Skiing in the Alps

It still sounds sounds exotic to my ears to say that we went skiing in the Swiss Alps for the week. And it was, in a way, exotic. Although Switzerland and Germany are neighbors, there are enough differences to make it an adventure to cross the border.

To be honest I was more than a little hesitant to go on a ski vacation this year, with kids who are not huge fans of the sport. And although I do love to ski, I would prefer to spend family vacation time some place warm, especially after months and months of snow through the "coldest winter in 30 years" in Bonn. However, Olof made his case, pointing out that we are here for a limited time and what an amazing opportunity we have to go SKIING IN SWITZERLAND! Okay, okay.

There seem to be a gazillion ski areas and resorts within a 6 to 8 hour drive from Bonn, so choosing one was quite a task. After researching "the best family ski areas in Switzerland" we settled on the small alp village of Adelboden, located not too far from the capital Bern. http://www.adelboden.ch/en/page.cfm/Bergbahnen

Finding a place to stay was the next challenge, as it seems that most of Europe has the second and/or third week of February off in order to ski. Really, no joke. This is usually referred to as "sport break" for the kids. This was made very clear to us while we were driving to Adelboden - every other car was Dutch, French or German heading into Switzerland!

We arrived on a cloudy Saturday evening, too late to rent equipment, but in time to wander the cute village. As we wandered, everyone greeted us with a friendly "grüß gott" or 'grüßi" literally meaning "greet god" but generally just hello. We loved the warmth of the greetings and the cozy Swiss accent which was much harder for us to understand, but sounded great.

The deal we made with the kids was that they would try ski school for 2 days and if they loved it, they could continue and if they hated it, we would not push. I was totally impressed by both kids and their brave faces as we booked their ski school and told them they would be on the mountain from 9:30 to 1:45 when we picked them up. Gulp. After making these arrangements on Sunday for the next day, we had the afternoon to explore.

Besides skiing, sledding is big fun in the Alps, so we hopped on the nearest gondola and rented sleds. We opted for the tamer sled run first, which was 3 and a half kilometers of screaming fun for all of us. Well maybe not when the Louise went face first in the snow bank, but otherwise we were all grinning from ear to ear. Of course we had to go again, and again, and again. I have never sledded like this before and used muscles I did not even know I had in order to steer that funky Swiss sled with my rear end.

Of course a week in Switzerland must also include plenty of chocolate and fondue, and we did our best to cover these bases as well.

In the end, Noah loved skiing and opted for another day of ski school. Louise was not so thrilled with the sport, and preferred to go to the swimming pool with me. Olof and I were very satisfied since we both got to ski more than we have since life pre-children, and we got to do it in Switzerland. It was truly beautiful.

Capital cities

Having been inspired by several of Olof's siblings, we thought it would be fun to see how many European capital cities we could visit while on our European adventure. Thus we recently made the short trek to Brussels - the capital of all capital cities in a sense, the meeting of minds for the European Union.

Cities have a lot to offer for tourists. There is always some new food to discover, an alley way to wander down, a museum, pub or famous statue to be visited. In Brussels it is the Manikin piss and Cafe Delirium. And of course waffles. All of which we did in about 3 hours of our visit on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The kids asked, "What is Brussels famous for, like Amsterdam has Anne Frank's house and canals. What can you buy?" Funny that that is their point of reference. I had to think. Waffles. Beer. Cheese. I could only come up with food, so we had to go find the waffles right away. And on every street corner, there was a lovely little waffle stand, offering delicious warm waffles. So worth the visit already.

Okay, next was the famous peeing statue. Really, literally it is a small, 2 foot statue of a boy peeing. He gets dressed in different outfits according to the season, but he is still just small boy peeing. Nothing to buy there.

And the famous beer. Not really so much for the kids, but we did need to stop for refreshments and happened on the VERY smoky Cafe Delirium which offers over 500 varieties of beer. I had read that Brussels had outlawed smoking in restaurants, but did not realize that cafes did not fall into the same category. I think every smoker in Brussels joined us at this cafe/pub to get in all the smoking they could, in the smallest space possible. Just another cultural experience for the kids. The beer was good.

And on we walked in the beautiful and strangely contradictory city with beautiful intricate buildings from the 1800s and new soviet bloc type administrative buildings side by side.

The drizzling rain did not stop our explorations, but nor was conducive to long explorations. We were happy to get back to the hotel after an early dinner and swim in the hotel pool, which was really the main attraction for the kids.

The next day we avoided the 23 Euro hotel breakfast (over 30 dollars, per person!) and wandered to the nearest bakery. A much nicer and more local experience for us. We took a long walk through the royal gardens and were happy to get back to the car for the next tourist attraction, the Atomium.

I had never heard of the Atomium before, but now I will always associate it with Brussels. This is an amazing structure that was built for the 1958 world fair. "At 102 meters high, with its nine interconnected spheres, it represents an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion (thousand million) times." In other words it is awesome - and totally worth a visit. Both kids said it was something that they would never forget (until they do of course). It was a very memorable way to end our little trip to yet another capital city in Europe.

2009 has come and gone

Ok, I was planning on a "year in review" type blog here today, but realize that is what this blog has been all about from its inception - following our life here in Bonn on a regular basis. So, I will just give a short synopsis of our last few months since I left off in November. A blogging slacker is what I have become, but I now aim to remedy that.

On the 28th of November (what would have been my dad's 75 birthday) we had an American style Thanksgiving celebration at our house, complete with Turkey, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing and cranberry sauce. We shared our meal with new friends, and topped it off with a homemade walnut pie (no pecans to be found so far). It was so nice to celebrate my favorite holiday far from home.

I have always loved Thanksgiving because I get to see the entire clan of relatives on my dad's side whom I adore, and whom I see far too infrequently. I missed them a lot this year. Thanksgiving is also dear to me because it really is a time to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for, big and small, and celebrate, without material gifts, with those we love. And I have a lot to be thankful for.

Throughout the months of November and December I continued to diligently keep up with my German lessons 3 times a week. Though progress is slow, I am determined to broaden my world here and understand what is going on around me. I had to miss several lessons as both my kids came down with what we suspected to be the H1N1 virus, and I was grateful that I did not even have to think twice about staying home with them or how to manage that. I know that we are very fortunate for that.

The kids both continued to attend their Scout meetings; Noah is very proud of his Boy Bcout achievements and looks great in his uniform! Louise has some very nice friends in her troop, and we ended the year with caroling at a retirement home. It was very sweet to see the girls to do their best to sing carols both in English and German.

We wound up the year with an almost white Christmas. It snowed just before and after so the kids said it could count. We celebrated Christmas with Olof's sister Sara and her family who made the long drive from Sweden. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and are so thankful we found a house that could house visitors so well.

Noah turned 10 on the 29th and we had an engineering sort of birthday here with a few of his friends. Building catapults to send candy flying and shooting rockets in the freezing backyard were a hit.

Finally we ended the year in Sweden. We drove the 900 or so kilometers (yes I think in kilometers now, but am not too quick on calculating to miles so bear with me) to ring in the new year in Halmstad. It was a great time for all of us, though I think the highlight was when Uncle Martin, who "has great ideas but not so smart" (according to Noah) set the snowman on fire and it burned for hours (thats how cold it was folks)!

We headed back to Bonn only to hit a snowstorm of proportions even Olof was amazed at, and it took us almost 15 hours to get home. Louise questioned what I meant when I said we were going home, so it is still growing on us that we live here.

We have been in Bonn for 6 months now and I think we are feeling pretty settled. There are things we miss for sure, mostly friends and mexican food, but we have gained a huge cultural windfall and closeness to Olof's family instead.

I am not sure if I can promise to be a better blogger in 2010. I have been corrupted by Facebook and think often in one-line status updates, but every once in a while I might be able to fill in with some more substance on our life here.

If you really want to know what is going on with the Byströms in Bonn however, I suggest that you come visit!

Seeing is believing

We believe in Santa Claus in our house.

Who doesn't love the idea of a magical man flying through the night bringing gifts? I think there is something wonderful about keeping magic alive for as long as possible. The world can be so grey without it. Even my nine year old, who can spew facts on a variety of random subjects and is so reality based that non-fiction books are better than candy, loves the magic of Santa. But our magical world was threatened this weekend when Sinterklaas came to town.

We happened to be in Amsterdam the weekend that Sinterklaas, the Dutch St. Nicholas, rode into town on his white horse. According to my daughter, this Sinterklaas must be the father of Santa. And in fact he is. The origins of the American Santa Claus can be traced back to the Dutch settlers, who brought stories of Sinterklaas and his magic.

I was worried that the similarity of the two men, the long white beard, the red clothes, the gift bringing, would cause my children to wonder about the validity of our own Santa Claus. But I had not need to fear, the love of magic is much stronger than that.

The event itself was pretty magical. A long parade of costumed characters with blackened faces, wearing curly black wigs and colorful clothes filled the streets. These Zwarte Piets or Black Peters danced around the streets handing out candy and spiced cookies. Everywhere kids were calling out to Piet to give them candy and to take their wishes to Sinterklaas.

Our plans of going to Amsterdam luckily coincided with this event. Otherwise, our goal with the trip was to show this beautiful city to the kids, see a few Rembrants at the National museum, go to the Anne Frank house, and visit a very dear friend and her family.

We amazingly did it all, and more, and the kids enthusiastically walked for miles and miles in this most beautiful city that is so very easy to lose oneself in.

I love Amsterdam every time I visit it. I could probably walk around the same block five or six times and not really realize it, since I am never looking in the same place. The houses are narrow and crooked and seem to be about to fall into a canal any moment. It is cozy and dynamic at the same time. And seems to be the most tolerant place on earth.

It was a good weekend for our family, and magical at that.

Halloween without trick-or-treating, really?

Halloween without candy is like sausage without sauerkraut, or something like that. In other words, according to most children, essential. Well this year we did it. We had no trick-or-treating, no begging for candy, no screaming children at our door demanding more, more, MORE.

It was quiet, peaceful even. And we still had fun.

Apparently Halloween was quite the controversy in our little international school this year. Traditionally the school was American based. As in, established during the occupation of Germany by the allied forces after WWII.

Being American, all traditions American were observed at the school, including Halloween.

This tradition continued even after the wall came down, the government moved from Bonn in West Germany to Berlin, and the occupied forces were no longer necessary. The American school became "International" and the "American compound" (located just across the street from the school), which housed thousands of American troops and civilians in the 1950s, began to fill with UN employees, other foreigners living in transition in Bonn and a few Germans.

The school however retained its traditions. Halloween stuck. Kids had parties in their classrooms and went trick-or-treating at the American compound.

So how did Halloween become controversial? Why take away the parties? Why ban trick-or-trunking? (a fun idea where parents would decorate their cars and hand out candy from the trunks, so no houses would be disturbed with crazy American kids ringing doorbells dressed as vampires and Hannah Montana). Was this a conspiracy to assert Internationalism over Americanism?

Actually nothing so sinister was in play, though I did hear the rumors. But the powers that be questioned why Halloween was still given precedence over Divali or Eid. Or the Czeck St. Wenceslas day or the Swedish St. Lucia for that matter. The possibilities are endless when there are 60 different countries and their holidays to choose from.

Instead the school came up with the crazy idea of focussing on local holidays instead. The German holiday celebrating St. Martin is a lovely tradition that takes place during the first weeks of November, just after Halloween. Kids may even get some candy, or at least a little man made of bread smoking a pipe called a weckerman.

The St. Martin holiday celebrates Martin, the Roman soldier who shared his coat with a beggar who was freezing in a snow storm thus saving his life. Children carry lanterns and sing songs in a parade around local neighborhoods. The parade is usually led by St. Martin on a horse and ends at a huge bonfire. Kids are given treats, parents are treated to warm spiced wine and the day ends with tired, happy families, sans copious amounts of candy.

Of course being American we did it all. Not only did we participate in the beautiful lantern walk for St. Martin, we also celebrated Halloween with the Girl and Boy Scout troops - costumes and all. We also honored our heritage with pumpkin carving and our very own haunted basement with our Swedish cousins who were visiting.

The kids may not have gone trick-or-treating this year, but they did not miss the candy one bit!

Trash

It is 5:00 in the morning. Dark. Cold. I am deep in sleep. And the doorbell rings. Is it a dream? Is it an emergency? Should we ignore it? It rings again, and again. Urgently. Somebody must be in trouble, we have to get up. ("We" means Olof of course).

He stumbles out of bed, into a bathrobe and down the stairs. I wait. It is quiet. Maybe it was a trick and somebody is trying to rob us. But we are in Germany and people are law abiding here, right? Finally, Olof comes straggling up the stairs, chuckling - or is he grumbling?

There was no one there he tells me. Though he caught a fleeting glimpse of man in a reflective vest wandering down the street, pulling out garbage cans from neighboring houses. This was the garbage fairy - the do-gooder citizen who was ringing on our door at an ungodly hour to let us know that we had forgotten to put our trash out!

Well, Germans are nothing if not rule bound. And when it is trash day, don't you forget it. Trash day is not really as easy to remember as it would seem. We were given the schedule for all trash pick-ups for the year when we moved into our house. The trick is to consult it regularly so we do not miss our window of trash collection again. Here there is nothing so simple as "every Wednesday" or even "every other Wednesday", nor do we just have one type of "trash" to look after.

Of course the Germans are to be commended on their recycling programs. Just about everything is sorted and recycled. Very little is actually considered trash actually goes into a landfill.

Plastic and metal go into the yellow container, paper into the blue. Food scraps and green waste into the green bin, and all the rest of the "garbage" goes into the black container. Drink bottles are generally washed and reused. There are standard sizes for beer and soda bottles, and most of these get returned to the drink stores by the case. They are not melted down as in the States. Miscellaneous bottles must be dropped off at separate recycling bins, usually placed near grocery stores.

My kids have become experts on what goes where. Under the sink we have 4 separate bins to sort things, and a very small bag for "trash". It is amazing that our trash can, half the size of what we had in Davis, is only collected twice a month, and is rarely full.

The schedule is very complicated for our black, yellow, blue and green containers. Some are collected twice a month, while others are collected once a month or every 3 to 6 weeks, and some even just twice a year. Since the schedule is not regular, we must consult our little notebook every evening, lest we incur eager bell ringing by our reflective vested friend, whoever he may be.

(Ironically the day I posted this was a black bin trash day, and even though we discussed it the day before, Olof and I both forgot! Luckily the trash fairy came and took our bin to the street for us, yet again)

must_learn_German

For someone who is not fond of pork (ya'all may remember that from previous posts), I just had a very close encounter with a pig stomach. I must learn the language, and quick, or I am going to ingest something disgusting, or deadly.

I was happily planning on making split pea soup to eat for a cold October meal, and thought I would add some flavor with a bit of ham. Well, having never bought ham, I do not have a lot of experience in this department. So, I picked out something that looked smoked, and like a hunk of bacon, and bought it.

I was please with myself for having ventured out of my normal food routine after smelling delicious pea soup at a local pottery fair this weekend. From my Joy of Cooking recipe, I acknowledged the benefits the added flavor of ham added, and thought, "why not, I am in the land of pork after all".

After measuring out the peas and water and putting it all on to boil, I started to add my ham. I decided to pull out my dictionary first to read exactly what kind of ham this was. Well I could guess that rauchen is smoked, but I did not know what geräucherterbauch was. Well, turns out, Bauch is stomach and what I had indeed bought was smoked pork stomach!

This concludes my adventures in pork purchasing and has moved me one more step back into my old vegetarian life. I am sure that there is nothing wrong with pork stomach, but for me, I prefer my pea soup as is. Maybe I will add some onions and call it a day!