Berlin: Day 2 - Rain, rain, go away!

Berlin is a city full of history - this, of course, means nothing to young children. We try to plan our days to include at least a few hours of stuff kids enjoy and even then I cannot avoid one of them complaining about something.

This morning we awoke to a drizzling rain, the kind that lightly falls all day hardly ever ceasing. I hate rain unless it is in FL where it is hot and rain is a welcome relief. I especially hate rain when it is already cold outside. So, breaking my rule of saving all children activities for the end of the trip as my bargaining chip for good behavior, we boarded the train for LegoLand Discovery Center at Potsdamer Platz. We figured this would be a good way to spend a rainy day.

After one train stop, everyone exits at Alexanderplatz. We follow suit only to learn that beginning today, on the first full day of our trip, there is construction work taking place at the following 2 stations. I specifically chose this apartment because of it's proximity to the U2 line (here's to you Bono!). The U bahn solution: bus everyone to the Spittelmarkt station on a U2 labeled bus so they can then continue their journey on the U2 line. We were at the tail end of the morning rush hour which in Berlin seems to last all day. This specific round of bad luck does not surprise me since this month has been all about throwing me for a loop.

We get to LegoLand a little after 10:15. After a quick snack at the next door Dunkin Donuts, we made the line for tickets in the rain. Our coats/jackets were soaked by the time we actually got inside.

LegoLand is a glorified Chuck E Cheese with more sophisticated activities. There is a 4D movie, a slow moving Lego Dragon ride, an Indiana Jones jungle expedition, a model building workshop (kids were taught how to make Halloween pumpkins), a testing center where you design/build a vehicle and then test it on a track, a huge jungle gym and the proverbial gift shop at the exit. The kids had a great time, but I really could have skipped the whole thing.

As we leave and head across Potsdamer Platz, we see a large crowd gathering in front of the Ritz Carlton. Josh was curious so we headed over. This is where social psychology can be viewed at it's finest. I asked someone why the crowd had gathered. No one really knew. What I found all the more interesting, but expected, is that more and more people, having not a clue as to who was coming out of that hotel, kept lining up and waiting with all the other clueless persons.

I wasn't going to wait around for a celebrity when I didn't even know who it was. But, my goofy husband was eager to find out who everyone was waiting for. I joked with him that for all we knew, it was Hannah Montana.

The Ritz started giving out purple balloons to the kids. It had some writing on it. I kept telling the Cat to find out what the balloon said. Guess who everyone was waiting for? He finds out and comes up to me asking me who is Miley Cyrus? For any parent of a tween girl (or if you watch the Disney Channel for any period of time0, you would know that Miley Cyrus is Hannah Montana.

I really couldn't care less (sorry to my young cousins who are big fans), but the tweenager whose parents asked me what was going on was thrilled to hear this news. the Cat in all his Peter Pan-esque glory wanted to stay because if Miley is coming so is Billy Ray and this would be a double celebrity sighting. Not that he even cares about either. I couldn't care less about either. I bribed him with coffee at the Starbucks across the platz and he caved.

After our coffee break we headed back to the Brandenberg Gate to continue walking where we left off the previous evening. But, it was persistently raining and the kids were tired. We paid the extra money to hop on one of those sightseeing buses for a 2 hour tour of Berlin. Thing 2 caught a nap while we became more oriented to the city. Despite the price of 15 Euro per person (children free), it was well worth it for Thing 2 to get a nap.

The only reason to board one of these buses is to get the commentary as you ride around. If you don't care abotu the commentary or already know what you are looking at, hop on Bus 100 or 200. These stop at all the tourist areas beginning/ending at the Zoo and Alexanderplatz. We rode Bus 100 for the remainder of time in Berlin due ot the U-bahn situation.

By the end of the tour, it had stopped raining, so we continued from the Brandenberg Gate onto Unter den Linden, a very pretty street whose name literally means "under the linden trees." The trees were practically bare, but they were lit up from beneath and the whole street was quite nice. The street is lined with restaurants, shops, luxury car showrooms like Ferrari and Bentley and the massive Russian Embassy complex. According to the tour guide on the bus, the mammoth complex doesn't just hold the Embassy, but houses a school for the Russian children whose parents work there as well a pool and other perks. The guide called it "a city onto itself."

We found a restaurant called Maredo's which is a chain of Argentinian-like steakhouses. The food was good although it is not authentic Argentinian cuisine. But, it was a family restaurant despite the candle light. My kids actually ate some thing other than chicken nuggets - their German counterpart wiener schnitzel.

The streets perpendicular to Unter den Linden house several Embassies including the British and French which are closest to the gate. After the war, the city of Berlin was divided in four with the Soviet sector to the East and an American, British and French sector to the west. Interestingly, today, those four nationalities are the closest in location to the Gate.

We ran across the Berlin Store on Unter Den Linden and found their prices for some things to be quite reasonable compared to other places we had passed by. Berlin isn't the tourist trap that Prague is, but it has it's fair share of traps.

Thing 1 passed out shortly after that store visit. Since it had stopped raining and we really didn't have an opportunity to walk earlier, we walked the mile and half back to our apartment. On the way, we passed Bebelplatz. This is another place where a profound statement was made showcasing a bit of history.

Bebelplatz is surrounded by the Staatsoper (State Opera), St. Hedwig's Cathedral and a Library. To anyone who has not read anything about the square, you may simply pass it by. But, it is here that the Nazi's held a massive book burning in the 30's. A simple memorial was made underground. The only way you will notice it is by walking onto the square and making your way towards to the other groups of people looking into the ground. Once you get there, you will find a glass square and when you look inside you see a white room with empty bookcases. Enough said!

After getting back to the apartment and putting the kids to bed, the Cat and I ended our exhausting day with a bottle of champagne to mark our 7th wedding anniversary.

Berlin: Day 1 - Finding our way

So, we arrived in Berlin without incident. We checked into our apartment. It is a great 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, flat screen TV's with a USB machine where you can plug in your Ipod to watch your programs on the TV. We haven't had time to use this nor do I understand why people would watch TV while on vacation. I'm happy just with the BBC while I get ready to go in the morning. The apartment is clean with a fully stocked kitchen (wine glasses included).

We are staying in east (formerly communist) Berlin. While aesthetically, the area is not as pleasing to the eye as the western part of the city, the location (a few feet from the U-Bahn) can't be beat. There is also a CVS type shop right across from the apartments that sells just about everything you could need as well as a 24 hour mini mart place that sells water, soda, wine, beer, champagne and snack foods.

After settling in, we headed over to Potsdamer Platz. Not at all what I expected. I am used to the "platz" being an open square. This one is home to a massive entertainment complex, the Sony Center. There are restaurants, a movie theater, IMAX, and some shops. The LegoLand Discovery Center is also here. Two American chains, Tony Roma's and Dunkin Donuts were present as were Starbucks (you can easily find one within a mile anywhere you are) and Haagen Daz.

Potsdamer Platz has plenty of places to catch a bite to eat. I usually see candles in restaurants and automatically assume children are not appropriate at the establishment. However, in Berlin it seems that candles are used at tables in every restaurant regardless of who they cater to. So, if you go with little kids, have no fear.

After having dinner, we headed down the street toward the Bradenberg Tor (Gate). On the way we passed the Memorial to Holocaust victims. This is a interesting memorial consisting of concrete slabs of different shapes beginning small and growing tall until it becomes a bit of a maze. I am not sure what the sculptor/designer's interpretation was but I had a feeling of being consumed by the slabs of concrete the further we walked into it. You literally get lost within the memorial. For me, it stood more as a symbolic representation of the Holocaust as something that started out on a small scale and grew to the point that the human mind cannot fathom. So, if this was the sculptor's intention, he did a great job in conveying his message. There is alot of critiscism about the Memorial only commemorating Jewish victims of the Holocaust instead of being all inclusive of the Roma, homosexuals, political prisoners, etc that died at the hands of the Nazis. I can see their point.

We continued walking towards the Brandenberg Gate, passing the massive and new US Embassy complex before reaching the gate. Berlin was having a Festival of Lights where the important attractions were lit up including the gate. The Berlin wall ran right along the Brandenberg Gate and beyond. The gate itself was located in East Berlin. The Quadriga statue on top faces the East. It's hard to believe today that the wall kept the West from the gate. The location of the wall is marked by a double line pointing out hte course of the Berlin Wall. Large slabs of the wall are found across the city lining the area of the wall's original location including where we went earlier at Potsdamer Platz. In fact, until 1989, Potsdamer platz was an empty area divided by the Wall. Souvenir shops sell "pieces" of the wall. Some have ceritficates of authenticity attached to them. Whether real or not, they are a bit of an expensive novelty - almost 13 Euro!

After reaching the gate, the kids were exhausted and we were not oriented enough to find the nearest metro. We got in a taxi to head back to the apartment to get everyone bathed and into bed ASAP.

It was the best night's sleep I had in a while.

Under the radar

Our road trip to Berlin turned out to be better than expected. The fact that half of it took place on an actual autobahn and that we managed to stay under the radar of German police made it quite uneventful.

You see, we don't have a Polish/EU license. We were supposed to get one when we got here, but my dear husband didn't think this was important. We have applied for one now, but the license wasn't ready before we left. We don't even have the international driving permit. So, technically, we are driving illegally here.

Normally, this doesn't bother me. However, our diplomatic tags are not the same as EU tags and are not recognized by the German authorities. Slightly Cracked and Thrify Expat have been pulled over twice for this reason. And, while we followed their advice and got our diplomatic corp sticker and PL sticker to identify what country we are traveling from, I still worry about trying to communicate with German polizei. Our car is now parked in a garage across the street so we are safe for a few days. I'll be relieved if we can get to the German border without getting pulled over.

UN Day 2008

Today was UN Day at the American School. Like last year, it is a day where the school celebrates the diversity of its students and teachers. During the two weeks leading up to UN Day, the kids make presentations to their classrooms about their home country (or State) so that the children learn more about where their classmates come from. This year, instead of representing his many nationalities, we let him focus on the USA since we will be moving back there this summer. He specifically focused on FL. Trying to get Thing 1 to focus and actually work on this was worse than a root canal. It didn't help that Thing 2 was starved for attention and kept asking me to give her "homework" too. Between sorting through pictures, online resources, a little typing and a little writing, we managed to put a poster together. I didn’t know where to find posters and by the time I found out, I had already cut out a cardboard box and made my own. I figured that at least I am recycling.

At home, he chose a picture atlas to read from every night and we covered the countries he had learned from during the day. Thing 1's classroom is made up of children from the USA, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Canada, and Mexico. We talked about Columbus’ “discovery” of America on Columbus Day. He learned why Columbus called people in America “Indians” and why today most people in Central and South America speak Spanish. Quite a history lesson, but after all, history is one of my favorite subjects!

Every year, country tables (staffed by parents) are set up in the gymnasium and main hallways. Each student is provided a “passport”. Each table has a country stamp, for example, the American stamp is the Statue of Liberty, Germany is a castle and so forth. The children visit the different tables and answer questions about the country (based on their age), receive all kinds of goodies and get their passport stamped.

This year, the 1^st graders were paired up with a 5^th grader. They thought this was pretty cool. Thing 1's 5^th grade buddy happened to be his best friend's brother. So they went around the world together. I supervised 5 pairs of twos and Thing 2.

On the day leading up to UN Day, it is best to fast if you will be indulging in the festivities. Every year the cafeteria closes for that day. Parents provide dishes from their home country to share with the classroom. You literally can spend the entire day eating. My favorite of the day was "Nanaimo Bars" brought in by Thing 1's Canadian classmate. His mom was even good enough to include the recipe which I photographed (see below) so that I can replicate. Try it for yourself – a bit messy, but it is exquisite.

Each country table also provides miniature edible treats. For example, you can try Irish Cheddar Cheese at the Ireland Table, Belgian Chocolate at the Belgium Table, Croissants in France, and tea in India, China, and Japan. Our USA table provided chocolate chip cookies and Hershey’s kisses.
Thing 1 had fun answering questions about country flags, capitals, animals, etc. He visited every table. To give you an idea of the school demographic, there were tables for the USA, Poland, Lithuania, Mexico, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Kenya, New Zealand, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Brazil, South Korea, Israel, France, Ireland, Canada, India, Portugal, South Africa, Great Britain, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Japan and Malaysia. And that doesn’t include the countries that did not have a table because they did not have enough people to staff one, like Spain. We almost didn’t have a USA table because most of the US moms were either already room parents or they had small children who would not sit at a table for hours. Luckily, an Embassy mom with older children stepped up and we just provided her with supplies for the table.

Thing 2 joined the children in their trip around the world. We call her and another boy’s brother, the 1^st grade room sister and room brother. They mostly played with balloons in the gym while the older kids visited tables. Thing 2, however, spent more time going table to table and collecting edible goodies. The child was eating every treat she could find. I even caught her stuffing her jean pockets with some treats. She also very rudely (but childlike) put back something she tasted that she did not like which I had to then take and throw out. She’s definitely a “foodie.”

As fun as it was and as much as we will miss this, I am quite pleased that these two UN weeks are over. No one realizes how exhausting it is for parents to put these things together. And I only had one at the school! I saw moms with 3 or 4 kids trying to split themselves into 3 or 4 so they could participate in each child’s experience. That’s 3 or 4 different meals for 3 or 4 different classes. They could start a catering service for all that trouble!

The Trash Bandit strikes again!

Last month, I wrote a post about our neighborhood trash bandit and my attempts to thwart him. Well, this morning, he declared war!

I now have a lock for my trash gate and still the bastard managed to reach through the gate, open the trash can, slice open the bag enough for him to sift through it. He didn't make a mess, but had the trash collector come by and tried to collect the bag, it would have surely thrown trash everywhere. I had to go out this morning and put the broken bag into a new bag.

I have now placed the cans against the wall with the opening facing the wall and I am planning on lining the gate with a flattened cardboard box. If that does not work, I will be collecting dog poop from my dogs and setting up a dummy bag right at the top for him to dig his hands in. I'm inching closer to surveillance.

If you give an expat free coffee....

...they will come to your event. Mom's may find this title familiar if you have read "If You Give A Mouse a Cookie...?" by Laura Numeroff. My fellow expats (both American and international) have kept the java (or shall I say kawa) drip flowing since we arrived and most likely way before. What is it about caffeine and the expat?

Before moving here, I would have my usual Cuban expresso (still do) and that was usually sufficient. The only time I would stop at Starbucks was after a sleepless night with the kids. Now, it really doesn't matter whether I sleep or not - I am not working (although it does feel that I have 2 full time jobs with no paid leave in sight) so if I am really that tired, I can snuggle up with Thing 2 for an afternoon nap.

But, here, in the expat universe, everyday is a coffee morning both informally and formally. In the past 30 days alone, there has been one for the American Friend's of Warsaw, the International Women's Group, the PTO Board Meeting, the UN Day Planning Meeting, the ES Counselor meeting, the Parent Advisory Committee Meeting, the Mums and Tots Committee Meeting and that's not even touching upon all the java flowing through the Mums and Tots playgroups. Seriously - if you are low on coffee at home, look up a website and I am sure someone is giving up free coffee around here on any given morning.

I think my nervous system has become so accustomed to this intake that it takes even more to keep me going. Earlier this week, I had a double (Cuban) expresso since the Cat wasn't home to consume the other half. Still that did not stop me from wishing I had a calculator to sell movie tickets to a student at the PTO store ( I worked it out in my head eventually). A double just won't do anymore. So I had another coffee courtesy of another PTO mom.

Today it was coffee with the 1st grade room moms and if I didn't want to go to that one, there is always the one for the American Friends of Warsaw. Thursday there is nothing scheduled but then there's the parent-teacher conference at 8:30am - gotta be bright eyed and bushy tailed for that one. And now Friday, my one day of morning rest this week, Fran Drescher (aka The Nanny) will be in town for a breast cancer awareness event. I bet you there will be coffee! It's like heroin - if you need your coffee fix - you will find it free of charge somewhere in Warsaw.

Of course, this isn't why we attend these events. We enjoy socializing. Problem is that this coffee social thing is giving me some side effects. Today, I actually noticed my eye was twitching and I couldn't stop it. So, I was either really strung out on caffeine or I have Parkinson symptoms.

Wouldn't it be great if we took this concept and changed it to cocktail evenings? Not the fancy kind, but just a group of moms (preferably without tots) getting together for wine or tequila shots. Kids love relaxed parents not anxious caffeine induced ones. Angry drunk people need not stop by.

I am now so irritable and in withdrawal that I had my children choose who they wanted for the evening: Happy mommy or angry irritable mommy. Unanimously, they chose happy mommy. Good choice! Amazing how giving them choices works! They are on their best behavior which is a good thing because right now I don't think my brain even cares about who hit or scratched who.

More on Socialized Healthcare

I found this great article comparing US and UK Health Care. It kind of reaffirms my earlier posting on socialized health care. The author is a New Yorker who is now living in the UK. She describes treatment for her same condition under both systems.

Both systems have their flaws, but I will take ours any day over substandard care. My main problem with the US falling into the socialized health care trap is that I don't want to receive substandard care. I don't want to be penalized for seeking private care if I can afford to do so. I don't want to lie on a gurney in a hall for days until a bed becomes available. I don't want to die of a serious disease because a specialist cannot fit me into his/her already overflowing schedule or is too busy to spend adequate time with me because he has so many other patients to see. And privacy? Well you just have to forget about that under socialized medicine.

Don't take a Michael Moore film edited to show you only one point of view at face value . Further, if Mr. Moore were living under this plan and became seriously ill, he has the money to fly to any other country where we can receive private care without penalty from his own government. This cannot be said for the rest of us peasants!

Voters who want socialized health care need to seriously investigate what this really means.