My husband recently asked me why I am so interested in politics right now, watching all debates, commenting on each CNN show and talking about it. It's not that he is complaining. In fact he thinks it helps him to keep up with everything going on in the country.
One reason for my "obsession"could be that the election will be soon (we as permanent residents, not citizens, can not vote) or that it's all over the TV, but that's not it.
This is the first time that I have chosen to live in a country where I was not born or raised or where my parents made the choice for me. We are living here because we like to, because we are enjoying it. It's our choice. It's our home now. It's our responsibility to be informed. We are not just guests anymore.
Time stands still
You know the expression: “it feels as if time stands still”. I experienced it just four weeks ago. In the hospital. I am undergoing a treatment for my Crohns, so I need a three hour infusion at the hospital. There are a few patients in one room getting their infusions, most of them chemo. There are no windows. You do not even know if the sun is shining. You listen to the noises: infusion machines and all kinds of other machines checking the heartbeat, the blood pressure, the oxygen. Not even the food channel on TV can change your thinking: disease.For a little while this is your whole world. Until you pass through the door again to the world outside. The healthy one.
Mail from my dog?!
I went to CVS yesterday to get nice cards for my and my husbands moms who are in Germany. The selection was just overwhelming, or should I say silly? Guess what I found? Mother`s Day cards from a dog!! In my mind this whole “card – thing” is going crazy but maybe Joey is thinking to write me a card too…
There are also cards for aunts for Mother`s Day. Not very logical, is it? Of course besides all those other variations of wife-, special person-, grandma-, daughter- cards and so on. And of course there can be a different sender too (from son, nephew, husband, grandchild, daughter…). I am wondering why should I write a card to my aunt or even grandma for Mother`s Day?! If they are mothers they get cards from their children. But “Hallmark” and the card industry probably think differently about this subject.
By the way, I had problems finding simple cards, just for mothers.
Ps. Mother`s Day reminds me that it is already almost 4 years ago when we arrived in the USA. It was exactly the Saturday before Mothers`Day…
Homework for CCD?!
I was very surprised when my son got back from his CCD on Sunday and brought homework home. And it was not easy. He had to work every day for almost 5 weeks until Easter! Some of the questions I could not even answer.
I do not know if his teacher is aware that Jakob is coming from school at 4pm and has still homework to do, most of the time for one hour or more, sometimes in addition to his ESL homework. So I decided we would skip parts of his CCD homework.
His CCD teacher did not accept this and the result was that Jakob just had more work to do. And…he did not like to go to CCD anymore. I can not blame him. Then I got mad about his CCD teacher and the way they act with the kids.
Should it not be more fun and more exciting for the kids to go to CCD and learn about the Bible? Is it not something that they do because they want to and not have to? Shouldn`t the church be more interested in involving the kids in the church life, rather than scare them with additional work? What do they want to teach the kids?
I can not find the answer, so far.
A historical decisionI can not imagine something that is more important. Somebody like me who spent a lot of time in hospitals and deals with a terrible chronic disease for sure understands what I am talking about.
I know I am not American and I have probably no right to talk about politics in this country but I am reading the New York Times every day and there is almost not one day without stories about people struggling with high debt because of being sick. Or even about people, who can not afford the absolute necessary medication or treatment to stay alive. So what could be more important than to reform the health care system?! Young people who say they do not need insurance because they do not get sick are just stupid. Anybody can get sick any time or have an accident any minute that ruins their life forever.
One most common argument that I hear against the health care reform is “socializing”.
Since when is being social and socializing something negative?! I think many Americans mistake socialism with communism, which are complete different things.
And sure, people who have good insurance do not want to pay more now, so their neighbours have a good insurance too. But nobody lives on a lonely island, we all are part of a human society, so I mean everybody has to take responsibility for our country and for each other.
This would be social. In the best meaning of the word.
Asylum for Germans??
I read just two weeks ago in the New York Times (March 1st) an article about a German family who were granted asylum in the USA “because they feared prosecution in their home country”. What???
I could not believe this, I still can not. Germany is a democratic and economically strong country. But home schooling is not allowed there and this is what the family wanted for their kids. Every child has to attend a school (public or private). Exceptions are made just for health reasons. I am a teacher myself and I can say that Germany has a good school system. Nobody has to escape.
I always thought that asylum is for people in real emergency situations, whose life is in danger staying in their own country. Obviously I was proven wrong.
Does it now mean that the next time somebody feels like carrying a gun in public (which is not allowed in Germany ) and he thinks this is essential for his life he could look for asylum in Texas?!
We lost power last Thursday during the snow storm.
Our son was just watching his favourite cartoon, my husband and I were sitting in the kitchen and working (me less) at our laptops.
Click! Complete darkness and… silence.
We did not even speak at first, probably waiting and hoping that is last just for one moment and we can continue doing what we did before. It did not. My husband said: “We lost power”. Yeah, obviously.
There was no tv, no music. The washing machine and the dishwasher stopped. The heating system froze. Not even the refrigerator made a noise(unfortunately!). Everything what belongs to our daily life just turned off. (And nobody asked us for permission.)
It was almost as if life stopped for a while.
After a short panic we found our flash lights. Then we put candles everywhere and turned the fireplace on. Our son went to bed, it was late anyway. Olaf and I were still sitting in the kitchen, with all these candles around us. “My God, it is so quiet, I kind of like it”. Indeed, it was very romantic and the silence was so relaxing.
Couldn`t we have it again next week ? (But just for few hours, please…)
Ps. I have Crohns disease. When the disease hits me, which happens often, it feels, like somebody just pushed the button and turned off the power. But while everything else around me is functioning, like it did before, my life stops for a while, absolutely unexpected…
My American friend went to Switzerland for vacation and to visit her friends.
One day her son had a play date and she had to drop him off . She parked her car in the front of his playmates house and ranged the bell. Meanwhile her 2 year old daughter, (who was sick) was sitting in the car. She let the motor run, it was bitterly cold (Winter!). The child’s mother opened the door, looked at the car in front of her house and said “You can not do this!”. “What?” says my friend “ let my daughter sit in the car?” “No, let the motor run”. “But it is just for a minute, my daughter is sick” answered my friend. “You can not do it” replied the mother “you will get a ticket”. (Which is absolutely true!).
I had a similar(?) experience in Connecticut at my very beginning. I wanted to get bread and left my son in the car in front of the bakery. My friend said to me too: “You can not do it”. First I did not understand also.
Yeah, Environment and Kids! Here an ocean separates the countries and continents!
While in Europe there exist vehicle free cities (there are also vehicle free days), here my neighbor let the motor run for about 15 minutes more before moving the car.
Okay, we have winter and it is cold. Not enough that we do not walk outside anymore. No, now we need even a car heated like our home to feel nice and cozy. Forget the environment! We have “drive thru”, so we do not have to leave the car when we need food . What`s next??
I think it would be nice to have a few side walks. Maybe even then our kids would get more independent and we would be not scared to death seeing them crossing the streets. Maybe they would even learn again how to walk. Maybe they would even enjoy it…God forbid. And maybe they could stand it to ride in an unheated car for a few seconds. Can we do it?!
…Yes, we can!
A parents life (02.01.2010)
Last Saturday my husband and I spend the half of the day at the Pine Wood Derby (Scout Event) and the other half at the Basketball court. The last one was a really experience. In the break there was a lecture delivered for the parents. My son told me that the kids get a riding from the bible in the meantime. I have to say that the basketball practice and games are in a church. Obviously there are not many places which are able to offer space for sport activities, especially in the winter time. How ever, something like this is absolutely impossible in Germany. And of course, we never experienced it before, so it was quite a surprise for us.
On Sunday we were busy helping our son with his big project for the school. Mom helped to write the summery and dad with the diorama. Did I mention that my husband was getting ready our sons car for the Derby the whole last week? Oh, I forgot his activity in the morning :CCD.
Why do I write this? Was there not a time that the kids activities were arranged around their parents activities? Do we have any activities at all? Something is going terribly wrong, I think, but I still do not know how to change it. For now I have to bring my son to his Cub Scout meeting…after I pick him up from his language class.
Prenatal: When your life was still your own. (J.Seabrook)
Prenatal: When your life was still your own. (J.Seabrook)
We`ve got our "green cards", that means we`re permanent residents now. Yeah!! This card makes the life much easier for us, especially when you visit any office, for example a motor vehicle agency. I can apply for a social security number finally. Can you imagine what it does mean to live without one. It is almost like you don`t exist...So I will be a human soon. And after five years we may even become citizens. In this case our son would have three citizenships: Polish, German and American. He would be a "world citizen". I like this idea, how wonderful to be everywhere at home. What is a home? Is this the country where you live, the house or the people. For me it is definitely the last one, otherwise I couldn`t move so often. Wherever my husband and our son are that`s my home. However, the expression "world citizen" seems to make the people more equal. When we visited the emigration office to get our pictures and fingerprints (for our green card) taken, I read the expression "alien" in the papers often. Our son, very confused, said to the man working there : "I am not an alien!". He was thinking of E.T., probably. The man smiled at him and answered:" You know, buddy, in this country we are all aliens somehow". How true!
Ps. By the way: There are many different kind of emigration. You even don`t have to leave the country.
My husband goes to his “Garage-Emigration” every evening. That`s how he calls his wood workshop in the garage. Don`t we all need a small corner where we can emigrate from time to time?
This here is my.
Ps. By the way: There are many different kind of emigration. You even don`t have to leave the country.
My husband goes to his “Garage-Emigration” every evening. That`s how he calls his wood workshop in the garage. Don`t we all need a small corner where we can emigrate from time to time?
This here is my.
A non working women called stay-at-home-mom (02/18/2010)
I have a social security number now. Finally.
My friends reaction: “You can get any credit card in any store you want! (I love how she thinks.)
My husbands reaction: “Oh, so you can work now. I send you to Burger King.” (He was just joking.)
He forgot I have a full time job already. “Okay, then you need to get a nanny, a cook and somebody for cleaning” I answered. He laughed.
I got really mad. Just because I don´t go to the office every morning and don`t get any pay check at the end of the month it does not mean that I don`t work. By the way: Where is my pay check?! I think it would be a big amount when you include two hours cleaning, two hours cooking, at least about six hours baby sitting, grocery shopping and so on. And this on seven days a week. I don`t mention many other small things like keeping in touch with all our friends, getting ready for birthdays, holidays, vacations…and I am still packing my husbands suitcase.
Yes, sure there are many advantages when you are at home. You`re your own boss. You decide what you do and when. But it has to be done, everything. You can compare it with somebody who owns a business: You could always close and go for vacation but you never do. A home is never closed, also.
Then I asked myself :”Why Burger King?” He didn`t say that I can go for my own career now. I graduated from the same University as my husband did… I know he loves me and was just joking, but still… Don`t understand me wrong, I love my life and I enjoy being at home. I wouldn´t like to trade places with anybody and I am thankful that I am able to stay at home. Sure, on some days, especially when kids are running around the house because Jakob has an another play date, I would like to go to my quite office, too…But everybody has this kind of days. We wish we would be somewhere or somebody else. This is not it. So what I am missing? Just a little appreciation for what I am doing!
