помощь

That means "help" in Russian. Because I need help....

Michael is in Russia and doeasn't return until Friday evening. His mom and Kurt got here the day he left (last week) and leave tomorrow. They've definitely been helping a lot and I cannot imagine being alone this entire time. On top of it, we've had nothing but rain, so it would have been even harder for me since I only feel like cocooning. So many thanks to Oma and Opa Kurt!

On another note, I need help! Jay is normally a great kid. He listens, rarely puts up a (big) fight, is pretty well behaved and obedient. This is the kid that decided to give up his own pacifier and went from daipers to the toilet in one day. So why am I having such a hard time?

Part of me knows it's because he misses his dad. Another part knows that he spends even less time with me when Oma is here and he craves that as well. Add that his regular schedule of playdates isn't happening (outside of preschool) and everything is upside-down. But, man, he can be tough. I guess I haven't had any practice to get me used to it.

Here's a parting story- I gave Jay and Nils a bath tonight. Nils LOVES the bath. He dumps water on his head, dives underwater, tries to drink a bucketful of water, chokes, and laughs. Jay gets upset if water even runs down the side of his head. Somehow I managed to shampoo and rinse both with lots of laughing. But while I was drying Nils' hair, Jay decided to dump buckets of water out of the bathtub. The floor was soaked, so were all the clothes and pyjamas, and, boy, was I mad. I think I need to do a better job of keeping my Lent promise of trying my hardest to stay cool and not yell when angry.

помощь!!! Honey, I can't wait for you to get home!

I think I've got it!

I think I found a way to post video here. I created a MySpace profile (something else everyone else except me seems to have done). Then, I uploaded a video there. So here's a link for you to watch the video. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.myvideos

It is of Nils about about a week after he truly started walking. You can see Jay running a bit in the background. Nils' godmother, Marijo, filmed the video so we could share his milestones with all of you. Nils is wearing a sweatsuit that Aunt Rita gave Jay. We call it his rapper sweatsuit- it's black velour and way too cool!

The only thing is, I don't know how to turn it so you can watch it right-side-up. Can anyone tell me how??? I'm just happy that I could get this far. My computer kept changing my settings on this site and MySpace to German. I can understand well enough, but this is all new to me and I would prefer to keep it in English. It is already foreign enough to me!

Love, Di

Between Two Worlds

I am not entirely sure I would like to approach setting up this new blog. All of the ones I have read so far write to an anonymous "audience." I set this one up to keep my friends and family involved in our lives since we live so far away. However, I do see the plus side of writing my thoughts and expereinces, especially since I live in another country.

I have lived in Germany since October, 2000. During this time, I have had the luxury of visiting home one to two times a year. In fact, when I was pregnant with Nils, I visited 3 times within a twelve-month period!

I love my home here. I don't ever anticipate returning to live in the US; I am far too comfortable here. I consider this my home now. But the distance has led to a "disconnect" that I feel. I am less and less connected to my (pop)cultural roots in the US, but I have yet to have an extensive enough "root system" in place here. Here's an example- I subscribe to USA Today. Over the years, I read less and less of it since Sports and Life (TV) don't mean anything. I don't care about the next American Idol. But I still have no idea who the Idol in Germany is.

Which leads me to my next thought: is it even important to know? Probably not, but what of my new (pop)culture have I absorbed? Certainly not mainstream television, outside of a one or two imported television shows dubbed in German. And not sports, since I am not a soccer, handball, or hockey fan. Could it be politics? As a former political science student, I certainly find politics very interesting. But the complexity of this topic in a language that is not my own can be daunting. When I read about health insurance reform in English, it is already complicated. In German, it can be downright depressing to see how much more I still need to learn.

As time goes on, what happens in the US becomes less and less important, yet what happens here doesn't necessarily increase. My main worry is that someday the US side will be of practically no interest to me, yet the German side will still be underdeveloped. Or that, after being here for so long, people will begin to expect a lot more of me and my understanding of their country.

Carneval

This weekend is the big Carneval party weekend here in NRW (Nordrhein-Westfalen, our state). It all starts at 11:11 am on Thursday, Altweiber. Even at work, the drinks start flowing and women cut off mens' neckties (for the price of a kiss- how would an American sexual harrassment policy interpret that?). No worries- men all know to either skip the tie or wear an old, ugly one that day.

Schools have parties as well and everyone dresses up. Since Jay has preschool that day, he got to wear his frog costume to school. When he heard that, he couldn't get dressed fast enough....

I have attached some photos of Jay and Nils in their costumes. They love wearing them, even when it's not Carneval season! As they say here "on Ash Wednesday, it's all over and done."

We've Finally Arrived in the 21st Century!

Hi Everyone,

We've finally started a family blog. As many of you know, this is something that I've talked about for a long time. Many of you have also given me a (understandably) hard time since I am VERY bad about emailing photos of everyone. So, here is our new family blog.

Enjoy!
Michael, Diana, Jacob & Nils