Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Whirlwind Tour


We just returned from a quick trip to NY, NH and MN. I had never been to New York City before and I just kept looking up at the skyscrapers. I was reminded of two movies - "The Fisherking" and "Batman". A building on Lexington reminded me of the first and all of Manhattan at night reminded me of the second movie. Here is a picture of something else we saw:


Loved going to the MoMA, Times Square, Rockefeller Center... but wait... this is supposed to be a blog about Germany. It was good to see a bit of the US before the move and a nice distraction from the stress. Even our flights on Thanksgiving Day were a breeze.

Our total immersion continues - we were invited by Bavarian friends for a pre-Thanksgiving, German-American dinner and B appreciated their Bavarian accent in high German. The hostess even made Semmelknödel in our honor. These are dumplings made with aged bread, milk, onions, eggs and contain parsley and mushrooms among other ingredients. I brought pumpkin pie.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

It's official

B (finally) received word on his work permit. He can officially work in Germany as of December 1. We are burning up some much needed vacation time visiting family in the US over Thanksgiving and sightseeing the coolest city on earth (New York) before packing everything up into brown, ugly cardboard cartons...

So I got tagged and here goes my meme (is there a circumflex or an accent missing somewhere?):

1. I'm a Saggitarius.
2. While vacationing in Mexico, I ordered a "Coco Loco" and became violently ill. The lesson I learned was not to order mixed, fruity drinks and stick to hard liquor from the bottle if any alcohol has to be consumed in tropical locations.
3. My favorite color is blue.
4. If I could come back in another life I would want to be a dolphin.
5. Haselnusstorte, Sachertorte, Erdbeertorte... you get my drift?
6. I can order number 5 in four languages.
7. I love modern, minimalist design.

I tag the following (only because I think they have not yet been tagged by others:

Ann-Ona-Moose
Germany Doesn't Suck
An American Expat in Deutschland

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Goodbyes


We said goodbye to Gracie on Saturday. She had been suffering from dementia and a lot of physical problems for most of a year, most likely caused by arteriosclerosis in the brain. She had such a sweet nature that she remained affectionate even after she stopped wanting to eat. But her condition worsened to the point where her mind was gone, her body was in pain, and it was time to let her go.

She touched a lot of lives in 15 years. She inspired at least a few people to get a dog, and our Korean neighbors chose Gracie as the American name for their new baby because the older girls were so taken with her.
Right now we are just trying to cope with losing her and it's difficult to get excited about moving to Germany.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Certificate of Conduct (the sequel)

The certificate of conduct arrived in the mail yesterday (see my first post). It was actually sent via express mail ("Eilpost"). It looks like a single green sheet of paper with a giant watermark of the German eagle. As expected, there are no entries for B (not the kind of guy with a rap sheet :-) We are quite pleased with the fast response.

The department stores in the US set up decorated Xmas trees before Halloween. Just an informal poll ... what's the best Christmas market in Germany to go to?