Hallo aus Deutschland

As I write this I'm sitting in the living room of the apartment that will be our home for the next two months. I moved in this afternoon and now I'm just waiting for Nicole and Lily to join me later this week. Until then it will be a busy few days as I have late meetings with the US and I need to make it to the store to get a few things to prep for the ladies' arrival. This sounds easy if you're in the US, but as the stores close early here and have limited/unexpected selection of items, it may be a challenge. Most stores close at 6PM and are completely closed Sundays. And where I'd usually go to any old grocery store for diapers, the couple of grocery stores I've been in so far here don't seem to have any. Even the selection of fruits and veggies is about 10% of what you'd find in a typical American store. Oh well, I guess I'll just ask a colleague at work tomorrow and get it figured out. Folks at the office have really been helpful so far with every random question I have, and there are lots.

Even with the differences here there are plenty of comforts from home too. At the moment I'm watching an NFL game on ESPN America (we have better TV in this apartment than we subscribe to at home!). And I was able to watch yesterday's Michigan game as well, so sports-wise I'm content.

It's definitely been a unique week, as this is by far the longest I've been on my own since Lily arrived. I've had some fun, meeting up with old friends for a nice evening and checking out Oktoberfest this afternoon. But it was also pretty lonely without Nicole and Lily around after work. I won't claim to miss having a human alarm clock in the next room though. After waking up really early for a couple of days due to jet lag I decided to sleep as long as I could a few days ago, and somehow didn't wake up until after 10. I don't know how many years it's been since I slept in until 10, but it's been a long time. I've been over the jet lag for a few days now, but as I was going through it I was thinking about how Lily will adjust. We've heard a wide range of stories from friends about this, from the kids who adjust just like adults over a few days to the kids who are completely flipped (sleep all day, awake all night) for over a week. Really hoping that Lily doesn't have too hard of a time.

Before I go I have to give my impression of Oktoberfest, where I spent a couple of hours this afternoon. I had no idea what it would be like, even with the descriptions of folks who had been. The only thing I knew to expect was that it would be very crowded. And it was. The subway was packed for the last few stops, and when we got to the subway station it took about 5 minutes to get from the train to the escalators due to the crowd. And on the other side of the platform they were stuffing a train and tons of folks were waiting for the next one. Wow, tons of people. My overall impression is that Oktoberfest is like a huge American county fair with lots of food stands and midway games and rides, plus about a dozen huge beer halls (several thousand people in each). I heard these referred to as tents, but they are really semi-permanent buildings completely packed with people. It seemed that all the tables required a reservation, and they were all full. Each hall had a band playing, and lots of the people at the tables were standing on the benches singing and dancing. I was unfortunately alone, as my schedule today didn't align with the people from work I knew were going. In retrospect I think it would be a really fun thing to do with a big group of friends and a table reservation in one of the halls. Of course I had a big liter stein of helles bier, and I soaked in the atmosphere in the Hacker hall. But it would have been a lot more fun with at least one partner in crime.

Before this turns into a novel I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from the week.

Our apartment is in the pale yellow building on the left.

A view overlooking Oktoberfest. This area was less busy than most, and this shows about 1/20th of the overall fest.

St. John's Cathedral, about a 5 minute walk from our apartment.

Bitburger and Brownie

I just finished enjoying a Bitburger and a Brownie, looking at packed bags by the door (I have way too many carry ons - o well), and one single post it note of things to do in the morning (must not forget to take car seat with me) before the adventure officially begins. It feels like my mind is fighting the urge to become too sentimental about tonight possibly being the last night I spend in our home of 6 years - our first official home together, the home I was proposed to in, and the home Lily took her first steps in. I'm so focused on preparing for Germany and staying positive about our house selling that actually moving seems way too far off.

I look forward to enjoying another Bitburger in Munich next week with Nate in our new apartment toasting to the friends we already miss back home and to the chance to immerse ourselves in a whole new city for a little while.

Here are a few videos from the last couple days. The first couple of videos were special because Mali and Lily took turns on the train sharing really well and I can't help but think "look ma, no hands" seeing Lily on the train. The last one was a sweet little goodbye between Sam and Lily this afternoon. Thanks for the Brownies Megan!

In Need of a Little Laugh

Nate left this morning for Munich. Lily and I will see him again in 10 days. I can be excited and sad at the same time, right? I get to see my family in Chicago for a few days and Nate gets to do his thing in Munich on his own a little bit. We'll be in Munich together before I know it and until then, thank God for Skype.

Anyway, I am in the need for some laughs, so here are a few recent videos of Lily that made me smile

The first video is of Lily and her buddy Sam at the AT&T store in Pioneer Square. Lily broke my phone (again) so I had to rush out and get a new one. I thought Lily and Sam would be bored and restless but we were very wrong. AT&T surprised us with a great little child friendly section.



This video is of Lily and her favorite dog friend Augie (lives next door to us). She loves all dogs but has a special spot for him. She will easily walk to their front door when only the screen door is open and knock on the glass looking for him.



This last video really displays Lily's babbling these days (16 months old now). Nate is having a conversation with Lily who is playing with mommy's credit cards by the shelf of books.

When It Rains, It Pours

This past week started off busy dealing with all the logistics of spending the rest of the year in Munich in less than 2 weeks time (Nate leaves in a week!)...securing Munich apartment, finding a house sitter, and all the odds and ends that go into leaving a home for so long and setting up shop somewhere else. No question it's incredibly exciting and I have had moments of absolute giddiness thinking about this awesome opportunity we're about to embark on. I have done google street view repeatedly of our Munich home and what's around us and how long it'll take to walk to not only the nearest park and indoor swimming pool but also which route to take when walking to the Viktualienmarkt (impressive food market).

I guess moving to Munich isn't enough excitement for us....a house we've been negotiating with for the last month decided to accept our "long shot" offer; it's contingent on us selling our current place. That means our home will be on the market starting Tuesday and we might be closing on both deals while we're in Germany. Our home has been reviewed by a really cool home stager that gives his first hour of service for free (you can guess how long he was here) and our place is now "mom would even be impressed" level of clean, bare, spacious looking and sadly depersonalized now.

One of the things I'll miss most about this place is being able to open the back door and watch Lily walk out of our patio and into the courtyard to play with her friend Mali who lives across the courtyard from us; I will miss that perk of communal living. Here's a picture of the two of them doing their thing and a funny little video of Lily and her neighbor friend Mali playing with a music table. I'd like to believe Lily was already showing signs of a jokester side but she was oblivious to Mali's needs.

A Few Months Abroad in a Few Weeks

Big news... we're heading to Munich for most of the rest of the year! It's been brewing for a few weeks, but now it's official, with flights booked and all. To make a long story short, I will be covering for a colleague in the Munich sales office for about two months, doing business development stuff with customers and distributors. Should be an interesting glimpse into a new part of the business for me. And of course it will be a great experience for the three of us, living in a great new city for a couple of months. We still need to get our housing squared away and there are lots of little details to work out, but it's pretty exciting to know that in a few weeks we'll be in a whole new place.

As some of you know, we already had a Christmas trip planned to Germany, and that actually complicated things a bit. You can't be in the country for over 90 days without a visa (a big hassle), and if you're working there are tax consequences if you're there over 90 days. Combine that with the fact that I'm needed there within two weeks and we want to minimize the trans-Atlantic flights with Lily, and we are ending up with complicated travel. I'm heading over two weeks from today, then Nicole and Lily are following about 10 days later. Then I'm coming back for about two weeks after Thanksgiving before turning around and going back for vacation in mid-December while Nicole and Lily are staying in Germany until the end of December, maxing out their non-visa stay at 90 days exactly. Whew. It was not an easy decision to do things this way, with over three weeks apart from each other, but hopefully it will be worth it versus the alternative of more long flights and more crazy jet lag adjustment for Lil'. Plus she'll get to spend even more time getting to know her Oma and Opa on their home turf.

Whew. A lot going on...

On the Lily front, the last couple of weeks have seen a couple of interesting developments. First, she's been babbling a lot more, and the complexity of her babble has increased. Where before she would repeat one or two syllables over and over, now there are a lot of syllables mixed together and it sounds like she's speaking her own little language. It's pretty cute to hear. Second, she's become very attached to her mama. A lot of the time she only wants mama to read to her or change her diaper (ok, that's actually a bonus for me) or comfort her. It becomes a real pain when Mama wants to cook something and Lily wants Mama's attention and gets mad when Mama asks her to go to Daddy or play with something else, then she gets upset and Daddy tries to comfort her but only Mama can comfort her, and Daddy's trying only makes her that much more upset. Sigh... it's a phase that will pass, right? While you contemplate that deep question, here's a nice pic from last weekend out at Kruger Farm on Sauvie Island just North of Portland.