Turkish Delight?

We just start school here in Germany 6 weeks ago and the kids already have there first fall break. Some friends and I decided to go this club called Lykia World http://www.lykiagroup.com/LykiaWorldOludeniz . The place is in Turkey so I can now cross that off my list of countries to see. We get there and the first two days are just laying by the pool. 7 hours of just laying by the pool, so not used to just laying down and doing nothing. But my girlfriends quickly got me into the habit of doing nothing. They have such a great kids club that I really did not see my kids from 9:30-5. One thing we did not enjoy was the 24 hr stomach flu! My friend's daughters got it first, just 24 hours of madness. We heard about other families dealing with this flu and it was not fun. So going into our last night I thought my kids and I got lucky and did not get it. Well at 2 AM I GOT IT!! 7:30 AM Jenn grabbed my kids and told me to go to the doctor. We had to leave that day at 5 PM. So the doctor told me that morning there is no way the medicine that he normally gives people at the resort

The before 24 hour bug picture

will help me in time to get on an hour bus
ride and then on a plane for 3 1/2 hours. Told me I needed to go to a hospital. I am in Turkey! I am going to go to a hospital? By myself? The doctor told me that he would call

the hospital and make sure someone was waiting for me so that I could get the medicine through an IV drop that would take at least 2 hours. So I kiss my girls goodbye and I get in a taxi for a 30 min drive to the hospital.
Someone was waiting at the front door for me to take me to tourism department where they all spoke English. They told me they they need to feel my belly and do an ultrasound. Why the ultrasound I will never know, I am sure they heard "I have insurance" and they let the fun begin.
So after the ultrasound they take me to my room. The orderly was going to put me in the first room that was available but the head nurse yelled at him in Turkish and
Turkish Hospital with IV
my translator told me "she said to put you in this room (she was pointing to it and it was locked) since it is the nicest room and you are a foreigner" Quality points for being American for a change!
So in they come to take my blood and start my IV. Was not as bad as I thought it would be. In and out in 3 hours, just to go back to the hotel and sleep some more. Had a few more episodes in my hotel room and I was good to go for the rest of the trip. Can't say that for my friend Simone. Her poor little daughter got the bug just as we opened the van door to get out for the airport. She had to change her clothes a few times just waiting for the airplane.
The Germans that were on this plane were so great! Never giving us a bad look for 7 kids between 3 adults or upset sick kids at that.
After the flight the people on the plane were helping us find our toys, pass up our coats that we left behind, grabbing Simone's bag and leading her all the way to the front of the passport line to get her out of the airport as fast as possible. There had to be over 200 people waiting in line to get through pass port checks. Another nice lady told Jenn to follow her with out kids and we went right to the front of the line. Thank you Germany!! She told us German law says you can request to go to the front of the line when traveling with kids. Sometimes you have to love the German laws.
So we are all home safe and sound. Even after this crappy bug, we would all go back again. Great place!!

Flat Tire Take 2!

Ok this did happen last week, but I still have to talk about it. It was almost poetic that I get my 2nd flat tire here a year after my first flat tire here.
Me and curbs, we do not get along. They are just there taunting me, seeing how close I can get as I take a turn. Well this time I was trying to look at my stupid Navi while turning..hence hitting the curb. Heard a pop and then my car started to shrink down so I pulled over to the side of the road. Just before some major road construction, so I am not in an ideal place to park. I get out of my car and go into the trunk to pull out my quality orange warning triangle to put it out on the road. See all the studying for the German drivers test paid off. I know how to use a triangle!
So this nice German man sees me from across the street and motions me to come an park in his lot. I move my car over and he asks me if I have a spare tire. (he says this in English after I tell him I have no idea what he is asking me). So we go to my trunk and the place for a spare tire is there, just no spare!
Now what. I have my kids and I am suppose to be meeting friends for lunch.
Last time this happened it cost us 500 euro! I was not going to make that mistake again, there had to be close tire places around without going back to the dealer 45 min away!
So the German man asked me if I know anyone with ADAC (Germany's AAA), I said yes. He told me to call them and have them get me a tow truck. So I call my trusty friend Tricia and tell her the story, she hooks me up with ADAC and they are coming to rescue me.
In the mean time I have called Lindsay to come pick up my children as they are now starving after waiting for an hour now. She whisks them off to lunch while I wait for the truck.
Well the truck comes, but it is just a normal truck. He wants to fix my tire, but the hole is on the rim of the tire and not on the sole...and since this is my second rim hole I know it cannot be fixed. The ADAC man then asks me for my spare tire. Really? Are we suppose to have one? I call up my husband who drives a company car which is a Mercedes. I ask him "do you have a spare tire?" he tells me no, if he gets a flat his car automatically inflates it with steal and..blah, blah, yaddy yadda...he lost me..all I know is that he is spoiled!
So me and my little Golf sit and wait for the "official" tow truck.
The Tow truck man speaks no English and is trying to talk to me. All I have is Das Auto ist klein! Das Auto ist Blau. Das Auto est kaputt! (car is small, blue and broken)
So he loads up my car and motions me to get in his big truck.
He takes me to a local tire place to get me a tire, except they do not have any of my tires in stock. The very nice mechanic lends me one of his own personal winter tires so that I can get home. So the man that works in the office tells me to tips his mechanic really well since I now will have his tire on my car. So I give him a 20 and tell him I will see him tomorrow and that I will treat his tire with care (doing all this in charade motions)
Well the tire does not come in for another week. So I go back and tip my good mechanic again for lending me his tire so that I had a car for another week. So now he tells me I am to ask for him by name the next time I come in and he will take car of me. I am sure I will be back in another year, so I will remember to do that.
Total cost toe truck free, tips 30, new tire 120! That is way better than 500! So I guess after a year I have learned how to survive in Germany with friends and my keine deutsche.

Alarms, Sirens and Lights...oh my

Early this morning at 4 AM our security lights go on all around the house and our alarm is sounding off. Does anyone wake up but me? No! How they cannot hear this blaring noise is beyond me. I wake up Ben and he says "what?" The Alarm is going off! Get up! Is something on fire? How do we turn it off? Did someone come into our house? Were all my standard questions in a 10 sec period! I am thinking Police are coming to our house, should I get dressed? Should Ben? Are my kids up? I go into their room, fast asleep. We start walking around the house, no fire, all doors and windows are closed. Ben finds the alarm box and turns it off. No ADT calling to make sure we are ok.

So we go back to bed. 5 min later the fans turn off and I can hear beeps from downstairs from computers turning off. Power outage. I grab my iPhone and turn on the flashlight app. Ben and I get back up and see that all the power is gone from the neighborhood. We can hear other homes alarms and police sirens.

So weird that no one got out of their house to see what all the commotion was at our house. They were all fast asleep I am sure.

I love Paris in the Spring time!

Last weekend of "Celebrate Kara's Birthday Month" and I am off to Paris with four of my girlfriends. But wait, would it be blog worthy if I actually got to Paris with no problems? NO!! So the story begins.
We started planning this trip months ago...well at least talking about it. What we were going to do, see...but never where we were going to stay. So I took the bull by the horns and got us a great apt, just a 16 min walk to the Eiffel Tower. About a month out I start to look at flights for the 5 of us, not bad in pricing, all under 160 euro. After sending out the email about times and prices I get a email back from one of the ladies and she tells me that she is afraid to fly, and that she is going to drive. Well I do not want to drive for 5 hours if I can fly for 1! Love you all, but I am not going in a car if I do not have to. So Tricia tells me that her husband will use his frequent flyer miles and get us tickets. Great Birthday Present!
Its a week before we leave and the other 3 ladies still have not decided if they are taking a train or driving. I can't handle it, I like to be organized, know what I am doing before I even know what I am doing.
So it is now the morning of the trip. Its about 7:20 AM and I am getting everything ready for my 7:30 taxi pick up. I see on my iPhone that I have a message from Jenn. I call her and she tells me that Natalie's leg is swollen, maybe a blood clot, and that Leslie ate something the night before and had an allergic reaction. So now poor little Jenn is not sure what to do.
I get in the cab and I am thinking well Leslie will take some benadryl and be fine and go with Jenn. Natalie I have no idea what is going on with her but she is not coming for sure.
So Trisha and I meet at the airport and get on a plane and arrive in Paris at 10 AM. We have messages that Jenn is getting Leslie and they are driving. But then the next message is that Leslie does not want to chance it and Jenn is all on her own again. Tricia and I get on our iPhones and start looking at flights for Jenn to get her butt here to Paris. We find flights for 250 and she will be here by 3 pm, with enough time to be here for our 6 PM time for the Eiffel Tower trip. So really I do not know what is going on, but I find out later that Jenn was going to take the train by herself, but did not have her passport, then two ladies from school drive her to the airport to get her on a plane, but its too late and too expensive for a ticket.

So what does this all mean? Tricia and I are in Paris all by ourselves.
I am adding another rule to traveling with women. If you are traveling with me, always, always do what I do, do what I say, stay with me! I will get you to where you need to go one way or another. Don't ask questions, don't ask "why?", just do what I say.

Tricia and I had a great time. The first day was so sunny we went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. Not too many people on a Friday so we were able to get up nice and close.

It got so warm that we went into Esprit to try on clothes since we brought blue jeans and sweaters (cold and rainy in Germany). Tricia bought a skirt, I just rolled up my jeans and wore my tank top. Problem solved!

We went to the top of the Eiffel tower that night. Such a great day, the sky was clear and we could see for miles. We had met a family earlier that day while having lunch and overheard them talking about going to the Eiffel tower. Tricia told them that we had 3 extra tickets since our friends did not make it. So they paid for the tickets and went to the tower with us. Very nice.

This picture is the family we met treating us to dinner..which was a crepe and a coke light. He told us there are different menus when you go to a cafe. When you sit outside in front the prices are different than if you were to sit inside. My coke was 7 euro! Inside it was 2.50! Then when he ordered wine he told the waiter in french "not the table wine, the good wine behind the counter" Tricia said it was one of the best red wines she has had. He told us that tourists do not know about the pricing or that they are getting the cheaper wine for the same price as a good wine. He had lived in Paris before moving to the states after college, so it was great to get his in site on the city.

Tricia and I had walked so much the first day that I awoke in the middle of the night with a terrible cramp in my calf!

The next morning limping around the apartment I told Tricia, more water less diet coke today!

Today was Notre Dame, Chocolate tour, Sacré Coeur, and Moulin-Rouge. I swear Tricia was wearing the soles off my sneakers! I went to a souvenir shop after Notre Dame, and there were Japanese people everywhere in this store. The store owners were even Japanese, and yelling Japanese to everyone. After living in Japan for over 3 years I start yelling out Sumimasen!! To try and get their attention. I told Tricia I am an American in France speaking Japanese to buy something. How does that work?

We went on a fabulous chocolate tour of the city. Adam our tour guide showed us

La Maison Du Chocolate
Jean-Charles Rochoux
Poilaine Bakery
Pierre Hermé Macaroons
A Pastry Store
Pierre Marcolini Chocolatier
Patrick Roger Chocolatier

I do not think we could have had one more piece of chocolate after that 2 1/2 hour tour. I will never look at a normal American piece of chocolate the same. I have been tainted for life! Seriously look any of these up! They are to die for, cannot even explain to you what it was like to bite into the first eclair! First cold truffle. Yum!!!
It was a great trip, with a great friend. What a great birthday month! 40 rocks!!

Baden Baden

Ben took me away for the weekend to Bühlerhöhe Schlosshotel. It was wonderful, so pretty, way up high in the Black Forest.

www.buehlerhoehe.de

We are going there for my 40th birthday, since you should know by now that May is my birthday celebration month!

The first day of my spa package is Sugar/Salt peeling, Milk and Honey Bath, followed by a Indian Oil Massage.

I am so used to being naked that I did not bring a bathing suit with me. Ben cannot figure me out, he asks me what am I going to do? I told him "Go Naked!" Well the people with children at the pool probably did not want to see that, so I had to go buy a bathing suit.

The bathing suits at this place were all over $250! Could not figure out what was so great about these bathing suits that they could charge this price, and then I see the label, La Perla! I would never pay this much for a bathing suit! Ever! This costs more than my wedding dress! (I rented) So I guess if you are desperate...you get it. I will have to wear this thing for the next 5 years to get my money's worth out of it.

So I go to my first apt and she tells me to take off my bathing suit top. I think there is no way I am getting anything on this bathing suit, I am taking off the top and bottom! So she gives me this paper underwear to stick on. Why? We are in Germany! So I put it on, she scrubs me down and then tells me to take a shower. I take off the paper underwear to take the shower, and when I come out she tells me to put on a new paper underwear for the bath. Again I think, Why do I want to wear underwear while taking a bath? So I don't. I get out of the bathtub and a lady standing there tells me to put on the paper underwear for the next apt. If they do not want to see my privates, then stop coming in when I am drying off and putting on my robe! So I put on the stupid paper underwear again to go for the oil massage. Really? Europe, land of the naked? Paper underwear? Come on.

Ben had a 90 min massage I bet they did not make him wear paper underwear!

Next day was a facial, and thank goodness it was nothing like a previous blog where I had talked about how painful that facial was. Ben had one also for the first time, he quite enjoyed it. Our pores were clean! And she plucked all the quality facial hairs that were growing out of my chin...that I obviously did not see, nor did any of my friends or husband. That should be a unsaid bond between all women. If you see a hair that should not be there, then tell the woman casually with the "point and pluck" sign language gesture.

Great relaxing weekend!

Turning 40!

May is a good month to turn 40. I have been planning my 40th birthday since I was 35. I saw a picture of Demi Moore and I said "I want to look like her when I am 40". (she was 42 when I was 35) So I think I did a pretty good job on that one..except the really long hair, millions of dollars and a really young husband...other than that, I nailed it!

So at 35 I told my husband that I wanted to take a girls vacation when I turned 40. The girls would be 6 and 9 by then, and easily manageable for him. I told my girlfriends at that time, no having babies, no breast feeding, you have to be free in 5 years time. Don't tell me I did not give you advance notice on this trip!

So when I turned 39 I was in CT, and I knew it was going to be a tough sell on getting my friends from CT, OH, CO, AZ all to fly to Germany to celebrate my birthday. But I gave them a year to figure out what they could do. So as it got closer to my big day I decided that I better go to the states to make it easier for them to come and party with me. What city would be a good meeting place? VEGAS BABY!!

So with frequent flyer miles I was able to get a business class ticket for 80 000 miles. Bargain! I told my friends I was going, who was coming?

My dear friend Gina said she was on board! That's all I needed, one good co pilot and she was the one.

My good friends here in Germany are going to take me to Paris at the end of the month, so that will be another blog. 40 is good people.

Day 1, 1st hour in Airport

I get to the airport 3 hours before my flight and go to the business lounge. After about an hour this loud Irish man is complaining that he has a 7 hour layover, that CNN is boring on the TV, and why can't he get a good beer! Someone from Delta comes over to talk to him, to try and get him to be a little more quiet. I keep saying to myself..."please, please do not be on my flight! I know he will get unruly on the plane and we will have to make an emergency landing, and he will be arrested. I just know it!"

He calms down but then gets a little loud again and starts to walk around. Two Delta guys come out to go handle him, but they cannot find him. They are walking around trying to find this man. This place is not that big, it is not like he turned into a Leprechaun and disappeared under a cushion! He has just left the building people.

Hour 2 in Airport

Getting bored and one too many diet cokes I check out the bathroom.

Check this toilet out! Have to love the Japanese. I am sure a woman created this toilet as you can see by the way the water can "massage" you with different pressures. ; )

Hours 3-11

Finally I am on the plane. Ready to relax for 8 hours and fly to NY with no kids, and no husband. Just me. No one else to worry about, I am giddy with excitement. When the flight attendant comes around with the ice cream and topping for dessert I tell her to put it all on top! Yum! All for me!

One of the ladies who kept handing out water finally gave me a 1.5 liter bottle since I was going through the little ones so fast. Of course with all that water drinking, you have to go to the bathroom a lot! So now the f.a. comes to me and says "we should have just giving you a seat in the toilet and knocked on it to see if you wanted anything", loved her! She was like, 70!

Flight to Vegas from NY Hours 14-18

Sat beside a guy named Chris who was 45, single and had is own law firm (he also was quite proud of his Rolex watch with diamonds and that he got the new iPad..that I showed him how to use). He was a character. Do not know why we got so chatty, maybe it was because he was drinking, and I will talk to anyone. He was going to Vegas for his 1/2 brothers bachelors party. I told him I was going to shop! He told me "your idea and my idea of Vegas are very different". Chris told me he rented a yellow Ferrari to take his brother golfing. I told him he will not be able to fit two sets of golf clubs in that car. He told me he never thought of it. Oh course not, you are a man. I told him he will have to hire a cab to take the clubs and follow him! He told me I could ride in the car if I went topless. I told him thanks for the offer, but I will pass. I did tell him that I would be at the topless pool Sunday at 10 AM. Do you think he showed up? So much more to say about this man, but that really could be a book!

Been up for 24 Hours Straight

Get off the plane and I can see Gina waiting by one of the luggage claim areas. We hug, we bond, we get our rental car and head off to In and Out for a hamburger. Nothing like french fries after being up now for 26 hours!

Vegas in a Nut Shell

I swear no one has told the youth of Vegas that they do not have to wear skin tight clothes that barley cover their bums. This is obviously geared toward the girls. There were prom parties going on and these 17, 18 year old girls had on 4 inch heals with a dress (and I use that turn loosely...dress) that leaves no imagination to the mind. Gina and I pass another couple our age and I look at them and say "my daughter would never be wearing that!", and he looks and us and says "I was just telling my wife we would never move here because of the way the kids dress" What are the parents teaching these young girls. This is what you have to wear to get a boy, and then once you get they boy give him what is left under the dress? Sad

Saw Carrot Top in Nordstroms. That man has had too much plastic surgery on his face, and steroids? Come on! His arms and shoulders are huge! He walked in like he was just gettitng up at 3 pm and totally stoned, hung over, or maybe his face just looks like that. Yuck!

Saw Cirque Du Soleil-LOVE (the Beatles songs) very good!

Saw Penn & Teller-Magicians that are a little crazy. Also very good (My sister came on the last day and I saw this with her)

So basically shopped 80% of the time, ate when we had time, and walked our feet off! Love Gina for coming and doing this trip with me. She is a trouper to watch me try on clothes and to shop through lunch so that I can buy everything I need. She did not buy one thing the whole trip! Unreal!!

Kara And Gina Vegas 2010!

LICE!!

What is lice? I mean I have heard of lice, and I think of people with greasy dirty hair with lice. We move to Germany and the first thing I am told on the first day of school is "be prepared to get lice" The international school here is known for head lice. They tell me not to be alarmed and that lice likes clean hair, not dirty. So moms here are actually telling me not to wash my kids hair as often as I did in the states. Put product in their hair, put tea tree oil behind the ears, check your kids every week. and invest in a good metal comb to get the lice and eggs out. Where I am living? Why are the Germans having such a problem? I never saw this in any of my kids schools in the states.

Letters go home at least once a month to tell parents that there has been an outbreak of lice in the class and to check your kids before sending them back to school. So 8 months go by and I think we are doing good.

Well....Friday I am outside putting a clip in Emilee's hair and I see something running around in her hair. I tell her she cannot go to school and she starts to cry (she is only in Kindergarten, she still likes school). As we wait for the bus for Kayla I take a closer look at Emilee's hair and I see a few other things crawling around. NASTY!!

So I go to the Apotheka (pharmacy) and tell them what has happened to my little 6 year old, and the pharmacist tells me the German schools have this a lot. Nice!

So we go home and shampoo her hair and leave on the Läuse Shampoo (lice) for 30 min. I shake out her head after in the tub and I swear 15 fall out of her head. So we do the whole thing over.

So I do a little research and find that head lice can survive 30 days on 'human' head. A female will lay up to 3-5 eggs per day. It take 7-10 days for the eggs to hatch and another 7-10 days for the louse to mature and lay their own eggs!

How long has this crap been in her head! Poor thing, such thick curly hair on her head, we are never going to get it all off. Shaving might be our last resort!

So after 3 days of checking, cutting, peeling off the eggs I think she is ready for school today. So I wake up and look at her hair and find more eggs! I have no clue who gave all this too her, but I am so not impressed.

I had Kayla check my head today and we found 2 eggs! I wait for Ben to come home and he finds one more. I do the treatment and hopefully I got it early. My friend Natalie will check my head tomorrow.

Lice sucks! This sucks! I spend 3 hours a day looking for and taking eggs out of Emilee's hair. There has to be a better way!

Update...Natalie and Jen found 14 on me! So obviously I went home and treated myself. Emilee told me that she never wants to live in Germany again!! Poor thing!

the egg the full size mother!

Traveling with Women 101

To Have a Successful Trip with Women

1. Someone has to be in charge

2. If you get lost always have a meeting place.

3. Get every ones cell phone number and program them in your phone.

4. Make Spa appointments (or any other apt) in advance

5. Research the area to know what to see and do.

6. Have a plan

7. Have a sense of humor

Now in this story the names have been changed to protect the the really nice ladies I met.

I think my 7 steps to a successful trip is crucial for any woman traveling with friends or with people that you do not know. So out of the seven I think they got...1!!

I go to the airport by myself and check in and sit at the terminal. Waiting for my friend who invited me to show up with her friends...we will call my friend "Cheryl", I start to get nervous. No one is there 5 min to boarding. I call her and she tells me that they are buying magazines. So at least I know they are coming.

We get to Budapest and check into the Corinthia, a very nice hotel. After unpacking we regroup in the lobby to figure out what to do first. Now before the trip someone emailed all the cell phone numbers so that we would have them for the trip. Do you think they programed their phones? No! So me, the only one that does not know any of them pulls out my printed sheet of all the phone numbers so that they can start to program their phones.

Then the six of them cannot decide on what to do first, where to go. So after a 1/2 hour we have a plan. Then we have to wait another 20 min for "Alissa" who always seemed to be 20 min late for everything. So we decide to go to the Fisherman's Bastion

The seven towers symbolize the seven tribes of the Magyars that settled in Hungary.

Parliament Building is one of the oldest legislative buildings in Europe.

So OK we see one thing, and I could see the Parliament Building from this view. So I guess two birds with one stone.

After this cold windy trip we buy a few souvenirs from a nice man that would not stop talking about his daughter. So after 20 min talking to him we finally were able to escape his store.

Then it was off for drinks and to warm up. For an hour the ladies talk about how they partied in High School. I was so bored listening to these ladies in their 40's recap their youth that I start to text "my friends" the not so fun time I was having! I look over at the table and Cheryl was doing the same thing...texting back home...thank goodness we are thinking the same thing.

So after the stories of their youth we go off to try and find Labirintus. Of course no one knows where this place is and we spend 20 min walking in a big circle. http://www.labirintus.com/en

We do eventually find the place. We grab lanterns and walk through the dark tunnels.

The next day was no more organized than the first. I told the ladies about the flea markets at dinner the night before, something that I had researched before I got to Budapest. So four of us head out to do this. The market is the biggest garage sale, find all your old crap market I have seen. Cheryl negotiates on a antique gnome. I quality item for 8 euro that I know will end up on the Antique Road Show for $100!

So after our bargaining we go back to the hotel to freshen up. Things are not happening, plans are not made, people are late...if you say you will be ready at 12:30 that does not mean 12:50!

We head off to a shopping district to go for lunch and do some shopping

When dinner comes around we all plan to meet in the lobby at 5:30 for cocktails before dinner. We all sit in the bar and look at the drink menu. Ladies are freaking out at the prices of drinks in the hotel. They now want to go to another place to order drinks. But this takes another 30 min to decide this...then of course we still have to wait for Alissa to get to the lounge for us to decide where to go! Cheryl lost it! She told the ladies I am taking a cab to the restaurant, you can walk there, I am going! I obviously go with her in the cab. Finally someone taking charge! We get to the restaurant and it is a hole! They do not have soda as a beverage in this place! Alissa got this great recommendation from the "spa". We both looked at each other and said "we are not eating here". That is when I said "screw the roaming charges I am finding a place to eat, I am taking charge of the rest of the night!" I find a review in the New York Post about Osteria, a great Italian restaurant. http://www.osteria.hu/index.php?lang=en My friend Cheryl asks if I know where it is. I told her no, I am going to hail a cab, ask him, and tell him to take us there. So I walk out to the main street and grab a cab. The place was wonderful and the meal and service was great. Finally a good night! Cheryl and I recap the last few days and we are ready to come home.

Last day was spa appointments so how can you go wrong with that!

So like I said in the beginning 7 steps to a successful trip, live them, learn them, love them!

Toasty's!!

Grant it some of the food in Germany can be questionable. You look at things and think "they can't really eat that". The fact that they will mix raw meat and eggs and put it on bread and eat it almost made me loose it. My mom freaks out when you eat cookie dough with the raw egg in that! Imagine what she would do with this information!

You get lunch meet shaped like a bear. Veggies cut up and stuck into some kind of clear jello type mold. I always have my iPhone with me so that I can use the translator app. Find out what I am buying before I eat it. Now not all grocery stores have the best reception. So I have to type in the word and then walk to the middle of the store so that it can translate. Try doing that 3 times just to make sure you have found butter!

So yesterday I see in the freezer section something called TOASTY. It looks like, maybe a pop tart? Crunchy toast? I do not really see the chicken on the front box when I buy it...go figure.

So this morning I show the kids this new great box! Lets try it! Well as it toasts it starts to smell like chicken nuggets. So I go back to the box thinking what is this? So I translate

Der Geflügelsnack Zum Toasten

Zartes, fein zerkleinertes

Hähnchenbrustfilet

in Toastform zusammengefügt,

extra kross paniert und gebraten

And that means....

Poultry Snack For Toasting

Delicate, finely chopped

Chicken

together in the form of toast,

Extra crispy breaded and fried

Awesome! My kids are having chicken nuggets for breakfast! And of course you know they are going to love it! Seeing them dip their flat nuggets into ketchup for breakfast would make any mom proud.

There was a great tip on the back of the box though. How to make a Toasty Sandwich! great chicken nuggets in bread, what can be better!

Ski Week

So its ski break here in Germany. The school calendar specifically says "Ski Break", so I guess that means, we have to go skiing! Now grant it, I did grow up in Alberta, Canada. Best skiing in the world! Then I lived 6 years in Utah...another great ski place. Do you think any of that helped me ski the mountains in Austria? NO!! The last times I skied was probably 15 years ago, and I was not that great back then either. In fact I probably have skied 10 times in my life, and that might be pushing it. I could get down the hill with some wide turns....or just go straight

down really fast and hope not to injure myself too badly for golf!

So when we get to Bad Kleinkirchheim in St. Oswald, Austria ( home of the world cup 2006 and 2007), I think no worries, its like riding a bike!

We send the kids off to ski school on the bunny hill, and Ben and I get our gear and head up to the gondola to take us up the mountain. As the gondola goes up and up I see the black runs a few blue, but really no green runs. This starts to make me nervous. So we reach the half way point of the mountain and the doors open up to our gondola but no one gets out! I tell Ben "we can get out here can't we?" but no one is getting out. No one in the ride in front or behind. So now we are heading up to the top! I get out on top of the mountain and think to myself, there has to

some easy trails here someplace. We go to the map and see that the first run is easy and then hard all the way down.

I start on the easy run and I cannot turn my skis! I am not going left or right! I am only able to snow plow! I yell out to Ben in front of me "I FORGOT HOW TO SKI!!" He is laughing until he sees me fall down. I get back up and start to freak out! Not a pretty site. I tell Ben I am not going to be able to make it down the hill! I barely made it down the green! So Ben tells me to snow plow down. Have you ever tried to snow plow down a icy steep hill? It does not work if you cannot turn left or right! And no one yelling "PIZZA!!!" at you is going to make it better. So Ben now says, "OK hold onto me from behind and we will snow plow down together." Now I am crying, and not the pretty tiny tears in the corner of your eyes cry with the glowing smile of, I can't believe you bought this for me cry,... but the bitter someone ran over my dog Skip cry!

So I try and give this a shot but after 5 seconds we are so on our butts! I tell him "this is not going to work!", he tells me to Trust Him! I tell him, this is not a matter of trust, its a matter of survival! So we go one more time. This time when we fall my knee is facing one way, my ski the other and I feel my knee stretching to its limit! I yell at him to get my leg...he gets the ski off my boot and I sit there again crying and swearing! Now most of you know I do not swear, but for this moment that great F word worked perfectly to get my ass in gear and tell Ben...that's it! I am sliding down! Ben thinks I am kidding, but I grab my skis in one hand and my polls in the other and make it down the hill on my butt. So at the end of that hill the next hill turns to be a black diamond run. Seriously!! Where are the easy in between hills, the escapes paths

for the idiots who go up to the top of the mountain and cannot get down? So I start to walk/slide/shuffle down the hill. Ben now has had enough. He tells me he is going down to get help. He tells me to stay where I am so that he can find me. He looks at me again and says "promise me you will not move", so I say yes I will sit!

30 minutes go by and all of a sudden a man comes up behind me and asks "so I hear you want to know where the closest bar is?" I told him I will go anywhere with him, just get me off this mountain! Ben asked Greg (a man in our group for the week who was a ski instructor for 15 years) to come and get me. So with Ben, Greg and Tony (Trisha's husband) surrounding me so that no other skier could crash into me, I slide down the hill until I make it to the green easy area to ski to the 1/2 way gondola. What a trip and a half! Bruises on top of bruises! So happy to get to the bottom of that stinking hill!! The next couple of days I go to the bunny hill with the kids and get my grove back. I tell Ben, if I had done this first I could have made it from the 1/2 way point at least!

This is why I golf people...little hills, carts, feet planted on the ground without movement!

Picture of Hill that I was waiting on..long way down!!

Parking Lot Closed!!

So Ben and I go out last night for V-day. We have a lovely evening and we enjoy the walk back from the restaurant to the parking garage to get our car. But to our surprise, the parking lot is closed when we get there at 9:30! We are parked in a large major parking lot...it cannot be closed! Now grant it, this is a parking lot for a shopping center. So I guess when the shopping center closes...so does the parking lot! Ben thinks this is stupid, why would they close it? He thinks..don't let people in after a certain time, but let them get there car to leave at whatever time!

So after we walk a block around the building...TWICE...to find some way to get back to our car, we finally go into REVE (a grocery store connected to the garage). Someone here has to know how to get our car. We ask a young man and he starts to tell us that we cannot get our car because the garage closes at 8:00 PM. This woman over hears us and tells us that this has happened to her before and that you have to call someone to open the garage. Everything is closed on Sundays here, so it is not like we could take a cab home and come back the next day. She tells us that it is 15 euro to get a guy to come out and unlock the door to let us in. (you have to love that we find Germans that speak English and have all the details that we need). So we walk back to the garage and call the number. The man says he will be there in 10 min. We stand by the electronic store and watch the Olympics to pass the time.

The man shows up and Ben wants to give him the 3rd degree for not having the garage open after 8 PM! I look at Ben and tell him to be nice, we are the stupid Americans that did not see the sign that says...Closes at 20:00! The man tells us it always closes at 20:00, 8 days a week! I guess there are 8 days here...

So the man opens the garage for us and gives us a flash light. We have to walk up 3 flights of...not stairs, but the circle things that the car goes on to get out of the building. Whatever it is called. It was very dark!

So we find way to our car and pay for our 3 hours to get our car out of the garage...and low and behold there is a sign that says...closes at 20:00. Not that we would have noticed since we tend not to read much in German.

So we pay our 15 euro give back the flash light and we are done for the night.

Lesson to all, check the closing times in the parking garages in Germany!!!

German Doctors are Blunt

So I go to my Neurologist today for my 4 week apt. Today's appointment we are going to find out why my right leg is always cold to the touch. So he sets me up in the ultrasound room. He tells me that he will have to do an ultrasound on the back of my legs and then high up in my pelvic region. He tells me that I will have to move my underwear around or take them off so that I do not get gel on them. Then he asks "is that alright"? I tell him yes, so then he sits down. So I guess this is the part where I get undressed in front of him. Thanks goodness I have already been naked in front of all those men in the spa, that getting undressed for this Doc was no big deal. I sit down and take off my boots, then my socks, then I stand up and take off my pants, all the while he is just sitting there. I think I will take the chance of getting gel on my underwear.

So he tells me to lay down on the table on my back. I grab the side of my underwear (I do not like the word panties) and he starts on one side. Then he grabs my underwear on the other side and lifts them high up himself. He then asks "do you like how direct Germans are"? I said yes, I like people telling me how it is, do not beat around the bush. He tells me, "well some Americans take that as being rude". He then says "if I think you are a fat ass I will tell you, you are a fat ass" (thankfully he already told me I was thin!).

I was laughing so hard. I can just see an American doctor telling a patient "well you have high cholesterol because you are a Fat Ass!"

Good old German Doctors!

Police at my house!

Ok you think speeding in America is bad. I just had three police officers come to my front door. The first thing I thought of was, "they were going to give me a ticket for not shoveling my side walk"...but I just did it an hour ago. (it is still snowing though)

Coco my dog greets them, the police are all smiles..thank goodness.

They ask me if Ben Foulk lives here. I say yes, then they show me a bunch of paperwork. They tell me he as been speeding and they show me the picture. I say, "oh no that is me". hmmm must not be a good picture if they think it is Ben right?

So they tell me I was going 23 over the speed limit..it was a 30 zone. I know, I know, why do I do this to myself. This happened 2 months ago and I saw the hidden van take my picture, so I know exactly when and where it happened. I was very late picking up my kids from school and going to fast...obviously! Something that I do not normally do (pick them up from school, not speed ).

My car is licensed to Ben but the picture was a female so that is why the police had to come to our address and see who was driving. It takes 3 Police officers to do this? So now I will get a letter to pay a fine and points on my drivers license. I swear my license will be taken away from me in under a year! At least my first encounter with the Police was a good one. They were smiling and spoke some English. Why did I give them my German license! I should have given them my CT!! What was I thinking!! I am thinking of this now! Writing this! Stupid, stupid!

Shoveling Snow

Ok there is a saying in Germany "he who shovels the first snow shall have the first clean sidewalk".

Seriously...these German's are outside shoveling their sidewalks before dawn! I can look down my street and see all the cleared sidewalks...then I look at mine, not so much.

So I decided I was going

to get up bright and early and clear my walk! Yes 7:30 I was out there! I beat all the German's! I showed them this was no lazy American! My sidewalks will be clear! Of course this is a two part process. First shovel the snow, then turn my shovel upside down to break the ice and scrape the sidewalk.

So after that is done it is onto my drive way, and then to the walk way to my front door. All cobble stone! So repeat process 1 and 2, then then add my super industrial strength broom to sweep off all the snow. I feel like I do not need to go to the gym after all this. It only takes me an hour to do all this process!

You would think shoveling would only have to be done once in the morning and that would be sufficient. But no, you have to go back out in the middle of the day when it starts to snow again! One upside to this is that if you did shovel in the morning all you need for the second round it your broom!

I wake up in the mornings and cannot figure out why my hands are stiff and sore. Its from holding onto that stupid broom!

So now as I look outside it has started to snow again! I am not going out a third time! You cannot make me!

SIDE NOTE....After I posted this my friend told me that by German law you have to have your side walk shoveled by 6:00 A.M. or the police can write you a ticket! I guess that is why the German's are up before dawn shoveling!

London

Well we finally got to take a trip someplace outside of Germany but that was still inside Europe. London! The land of the English, the spoken word, the words of choice, the only words I understand. I cannot tell you how excited I was to go to London....not just to see London, but to know that I would understand what I was reading and seeing! Oh and that they have "real" diet coke! Yes not the sweet Coca Light here in Germany. REAL DIET COKE!! My name is Kara and I am addicted to Diet Coke. Everyone now...HELLO KARA.

Anyway, got off the plane in London and what was the first thing that I bought....drum roll...yes Diet Coke! But really this trip was not all about Diet Coke.

We had about 2 1/2 days to try and fit in everything we could see in this city.

We started at Fridays, home of the free refills...yes of Diet Coke...but again this trip was not about DC! I have to abbreviate now since I am using the word DC too much!

Then is was the classic picture of the

Red Phone Booth

Then it was off to see which was was bigger...Big Ben, or MY Big Ben

And of course the House of Parliament

Then we were off to the Eye

Then it was off to Madame Tussaud's to end off the long day of walking!! The Queen did invite us over for tea the following day. That was very nice of her to open her house to us.

DAY 2 (boring you yet?)

Changing of the guard (Queen never let us in, she must have forgotten). We got to the palace right at 10 to see the horseman. But the actually changing of the guard was not going to take place for another 1 1/2 hours! So we grabbed a taxi and headed to Harrods, only to be denied access since they do not open until 11:30 on Sundays! Not that we could afford anything with the great US to Pound exchange! I have to give them a $1.61 just to get 1 pound. So that bottle of DC for 1 pound is really costing me $1.61...I guess that is not too bad.

Then it was off to the Tower of London. If any of you have watched the show the Tutors on HBO you will know some of the history of all the great beheadings that went on in this place. And f.y.i, the actor in the Tutors is way better looking than the real Henry the VIII.

Of course the Tower Bridge is right there also, so a quick picture of that.

Then it was off to see the Lion King. The kids really enjoyed that. Be warned it is a 2 hour and 45 min production. Make sure everyone uses the bathroom! Then we spent the rest of the night with our friends the Hamberlins that we knew from College. They have a 13 year old son and they are the same age as Ben and I. I can't even imagine having a 13 year old daughter right now. Of course if I did I would have a build in babysitter and I might be young enough to actually run around with my grand kids...but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Day 3

I swear we have done so much walking in the last 2 days that we are just dragging! Not to mention that it was cold, cold, bitter cold! So today we decide to hit Westminster Abbey. Let me tell you, there are a lot of big monuments, tombs, whatever you want to call them. Its just a mish mosh of dead people.

So after that exciting adventure it was off to Ripley's Believe it or Not. That is the one thing the kids really wanted to see. Why would anyone want to stick a drill in their nose? Who would think of that? Who wakes up and says, "you know I think I can drill holes in my nostril cavity!" Or the people who swallow swords? Strange bunch I tell ya.

So that was London in a nut shell! Lots of English and Diet Coke, what could be better in a vacation? Where to next?

Passed the stupid freaking test!!!!

That's right people I passed! January 6, 2010 will be a date to remember. My teacher woke me up at 9:30 Monday morning (was jet lagged from getting home from the states....not lazy) to tell me I was going to take the test Wed. So I said to myself "self...you are going to study at least an hour Mon and Tues for the test", and so I did. Now grant you there are 3000 test questions I have to study from and a 60 page manual. I tried to memorize the formulas, right before lefts and that you can drink and drive in Germany...its true.

Wednesday morning I go to the testing center with my kids, I am ready! I think. Sure I am. Yes I am! Told my teacher to make me a 2 week appointment just in case... ; ) So into the testing room I go with the other test takers, the instructor made some kind of joke or statement to me in front of the other...much younger students. He did not call me by name, its just that all the other students were staring at me smiling and laughing. I did not hear "drei" (for 3) so he was not telling them, "so this is your third time..do you think you will pass"? He knows I am the only one taking the test in English. Does he think that I can understand spoken German but cannot read it? Who knows. He tells me to go to seat neun, so I go. I skip all the instructions I think I know how to take the test by now.

My heart is beating hard, I can feel it on my chest. I answer all the questions fairly fast as I have seen many of them before so I know I am getting them right. But there were some I had not seen. I look in the upper right corner and the test tells you how much that question is worth. So on the formula question, it was worth 4 points. So I think, if I get this one wrong I only have 6 more points for 2 other questions. No pressure. There were 3 questions that I was unsure of, and then the last question of the test. I knew in my head that if I got this question, the last question wrong, I would fail the test again. So now my heartbeat is in my throat! The question was if you had car trouble on the autobahn what would you do. So the first two out of the three I knew. Pull over to the hard shoulder, put out a orange triangle at 100 m in front of your car, the last one was try to give hand signals to other cars to let them know you need help.

So I had to think would I signal to other that I need help? Or would I stand there and wait for someone to help me? Would I just use my cell phone and call someone? So I decided no waving of the arms.

So I hit FINISHED, then the next think that comes up on the screen is ARE YOU SURE YOU ARE FINISHED? Yes, I think so. So I click it again. I wait, I wait, and then the answer screen comes up. I got two wrong! One that I thought I would get wrong, but the other surprised me. The questions were worth 4 and 5 points! So that was 9 right there (got the formula question right..quite proud of myself on that one, thank you). I look at the top of the screen and it says Successful all in green! One more wrong and I would have been back in another 2 weeks! I get up from my seat and the instructor tells me good job (now he speaks English?..or maybe I am so happy I understand German)

I go out into the hallway were my teacher and kids are waiting and yell "YEA"!!! The parents of the "much younger students" all laugh at me, I don't care, I am giddy with excitement! I can now go home, relax, and not study for this test ever again! Of course now that I have passed it, all my new speeding tickets will go to my new license. CRAP!!