Wed - August 8, 2007Well, it's official...Yep, it's
official.
We're going home! Back to Detroit. Motown. Hockeytown. The Motor City. In two weeks... holy smokes! Yep, as Daimler and Chrysler go their separate ways all of us Chrysler folk are returning home to the D. Just found out about a month ago... still can't believe it! We thought we'd be here at least 'til the end of the year. I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving. In 3+ years, I've really gotten used to life here. And I really like our life here, strange poop-shelf toilets and all! On the other hand, I'm excited to see family and friends and for Gracie to meet her grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and loads of other people that we care about back home! Looking forward to long weekends at the cottage up north on Lake Huron. I fully expect that there will be some reverse culture shock. It's so gorgeous here, rolling and green, and Detroit is so, well, it's so paved. Here I walk everyplace. In the Motor City, it's not as easy, though I'm certainly gonna try! I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, here's a pic of Gracie after a bath. Can't believe she's 8 weeks old already! She's changing really fast... it's pretty remarkable to watch! 
We just got her passport back... so funny! A passport with a picture of a crying baby - eyes all scrunched up, mouth wide open (after waiting in line for a good while in the heat at the American Consulate, she was FUSSY!) Wonder if the passport agent will ask us to make her cry just to make sure it's the right kid! I'm glad that she was born here in Germany... it's kind of a special thing that she'll always have. There more pics of Gracie here, if you're interested; http://flickr.com/photos/alisonpetersen123 Posted at 08:57 AM Tue - June 26, 2007And Gracie Makes Three...Well, here she is!
Grace arrived on June 14 at 8:18 a.m. with a weight of 7 lbs. 11 oz (3.49 kg) and a length of 21.1" (51 cm). So far, all is going well! Gracie eats, sleeps and poops, Papa is super proud, Oma is here and is thrilled, and of course, I'm thrilled as well! I really could just sit and watch her all day long. Here's a photo from her birthday...  Posted at 05:11 AM Mon - May 7, 2007I must be getting big...I must be looking really pregnant these
days as on two separate occasions at the grocery store people have offered to
let me cut in front of
them!
And yes, this happened here in Germany, the land where people's concept of waiting in line is, as far as I can tell, "Line? What line? Me first! Me first! Me first!" Posted at 01:38 PM Sat - May 5, 2007Out of AfricaJust got back from a week in Tunisia. A
last-hurrah-before-the-kid-arrives-vacation! Good trip... beautiful beach, lots
of swimming in the ocean and the pool, laid around on the beach, read, and ate.
And boy, did I eat! YUM! Lots of couscous and fish. I probably also ate about
500 dates! Mmmmmm!!!
On the way back, we ran into a little bit of a challenge getting out of Africa. I was climbing the steps to get on the plane, and the flight attendant took a look at me and told me I was too pregnant to fly! I showed him my bescheinigung (doc's permission note) from the doctor, and he told me that it was only good if it was dated within 7 days, and mine was dated 8 days previous! I was about to freak out when he said that I could just go to the doctor in the airport and get checked out and they would hold the plane for me. So, they took E and I off the plane, put us on a bus and whisked us away to the doctor. The doctor's office was N-A-S-T-Y - old yellow stained sheets on a crappy old bed and loads of ancient looking stuff everywhere. I nearly freaked again at the thought of a full examination in this dirty ass room in a far away country. Good thing E was there... he's always so calm and rational. Held my hand, told me not to worry, we'd contact the embassy and go to an embassy recommended doctor if I needed a full exam. But, the doc just measured my blood pressure, pronounced me good to go, signed a certificate for the pilot, charged us 20 Dinar and we were on our way. Then it was back to the bus which whisked us back to the plane which by then had waited a 1/2 hour and was filled with grumbling passengers. And finally, we took off. Yay! I was so happy as we flew in to Stuttgart... it really looked beautiful from cruising in from above with the rolling green hills and the blazing yellow rapsfelder. Ahhhhh... home again, home again. Posted at 07:31 PM Sun - April 22, 2007Everybody's Smilin', It's A Sunshine Day!The Brady Bunch kids were right...
nothin' like a long stretch of warm sunny weather to lift spirits and bring out
the smiles! Everybody's
smilin.
Last weekend E and I went to the pool. Well, actually it's a mineralbad which has several outdoor pools that are open year round. The weather was sunny and in the the upper 70's. In April! In Germany! Awww yeah! I closed my eyes as I sat in my lounge chair and felt like I was on vacation. And, I discovered the joys of swimming while 7 months pregnant. I felt so light and free! As opposed to heavy and swollen, which is how I feel for the most part on terra firma these days. Man, it was awesome! I'm thinkin' that since it's sunny and 70's again today, there may well be another trip to the mineralbad in my future! Last week my aunt, uncle and cousin were here for a visit. E and I took a few days off of work to show them around. The weather was gorgeous and we walked all around Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, lingering in biergartens (where, of course, I enjoyed many an apfelsaftshorle) and strolling along the Neckar river. Checked out the new exhibit at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart. Very cool. Mercedes museum too. Ate dinner one night at a Besenwirtschaft, which is always entertaining! (Besenwirtschaften are, I think, unique to southern Germany. Basically, winegrowers are allowed have restaurants in their houses for 2 months a year or so without a restaurant license. They serve their new wine along with basic, hearty Schwaebish food. Usually they are crowded and people are singing and havin' a good old time!) Went on that river cruise down the Rhein river. A bit touristy, but lovely weather, and we had a good time. It was nice having company. And it was good for E and I because, as we showed them all of the things we've enjoyed about living here, the stress of the last few months (the whole do-we-stay-or-do-we-go thing) sort of lifted. We kind of rediscovered what we like about living in Germany. I'm sure the warm sunny weather was also a factor - made our moods a bit sunnier as well, but hey, whatever, it was nice! I work out in Moehringen, and since it's been nice I've been taking walks on my lunch break. The sight of rolling green hills, dotted here and there with the blazing yellow rapsfelder and the Schwaebische Alb looming in the background is so beautiful, it makes me sigh and think, yeah, for now, once again, I'm glad I live here. Now if we can just figure out all the paperwork required to have a baby here! Oh boy! Er, shall I say, oh girl! Posted at 06:27 AM Sat - March 31, 2007Time to press the reset buttonWell, after a few weeks of being on pins
and needles trying to decide whether E should take a job in Detroit that would
land us back there at the end of April, we finally made a decision. E turned the
job down. He would've been traveling all the time, all over the world (china,
india, hungary, brazil, mexico) and would've been required to stay in that
particular job for at least 3 years. E definitely has a case of wanderlust, so
the travel does appeal to him. But with the kid on the way, it just wasn't the
right thing right now.
Soooo, we're stickin' around here. For awhile. The baby will be born here. We both really thought we were going home though. I was planning all of the baby classes and painting and baby prep stuff for our house back in the D. E was looking at tile samples for re-doing the bathroom. I was crushed at first, when we decided to stay. Deflated. I know it's the right decision. But I had opened the door to the possibility of going home and had allowed myself to get soooo excited about it. Oh well. So now it's time to get our heads back here in Germany. Time to dive in to baby prep stuff here. Geburtsvorbereitungskurse und so weiter. Time to stop daydreaming during my German lessons. Time to press the reset button. Posted at 08:04 AM Sat - March 3, 2007In LimboI feel like I'm in
limbo.
Back in Detroit, E worked for an auto company that "merged" in 1998 with a certain German company whose trademark is the 3-pointed star. We're here because he's working on a project that involves both the American and German sides of the company. Now that the marriage-made-in-heaven (not!) that was said company might be dissolving, we're not sure if we're going to be hustled back to the States or what. Of course, nobody knows what's going to happen at this point, so it's just wait and see. Which wouldn't be so bad if I weren't 6 months pregnant. Not knowing if we're going to have the kid here or back in Detroit is kind of, well, kind of strange. I'm feelin' a bit out of sorts. We can't really buy any baby stuff or make many baby preparations 'til we know if we're going to stay or if we're going to go before the baby comes. We don't want to buy all of our baby stuff here, and then get the word that we're leaving before the kid is due and have to schlep it all back home. Wait and see. Wait and see. Before I got pregnant, E and I wanted to stay here as long as we possibly could. Despite the ups and downs of expat life, we really like it here. But I have to admit, since becoming pregnant, the prospect of moving back home has got me excited! It's just a glimmer of excitement, really, that I've been trying to suppress. Don't want to get too excited and then find out we're here for the long haul. I've been a bit homesick since I've been pregnant. I can't do the things I love to do here - ski patrol, volleyball, travel. Ok, I can travel, but not at the same pace that E and I are used to. I'm just too big and tired. This is all ok and we're super excited about the baby. It's just that many of the things I like most about life here are on hold for me, and thus I'm thinking about home. Home is pulling at me. I find myself often gazing out the window at work, thinking about home. Thinking about washing the car on the driveway in the summer sun with the Tigers game on the radio. Thinking about meeting up with pals for a greasy spoon breakfast and bottomless cups of coffee on Saturday mornings at Nello's. But mostly thinking about the people - our family, our friends. All the people who I want most to be involved in the life of our new baby. They're all there. And we're here. And we have no idea where we'll be 3 months from now. Wait and see. Wait and see. Posted at 12:20 PM Thu - February 22, 2007Thirteen Cavities???I usually go to the dentist for a
cleaning and check-up when I'm back in the States for a visit. A few months
back, I decided that since it had been a while since I'd been back to the
States, and waaaaay too long since I'd been to the dentist, that I should visit
the dentist here in Stuttgart. So I made an appointment and hustled on out to
the ol'
Zahnarzt.
After the hygienist finished cleaning my teeth, the dentist came in. We chit-chatted about this and that for a couple minutes, all auf Deutsch, and I was feelin' pretty good. Of course, as usual, I didn't understand every single word, but I got the general, overall gist of the conversation. The doc then proceeded to check out my chompers and explained that I had cavities in drei Zaehne, which means three teeth. Remember what I said about not understanding every word? Yeah, so, to my unrefined German ear, drei Zaehne sounded an awful lot like dreizehn (the number 13)! ME: DREIZEHN???? Ohmigod! THIRTEEN CAVITIES??? DENTIST; (Laughs) Nein, Nein! Drei Zaehne! Three teeth! ME: OH! (embarrassed laugh) Oh, well I guess three cavities is better than 13! Posted at 03:32 PM Sun - February 11, 2007I'm Back!Wow.
I can't believe it has been 9, almost 10 months since I've last posted! I literally fell off the edge of the blogging world! How the heck did that happen? I can't really explain it. I just didn't post. I don't know why. I've been checking in on other expat blogs every now and again. But why I took such a long break, I just can't say. Well, I'm still here in Germany. Still doin' the same old, same old! Anyway, I'm sure nobody visits this page anymore - after 10 months of inactivity, I sure wouldn't. But for what it's worth, here's what I've been up to for the last 10 months or so! March,April, May 2006 - played in a competitive volleyball league. It was SO much fun. Great group of girls. And actually, we were pretty darn good! Made it to the league championships in May, and lost the final championship game in a heartbreaker to a team from Hanau. Good times! June 2006 - Our friends Joe and Sarah from San Francisco came to visit. We drove to Croatia for a 2-week trip, stopping in Bled, Slovenia on the way. It was FANTASTIC. Definitely the best trip we've been on so far in Europe. Croatia is amazing, BEAUTIFUL, cheap and unspoiled. We stayed for a week on an island named Vis. We rented a house right on the water. 75 Euro a night - for 4 people! Then cruised down to Dubrovnik, which was also amazing. Check out our pics here: http://homepage.mac.com/alison_petersen/PhotoAlbum15.html July 2006 - End of the World Cup, which was super fun. Hot, tropical weather - in Germany! Spent many a weekend day riding bikes or chillin' at the pool or at a couple of different local lakes. August 2006 - Our friends Mel and Bryan from Detroit came for a visit. We spent a weekend in Munich, and then about 4 days or so in Italy at the Lago di Garda, or Gardasee, or just plain ol' Lake Garda. Great weather, good food, good times! Still need to post pics (the blogging wasn't the only thing I was slackin' on!). September 2006 - Spent the first week in Scotland, where we met up with my parents. Gorgeous countryside. But man oh man is it expensive there! Also had visits from our friend Jon from Ann Arbor, and our friends Ian and Colleen from Seattle. October 2006 - The Detroit Tigers swept the New York Yankees, and I literally started bawling with happiness at the end of game 4. It was then that I knew that things weren't quite normal with me. Took a pregnancy test 2 days later, and yep, it was a positive! So yep, I'm pregnant!!! November 2006 - Morning sickness, nausea and tiredness. That's about it. December 2006 - Back home to Michigan for holidays! Had kept the pregnancy secret from friends and family back home so that we could tell them in person. Everyone is super excited. So are we! And it was sooooooooo nice to see friends and family back home again. I cried on the way to the airport to fly back here. January 2007 - Getting bigger, feeling better (over the 1st trimester blahs!). E and I went to Italy for few days - Rome, Capri, the Amalfi Coast. Good times. Ate loads of pizza! But I felt like I was huffin' and puffin' trying to keep up the whole time. Can't walk as much as E and I are used to without getting tired these days! February 2007 - Found out last week that the baby is a girl! I am getting HUGE! Well, people say I'm not huge, but I certainly feel huge! And I'm only just past half-way there! Oh well! I can feel the baby moving now... what an amazing feeling. Wow. Well, that's it. The last 10 months in a nutshell. Obviously the biggest news is the pregnancy. E and I are super excited! Honestly, we're a little nervous too, not knowing quite what to expect, but mostly we're just excited! I promise to be better with the blogging. No really, I'll be back. Soon! Posted at 01:37 PM Sun - May 28, 2006Wed - April 19, 2006Stick it where?Once or twice a year I suffer from a
pinched nerve in the right side of my neck. Shooting pain up to the base of my
skull and down between my shoulders. It's my own fault. I sit at my computer at
work all day, one leg tucked beneath me, spine all curvy, shoulders hunched up
as I try to meet deadlines, and then it happens. I move my head and TWANG! And I
can't turn my head for a few
days.
This happened to me Monday morning. It was worse than ever this time... sudden and intense pain when I moved my head. So much so that it made my eyes water and I sniffled and tried not to cry and then snuffled loudly. At work. Wie peinlich! I've never gone to the doctor for this before and it usually lasts for a few days then gradually goes away. But this time I figured it couldn't hurt to go see a doc. A co-worker recommended a chiropractor and Tuesday morning I went to see him. He moved my head all around and made a bunch of notes. Then he said the nurse was going to come in and give me eine Spritze. I said OK, but the truth was that I had no idea what a Spritze was. I was hoping it was going to be a massage or a million Euros or something, but somehow I knew that those options were too good to be true. The nurse came in and told me to pull down my pants and lay sideways on the table. Ah, ok. Got it. I was going to get a shot in the ass. A Spritze. Ouch. Well, at least I learned a new word. After the Spritze, the doc came back in. We talked a little bit about why my neck hurt and how I could improve my seating position at work and exercises I can do to strengthen the neck muscles und so weiter. Then he gave me an ENORMOUS pill, and told me it was for just before bedtime. Then he said to come back first thing the next morning. I went back to work. By the time I got there I was feelin' loose as a goose from the old Spritze in the po. I told my co-workers all about my morning at the doctor's, and then remarked that I couldn't believe how big the pill the doc gave me was. Pascal asked to see the pill. I took it out of my bag and showed everyone. Silence. And then laughter from all corners. Antonio from Italy: "Dude, that's not a pill" Pascal from France: "BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!" Carola aus Deutschland: "Do you know where that goes?" Oh. Oh no. Pascal: "It's a suppository!" Me: "So this goes... um... up my butt?" Everyone: "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Pascal: "It's easier than you think!" And so on and so on. Well, call me naive, but I've never had to take a suppository before. The Europeans I work with tell me that that's how they roll here and that suppositories are better 'cuz they dissolve quickly and work faster. More efficient, stressed Carola. Whatever. I'm American. I'm not supposed to do things efficiently. And though I strive to embrace many European customs, I just didn't think that this could be one of them. For the rest of the day, whenever Pascal walked by me, he would pretend to snap a rubber glove onto his hand, and then laugh maniacally. Well, the hour came. I got ready for bed and tried to mentally prepare myself. I was going to do this. My stupid neck was sore. How bad could a pill in the butt really be? And actually, Pascal was right. It was easier than I thought. It just kind of got sucked right up there! Weird. And it did work really fast. I was looooosey goooosey and knocked out in bed before I knew it. And today, my neck feels much much better. Loose. Ok. And though my first suppository experience was overall a success, I'm still not entirely sold. I mean, I found it kind of funky to stick a pill in my butt. Or perhaps this is just my inner American speaking here? Guess it all comes down to what you're used to. And I'm just not used to pushing pills up into my arsehole. Posted at 04:05 PM Sun - April 16, 2006purple parrot poopLast week my friend and co-worker Carola
had a birthday party at her apartment in Bad Canstatt - part of downtown
Stuttgart. I caught a ride with my friend Antonio, also a co-worker. He parked
the car on the street under Carola's apartment, and as we waked to the door of
her apartment building we commented on the big trees lining her
street.
The party was fun. As Antonio and I walked back to the car late that night we saw that it was covered, COVERED in... well, something. It looked like bird poop, but MUCH bigger. And really purple. And there was a lot of it. Tons. All over the hood, the windshield, the top, and the driver's side door. Seriously, it was a ton of shit. Like from a pteradactyl or something. It looked like someone had thrown handfuls of purple mud at the car. The next day at work Antonio asked Carola about the giant purple prehistoric poop covering his car. She laughed and asked if we had parked on the street under the trees. When Antonio said that we had, she told him about the parrots. Apparently several years back some parrots escaped from the zoo here in Stuttgart. They bred. And now a bunch of them hang out in the trees in Bad Canstatt. Parrots. Yes, those big huge green birds! The kind that pirates carry on their shoulders. They hang out in the trees in downtown Stuttgart and poop on people's cars! So next time you're in Stuttgart, and you're parking your sparkling clean ride, look up. If you're parked under a tree, you might want to think about finding another spot. Parking is tight in the city, so parking under the trees may be tempting... But aaargh, think twice, matey, think twice. Or you many spend the next day swabbing the poopdeck! Posted at 04:03 AM Mon - April 10, 2006"If you don't like the weather......just wait 10
minutes."
That's what folks in Michigan say as they laugh and shake their heads about the ever-changing weather. I guess this phrase works for Germany too. I mean, it was in the 60's, sunny and gorgeous this past Saturday. Today it's freakin' freezing and and it was snowing, SNOWING this morning on my way to work. Good grief. Posted at 03:41 PM Sun - April 9, 2006crashLast weekend on our way to the Holly
Golightly show, we got into a car accident. Not a big accident and nobody was
hurt. So that's good.
We were downtown Stuttgart, and we were in the passing lane, doing just that - passing another car. Just as the front of our car was cruising past the driver's side door of the Renault Twingo in the other lane, the driver of the Twingo suddenly decided that he'd rather be in our lane. He switched lanes abruptly, E stomped on the brakes, but it was too late... he switched lanes right into us. SCREEEEECH! That horrible metal-on-metal sound, tires squealing, a big BUMP as we jumped the curb onto the U-bahn tracks, and that was it. Our car wasn't hurt too badly... still drivable, though the front passenger side panel was all scraped up and smashed in, and the two front wheels were all scratched up and the tires looked suspiciously shreddy and scuffed. We drove off of the U-Bahn tracks and pulled to a stop beside the Twingo, which was totally smashed and scraped all along the drivers side. The Twingo driver and his friend got out of their car, lit up a couple of cigarettes and started apologizing. They were nice guys. Just on their way back from soccer practice. We called the Polizei. They came, took everyone's name and statements, declared the Twingo driver at fault, gave us a formular or two to fill out, and were on their way. Our new friends in the Twingo waved as we drove off. Our car is a company lease car - E works for DaimlerChrysler - so we took it in last week for reparieren. While it's getting fixed, they gave us a brand new E-class to drive around. It's so brand new that I guess it's some kind of secret or something. The whole front and back ends are all masked off with this goofy black tape stuff to disguise that hot new E-class look (that's a joke... I think all Mercedes cars look the same - really conservative and boring). E is in the States this week for work. He parked our Smart Roadster, which is what I normally drive, at the airport, so I'm driving this crazy super-geheim E-class all week. It's hilarious. At stoplights people are taking pictures of me with their phone cameras, jabbing their friends in the ribs and pointing in my direction. On the autobahn people are craning their necks for another look at his burning hot new car as they pass by. Sometimes I forget that people are taking pictures of this big ass boat that I'm driving. I think that people are looking at me, rubbernecking to get another look at the blonde girl, snapping photos like the paparazzi. Maybe they like my new haircut. I throw my hair back over my shoulder, adjust my sunglasses and try to look sophisticated and mysterious. And then I remember. It's not me that people are trying to get another look at. It's the car. Right. Oh well. I can always pretend, can't I? Just so long as I don't Lindsay Lohan the Benz while being chased by the paparazzi! Posted at 05:13 AM Fri - April 7, 2006chai tea hair productsE flies back to the D (as in Detroit)
tomorrow, and will be there working (and havin' fun) for a week. I have tasked
him with bringing the following items back here to Germany with
him:
1. As much Chai tea as he can fit in his bag. And then a little more. 2. Alterna hair products (hemp seed modeling clay... I love this stuff!) I'm pretty confident that he can handle the Chai tea. Like me, he drinks it by the gallon and our supply is running frighteningly low. But the Alterna Hemp Modeling Clay? I wouldn't be surprised if he turned up with a bewildered expression and a tin of Shoe Goo instead. I'll have to give him precise instructions on where to purchase the Alterna Hemp Modeling Clay. I still have my doubts, though... Oooooh... maybe I could get him to bring back some crackers. I can't find any crackers that I like here. There are plenty of mouth-watering cheeses and delectable spreads, but no good crackers. Stale little pieces of bread cleverly disguised as crackers do not count! Gimme a Triscuit (Garden Herb flavor, please). Ok, ok, I know my cracker tastes are not discerning. I don't need anything fancy. A Garden Herb Triscuit however, sounds pretty damn good! Posted at 02:26 AM |
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Published On: Aug 08, 2007 08:59 AM |
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