Pregnant in Germany: Doctors and Midwives

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I recently realized I’d been mum about the latest happenings in the German pregnancy process.  This is mostly due to the fact that I feel like I am constantly learning the system and have yet to fully understand it.

Another reason, though, is my knowledge and experience seem to be composed thus far of bits and pieces, nothing that flows like a story should.  Or a blog post, for that matter.

But, instead of keeping silent, I’m just going to give you what I’ve got, the scraps and squiggles of what might become a clear picture after the birth.  Today, I’ll just focus on two caregiver roles: Doctors and Midwives.

Doctors

The doctor that a pregnant woman visits in Germany is only the “gyn” part of the ob/gyn that Americans are used to seeing.  In truth, it seems she is more concerned with the care and condition of the uterus than the birth of the baby.  These gynecologists do not deliver babies.  And, my midwife went so far as to say you don’t want these doctors with you in the delivery room anyway because chances are they haven’t been to a live birth in years!

Every time I have been to the doctor, she has wanted to do the sans pants dance.  The prevailing opinion in Germany is that if you don’t do these kind of exams, then what are you doing?  Nothing!

When I told my doctor this wasn’t necessary every visit, she replied that Germans having babies in America do not like it when American doctors don’t do a single thing in most prenatal visits.  I see both sides, but my pants and I like each other, and we’re sticking together unless absolutely necessary.  Sorry, doc.

I should also mention that just because the gynecologist taking care of the prenatal care doesn’t attend the birth, it doesn’t mean that the mama won’t have any doctors at the birth.  The obstetrician is determined by the patient’s choice of hospital (and also the type of insurance).  I’ve gone on two of three hospital tours already, but I’ll save that experience for another post.

In my research, I’ve read (sorry, I cannot remember where!) that in Germany a midwife can attend a birth without a doctor, but a doctor cannot attend a birth without a midwife.  Really?!  The first statement doesn’t surprise me, but the second one is quite foreign to my American experience.

In terms of cost, just like any other doctor I visit in Germany, I must pay 10 euro every quarter (three months) as a kind of co-pay to visit the doctor.  Some doctors charge for ultrasounds (mine doesn’t) and tests that aren’t deemed absolutely essential.  But prescriptions and necessary procedures are covered at 100%.  This included my RhoGAM injection (not optional) which previously cost me almost $500 in the US.

It may be more expensive to live in Germany, but it sure is cheap to have a baby here!

Midwives

In Germany, every pregnant woman is entitled to midwifery care.  This includes before, during, and after the birth.  The mama can choose her midwife and, if she wants, can have three different women for the three different types of care.  Most women, however, only have one or two midwives.

As is the case in the US, malpractice insurance has skyrocketed forcing many midwives to abandon the practice of attending births.  When I looked for a midwife for the birth, I was only able to find midwives who did home births or worked in free-standing birth centers.  Only a select few still accompany women to hospitals for birth, and only one of the three hospitals in my city allows this practice anyway.

That’s not to say that every mama won’t have a midwife.  They will.  But the midwife provided will be a staff member of the chosen hospital and will be a brand new face on the “birth day.”  As in the US with labor and delivery nurses, the woman will have no choice in which midwife is assigned to her.

However, a choice for before and after care still remains.  I’ve selected a midwife who speaks excellent English and who will travel to my house for ante- and post-natal appointments.  This service is covered by my insurance, and I don’t have to pay any extra for the home visit.  Score!

Starting at 30 weeks, pre-natal appointments are supposed to be every two weeks.  The midwife is allowed to alternate with the doctor on these visits, so that the patient only has to go to the gynecologist once every four weeks.  Since my doctor has a horrendous waiting time (sometimes up to two hours!), I am a super big fan of this arrangement!

After the birth, the midwife comes to your home every day or every other day for the first week or so.  She asks how you are, answers any questions, assists with nursing, weighs the baby, and helps with any concerns.  After that, the frequency of visits decreases over the next few weeks until the midwife has determined that all is well with the new baby’s arrival.

When I’ve completed my third hospital tour, I’ll post on what I’ve discovered about the system here.  Until then, I’m studying for my driver’s license exam and going to Berlin for one last travel fling before the baby makes his debut.

German Intensive Course

Ever since I finished Rosetta Stone, I have wanted to do something to further my German skills.  But, what?

My city only has one place where a student can study German two days per week.  All the other schools only offer classes that run every single day.  T-Rex is in kindergarten Monday through Friday, but Screech only goes to his little school three mornings per week.  Unfortunately, the times of the two-days-per-week school don’t fit within our family schedule.

I can’t afford private lessons, so that option is also a no go.

Hmmm.. what to do?

I mentioned my frustration to a friend who suggested an intensive course.  Several schools in the area offer these courses; one can start on any Monday and stay for as many or as few weeks as desired.  After thinking about it and talking it over with Doc Sci, I decided I could commit to one week.  Not great, but better than nothing.

After finding a school that had availability and a small class size, I was required to take a placement test.  As far as I understand it, German language proficiency is divided into the following levels from basic to advanced: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1.  I took a practice test online that recommended I start in B1.  The language teacher at the school suggested the end of A2.  However, the A2 class wasn’t offered in the morning, so she agreed to let me try B1.  If it was too hard, I would be, well, out of luck.

Fortunately, I was able to hack it.  Barely.  But not for the reasons you might think.

I understood almost everything going on in the class except for two things.. some vocabulary here and there that the class already knew from being together for several months (which is unavoidable, really), and grammatical terms.  The latter frustrated me to no end.

In my opinion, the lack of grammar is both Rosetta Stone’s strength and its Achilles heel.

I learned a lot of German in five levels of Rosetta Stone and appreciated not getting bogged down in tedious grammatical rules and diagrams, but I did not learn really important grammatical terms like noun, verb, adjective, adverb, accusative, dative, genitive, perfect, imperfect, present, past, future, etc. in German, and how they corresponded to the grammar taught in Rosetta Stone pictures.

For instance, Rosetta Stone will teach you to say “The dog ran”, but it will not teach you that “the” is an article, “dog” is a noun, and “ran” is a verb.  If I was to continue taking a traditional German course in a classroom, I would have quite a bit of catching up to do in this area.

Luckily, my objective in taking the class was not to learn grammar (and the teacher was nice enough to help me understand what in the WORLD I was supposed to do for some of the exercises).  Rather, my aim was to improve my speaking skills and perhaps pick up some new vocabulary along the way.

In this regard, I considered the time spent in class worthwhile.  A major plus was the class size – only three other students besides myself.  This gave the teacher plenty of opportunities to call on me and force me to fumble through speaking.

(If I haven’t said it before, I loathe speaking foreign languages.  I’m slow to process what is said, slow to think of how to respond, and slow to actually speak my reply.)

Though I think the experience was helpful, taking an intensive course is not something I could do every week even if I had childcare.  Most students in the schools’ classes were 5-10+ years younger than me, unmarried, and without children.  After all other daily responsibilities were done, I barely had an hour for homework at night, let alone time to attempt memorizing vocabulary and grammar from the previous days’ lessons.

But, I enjoyed the chance to get out and try something new.  Now, if only I could find a conversation group in my neighborhood or some alternative or creative way to practice other than with government officials and medical office staff!

Getting My German Driver’s License: Part 1

I am so very excited to announce that Doc Sci and I have decided to make Germany a bit more of our home – we’re applying for German drivers licenses!

And while I am stoked to have the opportunity to legally operate a car here.. I’m actually quite terrified to do so.

Why?

Because I’m that American: the one that can’t parallel park, doesn’t have any real experience with a manual transmission, likes wide lanes, has never parked on a sidewalk, etc.

But, I’ll get used to it, right?

Ah, well, the first step to getting comfortable with German driving rules and etiquette is actually being allowed to legally drive.  So, we’re starting there.

Unfortunately, a “here’s how an American gets a German drivers license” official document does not exist.  I did a lot of internet research and combed the Toytown forums for advice.

The first and most important thing is to determine the reciprocity agreement your home state (the state that has issued your driver’s license) has with Germany.  For a list, see here.

Florida only has partial reciprocity, so I must take a written (theoretical) test.  Luckily, this is available in English, and I’ll be using an online study guide with actual English-version test questions.

If I was from a state that had NO reciprocity agreement, I would be required to take a practical test as well.  Germans learn to drive at driving school (Fahrschule), not at home with mom and pop.  Fahrschule costs thousands of euros, but if you don’t do it, you won’t pass the test.  If I found myself in this situation, I wouldn’t bother getting a license.  It could cost me as much to obtain a license as it would to purchase a cheap used car!

But, I’m willing to try my hand at the written test (particularly since I can take it in English).  So, based on what I found in the forums, I determined I needed the following documents.

Passport and residency visa.  If you’re here in Germany for less than 6 months, your US driver’s license is valid.  If you’ll be staying for more than 6 months but less than 1 year, you can apply to extend the validity for an additional 6 months.  After that, US licenses must be converted to German licenses.  Or, you can just take the train instead!

Valid US driver’s license.  I’ve seen some comments here and there in the forums mentioning that licenses must have been issued at least one year ago.  This is to prevent residents from going around the reciprocity agreements (see above).  Mine says it was issued in 2008, even though this is a renewal date, not when I first received my license.

Official translation of your US driver’s license.  My neighbor paid 35 euros for the translation of her license, but the price has now jumped to 55 euros.  It’s a complete rip-off, but you must have a translation with an official stamp.  No asking your German friend to “translate” for you!

Passport photo.  I was told this had to be “biometric,” but I just used one of my free passport photos with no problem.  I have not seen any specifications as to how recent the photo must be, so I used an older one that doesn’t show my pregnancy face.  Note: a German driver’s license is issued for LIFE so make sure to like the photo  you submit!

Eye test.  Any Optiker or Augenarzt can give you this test.  Bring your passport and about 7 euro.  If you fail the test, it’s possible the equipment is old and fuzzy.  Try another place before freaking out at how expensive glasses in Deutschland are.  Don’t ask me how I have this advice.  Just go with it.

Proof of First Aid Class attendance.  This one is a toss-up and might depend on which German state you live in and who collects your paperwork.  German drivers are normally required to take a first aid class that teaches life saving techniques.  I hoped and prayed that I would not have to take this class!  It’s only offered once per month, on a Saturday, and it’s 6 hours of instruction… in German.  If you have to do this, it costs about 20 euro.  I was not asked for proof of attendance, and I hope it’s the last I hear of this requirement.

Application. I found this online, and filled it out in advance.  It’s shockingly short – only one page.  For the pleasure of applying, I had to pay 35 euro.

I took all my required papers to the local driver’s license office (Führerscheinstelle).  The woman was refreshingly polite and understanding of my limited German skills.  She took all of my paperwork, and asked me to fill out a declaration.  What exactly I was declaring, I’m still not sure.  My understanding is that I was affirming the authenticity of my license (that I didn’t manufacture it myself or buy it on the street), but it could also be stating that my license is still legal and valid.

Luckily, I was prepared to not receive a new license immediately.  For Americans, this is quite strange.  But, she reminded me of my required written test, and asked me to call her in 2-3 weeks.  If all my paperwork is in order, I’ll be approved to take the test.  Only then can I make an appointment with the testing agency.  After I pass, I must take proof back to her, and then my license will be issued.

So, here’s to 2-3 weeks of studying German driving laws!  Stay tuned for an update on the test and all the subsequent hoops I must hop, skip, and jump through in order to be legal on the streets in Germany.

Make It Yourself: Almond Milk

I’m not sure if this recipe should be classified as “simple pleasure” or “make it yourself.”

I did not grow up drinking milk from cows, so to this day straight up moo milk gives me the creeps.  Stirred in coffee or blended in milkshakes are acceptable methods of downing the white stuff.  Just please don’t make me drink it unadorned.

But almond milk?  Ahh, almond milk, I really do like.  The dark chocolate variety is a guilty pleasure I indulge every time I find myself in the US of A.

And therein lies the rub.  I have not seen almond milk of any kind in Germany yet.  I hear it exists but perhaps only in larger cities.

The only kind of non-dairy “milk” found in nearly every grocery store is soy.  I’m not a fan of the taste, and I’m of the persuasion that it’s not so healthy when consumed in large quantities on a regular basis (as in with my three bowls of knock-off Fruit Loops every morning).

I’ve tried a soy-rice mix that costs the same as plain soy.  That was palatable.. until I got pregnant.  Then I absolutely could not stand the stuff.  I’ve been eating oatmeal for the past four months because I won’t go near soy-rice milk anymore.

Oat and spelt milks can be had for a pretty penny at organic food stores.  The taste is better, but I can’t justify the cost.

I tried making rice milk a couple of months ago.  It tasted like water and went bad before I could use even half of it.  What a waste.

My expectations couldn’t be any lower when I stumbled upon this recipe from Whole Foods Cooking North Raleigh.  But I was desperate to try again.

I just simply cannot eat. any. more. oatmeal.

(I’m not posting the original recipe here – just my experience making it.  For full directions, click here.)

Start with raw, unsalted almonds. The recipe calls for 1 cup, but my almonds come in 200g packages. I thought that was about a cup – wrong! One cup is equal to 125g.

Soak almonds in water at room temperature water overnight. This is how the chubby suckers look in the morning.  Drain the cloudy water, and rinse.  Repeat.

For comparison, the bloated almond on the left has retained more water than a pregnant woman with a bag of pretzels. Mister regular crunchy, shriveled almond is on the right.

Put three cups of water in your blender, and then add the one cup of almonds. If I was following the recipe correctly, I would’ve added almost five cups of water to my 200g of soaked almonds.

Turn the whirly-gig on and let ‘er fly.

In a minute or so, you’ll have some serious froth.

Line a gigantic bowl with cheesecloth. Or if you don’t feel like paying 10 euros for certified real deal cheesecloth, use an old cloth diaper (burp cloth). A clean one. Duh.  Then pour in your frothy almond liquid.

Gather the ends of the cheesecloth together, and twist to squeeze all the almond milk out. Keep twisting and squeezing until the ball of almond guts no longer oozes.

You’ll be left with a bag full of almond pulp. Don’t throw it away! Use it in smoothies or pancakes like I did, or look up some other recipes. I hear the guts keep best in the freezer.

If you use 3 cups of water the recipe calls for, you’ll be left with – surprise – 24 ounces of almond milk. Since I used too many almonds for 3 cups of water, my first batch was extremely creamy (delicious but too intense for breakfast cereal purposes).

Tips:

• Homemade almond milk has no preservatives, and it spoils QUICKLY!  I made my first batch on a Wednesday morning, and it was rank on Saturday afternoon.
• Consider freezing some of the milk in 1 cup portions.  Defrost overnight in the refrigerator, and use in 1-2 days.
• Use less water for thicker, creamier almond milk and more water for thinner milk with weaker flavor.
• I eat enough sweets as it is, so I didn’t add sugar/maple syrup/honey/agave to my almond milk.  See the original recipe for variations involving sweeteners.
• I’ve read that homemade almond milk can separate when added to hot drinks.  If you’d like to make this recipe for that purpose, do some additional research on ways to prevent curdling and separation.

Enjoy!

Shameless Repost: 25 Tips for Travel with Kids

Caz and Craig from y Travel Blog recently posted 25 Tips for Travel with Kids.  If you haven’t visited y Travel yet, you should!  Caz and Craig are also traveling parents with lots of experience.

I thought Craig’s post had some fantastic tips, and I encourage you to head on over and check them out.  Among my favorites..

• Slow Down
• Be Flexible
• Consider Apartment Rental
• Keep Meal Costs Down
• Do the Free Stuff
• Travel with an Open Mind
• and more!

If you have your own tips you’d like to add to this list, add them below.

Dashboard Confessional: I Bought a Dryer

So here’s the truth: I’m a spoiled, rotten, American.

And, I happen to live in what could arguably be called the richest country in Europe.

Many families all over the globe do not have a washing machine.  Or clean water.  Or electricity.  Nor could they read this post if it were printed out and placed in front of them.

And here I am, a hoity-toity snob who showers in what most of the world would deem drinking water, tosses expired food that the hungry would gladly eat, and uses a smartphone that was probably made by minimum wage workers in China.

I know all of this, and I often find it difficult to live with these facts.  I do what I can to share what I have (little by Western standards; enormous by the rest of the world’s).  Yet, it’s still hard.

Honestly, I always feel the most guilty when I get something that makes my life easier.  So know that when I tell you I got a dryer, I am not bragging.   And I know I don’t deserve it.

But, we should do our best to make the best of our circumstances whatever they may be, keeping mind they could change at any time.

Here’s where I currently find myself.. About to have baby #3.  And a massive increase in laundry.

It’s not that I mind drying my clothes on a rack.  I really don’t.  I have a schedule for which days to wash which sheets and which days to wash towels, fitting in loads of clothes between the large items.  But there is absolutely no way my neat little system can handle the explosion of newborn clothing.

After research and number crunching, we decided to purchase a condenser dryer (kondenstrockner). It requires no ventilation and can be set up anywhere in the house.  Good thing, since the only space we had was the utility closet.

I ordered the dryer on Amazon.de.  I LOVE this website.  Not only does it have much better prices than the retail stores in my city, but it often includes FREE delivery which is a must for people like me without a car.

Here’s a look at our new workhorse.

Though we took careful note of the dimensions of each potential dryer we considered, we forgot to measure the doorway to the utility closet! Luckily, Doc Sci is not just a theoretical genius. He figured out how to shimmy it in anyway.

Next, he built some IKEA shelving around it for storage. We have the same setup around our washing machine which is located in the kitchen.

Then, I filled up the shelving with pantry goods.

Then it was time to test our new machine. Apparently, he is a basketball fan. (Beko is the dryer brand, and BBL is the German basketball league.)

Here we go!  First things first, load the dryer with wet laundry.

Turn it on. Then run to the internet to help figure out what all the German settings mean. Press start (at least that’s in English).

After the load finishes, remove the lint trap.

Clear the lint out and hand it to your two year-old who thinks dryer lint is the coolest thing. Ever.

And, don’t forget to empty the water reservoir! This type of dryer collects the steam from the clothing and puts the resulting liquid in here. This water can be reused in humidifiers and irons as well as to water plants or hand wash delicates.

After emptying the water, shove the tank (gently) back in underneath the condenser, and you’re ready for another load.

Reviews: United Airlines and Lufthansa

I hesitate to write these reviews because United Airlines and Lufthansa are not as exotic as, say, Asiana Airlines.  But, I can find so little information on flying specific airlines internationally and with children, that I think it’s worth it to put my experience out there in the hopes that others will do the same.

Our trip to the US last month consisted of four flights: United Airlines from Frankfurt to Dulles, from Dulles to Orlando, from Orlando to Chicago O’Hare, and Lufthansa from Chicago O’Hare to Frankfurt.  For tips on booking a multi-city itinerary like ours, see my previous post here.

I find almost all American legacy carriers (Delta, United, American, etc.) to be about the same domestically.  The difference is usually in the flight attendants.  Since there are thousands of them for each airline, it doesn’t seem practical to write reviews for flights within the US that are three hours or less.

Therefore, in this post, I’ll specifically focus on the international flights (United from Frankfurt to Dulles and Lufthansa from Chicago O’Hare to Frankfurt).

If I haven’t said so before, I’ll say so now.  I LOVE European airlines.

Why?

Simply put, everything’s better.  The service, the food, the entertainment, all of it is almost always top notch, even in economy class.

American carriers, on the other hand, are nothing to write home about.  That is, unless you had an extremely atrocious experience.  Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with us this time.

But, if I could sum up my international United flight in one word, I’d choose forgettable.  Nothing set them apart or gave me a reason to choose United over another carrier in the future.

My travel nerd is showing when I tell you that one of my favorite parts of flying internationally is the “dinner and a movie” in the sky.  Unfortunately, dinner (actually, lunch) on United Airlines from Frankfurt to Dulles was a straight-from-the-freezer-aisle TV dinner: chicken, mashed potatoes, and frozen vegetables.  My boys ate the alternative, lasagna with tomato puree (one could hardly classify it as “sauce”) and three diced mushrooms.  Wow.  Thrilling.

Why didn’t I order kids meals for the boys?

For the simple reason that my kids never eat them.  In my experience, kids meals are usually soggy chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes or limp french fries, and previously frozen peas and diced carrots.  The meal tray usually has a full-size candy bar and a sweetened drink on it as well.  Doc Sci and I have to swipe the sugar as fast as possible, and leave the kids to pick at the rest.  Unless I know exactly what the kids meal is going to be, I don’t order it anymore.

As for the movie part of the “dinner and a movie,” this particular United flight had small screens in each seat.  And when I say small, I mean about four inches.  Teeny weeny would be more like it.  One could choose from about 7 channels, only one of which was for children.  This channel showed The Muppets over and over.  Not a great selection for the under-five crowd who has no idea who the Muppets are and only want to know why on EARTH there is no Thomas the Train or Bob the Builder!

The one remarkable aspect about this flight to Dulles was the fact that both of my boys slept like pros.  I’m getting even more into travel dork territory here… I was SO proud, especially of Screech.  My two year-old went potty in the lavatory, took his shoes off, leaned back in his car seat, put his pacifier in his mouth and his eye mask on his face, and went to sleep.  For hours.

My littlest pro-traveler-in-training.

I love my kids.

(Okay, Screech had a little help with some of those tasks, but the sleeping part he did all on his own!)

On the flip side, the one beef I did have with United Airlines is that they changed aircraft on the international flight (which affected where we sat), and they changed our seats on at least one of our domestic flights.  Without telling us.  Luckily, I caught the international flight and was able to make it work to our advantage.  But, I was rather annoyed to have our seats separated on both domestic flights with no options to remedy the situation.  Not cool, United.

Now, it’s important to note that I spend a lot of time on SeatGuru when I research and book flights.  I painstakingly pick flights based on seating configuration and entertainment, two major factors for a good experience flying with children.  It’s not nice to have all that work go to waste.

Or be wrong.

As I mentioned earlier, I love European carriers.  Lufthansa is one of my main squeezes.  When United offered a Lufthansa flight on their website as an option (and a cheaper one at that), I jumped at the opportunity.  But not without checking SeatGuru first to make sure the flight had personal TV screens for all economy passengers.

I learned a lesson here I want to share with you: check and re-check.

If you care to follow along, here’s a link to the aircraft for Lufthansa Flight 431 from ORD to FRA.  It’s a 747 with four seats in the middle (good).  If you hover over the economy class seats, you’ll notice that it says “Video: Personal TV.”  Great – that’s what I want.

But…

If I had gone up to the In-Flight Amenities section and clicked on “Video,” I would have seen this message:

In Economy, some Lufthansa 747-400 have not yet been retrofitted and do not offer touch screen entertainment. In these cases, films and programming are shown via overhead projectors and monitors throughout the cabin.

The dreaded overhead monitor that actually showed nothing but soccer (football) news and clips for the first two hours.

Normally I check both places, but for some reason I didn’t this time.  And we got stuck with overhead monitors.  Showing three movies total for an eight-hour flight.  Two of which we had already seen on the previous United flight.  One of which was a documentary about animals.  Whoop-de-doo.

Boy am I glad this was an overnight flight.  And boy am I glad that again, my kids slept like pros.  All. Night. Long.

On the flip side, the Lufthansa food lived up to its reputation.  Excellent dark meat chicken with a flavorful soy sauce, sticky rice, and steamed vegetables for dinner.  Breakfast was not hot, but it contained a name-brand granola bar and a good fruit cup among other things.

Both of my boys received an age-appropriate toy from a Lufthansa flight attendant upon boarding. T-Rex really enjoyed this one and still plays it.

Other Lufthansa perks I appreciate: small toys to entertain children during boarding and take-off, comfortable pillows and real blankets, hot towels before meals, and friendly flight attendants who don’t mind if you ask to have one of their two-liter bottles of water all to yourself.

So would I fly Lufthansa again?  You betcha.  United?  Eh, only if it’s the cheapest.

Have you flown either United Airlines or Lufthansa internationally with children?  What was your experience? 

Date Night!

Doc Sci and I were given a fabulous Christmas gift from one our friends and this past week, we FINALLY were able to use it.

Ooo oo OOO what was it?

Gift certificates to the big American-style movie theatre in town!!  The package contained vouchers not only for admission but for the concession stand as well.  And that’s not even the best part. This friend offered to babysit for us when we saw the film – for free.

Even if that’s all the box contained, it would’ve been lovely.  But the whole deal including babysitting was just over-the-top awesome.

So every week since the first of January, I’ve checked the showtimes for this particular theatre.  We don’t want to watch anything dubbed in German, and movies in their original version (Originalfassung) are usually only shown once a week.  I also didn’t want to watch just anything, so I held on to my cards – literally – until I found a film worthwhile.

The Avengers

And worthwhile it was!  The Avengers in 3D was a fun flick that gave us an experience we obviously couldn’t have had at home.  The genre is more up Doc Sci’s alley than mine, but I figured with such a high Rotten Tomatoes rating at least I wouldn’t be bored.

Since this was my first time at this theatre, I noticed several things were different than our last visit to the movies.

For starters, the cost.  I think a regular movie (as in not 3D) costs 7,50 euro per person.  This movie cost 11 euro per person.  And, we had to pay for the 3D glasses which brought the total to 25 euro even for two.

3D movie night for two.

One nice thing about this movie theater is the ability to reserve tickets online in advance (you can also purchase them online in advance if you so desire).  Since we had no idea what the demand would be for this film, I reserved our tickets two days before and picked them up the morning of the show since I happened to be in town anyway.  Good thing I picked them up early.  Tickets are only held until 20 minutes before the show, and a considerable line had formed by the time we arrived at the theatre that evening.

Since our gift included virtual cash for snacks, we snagged a large bag of popcorn and two drinks (normal price for this combo – 11,90 euro).  As I mentioned before, German popcorn is made with sugar and no salt.  Since this was a big-time theatre, we had the option of getting sweet or salty.  I’ve tasted the sweet before and sugar + popcorn – salt = no good.  We went for the salty and BOY was it salty.  We sucked down 3/4 of a liter of soda a piece and still couldn’t finish the bag.

Next time I’ll try to shock the socks off the cashier and ask for half sweet, half salty.  Or I’ll just bring my own refreshments.

Neither Coke Zero nor Coke Light – and gross does not describe the nature of the popcorn, just the size.

The film start time was 740pm.  At 745pm, the commercials and previews started… and lasted until 810pm!!  Again, everything was in German, but I expected as much.

What I did not expect was that the only two commercials were for cigarettes!  Both showed how awesome life can be with cigarettes, followed by the obligatory “Smoking can be deadly” message.  Hmmm.

But perhaps oddest of all was the assigned seating.  I had a heads up to this since I checked out the online ticketing option, but I didn’t know for sure until we arrived at the theatre if patrons actually paid attention to their row and seat numbers.  Sure enough, in orderly (German) fashion, everyone took their assigned seats.  Luckily, we ended up in an ideal spot.

After the film, we rode our bikes home like the good Germans we’ve become.  After thanking our friend profusely, we hit the hay and dreamed of how we could fit in perhaps one visit to the movies before the next little traveler arrives.

May Day – Labor Day

Germany sure does have some funky holidays; the first of May is no exception.  I’ve researched it several times, and still I’m a bit foggy.

The first day of the month of May is May Day, an excuse to celebrate spring.  And sweethearts apparently.  I never thought a holiday marking the beginning of a new season would have Valentine-ish aspect to it.  ‘Tis true though; follow the link to read all about it.

According to many websites I visited, maypoles should be littered about the town, and dancing should be happening.  I’ve seen no such things, neither this year nor last year.

But even more interesting to me is this… Not only is the first day of the fifth month May Day (Maifeiertag), it’s also the German Labor Day (Tag der Arbeit).  And the German version is quite different from what I know of the American Labor Day.

Americans see Labor Day as an opportunity to get together for picnics, barbecues, outings, and generally anything that has absolutely nothing to do with work.  Germans see Labor Day as an opportunity to protest, uh, well, labor.  It’s a day known for demonstrations and parades.

(Though don’t misunderstand – Germans like their barbecues as well.  Just see below.)

Again, I’ve seen no such things.  But perhaps that is because I don’t live in Berlin, a city most notorious for making (sometimes violent) waves.  In fact, I looked to see what The Local had to say about May 1 and found that this year (2012) German Police had a “High-tech water cannon ready for Berlin May Day.”  Yikes.

A German friend told me that one of the traditions for this holiday in our corner of Germany is to go for a hike.  I wimped out on the hike, but we did uphold the other custom of having a barbecue.  Here are some pictures from our May Day afternoon.

Man skills were tested in the making of fire.

Sausages were grilled, much to the fascination of little boys and the disgust of their pregnant mama.

Chicken was marinated for 24 hours using this recipe and cooked to perfection: slightly charred yet flavorful and moist.

Wildflowers, er, weeds were picked by the bunchful.

Arguments were hashed out over pirated toys.

Marshmallows were held over white-hot coals...

...and toasted to ooey-gooey deliciousness.

And finally, a rousing game of Kubb rounded out the evening. Need I say a good time was had by all?

Road Trip!

I recently commented to several separate friends that I felt more comfortable and prepared to take my kids on an 8, 9, or even 10-hour flight than a two-hour road trip.

How ridiculous is that?

It’s true – we fly and travel by train a whole lot more than we ride in a car.  So when Screech barfed several times in his car seat while we headed up the Capital Beltway into Maryland on our recent trip to the US, I was caught off guard.  Embarrassingly so.

I had no paper towels, no change of clothes, nothing to clean him up or stop the flow of vomit.

Oh, and no GPS.

We just guessed on which exit would hopefully lead us to a shopping center, gas station, or fast food joint of some kind where we could clean the poor kid up.

After what seemed like hours on some random residential road, we found a McDonalds and helped ourselves to a tree’s worth of napkins.  Doc Sci remembered we had a suitcase in the trunk with too-small clothes destined for our storage unit.  As I scooped out handfuls of upchucked cheerios and curdled milk, I thought to myself, gee, aren’t you supposed to be like some TRAVEL mama or something?

I had somehow forgotten everything I know about road trips.  And I’ve been on some road trips of the 1,000 mile-a-day variety, both as a passenger and a driver.  But in the years since then, I’ve just grown much more accustomed to alternative modes of transportation.

I decided I’d better remember some skills or the next journey, a 12-hour drive to Tennessee, was going to be downright torture.

First, I made a list of all the things we’d need for the trip.  At the top – paper towels and changes of clothing.  Oh, and big note to self, and never give Screech straight up milk with breakfast.  Ever.  Again.

Then, I thought about the departure time, keeping in mind how we could avoid rush hour traffic in big cities like Atlanta, maintain our boys’ regular schedule, make stops that would allow them to burn the maximum amount of energy, and still make the entire 12-hour drive in one day.

Oh yeah, and I got myself a GPS.

And a portable DVD player.

Duh.

But not a mini-van.  I haven’t joined that club yet, but I am starting to slowly understand the appeal.

Two of the best stops we made were Chick-fil-A (for the sweet tea + lemonade and the air-conditioned play area) and Red Top Mountain State Park in northern Georgia (to let the boys be boys outdoors).

Searching for rocks at Red Top Mountain State Park.

Tossing rocks and blowing off steam.

Checking out the geese. Screech wanted to chase them in the water.

Both times (to and from Tennessee), we left at the crack of dawn so that we could get 1-2 hours of driving out of the way before eating breakfast (bagels with peanut butter, bananas, sippy cups with milk/juice, and paper towels.. lots of paper towels).  Doc Sci hated getting up so early, but shaving those extra hours off the total entertainment, er I mean travel, time was definitely worth it.

Our other favorite stop - Five Guys Burgers & Fries. YUM.

It was harder to convince the boys to nap in the car, but the strategic stops and sticking to their normal routine helped.  If you’re going to “try this at home,” just make sure to fill your gas tank up and empty all passengers’ tanks (you know the kind I mean) before attempting an on-the-go nap, because the little ones wake up when the car stops.  Doc Sci and I also like to listen to a book on CD while we drive because it helps the adults stay awake and bores the kids to sleep.

To be honest, I wasn’t too creative with the en route activities.  I just packed the boys’ backpacks full of small toys and books, brought a DVD player (which we actually only used once), and hit the library up for kids CDs and DVDs.  That’s it.

Screech and T-Rex after 11 hours in the car, goofy and not into having any pictures taken.

And, somehow we made it.  Safely.  Sanity intact.  And without further vomit.  I’d call it a success, but I wouldn’t want to do it again anytime soon.  For now, we’ll just keep to our trains and planes, thankyouverymuch.

Are you a road trip warrior?  Share your tips for traveling by car with kids below.