January 2018 has arrived and instead of making the usual New Years resolutions (you know...loosing weight and such) , I decided to fulfill my year long goal (yes I have wanted to blog again for a long time).
Its been a year and a half since we made Berlin our new hometown now and I thought it would be nice to give you all an update and somewhat revive this good ole' blog that I had started a long time ago!
So here we go:
It still feels like a vacation of some sorts only: I am not going back to California to live there. My heart is still in love with Cali and will always be - I miss it dearly, especially my trips to the ocean and my dear friends. You can't take 20 years and just wipe them away. They molded me, I was a young woman at 21 when I moved there...you do the math on my age now!👀
Back to Europe though: Berlin is BIG!!! We live in a suburb (or as the Berliners say "Kiez") of Berlin called Dahlem, and even though its considered a smaller suburb, its still BIG. The city life feeling is all around us. Public transportation, lots of multinational people, restaurants, markets, stores - and its only about 7 stations with the tram to get to Ku'damm where you can shop your little heart out. Old and new buildings, some still show signs of when Berlin was divided in East and West Berlin, so much history on every street.
Talking about public transport: Reiner loves public transport. The system of trams, trains, busses etc is amazing here in Berlin. You can easily utilize it and get all over the place for a small amount of money. I am almost ashamed to say it: but I love using my car more. Must be the American in me. Don't get me wrong: public transport is way faster and more efficient - we are only two minutes from the station, but I love my car! What can I say. Maybe I will eventually get used to it after a while...nah I don't think so.
We have various schools here for the boys to choose from. Finn, now in 8th grade, has it easy being that he is just started the "gymnasial branch" (higher education branch). Poor Tom had a much harder start due to the requirement of a 2nd foreign language. We had to go through a lot of hurdles to place him in the right school, he just started at a new gymnasium (11th grade) in Wannsee last Summer and is pretty happy.
Kids are definitely "freer" and more independent here in Germany in general. We had seen that on our visits before. Getting around is easy, mainly because distance is not such an issue and on top, they can use a bus or tram to get to places. Both boys are constantly on the go... having two teens in the house now and all this freedom is such an adjustment for me. But I enjoy seeing them grow into independent young men that adjusted so well to this new life in Europe. I will always be grateful for their resilience and ability to take on this life in Europe along with all the academic challenges and master it so well. They certainly have their academic skills from dad but they do have their social ones from me. So using both, they have excelled and adjusted so so well.
The lake house has been fun. We have been living in the house now for 1.5 years. The house is brand spanking new and located at this little lake. The grounds where the homes were built on used to belong to the Americans during the separation and after WW2 and they still have their old Embassy across the street (good to get our new US passports). The annual German American Volksfest used to be here on the property before it was turned into this nice community. We enjoy living here at every season. We have ducks, dragonflies, a fox, cats and dogs, friendly neighbors with kids. Around the corner is everything we need...just a walk away: super market, organic store, pharmacy, doctors, dry cleaners, a cafe and restaurant - even a waxing place :) Its so very convenient and I walk a lot to get our produce and goodies.With a minimal amount of furniture (we only had beds and a kitchen) and "tools" in our kitchen it was challenging in the beginning. But we made it happen until our furniture arrived in July of 2016. And while we love our location here by the lake, we are constantly house hunting for our dream house to buy eventually. But living in the capitol of Germany makes prices steep. I always say you get a lot of old and trashy for a lot of money...its been quite the experience searching for this long of a time for a home, only to realize you are running against time and prices are still skyrocketing and will be for the next years to come. So either we win the lottery, or go smaller (not my thing) or continue to rent this ridiculously beautiful but expensive house we are in.
We did a lot of traveling the past year or so (well we always traveled in the US too). Be it to our second home in Hesse to visit family or to find the sun and beaches of Spain, Norway, skiing in the Alps, and much more.
Besides walking, we bike a lot. We all got new bikes - Reiner and I got E-bikes, which are pretty cool. While he is taking off on turbo speed, I feel bad for the kids who only have "normal" bikes and try to adjust my speed to theirs. We always joke about Reiner taking off!
My heart often aches for California, I cannot say this often enough. Being homesick is rough, but I am seeing the new things and adventures here as an opportunity to grow and explore. Being able to connect through social media and or FaceTime been a blessing. And while I still long for the Golden State, I am so thankful to be able to share this time of my life with my close family. Seeing them so often now is a true gift and we make up for all the time we were not able to be together. And while I miss our Cali friends, spending time with our old friends here in Germany has been pure joy and fun as well. I am grateful that some friendships withstand distance and time. So cheers to old and new friends and especially to family!
Here is to a new and happy 2018 for all of us.
Much love to all and stay tuned for stories on my blog...
B
Its been a year and a half since we made Berlin our new hometown now and I thought it would be nice to give you all an update and somewhat revive this good ole' blog that I had started a long time ago!
So here we go:
It still feels like a vacation of some sorts only: I am not going back to California to live there. My heart is still in love with Cali and will always be - I miss it dearly, especially my trips to the ocean and my dear friends. You can't take 20 years and just wipe them away. They molded me, I was a young woman at 21 when I moved there...you do the math on my age now!👀
Back to Europe though: Berlin is BIG!!! We live in a suburb (or as the Berliners say "Kiez") of Berlin called Dahlem, and even though its considered a smaller suburb, its still BIG. The city life feeling is all around us. Public transportation, lots of multinational people, restaurants, markets, stores - and its only about 7 stations with the tram to get to Ku'damm where you can shop your little heart out. Old and new buildings, some still show signs of when Berlin was divided in East and West Berlin, so much history on every street.
Talking about public transport: Reiner loves public transport. The system of trams, trains, busses etc is amazing here in Berlin. You can easily utilize it and get all over the place for a small amount of money. I am almost ashamed to say it: but I love using my car more. Must be the American in me. Don't get me wrong: public transport is way faster and more efficient - we are only two minutes from the station, but I love my car! What can I say. Maybe I will eventually get used to it after a while...nah I don't think so.
We have various schools here for the boys to choose from. Finn, now in 8th grade, has it easy being that he is just started the "gymnasial branch" (higher education branch). Poor Tom had a much harder start due to the requirement of a 2nd foreign language. We had to go through a lot of hurdles to place him in the right school, he just started at a new gymnasium (11th grade) in Wannsee last Summer and is pretty happy.
Kids are definitely "freer" and more independent here in Germany in general. We had seen that on our visits before. Getting around is easy, mainly because distance is not such an issue and on top, they can use a bus or tram to get to places. Both boys are constantly on the go... having two teens in the house now and all this freedom is such an adjustment for me. But I enjoy seeing them grow into independent young men that adjusted so well to this new life in Europe. I will always be grateful for their resilience and ability to take on this life in Europe along with all the academic challenges and master it so well. They certainly have their academic skills from dad but they do have their social ones from me. So using both, they have excelled and adjusted so so well.
The lake house has been fun. We have been living in the house now for 1.5 years. The house is brand spanking new and located at this little lake. The grounds where the homes were built on used to belong to the Americans during the separation and after WW2 and they still have their old Embassy across the street (good to get our new US passports). The annual German American Volksfest used to be here on the property before it was turned into this nice community. We enjoy living here at every season. We have ducks, dragonflies, a fox, cats and dogs, friendly neighbors with kids. Around the corner is everything we need...just a walk away: super market, organic store, pharmacy, doctors, dry cleaners, a cafe and restaurant - even a waxing place :) Its so very convenient and I walk a lot to get our produce and goodies.With a minimal amount of furniture (we only had beds and a kitchen) and "tools" in our kitchen it was challenging in the beginning. But we made it happen until our furniture arrived in July of 2016. And while we love our location here by the lake, we are constantly house hunting for our dream house to buy eventually. But living in the capitol of Germany makes prices steep. I always say you get a lot of old and trashy for a lot of money...its been quite the experience searching for this long of a time for a home, only to realize you are running against time and prices are still skyrocketing and will be for the next years to come. So either we win the lottery, or go smaller (not my thing) or continue to rent this ridiculously beautiful but expensive house we are in.
We did a lot of traveling the past year or so (well we always traveled in the US too). Be it to our second home in Hesse to visit family or to find the sun and beaches of Spain, Norway, skiing in the Alps, and much more.
Besides walking, we bike a lot. We all got new bikes - Reiner and I got E-bikes, which are pretty cool. While he is taking off on turbo speed, I feel bad for the kids who only have "normal" bikes and try to adjust my speed to theirs. We always joke about Reiner taking off!
My heart often aches for California, I cannot say this often enough. Being homesick is rough, but I am seeing the new things and adventures here as an opportunity to grow and explore. Being able to connect through social media and or FaceTime been a blessing. And while I still long for the Golden State, I am so thankful to be able to share this time of my life with my close family. Seeing them so often now is a true gift and we make up for all the time we were not able to be together. And while I miss our Cali friends, spending time with our old friends here in Germany has been pure joy and fun as well. I am grateful that some friendships withstand distance and time. So cheers to old and new friends and especially to family!
Much love to all and stay tuned for stories on my blog...
B
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