MissAdventures

Things I’m Thankful For

Now that Thanksgiving is nigh, I’ve been seeing all of my friends list things that they are thankful for. So I, too, wish to reflect and count my blessings.

Here, in no particular order, are the things I’m thankful for this year.

I’m thankful for…

• My family
• The fact that my youngest boy Leo made it through his first year with only a few bumps and bruises (courtesy of his older brother)
• My oldest son Dante is doing well in preschool
• I’m back in the United States this year to celebrate this oh-so-American holiday
• I’m not traveling anywhere for Thanksgiving this year!
• It feels like a Sunday but it’s only Wednesday!
• I have the luxury of knowing that I can give my children almost anything they want (a thing I’m truly grateful for)
• Having had many great travel and expat living experiences still so early in life

I’m also thankful for

• Great friends, many of whom I saw this past weekend
• Twitter, Facebook, and all those social apps that have brought my friends closer and introduced me to even more people
• My husband, who likes to cook AND clean
• The Yankees’ 27th championship- yay!
• PBS Cooking Shows
• Diane Rehm and Kojo Nnamdi talk shows on WAMU
• Books by Alain de Botton
• Articles about advertising and travel by the hilarious Seth Stevenson

And I’m really thankful for

• Being able to occasionally make some pocket change by putting words on a page.

Thanks, everyone…and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Fall of the Wall

November 9, 2009, marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was in 9th grade when the news came across CNN that the physical symbol of the East/West divide was on the verge of toppling. And my mother reminded me today while I was reminiscing about the event that I sat for hours and hours watching East Berliners chip away at “die Mauer” and West Berliners extending their hands to their German brothers and sisters as they scrambled to scale the wall.

I didn’t know at the time that less than two years later I would be a resident of Germany, a teenage exchange student in a small northwest-central town near Osnabrück. But I did know that I wanted to be there in Germany at that moment, experiencing history as it happened. I’m trying to think of moments that have happened since then that have spawned in me true elation. Of course my wedding day and my babies’ births were incredibly happy days. But while those were personal milestones, the fall of the Berlin wall was one of those occasions where you knew that you and the rest of the world were all watching a momentous event at the same time. If only we had Twitter back then! The only thing that could possibly compare was the election this year in the U.S. of Barack Obama. There was euphoria coupled with the understanding that much work needed to be done.

In retrospect, the events of 9/11/89 (the date written in the European way) are almost more moving now than they were then. Perhaps it is because I know – or once knew – Germany and the Germans so well. Like I said, I lived in small-town Germany from 1991-1992 and completely immersed myself in the culture. In spring 1992 I had the chance to attend a week-long student seminar in Berlin. During that week, my fellow students and I used Berlin as our playground: visiting Kneipen (pubs), at 17 already able to handle our beers responsibly thanks to months living with Germany’s relaxed drinking age; stumbling down Ku’Damm late at night, riffing and joking in our adopted language and guided by the eerie blue light of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche, a symbol from the ravages of World War II; shopping for vintage clothing in Kreuzberg; and taking strong coffees at a little café on the upper floor of a building on Lindenstraße, a main street in the former East.

A lot of the Wall was already gone by then, having been divvied up for sale to tourists. And the vast transformation that Berlin would undergo had yet to be initiated. This was all before Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Reichstag and before the empty spaces of Alexanderplatz – East Berlin’s main square – got a Western makeover with fast food restaurants, shopping centers, and neon. The mood was uncertain, with Germans still referring to each others as “Wessis” (from the West) and “Ossis” (from the East). Still there was also a sense of general happiness and possibility. Perhaps it was my teenage naïveté, but it was an exciting time.

Save for many transits through Munich and Frankfurt airports, I have been back to Germany only once since returning to the U.S. in 1992. But the memories of 9/11/89 and my exchange year visit to Berlin remind me of how far the world has come – and how far we have also fallen.

There are so many moments in history that you can point to that signaled the end of innocence. The fall of the Berlin Wall was one of those rare instances that felt like a beginning of innocence, rebirth, hope. Indeed, that  monumental night two decades ago in Berlin effectively ended the post-war period and ushered in the happy era before the next 9/11.

Photo by Sue Ream

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If I Ever Renew My Vows…

…I want to do something like this. Yeah, this video has been all over the Internet and on TV by now. But I just watched the whole thing and it brought me to (happy) tears – much more than the traditional Wedding March ever has. Super cool. Congrats, Jill and Kevin from me and the rest of the world.

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Where Has the Time Gone?

I can’t believe it’s been more than one whole year since I wrote a post for this blog. The main reason was because I kept having this technical glitch with wordpress, my blogging software. That all seems to be solved, thanks to a solution from tech blogger Dave Risley. I owe him.

Of course, it hasn’t been just technical problems that have kept me away from missadventures.com. I’ve been blogging away on my other blog italofile.com, which is where I post information about travel to Italy. I just updated that site with a new look, so please visit.

Further, I’ve been busy keeping up with a new baby, Leo, who arrived in November, and an old baby, Dante, who’s almost 3. They haven’t left much time in the day to do freelance writing or to travel, which are the subjects I most blog about on this site. We did do some traveling in Turkey before the baby arrived, however, so I hope to provide a few photos and updates about that before we leave here.

In the meantime, be patient. I’ll be back to posting on missadventures.com very soon.

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Help Victims of Agent Orange

It’s an hour later and I’m still bawling over a piece that I saw on BBC News regarding the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. A situation this grave is enough to make an inactive person like me want to do something to help. While I may consider a letter-writing campaign at some point, I’m moved right now to assist the Veterans for Peace organization get the word out about the lawsuit Agent Orange victims (American, Vietnamese, and Korean) are bringing against the manufacturers of the chemical which is still causing gross deformations in children. The appeals hearing for the lawsuit takes place on Monday, June 18. In the meantime, the VFP is trying to get 1 million signatures for its petition to President Bush as well as raise contributions for the AO Victims Tour.

Of course, the Veterans for Peace do more than just advocate for compensation for AO victims. They currently are involved in educating the public about the human cost of war, and have campaigns concerning Iraq, Vieques and the School of the Americas, to name just a few. Humanitarians may also be interested in a new report about the vast number of children among Iraqi refugees or the ongoing efforts in Darfur by the UN Refugee Agency.

Okay…now I’ve done my part (at least a little bit). Now go do yours.

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Update and Great Photo

I apologize for the long silence. In fact, not much has been happening around here. Well, not much except bird flu, temple attacks, and presidential visits. At this point, nearly two years later, India and Bombay have almost become everyday for me. And, sad as it may seem, there comes a time when you become used to (desensitized to?) chaotic driving, street urchins, milk deliverymen on bicycles, unnavigable, paan juice stained sidewalks, piles of burning trash, incense, crowds, poverty, nouveau riche techies, and holy cows. It’s almost time to move on.

That said, I occasionally see things here that I wouldn’t see anywhere else. Take a look at the photo above, taken by a friend of a friend. That’s an actual billboard (called a “hoarding” here) with statistics that aren’t too far-fetched. I don’t know why the designers of the sign used a coffee cup, but there you go.

By the way, as I seem to have run out of words about India, I may start posting some fun photos on occasion. If I put up several at a time, they may even amount to a feature-length article. Figuratively, that is…

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K-9 Games, or How to Waste a Morning

Thanks (or no thanks) to my sister, I’ve wasted the better part of the morning figuring out what kind of dog I am. I’ve also started a chain reaction in my office, so I’m getting the occasional email that says, “I’m a Lhasa Apso!” How come there are so many of these games on the Internet? Are we all that distracted? I think it’s just a defense against the big pile of work crap that just got dumped in our laps on this lovely summer Thursday.

Neverthless, I have learned a few things about myself this morning. Apparently I’m a loyal companion and eager to please.

My Results, in case you care to know…
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Goodbye, Cicadas!

It is now safe to say that the 17-year Brood X cicadas are long gone. They emerged from their nests, copulated, buzzed about, and died. I’m sad to see them go. Rather, I’m sad to hear them disappear. At the height of their existence in the trees around DC, the cicadas sounded like one of those rain sticks that you buy on a trip to Central America. It really was a lovely hum.

Now what do we have to look forward to this summer? Pandamania.
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