Daily Life

Time for a quick update!


We are back living on the Manitoban Prairies! We had a wonderful 2 1/2 months in Germany visiting with Georg's parents, family, and friends, but we have decided to call southern Manitoba home for the time-being.

Georg is working the crazy-long hours of a grain farmer and I am slowly integrating myself back into the workforce, while raising an 8 1/2-month old. Right now I'm only working 6 hour days, 3 days a week, and that is a struggle! Especially the days following a night of teething or fussiness. BUT, I am glad to be back in the loop of Manitoban agriculture again. I have gotten a position at the Farm & Food Discovery Centre, an agriculture interpretive centre jointly sponsored by the federal and provincial governments, the University of Manitoba, Manitoba Pork Council and a private donor. I am slowly working my way into a programming position - basically encouraging more tourism to the place. I am excited about this job and think that I wil really enjoy it...once I figure out the childcare situation (which is a nightmare!!).

Here are some pics of our everyday life:
Im Alltag:

Visiting Papa in the field. Ein Besuch auf dem Feld.

Elden loves brushing his teeth with Papa. Zahneputzen mit Papa.

Visiting Grandma Stewart. Oma Stewart besuchen.

Enjoying the sun at Winnipeg Beach. Familienwochenende an der Strand.

3...2...1...Action!

With each new day, Elden continues to surprise me. He has always been a very curious, aware baby, and as he grows older and more mobile, he finds that he can actually control what he sees.

In the last month or so, he has really shown an interest in watching people and animals. Perhaps this is because he has learned that he can turn his head different ways, turn at the hip, even move his head up and down to obtain a better view point....whatever it is, he is loving it!
He loves watching flies crawl around on the table (and gets really confused when they fly away), the dog walking around the farm, Oma and Opa eating lunch, Papa watching tv...well, at least for a second, before the flashing lights and noises from the tv distract him...and then he stares at the screen in awe until you drag him away. Looks like he will be a tv watcher.

Elden's need for action is great for keeping him occupied, but horrible for when it comes time to eat. Any noise, be it people talking, music in another room, the dog barking, will be a distraction, making it a fight to get food into his mouth. Any movement and he is craning his head backwards and upside down in an effort to see what is the cause. His exception to distraction are pears. He absolutely LOVES pears. Nothing is a distraction if mashed pears (with anything) are on the spoon.

Regardless of lengthy mealtimes, I love that Elden is finding the world so interesting and thought-provoking. In the last week, he has started to want to verbally communicate with us, saying "ah" or "ich" when we talk with him. He even likes talking with the dog! It is very sweet to see.

My favourite thing about Elden's love for movement is that he loves watching the wind blow through the trees. He can sit for minutes at a time, watching the leaves dance on the trees, bushes, vines in the yard. I often wonder if he is writing romantic poems in his head. To me it seems so romantic and sweet, him gazing through the window at the waving branches... Perhaps we have a future poet in our midst?

Au Natural

Something I've noticed while living (and visiting) in Germany is that there are many natural products available for use...and that many people use them.

In the stores, I've seen teas or infusions for various everyday usage. There is a kraut (herb) mixture for breastfeeding mothers, stinging nettle tea to act as an anti-histamine, infusions for improving circulation, for nausea, upset stomach,... you name it, I'm sure that you can find it on the shelf.

I've also found that it is fairly commonplace among the women in the neighbourhood to use various weeds for edible purposes. Last month, Maria made a salad using dandelion greens. Dandelion leaves themselves are a bit bitter and taste a little like pepper, but mixed with head lettuce and dressing, they were pretty good. Maria has also made dandelion jam, using the flowers. I've yet to try it.

For their upcoming nuptuals, my sister- and brother-in-law have decided to "spike" the champagne with Holunderblutesirop. They have taken elderflowers from the pasture, steeped them in sugar water, and boiled the liquid down into a slightly concentrated syrup. This will be added to the champagne for an additional zing. I find it to be an acquired taste, being that it is slightly flowery tasting, but nonetheless, it is pleasant.

Elderflower can also be eaten. The flowers are dipped into batter, fried, and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. I'll admit I was a bit hesitant to try them, (eating a flower?!) but once I did, I ate more than one.

Dipping the elderflowers in batter.

Frying the flowers.

Mmmm....cinnamon and sugar!

Loud Blenders - Mushy Peas - Stinky Diapers

The eating of solids begins!

Elden is now 5 1/2 months old and has really started showing an interest in food - watching us putting it into our mouths, opening his mouth for spoons, chewing on paper...
I pulled out the rice cereal yesterday and he easily mastered the swallowing of something other than milk. I thought he would be sputtering and spitting food all over the place for a week. Guess not. We tried a bit liquidy rice cereal with homemade applesauce today and he really enjoyed it.

Guess I will have to pull out the blender, the ice cubes trays, carrots, peas, squash, apples, pears, etc and wait for the stinky diapers to begin. Suppposedly breastfed babies do not have stinky poops until they start solids...I beg to differ because some of Elden's farts and diapers have been pretty ripe, but we will soon see.

Back in the Motherland

Georg and I have brought the baby to Deutschland to visit his Oma and Opa! We had Elden's baptism on April 28th, along with a marriage blessing and party. About 100 people celebrated with us, a few for the second time! Since we have been here, things have been pretty low-key...just getting through everyday life with a 5-month old. However, Because we are only planning on staying in Germany for 2.5 months, Georg and I are deeming this trip a "working holiday". To coincide with a visit from my friend, Krista, we have taken a week off from farm life and are visiting Munich and Prague this week. On Sunday, we drove the 600km journey from Geldern to Munich, stopping at the Deutsche Ecke (joining of the Rhein and Mosel rivers) in Koblenz on the way. Elden is a terrific traveler! He sleeps and plays in the car and we just stop every 2-3 hours to feed him at a rest stop.

The meeting of the Mosel and Rhein rivers.

We were toured around Munich by Georg's sister...drinking the world-famous Mass of beer at typical Munich-style Brauhauses or beer gardens, eating white sausage with mustard, touring the farmer's markets. We also paid for a tour of the Altstadt, so we got to see many of the beautiful, post WW2-reconstructed buildings and hear the Glockenspiel (ringing of the bells) from the Rathaus (town hall) bell tower on the Marienplatz.

Mmmm, beer! Munich style!

On Tuesday, we took a 50km detour on our way to Prague...to a small town in Austria. The reason: we simply wanted to say that we had visited Fucking, Austria! Yup, this little town is called Fucking. We saw Fucking houses, Fucking cows, and even went on a Fucking walk. :D The drive into Prague was breath-taking! Although Krista and I were comparing the ornate, tall buildings to those of Amsterdam, Paris, and sometimes Italy, this city has it's own majesty.

We were in Fucking Austria!!

We spent Wednesday and Thursday mastering the subway system and toured the castle, the Old Town, and Jewish quarter of Prague. Pushing the stroller up the cobblestone walkway towards the Prague castle perched on a hill overlooking the city was a feat in itself, but totally worth the energy (or I assume that is what Georg would think!). This 'castle' is more of a small, fancy city confined to the top of a hill within the safety of thick stone walls. There are ornately decorated buildings, a substantial cathedral, numerous courtyards, and even the cute Golden Lane where villagers lived. We witnessed the changing of the guard, with trumpets to provide the tempo. The church and surrounding buildings in the Old Town square were mind-blowing with all the ornate details. Although we didn't try too much of the local cuisine, we did manage to sample some crepes. Supposedly Prague does have a traditional crepe with creme cheese and jam, but we couldn't find a restaurant that had them.

None of us had ever seen such long escalators as were in the Prague subway - they were scary steep!!

A view of Prague from the castle.

The beautifully ornate buildings of Prague.

More beautiful buildings.

The Golden Lane, where villagers lived in the Prague castle.

Friday was spent weaving our way home on various Autobahns. However, we did make 2 longer stops to help break up the 800km monotony for Elden. Our first stop was at Festung Koenigstein, the largest fortress in Germany. It had pretty impressive set-up with gardens, armories, a church, governor's house, and several strongholds. We also stopped at a small concentration camp, where Hitler had prisoners fabricate rockets inside mountain tunnels. Not much remains of the original buildings - mostly just foundations and a few scattered bricks. Only the crematorium is original, with all other buildings razed to the ground shortly after the war ended. The entire grounds were covered in trees and grass and had I not known the history of the place, I would have found the walk around very nice. I found it hard to believe that so many people were murdered in such a beautiful area, although I'm sure the feelings and emotions at the time were much different than what I experienced there.

Ruins of a barrack, where the prisons lived.

Ruins of the kitchen facilities at KZ-Dora

Paintings on the walls in the crematorium/experimental facility had "happy" pictures. Talk about messed up!

Georg and I have learned that, once again, Elden is a terrific traveler... otherwise this trip would have been incredibly stressful! Even though I missed out on my afternoon naps, I was able to sleep enough to enjoy the sights and the company. Thanks Krista for helping Georg and I with Elden! And Elden, thanks for being an awesome baby!!

Enjoying a walk from the vantage point of Papa's shoulders.

Change of Name...

Well, many people have told me that changing your name after marriage can be a year-long process, and a few have told me that it is really easy.
At first, upon initial website surfing, I thought it was going to be a real hassle, but once I ordered a marriage certificate from Vital Statistics, everything was a piece of cake. Oh, and you will need your birth certificate too.

1. Order a marriage certificate from Vital Stats. It will take about a month to get, so if you are rearing to get your name changed, do this shortly after your wedding. You will need to show this certificate to all services for a name change, so bring it with you!

2. Head down to your local Autopac Agent, and for $10, they will issue a new driver's license. All you need to do is show them your marriage certificate and state what you would like your new last name to be.

3. Call Revenue Canada. All you need to do is tell them your new name. Piece of cake!

4. Hit up a Service Canada building. Bring your marriage and birth certificate. They will update their database and you will get a new S.I.N. card in the mail. I got mine in 2 weeks.

5. Contact Manitoba Health for a new health card. You can either go to the downtown location or if you are lucky, the Service Canada location you visit (see 4.) will be able to fax over your name change to the main MB Health location.

6. If you plan on traveling, remember to get a new passport with your new identity. You will need to go through the normal process of filling out paperwork, get a guarantor to sign, and will need to provide your birth certificate. You also need proof of identity, so make sure you have already changed over your driver's license into your new name.

7. Don't forget to let your bank, work, phone company, visa, etc. know of your name change. I know that it is getting pretty confusing signing two names while I wait for my visa to come in the mail!

So, really, I've found changing my name to be fairly straight forward, once I got the marriage certificate. Hope this helps out someone. :)