November Update

It’s the season of grey, last time we lived here the grey clouds rolled in off the North Sea on September 19^th and didn't drift away until April 20^th, last time they hung over my head like a lead blanket.  This time we had another month and a half of vibrant fall colors with perfect fall weather.  While the clouds have rolled in, and appear to be here for a while, this time it’s not a lead blanket, but a new color that somehow adds authenticity to this Northern European experience. It’s funny how perception controls reality.

I have been thinking a lot lately how this experience will shape me as an educator.  I worked at a wonderful school back in the states that had a significant population of ESL (or English as a second language) as well as several deaf students.  While I did my best to connect with them and learn about their world, I really had no first hand personal experience with what they go through on a daily basis.  In a weird way I feel as if I am deaf; not because we can’t hear, but because what we hear doesn't yet register as understandable words and sentences in our brain yet. I think I have also gained a greater understanding for the ESL students I have worked with because I have had to use contextual clues, body language, and the handful of words I do know, to understand what someone is saying, but often miss the point.  I constantly think about how much easier this experience would be if you could read and understand the language, then I think about those students again, and how they have the real struggle, because for me this is temporary, and if I get really stuck I can I can just ask one of the many people who can help us.  I am sure by now you are probably thinking, well just go learn German, and you are right to think that, as that would be the smart thing to do.  I don’t think that is where I am going to invest my time academically, because I am looking at some other educational options that will help me out when we are back state side, but it’s a bit too early to tell.

Addie 

We have two American Thanksgivings this year, and then it will be Christmas market time.  The Christmas markets are a truly unique European experience, filled with beer, brats, and quaint little shops.  It’s one of the few times I have enjoyed Christmas shopping.  We are fortunate in that Erin’s family will all be coming over for Christmas and the New Year.  I am excited to show them the sights and sound of the million people New Year’s party in the center of Berlin!

Halloween

Party at the kids Kita 






Some say a picuture is worth a thousand words, and since I don't have time to write a thousand words I thought I would just show you all some pictures.
I hope you are all doing well.
Patrick


Owen thinking deep thoughts about the complex geopolitical situation that created the Berlin Wall.

Owen had a big day learning about the Wall

The "Tropical Island"??

Livin large at the Tropical Island

The kids had so much fun!

Hiking in the rain in the Hartz Mountains in Germany

At home in the mountains, car, boat, great family!

Addie trying to figure out where we are

The Forsters by the Oker river

I am in a lot of trouble in 14 years!

Never leave home without baby Luca!



Where the Berlin Wall used to be

Berlin: A City of Contradictions:
As often as I can I take a run to the closest wooded by our house, and take a beautiful jaunt through some lovely wooded Berlin landscape. My run like many things in this complex town is full of contradictions. The contradiction is that the footprints that I am leaving are in the same spot that would have gotten me shot 23 years ago because they are in the Berlin Wall death strip, and yet I am running, not for my life but for relaxation.

Today I went to Templhoff to fly a kite, it was a lovely day and a good percentage of Berlin showed up to watch me learn how to kite board. The contradiction to this day was that Templhoff was built in the 30's as a show piece of Nazi propaganda, and stood for a long time as the largest airport in all of Europe. As I flew my kite I reflected about how funny it is that I am flying a kite on the runway that saw so many evil evil men land.



I think I have some ideas when I come back to teaching in the US

The final contradiction is that I am now trying to make a home out of a place I swore I would never come back to, and yet I am here, trying to make a life out of this place for my family.

A lot of people have asked how we are doing, and I would say that this time is a totally different experience. Sure it's hard, and there are some real pain in the ass things to deal with, but I can confidently stay that we are surviving, even at times doing well. I think there are two reasons life is different this time. The first is I am no longer a haus man, and have had enough to learn at my new job that I don't have time to get board. The second is that life anywhere with kids is action enough, and on any given day I get to see my kids two hours more per day then I did in the states.

Oh and if Gramma Carol had not shown up we would alreay be back state side. 

One of the biggest shocks that I have had was the realization that I don't really work with kids any more. When I got hired there was talk of teaching science or computers, or something else, but when the schedule showed up there were just two hours a week where I would work with students. The rest of my week is spent putting out fires for teachers, and hopefully soon some technological coaching for the staff. I wasn't sure how I would take not working with a group of kids everyday, but I can now say that I miss it, and am sure that will be something I look forward to when we are back state side.

Right now my job is good, I am basically an IT guy, but the funny thing is I am still learning what an IT guy does, and how he or she does it. I enjoy the process of learning, and right now there are days that when I get home my brain actually feels as if it has grown. Fortunately I have a 22 year veteran of IT that makes sure I don't blow anything up that watches over me. I think I will really enjoy my job and learn a lot from it, so what more could one really ask for.

So far we have traveled to the North Sea to take in the sun, sand, and naked German buns of the beach. It was nice to take the train to get out of the city and just relax for a couple of days as a family. In other exciting news we are going to be the proud owners of a 1998 Saab 93 with 140,000 kilometers on it. Turns out that getting yourself and your kids to the kita (daycare) and then to school is impossible by bike, and it hasn't even started to snow yet. Buying a car is going to allow us to focus our travels on Germany a little more, maybe get to the Alps to ski and kayak a little more often, and hopefully it just makes life eaiser.

I spend most of my day looking at a computer screen, so I am going to take a break from the screen, and read a good book.

I hope this email finds you are well, and know that we miss our home country more each day.

For so long we the words we lived by revolved around the plan, the plan was six pages long and allowed us to pass from point A in The United States to point B in Berlin Germany with our family.  The funny thing about plans is that they are relatively useless.  Plans don't say good by to friends for you, they don't lift couches, leave a job you love, sell cars, rent out a house, open a bank account in Germany, or any one of those hundreds of things we had to do over the last 7 months, and it's those things that make this experience so exciting.
Admittedly, Erin and I both enjoy planning, one might even say we are good at it, but focusing on planning does have it's draw backs. It helps you avoid the goodbyes, and the realization that for many of your closest friends its going to be two long years before you will get to enjoy their company again. It's not until the boxes start to get unpacked in your new place and the jet lag starts to fly away that thoughts of your friends and your kids friends start to sink in, that the experience starts to become formative and real. 
I am a firm believer that one must struggle and be challenged to really grow. When I was younger I fell off tall things in a kayak or on skis to push this growth, now as I grow older I am attempting to do it with my family, not by the challenge of sport but the challenge of international living. 
If this experience does one thing I hope it helps my family to grow, grow closer, grow a more global perspective, and grow intellectually.

Missing our friends

Now onto the travel end of this adventure.  First I hope you will forgive me, but the days of moving, unpacking, nights with jet lagged kids have taken a toll on my memory, so I will do my best to recall the events of the last week as best I can.
Monday night our Colorado family dropped us off at the airport in Denver with tears in our eyes.  Erin and I had flown with both kids twice this summer to visit our families so we had baggage check and security down, I think we made it though both those obstacles faster then some single passangers.  We boarded a British Airways Boeing 777 and were wheels up around 8:45pm Monday July 23rd for our European adventure.  Fortunately for us the flight was undersold so we soon found ourselves in command of two full rows of seats in the center of the plane.  Between feeding Owen and Addie, a movie or two, a couple of turbulent bumps in the road we managed to squeak out a handful of hours on the 8 1/2 hour flight.  All in all I would say the flight, like most of this adventure, has exceeded our expectations.  We landed in London for a 4 hour layover, it was crowded and busy, like you would expect for a country throwing out the red carpet for the Olympics in 3 days.  As soon as we could we got on a plane and headed for our two year home. 

Owen's jet lag face

Here goes nothing!!

Addie's jet lag face

We made it!!

The wheels touched down in Berlin at about 7:30PM on July 24th.  For those doing the math at home that puts us about 14 hours of flying from our home in Colorado.  We were met at the airport by some familiar friendly faces and the mountain of bags we flew with.  Kirsten, our German friend, swept us up in her car and took us to our Berlin house.  We had only seen a few pictures of our house, and were a bit nervous with what we might find when we opened up the door.  Fortunately, our Berlin house is spacious, clean, next to very nice English speaking Germans, and located very close to a park for Addie to play in.  We quickly got our bags in the house and piled them up next to the stacks of boxes, desks, and rugs that we had bought from some people leaving the JFK school, and promptly tried to pass out.  The next couple of days were filled with middle of the night awake play times with the kids, visits to the Dr (the kids have been sick), building our minivan (a bike and trailer), and trying to organize our new life in Berlin.

Addie's new playground

People have been wondering how we are, and I would say so far we are great, better then one could expect given the things we have done, and done to our kids in the last month.  Each day is filled with its own unique set of challenges. 
If I have learned one thing from this so far it's that I am surrounded by some pretty remarkable people.  First my kids, they have faced this first hurdle with grace, humor, and joy.  Our friends, well we simply could not have done this without you, and I often wonder how we will get along for the next two years without you in our lives.  Lastly our family, thank you for giving us the tools in our youth to try and pull this thing off.

Our new car.  Addie thinks it needs a bigger trunk