Friday, May 22, 2009

So Typical

This morning the kids are home from school. Yesterday was a German holiday and the schools gave them Friday off as well so they have a long weekend. This morning I decided to treat them to a nice breakfast. I ran to the nearest bakerie ( yes I spelled that right - it is German for bakery) and bought some pastries using most, if not all of my limited German linguistic ability.

My German is very limited and painful to listen to, but I tried my best. It went something like this: "Ich möchte swie shoko Croisants" (chocolate croissants rock!) "Und swei... ummm.... THAT!" Still don't know what THAT was but it was like croissant dough wrapped around some sort of caramel filling and topped with walnuts. Yummmm! Worth every calorie. "Und eins Pain au choclate." Yes I realize pain au chocolate is very similar to chocolate croissants but really is there such a thing as too much chocolate? After each request the gentleman behind the counter repeated my request as he put the pastries in the bag. No, I didn't catch the name of THAT I was too busy trying to speak German. When my order was finished I announced "Das ist alles." To which he replied "OK your total today will be 5.10" in perfect, almost unaccented English. Serioulsy! UGGGHHHH! Some days I swear all of Germany is laughing at me!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

It's small world after all....

Last week I received an e-mail from an old neighbor back in Texas. They lived right across the street from us in San Antonio. We lost contact after we both moved away from the old neighborhood. Turns out they will be in Germany over the summer and would like to get together for dinner while they are here. COOL! VISITORS! YEA! 

Today we are at the commissary in Wiesbaden and across the parking lot I spotted a familiar face. No, it wasn't the neighbor that just contacted us, they won't be here until June. It was their neighbor who lived diagonally across the street from us!  What are the odds that 3 families that all lived on the same small street, in the same small subdivision on the north side of San Antonio would ALL be  in Germany at the same time 3 years after we all moved away?  

Monday, May 11, 2009

A Coffee Cup, A Road Trip, and Mother's Day

This is my new favorite coffee cup. The sunny yellow inside with a matte black outside and happy daisy remind me to look for the positive in the day. It was a Mother''s Day present from David. He is good.

The other thing we did to celebrate Mother's Day was to take a road trip to the Netherlands. We set out about 6 in the morning heading to the Kuekenhof near Amsterdam. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to get there. The tulips and other flowers were stunning even if we were toward the end of the senason so some were bloomed out. There was plenty for the kids to do, from a a petting zoo to a maze. We all had a wonderful time and the kids did great. All the same I think we will pick something a bit closer for our next day trip. I will get some pictures up of all the flowers and fun when I have a bit more time. Now Mother's Day is over and I need to get the house cleaned. Does the fun never end?