Disoriented New Year's & Hamburg Juxtapostion

Well, it’s our last evening in Berlin, and of course we’re spending it on our computers with some warm gluhwein one last time before we leave.  Now, I need to recall the third leg of our trip after returning from Prague.  We’ve gotten to do so much. Thus are rather tired at the end of this trip, but in the best way possible.

When we arrived back in Berlin, it was slightly strange returning from a vacation within a vacation. But I was really grateful to even have a little more time with my family.  On December 30th, I had a great morning just lounging and chatting with the fam while Jake slept in.  Once we finally got out of the house we went to scope out some well-known shopping spots and passed by the New Jewish Synagogue.  Then we wandered over to Nikolaiviertel (Nicholas’ Quarter) to see Nikolaikirche (Nicholas’ Church).  

We arrived back home just in time to meet guests of the Antals, who had been invited over for the afternoon.  These are friends they met through Ian’s Berlin musicals as a kid, and they’ve stayed in touch since.  Mark is a composer, particularly of musicals, and his wife is an actress.  Jake and Mark were sat next to each other so they could chat about composing, and of course I couldn’t help myself but to listen in and contribute to their conversation.  Jake and I have several times since found ourselves coming back to that conversation and reflecting on some things Mark said.  He was very knowledgeable and it was very interesting to hear a little of his experience in and passion for the world of musical composition.  Hopefully we’ll be able to meet him again someday.  This was also a nice time for Sarah and I to get to know each other a little more since we were sitting next to each other.  She is super sweet and easy to talk to.  I look forward to more time with her in the future as well.

Later, after the guests left, we sat down for one more family meal before the Antals left for Lisbon in the morning.  Ariane made a delicious turkey pie with the leftover fixin’s from Christmas and thankfully, there was plenty left over for Jake and I to enjoy later!!  

The next morning everyone was up bright and early to leave for the airport.  Jake and I got up to see everybody off and catch any last instructions necessary for our stay (alone!) in the house.  After they left, I was kind of melancholy already missing the family I don’t get to see too often.  I made Jake sit through about an hour’s worth of memories recalling all the instances my Berlin family came to the states and my love for them regardless of the miles!  I also couldn’t help but reflect how much David, more than ever before, reminded me of my grandpa.  So Jake had to hear another hour’s worth of me retelling stories of my grandpa.  I shared my stories through tears of sweet memories, while my kind husband just looked me in the eyes, patiently listening with sincerity. I apologize for talking so much, and he responds by telling me how much he enjoys it. :) What a winner I have!

Considering this was our 3 year anniversary, we took the liberty to be rather lazy.  After my 2 hours of talking at my husband about family and memories, we went downstairs to make some lunch.  Somehow we sat there and talked for another 3 hours. I love these moments. And fyi... this time I didn't talk the entire time. :)  When we came back upstairs to get ready for the day, Jake encouraged us to write down our individual goals for 2014 while our recent conversation was still fresh.  

We finally got out of the house to do something for New Year’s Eve. (We figured our anniversary celebration was pretty much taken care of in Prague.)  We had read that the Brandenburg Gate held a huge New Year’s Eve party with thousands of people.  So we were intrigued enough to try to check it out, at least for a short while, though we had already made plans to go to Anita’s New Year’s Eve party, which seemed much quainter and preferable. So 30 minutes or so at the Brandenburg Gate to say we were there, and then off to Anita’s party.  Unfortunately, when we got to the Brandenburg area,we saw people getting their bags checked as they tried to enter on Unter den Linden (the main street leading up to the gate).  Jake had a bottle of Gluhwein that we were bringing to the party, so we went around to another street where he dropped the bottle in a bush to be picked up later, and we moved toward another entrance.  Well, looked like we missed our chance to get in because they wouldn’t let anyone in at any other entrances. We walked all they way around the Holocaust Memorial and to Postdamer Platz trying to find an entrance, but had no luck. Apparently, there were already too many people there. So finally we decided to head out to the party.  Of course we had to go back to pick up our gluhwein in the bush.  We got to our drink just in time to snatch it right before some girl ran over to vomit right where we had our bottle stashed. It was only 9:30pm and she was already tossing her cookies.  Happy New Year!

We made it to the party, and Anita greeted us with hugs and introduced us to people.  We chatted it up with Anita and new friends.  It was as we expected, quaint and delightful.  We hadn’t intended to stay too long since we wanted to be home together for the turn of the new year and the fireworks.  However, breaking away from a nice conversation is one of the hardest things for me to do.  So we left a little later that we had anticipated.  But still with enough time to be home right around midnight.  So we thought.

Unfortunately, we got a little confused at the metro stop and ended up taking the U-bahn instead of our familiar S-bahn route.  No biggy… I thought.  This route would just take a bit longer, which unfortunately meant we'd be on the underground train instead of on the balcony at home when the clock struck 12am. Oh well.  We enjoyed the energy and excitement of people on the train, who all rushed out with fireworks in hand, when it turned midnight.  And we even caught the initial fireworks when the train went above ground for awhile.  It was actually really nice. However, when the time came for our stop, we were in for a rude awakening!!

When we came up from the metro at about 12:15am, we felt like we had entered a war zone.  There were fireworks going off in every direction and every second.  There was so much smoke in the air that we could hardly see 10 feet in front of us!  And to make matters worse… we didn’t know where we were.  Nothing looked familiar.  We apparently had gotten off at the wrong stop and we had no idea of we had gone too far or not far enough.  We had forgotten our Berlin map since we hadn’t needed thus far.  We started walking around trying to gain our bearings but no luck.  The loud booms and smoke everywhere were discombobulating enough, not to mention the fireworks be thrown near our feet and in the street and above our heads constantly.  It was quite intense for us, particularly because we weren’t expecting this ruckus of a celebration!  

Jake, in desperation, finally decided to try the GPS on his phone even though we hadn’t been able to use our phones without major roaming fees since leaving Spain.  We didn’t think the data was working here for us.  But thankfully, our location popped up on his screen and we were able to use the GPS to get us back home.  We made it home around 1am, and we had a fantastic laugh over this adventurous New Year’s Eve.  On the flip side… we certainly did not miss the fireworks!

The next day we slept in late and enjoyed being cozy at home.  We eventually got out and went to Postdamer Platz since we saw some fun stuff happening there the night before. Sadly we didn’t do the sledding or the ice skating there since we weren’t sure it was worth it at this time when our vacation funds were running slim.  But we enjoyed one last Christmas market and another side of the city we hadn’t made it to yet. We also enjoyed a little family time over skype and watching the movie Amadeus in our nice cozy bed.  We found the movie amidst David and Ariane’s DVD’s and we couldn’t help ourselves after being right in the place the movie was filmed just days before.  

On January 2nd, we had one last out-of-town excursion to embark upon, thanks to David, Ariane, and Rachelle for getting us tickets.  We headed out to Hamburg early that morning and arrived around 10:30am.  We had plotted out a walking tour for ourselves the night before.  We got there and headed out to the famous Red Light District, some nice churches, the Harbor Promenade, the Old Warehouse district, and more.  However, we kept saying, “It’s all so modern.”  We were expecting another Berlin and Dresden.  I was getting disappointed thinking I plotted out the wrong tour for us, and we were going to miss everything historical.  Finally at about 3:30pm we made it to one of our stops, the Church of St. Nikolai.  We were instantly taken by this church in ruins with nothing but it’s tall tower and a few of the sanctuary walls left.  It was bombed badly in the war, and never rebuilt.  A captivating, yet eerie place.  We saw for a few euros we could got up to the top of the tower, and also see the exhibit in the church basement.  Desperate to see things more historical on our trip, we bought the tickets.  We started with the tower, expecting to get a bird’s eye view of all the churches and historical buildings that we couldn’t see from our ground view by the port.  Yet again, I was surprised by what I didn’t see.  Most everything still seemed so modern even from this new aerial point of view.  So then we headed down to the exhibit.  The church had been described as a memorial to all the victims of war.  Of course I understood that the place had been bombed, and there were German citizens that had suffered and been displaced from the war taking place on their territory.  But I had no idea what I was about to see.

The exhibit revealed the devastating “Operation Gomorrah” carried out by the Allies.  I had no idea that nearly the entire city was destroyed by a series of air raids and a huge firestorm that burnt the city to a crisp.  I read that nearly 43,000 citizens were killed and 37,000 wounded.  We looked at before and after pictures of the city, and were stunned.  After the bombs and firestorm, the bustling city's houses, churches, factories and other buildings were completely leveled.  Literally nothing left but the foundations.  No wonder everything was so modern!!  The city had to be entirely rebuilt!!  It was such a heavy, intense, yet good exhibit.  We felt a little embarrassed for wandering the city complaining about the lack of historical structures.  But we came out with much more respect, and in a strange way grateful for these jarringly juxtaposed perspective about the city within the margin of an hour or so.  It made it even more impactful.

We wandered a little more hunting for some dinner, but couldn't find what we wanted in time and ended up grabbing a quick at the train station where there were many options!  After 8 hours of walking the train ride home was blissful.  Our day in Hamburg was intensely memorable.

The last couple days in Berlin we felt very comfortable, finally gaining some confidence in getting around.  Of course as always, just in time to depart.  On the 3rd, we went out and walked through Tiergarten and saw the Victory Tower.  We went back to the Brandenburg Gate approaching it from the west side for the first time on our trip, and again relaxed at home.  Today, we got out earlier and got a day pass to Museum Island.  We stood in line for over an hour to get into the Pergamon Museum, but it was worth the wait.  Then we went to the Neues Museum and we were practically overwhelmed by all the artifacts!  It’s rather difficult to take it all in!  Then we got a bite to eat, enjoyed a little concert by a superb street violinist.  (We sat there for 20 minutes listening… and I think we inspired others to stop and do the same.)  Then we headed out to the TV Tower and Alexanderplatz and headed home.

Our trip is sadly over.  But Jake and I are both incredibly amazed by all the things we got to do and see, not to mention all the love and family we got to soak up.  What a perfect way to send off 2013 and welcome 2014.  Tomorrow we’re headed back to Spain with mixed feelings.  Spain feels like home and it also still feels like an extended vacation.  It's strange to return from a vacation to a "longer vacation." However, it is nice that there is a part of us now in Valencia which makes it feel like home. That, we look forward to returning to as we prepare for this next semester and all the new experiences it will bring our way.

Happy New Year and new experiences to all!

2nd Honeymoon in Prague

We’ve had an absolutely amazing trip to Dresden and Prague from Berlin. Ariane accompanied us to the train station early on Friday morning (after getting up even earlier to make us lunches for our journey!) to make sure we got on our train ok.  We had a nice quiet ride to Dresden, where we spent the afternoon walking around the city.  We were able to drop our backpacks in a locker at the Zinger Palace, and gave ourselves a tour of the grounds and courtyard. Wow!!  Really an incredible place to see.  We continued our self-guided tour to the Frauenkirche, an absolutely beautiful church that they say “has literally risen from the city’s ashes,” as this landmark only was recently rebuilt.  Lonely Planet Review said it well, “A spitting image of the original, it may not bear the gravitas of age but that only slightly detracts from its festive beauty inside and out.”

We got some bratwurst and glühwein, and headed back to the train headed for Prague.  We shared a 6 person train compartment with some vacationing Polish-Americans around our age, and enjoyed a few laughs together.  The view from the train of the German/Czech countryside was incredible.  After arriving in Prague we only made one circle before heading in the proper direction for hotel.  When we got up to our room, we immediately thought there may be a mistake.  We opened the door, took a few gulps, and dropped our bags in amazement.  It was the most beautiful hotel room we’d ever seen, with the biggest bed, and more chairs and seating space than a family of 8 needed.   We freshened up, and went down to the front desk to ask about some good places to eat dinner, where to exchange money, and while we were at the questions, Jake asked if his mom had upgraded the room since he knew that he had not originally selected such a lavish room. [As a Christmas gift, Chris (Jake’s mom) generously paid for our hotel room in Prague.]  But the hotel clerk said, “No she didn’t, we did.”  They said, no one had taken that room for the next two nights, so they upgraded us.  They also told us that it was the biggest and nicest room in the entire hotel!  We felt like King and Queen of Boutique Hotel 7 Days in Prague.  

We went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and quickly realized that our money seemed to go a lot farther in the Czech Republic, which was also a nice perk. The next day, we had a fabulous breakfast in the hotel, and then we met up with Jan, an acquaintance of Jake’s from school, who lives in Prague.  How convenient!  Jan saw Jake’s FB post about going to Prague and offered to show us around.  It was very special for us to have Jan, a local, taking us to the important sights, telling us about the history and culture, as well as having the human connection of discussing shared experiences at Berklee.  He took us to one of his favorite restaurants for lunch, and pointed us to things we should see the next day that we didn’t have time for.  He spent the entire afternoon with us, and then got us back to the hotel just in time for Jake and I to get ready for our romantic evening together!

We had a romantic dinner for 2 (an additional surprise Christmas gift from Chris and Rich!) planned in the hotel restaurant at 5:30pm and then tickets to the opera at 7pm.  The hotel was absolutely amazing to us.  They day before, after we returned from dinner our first night there, the front desk clerked stopped us, letting us know that we had a romantic dinner scheduled. She said we just needed to let them know what time we’d like to do it the following evening. So we said, we’d like to do it before the opera and have an early dinner.  Suddenly, the front desk clerk realized that we had a problem.  The dinner lounge didn’t open until 6:30, and we had to leave for the opera at 6:30.  So we asked what time it closed… maybe we could do a late dinner afterward?  It closed at 11pm.  So she told us, that they would have it ready when we got back.  We went back up to our room, and looked up how long the opera was… and apparently it typically runs around 3.5 hours.  Uh oh… that means that it would not get out until 10:30, and we wouldn’t be back at the hotel until 11pm… right when the dinner lounge was closing.  So Jake went down again to inform the front desk, and see if we could switch it to a lunch instead.  But the lady said, “No, it’s all planned, we can’t have that.”  So she ended up calling the chef to inform him of the dilemma, and asked him if he could come in a little early around 6pm, which he was fine with.  So Jake came back up and informed me that we would have a quick dinner before the opera.  A minute later, we got a call in our room from the front desk and apparently the chef had asked more questions, and when hearing that we had to be at the opera at 7pm, he said, “No, they will be too rushed.  Tell them to come at 5:30pm instead.”  So the hotel opened the dinner lounge an hour early, plus they brought in the chef and a waitress early just for us.  We had the entire place to ourselves, a personal waitress, and a delicious gourmet meal.  We couldn’t finish our wine and dessert in time, so they brought it up to our room after our return from the opera.  Remember, I said we felt like King and Queen of the hotel because our fancy room?  This experience certainly topped off that feeling!!  

After dinner, we scooted out to the opera.  Earlier that day we read through the plot summary and scene descriptions of Don Giovanni so we would be prepared to follow the story, and it really helped to enjoy it even more.  The opera house was beautiful, and we got a kick out of imagining Mozart right in front of us conducting as if we were attending the debuting show over 200 years ago.  The performance was great.  There was a special notice in the halls apologizing for the vocal quality one of the women performers who was apparently sick.  Of course, we didn’t see this until the intermission and had to ask each other which performer was the sick one because they all sounded fantastic.  Only at the curtain call could I really tell that this one girl was not doing so well.  The show was great.  It was fun too, because one of the songs in this show, “Batti Batti”, I sang in high school, and recently sang it a few times in our apartment in Spain for practice.  I’ve never sang it in front of Jake, but he had obviously heard me through the walls, because he looked at me right when he heard the song begin.  It made me feel good that he recognized it.  I’ve watched several clips of this song on YouTube, so it was fun to see a live performance and the differences in direction.  It’s a fun one!

The entire day in Prague was soooooo wonderful, we had to keep pinching ourselves.  It truly felt like we were on our honeymoon or something.  Just so special.  The next day we checked out at 11am, and luckily we were able to store our bags at the hotel so we didn’t have to carry them around for the next 5 hours until our train left.  This was just the right amount of time for us to go out again, see some sights that we didn’t have time for with Jan, do a little souvenir shopping, and navigate the the crowds of tourists.  I was so surprised by the number of tourists.  Hoards and hoards of tourists. It was incredible.  More people than at Disneyland on a perfect summers day.  It was like we were at the Superbowl or something...but that many people all throughout the city!  But it was kind of cool, because since everyone was a tourist I didn’t feel stupid gawking at all the old buildings and beautiful skylines.  We had fun weaving our way through crowds as we made our way through the Old Town Square, crossing the Charles bridge and up the hill to the Prague Castle.  I particularly wanted to return to the area near the castle because Jan had mentioned that the movie Amadeus had been filmed in this part of the town. I thought that was really cool, and we were amazed by how few changes and touch ups they probably had to make to set the scene properly for the movie.  Prague looks like one of the places I see in paintings--a time warp back to the 18th century with quaint cobblestone streets, well restored houses and shops freshly painted in classic colors; and seen in the distance are spires and towers of the many centuries old churches and monuments refurbished or kept through the ages. Truly amazing.  We now have a treasure of pictures and memories from this utterly perfect trip thanks to David, Ariane, and Rachelle for the thoughtful train tickets and encouragement to experience as much of Europe as we can while we’re here.  And thanks to Jake’s parents for the amazing hotel and romantic dinner.  And his siblings for the thoughtful gift of tickets to Don Giovanni.  All in all… a priceless experience.  

(Jake has an album of pictures of this trip posted on his FB page. You can check it out if you're interested.)

Christmas in Berlin

I am writing this on New Year’s Eve… over a week since our arrival in Berlin.  So much has happened… so many joyful moments, delightful conversations, and warm memories to keep with us.  I am stalling as I write trying to think back on our trip so far. I’ll start with the first few days here through Christmas.

Jake and I took a train to Barcelona, and from there flew to Berlin.  The travel day felt actually quite long.  We were filled with anticipation to see family, and also I think filled with slight nerves about managing the train stations and making it to the airport.  We’ve really never traveled much by train, and we were not completely sure how to get to the Barcelona airport from the train station.  Luckily, after asking around helplessly we managed to get on the 20 minute train ride to the airport after arriving in Barcelona.  We did not plan for time to see Barcelona, so we’ll have to make that trip again some day this next semester.  For now our sights were on Berlin.  We were relieved once our train dropped us off at the airport and we went inside.  However, the angst came back as we walked down the airport mall passing every terminal except ours, and then we reached the end!!  Turns out we had to go outside and around quite a ways to find the EasyJet check-in.  It seemed separate from everything else, and I was getting really nervous for a bit.  It was so far that some people took a shuttle.  Luckily, we found it and checked-in with enough time to grab some copas y tapas (wine and appetizers) before our flight.  Though our flight was only 2 or so hours, Jake and I both felt like it was a good 4 or 5 our ride.  We were just ready to be in Berlin safe in the comfort of home and family.

All was well when we saw Rachelle’s beaming face greet us at the airport.  She even brought us water and a snack for the ride into town.  Which of course was another bus and metro ride before arriving home.  But that’s ok, because we were supremely more relaxed with Rachelle by our side.  David and Ariane welcomed us with happiness, hugs, and a hot meal!!  What a wonderful end to a stressful travel day.  As always we talked and talked, and headed to bed quite late.  

The next morning we slept in, enjoyed a late lunch together, and David then took Jake and I for a tour of Berlin.  Well, at least part of Berlin.  :)  As many know, there is A LOT to see in Berlin!!  So much history!!  So many sights!!  And of course having your own tour-guide-historian-uncle by your side makes everything so much more interesting!!  We went to the Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate.  We saw the Berliner Dom, Neue Wache (a guardhouse for the East Germans during the Cold War, which now serves as a war memorial), and Bebelplatz (where the Nazi book burning ceremonies took place).  David pointed out an old theater where Ian had done a few shows as a child.  This area was East Berlin before the wall fell, and it was not until Ian began to do shows here did this area become a familiar and comfortable place.  I found that interesting.

After seeing the sights, we planned to go to one of the many Christmas markets nearby.  They are all over town--little winter wonder lands full of crafts, souvenirs, food and drinks, sometimes rides for kids and I even saw a mini petting zoo at one.  I was pretty cold by this point because I didn’t layer up enough our first time out (California girl!).  I was really looking forward to entering the market with all the warm crowds, food and fires going, and store fronts to block the wind.  However, David saw one more special thing that he wanted to show us before we hit the market and I’m so glad he did.  Around the corner was the church where he was confirmed into the Anglican church not too long ago.  It was an old building, but absolutely stunning inside.  We sat down in the front pew reliving the moment together.  It was a really special moment for me with my uncle.  After that we finally hit up the Christmas market and bought a small Berlin ornament to remember this special day at every Christmas to come. :)  When we arrived home, we had another wonderful family dinner prepared graciously by Ariane and Rachelle.  

On Christmas Eve-day, everyone in the house had a little work to do before their vacation to Lisbon, so Jake and I went up to the Charottenburg Palace and walked the grounds.  I remember the palace and the gardens when I was here 17 years ago, and I was looking forward to going there with Jake.  Though it was not nearly as warm and sunny as I remember, we had a good time walking hand in hand enjoying the view and each other.  We also wanted to go see the Olympic Stadium from the Berlin Olympics in the 1930’s.  We took the metro there, knowing we could not get any tours on Christmas Eve.  Everything was closed as we suspected so we just walked around those grounds and neighborhood in the area.  We were again pretty cold at this point having been outside for so long.  I saw what looked like a cafe or something in the distance with many lights, and I told Jake I wanted to go there on our way out.  We had been in search for glühwein (mulled wine) that we had seen at the Christmas market but never bought.  I suggested that this place with lights might have some, or at least something warm to drink.  But as we got closer, we were disappointed to find that it was actually a circus not a cafe/restaurant.  Out curiosity we got a little closer to see if we could see anything inside.  The tent was open into the foyer area, and we could see an elephant inside.  We thought that was interesting, and there was not ticket booth or persons collecting tickets outside, so we went into the foyer.  There we saw concession stands with balloons, souvenirs, food, and… glühwein!!!!  What luck!!  So we bought ourselves a couple of cups.  As we looked around, the entrance to the main tent was wide open and there was still no one selling tickets, so we went in to sit for a bit while we finished our drinks and warmed up.  The tent wasn’t too big and there was simply an elephant with a line of kids behind it waiting to get on it and take a picture.  So we figured it was actually just another fun Christmas market type of venue and kids were taking pictures with an elephant for fun.  So we watched this take place for about 10 minutes while we relaxed from our afternoon of walking and standing.  All of a sudden the elephant was cleared out, the lights went down, and an announcer started opening the show!!  We sat there for another 2 hours enjoying a full circus production with a tight rope walker, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, animals including: elephants, a giraffe, zebra, a hippopotamus, and a rhinoceros!!  We couldn’t believe what we had just wandered upon. We loved it!!  And it just cost us two cups of glühwein!!

We had a fun story to share when we got back home.  Ariane, David, Rachelle, Jake and I had nice Christmas Eve dinner around 8pm that night, and then we all headed out for the 11pm Christmas Eve service at David and Ariane’s church.  It was neat to share this service with them at their church.  We were grateful to take communion since the Anglican church invites all believers to join in the sacrament.  Ariane and Rachelle had to coach us through the process before the service since it is carried out so much differently than the way we’re used to, which actually made communion this Christmas Eve very memorable for us.  I’ve always loved attending the late Christmas Eve service and being able enter into Christmas day at church with God in focus, and it was even nicer to do together as a family.  We left church about 12:30am, and went straight to bed.  At least some of us did!

On Christmas morning, we came downstairs around 11:00am and the living room door was shut.  Anita had just arrived as well.  Anita and her mother, Maria, are long time family friends (aka family) of the Antals.  Maria was out of town on Christmas, so they invited Anita over for Christmas morning family time, which was great because she’s a super fun hang. I really enjoyed meeting her and spending the morning together.  So once we all arrived there was a grand opening of the doors into the living room revealing a beautiful Christmas tree that had been set up and decorated overnight, just like when the kids were young.  A family tradition I had always heard about, but never witnessed first hand.  Everybody then crowded on David and Ariane’s bed enjoying croissants and tea talking and laughing.  

Anita stayed a couple of hours and then had to get on her way.  We all got up and stretched for bit.  Rachelle had to run out to “meet a friend and exchange gifts.”  Ariane was excitedly awaiting a 2:00pm skype date with Ian in New York.  At 2:00pm Rachelle raced back into the house grateful that she made it back in time for the call.  David, Ariane, and Rachelle were crowded around the computer while trying to connect with Ian.  When Ian came online it sounded like he had just gotten up, and he said Sarah was still sleeping.  It was pretty early still in New York.  They weren’t able to get his image on screen which I know the frustration of all too well now after many Valencia video chat attempts with my parents. All of a sudden Ian interrupted and said he couldn’t hear them anymore, and the connection was breaking up.  And boom… they lost him.  Ariane seemed quite disappointed as she attempted to try again… but nothing.  :(  Rachelle mentioned that there was probably too much traffic online since it was Christmas and many people were possibly trying to also video chat.  Ariane tried one more time, and got Ian again, the connection continued to break up with Ian’s voice going in and out.  And suddenly the voice coming from the computer began to get ever so clear and while getting louder from the other end of the house.  And before my mind had put together what was happening Ian and Sarah burst in the room and jumped on the bed.  Ariane kept looking back and forth from the computer screen to Ian as if her mind was still trying to figure out how her little boy jumped out of the computer screen and onto her bed.  I was watching all of this take place from the sofa while welling up with tears.  It took me about 15 seconds to figure out that I should be capturing this moment on video.  So I have a little video, but it doesn’t start until after the initial shock has subsided slightly. Here's a link to my YouTube page if you haven't seen the videos yet.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZMLBZMzWIXevo5KZP3tWBg

This was such a wonderful surprise to witness, and though it wasn’t really for me, I was intensely overjoyed as well for the opportunity to get a little time with another cousin who I hardly ever get to see.  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Ian in the context of home and family, and it was striking to see the level of energy he brings to a room.  It was so fun!  And of course, this was my first opportunity to meet Sarah as well finally!  I was so grateful for this opportunity to get to know her through the events and family time of the next few days.  

The rest of the day was filled with even more energy and laughter than before with Ian and Sarah in the mix.  Ariane and Rachelle made a delicious turkey for Christmas dinner, and again we had an absolutely perfect evening talking and catching up.

The day after Christmas began with another slow start.  Jake and I have gotten really good at relaxing.  The family had a light lunch together, and then we all did different things in the afternoon.  Jake and I went to the Story of Berlin museum, and as always I took way too long reading nearly every single thing so we had to rush back to the house to by 7:00pm.  David, Rachelle, Ian, Sarah, Jake, and I had plans to go out to one of the favorite Christmas markets together that evening, while Ariane stayed home finally taking a moment to relax herself.  We all shopped around for a couple of hours, ate some bratwurst and drank some glühwein.  On our way back we stopped at the Holocaust Memorial and the Chancellery building. It was a fun evening out with 6 of us together. We didn’t get home until pretty late, so Jake and I went right to packing up our things for our Prague trip, then headed to bed ready for our next adventure.  

Last Day of School!

Last day of school!! Woo hoo!!  Jake has one more recording session to do this afternoon, and then we are packing for Germany!!  I’m so proud of Jake and all that he has accomplished this semester.  He amazes me with his talent, creativity, work ethic, and work efficiency.  I have so much confidence in this life changing decision that he has made for himself, and thus us.  It is a brave thing to put aside a decade-long, stable career to go back to school and start afresh in a whole new industry.  He is making the very most of this educational process, yet while maintaining his track record of being a gracious, loving, attentive husband.  I thank God daily for this incredible man I’ve been blessed with.  Life is so sweet with him.

He has a few more videos to mix, edit, and upload so keep checking his YouTube page for more videos.  Last night I asked him when he was going to post his brass piece on FB.  Apparently, he thought he already had… but I guess someone’s been a little preoccupied.  To his surprise it was still just hiding away on his YouTube page.  Here is the brass piece… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPRdBWnCAiY

Here is his main page with his past videos, and more to come.  http://www.youtube.com/user/JacobComposer

So far this week has been a nice time with friends.  On Tuesday night, we went out to dinner with Bonnie, Andres, and their daughter Sofia before we leave for the holiday.  Jake invited Andres to come take a tour of the school since Andres is an artist and musician himself.  Bonnie, Sofia, and I met up with them at the nearby mall later since I was teaching and couldn’t arrive until about 8:30pm.  Bonnie picked me up from the metro station and it gave us time to have some separate girl time and guy time first.  When we finally met up, Andres was on a high from seeing all the amazing music equipment and studios.  Then we all headed to a Thai Restaurant in the mall!  ;)  

As always, we had a great time.  They are such a kind, fun, and God-loving family.  

Bonnie and I have been talking about going shopping for a while, but haven’t been able to find a time.  She’d been telling me to hold off on buying anything until we can go to PreMark, a store with really cheap prices.  Unfortunately, you need a car to get there so going on my own was not an option.  On Tuesday night, while talking about my need for some warmer things for Germany she suggested we go to PreMark the next morning.  Perfect!!  We had a great time, and I got everything I needed for less than I planned on spending!  Then we went back to her place for lunch before she had to go to work.  She works at a big department store here, and because of the holiday season she’s been working like crazy!!  9 days straight without a day off!  At least she gets Christmas Day!  She’s looking forward to January when she gets to go on pregnancy leave.

As for working I now have 5 kids students and 1 adult conversation class.  After I quit the adult class for double booking myself on Monday nights, they decided to switch the class to Wednesdays.  So now I still have that class.  This week I made my lessons Christmas themed, and everyone seemed to enjoy that.  I’m a little unsure how it works here in terms of what’s appropriate and what’s not regarding references to Christmas.  In the U.S. many schools change words of Christmas songs to refer only to “Winter” and “Holidays” instead of “Christmas.”  And teachers could get fired for bringing up anything religious in discussing Christmas.  I  had bought little santa hats and Christmas ornament crafts for my kid students.  I only asked the parents if it was ok if I didn’t see any Christmas decorations in their house.   I was tipped off that maybe I should ask when one very expressive little girl wanted to sing me a song she knew in English!  I was surprised when she started singing, “Jesus Loves the Little Children”.  First, because this song is not considered “PC” in the states anymore.  Second, because it was religious.  (She goes to a private “I’m guessing Catholic” school.)  And third, because she stopped halfway through looking around for her parents who weren’t in the room, telling me that she cannot sing this song when her parents are there.  And then she proceeded to finish the song.  In another conversation later, her parents told me that even though they are not religious they would prefer to send their daughter to a quality private religious school instead of the public school here.

I was surprised with another family to find they had a nativity scene set up in their house along with their Christmas decorations, yet they also had told me that they are not religious.  And finally, the last family, who also attend the same private religious school as the one little girl, had no decorations set up in their house.  When I asked those kids about Christmas, they first referred to Biblical characters including the magi, and not the usual commercialized secular aspect of Christmas.  I’m under the impression that they are a religious family.

So I’ve come to the conclusion that whether you’re religious or not, Christmas is generally celebrated along with recognizing the Biblical tradition at least to some degree. In my adult class on Wednesday, we did a warm-up with A-Z Christmas terms, and I was again surprised that more often than not religious references were mentioned before the secular references.  After that we had a discussion on the history of Santa Claus, and we had a structured debate on whether the commercialization of Santa Claus is good or bad.  They really got into it.  It was fun!

Well, I’d better go get ready to head to Jake’s school and watch his final recording session this semester.  It think this one is for a string quartet and harp.  My favorite instrumentation.  Then we have our final choir practice.  Think we’re going to sing in the lobby for fun.  Too bad I don’t have my Dickens caroling costume with me.  ;)

November News and Then Some!

Ok, it’s blogging time!!  Time is flying over here in Valencia. I believe the last time I gave an update was around Halloween, and now we’re rounding the bend to Christmas.  Not to mention next week is Jake’s final week of classes and Friday was my last day of Spanish classes.  12 weeks of  Spanish classes,  under my belt, and I’m perfectly fluent!!  =/  Right!!  I got my certificate from the school, and apparently I passed the A2 level for reading and writing, but my oral comprehension and production… not so much.  Basically, I can still hardly understand anything unless someone speaks to me like I’m hard of hearing and then repeat themselves 3 times.  And when I speak I pause before every word with my eyes shifting from side to side under rapid thought, while trying every conjugated verb form available before saying the correct one.  Or the person finally just feeds me the right form out of mercy for my arduous efforts.   So I plan to continue my studies on my own with intentional Spanish TV watching and book reading.  Bonnie and I went to her parents storage unit so she could get her winter clothes, and while there I browsed the bookshelf full of all her old books and videos.  I picked out a few, and now I am enjoying a book from a series called, “Pesadillas”.  You may know it as “Goosebumps”!  I never thought I would have an excuse to read another Goosebumps book after the age of 10!  I was so excited when I saw it!

Speaking of cold.  It finally got cold here sometime in November.  Everyone kept saying how strange it was that it was still in the 20’s (Celsius), in November.  That’s 70’s and 80’s Fahrenheit.  But one day the temp changed like a snap of the finger!  Of course one of the first days it was super cold was the day our small church choir was singing in front of the congregation. I was wearing my sandals on because I didn’t have any nice closed toed shoes to wear for the occasion.  Everyone must have been looking at my feet because after service I had about 4 or 5 people come up to me commenting on my feet. That same day Jake and I were met with a rude awakening when we found the tram we take to church closed because of a marathon taking place.  I was supposed to be there an hour early for the performance, so we quickly turned to bikes for our mode of transportation… a 45 minute ride!  Of course, Jake happened to go on autopilot that day and zoomed in the direction of school.  He was riding so fast that he couldn’t hear my screams that he was going the wrong way.  So I went on toward church without him. Then I was stopped twice trying to cross the street with a swarm of marathoners blocking my path.  And finally, I also went too far in one direction and got lost for a bit myself.  When we both finally made it to church (separately), and after thawing out a little, we had a good morning and a good laugh. That is just one of our many metro or bike snafu’s that could leave a bad taste in our mouth if we didn’t choose to laugh about it.

Of course there is the infamous bike accident that Jake had which was no laughing matter.  Somehow he was crossing a small bridge on his way to school, and his back wheel got stuck in a groove in the sidewalk causing him to be thrown (“thrown” may be a little dramtic) over the handlebars.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), the railing meeting his throat broke his fall.  He was fine except for the fact that he instantly sounded like he had laryngitis.  About a week and a half later a laryngologist was at the school giving presentations to the vocal performance people.  She came to choir that night and Jake talked to her about his accident.  She was very interested and before Jake could finish, she spelled out the feelings and symptoms Jake was having after the accident.  I think Jake was refreshed to have someone understand and give him assuring advice.  Of course she says, “It sounds like you had hemorrhaging in your larynx.”  My thoughts were, “Do you have to say hemorrhaging?  It makes it sound like he has some life threatening condition!  Can’t you just say, ‘You bruised your throat’?  Everything is fine now.  2 weeks later, he was good as new.   A couple days after Jake’s accident I took a spill of my own.  It had just rained, and I knew I should be careful since the ground was slick.  And of course, as I carefully turn a corner, I could feel the wheels sliding out from under me and down I went. However, if we put the incidents side by side I can assure you that mine was more graceful than his!  :)  

I just mentioned choir, which leads me to share about the couple recording sessions we’ve done.  The first recording session was a last minute effort to pull together a group to record a piece that a couple of the students co-wrote for some dance concert in Valencia...I think?  I’m not sure that I ever really caught wind of what it was for.  Jake’s voice still wasn’t better yet, so he was used to conduct the session.  We were recording until about 1am.  Last Friday we recorded again. This time it was put together by some film scoring students who had some choral pieces they wanted to record.  Writing and recording for voices is not in their curriculum, so they invented their own forum to do so.  And it worked out great.  Being involved in this way has been really nice for me, not only to be able to sing, but to get to know the students and be a part of their community in a small degree.

Luckily, I don’t feel like I’m lacking in community.  As I said, yesterday was my last day of Spanish classes, which was bitter sweet  because I had really begun to adore my classmates.  Although I had plenty of invites and opportunities to hang out with them outside of class, I never did.  They would often go out late to clubs and bars, and I don’t know, the idea of coming home to my husband or using the time to spend with my Spanish friends here was more appealing in the moment. Plus, money spent on late night drinks is not in our budget.  And when I say late, I mean LATE. You wouldn’t believe it, but clubs here do not open until 2am!!!  Yes, I said open!  I guess that makes sense if dinner time is 10pm!  I’m still not sure when the young folks here sleep!?

As for our Spanish church friends, it’s been continuously nice to grow in those friendships.  MariEli has been graciously working with me on my Spanish at her house on occasion.  After the “cold feet” presentation at church, she and her mom loaded me up with warmer shoes, scarves, and sweaters out of concern I didn’t have enough warm things!  Bonnie also makes sure we’re taken care of, on top of taking care of her husband, daughter, friends, grandfather, job, school work, the youth group, and other volunteer work she does!  Last Saturday, Bonnie invited me to join her serving around the city sharing food, warm coffee, and love to those sleeping on the streets.  I believe she does this with a ministry group most Saturday nights because the Misión Urbana is closed on Saturdays.  So we went from spot to spot passing out bocadillas (sub sandwiches), warm drinks, and sweet bread until about 12am.  At each location we stopped and talked with the people for a good 20-30 minutes and then moved on.  It was clear that this was a common occurrence because everyone talked and joked like see each other all the time.  It was very endearing.  I was able to have a few conversations with people and I think they were amused by efforts to speak.  I hate feeling like a mute when I meet new people.  So I tried, and I think it even made them feel good to help me out a little bit in feeding me words or kindly correcting me as we conversed.  I met a man sitting on a bench, late into the evening.  Next to him I noticed an empty bottle of some kind of hard alcohol.  I quickly realized that his drunkenness was actually helping me because his speech was so slow!  Unfortunately, I learned only of much pain in this man’s life.

Last night there was a Christmas dinner thrown for  these individuals.  It was a nice dinner prepared for about 60 guests.  I attended to help serve the food, however, there were too many volunteers and not all the tables were filled.  So I was assigned to sit at the table and dine with my new friends.  I kind of felt bad because here I was eating this meal prepared for those in need, and then I was not even able to interact much.   I was at one end of the table, and our guests of honor were at the other end.  In order for me to interact in Spanish at all I have to be sitting right next to you having a one on one conversation with little distraction.  The background music was muffling their voices slightly, and I was practically kissing Bonnie trying to scoot close enough to make out what people were saying.  It didn’t help that the only guest wanting to engage with me was a little far away from me making it hard for me to hear him, and on top of that, he didn’t have teeth!  My efforts to interact quickly became  lost cause, and I found myself reverting to the smile and nod gestures which really translate to, “I don’t understand you.”  :(  Luckily Bonnie was translating parts of the conversation which only led me to want to find out more about these people, while I was discouragingly mute.  Regardless, it was overall a lovely time, and I hope to continue joining Bonnie in this service.  I was moved by Bonnie’s interactions with everyone.  When certain people arrived, I watched her get up from her chair chasing them down for an embrace, in order to show them how glad she was to see them.  Wish you could see the joy she brought to people...laughing and joking with them as if they were her closest friends.  

Speaking of holiday meals, I still haven’t shared about our Thanksgiving meal!  I wanted to share an authentic American Thanksgiving with our Spanish friends here!  So the day before I left school early to slave away in the kitchen all day!  I talk a lot about how I cannot cook, but really its just an excuse because I’m not a fan of cooking things that take a long time.  What can I say, I’m a child of the instant gratification era!  I’ve played up my lack of cooking ability so much that Jake was quietly concerned about my plan cook an entire thanksgiving meal on my own.  I roasted a turkey once in college, so I knew I could handle that.  And though I’ve never made mashed potatoes, stuffing, or a single thanksgiving side dish… I wasn’t worried.  The only things I was worried about was finding the proper foods and utensils for my meal!  After much turkey hunting, I finally found a vendor at our local central market that said the earliest they could get a turkey was the morning of my Thanksgiving meal.  So, I took them up on it, and returned a couple more times to remind them since I had no alternatives.  I was just praying that it would not still have a head and feathers on it when I went to pick it up!  Jake and I went right when the place opened Wednesday morning to pick up the turkey so I could still get to class on time.  When I approached, I saw that my fears had come true! There was my turkey, head and all!  Luckily, she was surprised that we had come so early so she offered to behead it and clean it for me.  I obviously took her up on it.  But as she took to finishing the defeathering process, I could tell that it was going to take more time than I had.  So I told her I would come back at 12pm after my classes.   We both seemed relieved because for the extra time.  I for one did not want a rushed defeathering process.  Of course, when I brought my 17lb friend home that day, I did have to provide a little tweezer action myself to remove a good amount of stray feather stubs that I didn’t think would be very tasty.  

Jake and I also went to several stores looking for a turkey pan, turkey baster, and a meat thermometer… but no luck.  I now realize that all those those are just extra amenities to making the process easier, but not necessities.  Because let me tell you, the final product of my roasting was one sumptuous, moist, fully cooked turkey!   I also spent the week looking for cranberries.  I finally found them after showing some pictures of cranberries to venders in the market.  One produced for me… however, I’m wondering if she knew she had a monopoly on me because they were the most expensive berries I’ve ever bought in my life!!!  Everything else was a hit as well.  If you’d like to see some videos of our Thanksgiving Dinner Party check Jake’s YouTube page…

http://www.youtube.com/jrbflk

I’m so glad Jake made time for this Thanksgiving meal.  He was worried about finishing his projects, and I told him he didn’t have to help prepare anything, just to be present physically and mentally for dinner.  Bonnie came early and helped me with the final preparations, and saved the day by informing me that the table extends!  BINGO.  We couldn’t not have fit one more person around that table.

Also, Grandpa Edgar, “Yayo”, had just arrived back the night before, so he got a nice Thanksgiving welcome.  He is back with us until Christmas.  We are a little concerned because earlier this week one side of Yayo’s face went numb.  Not the whole side of his body or anything… just his face.  He’s been to the medical clinic once, but from what I gathered from his explanation they did not give him any worthy information.  He just came home now from sitting at the hospital for 4 hours and he told me he wasn’t able to see anyone.  Everything is normal, just the left side of his face is numb.  =/  So hopefully that gets better because we don’t really know how we can help if not.

As for Jake and his work, he’s been super busy since Thanksgiving-ish time.  Now he’s finishing up all his final projects.  He’s had several good experiences with recordings, and a few “good learning experiences” if you know what I mean.  But all in all, he is happy and focused.  He’s been posting his recordings, so you should check out his Facebook or his Composing YouTube page to see what he’s been up to.  He still has a few more to edit, mix, and post from this semester so stay tuned.

https://www.facebook.com/jacobrboyd?fref=ts

http://www.youtube.com/user/JacobComposer/videos

We also talked about him trying to get a student job at school.  He didn’t apply in the beginning because we didn’t know what the program would be like or how rigorous it would be for him.  He is always on top of his work, and we both feel like he could easily handle a job.  The extra money would be nice since we don’t have roommates (besides Yayo) to split our living expenses with.  I’ve been waivering back and forth about how many English lessons I want to teach a week.  I’ll tell you more about how that’s going in a bit. Because it’s the middle of the year, Jake went to the school’s director and informed him that if anyone quits their job or if there are any open student positions he’d like to apply for it.  Turns out now, they are looking for student intern for their career and advising department.  I think Jake has a good chance because he is the only student who has been to every one of the meetings offered from this department.  Plus, I’m sure most of it has to do with promotions and such which we all know Jake has done in many respects for years.  So, we’ll see what happens.

As for me and teaching.  I’m still teaching the girls twice a week, and now their neighbor friend as will right after.  Then the neighbor friend’s parents referred me to someone else.  So now I’m teaching another couple of kids on the off days.  It’s interesting because they are all at pretty different levels of English.  I still don’t have teaching rhythm for the new ones.  But for the most part I’m content with these students now.  I have also now taught two adult conversation classes  of about 10 students at one of the many English schools.  My Spanish-speaking, ESL trained post grad friend, referred me to them.  When I went in for my interview I was highly surprised to have to do my entire interview in Spanish because the director of the English school didn’t speak English.  All in all I was rather proud of myself.  However, I knew he was desperate for someone because that was on Friday and he asked if I could start on Monday.  No training… just go.  He even asked if I had curriculum and I told him no.  He didn’t seemed fazed by that, just glad that I had a native accent!  The students are very advanced, and seemed to really like my class.  Unfortunately, I had to quit because I double booked myself thinking that our church choir was not meeting on a regular basis anymore.  However, the message was lost in translation, and that was actually not the case.  Since I committed to the choir first I wanted to continue with that.  Plus, the school originally told me I would have classes Monday and Wednesday, and then after my first class they told me it’d just be Mondays.  Also, I still don’t know if they’re going to pay me weekly in cash like they originally said they would because after week 2, I haven’t seen anything even after I asked.  I didn’t sign any contract and there was absolutely no formalities. The whole thing is rather confusing, and didn’t feel like I owed it to them to continue in sacrifice of a prior and preferred commitment.  I told them, however, that I would do one additional week to give them time to find another person, which meant I had to bail twice on choir rehearsal.  Then on Monday when I went in he asked if I could do Wednesday instead, and he wanted me to ask the class if they could switch to Wednesdays.  He obviously did not have any other options.  All but 2 people could, and those 2 looked very disappointed by my announcement.   So the director said he would get back to me about switching to Wednesdays once he confirmed with everyone during the week.  So, I still don’t know if I will continue teaching that class or not.  It’s another good experience to add to my resume, but I surely will not be devastated if it does not work out.

So there you have a long winded update since Halloween.  I think I touched on the highlights.  We are highly looking forward to a holiday break together and with family in Berlin!  So that will be fun to share with you soon!  We miss everyone very much, especially at this time of year.  Thanks for reading!  Love, Jake and Robin