Glasgow did not disappoint. It was wonderful to reconnect with old friends after years apart. Hannah’s son Magnus was just shy of 2 when we last saw him. Back then, Hannah used to pull Magnus and Vinnie around Butler in a little red wagon she called the Lavinia Express. 4+ years later, the two kids still enjoy each other’s company, but they’re much louder now. Hannah had a little girl last fall. Edith is perfect, and it’s pretty remarkable to pick and choose your moments with a sweet baby. Snuggles and stories in the day: yes. Feeding and changing in the night: no. We had many adventures in Glasgow: the Botanicals, River Kelvin, shopping, and eating. One of my favorites was the cheese shop in their neighborhood. Hannah is a remarkable chef, and she prepared a beautiful cheese plate for dessert on Saturday night. Magnus was very eager to try the new ice cream joint across the street called Loop and Scoop. It serves churros and gelato. The six year-olds shared a churro filled with Nutella. I found purple gloves in a thrift store, or, charity shop, as Hannah calls them. She also introduced me to clotted cream. Delicious. Vinnie and I were able to attend a Church of Scotland worship service at Kelvinbridge Parish. We stayed for tea and biscuits, and Vinnie mentioned it as one of the highlights of the trip. We didn’t have any issues in the Glasgow airport, but we did have a three hour wait in Frankfort for a train to Freiburg. Vinnie did a great job sleeping upright.
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I decided to take Vinnie to Scotland this weekend. RyanAir flies from Frankfurt to Glasgow. Hannah lives in Glasgow! Weekend made. Hannah was our neighbor in Butler. She lived two doors over from us for a year--the year of hurricane Sandy, birth of the twins, Errol’s first go on the job market--an important year. She is wonderful. I miss her. I presented this trip to Errol as a simple one. Friday to Sunday, 1:1 kid adult ratio, no hotel costs. Easy! Flying out of Frankfurt is hard. Vinnie and I arrived by train at 4 p.m. We followed the crowds up from the platform. I thought there would be signs stating where to go depending on the airline. Nope. Smartphone to the rescue. I found that RyanAir is in Terminal 2 Concourse E Second level. Learned through signage that we were in Terminal 1. Found bus to Terminal 2. Found concourse E but RyanAir wasn’t listed on the airlines E served. Texted Errol. Another set of eyes on the information sometimes helps. Found the Ryan Air desk right after I sent the text. Now, I really try not to be an idiot. It’s something I purposefully work toward. Last night I read some Ryan Air articles online and learned that those traveling with non-EU passports needed to have their boarding passes and passports checked prior to security at the airline desk. I thought I was an informed traveler not being an idiot. Ha! Vinnie and I were checked and cleared by the RyanAir desk and told our gate number. It was 4.40, and our flight wasn’t until 6.25. I thought we had so much time. We found a great McDonalds with a touch screen ordering system. Vinnie got a happy meal that really made her happy. I insta’d the moment! She played in this giant rocket/space apparatus. Things were going great, but it was now after five. I told her we needed to get through security. There were two lines. Check that. There was one incredibly long line and an area with no people and ropes set up for a long line. This area was for those with EU passports. The incredibly long line we scanned our boarding passes to join was for “all other countries.” It took a very long time. My heart was beating fast, afraid that we were going to miss the flight. We made it to the front of the line. It wasn’t regular airport security. There were men in booths checking passports and asking questions like we were arriving instead of departing. I haven’t flown within Europe since 2006. This was new for me. We got through, passports stamped (on departure?), and I told Vinnie to run. Our gate was D53. We came out to D1. Our boarding pass said the gate closed at 5.55. It was 5.41. We raced to this far off gate only to see another big line waiting for us. Secuirty for gates D50-54 would be at least another 20 minutes. I heard the aiport employee say something about Glasgow. “We’re going to Glasgow!” I plea. She lets us and a handful of other sorry sacks cut the line. The man behind me tells me we still have ten minutes. I’m getting impatient. Two of the sorry sacks made the metal detector go off. Really? It’s finally our turn. The security agent asks me about liquids and electronics. He wants to see my Chromebook. Vinnie pulls on me and reminds me that she has her Kindle. I tell her that doesn’t count. Our bags get scanned, and a woman grabs Vinnie’s backpack, takes out the tablet, and accusingly questions, “Electronics?” “Yes, I’m sorry,” I say. She motions us to follow her to a separate room. To be clear, in Amerian airport security, one only needs to remove laptops to be separately scanned and inspected. Tablets do not count. Obviously, there are different rules. I had even noticed no one was taking off their shoes. So, we’re in the secure room, and I’m feeling really sad and stupid. We were going to miss the flight because we went to McDonalds. The secuirty officer swabed Vinnie’s little red tablet. Unsurprisingly, the results were non-threatening. She let us leave. We book it. Of course, the gate isn’t right there. We have two flights of stairs, but then we see D53.A large screen reads ZEIT: 17:55. 17:55?! That’s when the gate was supposed to close. I see one of the other sorry sacks, “Did we make it?!” I ask. “Yes, the plane isn’t even here.” The man who told me we still had ten minutes was sitting in the waiting area eating a pizza. He smiled. I have never been so happy for a flight delay. It was quite the delay too. We were packed into buses, waited, and waited some more in the plane. Vinnie was a champ through it all. We agreed this was good practice for future adventures. Hoping we have a less dramatic return on Sunday. Errol stayed in Cologne until this afternoon. We came home Tuesday. My first go at solo-parenting in Freiburg had mixed results. The twins joining the commute to Oberlin at 7.15 the last three mornings was challenging, but no one was late! It never rained! Phew! We spent a lot of time on crowded trams--especially the twins (2+ hrs/day). Our favorite trip of the week was Wednesday. The five of us took the 1 tram until it ended at Littenweiler and then got on the 17 bus to visit our new friends in Kappel. It was great for seven American kids to play together. Thom finished Little Women this week. It started as a Pierson read-aloud when he stayed with his cousins this summer. Kate bought him his own copy when we left Nebraska, and he’s been working through it ever since. There were several Hardy Boys and hours on sports magazines, but he always went back to it. Admittedly, I’m not all that interested in the topics Thom favors these days, but I loved connecting over the March sisters.
“Mama, I think you’re Amy, Aunt Cake is Jo, and Auntie is Beth.” Oh, Thom, please, please write me an essay with specific examples supporting those statements! Neddy needs a dentist. To avoid the steeper language barrier of phone conversations, I went to a pediatric dentist in-person to make the appointment. Fortunately, someone at reception spoke English. Unfortunately, she said because we don’t have our insurance cards yet, I need to pay for the appointment in cash. Oh, the cash.
Following my clueless plea for guidance, she took out a stack of forms. She hesitated and said, “You need to fill these out, but they’re in German. Do you have someone to help you that speaks German?” “No. Is there a place I can go to get help like that?” “No. Maybe google translate.” In brighter news, Thom went on a field trip to the Freiburg newspaper office today. He is working on the first publication of The Lord Gazette. Please let him know if you're interested in subscribing. Kath introduced us to Barbara McClintock’s Adèle & Simon many years ago. The recurring plot to these beautiful picture books is Simon losing his stuff. The kids think it’s funny, but I sympathize with Simon’s older sister Adèle who gets so annoyed with it all. We had a real-life Adèle and Simon moment yesterday in Cologne. Last week I bought the kids matching vests. I handed them out Friday night and called them their German Unity Day gifts. That’s today by the way--hope everyone’s enjoying it! The kids wore their vests everywhere over the long weekend. Yesterday afternoon on Cologne’s subway train, I noticed Thom wasn’t wearing his. “Where’s your vest, Thom?” Panicked face. “You lost it at Rewe?” “No, I just left it at the train station!” I was very upset and told him so. Errol needed to be at the university in 30 minutes. If we went back to look for the vest, it would have to be just me and the kids. In Adèle & Simon, Simon’s items miraculously get returned through the kindness of strangers who send him his labeled belongings. Knowing that would never happen to us, I decided to take on this search and recovery mission. We left Errol on the train and the five of us got off to cross the platform and ride three stops back to Kalk Post. When we arrived, I had Thom run over to where he had left it--alone. If it was there, he’d enjoy the amazing feeling of finding the lost and sharing the news. If it was gone, he’d probably appreciate the solitude. It was there. I’m glad I decided to go look for it. I think it will be a long-lasting memory from this Cologne trip. I’d like to think it will prevent future lost items. Here's hoping! We explored Cologne’s science center today. Thom and I braved the human gyroscope. It reminded me a lot of the zipper at the Kearney County Fair. Much like the zipper, I was the only adult that took a turn. Last Friday, I slipped on one of the stairs to the laundry. It hurt a lot. Hilariously, I felt much better after being flipped upside down a bunch in this thing. The wonders of science! Cologne treated us well today. We cruised on the Rhine, and everyone liked it. I took a similar boat ride when I was here alone, and today’s was much more fun. Thom and Vinnie especially enjoyed standing together outside at the stern. Neddy preferred being in the cabin where it wasn’t as loud. Back on the left bank, we munched on groceries and then visited the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum. It did not disappoint. The twins were on the young end to enjoy it fully, but they made it through. The interactive exhibits, chocolate fountain, and samples certainly helped. Errol and Thom had tickets for tonight’s Köln FC game and rushed back out after a quick ten minutes in the apartment. The three littles feasted on grilled cheese, and we made a trip down the street to the Eiscafé Gioia: “eine Kugel Eis, bitte.” |
Anne Thomsen lordWritings on our year abroad. Archives
September 2018
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