Back to Frankfurrrrrt.

Now that we are back from SüdTirol I am feeling a bit overwhelmed on getting everyone caught up with my adventures. Silly me. Today was my first day of school and I think it went pretty well. . not too far behind from missing the first two classes. It is about a 20min bike ride and it is M,W, and F for 3 hours. Last night I helped correct some more of the European Social Fund project that Phillip is working on. It's nice reading about regressions :) and other statistical information as well. Some parts make me want to scream though because the people make no sense at all. It's called a period people - use it! Anyways. . I go to Eichstätt on Friday for the weekend which I am SOOOOO excited about! My first adventure out on my own - kind of. Ok not really. lol.

           

Now that we are back from SüdTirol I am feeling a bit overwhelmed on getting everyone caught up with my adventures. Silly me. Today was my first day of school and I think it went pretty well. . not too far behind from missing the first two classes. It is about a 20min bike ride and it is M,W, and F for 3 hours. Last night I helped correct some more of the European Social Fund project that Phillip is working on. It's nice reading about regressions :) and other statistical information as well. Some parts make me want to scream though because the people make no sense at all. It's called a period people - use it! Anyways. . I go to Eichstätt on Friday for the weekend, which I am SOOOOO excited about! My first adventure out on my own - kind of. Ok not really. lol.

Here is a bit of what I wrote about the first few days in Italy, which was more like Germany since it used to be a part of Germany. .

Saturday Oct 17th– drove for 4hrs to Pöcking (just south of Munich) to Niko’s house. The kids watched The Last Unicorn on my computer for part of the ride - hehehe! Niko's lifelong friend Bob and his wife Wushy had been staying with him for the past few days so they were there and made us a great dinner. We sat and chatted and I understood almost everything . . . I was very tired and this was a good thing because in my room there was a lot of SPIDERS! AH!! So I passed out and did not feel anything crawling over me during the night. In the morning we had a nice spread of cheeses and jams for breakfast and then around noon we headed out to drive for about two hours to a friends house for lunch in Austria. I drove this leg of the journey and the weather was a bit like Oregon – rainy rainy rainy! So normal. Don’t worry, the fastest I went was just 86mph. So far the fastest that I have gone is 125mph.

We made it safe and sound to the friend’s house, which was way up on a high hill overlooking the mountains. This is a picture from the driveway. Her father and mother joined us as well. Before we began the meal the Mom pulled out a guitar and started singing a prayer. Cracked me up – thought you would appreciate that Mom. lol. We had a lovely lunch – I ate some potatoes with specks of beef still on them from the stew. Bluck. After that we had some cheese (love cheese!) and then a delicious vanilla pudding over fruit. The rain cleared and we decided to take our chance and stretch our legs a bit so we walked up to a neighbours house where they had HUGE rabbits running around outside and some hens and big fatty cows that Emily was afraid of. This particular one was licking Andrea's jacket.

We left soon after that as it started to rain again and made out way to SüdTirol, the northern region of Italy, where we got in around 8PM after we parked the car at a designated spot high up a mountain and then a “taxi” aka a 4-wheel drive car came and picked us up and took us up a very narrow and bumpy road to Gasthof Bad Dreikirchen. We unpacked and headed to our 5-course meal, which is just how they do dinner here! I didn’t sleep very well since my nose was all stuffed up. Super lame. I have my own room with a sofa and bathroom and then the kids are with their parents. The keys are these ancient huge keys. Love it. This “Hotel” has belonged to the same family for the past 200 years and it is really beautiful. For breakfast there is a nice spread of options – nutella on bread and yogurt with cereal of course - and then for dinner you choose the night before what you want to eat from two options for each course basically and it’s all delicious. Vegetarian options almost every time. It is well known I guess for its food. Delicious! On Monday we had our breakfast then headed out to hike – yippee!!! The views around here are gorgeous and the weather was crisp but the sky was clear and you were plenty warm once you started hiking up the mountain. We had no particular places we were hiking to so just enjoyed walking around for a couple hours, with many breaks to have some sweets – to entice the children to keep going. Emily and I befriended a dog, which is quite the feat since Emily is usually afraid of dogs.

Back at the Gasthof we had some cake and coffee – lunch is not included here but they do have a restaurant if you choose to buy something or of course the option of an assortment of cakes. There were only a couple of meltdowns with the kids and Oscar ended up passing out for about an hour. I played the piano a bit, went adventuring around a bit outside with Oscar (yelling really loud and listening to the echo over the hills), played some table tennis and soccer with him and then it was time for dinner. Niko arrived here just before dinner and he will be staying here till Friday with us as well.

Slept a little better last night but still woke up around 6AM. Super lame. We had breakfast around nine and then headed out to hike again! This time we kind of had a destination – about twice the distance we had hiked the day before. Emily and Andrea turned around after about 3hrs total of hiking. We thought that was pretty good for Emily. Their incentive to hike was to be allowed to watch a movie before dinner. There are no TVs here or radio or anything like that but we brought our computers with us to entertain them in the car. Oscar, Niko, Phillip and I hiked on a ways farther and the views were just so beautiful!! We hiked to around 6000ft up I believe and Bad Dreikirchen is just over 3500ft up. It took us 6hrs all together even though we only went five miles or so. Now I am hungry but must wait 2 more hours till dinner time because it is “only” 5:30. Boo.

We went on a hiking adventure the next day to this old ruin and we made it up pretty far before Emily decided she really just could not go any farther so Andrea stayed back with her while I caught up with Phillip and Oscar. I didn't think we were going to find the right way to the old tower but we did and it was so cool. Dangerous rock climbing, standing on the edge of a cliff, and the thrill of climbing. Loved it. Took a couple really cool pictures - including one of this dog that was barking like mad at us but that I loved and want. We named her Kenya :) The first picture here is of the beginning of the trail to the ruin with the ruin very small in the background.

The day after that I think was our last full day and we went to a museum that is funded by a famous mountaineer named Messner. It was really overcast and rainy so that was kind of lame. But the museum was interesting. Then we went to a small city called Brixen and wandered a bit before heading back to the hotel to eat. I distracted Emily while hiking up the steep road to the hotel (which we did versus taking the taxi up because that is just lazy) by counting. She was so over hiking and had been throwing fits here and there so we counted to 211 and that worked pleasantly. And then a couple more numbers. The last day in Italy we walked to Trostburg ( I especially enjoy this picture of Oscar) which is a large castle like ruin and then we jumped in the car and drove back to Niko's. I drove and the weather was disgusting and awful and it took forever to get to his house. Had a nice dinner, slept (spiders!!!!!), got up, breakfast, and off we went to Frankfurt. We got back around 6PM, unpacked, got organized and crashed. I got Oscar The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe for his birthday and he is loving it!! We started reading it the last night in Tirol and now we are almost finished with it. It makes it easier to get them ready for bed though because they really really want me to read it to them :). What will I do when there isn't any more chapters left?!?! Haha.

I'm having a crazy chocolate craze right now. I'm eating way too much chocolate. Ahhh! I just bought a white chocolate mango bar that Johanna had got me when she came and visited and I just ate it all. Ah!! I have a problem. I know. It could be worse though!

Yesterday I went and watched some of the Frankfurt Marathon because Meike was running in it. I saw her and she finished! Crazy!!!! We chatted at her house for a bit with the other au pair friend of hers named Tina. Meike leaves Friday for home - sad day!!!! And Tina just changed her ticket to leave on Monday because her family is horrible. So hopefully Meike's replacement will be super. She got in today and her name is Katie. Might meet her tonight - Monday night movie!!

I'm sure there are a million things I am leaving out but that will have to do for now. Off to pick the kids up from school!

I though I left Oregon?!

It's raining. It's freezing. I'm cold blooded and bundled up. Need to invest in more gloves and scarves. Yesterday I decided to count how many people were wearing scarves. I would say out of every 100 men and women about 75 were wearing scarves. Yesterday it was a high of 39 degrees. BRRRRR.

Have I mentioned that the kids thing gum is the greatest thing ever. Is that normal? Andrea hates gum so they only get it when they are with their Dad, or me, and Andrea is not around. We'll go to get a treat and they'll choose gum over chocolate. Obviously this is something I just cannot understand. This is a picture of Emily chewing a gum ball. So strange. :)

Emily had swim lessons three times this week and one of the days Oscar and I went swimming while she was having her lesson. I drove their rental BMW which is an automatic - weird! They just don't have a lot of automatic cars here. Their car is in the shop getting fixed after a slight mishap with the back of the car and the driveway gate. Wasn't me! This "pool" was actually about six or more different pools connected in some way - outdoor section, wave pool, diving board section, serious swimmers section, kids section, older people section, etc. There is also two hot tubs, a sauna, and two amusement park size slides that we took full advantage of because we were there early in the morning during a week day which means no lines! Emily was happy to join us on the slides after her lesson and we kept going down them like crazy kids until Oscar rammed into the wall and his nose started bleeding. Oops! Maybe all three of us going at the same time wasn't such a good idea. . . lol. We had a lot of fun though.

Later that afternoon we went and wandered around the PalmenGarten and watched the silly fish that follow you around. The kids were leaning way over the rope to watch the fish and were making me a bit nervous. Thankfully no one fell in! Here they are loving on a lion statue there. Tender.

Heard that I won't get my visa for another four weeks or so which means I don't get my passport back for another four weeks or so which means no traveling outside of Germany basically. That's all right. Save my money! Or maybe I can still go places if I take the train. . . Yesterday I went and got my BahnCard or Train pass which will get me 50% off train prices! The card cost 225 Euros and will last for a year. And lucky me - the family pays for it! So I will save a bit on my trips with that. Trips coming up: SüdTirol - Northern Italy, Eichstätt - Southern Germany, Dresden - Eastern Germany, and Berlin.

Yesterday Phillips brother Moritz and his wife Udit (sp?) and 4yr old daughter Lilly came to stay here until Saturday morning. Moritz is a journalist for the big newspaper in Berlin and he's here working - checking out the giant Book Fair. As the website says : "The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important marketplace for books, media, rights and licences worldwide. More than 7,300 exhibitors from 100 countries, 299,000 visitors and over 10,000 journalists. " So it's kind of a big deal. Sadly I won't be able to go because it is only open to the public on Saturday and Sunday and we leave tomorrow for Italy - which I'm not sad about of course! :)

We leave tomorrow for Pöcking which is in southern Germany where we will stay the night at Phillip's uncle Niko's house which apparently is a castle but I'm going to go ahead and say it's probably "just" a mansion. Then on Sunday we will drive to northern Italy to a place called Bad Dreikirchen or SüdTirol where we will be staying for a week and then back to Niko's for a night and then on the 25th back in Frankfurt. Wird bestimmt lustig. :)

The sun came out which means I'm out!

lovelovelove
xoxoxo
c

Saracen is adorable.

So Monday nights are sneak preview movie nights at a theater in the city and last week I went with Meike. The theater is packed as the movie begins at 9PM, everyone anxious to see what the movie is going to be. The lights go low. On comes creepy music. I'm thinking - oh great this is not going to be good. Sure enough the title comes on: Orphan. After hiding in my zip-up giggling uncontrollably for about two minutes Meike turns to me and says something along the lines of "Cara we can really go, Katie (the last aupair) made me suffer through the last scary movie that they played. Please don't make me do that again." So we sneak out as I try to stifle my giggles. I'm ridiculous. The movie only costs 4 Euros so pretty cheap compared to the usual prices. This week was much better. I braved going out in the cold to make it. It took me awhile to brave going. But I figured it couldn't get much worse than Orphan. The theater was once again packed and there were two seats next to where I was sitting that were broken and people kept trying to sit there and it got a bit annoying after the sixth person. Anyways. Lights dim. Nice music comes on. And then Alexis Bledel comes on the screen and I"m thinking there is no way this is going to be a horror movie. Thank God. It was actually the movie Post Grad and it had one of my favorite fake footballers in it. Landers it was Saracen!!!! He's so cute. Although I would have preferred Riggins. ;) The movie was great - silly, lots of laughter from the crowd and so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Going swimming tomorrow - so excited!! Sorry mom, I'm going in. It will be fine, no skin will split open. AND I jumped a little bit on the trampoline yesterday and played a bit of soccer and redeemed my slow self in Oscar's eyes. I'm pretty good I must say. Haha. The chocolate cake is almost gone. Cut me off people please. Hide the chocolate.
<3

Birthday celebrations!!!

Oscar turned 7 on Thursday!! We had his godfather Jed (one of Andrea's college roommates) and the Grandmother Anki staying at the house to celebrate. I made Anzac cookies for Oscar to take to school to share with his schoolmates. I then baked a spice cake with cream cheesy butter cream frosting and I decorated the top with a horse since for his birthday the plan was to have a couple of his friends join him for a couple hours horseback riding today. Well, the weather has turned crappy today and it is rain rain rain and he is not interested in riding a horse in the rain. His birthday was a success I would say in that he was very happy, with the family, and got lots of presents - the biggest being a new bike! I got him some chocolate, naturally, and the book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I think we'll read it on the car ride to and from Northern Italy at the end of the month.

Jed left yesterday for a ran-de-vue (sp??) in Munich and the Grandmother left as well to head back to Berlin. Our next guest was Phillip's roommate at Harvard named Chris who happens to be a film producer. They ask if I've ever heard of Good Will Hunting (uhh duh). Well Chris had been friends with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck before the movie and he was one of the producers and this movie pretty much made all of them famous. Chris was the producer of the American Pie series, Waiting.., and a lot of other movies. Pretty crazy. So it was very interesting hearing his stories and refer to his good friends - all these different celebrities, etc.

Have I mentioned I love this city? On sunny days I park my bike at the big book store and then wander around the streets "downtown" for a couple hours, grabbing a coffee maybe (yes a coffee - shocking), hanging out with Meike here and there, reading my books, etc. It's wonderful.

Right now I'm working on purchasing my ticket to go to Eichstätt for Halloween weekend! Super duper excited to be back in the town and see the people that made me want to come back to Germany. I love my German family!! :)

We just got back from a play that we went to see for Oscar's birthday. Thirteen kids under the age of eight eating cake at the house = INSANITY. Phillip and I and the 13 little ones went to the play while Andrea tried to gain back her sanity. I took a taxi with a group of five. The play was about a little witch. The kids enjoyed it I think and now they just finished eating some pasta. It is crazy in this house! Finally!! I miss the craziness of my house. :)

I'm fighting an itch in my throat. I don't want to get sick!!! Fall break just started for the kids so no school for two weeks!! Emily is taking swimming class four days next week and I was thinking I could jump in the pool also but the doctor says no. I have to wait another week and then I can. Then hopefully I will be able to join a swim team. And also a rugby team!

Off to Italy in a week!!!!

Autumn has arrived.

Johanna came and played starting on Wednesday. SO EXCITING to see her lovely face again! I picked her up at the Hauptbahnhof - my first trip there but surely not my last. We went and wandered the city and had a few fun adventures shopping. I was really good and didn't buy anything even though Hanni said I should buy this sexy purple skirt from H&M. I might go back and get it. It's one of those high-waisted kind. And I really wanted two scarves from there too. Oh H&M is just so dangerous. Andrea was kind enough to lend her bike to Hanni to use while she found some other ways of getting around so we biked to the Hospital - got my stitches out! Skin is still together. Thank goodness. The doc said I can dance in a week. :) We'll see about running. . . We then walked to the store and got some ingredients to make a bombtastic
blueberry cheesecake that was AMAZING if I might say so. Then Amy told me that Kayleen made her pumpkin cupcakes with creamcheese frosting for her birthday and I got a bit jealous. Recipe please Kayleen! Friday night we went to Meike's with another au pair who is here till December. We just had some champagne and chatted. It was very nice. Meike was afraid of opening the champagne but I think I'm a champ. Probably because of you Landers! Hahahaha. It was so funny because she was so afraid that it was going to explode of and break something and then spill all over. Of course it didn't. Psh.  I dropped Hanni off on Saturday morning at the afternoon. My second time driving and I found my way around splendidly which is great. I am really getting a feel for the city. Although I think my bike tours are helping me. It's fun getting lost IN the city. Not outside of it. I ventured to a new area called Bornheim yesterday and then sun was shining and it was beautiful. Very chick. Cute guys. I'll have to go back there. :)

It's quite dreary outside today. I find that quite lame. We, that is Phillip, Andrea, Emily, and I just got back from a night in a small city called Wetzlar where a friend of theirs had their 10th anniversary. We stayed the night at a cute hotel with a great spread for breakfast this morning. YUMM. Then we had brunch at a large mansion that belonged to the family. A few generations back in this family started the Leica lens company. So they have some money. This is the house and then a pic of the big Cathedral in the city. It was very windy so when they were doing the tour of the city Andrea, Emily and I went to a cafe and had some coffee and some things to nibble on instead. hehe.

 Today we are going to the "Newcomers Festival" in the city and hopefully I will find some clubs that I want to join! Maybe a book club or a soccer club - for after I've healed of course. Don't worry Mom :) This week is Oscar's birthday so one of Andrea's college room mates, Jet (or Jed. . .),  is coming into town to stay for a couple of nights and then Phillip's Mom is also coming on Thursday for a little birthday evening. Apparently Jet is in his late thirties but living in New York like a 22 year old. Shall be entertaining! He is one of the kids Godparent. Forgot which. Oscar's party is on Saturday - horse back riding with a group of six of his friends! Should be fun!!

I need to work on planning my trips to visit Libby in Italy and Kim in Copenhagen but it seems I am always so busy! I've already been here a MONTH! Crazy. Time flies!!!!!

William Fitzsimmons beard is too long for me.