Taking the train

In Germany, you can take the train almost anywhere you want to go. There are U-Bahns and S-Bahns, underground and street trains. In the city, we mostly take the U Bahn, but this weekend we hopped on an S Bahn out to Kronberg and the Opel Zoo. It was a nice ride up into a hilly region out in the country. Gianna enjoyed the zoo, especially the hippos, which she wouldn't stop talking about at dinner that night. She was asleep while we toured Kronberg, an ancient German town with the compulsory castle on the hill.











There are probably many travel agents in Frankfurt that speak English, but I found one particular English speaking travel agent in the Hauptbahnhof that I keep bothering for the best deals on travel. Germans are always interested in the best deal and they won't sell you tickets that they think are overpriced, unless you are buying online, then they are not responsible for your poor financial choices. My travel agent friend booked our London trip for this weekend. Although the train tickets were budget priced, we went with the more expensive short flight that gives us more time to see the city. Paying more € for the flight made sense even to a German since the train trip is dreadfully long and slow. Now we are trying to book a fast ICE train to Paris for the upcoming Ascension Day holiday weekend starting May 21. Dan's parents and sister will be here, so we need 5 adult tickets. The travel agent was cursing the French for holding all return tickets on Sunday. Even if we could travel then, the price was over €200 per person roundtrip, which he wouldn't sell to me--too expensive! So he found alternate trains on different days for €128 per person round trip. I just find it amusing how far the Germans will go to save a €. As Americans, if we really want something, we'll just throw out the extra money and suck it up, maybe stay in a cheaper hotel to make up the difference. Not the Germans. Getting the best price is their top priority. Anything else is shameful, a dishonor to your family and country.

The German Kick Bike

In Germany you can buy pedal-free bikes for small kids like Gianna or even younger. As you may recall, we bought her one of these bikes over Easter and finally got her a comically large Hello Kitty helmet to go with it. She's getting pretty good. The idea is, the kid sits on the seat, runs with their feet a la Fred Flintstone, and then puts their feet up on the foot board when they reach cruising speed. They claim kids can learn to balance on a bike more easily without the pedals. That might be true because I see kids that can barely walk cruising down the sidewalks on these bikes.




She's walking cautiously, then gets up some speed.














She gets distracted very easily and sometimes veers off the road. Here we stopped to see the fountain and ducks.

May Day

Tomorrow is May Day, another German holiday where everything shuts down in favor of visiting with friends and family or holiday making here or abroad. Unexpectedly, the bakeries are cranking out special May Day breads. I picked up this nut pastry loaf, which measures over a foot long and reminds me of a tastier version of Entenmann's Pecan Danish ring.

What really has me on cloud nine, aside from the upcoming 3-day weekend, nuss bread waiting for me in the kitchen, and beautiful rhododendrons blooming across the street, I successfully booked a trip to London for Mother's Day weekend. This is my first Mother's Day with Gianna and we wanted it to be special. Kew Gardens has always been on my list of beautiful places in the world to see. My aunt used to live in London and often asked me to come visit in early May, when Kew is at its peak. Unfortunately I never took her advice and she has since moved back to Manilla, but I still want to see the gardens. Oh, and Dan's coming along this time...I guess...sigh...just kidding Dan :-P

Random Wednesday

Yesterday we were so jet lagged from the trip that we slept in past 10, which is unheard of. Gianna is always up at the crack of dawn. I also completely forgot to shower, bring Gianna's clothes back to school, pack a spoon for her lunch, and who knows what else. But today we are back to the old routine, Gianna was up with the roosters (pigeons), and business is as usual.

I bought a springform pan for Easter and it came with a free cake mix for shoko-sahne kuchen. The directions are in German and it called for sahne (cream). They have many kinds of sahne over here, so I picked two different kinds and mixed them together, figuring I would get the best of both varieties. The cake turned out well, although it remains uneaten until after dinner. Let's just say it looks like the picture on the box, so I hope it tastes good. German cake mixes do not have a reputation for being very tasty.

And finally, today Germany observes International Noise Awareness Day. A news article states some 13 million Germans are burdened by excess noise. That's pretty funny, because Frankfurt is one of the quietest cities I've ever been to. They cite traffic and schools as the biggest noise offenders and urge Germans to buy quiet "blue angel" tires. Germans have also become burdened by a few cases of swine flu brought here by holiday makers returning from Mexico. Several reports say Germany has banned travel to Mexico, but I'm not certain if this is truly the case or just some media hype. Germans are huge hypochondriacs, so it will be interesting to see how they handle a flu outbreak.

US trip part 3

For the last leg of the trip, we were in my hometown, Quakertown, PA staying with Dan's sister, Cori. Gianna had a doctor appointment at CHoP where she saw developmental specialists that only work with kids that were adopted internationally. She was having trouble walking, which was the main reason for the visit. They did some imaging and it turns out she has hip dysplasia, like a German Shepherd. As long as she doesn't start barking or leading blind people across the street, she should be OK ;-) In all seriousness, they did not recommend any treatment at this time. It sounds like they will just watch it, see how things develop after she gets a little more muscle tone. The small fry has dropped to the 5th percentile for weight, but I'm just happy she's on the charts. We need to take her to more Chinese buffets. You should see how much food she eats and the best part is, kids her age usually eat for free.

After the long day at CHoP, Gianna played with her cousin Nathan and I got to see my other pregnant sister-in-law, Christina. She is looking healthy in her 8th month of pregnancy, expecting Hunter Cole sometime the end of May. The following day we did some more shopping for Bố and spent the afternoon playing with her other cousins Grant and Cayden (pictured left). Although Cayden is only 6 months younger than Gianna, she spent most of her time playing with Grant, who is over a year her elder. Cayden just blazes his own trails as his mom says. That evening, Cara and Matt, Dan's cousins that are expats in Jordan, came over for dinner. It was really nice to see them again and exchange a few expat experiences.

The big highlight of the trip was getting together with Gianna's Vietnamese sister Jada and brother Ryan. We went to Ag Field Day at Rutgers where the kids got to see cows, horses, pigs, puppies, and play on some inflatables. The weather was hot and we finished off the play date with lunch at Huong Que, a local Vietnamese restaurant. Joe remarked that watching the kids play together is like watching the end of Schindler's List and I can't agree more. To see these little kids that spent the first two years of their lives together in baby concentration camp now liberated and rejoicing together sent chills up my spine and tears down my face. Gianna doesn't look at any other kids that way or laugh that sincerely. Jada and Ryan are very special to her and to us as well. I can't wait to see them again when we are in the US this summer.

Now we are home in Frankfurt catching up with Dan and Bruno, looking at the pictures from the trip. There are some things and people I miss back in the States, but I am going to enjoy Germany and Europe while we have the chance because the time will go fast. Then I will be back in NJ longing for a good pastry and strong cup of espresso. Speaking of espresso, I have a hot pot waiting for me in the kitchen.

US trip part 2: Christmas tree farming

After visiting with Nancy, we stayed overnight with Kirstie and Dave, two old college friends. They have a cat and a playground, 5 star accommodation for a toddler. The next morning we drove 5 hours up to my dad's farm/cabin in Potter County, PA with a mission to plant 1500 Christmas tree saplings. Since we live in the city, it was nice to be out in the country. Gianna got to see "cow, more cow!", take a tractor ride, throw rocks in a creek, and help plant Christmas trees in the wet dirt.

My dad and brother Jeff picked up 1500 Christmas trees (Frasier, Balsam, and Douglas) from a somewhat local sapling dealer. Even though it was rainy and windy, we had to get them in the ground. So taking shifts either planting or watching Gianna, we planted all 1500 trees in about 8 hours split between two days. Thankfully on the second day the rain cleared up and we even saw some sun. The pictures from this part of the trip are very interesting, if you ever wondered what it takes to start a Christmas tree farm. The final nursery contained two beds, one with 9 rows, the other with 12 rows. We covered the rows with floating row cover to protect from frost and herbivores and put up a fence to keep out the deer. They will be transplanted out into the field in another two years. After the planting was finished, Gianna and I went back to the Philadelphia area for her doctor appointment at CHoP, but the rest of the crew stayed up there to work on the farm house remodel.

US trip part 1

Our US tour got off to a rocky start. The polizei stopped us at the airport and said "prove to us this is your daughter". The Germans hate it that Gianna's legal name is different from our last name and were accusing me of child trafficking. After seeing her medical records and a post adoption report they let us go. In contrast, a group of NJ high school students on the plane had at least four adoptees, two from Korea, one from Guatemala, and one from El Salvador. They were happily sharing their adoption stories with us and playing with Gianna. The US really is a melting pot with all sorts of blended families.

The first leg of our trip started out in PA and NJ with a trip to the doctor for Gianna's vaccinations, a stop by our NJ house, and a visit with some old Rutgers friends. Poor Gianna, I tried to prepare her for the fact that the NJ house would be empty, but when she found Bruno's toy in the backyard, she kept calling his name. The house is no worse for wear, although if I were there the lawn would be looking a lot better. We have decided to take it off the market and get house sitters for a year, since we will be moving back to the US in 2010 and will need a place to live.

The next part of the trip included a 5 hour drive in I-95 traffic from NJ to the DC area, probably the low light of the trip. I certainly don't miss driving. We got a chance to see my sister-in-law, Nancy who, as Gianna puts it, "has baby in belly". In just a few short months we will get to meet little Ryan Alexander. It's a shame we will be on the other side of the world for the birth. Maybe the hospital will have WiFi and Jeff can Skype the whole birth to us! We plan to come visit in August when Ryan is a few weeks old.