living in germany = eating vegetables

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When we imagined a sabbatical year in Europe, we pictured something idyllic like this. It felt both far away and that it would last a long time. And yet, here we are, getting ready to leave already. A month ago, we already had to submit printed letters to both my daughters' schools and to the "castle" we live in to give the required three months' notice that we were leaving. 

When we got here, it felt like we were never going to leave. Now, we have 58 days left in Europe. (Not that I'm counting.) 

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So, we've been in Darmstadt, Germany, for half a year now, and it took us almost that long just to live here legally with all of the necessary paperwork filed and to find great schools for both of our daughters. 

We joke that we should have lived here longer for it to be worth all of the set-up time, energy, and trees killed, but I don't think we would choose to live in Germany again. And before anyone gets offended, I will say we have learned a lot from living here, have made some lovely friends, and have really enjoyed many aspects of life in Darmstadt. 

So, here's our recap of life in Germany:

75 days away from home

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At 50 days on the road, I was in Paris and emailed my dear friend, Val:

We've been on the road for 50 days now, and holy moly, we've been like a tornado ripping through nine states (Mississippi was more of a drive-by, though), four countries, seven flights (well, five, but two had two legs), twelve cities, etc. On good days, it's amazing. Aria and Téa play in a picturesque playground sandbox with the Eiffel Tower in the background while Andres and I sit on a shaded park bench and sigh at how awesome everything is. On bad days, Aria is tantruming, Téa is crying because she's hungry, Andres and I are grumpy and tired and lost, and it starts to rain. We've had plenty of both kinds of moments, but there are definitely far fewer of those perfect moments! (Of course, they weigh a lot more, so one five-minute awesome moment can carry us through a tough day or two...) ;-)

Now, at 75 days away from home, we've settled in our home for the academic year, but we don't know anyone here yet, and it's colder and grayer in Germany. (Let's all play our pity violins for the wimpy Californians.) There is a ton of paperwork to fill out, and while we have a place at a bilingual school for our younger daughter starting October 31st (yay!), we have been jumping through hoops in search for a school for our older daughter and are now on the wait list for an emergency place with the ministry of education.

The upside is that we live in what I call a castle because it is old and gorgeous and looks, well, like a castle.

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And the way I figure it, we'll either make great friends this year or we'll bond as a family.

So, for now, we'll be donning puffy jackets and bundling up, and we'll try to remember to do our next sabbatical somewhere warmer. :-)

P.S. If you speak English (or Chinese or Spanish) and live in (or near) Darmstadt, send me a message at serendipityberries@gmail.com, and let's be friends! Any other expats around? We haven't seen any friends since August, so we're due for some socializing. (And if you happen to have kids who could play with my 1-year-old and/or 4-year-old, that would be awesome, too.) :-)

getting pregnant is hard

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To clarify, *I* am not trying to get pregnant. We are done/shop is closed/that ship has sailed (for us)/we are happy with two.

But my friends are discussing when to start trying to get pregnant, and I suddenly remembered when my partner and I were first trying. Prior to this, we thought if we didn't use some kind of protection, we'd be zapped by pregnancy immediately. Ha!

I want to set some things straight, and I hope this can help someone out there feel more prepared. Knowledge is power, so let's get powerful.

1. It's not that easy to get pregnant.

There is basically this teeny tiny window of a few days each month where pregnancy is even possible, and some months, nothing will happen for no obvious reason at all. It's supposed to take up to a year for healthy couples to get pregnant, which means (for the non-math-inclined) there are eleven months of not getting pregnant without any causes other than chance.

24 days with téa

It's a girl! I can now admit I secretly hoped for a second girl and was thrilled to have gotten one. My partner and I are hoping our girls will grow up close and potentially interested in many of the same things... And if that doesn't happen, at the very least, we can use the same clothes for our second daughter, and that's great, too.

So, I've been the mother of two girls for twenty-four days now, and it's interesting how different my partner and I are with our second child.

The main lesson we've learned is that newborns aren't that fragile after all, and we're way more relaxed about everything. Nursing is a way better experience now that I know what I'm doing and what to expect. And while the novelty of a new baby isn't the same as it was the first time, my partner and I are both deeply, madly in love with our new little one in the same overwhelming way we were with our first.

pregnant and crying? this'll make you feel better...

I've been much more emotional with this second pregnancy, and I found this to be both hilarious and comforting. If you or someone you know is pregnant and weepy, here's a list of things that have made other pregnant women cry that might make you/them feel better.

Enjoy!

siddhartha by herman hesse

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Life has a way of continuing to surprise me every day—just when I think I've seen it all, another curveball comes my way. So, it seemed a good time to revisit these two grounding chapters from Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. Enjoy. :-)


Awakening

As Siddhartha left the grove in which the Buddha, the Perfect One, remained, in which Govinda remained, he felt that he had also left his former life behind him in the grove. As he slowly went on his way, his head was full of this thought. He reflected deeply, until this feeling completely overwhelmed him and he reached a point where he recognized causes; for to recognize causes, it seemed to him, is to think, and through thought alone feelings become knowledge and are not lost, but become real and begin to mature.

Siddhartha reflected deeply as he went on his way. He realized that he was no longer a youth; he was now a man. He realized that something had left him, like the old skin a snake sheds. Something was no longer in him, something that had accompanied him right through his youth and was part of him: this was the desire to have teachers and to listen to their teachings. He had left the last teacher he had met, even he, the greatest and wisest teacher, the holiest, the Buddha. He had to leave him; he could not accept his teachings.

isla del sol

Sometimes, when I'm wading through mountains of crumpled receipts and trying to get all of my bookkeeping organized, I become an angry person. Quickbooks may be good for some things, and doing your own bookkeeping is great for staying on top of everything, but sometimes, I just want to hurl everything over a windy cliff.

Which means it's a good time to remember Isla del Sol, a tiny island in the middle of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It has no cars, no paved roads, and the folklore says it's where the sun came from. (There is a nearby island, Isla de la Luna, where the moon is supposed to have originated.) Whether the legends are true or not doesn't matter too much; the island is covered in Incan ruins and truly has a magical feel to it. There were flowers I'd never seen before that seemed otherworldly.

But let's back up for a second. First, we bought tickets at the edge of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana:

Then, we went off to find the little boat down by the water:

Despite being half-Bolivian, my partner is a lot taller than the average Bolivian:

We waved goodbye to Copacabana:

It was a beautiful ride over, with clouds that looked like feathers:

Shimmering water and two tiny rock islands with one tree each (almost lined up perfectly here):



And a snow-capped mountain, for good measure:



I did a double-take, too, so in case you couldn't make it out, here's a closer shot:



A snow-capped mountain. Next to the island of the sun! It was a lovely surprise—a bit like our boat ride through some of New Zealand's fiords and across Lake Te Anau to see the glow worms in Te Anau.

When we arrived at the actual island, it immediately felt very different from Copacabana.



Copacabana felt like a huge, bustling metropolis in comparison.

Isla del Sol felt lush and peaceful and drenched in sunlight. How appropriate.

This could be their version of Stairway to Heaven:



The ruins were also very impressive.

 The people were pretty small back then.

We didn't get to go on a reed boat, but they're beautiful to behold, even from a distance.

And like our enchanted trip to Nantucket, even the weeds on Isla del Sol are beautiful. This yellow flower looks like the sun... 

Nice one, Isla del Sol.

2cellos

Good morning! Here's a beautiful video to start off your week.

Croatia has been one of my favorite countries for a decade now, and this video shows both the beautiful Plitvice Lakes and the talented Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser playing "I Will Wait" by Mumford & Sons. Enjoy.

the journey to copacabana, bolivia

So, it's officially been ages since I posted about my travels, and I'm finally catching my breath to continue, so back to Bolivia we go!

We took a bus from La Paz, the capital, to Copacabana, a town on the coast of Lake Titicaca, where my partner was baptized.

The story here is that my partner's mom grew up loving the beach as a California girl, and when she and her Bolivian husband (my partner's father) decided to move to Bolivia to raise their kids, the plan was to move to Lake Titicaca (the biggest lake in South America, partly in Bolivia and partly in Peru).

They packed water toys, safety vests, etc. in anticipation of lots of lake-time fun.  Unfortunately, they didn't research the schools until they got there and found them dismally inadequate, so they ended up moving to Cochabamba instead (which was smack in the middle of the land-locked country).

The happy ending here is that once the kids left for college, they ended up moving to the beach in Mexico, so she got her beachfront house after all.  And my partner was baptized in the Copacabana church before they left, so it was neat to see it as a piece of his life history.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let's get back to this bus journey.

So, we left bustling, crowded La Paz and headed west towards Lake Titicaca.

I loved passing little towns and found the sky in Bolivia to be particularly beautiful.

We passed some picturesque soccer fields as we drove along the coast of Lake Titicaca.  Imagine playing on one of these fields every day...

Then, we reached the Estrecho de Tiquina (the Strait of Tiquina).

And paid for the smallest tickets ever.

We then walked around a bit while waiting and came across a monument you probably wouldn't see in the States.

 Our bus boarded a raft, and we boarded a little boat.

We watched our bus sail across the strait on the Tornado behind us:

We landed first and walked around a little while waiting for the bus to catch up:

Finally, the bus arrived.

And we were back on the road on our way to Copacabana.  You'll notice that the bus is decked out with flowers and streamers.  Carnival in Bolivia is amazing-- even the buses and taxis get to celebrate.  I've never been a parade person, but when you go to Oruro for Carnival, prepare to have your mind blown.

Next up: Copacabana.

the sun and the earth

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Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me."
Look at a love like that.  It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz

biking in vegas

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The internet never ceases to amaze me.  Even as an occasional blogger, I've connected with lovely people and groups I wouldn't have met otherwise and feel very lucky to still be a part of this nebulous but huge, growing and very active community.

One recent connection is with Bridget, who has discovered joy in biking around Las Vegas.  Not what one usually associates with the glittering, play-all-night, what-happens-there-stays-there city.  But it turns out she isn't the only one.  This New York Times article also talks about his experience on one of these newer trails.

And here's Bridget, my first guest blogger.  Welcome, Bridget!  Thanks for finding me. :-)

Biking in Las Vegas has never been better!

There were times when I used to spend so long at the gym that I would be there until 9 at night.  This was after working the entire day and getting off at 5.  I hated how there were so many people in the gym, sweating and cramped together.  It always reminded me of an animal running around in a cage.  However, I did not realize that there was another way to exercise.  Other people felt that riding a bike outside, going for a run, or exercising without a gym was great, but I felt this was not a good idea due to pollution being an issue outside.  It was not until I moved to a new place that I discovered the workout regimen a person has would vary depending on what city they live in.  This is why moving to Las Vegas was a revelation for me.  I realized that instead of it making me an indoor person when working out, the opposite happened.

Las Vegas at first was intimidating to me in the terms of working out.  Where in the world was I going to go in order to exercise there?  Not only was it incredibly hot outside, there was also a large amount of people walking around outside, both drunk and sober. Sin City did not seem like the best place for a workout regimen.  However, I realize now that Las Vegas does in fact have great places to work out!  They are outside in some of the most natural settings that you will be able to find.

when to buy organic

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I've been told I should get organic food for my baby.  I haven't really been vigilant about it.  But here's a list of when it's recommended and when we can get by without, from the Environmental Working Group:

Dirty Dozen (buy organic)

apples
celery
strawberries
peaches
spinach
nectarines - imported
grapes - imported
sweet bell peppers
potatoes
blueberries - domestic
lettuce
kale/collard greens

Clean 15 (lowest in pesticides)

onions
sweet corn
pineapples
avocado
asparagus
sweet peas
mangoes
eggplant
cantaloupe - domestic
kiwi
cabbage
watermelon
sweet potatoes
grapefruit
mushrooms

Hope that helps.

our awesome world in photos

Our world is awesome.  Here are some pretty amazing photos of it:

unexpected art (from the diverse arts project)

This is reposted from the diverse arts project, and I hope you'll enjoy it:

Part of the appeal and magic of art is that it can appear (and disappear) at any time and any place.

I was recently reminded of a documentary by Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy that I enjoyed, entitled "Rivers and Tides," and how often beauty and artwork can truly vanish in a moment. Here is the trailer:

Accompanied by sappier music (possibly from "Somewhere in Time"), here is more of his work: 

Simon Beck is creating snow shoe art near Mont Blanc in France in a similar way.  For a sense of scale, note the tiny two skiers in the top right corner:

You can read more about his work here, but the short version is that this man walks around for hours and hours (nine sounds average), creating these amazing snow "crop circles" with the knowledge that as soon as it snows again, his art will be gone.

Another heart-warming story about the unexpected outcomes of art is about Joshua Johnson, a 20-year-old man from Harlem, who has been tap dancing in New York City subways to pay for college.  You can see him in action here: 

And you can read more about him in both the New York Times and on the Good News Network site, which shares the story of how he was tap dancing to pay for his college tuition and help his mother, who lives in a shelter-- and how he ended up on the Ellen show and receiving a generous check (and a pair of fancy tap shoes).

Yay, art.  And they say art doesn't pay... :-)

bolivia's salar de uyuni earth and sky

The salar had these unexpected and changing crystal patterns on the ground, and the horizon was flat as far as the eye could see.  The result: otherworldly earth and sky images.  Enjoy!

incahuasi island, bolivia

In the middle of the giant white salt plain of Salar de Uyuni, there is a rocky island covered with towering cacti.  It's otherworldly.

the world's largest salt flat, bolivia's salar de uyuni (with lots of funny photos)

In all of my travels, Salar de Uyuni stands out as one of the most incredible things I've seen.  To say it's the world's largest salt flat at over 4000 square miles just doesn't mean much.  It's kind of neat to see it from space:

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But to bring the numbers to a more human level and give the Salar de Uyuni a more apt description, it looks like a never-ending plain of perfectly flat, perfectly white snow.  And like much of Bolivia, it's around 12,000 feet above sea level.

There's so much salt, even the buildings are made of salt bricks, like this little one:

the long road to uyuni, bolivia

One of Bolivia's most visited destinations are the famous salt flats outside of Uyuni, but the area is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  So, we took a bus from Tiwanaku (above) back to La Paz:

a new room with a view

When we lived in Cambridge, we had a beautiful view out of our window of the Charles River and New England's amazing four seasons.  Now that we're in California, we don't have quite the same dramatic changes, but it's still nice to see the colors of the hills around us change.

What a difference, no?

This one is random, but it's my friend's Prius.  I just liked the light.