A Touch of America!

Pam (Mom) arrived bright eyed and ready to hit the streets of Bonn this week. And, she didn't come alone! She brought an extra suitcase filled with the "good stuff" which included Esther Price candy (thanks Dad!), brown sugar, crisco baking bars, clothes that fit around the growing belly bump, and about 20 other things that we had ordered from Amazon and had sent to her house including four 8x10 frames for the baby nursery. We owe this woman! It's probably best that she's unaware of the even longer list we have ready for her and Dad to bring to Germany when they come in November. ;-) We took her to a few of our favorite spots for dinner. Above is a picture of us eating at "Tacos" which is the only Mexican restaurant in Bonn and has pretty good food. It's crowded all the time and, after a couple margaritas, Rich came up with the idea that we should open up another Mexican restaurant in Bonn to compete with Tacos. We'll see about that……

Rich left for Seattle on Saturday and we all know what this meant right? The ultimate driving test for Makayla. Surprisingly, all went smoothly. In fact, the hardest part of the drive was having to pull out of that tight spot Rich pulled into at the airport! Well, that coupled with the fact that at 8 months pregnant, the need for an easy access bathroom is essential and the easiest rest area (meaning an exit with a zero incline) to stop at is about 1 hour into the 1 1/2 hour drive home. Mom and I did run into a few "hiccups" driving around in Bonn, but in the end…everyone was fine. :-) I looked over at her at one point (I believe it was after my second stall and third honk) and asked her if she was more nervous than me. She looked straight ahead with her hands (and white knuckles) wrapped tightly around the purse in her lap and said, "I think we're about the same."

We have AMERICAN television! It's been a long 10 weeks with no TV, but the wait is over. We're not sure why we didn't think of it before, but Rich realized that we could probably buy some tv shows via Itunes which is hooked up to our TV through our computer. Sure enough, he checked it Saturday morning and saw that we could access this season's TV shows. So, Mom and I spent several hours this weekend catching up on all of our favorite shows…..and everything else that sounded halfway entertaining. This, coupled with Esther Price candy eating, was a great way to spend the weekend. Thanks Rich!!!!

We also worked on decorating and organizing Reed's room. We're not done, but definitely got a good start. It's hard to believe that we've done approximately eight loads of laundry for a little guy that isn't even here yet. And based on what I've heard from Mom and Rich, he won't even appreciate all this work we're doing for him! ;-) I'm pretty sure that we'll need to change his outfit 4 times a day in the first three months in order to get through all of his outfits. They also said that wouldn't be a problem!

Tschuss!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

We had our 30 week ultrasound last week! Don't think it's something they normally do in the US, but it's standard here and we were happy to sneak some more peeks of the baby. Our doctor was on vacation so we met with her German speaking partner. When she started the ultrasound she pointed at the baby and said, "ahhhh, pooh pooh". We weren't exactly sure what that meant, but soon realized that the baby is in breech position. Hopefully he cooperates, and turns himself around. Other than that, all looks good! It's hard to believe we only have nine weeks left.

We spent most of last week continuing to unpack, organize and assemble things. We're happy to report that, as of Sunday night, 90% of our flat is complete. Makayla's mom, Pam, is coming to visit this week for 10 days, so we figured it would be a good idea to buy a bed frame for the mattress sitting on the floor in the guest bedroom. Of course, you knew it couldn't be quite that easy, right?? Well, the good thing is we bought the bed frame. The bad thing is that bed sizes in Europe are different than the US, so the frame is slightly bigger than the bed (sorry Pam!). Nothing a little padding, duct tape, and finger crossing can't fix.

We're also proud new owners of a dishwasher and a "working" American grill! After using sign language to buy a propane can at Knauber (German Home Depot) a couple of weeks ago, Rich discovered that American grill parts don't play nice with German propane can parts, and we needed a European thingy to connect the two. He managed to hunt down a store in Austria that carried one, and we received it just in time for the weekend. We decided to invite some friends over for dinner on Saturday night just so we could use our grill and our dishwasher. Unfortunately, our lack of German speaking skills bit us at the meat market when Rich accidentally ordered WAY too much steak (and Makayla would like to add....WAY too expensive), but the weekend called for a celebration so we made sure to enjoy every last bite of it.

In other news, Rich will be heading back to Seattle this weekend to visit his family. It's hard to believe that we've already been here for 2 1/2 months! He'll be working while he's home, but hopes to organize a night so that he can see many of you. He'll be sure to send an email out with some details.

Oh, and we spoke too soon regarding our internet/phone. Apparently, Telekom lost our order (again!) and we are now scheduled to have our internet/phone installed on Oct 1st. We were able to "borrow" our neighbors wifi, but still don't have access to our home phone which means no free calling for another week and a half. Bummer.

Last but not least, Makayla had another successful driving experience this past weekend. She came very close to 6th gear, but unfortunately downshifted to 4th on accident. Other than that, she is confident with driving to the supermarket (approx 1.5 miles away) which is great news as the pressure is on with Rich leaving town and Pam's shared lack of manual driving skills.

Ciao!

Bruge, Brugges and more Brugge!

No matter what country you are from or how you spell it, we had a fun weekend in this charming Belgium city! Not only was it a new European city for us to visit, but we were able to explore it with four of our great Chicago friends. Above is a picture of the city center called the Market. The single building is Brugges Post Office and the buildings behind Makayla are restaurants and pubs.

A trip to Brugges is best chronicled by the food eaten and beverages drunk! Belgium is known for it's beer, waffles, chocolate, and fries. We made sure to sample all of them in the 2 days we were there!

We made several stops at The Chocolate Line, one of Brugge's most well known chocolate shops. We just kept finding new reasons to go back for more, such as needing to take a photograph to remember it by..oh and maybe we'll get just a few more of those salted caramel pralines while we're here...






You can buy baking chocolate by the gram, or kilo! It's sorted by the country of origin of the bean, and the corresponding cocoa content. Yes, I admit it, we crossed the border with over a kilo of the good stuff in our trunk!





Friday night we ate at a fabulous restaurant known for it's traditional Flemish dishes, called Da Vlaamsche Pot. Rich had the Flemish beef stew, and Makayla had chicken baked in a pastry with cream sauce. Yum! Our inn keeper told us she has never known anyone who could finish their meal. Well, she can't make that statement any longer! Rich started with the house made pate, devoured the entire stew with fries, and even had room for a traditional custard with chocolate sauce to finish it off. Mmmm....I'm getting hungry just writing about it!




But of course, it isn't just the food that makes the meal, it's the company you share it with as well. We timed our trip to Brugge to meet up with our friends Mel, Eric, Bria & Jon at the start of their 3 week vacation. We ate chocolate, climbed a clock tower, and sampled many, many beers. Did I say many? Yes, we had a few..

This picture was taken early in the evening, after we enjoyed a great meal of tapas at Cookies, hidden down an alley less than 3 feet wide at the street. We walked 10 feet down the alley from Cookies to Staminee De Garre, home of many good beers, and one very dangerous beer, known only as De Garre, and available only at the pub. This was also the point where the night takes on two different versions depending on if you talk to Rich or Makayla. See below.

Rich's version: Rich was pleasantly surprised at how well he was able to handle the dangerous beer and figured it had to be due to the tolerance he'd built up over the last two months in Germany. In fact, he tried to persuade everyone to stay for a 3rd beer before heading to a different pub. Mind you, the pub has a 3 serving limit on this particular beer, and there's good reason for it. Luckily, he was unsuccessful with his attempt, but was still able to enjoy another couple beers at the next pub. He, along with the rest of our gang, also discovered and nearly perfected a challenging game of balance and coordination before calling it a night which ended in quick goodbye hugs.

Makayla's version (aka...the sober version): Makayla had a great time talking and laughing with everyone....until approximately 11pm. After standing behind Rich and shaking her head "no" when he tried to convince everyone to stay for one more De Garre beer, the group decided to stop at one more pub before calling it a night. Her attempt in trying to persuade everyone to eat some fries on the way to the pub was, unfortunately, rejected by all. The night ended at the bars with a very loud game of "flip coaster" which began with Rich asking all of the tables in the pub if we could borrow their coasters (this was after the Manager told him "no"). After collecting approximately 20 coasters, our group took turns seeing who could flip the most coasters off the table and catch them in the same hand. Makayla will admit it was a pretty funny scene, but is fairly sure that the rest of the bar had a different opinion. The Americans definitely made a name for themselves!

The night ended with Eric yelling "hugs and cuddles all around" and then making plans to see us soon when we visit Chicago.....this was shortly after we made plans to meet the next morning before driving back to Germany. Needless to say it was a great night, in spite of the fact that Makayla was the only one walking home in a straight line.

Conversion Extravaganza!

We kept ourselves busy this weekend with painting and baking. Paint color options are limited in Germany compared to the US. However, after hitting three different "mini" Home Depot-like stores we were able to find two great colors for our dining/living room and the baby nursery. Greyish-lavender for the living room and sour apple green for the nursery. After converting liters to gallons, we sort of knew what we needed for the rooms. Of course, you don't buy paint in gallons and quarts, so we bought a 10 liter bucket for the living room, and after hemming and hawing, went with the 5 liter bucket for the nursery. We guessed right, and avoided that infamous second trip to the hardware store..












Here is a work in progress pics of the living room and an "action shot" of Rich with our co-worker friend, Niko, painting the nursery. His American girlfriend is back visiting family in the States right now so we were able to persuade him into helping us by offering him.....that's right..... cold, German beer. It also helped that he brought a ton of painting supplies with him and his 6' 8" frame!

Makayla spent the day serving the German beer (she made sure the trim was done before serving round 3!) and baking. We spent Saturday morning going to a Walmart-like store with another co-worker friend, Karen. She said they had the best assortment of baking ingredients. While we did manage to buy a good amount, there were definitely some differences. First, they don't have baking soda here nor do they have brown sugar. She convinced us to buy what she called "brown sugar" which is really raw sugar. We're not sure why we bought it since we knew it wasn't right....guess we caved under the German peer pressure! During the time it took for Rich and Niko to paint two rooms, Makayla baked homemade brownies and a blueberry coffee cake. It's amazing how much time goes into converting oven temperatures from C to F, grams to ounces and cups etc.......


The pic above was initially supposed to be portrayed as a "Ha ha, nice try baking without brown sugar Makayla!" kind of picture. However, we woke up Sunday morning pleasantly surprised with how delicious the coffee cake turned out! Rich finished off a quarter of it...but that's not too surprising to anyone who knows Rich's eating habits.

We spent a great Saturday night with a couple who live upstairs from us. She is French and he is German. It was very entertaining listening to their differing opinions on each other's home country. They did, however, find common ground on the Brits. For any Brits reading this, we'll keep that information to ourselves! ;-)

In other news..we are getting internet Tuesday! This may not seem like much, but we feel like Christmas has come early because this means American TV, phone, and internet for the Temers. Makayla had successful driving session today with only two stalls (at the same yield sign). Two thumbs up! Lastly, we are heading to Brugges, Belgium, this weekend to meet up with some great Chicago friends. We are looking forward to seeing them....and the Ranch dressing and Pop Tarts they are bringing us!