Well, it kind of started last night, Michael was snoring like crazy, which happens from time to time. It is usually ok, and I kick him or push him and then it stops. But last night whenever I pushed him, he woke up twice! So, since he needed his sleep (going skiing early in the morning), I decided to go downstairs and sleep on the couch. I heard him early in the am (5:45am) bustling about getting his stuff together, and then I hear him tumble down the stairs! Our stairs are quite dangerous because it’s a spiral staircase and quite steep. I’m always nervous when carrying the babies up and down. I’ve fallen on the last 3 stairs a couple of weeks ago, so now it’s Michael’s turn. He fell near the top and rolled 1/2 way down, and I rushed over to make sure he was ok. He wasn’t hurt too bad, just kind of got a stiff neck area. I massaged it a little and he told me it was because he was wearing socks and they slipped. After that, I went back to sleep upstairs, but it wasn’t long before the babies got up, 7:30 this morning, which is kind of early. I didn’t want them making a whole lot of noise so early and wake everyone else up in the building, so I fed them, changed them and kept them in their bedroom. When they play with their toys in the living room, they throw it and clang it on the floor and it makes a lot of noise!

At about 9am I let them out and I took a light nap on the couch, awaking every 5 or 10 minutes or so to some scene of chaos. First I heard the guitar, but dreamed that Michael was playing guitar to them so thought nothing of it. It’s only when I heard the guitar fall down that I woke up! Elijah gave me a guilty look…Then, the next “scene” was of both of them playing with this fold up laptop table that I have. Somehow they managed to turn it over (it’s light plastic so it’s not that hard but I’m surprised I didn’t hear it crash to the ground)…The next scene of them was of Elijah biting Rowan while playing with the Learning Table toy. I managed to make them bottles and put them down for a nap at about 10am.

After getting up from their nap, I bundled them up and we went out for a walk. It was a really nice day, the sun was out and melting the snow. I walked to Isartor, where the Basic store was. Everything closes at 2pm today (NY Eve), so I had to hurry. I bought some fruit to make for the boys and a basil plant. I wish the plant was more mature so that I could pick off some leaves, but it was just a pot chock full with seedlings. I wish I had some dirt I could repot them and let them grow big. I’ll have to wait for Monday. Basic had parmesean cheese and I did a full transaction in German! Well, I basically asked if they had it and she told me where it was. But at least it’s something and I didn’t freeze up and stare blankly at her! Progress, slow but steady… I was all excited because it was fresh cheese, not the shredded kind that you buy in a Kraft package. I was just so happy that I found parmesean cheese at a place that I frequent.

After that, I was going to take the SBahn to Karlsplatz to go to Schlecker or DM, but I couldn’t find an escalator going down to the Isartor station, so I just ended up walking to Marienplatz. I saw McDonald’s and couldn’t resist getting some fries. Mmmmmmm… I was very disappointed that they didn’t have Hot Mustard sauce (senf), they are always out! Chicken McNuggets just don’t taste good without the hot mustard! After that, I went to Karlsplatz, and it just turned 2pm, so everything was shutting down. I hurried to DM, and there was a lady posted there not letting anyone in. I was frantic at this point, wondering what I was going to do. I tried to go to Herties, and I thought I was saved because the doors were still open with people going in. But a guy at the elevator stopped me and said they were closed. Damn! So, I figured I’ll try Tengelmann’s as a long shot. First, they probably wouldn’t be open and if they were, they probably didn’t have formula. I was overjoyed because they stayed open until 4pm, AND they had formula, I took the last box! I also got more sandwich supplies (ham and salami) and stood in line. The lines were long because they were the only store open. I finally got to the cashier and she gave me a suspicious look because she thought I was stealing a basil plant. Sorry, lady, that is from another store. After I paid, I asked for these heart stamps (to get free cookware) and it took forever for her to understand me, but then she reluctantly handed me my 2 heart stamps. I also was distracted by something called HappyDigits, which is a bonus card program. I think you get all these points and then you redeem them for stuff. I took one of those flyers. After all that, we headed home. The boys were so good! Right when I got to my door, I didn’t see the formula, I looked in the stroller basket and didn’t see my stuff!

I quickly realized that in my distraction of the heart stamps and HappyDigits thing, I forgot to take my groceries! Ugh! And I needed formula too, they are almost out! So, back to Karlsplatz we went. The whole time I was thinking what I am going to do. I was hoping that the cashier would just have the stuff still at the register, because it’s only been about 20 minutes. But, as luck would have it, that register was shut down. I went and found an employee and tried talking to her, but she didn’t speak any English. She found another guy who could speak very, very little. He understood what happened and asked the cashier that I had about the stuff. I gave him my receipt and he showed it to her. I saw the lady shake her head. Arrrgh! The guy said that she didn’t know anything about it. So, I figured I’ll buy another formula, even if it’s a different one, because they are out. I went back and lo and behold, the formula box was there! They just put it back. Now I’m thinking, ok, how do I explain to the guy that there was only 1 box and they just put everything back? I found the guy again and told him, but he didn’t really understand me. He was trying to tell me that I couldn’t take it, but couldn’t explain it in English, so he just let me go with it. I figured I would be pushing my luck if I got the salami and ham too, so I just got the formula since it was the most important. I am sooooo happy that I was able to get it. Even if I had to pay for it again, which would suck, I’m glad that they were at least open and had it. Michael came home fairly early, around 6pm and he helped with the nighttime chores, which was nice!

He had a good day, did a pretty easy ski tour, so it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. His back was still kind of hurting from this morning, and he couldn’t take in the beautiful scenery because his neck was too stiff. He only saw what was in front of him. He also left me a pretty depressing phone message, apparantly the train that he took from Hauptbahnhof sat on the tracks for an hour in a suburb of Munich because of some problem, he had 2 train connections to make, and would miss them both because of this delay. He found the new connecting train, but unfortunately, it also sat on the tracks by the highway for another hour. I’m sure the opening scene from “Office Space” was going through his head. What’s with the trains today?

I didn’t do anything today, just stayed at home. Whenever Michael came home, I left the boys in his care (a dangerous prospect) - he had to feed them and get them ready for bed. I went out to schlecker because we needed more distilled water and misc other things. After that trip, I figured, what the heck, I’ll try and take my coke bottles in and get my pfland (deposit). After watching 3 people do it before and asking questions on the net, I was ready! I took my 10 bottles in, which is a total of 1.50 euros. I get up to the machine, put my bottles in and…nothing. Huh? I try it again. I try the upper slot, the lower slot, it says the same thing. Am I supposed to remove the label? Remove the cap? Huh? Why isn’t it working???? I asked a passerby if she spoke English and she did. She tried to help me and did the same thing but it didn’t work for her either. I was hoping she would translate the error message it was giving me but she went to the cashier and asked him. He just said to bring it to the register. Now I don’t know if I have to do that each time or if the machine is broken. He counted 8 bottles in the bag and didn’t see 2 buried underneath so he gave me 1.20. But I’m a sharp cookie and asked for my .30 euros! He was like “oh yeah”. I came back home, proud of my accomplishment. Michael was still feeding them Fruit Cocktail. So I went out a third time, this time to drop off the “no money” recyclables. I miss curbside recycling! We used to just throw everything into a bin, no separating. Now, not only do we have to separate, we have to go down the street! I had to take the aluminum covers off the glass baby food jars and put them into separate bins. I also had some plastic jugs to put in. Paper recycling is done at our apartment complex, thank goodness!

Michael was finallly done feeding them, he has to learn how to feed them when they are distracted. Everytime he thinks they don’t want it, I come in and always manage to feed them more. He thinks it’s magic and I don’t correct him.

We watched Pleasantville last night, pretty good movie, I forgot how much I liked it. Michael went downstairs to fiddle with his climbing/ski stuff. I think he misses having a special room for his gear and every now and then running his fingers through his cams. It’s all downstairs now, in the cold basement area.

Well, here I am at Hauptbahnhof, proud of myself because I typed out all my blog posts on my laptop and brought it on a USB drive to upload, but do these public machines accept USB drives??? NOOOOOOOO! So, sorry folks, you’ll have to wait until next week when I can update them from home (keep your fingers crossed!). Or maybe I can convince Michael to upload it for me. But at least I can type today’s news which is kind of boring since I didn’t really do anything.

Today was the best day for mail! People must’ve heard my cry of loneliness and sent me something! My mom sent me a package with some stuff that people sent after we left, Michael’s mom sent a bunch of pictures, Shari sent a bunch of great presents for the boys, Shaun sent the boys some Dr. Seuss books, we got this cool card in the mail that gives us discounts on some stuff, and we got a couple of Christmas cards too. Thanks folks! I was super happy that Shari also sent me a couple of boxes of chocolate covered Macadamia nuts, I immediately opened it and ate half the box! Mmmmm…. When Michael came home he ate the other half! I also got up the courage to call an ob/gyn. I haven’t been too successful at finding a recommendation for a doctor that takes public insurance, so I just found an ad in the train station (yeah, I know, not the best place). I guess I just figured, as long as she’s a doctor, a woman, and speaks English, it’s good enough. I mean, I only see them once a year anyways. I had a hard time talking to the receptionist because she hardly spoke English, but we muddled through it. I wanted to make sure she takes our insurance, I guess I’ll find out for sure when I get there. She would’ve told me if they were private only, I think. I also tried calling the heart doctor that our friend Matt recommended, but there was no answer. I’ll try again tomorrow. I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal after the new year. No more crazy schedules. The only thing we did today was go to the Tengelmann’s, the bigger one that is a couple of blocks further than the smaller one. I got some sandwich supplies and more frozen pizzas. I had a hard time manouvering around since the isles were so small, so I had to go out the way I came in and wait for the line to go away. I got the courage to ask about these heart stickers that the cashier always gives out and I found out that you save them to get some cookware or pyrex dishes. I wish I knew earlier, I could’ve gotten more. I also figured out how to do the recycling thing. They charge about .15 per bottle of coke, so I probably threw away 5 euros worth since I didn’t know. There are a lot of complicated rules about how the deposit thing works. You need to read the label to see if they charge one first. Then you take them back to the grocery store and put them in these machines and they calculate how much you get back depending on the type of bottle you put in. Then you get this receipt thing and you take it to the register (I think). I haven’t done it yet, so probably tomorrow. I got a bunch of coke bottles waiting for me. Anyways, today the boys were really good playing with their toys. We have lots of little games that we play, Elijah currently likes it when I bounce him on my knee and also when I tickle him when he has no shirt on. I tried to show Michael, but of course, he didn’t want to be tickled then. Cloth diapers are going well, it feels so good not to be throwing out so much stuff. I really don’t mind doing diapers. Well, ask me again the next time one of them has diarrhea, and I’m sure I’ll say something different. I also did my walk/run training today without complaint. I am getting used to being out in the cold.

Today I wanted to get the phone line taken care of. We got letters in the mail saying that our phone line should be up and operational but when I plugged in our phones, there is no dial tone and when I call the number, it rings on the caller’s end, but not on the phone. I went back to the place where I signed up for phone/DSL. It is across the street from the Hauptbahnhof and in the PostBank building. It was pretty convienient, because we had to add me to the bank account and we could do it in one place. I had to ask we could do it there, since we didn’t open the account there. There are too many occasions where that kind of thing happens. I waited and waited, then a line started forming. There were only two guys helping people, one guy was helping an old woman, who took forever taking off her coat, so she wasn’t going to be done anytime soon, then the other guy was engrossed in talking about all the different options the customer had, going through some kind of booklet. I waited for 20 minutes, the line was super long behind me. I made my first German mistake, and told a guy Sprechen sie keine Deutche, instead of Ich spreche keine Deutche. I told him “you speak no German”, instead of “I speak no German”. He had a confused look on his face, then kind of chuckled and I immediately realized what I said. How embarrassing! I left because it was just taking too long, so I went over to the T-Mobile booth and it was empty and seemingly closed. There was a jacket hanging in the back, so I thought maybe the person had to step away for a second. But I waited and waited and called Michael because I was so mad! When I walked in, there were people all bustling about in the booth and now, 20 minutes later, it was closed and it was only 3:30pm. Shouldn’t they be open the same time as the bank/post office? One would think. Anyways, Michael said to meet him at the bank near his work (where we opened the account). It is much bigger and a lot more people in it. I was sooooo mad, I think it’s because I set out to do a bunch of stuff today and it was quickly looking like I was going to get nothing done and the day would be wasted. While I was walking back to the UBahn station, I noticed that another bank had their hours posted and they close at 3:45 and that made me even madder because after all this trouble, the bank that I was headed for would probably be closed as well. For a fleeting second, I thought about turning around and heading home before I blow my top. But I figured, I’ll give it one more shot. I got off the Karlsplatz exit, and headed for Michael’s office. I was still confused as to where to go, and headed down the wrong corridor. This has to be one of the biggest stations, there are 2 “underground” levels, which is kind of like a mall. Not a nice mall, but a place with stores. Even with the signs, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I had to find a Tengelmann’s store. I finally found where I was supposed to go and the escalator that I usually go up was going down (it goes both up/down), so I took the one next to it. Big mistake! I ended up on some tram island and couldn’t cross the street. I ended up having to go all the way back down to the station, find the escalator again and go back up again. Temper was at the boiling point. I managed to make it to the bank and to my amazement, it was open. That calmed me down a bit. Also, I noticed a T-Mobile “center” next door and it was a big place, not a little dinky booth at the Hauptbahnhof. Michael met me there with my favorite pastry, an Apfelrolle. Mmmmm… We got through all the paperwork and had all the necessary documents (whew!), and found out the last time we came the guy didn’t change our address! No wonder we never got any mail from the bank! And they are one of the biggest mail generators, I think because they are also the post office. I also found out that you can’t change your pin number - they don’t have the technology for it. Can you believe that? They said that next year they should be able to do that. Also, the pin number for Michael’s card will be different from my pin. One card, one pin. After we get through with the bank (let’s hope everything gets done right), we went next door to the T-Mobile place. They guy there was helpful, but he said that we need to contact the tech center, at a phone number that wasn’t notated anywhere on the letters that were sent to us. Why the other guy yesterday didn’t tell me about this number is beyond me. We had our cell phone with us (or “handy” as they’re called here), and immediately called in the lobby. There was no way we were going to leave, only to find out we need to come back. It turns out that the number had a computer answering it, and all in German. You know, they outta have an English option, like how the US has a Spanish option. Anyhoo, I couldn’t understand it, so I gave the phone to Michael who thought we needed to enter our number in, so he did that, but I think it was wrong, but it got us to a person who spoke English, thank goodness. They asked if the technician came over, and we said no. It turns out that buried in the letter that they sent us was a date/time of when the technician was going to come (12/20) and of course, I wasn’t home. So, we set a new date of January 3rd. Ugh, this is taking forever. But I figured we won’t have internet until the 2nd, so waiting 1 day is no big deal. I’ll be really shocked if we actually do have everything set up and working on the 3rd. We’ll see. It was pretty miserable outside today, cold and snowing very hard. The boys have been patient with us today and didn’t complain at all even though they had to wait so long in the bank and at the phone place. I was going to go to “Basic” the organic store, but didn’t want to risk a time bomb going off. Michael agreed to go after work instead. I went home and kept the boys up. Rowan did some neat things like he was trying to stack the blocks on top of each other. Both the boys have been in a destruction mode, where if I get even two blocks stacked, they will immediately knock it down. It’s a fun game for us, I try to get a tower as tall as I can and they try to not let me build one. Elijah was catching on that if he waits a second, he will get to knock down a really big tower, so nowadays he lets it get to be at least 7 or 8 blocks high. Also, Rowan was hiding blocks under the couch. It was too cute! He would get a block and then carefully place it under the couch. Elijah loves for me to bounce him on my lap, it cracks him up. I don’t continuously bounce, I stop, then do a bounce, then stop again. That always puts a smile on his face. Every once in a awhile he’ll make a sad face and I copy him and then we both laugh. It’s a really special thing when that happens, since we are communicating and we both understand each other, which is rare! They were super tired by the time bedtime rolled around since they only had 1 official nap. It was good because they didn’t wake up at all at night. Sometimes when we put them down before they’re really tired, they end up playing awhile and then frequently getting up, crying for about 5 seconds, then going back to sleep. Today was my “off” day, and since I walked a lot today for errands, I counted that as my off day exercise. Geez, I’m already slacking. This evening we watched Mr. 3000 and The Pacifier, we saw them both before and enjoyed them again.

Today I was determined to get my visa. Not the credit card, but my permit to stay here longer than 3 months. It took forever to get to this point because, like everything else, you need this whole long list of documents. Michael checked the webpage for the office and they didn’t open until 2pm today. So I left the house at around 2:30pm (had to let the boys nap, eat, chane their clothes and diapers). I brought the bank statement that shows that we paid our rent, Michael had the rest of the paperwork, or so I thought. I called Michael and told him I was on my way. After I hung up, I realized that maybe he didn’t have our rental contract. I called him back and he said that no, he didn’t have it and also he didn’t have the paystub from work. So, I turned around and got those. I headed back out and met Michael at Odeonsplatz. On the way there, I thought, I hope he has our passports and anmeldung (residence permit). It turns out he didn’t. I wanted to get this done and out of the way, since it blocks me from getting on to the bank account and who knows what else. So, Michael went back home and returned with the passports. We went to the Poccistrasse office, the same place we went to to get the anmeldung a couple of weeks ago. We had to go to the 1st floor instead. We waited for awhile and filled out the long (4 page) application. We got all of our documents in order, our passports, anmeldungs, rental contract, proof of payment for rent, employment contract, paystub, and proof that the payment was made into our account. We were a little worried because they wanted 3 paystubs, but Michael gets paid monthly, so that would put me beyond the 3 months that I’m allowed to stay without more paperwork. It turns out that it was ok. Our number was finally called, and we went into the room. The guy said, you also need visas for the children and each of them need to get the 4 page application filled out. Ugh! Michael tried to convince the guy that he could fill it out while the guy was working on my application, but the guy wouldn’t let us. We had to go back outside, fill out the paperwork and come back in. At least we didn’t have to get another number, he just said to come back. In the mean time, the babies were getting a little fussy, so I had to find a handicap restroom so that I could fit the stroller in and change their diapers. I found one, changed them, got their bottles made, and then headed back out. I haven’t seen a restroom with changing tables. They probably do exist, I just haven’t seen them. I’m lucky enough just to get a restroom! A lot of places here don’t let you use their bathroom. Isn’t that awful? You have to go to a big department store or to one of the places that you have to pay. I don’t mind paying, but just have it available! OK, back to the story, we got everything in order and got our papers. We had to take it down to the Kasse (cashier) to pay (100 euros!), and then we got our passports with the official looking document pasted in there. You have no idea what a big hurdle it is to get this thing! As a bonus, Michael also got his tax exemptions changed for next year, which is another hurdle! I think we’ll get a little more money now. Michael went back to work and I went home. He got some good information about public vs. private insurance from his boss, which convinced us that public is what we want. First of all, the private insurance is like regular insurance where if you make too many claims, they try to kick you out or make your life hell. So, for Elijah, that is not an option. Also, for us, it would be more expensive monthly. It is true that many doctors are changing to private only, and the government is trying to change that. It’s not fair that they can drop their existing public patients (and not take new ones) just because they want to make more money. So, basically, once we find our doctors, we should be ok. Please keep your fingers crossed that we find a good pediatrician!!! This evening I went for my 10 minute walk/run, around Lehel, woo hoo! Right when I left, there was this guy with a flashlight and an official looking jacket shining his light in the windows. Could this be one of those guys who is trying to collect the TV/radio fee? I heard that they go around listening in on apartments and try to “ticket” those that are not paying. We’re in a gray area right now. Yes, we do have a TV, but we do not have cable or an antenna, therefore, technically we don’t have to pay this fee. Only when we start watching TV will we have to pay this, and I heard that most local Germans don’t pay this but foreiners do because they are easy to catch? I have no idea. I’ve heard stories where they make up something for you to open your door and then they write you up a bill or something. It’s 17 euros a month, so it’s not expensive, but not cheap either. In addition to any cable bill, this is added on top. We’ll stick with movies for right now. This evening we watched “Blue Crush”.

Michael had the day off today. If he didn’t have it off, I would’ve told him to take a vacation day since it’s our anniversary! In Germany, if the holiday (such as Christmas) falls on a weekend, you’re SOL! Luckily, they take the 25th (Christmas) and 26th (Boxing Day), so at least he had 1 day! Next year, I don’t think he’ll get off any days at all! Sucks! Here we thought ahhh, we’ll get tons of vacation and holidays in Germany! We made the most of our days, spent it unpacking and working on the yearly “Litterbox”. I know that there is no way we’ll finish it this year. But we should be done next month. I decided to get started on some exercise (go figure - it’s icy and snowing and not to mention cold, cold, cold on most days), but I’m going to start very slow. It’s so weird because I walk so much now that walking isn’t really exercise anymore. I did pick up the pace a bit, mostly to keep warm. People passing by me have these huge coats and hats on, and here I am in my leggings and thin jacket. I did wear my gloves though. In order to totally make the exercise useless, we went to Jeetas for dinner. It is an indian restaurant right down the street, and it is very inviting because of the lighting and star theme that they have. I’ve been wanting to go there, but didn’t really have the opportunity. The food was really good, the samosas were excellent, not as good as Shamiana back home, but decent enough. The naan was really good, really fresh. I had the vindaloo, and my god, it was super spicy, I could hardly eat 1/2 of it. I think I like this place better than Sitar, which a lot of people say is the best Indian in Munich.

We opened more of the boys’ Christmas presents this afternoon, from Santa. The poor boys haven’t had a proper Christmas yet. Last year we just got home from the hospital and were too tired to do anything. And this year we were too tired from moving/unpacking/getting set up. At least they’re not aware of it yet. Next year, I promise to be better! At least I hope we don’t move or do something big again! Luckily, Michael has more energy than I do, so he went out and bought them a few things and wrapped them up. They got a push/ride hippo cart, a clown guy that has a rounded bottom so he never falls over, in addition to the piano/xylophone from last night. Michael even wrapped up one of their old toys so that they had one additional present. Poor babies, aren’t we awful? We went out for a long walk, we walked to Odeonsplatz, where we went into the beautiful yellow church that had elaborate interior wall scluptures. They also had a “living” nativity scene, that was about 10 ft x 5 ft. It had a giant rock as it’s base and they put all kinds of houses around it, and it had people with moving arms and stuff like that. It was pretty cool. The churches had all these gated off areas on the sides, which seemed like little private praying areas? I don’t know what it’s for. If any of you catholics out there can enlighten me about this, please do. I also saw the confession booth, but there wasn’t anyone in there. They had these things where you could buy a candle and put it on the stand, I really wanted to buy two of them, one for my cousin Lynn, who is going through radiation and chemo, valiantly battling her germ-cell cancer, and one for Michael’s dad who is doing his best to keep his throat cancer at bay. As luck would have it, we didn’t have any money… So we bowed our heads in a little prayer instead. Sorry, Lynn and Tom!!! After that, we walked to Marienplatz, where it was empty. It really made the city beautiful, the streets empty, everyone is not rushing around buying Christmas gifts, an old dusting of snow in shady spots here and there. we walked back home, seeing parts of Lehel that we haven’t seen before, there are some cool stores around where we live, probably too expensive for me though. For dinner, we went to the famous Hofbraeuhaus (beer hall). There were tons of people having Christmas dinner there. Not exactly a family place, but there were lots of people with kids. We went to the back, where it was the least smoky and set the boys up in their booster seats. We sat next to a huge asian tour group (Korean?) and noticed that they all ordered the same meal - entree, drink, and dessert. It was kind of odd. Like someone told them, “this meal is the best”, so they all ordered it and ate it. I had a steak (their version of a steak) and Michael had goose (at least he thinks it was goose). The strange thing about German meat is that I’ve only seen fowl w/bones in it. There are no steaks or pork with any bones. But it’s not like we’re combing the shops at the Rindermarkt, so I’m sure it exists somewhere. The meal was ok, the dessert was pretty good (apfelstrudel) and we were stuffed coming home. At least we were able to walk it off. On the way home, it snowed! A white christmas! Can’t ask for anything more! I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!!!

Ahhh, I am always happy when Saturday comes because it means I get a break and Michael does the morning feed/change/play time. That is the time he realizes how hard my job is. He always needs a nap whenever they take their morning nap, and then tells me that he can’t believe I do this every day, all day. In the afternoon, we walked around Marienplatz. It was quite difficult because all the huts for the Christmas markets were breaking down. I would think that they would wait until the 26th. They blocked almost all the “large” areas, so it was a maze with our stroller. We’d go down a path, only to find a parked truck was a little too close to the wall, so we’d have to back up and find another way. We ran into the couple we met on our trip to Ikea, Kristin and Gustavo and their son Tyler. It was a nice suprise and we spent about 30 minutes talking about misc. stuff. It was also the first time that they saw the boys. I asked them about public vs. private insurance and their impression was that private is better because you have a better choice of doctors. They also agreed that the pediatrician that I saw was not good at all, so I should find another one, hopefully one in my neighborhood. But she also mentioned that my neighborhood might be filled with wealthy folks who have all private and that finding a doctor that takes public insurance within walking distance might be hard. She also mentioned that the doctor should’ve given the boys Vitamin D pills for this winter since they won’t see much sun, and that all doctors give it for the first 2 winters for kids. Hmmm…I didn’t get any from my evil doctor. I think I can pick some up at the apotheke without a prescription. It was so good to see them again, what a small city this is! It really did make us feel “local”. And guess where we ate to celebrate Christmas? McDonalds! Oh, their fries are the best! I personally prefer BK cheeseburgers, but BK doesn’t even come close to their fries. How American are we? We went into the Frauenkirchen, it’s called the woman’s church because it has two towers with these boob looking tops. It is one of Munich’s markers, like how the Space Needle is Seattle’s. It wasn’t very ornate inside, but it was just very big! We walked back home, it was a very nice leisure walk. It’s so weird because I know our neighborhood area very well, so we were walking and walking and I was like, ok this part is all new, never seen it before, then all of a sudden we hit our neighborhood and I was like “Hey! I know this!”. I’m sure I will know the neighborhood a lot better in the spring and summer when I will do more walking rather than taking the train. For dinner, we had our favorite frozen pizza, mmmm….

Earlier Michael discovered a store called “Hertie’s” and I read in Toytown that they have a food section that has some American stuff. Michael left work a little early today and we headed over there. We started off at Karlsplatz, then walked through the store so that we got to the Hauptbahnhof side and found the food area. Can you believe this store spans through 2 train stops? And it’s multi level too, although not all the levels are all the way across. Anyways, they had the most promising American food section, a lot more than the others that claimed to have a lot. They had some Campbells soup, but not the ones we eat, and also some Duncan Hines brownie mixes and baking soda, which apparently you can’t buy at a regular store? We are also on the lookout for softer bread. The “American” sandwich bread that they sell here is so hard! They look like normal, but when you open it, the crusts and edges are hard, like it’s stale. It’s not nice and soft like we’re used to. I guess maybe you’re supposed to buy stuff from the local bakery? But I haven’t seen sandwich bread there, just “speacialty” breads and the oh so delicious pastries! Our search continues… After that, we went to Michael’s work to hang out for awhile. The boys really like to play there, it is a big area with all kinds of stuff they can explore. Michael started a game with Rowan where Rowan would hold up his roll of paper (like wrapping paper) and put it in Michael’s mouth. Then he would spit it out and Rowan would put it back. It was the cause of much delight. I found out that the Harry Potter audio CD’s that I ordered through Amazon.de was cancelled and I was so mad because I just saw them at Hertie’s! So, Michael proposed to take the boys home while I go out and get the CD’s and then come home. Yay! Freedom for a few minutes! I also had to buy some formula to last through the long weekend. I did find the CD’s, they were dang expensive, but worth it. I figured it would be good for me to read Harry Potter in German, while listening to it in German. It was a good idea because it forced me to read very quickly and not translate or anything, just read. Instead of a tree this year, Michael bought a “christmas spirit” house thing that lights up. It’s a very cute dust collector. You should see the trees here, most of them are very small, and they don’t have the pretty douglas firs. A lot of trees are 2 - 3 ft. Because we don’t have cars to tie them to! It’s pretty rare to see one larger than 5′. Will we survive this weekend? We’re pretty sure things would be closed all weekend + Monday. This is the longest we’ve had to think about surviving!

Today we went shopping again. Michael bought a magazine called “New in the city” and it tells you all kinds of places to go. There was a store called “Basic”, which is Europe’s largest organic store chain and a little shopping mall that has artists doing their thing and selling it. Since they were both by the Marienplatz, I decided to go to both. Today was the first day that I actually missed a train because of people not moving fast enough. I thought usually if there are people still going in the train the operator would wait but I guess not. I was trying to get on towards the end because I was only going one stop and usually I like to hop on at the end so that I’m the first to get out at the stop. That totally backfired, the people getting on were super slow and no one would make room for me and my huge stroller. They just stared and watched the door close. Bastards! No big deal, the next train was only a couple of minutes behind. Going to the Viktualienmarkt is always a good thing, lots of food and fresh stuff, although finding fresh herbs is pretty hard. Everyone has chives, parsley and cilantro, but it’s hard to find fresh basil, believe it or not. I am excited to get my little garden going and it’s going to be all herbs, herbs, herbs! I wish I could grow tomatoes too, but I don’t think I get enough light. I went to a store called “basic” and it claims to be Europe’s largest organic grocery store chain. It was a really nice store, fairly small, but it certainly was the largest amount of organic selection I have seen so far. Great produce too. Although the pears looked a little funky. I really need to get a food and shopping German-English translation guide. Trying to find parmesian cheese is tough. They have “pizza” cheese and “pasta” cheese, gouda, etc. It’s hard to figure out stuff. They also have a shortage of frozen organic vegetables (for the boys). Bummer. Anyways, I found some fresh green onions not frozen and chopped up into little bits with no taste in a box. After that store, I went to this other mall, I can’t remember the name of it. It isn’t really a MALL mall, it’s just a little shopping building that has little booths of stuff. Half of them are restaurants that look like they have some good things to try, and the other half are little stores with stuff. It was one of the more interesting places I have been so far. I was quite pleased with today’s outing. Usually I am so disappointed with not finding what I want or the place is not what I imagined it to be, so that’s good. Also, I got my sonicare today! My first German ebay purchase!

BTW, on my way here, I brought my Burger King cheeseburgers to the internet place and sat down at a table in the eating section and this jerk guy yelled out to me “ey! you can’t do that, you can’t eat your own food here”. I was going to try and figure something smart to do like put my burger down and just drink my coke which I bought from him a couple of seconds before, but just stepped outside and finished my cheeseburgers. Luckily it’s not all that cold tonight. I mean it’s one thing if there are people waiting to eat at a free table, but it’s another if there is NO ONE eating and I did buy a drink from him and I did pay for some internet time too. Geez!