Spring Break!!!

Those two words send chills down a mother's spine. Today is Gianna's last day of school before two weeks of Easter break. We already have several playdates set up for next week including a trip to the zoo with an English speaking nanny group, a trip to the indoor swimming pool, and a birthday party. But I remember last year, poor weather and sick kids got in the way of many a playdate and we were both left rather bored and at each other's throats by the end of two weeks. But I am better prepared this year! Honestly, I am! We're going to have a great time!

I said, and said, and said those words. I said them. But I lied them.

The photo is of little miss in her springtime beauty on the balcony being difficult when I just wanted one good picture. Look how much her hair is growing.

Embarrassing things

Yes, Debbi et al, moving does give you a chance to get rid of old crap. But I am still amazed and embarrassed by the garbage that made it over to Germany:

1. This circa 1996 Avon Care Deeply lip balm. If you care deeply about yourself or others, you don't keep lip balm around that long.

2. Food that expired in 2007. Yikes!

3. Sentimental t-shirts from high school and college. Really, do we need to be keeping that XL powder puff football t-shirt just because it says "Barbie" on the back?

4. Nauseating love letters from me to Dan written on register tape and furniture tags from the department store where I used to work. Seriously, if I died and someone found that crap, it would cause GI disorders and possibly blindness.

5. Excessive souvenirs (airsickness bag, tour brochures, soda can) from Dan's high school trip to Korea.

6. Hotel soaps and shampoos. Honestly, I stopped collecting things like that ages ago, but never threw away the old ones.

7. A 2-generation old, non-working Dell laptop.

8. Computer games on CD (from the 1990's).

9. An excessive collection of pens and pencils from years gone by.

10. Four wooden rulers.


If you're interested in this stuff, you can find it in the dumpster outside our building.

Moving: stage 1

The movers came this morning to make an estimate of how much stuff we are going to ship to the US. I was expecting the usual dirty old German man that wreaks of cigarettes and piss, so I barely bothered to clean up the place and didn't even brush my teeth. Of course, they sent by a strapping young lad in a leather jacket and expensive Italian boots. The moving business must be good! Since we got back from Jordan, I've been throwing things away, giving things away, and mentally preparing for the move. It's not scheduled until April 28th, so there's a lot of time to stress think and obsess plan. The whole thing brought me to tears yesterday, so to avoid the same circumstance today, I hit the local bakery for some kuchen (no, I did not eat both pieces). The lady was über rude, as usual, criticizing my pronunciation of streusel (streuuuuuselll).

Encounters like this make me happy to be outta here in a month.

One more post about Jordan

Cara took this photo at the beach in Aqaba. Gianna likes to peel labels off of water bottles, leaving them a sticky mess and perfect for levitating water bottle optical illusion tricks. The low quality video below shows the Islamic call to prayer that is broadcast across Amman several times a day... including 4am. Keep in mind, I'm filming this inside the apartment with all the windows closed and the nearest mosque is a couple blocks away. Hanoi blasts communist propaganda music every morning to wake up the city and some Frankfurters complain of incessant early morning church bell ringing. I wonder if there are any cities in America that blast Stars and Stripes Forever to wake up their patriotic citizens?

Jordan: Amman

The picture above shows different views of the city at dawn, midday, and afternoon as the dust rolled in. It was quite windy and dusty, but we still got in plenty of sightseeing and eating!














The first stop on our eating tour of Amman was this hole in the wall serving breakfast on pieces of paper. The falafel, pitas, ful, houmous, and tea were delicious to say the least.






















Next stop was Amman's citadel, the place where Bathsheba's husband was killed by order of King David. The museum also houses some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Later in the day, we toured the clinic where Cara works, has some schawarma take-out for lunch, and napped at their house in the afternoon. In the evening we went to Safeway where I oohed and ahhed over all the American foods they can get in Amman as compared to Frankfurt.











We had dinner at a traditional Arabic restaurant, then a little street shopping and street food dessert: Kanafeh (if I remember correctly). It is fried sweet cheese topped with a type of phyllo dough, pistachios, and syrup. The next morning, we packed up and left for the airport. Thank you Cara and Matt for showing us around your beautiful country!

Jordan: Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum reminded me of Sedona, AZ with more sand dunes and less cottonwoods. We took a Jeep tour into the desert with a Bedouin guide. Gianna slept in the back seat with Cara for most of the tour, as Dan, Matt, and I sat in the back getting sandblasted.











The Jeep tour was actually a Mitsubishi modified with seats in the back (left). Dan and Matt climb a sand dune (right).





















Gianna poses with some cliff drawings (left). Camels get out of the way, beep beep! (right) I'm really glad we did not choose that form of transportation through the desert.












"Grandma" Schmidt posing at Lawrence of Arabia's house (left). The wind was really kicking up sand, and the scarf was helping. Gianna said I looked like a monster. Driving back up the desert highway to Amman, road signs point the way to Iraq and Saudi Arabia (right).

Jordan: Aqaba

After seeing Joe Biden in Petra, we continued south on the desert highway to Aqaba. Aqaba is a resort town on the Red Sea close to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. We stayed in a really nice condo at Tala Bay, with great views of the Red Sea from roof top and balcony.
View of the marina at night from our roof top. Wow, there were some nice yachts parked here!







Breakfast on the balcony and a view from the balcony to the Red Sea.











Matt, Cara, and I went snorkeling and saw some pretty nice tropical fish and coral. The lion fish (left) were hanging out around a pier, along with eels and large schools of silversides. On our second night in Aqaba, we hit the Safeway and picked up some meats and vegetables for grilling. It was delicious. Matt is a grill master and can also make his hand disappear (right).




















Since Jordan is a Muslim country, it is inappropriate to wear skimpy bikinis. My surf gear (left) was quite comfortable, even in the desert heat, and it protected me from sunburn. Here, Gianna the aspiring beach bar tender is filling up a water bottle for making pretend drinks. On our way out of Aqaba, Cara stopped at a nut shop to stock up on cheap nuts (right). I don't know why she had to stock up, we already had a car full of cheap nuts! Hahaha.