Here Fishy, Fishy!

Yes, a stable income and a dental plan are great reasons for full-time employment but don't be fooled. There are some awesome advantages to being underemployed and living close to home. Suddenly, I am doing things I've been meaning to do for ages, like trying out new recipes on my parents or making plans to visit Door County again or spending a sunny Thursday afternoon with one of my favorite uncles, drinking beers and shooting an archery course. (Actually, that was reversed. Shooting first, beers later. Don't be alarmed.) And may I please add that I haven't held a bow since high school and I still managed to hit those targets every single time? Who said I wasn't a born and bred Wisconsin girl?

Anyway...

The other thing you get to do when you have such a lifestyle is check out the catfish races at the Greenville Lion's Club 22nd Annual Catfish Extravaganza. (No, I am not making up that name. Look.) European friends, close your mouths right now. And don't worry, you aren't alone. Those New Yorkers and other big city folk are also wondering what the hell I'm talking about. But for all of you who grew up in small town America, or better yet, small town Wisconsin, you're just thinking, Catfish? What about the perch?

All right, maybe that's an exaggeration. This isn't exactly your run of the mill family event in Wisconsin either, I've got to admit. When my sister suggested this as a possible outing, she didn't even let me respond at first. After the initial invitation, she just sighed and said in a defeated tone, "Yeah, I know..." but then went on to say it was a family event that her daughter would probably enjoy. Would I be interested in partaking?

To say that I was hesitant would be a pretty huge understatement. My mouth remained open for a while, too. However, Friday ended up being a lovely day so that evening, we all piled into the car to support the Lion's Club by eating their burgers, cheering my niece down a huge inflatable slide , and later watching the catfish semifinals (we didn't mess around with the preliminary races) which as you can imagine, was over in about 1.5 seconds. But again, this was all going toward charity so who was I to give people crap for placing bets on the ugly, prehistoric looking bottom feeder of their choice? (And I regret to inform that I cannot report which fancy pants catfish won the final round since the burgeoning crowd and nasty mosquitoes drove us off. I hope, dear reader, you are not crushed.)

However, in my opinion, the highlight of the night was when a helicopter appeared out of nowhere and dropped hundreds of ping pong balls for kids to collect and turn in for prizes. It was pretty darn cute to see all of those kids run down a huge, grassy hill to collect their winnings. I think my niece was a bit unnerved by it all but my sister and I couldn't stop laughing. Twenty years ago, did we have any inclination that we'd be spending a Friday night watching catfish races or diving for ping pong balls?

A few years ago, this kind of thing would have driven me mad. I would've been itching to leave by minute twelve. But now, it just made me smile, amused and content. A beautiful summer night, a good cause, a friendly crowd, a niece happier than a clam...if an ugly fish with whiskers can lead to all of that, I'm pretty okay with it.

To My German Friends...

Remember how I went on and on and on about how cheap ice cream was in Berlin (and therefore, had to take advantage of it on a daily basis)? Yeah, I'm telling you, it wasn't all in my mind. Screaming again....

Let Them Eat Well!

About a year ago, I stumbled across an ad, looking for volunteers for the Nourishing Kitchen of NYC. My interest piqued, I did a little research on this non-profit and was blown away by what a young, incredibly ambitious woman had launched in East Harlem. Her idea? To start a soup kitchen of sorts that actually serves healthy food. Forget the highly salted gravy over instant potatoes of yesterday. Not only has Ms. Gina Puzzanghera been serving up delicious, organic meals, she has also been developing programming for people, young and old, inviting them into her kitchen to learn how to cook such healthy meals. I mean, check out her mission statement:

Our mission is to alleviate the strong correlation between low income status and poor dietary health. To do this we provide nutritious meals and educational programming in a safe and caring environment, to anyone who comes seeking nourishment without question and without criticism while providing opportunities for volunteers to give of themselves in service to others. Anyone is welcome regardless of age, sex, race, financial qualifications, or religious beliefs.

Nice.

One of the things that drove me absolutely nutty as a child welfare social worker was hearing my clients rag about the delinquent/hyperactive/fill-in-the-blank-disordered behavior of their child when I would be sitting in their home, watching said child fill up on soda and Cheetos right in front of my eyes. Likewise, I was stunned that during my last physical when I talked about my ongoing fatigue issues, my doc never once questioned my diet. (Hello? Possible food allergy?) Instead, she went straight to a discussion about medication possibilities. Grrr....

I'm not anti-medication by any means but it really amazes me that despite all the recent hype about the food industry, people aren't more concerned about the correlation between food and their physical and psychological health. I remember one (one!) of my former clients who completely revamped her foster child's diet to see how it would affect his "hyperactive" behavior. And ta-da! Amazing how a child that goes from a diet of Skittles and KFC to fruit and baked chicken can actually sit down and do his homework.

Now let's look at the not so warm and fuzzy financial aspect of our nation's less than stellar eating habits. In fact, let's look at those who visit soup kitchens in particular. It's no secret that the poor in America tend to the be the most obese and disease ridden people in our country. Heart disease and diabetes in particular run rampant amongst this group. Now consider what we pay in Medicaid costs to cover such illnesses. Isn't it just common sense to put more time and resources into programs like the Nourishing Kitchen which are trying to create healthier lives and quite frankly, do taxpayers a huge favor in the long run? Anyone else want to scream out loud with me?

Anyway, I'm so very pleased to learn that the Nourishing Kitchen just won a contest, determined by the public's votes, for $25,000! A charity that is socially conscious, health focused, environmentally friendly (did I mention the local gardens they use?), and fiscally responsible?? Oh, NK (do you mind if I call you that?), you are definitely on my top five!

Please, folks, consider volunteering or donating to Ms. Puzzanghera's truly fantastic organization. You can learn more at eatwellnyc.com (look under the "media packet" tab for a really great description of their programming) or at http://thenourishingkitchenofnyc.blogspot.com/.

Happy, healthy eating!

Battle of the Bites

Excuse me, I thought I had returned to summer in Wisconsin, not the rainy season in some bug infested Asian jungle. Yet the swarms of mosquitoes that attack me every time I step outside is making me think that I've indeed stepped into the wrong hemisphere.

Oh, the peace and tranquility of rural Wisconsin. Yes, it makes me want to sit outside on the porch with a book and... Doh! Ack! (slap, slap) Hmpf. I give.

So to you non-natives, let me explain that every summer, Wisconsinites are accustomed to an annoying but relatively short mosquito season. This typically occurs sometime in June, usually when one is trying to throw a graduation party or some other outdoor event to celebrate the fact that we are no longer wearing snow pants. But then the heat of July seems to kill them all (yes, my very scientific reasoning) which allows for two remaining summer months of fun in the sun.

Well, Wisconsin has had record breaking rain the past couple of months which has led to an apparent record breaking number of these miserable, epidermis munching monsters. For the past week, I've tried to play outside with my three-year-old niece only to find myself swatting both of us incessantly and running back inside within ten minutes. She and I seem to have special mosquito lovin' blood since the two inches of skin I miss with the OFF! will be covered with a series of bites (oftentimes symmetrical, how 'bout that?) in about 3.5 seconds. I even tried wearing leggings outside but the darn things managed to penetrate those, too, which has now led to an awesome design of welts amongst the road map of spider veins and bruises throughout my lower half. (I know, I know, très sexy.)

So anyway, now there's the two of us at night, watching Bugs Bunny and scratching our legs til they about bleed. I am clearly not a good example, I realize, as my sister says to her, "Honey, I know it's itchy but try not to scratch" while I sit wallowing in the corner, "When is this misery gonna stop???"

But I am clearly going down a pity partying tangent and that is not my intent. See, I wanted to look into natural mosquito repellents since I am assuming the Cutter's and OFF! we've been dousing ourselves with aren't so good for the ole' environment. I did a quick search and found that mixing an essential oil (such as lemon eucalyptus) with a carrier oil or alcohol is supposed to aid in warding off these little blood sucking demons. As I scanned this article, I assumed they meant rubbing alcohol but interestingly enough, they list vodka as a possibility. Now I'm all about using non-toxic items but I can't help but wonder, if one is in the mosquito infested woods of northern Wisconsin and has a bottle of vodka on him (even if it's Fleischmann's for God's sake), do you really think he's going to use it to coat his limbs?? My guess is that he's much more likely to problem solve another way and allow himself to wake up from his stupor the next morning with a fresh batch of bites while purchasing stock in Calamine.

Regardless, I might give this a shot, perhaps using olive oil as the carrier oil instead. I shall report back. And please, if anyone has had success using non-toxic agents to fight this spawn of Satan, please let me know. In the meantime, I am becoming quite the fan of the screened-in porch. Too bad mosquitoes don't have decent eye sight. I'd like them to see me sticking my tongue out at them.

A Letter of Appreciation

Dear Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Lufthansa, and FedEx:

I realize you are busy people, coordinating the transportation of thousands of people and things on a daily basis. I do understand that, really. So as much as I detest the physical act of traveling, I tend to cut you people some slack because my God, it's got to be quite a job to get all of us along with all of our things to the right place at the right time. Surely, there are slip-ups. But I ask you, do all the slip-ups have to happen to the same people at the same time?

See, I feel like I did my part. You can even ask my roommate. She saw me obsessively pack, weigh, and repack my luggage a zillion times to make sure it met your requirements. I also carefully placed all of my toiletries in teeny bottles and placed them in that clear, one quart Ziploc bag you are all so fond of. I purposely wore flip-flops so I could easily whip them off at the security check point. I even got myself up crazy early to make sure that I arrived at the airport two hours before my flight. And even though I detest flying (yes, it bears repeating), I plastered a toothy grin on my face as I checked in and made sure to be ridiculously pleasant to your staff.

So why, WHY, I ask you, the inability to return the favor?

First off, SAS, why did you think it was a good idea to make us all board your plane when you had a "faulty wire" to repair? Let me be that little bird in your ear: People really don't enjoy sitting on a runway for hours at a time, waiting for you to figure our own crap out.

Those of us with connecting flights to the US, however, do enjoy being rebooked on nice airlines like Lufthansa. But then maybe you should actually rebook us and not send us running (literally, you made me lose a flip-flop in Tegel's lobby at one point) to the Lufthansa counter to get our own tickets for a flight that was leaving in less than an hour. It also would have been very helpful had you told us that there was NO WAY OUR BAGS WOULD MAKE IT on this flight you were "helping" us rebook to Newark (via Munich, thank you very much). In fact, it actually would have been quite nice had we not had to run our butts down to the Customs building (which appeared to have been built from a tin can and therefore quite toasty on an 85 degree day) only to be told that our bags would make it to New York "sometime."

But I will take this time to thank you, Lufthansa, for providing your passengers with a multitude of bathrooms on your lower floor (since when did aircraft come with elevators??) as well as all the booze you can drink. However, I'd like to remind your flight attendants that if you are going to serve Irish coffee or cognac after meals, please do not patronize female passengers by only offering the Irish coffee to them because quite frankly, there's a good chance they will bare their teeth and very curtly request cognac anyway. Some of us really need that cognac when our Yoga instructing seatmates keep dozing every few minutes, nearly crashing into our shoulders, their stinky dreadlocks dangling within inches of our noses.

(And let me now take this time to offer a brief thank you to the New Jersey transit system for providing me with the slowest, jerkiest train ride possible to Manhattan after a mere 19 hours of travel).

But back to those bags. Luckily, once again I did my part and packed a sensible carry-on complete with a few changes of clothes, the necessary underwear, some mini toiletries, and the all important laptop. But I seem to recall, FedEx, that you kind of brag about that whole timely shipping and delivery thing so I was quite shocked to learn two days after my arrival that even though you had my bags in your possession, you just don't make such deliveries on Sundays. Wow! So I assume that all of your workers have a plethora of underpants at their disposal? Must be nice. In fact, you all must have quite the stockpile considering your inability to even get my bags on Monday's truck for delivery.

But I do like to show my appreciation so I will say thank you, FedEx, for finally delivering my lost luggage yesterday, a mere five days after my departure from Germany. Finally, shoes and something other than these damn leggings to wear. In fact, I suddenly have the urge to wear all of my clothes at once which I might just do, considering the insane mosquito problem here. Oh yeah, another thing I will miss about Berlin? Few bugs. But I guess I can take it. That whole family thing kind of makes it all worth it. I just pray for no family trips for a while.

As Every Door Closes,...

I'm leaving Berlin soon. In fact, very soon which means there is little time for writing. But people keep asking me, "So what will you miss?" Well, since you know how I like to make lists, here goes:

Things I will miss about Berlin (aside from those lovely friends, of course):

- Public bathrooms which are always stocked with toilet paper, even without an attendant! (But speaking of attendants, as someone who has to utilize public restrooms far too often, I will always gladly pay a few cents for someone to maintain them).

- Mass transit's honor system which seems to actually work.

- Bakeries with gorgeous pastries and cheap, healthy sandwiches on every corner.

- German engineering. I am still enthralled by the way windows open two different ways or how my one house key opens three different doors. It's like having my dad in my pocket everywhere I go!

- Electronic boards on every subway platform telling me precisely how long I will wait for the next train so I know whether I have enough time to jump into the kiosk to buy a chocolate croissant. (Let me repeat: Baked goods EVERYWHERE.)

- Holy cheap beer, bread, cheese, and ice cream. Okay, the 80 cent ice cream cones are probably getting a bit dangerous. It's probably good I'm leaving while the clothes still fit.

- Old people cruising around on bicycles.

- Wastelessness. Whether it's taking bottles back to the neighborhood shop for recycling or shopping at any one of the ubiquitous second hand stores or incessantly polishing their shoes so that they last longer; whether it's about the environment or about their pocketbooks, I am absolutely impressed by the general conservation and accompanying distaste toward mass consumerism amongst the Germans.

- What seems to be a much healthier take on food and exercise compared to the American perspective. Here, people go ahead and eat that big piece of cake. But then they bike home. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

- Small children at art museums.

- That organic and eco-friendly is normal and cheap.

- Buying a cold bottle of beer at the convenience store, having the proprietor open it for me, and then sipping it while leisurely strolling down the street.

- Smart cars!

- The cafe culture that allows me to sit for hours at a table, reading a book and not feel any pressure to leave. The cookie or biscuit that always comes alongside my coffee is pretty great, too.

- That men actually look you in the eye (even though they still won't talk to you. I mean, who can have the moon and the stars?)

- Umm, superb health care that isn't linked to employment? And if that isn't enough, a holistic approach to health care? Wait, the mind and body are connected? Shocking!

But then there's everything I'm looking forward to back in Wisconsin (in addition to all those awesome people):

- Hello, mother tongue!

- Pizza served in slices.

- Speeding down country roads.

- Netflix (Sorry, it's true. True Blood, here I come!)

- Libraries filled with books and books, all of which I can understand!

- Not feeling like an ass when trying to order anything off a menu.

- The sound of the sandhill cranes.

- Not freaking out about the location of my passport every two days, even though it's always tucked safely inside the same pocket.

- Tipping procedures that I understand.

- AC (Yes, just once in a while. PLEASE!)

- Grocery stores that are naturally stocked with brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla.

- The ability to chat comfortably with strangers.

- Ounces, pounds, miles, and my special friend, Fahrenheit. Seriously folks, as if the language translation hasn't been hard enough.

- Cereal that isn't chock full of sugar.

- The smell of hay fields.

- Staggering, perhaps epic de-hipsterfication.

- A good cup of black coffee.

- An automated voice on my cell phone that I understand so I'm not chronically erasing messages I don't mean to.

- Reeses Peanut Butter cups. (Can someone meet me at the airport with a bag of them please?)

- Not living out of a suitcase.

- My niece's almost uncontrollable excitement every morning about starting a new day.

Whew, I think I'm ready. So with that, I bid you a great big AUF WIEDERSEHEN! Til next time...

Quick, Before I Forget!

Berlin friends, if you need a break from the city but are too lazy to venture any further than an S-Bahn ride away, go to Schlachtensee! Right off the S1, it's a lovely lake in the woods near Wannsee. Considering my desire to spend more and more time in green spaces, I found it to be a perfect diversion from the techno booming city. (Well, except when a mama swan hissed at me and I wondered if I'd spend my last days in Germany utilizing my travel insurance on fowl induced injuries).

But really, go be one with nature. Bring the kids and splash around in the water. Or be like me and grab your journal and sit on the bank with your toes dipped in the water. Ahhh....

But never make eye contact with a mama swan.