Sunday, January 12, 2020
Happy 2020! Glad to be Back
Friday, August 19, 2011
Chicago, June 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Roman Holiday
We made deposits for our return...
Friday, May 13, 2011
What She Said
I feel bad. Not only about neglecting this blog but also because Ponchi has definitely the short end of the document-your-offspring deal. My mom complains about how there aren't as many pictures of her, and updates on her progress from baby to toddler has been nonexistent. The explanation for all this, of course, is because secretly Ponchi blows Jochen and I away every day. By her complicated sentence structures before age 2, her bilingual fluency, and her ease to "sai-nai" her way to anything (Taiwanese speakers what is the translation for this term?). Before I forget this moment in her life too I'll try to set down a few examples:
Ponchi scrapes her knee and starts to howl in pain. I try to comfort her and she says, "Mommy, if I only had a cupcake!" I laugh out loud in delight at the thought and at the conditional tense and get a scowl and tears in return. "Mommy DON'T laugh at me." I finally calm her down and as the tantrum fades she looks at me, "Mommy, you're my cupcake."
Felix lectures Ponchi in the restaurant. "Ponchi, these are my french fries, you can't have any because you have to wait until you're six before you should eat french fries." "Yes," Ponchi agrees serenely. Pig turns his head to look at something in another direction and at that moment his sister reaches for a fry and eats it undetected.
Ponchi: "Oma, you're a sad sack." "Mommy, you have NO idea."
I fit Ponchi's arms with these floatation thingamas for the first time and convince her to let go in the pool. She tentatively releases me and in the next moment yells joyously "I'M FLYING! I"M FLYING!!"
This past winter during the Christmas Market Ponchi got on the carousel and rode unassisted for the first time. The whole ride she yelled with such high spirits "Hey ya! Hey ya!" that she got laughs all around.
During Carneval this year she ran around and shouted repeatedly, "Kölle Alaaf! I have a vagina!!" throughout the supermarket. She got titters on this one.
After falling down our granite stairs and scaring the wits out of her father the first thing she says after she stops crying "Papi I'm hungry."
At bedtime one night she says "The ice cream lady is now going to bed."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Happy New Year!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
I Did It!
I think I promised a number of you that after the marathon I'd be all over everyone, wanting to get in touch and caught up after my reclusive existance of the past months. Unfortunately whilst that was my full intent, work sort of kicked up a gear after I came back from vacation, call it good timing or bad, so apologies for this late post. In any case I am pleased to finally say that I was able to meet my personal goal of under 4hrs in Stockholm - 3:57:20, to be precise. Somehow although it wasn't at all easy (or what I expected), the finish was sweet but not as emotional as in Bonn. Here, for whatever reason, after the first 15km of annoying elbow jabbing I knew in my heart that I was going to make it. Indeed until the last 5k I ran at a very consistent pace throughout the whole race, had enough in me to high five kids along the way, and even managed to go the whole way without stopping for a bathroom break - pretty much a perfect race in my book.
Some words on the race itself. Race support was fantastic. My favorite was the pre and post race at Ostermalm IP (by the way the Nora Ephron Stieg Larsson parody in the recent New Yorker is pretty hilarious) I've never been treated so well as a runner. And, although I bitched about it pre race, I am now a convert of the 2pm start time....how civilized. The refreshment stops were very good. Too good, too many, why is there another one coming up, didn't we just leave one three paces ago. The biggest weakness of this race, already much discussed in various forums, was the narrowness at parts of the course, and matters were not helped by the embarassment of refreshment stations along the way. It felt like I was constantly dodging cups, bananas, runners before me who suddenly came to a standstill, PICKLES, and like. And, because for several years temperatures rose beyond 85 +, they had misting showers set up throughout the course - again fine if you like to be doused in cold water, but given we were enjoying a comfortable 65 - 70 degrees this year, my heart gave out every time I was steered against my will under the blast of wetness. My biggest complaint was that it took 15km before the race SORT OF thinned out. Probably this was less of a problem for faster runners, but it was pretty painful for those of us in the middle of the pack. Otherwise the route was fantastic, looping through the heart of Stockholm twice, taking you over the water again and again, with the second lap extending through the Djurgatan, the green island in the middle of the city. My biggest miscalculation was thinking this would be a flat marathon - a preconception I never bothered to correct even though they sent the height profile in the pre race materials. Given my previous marathons were Chicago and Cologne, this was definitely the hilliest so far. I'm pleased, however, that as I was finding this out DURING the race I didn't let it discourage me. In fact I discovered I sort of like running up hill....is there a Jungfrau Marathon in my future?? A girl can dream big, right??
The race was perfect in that I made my time, I actually never suffered too much pain, and yet felt like I managed to give 98% of myself - almost to the limit. What would I have done differently?? First, after crossing the finish line I wish I would have spent a bit more time looking around in the historic Olympic Stadium to take in the atmosphere of the moment, instead of allowing myself to be herded out so quickly. Also, I wish I could have had the presence of mind to comb my hair after the race and BEFORE the above picture was taken. Finally, I wish I lost that dorky sponge (I forgot my sweatband) before I crossed the finish line. And Rebecca, I now heed your advice to always keep the pits presentable - don't look too closely, please.
That's right, athletic performance is important, but you favor the good looking athlete to win the gold, admit it.
Two people deserve my biggest thanks. First Frank Schroeder, who took me in hand, measured my MHR and gave me a training plan, all on his own because I was too clueless to ask for help and who never lost faith in me (at least not that he let on). Second is Jochen, who looked after the kids during countless Saturdays when I'd be out for 3 - 4 hours of training, who never saw his wife awake after 9:30pm on weeknights, and who had to hear the alarm 3x a week at 4 f@§$king 30 in the morning (and all the knocking about afterwards). After all this the fact that I delivered my time meant for the first time in my life MY HUSBAND TREATED ME LIKE A PRINCESS. Really, this is how you win Jochen's heart. He was so nice to me the days after the marathon that I realized how lucky I am that I have someone who shares in my triumphs and who supports me all the way.
Not on everything of course. And yes the princess phase is long over.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Yay!
My favorite sign held by a spectator today: Pain goes, Pride stays.
Pig asked ahead of the race, so are you going to be 1st, or 2nd....that's a lot of pressure to put on your mom, little man. I was 84 of 310 women in the 35-40 category...if I keep at it I will be 1st or 2nd some day!!
Recap II: Spring Does Not Mean Summer Follows
So we kept ourselves outside.
Pig has now taken up photography...although do we need another documentation of our beer consumption??
Gravel makes Ponchi happy!
And things have pretty much gone downhill since. Except for the Bonn marathon day it's been back to being cold and cloudy the past weeks. As typical for this region the slooow start to summer defeats the promising spring...Come sunshine!!