das mutterblog

2010-04-29T09:00:00.002-05:00

from now on i will be posting here.

i'm saying goodbye to germany, heading back to montana. it seems like a good time to start fresh.

thanks for visiting :)

the city is magic

2010-04-27T08:21:00.011-05:00

one last weekend

2010-04-25T17:11:00.008-05:00

it was an epic weekend. we packed as much family+aupair outing time as possible into our last weekend together. we drove to france and fed popcorn to monkeys. and went to a falconry. and had two picnics. and ate ice cream. and walked around a sweet open air museum in the black forest. i can't get it into my head that i'm leaving in three days, but my body knows. i've been shaking all day.

one last friday

2010-04-23T08:38:00.007-05:00

freiburg pulled at my heartstrings a little bit this morning. everyone i met was charming and wonderful. i found some treasures to pack in my suitcase. there was a group of teenage boys singing bob dylan on the street. an old man with a violin and an italian string ensemble. a saint bernard sitting in the bächle. another marzipan croissant with coffee.

also: you can still buy cloves in germany. i bought a pile today, and i'm gonna try my luck at customs.

an ode on turkish food

2010-04-22T10:48:00.007-05:00

as much as i'm ready to leave, i will miss this awkward country. so i'm trying to do everything important one last time, with some ceremony. turkish food is at the very top of the list. it's my favorite food in germany. i have dreams about baked rice pudding and garlic yogurt sauce. so kelly and i hit up Harem last weekend for a final dish of vegetable saç, and it was so excellent.

i was ravenous from an all-day hike and devoured it before i could snap a good picture. these are from this winter, sharing the turkish-food-love with mumsey and pops.

versus the volcano

2010-04-21T05:43:00.009-05:00

i'm supposed to fly to iceland in a week, but there's a volcano a blowin'. not ideal. i pride myself in being a stress-free traveler, and i thought i was unshakable, but this volcano business has me nervous. because my body literally aches to be on the move again, and plate tectonics might keep me grounded. yes, this is stress.

the photo is from reykjavik in 2006. i used to be quite a fan of iceland. i'm re-evaluating.

thank you germany

2010-04-20T16:23:00.010-05:00

this catalog showed up in our mailbox last week. chock full of trachtenkleider and canned fish. i am going to keep it forever.

the shortest way to the USA

2010-04-19T04:32:00.006-05:00

the coffee was the frothy german kind, and my eggs and toast came with peach-passion fruit jam. but we ate heinz ketchup and felt pretty american.

spree

2010-04-16T13:07:00.004-05:00

all four of them rearranged their chairs to face the street. it's an ongoing game of german slug-bug at our house this week, but i can't seem to figure out the rules.

15 days (of gluttony, no doubt)

2010-04-14T16:26:00.010-05:00

it's almost time for us to part ways, germany.
how much rhubarb yogurt can i fit into two weeks?
and how many marzipan croissants?

bike city

2010-04-09T08:59:00.012-05:00

to live in the city with more bikes than cars

holga

2010-04-07T05:08:00.004-05:00

my laptop is back from the dead

2010-04-06T09:27:00.009-05:00

all she needed was a new power cord from hong kong.
and i am stoked about it.

it is the beginning of the end

2010-03-24T15:36:00.004-05:00

i had such wonderful intentions. i have Holga photos to post and so many sweet yellow forsythia pictures. but my powerbook died today, and with it went my camera software. and also, tragically, the playlists that have kept me alive this winter.

maybe i'll put some words up in this space.

or maybe the motherblog just died.

* * *

"it's the first day of spring, and my life is starting over again"

2010-03-23T10:24:00.011-05:00

i believe the winter is gone for good now, which means i am ready to re-enter the world. the weather is warm, the forsythia is blooming, and i can't stop moving. i've been running in the forest in the mornings, getting my legs ready for the mountains. because i'll be in the rockies in no time at all! i can already taste the PBR.

cold sea

2010-03-11T13:03:00.030-06:00

kelly and i went to the north sea last weekend and stayed on a sad deserted island called sylt. it was fantastically cold, but we managed to:

have the most decadent of train picnics
walk for hours on frozen sand
eat delicious fish sandwiches
figure out the german word for oysters, then order some
climb a giant dune for a nice view
find some dank cheesecake in a doily-filled guesthouse
take a ferry to denmark and withdraw 100 kroner
buy wine over international waters
bust out the Holga, before the sun disappeared
find piles of pretty blue shells

* * *

and now back in freiburg, the resurgence of winter. i am once again biking through blizzards with my 6 year olds, and i'm not psyched about it. i'm crawling underneath my duvet until i see sunshine.

i sure like the kids better on a friday

2010-03-05T13:42:00.013-06:00

yes, fridays are always decent.
but today there was a sesame bagel and a latte, blue skies and a fully loaded Holga, a very good novel in hand, new yellow shoelaces, and a long-awaited pumpkin pie. it may be out of season, but it is delicious.

and tomorrow i am going to the sea!
i'm waking up before dawn, grabbing my tupperware of pie from the fridge, and taking a train n o r t h.

ciao february

2010-03-04T07:10:00.005-06:00

february ended with some sun, thank god, and i found a little magic in freiburg again. i want to leave the city on good terms, but i am feeling faded from the winter.

bloom

2010-02-24T14:47:00.011-06:00

i forgot something important:
spring comes early in freiburg.

it comes very early. like now. the snow is gone, the wind us warm, and things are growing! it's been raining for days, but that is also great, because freiburg will come out of all this water a shocking green. and all these buds will burst open, and the last sixty-four days in aupairland will fly by in colorful blur.

(such optimism this spring has already instilled in me!)
((when the forsythia blooms i might just die))

eatdrinkdance

2010-02-23T13:01:00.005-06:00

sometimes i go to frankfurt to visit kelly, and all the pent up energy, the repressed appetites and obscene dancemoves, bust out of me in a big way. this time i rode to frankfurt at 200 km/hour in a car full of swiss men, danced two nights away, drank beers at ikea, and feasted on oatmeal pancakes and white bean burgers. take that, february.

let the wild rumpus begin

2010-02-16T10:38:00.012-06:00

FASCHING/FASTNACHT is a wonderful and bizarre holiday.
and the germans' preoccupation with american indians will forever shock and entertain me.

happy mardis gras everybody!

fastnacht

2010-02-12T14:55:00.008-06:00

i woke up on another planet this morning, helped my 6 year old put on his warpaint, and sent him to school with a bow-and-arrow.

(all about fastnacht)

"the cure for exhaustion is whole-heartedness"

2010-02-04T14:04:00.005-06:00

thank you emma dearest...
such wonderful advice for a winter like this one.

today i carried a rosemary plant home from the grocery store and made a totally baller lunch. it's nice to have the german grandma gone, free range of the kitchen, eurodancetrance music pumping through the house, concocting delicious things.

i'm a notorious february-hater, but man i'm trying.

switzerland

2010-02-03T08:31:00.010-06:00

the kids' grandma just left after a trying two and a half week visit. aupairing is a lonely business, and it's nice to have an ally, but german grandmothers have some very strong opinions and some very strange rules. by the second weekend i had had enough, so i got on a train and went to french switzerland to visit my friend cheryl. i saw some mountains and i had a nice time.

treat

2010-01-24T03:16:00.007-06:00

it is crucial to always have something to look forward to, especially in the winter, and especially when you're an underpaid aupair in an awkward country...

+ i have a plane ticket to boston at the end of april, and plans for a grand cross-country spree
+ a few days in new hampshire with summer friends
+ fasching in february, the kids are already assembling their costumes
+ a train ticket that expires in march, so maybe a trip to the sea?
+ a dinner date tonight, delicious turkish food