Ready or Tot! So-Cal Impressions

TJ Packs her bag

Suitcase in the suitcase, of course

We thought it would be our last Tegel departure...

Checking out the planes

Curled up after getting carsick in L.A.

Cleaning-up in the McDonald's Parking Lot

My Motley Crew

In front of my old room at Scripps, the same orange trees still growing outside

Class of '98 La Semeuse

Spa menu = serious business

Rancho Mirage

When this photo was taken it was late February in Berlin and probably around 0 degrees

Sorry TJ, house rules, no jammies in the pool!

So many pools, so little time

Third-generation Shvitz

Ready or Tot! Is on the road again.  We landed in Chicago at the end of June and stayed there for 12 days, followed by what will now be 11 in Oregon.  At this point, TJ is quite a seasoned traveller, and perhaps the only part of the trip that made us really frustrated was a cancelled flight from Chicago to Minneapolis.  We got rebooked for a flight a few hours later and we were upgraded to first class.  At first this sounded awesome, then I realized that having a toddler in first class is not as awesome as one would think.  The seats are great, there is tons of room, but if you have a small child like ours (she's 2, but on the tiny side), getting her to sit in her own seat is hard enough when she's in the middle in a row of three seats, but when you're in first class then you have an armrest in between you and the baby, and the seats are only two across instead of three, so one person is going to be sitting by themselves, or as in our case, a stranger got a nice 1st class row to themselves because TJ just wanted to sit on my lap the whole time as usual.

The trip has been great, but today was a highlight, because to celebrate two of my old friends birthdays we took a day trip to Carson Hot Springs  in Washington State.  I'm calling this the third generation shvitz, because shvitz means "to sweat" in Yiddish, and my Great-grandfather Schlomo actually took my Dad here when he was a boy.  My maternal Grandmother also apparently went here for her back too occasionally, so I'm the 3rd generation in my family to go here.  It opened in 1892 and it's an incredible place.  It feels like time stood still there, and the sulpher waters are amazing.  I won't go into too much detail about the bath, but my four friends and I had a great time soaking and getting wraps.  It's also important to drink some of the water for extra purification.  We went to Hood River after the baths and walked around and had lunch.  The Columbia River Gorge is outdoorsman's paradise, and also with the cute boutiques and shops in town, a fun place to hang with your girlfriends.  What I loved about today was remembering that even if we are on vacation, sometimes you need to take a vacation from the vacation to really relax. Besides, tequila shots at lunch just don't happen as much with my 2-year old around...I guess we'll have to work on that.

Mother's Day 2012

This Mother's Day we celebrated by making a video for our Moms, my husband and I.  We shared it with our family and friends and we had a great time making the memories come to life again by painstakingly editing each of the little scenes and transitions.  It felt great to honor our Mom, and Grandmother, and all of the amazing women in our lives.  We are lucky to have our Moms, and to have this technology available to us.  That is why I want to write about something that has lingered with me for the last couple of weeks on the subject of Mothers.

A couple of weeks ago I read about a grassroots campaign for "No Mother's Day", about being silent on this day about the holiday, and refraining from giving gifts in order to raise awareness for the cause of maternal mortality.  It was started by supermodel Christy Turlington's non-profit, Every Mother Counts.  There is a website, and a video with celebrities, and also a film.  The website states that approximately 350,000 women die each year in childbirth and pregnancy, and that these are preventable deaths.  The site does not differentiate between women in western countries vs. the rest of the world.  It tugs on your heartstrings just to think about one person losing their mother, let alone 350,000 newborns.

Shortly after seeing this campaign, I also saw another campaign:  Stand Up for African Mothers.  Stand Up for African Mothers was running an outdoor ad campaign in Berlin, and I saw their poster while riding the tram.  Mother's Day in Germany (Muttertag) and Mother's Day in the USA are the same day each year, so there was no coincidence that the campaigns happened around the same time.  The statistic from their ad campaign was that 200,000 African women die in pregnancy - a staggering almost 60%.  Their solution?  Train 15,000 midwives in sub-saharan Africa by 2015.

When I saw the statistic from Every Mother Counts, I had assumed that it was mothers in North America who were dying from pregnancy, but if I had thought about it a little harder, I would have realized that it would have meant 1% of the US population was dying from pregnancy every year.  I know that the healthcare system in the US is jacked-up, but it's not that jacked!

So, I bring this all up, because I think both of the campaigns do the important job of raising awareness for maternal mortality on a scale that I have not seen before.  It does a lot for this cause to see celebrities voicing their concern, and for that message to viral.  When it comes down to it though, what Stand Up for African Mothers offers is a real solution to the problem; train midwives to support women throughout the pregnancy and to support safe deliveries for mother and baby.

Birth can go easily, and it can go very wrong, and training women to help other women in pregnancy and childbirth seems like an obvious cause that anyone can get behind.  I love my Mom and Mother-in-law too much to not celebrate their favorite holiday with them, but I wanted to share these two very important campaigns because I think it is important to honor your tradition, but to also realize when your tradition is a luxury.  It lingered with me, and I hope it lingers with you.

The Perfect Day in Venice Beach

So Ready or Tot is getting back up to speed, and catching up on a lot of late winter/early spring (depending on your coordinates) globetrotting.  February and March took us to L.A., Rancho Mirage, San Francisco, and back to Berlin.  A highlight of the trip was a magical day in Venice Beach, when we went for an Ergo carrier nap walk along the Venice boardwalk to see our very talented friend Marc play the sousaphone while on parade for Mardis Gras.  That led to our visiting with his lovely wife Lisa, an accomplished opera singer, and then us meeting some really amazing folks on our walk who I three weeks later saw again in Berlin.  Die Welt ist klein (the world is small).  While in L.A. it seems that the universe was really talking to us, as my dear friend from growing up, Gregor and his wife were visiting at the same time, and we all got to hang out at my brother's pad.  When I woke up that morning I never would have imagined I would be so lucky to see them, Marc and Lisa, meet these awesome people, and hang with the family all on the same day.  It doesn't get much better than that, but a sunset bike ride along the beach from Venice to Santa Monica can't hurt.

Mardis Gras 2012 - Marc Bolin on sousaphone

Venice Beach morning surf

Watching Aunt Jocelyn and Uncle Evan paddle out

Hoodie guitar guy on the mound bright and early

Empty beach, beautiful morning

Fixie-gear bike with kid trailer, good times

Sunset in Santa Monica

Gearing-up for the Desert

Okay folks, we are gearing-up for the desert!  That's right, SoCal and Palm Springs here we come!  Ready or Tot will be hitting the road again in two weeks, so after a long break from posting, hopefully there will be some fun new adventures to tout.  In the meantime, we made a speedy little stop to our trusty amazon.de and picked up an important item for our tot's suitcase.  A travel tip I taught my husband was that you should always pack your swimsuit any time you are traveling somewhere by plane if there is even a 1% chance there is a pool.  Inevitably there will be the opportunity for swimming, or hanging out in a sauna, and if you don't have your swimsuit you are not ready to party, it's just a fact.  We would like to make sure that our child is also taught this life-lesson at an early age, so we have gone ahead and ordered her favorite water wings.  Apparently at her swimming classes in Berlin they use this kind, and they seemed a little pricey to me, but my husband swears she loves them and they stay on her arms.  Check them out, and Ready or Tot will be back again soon with some adventures from the road!  In the meantime, I might just have to go see what the new H&M cruise-collection is all about...
Kraulquappen - German water-wings

Only 6000 Miles to Los Angeles!

Berlin's New Streetcar

Right around the end of December I started noticing on the M10 line, which goes past our house in Berlin, that there were signs that we would be getting an upgrade to our street car line.  They installed the digital reader-boards and just today they went "live".  I have been meaning to write for a while about the ease of getting around Berlin on public transportation, and since I would like to write about that more extensively later, I will just say that the new Flexity train that they have introduced to the line is an improvement in some ways, but also not so great for parents getting in and around the city with a kid in a stroller.

Here are the things I like so far:

1) Digital updates on where you are in your journey and how many stops are left to go, instead of just showing you the next stop
2) Nice wide area for parking your stroller when you get in
3) Ramp that meets exactly with the level of the platform when the train pulls up
4) Same familiar BVG decor, so at least it "looks" like the old familiar.

What I don't like so far:
1) At commute time, it seems like the door area is more cramped and it's harder to navigate the stroller to the area which they have designated for strollers (not an issue on an empty train)
2) Sure, the car is wider, but they have installed many of these 1+ seats.  These do not make any sense to me.  They are too big for one person and too small for two!  They have these on the buses here as well and I am always totally confused by why these seats are popular with transportation designers.

Can someone please comment on this and explain it to me?

So, if you're in Berlin any time soon you'll likely have a chance to ride on one of the new cars and I hope that you like it.  So far it hasn't made my commute any faster, but it's been at least novel for the last couple of days while I'm getting used to the new "wheels".

I haven't taken any pictures, but here's a cell phone style video someone shot at night of the new train heading out of Alexanderplatz.   http://youtu.be/JJ73DwIK0bw

Gingerbread Fairy-Tale Wonderland

Every year at Christmas time the German Christmas Market or 'Weihnachtsmarkt' comes to life.  There are 40+ Christmas markets in Berlin alone, so it is not wise to try to see them all, but for visitors to Germany it is definitely possible to visit at least 2-3 markets.  I was determined to make it to at least one Christmas market this year and so fortunately I made it to the Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt in Berlin's Kulturbrauerei on closing night.  What makes the Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt special is that many of the stands are one-of-a-kind, and not your run-of-the-mill market stands.  You feel like you are walking through a nordic gingerbread fairy-tale wonderland.

This year it did not snow before Christmas, but fortunately for us the market still had all of the charms we have come to expect from a traditional Christmas market.  Last year we took our daughter when she was 5 months old, but it was extremely cold outside and so we did not stay too long.  This time with temps up in the high 40's, and with a mostly relaxed toddler, we casually walked around and sampled food and Glühwein (mulled wine) without needing to hurry-off into a warming hut.  It was fun to be there this time with our kid, because we got to pick her up and show her the different rides, hear her say, "Wow!" when seeing something she liked, and of course she also got to see Santa.  She loved the lights and seeing the kids on the merry-go-round.  And, there is a much different vibe about seeing Santa here.  Santa here might as well have been sipping a cappuccino and having a smoke with the other parents; he was super chilled out and there were little to know photo ops with him and the kids.  He did give TJ a marshmallow candy, but other than that, it was quite non-chalante. 

Markets range in their offerings from being just a few little stands selling mustard and wine to large scale carneval-like endeavors (i.e. the market at Alexanderplatz), so I quite appreciated the cozy vibe at the Kulturbrauerei.  If you go between 3pm and 5pm, and don't wait until it gets too crowded with the  drinking crowd, the market is very lovely to stroll through and you do not feel so packed.  The longest line we waited in was about 10 minutes for freshly baked Dinnele (a version of Tarte Flambé).  All in all, it is a wonderful experience to go to a Christmas market with a child, and if you ever find yourself in Germany from the end of November to right before Christmas, it is something you will certainly not want to miss.

On our way to the Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market)
at the Kulturbrauerei in Berlin - TJ noshing on a pretzel

The Gemutlichkeit, or "German Coziness" hits you right away
as you step into the Lucia Weihnachtsmarkt 

There is always a queue for the old-fashioned merry-go-round
and you can even ride a Reindeer

Hand-painted pottery had an air of nostalgia

It's easy to keep your hands warm while drinking Glühwein
next to the wood-fired heaters at most food stands

Dinnele are a variation on Flammkuchen or
Tarte Flambé, and this guy makes them with
the traditional onion and bacon, or you can go
modern with potato, mediterranean, or veggie

We had veggie and potato cheese, and you could
taste the smoke from the wood-fired oven - yum

Dinnele passed the toddler test

No Christmas season is the same without an
ample supply of Glühwein or Grog, which
can also be ordered with a shot of rum

Lady frying up some Latkes, well, actually the
German version called Reibekuchen 

Really cozy warming yurt

With a sweet little Glühwein and coffee bar set up 

Christmas market closing night in all its gingerbread glory