Cheaper haircut

Lately I've been having occasional panic attacks over the logistics of moving back to the States. It seems to be enhancing my gray hair issue so today I checked out a 25% cheaper salon than those other guys charging €100 for cut and color. Two hours in the chair made my butt hurt, but also gave me a lot of time to think about leaving Germany. People ask me, are you happy or sad to move back? It's like breaking up with someone you've been dating for the last 14 months. The relationship was fun while it lasted. There were good days and bad, but you both knew it wouldn't last. You're from two different worlds; it just wasn't meant to be. So you break up, but promise to still be friends. Here I am staring off our back balcony mentally composing my Dear John letter. (The sun makes my hair look abnormally red!)

Snack Peppers

Today I got a bag of these "snack peppers" for €0.99. Whipping out a whole pepper to eat as a snack seems a little odd, perhaps equally as odd as the German "chocolate-covered peppers on a stick" that you can buy at festivals.

Ten things I like about Deutschland

As we start the final two months of our German adventure, the sun is shining, and I am thinking "there are definitely things I am going to miss about this place". One aspect that supersedes the list is the expat lifestyle. For me, nothing can beat the constant adventure of being a fish out of water immersed in another culture. Every day brings new experiences that leave you either laughing or crying. The extraordinary slowly becomes the ordinary and soon you find yourself becoming "one of them"! Well, on with the list.


10. Food. In this category, I include fresh produce, jam, ultrapasteurized milk in 1L cartons, spaghetti ice cream, crepes, and for Gianna and Dan, bratwurst.

9. Socialized healthcare. Our experience with healthcare in Germany has been 100% better than US healthcare. Service is fast, quality, and everything is covered.

8. Parks, playgrounds, and festivals. This is really a family-friendly city. We live two blocks from two different playgrounds, and if you read this blog at all you know there is always some sort of festival going on, especially when the weather is nice.

7. Safety. Aside from the occasional strassenraub and the drunk bums that litter the parks mentioned above, I feel much safer here than living in the US.

6. Frankfurt airport. We can include the high speed rail system here too. This is really a great base to travel throughout Europe and the world!

5. Walking Gianna to school. For 30 mins each day, both Dan and I have the pleasure of walking aside Gianna as she cruises along on her Laufräder singing songs, pointing out dogs, or asking questions about birds.

4. Asian markets. There are so many to choose from, with many products from Vietnam. I'll have to make monthly trips to NYC Chinatown to find all of our favorites.

3. Bakeries. Oh, you thought this would be number one did you?? We do have baked goods in the States, but I will really miss the German pastries.

2. Our apartment. Despite it's mini kitchen and so-so rental furniture, I am really going to miss our big apartment on the Oederweg. It has so much character; it's bright, has huge windows, a balcony, and best of all no yard to maintain.

1. Public transport. It has been convenient living close to the U-bahn and having a bus stop 1 block from the house. No, the trains are not always on time, and yes, it can be inconvenient in bad weather or when you are carrying a lot of stuff, but it beats owning a car, paying insurance, and filling it up with gas every week.

One more thing to throw on the list are the friends that I have made over the past year. Most are fellow expats, some are German, but it will be sad to say good-bye to all of them. I definitely plan to savor all the good things about Germany in the next two months.

Senckenburg Museum of Natural History

I was under the impression this museum was included in the "museums are free in Frankfurt on the last Saturday of every month" deal, but apparently not. Still, the €6 admission gets you into one of the best museums in Frankfurt, the only one I will step foot in. It's not as good as the Smithsonian in DC, but it contains many of the same specimens and makes the kids happy.

Dinosaur bones room

Looking at the stuffed animal specimens in the cases.

Cockroach suspended in amber

Gianna: "This cat need something to eat!"

Asians are smarter!

Twice in as many days, someone told me that "Asians are smarter". They are better at math, music, better at school in general. This sort of stereotyping gets my goat. Although it's meant as a compliment (look how smart your daughter is!) it somehow feels like a back handed racist comment. Would it be appropriate to tell the mother of a black child that "blacks are better at sports". Uh, I think not, although I'm sure people say it. These sorts of stereotypes put pressure on kids to live up to pigeon holed expectations and they also ignore the hard work that it takes for individuals to succeed. My parenting philosophy (if you can call it that) is to provide a caring, nurturing environment to let kids develop in their own way and find their own path in life, regardless of their racial background! I am not going to push Gianna into music lessons or kumon math club just because she is Asian. But these are the types of suggestions I receive from well-meaning teachers and pediatricians.

Here's what brought on one of those comments. Someone was badgering me about Gianna's development, is she learning English, speaking well? I brought up the fact that she is starting to read and write letters. She can read her name and a few short words like cow and cat. We were playing the dot game where you make boxes and then place your initial in a completed box to score a point. I had the pink marker, she had the pencil (so everything written in pencil is Gianna's work). She told me "today, I do it!" meaning that she was going to write her "g's". I thought OK, whatever, but look, she actually wrote some pretty good g's! And then went on to fill in a few m's once she was tired of playing the game and following the rules. Click on the photo if you can't see the detail. One of her teachers said it's too early for this, I shouldn't encourage her. But how can you stop a child that wants to read and write? I don't care how old she is, if she wants to do this on her own free will, then more power to her.
EDIT: I see one or two g's on the lower left hand grid that look too good to be true. Now I remember we drew them together. Still, I think her handwriting surpasses Dan's chicken scratches.

Nap time

I often enlist Bruno's help to wake Gianna up. Sometimes it backfires and I end up peeling both of them out of bed.

Job interview

The ICE train brought me safely back to Frankfurt last night around 9pm after two days of interviewing in Paris. The nutshell story, I got a verbal offer, two actually. So now I will wait for the written offer to arrive in the mail sometime soon. For more details, read on.

Unbeknownst to me, I was interviewing for two positions, both based in Clark, NJ. The first position was Scientific Affairs. Although the word science is in the title, it is a high stress, long hours, frustrating position trying to coordinate many people from different departments to work together. While I have some negotiation and mediation skills, the position sounded less and less appealing the more they told me about it. In fact, I went to bed the first night knowing I would turn down that position if they made me an offer.

The other position was for Advanced Research. They were looking for a scientist with skills in plant physiology, plant chemistry, and plant genetics. Bingo, I have more plant knowledge and research experience than you can shake a stick at. The only down side to this position, travel is required. But I was firm that my family comes first and I'm not willing to spend long periods of time away from my daughter. Two days was even breaking my heart!

That brings me to my next point about women in science. It was interesting to hear different opinions on the 1 year gap in my CV from being an expat in Germany. Other former expats sympathized with my situation, as their wives also had to set aside their careers and be the "accompanying spouse" for a few years. They were pleased that I would be bringing first hand knowledge of Europeans back to the US. But those who had never been expats criticized my decision to sacrifice my career. One guy even suggested it was a mistake to get married. So, to be successful, women are not only supposed to be childless but now single too? Thankfully, the French guys with expat experience are the ones who are making the hiring decisions. They asked me to choose which job I wanted and I told them definitely the Advanced Research position is a better fit with my background and personality.

After the interviews were over on Friday, I was able to do some sightseeing around Paris before catching the train home. I forgot my camera, so only snapped a few shots with my phone of Notre Dame (middle) and the Seine River with the Eiffel tower way off in the distance (top). I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown, then stopped at a Vietnamese bakery to buy Gianna a durian, pandan, and chocolate 3 layer sponge cake for Tết. I also picked up a French card game and Hello Kitty sticker book for her at a little boutique shop. This morning when I woke her up, she hugged me, then sheepishly asked "presents?" She plowed through the 3 layer cake, eating all of the durian layer first, leaving the pandan and chocolate for later. It is good to be home, even though I was only gone for 2 days.