Me & Oatie on the couch

(Practicing laying down and seltzer water inebriation, Bumbershoot)

No today photo, unless you want to see a drab, dirty girl laying pathetically in her sister's bathrobe. Extended travel has caught up with me and put me in a sling. My designated spot is vertical with PJs. Oatie's kind enough to keep me company. I have the flu.

It's a bit of a damper since I have so few days in Oregon and they are packed tight with visits to friends, possible employers, and more. But one must listen to their body. I am not sickly but when I travel, it tends to come every month or two and especially when I stop. I think this is common.

(At Bumbershoot)

Last weekend, Carrie and I headed north to Seattle for Bumbershoot, a festival which contains music, visual arts, lectures, and film. We've gone in the past and last time it was glorious: full of stages and new artists, books and interesting installations, all outdoors under the Space Needle.

This year, they'd moved a couple stages indoors, cut out the literature, decreased the visual art to one room, and provided very inadequate seating for the film. By shrinking the area and decreasing the content, it felt a lot less grassy and laid back than in the past. I'd say it was a turn for the worse. However, the grand finale, Hall and Oates, brought a bitch twinkle* to our eyes. Nothing like Maneater, Rich Girl, Sara Smile, and more. Songs from 1980, when we were living in Wisconsin, and my dad was still alive. Good stuff.

*Bitch Twinkle: When you're just about to cry and your eyes sparkle from the tears.

Back to Berlin (but most of the pics are still on Carrie's camera in Portland)

Mom at the Jewish Memorial

Potzdamer Platz- we had dinner here the first night I arrived, since it was within walking distance of our hotel.

The Lego Giraffe at Potzdamer.

A section of the wall that was painted.

The Brandenberg Gate.

A nice truck-- the driver stopped for mom to take this photo even though the light turned green!

Oh great, I'm forgetting now. I think this is the Dome of something.

Cool statues.

Where they had essentially a free outdoor museum on Berlin and the wall. In Alexanderplatz. Also some sort of Michael Jackson thing was going on. We were so lucky to hear, "Heal the World" at least two times while we were reading.


More another day, perhaps!

A semi-traumatic ending to an emotional month of visitors

The good news is, Carrie and mom have flights out of Amsterdam tomorrow.

After watching flights, and realising that Nuremberg is still canceling most of their flights and the volcanic activity could continue, we decided that perhaps they could get to Amsterdam and then fly from there. So this afternoon, Carrie called Delta and was able to get my mom on the last seat to Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon and herself on the flight in the morning directly to Portland.

We'd looked at trains to Amsterdam, and there were regular overnight departures, so we figured they'd have to leave this evening between 5:30 and 7:00 after we celebrated mom's birthday.

At 2pm, they went to the Vilseck train station, where they are so good and so nice. The overnight connections would've required 6-7 train changes in order to get in early enough for Carrie to catch the morning flight. So the woman told them they needed to leave at 2:34, which was 20 minutes notice. They called me at my office phone. I was so sad not to be able to say goodbye, but I was in the middle of a family of four childrens eye exams.

I started to see one of the boys again, and then stopped, and asked the mom if she'd mind if I was gone for 20-30 minutes to say goodbye and drop some things off. She said, "Just go! You were so nice and didn't say anything when we were late."

So I sped off for the train station, and arrived about ten minutes later. They were still waiting. I ran up and gave them hugs. My mom said, "How'd you get here this fast?" We were all crying and five minutes later, they were gone.

I just hope they make their flights in Amsterdam. The Nuremberg airport is small, the planes tiny. And for the last few days, they'd just been sitting at home trying to figure out how to get on an earlier flight, and whether or not their flights would even leave...

So I came home to an empty house. A birthday cake with "H-ash-py Birthday Mutti!" and no slices out of it. Should I light candles and blow them out for mom?

It was a weird month... starting with Carrie and my crazy drive through Croatia war zone, to mom and Carrie getting so sick for a week, to Grandma suddenly dying, and then the volcano canceling their flights... Why was I surprised when they almost had to leave without saying goodbye?

I will just say I am so happy they came and spent a month with me. I am so happy that I was given my family in this life. It was wonderful to have them. I hope the rest of their travels go without a hitch.

A quiet house

Carrie and Mom were off this morning on the train to Praha. A few days in Praha (Prague), then to Krakow with a side trip to Auschwitz and finally to Berlin where I'll pick them up next weekend and we'll all go wandering about, returning to my little area of Germany on Sunday night. We'll have Monday to recover and then a jaunt to the airport for mom and Carrie to catch the 6:50AM flight out of Nuremberg on Tuesday April 20th. I'm sure time'll go quick as craziness.

We all nursed colds/flus/evil bugs for the last week and I sent them off this morning loaded down with vitamins, an emergency poncho and umbrella, 2 hidden money wallets (no more Spain experiences!) and some Czech cash. Hopefully they arrived intact. My mom sent an email from Nuremberg saying their train left 50 minutes late this morning so they missed the connection to Prague but I think it's only a couple hours later arrival. Hopefully they enjoyed the countryside.

We've had the weirdest weather- it was SNOWING this morning as we left for the train station. Happy 31st to Carrie, who knew that she would have snow again? It's almost like being in North Dakota.

I also had a mostly quiet day at work- all the military is off for a four day weekend. But, several smelly patients. Literally. I think they rolled out of bed after drinking and smoking for four days straight. They have four day weekends once a month. I think for most of them it must actually shorten their lives. One of my patients even arrived with a swollen eyelid, which he said was from falling off a bar. Good times. They continue.

Photo happiness from Carrie and Mom's trip

Advanced internet connection in Germany. Attach wifi stick to head for better reception...

Carrie practicing to look German. But smiling a little too much. You can tell Mom is not German at all as she is totally smiling like a crazy Czech. Tee, hee, hee.

Me freezing ass off. I swear it's really January.

Flossenbürg with nearby concentration/work camp right in the city now-days... they have a good exhibit there.

Kathy walking the castle hill in Flossenbürg.

Castle at Flossenbürg where we almost got frost bite walking up the hill to the top...

Nuremberg (Kathy and Carrie's photos from Nuremberg, sadly, I was WORKING!)

Church in Nuremberg

Church in Nuremberg with my sister Carrie the fashion plate, carrying the EnviroSax bag that I was accused of stealing in Vienna.

Kathy and Carrie sick on the couch. Note Vicks rag on mom's neck, and yet she still remains deliriously happy looking.

Helga's Easter Tree.

Grandma and Lily (I stole this off my mom's camera.)

Carrie and Mom's schedule

After a week of illness-induced home-boundedness, my mom and sister and I are all feeling a little better and plan to do a few small activities this weekend before they head off on a week-long train and bus trip.

It was a really weird week, suddenly losing Grandma Hazel while my mom and Carrie were visiting. I think I expected that she'd live another ten years. I hope that she's somewhere else now with the people who've gone before.

This morning in honor of Grandma and my dad, I got up at 7:30AM and vacuumed and cleaned out my car. They wouldn't approve of a dirty, smelly car. If anyone knows my family, they know we care about cars. Not necessarily fancy cars, but keeping them nice and caring about them. You know, loving your cars...

Today the three of us plan to find a Flohmarkt and then head to a crystal factory and perhaps a few other places.

Monday morning at 7:34AM, Carrie and my mom will hop the train to Praha, then Krakow and then Berlin, where I'll pick them up on Friday--- the three of us will spend our last weekend in Berlin.

Monday, April 12th is Carrie's 31st Birthday. I think we'll have to eat a bowl of frosting for breakfast in her honor. 31 is a great year. I know!

Carrie said "Yuck! Eating a bowl of frosting! Maybe 'Frosted Mini-Wheats'!" We'll see.

Leaving Vietnam and sending Carrie away on the Jetplane

Here's my last post with Carrie in it. We both flew back to Bangkok yesterday and she kept flying onward to Seoul then to Portland via Seattle. A long schedule. I was sad to see her go. She's such good company. So easy-going and nice to everyone. It was fun to have someone to try new foods and see the sights with and laugh and be sarcastic at the stupid things. I couldn't help it and cried when she left (and a little bit today too). (See Molly, you're normal!) I wished that I was going back to Portland too when she was flying away. There is something about home. I could just imagine hopping on the Max lightrail and whirring through the city. But she went through security and I stayed. I'm ok. It's good to know that I have emotions, right? I'd imagine that it is normal to have homesickness at some point and I sort of guessed beforehand that this would happen.

So now I am headed toward Laos. Today in Ayuthaya. Settling back into solo travels. It will take a few days to transition back. I plan to lay low for a while and make some more definitive plans for the next 6 weeks in Asia and all that follows.

Final Vietnam Pictures:

The alley to our second guesthouse in Vietnam which was much more authentically "Hanoi." We had a balcony and all.

I don't know why they stamp numbers on the buildings. I have to look it up.

Carrie and me at the cafe where Catherine Deneuve took her morning coffee while filming Indochine. Great coffee in a simple environment.

The power kept going out all over Hanoi on our last night there- we had dinner at this cute place called "Little Hanoi" and at the end (luckily we were finished with our food) the power went out. It was going out all over Hanoi. I guess it's not uncommon, but it was the first time it happened to us there.

Carrie's here!

Recycled Christmas decor in Bangkok (it's coke cans). They also had one made out of old CDs.

Bangkok Art and Culture Center (new) in Siam Center area is Bangkok's attempt at art and culture, though at the moment only the 7th and 8th floors contain any exhibits.

The fertility park where I put down an offering of one baht each for Shanta, Carrie and me. (It was all I had on me in coins.)

Standing buddha. Carrie and I only got scammed about sixty-eight times on our way there. Uggh. He looks more calm than we were.

Here she is, Miss America! :) Well she could be, if she wanted to. This is inside the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which was a little bit overstimulating for both of us (about 10,000 vendors total selling everything imaginable). Even the coffee rest couldn't remedy the situation.