Go ahead and laugh...

...because honestly, life here is hilarious sometimes.

Like the time I was at the Kita to see about Ariana starting there. The head lady invited me into the office and suavely offered me some water after we were seated. Water sounded like the best thing in the world because I was thirsty, so of course I said yes. But when I got it to my lips, it wasn't what I would call water at all. Try club soda? Perrier? But not water. So here I am trying to look equally suave and not choke on the stuff. I set it down and don't drink any the rest of the time. So embarrassing after my obvious enthusiasm over the water. And I keep wondering how they stand this stuff. Or how any of them have any teeth left if their main source of moisture is highly acidic. Ah, the mysteries of the universe. (...oh wait, there's always alcoholic drinks. Truly the main source based on my observations.)

Then we invite over dinner guests from our ward at church. And guess what, they didn't even touch our bottled water the whole time they ate. We buy our water bottled in France so it has no carbonation, and the package gives it away. It's one of the only ways to get truly regular, good tasting water around here. If you buy a local brand, even if it is labeled natural, it still hisses when you open it, and carbonic gas is listed in the nutritional facts, only in smaller quantities. We were trying to be fancy with bottled water instead of tap, but I guess I forgot to cater to my guests' tastes.

In fact, one of the first things I learned how to say when we arrived in Germany was "ohne Kohlensaeure," without carbonation. The second was "ohne Zwiebeln." I use that phrase almost every week. It means no onions.

So admittedly my tastes are a little different than your average European. But I'm getting over it...with lots of laughter.

The Tick

Let me begin with the good news before the bad. Yesterday was wonderful. My friend Miriam offered to take the kids at the last moment so we could see Harry Potter in the theater. Our original plan had been to alternate watching the kids. So we got to have a wonderful date and eat Italian ice cream together and watch a movie in German.

But the day before that...well not so good. Jeff went out at 8 pm to meet some church members to play Axis and Allies. Of course, they wanted him to play America, and they were fighting over who would be Germany. Jeff and Tobias played as UK and US and beat them soundly. While this was going on, I was at home with the kids. We played at the park, then read stories and went to bed. I was nursing Ella, laying on my side, and a spot near my knee started really hurting. She wouldn't go to sleep and wouldn't go to sleep. Finally I had to go to the bathroom so bad that I couldn't hold it anymore, and I left her in bed crying while I went out to use the restroom. As I sat on the toilet, that same spot again hurt, and I looked down and there was something that looked like a rock embedded in my skin, which was all red and irritated. A closer look and I nearly passed out. A huge tick the size of an apple seed or bigger was dug down in my skin, and the swelling around him covered him nearly half way. I took off my pants and grabbed my phone to call Jeff. I looked up online how to take one out, but I was too upset to do it by myself, and I didn't know where the tweezers were, and it hurt to walk. So I just sat there for over an hour, avoiding looking at the tick and trying to get Jeff to answer his phone and crying like a really big wimp.

Meanwhile, Jeff, sitting around the game table with the guys, had just finished the first game and was about to start a second. He reached in his pocket to check the time on the phone, and saw that I was calling at that very moment. His phone had been on silent since church on Sunday and he had not realized it. When he talked to me I was so upset that he thought I said I had gotten at "ticket" at first. Tobias drove him home, and told him what he had learned at his most recent first aid class, to just pull the tick straight out instead of trying to use a match or anything. Apparently if you upset them, they inject their meal back where it came from, significantly increasing the risk of contracting a disease. So I spent the next two hours worrying about what horrible diseases I might get, and by three am I fell into bed exhausted. We saved the tick neatly in a baggy, even though he is mostly smushed. We couldn't ever find the tweezers, so Jeff used his multi-pliers. I guess you can have them tested for what diseases they were carrying, although I doubt we will have the time, energy, or funds to do that in a foreign country. I was totally scared by the incident, and wasn't really excited to go back to the park any time soon. Then Jeff made me feel worse by saying that it was much more likely that I got it on our walk on Saturday through an area with long grass and dogs playing. So that means the tick would have been there for days, and that's why he was so big. GROSS! Also, because of the air drying our laundry, I have been trying to wear my pants for several days, so I never would have noticed till it hurt like that.

Anyways, not very fun, but definitely some excitement. Next time I will not make so much fun when Ann Marie gets a tick and is wailing about it.

Ella's Baby Picture

I know that every mother thinks that their baby is the most beautiful baby on the planet Earth, but that in no way stops me from feeling the exact same way. I wanted to share my favorite coming home picture of Ella. Okay, she was a week old already. But when you are doing your own pictures it takes a little while to feel up to anything. She just looks so dainty in with the daisies.


There. See? I really do have the most beautiful baby in the world (at least in my world, you can't argue about that). Now if we could only get her to sleep like this all the time...

The Hagenbeck Tierpark, aka. "The Zoo"

On Saturday we decided to go to the Zoo. We decided at about 8:15. We started getting ready in earnest at 9:00. We didn't arrive at the Zoo until almost noon. That's how long it takes us to move around with three kleine Kinder. Between leaving and arriving, we took a bus and two trains, for a total of almost an hour's travel both ways. And we were fully loaded with everything we would need for the entire day, included two diaper bags stuffed with cloth diapers and wipes, snacks to decrease our food costs, and a coat and water bottle for each person.

It didn't even all fit in the stroller. But we were determined to have fun...even if it killed us.

On the way in we found a small stand selling uniform looking white plastic sacks. Most of the visitors were buying them, so I quickly pointed it out to Jeff to go talk to them (I tend to avoid talking to anyone, so as not to have to mince German so badly they kick me out of the country). It turns out the bags were full of precut food for the animals, such as carrots, apples, leafy greens, and cucumbers. For a couple euros you could purchase a bag and feed certain animals in the park, and the money went to the care of the animals. We bought two bags. Although you could feed many animals, such as the monkeys, by far the most exciting were the elephants. They would reach out to grab the food from you and pop it in their mouth as quick as possible so they could reach for more. Everyone got a turn, but David didn't want anything to do with the elephants. I got my hand wet from its' trunk.

We stopped shortly to look at the monkeys and throw them a few veggies. (Perhaps Ari is on the wrong side of the glass?) Then we booked it over to the other side of the park for the Giraffe feeding that started at noon.

At the giraffe area was an elevated walkway where you could stand at the giraffes' head level. A volunteer for the zoo had a wheelbarrow full of leaves for the giraffes. For a nominal donation we each got a handful of leaves to feed them. Jeff took the kids up first, then it was my turn.

Jeff had tried to get David to feed the giraffes when he went up, but David was scared, same as the elephants. When I went up with him, I saw that the giraffe had quite the reach, so I picked David up and just held him so he wouldn't expect anything. The giraffe came and took the entire branch of leaves right out of his hands. Ariana, on the other hand, was so short and had so many people in front of her that the giraffe didn't really seem to notice her. And she was practically jumping up and down waving her leaf and calling to it. So it was really quite funny when the giraffe finally did notice the leaf dancing up and down and eat it, because Ariana let out a scream and started crying. She had to be comforted to calm down. I know, shame on me for finding it funny, but she had already been feeding the giraffe just fine before that, it just surprised her.

Ella was content to hang out in the stroller for a good portion of the day, and I was glad not to have to carry her. As you can see, I dressed her up for the occasion. Those are little monkeys on her shirt. Ella's favorite part of the trip was when we went back to the elephants later in the day to feed them some more. She kept turning her head to look at them intently.

Next, Ariana got to go on a pony ride. She had the biggest grin on her face when she got off. She also got to pet the pony's head, although she moved a little quickly for its' liking.

Here is David checking out the flamingos. We had to keep a good eye on him because there was nothing between him and the water. Flamingos are one of my favorite zoo animals, but this zoo had a couple of new tricks up its sleeve, like some cute baby grizzly bear cubs tumbling and playing together. The tropical animals are actually kept in a separate huge building with its own admission. So when it started pouring down rain, as it often does in Hamburg, we headed inside.

Here is what greeted us first inside - lemurs. This is also one of my new favorite exhibits. You walk into a room that is full of lemurs playing and doing whatever they please, including using one guy's shoulders as a stepping stone to another perch! You couldn't touch them, but they could run around you. It was really cool. We didn't get a very good picture because they were always on the move. There was also an incredibly cute baby lemur in the group.

Towards the end, everyone was getting a little tired and cranky, especially because the stroller had to be left outside of the "aquarium." We sat down to eat some snacks and then headed back outside. We visited a few more animals, ate dinner, and then it was time to go home. Of course, by that time the kids were exhausted and the hour long train ride home was a royal pain. But that's another story (and one not really worth recounting).

As you can tell, I love having a phone with a camera now. And we will probably be headed back to the zoo sooner rather than later - feeding the animals was a big hit.