I don't suppose I've mentioned our sleeping arrangement yet. What appears to be a king size bed turns out, on further inspection, to be two single bed frames smashed up beside each other. Eloise is still climbing into our bed at night, but that should now be revised to say she is now climbing into my single bed with me every night. I can't Skype with anyone without being told that I look stressed or tired, or whatever sounds more polite than truthfully telling me I look like shit. One point I should make though is that while you're all middle-of-the-day-pretty, I've just half heartedly washed my face and am ready for bed. Time changes suck for your appearance.
We've made our first major purchase, a stroller with a "Buggy Board" attached. We found out early on that with no car and no television, we're going to have to explore German culture on foot. My suburban children were not amused. Claudia could not make it more than 50 metres before slumping her shoulders and sticking her tongue out to pant that she's too tired to go on.
Münster is the bicycle capital of Germany, and please do not think they just made this up for bragging rights. In the local dialect bikes are called Leezen, and they are everywhere. The sidewalk is divided in half by coloured bricks, grey for pedestrians and red for the Leeze. The girls will shout "Off the bike lane!!" if they see our foot wander into the red zone, and it's a good thing that they do. I didn't think it was possible for a bike bell to sound so agressive, but it is. I give it another week before Aaron or I are hit.
I just realized that when I said we have no television, that was a lie. We have a television, it's just very German. The only thing that makes even remote sense are the commercials for phone sex. I don't need a translator for this, but dear God, are they ever explicit. I don't know how there is a market for porn in this country when all one needs to do is turn on the tv past 9 pm. That little black dot over her vagina is not distracting anyone from the Bertha sized breasts flailing around.
BTW, all Aaron and I do at night is have a beer and play Bananagrams. I'm way too tired/stressed/looking-like-shit to even consider doing what is being advertised at 5 Euros a minute.
p.s. More to come on the nuances of German living. For now, here are some pictures from around town.
We've made our first major purchase, a stroller with a "Buggy Board" attached. We found out early on that with no car and no television, we're going to have to explore German culture on foot. My suburban children were not amused. Claudia could not make it more than 50 metres before slumping her shoulders and sticking her tongue out to pant that she's too tired to go on.
Münster is the bicycle capital of Germany, and please do not think they just made this up for bragging rights. In the local dialect bikes are called Leezen, and they are everywhere. The sidewalk is divided in half by coloured bricks, grey for pedestrians and red for the Leeze. The girls will shout "Off the bike lane!!" if they see our foot wander into the red zone, and it's a good thing that they do. I didn't think it was possible for a bike bell to sound so agressive, but it is. I give it another week before Aaron or I are hit.
I just realized that when I said we have no television, that was a lie. We have a television, it's just very German. The only thing that makes even remote sense are the commercials for phone sex. I don't need a translator for this, but dear God, are they ever explicit. I don't know how there is a market for porn in this country when all one needs to do is turn on the tv past 9 pm. That little black dot over her vagina is not distracting anyone from the Bertha sized breasts flailing around.
BTW, all Aaron and I do at night is have a beer and play Bananagrams. I'm way too tired/stressed/looking-like-shit to even consider doing what is being advertised at 5 Euros a minute.
p.s. More to come on the nuances of German living. For now, here are some pictures from around town.
Tomato soup with whipped cream!
Eloise on the promenade that wraps around town.
Prinzipalmarkt decorated with Münster's city colours.
Flower Market.
60 year old wooden slide down to the children's shoe department.
Candy floss at the Kinderfest.
Schloss Palace, near our place as we walk into town.
Did I mention you can smoke anywhere? This is my happy face.
Why didn't my Mom make me warm milk and honey as a child? (Katie, try not to gag.)
I'll say it. German parks are way better than Ontario parks.
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