“Spring” Break, Part I

We are lucky enough to have two weeks of Spring Break here and I wanted to take full advantage of it. We had travel plans for the second week, but would be home for the first. I thought I’d be proactive (very unlike me) and make plans with the boys instead of just putzing around the house and then suddenly realizing that a week has gone by and we’ve done nothing but putz.

I was expecting that we’d be out and about, having all kinds of fun adventures – the typical “staycation.” As it turns out, my boys are homebodies (albeit social homebodies) just like me and they only thing they really wanted to do was play with friends. That meant I just needed to schedule some time with friends – and make sure we had plenty of snacks around. Works for me!

The weather was rather un-Spring like and that is all the more reason to stay at home, in my opinion.  We did meet some friends in the town of Thorn (in the Netherlands) to visit the “famous” Pannekoekenbakker restaurant. There are a gazillion types of Pannekoeken available here (that’s a Dutch pancake), from the more traditional (I had apple) to the exotic (pizza pancake, anyone?) Sadly, I didn’t take any photos, mostly because I didn’t order anything particularly photo-worthy. It was tasty though!

The town of Thorn is seemed nice, and I’m sure I would have been more interested in seeing more of it if the temperature hadn’t been in the 30′s with snow. Ugh.

We visited the church and even got audio guides for the full history.

This altar was impressive.

I’d heard about this notable item in the crypt – a mummified body. I realize the photo isn’t terribly clear but that is to keep the squeamish from having nightmares.

It must be a requirement that every Dutch town has at least one waterway, even if it is small.

I did not take pictures of the time spent with friends (how exciting is it to photograph kids playing xbox?) but we did do a couple of traditional Easter activities. We dyed eggs – or rather egg shells.

No one in our house is a big fan of hard-boiled eggs, and I don’t see the point of dying a bunch of them and then keeping them in the refrigerator or peeling off the colorful shells to make them into deviled eggs. Instead, we dye blown out eggs. In the weeks before Easter anytime I need an egg I blow it out instead of cracking it the usual way, then I’ve got a couple dozen shells to dye. (That is why Andrew has bamboo skewers – very helpful for picking up the egg shells.)

On Easter morning (which happened to be the first day of Daylight Savings Time here) we had Easter baskets filled with goodies for the boys. I didn’t buy crackers at Christmas so I was excited to see them for sale at Easter.

The weather on Easter Sunday was quite chilly also. We had an egg hunt at the chapel so everyone bundled up for the big search.

After church we hosted Easter dinner and had nearly 40 people over. It was lots of fun, but I was too busy to get a single photograph! I was particularly thankful for the industrious friends who completely cleaned my kitchen afterwards! Then once everyone left I could focus on packing suitcases for our flight the next morning.

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Arrivederci, Roma!

Some parting shots of my short-but-sweet trip to Rome (and I’m not just talking about the gelato!)

Although the gelato is certainly worthy of a shout out. So yummy! I had intentions of eating a scoop or two every chance I got (I certainly burned enough calories during my 26 mile jog around the city!) but in the end I only had these two scoops – one chocolate and one cherry. I’ll have more next time!

After we had cleaned up from the marathon we headed out to dinner. It was a rainy night but still beautiful.

We had run by Trevi Fountain earlier in the day but I didn’t have a coin with me to toss in so we visited again.

Umbrella vendors were doing a pretty good business. We weren’t the only ones crazy enough to go out in the rain.

Tossing a coin is said to ensure a return to Rome. (And, the money from the fountain is used to help feed the poor. Sounds like a win-win to me.)

Arrivederci, Roma! See you again soon!

 

 

 

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A Lull At St. Peter’s

We had one day in Rome before the marathon and we chose to visit St. Peter’s Basilica. The new Pope, Francis I, had been chosen a few days before, and the enthronement was scheduled to be the day after the race. (We were thankful that it was not on race day – that would have moved the marathon start time to 4:30pm which is a less-than-ideal time to begin a 26 mile run.) Besides those who were working to get things ready for the big event, the Basilica was really not crowded! It was a lull between the crowds, I suppose.

It was obvious that something strange was afoot though. Check out this media camp! There were others on the roofs of nearby buildings.

In a matter of days these seats would be filled with world leaders and dignitaries. Thankfully they would have clean steps to gaze upon thanks to those manning the pressure washers.

The  Pope will make an appearance from this balcony (complete with new velvet curtains.)

There was an incredibly long line to go inside but it moved very quickly. The interior was amazing!

The Pieta (by Michelangelo) was especially awe-inspiring.

Heads up! There’s plenty more to see overhead!

Here’s the guy who started it all – St. Peter. Notice that he holds the key to his office. It must be a huge lock. People lined up to touch (or kiss) his foot.

We wanted to go up to the dome but we didn’t want to walk all of those steps (we were supposed to be resting for the big race) so we spent an extra 2€ to take the elevator. Unfortunately, the elevator only went to the roof level. The view was still pretty nice though.

The walls were adorned with mosaics – beautiful!

The cupola is another 323 steps up. Ouch, hello quads. But oh my, the view!!

We couldn’t have been much higher. At least I wouldn’t have wanted to be much higher.

The Swiss Guards are in charge here. Love those uniforms!

St. Peter’s Basilica was truly beautiful. I’m sure Pope Francis will enjoy his new home.

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XXVI.II in Rome

My favorite way to see a city is on a bike tour, as we’ve done in Salzburg, Berlin, Paris and London. Sadly, I couldn’t find a bike tour in Rome so I had to resort to a tour on foot.

Kidding! It didn’t happen exactly like that…

The real story is that I’ve run many half marathons (including Amsterdam, and nearly a half from Paris to Versailles) so I thought it was about time for me to go for the whole enchilada (or maybe the whole Lasagne) and run a full marathon. That is 26.2 miles – or as they say in Rome, 42.195 km. Thankfully I convinced my super-marathoner friend to fly from Ohio to Germany, then to Rome, just for the marathon. Melissa is also the mother of 4 and her husband is deployed for a year. She’s not just a super-marathoner, she’s a super-friend too.

I decided to once again document the race in a niche category of photojournalism that I like to call Photography In Motion. In other words, I don’t stop, I just point, click, and keep on running. Considering the equipment, I’d say the photos capture the race pretty well, especially if there is no expectation for photos to be in focus. Warning: The race was long and so is this post.

The start was at the Colosseum. The weather was perfect!

I was in the slow corral (way in the back), so I couldn’t really see the start, but since this helicopter was hovering I figured it was about that time. Melissa said the Pope Francis even blessed the race!

This is actually before I even officially started the race. After waiting a long time our corral was finally released. I decided to make one last pit stop (sorry if that is TMI) and when I emerged everyone was gone! I really felt like I was the last one.

One of the reasons I picked this race  is that it was described as a  perfect race for tourists since the race route went by many notable sites in Rome. Not even a half kilometer in we ran past this gorgeous building. This is one example of how a marathon is not a good substitute for a tour: I had no idea what this building was until I just googled it. It is the Victor Emmanuel Monument. Next time I’ll check out the interior when I’m not in such a hurry.

Having a race marked in kilometers instead of miles is nice because the kilometer markers are closer together (obviously.) The downside is that there are more of them.

There were several bands (the marching variety) in the first part of the race. This one was playing a little tune over and over and they kept increasing the tempo. It didn’t make me run any faster though.

We headed toward the Testaccio neighborhood. I think that is the Porta San Paolo ahead. There is a free museum inside but I didn’t go in.

Oh no, wrong turn, I’m in Egypt! Just kidding – it is a pyramid under that scaffolding but it is the tomb of a rich Roman magistrate.

Not all of Rome is beautiful. We ran past some boring parts too, but not many.

I thought these trees were so pretty, even without leaves.

We ran past the walls that once protected the city. This portion is now a car dealership!

There is no shortage of beautiful churches. Check out the dome on the right.

I remember learning that Rome was built on seven hills. I’m quite happy to say that although we saw many hills, we didn’t run up (or down) any of them. The course was quite flat.

I imagined that those winged figures on the bridge were Nike, the goddess of victory, cheering me on.

That is the Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as the Mausoleum of Hadrian. (Once again, thank you google.)

The race support was great. There were stops every 5km that had water, “salts” (Gatorade), and “solids” (biscuits but not the buttermilk kind, fruit, etc.)

Yes, that is a bicycle that cut right in front of me. The second half of the race – that is, once the rest of Rome was up and about –  got a little crazy with people on the race course. Check out the road – lots of cobblestone. Considering that and the trash from the marathoners, I was quite happy that I didn’t trip or sprain an ankle.

Here is another building which I admired but cannot identify.

Sponges were given out along the route. The weather wasn’t that hot but that was very refreshing.

We crossed over the Tiber river four times but this bridge was the nicest.

If Jeremy had been with us, I would have told him to wait right here for me. That way he could have checked out the antiques while waiting for me to run past.

At about 28 km I stopped to stretch and realized that my toes were quite blistered. Ouch.

I kept going and tried not to think about my poor toes.

Ah, Kilometer 32. Only 10 more to go.

If I were to guess I’d say this is the headquarters of the Italian Navy.

Oh no, a tunnel! I hated the tunnels we ran through in Paris…but this one was not too bad. It was quite short and there were no noisy exhaust fans.

We got into the heart of Rome and there were tons of spectators tourists feigning attention to the marathon but it was pretty obvious they were just annoyed.

Goodness! It’s another church!

I thought this was Trajan’s Column, but it actually belongs to Marcus Aurelius.

And another church!

At this point my photos weren’t as blurry, mostly because I was moving -ahem- a little slower. Here’s Trevi Fountain! No time to throw a coin in though. Later.

Finish line! I’m so happy to see you!

I collected my medal and my shiny mylar blanket and headed to meet Melissa. She’d finished an hour before me (and she’d done GREAT!) so she was energetic and chipper. I, on the other hand, wished I could lay on the sidewalk and take a nap but I didn’t.  After a little recovery snack we hobbled back to the hotel.

Here’s my complete post-race analysis. These are really notes to my future self and are not to be confused with advice or race instructions.

Weather: Perfect! High 40′s at race time and sunny; got a little cloudy and a bit of drizzle at one point but great running conditions. After finishing the wind really picked up and later that night it was pouring rain.

Attire: I wore a short sleeved shirt and capris. I had a long sleeved shirt pre-race but left it in my backpack.

Training: I followed Hal Higdon’s novice training plan. The first 12 weeks were great. The last 4 fell apart. Between travelling, loads of snow, sick kids, and an injury after my 20 mile run, I did very little running the last 4 weeks. That did not make the last 1/3 of the race much fun.

Nutrition: I had water at every stop and Gatorade at some. I ate Clif Shot Bloks (cherry flavor) during the race. Thinking back, I probably should have eaten more protein in the days before the race. I ate plenty of pizza and pasta, but I should have ordered steak.

Equipment: I debated whether I would run with my ipod but the decision was made when I accidentally left it home. I wished I’d had it.

Recovery: The first two days I hobbled around like an 85 year old. Ouch, ouch, ouch. The sore muscles and blisters healed pretty quickly, but I’ve still got that injury that I sustained after my 20 mile training run. I’ll make a doctor appointment soon, I promise.

Next Marathon: Yes, I would do another! And after a full, a half-marathon seems like a walk in the park. I collected plenty of race brochures at the expo, but whether I’m healed enough to run remains to be seen.

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At Least Someone Appreciates Snow

 

It has been a long, snowy winter. It’s all relative though – every time I think how long the winter has been my thoughts turn to Laura Ingalls and I realize that since we don’t wake up with frost on our noses or have to twist hay for our survival it really hasn’t been that bad. It also hasn’t been as bad as the winters we spent in Buffalo or Cleveland, but it has been much worse than our time in Biloxi or Little Rock. In Germany it has been snowier than last year, but I’m told the winter of 2010-2011 was much worse.

We had significant snowfall in December, January, and February. We had a couple of warmish days at the beginning of March and I foolishly thought spring had arrived.

About that same time the kids learned about prayer in Children’s Church and made this poster of prayer requests.Curious, I looked to see what my boys had written. Thomas prayed for a new xbox game, and here is Andrew’s prayer:

Oh, silly boy, I thought. It is MARCH. It is SPRING! Doesn’t he know that we won’t get any more snow? Maybe next year, but probably not 6 inches!  And then a few days later we got this:

That may not look like 6 inches, but it was very windy so there were plenty of snow drifts.

Drifts like this one. That is definitely more than 6 inches!

Andrew was so happy! Dare I say he was in the minority?

We did not make a fort, but he did make a few snow angels. I’ve officially had enough and I hope Andrew has too. We’re now praying for Spring.

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A Plethora of Pottery and a Palace in Poland

“Have you been shopping in Poland yet?”

I’ve been asked this question with the emphasis on yet. Apparently it is something everyone does during their time here, just like getting a speeding ticket or eating schnitzel.

Finally, I got my chance! I headed to Bolaslawiec, Poland with two friends to buy some pottery. Of course we didn’t have to drive 8 hours just for pottery, but this is the motherland so the selection is amazing and so are the prices!

There are many shops all around town. Some are big, well-organized showrooms.

Others are smaller but required a little more digging.

Others are right next to the factory where the pottery is handmade.

This one was really off the beaten path. We parked next to this shed which was filled with clay and pottery molds. The store was a room off of a barn, and they were closed but they came to help us when we rang the bell. They did not speak any English but we had no problem making a transaction.

Seeing this in the parking lot is a sign that it is going to be quite crowded inside!

All around the town there are giant pottery pieces like these.

As far as the rest of the Polish scenery, it was pretty gloomy and chilly.

The air smelled like fireworks because coal is used for heat. That also probably contributed to the grey skies – pollution.

We stayed at the Elim Christian Center. This mission is housed in a 450 year old palace. The dedicated staff here work to make life better for area residents by providing food, clothing, work (they make adorable nativity sets!), and other services to those in need.

It would be awesome if we could come back here with a group from the Chapel and partner with Elim to do a service project – perhaps with a bit of free time to do some shopping, just to support the local economy, of course.

And what did I buy? I won’t do a full reveal since some of these things will be gifts, but here is a sneak peak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I’m Not So Good At Planning Birthday Parties

There. I admitted it. I do love birthdays, but party planning is just not my thing. I admire people like my friend Jackie who have amazing themed events for their kids. (Check out the Lego party for her son Harry! She put together an incredible party – and she doesn’t exactly live in suburbia U.S.A. so I can’t use that as an excuse!) I like to look at creative ideas on Pinterest. I just don’t execute well – and honestly, I don’t even aspire to.

I’m not just referring to amazing themes, decor, treats and invitations. I’m not even good at setting a date for birthday parties for my kids. We just had Andrew’s party last week and his birthday is in December. It wasn’t entirely my fault: I think that December is a rather challenging month to schedule a birthday party. People (and I include myself) are very busy gearing up for Christmas so I hate to add another event or expense to the mix. We have a family celebration on his actual birthday, of course, but the last few years we’ve saved the “kid party” for January. This year January got away from us so we scheduled the party for the first week in February. Everything was all set – until Andrew woke up on party day with the stomach flu. The rest of February was booked so we turned the calendar page, and headed for the month of March.

The plan was simple: we’d pick up the kids from school on Friday and head to Kinderstaat, an indoor playground. (Perhaps mini-amusement park would be a more appropriate description?) We’d play, eat, sing Happy Birthday, then drive the kids home. It would be fun, easy for the parents, and I wouldn’t have to make a pinata or clean my house.

Everything started off without a hitch. The boys started out playing on this giant inflated trampoline.

Then they moved on to the regular trampolines.

Jeremy got into the mix too.

When they got hot and thirsty I bought slushes for everyone.

Next up was this giant climbing thing. There was a lot of talk about who was on whose team so there was some kind of strategic game going on, but from my vantage point I couldn’t follow the action.

When that was done it was time for bumper cars.

Jeremy and I took a ride on the carousel. That was a little too boring for the kids. Here’s a crazy thing though: There is a little booth next to the carousel where an operator would usually be – but the booth is empty. I couldn’t understand how we were going to turn the carousel “on” but no sooner had we chosen horses to ride on than the thing started moving! Mysterious! (Keep reading for the not-s0-mysterious answer.)

Kinderstaat has plenty of space for parents to hang out while the kids play. Although they have a snack bar, people can bring in whatever food they want! We were here at New Year’s one year and one group of adults were celebrating with plenty of wine. (It’s Europe!) We brought healthy snacks for our party guests and supplemented this with some fine Dutch fast food. Obviously the crowds were pretty light when we were there and we soon found out why.

Here’s a popular spot: my boys call it The Volcano. The reward for climbing to the top is a ride down the slide.

It was here at the Log Flume that I learned just how these rides are operated. One person sits at a control booth with a bunch of video screens. Apparently cameras are capturing all the action. When someone gets on the ride, they start it up.

Here’s more evidence of my lack of party planning skills: After one ride a voice announced that the log flume was now closed. I was surprised so I asked an employee what time they were closing. She said, “Right now.” That would explain why we were the only ones in the place! Duh! I had just assumed an entertainment hot spot like this would be open late on Friday night. Nope, they closed at 6pm.

We hadn’t opened presents or eaten cupcakes (honestly, I had tried but every time I got everyone sitting down they jumped up to play on something else!) so we continued in the parking lot where the birthday party morphed into a tailgate party.

Oops. As I’ve been saying a lot lately, “All’s well that ends well!” I’ll try to do better next year. Maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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RETREAT!

We’ve obviously been living here a while because we are starting to repeat ourselves – at least when it comes to travel. We went to Willingen once before (but I forgot my camera) at the end of the summer. This time it was the end (hopefully!) of winter and we experienced a whole lot of snow.

The occasion for travel was the Community Retreat, an event sponsored by a few different Base agencies. Over 200 people attended. For the kids it was like an all-weekend playdate with their friends. Fantastic! For the adults it was a time of education, personal growth, and development of  stronger relationships within the community (or something like that.) Jeremy and I each taught a couple of workshops. I played Bob Barker (minus the skinny microphone) in The Price is Right where I attempted to encourage comparison shopping between the commissary and local (German) stores. I also taught Faith and Finance. Jeremy stuck with the faith theme (not a stretch for a Chaplain) and taught Faith and Marriage and Faith and Family.

While the classes were happening the kids got to play in this enormous bounce castle! I’m pleased to report there were no injuries.

We had a choice for our afternoon activity – ice skating, skiing, or swimming. We headed for the pool. I didn’t take any photos inside but here is exterior of the waterpark as seen from our balcony. Those big tubes are waterslides. The boys had the most fun in the outdoor section of the pool, where they would occasionally get out and roll in the snow.  I’m pleased to report there was no frostbite.

I really hoped to go up in the Gondola to the top of the mountain, although I had no plans to ski. I forced the boys for a walk with me but it was very cold and very crowded so we stopped at a restaurant for apple strudel and hot chocolate instead.

It was awfully nice of the boys to stop and smile for a moment because truthfully they were not enjoying themselves. They kept saying they were cold. I am pleased to report that there was no hypothermia.

We stayed at the Sauerland Stern Hotel. We had a great room. We had a big balcony which was (naturally) covered with snow. We sent the boys out there to play.

Here’s an odd thing though: this is a huge property with over 500 rooms – and they still use regular metal keys! Check out the key rack behind the front desk. That’s old school!

We left very early on Sunday morning because Jeremy had to preach at the Chapel. We expected that the weather and road conditions would gradually improve as we headed toward home. Nope! We were greeted by more than 6 inches of fresh snow at our house!

Because the roads were not plowed, Jeremy cancelled the service. The first thing we did was to shovel the driveway and sidewalks. Our neighbors are very diligent about snow removal so we’re trying to keep up. I saw one neighbor shovel snow into a wheelbarrow and dump it in his backyard so that the walk would be completely clear.

Once that was taken care of it was time for some fun. The snow was light but wet so conditions were perfect for building. I made this snowman.

Of course the boys made a fort.

It was quality snow-tecture. Check out this Roman arch!

When it was satisfactory our neighbors came over and a snowball fight ensued. Hopefully this is winter’s last hurrah! (At least here in Germany –  as I write this my sister Sarah has a snow day and Anne is expecting a storm! Stay warm, girls!)

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Hamburg: The Rest Of The Story

I already posted about our first day in Hamburg and the fabulous Miniatur Wunderland. Now, as Paul Harvey would say, Page 2. (The rest of the story.)

When we arrived in our hotel room on Friday night, Jeremy spotted a map for hotel guests with a suggested running route. It was a 9km route that went around the Hamburg harbor. Thinking it would be a great way to begin our second day in Hamburg, on Saturday morning he set out on the course. Jeremy is a runner – and by that I mean both that he runs frequently and he is quite good at it – so I expected that route would take him about 45 minutes at most. 

I will refrain from sharing every last detail, but suffice to say that we would staunchly disagree with the desk clerk’s opinion that Hamburg is an easily navigated city. It is likely that Jeremy ran nearly 20 miles in the 2 1/2 hours he was gone. At one point he was just a block from the hotel, but didn’t recognize it from that vantage point and continued on.

After that adventure, Jeremy and I were both exhausted: He from the physical challenge of running, and me from the mental exercise of running worst-case-scenarios in my head. (My top concern was that he was injured – blown out knee or Achilles – and was limping back, in horrific pain. A close second was a close encounter with a vehicle. Thankfully, both ideas were misuses of God’s great gift of imagination.) Needless to say we pretty much lost our enthusiasm for adventuring after that.

However, we had about 6 hours before our train back home so we found a place to store our luggage for the afternoon and walked down to the Speicherstadt (warehouse district.) This area has a unique history. Its position allowed it to be a customs-free zone so goods that passed through here were free of customs taxes. The architecture is known as the Brick Gothic style of the “Hanoverian School.” This area is undergoing a revitalization but many of the warehouses are still in use today. They are accessible both from water and from land. We saw quite a number of carpet importers and even some well known brands (Eastpack luggage, for example) in the warehouses that we passed.

We visited the Speicherstadt Museum where I learned everything that I know (see above paragraph) about the history of the Warehouse district. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids – a small book of photographs of items found in the museum that they tried to locate. These stencils on the wall were used to mark the destinations of the goods. This was definitely a global economy.

Back in the day Hamburg was quite the coffee mecca! (That’s just one more way Northwestern Germany is similar to the NW United States.)  Here is a coffee roaster at the museum.

As far as I understand it, this device is a mechanized postal device which would measure coffee samples by weight and then send them to be tested.

This giant basket was used to hoist goods to the upper floors of the warehouses. At least that is what I would assume because I did not see any hot air balloons.

We wandered along some of the canals. These boats looked interesting – and would be even more so if they were ready for sailing. One was named the J.R.R. Tolkien and the other was the Loth Loriën. Apparently someone is a Lord of the Rings (trilogy) fan.

We heard that this Maritime Museum is excellent, but we didn’t stop to see it. For a further explanation please refer to paragraph 4 above.

These two were still chipper enough to pose for a photograph or two.

I’m sure there are many more interesting things to see in Hamburg, but we were as grumpy as these guys so we headed to the train station. After perusing the food options we picked up some dinner to-go (including Starbucks for me!) and headed to the train. Five hours and two trains later we were back at home.

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Look, Ma, No Jet Lag!

Several months ago I read a post on Design Mom about avoiding jet lag. While jet lag is no fun, I seriously doubted whether I could (or would!) give up food for 16 hours just to get on a more normal sleep cycle. Flights across the Atlantic are long and boring, and for me, eating is a leisure activity. And, if we’re flying commercial I want to get my money’s worth: I watch every movie, drink every beverage, and eat (or at least try) every morsel of food I’m offered. Hey, I paid for it!

Funny enough, I stumbled on to trying this Jet Lag cure and it worked. Amazingly, shockingly, I’m-still-waiting-for-the-sleep-deprivation-to-kick-in (but it hasn’t.) Here’s my full report:

Sunday noon: Had a fabulous brunch. Delicious, greasy American food? I’m game. I had bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and an omlette. I did have a some fruit too, but eschewed the coffee (didn’t want the caffeine – plus I gave coffee up for Lent.)

Sunday, 3ish pm: Stopped at Meijr to buy snacks. Wandered aimlessly wondering what American junk food I should buy before returning to the land of not-so-much junk food. Didn’t go as crazy as I thought I would.

Sunday, 5:15pm: Arrived at passenger terminal and am told we should have been there several hours earlier. The stress of “nearly” missing the flight turned my stomach in knots.

Sunday, 7:00pm: Boarded the plane. I encouraged the boys to eat (hoping they will subsequently fall asleep and wake up renewed and refreshed when the flight lands) but my stomach is still in knots.

Somewhere over the Atlantic: I can’t sleep. The children have sleeping bags and the Airmen have hammocks but the writer of this blog has no place to lay her head. I can’t get comfortable sleeping sitting up. My feet  are freezing. I had a vague thought of eating something but nothing really sounds good so I watched an episode of Downton Abbey instead. The boys are sacked out to my right and left.

Somewhere else over the Atlantic: I’m still not sleeping. I remembered the fast-for-16 hours article and realize I’m about 10 hours into it. Hmmmm, maybe I could do this…

Monday, 9:30am: Arrived in Germany. Dear Husband picked us up. I was a bit hungry but I’ve got German class so I headed there instead. I’ll admit I was a bit woozy but I stayed awake during class. (The instructor did give me a strange look at one point and says, “Are you okay?” and I nodded and muttered something about lack of sleep.)

Monday, 12 noon: Grabbed lunch – a pizza brotchen. Headed home.

Monday 1:00pm: Announced that we are all going to take naps. I fell asleep after about 15 minutes and sleep for an hour. The boys don’t sleep a wink.

Monday, 6:30pm: I lead Bible Study (thankfully it is a video!) and it’s close, but I did stay awake.

Monday, 10:00pm: Bedtime. Unlike my children, who were awake for more than an hour after going to bed, I fell right asleep.

Tuesday, 5:15am: 15 minutes before my alarm clock I woke up, ready for the day!

And bingo, just like that, I’m back on schedule. The usual rule of thumb is that it takes one day for every time zone, and we crossed from central U.S. time (on Saturday) to Central Europe time (on Monday), which is 7 time zones. In the past (this was my 5th flight from the U.S. to Europe)  it really has taken about a week, whether we take naps during the day or not.

By the way, the boys ate and slept on the flight, and just as I expected, it took a week to adjust.

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