The Windmills of My Mind
Round, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel. I used to love listening to The King's Singers singing that song. I wonder whatever happened to that tape? I probably burned it up, listening to it over and over. And for everyone except my parents who are wondering who The King's Singers are...well, how do I describe? Maybe Dad can help me. Trust me though, it's something no 16-year-old would admit she enjoyed listening to. I was supposed to be listening to Color Me Badd and Mr. Big, not The King's Singers. I was a little weird that way. Now that (gasp) 18 years have passed, I can freely admit that I was deeply uncool as a teenager.
But that's not the point of this post. Because the four of you who read my blog already know that I was deeply uncool.
This title comes courtesy of the fact that we pass a group of big windmills, of the sort that are popping up everywhere, along Autobahn 8 heading towards Munich. We pass them on the way to Legoland, and every single time we pass them, the kids argue about whose side of the car they're on. "MY side", yells Annika. "NO, MY side", yells Josiah. We try to calm them by explaining that they are indeed on Annika's side on the way to Legoland, but they will be on Josiah's side on the way back from Legoland. This goes completely over their heads and fails to pacify anyone.
Why am I telling you this? I have no idea. I meant to detail our weekend a bit (even though this is Wednesday, for goodness' sake!). We meant to take a cool trip somewhere. Prague, Vienna and Paris were mentioned, but we just got lazy. We decided to stay home and take a few smaller trips. Lord knows there's plenty to see in Baden-Wurttemburg. We don't need to stray far from home to see something amazing.
On Friday, we tried to do some car shopping (see previous post about naughty, naughty VW). We went to the Volvo military sales dealership to see the XC90. Nice vehicle, very nice, but sort of...dull? I don't know. It's like the Lutheran potluck of vehicles. No spices, every surface very simple and bland. I don't want a pinata in my car, but a few touches of something besides beige would be nice. Besides, there was almost no room in the third row seat. The salesguy was awesome there, though...I would almost buy a Volvo just to work with him. No pressure tactics with that one.
Next we went to the GERMAN Audi dealership to take a look at a German-spec Q7. We all piled into the beautiful, beautiful (gulp), beautiful showroom, wherein Hans finally succeeded in getting the receptionist to understand that we wanted a salesperson to look at a Q7. I stayed pressed against the wall with the kids, terrified that one of them would touch or breathe upon one of the beauties by accident.
The German salesperson came out and told us that they "had no Q7's on their lot", turned smartly on his heel and stalked off. After a few confused and embarassed moments, we gathered the children, walked outside to the Q7s on their lot and proceeded to get lots and lots of finger and noseprints on the windows trying to see inside.
Sheisekopf. We still don't know what their problem was.
Anyway, then we gave up on car shopping for that day. It is a pain, I tell you. I think now that we've almost settled on the Q7, even though it isn't exactly what I want. We keep discussing schemes to ask someone at home to go through the process with our power of attorney, order the Routan for us, then I'll come home, pick up the vehicle (oh, and have a visit with everyone, hi!), drive it to the port and send it over to Germany.
Crazier things have happened.
The rest of our weekend: Sunday we had a nice picnic up at Burg Teck. I will post pictures soon. The color was lovely, the day was warm and still and sunny. We found a primo place on the edge of a hill to spread our blanket and pitch our chairs. We had a nice picnic and then took shifts watching to ensure none of the progeny pitched over the edge of the hill while the other parent sat and read. We also did shifts to follow a trail down the hill to see a flock of sheep and goats. Annie and Hans went, and when they got back, Josiah and I went. We came back through an apple orchard.
Came home and grilled with the Sturgeons and Sonnenfelds. That would be Jen and Deb and their families, to those in the know. The kids tore up the playground for another two hours and then everyone came in, had baths, and hit the hay.
Monday we went to Legoland for our third visit. I want to get a lot of use out of our season pass. If we can go two-three more times before they expire, I will be thrilled. As I have mentioned, I really like having the pass because it means that we can spend only part of a day there and not feel rushed, because we can come back anytime. Anyway, we had a lot of fun again, the only issues we had were potty-training ones...oh, and Annie accidentally hitting the only handicapped toddler at Legoland on one of the playgrounds. I swear, it was an accident, but how horrifying. Way to pick 'em, Annie!
How do you say "Oh my God, my child is such a klutz and I'm really sorry!" in German?
Almost done now. A couple of people asked me about the Pfennig Bazaar that I volunteered for last Monday. It was...interesting. I rode in a van full of people into downtown Stuttgart to this beautiful old building. Inside we found members of the German-American Women's Club (no, I am not a member), setting up tables full of goods. I was assigned to children's clothing, which I thought would be awesome, but I came in to find it was children's sizes 6-16. You guys would not believe the quantities of stuff there was to unpack. Bags and bags and boxes of donated clothing, all needing to be unpacked and somewhat arranged. I worked for five hours and they were still bringing in boxes when I left.
Yes, I was able to "shop" while I unpacked, but the truth is, most of the stuff was not very nice. Either that, or grossly out of style. I unpacked one box that was all stuff circa 1972. Bell-bottom pants with matching jackets. Lots of polyester. Wow. That being said, I pulled out a nice Ralph Lauren sweater for Josiah (because yes, I'm picky about labels, especially with used clothing). I also picked up two nice coats, one Land's End and the other L.L. Bean for him for ages 6-8. I found a bunch of cute shirts for Annika to grow into, including a couple of Gymboree items. I know that the items are sorted here on base before they go to the Pfennig Bazaar and that the ladies in our sorting room also "shop", so things are fairly picked over even before they get to the actual bazaar.
No, things were not a pfennig (penny)! I paid around 30 Euro for my big bag of stuff, but it was still a deal as the two coats were in excellent condition and I know would have been $70-90 new.
That was my fun Pfennig Bazaar experience. I briefly considered going back the next day to shop, but Jen and Deb did and said it was insanely crowded, so I'm glad that I didn't.
Hope you all didn't fall asleep during this epistle! Now, who is going to go order our Routan for us. Volunteers? Anyone?
But that's not the point of this post. Because the four of you who read my blog already know that I was deeply uncool.
This title comes courtesy of the fact that we pass a group of big windmills, of the sort that are popping up everywhere, along Autobahn 8 heading towards Munich. We pass them on the way to Legoland, and every single time we pass them, the kids argue about whose side of the car they're on. "MY side", yells Annika. "NO, MY side", yells Josiah. We try to calm them by explaining that they are indeed on Annika's side on the way to Legoland, but they will be on Josiah's side on the way back from Legoland. This goes completely over their heads and fails to pacify anyone.
Why am I telling you this? I have no idea. I meant to detail our weekend a bit (even though this is Wednesday, for goodness' sake!). We meant to take a cool trip somewhere. Prague, Vienna and Paris were mentioned, but we just got lazy. We decided to stay home and take a few smaller trips. Lord knows there's plenty to see in Baden-Wurttemburg. We don't need to stray far from home to see something amazing.
On Friday, we tried to do some car shopping (see previous post about naughty, naughty VW). We went to the Volvo military sales dealership to see the XC90. Nice vehicle, very nice, but sort of...dull? I don't know. It's like the Lutheran potluck of vehicles. No spices, every surface very simple and bland. I don't want a pinata in my car, but a few touches of something besides beige would be nice. Besides, there was almost no room in the third row seat. The salesguy was awesome there, though...I would almost buy a Volvo just to work with him. No pressure tactics with that one.
Next we went to the GERMAN Audi dealership to take a look at a German-spec Q7. We all piled into the beautiful, beautiful (gulp), beautiful showroom, wherein Hans finally succeeded in getting the receptionist to understand that we wanted a salesperson to look at a Q7. I stayed pressed against the wall with the kids, terrified that one of them would touch or breathe upon one of the beauties by accident.
The German salesperson came out and told us that they "had no Q7's on their lot", turned smartly on his heel and stalked off. After a few confused and embarassed moments, we gathered the children, walked outside to the Q7s on their lot and proceeded to get lots and lots of finger and noseprints on the windows trying to see inside.
Sheisekopf. We still don't know what their problem was.
Anyway, then we gave up on car shopping for that day. It is a pain, I tell you. I think now that we've almost settled on the Q7, even though it isn't exactly what I want. We keep discussing schemes to ask someone at home to go through the process with our power of attorney, order the Routan for us, then I'll come home, pick up the vehicle (oh, and have a visit with everyone, hi!), drive it to the port and send it over to Germany.
Crazier things have happened.
The rest of our weekend: Sunday we had a nice picnic up at Burg Teck. I will post pictures soon. The color was lovely, the day was warm and still and sunny. We found a primo place on the edge of a hill to spread our blanket and pitch our chairs. We had a nice picnic and then took shifts watching to ensure none of the progeny pitched over the edge of the hill while the other parent sat and read. We also did shifts to follow a trail down the hill to see a flock of sheep and goats. Annie and Hans went, and when they got back, Josiah and I went. We came back through an apple orchard.
Came home and grilled with the Sturgeons and Sonnenfelds. That would be Jen and Deb and their families, to those in the know. The kids tore up the playground for another two hours and then everyone came in, had baths, and hit the hay.
Monday we went to Legoland for our third visit. I want to get a lot of use out of our season pass. If we can go two-three more times before they expire, I will be thrilled. As I have mentioned, I really like having the pass because it means that we can spend only part of a day there and not feel rushed, because we can come back anytime. Anyway, we had a lot of fun again, the only issues we had were potty-training ones...oh, and Annie accidentally hitting the only handicapped toddler at Legoland on one of the playgrounds. I swear, it was an accident, but how horrifying. Way to pick 'em, Annie!
How do you say "Oh my God, my child is such a klutz and I'm really sorry!" in German?
Almost done now. A couple of people asked me about the Pfennig Bazaar that I volunteered for last Monday. It was...interesting. I rode in a van full of people into downtown Stuttgart to this beautiful old building. Inside we found members of the German-American Women's Club (no, I am not a member), setting up tables full of goods. I was assigned to children's clothing, which I thought would be awesome, but I came in to find it was children's sizes 6-16. You guys would not believe the quantities of stuff there was to unpack. Bags and bags and boxes of donated clothing, all needing to be unpacked and somewhat arranged. I worked for five hours and they were still bringing in boxes when I left.
Yes, I was able to "shop" while I unpacked, but the truth is, most of the stuff was not very nice. Either that, or grossly out of style. I unpacked one box that was all stuff circa 1972. Bell-bottom pants with matching jackets. Lots of polyester. Wow. That being said, I pulled out a nice Ralph Lauren sweater for Josiah (because yes, I'm picky about labels, especially with used clothing). I also picked up two nice coats, one Land's End and the other L.L. Bean for him for ages 6-8. I found a bunch of cute shirts for Annika to grow into, including a couple of Gymboree items. I know that the items are sorted here on base before they go to the Pfennig Bazaar and that the ladies in our sorting room also "shop", so things are fairly picked over even before they get to the actual bazaar.
No, things were not a pfennig (penny)! I paid around 30 Euro for my big bag of stuff, but it was still a deal as the two coats were in excellent condition and I know would have been $70-90 new.
That was my fun Pfennig Bazaar experience. I briefly considered going back the next day to shop, but Jen and Deb did and said it was insanely crowded, so I'm glad that I didn't.
Hope you all didn't fall asleep during this epistle! Now, who is going to go order our Routan for us. Volunteers? Anyone?
Comments
Your blog entries are NEVER boring or too long, Rachel. I love your writing and hunger to hear about what you and the kids are doing.