You're Doing It Wrong

You know, I never write about stuff like this.

But this terrible thing happened with the tsunami and it’s been bothering me because whenever something bad happens I never know what to do and I feel weird doing what everyone else is doing and I end up doing nothing and it feels bad.

So with the tsunami it seems that the logical thing, since it’s not realistic for me to go to Thailand or Sri Lanka and build roads, or dig irrigation ditches, or pass out food, would be to donate money. And I don’t want to go into a long thing about why I’m uncomfortable donating to the “big” relief organizations — who I am sure do a lot of good. I have my reasons. And I’ve been driving around in quiet moments, feeling like a loser because we have so much, like a warm, dry place to live and good food to eat–yet I’ve done nothing to help this disaster.

I subscribe to a fisherman type mailing list at the office and they sent out a notice about helping this organization. It was covered in the Juneau Empire here. And here’s a quote:

AMSEA is taking donations for the relief effort in this area and wiring money directly to NAFSO. This aid will get to fishermen's families sooner than large relief organizations can. NAFSO will be able to spend it on what their needs actually are on the ground, and there will be no indirect costs. Every dollar donated will be forwarded to NAFSO for their relief work.

I did a bit of checking up and felt good about donating here and mailed my check off right away. At least I did something.

Something terrible happened the other night. I was keeping both eyes on the road while I pressed buttons on the stereo attempting to find a remotely decent song.

I somehow managed to press the wrong buttons in some sort of special sequence and now the music and radio sound like it they are being broadcast from an abandoned cistern. It’s unlistenable. (Why would this feature even be offered?) I tried to recreate the button pushing sequence and now I think the balance is off as well.

Does anyone have a small child I can borrow who can figure out how the stereo works?

We have this one file at the office. It’s a tiny matter which produced an endless blizzard of paper. Actually I should say it still produces a blizzard of paper.

When the matter first started, I kept shoving the filing in one file, expecting that any moment we would be done with this matter. It became this giant, awkward thing that I began to loathe the sight of. Finally, in summer of 2003, I relented and opened a new file and I’ve actually opened a third file since then and I archived the stupid fat file.

For some reason, every time this matter comes up again, my colleague digs the stupid fat file out of the archives and then puts the new papers in it and puts it on my desk as if to say, “Hey, make a new file.”

I found it in filing again yesterday. I put it back in the archive with a note that said: “We’ve had a new file on this since July, 2003. If I find this on my desk again I’m poking your eyes out.”

Never say I’m not clear in my communications.

Updated to add: About a week after I posted this colleague came out to my desk and said, “Which file are you talking about?”

Prinzen Rolle are awesome.

Bob says they’re like chocolate frosting spread on graham crackers. He doesn’t understand my fixation. I don’t either. They’re cheap, junky cookies. Like 1,30€ for a giant tube. But they’re so yummy. I had two for breakfast.

There are other fans (Jul 22, 04).

Looks like I can buy them online

The product description says it’s not perishable. That should scare me more than it does.

Just in case there’s anyone left who didn’t get the memo:

PamNewsletter 2004 is ready. Well, I never fixed the problems with the way it displays in other browsers but hard cheese. I’m not going to worry about it now.

Stories and photos from our recent trip are here.

I had an excellent birthday. Thanks for all the birthday love.

We also had a great New Years and actually went out. To a bar. And saw a band. Although to be completely honest, we left before midnight. Come on, we have jetlag.

I was going to try to assemble some thoughts summarizing the year we just finished and make optimistic pronouncements about the year to come but the only note I made was about learning a short cut for changing the fonts on my computer because I only like to use verdana and it’s a “v” which means I have to scroll through all the fonts every time to change and I’m sure there’s some easy way to do this but so far nothing I’ve tried has worked. But this isn’t such a grand thing to talk about in a year end/year beginning treatise.

Instead, I leave you with my current mantra: everything is going smoothly and easily.

#1 – is it just me or does everyone feel like burning their clothes when they get back from vacation? I took in about $50 worth of dry cleaning, we have about 5 giant loads of laundry and I have a pile of hand wash. I can’t lose that grimy feeling you get after traipsing in and out of the UBahn day after day.

#2 – if you’d like to know how bad the dollar is against the Euro, I’ll share what I just learned after checking my bank statement. 200 Euro costs $275.50 including all bank fees. We’d hope to go back in June to visit the Aunties. Not at those prices.

We’re home. It’s almost 3am local time and about lunchtime tomorrow on our time clocks. It was a long trip but all went about as well as could be expected.

We flew Munich-San Fransisco this trip which was quite different. A huge range of diverse peoples on this flight. It took about 30 minutes to distribute the special meals. There was one kid (actually there were more children on this flight than I’ve ever seen on a plane in my life) who was bouncing off the walls in the the most annoying manner possible but he settled during the middle of the flight and thank God he wasn’t “seated” in front of me. Later at the baggage claim, I saw his family picking up their luggage with big “New Delhi Air” ties on them and I had to have some respect. That’s a long-ass day for anyone much less a small child.

We had a long wait until our Portland connection but we relaxed in the bar. This flight was less than perfect. There was an earlier flight and I asked if we could get on it and turned out we couldn’t but the guy asked to reprint our boarding passes and when we got ready to board I saw that we’d magically been reassigned from row 14 to row 25 (apparently the last row, 26 was already full.) This irked me way more than it should have. On this flight the bathrooms were broken and someone behind us got sick. I think it was the little girl because she sounded a bit weepy and as we were leaving the plane, the Dad held up the bag and said, “This has been an exciting flight.” Also a woman had a panic attack or something and the flight crew paged for someone with medical training and she and her boyfriend sat in back trying to keep her calmed down. The guy next to me had the hiccups and told me he had them all day.

The cab ride home was also a bit crazy. Aren’t there some very basic aptitudes a person must have in order to drive a cab? Say, a basic grasp of English and a basic grasp of the region in which he will be driving? GPS doesn’t do jack squat if you have no clue and this man had less than no clue and for extra difficulty, talked on the phone half the time. If it were a sitcom, I would have ended up driving home.

But who cares? We’re home and I have about 2 months worth of Prinzen Rolle. I’m going to take some herbal sedatives and see if I can get some sleep. More photos and stories to come.

We rolled out of GAP this morning, very sad to say goodbye to everybody. What a great visit.

It’s been snowing a bit and the ride out was beautiful. I skipped reading again so I could watch the scenery and listen to a bit of music. Every time I get us in the smoking car. I swear this time I looked and saw a no smoking sign but apparently I was high because there were smokers galore and we didn’t want to deal with moving the luggage and finding a new place so we dealt.

Our hotel in Munich (located on the Internet with help from the Rough Guide checked out from the library, we highly recommend these travel guides)is near the Englischer Garten and an excellent location. It was a teeny bit further from the UBahn station than I would have liked. We had to drag our bags through the snow and gravel but it’s a small place, old building. Super friendly, helpful people. It’s also about 95 degrees in our room. Sheesh. Our rooms are exponentially hotter. Frankfurt was about how I’d (cheapskate with the heating bills) would heat my home. Nürnberg was how’d you’d heat if someone else was paying (cozy). This place is like we were missing our home in the Sudan. I attempted to turn off the radiator and cracked the window and we’ll see what it’s like when we return.

We arrived before Noon and headed straight from the Hauptbahnhof to our hotel. We dropped our junk and headed back to the Marienplatz to find food and do some shopping. Last time we were here we found this restaurant- Ayingers (Am 1 Platzl 1A next to the Hard Rock Cafe shop) – which we loved. We were hoping to eat there again and sure enough, Bob found it and we found a seat in the window like our first visit. We both ordered a tall beer and I got a salad with grilled turkey, sliced ham, Mozzarella balls, (Europeans must cry when they come to the US and see what passes for Mozzarella in our country) plus some fruit and potato salad and corn and kidney beans and a bunch of stuff all crammed in a small bowl and delicious. Bob had sausages (he regrets skipping the veal cutlet) and we had pretzels (big, yummy ones).

The Marienplatz was crowded but we hit the department stores looking for a long wool coat for Bob. We found lots but nothing brilliant until we went to a store called Romer – nice store. Perhaps equivalent to Nordstroms (?). A man came to help us and I said we only spoke a little German (“no problem”) and I pointed to my coat and said that’s what we wanted for Bob and he clarified whether we wanted long or short and then showed us a couple and the 2nd one was perfect. He gave us a little card and we went back downstairs to pay and then pick it up, all wrapped pretty in a nice carrying bag.

From there we went to Karstadt to get our candy fix. I don’t worry about bringing so many gifts any more. I just buy what I know I love which is a big brick of Hanuta, a stack of Kinder Schokolade and two giant tubes of Prinzen Rolle (cookies). Plus we got some odds and ends and Gummi Products. This is the first round because it will all go into the luggage. Tomorrow at duty free we’ll do round two and buy some cheap booze and add’l goodies we couldn’t find at Karstadt hopefullz ROUND Mozart kugeln, the best candy known to man. Basically all we can carry.

That’s the hard thing is all these things you can only find here and you want them all when you get home.

Our hotel is in a sort of faded hip district near the Universität. There are tons of bars and drink spots. We had a tough time finding a place for a meal. We were craving that last German meal, perhaps a dumpling soup that is traditional this time of year. We ended up at an Italian place which was fantastic and unbelievably cheap even with the bad dollar.

Then we wandered to this Internet cafe for a last drink. (Asbach for me, Campari and soda for Bob, wonder what we’ll pick up at duty free).

Tomorrow the flight is at 3:40pm so we plan to rise early and get our crap together and dump our luggage at the Hauptbahnhof and then do a quick trip to the Haus du Kunst (spelling is approximate as I don’t reallz know what it’s called). But Flori recommended it and we’ve never been there. Then for the airport. I got Harry Potter #5 in paper while I was here. I’ve purchased all my HP books here so I have the British paper editions for mz collection. The book is almost 1000 pages long so I have mz work cut out for me tomorrow on the plane. We fly through SFO so we don’t get home until after Midnight if everything goes smoothly and easily.

I’ll get photos and more stories up by New Years. … Stay Tuned. (note: for some reason when I click on any blogger button, nothing happens. I hope I can publish this.)

We’ve lucked out with wonderful sunny days although the temperature climbed above freezing and while it was much nicer for going on walks, it made the snow a big slushy, melty mess.

We woke up to overcast skies and it’s snowing now. Flori took Bob and the kids to go skiing but they got such a late start and the ski rental place was a zoo so Bob decided to come back and take a nap.

Tonight is our last night here. We’ll pack up in the morning and head for Munich and run around Munich for some last minute shopping and go look at stuff if anything is open. (Most Museum type things are closed Monday.) Tuesday we head for the airport and the long trip home.

On Thursday Bob and I took a little afternoon trip to Murnau and walked around. We had intended to visit a museum there but we arrived at the train station in GAP just as the train was pulling out so we had to wait an hour for the next train. By the time we arrived in Murnau it was too late for the museum but we found a brewery with a big main room, dry and warm and a cafeteria style food spread so we had a big yummy beer and plate of hot food and relaxed. As we walked back to the train station to go home a man approached us and asked us for directions in German. I said sorry, we’re just visiting (in English) and he sort-of laughed and shook his head. But I remembered we had this excellent map from the visitor’s center and he was happy to take a look at it and visited a bit while he got his bearings. He said, alles klar and motored off.

Friday was similar to our adventure last year. We had to hustle the kids out the door for activities outside and then Lisa and I hurried to decorate the tree and get all the presents under and tidy the house. The kids returned to their Grandmother’s and changed into church clothes and we all headed over to the church for the children’s mass. This year all the kids were in the mass. Sophie and Lena do churchy stuff (possibly sing too, I was at the side and couldn’t see them) and Annie and Luis sang in the children’s choir. Very cute.

From church we went to Hotel Post for a drink. Bob and Lisa had something with a shot of espresso and a shot of rum which they thought was the best drink ever. This is an Italian thing and is called something like Espresso Caretto and is usually served with a shot of grappa. The kids all had hot chocolate and the woman who used to run the hotel with her husband back in the day came and sat at our table and played Xmas tunes on the accordion while the kids sang (after being nudged by their parents).

From there to the cemetery for the brass band and we put a candle on the family graves and thought about Hans. From there we went to Agi’s and we were starving at this point and it was some of the best food: super delicious cheeses, a real sticky gorgonzola and a farmer’s cheese and another creamy goat cheese. Wonderful chunky liverwurst and real Parma ham. Good chewy bread and a delicious Spanish red wine. Fantastic meal.

The kids were bouncing off the wall at this point so we went into the family room and they read and sang for us and finally the Kristkind showed up and rang the bell and the kids sprinted home (house next door) and we had about 30 minutes of chaos while they disassembled everything under the tree.

More cookies and sekt (sparkling wine) and I’m amazed I ever fell asleep after consuming all that. My sleeping has remained hit or miss. Sometimes I wake up for a long time and the last two nights I slept about 10 hours.

Christmas day was nice and quiet. We hiked up the mountain with the kids and the sleds. We were headed for what they refer to is a hut. I think of it more like a cabin with delicious hot beverages. It got very icy as we neared the top and Lisa started worrying about having enough time to prepare for the dinner party so we turned around and headed back before we got there. The kids and Flori zoomed down on the sleds and had a blast.

We had a wonderful dinner party with Agi and several of Lisa and Flori’s friends. Katya (from Russia) and Paolo (from Argentina) and their two kids who speak German, Spanish and Russian if you can even imagine. They’re only about 5 and 7. And another friend Alexandra (from Poland) and her son Alexander.

We had a big hunk of venison which they told me was hunted, not from a farm. We also had a giant knödel (dumpling) with savory gravy and red cabbage with chestnuts. Lisa made some mussel soup which turned out very rich and tasty. For dessert we had pumpkin, apple and pecan pie. As she served the dessert Lisa called for the attention of all the foreigners which for a second I thought was us, but it was to explain the desserts since these are not at all traditional for any of the other guests. Lisa said normally you might have cake or cookies. I was curious how everyone liked the pies and they all seemed to like everything, especially the pecan.

It was a pretty amazing group and we talked about a lot of things. (Everyone spoke English well). So many completely different backgrounds.

Today we all slept in. Today is also a holiday and Lisa and Bob went to church with the kids (Soph and Lena sang) and I stayed home to shower and get my bags organized and to catch up in my writing notebook.

If possible, I will write another note in Munich. Otherwise, see you when I get home.