Frohes neues Jahr 2010

We are back in dreary Frankfurt after an awesome beach vacation to SE Asia. It is such a shame to hide these nice tans under layers of winter clothing. Gianna loved the beach but was anxious to get home and open her presents. Dan and Gianna are home from work and school today and tomorrow, so we are watching DVDs, playing with her new toys, and just chilling before the daily grind starts again on Monday. The Germans get crazy dangerous with fireworks on New Year's Eve, so tonight we're going to dinner with friends, then heading for cover.

Frohes neues Jahr!







Happy New Year

No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It's the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now's the time for us to say...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Going on Holiday

This evening we leave for a much needed beach vacation, so I will make this the last (?) post in December. I'm sitting here waiting for the Hundepension to come pick up Bruno, then I will take the orange tree and mail key over to the neighbors. My stomach is in knots because we've already had to re-book one of our flights thanks to Bank of America freezing our credit card account for "international charges". Hopefully that is the only thing that will go wrong with this trip. I am really looking forward to some warm weather and seeing Gianna in her gown for a Christmas Eve gala at the resort.

Without further adieu, here is my Christmas card for my family and friends. I find my own child highly entertaining and hopefully you will to. Merry Christmas! We'll be back in Frankfurt to ring in the new year :-)

Christmas party

Gianna's class held a Christmas party for the parents yesterday. They sang a few songs for us, recited a story about bears, then we ate some snacks provided by the parents. Gianna was not happy that I was at the party. She wanted Dan to be there instead, and sulked during the songs:
But she came around once the food was served:

Yesterday night we wandered around Preungesheim in the dark trying to find Gianna's new pediatrician's office which turned out to be located behind a Getränkhalle in the same building as an auto body shop. At 3 years old, she is 94 cm tall and weighs 13 kilos. That puts her in about the 25th percentile on the German scale. She is quite light and much shorter than most of her classmates. Some tower head and shoulders above Gianna! Still, she says when she grows up, she's going to be "big".

Christmas concert

On Friday a bunch of families crammed into the US Consulate Field House to hear their 2-5 year olds sing Christmas carols. Gianna was very excited the night before, saying that she was going to sing real loud so we could hear her. When the time came to perform, stage fright struck, and she refused to cooperate. A teacher ended up carrying her onto the stage and she hid her face for most of the two songs. Later she explained the situation, "I scared; I not know there going to be so many chairs". I took that to mean she thought it was just going to be her parents coming to see her and not a room full of people. But she looked beautiful and enjoyed a celebratory pizza lunch afterwards with her friend. On Monday I go to her class Christmas party where we'll make Christmas cookies.

Our pyramid

It was a tough decision, so many to choose from, but here's the one that's going to become our "family heirloom". That is, unless it starts on fire the first time I light it up.

Advent and St. Nikolaus Day

The Germans really know how to celebrate Christmas. They kick off advent with Christmas markets, pealing of the bells, and display elaborate advent calendars in their homes. The quality and creativity of your family's advent calendar is something they take quite seriously. Shame on those that use a cardboard store bought version and not something hand made! My German family showed me theirs this week. It is like a shrine, covering an entire wall. The frau of the house made it from decorative fabric, felt, shiny stuff, materials I couldn't even identify. I was impressed. Each pocket had a number and was stuffed with candy for the kinder to open every day after nap. She kindly gave me a store bought version for Gianna, assuming I would not make such an effort in our small rented apartment. She was right. Gianna really loves her SpongeBob advent calendar that gives her a piece of chocolate after dinner every night.

Six days into your German advent calendar is St. Nikolaus Day. This holiday is steeped in tradition, so I'll try to break it down to its simple elements. First, St. Nikolaus is not the same as Santa Claus (Weihnachtsmann); he is the predecessor. Nikolaus looks pretty much like Santa but wears a miter. German children place one boot outside their door before they go to bed on Dec. 5th. Nikolaus puts chocolate in the boot if they have been good or a wooden switch if they have been bad. Dirty boots are offensive to St. Nikolaus and would certainly earn you a switch. Therefore, the kids spend Dec 5th polishing their boots in preparation (the Germans have an odd obsession with clean shoes and often own eccentric shoe polishing kits). My German family kindly schooled me in this tradition, providing a chocolate treat bag for Gianna. I intended to follow their tradition, but forgot the most important step of cleaning her extremely muddy boots. Oops. They also warned me some groups of children go around caroling on St. Nikolaus Tag, expecting chocolate in return :-O German Christian families put special emphasis St. Nikolaus Tag so that the children are not blinded by mass consumerism on Christmas, and can better focus their thoughts on the birth of Christ. Next time I talk with my German family, I'm going to get a more complete description of their Christmas Eve festivities. Also, I am going to ask why they don't have a Christmas tree up yet. Since Martin Luther invented the Christmas tree, I'm really surprised the Germans don't keep one up year-round.

SpongeBob: the party

Gianna's SpongeBob birthday party was a hit, with 25 guests in all. It was controlled chaos, much better than I expected when you have a dozen kids playing in a 2 bedroom apartment. The kids loved the arts and crafts table where they colored pictures of SpongeBob, created playdoh SpongeBobs, and made pipe cleaner candy cane ornaments to take home. People were also impressed with the SpongeBob cupcake tower, direct from the UK. It was easier than making another cake. I tried out a new recipe for a layered sandwich that worked out well and made fruit salad in a pineapple half. One kid said "look mommy, a banana!" It seems many of them had never seen a fresh pineapple before. By the end of the party, some kids were getting tired. One kid crawled into Gianna's bed to proceed with nap time and another threw a giant fit when his mom said it was time to go. I'm glad they all had fun. It's a lot of work, but I love throwing parties. Now we have plenty of leftovers and new toys to last the whole weekend. Right now she is enjoying her new Dora DVD from her friend Jada back in NYC. She told us "It's in English; it's better" (as compared to the German version she watches on Nick de). Thanks everybody! And Happy St. Nikolaus Day to all the little kids in Germany. Hopefully you get chocolate and not a switch in your shoe tonight.

World AIDS Day

For lunch I was down at the Christmas Market again when I came across two young people collecting donations to benefit the AIDS mission in Frankfurt. For my donation, they gave me this bear and a ribbon to wear on my coat. As a scientist and self-proclaimed humanitarian, I would like to see the day when this disease is eradicated, or at the very least, see the day when the social stigma is gone. There has been so much progress in fighting the spread of HIV in recent years, thanks in part to President GW Bush. Yes, thanks to GW! He established and funded the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. The funding pays for testing, treatment, support for patients' families, prevention programs, and dispelling the AIDS stigma in many African countries and Vietnam. Despite the program's great success, the Obama administration wants to reduce funding, which has earned them a D+ from Global AIDS Groups.

“Our investments in PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and overall global health have made a positive difference and we will continue our support, but we have to do more. We have to make sure that our programs foster conditions that improve people's lives and in turn promote stability, prosperity, and security. In this time of very tight budgets in our own government and our own people suffering from unemployment, from other kinds of cutbacks in services, we have to do more even here at home. We've seen some of the results of the cutbacks that are happening at the state and local level. So while we're talking about our commitment internationally, let's not forget our fellow citizens who are suffering right now.”

This attitude gets failing marks in my book; it's trickle-down humanitarianism. The "suffering" Americans are experiencing due to the economic downturn is mild compared to the daily lives of people benefiting from PEPFAR. Obviously there's less money to spread around due to "tightened budgets", so hopefully any cuts to the PEPFAR funding will be temporary.

Pealing of the Bells

Last night 10 churches in downtown Frankfurt all rang their bells from 4:30 until 5:00 to celebrate the coming of Advent. We started our listening tour by the Kaiserdom, one of the largest and most beautiful cathedrals in Frankfurt. It is home to Gloriosa, a nearly 12 ton bell, the second largest in all of Germany. The bells started out slow and light, then they started to ring Gloriosa. Her loud, low tone is very easy to pick out on the video and produced a reaction from the crowd. Next, we walked down the hill into Römerberg to hear the different sounds coming from Alte Nikolai church. Finally, we ended up back in the grotto below Kaiserdom, listening to Gloriosa one last time before getting some food at the Christmas Market.

Gianna's 3rd Birthday

5:30 I can't sleep. It's Gianna's birthday and I want it to be perfect and not oversleep so that we miss going to the pool and, and....wait, what's that I hear? Is Gianna waking up? Hooray! Happy Birthday!!

6:00 Wait, I thought it was 7:00, not 6:00. Why are we up this early? Too late to get Gianna to go back to sleep, so we watch SpongeBob and Dora in the living room, then I make her Vietnamese porridge for breakfast.

8:45 We are out the door, on our way to the Titus Therman indoor pool at Nordwestzentrum. We stop to watch a building demolition along the way.

9:45 We enter the pool for 90 minutes of swim time. It was a blast. We disturbed old people.

11:30 Lunch at Ton Kin where the Vietnamese waitress knows Gianna and wants her to "nicht vergessen Vietnam". We speak in 3 languages; life is confusing. I tell the waitress it is Gianna's birthday today (heute Geburtstag!) and Gianna leaves with a free ice cream bar.

12:45 Gianna is taking a nap as I put the gifts on the table, set the SpongeBob plates and napkins, and put out the cake. Stupid SpongeBob figurine keeps falling down.

14:00 Bruno and I wake Gianna up from her nap. She agrees opening presents is a higher priority than sleep. As we are singing "Happy Birthday" the SpongeBob figurine falls off the cake, taking out the candle, spilling wax onto the table. I pick up the mess; we resume the song where we left off. She blows out the candle on the cake, I cut her a piece, she eats some of the icing, eats the ice cream, eats gummi fish off the remaining cake, then says she is full and wants to open presents. Dan and I split the rest of her piece of cake.

14:15 Gift unwrapping begins, as both sets of Grandparents call on Skype to witness the event. Gianna is in heaven.

15:30 We say good-bye to all the Bàs and Ôngs and get dressed for a trip to the Christmas Market, which opened last night. It's cloudy, so by 16:00, all the lights are on and it's really looking spectacular. We are still stuffed from cake, but Gianna is begging for anything she sees to eat, pretzels, potato cakes, bratwurst. Wait for dinner!

17:00 It begins to rain, so we jump on the U5 back to Oeder Weg. Dinner of bratwurst and baked beans is served after assembling three SpongeBob puzzles and clearing the table of all the wrapping paper and ribbon.

19:05 We are Skyping with Jeff and Nancy; Gianna is being naughty. The day has been too long and all this birthday excitement has worn her out. Time for a bath with the new bath bomb from Lush. Bath ends early with crying; she pushes me over when I am drying her.

20:00 Gianna is in bed wearing her new Eyore pajamas. She gives me a hearty "Thank you, Mẹ" as I kiss her good-night and wish her sweet dreams.

22:00 It's hard to believe she is 3. This Thanksgiving/Gianna's birthday nexus holiday was great, despite living in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I am wondering if her birthmother was thinking of her today. I am thankful that she gave birth to my daughter and for all the people that brought Gianna Mai into our life.

SpongeBob: the cake

Happy birthday to my little turkey Gianna Mai! Technically it's already her birthday in Vietnam, and here in Germany, we are just 2 hours shy of November 26. For the second year in a row, Gianna has requested a SpongeBob cake. Last year, I made a pink Patrick Star cake, this year, she insisted on the sponge himself. So, with a little imagination and help from a UK cake decorating store, voilà!












1.) Start with a delicious dark chocolate cake recipe. 2.) Fill with cherry preserves and chocolate icing. 3.) Frost the outside with swirly blue icing to look like the ocean. 4.) Lick the knife.











Leave a hole in the middle for a chocolate frosting island covered with my secret recipe for edible sand.











Adorn with gummi sea creatures and place SpongeBob character on the island (prop him up with a plastic straw when he starts to fall over).

Success!

Frankfurt Christmas market

Although the Frankfurt Christmas market doesn't open until Wednesday, the little shacks are already set up, along with carousels, lights, decorations, and a huge Christmas tree sitting on Römer square. It was fun to walk around while it's still empty, and a good chance to take some photos of the decorations before the crowds move in. The Christmas market runs from 25 November through 22 December, so plenty of time to get your fill of Glühwein and poffertjes!

One little monkey...

...jumping on the bed!


Gianna in her natural habitat, after school. I think she is celebrating that the sun came out for the first time in months...or the stack of birthday presents on top of the wardrobe. Click the photo for better resolution.

Bärchenwurst

"delicate baloney with poultry meat for small and large gourmets"

H1N1

For the first part of this week, Gianna's school is closed due to parent-teacher conferences and Veteran's Day tomorrow. Dan met with Gianna's teachers on Monday to discuss her pre-school progress:

-Gianna is not afraid to say "no!" to the boys when they want to start rough play. She doesn't ask for help from the teachers to make them leave her and her friends alone.
-Although she is the youngest in the class, she is amongst the brightest.
-She is behind in English, but is on track with other ESL students.
-She is very eager to start activities and learn; she often understands concepts that the other children can't grasp.

I am not sure if I will send her back for the remaining two school days this week. One of her classmates is down with suspected H1N1. It will take 3 days to get results back, as Germany does not seem to stock in-office tests. In fact, their whole attitude towards the disease has been rather arrogant. They received one batch of quality vaccine from Baxter last month and inoculated their military and politicians (um, are they planning to take over the world again?). Later this month, a batch of lower quality vaccine will arrive to vaccinate high risk patients including pregnant women and children. I've spoken with several doctors including Gianna's pediatrician, asking where we can go to get her inoculated and their answer is they won't be getting any vaccine in because they "don't expect it will get as bad here as in the States". And that conclusion is based on what scientific logic? Americans are going around coughing on each other and licking door handles whilst the German superstitions of wearing scarves year-round and opening all the windows in the morning to let the stale air out are going to keep them protected? Once I hear batches of the vaccine have arrived, I am going to call around, see who has it, get both Gianna and myself vaccinated. Until then, my ears are finely tuned to any child that's down with H1N1. Schweinegrippe raus!

Swedish festival

Despite the rain, people are out at the Swedish festival on the Hauptwache drinking glögg and dancing to the ABBA cover band. It's not very large, just a few stands selling meatballs (including Ikea), glögg, smoked salmon, reindeer and elk burgers, and Swedish handicrafts. We drank some glögg, listened and danced to faux ABBA (they couldn't get the real ABBA?) then headed off to dinner with friends at Mai Viên, which has quickly become our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Frankfurt. Today is a rare "Sunday shopping" day, where the stores are allowed to be open. On other Sundays, retails stores are to remain closed, as per German law. Perhaps we will window shop on the Zeil and go back to the Swedish festival for more glögg.

The viking ship selling glögg and other Swedish beverages.

Enjoying said glög.

Listening to ABBA "Dancing Queen"

Gianna and a wooden reindeer reading the menu.

Laufräder

It's a bike without pedals for young children to learn balance and agility before moving up to the big kid bikes. They drive it the same way Fred Flintstone drives his car, using their feet as gas and brake. Once they learn to balance on two wheels, they lift their feet off the ground and coast when they get up to speed. Laufräders are incredibly popular in Germany, especially the wooden ones. Yes, bikes made of wood! Germans would make their kids out of wood if it was possible; they love anything wooden. Gianna's friend rides a wood bike, but I have not yet been able to snap a photo, so a website pic will have to do. And here are a few photos of Gianna riding her new bike home in the rain.

Street Girl is toast

Gianna's intrepid pink and purple Laufrad named "Street Girl" has bit the dust. The ball bearings and band brake in the rear axel are damaged. Sure, there's a chance we may be able to find some suitable replacement parts and repair the old girl, but for the money we spent on the bike to begin with, it's probably not worth the time and effort. The snooty chain smoking bike repair man gave me an earful about buying cheap bikes for kids in the first place. He almost swallowed his cigarette when I told him we bought it at Toys-R-Us. Well guess what, instead of buying a €250 German approved bike, we're going back to Toys-R-Us this weekend to get another crappy Made in China model...and this time we'll save the receipt. Until then, Gianna's back to walking to school.*



*Wednesday morning edit: I let the bike guy's lecture get to me and we decided to buy a premium bike (although it was still much less than €250 and I didn't buy it from that jerk). It's German, but not made of wood like the most expensive models. I don't see why people spend more money to risk getting splinters in your arse. Photos are forthcoming once we get some decent weather...so April.

Halloween

"Chicken Treat!" Gianna was skeptical of this holiday from the beginning. She did not want to wear her costume and "chicken treating" didn't sound like fun either...until we got to the US consulate housing, she saw all the tables set up and realized, they were giving out free candy!! The people were grilling, drinking beer, wearing spooky costumes, it was an all-American celebration. We ran into a lot of people we knew; it was fun to hang out with other Americans on this great holiday. Gianna filled her Hello Kitty bag and we made one last trick-or-treat stop at neighbor Niall's house before calling it a night. She got a variety of candy, including several American treats that are not sold in the stores here. Thanks for a great night, US Consulate!