Before we receive any more comments that we haven't posted any new blog entries or photos in a while, I made a point to post our pictures from Berlin (only a week late!). They can be found here.
As an added bonus, we also have pictures of our trips to Schloß Schwerin and Lübeck with Scott and Megan. Click here to see those.
Last thought of the day is that Kristy and I have really enjoyed getting to talk to more and more people via Skype. For those that aren't aware, you can talk with this computer to computer for free. If you're interested in talking with us, and want to know more about Skype, drop us an email and we'd love to help you get setup.
Ken
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Baby Lawrance
No, before my mother-in-law kills me for that headline (The only lecture that I've ever had from her is that I will NOT have her grandchild in Germany.) the baby in question is our niece or nephew. Scott and Megan are expecting their first child in December.
We found an adorable shirt for him or her while Scott and Megan were here last week. (Note that the color was picked out by Mom and Auntie!)
Translation: Mein Tag= my day, schlafen= sleeping, essen= eating, and I'll let you guess the third daily activity!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Lawrance kids Germany Days 2 & 3
Yesterday morning, I went to class while Ken and Megan went on a double-decker bus tour of Hamburg. German lesson #3 was to "DUCK". Apparently the route has a few low-hanging branches. In the afternoon, we picked Scott up at the airport after his presentation in Manchester (ask him about eating pig cheeks and faggots sometime).
We all ventured to Lübeck and Travemünde. Dinner was at the Kartoffel Keller or Potato Basement. While we were there, Scott tried to learn German. He learned "Ich spreche kein Deutsch." or "I speak no German" by remembering his fish had ick. Numbers were remembered by the movie Cool Running "Ein! Zwei! Drei! Cool Running!" Goodbye or "Tschüss" was more difficult but then when he realized that it was a combination of juice and Choo Choo, he was golden. Now he's a pro.
Megan is not only learning pieces of the language, but she's learning her way around the city. Since she was here longer, she got to see more of life and not just touristy things.
Today the crew visited Schloss Schwerin in the morning and then I joined them for touring Hamburg in the afternoon. Dinner was at a Bavarian restaurant with authentic music. Once again, Megan's thoughts on the day are great!
"German lesson #4: McDonald's tastes so much better in a foreign country!
Kristy went to class again this morning and Scott, Ken and I went to a castle about an hour and a half north of Hamburg. It was pretty cool even though there was a lot of construction going on (scaffolding can ruin a picture!). After we finished we went to McDonald's for lunch. YUMMY!!!!! MUCH better than the cheeseburger I had on Tuesday. I now fully appreciate why Americans go to foreign countries and eat at McDonald's...comfort food!"
I'll update this entry with pictures tomorrow (I have to download pictures from Megan), so scroll back to this entry later.
We all ventured to Lübeck and Travemünde. Dinner was at the Kartoffel Keller or Potato Basement. While we were there, Scott tried to learn German. He learned "Ich spreche kein Deutsch." or "I speak no German" by remembering his fish had ick. Numbers were remembered by the movie Cool Running "Ein! Zwei! Drei! Cool Running!" Goodbye or "Tschüss" was more difficult but then when he realized that it was a combination of juice and Choo Choo, he was golden. Now he's a pro.
Megan is not only learning pieces of the language, but she's learning her way around the city. Since she was here longer, she got to see more of life and not just touristy things.
Today the crew visited Schloss Schwerin in the morning and then I joined them for touring Hamburg in the afternoon. Dinner was at a Bavarian restaurant with authentic music. Once again, Megan's thoughts on the day are great!
"German lesson #4: McDonald's tastes so much better in a foreign country!
Kristy went to class again this morning and Scott, Ken and I went to a castle about an hour and a half north of Hamburg. It was pretty cool even though there was a lot of construction going on (scaffolding can ruin a picture!). After we finished we went to McDonald's for lunch. YUMMY!!!!! MUCH better than the cheeseburger I had on Tuesday. I now fully appreciate why Americans go to foreign countries and eat at McDonald's...comfort food!"
I'll update this entry with pictures tomorrow (I have to download pictures from Megan), so scroll back to this entry later.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Megan here learning her first German lessons
Yesterday, Ken and I got to welcome our first family member to Hamburg. Our sister-in-law Megan wins the prize (are you sensing a theme in these last few entries? I haven't played bid euchre for a while, so I'm trying to satisfy my competitive addictions in other ways. Good thing that our family can help my problem shortly!) for the first family member to cross the pond to see us. Scott will get second prize when he joins us Wednesday after a business conference in Manchester, England. As you can see from the picture next to us, Raja was not happy that they left without her.Today Megan and I toured Hamburg. She sent an e-mail home to our family. I wanted to share it with you. It was a hilarious recap of our day.
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German lesson #1: A "Cheeseburger" is not a safe thing to order in a German cafe or sandwich shop. (And you can't trust the ketchup, either.)
Kristy and I went down to the harbor for a boat tour at noon today (which was very interesting and fun) and by the end we were hungry. Along the river amongst the tour companies are some travel shops and Sandwich shops. We decided to each get a cheeseburger and split some fries. We ended up with what we think was ground pork pan fried into a patty. (The meat was white and the outside was brown.) We tried to eat some, and concluded it was pretty gross. The fries were doused in ketchup which Kristy thinks was curry
ketchup...again, not very good (worse than any island ketchup I have had). I should have known it wasn't a safe place to eat after seeing what looked like a piece of raw fish with scales on a bun (even Kristy the seafood eater agreed it looked gross).
Kristy wanted me to add that the soft pretzel and ice cream we had later were good....so I am not starving here.
German lesson #2: Do not anger the crazy German bathroom lady.
First of all, for those who do not know, there are few public bathrooms in Germany. Most you have to pay to use, even in the stores. Kristy and I went shopping this afternoon and went into a bathroom at a nice clothing department store. As we were waiting, the lady who maintains and cleans the bathroom was chewing out another woman in German. Me, not knowing any German, and Kristy, who has trouble understanding them when they yell, were not sure whether we dared go pee. (Kristy did pick up the German word for "dirty" in the yelling.) So we both went and made it very sure we left it clean and remembered to flush and were very relieved when we came out and did not see her. As we were trying to find some change to put in the bowl she came back in and started talking to us in German. Kristy told her we do not speak German, but she unfortunately spoke English. She proceeded to tell us how the lady she yelled at had peed all over the seat and did not flush (although she was much more lengthy and descriptive than that). So, moral of the lesson...if you pee on the seat in Germany, wipe it up!!!!
Kristy and I went down to the harbor for a boat tour at noon today (which was very interesting and fun) and by the end we were hungry. Along the river amongst the tour companies are some travel shops and Sandwich shops. We decided to each get a cheeseburger and split some fries. We ended up with what we think was ground pork pan fried into a patty. (The meat was white and the outside was brown.) We tried to eat some, and concluded it was pretty gross. The fries were doused in ketchup which Kristy thinks was curry
ketchup...again, not very good (worse than any island ketchup I have had). I should have known it wasn't a safe place to eat after seeing what looked like a piece of raw fish with scales on a bun (even Kristy the seafood eater agreed it looked gross).Kristy wanted me to add that the soft pretzel and ice cream we had later were good....so I am not starving here.
German lesson #2: Do not anger the crazy German bathroom lady.
First of all, for those who do not know, there are few public bathrooms in Germany. Most you have to pay to use, even in the stores. Kristy and I went shopping this afternoon and went into a bathroom at a nice clothing department store. As we were waiting, the lady who maintains and cleans the bathroom was chewing out another woman in German. Me, not knowing any German, and Kristy, who has trouble understanding them when they yell, were not sure whether we dared go pee. (Kristy did pick up the German word for "dirty" in the yelling.) So we both went and made it very sure we left it clean and remembered to flush and were very relieved when we came out and did not see her. As we were trying to find some change to put in the bowl she came back in and started talking to us in German. Kristy told her we do not speak German, but she unfortunately spoke English. She proceeded to tell us how the lady she yelled at had peed all over the seat and did not flush (although she was much more lengthy and descriptive than that). So, moral of the lesson...if you pee on the seat in Germany, wipe it up!!!!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Calling us
A huge thank you to Kristine who was the first American to call us over here in Germany- even if we had lost our cordless phone and didn't get to it in time! While we were talking yesterday, Kristine informed us that we show up as 0000123456 on caller ID. A few others have told us this and stated that they don't answer because of the number. The reason for this is that we call over the Internet using a program called Skype. All you need is a set of computer headphones with a microphone (rough $15 at Radio Shack) and you can talk to us for free over the computer. For people that don't have the computer set-up, we can make computer to land calls for only about 0.017 euro or $0.0229 per minute. It costs more to call Fort Wayne from our Indy land phone that it does over the computer! The calls are often more clear than over a cell phone. While Ken was here and I was in the US, he could even here the jingle of Aggie's collar.
So, the reason that I'm typing this is that if you have a microphone and are interested in downloading the software, let us know. We can add you to our "buddy list" and then will see you when you are logged on. We have our computer on a lot between 8am-4pm EDT, so you can also see when we are on-line. My mother and father have downloaded this software and now has the freedom to call us for free. It has been WONDERFUL to be able to talk to them so much for free.
So, the reason that I'm typing this is that if you have a microphone and are interested in downloading the software, let us know. We can add you to our "buddy list" and then will see you when you are logged on. We have our computer on a lot between 8am-4pm EDT, so you can also see when we are on-line. My mother and father have downloaded this software and now has the freedom to call us for free. It has been WONDERFUL to be able to talk to them so much for free.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
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