay and let the kids run amok in it.

Housing update

Still... no... contract.

We continue to search.

School Update-- Watch out, Obama

Time for a school update:

Tess's class performed a German/English rap yesterday for the parents. "Aus Funf Kontinente Kommen Wir" It was a rap (thankfully, more like a chant) that they wrote to finish their Who Are We unit. It's as much a geography lesson than anything else. Tess was very proud of it, and they did a great job. She's doing well in school, high up in both math and reading. I'm trying to upload the video of their song, but am having technical difficulties. More later.

Maddie is the kindergarten class representative to student council. This could be a spring board to the national stage. If she managers to be a representative next year, she will have clocked more time in office than Palin as governor or Obama as senator. Hers would be quite the administration: a marine life motif in the Oval Office, dancing before cabinet meetings, and everyone in costume for a G8 summit. Here she is with her presumptive running mate, Maddie B. They sing a song together, "We are the crazy Maddies." I could start printing bumper stickers: "Vote the Maddies! It Couldn't get any Crazier."

 

We know that we are Those Parents who think their kids are adorable. Yes, we admit Micah can be a thug, but he is happy and cheerful. He's also the youngest kid at the ISS or its host German elementary school.

But now we have proof. I had Micah's parent/teacher conference this week. All the kids at his school pet/play with/pamper him. But I found out that the headmistress had to send a letter to the teachers at the host school asking them to keep the kids away from Micah while he is playing outside. They like to touch his hair and cheeks and play with him. Apparently they gathered around him a few times too many and he started to cry because he couldn't climb anywhere.

Pumpkin festival at Ludwigsburg Palalce

Tess's thoughts on the pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg:

It's surprising how small Ludwigsburg Palace

(and here)looks from the side entrance. We walked in the side gate and saw a large rose garden with a fountain in the middle. We thought it was nice, but small for palace grounds. 

Then we walked down the side of the palace and saw there were miles of gardens. We saw pumpkins that weighed more than Daddy. We saw pumpkins carved into animals. My favorite was a collection of pumpkins all carved to look like animals. We walked through the fairytale garden with small houses that had a story in them. We even saw Rapunzel's hair coming down from her tower.

We met some friends from school. We went to the cafe and they had pumpkin rice, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin beer and pumpkin muffins. We played at the playground next to the food stands. We ran around all afternoon and then went home.

Piper here:

It's true.

We walked in the side gate of one of Germany's largest baroque palaces, and I thought, "nice roses." and that was about it. The grounds were pretty with sculpted beds and a fountain, but nothing to be overly thrilled with. We walked along the back and there was a tree-lined lane that lead to miles of some of the most beautiful grounds and gardens I have ever seen.

We have put it on our list of places to come back to and places to take visitors. It also soothed my soul to see the that the obsession with large vegetables goes beyond the borders of American state fairs. Though, I must say, no food on a stick here. Only pumpkin in everything you can think of. Thankfully none in my cappuccino. 

The BEVO

We here at 5fordhams have a little experience with imaginary friends.

At a young age, Tess introduced Chi-Chi, Plum-Plum and Victy to our world. They had many grand adventures until one day, shortly after Tess turned 5, when I asked her what she had done with her friends that day. She looked at me with a very disturbed expression and said, "Daddy, they're just pretend."

That chapter of life soon closed and Mommy and Daddy learned an important lesson about asking our children awkward and embarrassing questions.

Later on, Maddie introduced us to the altogether wilder world of Huckle and Other Huckle. This time around, we avoided the hard questions to better prolong the fun. Maddie did point out once that Huckle was "just-pretend" but the frequency of her trips to the Maddieverse never slowed.

It turns that Maddie understands knows exactly what is what. She simply doesn't care whether anyone thinks she's silly. And we're right there with her as long as we continue to be invited to play with Other Huckle in Other England (who last summer had tea with the Other Queen).

Which brings us to the topic of today's post. We thought that Micah would skip this phase. His little boy universe has less room for narrative then the girls' worlds did. There's more banging and bashing and not as much time for tea parties with make-believe friends and stuffed animals.

Until now.

One of Piper's friends gave Micah BEVO last summer. The BEVO is a stuffed replica of the UT mascot. It has become quite real to Micah. Velveteen rabbitt real. Micah takes BEVO everywhere.

And, in a disturbing addition to the pattern his sisters followed, Micah has developed a special voice for BEVO. It's a very high pitched, nasally voice. LOUD, HIGH PITCHED and NASALLY.

I can tell you from both personal experience and the reactions of strangers that it's incredibly cute on first exposure. Unfortunately, this cuteness diminishes exponentially with exposure over time. Within the 400 sq ft confines of our German hotel room, BEVO VOICE is now driving all of us crazy.

This problem is compounded because BEVO has alot to say. Given that Micah is a light sleeper, much of what BEVO has to say is said while Micah jumps up and down on my chest (for emphasis) between the hours of 4 and 6 am.

Soon and very soon, I may slip and mention to Micah that BEVO isn't real.

Translation

Translation programs are a huge help, except when they are not.
Take this recent example from a local Realtor. I opened an e-mail to a message that he had run through such a program:
"Acts to me suffer the appointment morning does not go. When you have on Thursday time with it I it also with the owner can clear, because you should be present with besichtigung, and you also has the key of the Apartment. And give me please still your number where I you can also reach.
Thank you"

I kid you not.
Petra, our relocation helper, even tried to think through a forensic analysis that would come up with such a paragraph. She couldn't.
As to the house, it was great and would be wonderful for the family.
The downside is that it comes at another family's expense. The guy's contract has gone bankrupt and they are pulling him out after six months.
The family has given verbal notice and wants to be out in December. However, the process may stall until late winter. We can wait til Dec. but not beyond.
Ugg.
Here is info on the town. If we get the house, we'll pass along photos.
http://www.magstadt.de

Magstadt

As 5fordhams continue our German climb up Maslow's Hierarchy, we remain stuck on the first rung.

We've got the food and clothing thing licked. Housing, however, has remained a problem.

That may come to an end tomorrow. After repeatedly failing to score a date to the prom with any of the realtors in Sindelfingen (where the kids school is), we've settled in Magstadt. Tomorrow (Lord willing), we'll be deciding between 2 houses in that town.

Neither of them is perfect but both seem more than acceptable (better than anything else that we've looked at so far). Any remaining defects that either of them has is probably for the best since our friends in the US have told us to have a good time but not get too comfortable.

Anyway, Magstadt is a charming little town about 8 miles northwest of Sindelfingen. It's a pretty short drive for Piper to take the kids to school. It's also an easy bike ride to work. The latter is culturally acceptable given the Army's obsession with physical fitness and the presence of ample gym facilities and showers in walking distance of my building. It looks like a great deal.

We'll still have to buy another car since I can't bike every day. I'm starting to research that.

It's nice, however, to close this madness.

This weekend: the zoo.

Next weeek, Piper starts German classes. Everybody in 5fordhams is looking forward to seeing how manic she'll be when she kicks her culture engine into second gear.

Next post. BEVO.

Housing

The Stuttgart housing market continues to disappoint.

Last night, we were informed by the owner of a local house that we were not chosen to rent their house. We had called them, e-mailed them, sent them pictures of our family, and dressed our kids up for the final audition (er, home inspection). Generally speaking, we pandered in every way possible. Only now I learn that there were other ways of pandering that I didn't know of. Somebody please tell me what we left out.

In recognition of our efforts, we got a succinct note that we were not chosen to rent their house. To be fair, there were a few other German familes that were also interested although that didn't come on the scene til several days after we had approached the owners.

I think that our nationality, coupled with the large size of our family (3 kids is alot for Germany) worked against us.

Or perhaps it was the fact that I hadn't had my hair cut in 3 weeks and didn't wear clean socks. I get insecure about these things and overanalyze. The stress of all this rejection is reminding me why I didn't date in high school.

Today, Pipe and I put the kids down for naps and spent a quality romantic German Saturday afternoon reading German real estate postings to decide just how far we should lower our standards.

Pretty far, we concluded.

More to come.

Other Huckle

Other Huckle -- for those of you who aren't indoctrinated into the oral mythology of 5fordhams -- is the name of Maddie's imaginary friend. Other Huckle should not be confused with Huckle. Huckle is merely a stuffed dolphin toy (a Common Dolphin to be precise). Other Huckle is the mythical embodiment of all manner of competence to a 5 year old.

Case in point. This morning over breakfast, Maddie informed me that Other Huckle could hold his breath for a million years just like aquaman.

...the aquaman reference surprised me. I think that Piper has been letting the kids watch Justice League clips on youtube to indulge their Wonder Woman fetish (reference my earlier post on that topic). I digress.

Back to breakfast. Maddie added, after reverent silence, that Other Huckle could also balance a plate on one finger forever. I didn't point out that Other Huckle did not have fingers since Other Huckle's race, age and origins are somewhat flexible. Usually Other Huckle is a dolphin -- albeit a dolphin with occasional fingers, legs or toes. Further relationships are murky.

At various times, Other Huckle has been Huckle's Mother, brother and sister. Other Huckle has also been older and younger than Maddie. I recall the halcyon days of 2007 when Maddie was briefly Other Huckle's mother. Or perhaps, now that I think about it, she was merely Huckle's mother... I confess that the finer details confuse me.

Anyway, Other Huckle is quite an influential member of the 5fordhams household. He/She participates in all manner of mischief. At least, he's blamed by Maddie for many of the things that go wrong around here. Maddie also consults her inner Other Huckle when she's faced with the hard choices of life. Grilled cheese, Mac'n Cheese or Hot Dogs? "I fink that Other Huckle likes Hot Dogs."

WWOHD.

The good news is that Other Huckle appears to be enjoying Germany. Last week I was informed by Maddie that Other Huckle spoke fluent German.

Help! My daughters are addicted to Wonder Woman.

Todays story is in honor of my friend Scott. Scott is new to parenting and needs to be instructed concerning the slippery slope upon which he is now perched.

Our cautionary tale begins innocently enough. Piper was walking the girls through the park and Maddie was twirling about (in typical non-linear Maddie fashion). Piper mentioned to the girls that Maddie looked like Wonder Woman.

First mistake.

When she got home, the girls asked to look up Wonder Woman on the web. Piper showed them a few video clips of the 70's TV show with Linda Carter.

Strike Two.

The girls are now fascinated. They think Wonder Woman is the coolest thing ever.

Volkfest!

Our first trip to Stuttgart on the S-bahn to go to Volkfest, Stuttgart's version of Oktoberfest. Highlights included:
Dogs on trains
Giant Slide
Giant Pretzels
An entire festival food court that was just bread and meat. (not so great for Piper)
Traditional German clothes
Did we mention the flatbed trucks of beer?
Rollercoasters for Piper (that's the mechanical arm high in the sky).
Spinny Octopus ride. Tess: "I want to get off!" Maddie: "I want to do it again!" It was close to Micah's naptime so he wouldn't get near the thing.